Devise a new water governance plan to deal with the future of the Indus basin. Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe

Recently, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources recommended that the government should renegotiate the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), signed in 1960, with Pakistan, in view of pressing challenges such as “climate change, global warming and environmental impact assessment”. Without making overtures of abrogating the treaty, which has often been part of the debate in midst of tensions with Pakistan, the committee, in no uncertain terms, acknowledged the rationality of the framing of IWT “on the basis of knowledge and technology existing at the time”.

Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

IWT, with its emphasis on hydraulic engineering, divided the basin into upper and lower parts (the western and eastern rivers), and envisaged the most complete utilisation of the waters through dams, barrages and canals. Without the treaty, Pakistan would have been constrained to build grand hydraulic works to transfer water from the western rivers to meet its irrigation needs and become independent of the eastern rivers. And without the eastern rivers being given exclusively to India, it would have struggled to operationalise the Bhakra and Nangal dams. The Rajasthan canal would not have made much progress, and the Ravi–Beas link canal would have failed to take off.

 Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

However, during the IWT negotiations, there was no unified methodology or specialised institutions to foretell the dangers of the climate crisis on water resources. With the advancement of science and improvement in measurements, snow and glacier melt in the upper Indus hydrology, which contribute to 60-70% of total average flow in the Indus river system, and precipitation patterns are now better understood. The contribution of these sources to the Indus Basin is undergoing considerable variations explained by the weather systems and the monsoon.

In India’s climate law, focus more on process, less on outcomes. Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe

Climate laws are popularly understood as instruments for the imposition of emissions caps. There is, however, an alternative model, sometimes called a framework law, which needn’t decree numerical targets, but acts as an overarching mechanism to establish a unifying basis for climate policy. The framework law’s main purpose is to enable, through cross-sectoral and institutional coordination, a green transformation of the economy.

As I discuss in an earlier article, in developing contexts, the latter is often more efficient and effective than imposed carbon caps due to its bottom-up and all-of-society approach. Broadly speaking, a developing nation is best served by a climate law that bases itself on developmental utility rather than rights or outcome duties, stipulates procedural duties, injects climate consciousness into short- and long-term plans and annual budgets, and institutes a new body dedicated to facilitating a low-carbon transformation..

The rights-based approach has often been the route taken on environmental matters. But will the ideal climate law issue from a newly minted right to climate — a right that guarantees citizens the enjoyment of a certain range of atmospheric living conditions? It is argued that this right exists, as part of the right to environment, in the Supreme Court’s extended reading of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution — the right to life — in concert with the eco-friendly articles, 48A and 51A.

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However, the assumption that this trump card is somehow sufficient, with or without a climate law, to protect Indian citizens from the dire climate consequences spelt out, for instance, in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, is dangerous. Any protections promised by a climate right might largely be illusory. Without a corresponding duty and means of accountability, a right is an empty cipher.

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However, it is not clear that an outcome duty will provide that protection. Given India’s developing context, such a duty might eventually prove unattainable or insufficient, depending on its onerousness or leniency. Also, in the event that a target is unlikely to be reached by a stipulated deadline, any action brought before the date might be deemed by the courts as premature. Yet, it is unclear whether an outcome duty continues to have legal meaning after the deadline has passed, given that the date of completion is part of its definition. The Irish parliament, for similar reasons, declared that its Climate Change Response Bill — specifically, its outcome duty — “shall not be justiciable”.

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Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

Instead, framework laws can offer an alternative approach — to maximise utility (ie, maximise the sustainability of development) without promoting rights or stipulating outcomes. South Korea’s Low Carbon, Green Growth Act, the most comprehensive framework law in existence, declares, rather unexpectedly, its main purpose to be the development of the “national economy” — this will be achieved, it says, by promoting low-carbon, green growth through the efficient restructuring of markets and institutions to favour green technologies and industries.

