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  • Emulating Amul’s success across other agricultural commodities

    Context

    Many wish for legendary “Milk Man of India” Verghese Kurien’s presence in our midst today as the conflict between the Central government and the farming community on the issue of the farm laws appears to be still unresolved.

    Adopting cooperative model

    • Kurien won the farmers over with his professional integrity and his vision of a central role for farmers in India’s journey of development.
    • It is on that foundation that Kurien went on to design his idea of Amul as a co-operative.
    • He turned it over the years into a global brand, and later launched the White Revolution that would make India the largest milk producing nation in the world.
    • Central to Kurien’s vision was the co-operative model of business development.
    • Kurien’s fascination for the co-operative model was also influenced by Gandhian thinking on poverty alleviation and social transformation.
    • Kurien could borrow from the ideas and the practices of the corporate world.
    • In areas such as innovations in marketing and management, branding and technology, the private sector excels and sets benchmarks for businesses across the world to follow and adopt.
    • Innovations and evolving technologies: At the same time, Amul was steadily emerging as a laboratory, developing significant innovations and evolving technologies of its own, and these have strengthened its competitive power against multinational corporations.

    Challenges facing cooperative movements in India

    • Amul’s success has not been the catalyst for similar movements across other agricultural commodities in India.
    • Bypassing digital revolution: India’s digital revolution has bypassed the agriculture sector.
    • The cooperative movement in India is in a state of flux.
    • Decline of cooperative movement: India has suffered due to lack of professional management, adequate finance and poor adoption of technology.

    Conclusion

    This is truly a moment to reflect on Verghese Kurien’s remarkable legacy and the unfinished task he has left behind.

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  • Key Demographic Transitions captured by 5th round of NFHS

    The Union health ministry released the summary findings of the fifth round of the National Family and Health Survey (NFHS-5), conducted in two phases between 2019 and 2021.

    About NFHS

    • The NFHS is a large-scale, multi-round survey conducted in a representative sample of households throughout India.
    • The previous four rounds of the NFHS were conducted in 1992-93, 1998-99, 2005-06 and 2015-16.
    • The survey provides state and national information for India on:

    Fertility, infant and child mortality, the practice of family planning, maternal and child health, reproductive health, nutrition, anaemia, utilization and quality of health and family planning services etc.

    Objectives of the survey

    Each successive round of the NFHS has had two specific goals:

    • To provide essential data on health and family welfare needed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and other agencies for policy and programme purposes
    • To provide information on important emerging health and family welfare issues.

    Key highlights of the NFHS-5

    [1] Women outnumbering men

    • NFHS-5 data shows that there were 1,020 women for 1000 men in the country in 2019-2021.
    • This is the highest sex ratio for any NFHS survey as well as since the first modern synchronous census conducted in 1881.
    • To be sure, in the 2005-06 NFHS, the sex ratio was 1,000 or women and men were equal in number.

    [2] Fertility has decreased

    • The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) has also come down below the threshold at which the population is expected to replace itself from one generation to next.
    • TFR was 2 in 2019-2021, just below the replacement fertility rate of 2.1. To be sure, in rural areas, the TFR is still 2.1.
    • In urban areas, TFR had gone below the replacement fertility rate in the 2015-16 NFHS itself.

    [3] Population is ageing

    • A decline in TFR, which implies that lower number of children are being born, also entails that India’s population would become older.
    • Sure enough, the survey shows that the share of under-15 population in the country has therefore further declined from 28.6% in 2015-16 to 26.5% in 2019-21.

    [4] Children’s nutrition has improved

    • The share of stunted (low height for age), wasted (low weight for height), and underweight (low weight for age) children have all come down since the last NFHS conducted in 2015-16.
    • However, the share of severely wasted children has not, nor has the share of overweight (high weight for height) or anaemic children.
    • The share of overweight children has increased from 2.1% to 3.4%.

    [5] Nutrition problem for adults

    • For children and their mothers, there are at least government schemes such as Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) that seek to address the nutritional needs at the time of childbirth and infancy.
    • However, there is a need to address the nutritional needs of adults too.
    • The survey has shown that though India might have achieved food security, 60% of Indians cannot afford nutritious diets.
    • While the share of women and men with below-normal Body Mass Index (BMI) has decreased, the share of overweight and obese (those with above-normal BMI) and the share of anaemic has increased.

