Editorials/Opinions Evaluation For UPSC 18 March 2023

Editorials/Opinions Evaluation For UPSC 18 March 2023

Contents

1. The Demand for Land in India’s Renewable Vitality Sector
2. The Position of Digital Public Infrastructure

The Demand for Land in India’s Renewable Vitality Sector

Context

Context: If the frenzy to construct renewable vitality capability leads to the lack of forest cowl, India’s annual carbon emissions may rise.

Relevance

GS Paper-3: Science and Know-how- developments and their functions and results in on a regular basis life

Mains Query

What actions ought to India take to stability its targets for putting in renewable vitality with its dedication to reforestation, scale back the impression on its forest cowl, and scale back carbon emissions? (150 phrases)

Vitality Transitions

• During the last century, vitality transitions had been gradual and pushed by market forces, which usually don’t account for unfavorable externalities resembling native air pollution and carbon emissions.
• Nonetheless, the present world vitality transition is distinct from earlier transitions as it’s policy-driven and geared toward mitigating market failures associated to air pollution and carbon emissions.
• Renewable vitality (RE) has been the first focus of this policy-driven
• Nonetheless, the extremely decentralised nature of RE necessitates elaborate installations like photo voltaic panels and wind generators, which incur excessive materials and pure useful resource prices, primarily land, to supply usable quantities of electrical energy. Consequently, producing one unit of electrical energy from renewable vitality sources is considerably costlier than producing one unit from fossil fuels.
  • The nation of India’s up to date nationally decided contribution doesn’t bear in mind the elevated demand for land for RE initiatives (NDC).

Dominant Gasoline

• Traditionally, as vitality transitions superior, the quantity of vitality launched throughout combustion elevated considerably whereas carbon emissions decreased on account of the elevated hydrogen content material.
• The hydrogen to carbon ratio (H/C ratio) of wooden was roughly 0.1, adopted by coal with a ratio of 1, oil with a ratio of two, and at last pure gasoline with a ratio of 4.
• The gradual improve in H/C ratio gave rise to the concept hydrogen was changing into the dominant gas within the vitality market, doubtlessly changing into the only service of vitality.
  • This market-based transition, nonetheless, has been considerably disrupted by the current policy-driven vitality transition in direction of renewable vitality sources, with electrical energy changing hydrogen as the principle vitality service.
• Each earlier vitality transition has additionally resulted in an increase within the volumetric or gravimetric vitality density of the dominant gas.
  • Because of hydrogen’s low volumetric vitality density, utilizing it as an aviation gas is troublesome, as pure gasoline has a considerably decrease volumetric vitality density than crude oil.

Requirement of land

• Vaclav Smil, a widely known environmental scientist, compares numerous vitality sources utilizing energy density. Energy density is expressed as vitality flux per unit floor (water or land) in watts per sq. metre (W/m2).
• Smil’s calculations for energy density bear in mind the land wanted for downstream processes like waste disposal in addition to the land wanted for upstream processes like drilling and mining.
• Photo voltaic, wind, and biomass vitality sources have decrease energy densities than fossil fuels like crude oil, pure gasoline, and coal.
  • In distinction to earlier vitality transitions, which aimed to transition in direction of fuels with larger energy densities, the present vitality transition goals to do the other.

Issues

• Research point out that wasteland is regularly present in India’s sun-friendly areas. Nonetheless, in line with projections, deserts and dry shrublands will solely host a small portion of photo voltaic initiatives.
• Because of its uninhabitable terrain and lack of supporting infrastructure, wasteland is regularly prevented by builders, which raises prices.
• However utilizing waste land cuts down on the socio-economic and environmental prices of utilizing agricultural land for initiatives involving renewable vitality (RE).
• It’s estimated that India will want between one and three p.c of its complete floor space, or roughly fifty to a hundred percent of wasteland, to fulfill the 175 GW RE targets.
  • In line with a research, if photo voltaic PV generates 78% of India’s electrical energy by 2050 and three% of it comes from rooftop photo voltaic PV, the required land space might be as a lot as 2% of the nation’s cropland.
• This may end result within the clearing of unmanaged forests, which might violate India’s NDC dedication so as to add new forest and tree cowl as a carbon sink by 2030.

Conclusion

• In line with the 2022 land hole report, India’s pledge to reforest would require the usage of 56 p.c of the nation’s land space, which is considerably greater than what bigger nations just like the USA (14 p.c) and China (2 p.c) name for in comparable pledges.
• Othear estimates suggest that 30-40 million hectares (M ha) of land, equal to the mixed space of Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal, can be crucial for reforestation.
• The nation’s targets for putting in renewable vitality (RE) haven’t been effectively built-in with India’s reforestation pledge, resulting in a land-use competitors which may favour RE installations backed by vital financial pursuits.
• The lack of forest cowl, which may doubtlessly offset the vast majority of India’s 3 BT of annual carbon emissions, may end result from speeding to put in RE capability.

The Position of Digital Public Infrastructure

Context

The article emphasises India’s essential position because the G20 Presidency in growing digital platforms and e-governance companies to digitally rework the world whereas highlighting the absence of digital fee techniques in 133 nations worldwide.

Relevance

GS Paper 3: Science & expertise, Infrastructure 

Mains Query

How difficult will it’s to implement the Digital India plan? How will we overcome the identical because of this? (150 phrases).

