Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Land Bank System
Mains level: Digital land records
A prototype of the National GIS-enabled Land Bank System was e-launched by Commerce and Industry Ministry for six States based on which land can be identified for setting up industries.
Try to answer this question in short:
Q.Discuss the benefits of digitizing land records in India.
Land Bank System
- The system has been developed by the Integration of Industrial Information System (IIS) with state GIS (Geographic Information System).
- IIS portal is a GIS-enabled database of industrial clusters/areas across the states.
- On the system, more than 3,300 industrial parks across 31 states/UTs covering about 4,75,000 hectares of land have also been mapped out on the system.
- The information available on the system will include drainage, forest; raw material heat maps (horticulture, agricultural, mineral layers); multilayer of connectivity.
- IIS has adopted a committed approach towards industrial upgrading, resource optimization, and sustainability.
Various stakeholders
- The initiative has been supported by the National e-Governance Division (NeGD), National Centre of Geo-Informatics (NCoG), Invest India, Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geo-Informatics (BISAG), and Ministry of Electronics and Informational Technology.
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: Dr Kotnis and his legacy
Mains level: NA
A bronze statue of Indian doctor Dwarkanath Kotnis is set to be unveiled in China.
Try this PYQ:
Q.A recent movie titled The Man Who Knew Infinity is based on the biography of
(a) S. Ramanujan
(b) S. Chandrasekhar
(c) S. N. Bose
(d) C. V. Raman
Dr. Dwarkanath Kotnis
- He is revered in China for his contributions during the Chinese revolution headed by its founder Mao Zedong and World War II.
- He hailed from Sholapur in Maharashtra came to China in 1938 as part of a five-member team of doctors sent by the Indian National Congress to help the Chinese during World War II.
- He joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1942 and died the same year at the age of 32.
- Kotnis’ medical assistance during the difficult days of the Chinese revolution was praised by Chinese leader Mao Zedong.
- His statues and memorials were also set in some of the Chinese cities in recognition of his services.
A revered personality in China
- Late Chinese leader Mao Zedong was deeply affected by his death.
- Mao wrote in his eulogy that “the army has lost a helping hand; the nation has lost a friend. Let us always bear in mind his internationalist spirit”.
- Kotnis is remembered not only as a symbol inspiring medical students to work hard, but also an eternal bond between the people of China and India.
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: Barn Owl
Mains level: Not Much
With a thriving rat population playing havoc with its coconut yield, the UT of Lakshadweep hires barn owls for help.
Try this PYQ:
Q.The Red Data Books published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) contains lists of:
- Endemic plant and animal species present in the biodiversity hotspots.
- Threatened plant and animal species.
- Protected sites for conservation of nature and natural resources in various countries.
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
(a) 1 and 3
(b) 2 only
(c) 2 and 3
(d) 3 only
Barn Owl
IUCN status: Least Concerned
- The barn owl is the most widely distributed species of owl in the world and one of the most widespread of all species of birds.
- It is found almost everywhere in the world except for the polar and desert regions, Asia north of the Himalayas, most of Indonesia, and some Pacific islands.
What is Barn?
- A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes.
- It refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.
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: Eklavya Model Residential Schools
Mains level: Tribal education
An Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) teacher was selected for National Award to Teachers 2020.
Note the specific features of EMRS. Each year in the CSP, there is a question related to tribes/tribal development.
Eklavya Model Residential Schools
- EMRS started in the year 1997-98 to impart quality education to ST children in remote areas in order to enable them to avail of opportunities in high and professional education courses and get employment in various sectors.
- Across the country, as per census 2011 figures, there are 564 such sub-districts out of which there is an EMRS in 102 sub-districts.
- As per revised 2018 scheme, every block with more than 50% ST population and at least 20,000 tribal persons, will have an EMRS by the year 2022.
- These schools will be on par with Navodaya Vidyalayas and will have special facilities for preserving local art and culture besides providing training in sports and skill development.
Features of EMRS
- Admission to these schools will be through selection/competition with suitable provision for preference to children belonging to Primitive Tribal Groups, first-generation students, etc.
- Sufficient land would be given by the State Government for the school, playgrounds, hostels, residential quarters, etc., free of cost.
- The number of seats for boys and girls will be equal.
