22 March 2023

• World Water Day: Observed globally on 22 March with theme "Accelerating Change"; the UN 2023 Water Conference began in New York, the first in half a century.
• NSA invoked: The National Security Act 1980 was used against associates of Amritpal Singh, renewing debate on preventive detention law and constitutional safeguards.
• Renewable energy gap: Data confirmed that India missed its 175 GW renewable energy target for 2022 by a significant margin, with actual installation at 90 GW.
• AT1 bonds: Credit Suisse's USD 17 billion AT1 bond writedown spotlighted the design and risk of Additional Tier 1 instruments in global banking regulation.

GS Paper III: Environment, Water Resources; GS Paper II: International Institutions

World Water Day is observed on 22 March every year. The 2023 theme was "Accelerating Change." The occasion marked the opening of the UN 2023 Water Conference in New York (22-24 March), the first high-level UN gathering on water since the Mar del Plata Conference in 1977.

• Global water deficit: 2 billion people currently lack access to safe drinking water. 3.6 billion people lack access to safely managed sanitation. These figures come from the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme.
• Urban water stress: Urban populations facing water scarcity are projected to increase from one-third of the global urban population today to nearly half by 2050.
• Agriculture's role: Agriculture accounts for approximately 70% of global freshwater withdrawals, making irrigation efficiency central to any strategy of "accelerating change."
• India's position: India is among the most severely water-stressed countries. 80% of Asia's water-stressed population lives in India, and India extracts more groundwater annually than the United States and China combined.
• Jal Jeevan Mission: India's flagship programme to provide functional household tap connections in rural areas. As of March 2023, over 11 crore of the target 19 crore rural households had been connected.
• Loktak Lake: India's largest freshwater lake in the Northeast (Manipur), home to the world's only floating national park (Keibul Lamjao), is under threat from invasive species and inflow regulation by the Ithai Barrage.

GS Paper II: Indian Polity, Fundamental Rights, Internal Security

The National Security Act (NSA) 1980 was invoked against associates of Amritpal Singh, a Khalistan-sympathising preacher who had evaded a Punjab Police crackdown on 18 March 2023.

• Provision: NSA allows the detention of a person without formal charges or trial for up to 12 months. It is a preventive detention law, not a punitive one.
• Purpose: Detention is ordered when the government is satisfied that a person poses a threat to the security of the state, maintenance of public order, or maintenance of essential services.
• Constitutional safeguards: Article 22 of the Constitution guarantees that a person detained under a preventive detention law must be informed of the grounds of detention "as soon as may be," has the right to make a representation before an Advisory Board, and the Advisory Board (chaired by a retired or sitting High Court judge) must review the detention within five weeks.
• Distinction from ordinary arrest: Under ordinary criminal law (now BNSS, earlier CrPC), an arrested person must be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours. NSA bypasses this requirement.
• Maximum period: Initial detention order is for 3 months; it can be extended to 6 months with Advisory Board approval, and further to 12 months.
• Historical use: NSA has been used by state governments across the political spectrum for varying public order situations; its use has often been judicially scrutinised for proportionality.

GS Paper III: Energy, Environment, Government Policy

India's original 2022 renewable energy target of 175 GW (set in 2014) was missed by a significant margin, with actual installed capacity reaching approximately 90 GW by December 2022, representing 69% of the target.

• Component-wise gaps:
  • Solar: Target 100 GW; achieved approximately 61.6 GW (of which rooftop solar achieved only 7.40 GW against a 40 GW target).
  • Wind: Target 60 GW; achieved approximately 41.93 GW.
  • Bio-power: Target 10 GW; largely on track at about 10.6 GW.
  • Small hydro: Target 5 GW; achieved approximately 4.9 GW.
• Revised target: India's updated goal is 500 GW of non-fossil energy capacity by 2030, declared under the Panchamrit commitments at COP26 (Glasgow, 2021).
• Budget 2023-24 allocation: The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) received Rs 10,222 crore, a 45% increase over the previous year's allocation.
• Growth since 2014: Despite the target miss, India's renewable capacity grew by over 236% between 2014 and 2022, reflecting genuine acceleration.
• Rooftop solar challenge: Regulatory barriers (net metering policy uncertainty), upfront capital costs, and low electricity tariffs for certain consumer categories have hampered rooftop solar adoption.
• Green Hydrogen Mission: The National Green Hydrogen Mission (2023) targets 5 MMTPA of green hydrogen production by 2030, which will require significant additional renewable capacity as input.

GS Paper III: Environment, Biodiversity, Wetlands; GS Paper I: Geography

Loktak Lake in Manipur, the largest freshwater lake in northeastern India, is home to an ecological wonder: Keibul Lamjao, the world's only floating national park, formed by a mass of decomposing plant matter called "phumdis."

