Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GST
Mains level: Not Much
The Supreme Court has held that lottery, gambling and betting are taxable under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act.
Try this question from CSP 2018:
Q.Consider the following items:
- Cereal grains hulled
- Chicken eggs cooked
- Fish processed and canned
- Newspapers containing advertising material
Which of the above items is/are exempt under GST (Goods and Services Tax)?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1, 2 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
What did the court say?
- A three-judge Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan said the levy of GST on lotteries does not amount to “hostile discrimination”.
- The court held that lottery, betting and gambling are “actionable claims” and come within the definition of ‘goods’ under Section 2(52) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
- Lottery, betting and gambling are well known concepts and have been in practice in this country since before Independence and were regulated and taxed by different legislations.
Parliament to decide
- The court said that the Parliament had an absolute power to go for an “inclusive definition” of the term ‘goods’ to include actionable claims like lottery, gambling and betting.
- The court accepted the government’s stand that the Parliament has the competence to levy GST on lotteries under Article 246A (inserted after GST Act) of the Constitution.
- The power to make laws as conferred by Article 246A fully empowers the Parliament to make laws with respect to GST and expansive definition of goods given in Section 2(52).
Must read:
Goods and Services Tax
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Surveyor-2
Mains level: Not Much
NASA has confirmed that the Near-Earth Object called 2020 SO is the rocket booster that helped lift the space agency’s Surveyor spacecraft toward the Moon in 1966.
Try this PYQ:
Consider the following phenomena:
- Size of the sun at dusk
- Colour of the sun at dawn
- Moon being visible at dawn
- Twinkle of stars in the sky
- Polestar being visible in the sky
Which of the above are optical illusions?
(a) 1, 2 and 3
(b) 3, 4 and 5
(c) 1, 2 and 4
(d) 2, 3 and 5
What is Surveyor-2?
- The Surveyor-2 spacecraft was supposed to make a soft landing on the Moon’s surface in September 1966, during which time one of the three thrusters failed to ignite.
- As a result of this the spacecraft started spinning and crashed on the surface.
- The aim of the mission was to reconnoiter the lunar surface ahead of the Apollo missions that led to the first lunar landing in 1969.
- While the spacecraft crashed into the Moon’s surface, the rocket booster disappeared into an unknown orbit around the Sun.
How was the object determined to be the rocket booster?
- Astronomers track asteroids using telescope to determine if there are potentially hazardous asteroids that pose a threat to the planet.
- Therefore, it is also important for them to be able to distinguish between natural and artificial objects that orbit around the Sun.
- The rocket booster has come “somewhat close” to the Earth in the past few decades.
- One approach to the Earth in late 1966 was so close that the object was thought to have originated from Earth.
- In September, the NASA-funded telescope detected it.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Arecibo Radio Telescope
Mains level: Not Much
A massive radio telescope at Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory — one of the world’s largest — collapsed on after sustaining severe damage, following 57 years of astronomical discoveries.
Try this PYQ:
Which of the following is/are cited by the scientists as evidence/evidence for the continued expansion of the universe?
- Detection of microwaves in space
- Observation of redshirt phenomenon in space
- Movement of asteroids in space
- Occurrence of supernova explosions in space
Codes:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1, 3 and 4
(d) None of the above can be cited as evidence.
Arecibo Telescope
- The Arecibo Observatory, also known as the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC), was an observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico owned by the US National Science Foundation (NSF).
- It was the world’s largest single-aperture telescope for 53 years, surpassed in July 2016 by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in China.
- The second-largest single-dish radio telescope in the world, it had withstood many hurricanes and earthquakes since it was first built in 1963.
Its contributions
- Being the most powerful radar, scientists employed Arecibo to observe planets, asteroids and the ionosphere.
- It made several discoveries over the decades, including finding prebiotic molecules in distant galaxies, the first exoplanets, and the first millisecond pulsar.
- In 1967, Arecibo was able to discover that the planet Mercury rotates in 59 days and not 88 days as had been originally thought.
- In the following decades, it also served as a hub in the search for extraterrestrial life, and would look for radio signals from alien civilizations.
- In 1993, scientists Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on the observatory in monitoring a binary pulsar.
- It provided a strict test of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity and the first evidence for the existence of gravitational waves.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ASKAP telescope
Mains level: Not Much
A powerful new telescope ASKAP, in Australia has mapped vast areas of the universe in record-breaking time, revealing a million new galaxies and opening the way to new discoveries.
Note all important telescopes in news and their features. Some of them are – Thirty Meter Telescope, Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, Spitzer, Chandra etc.
What is ASKAP?
- ASKAP is a telescope designed over a decade ago and located about 800 km north of Perth.
- It became fully operational in February 2019 and is currently conducting pilot surveys of the sky before it can begin large-scale projects from 2021 onward.
- ASKAP surveys are designed to map the structure and evolution of the Universe, which it does by observing galaxies and the hydrogen gas that they contain.
- One of its most important features is its wide field of view, because of which it has been able to take panoramic pictures of the sky in great detail.
- The telescope uses novel technology developed by CSIRO- the Australian space agency, which is a kind of a “radio camera” to achieve high survey speeds and consists of 36 dish antennas, which are each 12m in diameter.
- The survey team has been able to observe over 83 per cent of the sky visible from ASKAP’s site in Western Australia.
