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Review: What is new with the Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 30, 2022
The government recently notified the Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022 in the light of a greater push towards electric vehicles. The new rules are applicable to all types of batteries irrespective of their shape, volume, chemistry, usage, and material composition.
The excessive reliance and over-usage of fossil fuels have left severe consequences globally. Nations across the world are seriously contemplating plans to make the transition from non-renewable to renewable energy sources. India has also set ambitious targets to achieve 175 GW of renewable energy by the end of 2022 and expand it to 500 GW by 2030. In the transportation sector, the push towards renewable energy is mainly driven by Electric Vehicles (EVs). However, concerns remain over battery usage and its disposal, EV fire accidents, infrastructural challenges like the charging stations, and extraction of rare elements like Lithium, among other things.
A 2019 UN report estimated e-waste to be reaching 50 million tonnes in 2018 and is projected to reach 120 million tonnes by 2050. The annual value of global e-waste is estimated to be USD 62.5 billion. Less than a quarter of the e-waste is formally recycled, which is a cause of concern. It warned against the prevailing ‘take, make, and dispose’ model of the electronics industry and advocated for the reboot of this model in the form of the circular economy.
India is also one of the countries advocating for a faster transition towards EVs by extending subsidies and incentivizing the ecosystem. Demand for EVs is expected to grow manifold in the future because of which, the market for used EV batteries will grow in proportion to the increase in demand for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), the best storage technology for EVs. A report by ICRIER estimated that by 2030, India would produce 14 lakh tonnes of LIB waste, a large portion of which will come from the EV industry. And more than 90% of the employment in this arena is unorganized and informal.
Considering these issues, the newly published Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022 assume greater significance. In today’s story, we look at the new rules and see how well they could be a game-changer for the future of EVs.
Genesis of Battery Waste management legislations
The earliest legislation regarding battery waste handling and management began in 2001, when the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Government of India, published The Batteries (Management and Handling) Rules, 2001. The rules provided for responsibilities for all the key players of the battery lifecycle – the manufacturer, assembler, importer, re-conditioner, consumer, bulk consumers, auctioneers, and the central pollution control board. These rules were amended in 2010, where the definition of a bulk consumer was changed from a consumer such as the Departments of Central Government like Railway Defence, Telecom, Posts and Telegraph, the Departments of State Government, the Undertakings, Boards and other agencies or companies who purchase batteries through central ‘rate’ or running contract centrally placed on behalf of individual departments or user units under their jurisdictions’ to “a consumer such as the Departments of Central Government like Railway Defence, Telecom, Posts and Telegraph, the Departments of State Government, the Undertakings, Boards and other agencies or companies who purchase hundred or more than hundred batteries per annum;” . Some other changes regarding the registration of importers were made in this amendment of 2010.
With times changing, it was felt necessary that these rules should be amended to comprehensively cover the changing landscape of Electric vehicles and advancements in battery technologies. Accordingly, the ministry published “Draft Battery Waste Management Rules, 2020” which was set to replace and supersede the Batteries (Management and Handling) Rules, 2001. The draft rules expanded the scope by including every possible kind of battery under its ambit, unlike the narrow scope of earlier legislation which defined a battery as a lead acid battery that is a source of electrical energy and contains lead metal. The draft 2020 rules also put the responsibility of ‘environmentally sound management of battery waste’ on the producers. It also added the dealer’s responsibility to raise an invoice in respect of every used battery received from the consumer. The 2001 rules fixed the responsibility of the dealer to give an appropriate discount to the consumer for every used battery returned. However, the latest draft rules do not contain any such provision.
The Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022
The recently notified Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022 are an updated form of the draft rules published in 2020, after considering the objectives and suggestions from all the stakeholders. These rules shall be applicable to all types of batteries irrespective of their shape, volume, chemistry, usage, and material composition. The only exemption from these rules is for the batteries used in essential security equipment including ammunitions, arms, war material and any other material intended specifically for military purposes, and for that equipment that is designed to be sent into space and its exploration. Some important features of these rules are the following.
Clearly-defined recovery targets are set out for each industrial battery, and these targets shall be reviewed every four years by the committee constituted for the implementation of these rules.
Clear labelling requirements are specified if the battery contains heavy metals like mercury (Hg), Cadmium (Cd), and Lead (Pb). These element symbols must be printed below the symbol ‘crossed out wheeled bin symbol’ and shall cover an area of at least one-quarter the size of the crossed out wheeled bin symbol.
The targets for extended producer responsibility (EPR) are set depending on the kind of battery and the industry in which these batteries may be used. Accordingly, different targets are made out for Lead-acid, Li-Ion, Nickel Cadmium, Zinc based batteries, etc., and industries such as portable, automotive, industrial, and electric vehicle Batteries as mentioned in the Schedule II of the notified rules.
There are two ways of achieving the target fixed under the EPR. Either the producer shall bear the complete responsibility of the management of battery waste, or through the Extended Producer Responsibility certificate by purchasing surplus certificates from other producers of the same category of battery made available by recycler or refurbisher. These certificates are generated by the CPCB through centralized online portal based on the weight of battery processed, percentage fulfillment of material recovery targets for the specified year and geographical source of battery such as domestic or imported.
Non-fulfillment of EPR shall attract environmental compensation, which shall be levied by CPCB on the producer, and the respective state boards for entities involved in the battery lifecycle within their jurisdiction. This compensation is also levied for non-compliance to the rules regarding the registration, provision of false information, and submission of forged/manipulated documents, etc., It is important to note that payment of compensation does not absolve the responsibility on the producer.
The State Pollution Boards shall be responsible for the registration of entities involved in recycling and refurbishing. They must publish the list of entities not fulfilling EPR annually and shall also forward the quarterly compliance reports of these entities to CPCB.
It is the responsibility of the CPCB to establish a centralised online portal for registration and filing returns by recyclers, producers, and refurbishers of waste batteries within six months of the commencement of these rules. This portal shall act as a single-point data repository regarding the rules and implementation of battery lifecycle management in India.
A committee, headed by the chairperson of CPCB, shall be constituted to oversee the implementation of these rules and recommend the ministry accordingly. It is to be a broad and diverse committee with members from multiple backgrounds.
While these are some of the important features of the new rules, here are the changes made in the notified rules compared to the draft rules published in 2020.
Important modifications made from the draft rules 2020
A summary of important changes can below.
Featured Image: Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022


