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  • Minority Issues – SC, ST, Dalits, OBC, Reservations, etc.

    How horizontal, vertical quotas work; what Supreme Court said?

    | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Indian Constitution – historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure

    The Supreme Court last month clarified the position of law on the interplay of vertical and horizontal reservations.

    This newscard is useful for GS paper 1 as well as aspirants with sociology optional. Let us know in the comment box if you want to get a deeper insight.

    It perfectly highlights the heart of the debate on “merit versus reservation”, where reservation is sometimes projected as being anti-merit.

    What are vertical and horizontal reservations?

    • Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes is referred to as vertical reservation.
    • It applies separately for each of the groups specified under the law.
    • Horizontal reservation refers to the equal opportunity provided to other categories of beneficiaries such as women, veterans, the transgender community, and individuals with disabilities, cutting through the vertical categories.

    How are the two categories of quotas applied together?

    • The horizontal quota is applied separately to each vertical category, and not across the board.
    • For example, if women have 50% horizontal quota, then half of the selected candidates will have to necessarily be women in each vertical quota category.
    • This means half of all selected SC candidates will have to be women, half of the unreserved or general category will have to be women, and so on.
    • The interlocking of the two types of reservation throws up a host of questions on how certain groups are to be identified.
    • For example, would an SC woman be put in the category of women or SC? Since quotas are fixed in percentages, what percentage of quota would be attributed to each?

    What was the Saurav Yadav case about?

    • The case was on the technicalities that form a substantial question of law.
    • It was this: Two aspirants had secured 276.5949 and 233.1908 marks respectively.
    • They had applied under the categories of OBC-Female and SC-Female respectively. OBC and SC are vertical reservation categories, while Female is a horizontal reservation category.
    • The two candidates did not qualify in their categories.
    • However, in the General-Female (unreserved-female) category, the last qualifying candidate had secured 274.8298 marks, a score that was lower than the two backwards.
    • The question before the court was that if the underlying criterion for making selections is “merit”.

    What did the court decide?

    • The court ruled against the UP government.
    • It observed if a person belonging to an intersection of the vertical-horizontal reserved category had secured scores high enough to qualify without the vertical reservation.
    • It held that the person would be counted as qualifying without the vertical reservation, and cannot be excluded from the horizontal quota in the general category.
    • If a person in the SC category secures a higher score than the cut-off for the general category, the person would be counted as having qualified under the general category instead of the SC quota.

    What was the government’s argument?

    • The government’s policy was to restrict and contain reserved category candidates to their categories, even when they had secured higher grades.
    • The court said this was tantamount to ensuring that the general category was ‘reserved’ for upper castes.

    What was the court’s reasoning?

    • The court did the math by examining a number of hypothetical scenarios.
    • It concluded that if both vertical and horizontal quotas were to be applied together — and consequently, a high-scoring candidate who would otherwise qualify without any reservation.
    • On the other hand, if a high-scoring candidate is allowed to drop one category, the court found that the overall selection would reflect more high-scoring candidates.
    • In other words, the “meritorious” candidates would be selected.

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  • WTO and India

    Trade Policy Review of India at the WTO

    IOCR | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Important International Institutions

    India’s seventh Trade Policy Review (TPR) has begun at the World Trade Organization in Geneva.

    Q.In the wake of the global economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, discuss the challenges ahead of WTO.

    Trade Policy Review (TPR)

    • The TPR is an important mechanism under the WTO’s monitoring function and involves a comprehensive peer-review of the Member’s national trade policies.
    • India’s last TPR took place in 2015.

    Why need a TPR?

