News Analysis 15 Sept, 2022

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AGRICULTURE POLICY / BILL

15 Sep, 2022

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

1. Solar energy: For Amrit Kaal in agriculture.
2. Recognition of Sex Work as Profession.
3. Status of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in South Asia.

1. Solar energy: For Amrit Kaal in agriculture.

Theme : Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation,Solar energy and its use in different sectors particularly agriculture etc.

GS - 3

TABLE OF CONTENT

Context
Solar Energy Targets
Challenges with respect to growing population and availing the food
Food system as a composite entity & Other Solutions
Initiatives by India to shift to renewable energy
What is Solar as the ‘THIRD’ Crop

Context :
Recently, India celebrated 75 years of Independence and entered the Amrit Kaal toward 2047.The famous slogan of late Lal Bahadur Shastri, “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan,” was extended by Atal Bihari Vajpayee to include “Jai Vigyan.” Now, our current Prime Minister has extended it to, “Jai Anusandhan”.The innovations (anusandhan) needed to be made in the agri-food space by 2047 to have a well-fed India, with zero hunger, almost no malnutrition, climate resilience, and high incomes for our farmers.

Solar Energy Targets :

Karnataka leads India’s list of states producing solar energy, with a total installed solar power capacity of about 7,100MW; followed by Telangana, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat
Also, India is now the fourth-largest solar power producer in the world
International Solar Alliance: In pursuance to enhance Solar Energy production, India along with France launched the International Solar Alliance with the aim to promote solar energy in 121 member countries and to mobilize over $1 trillion of investment for the deployment of solar energy at affordable costs.
100 GW target: The target set by India for installed solar energy capacity is 100 GW by March 2023 — 40 GW rooftop solar and 60 GW ground-mounted utility scale.

Challenges with respect to growing population and availing the food :

As per the latest UN Population reports, India is likely to surpass China by 2023. So, the biggest challenge will be feeding a country whose per capita income still hovers around $2,300.
The per capita income is likely to grow between 5 to 6 per cent per annum, under normal conditions.
As they rise from low-income levels, people are likely to demand not just more food but safe and nutritious food.
So, the first challenge would be to align our Agri-policies and strategies to the emerging demand pattern.

Food system as a composite entity & Other Solutions :

Food system as a composite entity has five dimensions :

Production
Marketing
Consumption
The environmental sustainability of our food systems
Nutritional outcomes

Other Solutions :

Arrest decline in groundwater: We need to arrest the dramatic decline in our groundwater table, particularly in the northwest, rejuvenate our soils, and improve the air quality by stopping/reducing stubble burning and methane emissions.
Digitisation of agriculture: The digitisation of agriculture can help in this. We need to become a nation of innovators in agriculture like Israel, Holland, and the US.
Value chain by involving the private sector: Diversification toward high-value crops is a must as we move forward.
High value agriculture: Policies need to create an ecosystem to promote this form of high-value agriculture and reduce the risks attached to it.
Developing carbon markets: We need to develop carbon markets so that farmers can be incentivised to change existing farming practices that are not compatible with environmental sustainability.

Initiatives by India to shift to renewable energy :

The Wind Energy Revolution: Leveraging India’s robust wind energy sector to boost clean energy manufacturing and the rural economy.
National Solar Mission (NSM): The 100 GW solar ambition at the heart of the world’s largest renewable energy expansion programme.
Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme: Integrating India into the global clean energy value chains.
National Biofuels Policy and SATAT: Building value chains to reduce fuel imports, increase clean energy, manage waste, and create jobs.
Small Hydro Power (SHP): Harnessing the power of water to integrate remote communities into the economic mainstream.
National Hydrogen Energy Mission (NHEM): Exploring the commercial viability of a versatile clean fuel.

What is Solar as the ‘THIRD’ Crop :

One of the out-of-the-box innovations that can double farm incomes quickly, ‘solar as a third crop’ is one. In this solution, solar energy generation brings in additional income for the farm.
In an acre of cultivated land, which grows 2 crops/ year, over 400 solar ‘trees’- each 10-12 feet high- can be installed with enough space for continuing regular cultivation.
The renewable energy generated from these 400 panels would be the ‘3rd crop’. It would be sold to power companies and distributed via the power grid.

2. Recognition of Sex Work as Profession.

Theme : Government Policies and Interventions.

GS - 2

TABLE OF CONTENT

Context
Article -142 of the Constitution
Current Legal Provisions

(d) Court’s Directives

(e) Challenges faced by Sex workers

(f) Why to decriminalize Sex Work?

(g) Road Ahead

Context :
The Supreme Court has recognised sex work as a “profession” and observed that its practitioners are entitled to dignity and equal protection under law.

