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10th May, 2022

Educational Commissions

(1) Charles Wood Despatch – 1854

• Objective: Wood’s despatch proposed several recommendations in order to improve the system of education.
• According to the recommendations, it was declared that the aim of the Government’s policy was the promotion of western education. In his despatch, he emphasized on the education of art, science, philosophy and literature of Europe.
• In short, the propagation of European knowledge was the motto of the Wood’s Despatch.
• According to the despatch, for higher education, the chief medium of instruction would be English.
• However, the significance of the vernacular language was no less emphasized as Wood believed that through the mediums of vernacular language, European knowledge could reach to the masses.
• Wood’s Despatch also proposed the setting up of several vernacular primary schools in the villages at the lowest stage.
• Moreover, there should be Anglo-Vernacular high schools and an affiliated college in the district level.
• Wood’s Despatch recommended a system of grants-in-aid to encourage and foster the private enterprise in the field of education.
• The grants-in-aid were conditional on the institution employing qualified teachers and maintaining proper standards of teaching.

(2) Hunter Commission – 1882

• Appointed by: Viceroy Lord Ripon
• Objective: Hunter Education Commission was a landmark commission with objectives to look into the complaints of the non-implementation of the Wood’s Despatch of 1854; the contemporary status of elementary education in the British territories; and suggests means by which this can be extended and improved.
• Headed by: Sir William Wilson Hunter
• He submitted its report in 1882.

Commission suggestions:

1. There should be two types of education arrangements at the high school level, in which emphasis should be given on giving a vocational and business education and other such literary education should be given, which will help in admission to the university.
2. Arrangement for emphasis on the importance of education at the primary level and education in local language and useful subjects.
3. Private efforts should be welcomed in the field of education, but primary education should be given without him.
4. Control of education at the primary level should be handed over to the district and city boards.

(3) Hunter Commission of 1882 on Primary Education:

• Primary education should be regarded as the education of the masses. Education should be able to train the people for self-dependence.
• The medium of instruction in primary education should be the mother tongue. Normal Schools should be established for the training of teachers.
• The curriculum should include useful subjects like agriculture, elements of natural and physical science and the native method of arithmetic and measurement, etc.
• The spread of primary education for the tribal and backward people should be the responsibility of the Government.
• Fees should be an example to students on the basis of their financial difficulties.

(4) Raleigh Commission – 1902

• Appointed under: Raleigh Commission was appointed under the presidency of Sir Thomas Raleigh on 27 January 1902.
• Objective: To inquire into the condition and prospects of universities in India and to recommend proposals for improving their constitution and working.
• Evidently, the Commission was precluded from reporting on primary or secondary education.
• As a result of the report of the recommendations of the Commission the Indian Universities Act was passed in 1904.
• The main objective of the Act: to improve the condition of education in India and upgrade the system to a better level

Important changes introduced for the upliftment of University Education:

1. Universities were empowered to appoint their own staff including the teaching staff.
2. The number of Fellows of a University was limited within 50 to 100.
3. The number of elected Fellows was fixed at 20 for the Bombay, Madras and Calcutta Universities and 15 for others.
4. The Governor-General was now empowered to decide a University’s territorial limits and also affiliation between the universities and colleges.
5. After the implementation of the provisions of the University Act, though the number of colleges declined, yet the number of students increased considerably.

Government Resolution on Education Policy (1913)

• In 1906, the progressive state of Baroda introduced compulsory primary education throughout its territories. In its 1913
• Resolution on Education Policy, the government refused to take up the responsibility of compulsory education, but accepted the policy of removal of illiteracy and urged provincial governments to take early steps to provide free elementary education to the poorer and more backward sections.

(5) Sadler Commission – 1917

• In 1917, the Calcutta University Commission (Sadler Commission) was appointed by the Government of India under the Chairmanship of Mr. Michel Sadler, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds.

Recommendations:

1. All the teaching resources in the city of Calcutta should be organized so that the Calcutta University may become entirely a teaching university.
2. A separate teaching and residential university should be established at Dacca.
3. There was a need for a coordinating agency. Hence an inter-University Board should be set up.
4. Honors courses should be instituted and they should be distinctly different from the Pass courses.
5. Full time and salaried Vice-Chancellor should be appointed to be the administrative head of the university.
6. The Senate and the syndicate should be replaced by the Court and the Executive Council respectively.
7. Universities should be freed from excessive official control.
8. Government interference in the academic matters of universities should stop.

(6) Hartog Commission – 1929

• Sir Philip Joseph Hartog committee was appointed by the British Indian government to survey on the growth of education in India.
• The Hartog committee (1929), had devoted more attention to mass education than the secondary and University education.
• The Hartog committee highlighted the problem of wastage and stagnation in education at the primary level.
• It recommended the policy of consolidation instead of multiplication of schools. The duration of the primary course was to be fixed to four years.
• It recommended for the improvements in quality, pay, and service conditions of teachers and relating the syllabus and teaching methods to the local environment of villages and locality
• The Hartog committee on education recommended for the promotion of technical and commercial education by universities to control the problem of unemployment.
• The recommendation of the Hartog committee of 1929 was an attempt for consolidation and stabilization of education. The Hartog committee of 1929 was seen as a torchbearer of the government’s effort to improve the quality of education.
• However, these recommendations of Hartog committee of 1929 remained only on paper and could not be implemented due to the great economic depression of 1930-31.

(7) Sargent Plan – 1944

• The Sargent plan of education came after Sir John Sargent was given the task to prepare a comprehensive scheme of education for India in 1944.

Recommendations:

1. Pre-primary education for children between 3 to 6 years of age. Universal, compulsory and free primary or basic education for all children between the ages 6—11 (junior basic) and 11—14 (senior basic).
2. High school education for six years for selected children between the years 11—17.
3. Degree course for three years beginning after the higher secondary examination for selected students
4. Technical, commercial, agricultural and art education for full time and part-time students, girls schools are to teach domestic science.
5. The liquidation of adult illiteracy and the development of a public library system in about 20 years.
6. Full provision for the proper training of teachers.
7. Educational provision is made for the physically and mentally handicapped children.
8. The organization of compulsory physical education.
9. Provision to be made for social and recreational activities.
10. The creation of employment bureaus.
11. The creation of the Department of Education in the centre and in the states.
12. The use of mother tongue is to be used as the medium of instruction in all high schools.

