Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi approved a New Crop Insurance Scheme on 13th Jan 2016 aimed at providing maximum insurance for farmers at minimum premium.

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme) in which the premium rates to be paid by the farmers have been brought down substantially so as to enable more farmers avail insurance cover against crop loss on account of natural calamities. The scheme will come into effect from the upcoming kharif season.

Under the new Crop Insurance Scheme the farmers premium would be 2% for kharif foodgrains and oilseeds crops and 1.5% for rabi foodgrains and oilseeds crops. For horticulture and cotton crops the premium has been fixed at upto 5% for both khairf and rabi seasons.

There is no upper limit on Government subsidy. Even if balance premium is 90%, it will be borne by the Government. Earlier, there was a provision of capping the premium rate which resulted in low claims being paid to farmers.

The New Scheme aims to enhance insurance coverage of crops up to 50% of the total crop areas from the existing level of about 23% over the next 2-3 years. It also provides for change in criteria to determine crop losses by providing local level assessment for calamities like hailstorm etc.

Under the new scheme simple technology through phone and remote censors would be used for quick estimation and early settlement of claims. Crop Insurance portal will be used extensively to ensure better coordination and transparency.

The Government’s liability on premium subsidy will be shared by the Central and State Governments on 50-50 basis.

The Government will substantially increase budget for crop insurance from Rs. 2883 crores in 2015-16 to Rs. 7750 crore in 2018-19

The New Crop Insurance Scheme will be implemented by private insurance companies along with the Agricultural Insurance Companies of India Ltd.

Analysis

Agriculture in India is highly susceptible to risks like droughts and floods. It is necessary to protect the farmers from natural calamities and ensure their credit eligibility for the next season.
India has experimented with many schemes for crop insurance like Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme, Farm Income Insurance Scheme, National Agricultural Insurance Scheme of 1999-2000.

But the continued cases of farmers suicide indicate a gap between the present schemes and need of farmers.

1) States with Low Insurance Cover (Source: Crop Insurance officials)

– Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Western Uttar Pradesh
– Farmers here don’t have any knowledge about insurance and remain without cover
– Small farmers have no incentive as they have to pay the premium
– In many cases farmers have written to banks saying they do not want insurance
– The banks have complied with such requests to meet targets although insurance is a compulsory feature of agricultural loan schemes

What the Experts Say:
– The government needs to legislate on the subject, making insurance cover compulsory The government should pay the premium for small farmers
– Holding agricultural as well as bank officials accountable for process pertaining to crop insurance should also be a part of the legislation
2) States with High Levels of Insurance Fraud (Source: Crop Insurance officials)
– Maharashtra (Aurangabad and Jalgaon), Gujarat (Saurashtra), Andhra Pradesh (Rayalaseema), Karnataka (Dharwad and Haveri), Tamil Nadu (Nagapattinam and Sivaganga) and Telangana (Mahbubnagar)
– Coverage in these regions is high and so is fraudulence
– In some districts hundreds of farmers are literally living off fraudulent claims

That farmers have to pay the premium has met with a backlash in multiple states with several farmer associations even writing to insurance companies to not debit the insurance premium. Given that the banks are under pressure to meet targets for the Kisan Credit Card (KCC), they decide to waive off the premium component.

These schemes have also broadly cleaved India into two parts with one set of states, which are under-penetrated , reporting lack of awareness among farmers about insurance even as multiple frauds are being reported from the second set of states that have better coverage.

Source: ET

Boosting Water Transport in India

The Union government is working on a strategy to increase the movement of goods and passengers through waterways by nearly five-fold from a mere 3.5 per cent now to 15 per cent by 2019, Union Shipping and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has said. He was addressing a conference at ASSOCHAM.

The Minister said the Shipping Ministry had prepared a vision document on coastal shipping, tourism and regional development to increase the share of inland water transport and coastal shipping, development of regional centres to generate cargo for coastal traffic and promotion of cruise tourism.