Article -142 of the Constitution :The court invoked its special powers under Article 142 of the Constitution. Article 142 provides discretionary power to the Supreme Court as it states that the Supreme Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction may pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it.

Current Legal Provisions :

The Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Children Act was enacted in 1956.
Subsequent amendments were made to the law.
And the name of the Act was changed to Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.
This is the legislation currently governing sex work in India.
The legislation penalizes acts such as
1. keeping a brothel
2. soliciting in a public place
3. living off the earnings of sex work
4. living with or habitually being in the company of a sex worker

Court’s Directives :

Child Protection:
- A child of a sex worker should not be separated from the mother merely on the ground that she is in the sex trade.
- Basic protection of human decency and dignity extends to sex workers and their children.
- If a minor is found living in a brothel or with sex workers, it should not be presumed that the child was trafficked.
Medico Legal Care:
- There should not be any discrimination against sex workers who lodge a criminal complaint, especially if the offence committed against them is of a sexual nature.
- Sex workers who are victims of sexual assault should be provided every facility including immediate medico-legal care.
Police’s cruelty:
- It has been noticed that the attitude of the police to sex workers is often brutal and violent. It is as if they are a class whose rights are not recognised.
- Measures taken by sex workers, like the use of condom, should not be construed by the police as evidence of their “offence”.
Voyeurism:
- The newly introduced Section 354C of Indian Penal Code (IPC), which makes voyeurism a criminal offence, should be strictly enforced against electronic media, in order to prohibit telecasting photos of sex workers with their clients in the garb of capturing the rescue operation.
Police:
- Police should neither interfere nor take criminal action against adult and consenting sex workers.
- Notwithstanding the profession, every individual in this country has a right to a dignified life under Article 21 of the Constitution.
- Criminal law must apply equally in all cases, on the basis of ‘age’ and ‘consent’.

Challenges faced by Sex workers :

Sex workers have no rights, and people who conduct such job face prejudice because of their criminal status.
These people are despised and have no place in society, and their landlords and even the law frequently punish them cruelly.
Their quest for equal human, health, and labor rights continues because they are not considered to be in the same category as other workers.
Sex workers are frequently subjected to a variety of abuses, ranging from physical to mental assaults.
Clients, their own family members, the neighborhood, and even people who are sworn to defend the law would harass them.

Why to decriminalize Sex Work?

Improves Access To Justice: Laws that criminalize sex work cause sex workers to feel unsafe reporting crimes—including violence crimes and other abuses—because they fear prosecution, police surveillance, stigma, and discrimination.
Decriminalization Challenges The Consequences Of Having A Criminal Record: In many countries, harsh and biased application of criminal law ensures that a large proportion of sex workers will have criminal records. Criminal records are often a source of stigma, and can drastically limit one’s future.
Respects Human Rights And Dignity: A cornerstone of contemporary human rights is that all people are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
Decriminalization Helps Guard Against Violence And Abuse: Sex work is not inherently violent; it is criminalization that places sex workers at greatest risk.
Challenges Police Abuse And Violence: Where sex work is criminalized, police wield power over sex workers. Police threaten sex workers with arrest, public humiliation, and extortion.
Decriminalization Improves Access To Health Services: Decriminalization is associated with the best access by outreach workers to brothels, and the greatest financial support for sex worker health programs. Better financial support means greater capacity to conduct health outreach in the evening, an important feature because the evenings are often the busiest times for sex workers.
Reduces Risk Of Hiv And Sexually Transmitted Infections: Decriminalization of sex work could avert up to 46 percent of new HIV infections among female sex workers over the next decade.
Promotes Safe Working Conditions: Decriminalization makes possible the creation of workplace health and safety regulations that are relevant to the sex industry.
Challenges State Control Over Bodies And Sexuality: Decriminalization of sex work recognizes the right of all people to privacy and freedom from undue state control over sex and sexual expression. The different treatment of sex work from other types of work is an example of governments’ long history of exerting control over bodily autonomy, self-determination, and sexuality.
Allows For Effective Responses To Trafficking: Trafficking is an egregious human rights violation involving coercion of individuals for sexual exploitation or forced labor. Sex workers can be natural allies in the fight against trafficking, and may be well placed to refer trafficking victims to appropriate services.

Road Ahead :

Parliament must take a relook at the existing legislation and do away with the ‘victim-rescue-rehabilitation’ narrative.
It is time we rethink sex work from a labour perspective, where we recognise their work and guarantee them basic labour rights.