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What is the current status of COVID-19 Vaccine development & approval?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 18, 2021
Many countries across the world have rolled out COVID-19 vaccination to its citizens. Vaccines have received emergency use approval from multiple countries. Here is a review of the COVID-19 currently being administered around the world.
Within a year of the emergence of COVID-19, vaccines have been developed, approved, and administered to people in various parts of the world. Resources were diverted towards the development of vaccines and countries were in a race to develop and procure vaccines to curb the spread of the pandemic. Usually, it takes years of research and testing before the vaccines are tried on human beings. But the quick spread of the COVID-19 pandemic across the world left no choice but to accelerate the development, trial, and production of vaccines, in record time. As of 15 May 2021, 1.45 billion doses of vaccines have been administered across the world. According to WHO’s draft landscape of novel coronavirus candidate vaccine development worldwide, 100 vaccines were in clinical development and 184 vaccines were in pre-clinical development stages on 14 May 2021.
14 Vaccines have been approved/authorized globally
Globally, fourteen vaccines have been granted emergency use authorizations or have been approved by national regulatory authorities in various countries, according to the New York Times Vaccine Tracker. These 14 vaccines are listed below. Besides, there are 27 vaccine candidates undergoing phase-3 trials, 37 in phase-2, and 49 vaccine candidates in phase-1 trials.
This is the most widely approved & used vaccine which has been given full approval for usage in Brazil and provisional approval for two years in Australia. More than 60 countries including India, UK, European Union, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, etc. have given emergency use authorization for the vaccine. It also received  Emergency use validation from the WHO. However, Denmark, Norway and Iceland temporarily suspended the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine while Italy and Austria stopped using certain batches of the drug as a precautionary measure when cases of blood clots in persons who were given this vaccine were reported. The company has increased its manufacturing capacity for up to 3 billion doses in 2021.
The vaccine has been approved by Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Bahrain, and has been given provisional approval in Australia. Emergency use authorization for the vaccine has been granted in nearly 50 countries including the US for those aged 16 and above. It is also approved for emergency use in European Union, UK, Singapore, Japan, New Zealand, etc. WHO too has granted emergency use approval for this vaccine. The vaccine is currently in trials for usage on pregnant women. It is expected that 3 billion doses of this vaccine will be produced in 2021.
Sputnik V, which is the first registered vaccine against COVID-19, according to the website, was given approval in Russia as early as August 2020. It has been given authorization for emergency use in nearly 60 countries including India, UAE, Argentina, Kazakhstan,  Mexico, etc. Mainly, the countries in Asia, Africa, and South America have approved the vaccine. Russia has also introduced Sputnik Light vaccine which requires only a single dose.
The vaccine was given approval by the Swiss authority in January 2021, following the qualification of strict requirements for safety, efficacy, and quality. European Union, Canada, Singapore, UK, WHO, and the US have granted emergency use authorization. Only about 15 countries have given authorization for the vaccine. The vaccine is being tested for babies and young children. Moderna made an announcement in April 2021 that they would produce 800 million to 1 billion doses in 2021 and planned to manufacture 3 billion doses in 2022.
Bahrain was the first country to authorize the vaccine for emergency use in 2021. Later, the US, European Union, Canada, South Africa, South Korea, WHO, and others approved it for emergency use. However, due to clots formation in some persons who took the vaccine, Denmark discontinued using it. Even the US has temporarily stopped its usage. The company is conducting trials of the vaccine on pregnant women and will soon be conducting trials on children. The company is aiming for the production of a billion doses in 2021.
The vaccine, developed by Bharath Biotech in India in collaboration with ICMR, has been given emergency use authorization in India, Mexico, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Nepal, etc. (around 12 countries). It is expected that vaccine production will be increased to 700 million doses a year. The vaccine is currently under phase 2/3 trial for children aged 2 to 18 years.
The one-shot vaccine was approved in China in February 2021. Trials were carried in countries like Pakistan, Chile, Russia, and Mexico.
Only Turkmenistan has approved the vaccine, as per reports, and Russia has included it in its mass vaccination drive.
China and Uzbekistan have given emergency approval for this vaccine.
The vaccine has been approved for use in China, Bahrain, and UAE. Around 20 countries have given authorization for emergency usage, besides WHO.
While only China has given approval for the vaccine, around 20 other countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia, etc. have given emergency authorization for the same. The vaccine is under second phase trial for usage among children and adolescents. The company announced that it will produce up to 2 Billion doses annually.
Developed by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, the vaccine has been approved only in China.
The vaccine is currently being administered only in Kazakhstan, in 2 doses.
The vaccine has been registered and used under early use only in Russia.
Only Six Vaccines approved by WHO recognized Stringent Regulatory Authority
It is observed that only six of these vaccines have been approved for emergency or full use by at least one WHO-recognized stringent regulatory authority, Oxford–AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, Sputnik V, Sinopharm-BBIBP, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson. In terms of absolute numbers, most of the approved vaccines have been developed by Russia and China. Furthermore, it is seen that the distribution of vaccines is not equitable. Only a few countries, predominantly the rich ones, have placed orders and given approvals proactively. Though there are initiatives like COVAX, equitable vaccine distribution is a big issue.
India is trying to make approvals faster amidst vaccine shortage concerns
Meanwhile in India, India’s drug regulator, the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO), has decided to speed up the vaccine approval process in the country. For vaccines not yet approved or licensed in India but are approved in the US, Europe & by WHO, the CDSCO will give permission for restricted use in the country provided the following three conditions are met- the vaccine use should be as per guidelines prescribed under National COVID-19 Vaccination Programme, the first 100 beneficiaries of the vaccine should be assessed for a week for safety outcomes before it is rolled out, and the applicant should conduct post-approval bridging clinical trials within 30 days of approval.
The government has also accepted the COVID-19 National Task Force’s recommendation to authorize foreign-produced COVID-19 vaccines which have been granted emergency approval by the US, UK, EU, Japan and WHO-listed agencies. This comes at a time when states have complained of vaccine shortages.
Other vaccines under trials in India
There are other vaccine candidates under trial in India, besides Covishield and Covaxin that are currently being administered. These are- ZyCoV-D by Zydus Cadilla which is currently under phase 3 clinical trials, Biological E’s novel COVID-19 vaccine which is under Phase 1/2 clinical trials, BBV154 – Intranasal vaccine by Bharath BioTech under Phase 1 human trial, Covovax under phase 2/3 trial, and mRNA based vaccine (HGCO19) under phase 1/2 trial.
Featured Image:  COVID-19 Vaccine Development & Approvals,

source: news-factly

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Sai Krishna Muthyanolla


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What is the growth of Prepaid Payment Instruments in India like?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 15, 2022
In the last decade, fintech innovations have ensured that digital transactions have grown at a phenomenal rate. In addition to innovations such as the IMPS, UPI, etc., ‘Prepaid Payment Instruments, particularly digital wallets have played an important role in the growth of digital transactions.
When was the last time you paid for your food delivery using cash? Or the time you last booked a cab and paid cash? Or the time when you stood in a queue to buy a metro ticket using cash? Well, many of us hardly remember those times. All one needs today is a smartphone, enough data, and an amount in your bank account to make quick bookings and payments from anywhere and at any time. This seamless experience in digital payments is a reality because of fintech innovations. However, in today’s frantic world, we don’t wonder at or appreciate these advancements because they fit in with our routines rather than stand out. That’s how embedded these innovations have become.
Thesaurus defines the word ‘embedded’ as ‘incorporated into something as an essential characteristic.’ This word summarizes the entire fintech revolution. Traditionally, it was the responsibility of the banks and financial institutions to provide financial services.  The number of players offering these services was quite low owing to numerous restrictions at every stage – starting with the entry barriers to limits on finances and even the exit process. However, as technological advancements happened across the world, the barriers to private entities were minimized. The result is mushrooming of fintech solutions and the crucial role of embedded finance in our lives.
As the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) caution to the public over the prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) by unauthorized entities is in news, in this story, we look at the concept of PPIs and various related aspects.
What are Prepaid Payment Instruments or PPIs?
Before we understand PPIs, it is important to understand the concept of embedded financing. In simple terms, embedded financing means integrating financial services into non-financial platforms with an objective to provide the users/clients with a seamless experience. The prime benefits of embedded financing are:
As we have seen, embedded finance is appealing to both the customers as well as businesses. PPIs are one kind of instrument of the embedded financing models. PPIs include m-wallets, cards, prepaid vouchers, and so on. The most popular among these is the m-wallet service. Wallet-as-a-service has gained traction in recent times, validating the compelling benefits it has to offer. In fact, digital wallets are slowly replacing physical wallets.
PPIs in India
Successive governments in India expressed their interest in the digitalization of payment services. The growth of entities offering financial services also pushed the government to take a holistic review of the payment sector in India. The primary objective behind such a review is to foster greater access and competition among the players. Accordingly, the government of India enacted a legislation, ‘The Payments and Settlement Systems Act, 2007’ (the PSS Act). It is the country’s first statute devoted to overseeing and regulating the payment industry.
However, PPIs (though not in the digital or app form) existed way before the PSS act. Gift coupons and food cards were common in old days. To promote the systematic development and working of such instruments, the RBI invited comments on an approach paper in 2008 titled, ‘Guidelines for PPIs.’ A draft set of guidelines were released by the RBI on 30 January 2009, after receiving feedback from all stakeholders. Accordingly, after incorporating other modifications, these guidelines were made effective from 27 April 2009, using the powers conferred to RBI under Section 18 of the PSS Act. The PPI ecosystem underwent several amendments during the last decade – in terms of permitting new entities, limit enhancements, coverage base, and so on.
Types of PPIs
Primarily, PPIs can be classified into Small PPIs and Full KYC PPIs. The small PPIs (also known as minimum-details PPIs) can further be divided into,
Alternatively, PPIs can be categorized into three types.
Growth of PPIs in India
The growth of PPIs has been steady and consistent since its introduction. The volume of PPI transactions has jumped from 30.6 million in 2011-12 to 4775 million in 2021-22 (up to December 2021). The corresponding increase in the value of PPI transactions is from Rs. 62 billion in 2011-12 to Rs. 2150 billion in 2021-22 (up to December 2021).
Much of such volume expansion is from the m-wallets, whose transaction volume increased from 32.7 million in 2012-13 to 3866.6 million in 2021-22 (up to December 2021). The paper voucher segment has almost vanished from the system.
In terms of the value of transactions, the value of transactions through m-wallets increased from Rs. 10 billion in 2012-13 to Rs. 1695 billion in 2021-22 (up to December 2021). The value of card transactions has not increased proportionately.
If we observe the graphs carefully, there is a sudden spike from 2016-17. Demonetization was announced on 08 November 2016, and its effect is clearly visible in the growth of PPIs in India. December 2016 witnessed a huge jump compared to November 2016.  One incidence of steep decline could be seen during March to April 2020, which are the months of the first intense covid lockdown in India. The restrictions were gradually lifted from mid-April.
PPIs require authorization by the RBI and strict adherence to the guidelines set by RBI. Any default could result in the cancellation of authorization of PPIs. The list of authorized PPIs as of 03 March 2022 was recently published by the RBI. One can cross-check with this list before using any new PPI.
Regulation of digital Payments
The intense proliferation of digital technology in the payment systems gave rise to a distinct industry that is heavily dominated by Fintech companies. The regulatory function should focus on fostering a competitive market so that the market functions efficiently and attracts new customers while retaining the old ones. To perform this function and to define the contours of the state in the digital payment ecosystem, the Government of India constituted a committee in August 2016 under Ratan. P. Watal, popularly known as Watal Committee. It submitted its report in December 2016 and made a few recommendations:
Accordingly, the finance minister, in the 2017-18 Budget Speech, announced the creation of PRB within RBI by replacing the BPSS, and review of the PSS Act, 2007. In October 2017, an inter-ministerial committee was constituted to review the draft PSS Bill. The committee submitted the report in 2018. This committee recommended that the PRB should be an independent entity outside RBI and also suggested changes in the composition of PRB. The RBI was adamant in its opposition to this proposal. It released a dissent note in reply to the recommendations of the inter-ministerial committee. Though RBI did not disagree totally with the new PSS Bill, 2018, it did not intend to initiate any changes that have the potential to shake the existing foundations and create disturbances in otherwise well-functioning structure.
Interoperability was also allowed in PPIs as per the recommendations of the Watal Committee and it is now mandatory for the PPI issuer to allow interoperability. However, this facility is only available to full-KYC PPIs.
Customer liability & Grievance Redressal
RBI has also issued circulars about limiting the liability of the customers in case of any unauthorized electronic transactions. Below is the screenshot of the circular.
The RBI also launched an integrated ombudsman scheme, 2021 to facilitate and ease the process of grievance redressal and enhance customer satisfaction. It integrates the Banking Ombudsman Scheme, 2006; Ombudsman scheme for non-banking financial companies, 2018 & Ombudsman scheme for digital transactions, 2019. PPIs are covered under this integrated scheme. More information on the working of such scheme can be found here.
Limitations of PPIs
Though convenient, PPIs have certain limitations both from the customer standpoint as well as the regulatory standpoint.
The actions initiated by the governments suggest an aggressive strategy to make the Indian economy more digital and less cash-driven. This indicates the future holds enough for PPIs.
Thus, unless some unanticipated shocks emerge, the future of PPIs in India looks promising.
Featured Image: Prepaid Payment Instruments in India


