UPPSC 2019 Mains Essays

Specific Instructions :

(i) The question paper is divided into three Section. Write three essays in Hindi or English of Urdu language selecting one topic from each Section.

(ii) Maximum words limit of each essay is 700 words.

(iii) Each essay carries 50 marks.

Throughout the history teaching moral values through stories, poems or has a Panchtantra, Ali Baba or Aesop’s fables. It was the time when teaching of the stories was presumed in easy way so that we can go through story again and again.

Learning and development are the formal character of education efforts and direct moral instructions. From the time immemorial, our religious books were the true path shower, full of wisdom and moral instructions.

“Values that are said to be “ethical” are those that command respectful behaviour toward others, that is, towards other human beings, without harming them. These can be applied to animal and plant life as well.” Human values are universal which are accepted by people, all over the world irrespective of culture, religion and nationality. Moral values are culture influenced and they describe what is right and what is wrong. Social and cultural background of the region may affect the values. Vedas, Upanishads and Hindu scriptures gives utmost importance to human values like universal brotherhood, love, compassion, kindness, peace, charity, helping the needy, responsibilities towards the society, harmonious coexistence with nature, morality, freedom, justice, trustworthiness, loyalty, civility, respect, empathy, tolerance etc., People with these set of qualities will have high regard in their individual lives as well as social life.

India is a value based country at the core. Even though India is a multireligious country human values are imbibed in the Indian way of life, as every religion

endorse the same set of moral values. These values are instilled in the children from the very beginning of the childhood. An Indian child grows in a value oriented environment. Imparting human values is a part of Indian family system and education system since ages. Parents and other elder members of the family try to inculcate moral values in children as they can easily be moulded. In most of the Indian households these cherished moral and human values are taught in the established tradition of storytelling since the childhood. The stories fascinate the children and also unconsciously teach the values with an everlasting impression on them. The texts of Ramayana, Mahabharata which are the reservoirs of human values and ethical code of conduct are narrated to the offspring in the form of simple stories and bed time stories. As “child is the father of man” children who grow up learning these values will become more responsible citizens in later life. Education, literature and society continue to shoulder the uphill task of instilling values and ethics, next to family. A child gradually learns from education, friends, peer group and society. Literature also plays an important role of imparting the human values and ethics to individuals.

India has produced great Gurus and teachers like Valmiki, Vyasa, to the recent gurus Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev, BK Shivani of Brahma Kumaris, Shri Ravi Sankar of Art of Living. These are torch barriers for the spread of human values. The great Indian epics like Ramayana 400-200 BCE and Mahabharata 400-100 BCE are discourses on human values, ethics and professional code of conduct which are viewed as bench marks for human behaviour. Many corporatie houses are learning lessons on management, leadership, strategic management. logistics, strategies of power play, ways and means to reach goals and targets. crisis management, lessons on self-motivation, personality development from Ramayana and Mahabharata. All these aspects were dwelt at length in these literary texts. One more great work of the time was Bhagavat Geeta, a part of Mahabharata, is a guide to human conduct and spiritual refinement. Holy texts like Bhagavat Geeta, Quran, Bible, Zend Avesta. Guru Bani and many other holy texts influence the psychological, social, ethical and spiritual behavioural patterns of the people.

“Human values are the principles, standards, convictions and beliefs that people adopt as their guidelines in daily activities. Principal human values are the foundation on which professional ethics are built. They are a set of consistent measures and behaviours that individuals choose to practice in the pursuit of doing what is right or what is expected of them by society. Most laws and legislation are shaped by human values.”

“Values that are said to be “ethical” are those that command respectful behaviour toward others, that is, towards other human beings, without harming them. These can be applied to animal and plant life as well.” Human values are universal which are accepted by people, all over the world irrespective of culture, religion

and nationality. Moral values are culture influenced and they describe what is right and what is wrong. Social and cultural background of the region may affect the values. Vedas, Upanishads and Hindu scriptures gives utmost importance to human values like universal brotherhood, love, compassion, kindness, peace, charity, helping the needy, responsibilities towards the society, harmonious coexistence with nature, morality, freedom, justice, trustworthiness, loyalty, civility, respect, empathy, tolerance etc., People with these set of qualities will have high regard in their individual lives as well as social life.

