Why India should Deploy Dedicated Defence Satellites?

The successful launch of India’s advanced communications spacecraft, GSAT-7 by means of an Ariane-5 vehicle of the European space transportation company, Arianespace, on August 30 has come as a shot in the arm for the Indian defence set up. For this 2,550-kg multi band satellite designed and developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will serve as an exclusive satellite of the Indian Navy, the youngest of the Indian services. The significance of GSAT-7 lies in the fact that it is the first dedicated military satellite that India has put in place. As envisaged now, the safe and reliable communication channels provided by GSAT-7 satellite, will help the Indian Navy strengthen its blue water combat capabilities in all its manifestations. With its 2000 nautical miles footprint over the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), GSAT -7 will help Indian Navy network all its 140 warships, 13 submarines and 200 aircraft along with its ground based “resources and assets.” Specifically, GSAT-7 will serve as a “force multiplier” by sharpening Indian Navy’s edge in terms of network centric operations. On another front, it will provide the Indian Navy the necessary level of expertise for its seamless integration into the tri service aerospace command, the formation of which is awaiting clearance from the Government of India. More importantly, the robust communications link up facilitated by GSAT-7 will substantially enhance India’s maritime security over a wide swath of eastern and western flanks of IOR. GSAT-7 communications space platform is well equipped to serve as a “sensitive command post” in space over IOR and help transform the entire maritime domain awareness of the Indian Navy.

With a view to boost its striking punch and also expand its area of influence, Indian Navy is working on a well conceived strategy to link up its long range missiles, radars and air defence systems on all the sea based assets to a central room through a highly reliable satellite network made available by GSAT-7. The synergy between combat platforms moving in the high seas of the world with the land based nodes through GSAT-7 capability would help bring about a radical shift in the operational strategy of the Indian Navy .There is no denying the fact that a satellite based communications network is immune to many of the “deficiencies and limitations” associated with a conventional communications system. As a follow up to GSAT-7, it is planned to launch GSAT-7A for the exclusive use of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

Meanwhile, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has revealed that in the years ahead it is planned to launch a range of dedicated military satellites for the exclusive use of the three wings of the services. Clearly and apparently, there is a growing realization that satellites could serve as “ears” and “eyes” of the defence forces on the lookout for a strategic lead. Of course, ISRO has maintained a stoic silence over the use of GSAT-7 by the Indian Navy. For being a civilian space agency, ISRO cannot openly associate itself with a space defence project. GSAT-7, which is the last of ISRO’s seven fourth generation communications satellites, would provide a substantial level of expertise for the optimum utilization of military oriented space platforms that India will launch in the years ahead.

By all means, the Indian Navy is keen on acquiring a range of spacecraft meant for a variety of end uses. For the tech savvy Indian Navy is fully well aware that ocean watch satellites snooping on the naval movements, electronic ferret satellites gathering data on radio frequencies, meteorological satellites predicting weather to facilitate an effective use of the weapons systems, navigation satellites guiding lethal weapons to designated locations with an unfailing accuracy, reconnaissance satellites providing vital data on the strength of the potential adversaries and the communications satellites ensuring a real time link up for the effective use of the resources have all become vital components in the mechanism of the modern day warfare. But then for now, GSAT-7 located over the Indian Ocean will enable Indian Navy to stand up to the expanding Chinese influence in the IOR. As strategic analysts observe, with China beefing up its presence in the Indian neighbourhood including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Maldives through its much hyped “string of pearls” strategy, India should make vigorous efforts to realize a versatile, robust satellite based surveillance network designed to enable Indian Navy enhance its vigil in the Indian Ocean Region with the objective of warding off any threat to the Indian mainland.

Indeed, not long back, Dr.V.K.Saraswat, the former Scientific Adviser to the Indian Defence Minister had rued the fact that the tremendous strides made by India in space exploration has not gone to fill the gap in India’s capability to create space assets designed to help Indian defence forces meet the challenges of the future. According to him, in a futuristic battlefield scenario, successful operations of the defence forces on the ground, sea and air would depend on how efficiently space resources are exploited. Any denial of access to space would mean a clear cut set back to military operations at all levels. As such, ensuring the security of space assets too has assumed more than usual importance.

Space based assets are also critical to the flawless functioning of the Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) shield being put in place by DRDO. Indeed, in the context of rapidly changing global security scenario, the need for a range of satellites equipped with electro optical sensors and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for early warning and other strategic purposes has become all the more pronounced. Currently, Indian defence forces have a limited access to the INSAT communications and IRS earth observation spacecraft constellations being operated by ISRO. But with the possibility of fighting a battle on the two fronts being very much on the cards, Indian defence forces are clearly in need of a wide variety of dedicated satellites to stay at the winning edge of the war.