To maximise utility, framework laws generally avoid imposing outcome duties and focus instead on what can be termed “procedural duties”. These duties are designed to integrate climate concerns into the routine working of government and industry. The Peruvian framework law, for instance, pronounces a litany of commandments such as “coordinate, articulate, design, report, monitor, evaluate and disseminate” but does not mention “achieve”. Procedural duties are generally demanded of an array of ministries and departments – often, energy, land-use, building, transportation, and waste are mentioned by name. They aim to establish processes that diffuse climate responsibility across various sectors and levels of governance.

Framework laws implicate the State as a whole in the fight against the climate crisis, often by folding the issue into the remit of planning and finance commissions. The “integration principle” of the Peruvian law demands the assimilation of climate into the National System of Strategic Planning. The South African Climate Change Bill, on the other hand, requires the inclusion of a climate report in the budget bill to ensure funding for green projects. Even provincial departments are directed (with financial incentives) in the Kenyan and South Korean laws to harmonise local projects with national climate strategies..

Reanimating the atrophying institutions and dusty communication channels of environmental governance is best achieved through well-designed procedural duties. But the complex tasks crucial to large-scale low-carbon transformation — coordination, consensus-building, and strategy-setting — almost always necessitate the institution of a new nodal climate body. In framework laws, these bodies are usually tasked with advising the decision-making bodies, providing direction for short- and long-term plans, and mainstreaming the goals of the act. Together with procedural duties, the climate body creates a robust framework for realising the letter of the law.

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The climate crisis, approached in the right spirit, may thus not be debilitating but an opportunity for better modes of development and governance. A comprehensive climate law with a green vision can serve as the definitive mechanism whereby India’s future is secured in the decades to come.

 

Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

A strategic shock for the subcontinent Shri Krishna hare murari Hey nath narayana vasudeva

The sudden, surreal, collapse of the Afghan State in the face of a Taliban onslaught is a strategic shock to the subcontinent..

Triggered by an expected but ill-executed departure of the United States (US) — typified by a 17-year-old football enthusiast, Zaki Anwari, falling to his death from a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III — this moment was long in the making. Undecided between the narrower counterterrorism and broader nation-building objectives, the US failed at both. But more than the failure of the US and the corrupt Afghan elite who fled when their country needed them most, it is the “victory” of the Taliban and its sponsor, Pakistan, which makes this moment significant..

Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

Both these aspects ie, the Taliban’s largely unchallenged, almost preordained rise, and the concomitant success of Pakistan’s military establishment, which has long desired influence in Kabul, require unpacking. For these entities, Kabul has not fallen, it has risen. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan’s much-criticised statement that the Taliban are “breaking the chains of slavery”, offers important clues about South Asia’s geopolitical contours.

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Shri Krishna Govind hare Murari.

It marks the (geo)political mainstreaming of fringe Islamists. Unlike the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), that made the cardinal mistake of simultaneously altering territorial boundaries and propagating global jihad, the Taliban focused its efforts on a territorially recognised nation-State and, in rhetoric, steers clear of global jihadists. That the United Kingdom (UK)’s chief of defence staff, Nick Carter, active in behind-the-scenes negotiations between Rawalpindi and pre-Taliban Kabul, thinks that the Taliban are “country boys with honour at the heart” demonstrates how far the Taliban has come, with Pakistan’s support, in reshaping the world’s views about it.

Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

The Taliban’s genius lies in their ability to navigate along, and manipulate, differences between ethnic nationalism and Islamist radicalism. Ever since its resurgence, the group kept international opinion divided on where the Taliban figured on this Islamist-versus-nationalist spectrum. Even now, big powers such as China, who are eager to engage with the Taliban, are demanding them to cut ties with “terrorists” ie, the Turkistan Islamic Party, that China views as antithetical to its security. Islamabad too wants the Taliban to cut ties with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The irony is that such demands afford the Taliban leverage vis-à-vis both Islamabad and Beijing — not the other way round.

