Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Khasi Tribe, khatduh
Mains level: Matrilineal society in NE
Matrilineal Meghalaya is set to break the tradition of share of parental property to the khatduh, which means the youngest daughter in the Khasi language.
Matrilineal Society of Meghalaya
- The matrilineal tradition which the Khasi and other subgroups practice in Meghalaya is unique within India.
- Khasi are an ancient tribe said to be the largest surviving matrilineal culture in the world.
- Matrilineal principles among the Khasi are emphasised in myths, legends, and origin narratives.
Their evolution
- Khasi kings embarking on wars left the responsibility of running the family to women and thus their role in society became very deep rooted and respected.
- Reference to Nari Rajya (female kingdom; or land of matriarchy) in the epic Mahabharata likely correlates with the Khasi and Jaintia Hills and Meghalaya’s present-day matrilineal culture.
Property rights
- The youngest daughter of the family, the Ka Khadduh, inherits all ancestral property.
- After marriage, husbands live in the mother-in-law’s home.
- The mother’s surname is taken by children.
- When no daughters are born to a couple, they adopt a daughter and pass their rights to property to her.
- The birth of a girl is celebrated while the birth of a son is simply accepted.
- There is no social stigma attributed to a woman remarrying or giving birth out of wedlock as the “Khasi Social Custom Lineage Act” gives security to them.
- Care of children is the responsibility of mothers or mothers-in-law.
Matrilineal, not matriarchal
- While society is matrilineal, it is not matriarchal. In past monarchies of the state, the son of the youngest sister of the king inherited the throne.
- Even now in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly or village councils or panchayats the representation of women in politics is minimal.
Issues with the system
- Some Khasi men perceive themselves to be accorded a secondary status.
- They have established societies to protect equal rights for men.
- They express that Khasi men don’t have any security, they don’t own land, they don’t run the family business and, at the same time, they are almost good for nothing.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Podu, Shifting cultivation
Mains level: Not Much
The Telangana government has decided to move landless, non-tribal farmers engaged in Podu shifting cultivation inside forests to peripheral areas as it looks to combat deforestation.
What is Shifting Cultivation?
- Shifting cultivation is a form of agriculture or a cultivation system, in which, at any particular point in time, a minority of ‘fields’ are in cultivation and a majority are in various stages of natural re-growth.
- Over time, fields are cultivated for a relatively short time, and allowed to recover, or are fallowed, for a relatively long time.
- Eventually, a previously cultivated field will be cleared of the natural vegetation and planted in crops again.
- Fields in established and stable shifting cultivation systems are cultivated and fallowed cyclically.
- This type of farming is also called jhumming in India.
What is Podu?
- Podu is a traditional system of cultivation used by tribes in India, whereby different areas of jungle forest are cleared by burning each year to provide land for crops.
- The word comes from the Telugu language.
- Podu is a form of shifting agriculture using slash-and-burn methods.
Issue in Telangana
- Shifting cultivation continues to be a predominant agricultural practice in many parts of India, despite state discouragement and multipronged efforts.
- Telangana government has red-flagged encroachment of forests by non-tribals, who are indulging in the practice of shifting agriculture (podu).
- Several political leaders have raised the issues of shifting agriculture and deforestation wherein encroachers clear a portion of land.
- The government now wants to shift out all farmers from the forests to the periphery by allotting lands to them for cultivation.
Impact of the move
- Tribal farmers who have been traditionally cultivating for decades will not be affected by this drive against illegal encroachers.
- The government has, in fact, given land ownership titles to tribals.
- Other encroaching farmers will be shifted out.
Back2Basics: Various shifting cultivation in India
| Type |
Place of practice |
| Jhum |
North-eastern India |
| Vevar and Dahiyaar |
Bundelkhand Region (Madhya Pradesh) |
| Deepa |
Bastar District (Madhya Pradesh) |
| Zara and Erka |
Southern States |
| Batra |
South-eastern Rajasthan |
| Podu |
Andhra Pradesh |
| Kumari |
Hilly Region of the Western Ghats of Kerala |
| Kaman, Vinga and Dhavi |
Odisha |
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Cyber Coordination Centre, CERT-IN
Mains level: Cyber security challenges for India
There are cybersecurity organisations in the country but no central body responsible for safety in the online space said the National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC).
National Cyber Coordination Centre
Headed by National Cyber Security Coordinator: Lt. Gen. Rajesh Pant (Retd.)
Objective: To help the country deal with malicious cyber-activities by acting as an Internet traffic monitoring entity that can fend off domestic or international attacks
- The National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) is an operational cybersecurity and e-surveillance agency in India.
- It is jurisdictionally under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
- It coordinates with multiple security and surveillance agencies as well as with CERT-In of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
- Components of the NCCC include a cybercrime prevention strategy, cybercrime investigation training and review of outdated laws.
Functions
- It will be India’s first layer for cyber threat monitoring and all communication with government and private service providers would be through this body only.
- The NCCC will be in virtual contact with the control room of all ISPs to scan traffic within the country, flowing at the point of entry and exit, including the international gateway.
Cyber-security bottlenecks in India
- India has no dedicated Cyber-security regulation and is also not well prepared to deal with cyberwarfare.
- India has formulated the National Cyber Security Policy 2013 which is not yet implemented.
- NCCC has been classified to be a project of the Indian government without a legal framework, which may be counterproductive as it may violate civil liberties and human rights.
- Some have expressed concern that the NCCC could encroach on Indian citizens’ privacy and civil liberties, given the lack of explicit privacy laws in the country.
Back2Basics: Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN)
- CERT-IN is an office within the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
- It is the nodal agency to deal with cyber security threats like hacking and phishing. It strengthens the security-related defence of the Indian Internet domain.
- It was formed in 2004 by the Government of India under the Information Technology Act, 2000 Section (70B) under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Emerging Technology Working Group
Mains level: Paper 2- Bubble of trust approach to globalisation
Context
An asymmetric globalisation favouring China allowed Beijing to attain power. It is now using that power to undermine liberal democratic values around the world.
