More Contribution to Emissions by Rich

Why in News

Recently, the Oxfam International and the Stockholm Environmental Institute (SEI) has released a report titled “Confronting Carbon Inequality”, which highlights that a rich person contributes more to the climate crisis than a poor person.

• Oxfam is a global organisation with affiliates in 20 countries, working together to end the injustice of poverty.
• SEI is an international non-profit research and policy organisation which promotes sustainability in policy making.

Key Points

• Data Analysis from 1990 to 2015:
  
  • Cumulative Emissions: The richest 1% of humanity accounted for 15% of cumulative emissions, while the poorest 50% accounted for only 7%.
  • Depletion of Global Carbon Budget: The richest 10% depleted the global carbon budget by 31% and the poorest 50% used only 4% of the carbon budget.
    
    • A carbon budget is a cumulative amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions permitted over a period of time to keep within a certain temperature threshold.
  • Emissions Growth: While the richest 10% accounted for 46% of emissions growth, the poorest 50% accounted for only 6%.
    
    • About half of the emissions of the richest 10% are associated with North America and the European Union (EU).

• Indian Comparison with Others:
  
  • An Indian emitted only 1.97 tonnes of CO₂ (tCO₂) annually, while Americans and Canadians both emitted well over 16 tCO₂.
  • The per capita CO₂ emissions of the richest 10% of Indians were about 4.4 tonnes in 2018, in comparison to the per capita emissions of the richest 10% Americans were 52.4 tonnes, almost 12 times that of the richest Indians.
  • India’s per capita emissions were a fraction of not just the EU (6.78 tCO₂/person), but also China (7.95 tCO₂/person), making it the lowest per capita emitter amongst the world’s large economies.
• Highlighted Concerns:
  
  • The global carbon budget is being rapidly depleted due to the increasing consumption of the rich in the name of dignity and a decent standard of living.
    
    • Of this increased consumption, the largest share of emissions by the rich was from flights and cars, including private jets, luxury SUVs and sports cars.
  • Also, the report briefly acknowledged the intersectionality of income inequality and the climate crisis with factors such as race, class, gender, caste and age.
    
    • For example, gender pay inequity meant that men earned higher wages than women which led to higher spendings and more travels.
  • Global consumption and production models are driven by tenets of capitalistic growth and neoliberalism and it is impossible to decouple those systems from resource extraction and environmental degradation.
  • Moderate measures such as carbon tax and non-binding climate commitments from corporations and countries are inadequate while considering the scale of transformation.
• Suggestions:
  
  • Systemic change rather than a sole focus on individual action.
  • Clip emissions of the richest 10% and reduce the per capita footprint to the 1.5°C-consistent level by 2030 which would cut annual carbon emissions by over a third.
  • Call for “new economic models that do not depend on the endless growth in consumption of the already affluent”.
    
    • This is a departure from the mainstream discourse on climate solutions which tends to focus on changes in behaviour and personal habits such as driving electric vehicles and consuming less meat.
  • Comprehensive approaches like the Green New Deal (popular in the USA in 2018 and different from the European Green Deal), which might help avert the worst of the climate crisis amid widespread income inequality and imbalanced power structures.
    
    • The Green New Deal combines a series of goals including 100% renewable energy, along with full access to health care and guaranteed wages.
    • The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) echoed the same in 2019 and called for a global iteration of a Green New Deal through a large-scale investment push led by the public sector instead of the private sector.
  • Wealth redistribution via taxes on the wealthiest, rapid decarbonisation via large-scale public investments in clean energy and low carbon transportation, mass mobilization and the creation of a social safety net through measures like jobs guarantee programme and universal healthcare.

Way Forward

• The findings of study highlights the importance of the concept of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) which establishes that all states are responsible for addressing global environmental destruction yet not equally responsible.
• The general principles of equity in international law must be adhered to. The historical correlation between higher levels of development and a greater contribution to the degradation of global environmental resources, such as water and air, must be recognised.
• Therefore, the developed countries, which had been able to develop for longer times unimpeded by environmental restrictions, now need to take a greater share of responsibility.

Source: DTE

Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti

Why in News

2^nd October 2020 was the 151^st birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation - Mahatma Gandhi. The Swachh Bharat Diwas, 2020 was celebrated on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti with the distribution of Swachh Puraskar by the Ministry of Jal Shakti.

