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[DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS, 16, MARCH 2023]

IPCC

 

1. Context

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is meeting in Switzerland this week to finalize the last report of its sixth assessment cycle, which is expected to set up the tempo for a string of climate change-focused discussions over the next fortnight. 

2. Synthesis Report

  • The IPCC, an UN-backed scientific body whose periodic assessments of climate science form the basis of global climate action, is set to finalize what is known as the Synthesis Report, incorporating the findings of the five reports that it has released in the sixth assessment cycle since 2018.
  • The Synthesis Report is supposed to be a relatively non-technical summary of the previous reports, aimed largely at policymakers around the world.
  • It is meant to address a wide range of policy-relevant scientific questions related to climate change, but, like all IPCC reports, in a non-prescriptive manner. 
  • This will bring an end to the Sixth Assessment Report, a collective work of thousands of scientists over a period of eight years, starting in February 2015.

3. Significance of the report

  • The Synthesis Report is unlikely to reveal anything new. Climate science is fairly well established, and its impacts are already visible.
  • As part of the sixth assessment cycle, the IPCC published three comprehensive reports- one on scientific evidence for climate change, the other on impacts and vulnerabilities, and the third exploring mitigation options available.
  • Besides these, special reports on the feasibility of keeping global temperature rise within the 1.5-degree celsius limit, and the connections between land, ocean, and cryosphere, were also released.
  • Together, these form the most comprehensive understanding of the earth's climate system, the changes it is undergoing, the repercussions of these changes, and the actions that should be taken to avoid the worst impacts.

4. The upcoming meetings

  • The release of the synthesis report on March 20 would be immediately followed by a ministerial-level meeting in Copenhagen.
  • This will discuss ways to implement the decisions taken at last year's climate meeting in Sharm el-sheikh, especially the one related to the creation of a new fund to help countries hit by climate-related disasters.
  • This meeting is aimed at building the atmosphere for more ambitious agreements at this year's climate conference, scheduled in Dubai towards the end of the year.
  • Later next week, the UN 2023 Water Conference will take place, with climate change as one of the most important agendas.
  • Two G-20 meetings around the climate change theme are also scheduled towards the end of this month, one in Udaipur, Rajasthan, and the other in Gandhinagar, Gujrat.

5. About IPCC

  • The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change.
  • IPCC was created in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the objective of the IPCC is to provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies.
  • IPCC reports are also a key input into international climate change negotiations. The IPCC is an organisation of governments that are members of the United Nations or WMO.
  • The IPCC has currently 195 members. Thousands of people from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC.
  • For the assessment reports, experts volunteer their time as IPCC authors to assess the thousands of scientific papers published each year to provide a comprehensive summary of what is known about the drivers of climate change, its impacts, and future risks, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks.
  • An open and transparent review by experts and governments around the world is an essential part of the IPCC process, to ensure an objective and complete assessment and to reflect a diverse range of views and expertise.
  • Through its assessments, the IPCC identifies the strength of scientific agreement in different areas and indicates where further research is needed. The IPCC does not conduct its own research.

6. Working Groups and Task Force of IPCC

  • The IPCC is divided into three working Groups and a task force.
  • Working group I deals with the physical science basis of climate change, working group II with Climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability, and Working group III with the Mitigation of Climate Change.
  • The main objective of the Taskforce on National greenhouse gas inventories is to develop and refine a methodology for the calculation and reporting of national greenhouse gas emissions and removals.
  • Alongside the working Groups and the Taskforce, other Task Groups may be established by the panel for a set time period to consider a specific topic or question.
  • One example is the decision at the 47th Session of the IPCC in Paris in March 2018 to establish a Task Group to improve gender balance and address gender-related issues within the IPCC.
  • That Task Group completed its work and their work was fundamental to the Panel Adoption and Gender Policy and Implementation Plan.

