PM IAS SEP 08 NEWS ANALYSIS

Draft Amendment to the Legal Metrology

Context:

The Department of Consumer Affairs, Legal Metrology Division has notified a draft amendment to the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules 2011.

Relevance:

GS II: Government policies and Interventions

Dimensions of the Article:

1. Mandatory provisions under the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011
2. What are the proposed amendments?

Mandatory provisions under the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011

• It is mandatory under the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 to ensure a number of declarations, such as
  • the name and address of the manufacturer/packer/importer,
  • the country of origin,
  • the common or generic name of the commodity,
  • the net quantity,
  • the month and year of manufacture,
  • the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) and
  • Consumer care information
• As a consumer-oriented policy, all prepackaged commodities should also be inspected.
• As stated in Rule 2(h), the “principal display panel”, in relation to a package, means the total surface area of a package containing the information required in accordance with these rules, namely that all the information should be grouped together and given in one place — the pre-printed information could be grouped together and given in one place and the online information in another place.
• Additionally, Rule 9(1)(a) provides that the declaration on the package must be legible and prominent.
  • The consumers’ ‘right to be informed’ is violated when important declarations are not prominently displayed on the package.
• If there is more than one major product, Rule 6(1)(b) states that “……the name or number of each product shall be mentioned on the package.”
  • This sub-rule is however, not applicable to mechanical or electrical commodities.

What are the proposed amendments?

Key constituents need to be mentioned

• As many blended food and cosmetic products are sold on the market, the key constituents need to be mentioned on the product packaging. It is common for consumers to assume that brands’ claims are accurate, but such claims are usually misleading.
• Also, packages displaying key constituents must display a percentage of the content used to make the product.
  • For example, if a brand sells aloe vera moisturiser or almond milk/biscuits, then the maximum percentage of the product should be aloe vera and almond, otherwise, the product name is misleading.

Unique selling proposition

• Additionally, the front side of the package must contain the percentage of the composition of the unique selling proposition (USP).
• As the name suggests, a USP also known as a unique selling point, is a marketing strategy designed to inform customers about the superiority of one’s own brand or product.
• Listing the USP of a product on the front of the package without disclosing its composition percentage violates consumer rights.

At least two prime components should be declared on the package’s front side

• The Department of Consumer Affairs, Legal Metrology Division has suggested that at least two prime components should be declared on the package’s front side along with the brand name.
• Currently, manufacturers list the ingredients and nutritional information only on the back of the packaging.

Proposed Section 6(1)(ba)

• The proposed Section 6(1)(ba) states that when a commodity contains more than one constituent, the front side of the package must include a declaration of two or more of the commodities’ prime constituents along with the brand name.
• This declaration must also include the percentage/quantity of the USPs of the product in the same font size as the declaration of the USPs. However, mechanical or electrical commodities are excluded from this sub-rule.
• When the new provision of Section 6(1) (ba) is added, consumers will not be misled by the fake claims of manufacturers relating to the content in blended foods and cosmetics.

What is Climate Reparation?

Context:

Facing the worst flooding disaster in its history, Pakistan has begun demanding reparations, or compensation, from the rich countries that are mainly responsible for causing climate change.
Relevance:

GS III: Environment and Ecology

Dimensions of the Article:

1. What is Climate Reparation?
2. Who is responsible for Climate Change?
3. Why need climate reparations?
4. What did the International Conventions say about Climate Responsibility?
5. Pushback from Developed Countries

What is Climate Reparation?

• In order to address the historical contributions that the developed countries have made (and still make) to climate change, there is a request for money to be paid by the developed countries to the developing countries.
• An extension of the widely accepted “Polluter Pays” principle is the demand for compensation for loss and damage caused by climatic disasters.
  • This means that in addition to having to cover the expense of corrective action, the polluter also has to pay to compensate those who have suffered environmental harm as a result of their conduct.

Who is responsible for Climate Change?

• In the climate change framework, the burden of responsibility falls on those rich countries that have contributed most of the greenhouse gas emissions since 1850, generally considered to be the beginning of the industrial age.
• The United States and the European Union, including the UK, account for over 50% of all emissions during this time.
• If Russia, Canada, Japan, and Australia too are included, the combined contribution goes past 65%, or almost two-thirds of all emissions.
• Historical responsibility is important because carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for hundreds of years, and it is the cumulative accumulation of carbon dioxide that causes global warming.

Why need climate reparations?

• Although climate change has an influence on all countries, it is significantly more severe in poorer countries due to their location and less ability to adapt.
• The nations that will be most severely affected by climate change are those with small past emissions contributions and severe resource constraints.

What did the International Conventions say about Climate Responsibility?

Admission of responsibility

• The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 1994 international agreement that lays down the broad principles of the global effort to fight climate change, explicitly acknowledges this differentiated responsibility of nations.
• It makes it very clear that rich countries must provide both the finance and the technology to the developing nations to help them tackle climate change. It is this mandate that later evolved into the $100 billion amount that the rich countries agreed to provide every year to the developing world.
• The promise is yet to be met, this $100 billion per year amount is not meant for loss and damage.

