Daily Prelims Notes 7 April 2024

April 7, 2024
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

No Comments

Daily Prelims Notes

7 April 2024

Table Of Contents

1. India Employment Report 2024

Subject: Economy

Section: Unemployment and Inflation

Highlights:

Key labor market indicators have shown improvement recently.
Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Workforce Participation Rate (WPR), and Unemployment Rate (UR) deteriorated between 2000 and 2019 but improved thereafter.

Women’s Participation:

Female LFPR is significantly lower compared to male counterparts.
In 2023, male LFPR was 78.5, while female LFPR was 37.
World female LFPR rate is 49.
Female LFPR declined since 2000, reaching 24.5 in 2019, before a slight increase.
Increase in labor force participation, especially in rural areas, mostly in self-employment (often unpaid).

Reasons for Low Women’s Participation:

Barriers include lack of jobs, caregiving duties at home, low wages, patriarchal mindsets, and safety concerns.
Economist Jayati Ghosh notes women squeezed out of employment due to scarcity of paid work.
Prof. Basole cites reasons on supply and demand side:
India’s growth pattern not job-intensive.
Social norms limit women’s mobility and make them primary caregivers.
Concerns over public safety and lack of transport confine job options.

Insights from Economics Nobel Laureate Claudia Goldin:

Factors influencing supply and demand for female labor include:
Opportunities for combining paid work and family.
Decisions related to education and childrearing.
Technical innovations, laws, and norms.
Structural transformation of the economy.
Women’s choices often limited by marriage and responsibilities for home and family.

Needed Changes:

Interventions required on both demand and supply sides of the labor market.
Prof. Basole suggests policies promoting labor-intensive sectors, public investment in safety, transport, and affordable child and elderly care.
These interventions can enable women to work outside the home and access better-paying opportunities.

Improving women’s participation in the labor force involves addressing various barriers such as societal norms, safety concerns, lack of job opportunities, and caregiving responsibilities. Effective policies and interventions are needed to create an environment where women can work outside the home and access better-paying opportunities.

Goldin’s U-Curve

The Goldin’s U-Curve, named after Claudia Goldin, an American economist, refers to a theory that suggests how the gender wage gap changes over the course of a woman’s career.

This theory is often used to explain the phenomenon where the wage gap between men and women widens during the early and middle stages of a woman’s career and then narrows again as she reaches higher levels of seniority.

Early Career:
- At the beginning of a woman’s career, the wage gap between men and women tends to be smaller. This is because women and men often have similar education levels and job roles at this stage.
- Factors such as education, skills, and experience are more comparable among individuals starting out in their careers, leading to a smaller observed wage gap.
Mid-Career:
- As individuals progress in their careers, differences in career interruptions and work-life balance choices start to emerge.
- Women may be more likely to take time off for caregiving responsibilities, such as raising children or caring for elderly relatives.
- These interruptions can lead to slower wage growth or fewer opportunities for promotions, widening the gender wage gap during the mid-career stage.
Later Career:
- As women reach higher levels of seniority in their careers, the gender wage gap tends to narrow again.
- At this stage, women who have remained in the workforce often have more negotiating power, experience, and proven track records of success.
- Factors such as seniority, leadership roles, and specialized skills become more important, leading to a narrowing of the wage gap.

2. The all-weather road gives a strategic fillip to Ladakh

Subject: Geography

Section: Mapping

Context:

Border Road Organisation’s (BRO) recent accomplishment in Ladakh involves connecting Himachal Pradesh and Leh through the Nimmu-Padam-Darcha road, enhancing strategic depth and security logistics.

Nimmu-Padam-Darcha road:

The development facilitates a safer location for an ordnance depot in the Zanskar Valley, away from China and Pakistan’s observation.
Nimmu village is in Indus Valley, Padam village is in Zanskar Valley, Kargil district of Ladakh, and Darcha village is in Lahul-Spiti Valley of Himachal Pradesh.
The road includes the world’s highest tunnel at Shinku La Pass (16,580 feet), promoting surface movement from Leh to Lahaul-Spiti, and is under construction with expected completion by 2025.
This initiative marks the first all-weather road connection between Ladakh and the rest of India, addressing logistics challenges during Ladakh’s harsh winters.
The Nimmu-Padam-Darcha road is the shortest of three axes to Ladakh, significantly reducing distance compared to existing routes, thereby enhancing troop mobilization speed and safety.
However, the project has sparked concerns among locals about potential cultural and environmental impacts, including landscape changes in Zanskar and unnecessary construction in the Kargil-Zanskar section.
Mountain passes along the road:
- Rohtang Pass
- Baralacha la
- Nakee la
- Lachulung la
- Tanglang la
- Fotu la
- Namika la
- Zoji la
- Pensi la
- Shinku la/Shingo la

Source: TH

3. States offer up thousands of hectares of ‘degraded’ forest land for green credits

Subject: Schemes

Section: Environment

Context:

Ten states have identified around 3,853 hectares of degraded forest land for the Green Credit Programme (GCP), with Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh contributing up to 40% of this land.