7. Structure of IPCC

Image Source: IPCC

8. The Reports by IPCC

Since the creation of the IPCC, each Assessment Report has fed directly into international climate policymaking.
  • In 1990, the First IPCC Assessment Report (FAR) underlined the importance of climate change as a challenge with global consequences and requiring international cooperation. It played a decisive role in the creation of the UNFCCC, the key international treaty to reduce global warming and cope with the consequences of climate change.
  • The Second Assessment Report (SAR) 1995 provided important material for governments to draw from in the run-up to the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997.
  • The Third Assessment Report (TAR) 2001 focused attention on the impacts of climate change and the need for adaptation.
  • The Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) 2007 laid the groundwork for a post-Kyoto agreement, focusing on limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius.
  • The Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) was finalized between 2013 and 2014. It provided scientific input into the Paris Agreement. 
  • The IPCC is currently in its sixth Assessment cycle where it will prepare three special reports, a Methodology Report, and the Sixth Assessment Report.
  • The First of these Special Reports, Global Warming of 1.5°C (SR15), was requested by world governments under the Paris Agreement.
  • In May 2019, the IPCC finalised the 2019 Refinement an update to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.
  • The Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL) will be finalized in August 2019 and the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) will be finalized in September 2019.
  • The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) is expected to be finalized in 2022 in time for the first global stocktake the following year.

9. Nobel Prize for IPCC

In 2007, the IPCC and U.S. Vice-President Al Gore were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measure that are needed to counteract such things. The Prize was awarded at the end of the year which saw the IPCC bring out its Fourth Assessment Report (AR4).

Previous year Question

1. With reference to the 'Global Climate Change Alliance', which of the following statements is/are correct? (UPSC 2017)
1. It is an initiative of the European Union.
2. It provides technical and financial support to targeted developing countries to integrate climate change into their development policies and budgets.
3. It is coordinated by World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
A. 1 and 2 only            B. 3 only           C. 2 and 3 only              D. 1, 2 and 3
Answer: A
 
2. The IPCC is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. IPCC stands for: (RRB NTPC CBT 2 2022)
A. Intergovernmental Provision on Climate Change
B. International Panel on Climate Change
C. International Provision on Climate Change
D. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Answer: D

For Prelims & Mains

For Prelims: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Synthesis Report, United Nations (UN), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), G-20 meeting, UN 2023 Water Conference, First IPCC Assessment Report (FAR), Second Assessment Report (SAR) 1995, Third Assessment Report (TAR) 2001, Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) 2007,  Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL), Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement.
For Mains: 1. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. Discuss?
Source: The Indian Express and IPCC

GPT-4 VS Chat GPT

 
 
