UPSC Essentials | Mains answer practice — GS 3 : Questions on artificial rain and fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty (Week 78)Subscriber Only

UPSC Essentials brings to you its initiative for the practice of Mains answer writing. It covers essential topics of static and dynamic parts of the UPSC Civil Services syllabus covered under various GS papers. This answer-writing practice is designed to help you as a value addition to your UPSC CSE Mains. Attempt today’s answer writing on questions related to topics of GS-3 to check your progress.

Air pollution in urban areas is a growing concern in India, especially in Delhi, where air quality often deteriorates during winter. Discuss the concept of artificial rain as a potential solution to mitigate air pollution. What are the technological methods behind artificial rain?

Fossil fuels and nuclear weapons, though seemingly unrelated, have been linked in recent global discussions regarding their impact on both climate change and international security. Discuss the idea of a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty (FF-NPT).

Introduction

— The introduction of the answer is essential and should be restricted to 3-5 lines. Remember, a one-liner is not a standard introduction.

— It may consist of basic information by giving some definitions from the trusted source and authentic facts.

Body

— It is the central part of the answer and one should understand the demand of the question to provide rich content.

— The answer must be preferably written as a mix of points and short paragraphs rather than using long paragraphs or just points.

— Using facts from authentic government sources makes your answer more comprehensive. Analysis is important based on the demand of the question, but do not over analyse.

— Underlining keywords gives you an edge over other candidates and enhances presentation of the answer.

— Using flowcharts/tree-diagram in the answers saves much time and boosts your score. However, it should be used logically and only where it is required.

Way forward/ conclusion

— The ending of the answer should be on a positive note and it should have a forward-looking approach. However, if you feel that an important problem must be highlighted, you may add it in your conclusion. Try not to repeat any point from body or introduction.

— You may use the findings of reports or surveys conducted at national and international levels, quotes etc. in your answers.

Self Evaluation

— It is the most important part of our Mains answer writing practice. UPSC Essentials will provide some guiding points or ideas as a thought process that will help you to evaluate your answers.

QUESTION 1: Air pollution in urban areas is a growing concern in India, especially in Delhi, where air quality often deteriorates during winter. Discuss the concept of artificial rain as a potential solution to mitigate air pollution. What are the technological methods behind artificial rain?

Introduction:

— For the third day in a row, Delhi’s air quality was rated as’severe plus’. The average air quality index (AQI) in Delhi was 492 on Tuesday at 7 a.m.

— The region’s choking air pollution persisted even after Stage IV of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) went into effect on Monday (November 18). GRAP is a series of emergency measures put in place to keep air quality in the Delhi-NCR region from deteriorating further once it reaches a specific threshold.

Body:

What is artificial rain?

— Water vapour condenses around tiny particles, forming the droplets that compose a cloud. These droplets collide and develop; when they accumulate and the cloud becomes saturated, it rains.

— Cloud seeding involves injecting clouds with salts such as silver iodide, potassium iodide, or sodium chloride, which serve as the’seed’. These salts are predicted to supply extra nuclei for the formation of new cloud droplets. They are spread into the cloud by either aircraft or ground-based generators.

Conditions required for cloud seeding

— Cloud cover and clouds of a certain type are necessary.

— M Rajeevan, former secretary of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, said, “Cloud seeding can only happen if there is a sufficient number of clouds and a particular depth to these clouds. Inside, there needs to be an adequate number of cloud droplets. Cloud seeding is done to increase the radius of the cloud droplets so that they will grow bigger and because of gravity, they will come down as rainfall. But with a clear sky, you can’t do it.”

— In the winter, clouds gather over Delhi as a western disturbance travels through the area. These are storms that form in the Caspian or Mediterranean Seas and send non-monsoon rains to northwest India.

— Clouds are likely to arise when a western disturbance disrupts the atmosphere’s stability in winter.

— While the possibility of cloud formation can be predicted using radars, other circumstances must be investigated on the day seeding is likely to occur.

Conclusion:

— According to a Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists article, the National Academy of Sciences, a non-profit organisation based in the United States, conducted a research in 2003 that discovered “a high degree of uncertainty regarding the efficacy of cloud seeding.”

— The report also cited a recent synthesis by the World Meteorological Organisation, which concluded that increased precipitation from cloud seeding typically ranges between zero and 20%, “with the upper range representing conditions under which clouds were highly likely to form precipitation naturally.”

(Source: To fix air pollution, Gopal Rai wants artificial rain in Delhi: Why this is a long shot)

Points to Ponder

What is the process of artificial rain?

Can cloud seeding or artificial rain fix air pollution?

Related Previous Year Questions

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

What are the key features of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) initiated by the government of India? (2020)

QUESTION 2: Fossil fuels and nuclear weapons, though seemingly unrelated, have been linked in recent global discussions regarding their impact on both climate change and international security. Discuss the idea of a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty (FF-NPT).

Introduction:

— The goal behind the fossil fuel non-proliferation pact (FF-NPT) is to make it legally binding on governments to halt fossil fuel extraction, phase down existing production, and oversee a just transition to renewable energy.

— When international treaties were used to defuse the threats posed by nuclear weapons, the world now requires a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to phase out fossil fuels, assist dependent economies, workers, and communities in diversifying away from fossil fuels, ensure 100% global access to renewable energy, and promote a just transition that leaves no one behind.

— The concept of an FF-NPT was proposed about the time the Paris Agreement was finalised. Over the years, it has attracted support from a diverse spectrum of stakeholders, including former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, Amazonian indigenous people, and many small island states most vulnerable to climate change.

Body:

— The FF-NPT operates on three pillars — non-proliferation, which is a global cooperation model to end the expansion of coal, oil and gas production; a fair phase-out, which comprises an equitable plan to shut down existing fossil fuel production in a way that nations with the capacity and historical responsibility for emissions transition fastest and empowers others; and ‘just transition’, which calls for fast-tracking the adoption of renewable energy and economic diversification away from fossil fuels such that no worker, community or country is left behind.

— Scientific assessments revealed at COP29 show that fossil fuel emissions are expected to be approximately 8% higher this year than in 2015, when the Paris Agreement was signed. The year 2024 is expected to be the hottest on record. This means that the world is still not on course to address the crisis, with major fossil fuel-producing countries projected to produce more than 110% more fossil fuels by 2030 than is required to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

— FF-NPT has been endorsed by 13 Small Island Developing States of the Pacific, such as Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Tonga, Fiji, and the Solomon Islands, who were least responsible for global warming but are most vulnerable to its impact. Colombia, one of the largest coal producers and exporters globally, endorsed FF-NPT in December 2023, at COP28.

Conclusion:

— The proposed Fossil Fuel Treaty will support the Paris Agreement’s work, whether through the implementation of the New Collective Quantified Goal (which aims to establish a new financial target to assist developing countries in their climate actions after 2025) or through Nationally Determined Contributions (country-submitted climate action plans) and Just Transition Work Programmes.

— According to a projection by the Global Carbon Project, India’s fossil fuel emissions will increase by 4.6% in 2024.

(Source: Can fossil fuels be regulated like nuclear weapons? The group that is trying, the success achieved so far by Dipanita Nath)

Points to Ponder

What is the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons?

What is India’s position on FF-NPT?