Trishul Military Airbase, Bareilly belongs to the Indian Air Force and the land was handed over to the Airport Authority of India for construction of the interim civil aviation operations.
Alliance Air was awarded the Delhi – Bareilly route under the UDAN-4 bidding process last year.
Oil and Gas Marketing Companies (OGMCs) are inviting Expression of Interest (EoI) from potential entrepreneurs to procure Compressed Bio Gas (CBG).
Provisions under scheme: (1)Assured price for offtake of CBG with long term agreements by OGMCs; (2) Inclusion of bio manures produced from CBG plants as Fermented Organic Manure (FOM) under Fertilizer Control Order 1985; (3) Inclusion of CBG projects under Priority Sector Lending by RBI
9 CBG plants have been commissioned and have started supply of CBG.
These plants are located in Andhra Pradesh (1 No.), Gujarat (3 No.), Haryana (1 No.), Maharashtra (3 No.) and Tamil Nadu (1 No.).
These plants are set up by entrepreneurs and private companies who have raised financial resources to develop these plants.
Nomination dossiers of ‘Santiniketan, India’ and ‘Sacred Ensemble of Hoysalas’ have been submitted to UNESCO for the year 2021-22 cycle.
Sites are selected on the basis of their potential for fulfilling criteria under Operational Guidelines and demonstration of Outstanding Universal Value.
Context: The sustainable development goals (Target 6.2) require India “by 2030, to achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations.
Women, Sanitation and Swachh Barat Abhiyan
Gender sensitive objective: The Swachh Bharat Grameen Phase I guidelines (2017) state that “requirements and sensitivities related to gender, including dignity and safety issues, are to be taken into account at all stages of sanitation programmes from planning to post-implementation.”
Guidelinesw.r.t gender dimension: The department of Drinking Water and Sanitation released the guidelines, recognising the gender dimensions of sanitation in India. It emphasised not only the need for women’s participation in planning and implementation of sanitation interventions but also “their leadership in SBM-G committees and institutions”.
Guidelines to States: The states were accordingly expected to ensure adequate representation of women in the village water and sanitation committees (VWSCs), leading to optimal gender outcomes. The SBM-Grameen guidelines (Phase I) specifically recommended that 50 per cent of the members of VWSCs should be women.
Women for behavioural change: The government has also very effectively used over 8 lakh swachhagrahis, mainly women, who for small honorariums work to push through behavioural change at the community level.
Challenges Involved in Gender and Sanitation
Risks Involved with Open Defecation: Women face threats to their life and feel unsafe while seeking a toilet facility or while going out for open defecation. This leads to the consumption of less food and water by the women to minimize the need to exit the home to use toilets.
Disproportionate burden on women: The desire for privacy during bathing and defecation is different in the case of girls and women than men. Thus, the non-availability of proper sanitation facilities creates a helpless situation for females and leads to the risk of faucal-orally transmitted diseases, urogenital tract infections, urinary incontinence, and chronic constipation.
Weak Participation and Proxy for men: In practice, the promoters of swachhta rarely encourage women to participate in water and sanitation committees, which does not guarantee their participation. There were inevitably cases where women were fronts for spouses.
Way Ahead
Continued Behavioural Change: Information, education, and communication, which aims at behaviour change of the masses, is key to the success Swachh Bharat Mission 2 .0 . The mission speaks of sustained behavioral change while embarking on the newer agendas of sustainable solid waste management and safe disposal of wastewater and reuse.
Financial and Livelihood Linkage: There is need to interlink Sanitation & Hygiene with Livelihood: The India Sanitation Coalition has helped link micro-finance with self-help groups run by women for sanitation needs.
Tracking Gender Outcomes: Gender analysis frameworks in development practice supports design, implementation, and measurement that can bridge the gender equality gap in sanitation. A national monitoring and evaluation system to track and measure gender outcomes in SBM is necessary.
Gender Sensitization & Training: There is a need for effective communications and training programs to build the capacity of stakeholders on gender targeting, both on the supply and demand sides of interventions.
Involving Civil Society: Besides the government, the role of non-state actors, including that of institutions like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Unicef and several NGOs, must be lauded as we pursue sustainable sanitation using a powerful gender lens.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that women can help to drive change and bring about lasting change as the jan andolan for swachhta, health and sanitation gains momentum.
INTERNATIONAL/ SECURITY
Topic:
GS-2: Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.
GS-2: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
Context: The Quad, which comprises the U.S., Japan, Australia and India been described by the U.S. as having “essential momentum and important potential”.
India’s engagement with QUAD
China’s action: India’s engagement with the Quad goes back to China’s expanding footprint in South Asia and the Indian Ocean Region over the last few years. China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative was viewed as encroachments into India’s strategic space.
India’s reaction: India responded with an upgradation of its naval capabilities and enhancement of ties with the Indian Ocean Region littoral states and other major powers in the region.
Shared Concern with USA: Largely as a result of their shared concerns relating to the rise of China, India has been deepening its security ties with the U.S. focused on interoperability of defence equipment and training based on defence purchases, frequent land and sea exercises.
How has the grouping evolved over time?
Initial Reluctance: India’s involvement with the Quad was initially cautious due to its reluctance to join an overt anti-China coalition.
Expanded the scope: Since November 2017, the joint naval exercises of Quad members are being supplemented by extensive consultations on security issues.
Elevation to Ministerial level: In September 2019, India agreed to elevate the Quad platform to ministerial level.
Possibility of Summit level: It is reported Quad would soon meet at summit level in 2021thus signalling the importance attached to this grouping by the US administration.
Concerns for India
Pulled into ambit of Indo-Pacific: The U.S.’s focus on the west Pacific due to aggressive Chinese maritime activity gradually pulled India into the ambit of the Indo-Pacific that views the western Pacific and the Indian Ocean as an integrated geopolitical space.
India’s Security concerns ignored: By affiliating with the U.S.-led maritime coalition, India ignored the principal areas of its security concerns in northern borders. Recently with border clashes, China has given India a rude reminder that India’s security concerns lie in its northern borders, not the west Pacific.
Divergence with US: New Delhi and Washington see eye to eye on maritime strategy, but not on what to do on the Asian mainland.
Structural Issues due to QUAD’s pivot to US: The Quad has a core structural problem as well in that it pivots around the U.S. The U.S. is a super-power with global interests, but it is also self-centred in defining and pursuing its interests, even as its policies experience major shifts due to government change or domestic lobbies
Doesn’t have strategic vision: Despite rhetoric relating to the promotion of a ‘rules-based’ world order (the rules being most frequently violated by the U.S. itself), the Quad neither shares a strategic vision nor is it animated by a shared agenda.
Conclusion
India’s foreign policy has often been ad hoc, reactive and short term, reflecting the absence of a broad strategic culture. As the global scenario gets more complex and India’s ambitions increase, a cohesive strategic vision would give substance and drive to India’s pursuit of its interests over the long term.