Green Credit Programme:

It was first announced by the Union Finance Minister in the 2023-24 budget to leverage a competitive market-based approach and incentivise voluntary environmental actions of various stakeholders.
Green Credit is an incentive that individuals, farmer-producer organisations (FPO), industries, and rural and urban local bodies, among other stakeholders, will be able to earn for environment-positive actions.
By ‘green credit’, the government means a singular unit of an incentive provided for a specified activity, delivering a positive impact on the environment.
Apart from incentivising individual/community behaviour, the Green Credit Programme will encourage private sector industries and companies as well as other entities to meet their existing obligations, stemming from other legal frameworks, by taking actions which are able to converge with activities relevant to generating or buying green credits.
The activities include:
- Tree plantation, Water, Sustainable agriculture, Waste management, Air pollution reduction, Mangrove conservation and restoration, Ecomark, Sustainable building and infrastructure.
The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education shall be the administrator of the programme. The institute will develop guidelines, processes and procedures for the implementation of the programme and develop methodologies and standards, registration process and associated measurement, reporting and verification mechanisms.
The green credits will be tradable and those earning it will be able to put these credits up for sale on a proposed domestic market platform.
Concern include:
- Greenwashing
- Maintenance and monitoring challenges
- Fraud in the utility of resources

Guidelines for implementation of the Green Credit Programme (GCP):

The GCP allows entities to finance afforestation on designated lands, with state forest departments executing the planting.
Two years post-planting, the International Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) will evaluate the efforts, and each tree could translate into one ‘green credit’.
Companies that have cleared forest land for development can use these credits to meet their compensatory afforestation obligations.

Compensatory afforestation:

Industries or institutions clearing forest land for non-forestry purposes must provide equivalent non-forest land for afforestation, or double the area in degraded forest land if non-forest land isn’t available.
They are also required to compensate for the forest ecosystem’s loss, paying for the ‘net present value’ lost due to land diversion.
States like Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh face challenges in finding contiguous non-forest land for compensatory afforestation, often due to historical land diversion for mining.
The Compensatory Afforestation Fund, filled with compensation money from companies, remains largely unspent due to the scarcity of suitable land for forest regeneration.

Creating new land banks:

Green credits aim to promote private investment in afforestation, aligning with PM Narendra Modi’s calls for sustainable lifestyles and valuing activities like tree planting.
Experts caution against assigning a monetary value to green credits, as linking them to compensatory afforestation could lead to creating land banks prone to commercial exploitation.
This could paradoxically increase forest land diversion, contradicting the goal of compensatory afforestation laws designed to discourage using forest land for commercial purposes.

Source: TH

4. Will new solar power rules boost production?

Subject: Economy

Section: External Sector

Context:

To incentivise India’s solar module manufacturing industry, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has brought into effect from April 1 an executive order, The Approved Models and Manufacturers of Solar Photovoltaic Modules (Requirements for Compulsory Registration) Order, 2019.

What is the context of the executive order?

The executive order, issued by the MNRE in 2019, mandates solar module manufacturers to undergo facility inspections by the National Institute of Solar Energy to be listed as ‘approved’ producers, distinguishing them from mere importers or assemblers.
This measure addresses concerns within India’s solar industry, which, despite its claims of self-sufficiency, relies heavily on importing cheaper, quality solar modules from China due to local production of cells and modules not meeting demand.
India aims to significantly increase its solar installation by 2030 but faces challenges in producing the necessary raw materials like ingots and wafers, resulting in dependence on imported cells.

Why is India reliant on imports?

India’s reliance on imports, especially from China, is due to efforts to reduce dependency on a country that controls about 80% of the global supply, amidst strained diplomatic relations.
India’s ambitious goal to source nearly 500 GW of its electricity from non-fossil fuels by 2030, with at least 280 GW from solar power, necessitates adding about 40 GW of solar capacity annually until 2030.
The past five years have seen a maximum addition of 13 GW annually, partly attributed to COVID-19 disruptions, highlighting the gap between domestic production capabilities and the solar panels and cells needed to meet these targets.

If the list is voluntary why pay to be on it?