Sex is understood as the biological difference between men and women. Even Seg though this difference should not matter to how people are seen and treated, the distinction between both is assigned through by gender and does make a difference. Gender violence is a term for wide range of violations, which consist of both the physical and the sexual, from example ranging from sexual assault in society to sexual abuse in prison.

Women are disproportionately the victims of gender violence, which happens in different forms in different social contexts throughout the world. According to government data, nearly four women are raped every hour in our country. The real number probably way higher never gets captured as many rapes go unreported, buried under shame, confusion and fear.

Public data also shows that the majority of rapes are often perpetrated by persons known to the victim, including family and neighbours. Reporting this often risks inviting stigma on the victim rather than on the accused because, in our rancid rape culture, some of us also question victim’s behaviour that brought on predators.

> Less number of female police can be one of the reasons for sexual violence problem in India. Whenever a woman is being raped she is more likely to report her case to a female police officer. Historically speaking of which New Delhi has just 7% of female police officers. Statistically speaking 161 district police stations in Delhi have only one female station house officer.

> Blaming of indecent clothing – The Indian society somehow assumes that the victim’s sense of clothing has brought them in that state. This has been proved in the survey of judges in India where 68% of the respondents agreed to the same point. Harsh but true.

> Accepting domestic violence – Indian society sees domestic violence to be something deserving. UNICEF, in one of its reports, found that 57% of Indian boys and 53% of girls think that the beating of a wife is justified.

> No public safety – Women who drink, smoke or go late-night clubbing are seen as immoral in most of the Indian society and are the reason for being raped. If the public themselves think and are okay with this kind of reasoning behind rape then women in India are definitely not safe in public places.

> Discouragement of rape victims to compromise – None of the families in Indian society are ready to accept the fact that someone in their family has been raped and they often advise the victims to stay away from the haphazard caused after rape in the police station. This is the sole reason why most of the rapes are not even registered in India.

> Though there are laws being framed to protect the victims of rape and to give them their legal rights, still there is a problem in the implementation of laws that are being framed.

There is no age factor, race or social status which causes rape. Individuals from their end can do things to adopt some preventive measures against rape.

> Conducting a session of safety tips for everyone.

> To provide all the information to the police if required.

> To create awareness about what constitutes rape, good touch and bad touch for kids, etc.

Raising the boys right since birth is the most important factor that will lead to a decrease in a huge number of rape cases. The problem with Indian society is that whenever any rape happens only the victim is questioned and not the rapist. The victim has to go through innumerable questions from the society and sometimes even blamed for the rape herself. But when any robbery takes place no one questions the robbed person and tell him that it was his fault, similarly no one questions the family members of the murdered person. Likewise, all the individuals in Indian society are busy educating the victim how to prevent or protect themselves from rape but do not educate the other side of the party regarding the dos and don’ts. Many of us don’t even know that the boys in India are being raped as much as girls but they don’t talk about it because there are no help centres for them. The laws are even gender biased with respect to rapes. So everyone must adopt the practice of educating and creating awareness about the right and the wrong amongst the society because they are the ones who are going to make a difference in future.

On August 5th 2019, the central government in New Delhi moved Parliament to abrogate Article 370 and bifurcate the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories. Months later, as the year came to a close, the Indian parliament passed a amendment to India’s Citizenship Law. The introduction of GST, saying it has given life to the dream of “one nation, one tax”. “India has also achieved one nation, one power grid in the energy sector and arrangements have been made for one nation, one mobility card. India is * talking about one nation, one election.

By revoking Article 370, India has finally achieved the goal of One Nation, One Constitution and every citizen should feel proud about the same. As Article 35A of the Constitution has been done away with after abrogation of Article 370, Jammu and Kashmir has lost the power to define who a permanent resident of the state is and who isn’t.

The provisions of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) by giving it autonomy over internal administration of State, State’s own Flag and constitution, was read down through presidential order and thereafter a Bill of Reorganisation to convert J&K from a state of the Indian Union into two separate Union Territories (UTS) also sailed through with more than 2/3rd majority in both the houses (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) of Parliament. The state was divided into two Union Territories- J&K with an elected legislature including the area of POK and the Ladakh division including Aksai Chin but without legislature. This historic decision taken on 5th August 2019 also included deletion of Article 35A.

