GS III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
- What are the central government obligations for conserving the coastal line? Explain the challenges in developing coastal ecosystem in India
Coastal ecosystem in India is important for managing the coasts, and all the other aspects including geographical and political boundaries, to achieve sustainability. India has an exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 2.02 million sq. km and a long coastline of 8,118 km with rich and diverse marine living resources. Robust coastal ecosystem is critical for utilising these resources efficiently leading to inclusive growth.
- The government has issued notifications under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, to regulate activities along India’s coasts particularly regarding construction.
- The Coastal Regulation Zone Notification (CRZ) 2019, implemented by the Ministry, classifies the coastal area into different zones to manage infrastructure activities and regulate them.
- The three institutions responsible for the implementation of the CRZ are the National Coastal Zone Management Authority (NCZMA) at the Centre, the State/Union Territory Coastal Zone Management Authorities (SCZMAs/UTCZMAs) in every coastal State and Union Territory and the District Level Committees (DLCs) in every district that has a coastal stretch and where the CRZ notification is applicable.
- These bodies examine if CRZ clearances granted by the government are as per procedure, if project developers once given the go-ahead are complying with conditions, and if the project development objectives under the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Programme (ICZMP) are successful.
- They also evaluate the measures taken up by the government towards achieving the targets under Sustainable Development Goals, a set of United Nations-prescribed targets for countries towards eradicating poverty and becoming sustainable societies.
Challenges in developing coastal ecosystem in India:
- The ‘top-down’ approach of administrative decision making in CZM is a major issue.
- Coordination between centre and states and various ministries and departments for efficient coastal development is lacking
- Disasters like tsunami pose great danger to coastal infrastructure and communities. It not only jeopardises coastal management efforts but also destroys valuable national assets.
- Lack of good weather forecasting technology also adds to the loss caused by various disasters.
- Increasing climate change leads to rise in sea level that is endangering coastal security and infrastructure.
Source The Hindu
GS III Effects of liberalisation on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.
2. The declining rupee has several consequences. In sum, is it a crisis or an opportunity?Discuss
The rupee’s steep slide to the 79-to-a-dollar range is bound to impact importers, widen the current account deficit (CAD) and increase India’s external debt burden.
The declining rupee a crisis:
- Reduced real wages. In a period of low wage growth, a devaluation which causes rising import prices will make many consumers feel worse off. This was an issue in the UK during the period 2007-2018
- It adds to the inflationary pressure and squeezes the purchasing power of those whose incomes are not linked to the crisis.
- There are more outflows from emerging markets. So, the RBI has to sell dollars in the spot market to contain the depreciation.
- Fears of a global recession could also lead to a downward bias in crude oil prices; that could be positive for the current account.
- Global slowdown may also pull down exports and that is worrying from the CAD perspective.
- Whenever the rupee or any currency starts depreciating, there is always an expectation of further depreciation, which can lead to further capital outflows.
- Earlier, flows were adequate, the CAD was low and the RBI actually managed to mop up a lot of forex and built up reserves to about $635 billion.
The declining rupee a opportunity:
- Exports become cheaper and more competitive to foreign buyers. Therefore, this provides a boost for domestic demand and could lead to job creation in the export sector.
- A higher level of exports should lead to an improvement in the current account deficit. This is important if the country has a large current account deficit due to a lack of competitiveness.
- Higher exports and aggregate demand (AD) can lead to higher rates of economic growth.
- Also, it helps keep a check on imports, because the moment currency depreciates, the prices of imported goods go up and that dampens the demand for importables.
Way forward:
- It depends on the state of the business cycle. In a recession a devaluation can help boost growth without causing inflation. In a boom, a devaluation is more likely to cause inflation.
- A developing economy which relies on import of raw materials may experience serious costs from a depreciation which makes basic goods and food more expensive.
~Source The Hindu
