BAN O N PE TCOK E
Why in News?
India recently banned the import of petcoke for use as fuel.
Background
• Environment Protection (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) in April 2017 had asked for the ban on use of furnace oil and pet-coke in NCR region.
• Supreme Court had banned its use in
Delhi and NCR in October, 2017.
• Following which the Central government decided to ban pet coke nationwide.
• Though the Import of petcoke for fuel purpose is prohibited. It is allowed only
About Pet Coke
• Petroleum coke or pet coke, is a solid carbon rich (90% carbon and 3% to 6% sulfur) material derived from oil refining.
• It is categorized as a “bottom of the barrel” fuel.
• It is a dirtier alternative to coal and emits 11% more greenhouse gases than coal and nearly 17 times more sulphur than coal.
• Petcoke is a source of fine dust which can get lodged in the lungs.
• Petroleum coke can contain vanadium which is a toxic metal.
• Sulphur-heavy petcoke and other polluting fuels such as furnace oil are widely used by cement factories, dyeing units, paper mills, brick kilns and ceramics businesses.
• India is the world’s largest consumer of petcoke. Its consumption has grown at a compound annual growth rate of
16 per cent over the past 10 years.
• India had been becoming a dumping ground of pet-coke from the US, which has banned its internal use because of pollution.
for cement, lime kiln, calcium carbide and gasification industries, when used as the feedstock or in the manufacturing process on actual user condition.
41 ©Vision IAS
Reasons for use of Pet Coke
• Cheaper alternative: Per-unit delivered energy for petcoke is much cheaper compared to coal making it attractive for buyers.
• Favourable tax regime: Though both these fuels are taxed at 18% under GST but the industries, which used these fuels for manufacturing, got entire tax on the fuels credited back. On the other hand on natural gas, which is not included in GST, the VAT is as high as 26 per cent in certain states.
• Clean energy cess of Rs. 400 per tonne levied on coal, further promote shift to pet-coke.
• Zero Ash Content in Pet coke is a big advantage over coal which has significant ash content. It also allows cement firms can use low grade limestone. This is a big advantage as almost 60 per cent of India’s limestone reserves are low grade in nature.
Impact of the ban
• This decision gives a boost to the cement industry as it accounts for about three-fourth of the country’s
petcoke use. Cement companies were impacted by the recent petcoke-related policy flip-flops.
• The ban would benefit LNG importers, city gas distribution (CGD) etc. as other industrial units would shift from petcoke to alternate fuels such as natural gas.
• Import of pet coke costs about Rs 15,000 crore annually and hence the ban would save precious foreign exchange.
5.4. PAR I V E SH
Why in News?
Recently, government launched an integrated environmental management system named; PARIVESH (Pro-Active and Responsive facilitation by Interactive, Virtuous and Environmental Single-window Hub).
About PARIVESH
• It is a web based, role-based workflow application which has been developed for online submission and monitoring of the proposals submitted by the proponents for seeking Environment, Forest, Wildlife and CRZ Clearances from Central, State and district level authorities.
• It automates the entire tracking of proposals which includes online submission of a new proposal, editing/updating the details of proposals and displays status of the proposals at each stage of the workflow.
• The system includes monitoring of compliance reports including geo-tagged images of the site by regulatory body or inspecting officers even through the Mobile App for enhanced compliance monitoring
• It also provides access to previous Environment Impact Assessment Reports, which is a valuable r eservoir of information.
Significance of PARIVESH
• It will improve the entire process of appraisal and environmental clearance because delay in environment clearance can cause a huge monetary loss and negatively impact business prospect of that region.
• It will ensure transparency and expedite the process of granting clearance by enabling project proponent and citizen to track and interact with scrutiny officers, generate online clearance letters.
• The Project Proponent can also track the movement of their application at different stages and can see the findings of the Expert Appraisal Committee on their project proposal.
• It has been developed in pursuance of the spirit of 'Digital India' and capturing the essence of "minimum government and maximum governance".
5.5. GE NE TI CALLY MODI FI E D (GM) FOO D
Why in News?
Recently, a Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) study found the wide presence of GM ingredients in packaged food items sold in India.
42 ©Vision IAS
What are GM foods?
GM foods involve taking genes (DNA) from different organisms and inserting them in food crops for the purpose of enhancing its productivity or increasing its immune power or nutritional and aesthetic values. There is a concern that this ‘foreign’ DNA can lead to risks such as toxicity, allergic reactions, and nutritional and unintended impacts.
Safety of GM Foods
• Safety of GM crops and products has been a matter of concern for human health. Risk assessment on a case- by-case basis is critical for a country-level decision to allow or restrict GM foods because various GMOs have different genes, which are inserted in multiple ways. Also, studies used to evaluate the risk must take into account different populations and geographies.