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Review: What is the latest on the COVID-19 Vaccine development?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 25, 2020
At least eleven (11) COVID-19 vaccine candidates are in phase-3 of clinical trials. Multiple companies have announced encouraging results through preliminary analysis. Pfizer & BioNTech have already applied to US FDA for emergency use authorization (EUA). Other companies are expected to follow suit. Even if the vaccine candidates are approved, distribution & other challenzes exist.
Globally, as on 24 November 2020, over 58.7 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported. Over 1.38 million people have lost their lives to this virus across the globe. Recently, many parts of Europe have gone into a second lockdown following the resurgence of COVID-19 infections that is sweeping the continent while countries like India are bracing themselves for a possible second wave of infections.
Amidst all this, the ongoing COVID-19 vaccine trials are yielding encouraging results, raising hopes that a vaccine would soon be available and that too within one year since the infection was declared a public health emergency of international concern in January 2020.
11 Vaccine candidates are in the last stage of clinical trials
According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) latest draft landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccines as of 12 November 2020, there are 212 candidate vaccines of which 48 are in clinical evaluation stage and the remaining 164 are in pre-clinical evaluation stage. Among those in clinical evaluation stage, 11 are in phase-3 of clinical trials including the vaccines being developed by Sinovac, University of Oxford & AstraZeneca, Pfizer & BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, CanSino Biologics, Wuhan Institute of Biological Products & Sinopharm, Novavax, Gamaleya Research Institute, Bharat Biotech, and Beijing Institute of Biological Products & Sinopharm. There are three other vaccine candidates in phase-2 of clinical trials, 13 in phase-1/2, and 21 in phase-1.
Vaccines developed in India that are in the clinical trial stage are Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech with ICMR in Phase-3 of trials, and Covishield developed by Serum Institute of India and ZyCov-D of Zydus Cadila that are currently in the phase-2 of trials.
Russia and China have approved vaccines
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in August 2020 that the Russian government had approved the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine, named Sputnik V. The Russian Healthcare Ministry also tweeted that they had given a regulatory approval for the vaccine developed by Gamaleya Research Institute. Likewise, in June 2020, the Chinese military is reported to have given approval to the vaccine being developed  by the Chinese company CanSino Biologics for a year as a specially needed drug.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not yet approved or authorized any vaccine for COVID-19. Pfizer & BioNTech submitted their request for Emergency Use Authorization of their COVID-19 vaccine to the FDA. Emergency Use Authorization is issued when the FDA decides to administer the use of a drug, treatment, or vaccine amidst a pandemic or declared emergency. The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) of the FDA will be meeting on 10 December 2020 to discuss the request put forth by Pfizer & BioNTech.
Vaccine efficacy and effectiveness are different
Vaccine candidates in the last stage of trials have announced preliminary results of their efficacy. Efficacy of a vaccine is different from effectiveness. Researchers give vaccines to some people and a placebo to others (substances that resemble drugs but is made of inactive substance) and see how many get sick. For example, Pfizer had enrolled 43,661 volunteers for phase-3 of vaccine trial. Out of them, 170 got infected with COVID-19. Of the 170, a total of 162 of them were those who received a placebo shot. The remaining eight were those who had received the vaccine. Pfizer has announced that primary analysis demonstrates 95% efficacy.
What is given as 95% efficacy is the relative difference between the fraction of unvaccinated volunteers (those who received placebo shot) who got infected and the fraction of vaccinated volunteers who got infected. Thus, the efficacy of vaccine indicates the percentage reduction in disease occurrence among those vaccinated or in other words, the percentage decrease in the number of cases that would have been recorded if the vaccine were not introduced. The effectiveness of a vaccine on the other hand, measures the ability of the vaccine to prevent the disease in the real world, that is, among the general population. The WHO has suggested that the COVID-19 vaccine must have at least 50% efficacy on population basis.
What is the efficacy of the vaccines in advance stages of trials?
Pfizer’s initial results from the trial revealed that the vaccine was more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in participants as per the interim analysis. Primary efficacy analysis showed that the vaccine had an efficacy rate of 95%. Further, the efficacy was consistent across age, gender, race, and ethnicity with an observed efficacy over 94% in adults over 65 years of age, according to Pfizer’s press release.
The vaccine developed by Moderna, as per the first interim review of data, had a efficacy of 94.5%. In the trials by Moderna, there were 95 symptomatic COVID-19 volunteers of which 90 were from the placebo group. Moderna is also intended to submit a request for Emergency Use Authorization in the US.
AstraZeneca announced that one of its dosing regimen was seen to be 90% effective when the volunteers received half a dose of the vaccine initially and a full dose after a month. Another dosing regimen showed 62% efficacy when volunteers received two full doses of the vaccine. Together, an average efficacy of 70% is seen. Serum Institute of India has partnered with Oxford University to produce this vaccine. The vaccine, Covishield, is low-cost, and logistically manageable, as tweeted by the institute’s CEO.
Russia’s Sputnik V which has already been approved by the Russian government has recorded an interim efficacy of 91.4% according to a press release. A total of 18,794 volunteers had received two doses and 39 had tested positive. The vaccine’s clinical trials are being conducted in India by Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories.
Who will distribute the vaccine first, when ready?
WHO has devised a COVID-19 vaccine allocation plan- Covax, under which fair allocations in two phases covering 20% of population and for expanding coverage will be done so as to ensure that all countries get an equitable access to the vaccine. The USA, which is among the worst hit by coronavirus, released a vaccine distribution strategy, Operation Warp Speed, under which several US Federal Government departments such as Health and Human Services (HSS), Agriculture, Energy, etc. and private sector will collaborate. In India, the Prime Minister recently reviewed preparedness of COVID-19 vaccine delivery, distribution, and administration. National and international institutions and regulators have been directed to collaborate. The Prime Minister also chaired a high-level meeting with all the Chief Ministers to review the status & preparedness of COVID-19 response. As per the official press release, the modalities of COVID-19 vaccine delivery, distribution and administration were also discussed during the meeting. However, the detailed distribution strategy has not yet been made public.
Multitude of challenges persist for vaccination
Majority of these trial results are announced through press releases leaving scientific concerns such as safety and effectiveness among older people unaddressed. Peer-reviewed publication is hence important and must not be side-lined while streamlining the approval process. On the other hand, information on how long the vaccine will protect is yet to be known. Even the side effects on a long-term basis are uncertain and can only be assumed based on the studies.
Even if the vaccines are approved through emergency authorization, carrying out immunization programs will also be a herculean task. Results of a survey, published in The Lancet showed that 14.2% of the respondents completely or somewhat disagreed with the statement that they would accept a COVID-19 vaccine if generally available and 17.9% completely or somewhat disagreed with the statement that they would accept a COVID-19 vaccine if their employer recommended it. Social media is flooded with a lot of misinformation pertaining to COVID-19 vaccines. In addition to this, the distribution infrastructure also poses a challenge.