Significance of the results
- The present Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS) taken by the ASKAP telescope is like a “Google map” of the Universe.
- Mapping the Universe on such a scale enables astronomers to study the formation of stars and how galaxies and their supermassive black holes evolve and interact with each other.
- Significantly, the images the telescope has taken are on average deeper and have better spatial resolution compared to those taken during other surveys of the sky.
- The aim of the RACS survey is to generate images that will aid future surveys undertaken using the telescope.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Mains level: Paper 2- Provisions for persons with disability
Legal provisions not turning into reality through their implementation adds to the difficulties faced by persons with disabilities. The article deals with the idea of enabling persons with disability to contribute to society.
Context
- December 3 is the annual International Day of Persons with Disabilities, it is also a stark reminder of how far we in India need to go in meeting the needs of the disabled.
Lack of implementation of provisions
- The World Bank estimates that there may be well over 40 million Indians living with disabilities.
- The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act was passed in 2016 but our country is still largely devoid of ramps on its footpaths or government buildings.
- The law promises them equality of opportunity and accessibility. Our practices deny them what the law promises.
Challenges faced by persons with disabilities
- Indians with disabilities are far more likely to suffer from poor social and economic development.
- 45 per cent of this population is illiterate, making it difficult for them to build better, more fulfilled lives.
- This is compounded by the community’s lack of political representation:
- In our seven decades of independence, we have had just four parliamentarians and six state assembly members who suffer from visible disabilities.
- This lack of representation, and these general attitudes, translate directly into policy that undermines the well-being of people with disabilities.
- Last year, for example, the government inexplicably decided to depart from convention and render people suffering from cerebral palsy ineligible for the Indian Foreign Service.
Initiatives and steps taken by the government
- The government has had some admirable initiatives to improve the lot of Indians with disabilities, such as the ADIP scheme for improving access to disability aids.
- The Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan, or Accessible India Campaign, has aimed to make public transport, buildings and websites more accessible.
- In 2017, the Mental Healthcare Act recognised and respected the agency of persons with mental-health conditions, expanding the presence of mental-health establishments across the country, restricted the harmful use of electroshock therapy, clarified the mental-health responsibilities of state agencies such as the police, and effectively decriminalised attempted suicide.
- In 2007, the UN passed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
- India is a state party to the convention.
Conclusion
It is critical that the government work with civil society and individuals with disabilities to craft an India where everyone feels welcome and treated with respect, regardless of their disabilities. Only then can we welcome the next International Day of Persons with Disabilities without a sense of shame.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Freedom of conscience and conversion to other religion
The U.P. government’s ordinance seeking the prevention of illegal conversion has several provisions that go against the Constitution and restricts the freedom of conscience.
Objective of the ordinance
- The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 seeks to prevent “love jihad” in the state
- The ordinance makes it a criminal offence for a person to convert another by coercion, misrepresentation, fraud etc, which is unobjectionable.
- A marriage solemnised for the “sole purpose” of unlawfully converting the bride or the groom is required to be declared void by the competent court.
- There can be no objection to ordinance’s premise that converting somebody by fraud or misrepresentation is wrong.
- In fact, though the members of the Constituent Assembly included the right to “propagate” one’s religion they considered it a “rather obvious doctrine” that this would not include forcible conversions.
- However, the UP ordinance goes beyond this principle and does something quite strange.
Unconstitutional provisions and issues with the ordinance
1) Lack of clarity
- The ordinance makes it a criminal offence to convert a person by offering her an “allurement”.
- The term “allurement” is defined very broadly, to include even providing a gift to the person who is sought to be converted.
- The use of the words “or otherwise” in the definition of allurement is puzzling.
- The essential prerequisite of a criminal law is that it has to be precise.
- A person cannot be put behind bars for doing something that a penal law does not clearly and unequivocally prohibit.
- On this touchstone, the definition of “allurement” leaves much to be desired.
2) Reconversion to a person’s previous religion is not illegal
- It says that “reconversion” to a person’s previous religion is not illegal, even if it is vitiated by fraud, force, allurement, misrepresentation and so on.
- In other words, if a person converts from Religion A to Religion B of her own volition, and is then forced to reconvert back to Religion A against her will, this will not constitute “conversion” under the ordinance at all.
3) Unfairly treating all women in the same way
- Illegal conversion under the ordinance attracts a punishment of 1-5 years in prison.
- However, if the victim of the illegal conversion is a minor, a member of the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes or, strangely, a woman, the punishment is doubled — at 2-10 years behind bars.
- In other words, it does not matter who the woman is, if somebody converts her against her will, the punishment can go up to 10 years in prison.
- The ordinance unfairly paints all women with the same brush — assuming that all women are gullible, vulnerable and especially susceptible to illegal conversion.
4) Buden of proof
- The burden of proof in criminal cases is on the prosecution, and the presumption is that a person accused of committing an offence is innocent until proven guilty.
- The Uttar Pradesh ordinance turns this rule on its head.
- Every religious conversion is presumed to be illegal.
- The burden is on the person carrying out the conversion to prove that it is not illegal.
- The offence of illegal conversion is also “cognisable” and “non-bailable”, meaning that a police officer can arrest an accused without a warrant, and the accused may or may not be released on bail, at the discretion of the court.
Time to revisit the past judgement
- In Rev Stainislaus v State of Madhya Pradesh (1977), the Supreme Court held that the fundamental right to “propagate” religion does not include the right to convert a person to another religion.