What is Globalization?
Globalization is a process of increasing interdependence, interconnectedness and integration of economies and societies to such an extent that an event in one part of the globe affects people in other parts of the world.
OR
Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, organizations, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology.
Asymmetric globalisation
- The Chinese market was never open to foreign companies in the way foreign markets are to Chinese firms.
- This is particularly true in the information and communications technology sector: foreign media, technology and software companies have always been walled out of Chinese markets.
- Meanwhile, Chinese firms rode on the globalisation bandwagon to secure significant market shares in open economies.
Global retreat from globalisation and role of Quad
- We are currently witnessing a global retreat from the free movement of goods, services, capital, people and ideas.
- But this should not be understood as a reaction to globalisation itself, but of its skewed pattern over the past four decades.
- The Quad countries – Japan, India, Australia and the U.S. – have an opportunity to change tack and stop seeing engagement with China through the misleading prism of free trade and globalisation.
- It will be to their advantage to create a new form of economic cooperation consistent with their geopolitical interests.
- Indeed, without an economic programme, the Quad’s geopolitical and security agenda stand on tenuous foundations.
Economies inside bubbles of trust
- Policies of self-reliance: The popular backlash against China – exacerbated by the economic disruption of the pandemic – is pushing Quad governments towards policies of self-reliance.
- But while reorienting and de-risking global supply chains is one thing, pursuing technological sovereignty is inherently self-defeating.
- Worse still, inward-looking policies often acquire a life of their own and contribute to geopolitical marginalisation.
- There is a better way.
- A convergence of values and geopolitical interests means Quad countries are uniquely placed to envelop their economies inside bubbles of trust, starting with the technology sector.
- The idea of ‘bubbles of trust’ offers a cautious middle path between the extremes of technological sovereignty and laissez-faire globalisation.
- Unlike trading blocs, which tend to be insular and exclusive, bubbles tend to expand organically, attracting new partners that share values, interests and economic complementarities.
- Such expansion will be necessary, as the Quad cannot fulfil its strategic ambitions merely by holding a defensive line against authoritarian power.
Way forward
- The U.S. is a global leader in intellectual property, Japan in high-value manufacturing, Australia in advanced niches such as quantum computing and cyber security, and India in human capital.
- This configuration of values, interests and complementary capabilities offers unrivalled opportunities.
- The Quad’s Critical and Emerging Technology Working Group, announced in March 2021, is well placed to develop the necessary ‘bubbles of trust’ framework, which could be adopted at the next Quad summit.
- To be successful the Working Group must seek to strengthen geopolitical convergences, increase faith in each member state’s judicial systems, deepen economic ties and boost trust in one another’s citizens.
- There are fundamental differences between authoritarian and liberal-democratic approaches to the information age.
- The Quad cannot allow differences of approach on privacy, data governance, platform competition and the digital economy to widen.
Conclusion
This agenda cannot be about substituting China. Rather, the approach would allow Quad countries to manage their dependencies on China while simultaneously developing a new vision for the global economy.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: The Ashgabat Agreement,
Mains level: Paper 2- India's central Indian outreach
Context
The evolving situation in Afghanistan has thrown up renewed challenges for India’s regional and bilateral ties with Central Asia and the Caucasus, prompting India to recalibrate its rules of engagement with the region.
Background of India’s relations with Central Asian countries
- After the breakup of the Soviet Union and the formation of the independent republics in Central Asia, India reset its ties with the strategically critical region.
- India provided financial aid to the region and established diplomatic relations.
- New Delhi signed the Strategic Partnership Agreements (SPA) with Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to stimulate defence cooperation and deepen trade relations.
- In 2012, New Delhi’s ‘Connect Central Asia’ policy aimed at furthering India’s political, economic, historical and cultural connections with the region.
- However, India’s efforts were stonewalled by Pakistan’s lack of willingness to allow India passage through its territory.
Renewed engagement with Central Asia
- The growing geostrategic and security concerns regarding the BRI’s China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and its violation of India’s sovereignty forced New Delhi to fix its lethargic strategy.
- Eventually, Central Asia became the link that placed Eurasia in New Delhi’s zone of interest.
- India signed MoUs with Iran in 2015 to develop the Chabahar port in the Sistan-Baluchistan province that was in the doldrums from 2003.
- External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar was in the region earlier this month.
- In Kyrgyzstan, Mr. Jaishankar extended a credit line of $200 million for the support of development projects and signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) on High-Impact Community Development Projects (HICDP).
- Kazakhstan: His next stop was the Kazakhstan capital, Nur Sultan, where he attended the 6th Foreign Ministers’ Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA).
- Armenia: Mr. Jaishankar has become the first Indian External Affairs Minister to visit Armenia.
- During the visit, Mr. Jaishankar also supported efforts for a peaceful solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia under the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk group.
Limits of SCO
- The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was created in response to the threats of terrorism that sprang from Afghanistan.
- The Taliban re-establishing its supremacy over Afghanistan has also exposed the weaknesses of coalitions such as SCO.
- The SCO has been used by most member countries for their own regional geostrategic and security interests, increasing the trust-deficit and divergence within the forum.
Way forward
- Most of the Central Asian leaders view India’s Chabahar port as an opportunity to diversify their export markets and control China’s ambitions.
- They have admitted New Delhi into the Ashgabat Agreement, allowing India access to connectivity networks to facilitate trade and commercial interactions with both Central Asia and Eurasia, and also access the natural resources of the region.
- Rising anti-Chinese sentiments within the region and security threats from the Taliban allow New Delhi and Central Asia to reimagine their engagement.
- Central Asian countries have been keen to have India as a partner as they have sought to diversify their strategic ties.
Conclusion
India cannot afford to lose any time in recalibrating its regional engagements.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Crises in Pakistan and India's approach towards it
Context
Whether it can or should make a difference to Pakistan’s internal politics, India must pay greater attention to the internal dynamics of our most difficult neighbour and more purposefully engage a diverse set of actors in that polity.