created: November 25, 2020


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Review: Number of MBBS students who are available for COVID-19 duties
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 11, 2021
The Government of India decided to augment the availability of medical professionals by permitting the deployment of medical interns for COVID-19 management duties and final year MBBS students for extending teleconsultation services and monitoring of mild COVID-19 cases. Many other states have also initiated similar measures. Here is a review of the numbers.
India is currently experiencing a devastating second wave of COVID-19 pandemic since April 2021 with a record number of infections and deaths being reported every day. As a result, the healthcare infrastructure across the country is overwhelmed and has resulted in a shortage of beds, oxygen, ventilators, and drugs. Recently, a review of the growing need for human resources to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country was carried out. One of the decisions taken by the Government of India is to augment the availability of medical professionals by permitting the deployment of medical interns for COVID-19 Management duties and final year MBBS students for extending teleconsultation services and monitoring of mild COVID-19 cases. In this story, we look at the numbers available to understand the impact of this decision.
India has more than 12.89 Lakh registered doctors
Data provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) in the Rajya Sabha on 09 March 2021, indicates that there are 12.89 lakh registered allopathic doctors in India as of 31 December 2020.  The Ministry further stated, supposing that the availability is 80%, there will be approximately 10.31 lakh doctors in India who may be available for active service. As per the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the ideal doctor population ratio for a country is 1:1000. As per the Ministry’s response, there are 5.65 lakh AYUSH doctors available in the country, including which India’s doctor–population ratio in the country is 1:845, meeting the WHO norms.
India will require an additional 3 lakh allopathic doctors to meet the WHO’s ideal ratio of doctor to population
Going by the number of allopathic doctors registered in the country, India is far away from the ideal ratio prescribed by WHO. According to the 15th Finance Commission’s special report in the backdrop of COVID-19, in 2018, there were 11.54 lakh registered allopathic medical doctors in India giving a doctor to population ratio in India is 1:1,511 against the WHO norm of 1:1,000. Assuming that the population of India is 1.35 billion, the allopathic doctor population ratio now stands at 1:1309, implying there is one doctor for every 1309 people in the country (assuming 80% availability of doctors). India would need an additional 2.5 to 3 lakh doctors in service to meet the WHO norms. It is not just the number of doctors, even the distribution of these doctors is skewed with substantial differences between urban/rural and between states.
Five states account for 1 in 2 doctors registered in medical councils across India
Of the total number of doctors registered in various state medical councils, five states- Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh account for more than 51% of the doctors. The data also indicates that 52,666 doctors have registered with the Medical Council of India and not any state.
For easier interpretation, India has 8 to 9 doctors per 10,000 population. The population of each state and India has been taken from the 2011 Census. The actual population would have increased now as per projections. The state-wise distribution of doctors per ten thousand population shows that Goa has the highest, 22 doctors per ten thousand people, followed by Sikkim with 20 doctors. Kerala & Karnataka 17 doctors each while Tamil Nadu has 16 doctors per ten thousand people. Eleven states/UTs including Andhra Pradesh (that includes Telangana) Punjab, Maharashtra, Delhi, and Jammu & Kashmir have at least 10 doctors per ten thousand population, which is one doctor per thousand people.
Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Mizoram, and Nagaland have less than five doctors per ten thousand population.
Government has called for roping in MBBS final students and interns for COVID-19 duties
Recently, the Government of India announced that NEET exams have been postponed by over four months and that the services of final year MBBS students can be utilized for providing services like teleconsultation and monitoring of mild COVID-19 cases after due orientation by faculty. Further, medical interns could be deployed on COVID-19 management duties under the supervision of their faculty, as part of their internship. With respect to final year PG Students (broad as well as super-specialties), their services as residents may continue to be utilized until fresh batches of PG Students join. Along with them, even BSc/GNM qualified nurses could be roped in full-time for COVID nursing duties under the supervision of senior doctors and nurses. By roping in the graduates, the government aims to boost the availability of qualified medical professionals to fight the pandemic, reduce the workload on existing doctors engaged in COVID-19 duty, and provide a boost to efforts of triaging.
Around 54,000 medical professionals will be available for COVID-19 duty if medical interns join
Students who enrolled themselves for MBBS in 2014-2015 may be currently available for an internship as they would be in their final year. Based on the intake for under-graduate MBBS in medical colleges across India in 2014-15, India will have an additional 54,000 odd medical professionals engaged in COVID management duties, if all these interns choose to join. However, the distribution across states is varied. For instance, student intake in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh for MBBS was around 6,900 students each in 2014-15, while Maharashtra had close to 6,200 seats. Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh had an intake of only 1850, Bihar and Punjab around 1300, and Delhi with 1000 seats. How many of these final year students choose to join COVID-19 duties remains to be seen.
States such as AP, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, which already have a better doctor population ratio than the national average, also have a greater number of medical colleges and students, who may be roped in. At the same time, states like Bihar, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh which already lag in terms of doctor-population ratio have fewer MBBS final year students who may be available for COVID duties. Hence, the initiative of encouraging final year students to take up COVID duties is laudable, it may not help all the states to the same extent. The skew in numbers also highlights the need for equitable distribution of medical colleges.
Priority in government recruitments will be given for those involved in COVID-19 duty
The central government also announced that the medical students/professionals who will be engaged in COVID-19 related duties will be vaccinated and that all the health professionals engaged would be covered under the Insurance Scheme of Government for health workers engaged in fighting COVID-19. Furthermore, those professionals who sign up for at least 100 days of COVID-19 duty will be given the Prime Minister’s Distinguished Covid National Service Samman from the Government of India on successful completion of duty. Also, they would be given priority in forthcoming regular Government recruitments after they complete a minimum of 100 days of COVID duty.
Some states have already started roping in medical students amidst the second wave
Karnataka recently announced that 17797 medical students including interns, PG, final year students will be deployed for COVID-19 duty. It was also added that the services of the nursing department which has 45,470 students, and services of students pursuing dental (2538), Ayush (9654), and pharmacy (9936) courses will also be sought. Himachal Pradesh government announced an incentive of Rs 10,000 per month for fourth and fifth-year MBBS students, contractual doctors, and junior/senior residents. Telangana government is inviting applications from qualified MBBS graduates (about 50,000) for appointments on a temporary basis, according to the CMO’s Twitter handle. Similar to the Centre’s announcement, the candidates will be given priority in future recruitments. Jammu & Kashmir has decided to re-employ retired doctors aged below 70 years and deploy final year MBBS students for a monthly incentive of Rs.5000 to deal with the shortage of medical staff till the end of the year.
Every available resource has to be used to overcome the crisis
It is a known fact that healthcare workers are at the forefront of the world’s battle against the pandemic. The availability of an adequate number of healthcare workers to treat patients at this critical juncture must be ensured to avoid resource burn. The steps initiated by the central government & various state governments to augment resources are welcome. However, how many of these translate into the availability of additional human resources remains to be seen.
Featured Image: MBBS students available for COVID-19 duties