    [6] Basic sanitation challenges

    • Availability of basic amenities such as improved sanitation facilities clean fuel for cooking, or menstrual hygiene products can improve health outcomes.
    • There has been an improvement on indicators for all three since the last NFHS. However, the degree of improvement might be less than claimed by the government.
    • For example, only 70% population had access to an improved sanitation facility.
    • While not exactly an indicator of open defecation, it means that the remaining 30% of the population has a flush or pour-flush toilet not connected to a sewer, septic tank or pit latrine.

    [7] Use of clean fuel

    • The share of households that use clean cooking fuel is also just 59%.

    [8] Financial inclusion

    • The share of women having a bank account that they themselves use has increased from 53% to 79%.
    • Households’ coverage by health insurance or financing scheme also has increased 1.4 times to 41%, a clear indication of the impact of the government’s health insurance scheme.

     

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  • NITI Aayog’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)

    The Government think-tank NITI Aayog has released the National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).

    Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)

    • This baseline report of India’s first-ever national MPI measure is based on the reference period of 2015-16 of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)- 4.
    • It uses the globally accepted and robust methodology developed by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    • It captures multiple and simultaneous deprivations faced by households.

    Parameters used

    • The NMPI is calculated using 12 indicators — nutrition, child and adolescent mortality, antenatal care, years of schooling, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, assets and bank account,
    • They have been grouped under three dimensions namely, health, education and standard of living.

    Why NFHS-4?

    • Data collected during the NFHS-4 (2015-2016) corresponds to the period before the full roll out of new governments’ flagship schemes.
    • Hence it serves as a useful source for measuring the situation at baseline i.e. before large-scale rollout of nationally important schemes.

    How is the data used?

    • The national MPI 2021 is calculated using the household microdata collected at the unit-level for the NFHS-4 that is used to derive the baseline multidimensional poverty.
    • Further, the country’s progress would be measured using this baseline in the NFHS-5, for which the data was collected between 2019 and 2020.
    • The progress of the country with respect to this baseline will be measured using the NFHS-5 data collected in 2019-20.

    Key highlights NMPI

    • As per the index, 51.91% of the population in Bihar is poor, followed by Jharkhand (42.16%), Uttar Pradesh (37.79%), Madhya Pradesh (36.65%) and Meghalaya (32.67%).
    • On the other hand, Kerala registered lowest population poverty levels (0.71%), followed by Puducherry (1.72%), Lakshadweep (1.82%), Goa (3.76%) and Sikkim (3.82%).
    • Other States and UTs where less than 10% of the population are poor include Tamil Nadu (4.89%), Andaman & Nicobar Islands (4.30%), Delhi (4.79%), Punjab (5.59%), Himachal Pradesh (7.62%) and Mizoram (9.8%).

     

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  • Places in news: Solomon Islands

    Australia has announced sending police, troops and diplomats to the Solomon Islands to help after anti-Government demonstrators.

    Solomon Islands

    • Solomon Islands is a sovereign country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and northwest of Vanuatu.
    • Its capital, Honiara, is located on the largest island, Guadalcanal.
    • The country takes its name from the Solomon Islands archipelago, which is a collection of Melanesian islands that also includes the North Solomon Islands (a part of Papua New Guinea).
    • It excludes outlying islands, such as the Santa Cruz Islands and Rennell and Bellona.

     

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  • ‘Go back to committees’ is the farm laws lesson

    Context

    The Prime Minister has informed the nation that the Government is going to repeal the farm laws. This victory indeed takes India’s politics to a new phase — a phase of robust non-political movements with a certain staying power.

    Trajectory of the enactment of the farm laws and its shortcomings

    • Farmers not taken into confidence: These laws have a far-reaching impact on the farmers and it was very improper and quite unwise to push them through without taking the farmers into confidence.
    • Question on urgency: Under Article 123 of the Constitution the President can legislate on a matter when there is great urgency in the nature of an emergency and the sitting of Parliament is quite some time away.
    • Farm laws which make radical changes in the farm sector and affect the life of farmers in very significant ways do not have the kind of urgency which necessitates immediate legislation through the ordinances.
    • Bills not referred to committee: It is a wrong impression that Bills which are brought to replace the ordinances are not or cannot be referred to the standing committees of Parliament.
    • The Speaker/Chairman has the authority to refer any Bill except a money Bill to the standing committees.