- In these schools, education will be entirely free.
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: Disintermediation
Mains level: Paper 3- Duopoly in e-commerce in India
E-commerce was expected to provide the level playing field. However, Indian e-commerce has been experiencing the duopoly and new entrant faces several difficulties.
What is disintermediation
- The emergence of the internet was seen as a tool for marketers to reach consumers directly.
- The term disintermediation meant taking intermediaries out of the loop.
- The aim was efficiency.
- It was hoped that without local stockists and distributors in between, retail demand could be fulfilled at lower cost.
- After all, anyone could put up a website and woo traffic.
What is the issue?
- Today, the gains of online market addressal have converged into the hands of a few big winners in a winner-takes-all scenario.
- Getting an app onto handsets often involves a toll paid to e-gatekeepers.
- These apps created an entry barrier for the new entrants.
- So far, single-brand apps have mostly failed, regardless of price baits.
- After all, it is hard to beat the convenience of a single-touch window that lets shoppers load e-carts with all their needs.
Conclusion
E-com was once about snipping out distribution networks. With market access cornered by pioneers, now others want to get past these intermediaries. Only blockbuster apps can do it.
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 3- Issue of wage growth
The article discusses the threat posed to the Indian economy by the subdued demand following the return of the labourers to their urban jobs.
Rural employment issue
- About 30 million migrant workers rushed home to their villages during the pandemic.
- About 60 per cent of out-migration from rural India is aspiration-led.
- Income earned in urban jobs is 2.5 higher than earned in rural area.
- Though rural economy has been recovering faster than the urban economy, this optimism could prove short-lived, as eventually the more long-lasting determinants of rural wages could prevail.
What are the determinants of rural wages
1) NREGA wages
- The government has raised the rural employment guarantee programme (NREGA) wages and outlays.
- Demand for the scheme is outpacing supply.
- This demand-supply mismatch means that it may not be an effective driver of higher rural wages.
2) Low construction activities
- Many rural Indians, especially those without land, have become building labourers.
- 70 per cent of construction is related to real estate and property developers are dependent on funding from struggling non-banking financial companies.
- Until this type of lending restarts, construction may not normalise.
- And that means rural wages may not rise quickly either.
3) Rising debt level
- The increase in borrowing and fall in inflation over the last few years has increased the “real” indebtedness of rural Indians.
- This affected particularly the landowners who pay villagers to farm their land.
- This is likely to hurt their ability to pay high wages.
3 Reasons why wage outlook could be dimmer
- As migrant labours start to return to their urban jobs, their wage outlook appears to be bleak for 3 reasons.
- 1) As during demonetisation, workers could find jobs again, but at lower wages.
- 2) There could be a second-round of pandemic-led labour market weakness, driven by job losses and falling wages from the first round.
- 3) We find that both rural and urban wages are driven by economic growth, India’s post-pandemic medium-term growth falling by one percentage point to 5 per cent does not bode well.
Way forward
- Weak wages could keep demand subdued. To offset this policymakers have an important role to play.
- 1) In particular, policymakers may have to ensure that capital is allocated efficiently.
- After all, investment is the only way to increase the economy’s capacity to create well-paying jobs.
- 2) Bringing back investment growth would also involve capital re-allocation.
- This means taking it away from sectors that are not working and redeploying it in sectors that are.
- Improving the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code procedure is a key step here.
- 3) Another important step is to improve the health of banks as they are the ones allocating capital by giving loans.
- Implementation of the 5-Rs — recognition, restructuring, resolution, recapitalisation and reforms — for the banking sector may be particularly useful here.
Consider the question “After supply-side disruption is over, India’s growth may suffer from the subdued wage growth. Suggest the steps to avoid this from happening.”
Conclusion
Supply disruption caused by reverse migration won’t last long, but led by lower wages, demand could remain weak, requiring policy intervention.
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- India-China relations
The article charts out the plan to leverage the potential and the present size of the India markets to settle the boundary dispute with China.
Boycott of Chinese goods: view and counterview
- After Galwan incident, there have been calls for the boycott of Chinese goods.
- Counter views have been expressed that the Indian economy is so dependent on China that the costs would be disproportionately higher for India.
- Our dependence can be reduced substantially if there is a national will and resolve to do so.
