1. E20 FUEL BY 2025
TAG: GS 3: ECONOMY
THE CONTEXT: India’s aim to cover the entire nation with E20 fuel by 2025.
EXPLANATION:
- India has started the rollout of E20 fuel.
- It aims to cover the entire nation by 2025.
- We must find ways to bridge technology gaps, promote energy security and work on diversifying supply chains.
E20 Fuel
- E20 fuel is a blend of 20% ethanol with petrol.
- It is a move toward cleaner transportation.
- Sales of electric vehicles in India are on the upswing, but most people can’t afford them. As a result, E20 or flex-fuel vehicles provide a wonderful option for cutting down on pollution without breaking the bank.
- India has achieved 10% ethanol blending in petrol by 2021-22.
Ethanol Blending Programme
- This programme is under the ambit of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
- The Government has advanced the target of 20% blending of ethanol from 2030 to 2025.
- Ethanol Blending programme has been a key focus area of the Government to achieve Aatmanirbhar in the field of energy.
- Due to the sustained efforts of the Government, Ethanol production capacity has seen six times increase since 2013-14.
- The achievements in the last eight years under Ethanol Blending Program & Biofuels Program have augmented India’s energy security.
India Energy Week (IEW)
- Prime Minister inaugurated India Energy Week (IEW) 2023 in Bengaluru, Karnataka, on 6thFeb 2023.
- IEW is aimed to showcase India’s rising prowess as an energy transition powerhouse.
- PM Launched E20 Fuel and Flagged off Green Mobility Rally.
- HPCL and other oil marketing companies are setting up 2G-3G ethanol plants that will facilitate the progress.
- It will help raise a lot of awareness in the Nation towards Green and Sustainable fuels.
Significance in Creating Sustainable Future
- The government of India’s policy push, like the Ethanol Blending Program and National Green Hydrogen Mission, will fuel the Indian economy towards its target of a 5 trillion-dollar economy and realizing Net Zero by 2070.
- It will help raise a lot of awareness in the Nation towards Green and Sustainable fuels.
- It will help in the achievement of the Paris Agreement Goals.
2. MARINE HEAT WAVES
TAG: GS 1: GEOGRAPHY
THE CONTEXT: The world is currently baking under the blazing sun. In April, it reached 21.1 degrees Celsius, breaking the previous record of 21 degrees Celsius in 2016. And since then, ocean temperatures have remained at record-high levels, giving rise to marine heat waves (MHWs) around the globe.
EXPLANATION:
- Sweltering temperatureshave induced extreme heat warnings, wildfires and poor air quality in different regions.
- At present, MHWs have gripped the north-east Pacific, the southern hemisphere in the southern Indian Ocean and the Pacific, the north-east Atlantic, tropical North Atlantic, and the Mediterranean.
- These disastrous consequences are set to become even worse as the world continues to get warmer, making MHWs more intense and longer.
What are marine heat waves?
- A marine heat wave is an extreme weather event.
- It occurs when the surface temperature of a particular region of the sea rises to 3 or 4 degrees Celsius above the average temperature for at least five days.
- MHWs can last for weeks, months or even years, according to the US government’s agency National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
What is the impact of marine heat waves on ocean life?
- It can be catastrophic for marine life. For instance, MHWs along the Western Australian coast during the summer of 2010 and 2011 caused some “devastating” fish kills over a short period and mainly within a particular area.
- It can lead to coral bleaching as when water gets too warm, they expel the algae known as zooxanthellae, living in their tissues, causing them to turn entirely white.
- Coral bleaching has severe consequences as it reduces the reproductivity of corals and makes them more vulnerable to fatal diseases.
- It also fuels the growth of invasive alien species, which can be destructive to marine food webs.
- It forces species to change their behaviour in a way that puts wildlife at increased risk of harm. For example, it has been linked to whale entanglements in fishing gear, according to a report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
- They may cause the deaths of several marine species, alter their migration patterns even impact weather patterns.
How do marine heat waves affect humans?
- When storms travel across hot oceans, they gather more water vapour and heat. This results in more powerful winds, heavier rainfall and more flooding when storms reach the land meaning heightened devastation for humans.
- Higher ocean temperatures, which are associated with MHWs, can make storms like hurricanes and tropical cyclones stronger, which can severely affect coastal communities.
- According to NOAA, half a billion people depend on coral reefs for food, income, and protection. So, when MHWs destroy these reefs, humans relying on them also bear the brunt.
3. STAR-C INITIATIVE
TAG: GS 2: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; GS 3: ENVIRONMENT
THE CONTEXT: Following the Prime Minister’s participation in a summit with Pacific Island countries, India is considering expanding its solar STAR-C initiative to a number of Pacific Island countries.
EXPLANATION:
- India’s efforts will primarily be focused on economic development, connectivity and climate change. The expansion of the STAR-C initiative will form a key part of that outreach. In the Pacific, it currently runs in Tonga.
- The government announced a 12-step action plan for the islands, which included solar power projects. India has also emphasized the importance of working with Pacific Island countries on climate change and renewable energy in recent years.
What is the STAR-C initiative?
- It is an initiative by ISA and United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and the funding for the project is provided by both India and France.
- Its major objective is to create a strong network of institutional capacities within ISA Member States.
- It aims to enhance quality infrastructure (QI) for the uptake of solar energy products and service markets, particularly in least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing states (SIDS).
