Daily Prelims Notes 5 November 2022

November 5, 2022
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Daily Prelims Notes

5 November 2022

Table Of Contents

1. India Infrastructure Project Development Fund Scheme

Subject: Economy

Context:

The Finance Ministry has come out with a scheme to extend financial support for project development expenses of Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects in the infrastructure sector.

India Infrastructure Project Development Fund Scheme

It is a scheme for Financial Support for Project Development Expenses of PPP Projects.
It aims at improving the quality and pace of infrastructure development in the country by encouraging private sector participation in the infrastructure sector.
It ia s Central Sector Scheme which will aid development of quality PPP projects by providing necessary funding support to the project sponsoring authorities, both in the Central and State Governments, for creating a shelf of bankable viable PPP projects for achieving the vision of modern infrastructure for the country.
Under the scheme-’India Infrastructure Project Development Fund’ (IIPDF), Project Sponsoring Authorities (PSA) will get assistance up to Rs 5 crore.
Funding will be given for meeting project development costs–expenses incurred by PSA in respect of feasibility studies, environment impact studies, financial structuring, legal reviews and development of project documentation, including concession agreement, commercial assessment studies, grading of projects, etc
The government can also use funding under the IIPDF Scheme to engage consultants/TAs for specific assignments of professional services, including providing support to States/UTs.
It will not include expenses incurred by the PSA on its own staff, but could be spent on consultant and transaction advisors.
Funding under IIPDF Scheme is in addition to the already operational Scheme for Financial Support to PPPs in Infrastructure (VGF Scheme).
Funding under the IIPDF Scheme shall not be recovered

VGF Scheme

Infrastructure projects undertaken in the PPP mode that are economically justified but commercially unviable, are supported.
Under this scheme, PPP in areas like wastewater treatment, solid waste management, health, water supply and education, could get 30% of the total project cost from the Centre.
Separately, pilot projects in health and education, with at least 50% operational cost recovery, can get as much as 40% of the total project cost from the central government.
The Centre and States would together bear 80% of the capital cost of the project and 50% of operation and maintenance costs of such projects for the first five years.

2. National Bioenergy Programme

Subject : Environment

Context:

The Waste-to-Energy Program Guidelines for the production of Biogas, BioCNG, and power from urban, industrial, and agricultural wastes and residues have been released by the Center.

Details:

The programme is part of an umbrella scheme, the National Bioenergy Programme.

National Bioenergy Programme

The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) will be the implementing agency for the programme.
- IREDA will be paid a service charge of 1% of CFA to process applications, besides 1% for the CFA (minimum ₹50,000) for implementing, and monitoring the performance once the plants are commissioned.
It aims to produce biogas and bioCNG, and electricity from urban, industrial and agricultural waste and residues.
The government will offer financial assistance to project developers and pay service charges to implementing agencies, including inspection firms for commissioning the waste-to-energy plants.
It also comprises the biogas and biomass programmes.
- Standard central financial assistance (CFA) for the biogas projects will be ₹25 lakh for 12,000 cubic metre a day and maximum pegged at ₹5 crore.
- Financial assistance of ₹75 lakh per MW for new biogas plants and ₹50 lakh per MW for existing units will be given.
If the waste-to-energy plants are set up in special category states, such as the North East, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Uttarakhand, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, the eligible CFA will be 20% higher than the standard CFA pattern.

