RAJ IAS ACADEMY 1st November, 2021 Page 1

RAJ MALHOTRA’S IAS ACADEMY, CHANDIGARH

PRELIMS BOOSTER 2
Gambling law of Karnataka 2
Vatican City 2
Samudrayaan 2
Tushil 3
Legal Awareness Programme for Women 3
Energy Conservation Act, 2001 4
Lakhpati SHG Women 5
Long-Range Bomb 5
Mukhyamantri Ghasiyari Kalyan Yojana 6
MCQs 6
EDITORIAL SIMPLIFIED 8
CoP 26 8
Mullaperiyar Dam 10

 RAJ IAS ACADEMY 1st November, 2021 Page 2

PRELIMS BOOSTER
Gambling law of Karnataka
Recently, the Karnataka legislature passed a legislation to amend the Karnataka Police Act,
1963, making all forms of gambling, including online, a cognisable and non-bailable o ence.
The Karnataka Police (Amendment) Act , 2021 was noti ed and came into force on October 5.

Details -

• It was passed in Karnataka despite similar laws introduced in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Telangana
having faced legal challenges for broadening the scope of gambling beyond what has been
de ned by law.

• On August 3, the Madras High Court struck down the Tamil Nadu Gambling and Police Laws
(Amendment) Act, 2021 as being ultra vires.

• And on September 27, the Kerala High Court, relying on the Madras HC order, struck down an
amendment to the Kerala Gaming Act, 1960 which imposed a ban on online rummy.


What are the legal issues raised by these amended laws?

• One of the primary grounds on which the new gaming laws in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu
has been challenged is that games of skill have been clubbed along with games of chance
in the de nition of gaming, if the games of skill are played for prizes or bets.

• Gaming companies have argued — successfully in Tamil Nadu and Kerala — that as per the law
laid down by the Supreme Court in as 1957 (Chamarbaugwala cases) — competitive games of
skill are business activities protected under Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution.

Vatican City
His Holiness Pope Francis received Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in a private audience at
the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.

Details -

• This was the rst meeting between an Indian Prime Minister and the Pope in more than two
decades.

• In June 2000, Late Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee had last visited the Vatican and
met the then Pope, His Holiness John Paul II.

• India and The Holy See have friendly relations dating back to the establishment of diplomatic
relations in 1948.

• India is home to the second largest Catholic population in Asia.

• Prime Minster extended an invitation to His Holiness Pope Francis to visit India at an early date,
which was accepted with pleasure.


About the ‘Vatican City’ -

• Vatican City, o cially the Vatican City State is a landlocked and independent city state and
enclave located within Rome, Italy.

• The Vatican City State, also known simply as the Vatican, became independent from Italy with
the Lateran Treaty (1929).

• It is a distinct territory under "full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign authority
and jurisdiction" of the Holy See, itself a sovereign entity of international law, which maintains
the city state's temporal, diplomatic, and spiritual independence.

• With an area of 49 hectares and a population of about 825, it is the smallest state in the world
by both area and population.

Samudrayaan
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Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh launched India’s First Manned Ocean Mission Samudrayan at
Chennai.

What is it?
• With the launch of this Unique Ocean Mission, India joins the the elite club of nations such as
USA, Russia, Japan, France and China to have such underwater vehicles for carrying out
subsea activities.

• This niche technology shall facilitate Ministry of Earth Sciences, MoES in carrying out deep
ocean exploration of the non-living resources such as polymetallic manganese nodules, gas
hydrates, hydro-thermal sulphides and cobalt crusts, located at a depth between 1000 and
5500 meters.

• The preliminary design of the manned submersible MATSYA 6000 is completed and realisation
of vehicle is started with various organisation including ISRO, IITM and DRDO roped-in to
support the development.

• Sea trials of 500 metre rated shallow water version of the manned submersible are expected
to take place in the last quarter of 2022 and the MATSYA 6000, the deep water manned
submersible will be ready for trials by the second quarter of 2024.

• With the advancing subsea technologies, the recent Fendouzhe manned submersible
developed by China in 2020 has touched 11000m water depths.

Tushil
The 7th Indian Navy Frigate of P1135.6 class was launched at Yantar Shipyard, Kaliningrad,
Russia.

Details -

During the ceremony, the ship was formally named as ‘Tushil’. Tushil is a Sanskrit word meaning
Protector Shield.

Background -

• Based on an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) between the Government of Republic of

India and Government of Russian Federation for construction of two ships of Project 1135.6
ships in Russia and two ships in India at M/s Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL), the contract for
construction of two ships was signed between India and Russia in October 18.