Famine Commissions during British Rule in India

(1) Campbell Commission

• In 1865-66, a famine engulfed Orissa, Bengal, Bihar, and Madras and took a toll of nearly 20 lakhs of lives with Orissa alone loosing 10 lakh lives, since the famine was most severe in Orissa; it is called the Orissa famine.
• The Government officers though forewarned took no steps to meet the calamity.
• The Government adhered to the principles of free trade and the law of demand and supply, the Government did provide employment to the table booked men leaving the work of charitable relief to the voluntary agency.
• But the famine proved a turning point in the history of Indian famines for it was followed by the appointment of a committee under the chairmanship of Sir George Campbell.

(2) Stratchy Commission

• It was set up in 1878 under the Chairmanship of Sir Richard Strachey.
• The commission recommended state interference in food trade in the event of famine. India witnessed another major famine in 1896-97.

(3) Lyall Commission

• It was constituted in 1897 under the Chairmanship of Sir James Lyall. This commission recommended the development of irrigation facilities.

(4) MacDonnell Commission

• It was set up in 1900 under the Chairmanship of Sir Anthony (Later Lord) McDonnel to re-evaluate and recommend changes in report of the previous commission, based on the findings of the recent famine.
• This Commission recommended that the official machinery dealing with a famine must work around the year so that the scarcity of food grains could be controlled well in time.

Law Commission

• Law Commissions in India have a pre-independence origin. The first Law Commission was formed in 1834 as a result of the Charter Act, 1833 under the chairmanship of TB Macaulay.
• The first commission’s recommendations resulted in the codification of the penal code and the Criminal Procedure Code.
• Three other law commissions were constituted before independence by the British government.
• All four pre-independent law commissions have contributed to the statute books immensely.
• After independence, the first Law Commission was constituted in 1955 in a continuance of the tradition of bringing law reforms in the country through the medium of law commissions.
• Second Pre-Independence Law Commission,1853 – Sir John Romilly.
• Third Pre-Independence Law Commission, 1862- Sir John Romilly.
• Fourth Pre-Independence Law Commission, 1879 – Dr Whitley Stokes.

Currency Commission

(1) Mansfield Commission by Dufferin in 1886

• The Indian Currency Committee or Fowler Committee was a government committee appointed by the British-run Government of India on 29 April 1898 to examine the current situation in India.
• Until 1892, silver was the metal on which Indian currency and coinage had largely been based. In 1892, the Government of India announced its intent to “close Indian mints to silver” and, in 1893, it brought this policy into force.

Other Commissions on Currency:

1. Fowler Commission by Elgin II in 1898
2. Babington Smith Commission by Chelmsford in 1919
3. Hilton Young Commission by Linlithgow in 1926

Other Important Commissions

1. Scott-Moncrieff Commission (Irrigation) by Curzon in 1901
2. Fraser Commission (Police Reforms) by Curzon in 1902
3. Hunter Commission (Punjab Disturbances) by Chelmsford 1919
4. Butler Commission (Indian States relation with British Crown) by Irwin in 1927
5. Whiteley Commission (Labour) by Irwin in 1929
6. Sapru Commission (Unemployment) by Linlithgow in 1935
7. Chalfield Commission (Army) by Linlighgow 1939
8. Floud Commission (Tenancy in Bengal) by Linlighgow in 1940

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An out and out performer, Pooja Gupta has done it again. She has kept it simple and clean. As she mentions in the interview, her strategy revolved heavily around NCERTs, solving sufficient numbers of question papers and obtaining timely guidance.

She appeared in UPSC IAS exam twice and aced it on both the occasions. Going through the process of structuring upsc syllabus extensively, she recommends the NCERTs over other sources.

Pooja’s answers before she joined Civilsdaily.

Pooja-Gupta(AIR-42)-Answers Before Feedback From CD

Notice the change in her writing after guidance from our mentors.

Pooja-Gupta (AIR-42)-Answers After Feedback From CD

6th May 2022

Dear Aspirants,

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1.1 Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana

Objective

• To achieve convergence of investments in irrigation at the field level.
• To enhance the recharge of aquifers and introduce sustainable water conservation practices.
• To explore the feasibility of reusing treated municipal wastewater for peri-urban agriculture.
• To attract greater private investments in irrigation.
• To promote extension activities relating to water harvesting, water management and crop alignment for farmers and grass root level field functionaries.

Salient features

• Decentralized State level planning and projectized execution’ structure, in order to allow States to draw up a District Irrigation Plan (DIP) and a State Irrigation Plan (SIP). These plans need to be prepared in order to access the PMKSY fund.
• It will be supervised and monitored by the Inter-Ministerial National Steering Committee (NSC) under PM with Union Ministers of all concerned Ministries. A National Executive Committee (NEC) is to be constituted under the Chairmanship of the Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog to oversee programme implementation.
• PMKSY has been formulated amalgamation ongoing schemes viz. Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP); Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP); and On-Farm Water Management (OFWM) component of National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA).
• Water budgeting is done for all sectors namely, household, agriculture and industries.
• Investments will happen at farm level. So, farmers know what is happening and can provide valuable feedback.
• Recently, the Long Term Irrigation Fund has been instituted under PMKSY in NABARD for funding and fast-tracking the implementation of incomplete major and medium irrigation projects.

1.2 Large Area Certification Scheme

Background

   Despite deep inroads of modern agricultural practices, still, there are large contiguous areas in hills, tribal districts, desert and rained areas in India that continue to remain free from chemical input usage. With little efforts, such traditional/ default organic areas can be brought under organic certification almost immediately.
  Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare under its flagship scheme of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojna (PKVY) has launched a unique quick certification programme “Large Area Certification” (LAC) to harness these potential areas under Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yajana.

 Salient features

• LAC is a Quick certification process that is cost-effective and farmers do not have to wait for 2-3 years for marketing PGS(Participatory Guarantee System) organic certified products. Whereas As per the established norm of organic production systems, the areas having chemical input usage history are required to undergo a transition period of minimum 2-3 years to qualify as organic. 

• Under LAC, each village in the area is considered as one cluster/group.  
• Documentations are simple and maintained village-wise.
• Plan based on agro-climatic conditions, availability of appropriate technology and natural priorities.
• All farmers with their farmland and livestock need to adhere to the standard requirements and on being verified get certified en-mass without the need to go under conversion period. Certification is renewed on annual basis through annual verification by a process of peer appraisals as per the process of PGS-India.

1.3 NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY MISSION

Objective

• Increasing production of rice, wheat, pulses, coarse cereals and commercial crops through area expansion and productivity enhancement in a sustainable manner.
• Restore soil fertility and productivity at the individual farm level.
• Enhancing farm level economy.