Article 370 had the effect of insulating the J&K from certain provisions of the Indian Constitution applicable via powers of center over the states. Thus making it more autonomous with respect to everything but defense, communications and foreign affairs. Article 35A was conceived vide Presidential Order in 1954 to empower the State Legislature to define permanent residents and their special rights and privileges where in the Indian citizens from other states could not own any land or property in J&K nor apply for Jobs or have other state benefits of higher education and health care that the center provides to each state annually. In 1954, J&K constituent assembly, ratified The Constitution Orders 1954 (Application to the J&K also known as Presidential orders). This order also contained introduction of controversial Article 35A, as it was believed that it created a special class of citizens with in India. Soon after the dissolution of the J&K constituent assembly Presidential power came into effect and thus the Provisions of 370 were titled as “temporary provision” but attained a sense of

permanence by sheer passage of time. While Article 370 guarantees the special status, it is subject to exceptions as the President may so specify and article 35A is one of such exception.

The government sees the withdrawal of article 370 and 35A as important milestones for the unity and integrity of the country. But the fact remains that a cautious approach needs to be undertaken while furthering their aims of social, economic and political development in the region wherein building and trust of the Kashmiri people is critical to all round development even though attaining them for accusations of forced demographic changes etc. are bound to raise their ugly heads.

On plus side, social impact of the ruling is that the decision has long term consequences on and for the people of Kashmir. As the Kashmiris can now have access to Right to Education and such other people centric laws which are applicable across all the other states in India. Furthermore, the rule that if a Kashmiri woman gets married outside the state, she would lose her right to property, will no longer be pertinent. Also the gateway for commerce and huge investments from across India is opened for greater economic prosperity and for plugging-in the two UTs into the Indian economy. This can make J&K and Ladakh now less dependent on the grants of Centre at least after the initial year. With these key changes assembly has expanded to 114 seats from 108 seats and further election commission will delimit the constituencies.

Social media is expanding its reach in every strata of the society in India day day, provides organizations the present world. It builds an idea environment for interaction where people can meet and share their idea. Advancement in technology has played an important role in improving social media communication. People who are a distant apart can communicate to each other as if they are close to each other. Many organizations have utilized the social media to communicate their agenda to the mass. Social media is the new medium through which individuals, businesses, organizations, government as well as civil society engages and interacts in this information age. As the communications landscape gets denser, more complex, and more participatory, the networked population is gaining greater access to information, more opportunities to engage in public speech, and an enhanced ability to undertake collective action.

Public awareness means that you should know what is socially acceptable from you in society and you should act in that manner. Mass media has a prominent role to play in modern society. It can bring about radical changes and improve social situation as it influences our social, civil, cultural, political, economic and aesthetic outlook.

Modernization has converted media into an indispensable feature of human activity. However, factors like age, education, economic condition, personal needs and availability of proper components decide the quantum and frequency of media use. Government started using media as a platform for eliminating social evils and bringing positive change. Finally the people reacted positively to it and now the cases of social evils are decreasing.

Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc can topple government regimes, boost political campaigns, bring about public protests, organize social demonstrations, mobilize social campaigns, and enable communications and discussions on public forum, spread awareness, provide instant news and information.

Communication in the social media covers a wide area since many people are accessible to the information, for instance, many people can access information posted to a Facebook page. Information posted can be spread to many people over a short period of time.

Social media provides a firsthand account of the biggest issues facing the world today from those directly impacted. As a result, increasing awareness of an issue is where social media can have the greatest impact. Social media have become a fact of life for civil society worldwide, involving many actors — regular citizens, activists, non-governmental organizations, telecommunications firms, software providers, governments.

As social media increasingly becomes part of everyday life, more government agencies are carving out a social media presence online. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube not surprisingly, are perhaps the most common outlets for government social media efforts. Initially the governments worldwide were not that supportive of using social media for improving governance but slowly and steadily governments world over are embracing this platform.