- In that case, the court had upheld anti-conversion statutes enacted by the states of Orissa and Madhya Pradesh.
Conclusion
The ordinance puts an incredible chilling effect on the freedom of conscience and state must reconsider it.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Factors responsible for AMR
Mains level: Paper 3- Link between pollution and AMR
Rapidly rising antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses the threat of the next health crisis if not addressed with urgency. The article examines the severity of the issue.
The severity of the antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
- Globally, about 35% of common human infections have become resistant to available medicines.
- About 700,000 people die every year because available antimicrobial drugs — antibiotics, antivirals, antiparasitic and antifungals — have become less effective at combating pathogens.
- Resistance to second- and third-line antibiotics — the last lines of defence against some common diseases — are projected to almost double between 2005 and 2030.
- In India, the largest consumer of antibiotics in the world, this is a serious problem.
Responsible factors
- Microorganisms develop resistance to antimicrobial agents as a natural defence mechanism.
- Human activity has significantly accelerated the process.
- The misuse and overuse of antimicrobials for humans.
- Livestock and agriculture but other factors also contribute.
Research points to role of environment and pollution
- Once consumed, up to 80% of antibiotic drugs are excreted un-metabolised, along with resistant bacteria.
- Their release in effluents from households and health and pharmaceutical facilities, and agricultural run-off, is propagating resistant microorganisms.
- Wastewater treatment facilities are unable to remove all antibiotics and resistant bacteria.
- In India, there is capacity to treat only about 37% of the sewage generated annually.
- Water, then, may be a major mode for the spread of AMR, especially in places with inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene.
- Wildlife that comes into contact with discharge containing antimicrobials can also become colonised with drug-resistant organisms.
Initiative to tackle the AMR
- The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) identified antimicrobial resistance as one of six emerging issues of environmental concern in its 2017 Frontiers Report.
- UN agencies are working together to develop the One Health AMR Global Action Plan (GAP) that addresses the issue in human, animal, and plant health and food and environment sectors.
- The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) issued draft standards which set limits for residues of 121 antibiotics in treated effluents from drug production units.
- The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and MoEF&CC constituted the inter-ministerial Steering Committee on Environment and Health, with representation from WHO and UNEP.
Way forward
- The Centre and State governments in India can strengthen the environmental dimensions of their plans to tackle antimicrobial resistance.
- It is important to promote measures that address known hotspots such as hospitals and manufacturing and waste treatment facilities.
Consider the question “Being the largest consumer of antibiotics in the world, India faces a grave threat from growing anti-microbial resistance. What are the factors responsible for it? Suggest the ways to deal with it.”
Conclusion
We saw how quickly a pandemic can spread if we are not ready. This is an opportunity to get ahead of the next one.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Women in Judiciary
Attorney-General has told the Supreme Court that more women judges in constitutional courts would certainly improve gender sensitivity in the judiciary.
Q.Women judges could bring a more comprehensive and empathetic perspective of gender sensitivity in the judiciary. Discuss.
Women in Judiciary: A dismal figure
- The Supreme Court has only two women judges as against a sanctioned strength of 34 judges.
- There has never been a female Chief Justice. This figure is consistently low across the higher judiciary.
- There are only 80 women judges out of the sanctioned strength of 1,113 judges in the High Courts and the Supreme Court.
- Only two of these 80 women judges are in the Supreme Court and the other 78 are in various High Courts, comprising only 7.2% of the number of judges.
- There are six High Courts — Manipur, Meghalaya, Patna, Tripura, Telangana, and Uttarakhand — where there are no sitting women judges.
A short timeline
- The first female Judge appointed in Supreme Court was Justice M. Fathima Beevi from Kerala in 1987.
- She was later followed by Justice Sujata V. Manohar from Maharashtra in 1994 and in the year 2000, Justice Ruma Pal was appointed from West Bengal.
- And in the year 2010, Justice Gyan Sudha Misra from Bihar was appointed.
- In 2014, Justice Ranjana Desai from Mumbai was appointed and currently, Justice R. Banumathi from Tamil Nadu is the only woman judge in Supreme Court.
(Note: This data might be useful for State PSCs or other exams. UPSC aspirants need not remember this.)
What did the A-G say?
- Improving the representation of women could go a long way towards a more balanced and empathetic approach in cases involving sexual violence.
- Judges need to be trained to place themselves in the shoes of the victim of sexual violence while passing orders, said the AG.
- There is a dearth of compulsory courses in gender sensitization in law schools.
- Certain law schools have the subject either as a specialization or as an elective.
Why need more women in Judiciary?
- The entry of women judges into spaces from which they had historically been excluded has been a positive step in the direction of judiciaries being perceived as being more transparent, inclusive, and representative.
- By their mere presence, women judges enhance the legitimacy of courts, sending a powerful signal that they are open and accessible to those who seek recourse to justice.
- They could contribute far more to justice than improving its appearance: they also contribute significantly to the quality of decision-making, and thus to the quality of justice itself.
- Women judges bring those lived experiences to their judicial actions, experiences that tend toward a more comprehensive and empathetic perspective.
