India's Bold EV Policy A Game Changer

ELECTRIC VEHICLE POLICY IN INDIA :

India’s “Viksit Bharat” vision sets forth the goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions while ensuring access to sustainable energy resources and technologies. Incorporating renewable energy into the country’s energy mix is a pivotal aspect of this vision and a crucial step towards transitioning to cleaner energy sources. The decision in Budget 2024 to exempt custom duties on minerals and rare earth metals is a move poised to advance India’s zero-emission ambitions, especially in the electric mobility sector.

The 2024 Budget recognises energy security as one of nine priorities and has proposed targeted customs duty exemptions for critical minerals, including lithium. This incentive recognises that effective lithium acquisition has immense importance in maintaining a stable pace of improvement in electric mobility transition due to its potential in accelerating electric vehicle (EV) adoption by lowering resource and production costs, incentivising manufacturing, and encouraging innovation in electric mobility solutions.

Central to the EV revolution is the lithium-ion battery, the most critical and cost-intensive component. 

Advancements in EV battery manufacturing by producing technologically advanced, cost- and energy-efficient lithium-ion batteries has the potential to accelerate EV adoption. However, the sources of such minerals are geographically concentrated. For instance, China controls 79% of the global graphite supply, the Democratic Republic of Congo holds 70% of the cobalt supply, China also dominates with 60% of rare earth elements, and Australia provides 55% of the world’s lithium. In addition, China dominates the processing sector and is responsible for processing 67% of lithium, 73% of cobalt, 70% of graphite, and 95% of manganese.

India is highly reliant on the procurement and refining of lithium and other critical minerals. In the 2023 fiscal year, India’s lithium imports amounted to Rs 23,171 crore, a significant increase from the previous year’s Rs 13,673.15 crore. In 2020, India imported almost 450 million units of lithium-ion batteries. 

India’s energy transition is expected to lead to a significant decrease in the import bill for oil. However, the persistence of exponentially increasing lithium import could offset the anticipated decline in oil imports, resulting in a shift of import dependency from oil to lithium.

The transition to sustainable energy practices should not impose heavy economic burdens. Effective integration of sustainable and climate change strategies into national policy and planning is essential for India to reach its environmental goals while also upholding socio-economic stability and ensuring strong public finances. 

For this, making low-energy options more accessible and affordable for consumers is necessary. Along with this, it is crucial to build domestic capacity by supporting industries actively working towards a cleaner and more sustainable economy. In the realm of electric mobility, ensuring the availability and affordability of key resources like lithium is paramount.

India has initiated and is actively pursuing the exploration, development, and mining of critical minerals, especially areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and Karnataka. The number of projects focusing on critical minerals rose from 59 in 2020 to 123 in 2023. 

Additionally, Khanij Bidesh India Limited establishes valuable government-to-government partnerships with mineral-rich nations like Australia, several countries in Africa, and Argentina. These collaborations involve pursuing trading opportunities and making strategic acquisitions or investments in exploration and mining. 

However, until these exploration efforts yield tangible results, the waiving of customs duties on critical minerals “reduce input costs, deepen value addition, promote export competitiveness, correct inverted duty structure, and boost domestic manufacturing” as mentioned by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her speech.

Forward-looking policies like the production-linked incentive scheme and Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles are accelerating India’s journey towards electric mobility. 

The reduction in lithium procurement prices by reducing the custom duties will further this agenda and has the potential to accelerate the electric mobility pathway. It will enable industry players to focus on building capacity and innovation, alleviating the burden of high upfront costs for consumers. This initiative should be strengthened by enhancing capacity building for the refinement of critical minerals, which will facilitate their effective use, enhance the battery value chain, and reduce dependency.

The 2024 Budget’s focus on exempting customs duties on essential minerals and rare earth metals is a strategic move that underscores India’s commitment to its electric mobility ambitions. The growing urgency for adopting sustainable practices is driving up the cost of transition. The exemption on custom duty for critical minerals will help mitigate these costs by removing cost barriers in securing and eliminating minerals and thus ensuring a steady supply to critical sectors that play a crucial role in advancing India’s sustainability efforts.

The Budget recognises India as a “climate-vulnerable” nation, and emphasises the need for adaptive strategies to meet environmental goals while advancing development commitments. It emphasises the creation of robust, future-oriented infrastructure in key areas such as electric mobility, enhancing India’s global standing, and reducing reliance on other nations for resources and technologies. 