1.Context
AI powerhouse OpenAI announced GPT-4, the next big update to the technology that powers ChatGPT and Microsoft Bing, the search engine using the tech, on Tuesday. GPT-4 is supposedly bigger, faster, and more accurate than ChatGPT, so much so, that it even clears several top examinations with flying colours, like the Uniform Bar Exam for those wanting to practice as lawyers in the US
2.What is GPT-4
  • GPT-4 is a large multimodal model created by OpenAI and announced on March 14, 2023
  • Multimodal models can encompass more than just text – GPT-4 also accepts images as input. Meanwhile, GPT-3 and GPT-3.5 only operated in one modality, text, meaning users could only ask questions by typing them out
  • Aside from the fresh ability to process images, OpenAI says that GPT-4 also “exhibits human-level performance on various professional and academic benchmarks.”
  • The language model can pass a simulated bar exam with a score around the top 10 per cent of test takers and can solve difficult problems with greater accuracy thanks to its broader general knowledge and problem-solving abilities
  • GPT-4 is also capable of handling over 25,000 words of text, opening up a greater number of use cases that now also include long-form content creation, document search and analysis, and extended conversations
3.How is GPT-4 is different from GPT-3
The major differences would be the following
3.1. GPT-4 can see images:
  • The most noticeable change to GPT-4 is that it’s multimodal, allowing it to understand more than one modality of information
  •  GPT-3 and ChatGPT’s GPT-3.5 were limited to textual input and output, meaning they could only read and write
  • However, GPT-4 can be fed images and asked to output information accordingly
  • It can be looked at it as Google Lens , But Lens only searches for information related to an image
  • GPT-4 is a lot more advanced in that it understands an image and analyses it
  • An example provided by OpenAI showed the language model explaining the joke in an image of an absurdly large iPhone connector
  • The only catch is that image inputs are still a research preview and are not publicly available
3.2.GPT is harder to trick
  • One of the biggest drawbacks of generative models like ChatGPT and Bing is their propensity to occasionally go off the rails, generating prompts that raise eyebrows, or worse, downright alarm people
  • They can also get facts mixed up and produce misinformation
  • OpenAI mentioned that " they have spent 6 months training GPT-4 using lessons from its "adversarial testing program" as well as ChatGPT resulting in the company's "best ever results on factuality, steerability, and refusing to go outside of gaurdrails"
3.3.GPT-4 can process a lot at one time 
  • Large Language Models (LLMs) may have been trained on billions of parameters, which means countless amounts of data, but there are limits to how much information they can process in a conversation
  • ChatGPT’s GPT-3.5 model could handle 4,096 tokens or around 8,000 words but GPT-4 pumps those numbers up to 32,768 tokens or around 64,000 words
  • This increase means that where ChatGPT could process 8,000 words at a time before it started to lose track of things, GPT-4 can maintain its integrity over way lengthier conversations
  • It can also process lengthy documents and generate long-form content – something that was a lot more limited on GPT-3.5
3.4.GPT-4 Accuracy has been improved
  • OpenAI admits that GPT-4 has similar limitations as previous versions – it’s still not fully reliable and makes reasoning errors
  • However, “GPT-4 significantly reduces hallucinations relative to previous models” and scores 40 per cent higher than GPT-3.5 on factuality evaluations
  • It will be a lot harder to trick GPT-4 into producing undesirable outputs such as hate speech and misinformation
3.5.GPT-4 is better at understanding languages other than 'English'
  • Machine learning data is mostly in English, as is most of the information on the internet today, so training LLMs in other languages can be challenging
  • But GPT-4 is more multilingual and OpenAI has demonstrated that it outperforms GPT-3.5 and other LLMs by accurately answering thousands of multiple-choice across 26 languages
  • It obviously handles English best with an 85.5 per cent accuracy, but Indian languages like Telugu aren’t too far behind either, at 71.4 per cent
  • What this means is that users will be able to use chatbots based on GPT-4 to produce outputs with greater clarity and higher accuracy in their native languages
4.Way Forward
GPT-4 has already been integrated into products like Duolingo, Stripe, and Khan Academy for varying purposes
While it’s yet to be made available for all for free, a $20 per month ChatGPT Plus subscription can fetch you immediate access. The free tier of ChatGPT, meanwhile, continues to be based on GPT-3.5
However, if you don’t wish to pay, then there’s an ‘unofficial’ way to begin using GPT-4 immediately. Microsoft has confirmed that the new Bing search experience now runs on GPT-4 and you can access it from bing.com/chat right now
Meanwhile, developers will gain access to GPT-4 through its API
 A waitlist has been announced for API access, and it will begin accepting users later this month
 
 
Source:indianexpress

DELHI AIR POLLUTION

1. Context

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhi-based organisation that focuses on environment-related research and advocacy, analysed data to indicate that much of the air pollution over the week (October 21 to 26, 2022) from within the City was caused by vehicular emissions.

2. Report findings

  • CSE's analysis of data from October 21 to 26 found that the local sources of pollution and vehicular emissions may have contributed around 51 per cent to the PM 2.5 levels in Delhi. Local Sources refer to the sources within the city.
  • Among these local sources, the next largest contribution was 13 per cent from residential sources and 11 per cent from industries.
  • Construction activities contributed around 7 per cent to PM 2.5, followed by 5 per cent each from the burning of waste and the energy sector. Road dust contributed around 4 per cent to PM2.5 levels.
  • The analysis also found that Delhi's local sources caused around 32.9 per cent of the pollution in the city.
  • The remaining share came from NCR districts (32.8 per cent), other districts (25.8 per cent) and biomass burning in the neighbouring states (9.5 per cent).
  • The analysis also used data from Google Maps to look at hourly traffic speed on 15 arterial roads in the city over the week.
  • A high level of congestion was noted on all of these roads with average speeds ranging from 27 kmph to 32 kmph, speed being used as an indicator for congestion. The traffic build-up was found to be highest on October 21 and 22.
With vehicles contributing to the nitrogen dioxide levels in the city, the hourly nitrogen dioxide level was also found to peak around the time that congestion was maximum on the roads.
The analysis noted: "Hourly NO2 levels during evenings could be high ranging between 73 µg/m³ to 86 µg/m³. This is the time when congestion is also high".
 
