Discuss about the Blue Economy, Encore and PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana

Blue Economy

The concept of Blue Economy was introduced by Gunter Pauli in his 2010 book– “The Blue Economy: 10 years, 100 innovations, 100 million jobs”.
It is the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs, and ocean ecosystem health.
It advocates the greening of ocean development strategies for higher productivity and conservation of ocean’s health.
It encompasses–
- Renewable Energy (RE): Sustainable marine energy can play a vital role in social and economic development.
- Fisheries: Sustainable Fisheries can generate more revenue, more fish and help restore fish stocks.
- Maritime Transport: Over 80% of international goods traded are transported by sea.
- Tourism: Ocean and coastal tourism can bring jobs and economic growth.
- Climate Change: Oceans are an important carbon sink (blue carbon) and help mitigate climate change.
- Waste Management: Better waste management on land can help oceans recover.
Blue Economy emphasizes on integration of development of ocean economy with social inclusion, environmental sustainability, combined with innovative business model.
This is reflected in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 14), which calls to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.

What is the Need for Blue Economy?

Oceans cover three-quarters of the Earth’s surface, contain 97% of the Earth’s water, and represent 99% of the living area on the planet.
- Oceans protect biodiversity, keep the planet cool, and absorb about 30% of global CO₂ emissions.
  - At least 3-5% of global GDP is derived from oceans.
Blue economy, through sustainable use of oceans, has great potential for boosting the economic growth by providing opportunities for income generation and jobs etc.
It can support food security, and diversification to address new resources for energy, new drugs valuable chemicals, protein food, deep sea minerals, security etc.
It is the next sunrise sector.
- Sunrise Sector is a sector that is expanding rapidly and is expected to be increasingly important in the future.

How Blue Economy is Important for India?

Blue economy presents India with an unprecedented opportunity to meet its national socio-economic objectives as well as strengthen connectivity with neighbours.
Blue Economy can help in focusing on livelihood generation, achieving energy security, building ecological resilience, and improving health and living standards of coastal communities.
Blue economy would reinforce and strengthen the efforts of the Indian government as it strives to achieve the SDGs of hunger and poverty eradication along with sustainable use of marine resources by 2030.
With an over 7,500-km-long coastline spread across nine coastal states, 12 major, and 200 minor ports, India’s blue economy supports 95% of the country’s business through transportation and contributes an estimated 4% to its Gross Domestic Product.
The Indian Ocean is a major conduit of trade with as much as 80% of global oil trade happening through it.
Better connectivity in the region will significantly cut the transport cost and maritime wastage of resources making the trade sustainable and cost effective.

What are the Factors that affect Blue Economy?

Threat of Sea Borne Terror: Piracy and armed robbery, maritime terrorism, illicit trade in crude oil, arms, drug and human trafficking and smuggling of contraband etc.
Natural Disasters: Every year tsunamis, cyclones, hurricanes typhoons etc leave thousands of people stranded and property worth millions destroyed.
Man-Made Problems: Oil spills, climate change continue to risk the stability of the maritime domain.
Impact of Climate Change: Changes in sea temperature, acidity, threaten marine life, habitats, and the communities that depend on them.
Marine Pollution: In form of excess nutrients from untreated sewerage, agricultural runoff, and marine debris such as plastics
Overexploitation of Marine Resources: Illegal, unreported, and unregulated extraction of marine resources.

What is the Significance of the Blue Economy?

High Return on Investment: According to research commissioned by the high-level panel for a sustainable ocean economy shows that USD1 invested in key ocean activities yields five times i.e. USD5 in return, often more.
Synergy With SDG: It supports all of the Unite Nations SDGs, especially SDG14 ‘life below water’.
Sustainable Energy: Supporting the increasing demand for RE, offshore regions have tremendous potential in the form of offshore wind, waves, ocean currents including tidal currents, and thermal energy.

Initiatives to Promote Blue Economy:

Deep Ocean Mission:

It was launched with an intention to develop technologies to harness the living and non-living resources from the deep-oceans.

Sagarmala Project:

It is a strategic initiative for port-led development through the extensive use of IT enabled services for modernization of ports.

India-Norway Task Force on Blue Economy for Sustainable Development:

It was inaugurated jointly by both the countries in 2020 to develop and follow up joint initiatives between the two countries.

O-SMART:
India has an umbrella scheme by the name of O-SMART which aims at regulated use of oceans, marine resources for sustainable development.
Integrated Coastal Zone Management:

It focuses on conservation of coastal and marine resources, and improving livelihood opportunities for coastal communities etc.

National Fisheries Policy:

India has a National Fisheries policy for promoting ‘Blue Growth Initiative’ which focuses on sustainable utilization of fisheries wealth from marine and other aquatic resources.