In the 21st century, the government needs to more open and transparent about its working and these social networking sites can help in evolving a more participatory, innovative and inclusive governing model where the government not only spread awareness of its policies and plans but also engages in a two-way communication where they can get instant citizen feedback as well as incorporate suggestions made by common people for proper delivery of public services.

The human behaviors and interactions on social media have maintained themselves as highly dynamic real-time social systems representing individual social awareness at fine spatial, temporal, and digital resolutions. Social media, on one hand, has facilitated the prediction of human dynamics in a wide spectrum of aspects, including public health, emergency response, decision making, and social equity promotion, and will also bring unintended challenges for Digital Earth, such as rumors and location spoofing on the other.

The social media has got a vital role in molding a good society to develop our lifestyle and move it on the right path, because it always try to side with the truth and relevant factor. It is the best tool to spread awareness in the modern society either it be political, social or economic and giving us latest sight about what is happening in our world, making us aware about our rights, creating awareness against evils in our society, what new happening around us, exposing corrupt politicians and hardcore criminals by sting operations. There is correlation between social media and society to share them self about the past, present and future event on need base method of the society.

Digital economy” is intertwined with the traditional economy making a clear delineation harder. Economy refers to an economy that is base computing technologies. The digital economy is also sometimes called the Internet Economy, the New Economy, or Web Economy.

The digital economy consists of various components, which include Government policy and regulation internet, The World Wide Web and electricity infrastructure, Telecommunication industry, Digital service providers, business and e-commerce industry, Information and knowledge management systems, Intellectual property rights, Human capital and knowledge workers, Research and development and emerging technologies.

The term digital economy was coined in 1995, during the early days of electronic commerce by technology analyst, Don Tapscott. In his book, Digital EconomyPromise and Peril in the Age of Networked Intelligence, Tapscott predicted how the Internet would drastically change the way business was done and create an economy built on networks.

The digital shifts underway are reshaping the economies and societies today and it would continue to do so in the future. The digitalization of economies and societies holds many priorities and promises to spur innovations and technologies as well as generate efficiencies and improve services throughout the economy.

Moreover, a successful transformation to a digital economy is a much necessary step and offers conditions toward a more inclusive and sustainable growth while enhancing the overall well-being. The digital economy can also improve the services and help address the policies challenges in a wide range of areas, such as health, education, agriculture, governance, tax, transports, and environment, among the others. It continues not just to innovate in processes and organizational arrangements, but at the same time, transform how individuals interact with one another and with the society as well. And, most importantly, it has the ability to change the structure and business models of the economy.

The challenges for policymakers and regulators are to identify the policy mix that will enable their economies to best maximise the benefits of an increasingly digitalized economy and adequately address the security challenges. To do so, it is essential to ensure access to and participation in the digital economy for everyone across the country, which is necessary for better productivity, inclusive growth, job creation and the well-being of the people. The digital economy offers an up-to-date, critical synthesis that links the various aspects of the digital or cyber economy from the perspective of real firms. At a broader level, the digital economy is based on three interlinked, converging technological trends: first, the commoditization of fast, cheap computing and data storage; second, the domination of standardized software platforms which allow digital interconnectivity-notably, the Internet; and third, the building of a worldwide, integrated, digital network. The digital economy is the worldwide network of economic activities enabled by Information and Communications Technology (ICT). There is hardly anyone or any sector untouched or unfamiliar with the digital technology.

As the digital economy is still evolving, there are questions about this new economic model that has yet to be answered. Some have wondered whether cash will become extinct. Others have asked whether a single globally accepted currency will emerge, but according to economists, neither scenario is likely at least in the near future. Economists also note that the digital economy is not just a theoretical construct, it has a real impact on societies, too. Some point out that digitization and automation are replacing workers and shifting the kinds of job available. They also pointed out that there are many countries, notably in the developing countries, where there is limited access to the technologies that enable the digital economy. Digital technologies are rapidly transformating both business practices and societies, and they are integral to the innovation-driven economies of the future. But the question is: would technological revolutions be highly disruptive to economies and societies as seen during the industrial revolution? While technologies advance rapidly, organizations and skills advance slowly, and the gap between swiftly evolving technology and the slower pace of human development will grow quickly in the coming decades as exponential

improvements in artificial intelligence, robotics, networks, analytics, and digitization affect more and more of the economy and society. Inventing effective organizations for the digital economy is the grand challenge for future time.

