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GS Paper: GS3

  • Power crisis in India

    Context

    The power crisis has taken us by surprise. The question in everyone’s mind is: where did we go wrong? And who slipped up?

    Responsibilities in supply chain

    • Under the Electricity Act, it is the responsibility of the Distribution Licensee/Company (Discom) to provide reliable quality and round-the-clock electricity to all consumers to meet full demand.
    • To do so, they enter into contracts with a number of generating companies in order to ensure adequate supply.
    • These Discoms work under the oversight of the State Electricity Regulatory Commissions.

    Suggestions

    1] Dealing with the challenge of demand prediction

    • Qualitative transformation in demand: With higher incomes and the consequent increase in the use of air-conditioners and other electrical appliances, the nature of electricity demand is undergoing a qualitative transformation with rising daily and seasonal peaks, and spikes on very hot or cold days.
    • While demand prediction is inherently uncertain, the questions to ask are whether Discoms have been making and updating their demand growth projections and scenarios over the medium term with adequate supply arrangements in a robust manner.
    • This needs to become central to the regulatory process.
    • Ensuring reliable supply to meet unanticipated peaks, as have occurred now, requires making supply arrangements with reserve margins that are adequate.
    • The Regulatory Commissions need to provide for such expensive peaking power arrangements in the tariffs they approve.
    • It is also time to move towards separate peaking power procurement contracts in addition to the present system of long-term thermal power contracts.

    2] Demand-based time of day rates of electricity

    • A transition to demand-based time of day rates of electricity for generators as well as consumers would help.
    • These should be brought in by the Regulatory Commissions.
    • Flattening of demand curve: Peak demand moderation and flattening of the demand curve through a change in consumer behaviour is feasible with smart meters.
    • But this would take place only with a strong price signal, a large differential in peak and off-peak rates.

    3] Subsidies and politics

    • Free supply of electricity to farmers and households up to a specified level is not a problem as long as State governments pay for it as provided in the Act, and the Regulatory Commissions do not at the same time act from a political point of view and shy away from determining cost-reflective tariffs.
    • While the problem of delayed payments by Discoms is getting highlighted and needs to be resolved with a sense of urgency, the coal supply problem is not due to this.
    • Coal India needs to create capacities to rapidly ramp up production; and the Railways need to carry larger quantities of coal when demand surges, as has happened now.
    • Imported coal and gas generated electricity: There is idle but expensive generating capacity available — about 15-20 GW of gas-based power plants which can run on imported liquefied natural gas, and 6 GW-8 GW of thermal plants which can run on imported coal.
    • Consumers who are willing to pay more could be kept free of power cuts with purchase and supply of more expensive electricity generated from imported coal and gas.
    • To improve reliability, Discoms, with the approval of the Regulatory Commissions, need to go in for bids for storage.

    Conclusion

    A lesson is that demand growth projections and supply arrangements need to become central to the regulatory process.

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  • Control inflation by acting on liquidity

    Context

    The recent action of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to raise the repo rate by 40 basis points and cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 50 basis points is a recognition of the serious situation with respect to inflation in our country and the resolve to tackle inflation.

    Inflation in India and role of government expenditure

    • India’s CPI inflation has been fluctuating around a high level.
    • As early as October 2020, it had hit a peak of 7.61%.
    • It had remained at a high level of over 6% since April 2020.
    • It did come down after December 2020 but has started rising significantly from January 2022.
    • On the other hand, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation had remained in double digits since April 2021. The GDP implicit price deflator-based inflation rate for 2021-22 is 9.6%.
    • Even though the RBI’s mandate is with respect to CPI inflation, policymakers cannot ignore the behaviour of other price indices.
    • After the advent of COVID-19, the major concern of policymakers all over the world was to revive demand.
    • Keynesian prescription: This was sought to be achieved by raising government expenditure.
    • Thus, the expansion in government expenditure did not immediately result in increased production in countries where the lockdown was taken seriously.
    • However, the Keynesian multiplier does not work when there are supply constraints as in developing countries.
    • That is why the multiplier operates in nominal terms rather than in real terms in such countries.
    • Something similar has happened in the present case where the supply constraint came from a non-mobility of factors of production.
    • Nevertheless, the prescription of enhanced government expenditure is still valid under the present circumstances.
    • Perhaps the increase in output could happen with a lag and also with the relaxation of restrictions.

