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GS Paper: GS3

  • Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC)

    India is looking at integrating more countries into coastal radar network IMAC.

    What is IMAC?

    • The Indian Navy’s IMAC located in Gurugram which was set up after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks is the nodal agency for maritime data fusion.
    • It functions under the National Maritime Domain Awareness (NMDA) Project.
    • The NMDA project was launched in accordance with the vision of PM on SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region).
    • The IMAC monitors movement of more than 120,000 ships a year passing through the Indian Ocean.
    • The cargo carried by these ships accounts for 66 per cent of world crude oil, 50 per cent of container traffic and 33 per cent of bulk cargo.
    • Thus, IMAC performs a very crucial role in collecting shipping information, analysing traffic patterns and sharing the inputs with the user agencies.

    Mission SAGAR, unlike other missions, can create confusion with the name and its purpose. Make note of such special cases. UPSC can ask such questions as one liner MCQs.

    Expanding IMAC

    • It is meant to enable real-time monitoring of the high seas for threats as also expand India’s assistance for capacity building to Indian Ocean littoral states.
    • Efforts are in advanced stages to set up coastal radar stations in Maldives, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
    • Mauritius, Seychelles and Sri Lanka have already been integrated into the country’s coastal radar chain network.
    • Similar plans are in the pipeline with Maldives and Myanmar and discussions are ongoing with Bangladesh and Thailand.

  • Species in news: Himalayan trillium

    The Himalayan trillium (Trillium govanianum), a common herb of the Himalayas was declared ‘endangered’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) last week.

    Try this MCQ:

    Q.Recently, there was a growing awareness in our country about the importance of Himalayan nettle (Girardinia diversifolia) because it is found to be a sustainable source of-

    (a) Anti-malarial drug

    (b) Bio-diesel

    (c) Pulp for paper industry

    (d) Textile fibre

    Himalayan trillium

    • In recent years, the plant has become one of the most traded commercial plants of the Himalayan region, due to its high medicinal quality.
    • It is found in temperate and sub-alpine zones of the Himalayas, at an altitude from 2,400-4,000 metres above sea level.
    • Their existence has also been traced across India, Bhutan, Nepal, China, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
    • In India, it is found in four states only- Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, and Uttarakhand.
    • Often called Nagchatri, in local areas this herb grows to a height of 15-20 cm.

    Various applications

    • It has been used in traditional medicine to cure diseases like dysentery, wounds, skin boils, inflammation, sepsis, as well as menstrual and sexual disorders.
    • Recent experiments have shown that the rhizome of the herb is a source of steroidal saponins and can be used as an anti-cancer and anti-ageing agent.
    • This increased its market value and has now become an easy target for poachers.

  • Laying the foundation for faster growth

    To ease the damage inflicted by the pandemic on the economy, India needs to act on multiple fronts. The article suggests the trajectory India should follow to compensate for the economic loss due to pandemic.

    Economy picking up

    • As the restrictions were slowly withdrawn, the economy has also started picking up.
    • There are many indicators such as collection of Goods and Services Tax (GST), the improved output of coal, steel, and cement, and positive growth in manufacturing in October 2020 which point to better performance of the private sector.
    • In Q1, the economy declined by 23.9%; it declined by 7.5% in Q2, when the relaxations were eased.
    • Reductions in the first half of GDP in 2020-21 as compared to the first half of 2019-20 is 7.66% of the 2019-20 GDP.
    • If the Indian economy at least maintains the second half GDP in 2020-21 at the level of the previous year, the full-year contraction can be limited to about 7.7%.

