THE CONTEXT: The discontentment with growth not being beneficial to all became a highly debated topic in the past few years and the arena of policymaking also focused on reforms in a situation where India achieved higher economic growth but sluggish poverty reduction. Realising the importance of this debate, the government of India also envisioned “inclusive growth” as a strategy to ensure that economic progress is pro-poor and inclusive. This article explains various reasons for poverty in India and how can economic growth be of help in reducing the poverty.

WHAT IS ECONOMIC GROWTH?

Economic growth is an increase in the production of economic goods and services, compared from one period of time to another. It can be measured in nominal or real (adjusted for inflation) terms. Traditionally, aggregate economic growth is measured in terms of gross national product (GNP) or gross domestic product (GDP), although alternative metrics are sometimes used.

Economic growth refers to an increase in aggregate production in an economy. Often, but not necessarily, aggregate gains in production correlate with increased average marginal productivity. That leads to an increase in incomes, inspiring consumers to open up their wallets and buy more, which means a higher material quality of life or standard of living.

INDIA’S GROWTH STORY

India’s economic journey since 1947 has seen its share of ups and downs. Once branded a “third world country”, a term for poor developing nation-states which has now fallen into disuse, India is now among the biggest economies of the world. In 1991, India was a leader of the G-77 (a group of poor countries constantly demanding more concessions to develop). Today India is in the T-20, the top 20 economies that lead the world.

FOOD PRODUCTION

• Achieving “self-sufficiency” in food grains has been Independent India’s biggest achievement. From receiving food aid in the 1950s and 1960s to becoming a net exporter, India has seen a turnaround in food production. The total food production, which stood at 54.92 million tonnes in 1950, rose to 305.44 million tonnes in 2020-21.

GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP)

• India’s GDP stood at ₹ 2.7 lakh crore at Independence. 74 years on, it has reached ₹ 135.13 lakh crore. India is now the 6th largest economy in the world and is on its way to becoming the third-largest by 2031, as per Bank of America. An unmissable fact is that there has been a 10- fold increase in the GDP (at constant prices) since the reform process began in 1991.

FOREX

• India’s forex reserves (In foreign currencies and other assets like gold) stood at a meagre ₹ 1,029 crores in 1950-51. In fact, India’s low forex reserves played a catalytical role in kickstarting the economic reforms. With just $1.2 billion worth of forex reserves in 1991, India just had enough reserves to finance 3 weeks of imports. Three decades since the reform process began, India’s forex reserves now stand at ₹ 46.17 lakh crore – the world’s fifth-largest.

START-UP ECOSYSTEM

• India has emerged as the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world after the US and China and the pace of growth is not showing any signs of slowing down.

POVERTY

• Poverty is a state or condition in which a person or community lacks the financial resources and essentials for a minimum standard of living. Poverty means that the income level from employment is so low that basic human needs can’t be met.
• According to World Bank, Poverty is pronounced deprivation in well-being and comprises many dimensions. It includes low incomes and the inability to acquire the basic goods and services necessary for survival with dignity. Poverty also encompasses low levels of health and education, poor access to clean water and sanitation, inadequate physical security, lack of voice, and insufficient capacity and opportunity to better one’s life.
• In India, 21.9% of the population lives below the national poverty line in 2011, however, this estimate of numbers might have increased in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic bringing many into the poverty net and still many poor were pushed deeper into poverty.
• Also, the Periodic Labour Force Survey for the years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 shows that the Top 10% earn approximately equal to the bottom 64%. The top 10 accounts for one-third of the incomes earned. While income disparity is not the only trigger to descent into poverty, it boldly outlines the everyday experiences of inequality and inequities.

ABSOLUTE POVERTY

A condition where household income is below a necessary level to maintain basic living standards (food, shelter, housing). This condition makes it possible to compare different countries and also over time. It was first introduced in 1990, the “dollar a day” poverty line measured absolute poverty by the standards of the world’s poorest countries. In October 2015, the World Bank reset it to $1.90 a day.

RELATIVE POVERTY

It is defined from the social perspective that is living standard compared to the economic standards of the population living in its surroundings. Hence it is a measure of income inequality.

