July 11, 2023

Current Affairs

Chandrayaan-3

Context: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to launch the Chandrayaan-3 mission, India’s third lunar mission, to the moon on July 14.

Chandrayaan-3:

Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.
It will be launched onboard a Launch Vehicle Mark 3 from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
Cost of the mission: Rs 615 crore
Duration: The mission is only meant to last for a half lunar day, which is roughly equal to 14 Earth days.

Objectives:

To demonstrate a Safe and Soft Landing on Lunar Surface (near the lunar South Pole).
To demonstrate Rover roving on the moon (which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility)
To conduct in-situ scientific experiments.

Soft-landing on Moon:

This will be India’s second attempt to soft-land a lander and rover on the lunar surface.
- Chandrayaan-2 was launched in July 2019 in the form of an orbiter and a lander (‘Vikram’) bearing a rover (‘Pragyan’).
- While the orbiter entered into orbit around the moon, the surface mission failed in September 2019 when the lander crashed instead of executing a slow descent.
Chandrayaan-3 consists of a Lander and a Rover similar to Chandrayaan-2, but would not have an orbiter.
- The rocket (LVM-3) will place the payload in an elliptical orbit around the earth, where a propulsion module will take over and pilot the lander to a circular orbit around the moon.
- Finally, the lander will detach and begin a series of manoeuvres culminating in a gradual landing (on August 23-24, 2023) over the surface of the moon.
To improve the chances of success at this stage, ISRO made changes to the software and hardware of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, especially for the lander thrusters. Additionally, ISRO has developed improved soft-landing sequences and the lander has four thruster engines instead of five, sturdier legs and larger solar panels, and will carry more fuel.

Several advanced technologies in Chandrayaan-3:

Propulsion module has a Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to gather data on the polarisation of light reflected by Earth so that researchers can look for other planets with similar signatures. Hence, it will assist with exoplanet searches.
Lander payloads:
- Chandra's Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) to measure thermal conductivity and temperature on the surface;
- Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) to detect moonquakes;
- Langmuir Probe to estimate the density and variation of plasma, or superheated gas, in the moon's environment;
- A Laser Retroreflector Array (from NASA) to measure distances using laser ranging to understand the dynamics of the Moon system.
Rover payloads:
- Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) to look for elements in the lunar soil and rocks;
- Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) to examine the chemical and elemental composition of the lunar surface.

Significance of Chandrayaan-3:

Chandrayaan-3 offers opportunities for India to lead the world’s response to the moon’s growing importance in the scientific and political milieus.
- Chandrayaan-3 is India’s second attempt to achieve a soft landing on the Moon’s surface. Only three countries – the United States, Russia and China – have successfully landed spacecraft on the airless lunar surface.
- Chandrayaan-3 will be the first to land on the South Pole of the Moon. All other spacecraft which have landed on the moon have landed in the equatorial region, a few degree latitude north or south of the lunar equator.

Why moon’s South Pole?

Experts note that there is a possibility of the presence of water at the South Pole. Water ice has been detected at both poles of the Moon, but the South Pole has more area in permanent shadow and colder temperatures, so it is thought to have more water ice.
Moreover, the South Pole witnesses extremely cold temperatures; this means that anything trapped here would remain frozen in time, without undergoing much change. The rocks and soil in this region could therefore provide clues to the early solar system.

Further, South Pole is located in the South Pole-Aitken basin, which is a huge crater. There may be material from the deep crust and upper mantle of the Moon on or near the surface.

Palliative care

Context: A new set of operational guidelines of NP-NCD, issued by the government, limit the focus of palliative care in India to people with cancer.

About Palliative care

It is the branch of medicine focusing on improving the quality of life and preventing suffering among those with life-limiting illnesses like heart failure, kidney failure, certain neurological diseases, cancer, etc.
It aims to identify patients at risk of over-medicalisation at the expense of quality of life and financial burden on the family.
It also aims to improve the quality of life by addressing the physical, psychological, spiritual, and social domains of the health of people suffering from life-limiting diseases
It is often misinterpreted as end-of-life care.
Beneficiaries are terminal cases of Cancer, AIDS etc.
The goal is the availability and accessibility of rational, quality pain relief and palliative care to the needy, as an integral part of Health Care at all levels, in alignment with the community requirements.