- By elucidating how laws and rulings can be based on gender stereotypes, or how they might have a different impact on women and men, a gender perspective enhances the fairness of the adjudication.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Art. 21
Mains level: Interfaith marriage and associated issues in India
An individual’s right to marry a person of his or her choice is a fundamental right that cannot be denied on the basis of caste or religion by anybody, re-iterated the Karnataka High Court.
Discuss the various ethical and rights issues involved in interfaith marriages.
Right to Marriage
- The right to marry is a part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.
- The right to marriage is also stated under Human Rights Charter within the meaning of the right to start a family.
- The right to marry is a universal right and it is available to everyone irrespective of their gender.
- Various courts across the country have also interpreted the right to marry as an integral part of the right to life under Article 21.
- A forced marriage is illegal in different personal laws on marriage in India, with the right to marry recognized under the Hindu laws as well as Muslim laws.
Other laws that lay down a person’s right to marry in India are:
- The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006
- The Guardians and Wards Act, 1890
- The Majority Act, 1875
- The Family Courts Act, 1984
- The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005
Back2Basics: Scope of Article 21
- Article 21, considered the heart and soul of the Constitution, states, ‘No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to the procedure established by law.
It has a much more profound meaning that signifies the:
- Right to live with human dignity
- Right to livelihood
- Right to health
- Right to pollution-free air
- Right to live a quality life
- Right to go abroad
- Right to privacy
- Right against delayed execution,
And anything and everything that fulfils the criteria for a dignified life.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Apiculture and its benefits for farmers
10 out of 13 popular honey brands failed a key test of purity, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has claimed in an investigation.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following kinds of organisms:
- Bat
- Bee
- Bird
Which of the above is/are pollinating agent/agents?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Adulteration in honey
- The CSE has resorted to the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) testing to ascertain the composition of a product at the molecular level.
- The NMR test is not required by Indian law for honey that is being marketed locally but is needed for export.
- Current regulations specify around 18 parameters that honey must comply with for producers to label it ‘pure honey.
- Among the tests employed as per Indian regulations is one to check whether the honey is adulterated with C4 sugar (cane sugar) or C3 sugar (rice sugar).
- Most samples cleared these tests but failed another test called the Trace Marker for Rice test, to test for rice syrup adulteration.
Significance of the CSE study
- Adulteration of honey is a global problem with several countries, including India, devising regulations and new tests to check it.
- It also destroys the livelihoods of bee-keepers who found it unprofitable to make pure honey because sugar-syrup honey was often available at half the price.
- Some Indian companies in the honey business were importing synthetic sugar syrups from China to adulterate honey.
- This shows how the business of adulteration has evolved so that it can pass the stipulated tests in India.
Back2Basics: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)
- NMR spectroscopy is a crucial analytical tool for organic chemists.
- It is a physical phenomenon in which nuclei in a strong constant magnetic field are perturbed by a weak oscillating magnetic field and respond by producing an electromagnetic signal with a frequency characteristic of the magnetic field at the nucleus.
- It is widely used to determine the structure of organic molecules in solution and study molecular physics and crystals as well as non-crystalline materials.
- It is also routinely used in advanced medical imaging techniques, such as in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Success models of reforestation
Jadav Payeng, known as ‘The Forest Man of India’, takes us through his journey of grit that saw a desert turning into a forest. His story is been depicted through an upcoming trilingual film.
We knew about the mountain man in India. We have also had the Forest Man of India who is also a living inspiration for successful afforestation. We can quote such examples in essays very well.
Who is Jadav Payeng?
- Jadav “Molai” Payeng (born 1963) is an environmental activist and forestry worker from Majuli Island popularly known as the Forest Man of India.
- He was born in the indigenous Mising tribe of Assam.
- Over the course of several decades, he has planted and tended trees on a sandbar of the river Brahmaputra turning it into a forest reserve.
- The forest, called Molai forest after him is located near Kokilamukh of Jorhat, Assam, India and encompasses an area of about 1,360 acres / 550 hectares.
- In 2015, he was honoured with Padmashri, the fourth highest civilian award in India.
His work
- The forest, which came to be known as Molai forest, now houses Bengal tigers, Indian rhinoceros, and over 100 deer and rabbits.
- Molai forest is also home to elephants and several varieties of birds, including a large number of vultures.
- Bamboo covers an area of over 300 hectares.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: E-Sanjeevani
Mains level: Telemedicine and its effectiveness
In a landmark achievement, eSanjeevani, Health Ministry’s national telemedicine initiative today completed 9 lakh consultations.
Although telemedicine brings with it many benefits, there are some downsides to it as well. Discuss.
What is E-Sanjeevani?
- Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has launched two variants of eSanjeevani namely – doctor to doctor (eSanjeevani AB-HWC) in the hub and spoke model and patient to doctor (eSanjeevaniOPD).
- E-Sanjeevani OPD (out-patient department) is a telemedicine variant for the public to seek health services remotely; it was rolled out on 13th of April 2020 during the first lockdown in the country.
- It enables virtual meetings between the patients and doctors & specialists from geographically dispersed locations, through video conferencing that occurs in real-time.
- At the end of these remote consultations, eSanjeevani generates electronic prescriptions which can be used for sourcing medicines.
- Andhra Pradesh was the first state to roll out eSanjeevani AB-HWC services in November 2019.
Benefits of telemedicine
Telemedicine benefits patients in the following ways:
- Transportation: Patients can avoid spending gas money or wasting time in traffic with video consultations.