Salient features

• It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme which was launched in 2007.
• The approach of the scheme is to bridge the yield gap in respect of these crops through dissemination of improved technologies and farm management practices while focusing on districts which have high potential but relatively low level of productivity at present.
• Major Components – National Food Security Mission – Rice, National Food Security Mission – Wheat, National Food Security Mission – Pulses,
• National Food Security Mission – Coarse Cereals and National Food Security Mission –Commercial Crops.

1.4 GRAMIN BHANDARAN YOJANA

Objective of this Scheme:

• Create scientific storage capacity with allied facilities in rural areas.
• To meet the requirements of farmers for storing farm produce, processed farm produce and agricultural inputs.
• Promotion of grading, standardization and quality control of agricultural produce to improve their marketability.
• Prevent distress sale immediately after harvest by providing the facility of pledge financing and marketing credit by strengthening agricultural marketing infrastructure in the country.

 

1.5 SOIL HEALTH CARD SCHEME

Objective

• To issue soil health cards every 3 years, to all farmers of the country, so as to provide a basis to address nutrient deficiencies in fertilization practices.
• To strengthen the functioning of Soil Testing Laboratories (STLs) through capacity building, the involvement of agriculture students and effective linkage with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) / State Agricultural Universities (SAUs).
• To diagnose soil fertility related constraints with standardized procedures for sampling uniformly across states.
• To build capacities of district and state level staff and of progressive farmers for promotion of nutrient management practices.

Salient features

• It is a centrally sponsored scheme launched by the Government of India in 2015.
• It is being implemented through the Department of Agriculture of all the State and Union Territory Governments.
• Assistance is provided to the State Government to issue Soil Health Card and also develop a database to improve service delivery.
• Soil Health Card issued to farmers carry crop-wise recommendations of nutrients and fertilizers required for the individual farms.
• The experts will analyze the strength and weaknesses (micronutrients deficiency) of the soil collected from farms and suggest measures to deal with it.
• It will contain the status of his soil with respect to 12 parameters, namely N,P,K (Macronutrients); S (Secondary nutrient); Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn, Bo (Micro – nutrients); and pH, EC, OC (Physical parameters).

1.6 PM FASAL BIMA YOJANA

Objective

• To provide insurance coverage and financial support to the farmers in the event of natural calamities, pests & diseases.
• To stabilise the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming.
• To encourage farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices.
• To ensure flow of credit to the agriculture sector.
• Intended beneficiary – All farmers including sharecroppers and tenant farmers growing notified crops in a notified area during the season who have insurable interest in the crop are eligible.

Salient features

• It replaced all other existing insurance schemes except the Restructured Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme (uses weather parameters as proxy for crop yield in compensating the cultivators for deemed crop loses).
• A uniform premium of only 2% to be paid by farmers for all Kharif crops and 1.5% for all Rabi crops.
• In case of annual commercial and horticultural crops, the premium to be paid by farmers will be only 5%.
• There is no upper limit on Government subsidy so farmers will get claim against full sum insured without any reduction.
• The difference between the premium paid by farmers and the actuarial premium charged was paid by the Centre and state government in the ratio of 50:50.
• It is compulsory for loanee farmers availing crop loans for notified crops in notified areas and voluntary for non-loanee farmers.
• Yield Losses: due to non-preventable risks, such as Natural Fire and Lightning, Storm, Hailstorm, Cyclone, Typhoon, Tempest, Hurricane, Tornado.
• Risks due to Flood, Inundation and Landslide, Drought, Dry spells, Pests/ Diseases also will be covered.
• Post-harvest losses are also covered.
• Mandatory use of technology: Smart phones, drones etc., will be used to capture and upload data of crop cutting to reduce the delays in claim payment to farmers. Remote sensing will be used to reduce the number of crop cutting experiments.
• The Scheme shall be implemented on an ‘Area Approach basis’. Defined Area (i.e., unit area of insurance) is Village or above. It can be a Geo-Fenced/Geo-mapped region having homogenous Risk Profile for the notified crop.
• Presently, 5 public sector insurers (Agriculture Insurance Company of India, United India Insurance Company etc.) and 13 private insurance companies are empanelled for implementation of the scheme.
• Recently, states have been allowed to set up their own insurance companies for implementing the scheme.

1.7 National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture

National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) has been formulated for enhancing agricultural productivity especially in rainfed areas focusing on integrated farming, water use efficiency, soil health management and synergizing resource conservation.

Objectives

• To make agriculture more productive, sustainable, remunerative and climate resilient by promoting location specific Integrated/Composite Farming Systems
• To conserve natural resources through appropriate soil and moisture conservation measures
• To adopt comprehensive soil health management practices based on soil fertility maps, soil test based application of macro & micro nutrients, judicious use of fertilizers etc.
• To optimize utilization of water resources through efficient water management to expand coverage for achieving ‘more crop per drop’.
• To develop capacity of farmers & stakeholders, in conjunction with other on going missions e.g. National Mission on Agriculture Extension & Technology, National Food Security Mission, National Initiative for Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) etc., in the domain of climate change adaptation and mitigation measures.
• To pilot models in select blocks for improving productivity of rainfed farming by mainstreaming rainfed technologies refined through NICRA and by leveraging resources  from other schemes/Missions like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP), RKVY etc.; and
• To establish an effective inter and intra Departmental/Ministerial coordination for accomplishing key deliverables of National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture under the aegis of National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).

1.8 PARAMPARAGAT KRISHI VIKAS YOJANA

Objective

• Promotion of commercial organic production through certified organic farming.
• pesticide residue free produce and improved health of consumer
• Raise farmer’s income and create potential markets for traders.
• Motivate the farmers for natural resource mobilization for input production.
• Increase domestic production and certification of organic produce by involving farmers.

Intended beneficiary

• Farmers doing organic farming
• Farmers from NE India such as Sikkim
• Food processing industries
• Organic foods – export industry

Salient features

• “Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana” is an elaborated component of Soil Health Management (SHM) under National Mission of Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA).
• Cluster Approach: Fifty or more farmers form a cluster having 50 acre land to take organic farming. Each farmer will be provided Rs. 20000 per acre in three years for seed to harvesting crops and to transport them to market.
• Government plans to form around 10 thousand clusters in three years and cover an area of 5 Lakh hectares under organic farming.

Components –

• Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) certification through cluster approach – mobilization of farmers, form clusters, identification of land resources and training on organic farming and PGS Certification and quality control.
• Adoption of organic village for manure management and biological nitrogen harvesting through cluster approach –action plan for Organic Farming, Integrated Manure Management, Packing, Labelling and Branding of organic products of cluster.

