National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 29th October 2019

Smart City Mission

Topic: Government Schemes

In News: The second round of the Centre’s flagship urban development schemes — the Smart Cities Mission and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) — were being considered and could be rolled out in 2020.

More on the Topic:

• The Smart Cities Mission is an innovative flagship initiative by the Government of India to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of people by enabling local development and harnessing technology as a means to create smart outcomes for citizens.
• According to a report released by the Minister of Urban and Housing Affairs, 148 projects have been completed till date under India’s Smart Cities Mission. Besides this, 407 projects have started work, and another 237 projects are in the tendering stage.
• So while things have progressed slowly until now, there are very encouraging signs that India’s Smart City Mission will be successful.

Below are given the gists of the three models of Area-based smart city development:

• Retrofitting will introduce planning in an existing built-up area to achieve smart city objectives, along with other objectives, to make the existing area more efficient and liveable.
• Redevelopment will effect a replacement of the existing built-up environment and enable co-creation of a new layout with enhanced infrastructure using mixed land use and increased density.
• Greenfield development will introduce most of the Smart Solutions in a previously vacant area (more than 250 acres) using innovative planning, plan financing and plan implementation tools (e.g. land pooling/ land reconstitution) with provision for affordable housing, especially for the poor. One well known example is the GIFT City in Gujarat.
• Pan-city development envisages application of selected Smart Solutions to the existing city-wide infrastructure. Application of Smart Solutions will involve the use of technology, information and data to make infrastructure and services better.

Challenges:

• Cities in India are governed by multiple organizations and authorities which have their own jurisdictions. This causes paralysis of policy implementation.
• Smart cities can create islands of development rather than an inclusive all round development of the city.
• State and local governments lack fine-grained data or the capability to analyse them in order to understand the evolving needs of their communities.
• Although India’s Smart Cities Mission has identified more than 20 priority areas, interventions by the respective agencies are weak.
• There is an inadequate emphasis on the functioning of urban local bodies.
• The Area Based Development approach development of a sewage system somewhere or a web of roads in another city will cover just about three per cent of the urban areas associated with these smart cities.
• Urban local bodies lack both technical and human capacity and professionalism.

Way Ahead:

• When GoI envisages Smart City 2 mission, these challenges should be addressed in effective way.
• Smart cities cannot be a solution to urban crisis happening in India. It needs understanding of problem rationally through data collected systematically.
• India should develop transport, waste management, various infrastructure data and analyse them for improving urban governance based on evidence.
• Care has to be taken to protect the environment while making cities smart.
• Citizen participation is important right from policy inputs, implementation and execution because citizens are the ultimate beneficiaries of smart cities.
• Best international practices and principles of the recently concluded UN URBAN AGENDA of the Habitat conference can be incorporated to meet SDG goals.

Model Mains Question: Smart City Mission is a step forward towards the formation of Smart India. Comment

Source: Hindu

Unintended Pregnancies

Topic: Social Justice

In News: A new study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 36 countries found that unintended pregnancies remain an important public health issue. Globally, 74 million women living in low and middle-income countries have unintended pregnancies annually. This leads to 25 million unsafe abortions and 47,000 maternal deaths every year.

More on the Topic:

• Unwanted pregnancies may lead to a wide range of health risks for the mother and child. The risks include malnutrition, illness, abuse and neglect, and even death.
• Unintended pregnancies can further lead to cycles of high fertility, as well as lower educational and employment potential and poverty challenges which can span generations.

Indian Scenario:

• As per the figures published by international medical journal Lancet last year on the incidence of abortion and unintended pregnancy in India, it is estimated that 6 million abortions occurred in India in 2015.
• In India the abortion rate was 47 per 1,000 women aged 15-49 years.
• 3·4 million abortions (22%) were obtained in health facilities, 11·5 million (73%) abortions were medication abortions done outside of health facilities, and 0·8 million (5%) abortions were done outside of health facilities using methods other than medication abortion.
• In India, abortions accounted for one-third of all pregnancies, and nearly half of the pregnancies were unintended.

Way Ahead (WHO guidelines):

• Modern methods of contraception had a vital role in preventing unintended pregnancies.
• High-quality family planning offered a range of potential benefits that encompassed not only improved maternal and child health, but also social and economic development, education, and women’s empowerment.
• There is need for awareness generation de stigmatizing use of contraceptives.
• Overcoming legal, policy, social, cultural and structural barriers will enable more people to benefit from effective contraceptive services.

Source: Hindu

India, Saudi Arabia Relations

Topic: International Relations

In News: India and Saudi Arabia are set to sign an agreement for creating a bilateral strategic partnership council.