Concept:

Biomass Energy (Bio-energy)

Biomass is renewable organic material that comes from plants and animals. Biomass energy is energy generated or produced by living or once-living organisms.
Biomass contains stored chemical energy from the sun. Plants produce biomass through photosynthesis. Biomass can be burned directly for heat or converted to renewable liquid and gaseous fuels through various processes.
Biomass sources for energy include:
- Wood and wood processing wastes—firewood, wood pellets, and wood chips, lumber and furniture mill sawdust and waste, and black liquor from pulp and paper mills
- Agricultural crops and waste materials—corn, soybeans, sugar cane, switchgrass, woody plants, and algae, and crop and food processing residues
- Biogenic materials in municipal solid waste—paper, cotton, and wool products, and food, yard, and wood wastes
- Animal manure and human sewage

Converting biomass to energy

Direct combustion (burning) to produce heat
- All biomass can be burned directly for heating buildings and water, for industrial process heat, and for generating electricity in steam turbines.
Thermochemical conversion to produce solid, gaseous, and liquid fuels
- Thermochemical conversion of biomass includes pyrolysis and gasification. Both are thermal decomposition processes in which biomass feedstock materials are heated in closed, pressurized vessels called gassifiers at high temperatures.
Chemical conversion to produce liquid fuels
- A chemical conversion process known as transesterification is used for converting vegetable oils, animal fats, and greases into fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), which are used to produce biodiesel.
Biological conversion to produce liquid and gaseous fuels
- Biological conversion includes fermentation to convert biomass into ethanol and anaerobic digestion to produce renewable natural gas.
  - Ethanol is used as a vehicle fuel.
  - Renewable natural gas – also called biogas or biomethane – is produced in anaerobic digesters at sewage treatment plants and at dairy and livestock operations. It also forms in and may be captured from solid waste landfills.
- Anaerobic digestion or Biomethanation: Biomethanation or methanogenesis, is a scientific process whereby anaerobic microorganisms in an anaerobic environment decompose biodegradable matter producing methane-rich biogas and effluent. The three functions that take place sequentially are hydrolysis, acidogenesis, and methanogenesis.
Cogeneration
- Co-generation is producing two forms of energy from one fuel. One of the forms of energy must always be heat and the other may be electricity or mechanical energy. In a conventional power plant, fuel is burnt in a boiler to generate a high-pressure system. The steam is used to drive a turbine to produce electric power. The exhaust steam is generally condensed to water which goes back to the boiler.

3. In the Amazon a Giant Fish Helps Save the Rainforest

Subject :Environment

Context-

Along the Jurua River, a tributary of the Amazon, riverine settlers and Indigenous villages are working together to promote the sustainable fishing of near magic fish called pirarucu.

About the pirarucu fish-

The arapaima, pirarucu, or paiche is any large species of bonytongue in the genus Arapaima native to the Amazon and Essequibo basins of South America.
Its Portuguese name, pirarucu, derives from the Tupi language words pira and urucum, meaning “red fish”.
It is found primarily in floodplain lakes across the Amazon basin, including the region of Medio Jurua.
They are among the world’s largest freshwater fish, reaching as much as 3 m (9.8 ft) in length and 200 kilos (440 pounds) in weight.
Another remarkable characteristic of the pirarucu is that It is one of the few fish species in the world that surfaces to breathe.
They are an important food fish.

Overexploitation of pirarucus-

They have declined in the native range due to overfishing and habitat loss.
And it left pirarucu designated as threatened with extinction unless trade in the fish is closely controlled by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
In contrast, arapaima has been introduced to several tropical regions outside the native range (within South America and elsewhere), where they are sometimes considered invasive species.
In Kerala, India, Arapaima escaped from aquaculture ponds after floods in 2018.

Recovery of the population of the pirarucu-

The fish has come back to the lakes of Medio Jurua.
The change began in the late 1990s. With the assistance of a Dutch Catholic priest, rubber tappers organized and led a campaign to persuade the federal government to create the Medio Jurua Extractive Reserve.
This controlled fishing has led to a surge in its population in regions where it’s employed.
In the Sao Raimundo region, there were 1,335 pirarucus in the nearby lakes in 2011, when the managed fishing began. Last year, there were 4,092 specimens, according to their records.
In the Carauari region, the number of pirarucus spiked from 4,916, in 2011, to 46,839, ten years later.