Need for mutually acceptable boundary agreement
- China may not be willing to go back substantially from the areas they have occupied.
- Agreeing on maintaining peace and tranquillity or clarification of the LAC has left space for the Chinese to create border incidents which have now led to casualties.
- So India needs to get China to seriously negotiate a mutually acceptable boundary agreement.
India could use its market as leverage
- Size of Indian market: The size of the Indian market and its potential in the coming years provides India considerable leverage.
- But to use this leverage, Indians, individual consumers as well as firms, have to accept that there would be a period of adjustment in which they would have to pay higher prices.
- The Chinese have a competitive advantage and are integral to global supply chains.
- But whatever they sell is, and can be, made elsewhere in the world.
- Indian can produce everything imported by China: Most of what we import from China was, is and can be made in India itself.
- With volumes and economies of scale, the cost of production in India would decline as it did in China.
Steps need to be taken to use market as leverage
- Focus on those imports from China which have been increasing: The initial focus should be on items which are still being made in India and where imports from China have been increasing.
- Depriciate Rupees: If the RBI let the currency depreciate in real terms it would be equivalent to an increase in import duties of about 10 per cent.
- China-specific safeguard duties and use of non-tariff trade barriers should be used in segments like electrical appliances to let Indian producers expand production and increase market share.
- Government Finances for expansion: The government should also facilitate the flow of finances for expansion and provide technical support for testing, improving quality and lowering costs of production.
- Look for other players: In critical areas such as Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, we need a vigorous approach to procure from elsewhere and have early production in India.
- The government could provide support for environmental compliance to bring down costs of production.This would create demand for domestic goods and services.
- There are strategic sectors where we should reduce vulnerability: Like scrutiny of -Chinese FDI, Chinese 5G participation etc.
- Assured government procurement: In critical areas like solar panel and grid storage batteries private investment for manufacturing in India would be triggered by assured government procurement.
Consider the question “Size and potential of India market could be leverage by India to settle the issues it has with its neighbour. What India needs to achieve this is a strategy and its implementation. Comment.”
Conclusion
A sustained and graded economic response to the recent Chinese conduct on the border is needed. We should signal India’s firm resolve and willingness to bear the cost. China could choose to settle the border amicably and have full access to our market. We could then work together to make this the Asian century.
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: Presidential List
Mains level: Quota within Quota debate
A five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court has held that States can sub-classify Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Central List to provide preferential treatment to the “weakest out of the weak”.
Try this question for mains;
Q.Reservation is no more seen by the Supreme Court as an exception to the equality rule; rather, it is a facet of equality. Discuss this in light of the quest for sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes/Tribes.
What is the sub-categorisation of SCs?
- States have argued that among the SCs, there are some that remain grossly under-represented despite reservation in comparison to other SCs.
- This inequality within the SCs is underlined in several reports, and special quotas have been framed to address it.
- For example, in AP, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Bihar, special quotas were introduced for the most vulnerable Dalits.
- In 2007, Bihar set up the Mahadalit Commission to identify the castes within SCs that were left behind.
About the Judgement
- The judgment is based on a reference to the Constitution Bench the question of law involving Section 4(5) of the Punjab Scheduled Caste and Backward Classes (Reservation in Services) Act, 2006.
- The legal provision allows 50% of the reserved Scheduled Castes seats in the State to be allotted to Balmikis and Mazhabi Sikhs.
There lies struggle within castes: SC
- There is a “caste struggle” within the reserved class as a benefit of reservation is being usurped by a few, the court pointed out.
- The million-dollar question is how to trickle down the benefit to the bottom rung.
- It is clear that caste, occupation, and poverty are interwoven.
- The State cannot be deprived of the power to take care of the qualitative and quantitative difference between different classes… to take ameliorative measures, said the judgment.
Overruling the old judgment
- With this, the Bench took a contrary view to a 2004 judgment delivered by another Coordinate Bench of five judges in the E.V. Chinnaiah case.
- The judgment had held that allowing States to unilaterally “make a class within a class of members of the Scheduled Castes” would amount to tinkering with the Presidential list.
- The judgment is significant as it fully endorses the push to extend the creamy layer concept to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
- Citizens cannot be treated to be socially and educationally backwards till perpetuity; those who have come up must be excluded like the creamy layer, the judgment said.