    Role of monetary policy

    • Why lover money multiplier rate? Initially, the focus of monetary policy in India has been to keep the interest rate low and increase the availability of liquidity through various channels, some of which have been newly introduced.
    • However, the growth rate of money was below the growth rate in reserve money.
    • This is because of lower credit growth which also depends on business sentiment and investment climate.
    • Thus the money multiplier is lower than usual.
    • The Government’s borrowing programme which was larger went through smoothly, thanks to abundant liquidity.
    • Even as the economy picked up steam in 2021-22, inflation also became an issue, this is a worldwide phenomenon.
    • In India too there is a shift in monetary policy.

    Analysing the cause of inflation

    • While discussing inflation, analysts focus almost exclusively on the increases in the prices of individual commodities such as crude oil as the primary cause of inflation.
    • General price level: Supply disruptions due to domestic or external factors may explain the behaviour of individual prices but not the general price level which is what inflation is about.
    • Given a budget constraint, there will only be an adjustment of relative prices.
    • Besides the fact that any cost-push increase in one commodity may get generalised, it is the adjustment that happens at the macro level which becomes critical.
    • It is the adjustment in the macro level of liquidity that sustains inflation.

    Inflation and growth

    • The possible trade-off between inflation and growth has a long history in economic literature.
    • The Phillip’s curve has been analysed theoretically and empirically.
    • Tobin called the Phillip’s curve a ‘cruel dilemma’ because it suggested that full employment was not compatible with price stability. 
    • The critical question flowing from these discussions on trade-off is whether cost-push factors can by themselves generate inflation.
    • In the current situation, it is sometimes argued that inflation will come down, if some part of the increase in crude prices is absorbed by the government. 
    • If the additional burden borne by the government (through loss of revenue) is not offset by expenditures, the overall deficit will widen.
    • The borrowing programme will increase and additional liquidity support may be required.

    Concomitant decisions on CRR and repo rate

    • These are concomitant decisions. Central banks cannot order interest rates.
    • For a rise in the interest rate to stick, appropriate actions must be taken to contract liquidity.
    • That is what the rise in CRR will do.
    • In the absence of a rise in CRR, liquidity will have to be sucked by open market operations.

    Conclusion

    Beyond a point, inflation itself can hinder growth. Negative real rates of interest on savings are not conducive to growth. If we want to control inflation, action on liquidity is very much needed with a concomitant rise in the interest rate on deposits and loans.

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  • Plans underway on Creation of Integrated Battle Groups

    The Indian Army is in advanced stages of putting together Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) by reconfiguring its combat formations.

    What are IBGs?

    • IBGs are brigade-sized, agile, self-sufficient combat formations, which can swiftly launch strikes against an adversary in case of hostilities.
    • Each IBG would be tailor-made based on Threat, Terrain and Task and resources will be allotted based on the three Ts.
    • They need to be light so they will be low on logistics and they will be able to mobilise within 12-48 hrs based on the location.
    • An IBG operating in a desert needs to be constituted differently from an IBG operating in the mountains.
    • The key corps of the Army is likely to be reorganized into 1-3 IBGs.

    Objective of IBG

    • Holistic integration to enhance the operational and functional efficiency, optimize budget expenditure, facilitate force modernization and address aspirations

    Structure of the IBG

    • While a command is the largest static formation of the Army spread across defined geography, a corps is the largest mobile formation.
    • Typically each corps has about three brigades.
    • The idea is to reorganise them into IBGs which are brigade-sized units but have all the essential elements like infantry, armoured, artillery and air defence embedded together based on the three Ts.
    • The IBGs will also be defensive and offensive. While the offensive IBGs would quickly mobilise and make a thrust into enemy territory for strikes, defensive IBGs would hold ground at vulnerable points or where enemy action is expected.

