Eco-Sensitive Zones
Context:
Farmers in Kerala continue to protest across several high ranges of the state against the Supreme Court’s recent order to establish 1-km Eco-Sensitive Zones around all protected areas, wildlife sanctuaries and national parks.
Relevance:
GS III- Environment and Ecology
Dimensions of the Article:
- What are Eco-Sensitive Zones?
- How are they demarcated?
- Recent SC judgment that has caused an uproar in Kerala
- Why are people protesting against it?
- Have similar protests taken place before in Kerala?
What are Eco-Sensitive Zones?
- Eco Sensitive Zones are fragile areas around protected areas declared by the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
- They are areas notified by the MoEFCC around Protected Areas, National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries.
- The purpose of declaring ESZs is to create some kind of “shock absorbers” to the protected areas by regulating and managing the activities around such areas.
- Among activities prohibited in the eco-sensitive zone are hydroelectric projects, brick kilns, commercial use of firewood and discharge of untreated effluents in natural water bodies or land areas.
- No new commercial hotels and resorts shall be permitted within 1 km of the boundary of the protected area or up to the extent of the eco-sensitive zone, whichever is nearer, except for small temporary structures for eco-tourism activities.
Activities Allowed in ESZs
- Prohibited activities: Commercial mining, saw mills, industries causing pollution (air, water, soil, noise etc), establishment of major hydroelectric projects (HEP), commercial use of wood, Tourism activities like hot-air balloons over the National Park, discharge of effluents or any solid waste or production of hazardous substances.
- Regulated activities: Felling of trees, establishment of hotels and resorts, commercial use of natural water, erection of electrical cables, drastic change of agriculture system, e.g. adoption of heavy technology, pesticides etc, widening of roads.
- Permitted activities: Ongoing agricultural or horticultural practices, rainwater harvesting, organic farming, use of renewable energy sources, adoption of green technology for all activities.
How are they demarcated?
- The term “Eco-Sensitive Zones” is not mentioned in the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986.
- Section 3(2)(v) of the Act, on the other hand, states that the Central Government has the authority to limit the areas in which any industry, operation, or process, or class of industries, operations, or processes, may be carried out or not, subject to certain safeguards.
- Besides to Rule 5(1) of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986 stipulates that the central government has the authority to ban or restrict the location of industries and the conduct of certain operations or processes based on specified factors.
- The government has declared No Development Zones based on the same grounds (NDZs).
Recent SC judgment that has caused an uproar in Kerala
- Recently, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court heard a PIL which sought to protect forest lands in the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu, but was later expanded to cover the entire country.
- In its judgment, the court while referring to the 2011 guidelines as “reasonable”, as reported by Live Law, directed all states to have a mandatory 1-km ESZ from the demarcated boundaries of every protected forest land, national park and wildlife sanctuary.
- It also stated that no new permanent structure or mining will be permitted within the ESZ.
- If the existing ESZ goes beyond 1-km buffer zone or if any statutory instrument prescribes a higher limit, then such extended boundary shall prevail, the court, as per the Live Law report, said.
Why are people protesting against it?
- Protests erupted across the high ranges of Kerala in response to the apex court’s directions.
- Due to the high density of human population near the notified protected areas, farmer’s groups and political parties have been demanding that all human settlements be exempt from the ESZ ruling.
- Before the SC judgment, the Kerala state government had stated during an expert committee meeting of the Union Environment Ministry in March that all human settlements should be excluded from the buffer zones.
- The Kerala state government had proposed that for some national parks, such as the Thattekad Bird Sanctuary, the extent of the ESZ area should be reduced from the proposed uniform 1-km, to an ESZ ranging from zero to 1 km in the eastern and south-eastern side of the national park.
- This was because the villagers occupying the densely populated settlements in these areas believed that the ESZ would restrict their agricultural and related activities.
Have similar protests taken place before in Kerala?
- This is not the first time that Kerala has faced such protests.
- In 2013, hartals first erupted in Idukki and Wayanad after the Kasturirangan committee report recommended that 60,000 km of the Western Ghats, covering 12 of Kerala’s 14 districts, be notified as ecologically sensitive areas.
- Similar protests had taken place in Karnataka as well.
Wetlands Conservation
Context:
According to a new report, wetland conservation should feature as an independent topic of discussion in the negotiations at the upcoming biodiversity and climate change conferences for effective carbon sequestration.
- Carbon sequestration is the long-term storage of carbon in plants, soils, geologic formations, and the ocean.