- No missing work: Today, individuals can schedule a consultation during a work break or even after work hours.
- Childcare/Eldercare Challenges: Those who struggle to find care options can use telemedicine solutions.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: RCEP countries
Mains level: Paper 3- India's decision to not join RCEP
The article analyses government’s decision to stay out of RCEP and factors responsible for it.
What India chose not to join RCEP
- By joining RCEP, India would have further risked a flood of cheap Chinese imports in sectors like electronics.
- India had tried and failed to win substantial concessions in areas like work visas for its information technology-enabled services.
- Two of India’s proposals—an RCEP business travel card and an RCEP service supplier card—failed to find favour with a majority of the bloc’s members.
Arguments in favour of India joining the RCEP
- First argument made is RCEP would have provided an excellent opportunity for Indian firms to get integrated with regional value chains.
- However, merely joining a trade bloc does not automatically result in integration with global value chains.
- The complex nature of global production networks requires a lot of economic and trade policy reforms on the domestic front.
- Second important argument made is that India would lose an opportunity to access RCEP’s common market.
- But this argument too doesn’t hold much water if Indian producers are not competitive.
- Competitiveness is driven by factors both within and beyond the control of domestic industry.
- So it would be an over-simplification to assume that Indian industry does not have the capability or appetite to be competitive.
- Often, global competitiveness inside factory gates gets diluted by costs borne outside those gates.
What past data suggests
- India’s merchandise exports grew at an annual rate of more than 18% between 2000-01 and 2010-11, which was largely a pre-FTA period.
- In this period, India activated only two FTAs—with Sri Lanka and Singapore.
- India joined the FTAs in a big way from 2010 onwards.
- It operationalized big trade agreements with the 10-nation Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Japan, Korea, and separately with Malaysia.
- However, despite these deals, India could realize annual merchandise export growth of only 2.5% between 2010-11 and 2019-20.
- This disappointing performance shows that FTAs are not conducive for exports.
Conclusion
While RCEP may theoretically offer India new opportunities for exports and integration with pan-Asian production networks, we have a lot of work to do internally before we are in a position to make the most of free-trade deals.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Farmers protest against farm laws
The article suggests the policy options with the government to deal with the protest of the farmers against the recently enacted farm laws.
Context
- Farmers have protested against the recently enacted farm laws by converging on Delhi’s highways connected to neighbouring states.
Why farmers are protesting
- There is a gross communication failure on the part of the central government to explain to farmers what these laws are, and how they are intended to benefit them.
- Neither do the laws say anything about it, nor is the MSP/APMC system going to disappear with these laws.
- Nothing can be further from the truth.
1) Should government repeal the laws
- Punjab farmer leaders, including two major political parties, demand repeal of these laws.
- However, repealing would mean bringing back controls, licence raj and the resultant rent-seeking.
- Milk, poultry, fishery, etc. don’t go through the mandi system and their growth rates are 3 to 5 times higher than that of wheat and rice.
- Overall, almost 90 per cent of the agri-produce is sold to the private sector.
2) Should the government make MSP legally binding
- Another demand is making the MSP statutory and legally binding even on the private sector.
- This is impractical as there are 23 commodities for which MSPs are announced, but in actual practice only wheat and rice enjoy MSPs in any meaningful manner, and that too only in 6-7 states.
- Punjab is the biggest gainer as its 95-98 per cent of market arrivals of wheat and paddy are procured at MSP by state agencies on behalf of the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
- The FCI is overloaded with grain stocks that are more than 2.5 times the buffer stock norms.
- Such high stock indicates massive economic inefficiency in the grain management system.
- If the government cannot cope up with excess production of just wheat and rice in any meaningful way, think of how it will handle 23 commodities under MSP.
- In case of excess production the government will not have the wherewithal to buy all and stock them without any viable outlet.
- It will massively distort markets, make Indian agriculture non-competitive and stocking of these will be financially unsustainable.
- And then, why only 23 commodities, why not 40?
- This type of state socialism is a sure path to financial disaster.
3) Optio of the Price Stabilisation Scheme
- The third policy option is to use the Price Stabilisation Scheme to give a lift to market prices by pro-actively buying a part of the surplus whenever market prices crash.
- It can be done directly by NAFED-type agencies that are already active in the case of pulses and oilseeds.
- Farmers can use Commodity Derivatives Exchanges where farmers can buy “put options” at MSP before they even sow their crops, and if the market prices at the time of harvest turn out to be below MSP, government can compensate them partly for lower market prices.
4) Decentralise MSP: Let the states decide it
- The fourth option is to totally decentralise the MSP, procurement, stocking, and public distribution system (PDS).
- MSP and procurement exist basically to support farmers for supplying grains to the FCI to feed into the PDS.
- So, the whole money on food subsidy can be allocated to states on the basis of their share in all-India poverty/proportion of vulnerable population, all-India wheat and rice production, all-India procurement of wheat and rice, etc.
- A step further could include another Rs 1,00,000 crore of fertiliser subsidy and free up fertiliser prices from any controls.
- Still further, even include another Rs 1,00,000, say, of MNREGA.
- Let the Finance Commission work out a formula for distribution of this Rs 3,00,000 crore amongst states based on some tangible performance indicators.
- And the Centre should get off from MSP, PDS, fertiliser subsidy, and MNREGA.
