FLOODS IN KERALA

Kerala is once again faced with flooding-like conditions brought on by heavy monsoon rains, similar to the one in 2018.

Additionally, a low-pressure system is forecast to build over the Bay of Bengal in the next two to three days, which is likely to make the rains worse.

Reason for Kerala flood

Condition of Dams:

• The state of Kerala has 54 dams and out of which the majority of dams were opened because of heavy rainfall.

Over Population:

• Kerala is at position three in terms of population and therefore it is one of the most densely populated states of India.

Deforestation:

• The green cover in the state of Kerala has been eliminated since independence. In early 1900, the area which was covered under the Green cover was around 8 lakh hectares which are now reduced to 1 lakh hectares only.

Changing the Flow of Rivers:

• Kerala is a state of rivers. This state is in the third position in India with a maximum number of rivers. Many development activities on the flood plains and encroachment over the river basins have led to a rise in floods.

Mismanagement of Dams:

• There is a total number of 42 dams in Kerala and from these 11 are situated in Palakkad and 12 are situated in Idukki. During the time of heavy rainfall, the state was forced to open the gates of the majority of dams out of 42 dams which causes floods.

Unplanned Development:

• The failure of flood control structures, unplanned reservoir operations, inadequate drainage infrastructure, deforestation, changes in land use, and sedimentation in riverbeds all contribute to unplanned development, encroachments in riparian zones, and increased risk of flooding.
• When there has been a lot of rain, the river has breached the embankments and destroyed homes on the sandbars and along the banks.

Unplanned Urbanization:

• Flooding has become a common occurrence in cities and towns.
• The reason for this is indiscriminate encroachment of waterways and wetlands, inadequate capacity of drains, and lack of maintenance of the drainage infrastructure.

Poor waste management

• Poor waste management also exacerbates the problem by blocking drains, canals, and lakes, leading to flooding.

Gadgil Committee Recommendations Not Obeyed:

• The Madhav Gadgil committee suggested 2011 designating an area of about 1,30,000 square kilometres as an environmentally sensitive zone (spanning Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu).

• However, none of the six states—Kerala in particular—agreed with its suggestions, which included a ban on mining, restrictions on development, and embargoes on hydroelectricity projects.
• The regular floods and landslides that have resulted from this neglect are now readily apparent.

About Floods

• It is the overflow of water onto typically dry terrain. Floods can happen during torrential rainfall, as a result of ocean waves hitting the shore, fast snowmelt, or when dams or levees fail.
• Even a few inches of water can cause destructive floods, or the water can reach a house's roof.
• Floods can happen suddenly or gradually over a long period of time, lasting for days, weeks, or even longer. Of all weather-related natural disasters, floods are the most prevalent and extensive.
• The most hazardous floods are flash floods, which combine extreme speed with a flood's destructive strength.

Way forward

• To ensure the prompt opening of dam spillways and develop holding capacity in the reservoirs to absorb surplus rainfall, there is unquestionably a rationale for increased coordination between forecasting agencies and reservoir management authorities.
• To ensure disaster preparedness, a comprehensive flood control plan is also required.
• Affordable housing is the first aspect of urban growth that must be addressed to prepare for future climate change.
• The best illustration of how to survive calamities is Japan, which experiences earthquakes and even tsunamis more frequently than other countries.
• In policy and law, it should be made very clear how to manage watersheds and create an emergency drainage plan.
• When creating a drainage plan, it is important to take into account natural limits like watersheds rather than political boundaries like election wards.

ANTI TANK GUIDED MISSILE (ATGM)

Recently, the Main Battle Tank (MBT) Arjun successfully test-fired locally manufactured Laser-Guided Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM).

The Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has successfully tested laser-guided anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) that were built indigenously.

About ATGM

• The main purpose of ATGMs is to strike and obliterate strongly fortified military vehicles.
• The missiles may be fired and transported by a single soldier, as opposed to bigger tripod-based weapons that need to be transported and fired by a squad or team, as well as missile systems installed on vehicles and aircraft.
• These guided missiles use an electro-optical imager (IIR), a laser, or a W-band radar seeker as their primary means of navigation.
• These are "fire-and-forget" missiles, which allow the operator to retire immediately after firing because no more guidance is needed.

Capabilities:

• To attack explosive reactive armor (ERA)-protected armored vehicles, the all-indigenous Laser Guided ATGM uses a tandem High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) warhead.
• The ATGM was created with the flexibility to launch from multiple platforms.

India's current situation is:

Technical evaluation tests using the 120 mm rifled cannon of the MBT Arjun are now being conducted on it.