These measures are designed to bolster resilience and ensure sustainable growth, aligning economic progress with environmental stewardship for a more secure and prosperous future. As India continues to innovate and invest in critical mineral exploration and EV technologies, these measures will drive the country closer to a cleaner, more sustainable future, ensuring accessible and affordable electric mobility

Recently, the United Kingdom (UK) has decided to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030. Also, as part of its green agenda, the UK strives to establish the enabling infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs).

Such a big move that could have a ripple effect on the green movement around the world. In India, the government is also keen on replacing fossil fuel-driven vehicles with EVs. In 2017 began by setting an ambitious target of 100% electric cars by 2030.

However, due to resistance from the automotive industry and fears of job losses forced the government to lower the target. Thus, without the government supporting investment in EV infrastructure upfront and passing the buck to the automotive industry and consumers, it would be difficult to bring transformation in the mobility sector.

India’s Necessity For EVs

• Controlling Pollution: According to the International Council for Clean Transportation (ICCT), an estimated 74,000 premature deaths were attributable to air pollution from transportation tailpipe emissions in India in 2015.

• Also, many top polluted cities in the world are from India. For example, New Delhi.

• Mitigating Climate Change: In December 2019, in the Climate Risk Index 2020 released by the environment think tank, Germanwatch, India’s rank has worsened from the 14th spot in 2017 to 5th in 2018 in the global vulnerability ladder.

• This makes it all the more reason for India to make electric cars and vehicles a priority in the fight against the reliance on fossil fuels.

• Sustainable Energy Options: Shifting towards EVs will help India to reduce oil dependency while solving the challenge of energy scarcity and moving towards renewable and clean sources of energy.

Associated Challenges

• Lack of Battery Cell Manufacturing: There is a complete absence of primary battery cell manufacturing in India which poses the risk of increasing trade deficit.

• At the moment, most manufacturers rely on batteries imported from Japan, China, Korea and Europe.

• Building Charging Infrastructure: Another big challenge is the development of charging infrastructure which will need to be combined with existing refuelling stations and at alternative locations closer to homes.

• Limited Grid Capacity: According to a Niti Aayog report, India’s EVs market needs a minimum of 10 GW of cells by 2022, which would need to be expanded to about 50 GW by 2025.

• However, currently, India is able to add only 20 GW every year to its grid for all of our other increasing energy needs. Thus, the fulfilment of the requirement of 10GW additional capacity only for EVs would be a huge task.

• Local Issues: Bringing transportation decisions closer to the people is understandable and necessary. Transport challenges such as congestion, affordability, infrastructure and transit systems availability are localized issues, impede the standardization of EVs.

• Also, it will be a challenge to create a competitive advantage in electric vehicle manufacturing, or even a market for them, given that India does not have the infrastructure or deep pockets like China (world's current leader in electric mobility).

Current Policy of Indian Government

• FAME Scheme: The Indian government has created momentum through its Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles schemes that encourage, and in some segments mandates the adoption of electric vehicles (EV), with a goal of reaching 30% EV penetration by 2030.

• If these aims are realised by 2030, they will generate an estimated saving of up to 474 Millions of tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) and 846 million tonnes of net CO2 emissions over their lifetime.

• Fiscal Incentives: Various fiscal demand incentives have been put in place to spur the production and consumption of EVs and charging infrastructure - such as income tax rebates, exemption from customs duties, etc.

Way Forward

• Increasing R&D in EVs: The Indian market needs encouragement for indigenous technologies that are suited for India from both strategic and economic standpoint.

• Since investment in local research and development is necessary to bring prices down, it makes sense to leverage local universities and existing industrial hubs.

• India should work with countries like the UK and synergise EV development.

• Sensitising Public: Breaking away the old norms and establishing a new consumer behaviour is always a challenge. Thus, a lot of sensitisation and education is needed, in order to bust several myths and promote EVs within the Indian market.

• Viable Electricity Pricing: Given current electricity prices, home charging may also be an issue if the generation is from thermal power plants run on coal.

• Thus, a shift in the electricity generation landscape as a whole is what is required to facilitate the growth of electric cars.

• In this context, India is on track to become one of the largest solar and energy storage markets by 2025.

• A combination of solar-powered grid solutions that are organised with a general improvement in grid resilience will ensure adequate charging infrastructure for EV’s being a green option.

• Creating the Closed-Loop Mobility Ecosystem: Subsidizing manufacturing for an electric supplychain will certainly improve the EV development in India.

• Along with charging infrastructure, the establishment of a robust supply chain will also be needed.

• Further, recycling stations for batteries will need to recover the metals from batteries used in electrification to create the closed-loop required for the shift to electric cars to be an environmentally-sound decision.