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For a group that has come to power after humiliating the US, and that knows Beijing is unlikely to use military force in Afghanistan given the risks, the Taliban has little incentive to cut the cord with foreign Islamists to whom it owes battlefield gratitude. This doesn’t mean that the Taliban will suddenly take a global Islamist turn. It will not. But it will extract a heavy price, including aid and diplomatic recognition, for every foreign Islamist it targets on behalf of an external power. In that sense, the Taliban, an internationally connected Islamist group, doesn’t need to send fighters to Kashmir or Xinjiang. It just needs to be and let them be.

 Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

Scientifically Speaking | Radiation is a deadly threat to human space Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe

On July 20, American billionaire Jeff Bezos flew on a Blue Origin rocket past the Kármán line, which, at an altitude of 62 miles, is the widely accepted boundary of space. The spacecraft topped out at 66.5 miles above the Earth, and its crew experienced a few minutes of weightlessness. Billionaire Richard Branson had reached the NASA-designated space boundary of 50 miles only nine days earlier. The other billionaire interested in space travel, Elon Musk, heads SpaceX, a company which has taken astronauts up to the International Space Station (ISS). Though Musk has not been in space yet, he has made no secret of his desire to take humanity to Mars and back.

Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

On July 20, American billionaire Jeff Bezos flew on a Blue Origin rocket past the Kármán line, which, at an altitude of 62 miles, is the widely accepted boundary of space. The spacecraft topped out at 66.5 miles above the Earth, and its crew experienced a few minutes of weightlessness. Billionaire Richard Branson had reached the NASA-designated space boundary of 50 miles only nine days earlier. The other billionaire interested in space travel, Elon Musk, heads SpaceX, a company which has taken astronauts up to the International Space Station (ISS). Though Musk has not been in space yet, he has made no secret of his desire to take humanity to Mars and back.

shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri.

Some futurists think a permanent colony on Mars will be possible. I don’t expect to see one in my lifetime. The challenges of travel to Mars and survival on the planet are exceptional. Mars has thin air, frigid weather, and trace oxygen. And after 10 years on Mars at lower gravity, a spacefarer’s legs and bones would be so brittle that re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere would render them useless.

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Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

But one of the greatest risks in space is from radiation. Ionising radiation causes damage to cells and to DNA inside them. In deep space, ionising radiation is of two main types — galactic cosmic rays that originate outside the solar system from exploding stars, and solar energetic particles from the Sun.

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Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

Radiation poses an existential threat to humans and to all other forms of life. Unsurprisingly, NASA considers radiation one of the major unresolved problems of sustained human spaceflight. Returning astronauts might face a greater risk of various cancers, eye ailments, and cardiac events.

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Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

The risks are not unique to humans either. Any organisms that accompany humans into space and to Mars would need to be able to withstand ionising radiation. As Christopher Mason writes in his eminently readable new book, The Next 500 Years: Engineering Life to Reach New Worlds, “Sending an Earth-evolved organism to another planet would result in almost-certain death.

Earth is an incomparable planet. The magnetic field of Earth is created by currents of electricity that flow in the molten core. The Earth’s internal magnetism creates a region around the planet known as the magnetosphere, which protects us from the harmful effects of most of the radiation of space.

Several planets in our solar system have magnetospheres. Earth’s is the strongest of all the ones possessed by rocky planets. Our magnetosphere is a large, comet-shaped bubble, which has played an essential role in our planet’s habitability. Life would not exist on the planet without it.

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India, Russia to assess Taliban actions before any recognition move Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe..

Russia and India have decided to consult each other over Taliban’s actions in Afghanistan and assess where there is any marked change in the Sunni Pashtun Islamist force since they first came to power in 1996 before deciding to recognise the new Emirates of Afghanistan.

.Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri...The two countries have also decided to set up combined teams comprising of foreign ministry and national security officials of each country to conduct a detailed assessment of the Afghan situation so that future course of action with the Taliban Islamic government is decided by both India and Russia.

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Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe..