What is the Presidential list?
- The Constitution, while providing for special treatment of SCs and STs to achieve equality, does not specify the castes and tribes that are to be called SCs and STs.
- This power is left to the central executive — the President. As per Article 341, those castes notified by the President are called SCs and STs.
- A caste notified as SC in one state may not be an SC in another state. These vary from state to state to prevent disputes as to whether a particular caste is accorded reservation or not.
- According to the annual report of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, there were 1,263 SCs in the country in 2018-19.
- No community has been specified as SC in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.
- The Constitution treats all Schedule Castes as a single homogeneous group.
Arguments against sub-categorisation
- The argument is that the test or requirement of social and educational backwardness cannot be applied to SCs and STs.
- The special treatment is given to the SCs due to untouchability with which they suffer.
- In a 1976 case, State of Kerala v N M Thomas, the Supreme Court laid down that “Scheduled Castes are not castes, they are class.”
- The petitioner’s argument against allowing states to change the proportion of reservation is also based on the perception that such decisions will be made to appease one vote-bank or the other.
- A watertight President’s list was envisaged to protect from such potential arbitrary change.
Way ahead with the Judgement
- The judgement reasoned that sub-classifications within the Presidential/Central List do not amount to “tinkering” with it.
- No caste is excluded from the list. The States only give preference to weakest of the lot in a pragmatic manner based on statistical data.
- Preferential treatment to ensure even distribution of reservation benefits to the more backward is a facet of the right to equality, judgement observed.
Also read:
[Burning Issue] SC judgement on Reservation not being a Fundamental Right
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: Hangenberg Crisis
Mains level: Mass Extinction
The explosion of a nearby star — occurred at between Devonian and Carboniferous periods — could have caused a mass extinction event that took place 359 million years ago.
Try this question from CSP 2018:
Q.The term “sixth mass extinction/sixth extinction” is often mentioned in the news in the context of the discussion of
(a) Widespread monoculture Practices agriculture and large-scale commercial farming with indiscriminate use of chemicals in many parts of the world that may result in the loss of good native ecosystems.
(b) Fears of a possible collision of a meteorite with the Earth in the near future in the manner it happened 65million years ago that caused the mass extinction of many species including those of dinosaurs.
(c) Large scale cultivation of genetically modified crops in many parts of the world and promoting their cultivationin other Parts of the world which may cause the disappearance of good native crop plants and the loss offood biodiversity.
(d) Mankind’s over-exploitation/misuse of natural resources, fragmentation/loss, natural habitats, destructionof ecosystems, pollution and global climate change.
Hangenberg crisis
- The Earth suffered an intense loss of species diversity that lasted for at least 300,000 years.
- The event is thought to have been caused by long-lasting ozone depletion, which would have allowed much more of the Sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation to reach and harm life on Earth.
- It was called the Hangenberg crisis.
What did researchers find?
- Extensive volcanism and global warming can also rupture the ozone layer but shreds of evidence for these are indefinite as far as the time period is concerned.
- So, they up that one or more supernovae explosions, at a distance of 65 light-years away from the Earth, may have caused a prolonged loss of ozone.
- Betelgeuse, a supernova, around 600 light-years away and present outside the kill distance of 25 light-years poses a danger today.
- Events like gamma-ray bursts, solar eruptions and meteorite collisions end up very soon. As such, they cannot pave the way for gradual ozone depletion that took place at the close of the Devonian aeon.
- A supernova event can be powerful enough to bathe its galaxy in light for days and months alike. It can be spotted across the universe as well.
Why Supernovae are considered dangerous?
- Supernovae (SNe) are quick sources of ionizing photons that include fatal X-rays, UV and gamma rays.
- Over a longer period of time, the bang clashes with the nearby gas, resulting in a shockwave that causes particle acceleration.
- As such, cosmic rays are generated by SNe. These charged particles with high energies get magnetically confined on the inside of SN remains.
- The fossil evidence shows a 300,000-year shrink in biodiversity leading the way to Devonian-Carboniferous Boundary (DCB) mass extinction.
- This puts forward the possibility of multiple catastrophes or multiple supernovae explosions.
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: Atal Tunnel, Pir Panjal Range
Mains level: Not Much
The Atal Tunnel at Rohtang, near Manali, is almost complete in all respects and will be inaugurated very soon in September.