India’s interventions in internal affairs of neighbours
- Except for Pakistan, in most other countries of the subcontinent, India is drawn quickly into their internal political arguments.
- Delhi has always exercised some influence on the outcomes of those contestations.
- It is enough to note that India’s interventions are a recurring pattern in the subcontinent’s international relations.
- Even when Delhi is reluctant to get into the weeds of these conflicts, the competing parties in the neighbourhood demand India’s intervention on their behalf.
- All of the contestants, of course, resolutely oppose India’s meddling when it goes against them.
- But Delhi has rarely been a decisive player in Pakistan’s internal politics.
- Delhi’s hands-off attitude is surprising, given India’s huge stakes in the nature of Pakistan’s policies and their massive impact on regional security.
Current crises in Pakistan
- Internal crises: Among the many challenges confronting Pakistan is the fresh breakdown in civil-military relations.
- Pakistan’s economy is in a tailspin as it struggles to negotiate a stabilisation package with the International Monetary Fund.
- The militant religious movement Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) has mounted a fresh march against the capital demanding the release of its arrested leader.
- External crises: The internal crises are sharpened by worsening external conditions.
- In Afghanistan, Pakistan has succeeded in restoring the Taliban to power.
- The celebrations have not lasted too long; the long-awaited victory is turning sour.
- The Arab Gulf states that have been fast friends of Pakistan are now tilting towards India.
- Once a favourite partner of the West, Pakistan today faces tensions in its ties with the US and Europe.
- More broadly, nuclear weapons and a powerful army seem unable to stop Pakistan’s relative decline in relation to not just India but also Bangladesh.
- Pakistan’s economy is now 10 times smaller than that of India and is well behind Bangladesh.
Suggestions
- Whether it can or should make a difference to Pakistan’s internal politics, India must pay greater attention to the internal dynamics of our most difficult neighbour and more purposefully engage a diverse set of actors in that polity.
- For Delhi, it is always about narrow political arguments with Rawalpindi and Islamabad; it is as if the people of Pakistan do not exist.
- For India, the crises in Pakistan should be an occasion to reflect on the long-term regional consequences of Pakistan’s internal turbulence.
- It might be argued that that unlike elsewhere in the neighbourhood, Delhi’s leverage in Pakistan’s politics is limited. But it is by no means negligible.
Consider the question “For Delhi, it is always about narrow political arguments with Rawalpindi and Islamabad; it is as if the people of Pakistan do not exist. The depth of the current crises in Pakistan, however, should nudge India into overcoming this entrenched indifference. Comment.”
Conclusion
India looms so large in Pakistan’s mind space. For Delhi, it may be worth trying to turn that into influence over Pakistan’s policies if only at the tactical level and at the margins.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: AB- Health Infrastructure Mission
Mains level: Not Much
PM has launched the Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (AB-HIM), one of the largest pan-India schemes for strengthening healthcare infrastructure.
AB- Health Infrastructure Mission
- AB-HIM is being rolled out as India’s largest scheme to scale up health infrastructure.
- It is aimed at ensuring a robust public health infrastructure in both urban and rural areas, capable of responding to public health emergencies or disease outbreaks.
Key features
- Health and Wellness Centres: In a bid to increase accessibility it will provide support to 17,788 rural HWC in 10 ‘high focus’ states and establish 11,024 urban HWC across the country.
- Exclusive Critical Care Hospital Blocks: It will ensure access to critical care services in all districts of the country with over five lakh population through ‘Exclusive Critical Care Hospital Blocks’.
- Integrated public health labs: will also be set up in all districts, giving people access to “a full range of diagnostic services” through a network of laboratories across the country.
- Disease surveillance system: The mission also aims to establish an IT-enabled disease surveillance system through a network of surveillance laboratories at block, district, regional and national levels.
- Integrated Health Information Portal: All the public health labs will be connected through this Portal, which will be expanded to all states and UTs, the PMO said.
Why is the scheme significant?
- India has long been in need of a ubiquitous healthcare system.
- A 2019 study has highlighted how access to public health care remained elusive to those living on the margins.
- The study found that 70 per cent of the locations have public healthcare services.
- However, availability was less in rural areas (65 per cent) compared to urban areas (87 per cent).
- In 45 per cent of the surveyed locations, people could access healthcare services by walking, whereas in 43 per cent of the locations they needed to use transport.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mullaperiyar Dam
Mains level: Interstate water disputes
The Supreme Court has directed the Supervisory Committee to take an immediate and firm decision on the maximum water level that can be maintained at Mullaperiyar dam amidst torrential rains in Kerala.
What is the news?
- A report by United Nations has stated that the Mullaperiyar dam, situated in a seismically active area, faces the risk of failure.
- Earlier this year, the Supreme Court warned the TN Chief Secretary against the failure to give information on the rule curve for dam which decides the discharge of excess water.
Mullaperiyar Dam
- It is a masonry gravity dam on the Periyar River in Kerala.
- It is located on the Cardamom Hills of the Western Ghats in Thekkady, Idukki District.
- It was constructed between 1887 and 1895 by John Pennycuick and also reached in an agreement to divert water eastwards to the Madras Presidency area.
- It has a height of 53.6 m (176 ft) from the foundation, and a length of 365.7 m (1,200 ft).
Operational issue
- The dam is located in Kerala but is operated and maintained by Tamil Nadu.
- The catchment area of the Mullaperiyar Dam itself lies entirely in Kerala and thus not an inter-State river.
- In November 2014, the water level hit 142 feet for first time in 35 years.
- The reservoir again hit the maximum limit of 142 feet in August 2018, following incessant rains in the state of Kerala.
- Indeed, the tendency to store water to almost the full level of reservoirs is becoming a norm among water managers across States.
The dispute: Control and safety of the dam
- Supreme court judgment came in February 2006, has allowed Tamil Nadu to raise the level of the dam to 152 ft (46 m) after strengthening it.