Menace of illegal fishing in Brazil-

Illegal fishing is rampant in Brazil. It’s the second most frequent environmental crime on protected land, after logging, according to an academic study based on official data.
Pirarucu fishing is done once a year, around September, the period of the lowest water.
By law, only 30% of the pirarucu in a certain area can be fished the following year.

Current status of Indian fisheries-

Fisheries are the primary source of livelihood for several communities.
India is the world’s second-largest fish producer with exports worth more than Rs 47,000 crore.
Fisheries are the country’s single-largest agriculture export, with a growth rate of 6 to 10 per cent in the past five years.
Its significance is underscored by the fact that the growth rate of the farm sector in the same period is around 2.5 per cent.
It has a marine fisher population of 3.5 million; 10.5 million people are engaged in inland fishery and fish farming.

IUU Fishing as a National Security Threat-

In India, illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing typically has been viewed as a non-traditional security concern that includes food and economic security, as well as broader societal and political issues.
- The threat posed by foreign fishing vessels near Indian waters.
- Such distant water fishing vessels have been found fishing illegally around the world.
- On several occasions, these vessels are present near the exclusive economic zone of other states, raising serious legal and operational questions.
- Coastal States have shown varied responses to these vessels ranging from strengthening their maritime security framework to using force and taking military action against these vessels.

Domestic laws against IUU fishing-

Two domestic legislative acts drive the government’s response to IUU fishing.
The first, the Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic
Zone and other Maritime Zones Act, 1976, defines India’s maritime zones,
which comply with the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to which India is a party.
- Thus, India enjoys its sovereign rights, including fishing rights, in the delimited waters under both domestic and international maritime laws.
The second, the Maritime Zones of India (Regulation of Foreign Vessels) Act, 1981, provides for the regulation of foreign fishing vessels in India’s maritime zones and related matters.
- It authorizes the Indian Coast Guard, when appropriate, to stop and board a fishing vessel, seize and detain the vessel, including any fishing gear, fishing equipment, stores, or cargo found onboard the vessel or belonging to the vessel, and to seize any fishing gear abandoned by the vessel.
These laws provide the domestic legislation governing India’s maritime zones and the national maritime security framework for addressing IUU fishing by foreign vessels.

4. Hundreds of elephants, zebras die as Kenya weathers drought

Subject :Environment

Context-

Hundreds of animals, including elephants and endangered Grevy’s zebras, have died in Kenyan wildlife preserves during East Africa’s worst drought in decades.

Drought in Kenya-

Parts of Kenya have experienced four consecutive seasons of inadequate rain in the past two years, with dire effects on people and animals, including livestock.
The worst-affected ecosystems are home to some of Kenya’s most-visited national parks, reserves and conservancies, including the Amboseli, Tsavo and Laikipia-Samburu areas.
The Kenya Wildlife Service and other bodies counted the deaths of 205 elephants, 512 wildebeests, 381 common zebras, 51 buffalos, 49 Grevy’s zebras and 12 giraffes in the past nine months.
They called for an urgent aerial census of wildlife in Amboseli to get a broader view of the drought’s impact on wild animals there.

Grévy’s zebra (Equus grevyi)

Also known as the imperial zebra, it is the largest living wild equid and the most threatened of the three species of zebra, the other two being the plains zebra and the mountain zebra.
Named after Jules Grévy, it is found in parts of Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia.
Superficially, Grévy’s zebras’ physical features can help to identify it from the other zebra species.
Compared to other zebra species, Grévy’s are the tallest and have the tightest stripes of all zebras.
The Grévy’s zebra live in the semi-arid savanna, where they feed on grasses, legumes, and browse, such as acacia; they can survive up to five days without water.
Listed by the IUCN as endangered.
Its population has declined from 15,000 to 2,000 since the 1970s.