To encourage transportation of goods by coastal shipping, service tax has been brought on par with road and rail transport. The government has also relaxed cabotage (right to operate transport services within a particular territory) for specialised vessels like Ro-Ro, Hybrid Ro-Ro, car carriers and truck carriers for a period of five years.

On port development, Mr.Gadkari said the government had taken a decision to start three major ports at a cost of Rs.18,000 crore to Rs.20,000 crore. These include a port at Wadhwan near Dahanu in Maharashtra, Colachel Port near Kanyakumari and the Sagar Island Port in West Bengal.

The Wadhwan Port will be built as a joint venture between JNPT and the Maharashtra Maritime Board, and was intended to decongest the overburdened JNPT Port at Nhava Sheva.

Analysis
For decades India has failed to develop 14,500 kilometers (9,000 miles) of its inland waterways as a viable alternative to move cargo and ease congestion on land.

There is acceptance that transportation by waterways, both coastal and inland, is fuel efficient, environmentally friendly and more economical than rail or road, the share of goods transported via India’s inland waterways is only 0.4%, compared with 42% in the Netherlands, 8.7% in China and more than 8% in the US.

The transportation cost for inland waterways is Rs.1.06 per tonne per kilometer, while it is Rs.2.58 for highways, according to the Indian ministry of shipping.

The development of waterways would reduce the logistics cost, enabling India to effectively compete in the international market.

The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) came into existence on 27 October 1986 for development and regulation of inland waterways for shipping and navigation. The Authority primarily undertakes projects for development and maintenance of IWT infrastructure on national waterways.

The government presented legislation in May that would grant the government rights to regulate and develop 101 channels across 24 states for shipping and navigation, in addition to the existing 4,382 kilometers of five main waterways.

Of the five national waterways India declared since 1986, three are operational. Development has lagged behind other modes of transport in the absence of integrated policy, insufficient financial outlays, lack of expertise and coordination with states. While proposals to link major Indian rivers and facilitate commerce and manage water date back to British colonial days, the plan has remained just that.

Source: Livemint

Namame Gange Project

The Central government will be setting up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for its ambitious programme Namami Gange or Clean Ganga initiative.

According to official sources in the Ministry of Water Resources, after deliberations with various stakeholders, it was found that an SPV on the lines of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) would be best suited for the project.

he Chief Secretaries of all States through which the Ganga passes will be made members of the board of this SPV, as would select municipal commissioners of big cities on the Ganga route.

As of now, the Clean Ganga project involves the Ministries of Water Resources, Urban Development, Environment and Forests, Roads and Highways and Rural Development and Sanitation. A major conference called Jal Manthan will be called in February to discuss all these issues, and to carve out a special plan for the Ganga, within a larger water policy for other rivers.

Analysis: Cleaning the Ganga

It isn’t walking on water, but still a very difficult job – one that India has been trying unsuccessfully to accomplish for the last three decades. .

Much of the effort to clean the Ganga over the last 30 years has been centred around creating sewage treatment capacities in major urban centres along the river. Besides the fact that a lot of this capacity has remained underutilised or non-functional, the discharge of urban sewage is only one of several interventions required to rid the holy river of pollution.

The government’s Namami Gange programme seeks to tackle the problem at several levels at the same time. “Rejuvenation” of the Ganga includes reviving ‘Aviral Dhara’, or continuous flow in stretches that have gone dry due to natural or man-made reasons, regenerating the river ecology, making the river an important inland waterway, reviving it as a habitat for dolphins and gharials, and spreading awareness about the need to keep the Ganga clean.

1) Treating Urban Sewage – Creating sewage treatment plants (STPs) was at the core of the Ganga Action Plan that began in 1985. About 1,000 million litres of sewage treatment capacity per day was set up, but lackadaisical state governments and lack of maintenance by municipal authorities have kept a large part of this capacity on paper alone.
The government has now decided to rope in corporates to do this work in all the 118 urban centres along the river. Companies will have to create additional capacities, use existing capacities at optimum levels, and operate and maintain the facilities for a minimum 15 years to produce treated water at prescribed standards.