Relevance:
GS-III: Environment and Ecology (Conservation of Environment, Conventions regarding conservation of ecology)
Dimensions of the Article:
- Five suggested targets by Wetlands International to be achieved by 2030
- What are wetlands?
- Importance of Wetlands
- Wetland disturbances
Five suggested targets by Wetlands International to be achieved by 2030
Experts from the Wetlands International, a global non-profit, in a new white paper suggested five global, science-based conservation efforts to protect and restore wetlands.
- The remaining, undrained peatland carbon stores should be kept intact and 10 million hectares of drained peatlands need should be restored.
- The Global mangrove cover of 20 %.
- The preservation of free-flowing rivers and floodplains, along with enhancement of restoring the floodplain ecosystem and its function in the area.
- The 10% increase of the West African river Volta in the tidal flats area.
- Identification of 50 % of the 7,000 critically important sites along the flyways to be brought under favourable management.
What are wetlands?
- A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded by water, either permanently or seasonally, where oxygen-free processes prevail.
- The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other land forms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique hydric soil.
- The main wetland types are swamp, marsh, bog, and fen; sub-types include mangrove forest, carr, pocosin, floodplains, mire, vernal pool, sink, and many others.
- The largest wetlands include the Amazon River basin, the West Siberian Plain, the Pantanal in South America, and the Sundarbans in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta.
Importance of Wetlands
Wetlands play a number of functions such as:
- Water storage (flood control)
- Groundwater replenishment
- Shoreline stabilisation and storm protection
- Water purification
- Reservoirs of biodiversity
- Pollination
- Wetland products
- Cultural values
- Recreation and tourism
- Climate change mitigation and adaptation
Wetlands are also considered the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems, serving as home to a wide range of plant and animal life.
Wetland disturbances
Wetlands, the functions and services they provide as well as their flora and fauna, can be affected by several types of disturbances – the predominant ones include the following:
- Enrichment/eutrophication
- Organic loading and reduced dissolved oxygen
- Contaminant toxicity
- Acidification
- Salinization
- Sedimentation
- Altered solar input (turbidity/shade)
- Vegetation removal
- Thermal alteration
- Dehydration/aridification
- Inundation/flooding
- Habitat fragmentation
- Other human presence
Human Activities that affect Wetlands:
- Drainage
- Development
- Over-grazing
- Mining
- Unsustainable water use
Wetlands have historically been the victim of large draining efforts for real estate development, or flooding for use as recreational lakes or hydropower generation.
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
Context:
Certain groups has asked to discontinue manual attendance for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) work sites with more than 20 workers and use a mobile phone-based application.
Relevance:
GS-II: Social Justice and Governance (Health and Poverty related issues, Government Interventions and Policies, Issues arising out of the design and implementation of Government Policies)
Dimensions of the Article:
- Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)
- How MGNREGA came to be?
- Features of MGNREGA
- Objectives of MGNREGA
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)
- Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, MGNREGA, is an Indian labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘right to work’. This act was passed in September 2005.
- It aims to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
- It covers all districts of India except the ones with 100% urban population.
- MGNREGA is to be implemented mainly by gram panchayats (GPs). The involvement of contractors is banned.
- Apart from providing economic security and creating rural assets, NREGA can help in protecting the environment, empowering rural women, reducing rural-urban migration and fostering social equity, among others.
- The MGNREGA wage rates are fixed according to changes in the CPI-AL (Consumer Price Index-Agriculture Labour), which reflects the increase in the inflation in rural areas.
How MGNREGA came to be?
- In 1991, the P.V Narashima Rao government proposed a pilot scheme for generating employment in rural areas with the following goals:
- Employment Generation for agricultural labour during the lean season.
- Infrastructure Development
- Enhanced Food Security
- This scheme was called the Employment Assurance Scheme which later evolved into the MGNREGA after the merger with the Food for Work Programme in the early 2000s.
Features of MGNREGA
- It gives a significant amount of control to the Gram Panchayats for managing public works, strengthening Panchayati Raj Institutions.
- Gram Sabhas are free to accept or reject recommendations from Intermediate and District Panchayats.
- It incorporates accountability in its operational guidelines and ensures compliance and transparency at all levels.
Objectives of MGNREGA
- Provide 100 days of guaranteed wage employment to rural unskilled labour
- Increase economic security
- Decrease migration of labour from rural to urban areas.
Cooperative Banks
Context:
Recently, the Minster of Home Affairs and Cooperation has addressed a conclave, organised by the National Federation of Urban Cooperative Banks and Credit Societies (NAFCUB), emphasising the needed Reforms for Urban Cooperative Banks (UCB).
Relevance:
GS-III: Indian Economy (Banking)
Dimensions of the Article:
- What are Cooperative Banks?