• Gandhi was a social reformist and leader of Indian Independence Movement who introduced the idea of nonviolent resistance called Satyagrah.

Key Points

• Birth: 2^nd October 1869 in Porbandar (Gujarat)
• Brief Profile: Lawyer, politician, social activist, and writer who became the leader of the nationalist movement against the British rule of India.
• Satyagrah: In South Africa (1893-1915), he had successfully fought the racist regime with a novel method of mass agitation, which he called satyagraha.
  
  • The idea of satyagraha emphasised the power of truth and the need to search for truth.
  • It suggested that if the cause was true, if the struggle was against injustice, then physical force was not necessary to fight the oppressor. Without seeking vengeance or being aggressive, a satyagrahi could win the battle through nonviolence. This could be done by appealing to the conscience of the oppressor.
  • People – including the oppressors – had to be persuaded to see the truth, instead of being forced to accept truth through the use of violence. By this struggle, truth was bound to ultimately triumph.
  • The International Day of Non-Violence is observed on 2^nd October, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi.
  • Gandhi Peace Prize is given for social, economic and political transformation through non-violence and other Gandhian methods.
• Return to India: He returned to India from South Africa on 9^th January 1915.
  
  • Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) is celebrated on 9^th January every year to mark the contribution of Overseas Indian community in the development of India.
• Satyagraha Movements in India: Mahatma Gandhi believed that the dharma of non-violence could unite all Indians.
  
  • In 1916 he travelled to Champaran in Bihar to inspire the peasants to struggle against the oppressive plantation system.
  • In 1917, he organised a satyagraha to support the peasants of the Kheda district of Gujarat. Affected by crop failure and a plague epidemic, the peasants of Kheda could not pay the revenue, and were demanding that revenue collection be relaxed.
  • In 1918, he went to Ahmedabad to organise a satyagraha movement amongst cotton mill workers.
  • In 1919, he decided to launch a nationwide satyagraha against the proposed Rowlatt Act (1919).
    
    • The Act gave the government enormous powers to repress political activities, and allowed detention of political prisoners without trial for two years.
    • On 13^th April, 1919 the infamous Jallianwalla Bagh incident took place. Seeing violence spread, Mahatma Gandhi called off the movement (18^th April, 1919).
• Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-22): At the Calcutta session of the Congress in September 1920, he convinced other leaders of the need to start a non-cooperation movement in support of Khilafat as well as for swaraj.
  
  • At the Congress session at Nagpur in December 1920, the Non-Cooperation programme was adopted.
  • In February 1922, Mahatma Gandhi decided to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement after the Chauri-Chaura incident.
• The Salt March and the Civil Disobedience Movement: For several years after the Non-cooperation Movement ended, Mahatma Gandhi focused on his social reform work.
  
  • In 1930, Gandhiji declared that he would lead a march to break the salt law.
    
    • According to this law, the state had a monopoly on the manufacture and sale of salt.
  • The march was over 240 miles, from Gandhi's ashram in Sabarmati to the Gujarati coastal town of Dandi, where they broke the government law by gathering natural salt found on the seashore, and boiling sea water to produce salt.
  • This marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement.
    
    • In 1931, Gandhi accepted a truce (the Gandhi-Irwin Pact), called off civil disobedience, and agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference in London as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress.
    • After returning from London, Mahatma Gandhi relaunched the Civil Disobedience Movement. For over a year, the movement continued, but by 1934 it lost its momentum.
• Quit India Movement:
  
  • With the outbreak of World War II (1939-45), the nationalist struggle in India entered its last crucial phase.
  • The failure of the mission of Sir Stafford Cripps, a British cabinet minister who went to India in March 1942 with an offer that Gandhi found unacceptable, the British equivocation on the transfer of power to Indian hands, and the encouragement given by high British officials to conservative and communal forces promoting discord between Muslims and Hindus impelled Gandhi to demand in the summer of 1942 an immediate British withdrawal from India—what became known as the Quit India Movement.
• Social Work:
  
  • He worked for the upliftment of untouchables and gave them a new name 'Harijan' meaning the children of God.
    