    Significance of parliamentary committees

    • Consultation with Parliament and its time honoured system is a sobering and civilising necessity for governments howsoever powerful they may feel.
    • The accumulated wisdom of the Houses is an invaluable treasure.
    • The experience of centuries shows that scrutiny of Bills by the committees make better laws.
    • The case of the farm laws holds an important lesson for this Government or any government.
    • A proper parliamentary scrutiny of pieces of legislation is the best guarantee that sectoral interest will not jeopardise basic national interest.
    •  So, in any future legislation on farmers it is absolutely necessary to involve the systems of Parliament fully so that a balanced approach emerges.

    Way forward

    •  Available data shows that Bills are very rarely referred to the committees these days.
    • Discretion in the presiding officer: House rules have vested the discretion in the presiding officers in the matter of referring the Bills to committees.
    • No reasoned decisions of the presiding officers for not referring them are available.
    • Since detailed examination of Bills by committees result in better laws, the presiding officers may, in public interest, refer all Bills to the committees with few exceptions.
    • In the light of the horrendous experience of the Government over the farm laws, the present practice of not referring the Bills to committees should be reviewed. 

    Consider the question ” The experience of centuries shows that scrutiny of Bills by the committees make better laws. In context of this, examine the significance of the parliamentary committees and why fewer bills have been referred to the committees in the recent past?”

    Conclusion

    Speaker Om Birla has spoken about strengthening the committee system in the recent presiding officers’ conference. One way of strengthening it is by getting all the important Bills examined by them.

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  • Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) with Bangladesh

    Union Home Minister has said that the Northeast States will be linked by road and railway to Bangladesh in a year or two under the historic Land Boundary Agreement (LBA).

    Land Boundary Agreement (LBA)

    • India and Bangladesh have signed the LBA in 2014 to ensure proper connectivity in the region.
    • The operationalization of LBA lays the way for the exchange of 162 enclaves under the control of either country as per the 1974 pact.
    • Under the Agreement, 111 border enclaves will be transferred to Bangladesh in exchange for 51 that will become part of India.
    • The agreement settles an old land boundary dispute which dates back to colonial times as India transfers 111 border enclaves to Bangladesh in exchange for 51 enclaves.
    • It also settles the question of citizenship for over 50,000 people residing under these enclaves.

    Why was such an agreement needed?

    • India and Bangladesh share a 4,096 km land boundary covering West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram.
    • This is the largest among the international boundaries that India shares with its neighbors.
    • On this boundary, some 50,000-100,000 people reside in so-called Chitmahals or Indo-Bangladeshi enclaves.
    • There are 102 Indian enclaves inside Bangladesh and 71 Bangladeshi ones inside India.
    • Inside those enclaves are also 28 counter-enclaves and one counter-counter-enclave, called Dahala Khagrabari.

    The inception of the agreement

    • For the first time, a vision to solve this issue had been enshrined in the Indira-Mujib pact of 1972.
    • Accordingly, the India-Bangladesh LBA was signed between the two countries in 1974.
    • However, this agreement need ratification from the parliaments of both countries as it involved the exchange of the territories.
    • While Bangladesh had ratified it as back as 1974 only, it was not ratified by the Indian parliament till 2014.
    • The 119th Amendment Bill 2013 sought to ratify the land boundary agreement between the two countries.

    Key features of the LBA

    • The LBA envisages a transfer of 111 Indian enclaves to Bangladesh in return for 51 enclaves to India.
    • The area transferred to India is less than that transferred by India to Bangladesh. In totality, India incurs a net loss in terms of area occupancy.
    • This remained a major concern of opposition from the north-eastern affected states and west Bengal.
    • Also, most of the area concerned is occupied by the tribals of the North-Eastern states and hence the swapping takes away their land rights leaving them more vulnerable.
    • Current Status of the Constitution (119th Amendment) Bill has been passed by the Parliament of India on 7th May 2015.
    • While India will gain 510 acres of land, ten thousand acres of land will notionally go to Bangladesh.
    • This legislation will redraw India’s boundary with Bangladesh by exchanging enclaves in Assam, West Bengal, Tripura and Meghalaya.