2) Rural Sewage – About 1,650 gram panchayats lie directly on the banks of the Ganga. The sewage they generate is almost entirely untreated. About half the population in these villages defecates in the open. The government plans to use biological means to deal with this waste. It wants to experiment with a model said to have been used in a Punjab village by a local spiritual leader, Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal, who is credited with the successful cleaning of the Kali Bein river with public participation.Seechewal is supposed to have inculcated the practice of segregation of solid and liquid waste, treatment of waste water through oxidation ponds, use of treated water for irrigation, and composting of solid waste. He is said to have infused a sense of community participation and ownership of the river.

3) Industrial Effluents – There are 764 grossly polluting industries on the banks of the Ganga, mostly in Uttar Pradesh. These include tanneries, paper and pulp industries, sugar mills, dyeing factories, distilleries, and cement plants. Effluents from all these flow untreated into the river. Tanneries near Kanpur alone generate about 25 million litres of effluents daily.

These industries have been repeatedly told to set up common effluent treatment plants (CETPs), install new technologies, and ensure zero liquid discharge into the river. But enforcement has been lax.

4) Surface Cleaning – Solid waste, clothes, polythene, and all kinds of religious offerings are dumped into the river, and float on its surface. It is the easiest to clean them – and can result in a quick visual makeover for the river.

Machines called trash skimmers have been ordered from abroad to clean the river surface near all major towns. One of these skimmers is already operating in Varanasi.

5) Burning the Dead – Cremation along rivers and immersion of remains is a unique reason for pollution in Indian rivers, and especially the Ganga. Burning of wood leads to air pollution as well. One of the efforts in the Ganga Action Plan of 1985 was to build gas or electric crematoriums, especially in religious centres like Varanasi and Allahabad. Not much was achieved, however.

Several other initiatives would be required include the launch of a public awareness exercise, regeneration of aquatic biology, plantations, and riverfront development.

Oil Price Slips

In a continuing trend crude oil slipped to $30 per barrel to a near 12 year low. Prices are down around 16 per cent since the start of the year.

Between 2010 and 2014, oil demand was soaring around the world, as countries recovered from the financial crisis, but global production was struggling to keep up. Many older oil fields were stagnating. Conflicts in places like Libya and Iraq were restricting supply. Countries had to draw down their stockpiles, and prices soared to around $100 per barrel.

Those high prices, however, spurred more and more drillers in the United States to use innovative hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques to unlock vast quantities of oil from shale formations in places like North Dakota and Texas. It’s hard to overstate the impact of the fracking boom: US crude oil production has nearly doubled since 2010.

This led to a greater supply than demand which led to fall in prices. The trend is expected to continue owing to a supply glut as OPEC continues to not cut production in order to maintain market share, easing of sanctions on Iran, and slowing of demand from China. A major reason is also the escalating tensions between Sunni dominated Saudi Arabia and Shia majority Iran.

Analysis: Impact on India

1) Current Account Balance – India is one of the largest importers of oil in the world. It imports nearly 80% of its total oil needs. This accounts for one third of its total imports. For this reason, the price of oil affects India a lot. A fall in price would drive down the value of its imports. This helps narrow India’s current account deficit – the amount India owes to the world in foreign currency.

2) Inflation – Oil price affects the entire economy, especially because of its use in transportation of goods and services. A rise in oil price leads to an increase in prices of all goods and services. It also affects us all directly as petrol and diesel prices rise. As a result, inflation rises. A high inflation is bad for an economy. It also affects companies – directly because of a rise in input costs and indirectly through a fall in consumer demand. This is why the fall in global crude prices comes as a boon to India.

3) Government Subsidy Burden – The government fixes the price of fuel at a subsidised rate. It then compensates companies for any loss from selling fuel products at lower rates. These losses are called under-recoveries. This adds to the government’s total expenditure and leads to a rise in fiscal deficit – the amount it borrows from the markets. A fall in oil prices reduces companies’ losses, oil subsidies and thus helps narrow fiscal deficit.  The price of diesel and petrol have now been deregulated, following international prices.