- Responding to it, the Mullaperiyar dam was declared an ‘endangered’ scheduled dam by the Kerala Government under the disputed Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2006.
- For Tamil Nadu, the Mullaperiyar dam and the diverted Periyar waters act as a lifeline for Theni, Madurai, Sivaganga, Dindigul and Ramnad districts.
- Tamil Nadu has insisted on exercising the unfettered colonial rights to control the dam and its waters, based on the 1886 lease agreement.
Rule of Curve issue
- A rule curve or rule level specifies the storage or empty space to be maintained in a reservoir during different times of the year.
- It decides the fluctuating storage levels in a reservoir.
- The gate opening schedule of a dam is based on the rule curve. It is part of the “core safety” mechanism in a dam.
- The TN government often blames Kerala for delaying the finalization of the rule curve.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: White dwarf
Mains level: Not Much
Using the Hubble Space telescope and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers have identified several white dwarfs over the years.
Where is this white dwarf?
- A white dwarf is what stars like the Sun become after they have exhausted their nuclear fuel.
- Near the end of its nuclear burning stage, this type of star expels most of its outer material, creating a planetary nebula.
- Only the hot core of the star remains. This core becomes a very hot white dwarf, with a temperature exceeding 100,000 Kelvin.
- Unless it is accreting matter from a nearby star, the white dwarf cools down over the next billion years or so.
Limits for white dwarf
- White Dwarf is half the size of our Sun and has a surface gravity 100,000 times that of Earth.
- There is a limit on the amount of mass a white dwarf can have.
- Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar discovered this limit to be 4 times the mass of the Sun. This is appropriately known as the “Chandrasekhar Limit.”
Observing white dwarf
- Many nearby, young white dwarfs have been detected as sources of soft, or lower-energy, X-rays.
- Recently, soft X-ray and extreme ultraviolet observations have become a powerful tool in the study the composition and structure of the thin atmosphere of these stars.
What is TESS?
- The researchers observed this phenomenon using Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).
- TESS is a space telescope in NASA’s Explorer program, designed to search for extrasolar planets using the transit method.
- The primary mission objective for TESS is to survey the brightest stars near the Earth for transiting exoplanets over a two-year period.
- The TESS project will use an array of wide-field cameras to perform an all-sky survey. It will scan nearby stars for exoplanets.
How does white dwarf ‘switch on and off’?
- In these types of systems, the donor star orbit around the white dwarf keeps feeding the accretion disk.
- As the accretion disk material slowly sinks closer towards the white dwarf it generally becomes brighter.
- It is known that in some systems the donor stars stop feeding the disk.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Floating Rate Bonds
Mains level: Not Much
The Government of India has announced the Sale (Re-issue) of Floating Rate Bonds, 2028’.
What are Bonds?
- Bonds are investment securities where an investor lends money to a company or a government for a set period of time, in exchange for regular interest payments.
- Generally, bonds come with a fixed coupon or interest rate. For example, you can buy a bond of Rs 10,000 with a coupon rate of 5%.
- Once the bond reaches maturity, the bond issuer returns the investor’s money.
- Fixed income is a term often used to describe bonds, since your investment earns fixed payments over the life of the bond.
Why are bonds launched?
- Companies sell bonds to finance ongoing operations, new projects or acquisitions.
- Governments sell bonds for funding purposes, and also to supplement revenue from taxes.
What are Floating Rate Bonds?
- A floating rate bond is a debt instrument that does not have a fixed coupon rate, but its interest rate fluctuates based on the benchmark the bond is drawn.
- Benchmarks are market instruments that influence the overall economy.
- For example, repo rate or reverse repo rate can be set as benchmarks for a floating rate bond.
How do floating rate bonds work?
- Floating rate bonds make up a significant part of the Indian bond market and are majorly issued by the government.
- For example, the RBI issued a floating rate bond in 2020 with interest payable every six months. After six months, the interest rate is re-fixed by the RBI.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Issues with paddy cultivation
Mains level: Paper 3- Pathway to switch from paddy to maize cultivation
Context
As per the latest Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) of agricultural households conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO), an average Indian farmer earned Rs 10,218 per month in 2018-19 (July-June).
SAS analysis: Variation across the states and cause of concern for Punjab
- Across states, the highest income was received by a farming household in Meghalaya (Rs 29,348) followed by Punjab (Rs 26,701), Haryana (Rs 22,841), Arunachal Pradesh (19,225) and Jammu and Kashmir (Rs 18,918).
- While the lowest income levels were in West Bengal (Rs 6,762), Odisha (Rs 5,112) and Jharkhand (Rs 4,895).
- But this is not a fair comparison as holding sizes vary widely across states.
- After normalising these incomes of agri-households by their holding sizes, as in the SAS, Punjab’s ranking on per hectare income falls from 2nd to 11th and Haryana goes down from 3rd to 15th (see figure).
- The states that would do well on this score are Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh.
- In these states, people earn their income from cultivating fruits and vegetables, spices, and livestock.
- These are high value in nature, not linked to MSPs, and market and demand-driven.
- As per the SAS, the average operated area per holding for Punjab is 1.44 ha (we have used that in the figure), but the Census gives a much higher value of 3.62 ha of average operational holding.
- If we normalise incomes of agri-households using Census values of average holding sizes, Punjab’s rank would go further down to 21st (household monthly income Rs 7,376) out of 28 states.
How can farmers in Punjab and Haryana augment their incomes with more sustainable agriculture?
1) Swith from paddy to maize
- Punjab’s former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had approached the Centre with an idea to create a fund of around Rs 25,000 crore to help farmers switch from paddy to maize.
- The Centre should give this idea a serious thought with the following modifications:
- One, the fund should be under a five-year plan to shift at least a million hectares of paddy area (out of a total of 3.1 million hectares of paddy area in Punjab) to maize.
- Two, the corpus should have equal contributions from the Centre and state.