    • To increase the transparency and understanding of countries’ trade policies and practices, through regular monitoring
    • To improve the quality of public and intergovernmental debate on the issues
    • To enable a multilateral assessment of the effects of policies on the world trading system

    India’s progress

    • Since previous TPR, India has worked diligently to reform and transform the entire economic eco-system to meet the socio-economic aspirations of a billion-plus Indians.
    • The introduction of the GST, the IBC, labour sector reforms, an enabling and investor-friendly FDI Policy, and various national programmes like Make in India, Digital India, Startup India and Skill were the path-breakers.
    • The improvement in the economic and business environment, on account of the wide-ranging reforms, has enabled India to better its position in the World Bank’s Doing Business ranking from 142 in 2015 to 63 in 2019.
    • This improvement is also endorsed by investors who continue to view India as a desirable investment destination even during the testing time of the pandemic.
    • In 2019-20, India received highest ever FDI inflow of USD 74.39 billion.

    A note of caution

    • India’s trade policy remained largely unchanged since the previous review.
    • India continues to rely on trade policy instruments such as the tariff, export taxes, minimum import prices, import and export restrictions, and licensing, WTO said.
    • These are used to manage domestic demand and supply requirements, protect the economy from wide domestic price fluctuations, and ensure conservation and proper utilization of natural resources.
    • As a result, frequent changes are made to tariff rates and other trade policy instruments, which create uncertainty for traders.

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  • Right To Privacy

    Personal Data Protection Bill 2019

    op-ed snap | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizens Charters,Government Scheme/Policies,Indian Constitution – historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure

    The Personal Data Protection Bill (2019) has several provisions which could have implications for the privacy of an individual. The article examines such provisions and highlights the need for further debate on the Bill.

    Evolution of privacy as a fundamental right

    • The Supreme Court in MP Sharma v. Satish Chandra (1954) and Kharak Singh v. Uttar Pradesh (1962) had declared that while in certain circumstances the privacy of individuals was to be protected, there was no constitutional right to privacy in and of itself.
    • However, in Puttuswamy v India (2017) the Supreme Court accepted privacy as a fundamental right.
    • This was an important development.

    Rising importance of data

    • The rising importance of data has pushed over 80 countries to pass national laws protecting the collection and use of their citizens’ data by companies and the government.
    • The DPB will have huge commercial and political consequences for India.
    • In India, the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 (DPB) is currently under consideration by a parliamentary committee.
    • According to Ernst and Young, emerging technologies in India will create $1 trillion in economic value by 2025.
    • Much of this value will be founded on the creation, use, and sale of data, and the DPB will have immense implications as firms scramble to meet new privacy regulations.

    Conditions for access to data and issues

    • The bill establishes a number of conditions for companies to follow.
    • For one, it would require digital firms to obtain permission from users before collecting their data.
    • It also declares that users who provide data are, in effect, the owners of their own data.
    • So that the users will be able to control the data their online selves produce, and may request firms to delete it, just as European internet-users’ “right to be forgotten”.
    • But the bill stipulates that critical or sensitive personal data, related to information such as religion, or to matters of national security, must be accessible to the government if needed to protect national interest.
    • Critics have suggested that such open-ended access could lead to misuse.
    • Even B N Srikrishna, who chaired the committee that drafted the original bill has also expressed concerns about this provision.
    • Other major concern is about Data Protection Authority (DPA).

    Concerns about Data Protection Authority

    • The bill outlines the establishment of a Data Protection Authority (DPA).
    • The DPA will be charged with managing data collected by the Aadhaar programme.
    • It will be led by a chairperson and six committee members, appointed by the central government on the recommendation of a selection committee.
    • But this selection committee will be composed of senior civil servants, raising questions about the board’s independence.
    • The government’s power to appoint and remove members at its discretion also stokes fears about its ability to influence this independent agency.
    • Unlike similar institutions, such as the Reserve Bank of India or the Securities and Exchange Board, the DPA will not have an independent expert or member of the judiciary on its governing committee.

    Consider the question “Discuss the various provision of Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 for the protection of individual’s privacy. What are the concerns over the various provisions of the Bill?”

    Conclusion

    The DPB is a unique opportunity for India, a country with some 740 million internet users, to forge a pathbreaking agenda that will act as a standard-setter in the still-developing field of national data protection legislation.

