Topic 1 : Experiments with water
Introduction: Bengaluru, Chennai, and many other Indian cities are experiencing their worst water crisis in decades. The weak monsoon last year has compounded an already difficult situation caused by unregulated urban growth and depleting groundwater resources.
The status of safe drinking water in urban region
- A large section of India's urban population does not receive safe drinking water.
- Last month, the Pey Jal Survekshan revealed that only 10 percent of Indian cities meet drinking water standards
- The quality of water is known to deteriorate in the distribution network because of multiple factors-compounds from old pipes releasing into the water, sediment buildup, and the accumulation of pathogens.
- This is a concern in several places, including developed countries.
- The problem gets compounded in Indian cities because of leaky pipes, many of which are close to sewer lines.
Water deficit and growing packed drinking water industries
- In the last two decades, this deficit has been exploited by companies manufacturing water purifiers and those selling packaged drinking water (PDW).
- Household dependence on drinking water sold in 20-litre jars has increased across the country.
- According to a recent study, 38 percent of households in Kolkata and 70 percent of households in Chennai routinely purchase water jars despite having access to piped water.
- The PDW model that relies on decentralised treatment of water and non-pipe mode of delivery has evolved in the last decade-and-a-half - it involves a range of players including multinational companies and local operators who provide doorstep service.
- With an independent water source, mainly groundwater, and an established chain of manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, the model scores on the reliability criteria.
How piped drinking water delivery to urban households is faulty?
- According to the standards of the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation - the technical wing of the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs that sets norms for water supply and sanitation - Indian cities have a daily per capita water requirement of 135 liters per capita.
- Under the current piped water supply approach, all of this water is treated to meet drinking water quality standards.
- However, a person requires only a fraction of this amount for drinking and cooking purposes.
- The practice of treating enormous quantities of water to drinking water quality standards and distributing it through a network that cannot guarantee safe delivery needs examination.
- Considering the capital-intensive nature of the distribution network and constraints on repair and maintenance, we need to segregate water for drinking purposes and other domestic uses.
- The model of decentralized treatment and non-pipe mode of drinking water delivery, followed by the PDW industry is promising.
- Bengaluru's recent crisis has pushed the city's authorities to experiment with water ATMs.
- Such initiatives are at an early stage in some other cities including Delhi.
Drawbacks of Decentralised Water Delivery System and Way Forward
- Not everyone can afford water sold by private players.
- The WHO's concerns about the reverse osmosis method used by the industry to purify water -it robs the water of essential minerals-are also valid.
- Acknowledging the feasibility of decentralized water treatment and supply does not rule out conversations on appropriate technologies.
- More experiments to evolve affordable and context-specific institutional arrangements, including those related to technology, need to be undertaken.
- Piped water supply too evolved over centuries because of a series of technological and institutional improvements.
Conclusion: It is time to look for an alternative model of water supply to overcome the water quality issues. Decentralized treatment and non-pipe mode of service delivery are worth experimenting with.
Topic 2 : Jobs, still
Introduction: Recent data points towards the Indian economy maintaining a healthy growth momentum. In February, the National Statistical Office raised its forecast for GDP growth in 2023-24 to 7.6 per cent, up from its earlier assessment of 7.3 percent. The Reserve Bank of India projected the economy to grow at 7 per cent in 2024-25.
The employment data is still lagging behind the growth momentum
- Despite these growth assessments, concerns persist over the state of the labour market, and the capacity of the economy to generate more productive forms of employment.
- Data from the periodic labour force surveys has shown that there has been a steady increase in the labour force participation rate in the country.
- For those aged 15 years and above, the participation rate has increased from 49.8 per cent in 2017-18 to 57.9 per cent in 2022-23.
- Much of this increase has been due to more women entering the labour force- the female labour force participation rate has risen from 23.3 per cent to 37 per cent over this period.
The recent, India Employment Report 2024 findings
- The India Employment Report 2024 prepared by the International Labour Organisation and the Institute of Human Development points out, post 2019, roughly two-thirds of the increase in employment comprised of self-employed workers, "among whom unpaid (women) family workers predominate".
- The report also notes that in recent years employment in agriculture has gone up, while the share of employment in manufacturing has remained almost stagnant.
- These are worrying signs that call for a closer examination.
The unemployment rate is falling, but still hovers around very high numbers
- The issue of job creation has been central to India's development project.
- The challenge is to generate more productive job opportunities - employment has so far largely been in the form of self-employment and casual wage labour - for the millions entering the labour force each year.
- The report has pegged the number of new entrants to the labour market at seven to eight million each year.
- However, currently, even as youth unemployment has fallen from 17.5 per cent in 2019, it remains high at 12.1 per cent in 2022.
- Unemployment is higher among the young people in urban areas and among the more educated.
- Reaping the demographic dividend would require providing more productive forms of employment for these groups.
- This is going to be a challenge, more so because the production process has become "capital intensive and labour-saving".
- As the report points out, "the skill intensity of employment in industry and services increased during this period, which was contrary to the labour market needs of the country".
A way forward
- Over the decades, governments of varying ideological inclinations have announced measures to boost employment generation.
- And yet, progress so far has been less than adequate.
- The policy response has to be at multiple levels, from ensuring quality education and skills to facilitating large-scale labour-intensive manufacturing to absorb the millions of low and semi-skilled workers.
Conclusion: The new report frames the enormity of the employment challenge that will confront the next government.