    Implications of the Agreement

    • It will secure the long-stranded boundary and enable to curb the illegal migration, smuggling and criminal acts across the border.
    • It would help those stateless citizens by granting them citizenship from their respective countries. It would help settle the boundary dispute at several points in Meghalaya, Tripura, Assam, and West Bengal.
    • It would improve the access to underdeveloped north-eastern states and would further enhance the developmental works in the region.
    • It would help to increase the connectivity with south-east Asia as part of India’s North-eastern policy.

     

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  • What is Pre- Legislative Consultation Policy?

    The Union Government has listed 29 Bills (26 new and three pending) to be tabled in the winter session of Parliament.

    What is Pre-Legislative Consultation Policy?

    • In 2014, the Pre-Legislative Consultation Policy was adopted, mandating a host of rules, including that whenever the Government makes any law, it must place a draft version of it in the public domain for at least 30 days.
    • This policy provides a forum for citizens and relevant stakeholders to interact with policymakers.
    • The policy also says that along with the draft, a note explaining the law in simple language and justifying the proposal, its financial implication, impact on the environment and fundamental rights, a study on the social and financial costs of the bill, etc. should be uploaded.
    • The respective departments should also upload the summary of all the feedback that they receive on the circulated draft.

    Why in news?

    • Since the inception of the policy, 227 of the 301 bills introduced in Parliament have been presented without any prior consultation.
    • Of the 74 placed in the public domain for comment, at least 40 did not adhere to the 30-day deadline.

    The inception of the PLCP

    • The PLCP was formulated based on the broad recommendations of the National Advisory Council in 2013 and the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (2002).
    • It aimed to create an institutionalized space for public participation in lawmaking processes.

    Empowerment through Pre legislative consultation policy

    • A Pre legislative consultation policy has numerous merits and can help nudge our country in the right direction.
    • Given how diverse this nation is, it is crucial that we have a means for citizens to get directly involved in the formulation of policy decisions, especially those that have a direct stake in the bill and its nature.
    • If we fail to do so we will risk falling behind the times. Countries like Britain and South Africa and even the state of Kerala already have already set up effective PLP processes.
    • If anything, Kerala’s effective model is proof of how effective this process can be at home.
    • Furthermore, this policy has the capacity to make historically marginalized groups feel more included and cared for.

    Significance of the policy

    • This policy provides a forum for citizens and relevant stakeholders to interact with the policymakers in the executive during the initial stages of lawmaking.
    • Protests in the recent past over laws such as the farm laws, the RTI Amendment Act, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, etc. have all highlighted that there is discontent among relevant stakeholders and the public at large since they were not looped in while framing such laws.
    • Public consultations enhance transparency, increase accountability, and could result in the building of an informed Government where citizens are treated as partners and not as subjects.

    Status of its implementation

    • During the 16th Lok Sabha (May 2014 to May 2019) 186 bills were introduced in Parliament, of which 142 saw no consultation prior to introduction.
    • From the 44 bills placed in the public domain for receipt of comments, 24 did not adhere to the 30-day deadline.
    • During the 17th Lok Sabha (June 2019 to present), 115 bills were introduced in Parliament, of which 85 saw no consultation prior to introduction.
    • From the 30 bills placed in the public domain for receipt of comment, 16 of them did not adhere to the 30-day deadline.
    • The tentative schedule for the winter session indicates that a total of 29 bills are listed for introduction and passing. Of these, 17 saw no prior consultation while from the 12 that were placed in the public domain, only six adhered to the 30-day deadline.

    Why is implementation difficult?

    • Though it is required that the mandates of an approved policy be heeded by all Government departments, the absence of a statutory or constitutional right has watered down its effect.
    • The effective implementation of the policy requires subsequent amendments in executive procedural guidelines like the Manual of Parliamentary Procedures and Handbook on Writing Cabinet Notes.
    • However, during a subsequent amendment to the Manual of Parliamentary Procedures, the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs ignored the Ministry of Law and Justice when it requested them to incorporate PLCP provisions in the manual.

    Conclusion

    • Incorporation of pre-legislative consultation in the procedures of the Cabinet, Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha etc. should be prioritized.
    • Similarly, it must be required of ministers while introducing the bill to place an addendum note on the details of the pre-legislative consultation.
    • Empowering citizens with a right to participate in pre-legislative consultations through a statutory and constitutional commitment could be a gamechanger.