But then ISRO’s civilian mandate and nature of operations focused on exploiting the fruits of space technology for the socio-economic development of the country, could act as a significant check on the attempt of the Indian defence establishment to involve the Indian space agency in a big way in realizing a resurgent space defence capability. However, technology developed by ISRO for its satellites meant for earth observation, communication and other end uses could well serve as a test bed for future military space projects. In the context of the efforts to revive the spectre of space war, as highlighted by the Chinese and American moves, India’s political leadership should seriously consider the issue of giving a military edge to India’s exclusive civilian space programme. Not surprisingly then , strategic analysts hold the view that launch by ISRO of increasingly capable, higher resolution earth imaging satellites has implications for surveillance and reconnaissance. The Cartosat series of satellites though designed for cartographic applications can be exploited to meet a part of the requirements of the Indian defence forces. But then there is no denying the point that Cartosat series of satellites fall short of the 10-15 cm resolution featured by the best of the defence satellites.

The launch of the 300-kg RISAT-II all weather microwave imaging satellite realized by ISRO in association with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in April 2009 did give a new edge to the surveillance capabilities of the Indian defence forces. In fact, RISAT-II was built and launched on a fast track mode to meet the challenges posed by the growing terrorist threat to the country and heighten vigil along the Indo-Pakistan border. Equipped with a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), RISAT-II is an all weather satellite capable of collecting data even under conditions of cloud, darkness, haze and dust. The fully home grown RISAT-1 satellite launched in April 2011 can easily complement the surveillance capabilities inherent in RISAT-II. The all weather microwave earth imaging satellites like RISAT-1 and RISAT-II would give early warning about any kind of troop build up and terrorist camps. Indian defence forces can access the remote sensing satellite capability built up by ISRO for meeting a part of their surveillance requirements, as remote sensing and surveillance are considered the two faces of the same coin.

The satellite intelligence capability is expected to provide Indian military planners, tactical and strategic information on military build up in China and Pakistan. The Hyderabad based Defence Electronics Research Laboratory (DLRL) of DRDO has hinted at developing an electronic intelligence satellite for the exclusive use of the Indian defence forces. This satellite would be capable to intercepting radar communications and satphone conversations of the adversaries .The glaring intelligence failure suffered by the Indian Army during 1999 Kargil skirmish with Pakistan has strengthened the urge of the Indian defence establishment to go in for space assets at an accelerated pace.

Clearly and apparently, the limited capability of ISRO in building and launching satellites could be a big hurdle in the way of helping the Indian defence establishment to meet their needs for “space assets”. Moreover, with the Indian industrial base lacking in resources and expertise to build satellites and launch vehicles on a turnkey basis, the Indian defence forces may find it difficult to get the kind of space platforms delivered into orbit well on time. However, a synergy between the technologies developed by ISRO and DRDO could prove a win win development for putting in place a platform for developing and launching a range of defence satellites. Indeed, in early 2010, DRDO had emphasized on a comprehensive Indian space defence capability on the strength of technological advances made by DRDO and ISRO. However, the road map for the building up of defence space capability of the country is far from clear. In particular, enough focus should be given to the institutional support mechanism for meeting the Indian defence forces’ rapidly growing needs of high performance defence satellites.

Of course, Indian industries continue to support the Indian space program by way of the supply of components and systems and hardware for satellites and launch vehicles. In sharp contrast, in US and West Europe, private industrial outfits have built up a technological and manufacturing base resurgent enough to supply both the satellites and launch vehicles in a ready to use condition. Against this backdrop, it may be appropriate to set up a high powered space defence agency authorized to pool the resources, expertise, talent and infrastructure available in the country-cutting across the private-public sector barriers for realizing the space based assets for the exclusive use of defence forces on a fast track mode with least bureaucratic interference.

The Indian Defence Ministry‘s “Technology Perspective and Capability Roadmap” till 2025 has identified space warfare as a priority area. The concept of integrated warfare and the need for reducing the “sensor to shooter loop” underpins the need for a totally radical approach focussed on “battlefield dynamics” with system capable of making available information on real time basis to all the three wings of the services. The roadmap of the Indian Defence Ministry identifies in unambiguous terms, the development of an anti satellite capability based on “electronics or physical destruction of satellites in both low and geostationary orbits.”

The launch of India’s first full fledged navigation satellite IRNSS-1A on July 2 is a development that could positively impact on the battlefield strategy of the Indian defence forces. IRNSS-1A, the first of the seven spacecraft constituting the space segment of the home-grown Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), would provide the Indian defence forces a robust system for location identification and navigational support for combat aircraft as well as for combat platforms on land and sea. For the defence forces in the thick of the battle field operations, a GPS system like IRNSS enables locating objects in the dark and paves way for the coordination of the troop movements even in hitherto unfamiliar territory in addition to facilitating reconnaissance as well as search and rescue operations. For the Indian defence forces which had difficult times accessing the “restricted capability” of the US GPS system, IRNSS would provide hassle free, uninterrupted access to the satellite navigational capabilities.