- Three, since Punjab wants that farmers be given MSP for maize, an agency, the Maize Corporation of Punjab (MCP), should be created to buy maize from farmers at MSP.
- Four, this agency should enter into contracts with ethanol companies, and much of this maize can be used to produce ethanol as the poultry and starch industries will not be able to absorb this surplus in maize once a million hectares of paddy area shifts to maize.
- Fifth, maize productivity must be as competitive as that of paddy in Punjab and the best seeds should be used for that purpose.
- This is to ensure that ethanol from maize is produced in a globally competitive manner.
- The GoI’s policy for 20 per cent blending of ethanol in petrol should come in handy for this purpose.
2) Diversification
- Other parts of the diversification strategy have to be along the lines of increasing the area under fruits and vegetables, and a more focused policy to build efficient value chains in not just fruits and vegetables but also livestock and fisheries.
- They are more nutritious and the SAS data shows that their profitability is much higher in these enterprises than in crop cultivation, especially cereals.
- The sector needs to be backed by proper processing, grading and packaging infrastructure to tap its full potential.
Benefits of switching to maize from paddy
- Punjab will arrest its depleting water table as maize needs less than one-fifth the water that paddy does for irrigation.
- Also, Punjab will save much on the power subsidy to agriculture, which was budgeted at Rs 8,275 crore in the FY2020-21 budget, as paddy irrigation consumes much of the power subsidy.
- This saving subsidy resulting from the switch from paddy to maize can be used to fund a part of the state’s contribution to the Maize Corporation of Punjab.
- This could result in a win-win situation for all — farmers, the Government of Punjab and the country — as there will be lesser methane emissions and less stubble burning.
- Moreover, ethanol will also reduce GHG emissions in vehicular pollution.
Consider the question “Switching from paddy cultivation to maize can help the Punjab farmers deal with the several issues. In light of this, explain the issues with paddy cultivation and suggest the way forward.”
Conclusion
Their income on a per hectare basis needs to increase more sustainably, protecting the state’s land, water and air from further degradation, and producing more nutritious food. Punjab can then shine again on the nutritional security front with sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Medical Commission
Mains level: Paper 2- More LGBTQIA+ affirmative curriculum
Context
The National Medical Commission (NMC), the body responsible for regulating medical education in India, released an advisory regarding the LGBTQIA+ community and the necessary changes in the competencies of its competency-based medical education (CBME) curriculum.
Exclusion of LGBTQIA+ community in medication
- Medical education in India has focussed only on the binary of male and female, heterosexuality and cis-gendered lives, while excluding homosexuality and gender non-binary and transgender issues.
- This results in the exclusion of the LGBTQIA+ community.
- Even with the release of the competency-based medical curriculum in August 2019, the curriculum continues to include a queerphobic syllabus.
About the NMC notification
- The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 mandates governments to take measures for the “review of medical curriculum and research for doctors to address their [transgender] specific health issues,” but no action has been taken since then.
- In June 2021, in response to a case filed by a queer couple, the Madras High Court laid down a set of guidelines and directed the NMC to ban queerphobic practices such as conversion therapy which aims to forcibly change the sexual orientation of a person.
- In its notification, the NMC has advised medical colleges to teach gender in a way that is not derogatory to the queer community.
- The authors of medical textbooks have also been asked to amend the books to remove any harmful contents regarding virginity and the queer community.
Issues with the NMC notification
- While the NMC advisory title mentions necessary changes in the competencies of its CBME curriculum, there are no specifications on what these changes are.
- At the same time, the CBME curriculum itself mentions queerphobic things that are to be taught to students.
- Certain acts are called as sexual offences even though the Supreme Court has read down Section 377.
- Also, the competencies which will make a future Indian doctor respectful and empathetic in treating a queer patient are missing.
Way forward
- The NMC must start by recognising the flaws in its own CBME curriculum and explicitly state the changes required.
- Specific guidelines on how to make healthcare queer-affirmative are needed.
- The directive also needs to specify changes across several subjects and not just forensic medicine and psychiatry.
- For this, there needs to be a participatory stakeholder consultation towards the development of a queer-affirmative curriculum.
- Finally, there needs to be clarity on what the NMC plans to do for tackling queerphobia in the current set of health professionals.
Consider the question “The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 mandates governments to take measures for the review of the medical curriculum. In light of this, discuss the changes needed in the medical curriculum regarding the LGBTQIA+ community.”
Conclusion
Without these changes, equitable access to healthcare for queer persons will remain a faraway dream.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: G7
Mains level: Digital Trade Principles
The Group of Seven wealthy nations agreed on a joint set of principles to govern cross-border data use and digital trade.
What are the Digital Trade Principles?
- Open digital markets: Digital and telecommunications markets should be competitive, transparent, fair, and accessible to international trade and investment.
- Cross-border data flows: To harness the opportunities of the digital economy and support the trade of goods and services, data should be able to flow freely across borders with trust.
- Safeguards for workers, consumers, and businesses: Labour protections must be in place for workers who are directly engaged in or support digital trade, providing decent conditions of work.
- Digital trading systems: To cut red tape and enable more businesses to trade, governments and industries should drive forward the digitization of trade-related documents.
- Fair and inclusive global governance: Common rules for digital trade should be agreed and upheld at the World Trade Organization.
About Group of Seven
- The G-7 or ‘Group of Seven’ includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
- It is an intergovernmental organization that was formed in 1975 by the top economies of the time as an informal forum to discuss pressing world issues.
- Initially, it was formed as an effort by the US and its allies to discuss economic issues.
- The G-7 forum now discusses several challenges such as oil prices and many pressing issues such as financial crises, terrorism, arms control, and drug trafficking.
- It does not have a formal constitution or a fixed headquarters. The decisions taken by leaders during annual summits are non-binding.
- Canada joined the group in 1976, and the European Union began attending in 1977.
Evolution of the G-7
- When it started in 1975—with six members, Canada joining a year later—it represented about 70% of the world economy.
- And it was a cosy club for tackling issues such as the response to oil shocks.