Along with the opportunities, the digital economy comes with risks too, such as unauthorized access, use of corporate and personal information, lack of secrecy and misuse of the footprint.

Indian farmers are the backbone of our notions economy as Indian agriculture is  primarily Agriculture based country. Statics reveal that Indian agriculture is sector accounting for 18% of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provide employment to nearly 50% of workers.

Food, clothing and Shelter are 3 basic needs of human being. All 3 needs fulfill from nature. Food and clothing are fulfilled with the help of farmer. We can live without clothing and shelter but we cannot live without food.

The farmer is one of the most useful people of since the beginning of civilization. We all depend upon agriculture to meet our requirement of food. We get our food because the farmer grows crops and carries the agricultural activities. Farmers were essential for the survival of the population.

The Indian farmer is a living idol of India, they are the most hardworking farmers around the world & always busy, working hard for their crops, during day and night.

India is called the land of farmers, as most of the people of the country are directly or indirectly involved in the agriculture sector.

It would not be wrong to say that ‘Indian farmers’ are the backbone of the economy and the farmers are indeed the beloved children of Mother India.

Farming is the process of growing a wide variety of crops; India has a diverse culture, with approximately 22 major languages and 720 homeland languages spoken in India. People from all the religions like Hindu, Christian, Islam and Sikh live in India & they are engaged in various occupations, but agriculture is the main occupation. “Indian Farmer” has the ability to survive with the various seasons, climate change, soil conditions and often harsh destruction of wildfires, droughts and floods.

Farmers are an important part of the existence of our various societies because they provide food and fiber which gives us nutrition and cloth.

Farming is an industry that relies on the natural environment and its careful and responsible use every day. Cultivation practices often provide natural biologically active filter mechanisms for water as well as soil vegetation stabilization. Indian Farmer and farming communities provide an excellent environment to raise relations. They offer opportunities for young and old alike to gain experiences in basic lifelong values, an appreciation for success, as well as the sorrow of life’s most challenging occurrences.

The functions of a farmer vary according to the type of operation. A farmer who grows crops has responsibility for making the land for harvesting the crops, sowing the seeds and taking care of it. Few Indian farmers sell their crops in the market, while some have agreements with processing companies or other establishments. Crops may include special crops such as grains, fruits and vegetables or cotton, etc. for human consumption. The farmer should keep the fields free of water, manure and weeds along with the crops apart from planting. Farmers also have to grow the crops for feeding their animals.

It is certainly true that the Indian farmer is a hard-working farmer; it has a good ability to manage the variations of nature and circumstances. By adopting the latest scientific tools, he is learning many ways of farming, a lot of awareness in farming through education. They are also changing their lifestyle, except in some situations, their family too is now getting facilities like education, health. To be honest, the Indian farmer is a great farmer, a great human being.

Farmers hold the backbone of the agricultural system. As it is common knowledge that for a country to progress the gross domestic product should be reasonable, agriculture is one of the important parts. The agricultural system will only run if there are crops being grown and harvested, so this where farmers come in. They help the agricultural sector growth, which not only feeds the local people but also gives the advantage to the economy by exporting the given goods to foreign countries.

For exporting, the material must be of good quality which would be possible when the farmers have been very careful and considerate about the factor influencing the crops. Farmer ensures that these crops are well nurtured so that they can bring high profit for the state. By exporting the goods to other countries, the economy of the state grows, which can be further spent toward the development of the state.

By seeing all the given factors, it can be safely said that farmers are a vital part of our society. They help us to fulfill our basic needs of food and clothing ourselves. We cannot deny their importance as their efforts make our regular day life run smoothly.

Foreign policy of any country, unlike domestic policy, is usually considered both static and dynamic. Indian foreign policy is undergoing a paradigm shift. It has had several such shifts over the last seven decades, but over the course of time, these have amounted to continuity.