Through the trial, the ATGM's capacity to engage targets at any range has been demonstrated.

Laser-Guided ATGM:

The all-indigenous Laser Guided ATGM employs a tandem High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) warhead to defeat the Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) protected armored vehicles.

The ATGM has been developed with multi-platform launch capability and is currently undergoing technical evaluation trials from the 120 mm rifled gun of MBT Arjun.

Other anti-tank missiles:

HELINA

• It was created and developed for incorporation into the weaponized version of the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), and its maximum range is seven kilometers.
• The missile system can operate in any weather conditions, day or night, and can destroy battle tanks equipped with both conventional and explosive reactive armors.

HELINA (Helicopter-based NAG)

• It is a third-generation fire and forget class Anti-tank Guided Missile (ATGM) system mounted on the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH).

MPATGM

• It stands for Man-Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile which has a range of 2.5 kilometers, with fire-and-forget and top attack capabilities for infantry use.???????

SANT

• It is a Smart Stand-off Anti-Tank Missile being developed for launch from the Mi-35 Helicopter for the Air Force’s anti-tank operations.

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CLIMATE TARGET 2030

Recently, India has enhanced its climate change targets for 2030.

The Prime Minister of India made a number of new commitments to strengthen climate action from India at UNFCCC COP 26 (Click on the blue link to understand all about COP 26 and Climate Change before going through this topic) in Glasgow in 2021.

Revised target

Emission Intensity:

• India currently pledges to reduce GDP emissions intensity (emissions per unit of GDP) by at least 45% from 2005 levels.
• Currently, a 33–35 per cent reduction was the goal.

Energy generation

• India has also committed to making sure that by 2030, at least half of its installed energy generation capacity will be based on non-fossil fuel sources.
• This is higher than the current objective of 40%.

Significance of this move

• The revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) aim to increase India's contributions to the Paris Agreement's goal of strengthening the international response to the challenge of climate change.
• The NDCs represent each nation's efforts to lower national emissions and prepare for the effects of climate change.
• Such a move will also assist India in establishing growth routes with minimal emissions.
• The highest level of commitment to decoupling economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions will be shown by India's new NDCs.
• The Net Zero target by 2030 set by Indian Railways alone will result in a yearly emissions reduction of 60 million tonnes as a result of the updated NDCs.

Other targets

• Increase non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW (gigawatts) by 2030.
• Reduce the total projected carbon emissions by 1 billion tonnes (BT) by 2030.
• Achieve net zero carbon by 2070

Initiative toward climate change

Reforms in the transportation sector:

• With the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles Scheme, India is hastening the adoption of e-mobility.
• The present programmes are supplemented by a voluntary vehicle scrapping policy to phase out outdated and unsafe automobiles.

Support for EVs in India:

• India is one of a small number of nations that back the global EV30@30 movement, which seeks to have at least 30% of new vehicle sales be electric by 2030.
• At the UNFCCC COP26 in Glasgow, India endorsed the "Panchamrit" or five elements for combating climate change.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana

• It has assisted 88 million people in switching from coal-based cooking fuel to LPG connections, which is the role of government programmes.

The mission of hydrogen energy

• To concentrate on producing hydrogen using renewable energy sources.

Perform, Achieve, and Trade (PAT)

• It is a market-based approach that aims to both accelerate and reward energy efficiency in major energy-intensive businesses.

What are the Important Highlights of UNFCCC COP 26?

Glasgow, UK hosted the 26th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2021.

Agenda of meeting

• New International and National Goals:
• The Glasgow Summit asked nations to think about enhancing their 2030 goals by COP27, which will be held in Egypt in 2022.
• The summit's goal was to limit global warming to +1.5°C, and it succeeded in persuading around 140 nations to set goals for achieving net-zero emissions by specific dates.
• The accomplishment is notable because, according to the Paris Agreement, poor nations only agreed to cut the "emissions-intensity" of GDP, not emissions.
• India has likewise declared its 2070 net-zero goal and joined the agreement.???????

Agenda for Glasgow's Breakthrough:

The Glasgow Breakthrough Agenda, supported by 42 countries, is a potentially significant development that came out of COP26 (but outside of the COP framework) (including India).

Reduced Coal Use:

• Because coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel, it should be phased out as soon as possible.
• Developing nations have rejected the European Union's strong drive for its phase-out.
• At the COP26, a "phase-down" of coal-based electricity was referred to as the intermediate road, as proposed by India.