 
3. The usage of Data analysis
  • The analysis used data from the Decision Support System (DSS) developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM).
  • The DSS provides hourly information on the sources of PM 2.5 in Delhi the contribution of different sectors to emissions and the contribution of emissions from Delhi and 19 districts in the neighbourhood.
  • The Model developed by IITM uses an emissions inventory prepared by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in 2018, data from the Central Pollution Control Board monitoring stations and data from NASA satellites to generate forecasts on emission sources for five days.
Image source: WHO
 
4. The Way Forward
  • It asks for a "verifiable and measurable shift" to public transport by improving access, bus services, and integrating metro stations with other modes of transport, besides providing an extensive network of walking and cycling infrastructure to connect neighbourhoods.
  • Delhi needs congestion, pollution pricing, and other restraint measures to control traffic volume.
  • Targets set for the electrification of the new vehicle fleet should be accelerated and met.
For Prelims & Mains

For Prelims: Delhi air Pollution, climate change, Centre for Science and Environment, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, The Energy and Resources Institute, NASA, Central Pollution Control Board, 
For Mains: 
1. Discuss the major reasons for the Air pollution in Delhi and Suggest remedial measures. (250 Words)
 
Previous year questions
 
For Prelims:

1. In the cities of our country, which among the following atmospheric gases are normally considered in calculating the value of Air Quality Index? ( UPSC 2016)

  1. Carbon dioxide
  2. Carbon monoxide
  3. Nitrogen dioxide
  4. Sulfur dioxide
  5. Methane

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1, 2 and 3 only
(b) 2, 3 and 4 only
(c) 1, 4 and 5 only
(d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

 Answer: (b)

2. Acid rain is caused by the pollution of the environment (UPSC 2013)

(a) Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen

(b) Carbon Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide

(c) Ozone and Carbon Dioxide

(d) Nitrous Oxide and Sulphur Dioxide

 Answer: (d)

3. Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) is a standard criterion for (UPSC 2017)

(a) Measuring oxygen level in blood

(b) Computing oxygen levels in forest ecosystems

(c) Pollution assay in aquatic ecosystem

(d) Assessing oxygen levels in high-altitude regions

Answer: (c)

For Mains:
 
1. Describe the key points of the revised Global Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs) recently released by the World Health Organisation (WHO). How are these different from its last update in 2005? What changes in India’s National Clean Air Programme are required to achieve revised standards? ( UPSC 2021)
 
Source: The Indian Express

McMAHON LINE

 
 
1.Context
Two United States Senators, a Republican and a Democrat, have introduced a bipartisan resolution in the upper chamber of Congress reiterating that the US recognises the McMahon Line as the international boundary between China and India in Arunachal Pradesh
The resolution reaffirms India’s well-known and established position that Arunachal Pradesh, which China calls ‘South Tibet’, is an integral part of India.
2.Key takeaways
At a time when China continues to pose grave and gathering threats to the Free and Open Indo-Pacific, it is critical for the United States to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our strategic partners in the region, especially India
This bipartisan resolution expresses the Senate’s support for unequivocally recognising the state of Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of India, condemning China’s military aggression to change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control, and further enhancing the US-India strategic partnership and the Quad in support of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific
3.What is McMahon Line
The McMahon Line serves as the de facto boundary between China and India in the Eastern Sector
 It specifically represents the boundary between Arunachal Pradesh and Tibet, from Bhutan in the west to Myanmar in the east
China has historically disputed the boundary and claims the state of Arunachal Pradesh as part of the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR)
The McMahon Line was drawn during the Simla Convention of 1914, officially described as the Convention Between Great Britain, China, and Tibet
China was represented at the convention by the government of the Republic of China, which was in power in the mainland from 1912 to 1949, when its leaders were driven to the island of Taiwan during the civil war that established the communists in Beijing and led to the proclamation of the People’s Republic
The McMahon Line delimited the respective spheres of influence of Tibet and British India in the eastern Himalayan region in what is today India’s Northeast and northern Myanmar
The border in this region was undefined prior to the signing of the convention
Source: Wikimedia commons
4.History of the region
From there, the British expanded their influence outwards in the predominantly tribal lands across the Northeast
For long, these tribal lands acted as a buffer between British India and Tibet.
By the time the 20th century dawned, Chinese influence over Tibet had significantly waned and the British were wary about Tibet falling into the Russian sphere of influence
 In an effort to preclude Russian influence, the British led an expedition into Tibet and signed the Convention of Lhasa in 1904
At the same time, alarmed at Britain’s growing influence in the region, China, at the fag end of Qing rule, also invaded, taking control of the southeastern Kham region
Notably, the Chinese campaign encroached upon the tribal regions north of the Assam Valley, pushing British officials to advocate extending British jurisdiction into the tribal territory
5.Simla Convention (1913 - 1914)
The convention attempted to settle the question of Tibet’s sovereignty and avoid further territorial disputes in the region
The Tibetan government in Lhasa was represented by its plenipotentiary Paljor Dorje Shatra, and Britain by Sir Arthur Henry McMahon, foreign secretary of British India at Delhi,The Chinese plenipotentiary was Ivan Chen
The treaty divided the Buddhist region into “Outer Tibet” and “Inner Tibet” – the former would “remain in the hands of the Tibetan Government at Lhasa under Chinese suzerainty”, though China was not allowed to interfere in its affairs
The latter would be under the direct jurisdiction of the newly formed Republic of China
In its annexes, it also determined the border between China proper and Tibet as well as Tibet and British India
 