4) Rupee Exchange Rate – The value of a free currency like Rupee depends on its demand in the currency market. This is why it depends to a great extent on the current account deficit. A high deficit means the country has to sell rupees and buy dollars to pay its bills. This reduces the value of the rupee. A fall in oil prices is, thus, good for the rupee. However, the downside is that the dollar strengthens every time the value of oil falls. This negates any benefits from a fall in current account deficit.

5) Petroleum Producers – The fall in global oil prices may be beneficial to India, but it also has its downsides. Directly, it affects the exporters of petroleum producers in the country. India is the sixth largest exporter of petroleum products in the world, according to media reports. This helps it earn $60 billion annually. Any fall in oil prices negatively impacts exports. At a time when India is running a trade deficit – high imports and low exports, any fall in exports is bad news. Moreover, a lot of India’s trade partners and buyers of its exports are net oil exporters. A fall in oil price may impact their economy, and hamper demand for Indian products. This would indirectly affect India and its companies.

Start Up India

India surpassed China and Israel recently to own the third largest startup ecosystem, after UK and the US. In 2015 alone, the total funding received by 850 Indian startups via 1,005 deals was a whopping $9 billion.  Yet, according to World Bank’s Doing Business Report 2016, India has the 42nd position in terms of ease of accessing credit, which proves the difficulties in getting loans in India, especially for startups.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to announce the much-awaited ‘Startup India, Stand up India’ campaign on Saturday, January 16. The department of industrial policy and promotion – which is organising the day-long show where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to announce a new deal for start-ups.

Analysis: State of startup ecosystem in India

Encouraging startups is essential in a country where 80 per cent of the population is under the age of 40, and unemployment is rising along with population. Taking a leaf out of other countries’ policies, India could become friendlier towards its entrepreneurs and investors; think of Singapore which incentivised its investors, or Israel which invested 4.3 per cent of its GDP in R&D.  The UK too offers discount and tax subsidy for investing.

The states in India have taken many initiatives to promote start-ups.

Kerala government’s startup policy—Kerala IT Mission—was announced in 2014, aiming to attract Rs 5,000 crore in investments for the State’s startup ecosystem. Having established India’s first telecom incubator Startup Village in 2012, the State also promised 10 accelerators as well as one million sq.ft. of incubation space. According to the policy, one per cent of the annual State Budget will be deducted for ‘youth entrepreneurship activities’ till 2019.  Besides encouraging banks and financial institutions to extend lending to the startups on convenient terms, the government may participate in SEBI-approved early-stage venture capital funds, up to 25 per cent as limited partner. Additionally, the State will match the funding raised by its incubator from Central government on a 1:1 basis as matching grants.

Telangana also came forward, providing ‘Telangana Academy for Skill & Knowledge’ (TASK) for entrepreneurial training. The youngest State in the country, Telangana made headlines when it launched the largest incubation centre in India, named ‘T-Hub’, a year ago, to be followed by its second phase in 2015.

Andhra Pradesh provided a 17,000-sq.ft. lab—Technological Research and Innovation Park—as well as an ‘Initial Innovation Fund’ of Rs100 crore for entrepreneurs. It shall participate in the capital of SEBI-approved VC funds, up to 15 per cent as limited partner. A ‘Single Window Clearance Unit’ will be created for granting approvals, and another for tax and registrations.

Rajasthan launched its elaborate startup policy in October 2015. After the launch of ‘Start-up Oasis’, the Incubation Centre of RIICO at Jaipur in 2013, Rajasthan seemed to have taken the nurturing of startup ecosystem very seriously. The State policy has promised a sustenance allowance of Rs 10,000 per month for a year to idea-stage startups, post approval by the nodal institution. It also facilitated free mentoring and access to facilities at the incubator, and, for selected startups, free access to State universities. Pilot-stage startups have been offered marketing assistance of up to Rs 10 lakh.