In the first period from 1947 to 1991, the world was dominated by two rival super powers, the USA and the USSR. The League of Nations had withered away, and the United Nations was born, moulded by the victorius World War II allies namely, the US, USSR, UK and France. Global economic and financial power was usurped by the western developed countries primarily the US and its European allies who developed the Bretton-Woods arrangement with the World Bank and IMF duo controlling the global financial system and the GATT/WTO shaping global trade. India’s response was to adopt the policy of non-alignment. Being non-aligned meant not being identified with either super power, while aiming to get political, security and economic support from both camps so that the young nation could overcome its severe political, social and economic stress and degradation, after two centuries of colonial rule. This was the staid and stable phase of India’s foreign policy, perhaps best suited for the times.

In the second phase from 1991 to 2008, two major events in 1991 kick started the process of change. The former Soviet Union collapsed and splintered into many independent countries, Russia being the largest among them, and successor to the USSR in the UN. The second was the foreign currency crisis faced by India, the likes of which we had never experienced before. We witnessed a changing world order with only one country remaining as the major political, economic and military power, viz., the USA. Multiple other lesser poles of global power started sprouting from this period onwards in the EU, Russia, China, dynamic Asia including Japan and India and in south America, particularly Brazil. India responded to these catatonic changes by weaning itself away from non-alignment to a multipolar alignment, adjusted its previous, often adversarial relations, with the remaining major power, the USA, incorporated globalization and paid greater attention to its immediate neighbourhood.

The third period is from 2008 to the present times. In 2008, the US and the global banking and financial systems were severely jolted, starting with the collapse of the Lehman Brothers. This led to a severe economic meltdown in the advanced

economies of the world, and even among most of the then champion emerging economies likes South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. In this period, the United States economic and military superiority is being chipped away, with most of the slack taken up by China, which is also becoming a more attractive political model for some developing countries. The rise of multiple poles in the EU, ASEAN, Russia, Japan, India, BRICS, IBSA, SCO, etc, has been much faster than in the previous period. The fulcrum of global power is gradually, but surely shifting from the West to the East, particularly to Asia. Indian foreign policy has responded vigorously to these changes with non-alignment dropped altogether. Today, Indian diplomacy is primarily focused on the USA, China, other P-5 member countries, and our neighbourhood. Look East has been expanded to Act East. Africa has loomed into focus and Latin America does not look so distant anymore. Economic diplomacy has taken the pole position in India’s foreign policy above that of political and security issues.

In all three phases, globally the Westphalian concept of the sovereign nation state has remained steadfast, despite some dilution in national sovereignty issues voluntarily surrendered by member countries of the European Union. However, in majority cases, the interests of the nation state override that of any collective political grouping like the UN. Among other factors which have been statist in their influence in the last seventy years, are (a) the Bretton-Woods global financial arrangements, (b) the continuous rise in total global population figures, though some developed countries are showing signs of negative population growth, (c) the availability of natural resources like land, water, air, sunlight and minerals, which are finite, prompting man to search for such resources beyond the earth’s atmosphere, in other planets, and (d) global preference for the US Dollar despite efforts at various points of time, to promote other currencies like the Yen, the Euro and lately the Chinese Renminbi.

Foreign policy can only go so far and diplomacy can be that effective, to the extent of a country’s political, social and economic health. India has been fortunate to enjoy good growth and prosperity for the last three decades. This has provided greater leverage to India’s foreign policy, and allowed far greater resources to be allocated for the conduct of diplomacy, including consolidating and strengthening our diplomatic presence all across the globe.

Under the present regime, India has clearly demonstrated its will to play a leading role in the global arena and be counted as ‘pole’ in its own right. Continued stability and prosperity at home and political consensus on broad foreign policy parameters, will help India reach this goal.

Anything that can be used to derive benefit or value out of it can be treated as resource. By this definition, there are diverse resources such as land, water, air, mineral and energy resources at one of the spectrum to human, biological and cultural resources at the other end. Resource management involves economical, efficient, effective and sustainable utilization of these resources while deriving benefits out it them.