More on the Topic:

• The council will be led by Mr. Modi and King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
• The council will include multiple sections involving the External Affairs Ministry and NITI Aayog and counterpart organisations from Saudi Arabia.
• Modi’s visit is significant as it comes three months after India ended the special status of Kashmir. Former Ambassador to Riyadh Talmiz Ahmed, however, feels that Kashmir is unlikely to get any attention from the Saudi rulers as the visit is expected to boost the Crown Prince’s global stature which suffered after Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was brutally killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

More on India Saudi Arabia Relations:

Background:

• Saudi Arabia has long been an important Indian trade partner. There are more than 2.7 million Indians working in Saudi.
• The Kingdom remains a vital source of energy for India, which imports almost a fifth of its crude oil requirement from Saudi Arabia.
• For years, the Saudi Arabia-India relationship had always been shadowed by the Kingdom’s close ties with Pakistan.
• That has changed, while Riyadh retains strong ties to Islamabad, there is no longer an “either-or” element, and the Kingdom has demonstrated geopolitical diversification in its relations with South Asia.
• On the face of it, much of the deliberations have been shrouded over “terror talks”: The historic visit of King Abdullah to India in 2006 had laid solid ground for the India-Saudi relationship.
• The “Delhi Declaration,” signed between the two countries during his visit, stressed that terrorism was a scourge that “the governments would closely and actively cooperate” to fight against.
• The “Riyadh Declaration” signed in 2010 during then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Saudi Arabia emphasized cooperation on information exchange on terrorism.
• Enhanced security cooperation has added a new dimension in the bilateral ties between New Delhi and Riyadh.
• A milestone happened in 2017, when direct flights between India and Israel became possible following Saudi Arabia giving consent to allow Air India use of its airspace.
• Since Riyadh and Tel Aviv have no official diplomatic ties, the over flight permission clearly signals Saudi willingness to treat India as a special friend.

Current cooperation Areas:

• Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) and Invest India: To utilize the investment opportunities in both countries, especially in the fields of infrastructure, mining, energy including renewables, food security and technology transfer, and to further consolidate cooperation in the areas of skilled human resources in information technology, electronics and telecommunications.
• Investments by Indian companies in the Kingdom for domestic and regional market access
• Coalition on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure
• India-Saudi Arabia Energy consultations:The two sides agreed to transform the buyer-seller relationship in the energy-sector to strategic partnership focusing on investment and joint ventures in petrochemical complexes.
• Kingdom’s participation in the India’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPRs).
• Saudi side would join the International Solar Alliance led by India and France.
• Joint Working Group on Skill Development: two countries can benefit from each other’s core competencies in important fields such as manufacturing, information technology, communications, and programming.

Source: Hindu

Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA)

Topic: International Organisation

In News: The 19th IORA Council of Ministers meeting will be held in Abu Dhabi with the theme of “Promoting a Shared Destiny and Path to Prosperity in the Indian Ocean”.

More on the Topic:

• IORA was setup in 1997 and consists of 22 coastal states bordering the Indian Ocean.
• The Indian Ocean Rim Association was set up with the objective of strengthening regional cooperation and sustainable development within the Indian Ocean Region.
• The IORA is a regional forum, tripartite in nature, bringing together representatives of Government, Business and Academia, for promoting co-operation and closer interaction among them.
• It is based on the principles of Open Regionalism for strengthening Economic Cooperation particularly on Trade Facilitation and Investment, Promotion as well as Social Development of the region.

India’s objectives in the Indian Ocean Region:

• To spread its influence across the entire Indian Ocean Region, through trade and investment, diplomacy and strategic partnerships.
• Upgrading relations with Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia; regions that hold mineral deposits and energy reserves critical to India’s economic development and great power aspirations.
• Positioning itself to emerge as the dominant Indian Ocean power in the decades ahead.
• Ensuring that China does not gain a significant strategic foothold in the region.
• Strengthening influence and control over Indian Ocean choke points through security relationships with key littoral states such as Singapore, Mauritius and Oman India imports about 70% of its oil through the Indian Ocean Region to its various ports.
• 90% of India’s international trade by volume is dependent on sea. India has been enhancing its strategic influence through the use of soft power, by becoming a major foreign investor in regional mining, oil, gas and infrastructure projects.

Source: Hindu

Sarayu River

Topic: Indian Geography

In News: 5.50 lakhs earthen lamps on the banks of Saryu River has helped Uttar Pradesh enter into the Guinness Books of World Records for lightening of record number of diyas on any occasion.

More on the Topic:

• The Sarayu originates from Lake Mansarovar in the Himalayas and is also known as the Ghaghra and the Manas Nandini.
• It flows through Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. It merges with the Ganga in Bihar’s Saran district.
• Ayodhya is situated on the banks of this river.
• It flows through the Kumaon himalayas.
• Sarayu river is mentioned in the Vedas and the Ramayana.

Source: Hindu

Kyarr Cyclone

Topic: Geography

In News: Kyarr is the first Super Cyclonic storm in Arabian Sea in last 12 years after Cyclone Gonu ravaged the Oman coast in 2007.

More on the Topic:

• Kyarr is the ninth super cyclone to have developed in the North Indian Ocean, after Super Cyclone Gonu in 2007.
• Super cyclone is a cyclonic disturbance in which maximum wind speed is 120 knots and above (222 km/h and above). Tropical cyclone is a generic term for a non frontal synoptic scale cyclone originating over tropical or subtropical waters with organized convection and definite cyclonic surface wind circulation.
• Tropical cyclones, hurricanes or typhoons form when convection causes warm, moist air above the ocean to rise. They begin as a group of storms when the water gets as hot as 80 °F (27 °C) or hotter. The Coriolis effect made by the Earth’s rotation causes the winds to rotate. Warm air rises quickly.

Source: Hindu