- It aims to boost capacity in developing countries by building solar workforces, standardizing products, setting up infrastructure and bringing greater awareness among policymakers.
- In its initial stages, the focus was on the Economic Community of West African States, the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and the East African Community.
International Solar Alliance (ISA)
- The alliance is also called International Agency for Solar Policy and Application (IASPA).
- It is an alliance of 114 signatory countries, most being sunshine countries, which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.
- The primary objective of the alliance is to work for efficient consumption of solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
- The alliance is a treaty-based inter-governmental organization. Countries that do not fall within the Tropics can join the alliance and enjoy all benefits as other members, with the exception of voting rights.
- The initiative was launched at the India Africa Summit and a meeting of member countries ahead of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in November 2015.
- In January 2016, the Indian Prime Minister and the then-French President jointly laid the foundation stone of the ISA Headquarters and inaugurated the interim Secretariat at the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) in Gurugram, Haryana.
4. CREDIT GUARANTEE SCHEME FOR LIVESTOCK SECTOR
TAG: GS 3: ECONOMY
THE CONTEXT: Government launches first-ever credit guarantee scheme for collateral-free loans to livestock MSMEs.
EXPLANATION:
- It has been launched by the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD) under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.
- The scheme is set up under the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) under Prime Minister’s Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan stimulus package and aims to facilitate collateral-free credit for MSMEs in the livestock sector.
- A credit guarantee fund trust of Rs 750 crores has been set up for credit guarantee coverage of up to 25 per cent of loans disbursed to MSMEs by eligible banks and other lending institutions.
- The primary aim of the scheme is for the lender to focus on project viability and secure the credit facility only based on the primary security of the assets financed.
- The credit guarantee scheme facilitates access to finance for the un-served and under-served livestock sector.
- Eligible beneficiaries for the availability of financial assistance from lenders are mainly first-generation entrepreneurs and underprivileged sections of society who lack collateral security for supporting their ventures. The aim is to incentivize investments by entrepreneurs, private firms, MSMEs, Farmers’ Producers Organizations (FPOs) and Section 8 companies.
- It aims to establish dairy processing and value addition infrastructure; meat processing and value addition infrastructure; animal feed plants; breed improvement technology and breed multiplication farm; etc.
- A credit guarantee portal has been developed as a rule-based B2B portal and implemented the enrollment of eligible lending institutions under the credit guarantee scheme, issuance/renewal of credit guarantee cover and settlement of claims.
- It will greatly increase the participation of MSMEs engaged in the livestock sector, leading to increased flow of credit to the sector and strengthening the MSMEs to boost the overall rural economy.
Status of the Livestock sector in India:
- Livestock plays an important role in the Indian economy. About 20.5 million people depend upon livestock for their livelihood.
- Livestock contributed 16% to the income of small farm households as against an average of 14% for all rural households.
- Livestock provides livelihood to two-thirds of the rural communities.
- It also provides employment to about 8.8 % of the population in India. India has vast livestock resources. The livestock sector contributes 4.11% of GDP and 25.6% of total Agriculture GDP.
Other initiatives in Livestock Sector:
- National Livestock Mission: It was launched in the financial year 2014-15 and seeks to ensure quantitative and qualitative improvement in livestock production systems and capacity building of all stakeholders. The scheme was implemented as a sub-scheme of the White Revolution – Rashtriya Pashudhan Vikas Yojana in April 2019. It aims for Employment generation through entrepreneurship development in the small ruminant, poultry and piggery sector & Fodder sector.
- Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund: It has been announced under NABARD to ensure that Dairy Cooperatives remain competitive for the sustained benefit of farmers in the Union Budget of 2017-18. Funding is in the form of an interest-bearing loan, which will flow from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) / National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) and, in turn to eligible End Borrowers.
5. INDIA CLIMATE ENERGY DASHBOARD (ICED)
TAG: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT
THE CONTEXT: Recently, NITI Aayog has released the India Climate Energy Dashboard (ICED) 3.0.
EXPLANATION:
- Developed as a user-friendly platform, ICED 3.0 enables users to freely access and analyse datasets using an analytical engine.
- It will facilitate insights and enhance understanding about the energy and climate sectors while identifying the key challenges.
- The portal will draw insights from the available data parameters and hence immensely useful in monitoring the progress of India’s clean energy transition journey.
India Climate Energy Dashboard (ICED):
- It is the country’s one-stop platform for near real-time data on the energy sector, climate, and related economic datasets based on government-published sources.
- It contains real-time information on energy, climate, economy and demography of the country, sourced from govt sources.
- It has been set up by NITI Aayog in collaboration with the energy and climate think-tank Vasudha Foundation.
- It is claimed to aid the policymakers, the general public, and energy and climate trackers to track the latest information on these topics, compiled from different ministries.
- The portal offers specialized, customized information sets which can be visualized with the help of maps, graphs and other visual elements.
- This dashboard empowers users with more than 500 parameters, over 2000 infographics, and several interactive visualizations, allowing users to gain a holistic understanding of India’s energy sector holistically.
- It is a user-friendly platform that aims to bring together comprehensive and time series data from 2005 onwards to provide single window access for all datasets on these topics required for their modelling assessments and research.
- It offers insightful analysis of India’s energy, climate, and relevant economy-related aspects
- and further act as a pillar for robust decision-making enabling India’s clean energy transition,
- Besides energy and climate.
- It also offers information on economy and demography for comparative study and its combined analysis along with the energy and climate issues.