Conclusion

Operationalizing mass transition to electric mobility for a country of 1.3 billion people is not an easy feat. Thus, a strong common vision, an objective framework for comparing state policies and a platform for public-private collaboration are needed.

earth days are getting longer due to climate change

Earth is wobbling and days are getting longer — and humans are to blame

STUDY : New studies, which utilized AI to monitor the effects of climate change on Earth's spin, have shown that our days are getting increasingly longer and that our planet will get more wobbly in the future. These changes could have major implications for humanity's future.

The length of Earth's days and the orientation of our planet are being thrown out of balance as human-caused climate change continuously alters Earth's spin, new research suggests.

Initially, these changes will be imperceptible to us, but they could have serious knock-on effects, including forcing us to introduce negative leap seconds, interfering with space travel and altering our planet's inner core, researchers warn.

A day on Earth lasts about 86,400 seconds. But the exact time it takes our planet to complete a single rotation can shift by tiny fractions of milliseconds every year due to a number of factors, such as tectonic plate movements, changes to the inner core's rotation and gravitational tugging from the moon.

However, human-caused climate change is another factor that can alter the length of our days, and scientists are just starting to realize how much this will affect our planet's spin in the coming years.

Over the past few decades, the rate of ice loss from Earth's polar regions, particularly Greenland and Antarctica, has been increasing rapidly due to global warming, leading to rising sea levels. Most of this extra water accumulates near the equator, causing our planet to bulge slightly around the middle. This, in turn, slows the planet's spin because more weight is distributed farther away from the planet's center — similar to how spinning figure skaters slow down by moving their arms away from their bodies.

IMPLICATION OF LONGER DAYS : 

1. Introduce negative leap seconds, adjusting in future days like leap year.

2. this introduction could mess with the timekeeping of computers and smartphones

3. The future changes could impact space travel. if the Earth's rotation is changing only slowly, this effect has to be taken into account when navigating in space — for example, when sending a space probe to land on another planet.

4. he changes to Earth's rotational axis could alter the rotation of Earth's inner core, which could further increase how fast days lengthen. However, this potential interaction is still largely unknown.

Urbanization in India A Journey Through

Urbanization In India

Introduction : Urbanization is a process of behavioral, sociological, structural,demographic and geographical change where people move from rural areas to urban areas. It contributes 3/4th of GDP therefore associated with economic development. According to the 2011 census 377 million people live in urban areas, constituting 31.16% of Indian population, 7935 towns/cities. Another important aspect is that for the first time since independence the absolute increase in the urban population was higher than that in the rural population . growth in urbanization speeded up after 1990 due to 3 factors : 

1. Natural growth

2. Rural to urban migration

3. Classification of rural areas as urban areas.

Definition of urban areas : 

1. Behaviorally in 1938 when Louis Wirth published a paper called “Urbanization – a way of life” city is based on the behavior of social groups”. Which itself depends on 3 parameters: Size, density and diversification of population. Too many people live in cities with diversified socio-economic backgrounds with impersonal relationships.

2. Structural: Urbanization is the process when agricultural communities are transformed into industrial communities and because all the industrial communities live in urban areas, it is also a process of urbanization. This is a result of industrialization and economic development. So they are trying to see how occupational structure takes place (agricultural- non-agricultural).

3. Demographic: Rural settlement being transformed into urban settlements. So they try to understand this from the point of view of migration and thus, deal with population mobility. For them urbanization a process which takes place because of-  Growth of individual towns  Multiplications of towns

4. Geographical: The spatial analysis is to understand all the different phenomena in space and their distribution.

India’s urban areas are defined on the basis of two criteria and therefore two types of towns in India : 

1. Statutory towns : First, the state government grants municipal status – corporation, municipal council, notified town area committee or nagar panchayat, etc – to a settlement. Such settlements are known as statutory or municipal towns 

2. Census towns : Second, if a settlement does not have an urban civic status, but satisfies demographic and economic criteria, like a population of more than 5,000, a density of 400 persons per square kilometer and 75% male workforce in the non- agricultural sector, it can be declared urban.