Safety of GM foods in India
In 2017, a Parliamentary Committee report that examined the impact of GM crops on environment and human and animal health identified huge gaps with respect to the safety of GM crops. It noted the following key issues:
• There has been no Indian scientific study carried out so far to study the impact of GM crops on human health.
• The government should reconsider its decision to commercialize GM crops in the country as it has not been scientifically proven that GM crops have no adverse impact on
Codex Alimentarius guidelines for assessing risks associated with GM
foods:
• Typically, the following parameters are considered for risk assessment:
o Toxicity—acute, sub-chronic and chronic
o Allergenicity, i.e. the potential to provoke allergic reaction due to
cross reaction with other allergens or from new unknown GM
proteins
o Composition analysis of major and minor nutrients
o Nutritional effects associated with genetic modification that could
arise if GM DNA is inserted into the crop genome at a location
where it modifies the existing DNA such that the nutritional content of the crop alters.
o Stability of inserted gene to avoid its unintended escape into cells of the body or to bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. This is particularly relevant if antibiotic-resistant genes, used as markers while creating GMOs, were to be transferred.
o Unintended effects that could result from the gene insertion leading to formation of new or changed patterns of metabolites.
human health. It is relying solely on studies that have not been done in India rather than on our own population
and in the context of our climate and environment.
• It is very late in the day for the FSSAI to take a decision to label GM foods imported into the country. However, the committee strongly recommends that labeling on GM foods must be done with immediate effect.
Draft notification on labeling of GM foods
• It was issued by FSSAI in May this year which mandates that any food that has 5 per cent or more GM ingredients, shall be labeled, provided this GM ingredient constitutes the top three ingredients in terms of percentage in the product.
• Despite these, most GM foods studied did not disclose the fact on the label. A few also made false claims of being GM free. Nearly 65% of the samples that were found GM positive did not disclose its genetically modified ingredients.
Criticisms against FSSAI
• Against draft labeling regulations: The exemption limit of 5 per cent in the draft notification of labeling is very relaxed compared to other countries such as the EU, Australia and Brazil, which have limits at or below 1 per cent. Also it is very difficult for government to quantify the GM content in all foods as the tests are prohibitively expensive and technically cumbersome.
• FSSAI has not allowed any GM food on paper but has failed to curb its illegal sales: Since 2007, GM soybean and canola oils are being imported in India without the approval of FSSAI though GEAC had permitted its import.
Regulatory issues in the approval process for GM processed foods:
• Since 1989, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has been responsible for approving commercial cultivation of GM crops as
43 ©Vision IAS
well as the manufacture, import and selling of processed foods made from GM ingredients. So far, Bt cotton has been approved for cultivation.
• After the enactment of the Food Safety and Standards Act in 2006, the GEAC wanted to restrict itself to approval of living modified organisms (LMOs) and shift the task of approval of processed foods to the FSSAI for which a notification was also issued in 2007.
• In response, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) requested the MoEF&CC to continue regulating processed foods until the FSSAI was ready to do so in a scientific manner. The notification was kept in abeyance until 2016, making the GEAC responsible for approvals of processed foods, with no accountability of the FSSAI in practice despite Section 22 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (FSS Act) stating that GM foods shall not be manufactured, sold, distributed or imported until the FSSAI approves them.
• Meanwhile, in 2013, the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 were amended to mandate that packages containing genetically modified foods bear the words ‘GM’ on its principal display panel.
• This rule was inconsistent with the fact that GM foods are not allowed in India and in fact created the false perception that GM food was allowed.
• The FSSAI’s new draft labeling regulation of April 2018 aims to address the issue through labeling of GM foods. (For Draft labeling norms refer May 2018 VisionIAS current affairs)
Way Forward
• The FSSAI must identify all GM products being sold in the market and prosecute companies and traders responsible.
• It must set up a safety assessment system for approval of both domestic and imported GM foods.
• India’s GM labeling regulations must be based on stringent exemption limit and qualitative screening as an enforcement tool meaning that all products wherein GM
ingredients are used must be labeled even if the final product does not contain GM DNA or protein. The
threshold limit for GM labeling exemption should be set at one per cent GM DNA and not on the weight of the
ingredient.
• The FSSAI should adopt qualitative screening (such as through quantitative polymerase chain reaction - qPCR) as an enforcement tool and the onus of proving unintentional presence should be on the food manufacturer. It must set up laboratories to screen GM foods for effective monitoring.
• A symbol-based label such as ‘GM’ should be displayed on the front of packs which carry GM food -- just like
the green “tick” along with the words “Jaivik Bharat” proposed for organic food.
(For Draft labeling norms refer May 2018 VisionIAS current affairs)
Why in News?