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  • Promoting Science and Technology – Missions,Policies & Schemes

    Science Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP), 2020

    | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: S&T – Applications In Everyday Life

    The Department of Science and Technology has published the draft National Science Technology and Innovation Policy and has invited suggestions from the public.

    Q.The STIP, 2020 contains radical and progressive proposals that could be game-changers for not just the scientific research community, but also for the way ordinary Indians interact with Science. Discuss.

    STIP, 2020

    Aim: To identify and address the strengths and weaknesses of the Indian STI ecosystem to catalyse socio-economic development of the country and also make the Indian STI ecosystem globally competitive.

    The philosophy behind

    • Unlike previous STI policies which were largely top-driven in the formulation, this policy follows core principles of being decentralized, evidence-informed, bottom-up, experts-driven, and inclusive.
    • It aims to be dynamic, with a robust policy governance mechanism that includes periodic review, evaluation, feedback, adaptation and, most importantly, a timely exit strategy for policy instruments.
    • The STIP will be guided by the vision of positioning India among the top three scientific superpowers in the decade to come; to attract, nurture, strengthen, and retain critical human capital through a people-centric STI ecosystem

    The Open Science Framework

    Open Science fosters more equitable participation in science through-

    • Increased access to research output;
    • Greater transparency and accountability in research; inclusiveness;
    • Better resource utilization through minimal restrictions on reuse of research output and infrastructure and
    • Ensuring a constant exchange of knowledge between the producers and users of knowledge

    Inclusion principles

    • The STIP proposes that at least 30 per cent representation be ensured for women in all decision-making bodies, as well as “spousal benefits” are provided to partners of scientists belonging to the LGBTQ+ community.
    • Among the proposals in the policy is the removal of bars on married couples being employed in the same department or laboratory.
    • As of now, married couples are not posted in the same department, leading to cases of loss of employment or forced transfers when colleagues decide to get married.
    • The policy says that for age-related cut-offs in matters relating to the selection, promotion, awards or grants, the “academic age” and not the biological age would be considered.

    Funding improvements

    • At 0.6% of GDP, India’s gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) is quite low compared to other major economies that have a GERD-to-GDP ratio of 1.5% to 3%.
    • This can be attributed to inadequate private sector investment (less than 40%) in R&D activities in India; in technologically advanced countries, the private sector contributes close to 70% of GERD.
    • STIP has made some major recommendations in this regard, such as the expansion of the STI funding landscape at the central and state levels.
    • It has enhanced incentivisation mechanisms for leveraging the private sector’s R&D participation through boosting financial support and fiscal incentives for industry.

    Other key Proposals

    • STIP will lead to the establishment of a National STI Observatory that will act as a central repository for all kinds of data related to and generated from the STI ecosystem.
    • The “One nation, one subscription” policy to establish a system whereby all researchers in India can access research published in top international journals for no cost.
    • All data used in and generated from public-funded research will be available to everyone (larger scientific community and public) under FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) terms.
    • Collaborative Research Centres (CRCs) will be established, that bring together industries, MSMEs, startups, R&D institutions and HEIs with the government.
    • Industry clusters will be encouraged and incentivized wherever necessary, to engage in collaborative R&D.
    • Opportunities for foreign MNCs to invest in the country’s STI landscape will be strengthened and made more accessible.
    • It proposes lateral entry of scientists up to 25 per cent of scientists in related ministries.

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  • Modern Indian History-Events and Personalities

    Places in the news: New Anubhava Mantapa

    National Parks/WS | History | Mains Paper 1: Arts & Culture

    Karnataka CM has laid the foundation stone for the ‘New Anubhava Mantapa’ in Basavakalyan, the place where 12th-century poet-philosopher Basaveshwara lived for most of his life.

    Vaishnavism and Shaivism are the two most profound strands of Bhakti Movement in Indian history. Enlist all the Bhakti Saints and their theistic philosophy and teachings. Try to spot the minute differences between them.

    Who was Basaveshwara?