Indeed the stunning effectiveness of the American GPS was demonstrated during the ‘Desert Storm’ operations of 1990-91 that was aimed at freeing Kuwait from the clutches of the invading forces from the neighbouring Iraq. Here the potentials of the American GPS was mainly pressed into service to guide bombers to targets, allow infantry and armoured units to locate their bases in frightening, featureless expanse of the desert and position artillery in a war zone ideally suited to fire at enemy lines apart from precisely navigating missiles to chosen targets. The US-led allied forces during their operations in both Afghanistan and Iraq relied heavily on satellite based navigation with hand held portable GPS devices to realize their strategic goals at a rapid pace.

By all means, GPS is considered a veritable force multiplier by the defence forces in the battlefield. Moreover, it has also been instrumental in shaping the contours of the precision warfare. For the Indian defence forces, the IRNSS system capabilities will be of immense use in refining the network centric warfare techniques. Similarly, the proposed Indian tri service aerospace command would need a large and independent satellite navigation capability that can be accessed anytime to boost its combat superiority. Indeed, for the Indian tri service aerospace command, access to GPS along with other satellites meant for communications, surveillance and weather watch would mean a quantum leap in meeting the challenges of the future warfare with confidence.

For India, there is an imminent need to develop a robust system to protect space assets that are critical to every aspect of military operations on the ground, in the air and on the sea. DRDO has hinted that it is working on putting in place the building blocks of an Indian anti satellite system to neutralize hostile satellites moving in low earth and polar orbits. The focus of DRDO would be on laser based sensors and exo atmospheric killer vehicle (EKV), the technology of which could be derived from its missile development programme. As it is, the technologies developed for India’s long range, nuke capable Agni-V missile which had its second successful test flight on Sept.16 could be profitably exploited for boosting India’s space defence and space warfare capabilities.

It was the early 2007 Chinese test that made use of a ground based medium range ballistic missile to smash an ageing weather watch satellite stationed at an altitude of 537-kms above the earth that sent shock waves through the Indian defence establishment. Subsequently, there was a strident clamour to develop a full fledged Indian space war capability along with a range of dedicated defence satellites. And the modest effort now on in this direction seems to be a response to Chinese strides in space defence capability. In realizing the military space capability, India should look beyond the Chinese threat by taking into account the global advances in the area of satellite technology and space warfare techniques.

भारत में बुजुर्गों के लिए कल्‍याण योजनाएं

पिछले 50 वर्षों में भारत की जनसंख्‍या लगभग तीन गुनी हो गई है, लेकिन बुजुर्गों की संख्‍या चार गुना से भी ज्‍यादा हो गई है। 2001 की जनगणना के अनुसार भारत में बुजुर्गों की संख्‍या (60+) सात करोड़ 70 लाख थी और 2011 की जनगणना में बताया गया कि यह संख्‍या जल्‍दी ही 10 करोड़ को पार कर जाएगी। पिछले एक दशक में भारत में वयोवृद्ध लोगों की आबादी 39.3% की दर से बढ़ी है। आगे आने वाले दशकों में इसके 45-50 प्रतिशत की दर से बढ़ने की उम्‍मीद है। दुनिया के ज्‍यादातर देशों में बुजुगों की संख्‍या दोगुनी होने में 100 से ज्‍यादा वर्ष लग गये, लेकिन भारत में इनकी संख्‍या केवल 20 वर्षों में ही दुगुनी हो गई। आज औसत आयु बढ़कर 70 से ज्‍यादा हो गई है। बेहतर चिकित्‍सा सुविधाओं, देखभाल और उदारवादी परिवार नियोजन नीतियों से देश में बुजुर्गों की संख्‍या सबसे तेजी से बढ़ी है।

भारत में स्‍वास्‍थ्‍य देखभाल और बुढ़ापा पेंशन जैसे सा‍माजिक सुरक्षा के लाभ संगठित क्षेत्र के कर्मचारियों को मिलते हैं। गैर-संगठित क्षेत्र में लगभग 94% श्रमिक काम करते हैं, लेकिन इनमें से अधिकतर को पर्याप्‍त सामाजिक सुरक्षा उपलब्‍ध नहीं है। विभिन्‍न मंत्रालयों और अन्‍य सरकारी एजेंसियों के कई सामाजिक सुरक्षा कार्यक्रम हैं, लेकिन इनके लाभार्थी सीमित हैं और असंगठित क्षेत्र के बहुत कम कामगार या उनके परिवार लाभार्थियों में शामिल हैं। लेकिन ये सब प्रयास गैर-नियोजित और अलग-थलग तरीके से चल रहे हैं। सामाजिक सुरक्षा के राज्‍य-स्‍तरीय कार्यक्रमों से न जुड़े होने के कारण गैर-संगठित क्षेत्र के श्रमिकों और उनके आश्रितों को बीमारी, अधिक उम्र, दुर्घटनाओं या मृत्‍यु के कारण बेहद गरीबी का सामना करना पड़ता है।

बुढ़ापे से संबंधित समस्‍याओं की गंभीरता को महसूस करते हुए भारत सरकार ने इनसे निपटने के लिए कई नीतियां और योजनाएं बनायी हैं। सरकार वयोवृद्धता से संबंधित मैड्रिड अंतर्राष्‍ट्रीय कार्य योजना सहित वयोवृद्धता के बारे में विभिन्‍न अंतर्राष्‍ट्रीय कार्य योजनाओं के क्रिया‍न्‍वयन के लिए भी प्रतिबद्ध है। 