    • In September 1932, B.R. Ambedkar negotiated the Poona Pact with Mahatma Gandhi.
  • His symbol of self-reliance - the spinning wheel - became a popular symbol of Indian Independence Movement.
  • He played a key role in pacifying people and averting the Hindu-Muslim riots as tensions rose before and during the partition of the country.
    
    • He founded the Hindustani Prachar Sabha in 1942 at Wardha in Maharashtra. The aim of the organisation was to promote Hindustani, a link language between Hindi and Urdu.
• Books Written: Hind Swaraj, My Experiments with Truth (Autobiography)
• Death: He was shot dead by Nathuram Godse on 30^th January, 1948.
  
  • 30^th January is observed as Martyrs' Day.

Source: PIB

Good Conduct and Early Release: SC

Why in News

Recently, the Supreme Court has held that the length of a prison sentence or the gravity of the crime cannot be the sole basis for denying a convict premature release from jail.

Key Points

• Background:
  
  • The judgment came in a plea made by two prisoners who have been imprisoned for a botched kidnapping for ransom case in Uttar Pradesh.
  • They are in their early middle age with a record of good conduct in jail.
  • The court held that “their action of kidnapping was nothing but a fanciful attempt to procure easy money, for which they have learnt a painful life lesson” and ordered their release.
• Judgement:
  
  • The three-judge bench held that an assessment of the tendency to commit a crime upon release “must be based on antecedents as well as the conduct of the prisoner while in jail, and not merely on his age or apprehensions of the victims and witnesses”.
  • Reformative justice should not merely focus on public harmony but should foster brotherhood and mutual acceptability.
  • First-time offenders should especially be given a second chance at life allowing them to look forward to a bright future.

Way Forward

• Society has a right to lead a peaceful and fearless life, without free-roaming criminals creating havoc in the lives of ordinary peace-loving citizens.
• However, equally strong is the foundation of reformative theory, which propounds that a civilised society cannot be achieved only through punitive attitudes and vindictiveness.

Data Governance Quality Index: NITI Aayog

Why in News

The Department of Fertilizers (Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers) has been ranked 3^rd out of the 65 Ministries/Departments with a score 4.11 on a scale of 5 on Data Governance Quality Index (DGQI).

• It has been ranked 2^nd amongst the 16 Economic Ministries/Departments.

Key Points

• Data Governance Quality Index (DGQI) survey was conducted by Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO), Niti Aayog to assess different Ministries/Departments' performance on the implementation of Central Sector Schemes (CS) and Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS).
• Objective: To drive healthy competition among them and promote cooperative peer learning from best practices.
• Benefits: Improve the implementation framework of government policies, schemes and programmes to achieve the desired goals.
• Six major themes of DGQI: Data Generation; Data Quality; Use of Technology; Data Analysis, Use and Dissemination; Data Security and HR Capacity and Case Studies.
• Ministries/Departments were classified in six categories: Administrative, Strategic, Infrastructure, Social, Economic and Scientific.

Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office

• The Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO) was constituted in September 2015 by merging the erstwhile Program Evaluation Office (PEO) and the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO).
• It is an attached office under NITI Aayog, aimed at fulfilling the organization’s monitoring and evaluation (M&E) mandate and building the M&E ecosystem in India.
• Its vision is to improve sustainable outcomes and impacts of the government. It aims to enable high-quality monitoring and evaluation of government programs to improve effectiveness, efficiency, equity and sustainability of service delivery, outcomes and impacts.
• Monitoring through Output-Outcome Framework: In accordance with the Union Budget for 2019-20, the Output-Outcome Framework represents an important reform towards outcome-based monitoring.This is a paradigm shift from measuring simply physical and financial progress, to a governance model based on outcomes. DMEO has been working with Ministries and Departments to develop this framework since 2017.
• Evaluation: The Government has assigned DMEO, NITI Aayog the responsibility to conduct independent third-party evaluation of all the CSS in a time-bound manner so that the findings of the evaluation are made available to appropriate authorities for determining the rationalization of the schemes.

Source: PIB

Atal Tunnel

Why in News

The Prime Minister has inaugurated the Atal Tunnel in Himachal Pradesh’s Rohtang, which connects Solang Valley near Manali to Sissu in Lahaul and Spiti district.