    Steps need to be taken

    • If the Indian economy grows at 8% in 2021-22 will we be compensating for the decline in 2020-21.
    • Thus, it is imperative that the Indian economy grows at a minimum of 8% in 2021-22.
    • This should be possible if by that time restrictions imposed because of COVID-19 are withdrawn and the nation goes back to a normal state.
    • Some sectors can act as lead sectors or engines of growth with increased government capital expenditures in them.
    • The private sector seems to be revising its future prospects.
    • Many new issues in the capital market have met with good response.
    • The attitude to trade must also change.
    • Closing borders may appear to be a good short-term policy to promote growth.
    • A strong surge in our exports will greatly facilitate growth, i.e. 2021-22.
    • However, much of Indian’s growth must rest on domestic factors.
    • Growth must not only be consumption-driven but also investment-driven.
    • It is the investment-driven growth in a developing economy that can sustain growth over a long period.

    The important role of monetary policy

    • The stance of monetary policy in 2020-21 has been extremely accommodating.
    • Three major elements in the policy are:
    • 1) A reduction in interest rate.
    • 2) Providing liquidity through various measures.
    • 3) Regulatory changes such as moratorium.
    • There has been a substantial injection of liquidity into the system.
    • With a large injection of liquidity, one should expect inflation to remain high.
    • In the final analysis, inflation is determined by the overall liquidity or money supply in the system in conjunction with the availability of goods and services.
    • While there may be sufficient justification for an accommodative monetary policy in a difficult year such as 2020, there will be a need to exercise more caution as we move into the next year.

    Role of government expenditure

    • Government expenditures play a key role in a situation such as the one we are facing.
    • The stimulus policies involving higher government expenditures were expected to arrest the contractionary momentum.
    • The government expenditures should be speeded up from now on so that the contraction in the current fiscal year as a whole can be reduced.
    • In 2021-22, government revenues should pick up with the rise in GDP.
    • The process of bringing down the fiscal deficit must also start.
    • What is required is a sharp increase in government capital expenditures which can act as a stimulus for growth.
    • A detailed investment plan of the government and public sector enterprises must be drawn up and presented as part of the coming Budget.

    Increasing investment

    • Over the past decade, the investment rate has been falling.
    • In 2018-19, the rate fell to 32.2% of GDP from 38.9% in 2011-12.
    • Some of the recent measures including corporate tax rate changes may help in augmenting investment.
    • A strong effort must be made to improve the investment climate. The National Infrastructure Pipeline is a good initiative.
    • But the government must come forward to invest more on its own.

    Reforms with consensus

    • Reforms are important in the context of rapid development.
    • However, timing, sequencing, and consensus-building are equally important while introducing them.
    • Labor reforms, for example, are best introduced when the economy is on the upswing.

    Consider the question ” Growth must not only be consumption-driven but also investment-driven. It is the latter which in a developing economy can sustain growth over a long period. In light of this, suggest the policy imperatives that India should follow to make good of the decline in 2020-202.”

    Conclusion

    To achieve the level of $5 trillion, we need to grow continuously at 9% for six years from now. That is the challenge before the economy. Jobs and employment will come from growth. They are not independent of growth. For that policymakers should eschew other considerations and focus only on growth.

  • Government must promote crop diversification by setting MSP for other crops as well

    Farmers’ genuine concerns must be addressed as soon as possible so that they can continue producing food and fibre needed for the ever-increasing population.

    Green revolution and farmer’s contribution to the food sufficiency in India

    • In the early 1960s, near-famine conditions prevailed in India and some 10 million tonnes of wheat had to be imported from the US under the PL480 programme. The country’s situation was like“ship-to-mouth” existence.
    • High-yielding dwarf wheat varieties brought from Mexico were provided to Indian agricultural institutes.
    • The consequent miraculous gains in wheat yield and production ushered in the “Green Revolution.”
    • The Green Revolution occurred due to a confluence of favourable government policies, efforts of agricultural scientists and the adoption of new wheat varieties/selections by farmers.
    • Also, the contributions of farmers of Punjab (Haryana included) was also very important and they became the backbone of the revolution.
    • By 1974, the industrious farmers of the “food-bowl” states of Punjab, Haryana, and western UP had brought about self-sufficiency in foodgrain production, ridding the country of the “begging bowl”.