Background

• Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple, and Microsoft have been on the forefront of an enormous explosion in innovation and worth creation in the course of the first twenty years of the twenty-first century.
• These, together with Chinese language companies Alibaba and Tencent, dominated the worldwide sphere in digital promoting, commerce, messaging, cloud infrastructure, social media, and cellular working techniques, amongst others (DPI).

About DPI

• DPI is an open-source id platform that can be utilized to entry a variety of presidency and personal companies by growing functions and merchandise.
  • It encompasses digital types of identification and verification, civil registration, fee (together with digital transactions and cash transfers), information trade, and knowledge techniques.
  • These public digital platforms are adaptable, localizable, and interoperable, and so they make use of public information to help open innovation fashions.
  • For instance, the interoperability of the Unified Cost Interface (UPI) structure is echoed in over 300 banks providing linkages to financial institution accounts by way of UPI, which is accessed by customers by way of 50-plus third-party apps.
• Precept: The DPI platforms are based on core ideas resembling consent-based information sharing protocols, openness, fairness, inclusivity, equity, transparency, and belief, all of which contribute to closing the digital divide.
• Significance: On account of DPI’s low-cost and inclusive platforms, India has been in a position to push the boundaries of public service supply and digitally leapfrog, with the general public sector defining regulatory boundaries and the personal sector innovating and competing within the market.
  • DPI additionally permits nations to take care of strategic management over their digitalization processes, in addition to to make sure digital cooperation and long-term capability.
  • In line with a current Financial institution for Worldwide Settlements (BIS) research, India has delivered in 10 years what would have taken 50 years to attain with out the DPI.
  • In line with the Centre for Digital Financial system Coverage Analysis (C-DEP), nationwide digital ecosystems may add greater than 5% to India’s GDP.
• Functions: In distinction to the technological improvements that beforehand emerged from the developed world, India is thought to be a worldwide trendsetter within the DPI motion, having established a number of large-scale DPIs:
  • The JAM trinity, which connects Aadhaar, cell phones, and financial institution accounts
  • Digi Locker for digital storage and doc administration
  • Bharat Invoice Pay, an all-in-one fee answer
  • Unified Cost Interface (UPI), Aadhaar Enabled Cost Programs (AePs), and Quick Cost Service (IMPS)

What components contributed to India’s digital platforms’ monumental success?

• PMJDY (Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana): When the scheme first started in 2015, solely 15% of the accounts had been operated by girls; this determine has since risen to 56%.
  • Moreover, 67% of account holders are from rural and semi-urban areas, bridging the gender hole.
  • During the last eight years, 460 million accounts have been opened, with the common deposit per account rising by 71%.
  • India’s digital public infrastructure is credited with this huge digital inclusion.
• E-commerce: For instance, quite a few apps resembling PhonePe, GPay, and AmazonPay allow funds with the clicking of a button.
  • Moreover, the Open Community for Digital Commerce (ONDC) offers entry and fairness to small and medium-sized retailers by establishing open and decentralised DPI and limiting digital monopolies.
  • It’s vital as a result of solely 15,000 of 120 million retailers use digital commerce, whereas the estimated dimension of internet buyers is 220 million by 2025.
  • This implies extra choices and better high quality for purchasers, in addition to elevated competitiveness and effectivity all through the worth chain.

DPI push in India’s Union Funds 2022 (4 key bulletins)

• Well being: An open platform that features digital registries, a singular well being id, and a powerful consent framework.
  • Skilling: A Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood (DESH-Stack) is being developed to help residents in upskilling by means of on-line coaching.
  • Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP): To simplify the motion of products throughout modes of transportation and journey.
  • Mobility: An “open supply” mobility stack for facilitating passengers’ seamless journey.
  • DPI could expose residents to dangers resembling data-driven behavioural manipulation, id theft and fraud, and exclusion from important public companies.

Challenges

It might additionally create a brand new financial divide between nations which can be forward of the remaining by way of digital public infrastructure.

DPI Enhancement Solutions

• New DPI instruments based mostly on a whole-of-society method: For instance, the multi-stakeholder initiative GovStack is growing a safe and standard-based method to assist nations start their digital transformation journey by adopting, deploying, and scaling digital authorities companies.
  • New fashions of digital cooperation: The joint administration and upkeep of DPI by sovereign entities necessitates cross-country collaboration on strategic choices resembling selection, information portability, interoperability, and so forth, to be able to create and help new fashions of digital cooperation.
  • Folks-centered method: Whereas investing in DPI needs to be prioritised, efforts needs to be made to make sure inclusivity by specializing in fairness, good governance, and regulatory frameworks to make sure that nobody is left behind.
    • The Digital Public Items Alliance outlined a imaginative and prescient for DPI in a 2021 report that protects inclusion, belief, competitors, safety, and privateness, in addition to public worth and personal empowerment.
  • Bringing in native stakeholders, resembling universities and accelerators, to collaborate with authorities companions could help in long-term capability funding in DPI implementation and upkeep.
  • International cooperation: In 2022, the United Nations Improvement Programme, the Digital Public Items Alliance, and nations world wide agreed to share finest practises for DPI implementation.
  • India’s G20 presidency has the potential to play a crucial position in stewarding inclusive approaches to digital transformation, enhancing, securing, and broadening entry to DPI by means of worldwide cooperation and strengthening multilateralism to remodel individuals’s lives and the bigger world good.