Tap to read more about Himalayas at:
https://www.civilsdaily.com/the-northern-and-northeastern-mountains-part-1/
Atal Tunnel
- The 9-km-long tunnel is constructed under the Pir Panjal range.
- It has been named after former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and will be the world’s longest highway tunnel above the altitude of 10,000 feet (3000 metres).
- It was scheduled to be completed by May 2020, in a revised estimate, but the Covid-19 pandemic pushed back the completion by a few months due to lockdown conditions.
- Vehicles can travel at a maximum speed of 80 km per hour. Up to 1,500 trucks and 3,000 cars are expected to use it per day when the situation gets to normal.
What is its strategic advantage?
- Cutting through the Pir Panjal range, the tunnel will reduce the distance between Manali and Leh by 46 km.
- The tunnel will provide almost all-weather connectivity to the troops stationed in Ladakh.
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: PVTGs in Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Mains level: Not Much
Five members of the Great Andamanese tribe, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTGs) have tested positive for COVID-19.
Try this PYQ:
Q. Consider the following statements about Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in India:
- PVTGs reside in 18 States and one Union Territory.
- A stagnant or declining population is one of the criteria for determining PVTG status.
- There are 95 PVTGs officially notified in the country so far.
- Irular and Konda Reddi tribes are included in the list of PVTGs.
Which of the statements given above are correct?(CSP 2019)
(a) 1, 2 and 3
(b) 2, 3 and 4
(c) 1, 2 and 4
(d) 1, 3 and 4
PVTGs in Andaman
- Great Andamanese is one of five PVTGs that reside in Andamans archipelago.
- The Great Andamanese speak Jeru dialect among themselves and their number stands at 51 as per the last study carried out by Andaman Adim Janjati Vikas Samiti in 2012.
- The five PVTGS residing in Andamans are Great Andamanese, Jarwas, Onges, Shompens and North Sentinelese.
What are PVTGs?
- There are certain tribal communities who have declining or stagnant population, low level of literacy, pre-agricultural level of technology and are economically backward.
- They generally inhabit remote localities having poor infrastructure and administrative support.
- These groups are among the most vulnerable section of our society as they are few in numbers, have not attained any significant level of social and economic development.
- 75 such groups have been identified and categorized as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).
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: Causacus region mapping
Mains level: Not Much
Turkish President Erdogan has asserted that his country will take whatever belongs to it in the Mediterranean, as well as Aegean and the Black Sea.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Turkey is located between
(a) The Black Sea and Caspian Sea
(b) The Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea
(c) Gulf of Suez and the Mediterranean Sea
(d) Gulf of Aqaba and the Dead Sea
Assertion over the Mediterranean
- Greece and Turkey have been locked in a dispute over control of eastern Mediterranean waters.
- They are at odds over the rights to potential hydrocarbon resources, based on conflicting claims over the extent of their continental shelves.
- The Turkish navy will hold the shooting exercises in the eastern Mediterranean off the coast of Iskenderun, northeast of Cyprus.
- Cyprus was divided in 1974 following a Turkish invasion triggered by a Greek-inspired coup.
- Turkey recognizes the Turkish-populated north of Cyprus as a separate state, which is not recognised by other countries.
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: e-NAM,PM-KISAN, PM-AASHA
Mains level: Paper 3- Issues with agriculture market reforms.
The article analyses the issues with the reforms in the agricultural marketing policies.
Recent reforms in agricultural marketing
- The 3 recent reforms in agricultural marketing bring major changes in policy.
- The removal of restrictions under the Essential Commodities Act (ECA) should help attract private investment in agriculture.
- The two new ordinances are expected to enable inter-State trade and promote contract farming, thereby providing a large number of options to farmers.
Concerns that need to be addressed
1) Policy credibility problem
- The first problem is ‘time-inconsistency’ problem or the policy credibility problem.
- This situation arises when a decision maker’s preferences change over time in such a way that the preferences are inconsistent at different points in time.
- Because the policy signals are not very clear in the last few years as relates to agricultural marketing, as we will see below.
- This clarity of clear signal is reflected in rollout of multiple schemes: e-NAM, PM-AASHA, PM-KISAN.