    • Basaveshwara or Basavanna was an Indian 12th-century statesman, philosopher, a poet and Lingayat saint in the Shiva-focussed Bhakti movement and a social reformer in Karnataka.
    • He lived during the reign of the Kalyani Chalukya/Kalachuri dynasty.
    • He was active during the rule of both dynasties but reached his peak of influence during the rule of King Bijjala II in Karnataka, India.

    Founder of Lingayat cult

    • The traditional legends and hagiographic texts state Basava to be the founder of the Lingayats.
    • However, modern scholarship relying on historical evidence such as the Kalachuri inscriptions state that Basava was the poet-philosopher who revived, refined and energized an already existing tradition.

    His Philosophy

    • Basava’s Lingayat theology was a form of qualified nondualism, wherein the individual Atman (soul) is the body of God, and that there is no difference between Shiva and Atman (self, soul).
    • Basava’s views find places in Vedanta school, in a form closer to the 11th-century Vishishtadvaita philosopher Ramanuja.

    Famous works

    • Basavanna spread social awareness through his poetry, popularly known as Vachanaas.
    • Basavanna rejected gender or social discrimination, superstitions and rituals but introduced Ishtalinga necklace, with an image of the Shiva Liṅga to every person regardless of his or her birth.
    • As the chief minister of his kingdom, he introduced new public institutions such as the Anubhava Mantapa (or, the “hall of spiritual experience”) which welcomed men and women from all socio-economic backgrounds.

    The New Anubhava Mantapa

    • The New Anubhava Mantapa, as envisaged now, will be a six-floor structure in the midst of the 7.5-acre plot and represent various principles of Basaveshwara
    • It will showcase the 12th Century Anubhava Mantapa (often referred to as the “first Parliament of the world”) established by him in Basavakalyan where philosophers and social reformers held debates.
    • The building will adopt the Kalyana Chalukya style of architecture.
    • The grand structure supported by 770 pillars will have an auditorium with a seating capacity of 770 people.
    • It is believed that 770 Sharanas (followers of Basaveshwara) led the Vachana reformist movement in the 12th Century.
    • The basement is designed for a Dasoha Bhavana (dining hall) where around 1,500 people eat together. On its top, the structure would have a Linga placed on a large pedestal.
    • The project also envisages a state-of-the-art robotic system, open-air theatre, modern water conservation system, terrace garden, library, research centre, prayer hall, yoga centre and so on.

    Back2Basics: Kalyana Chalukya Style of Architecture

    • It is the distinctive style of ornamented architecture that evolved during the rule of the Western Chalukya Empire in the Tungabhadra region of modern central Karnataka.
    • These monuments, regional variants of pre-existing Dravida (South Indian) temples, form a climax to the wider regional temple architecture tradition called Vesara or Karnata Dravida.
    • They are either Ekakuta (one mandapa of one shrine) or Dvikuta (a common hall attached to two shrines).
    • The style has characters of both the Northern as well as Dravidian temple architecture.
    • This combination of both of these styles is known as Vesara Style, also Central Indian Style, which is represented by the Hoysala Temples.
    • Most of the temples of the Western Chalukyas are dedicated to Shiva, some of them dedicated to Vishnu and Jain Tirthankars also.

    Examples: Truketshwara Temple, Gadag; Kasivisvesvara Temple, Lakkundi

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  • Innovations in Sciences, IT, Computers, Robotics and Nanotechnology

    Know the scientist: Dmitri Mendeleev

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: S&T – Applications In Everyday Life

    Mendeleev was a Russian chemist and inventor who formulated the Periodic Law and the Periodic Table of Elements.

    Chemistry can, no wonder, find their place in exam if core Biology could do in 2020 CSP.

    Q.Which of the following statements is/are correct regarding the general difference between plant cells and animal cells?