     

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  • Trilateral Exercise ‘Dosti’

    The 15th edition of the biennial trilateral coast guard exercise ‘Dosti’ involving India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka is underway in the Maldives.

    Exercise Dosti

    • The aim of this exercise is to further fortify the friendship, enhance mutual operational capability, and exercise interoperability and to build cooperation.
    • Both the Maldives and Sri Lanka are of strategic importance to New Delhi and to its maritime security interests.
    • 2021 marks 30 years since these exercises were first launched.

    Significance of the exercise

    • These exercises help during joint operations and missions undertaken by countries and also help enhance interoperability.
    • Although piracy is not a major issue in this part of the Indian ocean, these kinds of exercises also help coast guards with training for possibilities.
    • These exercises help develop a better understanding of the other nation’s coast guard operations and how to enhance coordination during different kinds of missions.

    What it involves

    • The scope of these exercises are wide-ranging.
    • India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives have agreed to work on what they called the “four pillars” of security cooperation.
    • These involved the areas of marine security, human trafficking, counter-terrorism and cyber security.

     

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  • A multi-pronged approach to end child marriage

    Context

    Reports suggest that more child marriages have been noticed during the Covid pandemic.

    Covid-19 and Girls

    Socio-economic impacts of Covid-19 are gendered, evident in the form of educational inequality, sexual violence, and increased household burden.

    • Increased domestic violence: In India, the National Commission for Women reported 2.5 times to increase in domestic violence during the initial months of nationwide lockdown.
    • Abuse & Trafficking: Closure of schools and pandemic induced poverty has increased the vulnerability of children especially the girl child to abuse and trafficking
    • School dropout: UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report (2021) throws light on increased educational inequalities for adolescent girls during the Covid-19 crisis. UNESCO estimates that around 11 million girls may not return to school.
    • School Closures pushed Children into Labour: In 2021, says UNESCO, 24 million children may not find their way back to schools after the pandemic. Any child who is not in school is a potential child laborer.
    • Child Marriages: India witnessed an increase in the number of child marriages since 2020. Girls are further at risk – married off early, these child brides are also often child laborers.
    • Reduced Education Budget: Despite knowing the impact of the Pandemic on the education system & thus on Children’s future, the Union budget has Rs 5,000 crore less to spend on education for children this year.
    • Digital gender gap: The digital gender gap deters girls’ remote education and access to information.

    Child Marriage

    • It is defined as a marriage of a girl or boy before the age of 18 and refers to both formal marriages and informal unions in which children under the age of 18 live with a partner as if married.
    • UNICEF estimates suggest that each year, at least 1.5 million girls under 18 get married in India, which makes it home to the largest number of child brides in the world – accounting for a third of the global total.
    • A recent study by the Lancet shows that up to 2.5 million more girls (below the age of 18) around the world are at risk of marriage in the next 5 years because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Prevalence of child marriage in India

    • Data from the fourth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS4) in 2015-16 shows that even before Covid, one in four girls in India was being married before 18.
    • Around 8 percent of women aged 15-19 years were mothers or pregnant at the time of the survey.
    • The first phase findings of NFHS5 (2019-20) show that the needle has not moved substantially on ending child marriage.

    Why did Child Marriages have increased during Lockdowns?

    • Lack of Alert Mechanism: Earlier, when child marriages happened at wedding halls, temples, etc, there were people who would alert the relevant authorities or activists who would be able to reach on time to stop it.
      • But now, with marriages happening at homes, we may get fewer alerts and our going there could be treated as trespass.
    • Pandemic Induced Pressures: Economic pressures due to the pandemic have pushed poor parents to marry off girls early.
      • With no schools, the safety of children, particularly girls, was a major reason for the increase in violence against children and child marriages.

    Causes for Child Marriages

    • Age Factor: Some parents consider the age period of 15-18 as unproductive, especially for girls, so they start finding a match for their child during this age period.
      • Further, the Right To Education Act makes education free and compulsory up to the age of 14 only.
    • Insecurity: Law and Order are still not able to provide a secure environment for the girls in adolescent age, so some parents get their girl child married at a young age.
    • Other Reasons:
      • Poverty,
      • Political and financial reasons,
      • Lack of education,
      • Patriarchy and gender inequalities, etc.

