Editorial 1 : A green fiscal blueprint
Introduction: In recent years, India has been a leading participant in global efforts to improve forest cover and arrest climate change. Forest resources and their conservation directly impact the revenue capacities and expenditure needs of the states. And to balance these financial resources the Finance Commission comes into the picture.
What is the Finance Commission?
- It is a constitutional body constituted every 5 years by the President of India under Article 280 of the Indian Constitution to define the Centre-states financial relations.
- The First Commission was established in 1951 under The Finance Commission (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1951.
- Individual commissions operate under the terms of reference (ToR) which are different for every commission, and they define the terms of qualification, appointment and disqualification, the term, eligibility and powers of the Finance Commission.
- As per the constitution, the Commission consists of a chairman and four other members.
- Each FC is required to make recommendations on:
- Sharing of central taxes with states,
- Distribution of central grants to states,
- Measures to improve the finances of states to supplement the resources of panchayats and municipalities, and
- Any other matter referred to it.
Finance Commission and green finance
- The Finance Commission (FC), responsible for fiscal federalism in the country, has in the past provided incentives to states to maintain and improve their forest cover.
- The 12th FC (2005-10) dedicated Rs 1,000 crore for forest conservation across states; the 13th FC (2010-15) enhanced this allocation to Rs 5,000 crore.
- The 14th FC (2015 to 2020) dedicated 7.5 per cent of the divisible central tax pool for ecology and forests.
- The allocation was based on the forest cover in each state.
- The 15th FC (2021–22 to 2025–26) extended this share to 10 per cent.
- Having mobilised and distributed over Rs 4.5 lakh crore to states against not only their forest cover but also forest density, the 15th FC effectively became the largest payment for ecosystem services (PES) systems in the world.
- The Commission also gave grants to combat air pollution.
The expectations from the 16th Finance Commission
- In November last year, the government appointed the 16th FC to discuss tax distribution principles for 2026-31.
- This comes at a critical time. India’s Paris Agreement commitment necessitates the reduction of GHG emissions by 33-35 per cent and building an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 by 2030.
- A National Carbon Market and a National Green Credit Market are also on the government’s anvil.
- The 16th FC can be pivotal in creating a basis for these market instruments to succeed.
How 16th Finance Commission can contribute to green finance?
Incentive-based finance for emission cut
- By making climate vulnerability and emission intensity of states a key parameter of the tax devolution formula, the Commission can nudge action towards achieving India’s NDCs under the Paris Pact.
- Much will depend will how the panel can evolve a formula to ensure incentive-based performance.
Performance-based grants to decarbonize
- The FC could look at the possibility of performance-based grants for different sectors: Sector-specific grants for key actions are critical towards achieving the objectives of India’s NDCs and SDG goals.
- Emissions reduction requires the decarbonisation of the energy and transport sectors, sustainable land and forest management, as well as nudging people to make lifestyle changes.
- Given the severity of the pollution challenge, clean energy should be amongst the FC’s priorities.
- Innovations to tackle the seemingly intractable problem of crop burning will require funds.
- So will mangrove restoration, a key necessity given the weather vagary-induced floods in recent times.
- At the same time, increasing dry spells have led to forest fires in several states.
- Such incidences are not part of the forest’s regenerative cycle but a result of changing climate patterns.
- The FC has to find ways to become a part of the solution to this ecological challenge.
Conclusion: The Commission needs to metamorphose from a conventional fiscal arbitrator to an orchestrator of India’s climate readiness. The country requires a fiscal blueprint that harmonizes economic growth with environmental imperatives. The 16th FC is the best-placed institutional mechanism to fulfil this critical need.
Editorial 2 : Healthy new year
Introduction: The Centre will roll out vaccines for cervical cancer in the second quarter of this year. This is a significant and enormously welcome public health move. India accounts for a fifth of the world’s cervical vaccine burden. It is the second-most common cancer among Indian women, after breast cancer.
More about the vaccination drive
- The campaign will begin once the government has a stock of 6.5-7 crore doses of the vaccine needed for the first phase of the inoculation drive.
What is Cervac?
- Cervac was developed by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India in coordination with the Department of Biotechnology (DBT).
- The project to develop the vaccine was implemented by the then secretary of the DBT, Dr. M K Bhan in 2011.
- Since then, 30 meetings of scientific advisory groups and site visits conducted by DBT have helped review the scientific merit of the entire journey to develop the vaccine.
- Cervavac received market authorisation approval from the Drug Controller General of India on July 12, 2022.
- The Pune-based company currently has an annual capacity of manufacturing 20-30 lakh doses. However, at Rs 2,000 a shot, the vaccine is expensive for a large section of the country’s population.
What is Cervical Cancer?
- Cervical cancer starts in the cells of the cervix. The cervix is the lower, narrow end of the uterus (womb).
- Various strains of the Human papillomavirus (HPV) play a role in causing most cervical cancer that is transmitted through sexual contact.
- When exposed to HPV, the body's immune system typically prevents the virus from harming.
- In a small percentage of people, the virus survives for years, contributing to the process that causes some cervical cells to become cancer cells.
- The overwhelming lack of awareness about the disease means that a mass inoculation drive is imperative to tackle the human papillomavirus (HPV) that’s responsible for close to 85 per cent of cervical cancer cases.
Why a Vaccination Drive for cervix cancer was missing up till now?
- HPV is a common microbe. A combination of vaccination and screening facilities has stemmed its virulence in most developed countries.
- The global strategy encourages a minimum of two screenings of women by the time they are 35 and again by age 45.
- By all accounts, that doesn’t happen in India.
- In 2018, the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation recommended the inclusion of HPV vaccines in the country’s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP).
- But the high costs of vaccines, then manufactured by the pharma multinationals Merck and Glaxo Smithkline, proved a deterrent — the regimen costs upwards of Rs 4,000.
Strength of India’s vaccination programmes
- The UIP — it targets more than 2.5 crore newborns and nearly 3 crore pregnant women every year — has demonstrated the capacity to surmount difficulties that have kept young women from accessing the vaccines.
- It has especially been effective in overcoming the hurdles posed by the country’s traditional public health care deficiencies.
- India’s success in inoculating people against Covid is also well-known.
- The work during the public health emergency to bust myths around the shots could especially prove handy for vaccinators.
Conclusion: The decision to inoculate against cervical cancer is welcome, and could help root out a major disease that afflicts Indian women.