Usually, relative poverty is measured as the percentage of the population with income less than some fixed proportion of median income.

CAUSES OF POVERTY IN INDIA

GROWTH FACTOR

• As development proceeds, the earnings of different groups rise differently.
• The incomes of the upper-income and middle-income groups rise more rapidly than those of the poor. This happens in the early stages of growth which India is passing at present.
• The explanation lies in the shift of population from agriculture which is a slow-growing sector to the modern large industrial sector which grows more rapidly.
• The capital-intensive type of growth leads to the concentration of income in those few hands who supply capital.

PRIVATE OWNERSHIP OF PROPERTY

• India being a mixed economy, has guaranteed the right to private property to its people Accordingly, tangible wealth like land, buildings, automobiles, white goods etc. are owned by a private individual.
• Inequalities of income have resulted from the ownership of private property in the following manner:

Ø  Inequalities Arising Out of Concentrated Land Ownership and Concentration of Tangible Wealth in the Rural Sector.

Ø  Private Ownership of Industries, Trade and Real Estates.

Ø  Inequalities in Professional Knowledge and Training

PREVALENCE OF THE LAW OF INHERITANCE

• The prevalence of the law of inheritance perpetuates income inequalities to a significant level.
• As per this law, the property of the father is usually inherited by his sons and daughters and thus children of the richer class automatically become richer and the children of the poorer class remain poor.

CLASS-BASED DEVELOPMENTS

• The upper classes were the main beneficiary of the nation’s surging economic development and poverty rates are also significantly lower among the upper caste Hindus rather than in the others classes
• One-third of Muslim and Hindu scheduled castes and tribes are in poverty compared to 10% of the upper castes Hindu. Altogether, 28% or around 360 million Indians are living in conditions of severe poverty.

OTHER FACTORS

Ø  SOCIAL FACTORS: Apart from economic factors, there are also social factors hindering the eradication of poverty in India. Some of the hindrances in this regard are the laws of inheritance, caste system, certain traditions, etc.

Ø  CLIMATIC FACTORS: Most of India’s poor belong to the states of Bihar, UP, MP, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, etc. Natural calamities such as frequent floods, disasters, earthquakes and cyclones cause heavy damage to agriculture in these states.

Ø  POVERTY TRAP:

CONSEQUENCES OF POVERTY

SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS

• It is estimated that 300 million Indians live in abject poverty. This is the largest number in the world.
• India has the highest number of homeless people.
• Gender inequality leading to violence against women, the burden of unpaid care work, fiscal injustice for women and other marginalised groups. Inequality leads to increased crime and workplace accidents.
• It stems from class, caste and gender inequalities.

INADEQUATE DEVELOPMENT

• The gap between the rich and the poor has created “Club States” with Gujarat, Punjab and other rich states forming the richest clubs.
• Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar and other such states being left behind in terms of development.

INEQUALITY MAKES THE FIGHT TO END POVERTY MUCH HARDER

• Higher income inequality impedes class formation and poverty reduction.
• Unless growth benefits the poorest people more between now and 2030, the World Bank forecasts that the first Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to eliminate extreme poverty will be missed.
• Access to social amenities such as decent shelter, clean water, nutrition and food as well as healthcare and education has become difficult for the poor.

Case study

The growth of the middle class plays a significant role in strengthening democratic structures and cultures. But rising income inequality in India is hampering the formation and growth of the middle class. If one were to take an income of $10-$20 per day in 2011 purchasing power parity as an indicator of the middle class, then India has not done as well as Malaysia, Indonesia and China in growing its middle class.

DISPARITIES IN SOCIAL SERVICE

• The highest-quality medical care is only available to those who have the money to pay for it.
• The country is a top destination for medical tourism. At the same time, levels of public spending on health are some of the lowest in the world.
• The poorest Indian states have infant mortality rates higher than those in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• The shortage of health specialists in rural areas, the report compares India’s 0.7 doctors per 1,000 people to the UK’s 2.8.
• The dropping enrolment ratio in government schools, particularly for girls, while private schools see an uptick in admission.