भारत में वयोवृद्ध लोगों के लिए प्रमुख सरकारी नीतियां/कार्यक्रम/योजनाएं

सामाजिक न्‍याय और अधिकारिता मंत्रालय, भारत सरकार

वयोवृद्ध लोगों से संबं‍धित राष्‍ट्रीय नीति, 1999

भारत सरकार ने 1999 में बुजुर्गों से संबंधित राष्‍ट्रीय नीति बनायी, जिसमें सभी पहलुओं पर ध्‍यान दिया गया। इस राष्‍ट्रीय नीति की मुख्‍य बातें इस प्रकार हैं :-

• वरिष्‍ठ नागरिकों को वित्‍तीय सुरक्षा, स्‍वास्‍थ्‍य देखभाल और पौष्टिकता, आश्रय,जानकारी संबंधी आवश्‍यकताओं, उचित रियायतों आदि में सहायता प्रदान करना।
• वरिष्‍ठ नागरिकों के जीवन और संपत्ति की सुरक्षा जैसे उनके कानूनी अधिकारों की रक्षा करने और इन्‍हें मजबूत बनाने पर विशेष ध्‍यान देना।
• विभिन्‍न मंत्रालयों और विभागों द्वारा क्रियान्‍वयन के लिए कार्य योजना तैयार की गई।

अभिभावकों और वरिष्‍ठ नागरिकों के गुजारे और कल्‍याण से संबंधित कानून, 2007

इस कानून में माता-पिता/दादा-दादी को उनके बच्‍चों से आवश्‍यकतानुसार गुजारा भत्‍ता दिलवाने की व्‍यवस्‍था है। कानून में वरिष्‍ठ नागरिकों के जान-माल की सुरक्षा, बेहतर चिकित्‍सा सुविधाओं और हर जिले में वृद्ध सदनों की स्‍थापना जैसी व्‍यवस्‍थाएं हैं।

कानून के बारे में पूरी जानकारी न होने और विभिन्‍न स्‍तरों पर ठीक तरह से कानून लागू न होने के कारण बड़ी संख्‍या में वृद्ध जन इस कानून के अंतर्गत मिलने वाले लाभ प्राप्‍त नहीं कर पा रहे हैं।

अनुदान सहायता योजनाएं

'वयोवृद्ध लोगों के लिए एकीकृत कार्यक्रम' नाम की योजना से गैर-सरकारी संगठनों को वित्‍तीय सहायता प्रदान की जाती है, ताकि वे वृद्ध सदन, दिन के समय देखभाल के केन्‍द्र, चलते-फिरते चिकित्‍सा यूनिट स्‍थापित कर सकें और उन्‍हें गैर-संस्‍थागत सेवाएं उपलब्‍ध करा सकें। इनके अलावा हेल्‍पलाइन, फिजियो‍थैरेपी केन्‍द्र, मानसिक स्‍वास्‍थ्‍य देखभाल सुविधाएं आदि भी प्रदान की जाती हैं। 

योजना के अंतर्गत मुख्‍य परियोजनाए/कार्यक्रम  

• वृद्ध सदनों की स्‍थापना और रख-रखाव
• विश्राम सदनों और निरंतर देखभाल सदनों का रख-रखाव
• बुजुर्गों के लिए बहु-सेवा केन्‍द्र चलाना
• चलते-फिरते चिकित्‍सा यूनिटों का रख-रखाव
• मानसिक स्‍वास्‍‍थ्‍य देखभाल और विशेष देखभाल
• हेल्‍पलाइन और परामर्श केन्‍द्र
• वृद्धजनों की देखभाल करने वालों को प्रशिक्षण देना
• वृद्धजनों के कल्‍याण के प्रति जागरूकता पैदा करना और उनकी देखभाल करने वाले लोगों की व्‍यवस्‍था करना
• वरिष्ठ नागरिक समूहों/एसोसिएशनों का गठन करना
• इस योजना के अंतर्गत अन्‍य कोई उपयुक्‍त गति‍विधि चलाना

ग्रामीण विकास मंत्रालय, भारत सरकार

इंदिरा गांधी राष्‍ट्रीय वृद्धावस्‍था पेंशन योजना

गरीबी रेखा से नीचे के लोगों के लिए इस समय चलायी जा रही इंदिरा गांधी राष्‍ट्रीय वृद्धावस्‍था पेंशन योजना के अंतर्गत पेंशन प्राप्‍त करने के लिए आयु सीमा 65 वर्ष से घटाकर 60 कर दी जाएगी। जिनकी आयु 80 वर्ष या उससे अधिक है, उन्‍हें 200 रुपये के स्‍थान पर 500 रुपये महीने की पेंशन दी जाएगी। राज्‍य सरकारें चाहें तो इससे अधिक राशि अपनी तरफ से दे सकती हैं। 