• The construction of these ships is based on Indian Navy’s speci c requirements to meet the
entire spectrum of naval warfare in all three dimensions of Air, Surface and Sub-surface.

Legal Awareness Programme for Women

The National Commission for Women (NCW), along with National Legal Services Authority
(NALSA) has launched a pan-India Legal Awareness Program for Women, "Empowerment of
Women through Legal Awareness” to impart practical knowledge about legal rights.

Details -

• The programme was launched in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh by Justice UU Lalit, Judge Supreme
Court of India and Executive Chairman, NALSA, Chairperson, National Commission for Women.

• The programme aims to cover all the States and Union Territories across the country
through regular sessions to make women aware of the various machineries of the justice
delivery system available for redressal of their grievances.

• The project will sensitise women and girls about their rights as provided under the various
laws including the Indian Penal Code.

• The project will also make them aware of the procedure of approaching and utilising various
channels available for the redressal of grievances, i.e., the Police, the Executive and the
Judiciary.


Background -

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• Earlier, the Commission had launched a pilot project ‘Legal Awareness Programme’ in
collaboration with NALSA for women at the grass-root level on August 15th, 2020.

• The Pilot project had covered all the districts of 8 States, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West
Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Assam.

About the ‘National Legal Services Authority’ (NALSA) -

• The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) was constituted under the Legal Services
Authorities Act, 1987 which came into force on 9th November, 1995 to establish a nationwide
uniform network for providing free and competent legal services to the weaker sections of
the society.

• The Chief Justice of India is the Patron-in-Chief and the second senior most Judge of
Supreme Court of India is the Executive Chairman of the Authority.

• Article 39A of the Constitution provides for free legal aid to the poor and weaker sections of
the society, to promote justice on the basis of equal opportunity. Article 14 and Article 22 (1),
obligates State to ensure equality before law.

• It must be noted that the role played by NALSA and its networks is very much relevant to
achieving the Sustainable Development Goal-16, which seeks to "Promote peaceful and
inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build
e ective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels”.

About the ‘National Commission for Women’ -

• It was set up as a statutory body in January 1992 under the National Commission for
Women Act, 1990.

• Its mission is to strive towards enabling women to achieve equality and equal participation
in all spheres of life by securing her due rights and entitlements through suitable policy
formulation, legislative measures, etc.

• Its functions are to -

• Review the constitutional and legal safeguards for women.

• Recommend remedial legislative measures.

• Facilitate redressal of grievances.

• Advise the Government on all policy matters a ecting women.

Energy Conservation Act, 2001

Amidst the growing energy needs and changing global climate landscape, the Government of
India has identi ed new areas to achieve higher levels of penetration of Renewable energy by
proposing certain Amendments to Energy Conservation Act, 2001.

Amendments proposed -

• The objective will be to enhance demand for renewable energy at the end- use sectors such
as Industry, buildings, transport etc.

• The proposal includes de ning minimum share of renewable energy in the overall
consumption by the industrial units or any establishment. There will be provision to
incentivise e orts on using clean energy sources by means of carbon saving certi cate.

• The proposed amendments would facilitate development of Carbon market in India and
prescribe minimum consumption of renewable energy either as direct consumption or
indirect use through grid. This will help in reduction of fossil fuel based energy consumption and
carbon emission to the atmosphere.

• The proposed changes to the EC Act will boost the adoption of clean technologies in various
sectors of economy. The provisions would facilitate promotion of green Hydrogen as an
alternate to the existing fossil fuels used by the Industries.

• The additional incentives in the form of Carbon credits against deployment of clean
technologies will result in private sector involvement in climate actions. The proposal also
includes expanding the scope of Act to include larger Residential buildings, with an aim to
promote Sustainable Habitat.

About the ‘Energy Conservation Act, 2001’ -

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 RAJ IAS ACADEMY 1st November, 2021 Page 5
• Considering the vast potential of energy savings and bene ts of energy e ciency, the
Government of India enacted the Energy Conservation Act, 2001.

• The Act provides for the legal framework, institutional arrangement and a regulatory
mechanism at the Central and State level to embark upon energy e ciency drive in the
country.

• Five major provisions of EC Act relate to Designated Consumers, Standard and Labelling of
Appliances, Energy Conservation Building Codes, Creation of Institutional Set up (BEE) and
Establishment of Energy Conservation Fund.