Conclusion
This would be true decentralisation, and can be accomplished provided enough ground work is done well in advance. But will this be acceptable to farmer leaders/opposing states/activists? Only time will tell.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: APMC Act
Mains level: Paper 3- Addressing the farmers apprehension about MSP
Farmers are protesting the farm laws which brought changes in the agri-produce marketing and the contract farming. Farmers are also demanding the legal backing of MSP. The article analyses the issues and suggests the measures to address them.
Analysing merits and feasibility of demands of protesting farmers
1) The Farmer Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act
- The Act creates a new “trade area” outside the APMC market yards/sub-yards.
- Any buyer with a Permanent Account Number (PAN) can buy directly from farmer sellers outside APMC market.
- The state government can’t impose any taxes on such a transaction.
- Therefore, it is expected that this would lower buying costs for buyers and that would automatically mean higher prices for farmers.
Concerns with the law
- Buyers buying at lower cost does not necessarily mean they would pass on the cost saved on procurement to selling farmers.
- The claim is also made that now farmers would have a choice of channels.
- However, the majority of the farm produce across India with the exception of states like Punjab and Haryana does not go through APMCs.
- Anybody with a PAN card allowed to buy agricultural produce could mean a free-for-all situation, which is not desirable.
2) The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act
What necessitated law on contract farming?
- Contract farming has shown that marginal and small farmers are generally excluded.
- The problems they face include the following-
- Highly one-sided i.e. pro-contracting agency contracts.
- Delayed payments.
- Undue rejections and outright cheating.
- Poor enforcement of contract farming regulation by the state governments.
Concerns with the law
- The Act defined FPOs (farmer producer organisations) as farmers, which restricts them to the supply side.
- But there is hardly any FPO in farm production.
- Further, the contract farming Act does not provide for remedies when companies cancel contracts or there is delay in taking delivery of produce.
- The Act says that sponsor would also pay, besides the minimum guaranteed price, a premium or bonus which will be linked to APMC or e-trading price.
- This goes against the very concept of contract farming.
- The contract price should be left to the contracting parties to decide.
- Further, if the understanding is that mandis are not discovering prices well, then why peg the contract price to such mandi price?
Lessons from 2003 APMC Act
- The government must go back to the 2003 Model APMC Act, which also had model contract agreement with mandatory and optional provisions in a contract.
- In the 2003 Model APMC Act, the APMC was supposed to resolve the disputes.
- Further under 2003 APMC Act when a licence is given to a trader or commission agent, there is a counterparty risk assurance.
Apprehensions about MSP
- The Shanta Kumar Committee report and the CACP reports had suggested reducing procurement and an end to open-ended procurement from states like Punjab to cut down costs of FCI.
- It is feared that FCI itself may start procuring directly from the new trade area to cut down buying costs like market fees and arhtiya commission.
- It is more about the changes in the “social contract” between the state’s farmers and the Union government.
- The demand for legal backing to MSP also arises from the fact that the government has been announcing MSP for 23 crops, but procurement is limited to a few crops.
- Also, CACP in one of its reports in 2017-18 (kharif) suggested that “to instil confidence among farmers for procurement of their produce, a legislation conferring on farmers ‘the right to sell at MSP’ may be brought out.”
- Punjab’s amendments to farm Acts — making MSP mandatory for wheat and paddy are ill-advised as this law will discourage private buyers from buying.
- It is difficult to enforce such a law. Private agricultural markets cannot be run through such diktats.
- By creating stringent rules (fine or imprisonment), the government may create a situation where farmers would not be able to sell at all.
- Maharashtra attempted this legality in 2018 in its APMC Act but had to reverse it after protests by traders.
Consider the question “What are the factors that necessitated the robust contract farming Act? What are the issues related to the Act? Suggest the measures to address these issues.”
Conclusion
Apprehension among the farmers related to the farm laws needs to be addressed and the concern in the laws need to be addressed.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MSP calculation
Mains level: Fixation of MSP and its legal backing
Talks between farmer unions and the government failed to reach a resolution. The main bone of contention in these talks is the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops, which farmers fear the new laws will do away.
Try this:
Q.There is also a point of view that agriculture produce market committees (APMCs) set up under the state acts have not only impeded the development of agriculture but also have been the cause of food inflation in India. Critically examine. (CSM 2014)
What is MSP?
- The MSP assures the farmers of a fixed price for their crops, well above their production costs.
- MSP, by contrast, is devoid of any legal backing. Access to it, unlike subsidised grains through the PDS, isn’t an entitlement for farmers.
- They cannot demand it as a matter of right. It is only a government policy that is part of administrative decision-making.
- The Centre currently fixes MSPs for 23 farm commodities based on the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) recommendations.
Why in news yet again?
- The Union Budget for 2018-19 had announced that MSP would be kept at levels of one and half times of the cost of production.
- This year the govt. has increased the MSP for all mandated Kharif, Rabi and other commercial crops with a return of at least 50 per cent of the cost of production for the agricultural year 2018-19 and 2019-20.
- This is the ambiguity from where this 1.5 times formula arrived at.
How did the government fix the MSPs of crops before every planting season?
- The CACP considered various factors while recommending the MSP for a commodity, including the cost of cultivation.
- It also takes into account the supply and demand situation for the commodity; market price trends (domestic and global) and parity vis-à-vis other crops; and implications for consumers (inflation), environment (soil and water use) and terms of trade between agriculture and non-agriculture sectors.
