The Standing Committee on Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (Chair: Mr. Rajiv Pratap Rudy) submitted its report on the ‘Socio-economic impact of commercial exploitation of water by industries’ on August 9, 2018. Major findings and recommendations made by the Committee include:

Exploitation of ground water by packaged drinking water industries: Of the annual available ground water, 6% (25 Billion Cubic Meter) is utilised for domestic, drinking, and industrial purposes. Of this, packaged drinking water units/ plants extract 0.1% (13.3 Million Cubic Meter) annually. The Central Ground Water Authority grants permission to these bottling plants to extract ground water subject to specific recharge obligations. The Committee noted that a large number of licenses have been given in states that already have significant number of ‘over-exploited’ ground water units (areas where ground water extraction is prohibited). 374 units in Tamil Nadu and 111 units in Uttar Pradesh, withdrawing 895 m3/day and 941 m3/day, respectively.

Over-dependence on ground water: The Committee noted that the Ministry of Water Resources has not estimated the total quantum of ground water being utilised by the packaged drinking water industries and its consequent effect on the ground water level in the country. In addition to ground water being extracted by these industries, 85% of drinking water schemes in rural areas are dependent on ground water. 27% of urban households use ground water to meet their water needs. It observed that packaged drinking water units supplement the efforts of government in providing safe drinking water to public.

However, it opined that the demand between demand and supply should primarily be bridged by the government. It reasoned that providing water for consumption is the social responsibility of the government and industries should not be allowed to exploit this sector. It recommended that packaged water industries should be set up on Public Private Partnership basis to ensure government’s role in utilisation of water in a rational manner and provision of safe water in a cost effective manner.

Ownership status of ground water: The Committee noted that ground water has emerged as a major source to meet the requirements of packaged drinking water industries because of its private ownership. It recommended that the Indian Easement Act, 1882, which provides for right to extract ground water should be amended to meet the present and future demand for water.

Licensing conditions of packaged drinking water industries: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) grants licenses to all package drinking water plants based on a set of criteria. However, FSSAI does not check the source of water that will be used by the plant. The Committee recommended that to check the over-utilisation of ground water by such industries, the sources of water should be added as an additional criterion for issuing licenses. This will ensure that new industries primarily rely on surface water sources and ground water is used only in areas where its supply is in plenty.

Levying taxes on packaged drinking water industries: The Committee noted that so far, no charges have been imposed on the usage of ground water. It opined that while water should be available for free, its commercial use should be appropriately charged. It suggested that imposing higher tax rates on ground water can be an effective deterrent against its indiscriminate use by industries. It also recommended amending the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977 to discourage wastage of water by industries.

Pricing of packaged drinking water: The Committee observed that no assessment has been undertaken with regard to the income and profits of packaged drinking water industries. It recommended that such an exercise should be undertaken by the Ministry of Water Resources along with the Ministries of Finance and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises as it will help adopt an appropriate pricing policy with regard to packaged drinking water.

National policy on commercial use of water: So far, no specific policy has been framed with regard to commercial utilisation of water. The National Water Policy, 2012 also does not state specific measures for regulating commercial use of water. The Committee suggested that a robust national policy needs to be formulated to regulate the commercial use of water. It should cover aspects such as sources and quantum of water to be used, appropriate pricing, taxation of commercial gains made by using water, and social and environmental obligations of industries.

Context: Three pioneers in artificial intelligence — a senior Google executive, Facebook’s chief AI scientist, and an academic — were announced as the winners for this year’s A M Turing Award.

About Turing award: It is often described as the “Nobel Prize for computing”. Given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the A M Turing Award carries $1 million as prize money. It is for major contributions of lasting importance to computing. First awarded in 1966, it has been awarded annually for 53 years so far to 70 recipients.

Background: The award is named after British mathematician and computer scientist Alan Mathison Turing, whose work in codebreaking is credited with having played a decisive role in World War II. He led a British team that worked out a way to decrypt intercepted messages, which had been encrypted on Enigma machines developed by the Germans. Apart from the award, the Turing machine, used in computing, is named after the pioneer who is considered the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence.

Why in News? A new study has found that expansion of protected areas in the Western Ghats has not helped the lot of Dhole, commonly known as the Asiatic wild dog, even while enabling the recovery of populations of tigers and other big carnivores.

Key facts: Dhole is an apex social carnivore in the tropical forests of South and South East Asia. Endangered –IUCN. CITES – Appendix II. Shedule II of wildlife act. The dhole is a highly social animal, living in large clans without rigid dominance hierarchies and containing multiple breeding females.