1.9 NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL MARKET (NAM)

Objective

• To promote genuine price discovery
• Increases farmers’ options for sale and access to markets
• Liberal licensing of traders / buyers and commission agents. One license for a trader valid across all markets in the State
• Harmonisation of quality standards of agricultural produce
• Single point levy of market fees, i.e on the first wholesale purchase from the farmer.
• Provision of Soil Testing Laboratories in/ or near the selected mandi to facilitate visiting farmers to access this facility in the mandi itself

Intended beneficiary

• 585 regulated wholesale markets in states/union territories (UTs).
• Farmers
• Local traders
• Bulk buyers, processors
• Farm produce exporters
• Overall economy of the nation

Salient features

• NAM is a pan-India electronic trading portal which seeks to network the existing APMCs and other market yards to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities.
• Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) has been selected as the lead agency to implement it.
• Central government will provide the software free of cost to the states and in addition, a grant of up to Rs. 30 lakhs per mandi or market or private mandis will be given for related equipment and infrastructure requirements.
• New Features added to the scheme such as E-NAM Mobile App, BHIM Payment facility, MIS dashboard for better analysis and insights, grievance redressal mechanism for Mandi Secretaries and integration with Farmer Database to ease the registration and identification process will further strengthen e-NAM.
• Fund Allocation – The Scheme is being funded through AgriTech Infrastructure Fund (AITF).

1.10 Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF)

Objective

• ZBNF is a set of farming methods, and also a grassroots peasant movement, which has spread to various states in India.
• Subhash Palekar perfected it during the 1990s at his farm in Amravati district in Maharashtra’s drought-prone Vidarbha region.
• According to the “zero budget” concept, farmers won’t have to spend any money on fertilisers and other agricultural inputs.
• Over 98% of the nutrients that crops require — carbon dioxide, nitrogen, water, solar energy — are already present in nature.
• The remaining 1.5-2% are taken from the soil,

Four wheels of ZBNF

The “four wheels” of ZBNF are ‘Jiwamrita’, ‘Bijamrita’, ‘Mulching’ and ‘Waaphasa’.

• Jiwamrita is a fermented mixture of cow dung and urine (of desi breeds), jaggery, pulses flour, water and soil from the farm bund.
• This isn’t a fertilizer, but just a source of some 500 crore micro-organisms that can convert all the necessary “non-available” nutrients into “available” form.
• Bijamrita is a mix of desi cow dung and urine, water, bund soil and lime that is used as a seed treatment solution prior to sowing.
• Mulching, or covering the plants with a layer of dried straw or fallen leaves, is meant to conserve soil moisture and keep the temperature around the roots at 25-32 degrees Celsius, which allows the microorganisms to do their job.
• Waaphasa, or providing water to maintain the required moisture-air balance, also achieves the same objective.

1.11 MERA GAON-MERA GAURAV

Objective

• To promote direct interface of scientists withthe farmers and hasten the land to lab process.
• To imbibe a sense of ownership among the agricultural scientists
• To provide farmers with required information, knowledge and advisories on regular basis by adopting villages.

Intended beneficiary

• Scientists with ground level experience
• Farmers

 Salient features

• This scheme involves scientists of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) and state agricultural universities.
• Groups of four multidisciplinary scientists each will be constituted at these institutes and universities. Each group will “adopt” five villages within a radius of maximum 100 km.

1.12 Price Stabilization Fund

Objective: to safeguard the interest of the growers and provide them financial relief when prices fall below a specified level.

Scheme:

• Central Sector Scheme.
• To support market interventions for price control of perishable agri-horticultural commodities.
• PSF will be used to advance interest free loan to State Governments and Central agencies to support their working capital and other expenses on procurement and distribution interventions for such commodities.
• Procurement of the commodities will be undertaken directly from farmers or farmers’ organizations at farm gate/mandi and made available at a more reasonable price to the consumers.
• Initially the fund is proposed to be used for onion and potato only. Losses incurred, if any, in the operations will be shared between the Centre and the States.

Framework and Funding:

• States will set up a revolving fund to which theCentre and State will contribute equally, i.e. 50:50.
• The ratio of Centre-State contribution to the State-level corpus in respect of Northeast States will, however, be 75:25.

1.13 Mission Fingerling

• It is a programme to enable holistic development and management of the fisheries sector in India.
• The mission aims to achieve the target to enhance fisheries production from 10.79 mmt (2014-15) to 15 mmt by 2020-21 under the Blue Revolution.

Programme:

• Government has identified 20 States based ontheir potential and other relevant factors to strengthen the Fish Fingerling production and Fish Seed infrastructure in the country.
• This program will facilitate the establishment of Fingerling rearing pond and hatcheries.
• This will converge in the production of 20 lakh tonnes of fish annually, which will in turn benefit about 4 million families.
• The implementation of this program will supplement the requirement of stocking materials in the country up to a large extent, which is a much needed input to achieve the enhanced fish production.

1.14 Umbrella Scheme Green Revolution — Krishonnati Yojana

Aim

These schemes look to develop the agriculture and allied sector in a holistic and scientific manner to increase the income of farmers by enhancing production, productivity and better returns on produce.

The Schemes that are part of the Umbrella Schemes are :-

1. Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH)
2. National Food Security Mission (NFSM)
3. National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA)
4. Submission on Agriculture Extension (SMAE)
5. Sub-Mission on Seeds and Planting Material (SMSP)
6. Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation (SMAM)
7. Sub Mission on Plant Protection and Plan Quarantine (SMPPQ)
8. Integrated Scheme on Agriculture Census, Economics and Statistics (ISACES)
9. Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Cooperation (ISAC)
10. Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Marketing (ISAM)
11. National e-Governance Plan (NeGP-A) The Schemes/Missions focus on creating/strengthening of infrastructure of production, reducing production cost and marketing of agriculture and allied produce.

1.15 Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA)

1. The Scheme is aimed at ensuring remunerative prices to the farmers for their produce as announced in the Union Budget for 2018.
2. It is expected that the increase in MSP will be translated to farmers’ income by way of robust procurement mechanism in coordination with the State Governments.

The three schemes that are part of AASHA are:

1. the Price Support Scheme (PSS)
2. the Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS)
3. the Pilot of Private Procurement and Stockist Scheme (PPPS)

• These three components will complement the existing schemes of the Department of Food and Public Distribution.
• They relate to paddy, wheat and other cereals and coarse grains where procurement is at MSP now.
• PSS – Under the PSS, physical procurement of pulses, oilseeds and copra will be done by Central Nodal Agencies.
• Besides, NAFED and Food Corporation of India will also take up procurement of crops under PSS.
• The expenditure and losses due to procurement will be borne by the Centre.
• PDPS – Under the PDPS, the Centre proposes to cover all oilseeds.
• The difference between the MSP and actual selling/modal price will be directly paid into the farmer’s bank account.
• Farmers who sell their crops in recognised mandis within the notified period can benefit from it.
• PPSS – In the case of oilseeds, States will have the option to roll out PPSS in select districts.
• Under this, a private player can procure crops at MSP when market prices drop below MSP.
• The private player will then be compensated through a service charge up to a maximum of 15% of the MSP.