    Practice Question: What are the concerns of the farmers after new agriculture reforms and how they can be addressed?

    Farmer’s concerns

    • Consultation with farmers is important before drafting policies –
    • There will be resistance no matter which organization enact the policies/rules without taking the affected people on board. A proactive approach is always better than a reactive one.
    • From the farmers’ standpoint, the ordinances were unfairly promulgated in June 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown, without consulting them.
    • Loss of Income in the lockdown – Farmers could not sell their vegetables and fruits because of the lockdown causing the loss of income and then the imposition of the new laws aggravated them.
    • Uncertainty in the minds of farmers about the continuation of MSP –
    • Farmers have been selling food grains (mainly wheat and rice) at Minimum Support Price (MSP) since the mid-1960s.
    • This has helped to create a central pool of food grains and the Public Distribution System to help poor people.
    • But MSP has not been guaranteed in the newly enacted farm laws, which is the major bone of contention.
    • The APMCs are under threat from the new farm laws as MSP and APMC go hand-in-hand.

    New Middleman –

    • The central government has indicated that the new farm laws are meant to eliminate the “middlemen”.
    • But the farmers feel that a new class of middlemen, that is, lawyers belonging to big companies would emerge.
    • Thus, small farmers would be at a distinct disadvantage — more than 80 per cent of farmers own less than five acres of land.

    Contract farming –

    • According to the central government, the new laws will ensure contract farming.
    • The farmers fear that big companies might usurp their land and might not pay them an agreed price on the pretext of “poor quality” of produce.
    • They feel that big companies might become monopolies, and exploit both farmers and consumers. Farmers fear being made into labourers.

    Way forward

    MSP is a must –

    • A clause should be added in the law to the effect that no matter who buys the produce (government or a private entity), the farmer must be given an MSP.
    • The National Farmers’ Commission’s recommendation of providing an MSP of 50 per cent over and above a farmer’s input expenses must be implemented.
    • APMCs should be continued – The fees that “Mandi Boards” collect (for example the Rural Development Fund) have helped build link roads. No private organization will do this.
    • MSP should be determined on the basis of grain quality.

    Crop diversification is needed –

    • The government must promote crop diversification by purchasing crops produced other than wheat and rice at MSP. This could help conserve the dwindling supply of underground water.
    • To encourage farmers to grow high-value crops, such as vegetables and fruits, the government should set up the adequate cold-chain infrastructure.
    • The farmers’ staying power must be improved so that they don’t have to sell all of their produce immediately after the harvest.
    • India has produced a number of World Food Laureates, including M S Swaminathan, Gurdev S Khush, Surinder K Vasal, and Rattan Lal. Such intellectuals should be in the “Agricultural Think Tank.”

  • What is the SolarWinds Hack?

    The ‘SolarWinds hack’, a cyberattack recently discovered in the US, has emerged as one of the biggest ever targeted against the US government, its agencies and several other private companies.

    Do you know about the ‘Five Eyes’ group of nations?

    Solar-Winds Hack

    • It was first discovered by US cybersecurity company FireEye, and since then more developments continue to come to light each day.
    • The US termed it as a highly sophisticated threat actor calling it a state-sponsored attack, although it did not name Russia.
    • It said the attack was carried out by a nation with top-tier offensive capabilities and the attacker primarily sought information related to certain government customers.

    How dangerous is the attack?

    • This is being called a ‘Supply Chain’ attack.
    • Instead of directly attacking the federal government or a private organization’s network, the hackers target a third-party vendor, which supplies software to them.
    • Once installed, the malware gave a backdoor entry to the hackers to the systems and networks of SolarWinds’ customers.
    • More importantly, the malware was also able to thwart tools such as anti-virus that could detect it.

