Editorial 1: Resisting landslide
Recent Context:
- The deaths and destruction by landslides in Himachal Pradesh last week have led to much-needed attention on the Himalayan ecosystem.
Factors which lead to landslide in Himalayan zone
- Tectonic or neo-tectonic activities: Tectonic or neo-tectonic activities associated with numerous subsurface processes like rock deformation, exhumation and reworking of rocks and surface processes such as erosion, weathering and rain/snow precipitation make the ecosystem inherently fragile.
- Climate induced landslide: Climate-induced excessive events like freezing/thawing and heavy rain/snow precipitation lead to avalanches, landslides, debris flow, glacial lakes outburst floods, landslide lakes outburst floods and flash floods
- Anthropogenic activities: excessive developmental activities by human being put the stress over Himalayan zone.
- Unsustainable development and eco-tourism: Being a religious and tourism location, a large number of people visit Himalayan state. But the development is taken without taking care of suitability put the stress over Himalayan zone. Therefore ecologically-insensitive development has compromised Himalayan’s capacity to withstand inclement weather.
- Lack of adoption of modern technology by Himalayan states: Early Warning Systems that alert people to impending landslides are at a nascent stage in the country. In Kangra, the EWS failed to alert people of a landslide in the first week of this month
There is need to prepare vulnerability maps based on slope instability:
- Hilly regions are associated with slope instability and are prone to landslides. These are influenced by factors such as slope gradient, hill elevation, rock strength, forest cover, built-up area and unconsolidated and semi-consolidated sediments.
- Cutting down of the toes of slopes and deforestation are some other factors that make a region vulnerable to landslides.
- These parameters can be used to prepare vulnerability maps and the region can be categorised according to risk zones — most vulnerable, moderately vulnerable and least vulnerable.
Monitoring seismic activities through web-based sensor:
- The convergence of the Indian plate with the Eurasian plate in the Himalayan region has created subterranean stresses that get released in the form of earthquakes which, in turn, cause fractures and loosen the litho-structures near the mountain surface.
- This increases the possibilities of rock movement along the slope. Landslide warning systems should draw on an understanding of the rainfall threshold of a slope.
- Monitoring through web-based sensors — rain gauge, piezometer, inclinometer, extensometer, InSAR, total stations will be helpful.
- As a priority, we should monitor the most vulnerable zones with a dense population and a large built-up area
There is need for a wholistic plan against landslide
- A Council of Himalayan States must be forged to gauge the impact of surface and subsurface stresses.
- It should try to simulate the hazard scenario caused by natural processes, environmental degradation or climate-induced phenomena, and anthropogenic activities in hill stations or towns.
- The disaster management authorities of the states should come together under the centralised council.
- Though the Himalaya is heterogeneous over its long stretch, the knowledge from different sets of assessments needs to be disseminated and shared by all Himalayan states:
Conclusion:
- Therefore, to live with these adversities, there is need to build resilience against geo-hazards caused by natural processes, environmental degradation and anthropogenic activities.
- Along with, a network of relevant sensors, real-time monitoring, analysis and integration of data and the development of an integrated Early Warning System (EWS) based on AI/ML algorithms are measures that need to be adopted urgently.
Editorial 2: A dissonant note
Recent Context:
- Recently, CMIE’s Economic Outlook data, shows that while India may be the country with the most youthful population, its workforce is rapidly ageing
The highlights of data
- Data shows that the share of India’s youth – defined as those between ages 15 and 29 — has fallen from 25 per cent in 2016-17 to just 17 per cent at the end of 2022-23.
- Further, even the share of those falling in the next 15-year age bracket (30 to 44 years) has fallen from 38 per cent to 33 per cent over the same period.
- While the share of these two categories has shrunk, that of the oldest cohort 45 years and above — has grown from 37 per cent to 49 per cent.
- In other words, just in the past seven years, India’s workforce has aged so much that the share of people 45 years and older has gone from one-third to almost one-half.
- Another way to look at this result is that the Indian youth is increasingly getting driven out of the job market.
- In fact, the one cohort that seems to be doing the best, both in terms of proportion as well as absolute numbers, is the age bracket of 55 to 59 years.
What does the data reflect?
- Sharp fall in the Employment Rate:
- India has witnessed rising levels of youth unemployment in the recent past. This means a high percentage of the youth that joins the labour force, or effectively asks for work, fails to get employed.
- low labour force participation rate for women:
- India’s female labour force participation rate is one of the lowest in the world.
- This means a very small percentage of young women enter the labour force asking for work, to begin with.
- Therefore, the combined effect of a low labour force participation rate and high unemployment rate is that India’s youth has a worsening employment rate that is the ratio of employed people in an age bracket and the total population of that cohort.
Youth population along with Ageing population is concern for India’s policymakers:
- Along with framing the policies for the young population related health, education and employment generation, the policy makers are take care of ageing population that is also growing.
Conclusion:
- Policymakers need to examine why this is happening but prima facie this trend suggests a skills deficit.
- Raising the employability of India’s youth should be treated at par with the broader concern of creating more jobs in the economy.