• Phumdis: Heterogeneous masses of soil, vegetation, and organic matter in various stages of decomposition, floating on the lake surface. They range from a few centimetres to two metres in depth. Phumdis provide the unique habitat of Keibul Lamjao.
• Sangai deer: Keibul Lamjao is the last natural refuge of the brow-antlered deer or sangai (Rucervus eldii eldii), Manipur's state animal. Critically endangered and found nowhere else in the world in its wild form.
• Ramsar designation: Loktak Lake was designated a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance in 1990.
• Montreux Record: Loktak was added to the Montreux Record (a list of Ramsar sites facing threats to their ecological character) in 1993. The Ithai Barrage, constructed in 1983 for hydropower and irrigation, permanently raised the lake level, disrupting the natural flood-pulse ecology of phumdis.
• Conservation measures: The Loktak Development Authority (LDA) regulates encroachment; the Manipur government has been clearing illegal fish pens (athaphums) within the lake.

GS Paper III: Economy, Banking Regulation, International Finance

Credit Suisse's emergency acquisition by UBS in March 2023, brokered by the Swiss government, came with a controversial decision: USD 17 billion worth of Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds were written down to zero while equity shareholders received partial compensation, inverting the conventional seniority of creditors.

• What AT1 bonds are: Additional Tier 1 bonds are a category of bank capital instruments created in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis under the Basel III framework. They carry no fixed maturity date (perpetual) and pay regular coupons.
• Loss absorption design: AT1 bonds are designed to absorb losses: if a bank's Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio falls below a pre-specified trigger (typically 5.125%), the AT1 bonds are either converted to equity or written down (extinguished), recapitalising the bank without taxpayer bailout.
• Why AT1 is riskier than senior debt: AT1 holders rank below all depositors, senior bond holders, and ordinary creditors in a bankruptcy hierarchy, but above equity in theory.
• Credit Suisse controversy: Swiss financial regulator FINMA invoked a contractual clause in Credit Suisse's AT1 terms that allowed writedown ahead of equity holders under government-ordered restructuring. This shocked international AT1 markets because equity was treated as senior to AT1 in this specific resolution, violating typical loss hierarchy expectations.
• India context: Indian banks also issue AT1 bonds (SEBI regulates the disclosure norms). Yes Bank's AT1 writedown (2020) during its resolution was an earlier precedent in India.
• Purpose of Basel III capital tiers: Tier 1 (CET1 + AT1) must cover at least 6% of risk-weighted assets; CET1 alone must be at least 4.5%. Total capital (Tier 1 + Tier 2) must be at least 8%.

GS Paper III: Environment, Biodiversity, Conservation

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) released 14 revised national guidelines on Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC) management under an Indo-German bilateral cooperation framework, covering 10 specific species.

• Scale of conflict: Between 2019 and 2022, elephants killed 1,579 people. Between 2018 and 2021, 222 elephants were killed by electrocution from makeshift electric fences erected by farmers. Leopards, tigers, and crocodiles are the other major conflict species.
• Review mechanism: The guidelines prescribe a mandatory review cycle of every five years beginning in 2023, with state-level nodal officers responsible for monitoring and reporting.
• Maldhari model: The Maldhari tribal community living within the Gir Forest (Gujarat) is cited as a best-practice example of coexistence with Asiatic lions, maintaining their pastoral lifestyle while adapting to proximity with large carnivores.
• Mitigation tools: Early warning SMS systems, bee-fence barriers (which deter elephants), improved crop insurance for HWC losses, and community-led rapid response teams are among the recommended measures.
• NTCA and Project Elephant: HWC is managed jointly under the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) for tigers and the Project Elephant Division for elephants.

GS Paper II: Social Justice, International Reports

The World Happiness Report 2023, published by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) on behalf of the UN, ranked Finland as the world's happiest country for the sixth consecutive year.

• India's ranking: India ranked 126 out of 137 countries surveyed, reflecting low scores on social support, generosity, and perceptions of government corruption.
• Top 3: Finland (1st), Denmark (2nd), Iceland (3rd). Nordic countries dominate the top ten.
• Bottom: Afghanistan ranked last (137th), reflecting the humanitarian crisis following the Taliban takeover in 2021.
• Methodology: Rankings are based on a three-year average of self-reported life evaluations (Cantril Ladder scale: 0-10) from the Gallup World Poll.
• Six determinants: GDP per capita (income), social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and absence of corruption.
• Happiness and HDI: Nordic countries score high on both happiness and HDI, illustrating that economic development, social equity, and subjective wellbeing are mutually reinforcing.

GS Paper III: Economy, Services Sector; GS Paper II: Health

India's National Strategy and Roadmap for Medical and Wellness Tourism acknowledged India's potential to become a global hub for affordable, high-quality healthcare services.

• Market size: India's medical tourism market was valued at USD 5-6 billion in 2019 and was projected to grow to USD 13 billion by 2026.
• International ranking: India ranked 10th in the Medical Tourism Index (2020-21) among 46 countries, assessed on medical tourism environment, medical tourism industry, and quality of facilities.
• Visitors: Approximately 0.7 million foreign patients visited India annually before the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iraq, Maldives, and African nations.
• Heal in India portal: Launched to provide a single-window platform for international patients seeking information on hospitals, visa procedures, and treatment options.
• National Medical and Wellness Tourism Board: Established in 2015 under the Ministry of Tourism to coordinate among healthcare providers, state governments, and diplomatic missions.
• Competitive advantage: India's price advantage is significant: cardiac bypass surgery costs approximately USD 5,000-7,000 in India versus USD 70,000-130,000 in the United States.