4 March 2023

• Energy: Global CO2 hit a record 36.8 billion tonnes in 2022 despite a slowdown in growth rate, driven by coal and oil recovery.
• Hydrogen: National Green Hydrogen Mission details emerge with a Rs 19,744 crore outlay and a 4 MT annual production target by 2030.
• Child welfare: A new ILO-UNICEF report finds only 26.4% of children aged 0 to 15 have any social protection coverage worldwide.
• Trade: ESMA derecognised six Indian CCPs effective 30 April 2023 over regulatory cooperation disputes between India and the EU.
• Wildlife: Jerdon's narrow-mouthed frog, unseen for 89 years, is rediscovered in the Western Ghats.

GS Paper 3: Indian economy, agriculture, government schemes.

India is the world's second-largest tea producer and the largest producer of black tea. The sector directly employs 1.16 million workers. About 80% of production is consumed domestically.

• Camellia sinensis: the botanical species from which all commercial tea is produced, including black, green and white varieties.
• Tea Board of India: a statutory body established in 1953 under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Its headquarters is in Kolkata. It regulates cultivation, manufacture, marketing and export of tea.
• Tea Development and Promotion Scheme 2021-26: the current central scheme supporting replantation, quality upgradation and market development in the tea sector.
• Chai Sahyog Mobile App: a digital platform launched to connect tea workers with welfare schemes and benefits under the Tea Board's ambit.
• Darjeeling tea: the first product in India to receive a Geographical Indication (GI) tag. It is internationally nicknamed the "Champagne of teas" for its muscatel flavour profile.

The GI tag for Darjeeling tea protects both the brand and the livelihoods of workers in the region. Any tea not grown in the Darjeeling district cannot legally be sold under that name.

GS Paper 2: Social justice, welfare schemes, international reports.

A joint ILO-UNICEF report titled "More than a billion reasons" found that child social protection coverage remains critically inadequate across the world.

• Coverage figure: only 26.4% of children aged 0 to 15 globally have any form of social protection coverage.
• Scale of the gap: 2.4 billion children worldwide need protection. Of these, 1.77 billion aged 0 to 18 lack access to cash benefits of any kind.
• Multidimensional poverty: 1 billion children live in multidimensional poverty, deprived across health, education, nutrition and housing simultaneously.
• India's PM CARES for Children: launched to support children orphaned by COVID-19. As of the report's reference period, it had reached only 4,302 children across 31 states, a figure the report flags as indicative of implementation gaps.
• Policy implication: the report argues that universal child benefits, even at low cash amounts, demonstrably reduce multidimensional poverty and improve school attendance rates.

The PM CARES for Children figure reflects the challenge of last-mile delivery in a federal system where state governments vary widely in administrative capacity.

GS Paper 3: Environment, forests, trade.

Forest certification systems verify that timber and forest products are sustainably sourced. India's reliance on certified forests remains among the lowest in the world.

• Forest Stewardship Council (FSC): the leading international non-profit certification body. Certifies forests and forest products under a chain-of-custody standard recognised globally.
• Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certifications (PEFC): the other major global standard. Works by endorsing national forest certification schemes rather than certifying forests directly.
• India's status: Uttar Pradesh is currently the only state with certified forests. Its 41 forest divisions are certified under the PEFC standard.
• Wood import bill: India spends Rs 50,000 to 60,000 crore annually on wood imports. Domestic forests supply only about 5% of annual wood demand, leaving industry heavily import-dependent.
• Why this matters: demand for certified timber in export markets (particularly the EU) is rising under the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Indian exporters without certified supply chains face market access risk.

GS Paper 3: Environment, climate change, energy.

The International Energy Agency's CO2 status report for 2022 found that global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions reached a new record, though growth was slower than feared.

• Total emissions: 36.8 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2022. This is the highest level ever recorded.
• Growth rate: emissions rose by 0.9% or 321 million tonnes over 2021. This is below the 6% surge seen in 2021 as economies reopened post-COVID.
• Coal: emissions from coal grew 1.6%. Coal remains the single largest source of energy-related CO2 globally.
• Oil: emissions grew 2.5% as aviation recovered. Jet fuel demand came back strongly in 2022.
• Gas: emissions fell 1.6% as high gas prices caused fuel switching and demand destruction in Europe.
• Regional trends: EU emissions fell 2.5% due to energy efficiency measures and renewable expansion. US emissions grew 0.8%. China's emissions were broadly flat due to COVID-related lockdowns suppressing industrial activity.
• Implication: the slower growth rate does not reflect a structural peak in emissions. IEA notes that without the clean energy investment surge seen in 2022, growth would have been far higher.

GS Paper 3: Energy, government schemes, environment.

The Union Cabinet approved the National Green Hydrogen Mission with a target of making India a global hub for green hydrogen production and export.

• Total outlay: Rs 19,744 crore over the mission period.
• Production target: 4 million tonnes (MT) of green hydrogen annually by 2030. This would reduce India's dependence on fossil fuels and cut annual greenhouse gas emissions by around 50 MT.
• SIGHT fund: Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition. Allocated Rs 13,000 crore to incentivise domestic production of green hydrogen and green ammonia.
• Electrolyser PLI: Rs 4,500 crore under a Production Linked Incentive scheme to develop domestic electrolyser manufacturing capacity. Electrolysers use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
• India's import dependence: India currently imports about 85% of its crude oil and 55% of its natural gas, making energy security a key driver of the hydrogen push.
• Green hydrogen definition: hydrogen produced using renewable electricity to power electrolysis, as distinct from grey hydrogen (from natural gas) or blue hydrogen (from natural gas with carbon capture).