Source: Yourstory

Inflation and IIP data

The industrial output for November came at -3.2% as against 9.8% in October and an upward movement in the retail inflation at 5.61% in December compared with 5.41% a month before.  The IIP fall was sharpest since October 2011.

The IIP figures on Tuesday showed there was weakness across all segments with the biggest dip coming in manufacturing and electricity. Manufacturing in November shrank 4.4% from a growth of 4.7% in the previous month, which indicated more than nine percentage points drop even as electricity barely grew at 0.7% compared with the 10% growth in the same month last year. Mining was also weak at 2.3% in November against 4% a year back. Capital goods contracted 24.4% in November compared with 7% expansion last year. Consumer goods production climbed marginal by 1.3% during the same period.

On the other hand, Consumer Price Index (CPI) in December further hardened with food prices remaining high due to the near-drought situation in the country, which has resulted in scarcity of food and food products.

Analysis: Closer Look at the Data

Finance Ministry attributed the decline in November industrial production to a four-year low to statistical reasons, particularly due to lesser number of working days due to Diwali and the impact of Chennai floods.

So, broadly what I feel is that data are consistent with what we said in the Mid-Year Analysis that economy is probably recovering but sending mixed signals, some good, some scope for improvement,” Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramaniam said.

Subramanian added that oil prices have gone down even further, thus there is cushioning of inflationary pressures.

On the other hand, the December tax-revenue numbers were also quite robust. Revenue growth is about 10.6 percent. Inflation number was affected by pulses. Pulses prices increased by some 45 percent, that obviously had an impact,” he added.

Source: DNA

Prohibition in Sabarimala Shrine

Sabarimala Shrine in Kerala has been following a custom for the past half century of not allowing women to enter in the temple. Taking a swipe at religious customs and temple entry restrictions violating women’s constitutional rights, the Supreme Court on Monday said no temple or governing body could bar a woman from entering the Sabarimala shrine in Kerala where lakhs of devotees throng every year.

When the board countered that the prohibition was based on custom followed for the past half-a-century, Justice Misra asked what proof it had to show that women did not enter the sanctum sanctorum over 1,500 years ago.

Analysis

Article 15 of the Indian constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them. No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them, be subject to any disability, liability, restriction or condition with regard to access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and palaces of public entertainment.

Article 25(1) guarantees to all persons the right to freely profess, practise, and propagate their religion. Mirroring this, Article 26(b) grants to religious denominations the right to manage their own affairs in the matter of religion. Overriding both these provisions, Article 25(2) allows state intervention in religious practice, if it is for the purpose of “social welfare or reform or the throwing open of Hindu religious institutions of a public character to all classes and sections of Hindus”.

During the debates in the Constituent Assembly, B.R. Ambedkar — supported, among others, by Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, who expressed specific concerns about the plight of women under religious law — endorsed giving wide, interventionist powers to the state on the ground of the deep and pervasive role that religion played in the lives of Indians. “The religious conceptions in this country are so vast that they cover every aspect of life, from birth to death,” he observed, “I do not think it is possible to accept a position of that sort. There is nothing extraordinary in saying that we ought to strive hereafter to limit the definition of religion in such a manner that we shall not extend beyond beliefs and such rituals as may be connected with ceremonials which are essentially religious.” Over the years, the Supreme Court has itself restricted the scope of the religious protection clause to “essential practices of a religion”. While holding that the state cannot use the reform clause to “reform a religion out of existence”, it has nonetheless held that aspects beyond essential practices have no protection from state intervention.

The  Sabarimala governing board’s argument is that the prohibition of women is justified by “custom”. They rely upon the Kerala Hindu Places of Public Worship (Authorisation of Entry) Rules, 1965, which permit prohibiting women from accessing places of worship where “custom” or “usage” requires it. During the January 11 hearing, Justice Misra doubted the existence of any such custom. Conversely, however, the women worshippers can argue that prohibiting them from access violates their right to worship under Article 25(1). That does not, however, entirely resolve the issue. The right to freedom of religion under Article 25(1) is enforceable against the state, and not against other individuals, or corporate bodies. The question that the court must answer therefore is whether the Travancore Devaswom Board, which controls access to the shrine, can be equated to the “state”.