About Amboseli National Park-

Formerly Maasai Amboseli Game Reserve is a national park in Kajiado South Constituency in Kajiado County, Kenya.
The park ecosystem spreads across the Kenya-Tanzania border.
The local people are mainly Maasai
It has 400 species of birds including water birds like pelicans, kingfishers, crakes, hamerkop and 47 raptor species.
The park protects two of the five main swamps and includes a dried-up Pleistocene lake and semiarid vegetation.
The protected area is home to African bush elephants, Cape buffalo, impala, lion, cheetah, spotted hyena, Masai giraffe, Grant’s zebra, and blue wildebeest.

Tsavo East National Park

It is one of the oldest and largest parks in Kenya.
Situated in a semi-arid area previously known as the Taru Desert it opened in April 1948, and is located near the town of Voi in the Taita-Taveta County of the former Coast Province.

5. A new drought monitoring tool gives hope of better preparation and mitigation at the farmer level

Subject: Geography

Context-

A new satellite-based drought-monitoring tool will be able to indicate the presence of drought and its level of severity, providing authorities with the maximum possible lead time to put mitigation strategies into place in India and across South Asia.

About the South Asia Drought Monitoring System (SADMS)-

In India, the South Asia Drought Monitoring System (SADMS) was developed by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the country’s premier agricultural research institution.
It has been tested in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Afghanistan and Bhutan.
The system will not just monitor the drought conditions but also incorporate this information of real-time weather updates and open-access satellite data, and provide extension workers as well as agriculture and water resources authorities with all the information needed to forecast, monitor and manage drought on a weekly basis.
IWMI has been testing SADMS by validating it at the district level.
The input data comes into the platform from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM).
- This includes soil moisture, precipitation, temperature, wind speed and available cloud ratio. The scientists will also factor in historical droughts and their conditions.

How will it help the farmers-

It will help the farmers to decide which crops to grow.
During the drought seasons, they can choose to grow drought-tolerant crops like millet over water-intensive crops like rice.
The platform is already in operation in the state of Telangana.
From 2017, ICAR used SADMS to implement real-time contingency measures.
It helped farmers in three districts of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra to obtain drought-tolerant seeds, develop supplementary irrigation and apply potassium nitrate (which helps seedlings cope better with dry conditions).
As a result, crop yields for soybean increased by 7–8 quintals (700–800 kilograms) per 0.4 hectares, pigeon pea by 5–6 quintals per acre and cotton by 12 to 14 quintals per acre.

Drought conditions in India and South Asia region-

India featured as one of the severely drought-impacted countries in the United Nation’s latest drought assessment released May 11, 2022.
Nearly two-thirds of the country suffered drought during 2020-2022.
Severe droughts have reduced India’s gross domestic product by 2-5 per cent over the 20 years from 1998-2017.
Not only India, but the whole of South Asia also faced several droughts in recent decades and 50 major droughts have been reported since 1990, affecting over 750 million people with economic damages estimated at $7 billion.
There was previously no integrated end-to-end drought monitoring and management system available for South Asia.
The data from the drought-monitoring system is available at the grid level and can be visualised up to the taluk level.

6. China’s home-grown Beidou satellite system eyes global footprint

Subject :Science and Tech

Context-

China on November 4, 2022, outlined plans to further expand the global reach of its home-grown Beidou satellite navigation system, billed as its alternative to America’s Global Positioning System (GPS).

More on the news-

A white paper released by the Chinese government said Beijing is “strengthening regional cooperation with organisations such as ASEAN, the African Union, the League of Arab States, and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States”.
Beijing has, since 2020, also made an outreach to South Asia and is already working, or in discussion with, a number of countries in the region, including Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, over adopting the Beidou satellite (BDS) navigation system.
The Belt and Road (BRI) countries are their priority.