- Now it accounts for about 40% of global gdp.
- Since the global financial crisis of 2007-09 it has sometimes been overshadowed by the broader g20.
- The G-7 became the G-8 in 1997 when Russia was invited to join.
- In 2014, Russia was debarred after it took over Crimea.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ZBNF
Mains level: Promotion of Organic Farming
Women farmers in the hill State of Himachal Pradesh are gradually turning to non-chemical, low cost “natural farming”, under the Prakritik Kheti Khushhal Yojana (PK3Y).
Prakritik Kheti Khushhal Yojana
- Launched in 2018, the State’s PK3Y is promoting the climate resilient Subhash Palekar Natural Farming (SPNF), also called ‘Zero Budget Natural Farming’.
- Over 1.5 lakh farmers have been trained in natural farming in the State so far, with substantial numbers of women participants.
About Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF)?
- ZBNF is a set of farming methods, and also a grassroots peasant movement, which has spread to various states in India.
- Subhash Palekar perfected it during the 1990s at his farm in Amravati district in Maharashtra’s drought-prone Vidarbha region.
- According to the “zero budget” concept, farmers won’t have to spend any money on fertilisers and other agricultural inputs.
- Over 98% of the nutrients that crops require — carbon dioxide, nitrogen, water, solar energy — are already present in nature.
- The remaining 1.5-2% are taken from the soil, after microorganisms convert them from “non-
Four Wheels of ZBNF
The “four wheels” of ZBNF are ‘Jiwamrita’, ‘Bijamrita’, ‘Mulching’ and ‘Waaphasa’.
- Jiwamrita is a fermented mixture of cow dung and urine (of desi breeds), jaggery, pulses flour, water and soil from the farm bund.
- This isn’t a fertiliser, but just a source of some 500 crore micro-organisms that can convert all the necessary “non-available” nutrients into “available” form.
- Bijamrita is a mix of desi cow dung and urine, water, bund soil and lime that is used as a seed treatment solution prior to sowing.
- Mulching, or covering the plants with a layer of dried straw or fallen leaves, is meant to conserve soil moisture and keep the temperature around the roots at 25-32 degrees Celsius, which allows the microorganisms to do their job.
- Waaphasa, or providing water to maintain the required moisture-air balance, also achieves the same objective.
Astra’s of ZBNF against pest attacks
- ZBNF advocates the use of special ‘Agniastra’, ‘Bramhastra’ and ‘Neemastra’ concoctions.
- They are based on cow urine and dung, plus pulp from leaves of neem, white datura, papaya, guava and pomegranates — for controlling pest and disease attacks.
Is it organic farming?
- ZBNF uses farmyard manure or vermicompost.
However, not all farmers are convinced about ZBNF. Why?
- Cost of labour: The cost of labour for collection of dung and urine, apart from the other inputs used in preparation of Jiwamrita, Neemastra or Bramhastra is quit higher.
- Bovine cost: Keeping cows is also a cost that has to be accounted for. Farmers cannot afford to keep desi cows that yield very little milk.
- Vulnerability to pest attacks: ZBNF is scarcely practiced. The crop grown would be vulnerable to attacks by insects and pests have already become pest-immune.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Hybrid immunity
Mains level: Not Much
A study has shown that a combination of natural infection with a single dose of vaccine provides greater immunity than either natural infection without vaccination or full vaccination in individuals.
What is the new study?
- People without prior infection but fully vaccinated with the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine showed a decline in neutralising antibodies over a period of three to seven months.
- But the decline was much less in vaccinated people with prior infection.
- People with hybrid immunity had a higher and more durable neutralising antibody response.
- The hybrid immunity offers stronger protection than just infection or full vaccination alone.
What is Hybrid Immunity?
- It is natural immunity from an infection combined with the immunity provided by the vaccine.
- The immunological advantage from hybrid immunity arises mostly from memory B cells.
What are memory B cells?
- In immunology, a memory B cell (MBC) is a type of B lymphocyte that forms part of the adaptive immune system.
- B lymphocytes are the cells of the immune system that make antibodies to invade pathogens like viruses.
- They form memory cells that remember the same pathogen for faster antibody production in future infections.
How do they assist hybrid immunity?
- While the bulk of antibodies after infection or vaccination decline after a short while, the memory B cells get triggered on subsequent infection or vaccination.
- The memory B cells triggered by infection and those triggered by vaccination have different responses to viruses.
- Infection and vaccination expose the spike protein to the immune system in vastly different ways.
- After full vaccination, antibodies produced by natural infection continued to grow in potency and their breadth against variants for a year after infection.
- Unlike after vaccination, the memory B cells formed after natural infection are more likely to make antibodies that block immune-evading variants.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Banni Buffalo, IVF
Mains level: Not Much
With the birth of first IVF calf of a Buffalo breed namely Banni in the country, India’s Ovum Pick-Up (OPU) – IVF work has reached to next level.
Banni Buffalo
- Banni buffaloes are also known as “Kutchi” or “Kundi”.
- The breeding tract includes the Banni area of Kutchchh district of Gujarat.
- The breed is maintained mostly by Maldharis under locally adapted typical extensive production system in its breeding tract.
What makes them unique?
- Banni buffaloes are trained to graze on Banni grassland during night and brought to the villages in the morning for milking.
- This traditional system of buffalo rearing has been adapted to avoid the heat stress and high temperature of the day.
- It has unique qualities of adaptation such as the ability to survive water scarcity conditions, to cover long distances during periods of drought and disease resistance.