The geography of India is so varied and it blessed with rich and diverse natural resources. India is seventh largest country in the world by the area. The rivers like Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Krishna formed large basins, perhaps, no other country has such a rich fertile soil. India has large quantities of iron ore reserve that it exports significant amount to other nations. It also has large reserves of coal for its power generation. Most importantly, India has 2nd largest world population of 1.24 billion people. It is home to large number of flora & fauna, three biodiversity hotspots Western Ghats, Himalayas, Indo-Burma region are identified by world community. The continuing civilization since Indus valley times and number of tribal practices resulted in rich tangible and intangible cultural resources.

Such a rich resource base both natural & human, presents unique context for resource management in India.

Firstly, India has 17% of world population yet, it has just 2.4% of land area. In contrast to this, Brazil has 2.5 times land area and one sixth of population to India. So there is high pressure on our natural resource due to rising population.

Secondly, about 25% of world poor lives in India. For the development of poor, adivasis, dalits, women, limited resource base poses unique challenges.

Thirdly, Climate is reality today. A country with 60% of its agriculture dependent on rain fall, with 7500kms of long coast line, global warming & rising sea levels can affect its development. In this context, it is important to identify the current problems that are facing by India in different resource areas.

To begin with, Land use management is an important productive resource for any nation for its food production, infrastructure development. Soil degradation is one of the major problem currently India is facing with. The imbalances in fertilizer application, changing in cropping pattern from low water intensive crops to high water intensive crops such as rice, sugar is causing this problem. Along with this, failure of land reforms resulted in skewed pattern of land holdings. Because

of this, large number of small & marginal farmers, of whom dalits and poor constitute significant number, are finding agriculture unproductive.

Water is another important resource. It provides drinking water for population and irrigation for agriculture. However, current water management practices are inefficient, unsustainable. Pollution of water bodies, due to release of sewerage and industrial effluent, is resulting dead rivers and lakes. Current situation of Ganga & Yamuna best depicts the picture. On the other hand, excessive usage of ground water is leading to lowering of water table and aquifer depletion. Large dams have been constructed with the aim of increasing irrigated agricultural area, however, there is significant lag exits in utilization of full potential created. Most of often, the construction of large scale dams are creating problems of large scale displacement of indigenous tribals and vulnerable sections without adequate and timely compensation. There are large scale submergence of rich flora and fauna.

Management of mineral & energy resources poses difficult challenges in India. India imports 70% of its oil requirements. The skewed policy of fuel subsidies is benefiting diesel cars & SUVs of rich, causing significant non plan expenditure and leaving less financial resources for poverty alleviation, planned development. Similarly, coal mining has its own problems like corruption as highlighted by CAG, inefficient technology for extraction, displacement of tribal population leading to growth of Naxalism, and deforestation causing damage to environment. Apart from oil & coal, the current power generation has problems of pollution due to inefficient thermal plants, lack of natural gas, concerns of safety in nuclear power generation.

The problem of Human resource is different from management of land, water, mineral & energy, air resource management. A country is known by its people. In fact, whether a country is over or under populated or optimally populated is determined by the way it manages the resources at hand. Population is an asset and by right planning, India can reap dividends out of its demography by providing employable opportunities to poor, women and dalits. However, Dependence of near about 60% of the population on agriculture, 90% of informal work force in industry sector are major issues. Lack of employable skills are some of the problems encountered in human resource development.

India has rich biological resources. It is home to large number of genetic resources. Due to its tropical climate and rich forests, many ecological pyramids have reached to their highest stage, forming complex ecosystems over centuries. This resulted in rich flora and fauna in western Ghats, Himalayas, central & north east Indian regions. However, problems of poaching, habitat destruction, and deforestation due to rising demand for resources are major problems for biodiversity of the country.

NamamiGangeProgramme’, is an Integrated Conservation Mission, approved as ‘Flagship Programme’ by the Union Government in June 2014 with budget outlay of Rs. 20,000 Crore to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of National River Ganga.

The main pillars of NamamiGangeProgramme are:

> Sewerage Treatment Infrastructure.

> River-Front Development.

> River-Surface Cleaning.

> Bio-Diversity.

> Afforestation.

> Public Awareness.

> Industrial Effluent Monitoring.

> Ganga Gram.