• The Energy Conservation Act became e ective from 1st March, 2002 and Bureau of Energy
E ciency (BEE) operationalised from 1st March, 2002.

• Energy e ciency institutional practices and programs in India are now mainly being guided
through various voluntary and mandatory provisions of the Energy Conservation Act.

Lakhpati SHG Women

To bring a sharper focus on moving women to the higher economic order, the Ministry of Rural
Development launched an initiative on creating Lakhpati SHG women, to enable rural SHG
women to earn at least Rs 1 lakh per annum.

What is the plan?

• For the realisation of this ambitious goal, the Ministry has envisioned livelihood support to 25
million rural SHG women in the next 2 years.

• Under the mission, poor women from di erent cross-sections of class and caste form into
Self Help Groups and their federations, providing nancial, economic and social development
services to their members for enhancing their income and quality of life.

• Over the years this money borrowed by SHGs through bank capitalisation support is now
being used for creating diversi ed livelihood opportunities.

• While all these e orts are yielding positive transformation, it is realised that for ensuring
sustainable livelihoods and digni ed life of women SHG members, there is a need to make
concerted e ort for ensuring at least INR 1,00,000 income per annum for the household
i.e. enabling them to become a Lakhpati.

• The gure of Rs 1 lakh is both aspirational and inspirational for rural SHG women.

About DAY-NRLM -
• Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) is a centrally
sponsored programme that aims at eliminating rural poverty through promotion of multiple
livelihoods for the rural poor households across the country.

• The launch of DAY-NRLM in June 2011 to address rural poverty marks a paradigm shift in
poverty alleviation programmes.

• DAY-NRLM seeks to reach out to all rural poor households, estimated at about 10 crore
households, and impact their livelihoods through universal social mobilisation by inter alia
organising one-woman member from each rural poor household into Self Help Groups
(SHGs), their training and capacity building, facilitating their micro-livelihoods plans, and
enabling them to implement their livelihoods plans through accessing nancial resources from
their own institutions and the banks.

• The Mission involves working with the community institutions through community
professionals in the spirit of self-help. This is the unique proposition of DAY-NRLM and that is
how it is di erent from the previous poverty eradication programmes.

• The other distinguishing features of the programme is that it is implemented in a Mission

mode by special purpose vehicles (autonomous state societies) with dedicated
implementation support units at the national, state, district and block levels, using
professional human resources in order to provide continuous and long-term handholding
support to each rural poor family.

Long-Range Bomb
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 RAJ IAS ACADEMY 1st November, 2021 Page 6
An Indian Air Force (IAF) team and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
successfully ight-tested the country’s rst indigenously developed long-range bomb (LRB)
from a ghter jet over Balasore in Odisha.

Details -

• The bomb is part of the class of weapons with a range of 50 to 150 km.

• The bomb has been designed and developed by DRDO’s Research Centre Imarat (RCI)
laboratory in Hyderabad, in coordination with other DRDO laboratories.

• The Long-Range Bomb after release from the IAF ghter aircraft is guided to a land-based
target at a long range with accuracy within speci ed limits. All the mission objectives were
successfully met.

• Successful ight test of Long-Range Bomb has marked an important milestone in indigenous
development of this class of systems.


Mukhyamantri Ghasiyari Kalyan Yojana

The Union Minister of Home A airs Amit Shah launched the Mukhyamantri Ghasiyari Kalyan
Yojana and computerisation of cooperative societies in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

What is the programme?

Mukhyamantri Ghasiyari Kalyan Yojana has been launched because women face great di culty in
providing fodder for animals in the hills in adverse weather conditions. Under this scheme,
about 2,000 farmers will cultivate maize on about 1,000 acres of land and a plan has been
made to make nutritious animal feed in a scienti c way, which will bene t about one lakh
farmers.

MCQs
1. Which of the following statement(s) is/are correct about the ‘Vatican City’?
1. It is an autonomous region of Italy which is administered by the Pope through the Holy See.

2. It became independent from Italy with the Lateran Treaty in 1929.

3. Recently, PM Modi became the rst Indian Prime Minister to visit the Pope in Vatican City.

Select the correct codes from below -

A. 1 and 2 only

B. 2 only

C. 1 and 3 only

D. None of the above

Answer - B

Explanation - His Holiness Pope Francis received Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in a private
audience at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. This was the rst meeting between an Indian
Prime Minister and the Pope in more than two decades. In June 2000, Late Prime Minister Shri
Atal Bihari Vajpayee had last visited the Vatican and met the then Pope, His Holiness John
Paul II. India and The Holy See have friendly relations dating back to the establishment of
diplomatic relations in 1948.