- Structure of co-operative banks in India
- Importance of Cooperative Banks
- Concerns Associated with Urban Co-operative Bank
What are Cooperative Banks?
- Co-operative banks are financial entities established on a co-operative basis and belonging to their members. This means that the customers of a co-operative bank are also its owners.
- Cooperative Banks continue to be important and the ideal organisations even in the changing economic environment, as participation and inclusion are central to poverty reduction.
Important Details with respect to Urban Cooperative Banks
- Co-operative banks in India are registered under the State’s Cooperative Societies Act.
- The Co-operative banks are also regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and governed by the Banking Regulations Act 1949 and Banking Laws (Co-operative Societies) Act, 1955.
- The Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS) is in control of management elections and many administrative issues as well as auditing, and the RBI brought them under the Banking Regulation Act as applicable to cooperative societies.
- Urban cooperative banks have been under the radar of the RBI, but because of dual regulation either of them did not have as much control over these banks in terms of supersession of boards or removal of directors.
Structure of co-operative banks in India
- Broadly, co-operative banks in India are divided into two categories – urban and rural.
- Rural cooperative credit institutions could either be short-term or long-term in nature.
- Short-term cooperative credit institutions are further sub-divided into State Co-operative Banks, District Central Co-operative Banks, Primary Agricultural Credit Societies.
- Long-term institutions are either State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (SCARDBs) or Primary Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (PCARDBs).
Importance of Cooperative Banks
The cooperative banking system has to play a critical role in promoting rural finance and is especially suited to Indian conditions.
Various advantages of cooperative credit institutions are given below:
- Alternative Credit Source: The main objective of the cooperative credit movement is to provide an effective alternative to the traditional defective credit system of the village moneylender.
- Cheap Rural Credit: Cooperative credit system has cheapened the rural credit by charging comparatively low-interest rates, and has broken the money lender’s monopoly.
- Productive Borrowing: The cultivators used to borrow for consumption and other unproductive purposes. But, now, they mostly borrow for productive purposes.
- Encouragement to Saving and Investment: Instead of hoarding money the rural people tend to deposit their savings in cooperative or other banking institutions.
- Improvement in Farming Methods: Cooperative credit is available for purchasing improved seeds, chemical fertilizers, modern implements, etc.
- Financial Inclusion: They have played a significant role in the financial inclusion of unbanked rural masses. They provide cheap credit to the masses in rural areas.
Concerns Associated with Urban Co-operative Bank
- The uncovering of large-scale financial irregularities has taken urban cooperative banks off guard.
- Low capital basis, weak corporate governance, inability to detect fraud, delayed adoption of new technologies, and insufficient system of checks and balances are difficulties confronting urban cooperative banks (UCBs).
- The latest Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act 2020 empowers the RBI with all powers, including those formerly reserved for the registrar of cooperative organizations.
- The RBI’s control was limited, and it shared it with the registrar of cooperative societies of states, resulting in the much-discussed dual control and the issues it posed to the central bank.
- The cooperative sector has two challenges:
- first, increased competition from not just Scheduled Commercial Banks, but also from minor financing banks and payments banks;
- second, vulnerability caused by internal shortcomings, such as the inability to detect and prevent fraud.
Odisha’s Mo Bus
Context:
Mo Bus, the bus service of Odisha’s Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT) authority, has been recognised by the United Nations as one of 10 global recipients of its annual Public Service Awards for 2022.
- The public transport service has been recognised for its role in “promoting gender-responsive public services to achieve the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals)”
Relevance:
GS III- Environment and Ecology
Dimensions of the Article:
- Mo Bus service
- About UN Public Service Award
Mo Bus service
- The Mo Bus service was launched on November 6, 2018.
- It aimed to ensure transformation of the urban public transport scenario in the city and its hinterland through use of smart technology, service benchmarking and customer satisfaction.
- The buses are designed to integrate smart technologies such as free on-board Wi-Fi service, digital announcements, surveillance cameras, and electronic ticketing.
- CRUT says that to increase women’s participation in the workforce, and to make women riders feel safer, it is committed to ensuring that 50% of Mo Bus Guides (conductors) are women.
About UN Public Service Award
- The UN describes its Public Service Awards as the “most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service”.
- The first Awards ceremony was held in 2003, and the UN has since received “an increasing number of submissions from all around the world”.
- It is intended to reward the creative achievements and contributions of public service institutions that lead to a more effective and responsive public administration in countries worldwide.
- Through an annual competition, the UN Public Service Awards promotes the role, professionalism and visibility of public service.