स्‍वास्‍थ्‍य एवं परिवार कल्‍याण मंत्रालय, भारत सरकार

वृद्ध देखभाल केन्‍द्रों की स्‍थापना

हाल ही में केन्‍द्र सरकार ने वृद्धजनों की स्‍वास्‍थ्‍य सेवाओं में सुधार लाने के लिए ''राष्‍ट्रीय वृद्धजन स्‍वास्‍थ्‍य देखभाल कार्यक्रम'' (एनपीएचसीई) को मंजूरी दी है। ये वृद्धजन देखभाल केन्‍द्र 21 राज्‍यों के 100 जिला अस्‍पतालों में खोले जाएगे। इनकी स्‍थापना सामुदायिक एवं प्राथमिक स्‍वास्‍थ्‍य केन्‍द्रों पर भी की जाएगी।

विधि एवं कानून मंत्रालय, भारत सरकार

केन्‍द्र सरकार के विधि एवं कानून मंत्रालय ने भी वरिष्‍ठ नागरिकों को निशुल्‍क कानूनी सहायता देने का प्रस्‍ताव दिया है।

गृह मंत्रालय: भारत सरकार

सरकारी सहायता प्राप्‍त विभिन्‍न योजनाओं तक इनकी पहुंच बनाने के लिए वरिष्‍ठ नागरिकों को स्‍मार्ट परिचय पहचान पत्र।

श्रम एवं रोजगार मंत्रालय, भारत सरकार

गरीबी रेखा से नीचे रहने वाले वरिष्‍ठ नागरिकों को राष्‍ट्रीय स्‍वास्‍थ्‍य बीमा योजना के तहत बीमा सुरक्षा।

राष्‍ट्रीय स्‍वास्‍थ्‍य बीमा योजना केन्‍द्र सरकार की योजना है, जो एक अक्‍तूबर, 2007 को शुरू की गई थी और इसका मकसद गरीबी रेखा से नीचे रहने वाले परिवारों को 30 रूपए रजिस्‍ट्रेशन के आधार पर एक वर्ष में 30 हजार रूपए तक की स्‍वास्‍थ्‍य सेवाए उपलब्‍ध कराना है। इसमें कोई आयु सीमा नहीं है और पुरानी चिकित्‍सा व्‍याधियों का इसके तहत उपचार किया जाता हैा

कार्मिक एवं पेंशन मंत्रालय

कार्मिक एवं पेंशनर कल्‍याण विभाग ने पेंशनरों को सेवानिवृति लाभ दिलाने के लिए कई प्रयास शुरू किए हैं।

वरिष्‍ठ नागरिकों के लिए अदालतों में छूट/सुविधाएं

वृद्धजनों से संबधित केसों को प्राथमिकता और उनका त्‍वरित निपटारा सुनिश्चित करनाा

सूचना का अधिकार कानून (आरटीआई कानून)

वरिष्‍ठ नागरिकों की और से आरटीआई कानून के तहत दूसरी अपीलों की सुनवाई उच्‍च प्राथमिकता के आधार पर।

स्‍वास्‍थ्‍य देखभाल सेवा :

• अस्‍पतालों एवं स्‍वास्‍थ्‍य देखभाल केन्‍द्रों में वरिष्‍ठ नागरिकों के लिए अलग से लाइनों की व्‍यवस्‍था।
• कुछ राज्‍य सरकारों ने सरकारी अस्‍पतालों में वरिष्‍ठ नागरिकों के लिए विशेष क्लिनिकों की स्‍थापना की है।

वित्‍त एव कराधान :

वरिष्‍ठ नागरिकों के लिए टैक्‍स में विशेष छूट तथा अन्‍य प्रावधान।

बैंकिंग एवं डाकधर

• वरिष्‍ठ नागरिकों को उनकी बचतों पर अधिक ब्‍याज दर
• कम बैंकिंग शुल्‍क

यातायात :

रेल यात्रा :

• सभी वरिष्‍ठ नागरिकों के लिए यात्रा 30 प्रतिशत सस्‍ती
• किराए में 50 प्रतिशत छूट
• वरिष्‍ठ नागरिकों के लिए अलग काउंटर/पंक्तियां

विमान यात्रा :

• इंडियन एयरलाइंस की साधारण श्रेणी के किराए में 40 से 50 प्रतिशत छूट।
• वरिष्‍ठ नागरिकों को अन्‍य विमान सेवाओं द्वारा इसी तरह की छूटें।

सड़क यातायात :

विभिन्‍न राज्‍य परिवहन निगमों में आरक्षण एवं छूट

देश में वृद्ध लोगों की आबादी तेजी से बढ़ रही है, लेकिन उनके अनुकूल माहौल कहीं दिखाई नहीं पड़ रहा है। इसी वजह से अधिकतर बुजुर्ग लोग अलग थलग या उपेक्षित रहने को मजबूर हैं।