India recently banned the import of petcoke for use as fuel.
Background
• Environment Protection (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) in April 2017 had asked for the ban on use of furnace oil and pet-coke in NCR region.
• Supreme Court had banned its use in
Delhi and NCR in October, 2017.
• Following which the Central government decided to ban pet coke nationwide.
• Though the Import of petcoke for fuel purpose is prohibited. It is allowed only
About Pet Coke
• Petroleum coke or pet coke, is a solid carbon rich (90% carbon and 3% to 6% sulfur) material derived from oil refining.
• It is categorized as a “bottom of the barrel” fuel.
• It is a dirtier alternative to coal and emits 11% more greenhouse gases than coal and nearly 17 times more sulphur than coal.
• Petcoke is a source of fine dust which can get lodged in the lungs.
• Petroleum coke can contain vanadium which is a toxic metal.
• Sulphur-heavy petcoke and other polluting fuels such as furnace oil are widely used by cement factories, dyeing units, paper mills, brick kilns and ceramics businesses.
• India is the world’s largest consumer of petcoke. Its consumption has grown at a compound annual growth rate of
16 per cent over the past 10 years.
• India had been becoming a dumping ground of pet-coke from the US, which has banned its internal use because of pollution.
for cement, lime kiln, calcium carbide and gasification industries, when used as the feedstock or in the manufacturing process on actual user condition.
41 ©Vision IAS
Reasons for use of Pet Coke
• Cheaper alternative: Per-unit delivered energy for petcoke is much cheaper compared to coal making it attractive for buyers.
• Favourable tax regime: Though both these fuels are taxed at 18% under GST but the industries, which used these fuels for manufacturing, got entire tax on the fuels credited back. On the other hand on natural gas, which is not included in GST, the VAT is as high as 26 per cent in certain states.
• Clean energy cess of Rs. 400 per tonne levied on coal, further promote shift to pet-coke.
• Zero Ash Content in Pet coke is a big advantage over coal which has significant ash content. It also allows cement firms can use low grade limestone. This is a big advantage as almost 60 per cent of India’s limestone reserves are low grade in nature.
Impact of the ban
• This decision gives a boost to the cement industry as it accounts for about three-fourth of the country’s
petcoke use. Cement companies were impacted by the recent petcoke-related policy flip-flops.
• The ban would benefit LNG importers, city gas distribution (CGD) etc. as other industrial units would shift from petcoke to alternate fuels such as natural gas.
• Import of pet coke costs about Rs 15,000 crore annually and hence the ban would save precious foreign exchange.
5.4. PAR I V E SH
Why in News?
Recently, government launched an integrated environmental management system named; PARIVESH (Pro-Active and Responsive facilitation by Interactive, Virtuous and Environmental Single-window Hub).
About PARIVESH
• It is a web based, role-based workflow application which has been developed for online submission and monitoring of the proposals submitted by the proponents for seeking Environment, Forest, Wildlife and CRZ Clearances from Central, State and district level authorities.
• It automates the entire tracking of proposals which includes online submission of a new proposal, editing/updating the details of proposals and displays status of the proposals at each stage of the workflow.
• The system includes monitoring of compliance reports including geo-tagged images of the site by regulatory body or inspecting officers even through the Mobile App for enhanced compliance monitoring
• It also provides access to previous Environment Impact Assessment Reports, which is a valuable r eservoir of information.
Significance of PARIVESH
• It will improve the entire process of appraisal and environmental clearance because delay in environment clearance can cause a huge monetary loss and negatively impact business prospect of that region.
• It will ensure transparency and expedite the process of granting clearance by enabling project proponent and citizen to track and interact with scrutiny officers, generate online clearance letters.
• The Project Proponent can also track the movement of their application at different stages and can see the findings of the Expert Appraisal Committee on their project proposal.
• It has been developed in pursuance of the spirit of 'Digital India' and capturing the essence of "minimum government and maximum governance".
5.5. GE NE TI CALLY MODI FI E D (GM) FOO D
Why in News?
Recently, a Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) study found the wide presence of GM ingredients in packaged food items sold in India.
42 ©Vision IAS
What are GM foods?
GM foods involve taking genes (DNA) from different organisms and inserting them in food crops for the purpose of enhancing its productivity or increasing its immune power or nutritional and aesthetic values. There is a concern that this ‘foreign’ DNA can lead to risks such as toxicity, allergic reactions, and nutritional and unintended impacts.
Safety of GM Foods
• Safety of GM crops and products has been a matter of concern for human health. Risk assessment on a case- by-case basis is critical for a country-level decision to allow or restrict GM foods because various GMOs have different genes, which are inserted in multiple ways. Also, studies used to evaluate the risk must take into account different populations and geographies.