Indigenous buffalo breeds in India
| S. No. |
Breed |
Breeding state |
| 1 |
Banni |
Gujarat |
| 2 |
Bargur |
Tamil Nadu |
| 3 |
Bhadawari |
Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh |
| 4 |
Chhattisgarhi |
Chhattisgarh |
| 5 |
Chilika |
Odisha |
| 6 |
Gojri |
Himachal Pradesh and Punjab |
| 7 |
Jaffarabadi |
Gujarat |
| 8 |
Kalahandi |
Odisha |
| 9 |
Luit (Swamp) |
Assam |
| 10 |
Marathwadi |
Maharashtra |
| 11 |
Mehsana |
Gujarat |
| 12 |
Murrah |
Haryana and Delhi |
| 13 |
Nagpuri |
Maharashtra |
| 14 |
Nili Ravi |
Punjab |
| 15 |
Pandharpuri |
Maharashtra |
| 16 |
Surti |
Gujarat |
| 17 |
Toda |
Tamil Nadu |
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Back2Basics: In-vitro fertilization (IVF)
- IVF is a type of assisted reproductive technology used for infertility treatment and gestational surrogacy.
- A fertilised egg may be implanted into a surrogate’s uterus, and the resulting child is genetically unrelated to the surrogate.
- Some countries have banned or otherwise regulate the availability of IVF treatment, giving rise to fertility tourism.
- Restrictions on the availability of IVF include costs and age, in order for a woman to carry a healthy pregnancy to term.
- IVF is generally not used until less invasive or expensive options have failed or been determined unlikely to work.
IVF process
- IVF is a process of fertilization where an egg is combined with sperm outside the body, in vitro (“in glass”).
- The process involves monitoring and stimulating a female ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) from the female ovaries and letting sperm fertilise them in a liquid in a laboratory.
- After the fertilised egg (zygote) undergoes embryo culture for 2–6 days, it is implanted in the same or another female uterus, with the intention of establishing a successful pregnancy.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ATUFS
Mains level: Textile sector of India
Union Minister of Textiles has reviewed the Amended Technology Up-gradation Fund Scheme (ATUFS) to ease of doing business, bolstering exports & fuelling employment.
What is ATUFS?
- The Ministry of Textiles had introduced Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) in 1999.
- It is a credit linked subsidy scheme intended for modernization and technology up-gradation of the Indian textile industry.
- It aims at promoting ease of doing business, generating employment and promoting exports. Since then, the scheme has been implemented in different versions.
- The ongoing ATUFS has been approved in 2016 and implemented through web based iTUFS platform.
- Capital Investment Subsidy is provided to benchmarked machinery installed by the industry after physical verification.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: HELE power plants
Mains level: Paper 3- Clean energy transition plan
Context
India has a long way to go in providing electricity security to its people since its per capita electricity consumption is still only a third of the global average.
Ensuring energy security and role of coal
- Energy security warrants the uninterrupted supply of energy at affordable prices.
- Thanks to the Electricity Act of 2003, the installed coal-fired thermal power plant (TPP) generation capacity in India more than doubled from 94 GW to 192 GW between March 2011 and 2017.
- This sharp increase in the installed capacity has enabled the government to increase per capita electricity consumption by 37% while reducing peak demand deficit from 9.8% (2010-11) to 1.6% (2016-17).
- TPPs contributed 71% of the 1,382 billion units (BU) of electricity generated by utilities in India during FY 2020-21 though they accounted for only 55% of the total installed generation capacity of 382 GW (as of March 2021).
- Coal, therefore, plays a vital role in India’s ongoing efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7, which is “to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”.
Renewable energy utilisation issue and implications for consumers
- While variable renewable energy (VRE) sources (primarily, wind and solar) account for 24.7% of the total installed generation capacity, as of March 2021, they contributed 10.7% of the electricity generated by utilities during FY 2020-21.
- However, the ramp-up of VRE generation capacity without commensurate growth in electricity demand has resulted in lower utilisation of TPPs whose fixed costs must be paid by the distribution companies (DISCOMs) and passed through to the final consumer.
- The current level of VRE in the national power grid is increasing the cost of power procurement for DISCOMs, leading to tariff increases for electricity consumers.
- Therefore, India must implement a plan to increase energy efficiency and reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and airborne pollutants from TPPs without making power unaffordable to industries that need low-cost 24×7 power to compete in the global market.
Way forward: time-bound transition plan
- Phasing out: The plan should involve the progressive retirement of TPPs(unit size 210 MW and below) based on key performance parameters such as efficiency, specific coal consumption, technological obsolescence, and age.
- Increasing utilisation: The resulting shortfall in baseload electricity generation can be made up by increasing the utilisation of existing High-Efficiency-Low-Emission (HELE) TPPs that are currently under-utilised to accommodate VRE and commissioning the 47 government-owned TPPs.
- In addition, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is also constructing 11 nuclear power plants with a total generation capacity of 8,700 MW that will supply 24×7 power without any CO2 emissions.
- The combined thermal (220 GW) and nuclear (15 GW) capacity of 235 GW can meet the baseload requirement (80% of peak demand) during the evening peak in FY 2029-30 without expensive battery storage.
- The optimal utilisation of existing and under-construction HELE TPPs with faster-ramping capabilities and lower technical minimums also facilitates VRE integration.
- Since HELE TPPs minimise emissions of particulate matter (PM), SO2, and NO2, the transition plan offers operational, economic, and environmental benefits including avoidance of sustenance Capex and FGD costs in the 211 obsolete TPPs to be retired besides savings in specific coal consumption and water requirement leading to reductions in electricity tariffs and PM pollution.
Conclusion
The implementation of transition plan will enable India to safeguard its energy security and ensure efficient grid operations with lower water consumption, PM pollution, and CO2 emissions.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Internal democracy in political parties
Context
It is obvious that institutional intermediaries in a representative democracy must themselves be democratic. However, beyond the rhetoric, internal democracy in a political party is less straightforward.
How democratic accountability in a political party is different from that in a country
- Democratic accountability in a political party is qualitatively different from that in a country.
- A political party is a collaborative platform to capture state power to achieve a certain vision for society.
- In a country, there are sharp differences between citizens on the vision and values themselves and the role of democracy is not just to create a framework to negotiate conflict but to ensure that the state is representative of the largest section of the electorate through periodic elections.