THE ANALYSIS: THE GROWTH – POVERTY PARADOX

• The surging economic growth has improved the living conditions of its citizens, but these improvements were not uniformly distributed among India’s diverse population. Despite being among the richest countries in the world, India has attracted negative attention in recent years and ranked 66 out of 109 countries in Multidimensional Poverty Index 2021.
• On the surface, India’s story of growth and its triumph over poverty is enviable. India’s income per capita has increased fourfold in the last two decades, and its absolute poverty – measured on the international poverty line – reduced sharply from 40 per cent in 2000 to 13.4 per cent in 2015 but while India is no longer chronically poor, its growth has not been inclusive. The segment of the population that ‘graduated’ from poverty is largely still vulnerable, with consumption levels very close to the poverty line, and far from becoming a ‘middle class.’
• Poverty is concentrated more and more in urban areas, as now one-in-three poor is living in urban areas, which was about one-in-eight in the early 1950s. In the post-liberalisation period, urban growth and non-agricultural growth has emerged as major driver of national poverty reduction including rural poverty.
• Unlike in advanced economies, economic growth and inequality converge in terms of their effects on socio-economic indicators in India i.e. with economic growth the inequality in income and asset distribution also increases; however economic growth helps in reducing the poverty.
• Manifestation of unequal growth is also growing inequalities:

Growing Rich: During the pandemic, the wealth of Indian billionaires increased from Rs 23.14 lakh crore to Rs 53.16 lakh crore.

ü  India has the third-highest number of billionaires in the world, just behind China and the United States.

ü  There is a 39% increase in the number of billionaires in India in 2021.

Growing Poor: More than 4.6 crore Indians are estimated to have fallen into extreme poverty in 2020. This is nearly half of the global new poor according to the United Nations.

ü  Also, in the same year, the share of the bottom 50% of the population in national wealth was a mere 6%.

• Unemployment in India has also increased.

CASE STUDY OF TWO GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS AIMED AT POVERTY REDUCTION

PRADHAN MANTRI GRAM SADAK YOJANA (PMGSY)

• PMGSY, state-wise allocations are fixed based on pre-determined gaps in road infrastructure. That automatically ensures more money is released and roads get built.
• PMGSY is less prone to leakage because it is a specific asset-focused programme.

MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE SCHEME (MGNREGA)

• MGNREGA is supposed to be demand or need-driven, the reality is that it is being successfully implemented only in better-governed states even with lower levels of poverty.
• MGNREGA is general dole-based and not amenable to monitoring beyond a point.

MGNREGA may have a role in mitigating immediate rural distress on account of drought and other unforeseen calamities. But programmes like PMGSY provide more effective long-term poverty alleviation solutions, through raising overall productivity and expansion of non-farm employment opportunities.

BHAGWATI – SEN DEBATE

Bhagwati Model:

The idea in the book ” Why Growth Matters: How Economic growth in India reduced Poverty and lessons for other developing countries” is in consonance with Adam Smith’s theory of the invisible hand of the market. It believes that increasing the pie of growth can ultimately lead to an increase in income and consequent development. In other words, it believes in the trickle-down effect.

Amartya’s Sen Model:

The idea is propounded in his book ” An uncertain glory: India and its contradiction”. It proposes an increase in the capacity and capability of people as the prime mover of development. Thus Government needs to invest in public health, infrastructure, education and democratic participation. It fosters the idea of a bottom-up approach. The ability of each individual as a change agent. It is about empowerment.

THE WAY FORWARD: ELIMINATING POVERTY IN INDIA

FIXING MINIMUM WAGE

• Guarantee each citizen a minimum wage consistent with a minimum standard of living.
• In India in 1948, the Minimum Wages Act was passed in pursuance of which minimum wages are being fixed for agricultural labour and labour in what is called the ‘sweated trades’. This is a step which will level up the incomes from below.

SOCIAL SECURITY

• Introduction of a comprehensive social security scheme guaranteeing to each individual a minimum standard of economic welfare.
• The government includes progressively making school education free; ensuring reduced out-of-pocket expenses on health, and meeting global benchmarks of 6% and 3.5% of GDP on education and public health respectively.
• Strengthening quality public healthcare, strict enforcement of the Right to Education norms, stopping the commercialisation of education and health, and an increased focus on gender budgeting.