That does not yet mean that the case is lost. The Supreme Court has held that if one private party obstructs another private party from exercising her constitutional right, then it is the duty of the state to effectuate her right by restraining the former from continuing with its obstruction. Therefore, the women worshippers may ask the court to direct the state to take all necessary steps to guarantee that they are allowed to access and worship at the Sabarimala shrine. India might be the only republic where the judiciary can pronounce on matters not only relating to law, but also those concerning theology. Thus, courts have ruled on topics like the Jain practice of Santhara (voluntary fasting to death); and on who can and cannot become an archaka (priest). They have even pronounced on rather vexed questions like what should be the shape of the markings on the temple elephant’s head.

Finally, there is another route the court might take. The Kerala Hindu Places of Worship Rules speak about “customs” and “usages”. The Supreme Court has held that while personal law is exempt from the application of the Constitution, mere ‘custom’ is not. It might therefore simply strike down the offending rule on the ground that it discriminates on grounds of gender, and therefore violates the Constitution.

Temple Entry movement in India have been centuries old. The practice of not allowing women to enter cannot be justified based on traditions alone. It violates the right of women as equals in our society and pushes the cause of gender equality.

Source: The Hindu

Marital Rape

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought the government’s response on a PIL petition challenging a provision in the penal law, which does not consider sexual intercourse of a man with his minor wife as rape.

Section 375 of the IPC, states that sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife, who is not under 15 years of age, is not rape.

Analysis

Not only there is an inherent contradiction in the law by setting the age of minors as 15 years, there is also an issue with the concept of marital rape in itself.

Recently when the Bill to criminalize marital rape was introduced in India, it was turned down by the Parliament. According to some of the Parliamentarians, marriage is a sacred institution and touching it will leads to breakdown of marriages. They are of the view that India should be proud of its culture because `the nation has low divorce rates’.

Criminalizing marital rape has been a long standing demand made by the women’s movement in India. Recommendations of penalizing rape within marriages were also made by the Justice Verma Committee Report formulated after Nirbhaya’s gang rape case. This Report reiterates that marital rape stems from the outdated notion of marriage that regards wives as property of husbands. It rules out the common law of coverture, according to which a wife has been deemed to be consented at the time of marriage to have intercourse with her husband at his whims and this consent could not be revoked anytime after the marriage. The Committee suggested that existence of relationship is not a valid defense against the sexual violation.

A report by the Law commission also opined that criminalizing marital rape would amount to “excessive interference with the marital relationship.” Two sets of arguments are being proposed to deny wives their right to protection against sexual assaults within the marital tie. One set holds that due to the conditions of `poverty, illiteracy, religious beliefs and social customs’ the `Indian situations are not suitable’ to adopt marital rape laws as applicable elsewhere. Second line of thought, which is in direct contradiction with the first, opines that women in India are misusing and abusing the dowry and the domestic violence laws, thus trivializing the judicial process.

Curious case of Jallikattu

Jallikattu is a bull-baiting or bull taming sport played in Tamil Nadu as a part of Pongal celebrations on Mattu Pongal day. Bulls are bred specifically for the sporting event and a specific breed of cattle bred for this purpose is known as “Jellicut”. Jallikattu was a popular sport during the Tamil classical period. A seal from the Indus Valley Civilization depicting the sport is preserved in the National Museum, New Delhi.

Major injuries and deaths may occur from the sport. From 2010 to 2014, there were approximately 1,100 injuries and 17 deaths as a result of Jallikattu events. Over 200 people have died from the sport over the past two decades.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests issued a notification in 2011 that banned the use of bulls as performing animals, thereby banning the sport. But the sport was continued to be held under Tamil Nadu Regulation of Jallikattu Act No 27 of 2009. On 7 May 2014, the Supreme Court of India struck down the state law and banned the sport. On 8 January, 2016, the Government of India passed an order exempting Jallikattu from all performances where bulls can not be used, effectively reversing the ban.