The ideal case scenario

• According to a preliminary analysis by the independent organization Climate Action Tracker (CAT), the declared targets, if completely attained, could keep global warming to a maximum of +1.8°C.
• The targets for 2030 are not sufficiently aggressive, it further cautions. Global temperature increases of 2.1°C to 2.4°C are more likely to occur unless severe restrictions are put in place.

EXTERNAL SECTOR REPORT 2022: IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released its 2022 External Sector Report and advises India to roll back stimulus packages gradually.

Highlight of report

Fiscal and monetary policy stimulus

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) advised India to progressively reduce monetary and fiscal policy support.
• Governmental intervention to promote private sector economic activity through the use of focused, expansionary monetary or fiscal policy is known as "economic stimulus."
• Central banks often implement monetary policy, which is largely concerned with managing interest rates and the total amount of money in circulation.
• The word "fiscal policy" refers to a government's overall taxing and spending decisions.

Infrastructure for export

• To maintain a favorable external sector balance over the longer term, India should expand its export infrastructure and increase shipments by signing free trade agreements with important trading partners.

Liberalization

• Additional investment regime liberalization and tariff reductions, particularly for intermediate goods, should proceed hand in hand with India.

Rupee appreciation vs the dollar

• Forex market interventions should only be used to deal with chaotic market situations.
• It is less necessary to accumulate more reserves because the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) currently has a healthy level of foreign exchange reserves notwithstanding recent declines (they are still sufficient to cover eight months of imports) accumulation of additional reserves is less warranted.

Structural alterations

• Structural improvements may increase FDI and deepen integration within global value networks.

The Current Account Deficit in India (CAD)

• According to the Fund, India's current account deficit (CAD) will increase from $38 billion (1.2 percent of GDP) in the previous fiscal year to $108 billion (3.1 percent of GDP) in FY23.
• The increase in the CAD this year mainly reflects how the conflict in Ukraine has affected oil prices.
• Import tariff while remaining far below the WTO-allowed level for the nation, India's average applicable import duty increased to 18.3% percent in 2021 from 15 percent the previous year.

The position of the nation's net foreign investment

• The factor that improved to -11.1 percent of GDP at the end of 2021 from -13.5 percent the year before is typically the difference between its external financial assets and liabilities.

Way forward

• IMF's recommendation for the removal of fiscal and monetary restrictions: The RBI has already hiked interest rates by 90 basis points since May, and another 35 to 50 bps increase is generally anticipated.
• Some of the liquidity measures should come to an end: Additionally, it has put an end to some of the liquidity restrictions put in place during the pandemic.
• The fiscal policies were primarily intended to increase supply rather than demand.
• The CAD of India is generally consistent with the country's level of per capita income, favorable growth prospects, demographic patterns, and development requirements.
• External vulnerabilities are caused by the erratic nature of the world economy and the sharp rise in commodity prices.
• In comparison to its counterparts, India's external debt obligations are "modest," and the danger of short-term rollover is minimal

IMF

• In the wake of the 1930s Great Depression, IMF was founded in 1944 at a summit in Bretton Woods, New York.
• The IMF and the World Bank are also known as the Bretton Woods twins, as both were the outcome of the summit.
• Its 190 member nations, which represent a nearly global membership, are in charge of it and are responsible to them.
• India joined the group in December 1945.
• Goal: To maintain the stability of the international monetary system, which facilitates trade between nations and their inhabitants through the use of exchange rates and international payments.
• All macroeconomic and financial sector issues that affect global stability were included in its 2012 mandate.
• Financing: The IMF's resources mainly come from the money that countries pay as their capital subscription (quotas) when they become members.
• Each member of the IMF is assigned a quota, based broadly on its relative position in the world economy.
• Countries can then borrow from this pool when they fall into financial difficulty.

Publications:

• World Economic Outlook
• Global Financial Stability Report
• Fiscal Monitor
• Global Policy Agenda

Shrimad Rajchandra Mission

The Prime Minister of India inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of various projects of the Shrimad Rajchandra Mission worth more than 300 crore rupees at Dharampur in Gujarat.

About Shrimad Rajchandra Mission

• Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur is a spiritual movement for inner transformation through wisdom, meditation, and selfless service.
• Founded by Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji, the organization works through 196 centers on five continents.

About Shrimad Rajchandraji

• He was a self-realized saint, a reformer of Jainism, and a remarkable poet-philosopher of the late 19th century.
• He gave the world a rich heritage that guides generations of seekers.
• He was a visionary who laid the foundations of spirituality for a new era.
• Honoured as Yugpurush, he gave the world a rich heritage that continues to guide generations of seekers, in a short span of 34 years.
• His life and works are an invitation to turn within and discover the eternal truths.???????