पिछले दस वर्षो के दौरान वृद्ध लोगों की आबादी और वृद्धावस्‍था सहायता प्रणाली में जनसां‍ख्यिकीय एवं सामाजिक-आर्थिक लिहाज से काफी बदलाव आए हैं। पिछले एक दशक में वृद्ध लोगों की संख्‍या में 39.3 प्रतिशत इजाफा हुआ है और देश की आबादी में इनकी हिस्‍सेदारी वर्ष 2001 के 6.9 प्रतिशत की तुलना में बढ़़कर वर्ष 2011 में 8.3 प्रतिशत हो गई है।

बदलते सामायिक परिदृश्‍य में वृद्ध लोगों की जीवन चर्या भी काफी बदली है। वे अब पहले से अधिक सक्रिय, ऊर्जावान तथा स्‍वस्‍थ है और अब वे परिस्थितियों से समझौता नहीं करके हर स्‍तर पर स्‍वतंत्र है। आज इस बात की आवश्‍यकता है कि सभी स्‍तर पर उनके लिए अच्‍छे अवसर पैदा किए जाए, ताकि वे समाज में अपनी सक्रिय भूमिका अदा कर सकें। इस अवस्‍था में उन्‍हें पूर्ण सम्‍मान दिया जाना तथा उनकी स्‍वास्‍थ्‍य देखभाल सुनिश्चित हो सकती है।

  

Meaning of Consumption and their Classification

By consumption we mean the satisfaction of our want by the use of commodities and services. When we use a commodity, we really use its want satisfying quality of utility. For example when we take a glass of water to quench our thirst we are said to consume water. When we are sitting on chair in the office, we are consuming the chairs. A person is sick, he calls in a Doctor, and he has consumed the Doctor’s services. Thus, taking a glass of water means it is actual consumption of water but in case of chair and Doctor’s Services, consumption refer to utilization of chair of Doctor’s services, consumption refer to utilization of chair of Doctor’s services.

Therefore consumption can be defined as.

To make use of any commodity of service for the satisfaction of our wants is called consumption.

Consumption means destruction of utility.

Types of consumption:

Consumption is known as Direct of Final consumption when the goods satisfy human wants directly and immediately. E.g. taking of meals, use of furniture. On the other hand, consumption is called indirect or productive consumption when the goods are not meant for final consumption but for producing other goods which will satisfy human wants, e.g. use of fertilizer in agriculture.

Importance of Consumption:

The consumption is very importance as it is the beginning as well as the end of all economic activities. A man feels desire and then the makes an effort to satisfy it when the effort has been made the result is the satisfaction of the want. Thus want is the beginning and satisfaction the end of our economic activity.

The production, as an economic activity depends upon consumption. Producer is taking production of a certain good because it is going to be consumed by the consumer. Therefore consumption determines the production.

The intensity of consumption of particular goods determines the price in a market. Thus consumption also influences the exchange activity. The existence of exchange in an economy is due to consumption only.

Distribution, i.e. sharing of incomes to landlords, capitalist labour and organizer is also influenced by consumption. Consumption indicates standard of living and standard of living determines the efficiency. Efficiency determines the share in the national income.

Africa’s Challenge In The 21st Century – Food Security

Africa as a whole is going to face two major problems in the 21st century: The first problem is how to feed the growing population of the continent, the second is how to adapt to climate change.

Both problems are interlinked since climate change has the potential for having severe implications on the food security in Africa. In the following, the matter and extent of population growth in Africa and the resulting implications will first be discussed. Then it will be assessed how adequate food supply can be achieved. After that the major challenges to ensuring sufficient food supply will be thoroughly addressed.

Population Growth and Food Demand

The population on the African continent is growing rapidly: For the period from 2000 to 2050 eight of the ten countries with the highest average annual growth rate in the world are African. Until 2055, 18 out of the 20 countries with the highest total fertility are located in Sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria as an example is projected to have the third largest population growth in the world from 2000 to 2050. Already now Nigeria is in the top ten of the most populous countries on the planet and expected to climb in the top five in the course of this century. All these are indicators for the enormous ongoing population growth in Africa and they point to the most important fact: The population on the African continent is expected to double from around one billion to almost two billion over the next 40 years (United Nations, 2004).

Larger populations cause higher food demand on the African continent. The nations in Africa will act to ensure that this higher food demand is met by sufficient food supply. But as elaborated subsequently, the big challenge of the 21st century for the growing number of people in Africa will be to find means to meet their food demand.

Food Supply and the Challenges

Currently Africa ensures food supply by a mix of domestic food production and overseas food imports. West Africa for example depends to 40% on imports in ensuring sufficient rice supply with Thailand as the main rice supplier (FAO, 2010). The total volume of cereal imports in Africa was around 66 million tons in 2010 (FAO, 2013a). This means that for the whole of Africa 30% of all cereals consumed were imported. (Cereals exports are negligible: Even if all exports were instead to be used for domestic consumption, 28% of cereals consumed would still be constituted of imports. (FAO, 2013b)) One of the five largest trade flows of wheat in the world is from the US to Nigeria (FAO, 2013a). Despite domestic production and import efforts there were 239 million undernourished people living on the African continent in 2012, most of them in Sub-Saharan Africa. During the last two decades the number of undernourished people in Africa has increased by more than 35% (FAO, 2012). This shows that food insecurity already now is of increasingly relevant concern. In meeting the rising food demand caused by the growth in population in Africa, there are three options of how this rising demand can theoretically be covered by sufficient food supply: raise overseas food imports, raise domestic food production, or increase both food production and food imports.