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Review: What is the status of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 29, 2022
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is defined under Article 12 of the Kyoto protocol, where countries with carbon emission reduction targets can set up emission reduction projects in developing countries. This provides them with saleable Certified Emission Reduction (CER) credits. Here is a status check of the CDM-related projects.
The paradoxes of the industrial age are bewildering. The more economically prosperous we become, the more carbon we emit into the atmosphere. The lesser the environmental hindrances are, the higher the ease of doing business. Rising emissions are considered a proxy for economic growth and development, with emissions quadrupling in the same period during which the world’s GDP grew by six times. In 1950, the world emitted 6 billion tonnes of CO, which rose to 22 billion tonnes during the 1990s, and currently, the emissions stand at 34 billion tonnes per annum. The consequences of such higher emissions are evident, with the world witnessing the surge of weather and climate change-related disasters.
To prevent such rapid growth in Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted in 1992 and came into force in 1994. The objective of this convention was to stabilize GHG emissions. Under this, in 1997, Kyoto Protocol was agreed upon (came into force in 2005), under which the industrialized nations pledged to cut down their emissions by 5% from the 1990 levels during the first commitment period (2008-2012). The reduction target for the second commitment period (2013-2020) was 18%. These targets are binding for industrialized and economies in transition countries (EIT). These EIT parties include Russian Federation, Baltic states, and several eastern and central European countries.
These emission reductions could be achieved by implementing one of the three market-based mechanisms- Joint Implementation, Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and International Emission Trading. The CDM is defined under Article 12 of this protocol, where countries with reduction targets can set up emission reduction projects in developing countries. This provides them with saleable Certified Emission Reduction (CER) credits. These CERs can be counted towards their target reductions, and each CER represents one tonne of CO. This mechanism is the first of its kind globally that provides a standard emission offset instrument.
In this context, we look at the progress of the CDM and the trends in the CER credits in today’s story. The data is entirely sourced from the Clean Development Mechanism website of the UNFCCC.
Asia & Pacific regions dominate in projects registered under CDM
The scope of the CDM was to establish emission reduction projects in developing countries. Accordingly, by March 2022, a total of 7846 projects are registered across the world. Out of this, Asia & Pacific countries bagged more than 83% of the projects, followed by Latin America and Caribbean countries with 13%. Despite being an under-developed continent, Africa could only get 3% of the total registered projects.
Only a handful of countries bagged the majority of projects
The regional breakup of CDM projects highlights the regional disparity in the distribution of projects. In addition to these existing regional disparities, there is a local variation within the regions too. Only two countries, China and India, account for nearly 70% of all the registered projects. The list of top 10 countries with more projects, consists of only 2 countries (Brazil & Mexico) from Latin America, and only 1 country (Chile) from Africa. The rest of these countries are from Asia, particularly Southeast Asia. A total of around 98 countries that are parties to the Kyoto Protocol (KP) and have a designated National authority (DNA), have less than 10 projects.
Large Scale projects are mostly preferred
A country has the independence and the authority to choose a country and the size and the type of the project at its own will. Accordingly, the majority of the projects preferred are large-scale. The small-scale projects make up 40% of the total projects.
Issuance is defined as the instruction that the CDM Executive board gives to the CDM registry administrator to issue a specific number of CERs for an applicable project. From 2006, a total of 11688 issuances were issued, out of which large-scale projects gained 8229, while the small-scale projects got 3459 issuances. Among the countries, China and India stand out as the top 2 highest receivers of issuances, with 4883 and 2588 issuances respectively.
More preference for energy and waste sector project activities
The energy industry is one of the major contributors to overall emissions. As a result, countries have been making efforts to make this industry as sustainable and less-polluting as possible. This is evident even in the project activities undertaken in the CDM. An overwhelming percentage of the project activities belong to the energy sector and the waste handling and disposal category. It is important to note that a project activity can have one or more sectoral scopes.
China gets half of the total number of CERs issued
As mentioned earlier, one CER is equivalent to one tonne of CO emissions. It is important to understand that a greater number of projects does not necessarily translate into a greater number of CERs. This is because the CERs are calculated on the additional reductions or sequestrations that the project provides. A total of 2169 Million CERs are issued till 31 March 2022, out of which only China accrued more than 50%. It is followed by India, Korea, and Brazil with 12.7%, 8.6% and 8% respectively. The rest of the countries have less than 2% CERs issued by them.
Declining Indian share in the total CERs issued
India had performed extremely well immediately after the operationalization of the Kyoto Protocol. In 2005 and 2006, India managed to get hold of nearly 50% of the total CERs. Since then, the performance had declined till the end of the first commitment period in 2012. During the second commitment period from 2013-2020, the performance had been sluggish. Only in 2015, India’s share accounted for around 70% of the total share, while it reached a maximum of 20% during the rest of the period.
State-wise approved projects and CERs generated:
The state-wise distribution of the approved projects is not uniform across India. While the industrialized states garnered a greater number of projects, the less-industrialised states remained on the backfoot. Since the CDM mechanism itself is under a severe crisis, only a few projects that had earlier registrations are functioning. The state-wise list of approved projects and the CERs up to 2020 is as below.
“CDM fatigue” looming around
In the aftermath of the Kyoto Protocol, CDM was highly successful as a flexible market mechanism. This was despite the complex registration processes involved. Owing to system changes around the world, the CDM is facing severe crises since its inception. The reasons often quoted are the demand-supply mismatches in the market, the unwillingness of governments to engage in CDM, and the financial crisis of 2008 leading to more stringent CER import restrictions in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS), non-subscription to the second commitment period and so on. All these factors led to the subdued demand for the CERs. In addition to this, serious lapses were observed in the planning stages. It was believed that CDM would bring sustainable investment to the developing countries in the form of new projects. However, this could not translate into action as the companies were willing to buy CERs from the companies fully organized by the host countries only.
The Paris agreement in 2015 also called for the establishment of a ‘sustainable Development Mechanism (SDM)’, often understood as the heir of the CDM. Though there are similarities in SDM and CDM, the SDM calls for emission mitigation from all countries, unlike the CDM which called for reduction from developed and EIT countries.  This was one of the major points of contention during the Paris agreement rulebook negotiations. The COP 26 negotiations allowed for the carry-over of the old CERs that were generated since the commencement of the Kyoto Protocol. Else, India would have lost credits worth thousands of crores.
It is high time that India adopts new strategies to deal with the carbon emissions market. Moving away from the Kyoto Protocol led to the increase in demand for a voluntary carbon market (VCM), and its demand is likely to increase in the future. Understanding the future of VCM and possible measures to gain from that market should be a priority for India.
Featured Image:  Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects


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Review: What is the status of Differently Abled Sports Persons in India?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 29, 2020
Recent advertisements by an online learning platform introduced Deepa Malik, an Indian Paralympic medallist to the larger population. While facilities for promotion of sports among PWDs have improved lately, the recognition for achievers is still largely lacking. There is an urgent need to highlight them and their work.
Recent advertisements by an online learning platform present Deepa Malik, a Paralympian as its brand ambassador. She is the first Indian woman to win a medal at Paralympics, a feat she achieved at 2016 Summer Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. In spite of this achievement, a majority of us are oblivious of her accomplishments, with our interest being sparked only after the appearance in the advertisements.
This is the case even for other differently abled athletes who have won laurels for the country in various events, with most of them not well-known to the public at large.  Barring a few sports, the recognition gained by many of the sportspersons is minimal and this can partly be attributed to underperformance in international events.
However, over the past two decades, Central & State governments along with various organizations have taken a keen interest in developing sports infrastructure and training in India, which has in part contributed to improved results.
Does this encouragement and support extend even to differently abled sports persons? What is the extent of assistance and encouragement provided by governments to them?  In this story, we look at the policy provisions for encouraging sports among differently abled persons in India and explore the various government initiatives in this regard.
State policy promotes encouragement of sports for persons with disabilities
Section 3 of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 provisions for Equality and Non-discrimination towards persons with disabilities. Section 30 of the Act, more specifically lays out the guidelines to encourage effective participation of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in sporting activities.
These include:
‘Khelo India’ Scheme has provisions for promotion of sports among PWDs
The Government of India launched  ‘Khelo India’, the National Program for Development of Sports Scheme in 2017. As part of this initiative, it has also made provisions for encouragement and promotion of sports among PWDs.
Accordingly, it has recognised three sport bodies to take up the responsibilities of promotion of sports, conduct of trainings, holding of competition etc. for various disabilities.
The conduct of various international competitions, the category of sports disciplines, rules, facilities required etc. vary for these three different types of disabilities and hence the separate sport bodies are given the responsibility.
Operational guidelines are also issued for Promotion of Sports among PWDs under the revised Khelo India Scheme.  As per these guidelines, an indicative amount of Rs. 15 crores would be utilised for various components under the scheme, that includes – creation of specialised infrastructure, establishment of training centres, provision for scholarships for coaching diploma, support for conduct and participation for various sporting events.
Responding to a question in Lok Sabha in September 2020 , the government outlined the assistance extended to Differently abled sports persons. The following are mentioned by the government in that response.
60% of the funds allocated since 2017 have been utilised so far
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports allocates funds to the various National Sports Federations under ‘Scheme of Assistance to National Sports Federations’, to provide assistance to various athletes identified under respective sports disciplines & conduct of sports events.
As mentioned earlier, three sports bodies have been recognised as National Sports Federations for Differently Abled Sportspersons. As per the update provided in Lok Sabha in September 2020, a total of Rs. 22.03 crores were allocated to Paralympics Committee of India for period 2017-21 (up to September 2021), of which Rs.13.16 crores have been utilised so far.
During the same period, Special Olympic Bharat, which looks into the sports activities relating to Mentally challenged persons was allocated Rs. 14.26 crores of which Rs. 9.54 crores are utilized.  Similarly, All India Sports Council of Deaf was allocated Rs. 5.17 crores and it has utilized Rs. 3.16 crores as of September 2020.
Indian Paralympians recorded their best performance in 2016 Paralympic Games
India made its debut in the Summer Paralympic games in 1968 and since then, India took part in 11 such events. India Paralympians have so far won 12 medals, which includes 4 each of Gold, Silver & Bronze.
Para Asian Games
Para Asian Games were conducted for the first time in 2010, and Indian para-athletes took part in all the three events so far.
Special Olympics World Games
Special Olympics are conducted by International Olympic Committee for athletes with different Intellectual disabilities. These games are conducted around the world every day with ‘Special Olympics World Games’ being the flag ship event.  In the most recent such event i.e. 2019 Special Olympics World Summer Games, India athletes won 368 medals ( 85 Gold, 154 Silver & 129 bronze).
Apart from these events, Indians have also performed well in other events like – World Para Shooting Championships, World Para Athletic Championships etc. as mentioned by the government in a recent response in Lok Sabha.
Urgent need to promote the accomplishments of differently abled sports persons
The data indicates a significant improvement in the performance of Indian differently abled sports persons in many of the recent international sporting events compared to that of previous years.
27 Indian Paralympians have already qualified for the next Paralympics i.e. Tokyo 2021, which could mean an opportunity to improve on the 2016 record of four medals. In 2016, 19 sportspersons (16 Men & 3 Women) were part of the Indian contingent in 5 sports.
Preview(opens in a new tab)
While improved success in performance of the athletes is evident, recognition among general public is still lacking and many of these sportspersons are largely unknown. The difference in recognition is very much evident if we compare with the medal winners of the general Olympics.
On its part, the Government of India may have recognised various differently abled sport persons with State Civilian & Sports Awards over the years. However, much more needs to be done. While efforts towards promoting and encouraging differently abled individuals to take up sports is commendable, there is an urgent need to promote the achievers and their accomplishments amongst the general public.
Featured Image: Status of Differently Abled Sports Persons in India