    1. Plant cells have cellulose cell walls whilst animal cells do not.
    2. Plant cells do not have plasma membrane unlike animals cells which do
    3. Mature plant cell has one large vacuole whilst animal cell has many small vacuoles

    Select the correct answer using the given code below-

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

    Dmitri Mendeleev

    • Mendeleev was born in the Siberian town of Tobolsk.
    • In 1861, Mendeleev published a textbook named Organic Chemistry, which won him the Demidov Prize of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
    • While explaining the chemical and physical properties of elements, he discovered similarities in the progression of atomic weights.
    • He found that the order of atomic weights could be used to arrange the elements within each group and the groups themselves.
    • Thus, Mendeleev formulated the periodic law. His Osnovy khimii (The Principles of Chemistry) became a classic, running through many editions and many translations.

    The Periodic Law

    • Using the Periodic Law, Mendeleev developed a systematic table of all the 63 elements then known.
    • He even predicted the locations of unknown elements together with their properties within the periodic table.
    • When these predicted elements, notably gallium ( 1875), scandium (1879), and germanium (1886) were discovered, Mendeleev Periodic Table began to gain wide acceptance.
    • Incidentally, in 1870, German chemist Julius Lothar Meyer also published a paper describing the same organisation of elements as Mendeleev’s. But the latter is given credit for the table.
    • In all, Mendeleev predicted 10 new elements, of which all but two turned out to exist. Element 101 is named Mendelevium in his honour.

    Also read:

    https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/mendeleev-and-his-periodic-table-of-elements/

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  • Health Sector – UHC, National Health Policy, Family Planning, Health Insurance, etc.

    [pib] Longitudinal Ageing Study of India (LASI)

    PIB | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    The Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare has released INDIA REPORT on Longitudinal Ageing Study of India (LASI) Wave-1.

    Discuss various issues pertaining to old-age care in India.

    Longitudinal Ageing Study of India (LASI)

    • LASI is a full–scale national survey of scientific investigation of the health, economic, and social determinants and consequences of population ageing in India.
    • The LASI, Wave 1 covered a baseline sample of 72,250 individuals aged 45 and above till the oldest-old persons aged 75 and above from all States and UTs of India (excluding Sikkim).
    • It is India’s first and the world’s largest ever survey that provides a longitudinal database for designing policies and programmes for the older population in the broad domains of social, health, and economic well-being.
    • The evidence from LASI will be used to further strengthen and broaden the scope of National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly.
    • It would also help in establishing a range of preventive and health care programmes for older population and most vulnerable among them.

    Why need such survey?

    • In 2011 census, the 60+ population accounted for 8.6% of India’s population, accounting for 103 million elderly people.
    • Growing at around 3% annually, the number of elderly age population will rise to 319 million in 2050.
    • 75% of the elderly people suffer from one or the other chronic disease.
    • 40% of the elderly people have one or the other disability and 20% have issues related to mental health.
    • This report will provide base for national and state level programmes and policies for elderly population.

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  • Changing contours of India-U.K. ties

    | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    India and the U.K. has shard past, now the present offers an opportunity to strengthen the ties between the two countries.

    India-U.K. ties in changing geopolitical landscape

    • India has invited the British Prime Minister as chief guest for the Republic Day parade.
    • India has a shared past with Britain and needs to chart a different shared future, now that Britain has left the European Union (EU).
    • One joint enterprise will be as members of the UN Security Council where Britain has permanent status and India holds a non-permanent seat this year and next.
    • Also, this year, the U.K. will be hosting India as an invitee to the G-7, and the UN Climate Change Conference.

    Implications of Brexit on the bilateral relations

    •  For the U.K., Brexit necessitates that every effort be made to seek commercial advantage in Asian countries with high growth rates.
    • India has been fruitlessly negotiating a trade agreement with the EU since 2007, during which Britain was considered the main deal-breaker.
    • The EU wanted duty reductions on autos, wines and spirits and wanted India to open financial sectors.
    • India sought free movement for service professionals.
    • The same obstacles with post-Brexit Britain will arise, because the export profile of both countries is predominantly services-oriented.
    • In response to free movement for professionals, Britain will refer to its new points-based system for immigrants.
    • After withdrawing from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and will place greater stress on aspects related to country of origin and percentage of value addition in exports.
    • Therefore, while signing agreement two countries will coverge on pharmaceuticals, financial technology, chemicals, defence production, petroleum and food products.