    Consequences of child marriage

    • Violation of human rights: Child marriage violates girls’ human rights. It makes them almost invisible to policy.
    • Impact on education and health: It cuts short their education, harms their health, and limits their ability to fulfill themselves as productive individuals participating fully in society.
    • The low domestic status of teenage wives typically condemns them to long hours of domestic labor; poor nutrition and anemia; social isolation; domestic violence; early childbearing; and few decision-making powers within the home.
    • Malnutrition: Poor education, malnutrition, and early pregnancy lead to low birth weight of babies, perpetuating the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition.
    • The costs of child marriage include teenage pregnancy, population growth, child stunting, poor learning outcomes for children, and the loss of women’s participation in the workforce.

    What should be the policy interventions to end child marriage?

    • CCTs: Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) have been the main policy instrument introduced by most states in the last two decades to end child marriage.
    • CCTs alone cannot change social norms. We need a comprehensive approach.
    • Legislative measures: Legislation is one part of the approach.
    • Karnataka amended the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act in 2017, declaring every child marriage, making it a cognizable offense.
    • Expansion of education: These include expansion of secondary education, access to safe and affordable public transport, and support for young women to apply their education to earn a livelihood.
    • Expansion of education goes beyond access. Girls must be able to attend school regularly, remain there, and achieve.
    • States can leverage their network of residential schools, girls’ hostels, and public transport, especially in underserved areas, to ensure that teenage girls do not get pushed out of education.
    • Teachers should hold regular gender equality conversations with high school girls and boys to shape progressive attitudes that will sustain them into adulthood.
    • Empowerment measures: Empowerment measures, too, are required to end child marriage, such as community engagement through programs like Mahila Samakhya.
    • Children’s village assemblies in the 2.5 lakh gram panchayats across India can provide a platform for children to voice their concerns.
    • Government actions driving social change: Field bureaucrats across multiple departments, including teachers, Anganwadi supervisors, panchayat, and revenue staff, all of whom interact with rural communities, should be notified as child marriage prohibition officers.
    •  Decentralizing birth and marriage registration: Most important of all, decentralizing birth and marriage registration to gram panchayats will protect women and girls with essential age and marriage documents, thus better enabling them to claim their rights.

    Consider the question “What are the consequence of child marriage? Suggest the measures to deal with the issue.”

    Conclusion

    We need to adopt a comprehensive approach to deal with the problem of child marriage. The approach should include a focus on education and legal measures.

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  • [pib] Who was Lachit Borphukan?

    The Prime Minister has paid tributes to Lachit Borphukan on Lachit Diwas.

    Who was Lachit Borphukan?

    • The year was 1671 and the decisive Battle of Saraighat was fought on the raging waters of the Brahmaputra.
    • On one side was Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb’s army headed by Ram Singh of Amer (Jaipur) and on the other was the Ahom General Lachit Borphukan.
    • He was a commander in the Ahom kingdom, located in present-day Assam.
    • Ram Singh failed to make any advance against the Assamese army during the first phase of the war.
    • Lachit Borphukan emerged victorious in the war and the Mughals were forced to retreat from Guwahati.

    Lachit Diwas

    • On 24 November each year, Lachit Divas is celebrated statewide in Assam to commemorate the heroism of Lachit Borphukan.
    • On this day, Borphukan has defeated the Mughal army on the banks of the Brahmaputra in the Battle of Saraighat in 1671.
    • The best passing out cadet of National Defence Academy has conferred the Lachit gold medal every year since 1999 commemorating his valour.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.What was the immediate cause for Ahmad Shah Abdali to invade and fight the Third Battle of Panipat:

    (a) He wanted to avenge the expulsion by Marathas of his viceroy Timur Shah from Lahore

    (b) The frustrated governor of Jullundhar Adina Beg khan invited him to invade Punjab

    (c) He wanted to punish Mughal administration for non-payment of the revenues of the Chahar Mahal (Gujrat Aurangabad, Sialkot and Pasrur)

    (d) He wanted to annex all the fertile plains of Punjab upto borders of Delhi to his kingdom

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”cm8azvlxsr” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

     

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