    Why need IBGs?

    • After the terrorist attack on the Parliament, the Indian military undertook massive mobilization but the Army’s formations which deep inside took weeks to mobilise losing the element of surprise.
    • Following this, the Army formulated a proactive doctrine known as ‘Cold Start’ to launch swift offensive but its existence was consistently denied in the past.
    • Its existence was acknowledged for the first time by (Late) Gen Rawat in January 2017.

     

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  • Highlights of State of the World’s Birds Report

    The State of the World’s Birds, an annual review of environmental resources has revealed that the population of 48% of the 10,994 surviving species of birds is declining.

    State of the World’s Birds

    • The report is published by the Manchester Metropolitan University.
    • It gives an overview of the changes in the knowledge of avian biodiversity and the extent to which it is imperilled.
    • The study draws from BirdLife International’s latest assessment of all birds for the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List.

    What are the key findings of the study?

    • The study found that 5,245 or about 48% of the existing bird species worldwide are known or suspected to be undergoing population declines.
    • While 4,295 or 39% of the species have stable trends, about 7% or 778 species have increasing population trends.
    • It shows 1,481 or 13.5% species are currently threatened with global extinction.

    Where the birds are threatened the most?

    • The more threatened bird species (86.4%) are found in tropical than in temperate latitudes (31.7%).
    • Such hotspots are concentrated in the tropical Andes, southeast Brazil, eastern Himalayas, eastern Madagascar, and Southeast Asian islands.

    What is the importance of birds to ecosystems and culture?

    • Birds contribute toward many ecosystem services that either directly or indirectly benefit humanity.
    • These include provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services.
    • The functional role of birds within ecosystems as pollinators, seed-dispersers, ecosystem engineers, scavengers and predators.
    • They not only facilitate accrual and maintenance of biodiversity but also support human endeavours such as sustainable agriculture via pest control besides aiding other animals to multiply.
    • For instance, coral reef fish productivity has been shown to increase as seabird colonies recovered following rat eradication in the Chagos archipelago.
    • Wild birds and products derived from them are also economically important as food (meat, eggs).

    What are the threats contributing to avian biodiversity loss?

    • The study lists eight factors, topped by land cover and land-use change.
    • The continued growth of human populations and of per capita rates of consumption lead directly to conversion and degradation of primary natural habitats.
    • Deforestation has been driven by afforestation with plantations (often of non-native species) plus land abandonment in parts of the global North, with net loss in the tropics.
    • The other factors are habitat fragmentation, degradation, hunting and trapping.

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2020:

    Q.With reference to India’s Biodiversity, Ceylon frogmouth, Coppersmith barbet, Gray-chinned minivet and White-throated redstart are

    (a) Birds

    (b) Primates

    (c) Reptiles

    (d) Amphibians

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”1zhy7sfg15″ question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

     

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  • What are W Bosons?

    Researchers from Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) Collaboration, in the US, announced that they have made a precise measurement of the mass of the so-called W boson.

    Do you know?

    There are four fundamental forces at work in the universe: the strong force, the weak force, the electromagnetic force, and the gravitational force. They work over different ranges and have different strengths. Gravity is the weakest but it has an infinite range.

    What is W Boson?

    • Discovered in 1983, the W boson is a fundamental particle.
    • Together with the Z boson, it is responsible for the weak force, one of four fundamental forces that govern the behaviour of matter in our universe.
    • Particles of matter interact by exchanging these bosons, but only over short distances.
    • The W boson, which is electrically charged, changes the very make up of particles.
    • It switches protons into neutrons, and vice versa, through the weak force, triggering nuclear fusion and letting stars burn.
    • This burning also creates heavier elements and, when a star dies, those elements are tossed into space as the building blocks for planets and even people.

    Debate over W Boson’s mass

    • The weak force was combined with the electromagnetic force in theories of a unified electroweak force in the 1960s, in an effort to make the basic physics mathematically consistent.
    • But the theory called for the force-carrying particles to be massless, even though scientists knew the theoretical W boson had to be heavy to account for its short range.
    • Theorists accounted for the mass of the W by introducing another unseen mechanism. This became known as the Higgs mechanism, which calls for the existence of a Higgs boson.