    India-U.K. close ties

    • One and a half million persons of Indian origin reside in Britain.
    • Before COVID-19, there were half a million tourists from India to Britain annually and twice that figure in the reverse direction.
    • Around 30,000 Indians study in Britain despite restrictive opportunities for post-graduation employment.
    • Britain is among the top investors in India and India is the second-biggest investor and a major job creator in Britain.
    • India has a credit balance in total trade of $16 billion, but the level is below India’s trade with Switzerland, Germany or Belgium.

    Conclusion

    Two countries should strive towards strengthening ties against the backdrop of changing geopolitical circumstances and the Brexit.

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  • Mother and Child Health – Immunization Program, BPBB, PMJSY, PMMSY, etc.

    Need to focus on the well-being of the child from womb to first five years

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    The article analyses the data of NHFS-5 and try to factors responsible for the outcomes.

    Analysing health and nutrition of child through NHFS-5

    • The recently released fifth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) provide insights into some dimensions of micro-development performance before COVID struck.
    • The latest round only has data for 17 states and five Union territories.
    • Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu are notable exclusions.
    • Many of the child-related outcomes are also determined by state-level implementation, therefore neither success nor failure can be attributed to state or the centre alone.

    Let’s understand the data

    • The NFHS has 42 indicators related to child’s health and nutrition.
    • Indicators fall into nine categories and each of these can be divided into outcomes and inputs.
    • For example, neonatal, infant and under-5 mortality rates can be thought of as outcomes.
    • Similarly, all the nutrition indicators —stunting, wastage, excess wastage, underweight and overweight can also be classified as outcomes.
    • In contrast, the post-natal care indicators relating to visits made by health workers and the extent and nature of feeding for the child can be classified as inputs.

    Outcomes of the survey

    • On the front of wasting (weight for height of children) these is an improvement because even though the gains were marginal, they reversed a negative trend between 2005 and 2015. 
    • India continues to be successful in preventing child deaths, but the health and nutrition of the surviving, living child has deteriorated, somewhat worryingly.
    • India continued to make progress in preventing child-related deaths (neonatal, infants and under-5).
    • The pace of improvement in child mortality slowed down relative to the previous 10 years (Fig.1).
    • Figure 2 shows the six indicators where outcomes have deteriorated. These all relate to what happens after survival:
    • The health (anaemia, diarrhoea, and acute respiratory illness (ARI)) and nutrition (stunting, and overweight) of the child deteriorated between 2015 and 2019.
    • The absolute deterioration in health and nutrition indicators must be seen against the fact that they reversed the historic trends of steady improvements.

    What explains the outcomes

    • Implementation capacity of individual states probably played an important role.
    • Sector-specific factors such as changing diets are also implicated.
    • A broader deterioration in outcomes hints at the likelihood of a common factor, namely the macro-economic growth environment, which determines employment, incomes and opportunities.
    • At the least, it is safe to conjecture that some of these outcomes are inconsistent with the narrative of a rapidly growing economy.

    Conclusion

    As discussed in Chapter 5 of the Economic Survey of 2015-16, perhaps the next big welfare initiative of the government should be a mission-mode focus on the well-being of the early child (and of course the mother), from the womb to the first five years, which research shows is critical for realising its long run potential as an individual.

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  • Agricultural Sector and Marketing Reforms – eNAM, Model APMC Act, Eco Survey Reco, etc.

    Agricultural research in India

    op-ed snap | Agriculture | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    The article highlight the need for more emphasis on agricultural R&D as a solution to the woes of the farmers.