3. Status of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in South Asia.

Theme : India & Its Neighborhood - Relations

GS - 2

TABLE OF CONTENT

Context
Belt and Road Initiative(BRI)
Progress of BRI In Neighboring Countries.
Issues associated to BRI

Context :
At the recently concluded summit of G7 leaders in Germany, the U.S. President and his allies unveiled their $600 billion plan called the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Intelligence which is being seen as a counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Belt and Road Initiative(BRI) :

In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping, during his visits to Kazakhstan and Indonesia, expressed his vision to build a Silk Road Economic Belt and a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
He then aimed to break the “bottleneck” in Asian connectivity. This vision led to the birth of the BRI.
The initiative envisioned a Chinese-led investment of over $1 trillion in partner countries by 2025.
More than 60 countries have now joined BRI agreements with China, with infrastructure projects under the initiative being planned or under construction in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America.

Progress of BRI In Neighboring Countries :

PAKISTAN :

China pledged $62billion in low interest loans and financing from Chinese state owned banks and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), up from an initial $46 billion pledge.
The CPEC envisioned multiple projects involving energy, transport and communication systems.
At the center of the CPEC was the $700million development of the city of Gwadar into a smart port city that would become the “Singapore of Pakistan”.
Gwadar is strategically important as it is an hour’s drive from Iran and less than 320 km from Oman.
Gwadar’s development under BRI, approved in 2020, would increase the city’s GDP to $30 billion by 2050 and create over a million jobs.
Other projects:
- The orange line metro
- coal power plants to tackle energy shortages
- Main Line 1 rail project from Peshawar to Karachi.
While coal plants set up and managed by Chinese firms did help improve the power situation in Pakistan.

SRI LANKA :

In Sri Lanka, multiple infrastructure projects that were being financed by China came under the fold of the BRI after it was launched in 2013.
The island nation in the last couple of years has witnessed competition between India and China in port terminals and energy projects.
In 2021, Colombo ejected India and Japan out of a deal to develop the East Container Terminal at the Colombo port and got China to take up the project.
It then awarded the project for the Western Side of the Terminal to the Adani Group.
Some BRI projects in Sri Lanka have been described as white elephants, the Hambantota port:
- A deep seaport on the world’s busiest eastwest shipping lane, which was meant to spur industrial activity.
- The port had always been secondary to the busy Colombo port until the latter ran out of capacity.
The Sri Lankan government took $1.4 billion in Chinese loans for the port’s expansion.
Unable to service the huge loan and incurring $300 million in losses due to delays, the government handed Hambantota port to a Chinese State Owned company on a 99 year lease in 2017.
Other key projects under BRI:
- Colombo International Container Terminal
- Central Expressway
- Hambantota International Airport among others.

BANGLADESH :

Bangladesh joined the BRI in 2016, with the second highest investment (about $40billion) in South Asia after Pakistan.
Multiple studies, including research by the Council on Foreign Relations, show that Bangladesh has been able to benefit from the BRI while maintaining diplomatic and strategic ties with both India and China.
It has managed to not upset India by getting India to build infrastructure projects similar to BRI in the country.
In 2016, when the Chinese government promised Dhaka BRI investment worth around $40 billion, India followed up in 2017 by extending a $5 billion line of credit and economic assistance.
BRI projects include:
- China Bangladesh Friendship Bridges
- Special economic zones
- The $689.35 millionKarnaphuli River tunnel project
- Upgradation of the Chittagong port
- A rail line between the port and China’s Yunnan province.

MALDIVES :

Situated in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Maldives comprises two hundred islands, and both India and China have strategic interests there.
One of the most prominent BRI projects undertaken in the Maldives is the two km long China-Maldives Friendship Bridge, a $200 million four lane bridge.
Most of China’s investment in the Maldives happened under former President Abdullah Yameen, seen as proChina.
The Maldives’ current regime of President Ibrahim Solih has tried to distance itself from the BRI, focusing more on its ‘India First’ policy.
India has also in recent years sought greater ties with the Maldives under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Neighborhood First Policy’.

Issues Associated to BRI :

Chinese Monopoly in the Projects: The investments under the BRI are mostly done by the state-owned enterprises and banks in China.
- Most of the contracts (93%) have also gone to the state-owned enterprises in China.
- The host countries or other companies hardly have any role to play.
Increased Corruption and Reduced Competition: Chinese monopoly in lending and building infrastructure has further led to corruption.
- Due to no private sector participation, there is no competitive element in the programme.
Lack of Transparency and Environmental Concerns: The debt trap diplomacy, the lack of transparency and unreasonable loan conditions have made the scheme extremely unpopular.
- At least 236 BRI projects have been facing the debt related problem.
- This has also led to dumping of steel and cement raising environmental concerns.