    What is the news?

    • CDF researchers stated that this precisely determined value did not match with what was expected from estimates using the standard model of particle physics.
    • This result is highly significant because this implies the incompleteness of the standard model description.
    • This is a major claim, since the standard model has been extraordinarily successful in the past decades.
    • Hence, physicists are looking for corroboration from other, independent, future experiments.

    What is the standard model of elementary particle physics?

    • The Standard Model of particle physics is the theory describing three of the four known fundamental forces (the electromagnetic, weak, and strong interactions while omitting gravity) in the universe and classifying all known elementary particles.
    • It is a theoretical construct in physics that describes particles of matter and their interaction. Ex. Proton, Neutron, Electron etc.
    • It is a description that views the elementary particles of the world as being connected by mathematical symmetries, just as an object and its mirror image are connected by a bilateral (left–right) symmetry.
    • These are mathematical groups generated by continuous transformations from, say, one particle to another.
    • According to this model there are a finite number of fundamental particles which are represented by the characteristic “eigen” states of these groups.
    • The particles predicted by the model, such as the Z boson, have been seen in experiments and the last to be discovered, in 2012, was the Higgs boson which gives mass to the heavy particles.

    Why is the standard model believed to be incomplete?

    • The standard model is thought to be incomplete because it gives a unified picture of only three of the four fundamental forces of nature and it totally omits gravity.
    • So, in the grand plan of unifying all forces so that a single equation would describe all the interactions of matter, the standard model was found to be lacking.
    • The other gap in the standard model is that it does not include a description of dark matter particles.

    How are the symmetries related to particles?

    • The symmetries of the standard model are known as gauge symmetries, as they are generated by “gauge transformations” which are a set of continuous transformations (like rotation is a continuous transformation).
    • Each symmetry is associated with a gauge boson.
    • For example, the gauge boson associated with electromagnetic interactions is the photon.
    • The gauge bosons associated with weak interactions are the W and Z bosons. There are two W bosons — W+ and W-.

    What is the main result of the recent experiment?

    • The recent experiment at CDF, which measured the mass of the W boson as 80,433.5 +/- 9.4 Mev/c2, which is approximately 80 times the mass of a hydrogen nucleus.
    • This came out to be more than what is expected from the standard model.
    • The expected value using the standard model is 80,357 +/- 8 MeV/c2 .
    • Thus, the W boson mass itself is a prediction of the standard model.
    • Therefore, any discrepancy in its mass means a lack of self-consistency in the standard model.

    What is the discrepancy they obtained?

    • The mass discrepancy of the W boson needs to be checked and confirmed to the same accuracy by other facilities, for example, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

    Where do we stand now in terms of new physics?

    • New physics is in the air, and experiments have been gearing up for some years now to detect new particles.
    • With its high-precision determination of the W boson mass, the CDF has struck at the heart of the standard model.
    • So it is a significant finding and if this is confirmed by the LHC and other experiments, it will throw open the field for ideas and experiment.

     

     

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  • What is the Xiaomi Scam?

    Last week, the Enforcement Directorate had seized Rs 5551.27 crore ($725 million) from the local bank accounts of the Chinese smartphones company, Xiaomi.

    Unfolding the Xiaomi Scam

    • Xiaomi faces charges of having made illegal remittances to foreign entities by passing them off as royalty payments.
    • It is a charge that Xiaomi has been continuously facing in India.
    • The ‘royalty and licence fee’ paid by Xiaomi India were not being added to the transaction value of the goods imported by the company and its contract manufacturers.
    • By not adding “royalty and licence fee” into the transaction value, Xiaomi was evading Customs duty.

    What is the recent probe?

    • The Enforcement Directorate has seized the bank account assets from Xiaomi Technology India, under the provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA.
    • The company had remitted over Rs 5500 crore to foreign-based entities, including one Xiaomi group entity, in the guise of royalty payments.
    • Such huge amounts in the name of royalties were remitted on the instructions of their Chinese parent group entities.