Ensuring Food Supply through Increased Food Imports

There are several reasons leading to the conclusion that ensuring food supply through increased overseas food imports will not be an option which could satisfy the increasing demand for food:

The current world population could so far be sustained through the benefits of modern agriculture, which promotes the use of irrigation systems, chemical fertilizer, farm machinery, and large-scale monoculture farms for increased efficiency and yields. It is now becoming increasingly understood that this system of modern agriculture is unsustainable at the current scale and potentially cannot even be sustained throughout this century (Cordell, et al., 2009; UNEP, 2011; Gleick & Palaniappan, 2010). The main reason for this is that modern agriculture depends heavily on water, fossil fuels (for irrigation, fertilizer production, machinery, transportation) and phosphate rock (for phosphorus fertilizer). Both fossil fuels and phosphate rock are finite resources and are becoming increasingly scarce. There are estimates that phosphate rock production will peak in the course of this century and thereafter continuously decline, thereby creating a supply-demand gap (Cordell, et al., 2010). Even the global oil company BP states that there are only 54.2 years of known crude oil reserves left and this only when assuming no growth in consumption (BP, 2012). There are other forms of unconventional oil such as tar sands but those deliver a much less favorable energy return on energy invested (EROEI) and therefore bear a much higher price making modern agriculture less affordable and food products more expensive. Additionally also these unconventional fuels will eventually diminish. Phosphorus on the other hand does not have any substitutes: Once the world’s economically retrievable phosphate rock is completely mined there will be no alternative convenient way of obtaining phosphorus easily for the production of phosphorus fertilizer which is indispensable for efficient plant growth. While the dates stated of the end of economically producible fossil fuel and phosphate rock are issues with large vested interests and therefore significantly varying prognoses, it can definitely be expected that fertilizer and oil will become increasingly expensive leading to large increases in food prices making food imports much more costly. A recent example of that problem of agricultural dependence on external inputs was the 2008 global rice crisis which was partly caused by the rise in fuel prices (Slayton, 2009).The same crisis also caused a 700% price increase in phosphate rock (Cordell, et al., 2009).

Finally and probably most importantly there is an increasing lack of water available for agricultural purpose for which no substitutes exist. Generally speaking water is a renewable resource and therefore does not get depleted the same way that fossil fuels get depleted. However there is a maximum of water available at a certain period of time (e.g. through rainfall). If population growth trends continue, the available renewable water during a certain period of time will not be sufficient to meet the agricultural water requirements in that time frame anymore. P. Gleick et al. (2010) suggest for instance that the U.S. already consumes more water than is renewably available by tapping into non-renewable groundwater aquifers. The Colorado River in the U.S., the Huang He in China, or the Nile in Northern Africa often do not reach the sea anymore with river flows falling to zero due to extensive water withdrawals for agricultural use (Gleick & Palaniappan, 2010). The Chairman of Nestlé Mr. Brabeck-Letmathe himself said: “I am convinced that, under present conditions and considering the way water is being currently managed, we will run out of water long before we run out of fuel” (Agence France-Presse, 2009). Climate change is additionally expected to aggravate water scarcity by causing salination of coastal freshwater sources and through a general decline in water quality due to higher average temperatures (IPCC, 2007). These are all signs which strongly indicate that water is becoming a more limited resource. With water, fossil fuels, and phosphate rock becoming increasingly scarce, efficient food production will be challenged, yields might decrease and food prices increase.

Population growth is occurring all over the world. The estimated world population is expected to reach 8.9 billion by 2050 having increased by almost 50% since 2000 (United Nations, 2004). In this context Africa will contribute only around 20% to the total world population. Other nations will have to increasingly make efforts to meet their own domestic demand due to higher population numbers and more challenged modern agriculture systems and therefore have less to spare for exports. The USA – currently the world’s largest exporter of agricultural products– has by some scientists been predicted to cease to be a food exporter and use all of its production for domestic consumption by 2025 given population growth, food consumption, and topsoil loss trends (Pimentel & Giampietro, 1994). Another example, Japan, which has high food import dependence, is aware of the risk of food insecurity and has put increasing food self-sufficiency on the national agenda (OECD, 2013). With nations increasingly focusing on ensuring the food security of their own people there would be fewer opportunities for profitable imports of food products.

Based on this analysis of global population growth paired with diminishing available water, fossil fuels, and phosphate rock for practicing efficient, modern agriculture it should be concluded that food imports will not be the means of how Africa can effectively meet the growing food demand in the long run. Therefore the other proposal to meet increasing food demand – domestic production – should be examined more closely.