Need for palliative care

Palliative care in India has largely been available at tertiary healthcare facilities in urban areas. Due to this skewed availability of services, it is accessible to only 1-2% of the estimated 7-10 million people who require it in the country.
India has experienced a steep rise in the burden of lifestyle-related non-communicable diseases. Nearly 1.4 million people are diagnosed with cancer in India every year while diabetes, hypertension, and respiratory diseases are also on the rise. All these diseases need palliative care sooner or later in the disease trajectory.
Post-independence India has made considerable efforts to improve the health of its people like the introduction of the three-tier health system, multiple national health programmes and schemes, and the Ayushman Bharat Health Insurance Scheme. But despite these efforts, 55 million people in India are pushed below the poverty line every year due to health-related expenditures. Over-medicalisation plays a significant role in this financial burden.

Steps taken by the government:

The National Programme for Prevention & Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD): In order to prevent and control major NCDs, it was launched in 2010 with a focus on strengthening infrastructure, human resource development, health promotion, early diagnosis, management and referral.
The programme envisaged the provision of promotive, preventive, and curative care from the primary to tertiary institutes, thus providing health services delivery across the continuum of care.

National Programme for Palliative Care (NPPC): It was launched in 2012, NCD Cells are being established at National, State and District levels for programme management, and NCD Clinics are being set up at District and CHC levels, to provide services for early diagnosis, treatment and follow-up for common NCDs. Provision has been made under the programme to provide free diagnostic facilities and drugs for patients attending the NCD clinics.
National Programme for Health Care for the Elderly: To provide accessible, affordable, and high-quality long-term, comprehensive and dedicated care services to an Ageing population.
NGOs like Pallium India, Karunashraya, and CanSupport are trying to fill the gap in palliative care in India.

Gaps in the guidelines

Per the Global Atlas of Palliative Care, in 2020, the need for palliative care was higher for non-cancer illnesses. However, the revised NP-NCD operational guidelines, mention palliative care in synonymy with cancer only. Cancer is just one of 20 common health conditions that require palliative care.
Since most patients who need palliative care are suffering from debilitating diseases, home-based care forms the ideal mode of healthcare delivery. Previously, the programme guidelines mentioned providing support for home-based palliative care services. However, palliative care service delivery starts only from the district hospital in the revised guidelines, with no mention of home-based care.
No mention of home-based palliative care services: Since most patients who need palliative care are suffering from debilitating diseases, home-based care forms the ideal mode of healthcare delivery.
However, palliative care service delivery starts only from the district hospital in the revised guidelines.
No mention of paediatric palliative care: An estimated 98% of children facing moderate to severe suffering during their end of life reside in lower and middle-income countries like India.
Linking of 11 programmes (including NPPC) to promote convergence: The mechanisms of the linkage with a programme (NPPC) that has not yet been fully implemented are unclear.

Way Forward:

Access to palliative care will be assessed by estimating morphine-equivalent consumption of strong opioid analgesics (excluding methadone) per death from cancer. Including an indicator to assess morphine access is a welcome move, but an indicator focusing only on patients with cancer might lead to an inaccurate assessment of coverage of services.
The recommendations of the World Health Assembly in 2014:

Palliative care to be integrated into health systems at all levels.
Including palliative care along with curative treatment

It is high time for India to realise the ongoing pandemic of non-communicable diseases and strengthen its palliative care services.

Women’s reproductive autonomy is the new catchword

Context: This year’s World Population Day theme, i.e., ‘Unleashing the power of gender equality: Uplifting the voices of women and girls to unlock our world’s infinite possibilities’, could not be more apt for India. When we unlock the full potential of women and girls, encouraging and nurturing their desires for their families and themselves, we galvanise half the leadership, ideas, innovation, and creativity available to societies.

India’s Progress on Population Front

On World Population Day (July 11), India deserves to be commended for its family planning initiatives, where despite the many challenges, the aim is to provide an increasingly comprehensive package of reproductive health services to every potential beneficiary — with a focus on the provision of modern short and long-acting reversible contraceptives, permanent methods, information, counselling, and services, including emergency contraception.
India’s commitment towards the Family Planning 2030 partnership includes expanding its contraceptive basket.
The inclusion of new contraceptive options advances women’s rights and autonomy, leading to a spike in modern contraceptive prevalence.
Access to timely, quality and affordable family planning services is crucial because unspaced pregnancies may have a detrimental influence on the newborn’s health as well as major effects on maternal mortality, morbidity, and healthcare expenditure.
The Indian government’s health, population and development programmes have shown steady progress.
Life expectancy at birth has significantly increased in the country over the years. Compared to the 1990s, Indians are currently living a decade longer. In terms of maternal health, India has made impressive strides.
The current maternal mortality rate is 97 (per 100,000 live births in a year), down from 254 in 2004.
Another triumph of these programmes is gender empowerment.
Since the beginning of 2000, India has cut the number of child marriages by half.
Teen pregnancies, too, have dramatically decreased.
Access to vital services, including health, education, and nutrition, has also improved.