Key Points

• About:
  
  • The 9.02-km tunnel is the longest highway tunnel in the world above the height of 3,000 metres.
  • It cuts through a mountain west of the Rohtang pass and will shorten the distance between Solang Valley and Sissu by around 46 km and will take around 15 minutes to cover. Earlier, it would take nearly 4 hours to travel between the two points.
• Significance:
  
  • All year Connectivity: The Atal tunnel is the first step towards all-year connectivity to Ladakh. The tunnel has the potential to link Ladakh to Manali and Chandigarh throughout the year, as it would bypass Rohtang Pass, which is snowed in through the winter months.
  • Strategic: The tunnel provides a strategic advantage to the country's armed forces by providing year-long connectivity to border areas. It will save an entire day for troops and supplies as they move towards forward posts.
  • Avail Basic Facilities: The residents of Ladakh who had to face immense hardship to avail even basic facilities like healthcare and food supplies will now be able to reach Manali and connect with the rest of the country using this new tunnel. Essential commodities like petrol and vegetable supplies would also likely be available throughout the year.
  • Boon for Farmers: The drop in travel time will help many, especially farmers whose precious crops like peas and potatoes will no longer rot in trucks before reaching the market.
  • Boost to Tourism: Livelihoods in the tourism sector of the residents in Lahaul Valley and Ladakh would get a boost.

Source: IE

Exercise Bongosagar

Why in News

The second edition of Exercise Bongosagar, bilateral naval exercise between India and Bangladesh, is scheduled to commence in Northern Bay of Bengal on 3^rd October 2020.

Key Points

• Its first edition was held in 2019.
• Aim: To develop interoperability and joint operational skills through the conduct of a wide spectrum of maritime exercises and operations.
• Participants: Naval ships from both the countries along with the maritime patrol aircraft and helicopters will be participating in the exercise.
• It will be followed by the 3^rd edition of India-Bangladesh Coordinated Patrol (IN-BN CORPAT), wherein both countries will undertake joint patrolling along the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL).
  
  • CORPATs have strengthened understanding between both the navies and instituted measures to stop the conduct of unlawful activities.
• Significance:
  
  • The exercise reflects the priority that Indian Navy accords to the Bangladesh Navy as part of the SAGAR (Security And Growth for All in the Region) Vision.
  • This year’s edition assumes greater significance since it is being conducted during Mujib Barsho, the 100^th birth anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
  • It strengthens the close and long-standing India-Bangladesh relations covering a wide spectrum of activities and interactions. Both countries share close cultural bonds and a shared vision of democratic society and a rules-based order.

Source: PIB

Lal Bahadur Shastri Jayanti

Why in News

2^nd October is the birth anniversary of Lal Bahadur Shastri. He served as the second Prime Minister of India.

Key Points

• He was born on 2^nd October, 1904 in Mughalsarai, a small railway town seven miles from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.
• Participated in the freedom movement since 1930.
• He joined the Kashi VidyaPeeth in Varanasi, one of the many national institutions set up in defiance of the British rule.
  
  • ‘Shastri’ was the bachelor’s degree awarded to him by the Vidya Peeth but has stuck in the minds of the people as part of his name.
• He was minister in the Union Cabinet from 1951 to 1956 when he resigned taking responsibility for the railway accident and later from 1957-1964.
• He was India’s second Prime Minister (1964-66).
  
  • During Shastri’s brief Prime Ministership, the country faced two major challenges. While India was still recovering from the economic implications of the war with China (1962), failed monsoons, drought and serious food crisis presented a grave challenge. The country also faced a war with Pakistan in 1965.
  • Shastri’s famous slogan ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’, symbolised the country’s resolve to face both these challenges.
  • Shastri’s Prime Ministership came to an abrupt end on 10^th January 1966, when he suddenly expired in Tashkent, then in USSR and currently the capital of Uzbekistan.
    
    • He was there to discuss and sign an agreement (Tashkent Agreement) with Muhammad Ayub Khan, the then President of Pakistan, to end the war.
  • He signed an agreement with then Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on persons of Indian origin there, in 1964 — an endorsement of the importance of neighbourhood.
• He was the first person to be posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna (1966).

Source: PIB