1.16 Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)

What is the news:

• The Central Government notified a decision to extend the benefit of ₹6,000 per year under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme to all 14.5 crore farmers in the country, irrespective of the size of their landholding.
• Central sector scheme

Objective

○ To provide income support to all farmer families having cultivable land.

○ To supplement the financial needs of the farmers in procuring various inputs to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yields, commensurate with the anticipated farm income.

Salient Features:

• The revised Scheme is expected to coveraround 2 crore more farmers, increasing the coverage of PM-KISAN to around 14.5 crore beneficiaries.
• Responsibility of identifying the landholder farmer family eligible for benefit under the scheme shall be of the State/UT Government.
• The lists of eligible beneficiaries would be published at the village level to ensure transparency.
• Exclusions: Certain categories of beneficiaries of higher economic status such as institutional landholders, former and present holder of constitutional posts, persons who paid income tax in the last assessment year etc. shall not be eligible for benefit under the scheme.
  • Professionals like doctors, engineers and lawyers as well as retired pensioners with a monthly pension of over ₹10,000 and those who paid income tax in the last assessment year are also not eligible for the benefits.
  • For the purpose of exclusion State/UT Government can certify the eligibility of the beneficiary based on self-declaration by the beneficiaries.
• A dedicated PM Kisan Portal will be launched for the implementation of the scheme.
• This is a Central Sector Scheme and will be funded fully by the Government of India

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It is a part of our Nikaalo Prelims 2022 Initiative. You can join our official space on habitat to ask your doubts with the mentors and decode Prelims.

These keywords are taken from Upinder Singh book which is a very high relevant source for Prelims but bulky for an Aspirant to cover.

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Agrahara: Land or village gifted by a king 

Ahimsa: Non-injury, non-violence 

Ajivikas: An ancient religious sect, associated with Makkhali Gosala 

Akam: Sangam love poems 

Alvars: The Vaishnava saint-poets of early medieval South India

Anekantavada: The Jaina doctrine of the manifold nature of reality

Antarala: The vestibule or antechamber of a temple

Araghatta: The Persian wheel, or a similar contrivance

Aranyakas: literally ‘forest books’; part of the Vedic corpus

Ardhamandapa: The hall preceding the sanctum in a temple

Ariya-sachchani: The Four Noble Truths related to suffering; an important part of the Buddha’s teaching

Ayyavole: A powerful merchant guild of early medieval South India 

Bands: Small and usually nomadic communities, usually related to each other through kinship

Brahmadeya: Land gifted to Brahmanas, generally by kings.

​​Charana: School of Vedic study 

Charvaka: An atheistic materialism philosophical school, also known as Lokayata

Dhamma: A Pali word (Sanskrit, dharma), referring to the ideal conduct of an individual living in society.

Dhammachakka-pavattana: Pali, literally ‘turning the wheel of dhamma’; the Buddha’s first sermon in the deer park near Benaras 

Dhamma-mahamatas: A new cadre of officials created by Ashoka to propagate dhamma.

Dvija: literally ‘twice born’: Those entitled to the performance of the upanayana (sacred thread) ceremony, which is considered analogous to a second birth, viz., the upper three varnas, namely the Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas.

Four Noble Truths(Ariya-sachchani): An important part of the Buddha’s teaching, viz., there is suffering; it has a cause; it can be eliminated; and the way to eliminate it is to follow the Eight-fold Path

Gahapati: Pali for Sanskrit grihapati, i.e., householder; a wealthy property-owner 

Gaja-Lakshmi: A popular representation of the goddess Lakshmi, flanked by two elephants, sometimes holding jars in their trunks gana: a word which has many meanings, including an oligarchy 

Garbha-griha: The inner sanctum of a temple, where the image of the main deity is placed and worshipped.

Hundikas: Bills of exchange used by traders in early medieval India

Kani rights: Rights over land in early medieval South India, sometimes also associated with certain duties and obligations 

Kara-shasanas: Tax-paying agraharas

kottam: Settlement clusters in the Pallava kingdom, similar to the nadus 

Kraya-shasana: A secular land-sale deed 

Kshatra: Secular power kshatrapa: a viceroy or subordinate ruler of the Scytho-Parthians; a title assumed by kings of the Kshaharata and Kardamaka dynasties

Madhayamaka: A major Mahayana school founded by Nagarjuna, in which the idea of shunyata (emptiness) is of great importance.

Mandapika: A local centre of exchange, in between small periodic markets and larger trade centres Manigramam: a powerful merchant guild of early medieval South India.

Mahakshatrapa: Viceroy, subordinate ruler; a title assumed by some kings of the Kshaharata and Kardamaka dynasties

Menhir: A type of megalithic burial, marked by a single, large, standing stone.

Nagarakkani: Land owned and managed by the nagaram 

Nagarams: Market or commercial centres in early medieval South India N

Agarattar: The corporate organization of the nagaram

Nattar: The leading men of the nadu (locality) in early medieval South India.

Nibbana: A term used often in the Buddhist tradition for liberation from the cycle of birth and death

Niyoga: levirate; the ancient custom of a widow cohabiting with her brother-in-law or another man in order to produce sons.

Paramitas: Perfections whose attainment led to the bodhisattva path; a Mahayana idea Paribbajaka: Pali, literally, ‘wanderer’, renunciant pariharas: exemptions and privileges granted to donees in royal land grants parinibbana: the passing away of the Buddha Patichcha-samuppada: Pali, the law of dependent origination; a part of the Buddha’s teaching

Periyapuranam: A 12th century work containing hagiographies of the Nayanmar saints

Pramanas: grounds of knowledge 

Prashasti: Panegyric 

Pravara: The names of one, two, three, or five supposed ancestral rishis, connected with the gotra system of the Brahmanas

Puram: War poems of the Sangam corpus 

Purva Mimamsa: A school of Vedic exegesis

Samana: A Pali word (Sanskrit shramana); literally, ‘one who strives’, a renunciant 

Samanta: Subordinate ruler; feudatory 

Samhita: A collection of hymns, associated with the Vedas 

Samkhya: A very ancient philosophical school which views the world as consisting of two fundamental categories of purusha (the spiritual principle) and prakriti (matter or nature)

Sandhara: A temple style with an enclosed passage for circumambulation

Sangam literature: Texts in old Tamil, comprising the earliest parts of the Ettutokai, Pattuppattu, and Tolkappiyam.

