Title: Parched or polluted
(Urgent reforms are needed to deal with the acute water stress in most of India)
Context:- According to the Composite Water Management Index developed by Niti Aayog, 70% of the water resources are identified as polluted. This is based primarily on data supplied by States for calculating the index. If the water accessible to millions is contaminated, the problem is infinitely worse than that of availability.
The system of ratings for States is based on their performance in augmenting water resources and watersheds, investing in infrastructure, providing rural and urban drinking water, and encouraging efficient agricultural use.
What emerges from the early assessment is that States such as Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab and Telangana have initiated reforms for judicious water use, while populous ones such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have failed to respond to the challenge.
Tamil Nadu, which has a middling score, does well on augmentation of water sources, but is abysmally poor in ensuring sustainable use for farming. The trends that the data reflect of high to extreme stress faced by 600 million people call for speedy reforms.
Two areas that need urgent measures are augmentation of watersheds that can store more good water, for use in agriculture and to serve habitations, and strict pollution control enforcement.
In this context, the Committee on Restructuring the Central Water Commission and the Central Ground Water Board, chaired by Mihir Shah, has called for a user-centric approach to water management, especially in agriculture.
As the Cauvery issue has demonstrated, State governments would rather seek judicial intervention than be accused of bartering away the rights to a precious resource under a shared, cooperative framework.
Groundwater extraction patterns need to be better understood through robust data collection; less than 5% of about 12 million wells are now under study.
Steady urbanisation calls for a new management paradigm(मिसाल), augmenting sources of clean drinking water supply and treatment technologies that will encourage reuse. Pollution can be curbed by levying suitable costs.
These forward-looking changes would need revamped national and State institutions, and updated laws.
Final Words
A legal mandate will work better than just competition and cooperation; it would make governments accountable.
Title: Change in Mexico?
(The ruling party faces an uphill battle ahead of the presidential election)
Context:- Mexico’s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which has dominated its politics for the better part of a century(1929 to 2000), seems at risk of a defeat in the July 1 election. Brisk economic growth, low inflation and a sharp fall in unemployment have not contained the steady political slide under the corruption-tainted rule of President Enrique Peña Nieto.
- Simultaneously, the strong showing in opinion polls for the radical left-wing frontrunner, Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the National Regeneration Movement, is linked to the peso’s(currency) sharp decline and a sense of drift.
- The threat of Washington quitting the North American Free Trade Agreement has loomed large over the latter part of Mr. Peña Nieto’s rule. But his challenges at home have been no less formidable.
- Mr. Peña Nieto’s government has also been at the centre of a political storm beginning with accusations that surfaced last year of illegal funding of his 2012 election.
- Mr. López Obrador, a three-time contender for the presidency and former Mayor of Mexico City, has sought to capitalise on this widespread disenchantment(निराशा). While his rhetoric may sound too simplistic, voters could well give him the benefit of the doubt for want of an alternative.
- All the same, Mr. López Obrador’s rising popularity has sent jitters(डर) across the energy industry over the future of the contracts for oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico.
- Whatever the outcome on July 1, Mexico’s transition through the ballot(मतदान) seems an integral feature of the country’s polity. This is no mean achievement in Latin America, where extensions of presidential terms through constitutional fiat(व्यवस्थापत्र) are routine.
- And going forward, FIFA’s decision to award the 2026 World Cup to the three NAFTA nations — Mexico, with the U.S. and Canada — will possibly lead to a more conducive(सहायक) overall climate in the region.**
Vocabulary words:
Parched (adj) = Dried out with heat (सूखा)
Contaminate (verb) = Pollute, adulterate (दूषित)
Augment (verb) = Increase, enlarge (बढ़ती करना)
Hall of fame = A building that contains images of famous people and interesting things that are connected with them.
Foster (verb) = Encourage, promote (प्रोत्साहन देना)
Augmentation (noun) = Increase, rise (वृद्धि)
Abysmally (adv) = In an extremely bad way (घोर रूप से)
Barter (verb) = Exchange (goods or services) for other goods or services without using money
Paradigm (noun) = A typical example or pattern of something (मिसाल)
Formidable (adj) = Inspiring fear or respect through being impressively large, powerful, intense, or capable (भयंकर)
Scepticism (noun) = Doubt as to the truth of something (संदेहवाद)
Fiat (noun) = A formal authorization or proposition (व्यवस्थापत्र)
Conducive (adj) = Making a certain situation or outcome likely or possible (अनुकूल)
Unpalatable (adj) = Uninviting (कड़ा, अनाकषक)
Aftermath (noun) = Result (परिणाम)
Tragic (adj) = Ruinous, disastrous (दुखद)
Dispel (verb) = Banish, eliminate (हटाना)