    Xiaomi’s response

    • Xiaomi, for its part, said that it is committed to working closely with government authorities to clarify any misunderstandings.
    • It argued that the royalty payments and statements to the bank are all legit and truthful and were made for the in-licensed technologies and IPs used in our Indian version products.
    • It is a legitimate commercial arrangement for Xiaomi India to make such royalty payments.
    • But it is a typical corporate response, something on the lines that Xiaomi did on the previous occasion too.

    How has China responded?

    • China firmly support its companies in protecting their lawful rights and interests.
    • It urged India to provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies making investment and operating in the country.
    • It is visible that China has made a dovish statement as they usually do.
    • Xiaomi now has alleged its top executives faced threats of “physical violence” and coercion during questioning by ED.

    Indian govt on strong wicket

    • Indian governmental authorities have made it clear that the Chinese companies were not being targeted.
    • And financial misdemeanours had indeed been committed by these companies.
    • The government has also explained the various cases in details and what it has seized so far.
    • But the Chinese companies seem to be playing the victim card.

    Back2Basics: Directorate of Enforcement (ED)

    • ED is a law enforcement agency and economic intelligence agency responsible for enforcing economic laws and fighting economic crime (esp Money Laundering) in India.
    • It is part of the Department of Revenue of the Ministry of Finance.
    • It is composed of officers from the Indian Revenue Service, Indian Police Service and the Indian Administrative Service as well as promoted officers from its own cadre.
    • The total strength of the department is less than 2000 officers out of which around 70% of officials came from deputation from other organizations while ED has its own cadre, too.
    • The prime objective of the Enforcement Directorate is the enforcement of two key Acts namely:
    1. Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999 (FEMA) and
    2. Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 (PMLA)

     

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  • What is Monkeypox?

    The UK health authorities have confirmed a case of Monkeypox, which is a virus passed from infected animals such as rodents to humans, in someone with a recent travel history to Nigeria where they are believed to have caught it.

    What is Monkeypox?

    • The monkeypox virus is an orthopoxvirus, which is a genus of viruses that also includes the variola virus, which causes smallpox, and vaccinia virus, which was used in the smallpox vaccine.
    • It causes symptoms similar to smallpox, although they are less severe.
    • While vaccination eradicated smallpox worldwide in 1980, monkeypox continues to occur in a swathe of countries in Central and West Africa, and has on occasion showed up elsewhere.
    • According to the WHO, two distinct clade are identified: the West African clade and the Congo Basin clade, also known as the Central African clade.

    Its origin

    • Monkeypox is a zoonosis, that is, a disease that is transmitted from infected animals to humans.
    • Monkeypox virus infection has been detected in squirrels, Gambian poached rats, dormice, and some species of monkeys.
    • According to the WHO, cases occur close to tropical rainforests inhabited by animals that carry the virus.

    Symptoms and treatment

    • Monkeypox begins with a fever, headache, muscle aches, back ache, and exhaustion.
    • It also causes the lymph nodes to swell (lymphadenopathy), which smallpox does not.
    • The WHO underlines that it is important to not confuse monkeypox with chickenpox, measles, bacterial skin infections, scabies, syphilis and medication-associated allergies.
    • The incubation period (time from infection to symptoms) for monkeypox is usually 7-14 days but can range from 5-21 days.
    • There is no safe, proven treatment for monkeypox yet.

     

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  • Debate over Front of Pack Labelling (FoPL) of Packaged Food

    The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is expected to issue a draft regulation for labels on front of food packets.

    What is FoPL?

    • In India, packaged food has had back-of-package (BOP) nutrient information in detail but no FoPL.
    • Counter to this, FoPL can nudge people towards healthy consumption of packaged food.
    • It can also influence purchasing habits.
    • The study endorsed the HSR format, which speaks about the proportions of salt, sugar, and fat in food that is most suited for consumers.
    • Countries such as the UK, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Hungary, and Australia have implemented FoPL systems.

    What warranted such rating in India?