India's green hydrogen bet is industrial in scale. Its success depends on whether renewable electricity costs fall enough to make electrolysis competitive with conventional hydrogen within this decade.

GS Paper 3: Industry, government schemes, employment.

The Samarth Scheme (Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector) is the Ministry of Textiles' flagship skilling programme for workers across the value chain.

• Administering ministry: Ministry of Textiles.
• Curriculum: 184 courses aligned to the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF). These span spinning, weaving, garmenting, technical textiles and handicrafts.
• Target beneficiaries: 3.47 lakh persons over the scheme period.
• Gender profile: more than 85% of beneficiaries are women. The scheme explicitly targets women workers in textile clusters and home-based production.
• Placement norms: a minimum 70% placement rate is mandatory for entry-level courses. For upskilling courses, the bar rises to 90%.
• NSQF alignment: ensures that certificates issued under Samarth are recognised by industry and portable across employers.

GS Paper 3: Indian economy, external sector, RBI.

The Liberalised Remittance Scheme allows resident individuals to remit foreign exchange abroad for a wide range of current account and capital account transactions.

• Annual limit: USD 250,000 per individual per financial year. Any amount above this requires RBI approval.
• Eligible remitters: resident individuals only. Corporations, partnership firms, Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) and trusts are not eligible under LRS.
• Introduced: 2004 by the Reserve Bank of India under the Foreign Exchange Management Act framework.
• Permitted uses: overseas education, travel, medical treatment, maintenance of relatives abroad, investment in overseas equities and property.
• Repatriation rule: unutilised foreign exchange held abroad for more than 180 days must be repatriated to India.
• Relevance in 2023: the government proposed levying a higher Tax Collected at Source (TCS) on LRS remittances above Rs 7 lakh in the Union Budget 2023-24, a change that generated significant public debate.

GS Paper 3: Indian economy, financial markets, international finance.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) announced it would derecognise six Indian central counterparty clearinghouses (CCPs) with effect from 30 April 2023.

• Affected CCPs: Clearing Corporation of India (CCIL), Indian Clearing Corporation Ltd (ICCL), NSE Clearing Ltd (NSCCL), MCX Clearing Corporation (MCXCCL), India International Clearing Corporation (IICC) and NSE IFSC Clearing Corporation (NICCL).
• Reason: ESMA requires access to audit and supervise CCPs that European banks use. Indian regulators (RBI, SEBI and IFSCA) declined to grant those extraterritorial supervisory rights, citing domestic regulatory sovereignty.
• What a CCP does: a central counterparty interposes itself between the two sides of a financial trade, guaranteeing settlement even if one party defaults. It is the plumbing of financial markets.
• Impact: European banks using Indian CCPs for clearing government bonds and interest rate derivatives would face higher capital requirements or be forced to shift clearing to other jurisdictions.
• Regulatory context: ESMA's Third Country CCP (TC-CCP) framework under EMIR (European Market Infrastructure Regulation) requires that all CCPs used by EU entities meet ESMA's equivalence or recognition standards.

The dispute exposed a genuine tension between globalised capital markets and national regulatory sovereignty. India's position was that granting ESMA audit access would set a precedent that could undermine domestic oversight.

GS Paper 3: Environment, biodiversity, Western Ghats.

Jerdon's narrow-mouthed frog (Uperodon montanus) was rediscovered in the Western Ghats after a gap of 89 years, the last recorded sighting having been in 1934.

• Scientific name: Uperodon montanus. It belongs to the family Microhylidae (narrow-mouthed frogs).
• IUCN status: Near Threatened. Populations are believed to be declining due to habitat loss in the Western Ghats.
• Rediscovery location: Western Ghats. The precise site has not been disclosed publicly to protect the population from disturbance.
• Significance: rediscoveries of species after decades confirm that the Western Ghats remain a functioning biodiversity hotspot. They also highlight how poorly surveyed many microhabitats in the region remain.
• Western Ghats: one of the world's eight hottest biodiversity hotspots. Recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Home to over 325 globally threatened species.

GS Paper 1 / GS Paper 3: World geography, critical minerals.

Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia is the world's largest salt flat and holds more than half the planet's known lithium reserves.

• Location: Potosí and Oruro departments of southwestern Bolivia. Lies at an altitude of approximately 3,656 metres in the Altiplano plateau.
• Size: about 10,582 square kilometres. The surface is remarkably flat, making it useful for satellite calibration.
• Lithium: the salt flat holds over 50% of the world's known lithium reserves. Lithium is essential for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles and grid storage.
• The Lithium Triangle: Bolivia, Argentina and Chile together hold about 65% of the world's lithium reserves. This has geopolitical significance as the energy transition accelerates.
• Bolivia's challenge: despite vast reserves, Bolivia has struggled to attract foreign investment for large-scale extraction due to nationalisation policies and technical complexity of the brine.

• K-shaped recovery (rejected): Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran argued in early 2023 that the K-shaped recovery narrative did not accurately describe India's post-COVID economic pattern. He pointed to broad-based rural and urban demand data as counter-evidence.
• CITES at 50: the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora marks its 50th anniversary. CITES covers over 37,000 species across three Appendices. CoP19 was held in Panama City in November 2022.
• West African lion: population estimated at 120 to 374 individuals. Listed as Critically Endangered. Found in fragmented patches across West and Central Africa, outside the main savanna populations of East and Southern Africa.