About the Beidou satellite (BDS) navigation system-

China’s navigation system, BeiDou Navigation Satellite System China, relies on a satellite network to offer positional accuracy of fewer than 10 meters.
Chen Fangyun and his colleagues came up with the notion of a Chinese satellite navigation system in the 1980s.
The BeiDou Satellite Navigation Experimental System, often known as BeiDou-1, was the first BeiDou Navigation Satellite System in China.
BeiDou Navigation Satellite System China was made up of three satellites that began providing limited coverage and navigation services in 2000, mostly to consumers in China and surrounding regions.
In December 2011, China launched the second edition of the system, popularly known as the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) and also known as COMPASS or BeiDou-2, with a partial constellation of 10 satellites in orbit.
BeiDou-1 was deactivated at the end of 2012, and BeiDou-2 has been providing services to clients in the Asia-Pacific area since December 2012.
China launched the BeiDou-3 system, the third generation BeiDou system, in 2015 for worldwide coverage.
On 30 March 2015, the first BDS-3 satellite was launched.
In 2016, it was predicted that BeiDou-3 would achieve millimetre-level precision (with post-processing).
The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System China began delivering worldwide services on 27 December 2018.
On 23 June 2020, BDS-3’s 35th and last satellite was put into orbit.

Features of BeiDou Navigation Satellite System China-

The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System China was manufactured by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) and is operated by China National Space Administration (CNSA) at a Global level.
There are a total of 35 satellites in BeiDou Navigation Satellite System China orbit from its first launch on 31 October 2000 to its last launch on 23 June 2020.
It has a signal accuracy of 0.41 meters.

Which other countries use the Beidou satellite (BDS) navigation system-

The BDS, which now has a “constellation” of 30 satellites in orbit, began its international outreach once the set-up was finished in 2018.
It is now in use “in more than half of the world’s countries”.
China is also helping several BRI partners, including Pakistan and Sri Lanka, launch communication satellites.
Saudi Arabia is using Beidou in surveying and mapping, positioning people and vehicles in the desert.
Tajikistan is using BDS to monitor dams and lakes with precision.
Lebanon is using BDS at Beirut port for marine survey and construction.
In Burkina Faso, it is being used for the survey and construction of hospitals.
Pakistan and Russia are two significant Beidou hubs.
China and Russia have signed a strategic framework on their two navigation systems, taking forward a 2015 deal on interoperability between Beidou and GLONASS.
Pakistan in 2014 became the first foreign country to set up a Beidou network.
South Asia and Southeast Asia – both of which are key BRI regions – are a current focus of expanding Beidou’s presence.

Looking for further expansion-

Beidou has set up the first of three Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) for its network in Thailand in 2013, to serve as a hub for ASEAN.
China and Sri Lanka also agreed on plans to set up 10 CORS.
In 2020, Beijing reached out to Bangladesh and Nepal.
The next focus was to improve Beidou’s capabilities, which have, in China, closed the gap with GPS in terms of accuracy, although its overseas services still lag behind.

India’s navigation system NavIC-

NavIC or the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is designed with a constellation of 7 satellites and a network of ground stations operating 24×7.
There are a total of eight satellites however only seven remain active.
Three satellites are in geostationary orbit and four satellites in geosynchronous orbit.
The constellations’ first satellite (IRNSS-1A) was launched on 1st July 2013 and the eighth satellite IRNSS-1I was launched in April 2018.
With the seventh launch of the constellation’s satellite (IRNSS-1G), IRNSS was renamed NavIC by India’s Prime Minister in 2016.
It was recognised by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as a part of the World-Wide Radio Navigation System (WWRNS) for operation in the Indian Ocean Region in 2020.

Potential Uses:

Terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation;
Disaster management;
Vehicle tracking and fleet management (especially for mining and transportation sector);
Integration with mobile phones;
Precise timing (as for ATMs and power grids);
Mapping and geodetic data capture.

7. EPFO – Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (Under Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India)

Subject :Polity

Context:

The Government of India established the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) as a statutory entity. The largest social security provider in the nation, it primarily promotes retirement savings among other things. The EPFO was founded in 1951 and is governed by the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

EPFO is one of the World’s largest Social Security Organisations in terms of clientele and the volume of financial transactions undertaken. At present, it maintains 24.77 crore accounts (Annual Report 2019-20) pertaining to its members.