Sapindas: People who are held to be related to each other, an important category in Dharmashastra discussions on rules of marriage, inheritance, and rules of purity and impurity to be observed among relatives when a person died 

Saptanga rajya: Literally ‘the seven-limbed state’, the Arthashastra concept of the state as consisting of seven elements.

Setthi: Pali (Sanskrit sreshthin); a high-level businessman associated with trade and money-lending 

Shakha: A recension of a Veda

Siddhamatrika: An ancient script, known from the 6th century CE; also known as Kutila

Syadavada: Literally ‘doctrine of maybe’; the Jaina doctrine of the partial nature of all statements about reality

Taniyur: A special status given to certain brahmadeyas in early medieval South India, making them independent of the nadu wherein they were located

Tevaram: A collection of hymns, part of the canon of South Indian Shaiva bhakti

Tipitaka: Pali, literally ‘the three baskets’ or ‘three collections’, Buddhist canonical texts; the Pali Tipitaka is the canon of the Theravada school 

Tirthankara: Literally, ‘ford builder’; a Jaina saint 

Tirumurai: The canon of South Indian Shaiva bhakti 

Tiruttondar-Tiruvantai: A work by Nambi Andar Nambi, which gives a short hagiography of the Nayanmar saints 

Tiruttondar-Tokai: A work by Sundarar, which lists 62 Nayanmar saints torana: the gateway of a shrine

Vatteluttu: An ancient South Indian script used for writing Tamil

Vellala/vellalar: Cultivating groups of South India 

Vellanvagai: Non-brahmadeya villages of early medieval South India; same as ur 

Vendar: The three ‘crowned kings’ of early historical South India, i.e., the Cholas, Cheras, and Pandyas

Viragal: The word for a ‘hero stone’ in the Tamil Nadu area

Yajamana: The person for whom the yajna (sacrifice) is performed and who bears its expenses Yajna: sacrifice 

Yakshas: Deities associated with water, fertility, trees, forests, and the wilderness 

Yakshis: Female deities associated with fertility, consorts of yakshas 

Yavana: Greeks, foreigners from the West 

Yoga: A philosophical school which aimed at focusing the mind to achieve complete tranquility and control 

Yogachara: A major Mahayana school which attached great importance to meditation as a means of attaining the highest goal
Yupa: Sacrificial post

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04th May 2022

1. SATHI

The Department of Science & Technology has launched a unique scheme called “Sophisticated Analytical & Technical Help Institutes(SATHI)”.

Objectives of the Scheme

• SATHI will address the problems of accessibility, maintenance, redundancy and duplication of expensive equipment in the institutions.
• This will also foster a strong culture of collaboration between institutions and across disciplines to take advantage of developments, innovations and expertise in diverse areas.

2. National Blockchain Strategy

The ‘National Strategy on Blockchain’ as brought out by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, is the move in the direction towards enabling trusted digital platforms creating blockchain framework for the development of applications based on this technology.

About NBS

• Aim: To provide trusted digital platform for providing e – governance services using blockchain technology.
  
  Objectives
• Creation of trusted digital platforms through blockchain.
• To make India a global leader in Blockchain Technology.
• Provide trusted, secure and transparent service delivery to citizens and businesses.

3. Project MANAV: Human Atlas Initiative

• For the first time, Indian scientists will be mapping every single tissue of the human body to have a deeper understanding of the roles of tissues and cells linked to various diseases.
• Department of Biotechnology (DBT) launched MANAV: Human Atlas Initiative towards improving knowledge on human physiology.
• It is a project funded by DBT, which aims at creating a database network of all tissues in the human body from the available scientific literature.
• It is a project that involves scientific skill development for annotation, science outreach along with handling big data.
• It will involve gaining better biological insights through physiological and molecular mapping, develop disease models through predictive computing and have a holistic analysis and finally drug discovery.
• The student community, who will be the backbone on assimilating the information, will be trained and imparted with skills to perform annotation and curation of information that will ultimately form the online network.
• DBT has invested funds shared between two institutions in Pune – National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS) and Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER), Pune.
• Besides, Persistent Systems Limited has co-funded the project and is developing the platform.

4. Project Cosmic Microwave Background-Bharat

• CMB stands for Cosmic Microwave Background, and the scientific space project CMB-Bharat has been presented as a proposal to ISRO and is under consideration.
• In the workshop, project CMB-Bharat, which could help us listen to the faintest murmurs of the early universe, was discussed.
• CMB-Bharat is a proposal for comprehensive next-generation Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) mission in international collaboration with major Indian contribution.
• This referred to quantum gravitational waves, which are different from what LIGO detectors had observed that were classical in nature.

5. Phyto-Pharma Plant Mission

Objectives

• Rs 50 crore Mission aimed at conservation and cultivation of endangered and threatened endemic medicinal plants, and discovery of new botanical drugs for unmet medical needs using the rich traditional ethnobotanical knowledge and biodiversity of these states and at the same time also improve the availability of authentic and quality botanical raw material on a sustainable basis for a boom in the phyto-pharmaceutical industry
• Nodal Ministry –Ministry of Science & Technology

6. Biotech-PRIDE Guidelines

The Union Ministry for Science & Technology has released “Biotech-PRIDE (Promotion of Research and Innovation through Data Exchange) Guidelines” developed by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT)

Biotech-PRIDE

• These guidelines aim at providing a well-defined framework and guiding principle to facilitate and enable sharing and exchange of biological knowledge, information and data.
• They will facilitate this and enable the exchange of information to promote research and innovation in different research groups across the country.
• They will be implemented through the Indian Biological Data Centre (IBDC) at Regional Centre for Biotechnology supported by the Department of Biotechnology.

7. Drone Rules, 2021

Some of the key features are as under:

Number of forms: The rules propose to reduce the number of forms required for manufacturing, importing, testing, certifying and operating drones in India from 25 to six.

Abolishing authorization number: The draft seeks to abolish the unique authorisation number, unique prototype identification number, and certificate of conformance that were previously required for approval of drone flights.

Digital Sky Platform: Digital Sky, a platform launched by the government in December 2018, will become a single-window system for all approvals under the newly proposed rules.

Airspace map: An airspace map segregating the entire landmass of India into Green, Yellow and Red zones will be published on the platform within 30 days of notification of the new rules, the government said. The map will also be machine-readable through an Application Programming Interface (API) for easier plotting of drone flight paths.

Airport Perimeter: The draft rules reduced the airport perimeter from 45 km to 12 km. The rules state that no flight permissions would be required to fly up to 400 feet in green zones and up to 200 feet in the area between 8 and 12 km from the airport perimeter.