These crucial decisions were taken after Russian President Vladimir Putin called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday and held detailed conversation over telephone on Afghanistan situation and its impact on both South and Central Asia ahead of the G-7 summit. This was the first call of President Putin to any global leader after he discussed the Afghan situation with leaders of Central Asian Republics, who are extremely worried about the impact of rise of an Islamist terrorist force in Kabul. The conversation was warm and both leaders appeared to be on the same page on Afghanistan.

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Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

The call by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to both PM Modi and Russian President Putin was a farewell call from the German leader and was set up before the Taliban seized Kabul with the US forces virtually running out of Afghanistan.

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Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

While Russian National Security Advisor Gen Nikolai Patrushev was in touch with his US counterpart Jake Sullivan this week, the discussion was tactical in nature with Moscow offering a helping hand to US forces trying to evacuate civilians from Kabul. A similar conversation took place between Russian Defence Minister and his UK counterpart.

.While Russian National Security Advisor Gen Nikolai Patrushev was in touch with his US counterpart Jake Sullivan this week, the discussion was tactical in nature with Moscow offering a helping hand to US forces trying to evacuate civilians from Kabul. A similar conversation took place between Russian Defence Minister and his UK counterpart.

 Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

President Putin made it evident that Russia is still to assess whether there is any change in the methodology of Taliban from the past before taking steps to recognize the Islamist regime. He said that Russia would consult India before any such decision is taken and hence the combined national security and intelligence teams of the two countries were asked to carry out this assessment. During 1996-2001, the Taliban carried out a reign of terror against minorities and women. The Taliban then went after their political opponents by castrating and publicly hanging former Afghan president Mohammed Najibullah, an Ahmedzai Pashtun, from a traffic light pole on September 26, 1996.

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While India is in discussion with the US, EU leadership and at the UN on Afghanistan development, one must remember the role both Russia and India played in bolstering the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance in the 1990s along with Iran. All three countries have a legitimate stake in Afghanistan as neighbors and understand the perfidious role of Pakistan in Taliban 2.0.

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Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

India’s health sector presents an opportunity to transition to clean energy.

A recent report by India’s NITI Aayog discusses various operating models of India’s not-for-profit hospitals to highlight the crucial services they provide and the challenges they face. As the country recovers from another wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, India’s overstretched and inadequate health infrastructure, which largely remained in the margins of conversations on development, has taken centre stage in the past year. And the stark differences in the quality and cost of care between private healthcare facilities and the government and not-for-profit hospitals are very evident.

Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

Data from the annual national Rural Health Statistics (RHS) have long informed us of the challenges that the government faces in filling rural vacancies at Primary Health Centres (PHCs) or ensuring trained medical professionals remain in their jobs in remote parts of the country. What is often missed is how the not-for-profit health sector had stepped in to fill this gap. The NITI Aayog report acknowledges these services by this sector and highlights prominent challenges it faces.

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These challenges mirror those faced by the government hospitals — the severe lack of infrastructure and the constraints in expanding it, often exacerbated by insufficient funding. There is also the challenge of getting trained medical professionals to take up rural postings, leaving many jobs unfilled. This is an extremely important and timely report. We add one more challenge– the lack of reliable and affordable electricity required to power existing and future rural healthcare facilities...

These gaps present a challenge, but they also provide an opportunity to attempt a paradigm shift in building health infrastructure and provisioning power supply. Both would directly impact the quality of care, its reach, and the livelihoods this would create.

 Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

According to the RHS 2019-20, nearly a quarter of the 35,980 sanctioned positions for doctors in rural Primary Health Centres (PHCs) nationwide are unfilled. The statistics for Community Health Centres (CHCs) that provide specialised medical care are even starker. The data reveals that 63.3% of the sanctioned posts of specialists at CHCs are vacant. They comprise surgeons, obstetricians & gynaecologists, physicians and paediatricians.

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Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe..

More importantly, of the existing about 155,000 sub-centres, nearly one-third (44,000) and 1,000 PHCs out of about 25,000 in rural areas still operate without electricity supply.