History :

The Employees’ Provident Fund came into existence with the promulgation of the Employees’ Provident Funds Ordinance on the 15th November, 1951. It was replaced by the Employees’ Provident Funds Act, 1952.
It seeks to provide for the institution of provident (provident literary means making provision for the future) funds for employees in factories and other establishments. The Act is now referred to as the Employees’ Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 which extends to the whole of India.
The Act and Schemes framed there under are administered by a tri-partite Board known as the Central Board of Trustees, Employees’ Provident Fund, consisting of representatives of Government (Both Central and State), Employers, and Employees.
The Central Board of Trustees administers a contributory provident fund, pension scheme and an insurance scheme for the workforce engaged in the organized sector in India (For unorganized there is another scheme).
The Board operates three schemes –
- EPF Scheme 1952,
- Pension Scheme 1995 (EPS) and
- Insurance Scheme 1976 (EDLI).

EPFO Scheme 1952

Salient features of EPFO schemes

Accumulation plus interest upon retirement and death
Partial withdrawals allowed for education, marriage, illness and house construction
Housing scheme for EPFO members to achieve the Prime Minister’s vision of Housing for all by 2022.

Pension Scheme 1995 (EPS)

Salient features of the Pension Scheme

The monthly benefit for superannuation/benefit, disability, survivor, widow(er) and children
Minimum pension of disablement
Past service benefit to participants of the erstwhile Family Pension Scheme, 1971.

Insurance Scheme 1976 (EDLI)

Salient features of the scheme

The benefit provided in case of the death of an employee who was a member of the scheme at the time of death.
Benefit amount 20 times the wages, maximum benefit of 6 Lakh.

Value Addition:

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is one of the two main statutory social security bodies, the other being Employees’ State Insurance.
The EPFO administers the mandatory provident fund. It also manages social security agreements with other countries. International workers are covered under EPFO plans in countries where bilateral agreements have been signed. As of May 2021, 19 such agreements are in place.
The EPFO’s top decision-making body is the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), a statutory body established by the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions (EPF&MP) Act, 1952. As of 2018, more than ₹11 lakh crore (US$157.8 billion) are under EPFO management.
On 1 October 2014 the Government of India launched a Universal Account Number for employees covered by EPFO to enable Provident Fund number portability.

New Pension Schemes for Unorganised Sector

Government of India has introduced two voluntary and contributory Pension Schemes, i.e.
1. Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan Yojna, (PM-SYM), a pension scheme for the Unorganised Workers and
2. National Pension Scheme for the Traders and Self Employed Persons (NPS-Traders) (for the Vyapari’s) under section 3(1) of Unorganised Workers Social Security Act, 2008 to provide old age protection to them.

8. Remote voting: On postal ballot for NRIs

Subject :Polity

Context :

India has the largest diaspora population, with nearly 1.35 crore non-resident Indians spread across the globe.
They work in another country thus they miss out on voting in India.
Currently, the Election Commission of India (ECI) allows enrolled overseas citizens to vote in person at the polling station in the constituency where the person is registered as an overseas elector.
So if you want to vote you have to come in person and vote. This is a disincentive. For eg. in the 2019 Lok Sabha election — only 25,606 came forward to vote out of 99,844 registered elector.
In 2014, a committee constituted by the ECI to probe methods to enable overseas voters’ concluded that proxy voting was the most viable, though some political parties objected to the idea.
In 2020, the ECI approached the Government to permit NRIs to vote via postal ballots, similar to the system already used by service voters, i.e., the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS), which allows registering their mandate on a downloaded ETPB and sending it to the returning officer of the constituency.

What is postal voting :

Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors (and typically returned) by post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system.

Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS)

The Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) is a secured system for Service Voters to cast their vote on an electronically received postal ballot, from anywhere outside their constituency, thus reducing the chances of losing the voting opportunity.

It was developed for the convenience of Service voters

Who is a Service Voter?

