7 September 2023

• Energy: The government approved viability gap funding of up to 40 per cent for 4,000 MWh of Battery Energy Storage System capacity, a key step toward integrating renewable energy.
• Education: The UGC launched the Malaviya Mission for teacher training, aiming to capacitate 15 lakh teachers across 111 centres.
• International: Plastic pollution treaty negotiations continued in Nairobi, Kenya, with disagreements over whether the treaty should address production limits.
• Science: The Botanical Survey of India patented a bamboo-based reusable straw from the Schizostachyum andamanicum species native to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

GS area: Economy (energy), Environment

The government approved viability gap funding (VGF) of up to 40 per cent of capital cost for 4,000 MWh of Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) capacity to be set up across India.

• What BESS does: stores excess electricity generated by solar or wind plants during peak production periods and releases it during demand peaks or when renewable generation falls. This resolves the intermittency problem of renewables.
• Viability gap funding: a capital subsidy given to make projects commercially viable where the social benefit exceeds what the market alone would fund. VGF is widely used in infrastructure (roads, ports) and is now being extended to energy storage.
• 4,000 MWh target: the approved capacity is the first tranche. India's National Electricity Plan 2023 calls for 51.5 GWh of BESS by 2031-32.
• 50 per cent non-fossil target: India committed at COP26 to meet 50 per cent of its electricity needs from non-fossil sources by 2030. Storage is essential for this because solar and wind alone cannot guarantee firm power.
• Ministry: Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is the nodal ministry.

Static linkage: energy (renewable energy, storage), environment (NDC targets).

GS area: Governance (education)

The University Grants Commission launched the Malaviya Mission, a teacher training programme aimed at building the capacity of 15 lakh teachers across 111 centres within two years.

• Name: named after Madan Mohan Malaviya, the founder of Banaras Hindu University and a prominent figure in 19th-20th century educational nationalism.
• UGC's mandate: the UGC is established under the University Grants Commission Act, 1956. It regulates higher education, disburses grants and sets academic standards.
• Programme themes: multidisciplinary education, Indian knowledge systems, academic leadership, research culture and mental health and well-being.
• NEP 2020 linkage: the National Education Policy 2020 calls for improving teacher quality at all levels. The Malaviya Mission is the UGC's primary implementation vehicle for this.
• Target centres: 111 Human Resource Development Centres in central and state universities.

Static linkage: governance (education, UGC), National Education Policy 2020.

GS area: Environment (pollution, international agreements)

Nations continued negotiations in Nairobi, Kenya toward a global treaty on plastic pollution. The negotiations were mandated by a UN Environment Assembly resolution in March 2022.

• Mandate: to develop a legally binding international instrument on plastic pollution, covering the full lifecycle from production to disposal.
• The core split: producer countries (petrochemical exporters) want the treaty to focus on waste management and recycling at the end of the lifecycle. Consumer nations and environmental groups want it to address plastic production limits at the start.
• UNEA link: the UN Environment Assembly, based in Nairobi, is the world's highest-level intergovernmental body on environment. Nairobi is the host city for UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme).
• India's position: India is a large plastic consumer and producer but has banned single-use plastics since July 2022. India has participated constructively in the negotiations.
• Timeline: the global treaty was targeted for completion by the end of 2024.

Static linkage: environment (plastic pollution, international agreements), international organisations (UNEP).

GS area: Environment (forest, biodiversity)

India pledged to restore 21 million hectares of degraded forest land by 2030 under the Bonn Challenge, an international framework for forest restoration.

• Bonn Challenge: launched in 2011 in Bonn, Germany. Countries voluntarily pledge to restore degraded and deforested land. Over 60 countries have pledged more than 210 million hectares.
• India's forest cover: the Forest Survey of India's 2021 report put forest and tree cover at 809,537 square kilometres (about 24.62 per cent of geographic area). The national goal under the National Forest Policy, 1988 is 33 per cent.
• Status: approximately 30 per cent of India's forestland is in various stages of degradation.
• Key finding from science: diverse species plantations restore biodiversity far better than monoculture plantations. Planting a single species meets a tree count target but does not restore an ecosystem.

Static linkage: environment (forest, biodiversity, Bonn Challenge), geography.

GS area: Economy (tourism), International Relations (G20)

India launched the G20 Tourism and SDG Dashboard during its G20 presidency. The dashboard was developed in collaboration with the UN World Tourism Organisation.

• Purpose: a digital platform consolidating data and best practices from G20 nations on sustainable tourism linked to SDGs.
• Five G20 tourism priorities under India: Green Tourism, Digitalization, Skills, MSMEs and Destination Management.
• Goa Roadmap: the G20 Tourism Ministers' Meeting in Goa produced the Goa Roadmap, which was later endorsed by G20 leaders in New Delhi.
• Travel for LiFE: India's initiative to promote sustainable tourism under the Lifestyle for Environment movement.
• UNWTO: the UN World Tourism Organisation is based in Madrid. It tracks global tourism statistics and develops sustainable tourism policy.

Static linkage: economy (tourism, G20), international organisations (UNWTO).

GS area: Society (justice, gender), Governance

A report by the Justice Amitava Roy Committee highlighted the "gender-exclusionary" nature of India's prison system. Female prisoner population rose 11 per cent between 2014 and 2019.

• Facilities gap: fewer than 40 per cent of prisons provide sanitary napkins. Many female wards share infrastructure with male wards.
• Children in prison: only Goa, Delhi and Puducherry allow barrier-free child visits. In some states, children below a certain age may live with incarcerated mothers.
• Legal framework: the Model Prisons Act, 2023 was recently introduced to reform prison management. Prison administration is a state subject.
• Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita: the criminal procedure reform bill also touched on undertrial rights, which disproportionately affect women prisoners.

Static linkage: society (gender, justice), governance (criminal justice reform).

• Adobe-Ministry of Education MOU: a partnership to train 20 million students and 500,000 teachers in AI and digital creativity skills using Adobe Express by 2027.
• Botanical Survey of India bamboo straw: the BSI patented a reusable straw made from Schizostachyum andamanicum, a bamboo species native to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It offers an alternative to single-use plastic straws.
• Heat index: Iran recorded a heat index of 70 degrees Celsius in coastal Persian Gulf areas during this period. The heat index combines air temperature and relative humidity to describe how the environment feels to the human body, not the thermometer reading.