Report by the UNOCHA

• According to a recent report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Efforts (UNOCHA), prepared for the UN General Assembly, annual funding requests related to climate-linked disasters averaged USD 15.5 billion in the three-year period between 2019 and 2021.
• The report said that the United States alone is estimated to have “inflicted more than $1.9 trillion in damages to other countries” due to its emissions. 
• Then there are non-economic losses as well, including loss of lives, displacement and migration, health impacts, and damage to cultural heritage.
• The report cited the results of another study to say that the unavoidable annual economic losses from climate change were projected to reach somewhere between $290 billion to $580 billion by the year 2030.

Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM)

• The WIM for Loss and Damages, set up in 2013, was the first formal acknowledgment of the need to compensate developing countries struck by climate disasters.
• However, the progress on this front has been painfully slow.
• No funding mechanism, or even a promise to provide funds, has come about.

Pushback from Developed Countries

• It is not hard to understand why the developed countries are dead against compensation claims.
• They are struggling to put together even the $100 billion per year flow that they had reluctantly agreed to provide.
• Further, loss and damage claims can easily spiral into billions of dollars, or even more.
• The report said that the United States alone is estimated to have “inflicted more than $1.9 trillion in damages to other countries” due to its emissions.

Uniformed Forces and Mental Health

Context:

The government needs to take immediate action to address mental health issues in the uniformed services.

Relevance:

GS II: Health and Education

Dimensions of the Article:

1. What is mental wellness?
2. Reasons for the Prevalence of Mental Health Issues in the Uniformed Forces
3. Impact of the Rising Mental Health issues among the forces

What is mental wellness?

• Emotional, psychological, and social wellbeing all fall under the umbrella of mental wellness.
• It affects behaviour, perception, and cognition.
• It also affects how they cope with stress, interact with others, and make decisions.

Reasons for the Prevalence of Mental Health Issues in the Uniformed Forces

Tightly Structured Hierarchy:

• Uniformed forces are organised in a command-and-control hierarchy that is quite well-defined.
• A senior officer serves as the reporting authority for his or her immediate junior, who is responsible for carrying out tasks with the help of the troops under his or her command.
• The structure promotes responsibility, clarity of roles, and discipline, and the hierarchy is rarely violated.
• However, it often turns into being unkind, particularly to people who are unable to express their own problems in a suitable setting.

Stress is not addressed:

• Uniformed forces who exhibit indicators of mental stress are not given due attention.
• People who express an issue are labelled as weak and considered as avoiding life’s challenges.
• Subordinate personnel in a uniformed environment do not want to come out as weak since the “macho man” stereotype drags them down.

Less Recognition for their Achievements:

• About 85% of state police and CAPFs are constabularies.
• These employees carry out their tasks as instructed by their superiors.
• They typically continue to operate in the organization’s shadows, receiving less credit for their successes and experiencing more persecution when things go wrong.

Tend towards Alcoholism:

• Staff members frequently turn to alcoholism and drug misuse as a coping mechanism for the challenging nature of the work.
• In these situations, defaulters are penalised in accordance with the law and appropriate departmental action is also taken.

Impact of the Rising Mental Health issues among the forces

• Although the armed forces have a positive reputation and are a very respectable profession, growing mental health problems among the ranks of the military may deter newer generations from enlisting.
• Growing mental health problems among the troops might demoralise them and have a negative effect on how they do their everyday business.
• According to a study by United Service Institution of India (USI), suicides, fratricides, and adverse incidents kill more Army men than enemy or terrorist activity

Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal

Context:

The Supreme Court drew an assurance from the State of Punjab that it will meet the Haryana counterpart within this month to discuss the construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal which has been languishing for two decades.

Relevance:

GS-I: Geography (Drainage System in India, Projects to improve Irrigation), GS-II: Polity and Governance (Inter-State Relations)

Dimensions of the Article:

1. Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal
2. Sharing of river waters
3. Punjab’s argument
4. Sutlej / Satluj River
5. Yamuna River

Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal

• On April 8, 1982, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi launched the construction of the SYL Canal with a groundbreaking ceremony in Kapoori village in Patiala district.
• A stretch of 214 km was to be constructed, out of which 122 km was to cross Punjab and 92 km in Haryana. But the Akalis launched an agitation in the form of Kapoori Morcha against the construction of the canal.
• Then in July 1985, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and then Akali Dal chief Sant Harchand Singh Longowal signed an accord agreeing for a new tribunal to assess the water.
• On August 20, 1985, Longowal was killed by militants, less than a month for signing the accord.
• In other violence, labourers were shot dead in Majat village near Chunni and Bharatgarh near Ropar.
• The construction came to a halt. In the backdrop of these incidents, Punjab leaders has been cautioning the Centre not to rake up the issue again.