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Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

Healthcare professionals point to multiple hardships, from low salaries to working in remote locations that lack basic facilities such as reliable electricity and water supply, motorable roads, and network connectivity. Often, rural healthcare facilities lack sophisticated diagnostic and surgical tools and medical equipment.

Also, a common refrain is the limited infrastructure for their accommodation, the lack of options for good schools and daycare support for their children. Cumulatively, these issues deter medical staff from moving to these remote locations...

Reliable electricity is crucial for every aspect of a health facility. It is required to run equipment for diagnostics, sterilisation, medical procedures, water supply, and store vaccines and other medications. Beyond the hospital building, reliable electricity is required to power staff quarters — not just lights and fans, but also household and kitchen appliances, charging mobile phones and internet connectivity. The efficient functioning of a health facility is underpinned by the quality of infrastructure provided to its staff, which is only possible when there is affordable and reliable power supply for all their needs..

Reliable access to energy, therefore, plays a critical role in creating a virtuous cycle. 24x7 power supply in hospitals enables upgradation of facilities to provide advanced healthcare services and for longer operating hours. This results in more patients being able to access much needed healthcare facilities, reinforcing the need for more doctors and nurses. In turn, this could possibly attract more financing for the health facility to improve its infrastructure.

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Reliable access to energy, therefore, plays a critical role in creating a virtuous cycle. 24x7 power supply in hospitals enables upgradation of facilities to provide advanced healthcare services and for longer operating hours. This results in more patients being able to access much needed healthcare facilities, reinforcing the need for more doctors and nurses. In turn, this could possibly attract more financing for the health facility to improve its infrastructure.

Reliable access to energy, therefore, plays a critical role in creating a virtuous cycle. 24x7 power supply in hospitals enables upgradation of facilities to provide advanced healthcare services and for longer operating hours. This results in more patients being able to access much needed healthcare facilities, reinforcing the need for more doctors and nurses. In turn, this could possibly attract more financing for the health facility to improve its infrastructure.

Additionally, increased budgetary allocations towards enhancing access and quality of all health services are needed. This requires a holistic view of creating a climate-resilient and energy-efficient healthcare infrastructure. This could be achieved by assessing healthcare facility energy requirements, retrofitting energy-efficient medical equipment and ensuring the provisioning of power through cost-effective renewable energy resources.

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Transitioning to renewable energy comes with multiple benefits. They can be deployed quickly, and will immediately enhance the reliability of the power supply. It will also bring savings on power bills and cut down on diesel expenses required for standby generators. These accrued savings could be ploughed back into enhancing healthcare service delivery.

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The NITI Aayog report has spotlighted a sector that has thousands of unsung warriors who have striven to put the care of others first, particularly in the least visible and remote regions of India. It is time to ensure lessons from this sector on resource management inspire the private and government healthcare facilities to attempt a sustainable transition to clean energy.

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Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe..

To ensure justice, a caste census is essential. Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

An Indian women’s hockey team player, who happened to be Dalit, had to face caste slurs, and her family had to confront upper-caste harassment after the team’s loss in the Tokyo Olympics. This reminded me of novelist Farahat Zama’s apt comment, “You can take an Indian out of the caste system, but you cannot take the caste system out of an Indian.”.

The caste system is India’s nemesis and has severely restricted the country’s ability to realise its immense potential and become a great nation in science, technology, knowledge, art, sport and economic prosperity. Many public intellectuals would like to believe that they have been “de-casted” — meaning they have got rid of all of the markers of caste identity. But whether we acknowledge it or not, caste has been at the forefront of our social existence and regulates our lives — from birth to death, customs, rituals, housing, professions, development planning, and even voting preferences..

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Studies suggest that 94% of marriages are endogamous; 90% of menial jobs are performed by the deprived castes, whereas this figure is reversed in white-collar jobs. This abysmal lack of caste diversity, especially at the decision-making levels in various sectors — the media, the judiciary, higher education, bureaucracy or the corporate sector — is weakening these institutions and their performance.

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