The key achievements under NamamiGangeprogramme are:

Creating Sewerage Treatment Capacity:- 63 sewerage management projects under implementation in the States of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.12 new sewerage management Projects Launched in these states. Work is under construction for creating Sewerage capacity of 1187.33 (MLD).Hybrid Annuity PPP Model based two projects has been initiated for Jagjeetpur, Haridwar and Ramanna, Varanasi.

 River surface cleaning:- Front Development:- 28 River-Front Development projects and 33 Entry level Projects for construction, modernization and renovation of 182 Ghats and 118 crematoria has been initiated.

River Surface Cleaning:- River Surface cleaning for collection of floating solid waste from the surface of the Ghats and River and its disposal are afoot and pushed into service at 11 locations.

Bio-Diversity Conservation:- Several Bio-Diversity conservation projects are namely: Biodiversity Conservation and Ganga Rejuvenation, Fish and Fishery Conservation in Ganga River, Ganges River Dolphin Conservation Education Programme has been initiated. 5 Bio-Diversity center’s at Dehradun, Narora,

Allahabad, Varanasi and Barrackpore has been developed for restoration of identified priority species.

Afforestation:- Forestry interventions for Ganga through Wildlife Institute of India; Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute and Centre for Environment Education has been initiated. Forestry interventions for Ganga has been executed as per the Detailed Project Report prepared by Forest Research Institute, Dehradun for a period of 5 years (2016-2021) at project cost of Rs. 2300 Crores. Work has been commenced in 7 districts of Uttarakahnd for medicinal plants.

Public Awareness:- A series of activities such as events, workshops, seminars and conferences and numerous IEC activities were organized to make a strong pitch for public outreach and community participation in the programme. Various awareness activities through rallies, campaigns, exhibitions, shramdaan, cleanliness drives, competitions, plantation drives and development and distribution of resource materials were organized and for wider publicity the mass mediums such as TV/Radio, print media advertisements, advertorials, featured articles and advertorials were published. Gange Theme song was released widely and played on digital media to enhance the visibility of the programme. NMCG ensured presence at Social Media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, You Tube etc.

Industrial Effluent Monitoring:- The number of Grossly Polluting Industries (GPIs) in April, 2019 are 1072. Regulation and enforcement through regular and surprise inspections of GPIs is carried out for compliance verification against stipulated environmental norms. The GPIs are also inspected on annual basis for compliance verification of the pollution norms and process modification, wherever required through third party technical institutes. First round of inspection of GPIS by the third-party technical institutes has been carried out in 2017. Second round of inspection of GPIs has been completed in 2018. Out of 961 GPIs inspected in 2018, 636 are complying, 110 are non-complying and 215 are self-closed. Action has been taken against 110 non-complying GPIs and are issued closure directions under Section 5 of the E(P) Act. Online Continuous Effluent Monitoring Stations (OCEMS) connectivity established to CPCB server in 885 out of 1072 GPIS.

Ganga Gram:- Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MoDWS) identified 1674 Gram Panchayats situated on the bank of River Ganga in 5 State (Utta rakhand, Uttar Pradesh,Bihar,Jharkhand, West Bengal). Rs. 578 Crores has been released to Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MoDWS) for construction of toilets in 1674 Gram Panchayats of 5 Ganga Basin States. Out of the targeted 15, 27,105 units, MoDWS has completed construction of 8, 53,397 toilets. Consortium of 7 IITs has been engaged in the preparation of Ganga River basin Plan and 65 villages has been adopted by 13 IITs to develop as model villages.

UNDP has been engaged as the executing agency for rural sanitation programme and to develop Jharkhand as a model State at an estimated cost of Rs. 127 Crore.

National Mission for Clean Ganga, endeavors to deploy best available knowledge and resources across the world for Ganga rejuvenation. Clean Ganga has been a perennial attraction for many international countries that have expertise in river rejuvenation. Countries such as Australia, United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, Israel etc. have shown interest in collaborating with India for Ganga rejuvenation. Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were signed with various Central Ministries viz.- Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Shipping, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Ayush, Ministry of Petroleum, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation and Ministry of Agriculture for synergizing the Government schemes.

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