Being listed as an approved manufacturer is voluntary but crucial for eligibility in government solar energy tenders, such as the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, which subsidizes rooftop solar installations with an estimated ₹75,000 crore subsidy for about one crore households.
Only domestic manufacturers on the Approved Models and Manufacturers (AMM) list can participate in this and the PM KUSUM scheme, which supports solar pump sets and rural electrification.
Additionally, the ₹24,000 crore Production Linked Incentive Scheme aims to boost domestic solar panel and component production, requiring manufacturers to be verified as local producers.
So far, 14 major companies have qualified for incentives to produce solar modules totalling 48 GW, though these restrictions only apply to new projects, with facilities commissioned before March 2024 allowed to use imported modules.

Is India’s manufacturing capacity adequate?

Last year, India benefited from reduced global orders to China, exporting nearly $1 billion worth of solar modules in six months due to concerns over forced labour in Xinjiang. However, potential U.S. policy changes could reintroduce uncertainty for Indian exports.
Despite these exports, around half of India’s solar modules are imported from China, with the demand-supply gap expected to continue.
The Indian government anticipates a rise in domestic manufacturing capacity starting this year, with 82 manufacturers now certified on the AMM list by the MNRE.
Nonetheless, the absence of a similar list for solar cell manufacturers indicates India’s ongoing struggle to achieve substantial self-reliance in solar component production.

PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana:

The scheme Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, with an investment of over Rs. 75,000 crores, aims to light up 1 crore households by providing up to 300 units of free electricity every month.
The scheme aims to incentivise the adoption of solar energy among residential consumers, promoting sustainability and reducing reliance on conventional energy sources.
It is a grid connected rooftop solar PV system, where the DC power generated from a solar panel converted to AC power using a power conditioning unit/Inverter and is fed to the grid.
All stakeholders will be integrated into a National Online Portal.
In order to popularize this scheme at the grassroots, Urban Local Bodies and Panchayats shall be incentivised to promote rooftop solar systems in their jurisdictions.
The scheme will lead to more income, lesser power bills and employment generation for people.
Under the scheme, subsidies will be given directly to people’s bank accounts.
The government has appointed eight central public sector undertakings (CPSUs) to implement the scheme across all states and union territories of the country.
These include NTPC, NHPC, EESL, PowerGrid, Grid-India, THDC, SJVN and NEEPCO.
These CPSUs will be responsible for the installation of rooftop solar in one crore households.
Under rooftop installation, solar photovoltaic (PV) panels are fixed atop a building, home, or a residential property

Source: TH

5. Influenza A H5N1 was detected in dairy cows in six States in the U.S.

Subject: Science and tech

Section: Health

Context:

In March 2024, the first detection of H5N1 in dairy cows occurred in the U.S., with outbreaks in Texas and Kansas and cases in six states overall, affecting the dairy and meat industries.

Avian Influenza spreading globally and affecting different species:

A new lineage (2.3.4.4b) of avian influenza (Bird flu), spreading globally since late 2020 via migratory birds, has impacted birds worldwide, with economic losses and ecological damage. Rarely, it has infected mammals, including over 200 species and recently polar bears in Antarctica, with potential spillover to humans having a high fatality rate.
In Texas, wild birds and cats near affected farms also tested positive for H5N1, with the full extent of cow infections unknown due to mild symptoms and lack of routine testing.
A human H5N1 case was reported in Texas in April 2024, linked to contact with infected cows, marking the second U.S. case following one in Colorado in 2022. Human infections are rare, with over 800 cases reported to the WHO since 2003, showcasing a variety of symptoms and a 53% case-fatality ratio.
Southeast Asia raised concerns in January 2024 with two human H5N1 cases in Cambodia, one fatal, and a recent fatal case in Vietnam, highlighting the ongoing threat of this virus to both animals and humans.

Genomic insights:

Sequencing of H5N1 from Texas cows and a human case showed both belonged to clade 2.3.4.4b, with a minor mutation in the human strain potentially indicating adaptation to mammals, though not increasing human transmissibility. CDC maintains the public health risk is low.
Since late 2021, this clade has been in U.S. wild birds, causing poultry outbreaks and rare mammal infections, including the Texas cases.
Global incidents in 2023, like seal deaths in Russia and marine mammal infections in Peru, alongside U.K. reports of otter and fox deaths from H5N1, indicate a potential for cross-species transmission.
The ongoing situation underscores the importance of continued disease surveillance and genomic analysis to manage and understand H5N1’s evolution and interspecies adaptability.