Source: Wikimedia Commons
 
The latter of these newly decided boundaries would later be called the McMahon Line after McMahon, the chief British negotiator
While a draft convention was agreed upon by all three countries on April 27, 1914, China immediately repudiated it.
The final convention was only signed by McMahon on behalf of the British government and Shatra on behalf of Lhasa
Ivan Chen did not consent to the convention, arguing that Tibet had no independent authority to enter into international agreements
6. Border between British India and China
The 890-km border from the corner of Bhutan to the Isu Razi Pass on the Burma border was drawn largely along the crest of the Himalayas, following the “highest watershed principle”
This principle, considered to be the most logical way of drawing borders in mountainous regions by the British, basically drew the border along the highest ridge between two river plains
However, exceptions were made. Notably, Tawang, which would have been a part of Tibet had this principle been uniformly implemented, was included in British India due to its proximity to the Assam Valley.
As the War of 1962 would show, capturing Tawang would give an invading Chinese army easy access to the valley in the south, affirming McMahon’s decision to include Tawang under British jurisdiction
This inclusion was contested by Tibet for years, even though the border remained porous, and Lhasa still held some sway in the region
7. Status of the McMahon Line
While there were disputes regarding the McMahon line from the very beginning, after the communists took power in 1949, they pulled China out of all international agreements and the so-called “unequal treaties” that had been imposed on it during its “century of humiliation”, and demanded a renegotiation of all its borders
During the 1962 Sino-Indian War, China was able to quickly overpower India and make deep inroads into Indian territory across the McMahon Line
 
Previous year Questions:
1.The McMahon Line demarcates the boundary between India and which of the following country (SSC JE EE 2021)
A. Pakistan         B. Bhutan         C. China              D.Myanmar
Answer (C)
2.Which is the eastern most state of India (RRB JE 2019)
A. Assam          B. Arunachal Pradesh         C.Manipur            D.Mizoram
Answer (B)
 
 
 
 
 
 
For Prelims: Simla Convention, McMahon Line, Sino- Indian War, Eastern states of India, Eastern states boundaries with Other countries
 
For Mains:
1. There has been a prominent shift in India's Tibet Policy. Discuss (250 Words)
 
Source:indianexpress

MPLAD SCHEME

 

1. Context

Earlier this month in 2023, the government suspended the Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) Scheme so that these funds would be available for its COVID-19 management efforts. Following the Centre’s announcement, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath suspended the state’s MLALAD scheme for a year, a move that will allow the state to spend Rs 1,500 crore on COVID-related efforts.

2. What is the MPLAD Scheme?

  • The MPLADS (Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme is a constituency development scheme formulated by the Indian Government on 23 December 1993.
  • It enables the members of Parliament (MPs) to recommend developmental work in their constituencies with importance accorded to creating durable community assets, based on needs locally felt by the community. The spending limit is ₹ 5 crores per year.
  • States have their version of this scheme with varying amounts per MLA.
  • Delhi has the highest allocation under MLALAD; each MLA can recommend works for up to Rs 10 crore each year.
  • In Punjab and Kerela, the amount is Rs 5 crore per MLA per year: in Assam, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Karnataka, it is Rs. 2 crores; in Uttar Pradesh, it was recently increased from Rs 2 Crore to Rs 3 Crore.