PROMOTION OF LABOUR-INTENSIVE MANUFACTURING

• The proportion of the labour force in agriculture has come down, but the workers who have left farms have not got jobs in modern factories or offices. Most are stuck in tiny informal enterprises with abysmal productivity levels.
• If India could somehow reverse this trend and promote labour-intensive manufacturing then inequality could fall.

MORE INCLUSIVE GROWTH

• The promotion and adoption of an Inclusive Growth Agenda is the only solution to the rising inequality problem. Economic growth which is not inclusive will only exacerbate inequality

SKILL DEVELOPMENT

• The development of advanced skills among the youth is a prerequisite if India wants to make use of its demographic dividend. The skilling of youth by increasing investment in education is the only way we can reduce inequality. India needs to become a Skill-led economy

PROGRESSIVE TAXATION

• Higher taxes on the Rich and the luxuries will help reduce income inequalities.
• Getting the richest one per cent in India to pay just 0.5 per cent extra tax on their wealth could raise enough money enough to increase government spending on the heath by 50 per cent

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL

• The Government may devise and set up some sort of machinery which may provide equal opportunities to all rich and poor in getting employment or getting a start in trade and industry.
• In other words, something may be done to eliminate the family influence in the matter of choice of a profession. For example, the government may institute a system of liberal stipends and scholarships, so that even the poorest in the land can acquire the highest education and technical skill.

LEARN FROM OTHER COUNTRIES

China’s case study

• Meta’s narrative for China’s economic development is that its leadership combined the drive for growth with the spreading of human capital.
• As the human capital endowment was relatively equal, most people could share in this growth, which accounts for the relative equality of outcomes in China when compared to India.
• The greater participation of women in the workforce of China

THE CONCLUSION:

India’s dominant economic growth over the last 30 years continued to pull millions of people out of poverty. Due to the unexpected impact of COVID-19, India experienced a spike in its poverty rate. Moving forward, the elimination of poverty in India over the next decade is within reach in spite of the challenges ahead.Rapid economic growth and the use of technology for social sector programs can help make a significant dent in extreme poverty in the country.

THE ART AND CULTURE

1. DNA SAMPLES FROM RAKHIGARHI BURIAL PITS SENT FOR ANALYSIS

THE CONTEXT: DNA samples collected from two human skeletons unearthed at a necropolis of a Harappan-era city site in Haryana have been sent for scientific examination, the outcome of which might tell about the ancestry and food habits of people who lived in the Rakhigarhi region thousands of years ago.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The skeletons of two women were found a couple of months ago at mound number 7 (named RGR 7 by the Archaeological Survey of India or (ASI), believed to be nearly 5,000 years old. Pots and other artefacts were also found buried next to them in a pit, part of the funerary rituals back in the Harappan Civilisation era.
• “Seven mounds (RGR 1-RGR 7) scattered around two villages (Rakhi Khas and Rakhi Shahpur) in Hisar district are part of the Rakhigarhi archaeological site. RGR 7 is a cemetery site of the Harappan period when this was a well-organised city. At present RGR 1, RGR 3 and RGR 7 have been taken up for investigation.
• The Rakhigarhi site, about 150 km north-west of Delhi, since it commenced on February 24, 2022, said the DNA analysis will help answer a lot of questions, anthropological or otherwise.
• “The outcome of the DNA analysis will help tell about the ancestry of the people who lived at this ancient city, whether they were native or had migrated from elsewhere to settle. Besides, samples taken from the teeth area would tell about their food habits, what kind of food they consumed and other anthropological patterns related to that human settlement which must have been one of the largest, dating from the Harappan Civilisation period.
• For the collection of DNA samples, experts had done it while wearing special uniform so as to not contaminate the samples. And samples were taken from the teeth region and petrous part of the temporal bone, located at the base of the skull in the ear region.
• The Rakhigarhi site is one of the “five iconic sites” declared by the Central government in the Union budget 2020-21.The cultural span of the Harappan Civilisation can be broadly subdivided into three periods — early (3300 BC to 2600 BC), mature (2600 BC to 1900 BC), and late (1900 BC to 1700 BC), according to archaeological experts.
• Five major urban sites — Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Ganweriwala, all three sites now in Pakistan, and Rakhigarhi and Dholavira in India — have been identified as regional centres of the Harappan Civilisation.
• Archaeological evidence from the Rakhigarhi site spanning seven mounds is spread across nearly 350 hectares, covering at the present villages of Rakhi Khas and Rakhi Shahpur in Hisar, according to the ASI.
• The Rakhigarhi site, “layers of history”, ranging from the early Harappan to the mature Harappan period can be seen, but compared to the previous excavation, where town planning contours had emerged, in the current excavation, “detailed town planning patterns, street designs, including provision for soak pits” as part of a possible drainage system can be seen.
• ASI officials are banking on the analysis of DNA samples to further unearth the fascinating story of Rakhigarhi, located in the Ghaggar river plain of the seasonal Ghaggar river.
• The two skeletons were found lying in a supine position with head pointing in the north direction. They were both buried with a plethora of pottery and adorned jewellery like jasper and agate beads and shell bangles. A symbolic miniature copper mirror was found buried along with one of the skeletons.
• Animal bones were also found at the site.
• First attempts to archaeologically explore the Rakhigarhi site are said to have been done in the late 1960s.