Persons working in Central Forces under Arms Act and Government officials deployed in Embassies outside the country are classified as Service Voters and are provisioned for online enrolment.

9. The harvest of polluted air

Context-

The haze and smoke over Delhi, which has become an annual event for about three weeks in October-November, has triggered a temporary ban on construction activities and the movement of trucks and diesel four-wheelers that do not comply with BS-VI norms.
The Supreme Court will hear a petition on agricultural stubble burning in the northern states, considered the prime reason for the extremely bad air quality in Delhi-NCR.

Is agricultural burning the main culprit?

While the region’s own pollution sources are a problem, stubble burning was an important factor in the deterioration of air quality in October-end and November.
At this time of the year, the burning of agricultural waste in Punjab and Haryana contributes 30-40% of the PM2.5 concentrations in Delhi’s air.
It is the single largest source of PM2.5 levels on most days during this period.
The concerted straw burning happens over a period of 10-15 days in 7-10 districts. The wind direction is also north-westerly and brings the plume of smoke from Punjab, through Haryana, to Delhi and then onwards to Kanpur and beyond.
According to IARI’s paddy straw burning monitoring portal, over 26,000 fire incidents have been observed in Punjab since September 15. In Haryana, 2,440 incidents have been observed.
Agricultural waste burning in Punjab and Haryana happens in the months of May and June as well but at that time, it accounts for about 15-20% of PM2.5 concentrations in Delhi’s air. So the air quality over the capital does not become this bad.

Role of weather in the rising pollution levels-

Weather plays a critical role as well — a 30-40% rise in pollutants at any other time of the year would not cause the same impact.
Hotter air rises higher above the surface and takes the pollutants along with it.
The polluting particles are lifted 2-3 km above the surface or even higher, before getting dispersed.
But during October-November the air is not that hot.
The pollutants are trapped and tend to get concentrated at lower levels of the atmosphere, resulting in the smoke and haze situation.

Delhi’s geographical location also makes it more susceptible to pollution-

With the Deccan Plateau, 500 km to its south and the Himalayas to its north, the region that stretches from Haryana to Bihar is a valley between two large structures.
Delhi, moreover, sits on the Aravallis, which has an elevation of a few hundred metres.
This makes Delhi a tabletop city of sorts.
It has a peculiar geography within the Indo-Gangetic Plains, landlocked from all sides.
This makes it more susceptible to these critical episodes.

But why is agricultural waste burned?

This waste is the remains of the paddy crop after it has been harvested.
This kind of burning is not specific only to Punjab or Haryana. However, the scale of burning in these states is much bigger than elsewhere.
Even in these states, this practice is relatively new. Even 10 years ago, the crop-burning problem was not this acute.
The burning is necessitated by the need to prepare the fields for the next crop in a very short window of time.
Due to a slight shift in the cropping pattern in these states, there is now very little time between the harvesting of one crop and the planting of the next crop.
The traditional method of manually uprooting, or cutting, the stumps of the previous crop is time-consuming and can delay the sowing of the next crop.
So farmers resort to the easier option of burning these remains.

Would the ban on construction and diesel vehicles work?

Construction has a small contribution to PM2.5 concentration.
The particles released from these activities are usually larger and add to PM10 concentrations.
The banning of construction is unlikely to have any significant impact on the prevailing situation.
Diesel vehicles, particularly older trucks, are indeed important contributors to high PM2.5 levels so a ban on their movement can help in improving the situation.
However, trucks are not allowed to move inside Delhi during the day in any case.

Is there no remedy for this situation?

Several solutions have been suggested and are being tried, for example, changing the crop cycle, deployment of mechanised equipment for harvesting that would render burning unnecessary, and conversion of this waste into something more useful, like a source of energy, which can become an incentive for not burning.
Experts over the years have suggested that farmers should move away from growing paddy in the quantities that they do, and shift to other crops such as maize, cotton, pulses and oil seeds.

To deal with the issue of stubble burning states, especially Punjab, should look at crop diversification.