3. Implementation of the MPLADS Scheme

  • MPLADS was announced in December 1993, by the late Prime Minister Shri. P.V Narasimha Rao.
  • Although its announcement received criticism initially, MPLADS has continued to date, with successive governments supporting the scheme by allocating budgetary funds.
  •  Funds Allocation for each MP was ₹ 5 lakhs in 1993-94; it increased to ₹ 2 crores in 1998-99. This was further revised to ₹ 5 Crores in 2011-12.
  • MPLADS is administered by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). MoSPI publishes an annual report on the MPLADS program operations, which provides information on the extent of work or the number of work completed for each Lok Sabha member (MP). The report helps assess how the MP has utilized their MPLADS funds, and the cumulative work undertaken under the scheme.
  •  At the height of the Covid pandemic, the central government suspended MPLADS to help mobilize money for priority sectors like vaccine development and health infrastructure.

4. How does the scheme work?

  • MPs and MLAs do not receive any money under these schemes.
  • The government transfers it directly to the respective local authorities. The legislators can only recommend works in their constituencies based on a set of guidelines.
  • For the MPLAD Scheme, the guidelines focus on the creation of durable community assets like roads, school buildings, etc.
  • Recommendations for non-durable assets can be made only under limited circumstances. For example, last month, the government allowed the use of MPLAD funds for the purchase of personal protection equipment, coronavirus testing kits, etc.
  • The guidelines for use of MLALAD funds differ across states. For example, Delhi MLAs can recommend the operation of fogging machines (to contain dengue mosquitoes), installation of CCTV cameras, etc.
  • After the legislators give the list of developmental works, they are executed by the district authorities as per the government's financial, technical, and administrative rules.

5. How long are the schemes supposed to continue?

  • The central scheme has continued uninterrupted for 27 years.
  • It is budgeted through the government’s finances and continues as long as the government is agreeable.
  • In 2018, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the scheme until the term of the 14th Finance Commission, which is March 31, 2020.
  • In the recent past, there has been one example of the discontinuation of a Local Area Development scheme.
  • Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar discontinued the state’s scheme in 2010, only to revive it before the 2014 general elections.

6. Impact of the MPLAD Scheme

  • In 2018, when a continuation of the scheme was approved, the government noted that “the entire population across the country stands to benefit through the creation of durable assets of locally felt needs, namely drinking water, education, public health, sanitation, and roads, etc, under MPLAD Scheme”.
  • Until 2017, nearly 19 lakh projects worth Rs 45,000 crore had been sanctioned under the MPLAD Scheme.
  • Third-party evaluators appointed by the government reported that the creation of good-quality assets had a “positive impact on the local economy, social fabric, and feasible environment”.
  • Further, 82% of the projects have been in rural areas, and the remaining is in urban/semi-urban areas. 

7. Challenges with MPLADS

  • Inadequate citizen participation: MPLADS was envisaged to have the character of decentralized development based on the principle of participatory development. However, citizen participation has remained lukewarm. There is no information on how locally felt needs are given primacy.
  • Insufficient monitoring of sanctioned works: Guidelines stipulate that district authorities should monitor the sanctioned works. However, there is no indicator for monitoring. Annual reports do not throw light on monitoring. There is no indication of monitoring of asset condition after the completion of works.
  • Tendency to use MPLADS to gain political mileage: Research data indicate that MPs tend to go slow in the 1st half of their term. A majority of the MPLADS funds were spent during the last year of their term, just before elections, to gain political mileage.

8. Criticism

  • The criticism has been on two broad grounds.
  • First, it is inconsistent with the spirit of the Constitution as it co-opts legislators into executive functioning.
  • The most vocal critic was a DMK ex-MP and a former Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Era Sezhiyan. He said the workload on MPs created by the scheme diverted their attention from holding the government accountable and other legislative work.
  • The National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (2000) and the Second Administrative Reforms Commission, headed by Veerappa Moily (2007), recommended the discontinuation of the scheme.
  • In 2010, the Supreme Court held that the scheme was constitutional.
  • The second criticism stems from allegations of corruption associated with the allocation of works. The Comptroller and Auditor General have on many occasions highlighted gaps in implementation. 

Previous year Question

With reference to the funds under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS), which of the following statements is correct? (UP

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