Historical perspective of urbanisation in India : 

The factors responsible for urbanization varied from time to time. In the prehistoric period urbanization was synonym to the origin and rise of civilization thus can be termed as a cultural process. From historical periods to the British regime, urbanization was related to the rise and fall of kingdoms, dynasties and empires; thus a political process. In modern times, urbanization is perceived as a process which is closely related to economic development and industrialization; thus an economic process. On the basis of these temporal discontinuities in the process of urbanization in India the urban history of India can be divided into five time periods. These are:

 i) The pre-historic period (2350-1800 BC)

 ii) The early-historic period (600 BC to 500 AD) 

iii) The medieval period (600 AD to 1800 AD)

 iv) The British period (1800 to 1947)

 v) The post-Independence Period (after 1947)

India’s urban landscape went through a transformation during the 150 years of British rule. The main features of this period include: 

a) The creation of the three metropolitan port cities (mumbai, kolkata and chennai) and one administrative capital after 1911 (delhi). These  cities became the leading administrative, commercial and industrial cities. The entire cultural landscape of these cities was of British taste. All the older cities which were prominent in the Mughal period were reduced to small towns.

b) The creation of hill stations in the Himalayan foothills and in South India along with the introduction of tea and coffee plantations which resulted in the emergence of number of smaller settlements with distinct urban characteristics. Between 1815 and 1870 over 80 hill stations were developed in four different regions of the country to serve the four metropolitan cities of Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. 

c) The modification of the existing urban landscape through the introduction of civil lines and cantonments.

d) The introduction of the railways and the modern industry which lead to the development of new industrial townships like Jamshedpur, Asansol and Dhanbad.

e) The improvements in urban amenities and administration.

The above account clearly depicts that cities became the primary foci during the British period. Even the centers of education were established in the form of schools, colleges and universities. As a result an urban elite emerged which was soaked in westernization. This led to the widening of gap between the rural and the urban which continues to plague the social and political system of India even today.

The Post – Independence Period (after 1947) 

The process of urbanization in the post-Independence period witnessed a new phase. In this period this process was characterized with rapid urbanization which was dominated with the mushrooming of one lakh and million plus cities. The major changes that India has witnessed during this period can be summarized as follows : 

a) The influx of refugees and their settlement in the urban areas of northern part of the country 

b) The establishment of new planned administrative centers like Chandigarh and Bhubneshwar 

c) The construction of new industrial cities and new industrial townships near major cities.

d) The rapid growth of one-lakh and million cities 

e) The stagnation and in some cases the decline of small towns 

f) The proliferation of slums and squatter settlements in the big cities and the emergence of urban-rural fringe 

g) The introduction of urban planning through Five Year Plans and the improvement in urban governance through the 74th Amendment Act

The process of urbanization in India in not at all different from other developing countries of the world; it is also characterized with uneven pattern of development of small towns and big cities within the system.

Thus in recent years urbanization in India has acted more as an economic process than a social or political one.

Trends of Urbanization in India (1901 – 2011) : 

Urbanization in India has been relatively slow compared to many developing countries. The percentage of annual exponential growth rate of urban population reveals that in India, it grew at faster pace from the decade 1921-31 to until 1951. Thereafter it registered a sharp drop during the decade 1951-61. The decades 1961-71 and 1971- 81 showed a significant improvement in the growth rate (Table 1). But 1981-1991 shows decreasing trend which continued even in 1991-2001; in 2001-11 it shows a very small increase an over turn of the last two decades to the present rate (2.76%). The reason for the sharp drop in urban rate during 1951-61 was declassification of large number of towns during that decade. 

When seen from the perspective of number of towns the data reveals that the number of urban agglomeration /town has grown from 1827 in 1901 to 7935 in 2011. 

Fig : logistic growth model of urbanisation : speed of urbanisation varies from time to time and stage of economic, industrial and technological development.

Causes for increased urbanisation in India : 

• It is influenced by both Push factors (that drive people away from rural regions) i.e., Poor living conditions, lack of educational, economic opportunities and poor health care facilities.                

• Pull factor (that lure people to cities) i.e. Employment opportunities, educational institutions and urban lifestyle etc.

Several factors lead to urbanization in India, including

• Economic factors: Urban areas offer more job opportunities and higher wages. For example, the growth of the IT industry in cities like Bangalore and Hyderabad has led to an influx of people seeking employment in these sectors.

• Social factors: Urban areas offer a wider range of social and cultural opportunities. For example, access to quality education and healthcare facilities in cities like Mumbai and Delhi attracts people from rural areas.

• Political factors: Government policies have encouraged urbanization. For example, the government's "Smart City" initiative, which aims to develop 100 cities across India, is expected to drive urbanization.

• Environmental factors: Natural disasters have driven people from rural to urban areas in search of safety and stability. For example, Cyclone Fani, which hit coastal Odisha in 2019, displaced many people, and they migrated to nearby urban areas.

• Infrastructure development: Improved transportation and communication systems such as metro rail have made it easier for people to move to and from urban areas, and also improved the quality of life in urban areas.

• Demographic factors: India's population has been growing rapidly in recent years, contributing to the growth of urban areas as more people seek out housing and other services.