2. THE SOCIAL ISSUES

THE CONTEXT: A recent World Bank Report has shown that extreme poverty in India more than halved between 2011 and 2019 – from 22.5 per cent to 10.2 per cent. The reduction was higher in rural areas, from 26.3 per cent to 11.6 per cent. The rate of poverty decline between 2015 and 2019 was faster compared to 2011-2015.

THE EXPLANATION:

• Poverty has reduced significantly because of the current government’s thrust on improving the ease of living of ordinary Indians through schemes such as the Ujjwala Yojana, PM Awas Yojana, Swachh Bharat Mission, Jan Dhan and Mission Indradhanush in addition to the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission and improved coverage under the National Food Security Act.
• While debates on the World Bank’s methodology continue to rage, it is important to understand how poverty in rural areas was reduced at a faster pace. Much of the success can be credited to all government departments, especially their janbhagidari-based thrust on pro-poor public welfare that ensured social support for the endeavour. It will nevertheless be useful to delineate the key factors that contributed to the success.
• First, the identification of deprived households on the basis of the Socioeconomic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 across welfare programmes helped in creating a constituency for the well-being of the poor, irrespective of caste, creed or religion. The much-delayed SECC 2011 data was released in July 2015. This was critical in accomplishing the objectives of “SabkaSaath, Sabka Vikas”.
• Since deprivation was the key criterion in identifying beneficiaries, SC and ST communities got higher coverage and the erstwhile backward regions in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Rajasthan and rural Maharashtra got a larger share of the benefits. This was a game-changer in the efforts to ensure balanced development, socially as well as across regions.
• Social groups that often used to be left out of government programmes were included and gram sabha validation was taken to ensure that the project reached these groups.
• Second, the coverage of women under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana and Self Help Groups (SHG) increased from 2.5 crore in 2014 to over 8 crore in 2018 as a result of more than 75 lakh SHGs working closely with over 31 lakh elected panchayati raj representatives, 40 per cent of whom are women.
• This provided a robust framework to connect with communities and created a social capital that helped every programme. The PRI-SHG partnership catalysed changes that increased the pace of poverty reduction and the use of Aadhaar cleaned up corruption at several levels and ensured that the funds reached those whom it was meant for.
• Third, Finance Commission transfers were made directly to gram panchayats leading to the creation of basic infrastructure like pucca village roads and drains at a much faster pace in rural areas. The high speed of road construction under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadhak Yojana created greater opportunities for employment in nearby larger villages/census towns/kasbas by improving connectivity and enhancing mobility.
• Fourth, the social capital of SHGs ensured the availability of credit through banks, micro-finance institutions and MUDRA loans. The NRLM prioritised livelihood diversification and implemented detailed plans for credit disbursement. New businesses, both farm and non-farm livelihoods, were taken up by women’s collectives on a large scale with community resource persons playing crucial hand holding roles, especially with respect to skill development.
• Fifth, in the two phases of the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan in 2018, benefits such as gas and electricity connections, LED bulbs, accident insurance, life insurance, bank accounts and immunisation were provided to 6,3974 villages that were selected because of their high SC and ST populations. The implementation of these schemes was monitored assiduously. The performance of line departments went up manifold due to community-led action. The gains are reflected in the findings of the National Family Health Survey V, 2019-2021.
• Sixth, the thrust on universal coverage for individual household latrines, LPG connections and pucca houses for those who lived in kuccha houses ensured that no one was left behind. This created the Labarthi Varg.
• Seventh, this was also a period in which a high amount of public funds were transferred to rural areas, including from the share of states and, in some programmes, through extra-budgetary resources.
• Eighth, the thrust on a people’s plan campaign, “Sabki Yojana Sabka Vikas” for preparing the Gram Panchayat Development Plans and for ranking villages and panchayats on human development, economic activity and infrastructure, from 2017-18 onwards, laid the foundation for robust community participation involving panchayats and SHGs, especially in ensuring accountability.
• Ninth, through processes like social and concurrent audits, efforts were made to ensure that resources were fully utilised. Several changes were brought about in programmes like the MGNREGS to create durable and productive assets. This helped marginal and small farmers in improving their homesteads, and diversifying livelihoods.
• Tenth, the competition among states to improve performance on rural development helped. Irrespective of the party in power, nearly all states and UTs focussed on improving livelihood diversification in rural areas and on improving infrastructure significantly.
• All these factors contributed to improved ease of living of deprived households and improving their asset base. A lot has been achieved, much remains to be done. The pandemic and the negative terms of trade shock from the Ukraine crisis pose challenges to the gains made in poverty reduction up to 2019.