What changed with the 2018 budget?
- The Budget for 2018-19 announced that MSPs would henceforth be fixed at 1.5 times of the production costs for crops as a “pre-determined principle”.
- Simply put, the CACP’s job now was only to estimate production costs for a season and recommend the MSPs by applying the 1.5-times formula.
How was this production cost arrived at?
- The CACP projects three kinds of production cost for every crop, both at the state and all-India average levels.
- ‘A2’ covers all paid-out costs directly incurred by the farmer — in cash and kind — on seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, hired labour, leased-in land, fuel, irrigation, etc.
- ‘A2+FL’ includes A2 plus an imputed value of unpaid family labour.
- ‘C2’ is a more comprehensive cost that factors in rentals and interest forgone on owned land and fixed capital assets, on top of A2+FL.
Now try this PYQ:
Q.The economic cost of food grains to the Food Corporation of India is Minimum Support Price and bonus (if any) paid to the farmers plus:
(a) Transportation cost only
(b) Interest cost only
(c) Procurement incidentals and distribution cost
(d) Procurement incidentals and charges for godowns
Which production costs were taken in fixing the MSPs?
- In 2018, then FM Arun Jaitley’s did not specify the cost on which the 1.5-times formula was to be computed.
- But the CACP’s ‘Price Policy for Kharif Crops: The Marketing Season 2018-19’ report stated that its MSP recommendation was based on 1.5 times the A2+FL costs.
What are the farmer’s demands?
- Farm activists, however, had said that the 1.5-times MSP formula should have been applied on the C2 costs.
- CACP considers A2+FL and C2 costs, both while recommending MSP. It reckons only A2+FL cost for return.
- However, C2 costs are used by CACP primarily as benchmark reference costs (opportunity costs) to see if the MSPs recommended by them at least cover these costs in some of the major producing States.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Vaccine for COVID
Mains level: Universalization of vaccines and associated challenges in India
The US drugmaker Moderna said it was applying for emergency use authorisation for its vaccine in India.
Practice question for Mains:
Q. What is Vaccine Nationalism? Discuss various ethical issues involved and its impact on vulnerable populations across the globe.
Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA)
- Vaccines and medicines, and even diagnostic tests and medical devices, require the approval of a regulatory authority before they can be administered.
- In India, the regulatory authority is the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).
- The approval is granted after an assessment of their safety and effectiveness, based on data from trials. In fact, approval from the regulator is required at every stage of these trials.
- This is a long process, designed to ensure that medicine or vaccine is absolutely safe and effective.
- The fastest approval for any vaccine until now — the mumps vaccine in the 1960s — took about four-and-a-half years after it was developed.
Exceptions for emergency
- In emergency situations, like the current one, regulatory authorities around the world have developed mechanisms to grant interim approvals.
- However, there should sufficient evidence to suggest a medical product is safe and effective.
- Final approval is granted only after completion of the trials and analysis of full data; until then, EUA allows the medicine or the vaccine to be used on the public.
What is the process of getting a EUA in India?
- India’s drug regulations do not have provisions for a EUA, and the process for receiving one is not clearly defined or consistent.
- Despite this, CDSCO has been granting emergency or restricted emergency approvals to Covid-19 drugs during this pandemic — for remdesivir and favipiravir in June, and itolizumab in July.
Associated risks
- The public has to be informed that a product has only been granted a EUA and not full approval.
- In the case of a Covid-19 vaccine, for example, people have to be informed about the known and potential benefits and risks.
Not a compulsion
- There has been an ongoing debate over whether people have the option of refusing to take the vaccine.
- Incidentally, no country has made vaccination compulsory for its people.
- Initially, all vaccines are likely to be deployed on emergency use authorizations only. Final approval from may take several months, or years.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Octane number
Mains level: India's oil sector
The Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas has launched world-class premium-grade Petrol (with Octane number 100) in the country.
What is XP100?
- It is petrol developed by Indian Oil with octane number 100.
- The availability of XP100 puts India in an elite group of countries, having access to such high-quality oil. It will provide high quality and power to the engine.
- It will be rolled out in 15 identified cities across the country in two phases.
- Worldwide, 100 Octane petrol has a niche market for luxury vehicles that demand high performance and is available only in six countries like Germany, USA, etc.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Lead, ingested or inhaled, is a health hazard. After the addition of lead to petrol has been banned, what still are the sources of lead poisoning?
- Smelting units
- Pens pencils
- Paints
- Hair oils and cosmetics
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
(a) 1, 2 and 3 only
(b) 1 and 3 only
(c) 2 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
What is Octane numbering of Petrol?
- Octane number, also called Antiknock Rating, a measure of the ability of a fuel to resist knocking when ignited in a mixture with air in the cylinder of an internal-combustion engine.
- Engine knock is a tapping, pinging sound that gets louder and more obnoxious as we accelerate.
- The octane number is determined by comparing, under standard conditions, the knock intensity of the fuel with that of blends of two reference fuels: iso-octane, which resists knocking, and heptane, which knocks readily.
- The octane number is the percentage by volume of iso-octane in the iso-octane–heptane mixture that matches the fuel being tested in a standard test engine.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: World Heritage Irrigation Structure (WHIS)
Mains level: Old irrigation systems in India
Four sites in India have received the World Heritage Irrigation Structure (WHIS) tag this year.
