MAINS DAILY QUESTIONS & MODEL ANSWERS
Q1. Discussion on the significance of biodiversity to human survival. What various actions has the Indian government made in order to preserve and protect biodiversity?
Paper & Topic: GS III – Environmental Conservation
- “Biodiversity” refers to the variety of life on earth at all scales, from genes to ecosystems, and can also refer to the ecological, evolutionary, and cultural processes that support life. Biodiversity is essential to the systems that support all life, including human life, on earth. Diverse ecosystems found on land, in rivers, and in the sea provide food for people while also enhancing public health and safeguarding us from environmental calamities. In addition to being a constant source of spiritual illumination, biodiversity is also strongly linked to our wellbeing, both physically and mentally.
What biodiversity is worth:
- Ecosystem services: Biodiversity provides a variety of ecological functions, such as the preservation of ecological processes, soil preservation, nutrient storage and cycling, and water resource conservation.
- Value for consumption: The ecosystem’s biodiversity satisfies all of the demands of forest dwellers, including those for food, supplies for construction, livestock, medicines, and a wide range of other items.
- The biotechnologist searches for potential genetic features in plants or animals in bio-rich areas in order to “prospect” and create better crop varieties for use in farming or better livestock. This is an illustration of how biodiversity may be used productively. Industrialists may use biodiversity as a fantastic resource to develop new products.
- Social value: Biodiversity has been mostly maintained by traditional cultures that valued it as a resource and realised how much would be lost if it were to go. “Ecosystem people,” who respect biodiversity, regard it as critical to their way of life, as well as to their culture and religion. The wide diversity of crops that were produced in old agricultural systems, for instance, allowed for the production of a range of items throughout the year and acted as insurance against the loss of a single crop.
- Biodiversity is beautiful and lovely since it is a component of nature. Knowing about it and appreciating biodiversity for what it is are two more reasons to protect it.
- One of the numerous benefits that biodiversity offers is the ability to reduce the effects of climate change. By protecting and encouraging biodiversity on land and in the sea, we can reduce the cost of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to cool our land and oceans.
Indian government programmes for maintaining and preserving biodiversity:
- With the goal of protecting the country’s biological resources and regulating access to them to promote equitable sharing of the benefits deriving from their use, the Biological Diversity Act of 2002 was passed. The act led to the creation of the National Biodiversity Authority and State Biodiversity Boards.
- In order to rescue severely endangered animals and their ecosystems, this programme supports protected areas, outside-area wildlife conservation, and rehabilitation programmes.
- The ambitious National Mission on Biodiversity and Human Wellbeing aims to advance biodiversity and conservation in Indian research, policy, and society. With components integrating scientific institutions, governmental organisations, and non-governmental groups at the municipal, state, and federal levels, the mission’s purpose has been designed to be as inclusive as possible.
- Prior to approving any operation inside a protected region, the State Government is required by the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 to conduct a thorough examination.
- When it comes to afforestation, tree planting, ecological restoration, and eco-development operations in the country, the Western Himalayas, the Aravalli, the Western Ghats, and other ecologically sensitive regions deserve special attention. The responsibility for promoting these initiatives falls on the National Afforestation & Eco-development Board.
- With 17% of the world’s population and 17% of its biodiversity hotspots, India is in a unique position to lead the world in becoming a biodiversity champion. The importance of our planet’s biodiversity was further stressed at the UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal in 2022, where governments accepted the “3030 pledge” to “halt and reverse” biodiversity loss by conserving 30% of the world’s land and oceans by 2030.
Q2. Describe the reasons for the sluggish expansion of India’s industrial sector. What actions should be taken to boost the nation’s manufacturing sector’s demand and expansion?
Paper & Topic: GS II – Government Policies Interventions
Model Answer:
- According to the preliminary forecasts of the national revenue for 2022–2023, manufacturing will rise by 1.3% annually, less than agriculture and all major service industries. India’s services industry has expanded quickly in recent years. Manufacturing growth, meanwhile, has been sluggish. The government has launched a number of programmes in recent years, such as the Make in India initiative in 2014, to raise the manufacturing sector’s GDP contribution. Despite these measures, the manufacturing industry continues to face several difficulties and experience slow growth.
Reasons for the manufacturing sector’s slow growth include:
- Infrastructure needs improvement: India must address the lack of proper roads, ports, energy, and other amenities. For instance, statistics indicates that China spends 20% of its GDP on infrastructure construction, compared to India’s 3% annual expenditure. Every industry, but especially manufacturing, where large setups are essential to producing the requisite goods, is built on infrastructure.
- Low Productivity: Compared to other rising countries and the service sector, India’s manufacturing sector has lower productivity. Manufacturing’s low productivity is partially caused by the prevalence of small businesses that are unable to take advantage of economies of scale.
- Growth that is driven by services: Despite significant product market reforms in the early 1990s, such as trade liberalisation and the elimination of industrial licencing, the manufacturing sector’s percentage of GDP has stayed unchanged for the previous few decades. India’s growth has been mostly driven by the service sector, which accounts for more than 50% of the GDP of the nation.
- Premature deindustrialization: India saw ‘premature deindustrialization’ at the level of macro-manufacturing. Before reaching an appropriate rate of development, the manufacturing-GDP ratio abruptly fell, leading to an unfavourable manufacturing scenario and a fragmented labour market.
- Lack of skilled labour: The availability of a trained and skilled labour force in the nation has an impact on the growth of the manufacturing industry.
- Heavy tariffs, antiquated labour regulations, flimsy policy frameworks, and regulatory uncertainty all affect how easy it is for businesses in India to conduct business. The purchase of land for the construction of manufacturing facilities is another issue.
The following actions should be performed to increase demand for and growth in manufacturing in the nation:
- Reforming economic zones: Currently, policies heavily rely on the economic zones, which offer exemptions from many of the current policies, including those governing employment, taxation, and business creation. Such areas might serve as a reform-catalyst, accelerating the development of greater countrywide reforms.
- Reforming labour laws: The proliferation of labour rules, many of which are inconsistent, increases labour expenses and breeds confusion. India has combined all current labour regulations into four new labour codes in this situation.
- Attracting Investments: The manufacturing sectors that will give the nation the advantages it needs—rapid job growth, technological advancement, and depth in strategically vital industries—need to be attractive to investment.
- Export-led manufacturing is encouraged since it can give Indian businesses a competitive edge and access to new markets.
- Enhancing education and training: Less than a quarter of graduates are thought to be employable in manufacturing, and employers complain about significant skill gaps. This highlights the advantages of increased investment in high-quality education, which is necessary for skill development and would help lessen inequality and social isolation.
- Resolving infrastructure bottlenecks: India has made significant infrastructure investments during the past 20 years. However, unmet investment goals in many places have led to deteriorated infrastructure. Therefore, the first objective for fostering manufacturing-led growth should be infrastructure improvement.
- The goals of the 1991 economic reforms were to increase manufacturing. However, it ignored the requirement for a complete ecosystem, including infrastructure, education, and training, for manufacturing to thrive. To encourage manufacturing-led growth, the government has implemented programmes including the PM Gati Shakti Plan, Startup India, and the Production Linked Incentive (PLI). In order to actualize the manufacturing sector’s untapped potential and achieve the goal of a USD five trillion economy by 2025, manufacturing companies, financial institutions, governments, investors, and consumers must band together now.