THE POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

3. PRESIDENT APPOINTED TWO NEW JUDGES

THE CONTEXT: Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Jamshed Burjor Pardiwala took oath as Supreme Court judges on 09^th May.They would be judges 33 and 34, completing the sanctioned judicial strength of the court.

THE EXPLANATION:

• Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana read out the oath of the constitutional office to the two new judges in a brief, solemn ceremony held in an auditorium of the Supreme Court additional building complex.
• Other Supreme Court judges were in attendance on the dais. Justice Dhulia was sworn in first followed by Justice Pardiwala. They would be judges 33 and 34, completing the sanctioned judicial strength of the court.
• Justice Dhulia is the second judge to be elevated from Uttarakhand High Court. The grandson of a freedom fighter who took part in the Quit India Movement, Justice Dhulia, who hails from Madanpur, a remote village in Pauri Garhwal district, was elevated as a judge of the High Court of Uttarakhand in November 2008.
• He later became the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court on January 10, 2021.
• Justice Pardiwala would be the sixth member of the Parsi community to become a Supreme Court judge.
• A fourth generation legal professional in his family, his father, Burjor Cawasji Pardiwala, had briefly served as the Speaker of the Seventh Legislative Assembly of Gujarat besides being a lawyer.
• The President appointed the two judges on May 7 within only a couple days of the Supreme Court Collegium’s recommendation last week.
• With Justices Dhulia and Pardiwala, the Ramana Collegium has successfully seen to the appointment of a total 11 judges to the Supreme Court since August 2021. A substantial feat considering that his immediate predecessor was not able to appoint even one judge to the Supreme Court.
• Of the 11 judges, Justice B.V. Nagarathna, is in line to be the first woman Chief Justice of India, albeit for 36 days, in 2027.

THE ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

4. FUTURE LOOMS DARK FOR 48% OF BIRD SPECIES

THE CONTEXT: According to The State of the World’s Birds  13.5% of 10,994 recognised extant species are currently threatened with extinction.

THE EXPLANATION:

• Humans eat 14% of the world’s surviving species of birds. However, this is not the only reason why 48% of the extant bird species are undergoing population decline.
• The State of the World’s Birds, an annual review of environmental resources published on May 5, has attributed the threat to almost half of the 10,994 recognised extant species of birds to the expanding human footprint on the natural world and climate change.
• The degradation and loss of natural habitats as well as direct over exploitation of many species are the key threats to avian biodiversity.
• The use of 37% of the surviving bird species as common or exotic pets and 14% as food are examples of direct over exploitation, the report indicates.
• The review found that 5,245 or about 48% of the existing bird species worldwide were known or suspected to be undergoing population decline. While 4,295 or 39% of the species had stable trends, about 7% or 778 species had increasing population trends. The trend of 37 species was unknown.
• The study underlines bird watching, a global pastime involving millions of people, as a form of avian conservation but warns of “local negative impacts” of bird feeding valued at $5-6 billion per year and growing by 4% annually.
• The caution is for some non-provisioned species via trophic cascades, an “ecological phenomenon triggered by the addition or removal of top predators and involving reciprocal changes in the relative populations of predator and prey through a food chain, which often results in dramatic changes in ecosystem structure and nutrient cycling”.
• “Avian diversity peaks globally in the tropics and it is there that we also find the highest richness of threatened species. We know a lot less about the fortunes of tropical bird species than we do about temperate ones, but we are now witnessing the first signs of a new wave of extinctions of continentally-distributed bird species, which has followed the historic loss of species on islands like the dodo”.
• Apart from tropical forests, the threat of natural grasslands has been particularly worrying for North America, Europe and India. “If unique ecosystems like grasslands are to retain their diverse bird life, governments and research groups must prioritise such landscapes and their inhabitants for conservation and ensure that they do not become plantations or woodlands,”.
• Because birds are highly visible and sensitive indicators of environmental health, we know their loss signals a much wider loss of biodiversity and threat to human health and well-being, he added.
• The State of the World’s Birds says 13.5% of 10,994 recognised extant species are currently threatened with extinction
• The degradation and loss of natural habitats, as well as direct overexploitation of many species, are the key threats to avian biodiversity
• Apart from tropical forests, the threat of natural grasslands has been particularly worrying for North America, Europe, and India

5. IS LA NINA A FAIR-WEATHER FRIEND OF OUR COUNTRY?

THE CONTEXT: In most years, meteorologists consider the La Nina to be a friend of India. The phenomenon associated with below normal sea surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean, makes the summer monsoon wetter and the winter colder unlike its evil twin, the El Nino, or a warming phenomenon that frequently dries up monsoon rains over India.

THE EXPLANATION:

• This year, however, the La Nina is being blamed for worsening perhaps the longest spell of heatwaves from March to April in north, west and Central India.
• Formally known as the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the La Nina-El Nino phenomenon follows a periodic pattern that roughly lasts three years.
• During a La Nina winter, a north-south pressure pattern sets up over India and normally this influences the trade winds that bring rains to India. However, because the La Nina didn’t peak, the sea surface temperatures continued to be cold and this drove hot westerly winds and blasts of hot air from the Middle East into Pakistan and India.
• The north-south pressure pattern has been persisting over India, with La Nina extending its stay over the Pacific. This has definitely impacted the weather over India, which has been seen even during 1998-2000 when La Nina had persisted for three years.
• While land temperatures over India begin rising in March, they are usually punctuated by western disturbances, or moisture from the Mediterranean region that fall as rain over north and western India. For these currents to make it as far as India, they need a significant difference in temperature between Europe and the latitudes over India. Partly due to La Nina, this temperature difference was absent and so the western disturbances that came to India were weak with hardly any rain.
• According to a 2021 report by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, ‘Assessment of Climate Change over the Indian Region’, all India averaged frequency of summer heatwaves is expected to rise to about 2.5 events per season by the mid-21st century, with a further slight rise to about 3.0 events by the end of 21st century under current trajectory of greenhouse gas emission.

THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

6. WHAT IS THE DEBATE AROUND STAR RATINGS FOR FOOD PACKETS MOOTED BY FSSAI? 

THE CONTEXT: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is expected to issue a draft regulation for labels on front of food packets that will inform consumers if a product is high in salt, sugar and fat. It is expected to propose a system under which stars will be assigned to a product, which has earned the ire of public health experts and consumer organisations who say it will be misleading and ineffective. Health experts are demanding that the FSSAI instead recommend the “warning label” system which has proven to have altered consumer behaviour.