created: October 29, 2020


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What is status of ‘Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act’?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 28, 2020
The share of senior citizens among the population is expected to increase in most countries in the coming years. Various countries have enacted laws to promote welfare of senior citizens. We look at the status of the ‘Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act’ in India.
According to the 2011 Census, nearly 8.6% of India’s population, including 8.2% males and 9% females, were senior citizens or those who were of age 60 years and above. With significant strides in improved life expectancy over the years, the senior citizen population is expected to further increase in the future. Not just in India, population aging is an ongoing phenomenon even globally. It has been projected that in 2030, older persons (above 60 years old) will outnumber the children under the age of 10 years, and by 2050, the number of older persons will cross 2 billion and will outnumber adolescents and youth aged 10 to 24 years, according to a 2017 UN report on ‘World Population Ageing’.
With increasing age, older persons become dependent. In addition to the health issues, they are also subjected to different forms of abuse like emotional, physiological, financial, and verbal. Instances of children and relatives mistreating the elderly and depriving them of food and healthcare are also being reported from different parts of the country. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data reveals that incidences of reported crimes against senior citizens has also been on a rise, from 18,714 in 2014 to 27,696 in 2019, an increase of 48%. Gradual breakdown of joint family system in the society is cited as the reason by the government, behind the rising number of cases of neglect, crime, exploitation, and abandonment of parents and senior citizens.
Filial support laws which make it the duty of adult children to support their parents who are unable to maintain themselves have been in place since the mid 1990-s in China, Bangladesh, Singapore, and India. Taiwan, USA, Germany, and France also have similar statutes.
MWPSC Act was enacted to ensure parents and senior citizens are given basic amenities
Multiple schemes and legal statutes are being implemented in India to offer support and protection to senior citizens in order to ensure that they are taken care of. One such important legislation is the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 (MWPSC Act) which was brought in to ensure need based maintenance for parents and senior citizens and their welfare. The Act defines maintenance as including provision for food, clothing, residence, medical attendance, and treatment. Unlike claiming for maintenance under Section 125 of CrPC wherein the senior citizen will have to approach the Court bearing expenses to file and litigate suit and spend a lot of time, under MWPSC Act, the process was made simple. Parents and senior citizens may claim for maintenance only under one of these statutes.
Maintenance for parents and senior citizens is made mandatory by the law
The Act makes it mandatory for children or legal heirs to provide the basic amenities to their parents or grandparents (or senior citizens). Maintenance Tribunals have been established to ensure the implementation of the law. Monthly maintenance of up to Rs. 10,000 can be awarded and the children or relative should deposit this within 30 days from the day of the order by the tribunal. Senior citizens can also revoke transfer of property in case of negligence by relatives. The failure to comply with the maintenance orders issued by the Tribunal can also attract imprisonment. Section 17 of the Act states that no party to a proceeding should be represented by a lawyer while parents or senior citizens may avail the services of the Maintenance Officer appointed by the State Government.
State governments have been entrusted with the responsibility to ensure that every district has at least one old age home for destitute senior citizens. Adequate medical facilities as well as security for senior citizens must be ensured. Special arrangements like separate queues and beds in hospitals, must also be provided.
Former Law Minister, Dr. Ashwani Kumar had filed a petition on the issue of rights of the elderly following which a Supreme Court bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta in December 2018 issued some directions for enforcing the rights of senior citizens. Emphasizing on social justice, the bench stated that right to live with dignity, shelter, and health of citizens, including the elderly, must be ensured by states. The right of senior citizens to live with dignity has also been mentioned in Senior Citizen Welfare Organization & another v. State of Uttarakhand & Anr., in June 2018. The Uttarakhand High Court issued a slew of mandatory directions for the state following its failure to maintain the required number of old age homes. The directions include establishment of old age homes across all districts and provision of facilities for senior citizens ensuring their safety and welfare.
SC directed the Central Government to ensure proper implementation
The SC, in Dr. Ashwani Kumar v. Union of India & Ors. asked the government to obtain information about the number of old age homes, medical and geriatric care facilities in each district from state governments and union territories, and file status reports. It was further highlighted that the elderly was not aware of their human rights guaranteed by the Constitution and State Governments. The Central Government can devise plans for the State Governments to execute the various provisions of the Act. The SC directed the Centre to prepare a plan of action for giving publicity to the various provisions of the MWPSC Act and the other statutory rights of the elderly. Further, the Central government was asked to conduct a review to monitor the progress in implementation of the Act by the State Governments. The apex court also noted that some of the schemes were outdated and asked the Centre to relook at them. The Center directed that the Pension amount was to be revised in order to make it more ‘realistic’. The last revision in pension was done in 2007.
All these directions by courts imply that the implementation of the Act is not satisfactory. Studies have also pointed out that the lack of awareness of rights among elderly is a major reason for the ineffective implementation of the legislation. Emotional attachment to children, physical weakness to fight a case, and social stigma with respect to living in old age homes are some of the other reasons behind parents/ senior citizens not opting the legal route to claim maintenance.
MWPSC Amendment Bill, 2019 has been referred to Standing Committee
An amendment bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2019 to make changes to the MWPSC Act. The bill was referred to the Standing Committee and might come up for discussion in the upcoming parliament session. The Bill has been introduced following various High Courts’ orders to review the Act’s provisions. The Bill proposes to bring daughter-in-law or son–in-law, adopted or step-children under the definition of children. Further, it proposes to remove the upper limit in maintenance.