Drone corridors: The government will also publish a policy framework for Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) within 60 days of notifying the rules. This will also include frameworks for developing “drone corridors” for the safe transfer of goods by drones.

Drone Promotion Council: The Rules also propose the setting up of a Drone Promotion Council, with the aim of facilitating a business-friendly regulatory regime for drones in India, the establishment of incubators for developing drone technologies and organizing competitive events to showcase drones and counter-drone solutions.

Others: To implement safety features such as “no permission, no take-off”, real-time tracking and geofencing, drone manufacturers, importers and operators will get six months’ time to comply from the date of notification of the rules.

8. CYBER Attacks in India

Common types of cyber-attacks are:

(1) Backdoor Trojan

• A backdoor Trojan creates a backdoor vulnerability in the victim’s system, allowing the attacker to gain remote, and almost total, control.
• Frequently used to link up a group of victims’ computers into a botnet or zombie network, attackers can use the Trojan for other cybercrimes.

(2) Cross-site scripting (XSS) attack

• XSS attacks insert malicious code into a legitimate website or application script to get a user’s information, often using third-party web resources.

Denial-of-service (DoS)

• DoS and Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks flood a system’s resources, overwhelming them and preventing responses to service requests, which reduces the system’s ability to perform.
• Often, this attack is a setup for another attack.

(3) DNS tunnelling

• Cybercriminals use DNS tunnelling, a transactional protocol, to exchange application data, like extract data silently or establish a communication channel with an unknown server, such as a command and control (C&C) exchange.

(4) Malware

• Malware is malicious software that can render infected systems inoperable. Most malware variants destroy data by deleting or wiping files critical to the operating system’s ability to run.

(5) Phishing

• Phishing scams attempt to steal users’ credentials or sensitive data like credit card numbers.
• In this case, scammers send users emails or text messages designed to look as though they’re coming from a legitimate source, using fake hyperlinks.

(6) Ransomware

• Ransomware is sophisticated malware that takes advantage of system weaknesses, using strong encryption to hold data or system functionality hostage.
• Cybercriminals use ransomware to demand payment in exchange for releasing the system. A recent development with ransomware is the add-on of extortion tactics.

(7) Zero-day exploit

• Zero-day exploit attacks take advantage of unknown hardware and software weaknesses. These vulnerabilities can exist for days, months or years before developers learn about the flaws.

9. VAJRA

Objectives –

• The Government of India recently launched VAJRA (Visiting Advanced Joint Research) Faculty scheme by the Department of Science and Technology which enables NRIs and overseas scientific community to participate and contribute to research and development in India. The Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), a statutory body of the Department will implement the Scheme.
• International Faculty / scientists/technologists including Non-resident Indians (NRI) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) / Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) are offered adjunct / visiting faculty positions in Indian Institutions / Universities for a period of 1-3 months under this scheme. The faculty can also undertake the role of teaching /mentoring apart from R&D.
• Public funded institutions and national laboratories are allowed to host the VAJRA faculty.
• Nodal Ministry –Ministry of Science & Technology

10. National Initiative for Developing & Harnessing Innovation (NIDHI)

Objectives

A programme to address the complete chain of innovation ecosystem right from scouting to mentoring to scaling up innovations. launched by DST. Establishment of a research park at IIT Gandhinagar has been supported at a cost of Rs.90 cr.

11.Surya Jyoti

Objectives

• In order to capture daylight and concentrate the same inside a dark room, particularly in the urban slum or rural areas which lack electricity supply, a low cost and energy-efficient Micro Solar Dome (Surya Jyoti) has been tested and developed. -Potential users of this device are10 million households.
• According to preliminary estimates, if this technology is adopted in 10 million households only, it has the potential of saving 1750 million units of energy.
• It would also lead to an emission reduction of about 12.5 million ton of CO2 equivalent, hence giving a fillip to the mission of ‘Clean India, Green India’.
• The manufacturing process, being labour-intensive, would also generate huge job opportunities in the economy.
• Nodal Ministry – Department of Science & Technology.

12. Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan

• Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan is running successfully to motivate children to learn Science, Maths and Technology through observation and experimentation.
• It was launched on 9th July 2015 by Late Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Former President of India.
• Nodal Ministry-HRD Ministry.

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Context

• India and Japan are celebrating 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations.
• This seven decade long journey has witnessed significant milestones and shared visions for the future.

The recent visit to India by Japanese PM Fumio Kishida for the annual summit laid out a roadmap for deepening the Special Strategic and Global Partnership between the two countries in a post-COVID world.

Background of India-Japan Ties

[I] Ancient times

• The friendship between India and Japan has a long history rooted in spiritual affinity and strong cultural and civilization ties dating back to the visit of Indian monk Bodhisena in 752 AD.
• The people of India and Japan have engaged in cultural exchanges, primarily as a result of Buddhism, which spread indirectly from India to Japan, via China and Korea.

[II] India’s freedom movement

• Independence movement: The leader of the Indian Independence Movement, Rash Behari Bose was instrumental in forging India–Japan relations during India’s independence movement.
• During World War II, The British occupiers of India and Japan were enemies during World War II.  Subhas Chandra Bose used Japanese sponsorship to form the Azad Hind Fauj or Indian National Army (INA).

[III] Present times

• Pokhran nuclear test: In 1998, Japan imposed sanctions on India following the Pokhran-II, an Indian nuclear weapons test, which included the suspension of all political exchanges and the cutting off of economic assistance. These sanctions were lifted three years later.
• Both nations share core values of democracy, peace, the rule of law, tolerance, and respect for the environment in realising pluralistic and inclusive growth of the region

Post-cold war relations

• The end of cold war and the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the inauguration of economic reforms in India seemed to mark the beginning of a new era in Indo-Japanese relationship.
• India’s “Look East Policy” posited Japan as a key partner.
• Japan being the only victim of nuclear holocaust, Pokhran –II tests of India in May 1998 brought bitterness in the bilateral relations where Japan asked India to sign NNPT.
• Tokyo’s relation with India showed signs of an upswing when Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori came on an official 5 day visit to India in August 2000.

Recent developments in India-Japan Relationship

 (1) 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue

• The 2+2 ministerial dialogue is seen as an upgrade of the meeting between foreign and defense secretaries of the two countries, the first round of which took place in 2010.
• The ministerial level meeting was held after a decision to institute a Foreign and Defense Ministerial Dialogue was taken during the 13th India-Japan Annual Summit held in Japan in 2018.
• 2+2 meeting aimed to give further momentum to their special strategic partnership, particularly in the maritime domain.