    • Visual bluff: A lot of Indian consumers do not read the information available at the back of the packaged food item.
    • Burden of NCDs: Also, India has a huge burden of non-communicable diseases that contributes to around 5.87 million (60%) of all deaths in a year.
    • Healthy dietary choices: HSR will encourage people to make healthy choices and could bring a transformational change in the society.
    • Supreme Court order: A PIL seeking direction to the government to frame guidelines on HSR and impact assessment for food items and beverages was filed in the Supreme Court in June 2021.

    Which category of food item will have HSR?

    • All packaged food items or processed food will have the HSR label.
    • These will include chips, biscuits, namkeen, sweets and chocolates, meat nuggets, and cookies.
    • However, milk and its products such as chenna and ghee are EXEMPTED as per the FSSAI draft notified in 2019.

    Will there be pushback from food industry?

    • Negative warning: Some experts opposed the use of the HSR model in India, suggesting that consumers might tend to take this as an affirmation of the health benefits rather than as a negative warning of ill effects.
    • Lack of awareness: This is significant because there is lack of awareness on star ratings related to consumer products in India.
    • Impact on Sale: Certain organisations fear it might affect the sale of certain food products.

    When will the rating come into force?

    • FSSAI’s scientific panel recommends voluntary implementation of HSR format from 2023 and a transition period of four years for making it mandatory.
    • It noted that the proposed thresholds are in alignment with the models implemented in other countries and ‘WHO population nutrient intake goals recommendations’.
    • FSSAI will analyse the nutritional information in 100 mg of packaged food.
    • The food safety compliance system licensing application portal will have a module for generating certificates wherein a licensee can enter details of a product.

     

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  • What are India’s plans to avert a Wheat Crisis?

    On May 4, the government lowered its wheat production estimates by 5.7% to 105 million tonnes (MT) from the projected 111.32 MT for the crop year ending June.

    Decline in wheat production

    • India is the second largest producer of wheat in the world, with China being the top producer and Russia the third largest — Ukraine is the world’s eighth largest producer of wheat.
    • After five straight years of a bumper wheat output, India has had to revise downwards its estimated production.
    • Unprecedented heatwaves across the north, west and central parts of the country, and March and April being the hottest in over 100 years, have caused substantial loss to the yield.
    • Researchers attributed the lower estimates to “early summer” affecting the crop yields in States, especially Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

    Why is there a decline in govt procurement?

    • Ukrainian war: Private traders have been prompted to buy more wheat from farmers as the price of wheat at the international level has shot up due to Ukrainian war.
    • Higher prices: A large quantity of wheat was being bought by traders at a higher rate than the minimum support price (MSP).
    • Hoarding by farmers and traders: Also, farmers are holding on to some quantity of wheat, expecting higher prices for their produce in the near future.

    How will this impact the public distribution of grain?

    • Wheat procurement is undertaken by the state-owned Food Corporation of India (FCI) and other agencies at MSP to meet the requirements under the Public Distribution System (PDS).
    • Other running welfare schemes is the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) introduced during the pandemic.
    • The government has revised the grain allocation under PMGKAY for May to September 2022.
    • According to the new guidelines, the FCI will fill the gap left by wheat with an increased allocation of rice.
    • Pointing out that from next year, fortified rice will be distributed to the entire Public Distribution System (PDS).

    Will domestic wheat prices be hit?

    • As government wheat procurement has dipped, concerns are being raised about the stability of prices in the country.
    • The availability of grain for internal consumption, many agri-experts argue should be a priority.
    • The government has dismissed concerns about both prices and stocks, asserting that India is in a comfortable situation with the overall availability of grains.
    • India has enough stocks to meet the minimum requirement for next one year for meeting the requirement of welfare schemes.

    How is the global supply situation shaping up?

    • In order to meet the gap created by reduced Russian and Ukrainian exports, importers are turning to alternative markets.
    • Wheat-producing countries like India are looking to increase exports.

    Will farmers benefit?