Highly pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI):

The viral disease HPIA or avian influenza, especially the H5 and H7 strains, mostly affects birds.
These strains are highly pathogenic and have been reported in domestic poultry, resulting in high mortality if they manage to reach wild bird populations.
It spreads among birds and mammals due to predators and scavengers feeding on infected birds. Marine mammals have also been found to be infected.
Earlier, HPAI H5N1 spread rapidly in South America and the southern end of the continent to Tierra del Fuego and led to mass scale death of South American Sea lions. The Falkland Islands are at the most risk.
Threatened species from HPAI:
- Avian groups like gulls and skuas, birds of prey such as hawks and caracaras, terns and shorebirds.
- Among marine mammals, fur seals, sea lions, southern elephant seals and dolphins.
- It can spread to humans also.

Source: TH

6. Kerala researchers batting for better understanding of the flying mammal

Subject: Environment

Section: Species in news

Context:

The Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment and the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), Peechi, Thrissur, have recently organized training programmes on bat taxonomy, acoustics and biogeography.

More on news:

Myth, superstition, and zoonotic diseases such COVID-19 and the Nipah virus infection, have created a negative impression of bats.
The fallout is that these nocturnal, flying mammals are losing their habitat and their numbers are falling.
Taxonomy forms the foundation of bat research and conservation efforts.
Proper identification and classification of bat species are essential for implementing effective conservation strategies and understanding their ecological roles
The campaign originated from the pressing need to address the challenges posed by emerging zoonotic diseases and the ongoing threats faced by bat populations, including habitat loss and the cutting down of fruit bat roosts.
Under clear-the-air campaign for bats, a team from Kerala is on a mission to train the next generation of bat researchers and to create awareness about the species’ diversity and ecosystem functions.

About Citizen Science:

Citizen science can be used as a methodology where public volunteers help in collecting and classifying data, improving the scientific community’s capacity.

About National Bat Monitoring Programme:

The National Bat Monitoring Programme has been running since 1996.
It gives us, and the government, the information needed to help inform bat conservation.
The programme was supported by the Conservation Leadership Programme and Bat Conservation International.
The fallout is that these nocturnal, flying mammals are losing their habitat and their numbers are falling.

Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) initiatives:

The first is a long-term study that focuses on the community ecology of bats in Kerala across various vegetational gradients.
The second is on participatory conservation efforts for Salim Ali’s fruit bat, the only endangered bat species in Kerala, with support from the Conservation Leadership Programme.
The third is a citizen science programme called the Indian Fruit Bat Project launched in June 2022.
This project aims to map and conserve the roosting sites of Indian flying fox, one of the world’s largest bats, which is threatened by hunting for meat and cutting down of habitat trees.

7. CAA Rules open the door to dual citizenship by not requiring renunciation of previous citizenship, anti-CAA petitioners tell SC

Subject: Polity

Section: Constitution

Context:

Written submissions filed by the petitioners ahead of the April 9 hearing of their plea to stay the CAA Rules, said that Section 9 of the Citizenship Act of 1955 and Article 9 of the Constitution both clearly and explicitly prohibit the acquisition of dual citizenship.

CAA and Dual Citizenship:

The Rules of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act do not require foreign applicants to effectively renounce the citizenship of their native country, creating a possibility for dual citizenship.
Creating a possibility for dual citizenship which is directly violative of the Citizenship Act.
Section 9 of the Citizenship Act of 1955 and Article 9 of the Constitution both clearly and explicitly prohibit the acquisition of dual citizenship.
Allowing dual citizenship, one of them being Indian, makes the Rules both “ultra vires and manifestly arbitrary”

About CAA:

The CAA aims to grant fast-tracked Indian citizenship to “illegal migrants” belonging to persecuted members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, or Pakistan who had entered India on or before December 31, 2014.

Exclusions from CAA:

Excluded refugee groups continue to remain illegal migrants, barred from seeking Indian citizenship under any mode.
Even while including Pakistan in the list of countries, it fails to extend protection to the Ahmadiyya community which is one of the most persecuted groups in Pakistan.
Refugees from Myanmar are excluded, though the country was a part of British India till 1935.
The CAA and its Rules exclude Sri Lanka, a neighboring country where Tamil Hindus are under persecution.
It excludes China which is a border country where Buddhists and Uighur Muslims are persecuted.
It excludes Jews who have experienced discrimination over decades,” the petitioners pointed out.
Statement of Objects and Reasons of CAA mentions ‘Partition’ and ‘undivided India’ as the reason for the selection of non-Muslims as a protected class of refugees, the CAA included Afghanistan which was not a part of undivided India.