Vatican City, o cially the Vatican City State is a landlocked and independent city state and
enclave located within Rome, Italy. The Vatican City State, also known simply as the Vatican,
became independent from Italy with the Lateran Treaty (1929). It is a distinct territory under
"full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign authority and jurisdiction" of the Holy
See, itself a sovereign entity of international law, which maintains the city state's temporal,
diplomatic, and spiritual independence. With an area of 49 hectares and a population of about
825, it is the smallest state in the world by both area and population.

2. ‘Samudrayaan’ is the -
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RAJ IAS ACADEMY 1st November, 2021 Page 7
A. Frigate of Indian Navy launched at Yantar Shipyard, Kaliningrad

B. Long-Range Bomb made for India Navy by DRDO

C. India’s First Manned Ocean Mission

D. None of the above

Answer - C

Explanation - Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh launched India’s First Manned Ocean Mission
Samudrayan at Chennai. With the launch of this Unique Ocean Mission, India joins the the elite
club of nations such as USA, Russia, Japan, France and China to have such underwater
vehicles for carrying out subsea activities. This niche technology shall facilitate Ministry of Earth
Sciences, MoES in carrying out deep ocean exploration of the non-living resources such as
polymetallic manganese nodules, gas hydrates, hydro-thermal sulphides and cobalt crusts,
located at a depth between 1000 and 5500 meters. The preliminary design of the manned
submersible MATSYA 6000 is completed and realisation of vehicle is started with various
organisation including ISRO, IITM and DRDO roped-in to support the development. Sea trials
of 500 metre rated shallow water version of the manned submersible are expected to take
place in the last quarter of 2022 and the MATSYA 6000, the deep water manned submersible
will be ready for trials by the second quarter of 2024.

3. The Indian Navy frigate ‘Tushil’ is a joint venture between India and -
A. France

B. United Kingdom

C. Russia

D. United States of America

Answer - C

Explanation - The 7th Indian Navy Frigate of P1135.6 class was launched at Yantar Shipyard,
Kaliningrad, Russia. During the ceremony, the ship was formally named as ‘Tushil’. Tushil is a
Sanskrit word meaning Protector Shield. Based on an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA)
between the Government of Republic of India and Government of Russian Federation for
construction of two ships of Project 1135.6 ships in Russia and two ships in India at M/s Goa
Shipyard Limited (GSL), the contract for construction of two ships was signed between India and
Russia in October 18. The construction of these ships is based on Indian Navy’s speci c
requirements to meet the entire spectrum of naval warfare in all three dimensions of Air, Surface
and Sub-surface.

4. Which of the following statement(s) is/are not correct about the ‘National Legal Services
Authority’?
1. It was constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 to establish a nationwide
uniform network for providing free and competent legal services to all citizens.

2. Chief Justice of India is the Patron-in-Chief and the second senior most judge of Supreme
Court of India is the Executive Chairman of the Authority.

3. The Union Law Minister serves as the Vice Chairman of the Authority.

Select the correct codes from below -

A. 1 only

B. 2 only

C. 1 and 3 only

D. None of the above

Answer - C

Explanation - The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) was constituted under the Legal
Services Authorities Act, 1987 which came into force on 9th November, 1995 to establish a
nationwide uniform network for providing free and competent legal services to the weaker
sections of the society. The Chief Justice of India is the Patron-in-Chief and the second senior
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 RAJ IAS ACADEMY 1st November, 2021 Page 8
most Judge of Supreme Court of India is the Executive Chairman of the Authority. Article 39A
of the Constitution provides for free legal aid to the poor and weaker sections of the society, to
promote justice on the basis of equal opportunity. Article 14 and Article 22 (1), obligates State to
ensure equality before law. It must be noted that the role played by NALSA and its networks is
very much relevant to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal-16, which seeks to
"Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice
for all and build e ective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels”.

5. Which of the following statement(s) is/are correct about the ‘Deendayal Antyodaya
Yojana- National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM)’?
1. It is a centrally sponsored scheme which aims to eliminate rural poverty through promotion of
multiple livelihoods for the rural poor households of the country.

2. It seeks universal social mobilisation by inter alia organising one-woman member from each
rural poor household into Self Help Groups (SHGs).