    • Farmers will certainly benefit from the scenario as they are being offered a price above the MSP.
    • Amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis, new markets in countries like Israel, Egypt, Tanzania and Mozambique have opened up for India.
    • However, if private traders continue to buy above MSP, eventually that could stoke inflation.
    • More private buying of wheat will help India expand the agri-export basket to new countries, riding the current crisis situation.
    • This trade relationship will stay even when the global crisis is over, which means farmers will get about 10%-15% extra price as market prices are ruling above MSP.

    What about export plans?

    • After Egypt, Turkey has also given approval for the import of Indian wheat.
    • India has been eyeing deals with new export markets in European Union countries too.
    • Despite the crop loss and revision of the output estimate, the Centre maintained that no curbs would be placed on wheat exports and that it was facilitating traders.

     

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  • What is Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR)?

    The Punjab government recently announced Rs 1,500 incentive per acre for farmers opting for Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR), which is known for saving water.

    What is DSR technique?

    • In transplanting, farmers prepare nurseries where the paddy seeds are first sown and raised into young plants.
    • These seedlings are then uprooted and replanted 25-35 days later in the main field.
    • Paddy seedlings are transplanted on fields that are “puddled” or tilled in standing water using tractor-drawn disc harrows.
    • In DSR, there is no nursery preparation or transplantation. The seeds are instead directly drilled into the field by a tractor-powered machine.

    How much water is required to grow one kg rice?

    • Paddy is non-shelled rice that farmers grow and sell in mandis and then after milling paddy rice is prepared.
    • According to the studies, around 3,600 litres to 4,125 litres of water is required to grow one kg rice depending upon the paddy variety.
    • Long duration varieties consume more water.
    • In Punjab, 32% area is under the long duration (around 158 days) paddy varieties, and the rest comes under paddy varieties that take 120 to 140 days to grow.
    • So, on an average 3,900 to 4,000 litres water is required to grow one kg rice in the state.

    How much water is used in Punjab every year to grow rice?

    • In 2020-21, Centre procured 203 lakh tonnes of paddy from Punjab.
    • After milling, this procured paddy resulted in 135.98 lakh tonnes of rice.
    • Since studies put average water required to produce one kg rice at 4,000 litres, so in one year – based on last year’s estimate – Punjab needed 5,400 billion litres of water to produce 135 lakh tonnes rice.

    How much water can DSR help save?

    • DSR technique can help save 15% to 20% water.
    • In some cases, water saving can reach 22% to 23%.
    • With DSR, 15-18 irrigation rounds are required against 25 to 27 irrigation rounds in traditional method.
    • Since area under rice in Punjab is almost stagnant, DSR can save 810 to 1,080 billion litres water every year if entire rice crop is brought under the technique.

    Are there any other benefits of DSR tech?

    • DSR can solve labour shortage problem because as like the traditional method it does not require a paddy nursery and transplantation of 30 days old paddy nursery into the main puddled field.
    • With DSR, paddy seeds are sown directly with machine.
    • DSR offers avenues for ground water recharge as it prevent the development of hard crust just beneath the plough layer due to puddled transplanting.
    • It matures 7-10 days earlier than puddle transplanted crop, therefore giving more time for management of paddy straw.
    • Research trials indicated that yield, after DSR, are one to two quintals per acre higher than puddled transplanted rice.

    Getting optimum results

    • Experts said that with DSR technique, which is called ‘tar-wattar DSR’ (good soil moisture), farmers must sow paddy only after pre-sowing (rauni) irrigation and not in dry fields.
    • Further, the field should be laser levelled.
    • They said that spraying of herbicide must be done simultaneously along with sowing, and the first irrigation, which is done at 21 days after sowing.

    Limitations of the DSR

    • Suitability of soil is the most important factor as farmers must not sow it in the light-textured soil.
    • This technique is suitable for medium to heavy textured soils including sandy loam, loam, clay loam, and silt loam which accounts for around 80% area of the state.
    • It should not be cultivated in sandy and loamy sand as these soils suffer from severe iron deficiency, and there is higher weed problem in it.
    • Also, avoid direct seeding of rice in fields which are under crops others than rice (like cotton, maize, sugarcane) in previous years as DSR in these soils is likely to suffer more from iron deficiency and weed problems.

     

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