The tribunal

• The Eradi Tribunal headed by Supreme Court Judge V Balakrishna Eradi was set up to reassess availability and sharing of water.
• In 1987, the tribunal recommended an increase in the shares of Punjab and Haryana to 5 MAF and 3.83 MAF, respectively.

Sharing of river waters

• The canal, once completed, will enable sharing of the waters of the rivers Ravi and Beas between the two states.
• The issue dates back to 1966 at the time of reorganisation of Punjab and formation of Haryana was formed.
• Punjab was opposed to sharing the waters of the two rivers with Haryana, citing riparian principles.

The shares

• A decade before the formation of Haryana, the water flowing down Ravi and Beas was assessed at 15.85 million acre feet (MAF) per year.
• The Union government had organised a meeting in 1955 between the three stake-holders — Rajasthan, undivided Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir — and allotted 8 MAF per year to Rajasthan, 7.20 MAF to undivided Punjab and 0.65 MAF to J&K.
• A decade after reorganisation, the Centre issued a notification allocating 3.5 MAF to Haryana out of the 7.2 MAF allotted to Punjab before reorganisation.
• In a reassessment in 1981, the water flowing down Beas and Ravi was estimated at 17.17 MAF, of which 4.22 MAF was allocated to Punjab, 3.5 MAF to Haryana, and 8.6 MAF to Rajasthan.

Punjab’s argument

• As per a state government study, many areas in Punjab may go dry after 2029.
• The state has already over-exploited its groundwater for irrigation purposes as it fills granaries of the Centre by growing wheat and paddy worth Rs 70,000 crore every year.
• As per reports, water in about 79% of the state’s area is over-exploited.
• Out of 138 blocks, 109 blocks are “over-exploited”, two blocks are “critical” five blocks are “semi-critical” and only 22 blocks are in “safe” category.
• In such a situation, the government says sharing water with any other state is impossible.
• Haryana has been staking claim to the Ravi-Beas waters through the SYL Canal on the plea that providing water for irrigation was a tough task for the state.
• In southern parts, where underground water had depleted up to 1700 feet, there was a problem of drinking water.
• Haryana has been citing its contribution to the central food pool and arguing that it is being denied its rightful share in the water as assessed by a tribunal.

Sutlej / Satluj River

• The Sutlej River is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan.
• It is the easternmost tributary of the Indus River.
• The waters of the Sutlej are allocated to India under the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan, and are mostly diverted to irrigation canals in India.
• It has several major hydroelectric points, including the 1,325 MW Bhakra Dam, the 1,000 MW Karcham Wangtoo Hydroelectric Plant, and the 1,500 MW Nathpa Jhakri Dam.
• The drainage basin is mainly in India’s Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana states.
• The source of the Sutlej is west of the catchment area of Lake Rakshastal in Tibet, as springs in an ephemeral stream.

Yamuna River

• The river Yamuna, a significant tributary of the Ganges, flows from the Yamunotri glacier near the Bandarpoonch peaks in the Mussoorie range of the lower Himalayas, at an elevation of around 6387 metres above mean sea level in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district.
• After flowing through Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, and Delhi, it meets the Ganges at the Sangam (where the Kumbh mela is held) in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.
• 1376 kilometres in length
• Dams of note include the Lakhwar-Vyasi Dam in Uttarakhand and the Tajewala Barrage Dam in Haryana.
• Chambal, Sindh, Betwa, and Ken are important tributaries.

Qimingxing-50

Context:

China’s first fully solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle has successfully completed its maiden test flight with all onboard systems functioning optimally.
Relevance:

GS III: Science and Technology

Dimensions of the Article:

1. About Qimingxing-50
2. Cross between drone and satellite

About Qimingxing-50

• With a wingspan of 164-ft, the drone is a large machine powered entirely by solar panels. The high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) UAV can stay airborne for long durations.
• Named the Qimingxing-50, or Morning Star-50, this drone flies above 20-km altitude where there is stable airflow with no clouds.
• This helps these drones to make the maximum use of solar equipment to stay functional for extended durations.
• Drones like the Morning Star-50 are cost-effective to build and are also easy to launch and operate.
• Being entirely powered by clean energy from the Sun, the present one can help boost China’s capabilities to operate in near-space and over the ocean.
• This HALE UAV is capable of conducting high-altitude reconnaissance, apart from monitoring forest fires, providing communication and environment relay.

Cross between drone and satellite

• The fact that the drone can operate in near-space – 20 km to 100 km above the Earth’s surface – makes it capable of carrying out satellite-like functions.
• If satellite services are not available for, say, time-sensitive operations or in case of wartime disruption, then near-space UAVs can step in to fill the operational gap.
• These drones are also referred to as ‘High Altitude Platform Stations’ or pseudo-satellites.
• China already has this capacity, but the Qimingxing-50’s long-endurance provides an added advantage to make this capability available over a longer period.