(2) Supply Chain Resilience Initiative

• Recently India, Australia and Japan formally launched the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative. The initiative was launched to counter the dominance of China in the Global Supply Chain.
• It aims to prevent disruptions in the supply chain as seen during COVID-19 pandemic.
• The initiative will mainly focus on diversification of investment and digital technology adoption.

(3) Other MEA led-bilateral dialogues

• The Act East Forum, established in 2017, aims to provide a platform for India-Japan collaboration under the rubric of India’s “Act East Policy” and Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Vision”.
• At the Second meeting of the Act East forum, both sides agreed to focus on expanding of Japanese language in North East, training of caregivers under Technical Intern Training Program (TITP), capacity building in area of bamboo value chain development and Disaster Management.
• The inaugural India-Japan Space Dialogue was held in Delhi for enhancing bilateral cooperation in outer space and information exchange on the respective space policies.

(4) Currency Swap Agreement

• Japan and India have entered into a $75-billion currency swap arrangement that will bolster the country’s firepower as it battles a steep drop in the rupee’s value.
• A currency swap is an agreement between two parties to exchange a series of cash flows denominated in one currency for those denominated in another for a predetermined period of time.
• The deal will help the two countries to swap their currencies for U.S. dollars to stabilise the rupee which has witnessed the steepest fall in recent years.

Areas of Cooperation

(1) Economic and Commercial relations

• India’s bilateral trade with Japan stood at US$ 16.95 billion in FY 2019-20. India’s imports during this period were US$ 12.43 billion and exports were US$ 4.52 billion.
• From 2000 until September 2020, the Japanese investments in India cumulatively stands at around US$ 34.152 billion (Japan ranks fifth among the largest source of investment).
• The Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail, Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC), Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) with twelve industrial townships, Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC) are some mega project with Japanese cooperation on the anvil.

(2) Security and Defence

• QUAD: Formed in 2007 and revived in 2017 The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD, also known as the Quad) is an informal strategic dialogue between the United States, Japan, Australia and India.
• Exercise Malabar: The dialogue was paralleled by joint military exercises of an unprecedented scale, titled Exercise Malabar.
• In spite of the pandemic, complex exercises in all domains were conducted including Japan India maritime exercise (JIMEX 2020) and PASSEX, showcasing the trust and interoperability between the navies.

(3) Strategic

• 2+2 dialogue: It is taking place between the foreign and defence ministers of the two countries to deepen the global partnership.
• Collaboration with the US: It is also agreed to establish the India–Japan–United States trilateral dialogue on regional and global issues of shared interest.
• Global institutional reforms: Both countries also reiterated their determination to work together under the UNFCCC, WTO, etc. They are working together to realize the reform of UNSC Security Council at the earliest.
• Indo-Pacific: There is a beginning of India-Japan-Australia trilateral dialogue to evolve an open, inclusive, stable and transparent economic, political and security architecture in the indo-pacific region.

(4) Others

• Disaster management: An Agreement on joint research in the field of Earthquake Disaster Prevention was signed between Fujita Corporation and Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (IIT-R).
• Skilling and HRD: India-Japan MoC signed in 2016 to train 30,000 shop floor leaders over 10 years thereby also contributing to India’s flagship initiatives such as “Skill India” and “Make in India”.
• Health-care: In view of the similarities and synergies between the goals and objectives of India’s AYUSHMAN Bharat Programme and Japan’s AHWIN, both sides consulted with each other to identify projects to build the narrative of AHWIN for AYUSHMAN Bharat.
• Nuclear Energy: In 2015, India and Japan reached on substantive Agreement on Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy. India becomes the first non NPT signed country to do so.

What lies at the fulcrum of ties?

• Japan is the most mature economy: In terms of maturity, sophistication, and experience in international economic engagements, Japan excels every other country of the Indo-Pacific region, excluding the US.
• Technological development: Its technological marvels, business strategies, and management skills are second to none.
• Political neutrality: Japan rarely hits the international headlines and it is actually Japan’s feebleness in the world of political advertisements.
• Key player in Indo-Pacific: Japan sooner than later will be a leading player in the political economy as well as security fields of the Indo-Pacific region.

Why Japan needs India?

• Worrisome ageing population: Its aging population is a major concern and Japan very well acknowledges this fact. While increasing the domestic birth rate will always be important, it is a position to devise a new immigration policy that would largely benefit Indians.
• Japan has never been an adversary of India: The current global as well as regional distribution of power and strategic scenario necessitate a deeper and expansive Indo-Japan strategic teamwork.
• India as a net security provider: The US and Japan need India as a stabilising force. India has the potential as a security provider in Southeast Asia for geo-strategic reasons.
• India’s naval assets: India possesses enough naval capability to be projected as a strong naval power in the future.  
• Filling strategic vacuum: India can only fill the power vacuum created due to the declining US power. Japan and ASEAN alone do not have enough power to fill the power vacuum.

Why India needs Japan?

For India, developing a strategic relationship with other Asia-Pacific powers such as Japan might appear to be a no-brainer.

• US needs Japan – India cooperation: The US needs an “ally” to maintain military balance in Asia because their naval power is declining and China’s naval power is rising.
• Countering China: China has been expanding and intensifying its activities in its surrounding waters. This has caused a worry in Japan.
• Uniting the Indo–Pacific: The Indo-pacific is not an integrated region. Most countries have been expanding while others are falling prey to China.
• Infrastructure development: Japan has the distinction of being the only foreign power that has been allowed to undertake infrastructure and other projects in India’s sensitive northeast.

Limitations to bilateral ties

• Geographical limitations: The two countries are too far apart to be meaningful partners in any confrontation between one of them and China.
• China is too big to defeat: No partnership have the military muscle or diplomatic heft to achieve its objectives in countering China.
• Lesser say at UNSC: At the diplomatic level, neither pulls the kind of power that can counter Beijing and this is not just because they are not UNSC members, unlike China.
• Japan lacks military technology: Japan obviously has a very advanced high-technology industrial sector, its military industry is insignificant. It’s better not to invoke the DRDO.

Way forward

• People to people contact: Although the Covid-19 situation remains challenging, people-to-people exchanges between two countries are also being advanced.
• Cooperation in security: Cooperation has also taken great strides in the area of security, including joint exercises between the Japan Self-Defence Forces and the Indian Armed Forces.
• Reaping the benefits of natural alliance: Taking advantage of its considerable assets — the world’s third-largest economy, substantial high-tech skills, Japan is largely perceived as a natural ally to India.
• Looking East: If Japan and India continue to add concrete security content to their relationship, their strategic partnership could potentially be a game-changer in Asia.