    India needs low-input high-output agriculture

    • Amid farmers protest against farm acts, the current debates focus mainly on MSP, reducing farmers’ debt liabilities, reducing post-harvest losses, cash transfers and marketing reforms.
    • India with entrenched poverty requires low-input, high-output agriculture; low input in terms of both natural resources and monetary inputs.
    • Very little attention is being given to reducing the natural resource inputs — most critical being water —and agricultural R&D.
    • This cannot be achieved without science and technology.

    Following are the areas in which Indian agriculture needs R&D to reduce agriculture inputs

    1) Water usage for agriculture

    • India receives around 4,000 billion cubic meters (bcm) of rainfall, but a large part of it falls in the east.
    • Moreover, most of the rain is received within 100 hours of torrential downpour, making water storage and irrigation critical for agriculture.
    • India has one of the highest water usages for agriculture in the world — of the total 761 bcm withdrawals of water, 90.5 per cent goes into agriculture.
    • In comparison, China uses 385.2 bcm (64.4 per cent) out of the total withdrawals of 598.1 bcm for agriculture.
    • China’s per-unit land productivity in terms of crop production is almost two to three times more.
    • The total estimated groundwater depletion in India is in the range of 122-199 bcm .
    • The depletion is highest in Punjab, Haryana, and western UP.

    2) Increasing the yields of coarse-grain crops and oilseed crops

    • Years of intense research on yield increase and yield protection by breeding varieties and hybrids resistant to pests and pathogens have made wheat, rice and maize stable high yielders.
    • Environmentalists suggest replacing rice with coarse grain crops — millets, sorghum etc.
    • However, the yields of these crops are not comparable to those of wheat and rice even when protective irrigation is available.
    • These crops have a serious R&D deficit leading to low yield potential as well as losses to pests and pathogens.
    • This leaves us with pulses and oilseeds.
    • In the 2017-18 fiscal year, India imported around Rs 76,000 crore worth of edible oils.
    • Three oilseed crops (mustard, soybean, and groundnut) are already grown very extensively.
    • Soybean and groundnut are legume crops and fix their nitrogen.
    • All three crops not only provide edible oils but are also an excellent source of protein-rich seed or seed meal for livestock and poultry.
    • Unfortunately, yields of the three crops are stagnating in India at around 1.1 tons per hectare, significantly lower than the global averages.

    3) Genetic improvements of crops

    • Pests and pathogens can be best tackled by agrochemicals or by genetic interventions.
    • A recent global level study on crop losses in the main food security hotspots for five major crops showed significant losses to pests — on average for wheat 21.5 per cent, rice 20 per cent, maize 22.5 per cent, potato 17.2 per cent, and soybean 21.4 per cent.
    • India is one of the lowest users of pesticides.
    • In 2014, comparative use of pesticides in kilograms per hectare in some select countries/regions is as following: Africa 0.30, India 0.36, EU countries 3.09, China 14.82, and Japan 15.93.
    • A more benign method for dealing with pests is through breeding.
    • The Green Revolution technologies were based on the effective use of germplasm and strong phenotypic selections.
    • Recombinant DNA technologies since the 1970s have brought forth unprecedented opportunities for genetic improvement of crops.
    • Since 2000, genomes of all the major crops have been sequenced.
    • The big challenge is in the effective utilisation of the enormous sequence data that is available.
    • India’s efforts in all three areas are half-hearted.

    Way forward

    • Over the last 20 years, India has been spending between 0.7 to 0.8 per cent of its GDP on R&D.
    • This is way below the percentage of GDP spent by the developing countries and Asia’s rapidly growing economies.
    • There are structural issues like lack of competent human resources and lack of policy clarity.
    • However, the biggest impediment to agricultural R&D has been overzealous opposition to the new technologies.

    Consider the question “India needs low-input, high-output agriculture. This cannot be achieved without science and technology. In light of this, examine how R&D could play a role in the advancement of agriculture in India.”

    Conclusion

    Maybe the present crisis in agriculture would lead to a greater appreciation of the need for strong public supported R&D in agriculture.

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