THE EXPLANATION:

• In the past three decades, the country’s disease patterns have shifted. While mortality due to communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases has declined and India’s population is living longer, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and injuries are increasingly contributing to the overall disease burden. In 2016, NCDs accounted for 55% of premature death and disability in the country.
• Indians also have a disposition for excessive fat around the stomach and abdomen which leads to increased risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. According to the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-2021), 47.7% of men and 56.7% of women have high risk waist-to-hip ratio. An increased consumption of packaged and junk food has also led to a double burden of under nutrition and over nutrition among children. Over half of the children and adolescents, whether under-nourished or with normal weight, are at risk of cardiovascular diseases, according to an analysis by the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey in India (2016-2018).
• Reducing sugar, salt, and fat is among the best ways to prevent and control non-communicable diseases. While the FSSAI requires mandatory disclosure of nutrition information on food packets, this is located on the back of a packet and is difficult to interpret.
• At a stakeholder’s meeting on February 15, 2022, three important decisions were taken on what would be the content of the draft regulations on front-of-package labelling. These included threshold levels to be used to determine whether a food product was high in sugar, salt and fat; that the implementation will be voluntary for a period of four years before it is made mandatory; and that the health-star rating system would be used as labels on the basis of a study commissioned by the FSSAI and conducted by IIM-Ahmedabad.
• The food industry agreed with the FSSAI’s decision on the issue of mandatory implementation and use of ratings, and sought more time to study the issue of thresholds. The World Health Organization representative said the thresholds levels were lenient, while the consumer organisations opposed all three decisions.
• The biggest contention is over the use of a health-star rating system that uses 1/2 a star to five stars to indicate the overall nutrition profile of a product.
• In a health-star rating system, introduced in 2014 in Australia and New Zealand, a product is assigned a certain number of stars using a calculator designed to assess positive (e.g., fruit, nut, protein content, etc) and risk nutrients in food (calories, saturated fat, total sugar, sodium).
• Scientists have said that such a system misrepresents nutrition science and the presence of fruit in a fruit drink juice does not offset the impact of added sugar. Experts say that so far there is no evidence of the rating system impacting consumer behaviour. The stars can also lead to a ‘health halo’ because of their positive connotation making it harder to identify harmful products. Over 40 global experts have also called the IIM-Ahmedabad study flawed in design and interpretation.
• There are many other labelling systems in the world, such as “warning labels” in Chile (which uses black octagonal or stop symbols) and Israel (a red label) for products high in sugar, salt and fat. The ‘Nutri-Score’, used in France, presents a coloured scale of A to E, and the Multiple Traffic Light (MTL), used in the U.K. and other countries depict red (high), amber (medium) or green (low) lights to indicate the risk factors. Global studies have shown a warning label is the only format that has led to a positive impact on food and beverage purchases forcing the industry, for example in Chile, to reformulate their products to remove major amounts of sugar and salt.
• The FSSAI is expected to make its draft regulations on front-of-package public soliciting comments from all stakeholders. The FSSAI’s scientific panel comprising independent experts will study these comments and make its proposal. Following this, it will go to a scientific committee, the FSSAI and the Health Ministry before the regulations are tabled before Parliament.
• The debate on front-of-package labelling has once again raised questions on the influence of the industry on the food regulator.
• Reducing sugar, salt, and fat is among the best ways to prevent and control non-communicable diseases. While the FSSAI requires mandatory disclosure of nutrition information on food packets, this is located on the back of a packet and is difficult to interpret.
• The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is expected to issue a draft regulation for labels on front of food packets that will inform consumers if a product is high in salt, sugar and fat
• The debate on front-of-package labelling has once again raised questions on the influence of the industry on the food regulator.

THE PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

QUESTION FOR 8 & 9th MAY 2022

Q. Which of the following pairs is/are correctly matched?

1. Rakhigarhi– Haryana
2. Dholavira – Gujarat
3. Alamgir– Rajasthan

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

a) 1 only

b) 1 and 2 only

c) 2 and 3 only

d) 3 only

ANSWER FOR THE 7TH OF MAY

Answer: A

Explanation:

• Statement 1 is correct: The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) at national level in India has gone below replacement levels.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: There are five States — Bihar (2.98), Meghalaya (2.91), Uttar Pradesh (2.35), Jharkhand (2.26) Manipur (2.17) — in India which are above replacement level of fertility of 2.1 as per the national report of the NFHS-5, by the Union Health Ministry.