Try this PYQ:
Q.The FAO accords the status of ‘Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS)’ to traditional agricultural systems. What is the overall goal of this initiative?
- To provide modern technology, training in modern farming methods and financial support to local communities of identified GIAHS so as to greatly enhance their agricultural productivity.
- To identify and safeguard eco-friendly traditional farm practices and their associated landscapes, agricultural biodiversity and knowledge systems of the local communities.
- To provide Geographical Indication status to all the varieties of agricultural produce in such identified GIAHS.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 3 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
World Heritage Irrigation Structure (WHIS)
- The International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) annually recognizes irrigation structures of international significance like UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites.
- The recognition is aimed at recognizing and tracing the history of and understanding the evolution of irrigation in civilizations across the world.
- It also aims at understanding the philosophy and wisdom on sustainable irrigation from these structures and to preserve them for posterity.
Criteria for consideration
- Major criteria for WHIS entail that a structure should be more than 100 years old, should be functional, achieving food security and have archival value.
- Each site is evaluated based on its merits first by the state government.
- The proposal is then sent to the Centre and a team from CWC carries out an on-ground survey to verify details.
Which are the Indian sites?
- The sites are Cumbum Tank, Kurnool-Cuddapah Canal, Porumamilla Tank (Anantharaja Sagaram) in Andhra Pradesh and 490-year-old Dhamapur Lake in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district.
- In 2018, Pedda Cheru Tank in Kamareddy district and Sadarmat Anicut in Nirmal district, both in Telangana, were named as WHIS sites.
Other sites
- The rest include Tianbao Weir in China at number one followed by Longshou Canal and ancient Luohe river irrigation district, China.
- It also includes Zarch and Moon Qanat both in Iran and Tenguiwa, Bizenkyo and Jyosai Gokuchi irrigation systems in Japan with Goseong Dumbeong in the Republic of Korea.
About ICID
- The ICID, established in 1950 is a leading scientific, technical, international not-for-profit, non-governmental organization.
- It is a professional network of experts from across the world in the field of irrigation, drainage, and flood management.
- The main mission is to promote ‘Sustainable agriculture water management’ to achieve ‘Water secure world free of poverty and hunger through sustainable rural development’.
- ICID mission covers the entire spectrum of agricultural water management practices ranging from rainfed agriculture to supplemental irrigation, land drainage, deficit irrigation to full irrigation, etc.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Countries of the Middle East
Mains level: Paper 3- Trends from the Middle East and implications for the Indian subcontinent
Three broad trends emerging from the Middle East and its implication for the region have been discussed here.
Growing vulnerability of Iran and implications for subcontinent
- The brazen murder of a top Iranian nuclear scientist highlights the Islamic Republic of Iran’s growing strategic vulnerabilities.
- This geopolitical turbulence in the Middle East has major consequences for the subcontinent.
- Whether they want to or not, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh must deal with three broad trends that define the new Middle East.
3 Trends in the Middle East
1) Iran’s growing isolation
- The Trump administration and the Republicans, Israel and the Gulf Arabs have a shared interest in preventing the next US President from renewing nuclear diplomacy with Iran and ending Tehran’s isolation.
- The assassination of Fakhrizadeh is about achieving that political objective.
- If Iran retaliates vigorously, it will invite an all-out confrontation with Israel and the US.
- Holding back will expose Iran’s weakness and sharpen internal divisions between pragmatists who want to engage the US and the hardliners.
- The frequent attacks on high-profile Iranian targets indicate hostile penetration of its society such that domestic opponents of the regime are now willing to collaborate with foreign security agencies, including Israel’s Mossad.
- Iran’s internal political weakness is compounded by the massive economic pain imposed by the Trump administration through sanctions.
- Iran has much goodwill in South Asia, but India and its neighbours have no desire to get sucked into Tehran’s conflicts with the Arabs or the US.
2) Transformation of Arab relations with Israel
- The fear of Iran has been driving Gulf Arabs to embrace Israel.
- In the last few months, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have normalised ties with Israel.
- There is speculation of an impending normalisation of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
- Pakistan’s Prime Minister has talked of pressure, apparently from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, on recognising Israel.
- If Pakistan recognises Israel, Bangladesh would not want to be left behind.
- Economic and technological collaboration with Israel will give Bangladesh’s economy and foreign policy a big boost.
- For Israel, having Bangladesh and Pakistan, two of the world’s largest Islamic nations, recognise it would be a great ideological and political bonus
- An India that proclaims the virtues of engaging all sides in the Middle East can’t grudge the same privilege for Israel in South Asia.
3) Rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Turkey
- While Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE want to return the Middle East towards political and religious moderation, the once secular Turkey has become the new champion of political Islam.
- Turkey’s contestation with Saudi Arabia is already having an impact on India and Pakistan.
- Turkey is now hostile to India and has joined Pakistan in taking up the Kashmir question at international forums.
- For Pakistan, this seemed a useful counter to the Gulf Arabs, who were ramping up strategic ties with India.
- However, UAE and Saudi Arabia have the option to put massive costs on the Pakistani economy that can’t be plugged by Turkey or Malaysia.
Conclusion
Although India has made some important adjustments to its engagement with the Middle East in recent years, Delhi can’t take its eyes off the rapid changes in the region.
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