Natural increase of population

The population is increasing in developing countries like India. This natural increase is a significant cause of the growing urban population. As birth rates are declining , mortality rates are also declining the role of natural growth in urban population is lower than migration due to demographic transition.

 Rural to urban migration

Migration is influenced by economic growth and development and by technological change.  It is driven by pull factors that attract people to urban areas and push factors that drive people away from the countryside. Rural to urban migration can be a selective process, as some types of people are more likely to move than others such as younger male population and follows step migration.

Classification of rural areas into urban areas : 

 by demographic changes like population size and density

Problems and Issues with Urbanization :

• Overcrowding: Beyond the carrying capacity results in congestion, pollution and additional burden over limited natural resources of urban areas.

• Governance status: As per Census 2011, the urban system of India consists of 7933 settlements - statutory and census towns. While statutory towns are governed as urban local bodies, census towns are governed as villages. As a result, India is transitioning from a primarily rural to a quasi-urban country.

• Lack of adequate town planning: Master plans statutory instruments critical for managing urbanisation. They guide and regulate the present and future utilisation of land, expansion, and zoning of cities. But about half of our statutory towns are expanding without any master

• Enhanced sense of relative deprivation: Gives rise to urban crimes such as human trafficking, sexual assault, child labour, Juvenile delinquency, prostitution, drugs and suicides.

• Sub-Optimal Utilisation of Urban Land: Due to fragmented and poorly recorded ownership of urban land. multiple public sector organizations/agencies—ports, railways, ULBs, etc.— own land under their jurisdictions. For a city to develop holistically, planning for each land parcel must fall into one comprehensive spatial strategy.

• Pressure on basic infrastructure: Giving rise to unsustainable land prices, unaffordable rent, inadequate health and education infrastructure, solid waste management problem etc.

• Environmental degradation: Due to urban heat islands, rising pollution, inadequate drainage and persistent water crisis.

• Unplanned growth of slums: As per Census 2011, 17.3% of the total urban population was in slums in India.

• Poor City Planning for Disaster Mitigation: Chennai floods in 2015 due to encroachment of lakes and riverbeds makes for a prime example in this regard.

• Lack of synergy: Between urban and rural planning and development.

 

Rapid Expansion

Urbanization in India has expanded rapidly, with increasing numbers of people migrating to towns and cities in search of economic opportunity. Slums account for 1/4 of all urban housing. In Mumbai, more than half the population lives in slums, which are often situated near employment centers in the heart of town?

Poor Local Governance	There is a significant issue with poor local governance, weak finances, inappropriate planning leading to high costs of housing and office space, infrastructure shortages, and major service deficiencies, including erratic water and power supply and inadequate transportation systems.
Planning Challenges	Many urban governments lack a modern planning framework. The multiplicity of local bodies obstructs efficient planning and land use. Rigid master plans and restrictive zoning regulations limit the land available for building, constraining cities' abilities to grow according to changing needs?.

Housing Challenges

Building regulations limit urban density, reducing the number of houses available and pushing up property prices. Outdated rent control regulations reduce the number of houses available on rent, a critical option for the poor. Poor access to microfinance and mortgage finance limit the ability of low-income groups to buy or improve their homes. Planning and regulatory deficiencies lead to a proliferation of slums. The weak finances of urban local bodies and service providers leave them unable to expand the infrastructure that housing developers need to develop new sites?.

Service Delivery Challenges	Most services are delivered by city governments with unclear lines of accountability. There is a bias towards adding physical infrastructure rather than providing financially and environmentally sustainable services. Service providers are unable to recover operations and maintenance costs and depend on the government for finance. Independent regulatory authorities that set tariffs, decide on subsidies, and enforce service quality are generally absent??.
Infrastructure Challenges	Most urban bodies do not generate the revenues needed to renew infrastructure, nor do they have the creditworthiness to access capital markets for funds. Urban transport planning needs to be more holistic, focusing on moving people rather than vehicles, as many people walk or ride bicycles in India's towns and cities?.
Environmental Challenges	The deteriorating urban environment is affecting people's health and productivity and diminishing their quality of life?

Geographical issues of urbanisation in India : 

1. Messy urbanisation

2. Unplanned urbanisation

3. Mixed land uses in urban areas

4. Urban transport and mobility issues

5. Urban governance

6. Urban growth

7. Suburbanisation

8. Mega cities are growing faster than tier 2 and 3 cities

9. Slums

10. Out growth of cities

11. Fringe area issues

12. Urban pollution

13. Municipal waste management

14. Urban floods

15. Urban housing issues

16. Basic amenities 

17. Urban funding 

Impacts of urbanisation in India:

Positive and negative impacts