    The deadliest cyber-attack ever in the US

    • The US Energy department which is responsible for managing America’s nuclear weapons is the latest agency to confirm that it has been breached in the SolarWinds cyber attack.

  • Christmas-Star Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter

    After nearly 400 years, Saturn and Jupiter – the two largest planets in our solar system – will be brought closest in the night sky by an astronomical event called the “great conjunction” and popularly referred to as the “Christmas Star”.

    Try this PYQ:

    What is a coma, in the context of Astronomy?

    (a) Bright half of material on the comet

    (b) Long tail of dust

    (c) Two asteroids orbiting each other

    (d) Two planets orbiting each other

    What are the Conjunctions?

    • A conjunction is not unique to Saturn and Jupiter however, it is the name given to any event where planets or asteroids appear to be very close together in the sky when viewed from the Earth.
    • In June 2005 for instance, as a result of the “spectacular” conjunction, Mercury, Venus and Saturn appeared so close together in the sky that the patch of sky where the three planets were could be covered by a thumb.
    • Astronomers use the word “great” for the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn because of the planets’ sizes.

    The “Great Conjunction”

    • It happens once in about 20 years because of the time each of the planets takes to orbit around the Sun.
    • Jupiter takes roughly 12 years to complete one lap around the Sun and Saturn takes 30 years.
    • This is because Saturn has a larger orbit and moves more slowly because it is not as strongly influenced by the Sun’s gravitational force as planets that are closer to the Sun.
    • As the two planets move along their orbits, every two decades, Jupiter catches up with Saturn resulting in what astronomers call the great conjunction.

    A ‘rare alignment’

    • Jupiter and Saturn are bright planets and can be typically seen with the naked eye even from cities.
    • But during conjunction, they appear to be close to each other, which is what makes the event noteworthy.
    • The event will coincide with the winter solstice (shortest day of the year in terms of hours of sunlight received) in the Northern Hemisphere and summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.
    • This year, however, the event is rare because the planets will come the closest to each other in nearly four centuries; in what astronomer Henry Throop described is a result of a “rare alignment” of the planets.

  • Gas Production in Krishna-Godavari Basin

    Reliance Industries Ltd and BP (British Petroleum) have announced the start of gas production from the R cluster of the KG Basin, the deepest off-shore gas field in Asia.

    Must read

    [Burning Issue] India’s push for a Gas-based Economy

    Krishna-Godavari Basin

    • The Krishna Godavari Basin is a proven petroliferous basin of continental margin located on the east coast of India.
    • Its onland part covers an area of 15000 sq. km and the offshore part covers an area of 25,000 sq. km up to 1000 m isobath.
    • The basin contains about 5 km thick sediments with several cycles of deposition, ranging in age from Late Carboniferous to Pleistocene.
    • The major geomorphologic units of the Krishna Godavari basin are Upland plains, Coastal plains, Recent Flood and Delta Plains.

    Minerals found

    • KG inland and offshore basins have good prospects of tight oil and tight gas reserves from the conducted field studies.
    • The first gas discovery in the basin was in 1983.
    • Most of the conventional wells drilled and operated have a shorter lifespan than envisaged life and with erratic production.
    • This may be due to drilling of conventional wells in tight oil and gas fields without horizontal drilling in the shale rock formations and hydraulic fracturing.

    Note: Tight gas and tight oil are produced from reservoir rocks with such low permeability that considerable hydraulic fracturing is required to harvest the well at economic rates.

    The KGD6 block

    • Krishna Godavari Dhirubhai 6 (KG-D6) was Reliance’s first offshore gas field development and its first underwater discovery.
    • It was also India’s largest deposit of natural gas and the largest such discovery in the world in 2002.
    • The project takes its name from India’s Krishna-Godavari Basin, which covers more than 19,000 square miles (50,000 square kilometres) in Andhra Pradesh and production block D6 in the Bay of Bengal.

    Why is this important?