Issue of Lack of Physical/Reproductive Autonomy

According to the most recent National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), just 10% of women in India can independently decide about their health, and 11% of women believe that marital violence is acceptable if a woman refuses to have sex with her husband.
Nearly half of all pregnancies in India are unplanned.

Advantages of Physical/Reproductive Autonomy

Advancing gender equality is not just about women but also populations as a whole.
In ageing societies that worry about labour productivity, achieving gender parity in the workforce is the most effective way to improve output and income growth.
In countries experiencing rapid population growth, women’s empowerment through education and family planning can bring enormous benefits by way of human capital and inclusive economic development.
More importantly, the focus on gender equality helps shift the focus away from the notion of ‘population stabilisation’ to ‘population dynamics’ based on reproductive choices people make.
India has a significant opportunity to advance gender equality and grow its economy. Raising the women’s labour force participation by 10 percentage points might account for more than 70% of the potential GDP growth opportunity ($770 billion in additional GDP by 2025).

The way forward

Focusing on gender equality-centred growth, rights, and choices promises to help all achieve their aspirations.
Gender equality can be ensured by making investments in a woman’s life at every stage, from childbirth to adolescence to maturity.
Engaging with women, girls and other marginalised people and formulating legislation and policies that empower them to assert their rights and take life-changing personal decisions are the first steps in this direction.
Gender-just approaches and solutions are the fundamental building blocks of a more prosperous India, and indeed the world.

The Global South: origins and significance

Context: The unwillingness of many leading countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to stand with NATO over the war in Ukraine has brought to the fore once again the term “Global South.”

Image Source: Tariene Gaum (ResearchGate)

The term Global South appears to have been first used in 1969 by political activist Carl Oglesby. Writing in the liberal Catholic magazine Commonweal, Oglesby argued that the war in Vietnam was the culmination of a history of northern “dominance over the global south.”
The term ‘First World’ referred to the advanced capitalist nations; the ‘Second World’, to the socialist nations led by the Soviet Union; and the ‘Third World’, to developing nations, many at the time still under the colonial yoke.
The term ‘Global South’ is not geographical. In fact, the Global South’s two largest countries - China and India - lie entirely in the Northern Hemisphere.
Countries in the Global South were mostly at the receiving end of imperialism and colonial rule, with African countries as perhaps the most visible example of this.
However there is an increase in economic might of the countries in global south as it is estimated by 2030 it is projected that three of the four largest economies will be from the Global South — with the order being China, India, the U.S. and Indonesia. Already the GDP in terms of purchasing power of the Global South-dominated BRICS nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — surpasses that of the Global North’s G-7 club.
The economic transformation has brought greater political prominence, as Global South nations assert themselves globally. For example, China brokering deals between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and Brazil's peace plan for Ukraine. This shift has sparked discussions of an "Asian Century" and a "post-Western world."

Importance of South-South Cooperation:

Driving Economic Growth: Countries in the Global South have been major contributors to more than half of the world's economic growth in recent years. This collaboration fuels economic progress and fosters sustainable development.
Increasing Trade: Intra-South trade has reached unprecedented levels, accounting for over a quarter of global trade. This trend strengthens regional economies, enhances market access, and promotes economic integration.
Foreign Direct Investment: Outflows of foreign direct investment from the Global South represent a significant portion of global flows. This investment promotes infrastructure development, creates jobs, and encourages technological advancements.
Poverty Alleviation: Remittances from migrant workers to low- and middle-income countries have played a crucial role in lifting millions of families out of poverty. South-South cooperation enables financial support and sustainable development initiatives for vulnerable communities.
Achieving Sustainable Development Goals: The ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development necessitates the ideas, energy, and ingenuity of countries in the Global South. Their active participation and cooperation are indispensable for achieving these goals.