3. Status of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in South Asia.

Theme : India & Its Neighborhood - Relations

GS - 2

TABLE OF CONTENT

Context
Belt and Road Initiative(BRI)
Progress of BRI In Neighboring Countries.
Issues associated to BRI

Belt and Road Initiative(BRI) :

In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping, during his visits to Kazakhstan and Indonesia, expressed his vision to build a Silk Road Economic Belt and a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
He then aimed to break the “bottleneck” in Asian connectivity. This vision led to the birth of the BRI.
The initiative envisioned a Chinese-led investment of over $1 trillion in partner countries by 2025.
More than 60 countries have now joined BRI agreements with China, with infrastructure projects under the initiative being planned or under construction in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America.

Progress of BRI In Neighboring Countries :

PAKISTAN :

China pledged $62billion in low interest loans and financing from Chinese state owned banks and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), up from an initial $46 billion pledge.
The CPEC envisioned multiple projects involving energy, transport and communication systems.
At the center of the CPEC was the $700million development of the city of Gwadar into a smart port city that would become the “Singapore of Pakistan”.
Gwadar is strategically important as it is an hour’s drive from Iran and less than 320 km from Oman.
Gwadar’s development under BRI, approved in 2020, would increase the city’s GDP to $30 billion by 2050 and create over a million jobs.
Other projects:
- The orange line metro
- coal power plants to tackle energy shortages
- Main Line 1 rail project from Peshawar to Karachi.
While coal plants set up and managed by Chinese firms did help improve the power situation in Pakistan.

SRI LANKA :

In Sri Lanka, multiple infrastructure projects that were being financed by China came under the fold of the BRI after it was launched in 2013.
The island nation in the last couple of years has witnessed competition between India and China in port terminals and energy projects.
In 2021, Colombo ejected India and Japan out of a deal to develop the East Container Terminal at the Colombo port and got China to take up the project.
It then awarded the project for the Western Side of the Terminal to the Adani Group.
Some BRI projects in Sri Lanka have been described as white elephants, the Hambantota port:
- A deep seaport on the world’s busiest eastwest shipping lane, which was meant to spur industrial activity.
- The port had always been secondary to the busy Colombo port until the latter ran out of capacity.
The Sri Lankan government took $1.4 billion in Chinese loans for the port’s expansion.
Unable to service the huge loan and incurring $300 million in losses due to delays, the government handed Hambantota port to a Chinese State Owned company on a 99 year lease in 2017.
Other key projects under BRI:
- Colombo International Container Terminal
- Central Expressway
- Hambantota International Airport among others.

BANGLADESH :

Bangladesh joined the BRI in 2016, with the second highest investment (about $40billion) in South Asia after Pakistan.
Multiple studies, including research by the Council on Foreign Relations, show that Bangladesh has been able to benefit from the BRI while maintaining diplomatic and strategic ties with both India and China.
It has managed to not upset India by getting India to build infrastructure projects similar to BRI in the country.
In 2016, when the Chinese government promised Dhaka BRI investment worth around $40 billion, India followed up in 2017 by extending a $5 billion line of credit and economic assistance.
BRI projects include:
- China Bangladesh Friendship Bridges
- Special economic zones
- The $689.35 millionKarnaphuli River tunnel project
- Upgradation of the Chittagong port
- A rail line between the port and China’s Yunnan province.

MALDIVES :

Situated in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Maldives comprises two hundred islands, and both India and China have strategic interests there.
One of the most prominent BRI projects undertaken in the Maldives is the two km long China-Maldives Friendship Bridge, a $200 million four lane bridge.
Most of China’s investment in the Maldives happened under former President Abdullah Yameen, seen as proChina.
The Maldives’ current regime of President Ibrahim Solih has tried to distance itself from the BRI, focusing more on its ‘India First’ policy.
India has also in recent years sought greater ties with the Maldives under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Neighborhood First Policy’.

Issues Associated to BRI :

Chinese Monopoly in the Projects: The investments under the BRI are mostly done by the state-owned enterprises and banks in China.
- Most of the contracts (93%) have also gone to the state-owned enterprises in China.
- The host countries or other companies hardly have any role to play.
Increased Corruption and Reduced Competition: Chinese monopoly in lending and building infrastructure has further led to corruption.
- Due to no private sector participation, there is no competitive element in the programme.
Lack of Transparency and Environmental Concerns: The debt trap diplomacy, the lack of transparency and unreasonable loan conditions have made the scheme extremely unpopular.
- At least 236 BRI projects have been facing the debt related problem.
- This has also led to dumping of steel and cement raising environmental concerns.

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Jigyasa IAS

News Analysis 15 Sept, 2022

1. Solar energy: For Amrit Kaal in agriculture.

2. Recognition of Sex Work as Profession.

3. Status of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in South Asia.

3. Status of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in South Asia.