3. It was launched in the year 2011.

Select the correct codes from below -

A. 1 and 2 only

B. 2 and 3 only

C. 1 and 3 only

D. All of the above

Answer - D

Explanation - Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) is a

centrally sponsored programme that aims at eliminating rural poverty through promotion of
multiple livelihoods for the rural poor households across the country. The launch of DAY-NRLM in
June 2011 to address rural poverty marks a paradigm shift in poverty alleviation programmes.
DAY-NRLM seeks to reach out to all rural poor households, estimated at about 10 crore
households, and impact their livelihoods through universal social mobilisation by inter alia
organising one-woman member from each rural poor household into Self Help Groups
(SHGs), their training and capacity building, facilitating their micro-livelihoods plans, and enabling
them to implement their livelihoods plans through accessing nancial resources from their own
institutions and the banks. The Mission involves working with the community institutions
through community professionals in the spirit of self-help. This is the unique proposition of
DAY-NRLM and that is how it is di erent from the previous poverty eradication programmes.

EDITORIAL SIMPLIFIED
CoP 26
The COP26 UN Climate Change Conference opening in Glasgow, Scotland has raised
expectations, just as the COP21 conference in Paris did six years ago, that there will be
determined action by 2030 on the de ning challenge before humanity.

What is the goal?

• The climate negotiations seek to raise the ambition of countries under the Paris Agreement
of 2015 to cut carbon dioxide emissions, after a long spell of drift since 2015 caused by
economic declines, an upsurge of nationalism, the withdrawal of the U.S. from the pact under
President Donald Trump and the pandemic.

• Under President Joe Biden, the U.S. returned to multilateral diplomacy and the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), giving new life to the idea that advanced nations
will transfer green technologies without hard intellectual property barriers and provide the
agreed $100 billion funding for developing countries annually from 2020 to help reduce
emissions. The funds will also help them adapt to extreme climate events such as intense
storms, res, droughts, oods and food de cits.

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• The impact of the climate on the frequency and intensity of these events was documented by
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its special report of 2018 on 1.5
degrees C warming, and the just-released assessment on the physical science behind a
warming world.

The developing world -

• At Glasgow, the poorer half of the world, which did not contribute to the problem but faces
disastrous impacts, will press the key question of equity. Under the UNFCCC, all countries do
not have the same responsibilities, given their respective levels of development. This principle of
common but di erentiated responsibilities guides the Paris Agreement.

• India, which has pledged to cut the emissions intensity of its growth by 33-35% of GDP from
2005 levels by 2030, has declared its pre-2020 performance on this metric achieved, at 24%,
while it is working to ful l other Paris promises — raising renewable energy capacity to make
up a 40% share and expanding forest cover to create a 2.5 to 3 billion tonne carbon sink.

• More recently, it announced a scale-up of its renewable power plans to 450 GW by the end
of the decade, and a national hydrogen policy to produce the chemical element through
green methods, aiding its deployment in industrial sectors as well as transport, and aiming for
export.

Scienti c reports showcasing impact of climate change -

• The tempo for the Glasgow conference has been set by scienti c reports, warning of
continuing extreme human pressure on the climate system.

• One IPCC report of August 2021 warned that the observed increase in global surface
temperature showed unprecedented warming during the 1850-2020 period compared with
reconstructed temperature data over a period of 2,000 years.

• On the eve of the climate meet, the UN Environment Programme issued its 12th Emissions
Gap Report, comparing the updated emissions reduction pledges made by countries for
2030, with what is needed to keep the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees C or even 2
degrees C.

• That gap, between a projected emissions reduction of 7.5% for 2030 against the need for
30 to 55% cuts, and even taking into account the latest promises by countries, could lead to a
rise in temperature by 2.7 degrees C by the end of the century.

Priorities for CoP 26 -

• The net zero concept remains contentious, because of the uncertainties surrounding long-term
targets, but big countries such as China have set such a goal, while the EU as a bloc, Germany,
the U.K., France, Canada and others have legal mandates.

• At COP26, the road to these targets is set to become the focus of debate. Article 6 of the Paris
pact provides for the establishment of rules, modalities and procedures, which will enable
countries, public and private entities to reduce emissions, and which will be accounted towards
national pledges. The private sector sees the potential for a market mechanism for emissions
credits, while critics see scope for juggled numbers that do not cut real emissions, and lead to
deception through creative accounting.

• Another conference priority is to raise the ambition of high carbon countries, notably China,
to phase out coal in energy production. This is a contentious issue, since coal is a reliable
option for many, despite its contribution to high emissions and atmospheric pollution, and even
the U.S., along with India, emphasises carbon capture technology — expensive and nascent at
present — rather than a quick move to alternatives. Australia too bats for coal.