ISSUES IN SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION

Power Imbalances and Exploitation: Stronger countries in the Global South sometimes take advantage of weaker partners, undermining the principles of fairness and equitable collaboration. China, in particular, has been criticized for such practices.
Environmental Concerns and Public Health: Certain international oil companies have been accused of disregarding environmental impacts and public health concerns while extracting natural resources. Addressing these issues is crucial for sustainable cooperation.
Misuse of Financial Assistance: Some countries exploit the principle of lack of conditionality by diverting financial assistance intended for socially impactful projects to other purposes. This undermines trust and hampers genuine development efforts.
Non-Interference Limitations: The principle of non-interference can hinder the resolution of local conflicts, as countries like India and China prioritize economic interests over intervention. Balancing economic cooperation and addressing internal conflicts is crucial.
Lacks institutional and Financial Capacity: Global South is not a coherent group and does not have a single shared agenda and the collective institutions created to voice concerns of Global South such as Non-Aligned Movement and New International Economic Order have been largely rendered dysfunctional, this has led to strong regional competition and opposition among countries of global south. Further there is also lack of financial capacity among countries of Global South.
North Dominated Mindset: North-oriented mindset and traditional vertical links with metropoles and the world still dominated by US hegemony.

Push for Electric Vehicles

Context: Battery electric vehicles are at the heart of the government’s push for net zero. However, this strategy may not be as successful in India’s peculiar conditions. While there is little debate that electrification is the future, the roadmap remains unclear.

What are Electric Vehicles(EVs)?

An EV is defined as a vehicle that can be powered by an electric motor that draws electricity from a battery. There are four types of electric vehicles available:

Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs): They are also known as All-Electric Vehicles (AEV). Electric Vehicles using BEV technology run entirely on a battery-powered electric drivetrain. The electricity used to drive the vehicle is stored in a large battery pack which can be charged by plugging into the electricity grid. The charged battery pack then provides power to one or more electric motors to run the electric car.
Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEVs): They combine a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) with an electric propulsion system, resulting in a hybrid drivetrain that substantially lowers fuel usage. The onboard battery in a conventional hybrid is charged when the internal combustion engine is powering the drivetrain.
Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEVs): They also have hybrid drivetrain that uses both an ICE and electric power for motive power, backed by rechargeable batteries that can be plugged into a power source.
Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCVs): These vehicles use hydrogen to power their onboard electric motor. FCVs combine hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, which runs the motor. Unlike BEVs, their range and refuelling process are comparable to conventional cars.

Issues with Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) Push

Requirement of Upfront Subsidy: Push for such vehicles require an elaborate system of lucrative tax incentives which must be backed by government subsidies. However, this overt subsidisation will further intensify the state's fiscal burden.
Charging Network: India currently has only about 2,000 public charging stations operational across the country to support more than 1 million EVs. Also, due to varied power requirements for differently sized vehicles, India’s charging infrastructure demands are unique. This has further created challenges in charging infrastructure expansion.
Electricity Source: In India, the grid is still fed largely by coal-fired thermal plants. Using fossil fuel generation to power EVs would mean reduced tailpipe emissions in the cities, but continuing pollution from the running of the thermal plant.
Value Chain: India is struggling to make inroads into the global value chain for sourcing of key inputs such as Lithium, Cobalt and Nickel. This will make India almost entirely reliant on imports from a small pool of countries such as Argentina, Chile, China and Australia in order to meet the increasing demand.

Way Forward

The two major objectives should be to cut emissions and reduce costly fuel imports for which there are a lot of technologies to choose from:

Hybrids: The hybrid technology is seen as a good intermediate step towards achieving the all-electric goal. Hybrids typically have improved fuel efficiency through electrification of the powertrain, but do not require the charging infrastructure base that is an essential for BEVs. Additionally, a hybrid vehicle base may also spawn the manufacture of the battery ecosystem, which can then be leveraged for a BEV push.
Ethanol & Flex Fuel: A flex fuel, or flexible fuel, vehicle has an internal combustion engine, but unlike a regular petrol or diesel vehicle, it can run on more than one type of fuel, or even a mixture of fuels such as petrol and ethanol. A nationwide pilot that is currently underway aims to replicate the commercial deployment of this technology in other markets such as Brazil, Canada, and the US.
FCEVs & Hydrogen ICEs: Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) are practically zero emission, while Hydrogen ICE vehicles are similar to conventional internal combustion engine vehicles, with a few tweaks to prep them to run on hydrogen. Certain components of the engine can be modified or changed which will make them compatible with hydrogen, instead of petrol or diesel.
Synthetic Fuels: These fuels are made from carbon dioxide and hydrogen, and are produced using renewable energy. The idea is to make this usable in all petrol-engine cars, rendering their use virtually CO2-neutral, and thereby give ICE cars a fresh lease of life.

ConclusionIt must be noted that monetary incentives alone cannot drive EV penetration. Hence, the government must invest in robust EV infrastructure, parking benefits and workplace charging facilities. Further, vehicle manufacturers must maintain a technology-agnostic approach that spells out the emissions objectives that they have to meet, irrespective of technology.