    • The R cluster, along with the Satellite Cluster and MJ gas fields in the KG Basin is expected to produce around 30 MMSCMD (million standard cubic metres per day) of natural gas.
    • This is about 15% of India’s projected demand for natural gas by 2023.

    Do they impact India’s energy security efforts?

    • The three projects are a key part of the plan to boost domestic production of natural gas to increase the share of natural gas in India’s energy basket from 6.2% now to 15% by 2030.
    • Increased domestic production of natural gas is an important aspect of reducing India’s dependence on imports and improves energy security.

  • In agri-reforms, go back to the drawing board

    The intended beneficiaries often understand the realities of the systems better; policymakers need to build trust.

    Practice Question: The farmers protest against the new farm laws rises the serious concerns about the policymaking and involvement of citizen in the process by experts. What can be done to improve the trust of the public and how the challenge of agricultural income be solved?

    Reassessment is needed

    • The purpose of agriculture reforms is to increase farmers’ incomes. Farmers want the laws repealed.
    • The Supreme Court of India has called for discussions between the government and farmers around the country.
    • It is time to go back to the drawing board about the purpose and the process of agriculture reforms.
    • According to economists, fewer people must work on farms for farm productivity and incomes to be improved. Which begs the question of how the millions displaced from farms will earn incomes.
    • Indian industry is not growing much. There too, according to economists, humans should be replaced by technology for improving productivity.

    Flipside of productivity

    • Landholdings are too small for mechanization to improve farm productivity. Their solution is to ‘scale-up’ farms.
    • Mechanization requires standardization of work, hence mechanized farming on scale requires monocropping.
    • Large-scale specialization upsets the ecological balance. Reduced diversity of flora enables pests to spread more easily; soil quality is reduced; water resources get depleted.
    • Solutions to these new problems require more industrial inputs, with more costs for farmers.
    • The harmful side-effects of this approach to improve agriculture productivity are very visible in Punjab nowhere farm incomes have grown at the cost of water resources.

    Nature’s self-adaptive system

    • The ecological imbalance out of monocropping made the trees more vulnerable to pests.
    • Nature is a complex ‘self-adaptive’ system. It knows how to take care of itself.
    • When Man tries to overpower Nature with his science and industry, without understanding how Nature functions, he harms Nature — and ultimately himself.
    • Challenges of environmental degradation and increasing inequalities require that the economic calculus shifts from ‘economies of scale with standardization’ to ‘economies of scope for sustainability’.
    • This will make large-scale mechanization more difficult. It will require the use of more ‘flexible’ human labour.
    • In the long run, not only will this be good for the ecology, but it will also increase employment and incomes for people in the lower half of the economic pyramid.

    Market access

    • Farm incomes can increase with access to wider markets for farm produce, which is an objective of the agricultural reforms.
    • Indian farmers fear that they will not have adequate pricing power when pushed into large supply systems and less regulated markets.
    • Connections into global supply chains can increase volumes of sales which always favour the larger players in the supply chains who have easier access to capital.
    • Studies show that farmers in developed countries formed collectives which enable their voice to be heard by politicians and they could set the rules of global trade.

    Strengthen cooperatives

    • Institutions for cooperative ownership and collective bargaining must be strengthened to give power to small farmers before opening markets to large corporations.
    • A very good example is the Indian dairy sector. It’s ‘per person productivity is much lower than in New Zealand and Australian dairy producers’.
    • Still, it provides millions of tiny producers with reasonable incomes which large-scale industrial dairy producers do not.
    • Moreover, with its cooperative aggregation, the Indian dairy sector has also acquired political clout.
    • It has compelled the Indian government not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership to connect the Indian economy with larger supply chains.

    Low agriculture income

    • The problem of low incomes in India’s agriculture sector is a complex systems problem which cannot be solved by agriculture experts alone.
    • Experts from many disciplines must collaborate to find systemic solutions.
    • The intended beneficiaries of the new policies must be included in the designing of the new policies right at the beginning as they understand the realities of systems better than experts.
    • When policymakers say ‘the people don’t get it’ after the policy is announced and the intended beneficiaries protest, it is an indication that the experts didn’t get it.