Way forward -

The IPCC says in its latest report, “It is unequivocal that human in uence has warmed the
atmosphere, ocean and land. Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean,
cryosphere and biosphere have occurred.” COP26 will be a stocktake of whether political will is
strong enough to stave o disaster.

Source - The Hindu

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QUESTION - The CoP 26 Climate summit has the opportunity to build upon the Paris
Agreement and deliver on concrete pledges to stave o the disaster of global warming.
Discuss.

Mullaperiyar Dam
Coinciding with an episode of erratic, cataclysmic rain in Kerala’s high-ranges, the Supreme Court
considered a public interest litigation petition on the operation of the Mullaperiyar dam over which
Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been sparring for long.

With the threat of oods looming large and the reservoirs lling up, the court asked both States to
abide by the rule curve for the period set by the Supervisory Committee constituted at its
instance. Accordingly, the water level in the dam would be limited to 138 feet till October 31 and
139.5 feet till November 10. The court will hear the case again on November 11.

What is the status now?

Three shutters of the dam were opened on October 30 to release water. While people living
downstream were evacuated beforehand, water release from the Mullaperiyar dam did not alter
the level in the much larger Idukki reservoir, at over 94% of its storage capacity, located 35 km
downstream.

Why is Mullaperiyar dam a sore point?

• The Maharaja of Travancore signed a 999-year Periyar Lake lease agreement with the
British government on October 29, 1886, for the construction of the Mullaperiyar dam across
the Periyar in the present Idukki district. The dam became a reality nine years later.

• The water supplied from it through a tunnel to the water-scarce southern region of Tamil
Nadu, especially the Vaigai basin, would be the lifeline for farmers of Theni, Dindigul, Madurai,
Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram districts.

• On an average, 22 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft) of water is diverted, irrigating about 2.20
lakh acres and meeting the drinking water requirements of people in the region.

• Concerns over the safety of the gravity dam built using lime-surkhi (burnt brick powder) mortar
came to the fore in 1979.

• In November that year, a tripartite meeting chaired by the then chairman of the Central Water
Commission (CWC), K.C. Thomas, decided that the level had to be brought down from the full
reservoir level of 152 feet to 136 feet to enable Tamil Nadu, which owns and maintains it, to
carry out dam strengthening works. By the mid-1990s, Tamil Nadu started demanding
restoration of the level.

What happened in the legal battles?

• The Central Government set up an expert committee in 2000 to look into the dam's safety.
The committee recommended raising the level to 142 feet, which was endorsed by the Supreme
Court in February 2006.

• Kerala sought to restrict the level to 136 feet by way of an amendment to the Kerala Irrigation
and Water Conservation Act, prompting the Tamil Nadu Government to move the Supreme
Court.

• In February 2010, the court constituted an empowered committee to study the whole gamut
of issues concerning the dam. Based on the committee’s nding that the dam was
“structurally and hydrologically safe”, the court, in May 2014, struck down Kerala’s Act and
allowed Tamil Nadu to maintain the level at 142 feet.

• It also asked the Central Government to set up a three-member Supervisory Committee to

monitor dam safety.

Why is it a social issue?

Commissioned by the Kerala Government in the latter part of the 2000s, a study by IIT-Roorkee
raised questions about the survival of the dam, located in seismic zone-3, in the event of an
earthquake of a fairly high magnitude. A series of tremors felt in the area in 2011 caused alarm.
Subsequently, the oods of 2018 and the erratic nature of annual monsoons ever since brought
the focus back on the 126-year-old dam.

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What is on the cards?
• Design of a new dam by Kerala’s Irrigation Design and Research Board is in the nal stages.
However, without Tamil Nadu on board, this is not going to be a reality.

• Meanwhile, in the backdrop of bad weather forecast, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan
wrote to his Tamil Nadu counterpart M.K. Stalin, urging him to draw maximum quantum of water
from the dam through the tunnel so that a large volume release would be avoided altogether.

• Assuring Mr. Vijayan of all support, Mr. Stalin informed him that the level in the dam was being
closely monitored and the current storage was well within the level permitted by the Supreme
Court. A meeting between the Chief Ministers to discuss the issue is being planned in
December.

Source - The Hindu

QUESTION - What is the legacy of dispute over Mullaperiyar Dam? How it can be resolved
amicably without disturbing the federal structure? Discuss.

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