General Studies-01

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{Op-Ed}It’s time to make deep emission cuts

Key aspect: Global warming, Issues & solutions.

• In 2016, the earth’s temperature was 1.3°C warmer than in pre-industrial times — as warm as in the Eemian interglacial period some 125,000 years ago , when sea levels were 6-9 metres higher than they are today.
• More dishearteningly, even if countries take the action they promised at the Paris climate change conference in 2015, the world would be about 3°C warmer by 2100, well above the 2°C temperature guardrail to avoid dangerous climate change.

Negative emissions

• Closer examination reveals that many of the integrated assessment models used to study future scenarios and emissions assume that the world would somehow make use of significant amounts of ‘negative emissions’.
• These are ways to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, or even change the earth’s radiation balance through geo engineering.
• These negative emissions in the models are used in addition to increasing use of renewables and improving the efficiency of energy services.

BECCS

• One method that is widely discussed is bioenergy for fuel in combination with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).
• This involves the use of plants as fuel. The released carbon dioxide is then captured and safely stored indefinitely.
• However, due to competition for land for food and other purposes, and due to technological limitations, this approach is believed to be inappropriate for extensive use.

Peak emissions

• Another critical scientific finding is that even if global emissions were to go down to zero by 2050 through some Herculean feat, there would be considerable amount of warming that the world is already locked into.
• The adverse effects of these would be severe and difficult to adapt to. This is already in evidence all over the world with several seasons of intense storms, droughts, floods, fires and their aftermath, meaning that any further delay in reducing emissions would put at risk many more lives, livelihoods and investments for decades to come.

Solutions

• Policies need to support practices that successfully keep carbon in the ground, prevent deforestation, support agricultural practice that sequesters carbon and promote sustainable land use practices that reduce emissions.
• We also need a carbon tax — various models for these have been discussed.
• Policies should nudge especially the more prosperous communities towards less carbon intensive lifestyles, either through taxes or incentives or both.

General Studies-02

Hindu notes are provided separately | CLICK HERE 

{Op-Ed}Unacceptable fetters

Key aspect: Corruption

• The Rajasthan ordinance making it a punishable offence to disclose the names of public servants facing allegations of corruption before the government grants formal sanction to prosecute them is a grave threat to media freedom and the public’s right to know.

This is the first time a section prescribing punishment for disclosure is being introduced in India, though provisions barring investigation or prosecution without prior sanction are also in force in Maharashtra.

Section 228-B:

• It’s a newly introduced Indian Penal Code offence that relates to acts done in the course of discharging official functions, is a direct threat to the functioning of the media and whistle-blowers.

Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Ordinance, 2017

• In addition, the Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Ordinance, 2017 fetters judicial magistrates from ordering an investigation without prior sanction, as an additional shield for public servants who already enjoy the protection of Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, which make prior sanction mandatory before a court can take cognizance of a case.

Response time delay:

• The time limit for the sanctioning authority to act is 180 days in Rajasthan, and 90 days in Maharashtra. The Union government, too, has a set of amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act pending since 2013, including a proviso for prior sanction.

The court had observed that such a provision destroys the objective of anti-corruption legislation, blocks the truth from surfacing, thwarts independent investigation and forewarns corrupt officers.

It is time the Centre enforced a strong body of legislation that punishes the corrupt, protects the honest, and ensures time-bound public services and whistle-blower safety.

{Op-Ed}In a foreign policy haze

Key aspect: Issues & benefits associated with strengthening Indo-US relation.

Background:

• In an ambitious statement ahead of his visit to India this week, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson set the course for India-U.S. relations going ahead, mapping convergences in connectivity, trade and economics and counter-terrorism cooperation.
• He displayed a keen understanding of India’s strengths as a “diverse, dynamic, and pluralistic” democracy.

FOR INDIA:

• It is disappointing that Washington has not been similarly pro-active in condemning the Pakistan government’s decision to drop terrorism charges and paving the way for 26/11 mastermind and Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Hafiz Saeed’s release from detention, while it is hoped that Mr. Tillerson will make those statements in Islamabad. Instead, Mr. Tillerson appears to be keen on brokering dialogue between India and Pakistan, saying that he hopes to “ease tensions along their border.”
• If Iran is unable to conduct more trade, it will have less incentive to focus on the new Chabahar port over the pre-existing trade through Bandar Abbas. This would certainly impact India’s plans for connectivity to Afghanistan and Central Asia.
• It also remains to be seen whether the Trump administration would countenance Indian investment in Chabahar, the development of the railways through to Zahedan, and regular trade through Iran in order to increase assistance to Afghanistan, as the U.S.’s South Asia policy encourages, given the tough language it has employed in its Iran strategy.

As Mr. Tillerson touches down in Delhi for his first visit to the region as Secretary of State, New Delhi must prepare for the challenges ahead with this wobbly compass in hand.

• The government has a multi-fold challenge before it, to address its concerns on all these issues, while keeping the focus on the India-U.S. bilateral relationship, which is largely more beneficial for India.
• This will be yet more complicated as Delhi hosts Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on the same day that Mr. Tillerson arrives, and the talks could give the appearance of a trilateral.

General Studies-03

{Op-Ed}Cycle of terror

Key aspect: Terrorism & security situation in Afghanistan

• The multiple terror attacks that killed at least 200 people in Afghanistan last week has set alarm bells ringing in Kabul.
• Attacks occurred at a time when the United States was putting to work its new strategy to stabilise Afghanistan underscores the resolve of the militants to stay the course of insurgency. Most of these attacks were carried out by the Taliban.

The security situation in Afghanistan is increasingly worsening. If the government faced only one major armed insurgency till a couple of years ago, now it has to fight on many fronts.

The U.S. has made several promises vis-à-vis Afghanistan. But after 16 years of war, the world’s largest military force appears to be as clueless as the Afghan army on how to put an end to the conflict. One option, as many diplomats have pointed out, is to engage the Taliban directly, while continuing the fight against other terror groups such as al-Qaeda and the IS.

The latest wave of Taliban attacks occurred days after officials from four countries — the U.S., China, Pakistan and Afghanistan — met in Oman, seeking ways to revive peace talks. The attacks are a message from the Taliban that they are least interested in talks.

An outright military victory in Afghanistan appears remote, given the Taliban’s swelling networks and the support they enjoy in rural areas. But an outright victory looks impossible for the Taliban too as long as the U.S. remains committed to Afghanistan. This makes peace talks the only practical way forward. But Kabul and the coalition should first restore Afghan confidence in the government’s ability to govern, before reaching out to the Taliban.

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