ENCORE

The Election Commission of India has designed in-house software, ENCORE, for complete Candidate and election management

About ENCORE software:

This ENCORE software stands for Enabling Communications on Real-Time Environment.
This provides a seamless facility for Returning Officers to process candidate nominations, affidavits, Voter turnout, counting, results, and data management.
The ENCORE counting application is an end-to-end application for returning officers to digitize the votes polled, tabulate the round-wise data and then take out various statutory reports of counting.
Another application called the ENCORE Scrutiny Application allows Returning Officers to do scrutiny of the nominations filed by the candidates online.
After verification of the nomination the status is marked as Accepted, Rejected or Withdrawn helping the Returning Officer to prepare the final list of contesting candidates and assign the symbols.

Election Commission of India

It is a permanent constitutional body responsible for organising free and fair elections in India.
The Constitution grants the ECI the power of direction, superintendence, and control of elections to Parliament, state legislatures, the office of president of India, and the office of vice-president of India.

Functions:

Determining the Electoral Constituencies’ territorial areas throughout the country.
Preparing and periodically revising electoral rolls and registering all eligible voters.
Notifying the schedules and dates of elections and scrutinising nomination papers.
Granting recognition to the various political parties and allocating them election symbols.
The Commission also has advisory jurisdiction in the matter of post-election disqualification of sitting members of Parliament and State Legislatures.

Composition:

The commission consists of a Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and two Election Commissioners (ECs).
Under Article 324 (2), the President appoints the CEC and other ECs.
The President makes the appointment on the advice of the Union Council of Ministers, headed by the Prime Minister.
The Constitution does not prescribe any qualifications, academic or otherwise, for appointment to these offices.
The tenure of office and the conditions of service of all the commissioners is determined by the President.
The tenure of commissioners is 6 years or up to the age of 65, whichever is earlier.
The CEC and the two other ECs have the same powers and emoluments, including salaries, which are the same as those of a Supreme Court judge.

Recent development:

In 2023, the Supreme Court mandated that, until the Parliament provides by law, the Election Commissioners shall be appointed on the recommendation of a Selection Committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India.
In response to this, the Government of India has introduced the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023.
It provides that the CEC and ECs will be appointed by the President upon the recommendation of a Selection Committee. The Selection Committee will consist of the Prime Minister, a Union Cabinet Minister, and Leader of Opposition/leader of the largest opposition party in Lok Sabha. The Bill is still pending in the Rajya Sabha.

NOTE: Enhancing Coastal and Ocean Resource Efficiency (ENCORE) is part of the World Bank approved a $400 million multi-year financing envelope to help India to- enhance its coastal resources, protect coastal populations from pollution, erosion, and sea level rise, and improve livelihood opportunities for coastal communities

PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana

About the Scheme:

The PMGKAY was first introduced in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was designed to provide 5kg free foodgrains to eligible ration card holders under the National Food Security Act, 2013.
Initially set to expire in December 2022, the scheme was extended till December 2023 and now, it has been extended for an additional five years.
Since its inception, the government has allocated 1,118 lakh metric tonnes of foodgrains from its central procurement pool at a cost of Rs 3.9 lakh crore.

Latest developments:

Recently, the Indian Prime Minister has announced an extension of the Scheme for an additional five years.
Merger of PMGKAY and NFSA: In January 2023, the PMGKAY was integrated with the NFSA,resulting in the provision of all rations for AAY and PHH families at no cost.

This merger eliminated the extra provisions that were introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic by incorporating the free component of the PMGKAY into the NFSA

Issues:

Expensive: It’s very expensive for the government to sustain and increases the need for an abundant supply of cheap grains. In 2022, India has had to restrict exports of wheat and rice after erratic weather hurt harvest, adding to pressure on food prices, and rattling global agricultural markets.
Increase Fiscal Deficit: It could pose a risk to the government’s target to further narrow the fiscal deficit to 6.4% of gross domestic product.
Inflation: The decision on the program could also affect inflation. The prices of rice and wheat, which make up about 10% of India’s retail inflation, are seeing an uptick due to lower production amid a heatwave and patchy monsoon

Targeted population under the Scheme:

Poorest citizens of India by providing grain through PDS to all the ration card holders and those identified as beneficiaries of Antyodaya Anna Yojana.
PMGKAY provides 5 kg rice or wheat (According to the dietary pattern) per person/month and I kg of dal to each family holding ration card.

Entitlements of food-grains to be provided under NFSA:

Food grains to be provided at a highly subsidized rate
Rice at Rs. 3 per kg, Wheat at Rs. 2 per kg and coarse cereals at Rs. 1 per kg

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