Habitat: Dhole is a habitat generalist, and can occur in a wide variety of vegetation types, including: primary, secondary and degraded forms of tropical dry and moist deciduous forests; evergreen and semi-evergreen forests; temperate deciduous forests; boreal forests; dry thorn forests; grassland–scrub–forest mosaics; temperate steppe; and alpine steppe Disease and pathogens: Dholes are susceptible to rabies, canine distemper, canine parvovirus and sarcoptic mange among others which are usually contracted from domestic village dogs that act as reservoirs.

Context: An area near the Dead Sea is home to the world’s longest salt cave, a title previously held by Iran for the Cave of the Three Nudes on Qeshm Island.

The Malham salt cave in Mount Sedom sits 170 meters below sea level at the southwestern tip of the Dead Sea. At 10 kilometers long, the Malham salt cave is now the world’s longest salt cave, besting Iran’s 6.4 km cave, and the first to reach a length in the double-digits.

The Malham Salt Cave is a river cave. Water from a surface stream flowed underground and dissolved the salt, creating caves – a process that is still going on when there is strong rain over Mount Sedom about once a year.

Need for an urban employment programme: According to the PLFS report, the unemployment problem is especially aggravated in India’s cities and towns. In urban India the majority of the population continues to work in the informal sector. Hence, India cannot ignore the crisis of urban employment.

India’s small and medium towns are particularly ignored in the State’s urban imagination. National-level urban programmes such as the Smart Cities Mission and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) only benefit a fraction of them.

Most ULBs are struggling to carry out basic functions because of a lack of financial and human capacity. Further, with untrammelled urbanisation, they are facing more challenges due to the degradation of urban ecological commons. In the context of the present employment crises, it is worthwhile considering to introduce an employment guarantee programme in urban areas.

Significance: Along with addressing the concerns of underemployment and unemployment, such a programme can bring in much-needed public investment in towns to improve the quality of urban infrastructure and services, restoring urban commons, skilling urban youth and increasing the capacity of ULBs. Such a programme would give urban residents a statutory right to work and thereby ensure the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Things to be considered: To make it truly demand-driven, we have proposed that the ULB receives funds from the Centre and the State at the beginning of each financial year so that funds are available locally. Wages would be disbursed in a decentralised manner at the local ULB. Given the State’s relative neglect of small and medium towns and to avoid migration to big cities, such a programme can cover all ULBs with a population less than 1 million.

Since it is an urban programme, it should have a wider scope than the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA); this would provide employment for a variety of works for people with a range of skills and education levels It can have a new set of “green jobs” which include the creation, restoration/rejuvenation, and maintenance of urban commons such as green spaces and parks, forested or woody areas, degraded or waste land, and water bodies.

Conclusion: An urban employment guarantee programme not only improves incomes of workers but also has multiplier effects on the economy. It will also boost local demand in small towns, improve public infrastructure and services, spur entrepreneurship, build skills of workers and create a shared sense of public goods. Hence, the time is ripe for an employment guarantee programme in urban India.

Why in News? Two of the three Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party MLAs in Goa have joined the BJP and merged the party’s legislative wing with BJP, which now has 14 legislators in the 36-member state assembly. The MGP has been an alliance partner of the BJP in Goa since 2012. Now, as two out of the three MLAs have merged the legislative wing, they are saved from inviting the anti-defection law.

What is the anti-defection law? The Tenth Schedule was inserted in the Constitution in 1985 by the 52nd Amendment Act. It lays down the process by which legislators may be disqualified on grounds of defection by the Presiding Officer of a legislature based on a petition by any other member of the House. The decision on question as to disqualification on ground of defection is referred to the Chairman or the Speaker of such House, and his decision is final. The law applies to both Parliament and state assemblies.

Disqualification: If a member of a house belonging to a political party: Voluntarily gives up the membership of his political party, or Votes, or does not vote in the legislature, contrary to the directions of his political party. However, if the member has taken prior permission, or is condoned by the party within 15 days from such voting or abstention, the member shall not be disqualified. If an independent candidate joins a political party after the election. If a nominated member joins a party six months after he becomes a member of the legislature.

Exceptions under the law: Legislators may change their party without the risk of disqualification in certain circumstances. The law allows a party to merge with or into another party provided that at least two-thirds of its legislators are in favour of the merger. In such a scenario, neither the members who decide to merge, nor the ones who stay with the original party will face disqualification.

Decision of the Presiding Officer is subject to judicial review: The law initially stated that the decision of the Presiding Officer is not subject to judicial review. This condition was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1992, thereby allowing appeals against the Presiding Officer’s decision in the High Court and Supreme Court. However, it held that there may not be any judicial intervention until the Presiding Officer gives his order.