MAINS DAILY QUESTIONS & MODEL ANSWERS
Q1. What is glacial retreat? Discuss the reasons behind glacier retreat and the effects it has on Earth’s cryosphere.
GS I: Geography related issues
Introduction:
- The term “glacial retreat” describes the process by which a glacier gradually recedes or shrinks in size as a result of either an increase in ice melt or a decrease in ice accretion.
- According to an analysis of high-resolution satellite photos taken in 2021 and 2022, Africa may lose its white summits by the middle of the century due to the melting of the continent’s glaciers.
- The melting of the world’s glaciers is causing areas that are highly populated, particularly in Asia, to face the dual risks of flooding and water scarcity.
Reasons behind the retreat of glaciers:
Warming of the planet:
- Fossil fuel combustion produces greenhouse gases, which have an impact on the warming trend by trapping heat in the atmosphere.
- More glaciers melt and recede as temperatures increase, exposing the land underneath.
Changes in climate:
- Statistics predict that shortly, glacier loss will be at an all-time high.
- Global warming-related temperature increases are causing glaciers to melt more quickly.
- Studies show that the main cause of glacier retreat is human-caused global warming.
Extraction of oil and gas:
- During the process of extracting oil and gas, methane, the main component of natural gas, is also released.
- The gas also traps heat more efficiently than carbon dioxide, accelerating global warming, and making it more detrimental to the environment.
Solar energy:
- The most important of these is the quantity of solar energy that touches the ice, which has an impact on glacier melting and receding.
- Glaciers lose mass as a result of increased radiation-induced melting.
- glacial till
- The unsorted mass of material known as glacial till is gathered by moving glaciers and can include everything from silt to big boulders.
- The ice is protected by boulders while the weaker ice around it melts.
Impact of glacial retreat:
- Positive feedback cycle (the ice-albedo feedback): Sea ice has higher albedo than ocean water. Once sea ice begins to melt, a self-reinforcing cycle often begins whereby as more ice melts and exposes more dark water, the water absorbs more sunlight and the sun-warmed water then melts more ice.
- Declining trend in snowfall and retreat of glaciers in HKH region may impact the water supply in the major rivers and streams including the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra.
- River flows and water availability: Melting glaciers will increase river flows, pushing up risks of high- altitude lakes bursting their banks causing floods (glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs)). From 2060s, however, river flows will decline as per the ICIMOD report.
- Drying Springs: As per the report of theNITI Aayog, 30% of springs in the Indian Himalaya have dried up due to reasons including receding glaciers.
- Persistently higher temperatures caused by global warming have led to greater-than average summer melting of mountain glaciers as well as diminished snowfall due to later winters and earlier springs.
- That creates an imbalance between runoff and ocean evaporation, causing sea levels to rise.
- Loss of Greenland and Antarctica’s ice sheets: Melt water from above and seawater from below is seeping beneath Greenland’s ice sheets, effectively lubricating ice streams and causing them to move more quickly into the sea.
- The vast ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica currently hold about 66 metres of potential global sea level rise.
The Way Ahead
- To better monitor and model glacier retreat and to assess spatial patterns and trends, researchers urgently need expanded observation networks and data-sharing agreements across the extended HKH region.
- International agreements must mitigate climate change through emission reductions to reduce and slow cryosphere changes.
- This should include in situ and detailed remote sensing observations on selected glaciers, rapid access to high-resolution satellite imagery etc.
- Improved understanding of cryospheric change and its drivers will help reduce the risk of high-mountain hazards.
Q2. Indian federalism is characterized by a delicate balance between centralization and decentralization, with an emphasis on cooperation and coordination. Elucidate.
GS I: Social Issues
Introduction:
- Federalism is a system of government in which power is divided between a central authority and constituent political units. The Constitution of India establishes a federal structure to the Indian government, declaring it to be a “Union of States”.
- The Indian Constitution is not truly federal but rather quasi-federal, according to K C Wheare. A state that stands between a unitary state and a federation is said to practice quasi-federalism. It incorporates the positive aspects of both a federal and a unitary government.
Uniqueness of principle of federalism in India:
Federal Features of the India Union:
- Two governments i.e. Union Government and State governments
- Division of powers between the union and its constituents (Seventh Schedule of the Constitution contains three lists such as the Union List, State List, and Concurrent List)
- Supremacy of the Constitution (Basic structure of the Constitution is made indestructible by the Judiciary)
- Partial rigidity of the Constitution
- Independent Judiciary
- Bicameralism
Unitary Features of the Constitution:
- A strong centre – The Union Government becomes all powerful in certain times like emergencies. Article 200 of the Constitution of India demands that the States must comply with the central laws.
- Single Constitution
- Single citizenship
- Flexibility of Constitution
- Integrated judiciary
- Appointment of the Centre. E.g.: Governor
- All India Services
- Emergency provisions
- The following four characteristics highlighting the fact that the Indian Constitution is not a “traditional federal Constitution”:
- Firstly, being that there is no provision of separate Constitutions for each State as required in a federal state. The Constitution of India is the supreme document, which governs all the states.
- Secondly, the Constitution can be altered only by the Union Parliament; whereas the States have no power to alter it.
- Thirdly, in contradiction to a federal Constitution, the Indian Constitution renders supreme power upon the Courts to invalidate any action which violates the Constitution.
- Fourthly, the distribution of powers facilitates local governance by the states and national policies by the Centre.
Challenges to Federalism in India:
- For a country like India which is divided on the linguistic and communal basis, a pure federal structure could lead to disruption and division of states.
- India’s federal character has undergone, over the past sixty years, many trials and tribulations.
- Formation of Telangana under Article 3 of the constitution raised a lot of questions against the federal nature of the polity.
- 100th amendment of the constitution where land was transferred to Bangladesh posed as a threat to federalism in India.
- On the introduction of GST, critics argue on the autonomy of states.
- With too much power given to a state, it may want to shift away from the union. Jammu & Kashmir’s special powers are in question in the public time and again.
- The continued existence of provisions such as Article 356 (President’s rule) goes against the grain of federalism.
- States such as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu have asserted their linguistic and cultural rights in the wake of the Centre’s interventions such as a promotion of Hindi.
- States perceive that their progress is being penalised: While the southern States contribute to the nation economically, they don’t occupy a central space politically and are further marginalised culturally.
- Disputes between states over sharing of river water, for example between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over Cauvery water.
Conclusion:
- The Indian Constitution is a constitution sui generis. On one hand, the constitution contains features which are of high importance for a federal arrangement, at the same time it contains provisions which fight for a strong Centre, thus making it quasi-federal in nature. The fact to be appreciated here is that these dual federalism provisions were deliberately incorporated to best fit a polyglot country like India.