Ensuring Food Supply through Increased Domestic Production

Looking at the current conditions there are several challenges to ensure sufficient food supply through domestic production. The primary condition for successfully growing any crop is having soil with appropriate properties. However many African soils are of low quality. A study by the US Department of Agriculture points out: “Fifty five percent of the land in Africa is unsuitable for any kind of agriculture except nomadic grazing.” (Eswaran, et al., 1997) Many soils provide poor amounts of organic matter and have a low soil quality and fertility. As stated in the most recent Climate Change 2007 Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): “A number of countries in Africa already face semi-arid conditions that make agriculture challenging”. In Sub-Saharan Africa almost 75% of agricultural soils are nutrient deficient (Cordell, et al., 2009). Current deforestation trends exacerbate the issue of low soil quality: When the protective tree canopy is lost soils become more prone to wind and water erosion which further degrades the soil. Soil erosion in Africa is estimated to cause a loss of 1kg of phosphorus per hectare per year (UNEP, 2011). Ongoing desertification trends also reduce available soil for crop production.

The analysis of the current situation of African soils and crop growing conditions can generally been seen as unfavorable. But looking forward into the century climate change also has to be taken increasingly into consideration as a determining factor. Climate change is having and will increasingly have more severe implications on food security in Africa. As stated by the IPCC: “Agricultural production and food security (including access to food) in many African countries and regions are likely to be severely compromised by climate change and climate variability” (IPCC, 2007). Climate change, which is caused by carbon emissions into the atmosphere, results in an average increase in global temperatures. This temperature increase has several severe implications: Crop productivity is projected to decrease at lower latitudes, especially in seasonally dry and tropical regions, even for low local temperature increases between 1-2°C. According to the IPCC report the reductions in yields could be as much as 50% by 2020. Wheat production for instance is expected to disappear from Africa by the 2080s. In Africa climate change is also expected to decrease the areas suitable for agriculture and the length of the growing season, particularly in arid and semi-arid areas (IPCC, 2007).

A recent analysis by M. Fader et al. (2013) points out that most African countries will need an increase in agricultural efficiency and/or an expansion of agricultural land use in order to satisfy the growing consumption needs even under conservative population growth scenarios (Fader, et al., 2013). Climate change however causes lower crop productivity and therefore reduced agricultural efficiency and also has the effect of a reduction in the land suitable for production. Extraordinary agricultural efficiency improvements will therefore be necessary in Africa to offset the negative effects of climate change while still increasing agricultural productivity. Even without accounting for climate change as a determining factor M. Fader et al. (2013) conclude: “Assuming that the economies of LIE countries (low-income economies, most of them are situated in Africa) will not develop fast and strong enough in the next 40 years and, thus, that they will not have the financial means for improving agricultural productivity, expanding cropland or importing agricultural goods, in 2050 there would be a food security gap in those countries equivalent to 0.9–1.3 billion people”. It should also be pointed out that there will be some countries in Africa like Niger and Somalia which due to their environmental constraints do not have the option to increase domestic production to satisfy food consumption needs but will – provided current population growth trends continue – inevitably be dependent on additional food imports (Fader, et al., 2013).

From this analysis it can be concluded that Africa will be severely challenged in achieving food security through increased domestic production and in some cases even will not be able to achieve this goal: Soil properties in many areas in Africa already disfavor agriculture. As climate change decreases the areas suitable for production and in many cases impairs agricultural efficiency, special emphasis has to be placed on efficiency improvement measures. It is of high importance to create awareness of the challenges ahead for food production in Africa, especially the impacts of climate change, so that adaptive actions can be taken in a timely manner.

Conclusion

The African population is expected to double from one to two billion people in the course of the next 40 years. This population growth requires a significant increase in food supply. Already now there are an increasing number of malnourished people that indicate the increasing importance of ensuring food security. Africa as a continent is currently partially dependent on food imports yet a sufficient increase in food imports is unlikely to occur. This is due to globally occurring population growth and due to increasingly challenged modern agricultural systems with their high dependence on non-renewable resources: The rising global population will cause national governments to decrease food exports in order to meet national food demand. Declining non-renewable resources on which the agricultural sector is depended will cause an increase in food prices and a decrease in yields, both contributing to impaired global food production and reduced opportunities for food imports to Africa. Instead of increasing the dependence on food imports, which would pose an increasingly large risk in the future as the 2008 rice crisis has already indicated, the African nations should focus on increasing domestic production sufficiently. This goal will however also be severely challenged due to the less favorable growing conditions in many African regions and will be further impaired by the ongoing climate change. How should the African nations respond to these challenges? Highest immediate priority should be given to developmental efforts that increase agricultural efficiency such as the widespread implementation of drip irrigation schemes to offset the negative effects of climate change while still increasing production. Awareness has to be created about the effects of climate change on food security and appropriate adaptive capacity should be created. Changes in diet and a lower dependence on meat based food might have to be promoted. Finally, a solution to the ongoing unsustainable population growth needs to be found.