created: November 28, 2020


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Review: What is the status of ‘Solar Energy’ generation in the country?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 8, 2021
A parliamentary standing committee recently reviewed India’s 2025 action plan for achieving 175 GW of renewable energy target. The committee noted that on the solar front, the progress in many of the schemes has been tardy and much needs to be done to achieve the set targets. Here is a review of the solar energy sector.
In the year 2015, a total of 196 countries came together under the Paris Agreement which is a landmark international accord to address climate change and its negative impacts. The agreement aims to substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to limit the global temperature increase in this century to ‘2 Degrees Celsius’ above pre-industrial levels while pursuing the means to limit the increase to ‘1.5 Degrees’. Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) embody efforts by each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. Under the agreement, each party must prepare, communicate, and maintain successive NDCs that the country intends to achieve.
India has pledged 40% of country’s installed power generation capacity will be from renewable sources
India has made a pledge that by 2030, 40% of the country’s installed power generation capacity shall be from clean energy sources. In 2015, it was decided that by 2022, India will install 175 GW of renewable energy capacity. This includes 100 GW from solar energy, 60 GW from wind energy, 10 GW from biomass, and the remaining 5 GW from small hydropower. Later, in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that India’s renewable energy capacity would be increased to much beyond 175 GW and eventually to 450 GW.
Nearly one-fourth of power generated in India is through renewable sources
As of March 2020, India stood among the top 5 countries in the world in terms of renewable energy capacity. India ranked fifth in solar power, 4 in wind power, and 4 in total renewable power installed capacity. Including the hydropower capacity, India ranked 3 globally in renewable power capacity. Over the years, it is observed that the share of renewable energy to total installed power capacity has increased from about 10.6% in March 2011 to 23.6% in May 2020. However, Thermal energy (Coal) continues to be the primary energy source in the country.
The main renewable sources of energy in India are solar power, wind power, bioenergy, and small hydro energy sectors. In this story, we look at the different schemes being implemented to promote solar power in India, and its current status. In the subsequent story, we will be looking at the schemes surrounding other renewable and clean energy sources and their status of implementation.
The data for the story has been collated from a recent parliamentary standing committee report on “Action Plan for Achievement of 175 Gigawatt (GW) Renewable Energy Target”, tabled in March 2021.
National Solar Mission was launched in 2010 to promote solar power usage
The National Solar Mission (NSM) was launched in 2010 with the target to deploy 20,000 MW of grid-connected solar power by 2022 to reduce the cost of solar power generation in India through long term policy, large scale deployment goals, aggressive research and development, and domestic production of raw materials, components, and products to achieve grid parity by 2022. Later, the target was revised to 1,00,000 MW by 2022. However, against the target of 100 GW of solar energy, as of June 2020, a total of 35.12 GW of solar power capacity had been installed in India and solar power projects of 31.48 GW were under various stages of implementation. No annual targets were set. The annual additional solar energy installation capacity is given in the chart below. The highest capacity addition was in 2017-18 with a 9.3 GW capacity addition.
Fund utilization is still not 100%
In spite of the allocation made every year, only about 84 to 90% of the funds have been utilized in the last four years. The low fund utilization is cited to have arisen from the funds reserved for the North-East States that are not fully utilized because of poor potential in these areas, the rough terrain, and a poor number of proposals from state governments for setting up grid-connected solar power projects.
What are the various projects under NSM?
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has rolled out the following schemes under NSM for achieving the target in solar energy:
Solar Park is a large chunk of land developed with all necessary infrastructure and clearances for setting up solar projects. Solar parks usually have a capacity of 500 MW. Smaller parks (up to 20 MW) are also given approval in States where there is a shortage of non-agricultural land. Approximately 4 to 5 acres of land is required every MW for setting up solar parks, acquiring of which is a challenge.
As of June 2020, a total of 39 approved solar parks of an aggregate capacity of 22,879 MW were being set up in 17 States. These parks are at different stages of development. The infrastructure in about 8 of these states which have an aggregate capacity of 6580 MW is fully developed while 4 other parks which have an aggregate capacity of 1365 MW are partially developed.
The committee observed that 11 solar parks with an aggregate capacity of 17,121 MW have not even got the approval of the Ministry although these Solar parks have to be developed and projects to be commissioned by 2022. The committee recommended that the approval process should be made faster and called for exploring the possibility of utilizing surplus land available with various public sector undertakings like in the case of Kochi Airport.
Only 9 CPSUs had participated in the 1000 MW CPSUs Scheme. The scheme also envisages the use of domestically manufactured cells and modules. VGF is provided to cover the difference in cost between domestically produced and imported solar PV cells and modules. A VGF of Rs. 795 crores have been released to Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for disbursal to the 9 CPSUs and in phase-II about Rs. 319 crores have been released for disbursal to 7 participating CPSUs. Another VGF Scheme for setting up 5000 MW of Grid-Connected Solar PV Power Projects through SECI, which has a separate component of 1000 MW for N-E states is also being implemented.
The committee opined that the target under the scheme must be enhanced and more CPSUs and government organizations must be encouraged to participate in the scheme.
The scheme has been set up for achieving a cumulative capacity of 40,000 MW from Rooftop Solar (RTS) Projects by the year 2022 and is implemented through DISCOMs. However, only 1948 MW of solar power roof-top could be installed in more than five years (2015 to 2020). Again, in February 2019, the programme was approved with a target for achieving a cumulative capacity of 40,000 MW from Rooftop Solar (RTS) Projects by the year 2022. However, against the annual target of 3000 MW, only 472 MW could only be achieved during 2019-20. The target is higher for subsequent years that is 6000 MW for 2020-21, 12000 MW for 2021-22, and 17000 MW for 2022-23. Assistance has been increased from 30% to 40%.
The committee stated that the targets are unrealistic and recommended spreading awareness about the scheme and also introduce a Single Window Clearance System to assist and provide hassle-free service to customers that would make subsidy disbursement transparent and quick.
Further, the ministry is recommended to consider income criteria for providing subsidies. It recommended the installation of rooftop plants in all government buildings. The Ministry was also asked to ensure proper implementation of Net/Gross Metering arrangements through consultations with all stakeholders so that both DISCOMs and consumers get a fair deal.
The scheme was launched with the objective of installation of an additional off-grid solar capacity of 118 MWp by 2020 through 3,00,000 solar streetlights: 25,00,000 solar study lamps and 100 MWp of off-grid solar power plants. However, the sanctioned and installed figures are as follows:
The progress under this scheme has been very slow and the pandemic has further affected the scheme. The committee suggested that solar study lamps should be provided to students in LWE affected districts, remote areas, and NE states for free and service centres should be set up in districts for timely maintenance. Ministry was also asked to encourage solar application installation in highways, railway stations, irrigation canals, etc.
The scheme to support farmers to set up small solar power projects and solar pumps for irrigation purposes was launched in 2019 with the aim to add a solar capacity of 25,750 MW by 2022. There are three components under the scheme. However, it was observed that participation of states was low under this scheme. Annual targets were also absent which made it difficult to monitor the progress of the scheme. The committee also suggested that all states and UTs implement the scheme vigorously and called for the formulation of a mechanism to ensure power produced by the farmers is bought by DISCOMs and they make timely payments to farmers.


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Review: What is the status of ‘Wind’ & ‘Biomass’ energy generation?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 12, 2021
A parliamentary standing committee recently reviewed India’s 2025 action plan for achieving 175 GW of renewable energy target. The committee noted that while targets have been reached in the ‘biomass’ sector, still a lot of work is pending on the ‘wind’ energy side. Here is a review.
In the previous story, we reviewed the solar energy sector in India following a parliamentary standing committee’s recent report of India’s 2025 action plan for achieving 175 GW of renewable energy target. The report also reviewed schemes surrounding other renewable and clean energy sources and their status of implementation.  The progress made in the other renewable energy sectors is reviewed in this story.
The data for the story has been collated from the same parliamentary standing committee report titled “Action Plan for Achievement of 175 Gigawatt (GW) Renewable Energy Target”, tabled in March 2021.
India has not achieved the annual ‘Wind energy’ targets consistently
India has the fourth greatest wind installed capacity in the world with a total installed capacity of 37.94 GW as of 31 July 2020 and 64.639 billion units were generated from wind power in 2019-20. Though the target of 60 GW was set to be achieved from wind energy by 2022, as of 31 July 2020, the cumulative commissioned capacity was 37.94 GW, 8.30 GW was under implementation, and 3.10 GW worth bids were issued making it a total of 49.34 GW.
The government had stipulated annual targets with respect to wind energy since 2011-12. However, except in 2011-12, 2014-15,2015-16, and 2016-17, the targets have not been achieved in the remaining 5 years. The targets varied with each year and were highest, 4000 MW each in 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19.
9 states dominate the wind energy sector
Nine states- Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana are predominantly involved in the wind energy sector in India. In the decade under consideration between 2010-11 and 2019-20, Gujarat had the highest installed wind power capacity of 5766.78 MW followed by Tamil Nadu with 4397.61 MW. The installed capacity in Kerala is only 34.75 MW and in Telangana is 128.1 MW by the end of 2019-20.
Shift in tariff regime cited as the reason for not achieving the set target
The reason cited by the Ministry for non-achievement of targets is the shift in tariff regime. The capacity additions till 2017 when targets were achieved, were through Feed-in Tariff (FiT) mechanism. Later, the tariff mechanism was changed to the bidding route. Currently, the wind power projects in India are installed on the basis of commercial viability through a tariff-based competitive bidding process which has brought down the tariff of wind power from over Rs. 4 per unit through FiT to around Rs 2.80 per unit in the bidding regime.
Offshore ‘Wind power projects’ may be explored
India also has about 36 GW and 31 GW offshore wind power potential off the coast of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu respectively. India is currently in the initial phases of offshore wind power development. Extensive research is required to understand the viability of these projects. Preliminary studies have estimated that the per megawatt cost of the offshore wind turbine would be two to three times the cost of onshore wind turbines. However, it is expected that the strong onshore projects will help to keep the rates in check. The committee has suggested exploring offshore wind power potential in other coastal states as well. The Ministry was also asked to ensure that the shift in tariff regime does not affect the 2022 targets.
India is close to achieving the ‘Biomass power’ generation target
The installed total capacity of Biomass Power and cogeneration installed in India as of 31 July 2020 is 9.936 GW as against the 2022 target of 10 GW. That is, the sector is close to achieving its target. Physical targets set for biopower and the achievements over the years indicate that the targets have been achieved in grid-connected and off-grid biomass power and cogeneration between 2010-11 and 2013-14. In the case of off-grid power, the targets were achieved until 2014-15. The targets since then have been combined for grid-connected and off-grid biomass power and cogeneration power plants and have been achieved in 2017-18 and 2018-19 as well.
The problems faced in this sector are the non-signing of PPAs by DISCOMs, lack of working capital, and non-availability of biomass. Fund utilization is poor like in the case of the solar energy sector. The reason cited for the poor utilization of funds is the requirement of a multitude of documents for sanction and release.
NNBOMP targets have not been achieved
New National Biogas and Organic Manure Program have failed to achieve targets since 2011-12. Thus, the committee recommended a comprehensive review of the program. Further, the ministry was asked to rework the targeted beneficiaries under the scheme considering the Ujjwala scheme which has impacted the program.
Only 22% of SHP potential has been harnessed till now
Small Hydro Power (SHP) projects up to 25 MW station capacity are being developed to achieve the 5 GW target set to be achieved by 2022. Against this 5000 MW targeted capacity achievement by 2022 from SHP projects, 4688.16 MW capacity from 1130 SHP projects has been achieved by 30 June 2020. Further, 100 projects of 509 MW are under various stages of implementation. It has been identified that SHP projects have the potential of about 21133 MW of which only 22% has been harnessed. The SHP scheme was implemented between 2014 and 2017. The Ministry has currently proposed to develop the scheme again for up to 2025. The committee has called for setting up targets to harness the entire potential available in the SHP sector. It also added that the Small Hydro Power (SHP) projects starting from 01 April 2017, must be covered under the new SHP Program.
India has imported Solar PV cells worth USD 11,673 million from China alone
India already has adequate domestic manufacturing capability for wind, biomass, and small hydropower equipment with expert capability, according to the standing committee report. However, with respect to the equipment for solar power, India is dependent on China, Malaysia, Germany, the USA, and Taiwan. The total value of solar PV cells/modules imported by India was worth USD 711 million in 2013-14 which increased to USD 3838 million in 2017-18. On average, between 2013-14 and 2019-20 (provisional data up to December 2019), India has imported 82% of the solar PV cells worth US$ 11,673 million from China alone, signifying its dependence on Chinese imports for achieving the solar targets.
The committee recommended formulating long term policy for facilitating domestic solar manufacturing capability in India
As observed in the previous story, one of the objectives of the National Solar Mission launched more than a decade ago was to encourage domestic manufacturing of raw materials and other raw materials.  The committee opined that excessive dependence on imports makes the solar power sector vulnerable to supply-side disruptions. The committee has called for devising a long-term policy for developing and facilitating domestic solar manufacturing capabilities within India so that dependence on imports reduces and in turn helps in employment generation in the country.
Green energy corridor also shows tardy progress
The Green Energy Corridor scheme was launched in 2015 for synchronizing electricity produced from renewable sources, such as solar and wind, with conventional power stations in the grid. Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Himachal Pradesh are the states rich in renewable energy, which are implementing the scheme through their respective State Transmission Utilities (STUs). However, only cumulative 7365 ckm transmission lines and commissioning of 9976 MVA capacity substations during the last 5 years’ period (as of 31 December 2020) has been constructed as against the target fixed at 9700 ckm transmission lines and 22600 MVA substations. The committee recommended the Ministry work on a mission mode with the states involved in Green Energy Corridor to ensure the project is completed on time.
Large investments required in the next two years
Funding to the tune of Rs. 2,61,000 crores are necessary for installing 58 GW of renewable power projects over the next two years. However, because of the pandemic, there have been supply-side disruptions, and attracting such a huge investment in the next 2 years might be a difficult task. The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) is the only dedicated public sector financial institution for financing renewable energy projects in India. The committee asked IREDA to make available necessary capital for the installation of renewable energy projects for projects to continue smoothly. The Ministry is also recommended to mobilize long-term financing and concessional loans through multilateral and bilateral agencies. Furthermore, the committee has recommended IREDA review its project appraisal processes and make loan disbursement stricter for sanctioning large projects to prevent them from becoming NPAs in the future. It also recommended follow-up with special mention accounts category borrowers and expeditious recovery of the outstanding loans.
Featured Image: Renewable Energy Generation in India