Safety of GM foods in India
In 2017, a Parliamentary Committee report that examined the impact of GM crops on environment and human and animal health identified huge gaps with respect to the safety of GM crops. It noted the following key issues:
• There has been no Indian scientific study carried out so far to study the impact of GM crops on human health.
• The government should reconsider its decision to commercialize GM crops in the country as it has not been scientifically proven that GM crops have no adverse impact on
Codex Alimentarius guidelines for assessing risks associated with GM
foods:
• Typically, the following parameters are considered for risk assessment:
o Toxicity—acute, sub-chronic and chronic
o Allergenicity, i.e. the potential to provoke allergic reaction due to
cross reaction with other allergens or from new unknown GM
proteins
o Composition analysis of major and minor nutrients
o Nutritional effects associated with genetic modification that could
arise if GM DNA is inserted into the crop genome at a location
where it modifies the existing DNA such that the nutritional content of the crop alters.
o Stability of inserted gene to avoid its unintended escape into cells of the body or to bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. This is particularly relevant if antibiotic-resistant genes, used as markers while creating GMOs, were to be transferred.
o Unintended effects that could result from the gene insertion leading to formation of new or changed patterns of metabolites.
human health. It is relying solely on studies that have not been done in India rather than on our own population
and in the context of our climate and environment.
• It is very late in the day for the FSSAI to take a decision to label GM foods imported into the country. However, the committee strongly recommends that labeling on GM foods must be done with immediate effect.
Draft notification on labeling of GM foods
• It was issued by FSSAI in May this year which mandates that any food that has 5 per cent or more GM ingredients, shall be labeled, provided this GM ingredient constitutes the top three ingredients in terms of percentage in the product.
• Despite these, most GM foods studied did not disclose the fact on the label. A few also made false claims of being GM free. Nearly 65% of the samples that were found GM positive did not disclose its genetically modified ingredients.
Criticisms against FSSAI
• Against draft labeling regulations: The exemption limit of 5 per cent in the draft notification of labeling is very relaxed compared to other countries such as the EU, Australia and Brazil, which have limits at or below 1 per cent. Also it is very difficult for government to quantify the GM content in all foods as the tests are prohibitively expensive and technically cumbersome.
• FSSAI has not allowed any GM food on paper but has failed to curb its illegal sales: Since 2007, GM soybean and canola oils are being imported in India without the approval of FSSAI though GEAC had permitted its import.
Regulatory issues in the approval process for GM processed foods:
• Since 1989, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has been responsible for approving commercial cultivation of GM crops as
43 ©Vision IAS
well as the manufacture, import and selling of processed foods made from GM ingredients. So far, Bt cotton has been approved for cultivation.
• After the enactment of the Food Safety and Standards Act in 2006, the GEAC wanted to restrict itself to approval of living modified organisms (LMOs) and shift the task of approval of processed foods to the FSSAI for which a notification was also issued in 2007.
• In response, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) requested the MoEF&CC to continue regulating processed foods until the FSSAI was ready to do so in a scientific manner. The notification was kept in abeyance until 2016, making the GEAC responsible for approvals of processed foods, with no accountability of the FSSAI in practice despite Section 22 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (FSS Act) stating that GM foods shall not be manufactured, sold, distributed or imported until the FSSAI approves them.
• Meanwhile, in 2013, the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 were amended to mandate that packages containing genetically modified foods bear the words ‘GM’ on its principal display panel.
• This rule was inconsistent with the fact that GM foods are not allowed in India and in fact created the false perception that GM food was allowed.
• The FSSAI’s new draft labeling regulation of April 2018 aims to address the issue through labeling of GM foods. (For Draft labeling norms refer May 2018 VisionIAS current affairs)
Way Forward
• The FSSAI must identify all GM products being sold in the market and prosecute companies and traders responsible.
• It must set up a safety assessment system for approval of both domestic and imported GM foods.
• India’s GM labeling regulations must be based on stringent exemption limit and qualitative screening as an enforcement tool meaning that all products wherein GM
ingredients are used must be labeled even if the final product does not contain GM DNA or protein. The
threshold limit for GM labeling exemption should be set at one per cent GM DNA and not on the weight of the
ingredient.
• The FSSAI should adopt qualitative screening (such as through quantitative polymerase chain reaction - qPCR) as an enforcement tool and the onus of proving unintentional presence should be on the food manufacturer. It must set up laboratories to screen GM foods for effective monitoring.
• A symbol-based label such as ‘GM’ should be displayed on the front of packs which carry GM food -- just like
the green “tick” along with the words “Jaivik Bharat” proposed for organic food.
(For Draft labeling norms refer May 2018 VisionIAS current affairs)
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