Analysis

The latest notification circumvents a Supreme Court judgment. The notification had been issued despite contrary legal advice from Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi following a letter from the Tamil Nadu government to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make amendments in the law.

The petitions made again recently contended that the Centre cannot legalise a sport inherently causing pain and distress to dumb animals by merely saying that bulls used for jallikattu (bull-taming sport) should not be subjected to cruelty.

They said the January 8 notification circumvents the May 7, 2014 Supreme Court judgment by introducing several regulations meant to protect bulls, all the while glossing over the fact that the very act of jallikattu is “inherently cruel” and blatantly violates several provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960 as interpreted by the apex court two years ago.

They questioned the notification’s justification to allow the return of jallikattu for cultural and traditional reasons, especially when the Supreme Court judgment had extensively discussed and concluded that the “sport” was a gross insult to the Tamil culture and tradition to “embrace bulls and not over-powering the bull, to show human bravery.” The petitions said it was time Parliament elevated the rights of animals to that of constitutional rights, as done by many of the countries around the world, so as to protect their dignity and honour.

Bharat Stage VI Norms

In a bid to curb vehicular pollution, the government has decided to implement stricter emission norms of Bharat Stage (BS) VI from April 1, 2020 by skipping BS-V altogether.

About Bharat Stage Norms: Bharat stage emission standards are emission standards instituted by the Government of India to regulate the output of air pollutants from internal combustion engine equipment, including motor vehicles. The standards and the timeline for implementation are set by the Central Pollution Control Board under the Ministry of Environment & Forests and climate change.

The standards, based on European regulations were first introduced in 2000. Progressively stringent norms have been rolled out since then. All new vehicles manufactured after the implementation of the norms have to be compliant with the regulations. Since October 2010, Bharat stage III norms have been enforced across the country. In 13 major cities, Bharat stage IV emission norms have been in place since April 2010.

BS-IV fuels contain 50 parts per million (ppm) sulphur, while BS-V and BS-VI grade fuel will have 10 ppm sulphur. Oil PSUs will invest about Rs. 28,750 crore for switching over to BS-VI auto fuels.

The phasing out of 2 stroke engine for two wheelers, the stoppage of production of Maruti 800 & introduction of electronic controls have been due to the regulations related to vehicular emissions.

Analysis

Rolling out the BS VI standard nationally, skipping BS V, has significant cost implications for fuel producers and the automobile industry, but its positive impact on public health would more than compensate for the investment.

Past national policy of implementation of the BS IV fuel standard failed primarily because this was not done all over the country and the technical standard also permitted a higher level of sulphur in the fuel. Higher sulphur results in high volumes of fine respirable particulates measuring 2.5 micrometres (PM2.5) being generated in emissions. Since even this obsolete standard was not followed uniformly, many vehicles, especially commercial passenger and freight carriers, have been using lower standard fuel supplied outside big cities. This has rendered their catalytic converters incapable of absorbing pollutants.

Poor civic governance has left roads unpaved and public spaces filled with debris and construction dust, constantly re-circulating particulate matter in the air. Moreover, the monitoring of diesel passenger and commercial vehicles – the biggest contributors to total emissions – for compliance with emissions regulations remains poor. Such a record does not inspire confidence that retrofitting of old vehicles to use higher quality fuels such as BS VI can be achieved smoothly. Equally, the distortions in urban development policy that facilitate the use of personal motorised vehicles rather than expanding good public transport, walking and cycling, are glaring. Many of these issues were underscored by the Saumitra Chaudhuri Committee on Auto Fuel Vision and Policy 2025 in its report submitted in 2014. The panel also recommended appropriate levies to fund the transition to cleaner, low sulphur fuels. A study by the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi on fuel policy and air quality in the same year concluded that the best results would be achieved by raising the fuel standard and introducing policy initiatives that would influence passenger behaviour and cut personal travel kilometres by 25 per cent.