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Review: What is the ‘Vehicle Scrapping Policy’ all about?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 1, 2021
The Central Government has recently notified draft rules of many aspects relating to the ‘Vehicle Scrapping Policy’. This article looks at the major features of the policy, the uncertainties surrounding it among other things.
Recently, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) introduced the ‘Voluntary Vehicle-Fleet Modernization Program’ or ‘Vehicle Scrapping Policy’ with the objective to create an eco-system for phasing out unfit and polluting vehicles. Through this policy, the government aims to cut down on the pollution caused by old and defective vehicles, bring down vehicular air pollution and work towards achieving India’s climate commitments, improve road and vehicular safety, and improve fuel efficiency. The draft policy which has been drafted after a comparative study of standards from various countries like Germany, the UK, USA, and Japan, has been notified in the public domain for comments and views for 30 days.
Old vehicles cause 10-12 times more pollution that the new ones
According to the estimates of MoRTH, there are over 51 lakh light motor vehicles (LMV) that are above 20 years of age, while another 34 lakh LMVs are above 15 years. Additionally, there are over 17 lakh medium and heavy motor vehicles, which are above 15 years, and running currently without valid fitness certificates. These vehicles are estimated to cause 10-12 times more pollution than the latest vehicles, according to MoRTH.
Government owned vehicles above 15 years old will be scrapped
The draft policy calls for the de-registration of commercial vehicles after 15 years if they do not get the fitness certificate. Similarly, private vehicles will be de-registered after 20 years upon failing to renew the registration certificate. In the case of government owned vehicles including PSUs, State Transport Undertakings, and autonomous bodies, all vehicles may be de-registered and scrapped after 15 years from the date of original registration. A vehicle failing the fitness test or failing to renew the registration certificate may be declared as ‘End of Life Vehicle’. The scrapping policy is not applicable to vintage cars.
Incentives and disincentives announced to promote scrapping of old vehicles
The government aims to check the number of old vehicles on roads through incentives and disincentives. It has proposed increased prices for new fitness tests, issuance of fitness certificates, and re-registrations to dissuade the usage of old vehicles. Even the cost of re-registering an old vehicle is proposed to be increased. As per a draft notification issued recently, the cost of registration & renewal of registration of all vehicles has been proposed to be hiked by up to 20 times, based on the type of vehicle, with effect from October 2021. Even the cost of conducting the fitness test of vehicles has been proposed to be increased from 2.5 to 4 times for manual and even more for automated vehicles. An additional cost for granting fitness certificates to vehicles older than 15 years has been proposed, ranging from Rs. 1000 for motorcycles to Rs.12,500 for heavy passenger/motor vehicles.
Cost of re-registration, fitness certificate issuance and test hiked manifold
For instance, the cost of re-registering a light motor vehicle (non-transport) currently is Rs. 200. In order to conduct the fitness test for renewal of the fitness certificate, the owner will have to pay Rs. 200 and for issuance of the fitness certificate, they will have to pay Rs. 100, and the expenses will come to a total of Rs. 500 approximately. If the proposed draft rules are implemented, the re-registration cost will be Rs. 5,000. To conduct the fitness test, it will cost between Rs.800 to Rs.1000. If the vehicle is older than 15 years & is a transport vehicle, the owner will have to pay Rs. 7,500 for issuance of fitness certificate. The total expense for the owner can go up to Rs. 13,500 if the draft rules are implemented without considering the additional charges which are applicable for delay in renewing these certificates after the expiry date.
Incentives like Road-tax rebate, waiver in registration fees to be offered
The incentives to be offered to vehicle owners for scrapping their old vehicles and procure new vehicles are the following.
The policy implementation is to be done in a phased manner starting with the implementation of new rules from October 2021, scrapping of government vehicles from April 2022, and mandatory fitness tests from April 2023.
Draft rules for setting up of RVSF has also been notified
The Ministry has also notified draft rules for setting up Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facility (RVSF) and prescribes procedures for its authorization and functioning. Any legal entity is eligible to set up such a facility with a license that is valid for an initial period of 10 years and renewable for another 10 years. The processing fee for applications is Rs. 1 Lakh along with a bank guarantee of Rs. 10 Lakhs. These centres will be linked to NCRB and Police Database for verification of stolen vehicles and those involved in criminal activities. The Ministry also has plans to promote setting up of Automated Fitness Centres on a PPP model by the state government, private sector, automobile companies, etc.
The government is expecting to attract additional investments of around Rs. 10,000 Crore and 35,000 job opportunities through the implementation of the policy. Furthermore, the government expects that the policy will help formalize the informal vehicle scrapping industry and boost the availability of low-cost raw materials for the automotive, steel, and electronics industries, in addition to the environmental benefits. The policy will also help in reducing India’s dependency on imports and control the cost of materials, as per the government’s enumeration of the benefits of the policy.
Many uncertainties around the draft policy
According to a CSE report of September 2020,  India will have over 2.18 crore vehicles nearing the end of their lives by 2025. The number of vehicles that need to be scrapped, the volume of non-biodegradable waste that will be generated, will be huge. The policy also encourages the purchase of new vehicles by providing incentives for the same when old vehicles are scrapped. However, the benefits for those not purchasing a new vehicle are low especially considering that COVID-19 has affected the economy and people’s ability to purchase new vehicles in the next few years. Also, with respect to the incentives mentioned, there is uncertainty involved since the onus to provide tax rebates is on the state governments. State governments will already be incurring a heavy price to replace their fleet of vehicles that are older than 15 years. Hence, expecting them to provide further benefits may not be practical. Furthermore, while people are being encouraged to buy new cars, energy consumption is high for producing cars which can offset the emission gains of the new technology, especially in a country like India where thermal energy (coal and other fossil fuels) is the primary source of electricity. Hence unless a detailed cost-benefit analysis is performed, the policies’ benefits may not considerably outweigh the costs involved.
CSE proposed measures for vehicle scrapping in its report in 2020
The CSE report calls for mandating ‘Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)’ which holds manufacturers responsible for the safe disposal of the waste from their products and produce safe products for lifetime use. It also called for taking insights from European regulations on end-of-life which are more stringent as compared to Indian rules.
Germany has largest vehicle scrappage scheme
Among the major economies, Germany has the largest vehicle scrappage scheme which is being implemented starting in 2009. The scrappage premium of 2,500 Euros was given and cars older than 9 years are eligible for scrapping. Following this, the Germain retail industry faced considerable loss at beginning of 2009. The low demand resulted in discounts as high as 40% by car manufacturers. More people bought small, compact, and fuel-efficient vehicles under the scheme. However, new car registrations rose in the first half of 2009.
Featured Image: Vehicle Scrapping Policy