    The reforms of the 1990s

    • The stand-off in agriculture reforms has caused a flurry of discussions about democracy, consultation, and processes for economic reforms.
    • The immediate beneficiaries of the 1991 reforms were all Indian consumers, rich and poor, who would benefit from access to better quality products from around the world.
    • The principal opponents of the reforms were a few large industrialists whose products citizens were not satisfied with.
    • Governments have more power over a few industrialists than they have over the masses.
    • The 1991 reforms changed industrial licensing and trade policies — both subjects of the Union government.
    • ‘Factor market’ reforms, inland, agriculture, and labour regulations, which are necessary to realize the full benefits of the 1991 reforms are State subjects.
    • They affect the lives of people on the ground, and differently, around the country. Therefore, the central government, no matter how strong it is, must not force these reforms onto the States.

    Conclusion:

    Silo experts cannot help

    • India’s policymakers must improve their expertise in solving complex, multi-disciplinary problems.
    • They must apply the discipline of systems thinking, and not rely on siloed domain experts.
    • Citizens around the country must be involved in the policymaking throughout the evolution of policies.
    • The policies of the government should create public value and it satisfies the desire of citizens for a well-ordered society, in which fair, efficient, and accountable public institutions exist.
    • Trust is essential for a well-governed society. The lesson for India’s leaders is- good processes for making public policies build trust between citizens and their governments.

  • CMS-01 Satellite launched by ISRO

    The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully placed into a transfer orbit India’s 42nd communications satellite, CMS-01, carried onboard the PSLV-C50.

    CMS-01

    • It is a communications satellite envisaged for providing services in extended C Band of the frequency spectrum and its coverage will include the Indian mainland and the Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands, the ISRO.
    • The satellite is expected to have a life of over seven years.
    • It was injected precisely into its pre-defined sub- geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).
    • CMS-01 is considered to be a replacement of the aged satellite GSAT-12. It provides services like tele-education, tele-medicine, disaster management support and Satellite Internet access.

    What is GTO?

    • A geosynchronous transfer orbit or geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) is a type of geocentric orbit.
    • Satellites which are destined for geosynchronous (GSO) or geostationary orbit (GEO) are (almost) always put into a GTO as an intermediate step for reaching their final orbit.
    • A GTO is highly elliptic.
    • Its perigee (closest point to Earth) is typically as high as low Earth orbit (LEO), while its apogee (furthest point from Earth) is as high as geostationary (or equally, a geosynchronous) orbit.

  • [pib] Metal CO2 Battery

    India’s planetary missions like Mars Mission may soon be able to reduce payload mass and launch costs with the help of an indigenously developed Metal- CO2 battery with CO2 as an Energy Carrier.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles produce one of the following as “exhaust”:

    (a) NH3

    (b) CH4

    (c) H2O

    (d) H2O2

    Metal CO2 Battery

    • An IIT professor recently demonstrated the technical feasibility of Lithium- CO2 battery in simulated Mars atmosphere for the first time.
    • The development of Metal-CO2 batteries will provide highly specific energy density with the reduction in mass and volume, which will reduce payload mass and launch cost of planetary missions.
    • Metal-CO2 batteries have a great potential to offer significantly high energy density than the currently used Li-ion batteries.
    • They provide a useful solution to fix CO2 emissions, which is better than energy-intensive traditional CO2 fixation methods.

    It’s working

    • A primary Li-CO2 battery uses pure carbon dioxide as a cathode.
    • According to chemical knowledge, Lithium metal can react with CO2 to form lithium oxalate at room temperature.
    • While at high temperatures, lithium oxalate decomposes to form lithium carbonate and carbon monoxide gas.