- Thus, while democracy at the level of the country is a bottom-up opportunity to change direction altogether, democratic accountability in a political party exists within an ideological framework.
Is internal elections for party leadership a solution?
- Subversion of internal institutional process: Proponents underestimate the ability of existing repositories of power to subvert internal institutional processes to consolidate power and maintain the status quo.
- Independence of lower level: the assumption that the lower levels would be independent and hold the higher levels of leadership to account glosses over the many ways power asserts itself.
- Independence and quality of electorate: The outcome of internal elections is contingent on the independence and quality of the electorate.
- In indirect elections (through delegates), the electorate would likely mirror the existing balance of power.
- In direct elections, there is a concern of ideological dilution and/or capture through opportunistic membership.
- It is evident that internal elections may factionalise power but cannot establish normative accountability, which extends to all members of the party along three interconnected axes of ideology, organisation and competence.
- Normative accountability is thus rooted in a dynamic context and is necessarily a deliberative process.
Democratic functioning in political parties is not an end in itself
- Unlike for the state, democracy is not an end in itself for a political party.
- The highest possible attainment of individual well-being and individual self-will through a democratic state is an end in itself.
- The purpose of a political party is the acquisition of state power.
- Democratic functioning may be an ideological imperative, operational choice, or legitimising tactic but it is not an end in itself for a political party.
Way forward
- Instead of looking at internal party processes, one way to decentralise power is by getting rid of the anti-defection law.
- The need to canvass votes in the legislature will create room for negotiation in the party organisation too.
- Most importantly, this reform will impose a similar burden on all political parties and may create space to change the overall political culture.
Consider the question “Lack of internal democratic functioning in the political parties has bearing on the overall political functioning of the country. Examine the factors responsible for its lack in India and suggest measures to encourage it.”
Conclusion
The role of democracy is not just to create a framework to negotiate conflict but to ensure that the state is representative of the largest section of the electorate through periodic elections.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Regulation of Gig Economy
Since the pandemic, there is a growing concern about the pay-out and job-securities of the delivery persons and other gig workers of the e-commerce companies.
E-com boom in India
- E-commerce in India is a nascent industry that is probably less than 13 years old.
- In this short period, it has captured the collective imagination of the nation.
- The covid-19 crisis has accelerated its adoption, and even die-hard fans of shopping at a physical store have switched to shopping online.
Various issues faced by the gig workers
- Harsh working conditions
- Quality of work and the temporary nature of engagement
- Absence of a social security net
- Long hours
- Delayed pay-outs
- Pressure to maximize speed of delivery (at the risk of road accidents)
E-coms under scanner
The bigger an industry gets, and the more successful it is perceived to be, the more responsible and thoughtful it needs to be in everything it does.
- Fairness in employment: Some of the concerns are fair and call for introspection on the part of e-commerce companies.
- Premature regulation: There is a rising demand for regulation of the gig economy created by them.
Significance of e-commerce sector
Anyone complaining about the quality of jobs being created by the e-commerce industry probably needs to spend some time understanding the history of job creation in India.
An attractive sector for India’s ‘jobs problem’
- Ample workforce: India is a demographically youthful nation, and every year between 17 and 20 million people look for jobs.
- Attractive sector: This includes around 5 million people who are abandoning highly exploitative and less remunerative farm jobs every year to find employment in other sectors, mostly in the nearest urban districts.
- Limited success of service sector: The IT and business process outsourcing industry has less than 200,000 jobs a year during its 25 years of existence. This is just a minuscule 1% of the total number of jobs that need to be created.
Data justifying un-steady flow of income
- According to CSO, only about 17% of India’s workers are regular wage earners and less than 23% of Indian households have a regular wage earner.
- In other words, 77% of our households did not have a steady flow of income.
- Self-employed (46%) and casual labour (33%) together account for nearly 80% of the workforce and claimed to earn less than ₹10,000 per month.
- These are the realities that cannot be ignored.
E-commerce: A game-changer
- The new-age platforms have done is nothing short of a miracle both in terms of creating jobs as well as paying a fair wage.
- It can be well established that it has provided a better remedy for unemployment in India.
Why do e-marketplaces matter?
- Failure of Skills: Neither skill nor knowledge is enough to ensure one generates income.
- Technology dependency and free market: Efficient marketplace which are enabled by technology, matters.
- Common platform: A startup such as the Urban Company is an example of a technology-powered marketplace for common services such as plumbing, carpentry, beauty, and house-cleaning, among others.
- Single marketplace: They brought consumers and suppliers of services (based on skills) on a common platform and made the whole process of matching demand and supply pretty seamless.
Benefits offered
- Decent pay: A consumer of a service is willing to pay more for better quality of service if there is a consistent and reliable process of evaluating the capability of service providers.
- Self-employment: Most of these workers are always self-employed and even with these platforms, they operate in a gig mode which isn’t structurally different.
- Better livelihood: Youth from rural India had been joining the Ola and Uber platforms in large numbers, many of whom were either unemployed or heavily under-employed.
- No skill-compulsion: When skilling is voluntary and driven by a free market mechanism, the outcomes are magical.
- Industrializing the services: These platforms did ‘industrialize’ the services—industrialization allowed effortless consumption and created structured mechanisms to scale services and service capabilities.
- New consumption pattern: The technology enabled markets resulted in ‘new consumption’ which, in turn, led to creation of more goods and service providers.
Way forward
- As far as the e-commerce industry is concerned, there are several obvious lessons that can contribute towards its growth, going ahead.
- Also it is not fair to paint the entire industry as exploitative or be unduly critical of the gig model which is actually a very good model.
- Many of the gig workers themselves would be reluctant to take up full time and fixed salaried jobs. Pushing for premature regulation could be lethal.
- And finally, it is unrealistic to expect the e-commerce industry to create jobs that are probably as well paying like the IT industry.
Conclusion
- Creating high-paying jobs was never easy and will never be easy.
- Nor is it realistic that everyone, or even a majority of the 20 million, will be employed in high-paying jobs.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now