- In 2016, the electronic national agricultural market (e-NAM) was launched with a lot of fanfare.
- States needed to amend their respective Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Acts.
- Several States could not or did not carry out these amendments and the e-NAM proved to be far less effective than desired.
- As a result, the government reverted back to public price support by launching an ambitious programme, PM-AASHA, in September 2018.
- The programme was confined to pulses and oilseeds to limit the fiscal costs.
- However, the initial budgetary outlay did not match the level of ambition of the programme.
- In addition to the PM-AASHA programme, two Model Acts were formulated by the Central government in 2017 and 2018 to promote agricultural marketing and contract farming in States.
- States were required to legislate these Model Acts.
- However, progress has been tardy and many States have not adopted the Model Acts.
- This uninspiring performance of PM-AASHA necessitated a more radical and direct approach.
- Thus evolved the PM-KISAN, a direct cash transfer programme, in the interim Budget of 2019-2020 (February 2019).
- This programme involved a fixed payment of ₹6,000 per annum to each farm household with a budgetary outlay of ₹75,000 crore.
- The frequent flip-flops in farm policy — from a market-based e-NAM to a public funded PM-AASHA and now back to market-based measures — may not inspire much confidence in the minds of private investors about the continuance of the present policies.
2) Centre-State and State-State relations
- Recent Ordinances were passed by the Central Government using the constitutional provisions but the implementation of the same vests with the States.
- Also, inter-State trade involves movement of goods across the State boundaries.
- Thus, coordination between the Central and the State governments, and also among various States becomes crucial.
- Also, the States must have faced several problems in legislating and implementing the earlier Model Acts.
- Thus, the Centre must engage with the States about these constraints in order to iron out the potential problems in the implementation of the ordinances.
3) Multiple market failures and the resultant inter-linkage of rural markets
- Absence or failure of credit and insurance markets may lead a farmer to depend upon the local input dealer.
- This, in turn, may tie him to these intermediaries and constrain his choice of output markets.
- Similarly, the widespread restrictions on land leasing in many States lead to an inefficient scale of production.
- Thus, reforms in the output market alone are not sufficient.
- Reforms in output must be supplemented and complemented with the liberalisation of the lease market and better access to credit and insurance markets.
Consider the question “What are the reform measures taken by the government to deal with the issues in the agricultural marketing by farmers? What are the concerns with such measures?”
Conclusion
In conclusion, consistency in policy, collaborative approach and complementary reforms are necessary for the success of the recent agricultural market reforms.
Back2Basics: Agricultural reform
Read in detail about the 3 reforms form here-
Agri reforms and way forward
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- National Recruitment Agency
Recruitment reform in the form of National Recruitment Agency will resolve many issues faced by the youth appearing for the multiple government exam.
Context
- On average, 2.5-3 crore candidates appear for about 1.25 lakh vacancies in the central government every year.
- But from next year, the NRA will conduct the CET and based on the score, one can apply for a vacancy with the respective agency.
NRA: Composition and functioning
- The NRA will have representatives from the Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Finance/Department of Financial Services, Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) and Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS).
- A multi-agency body, the NRA will conduct a Common Eligibility Test (CET) to screen/shortlist candidates for the Group B and C (non-technical) posts.
- The NRA shall conduct a separate CET each for the three levels of graduate, higher secondary (12th pass) and the matriculate (10th pass) candidates for those non-technical posts to which recruitment is presently carried out by the SSC, RRBs and IBPS.
How it will benefit youth
- It will eliminate multiple tests and save time as well as resources.
- It will give a big boost to transparency.
- The multiple recruitment examinations are a burden on the candidates, as also on the respective recruitment agencies, involving avoidable/repetitive expenditure, law and order/security-related issues and venue-related problems.
- The NRA is a combination of convenience and cost-effectiveness for candidates.
- Examination centres in every district would greatly enhance access to the candidates located in far-flung areas, with a special focus on creating examination infrastructure in the 117 Aspirational Districts.
- This will prove a great boon to crores of aspirants residing in hilly, rural and remote areas and most importantly, for female candidates.
- Taking job opportunities closer to the people is a radical step that would greatly enhance ease of living for the youth.
Consider the question “Recruitment reform in the form of National Recruitment Agency is a radical step that would greatly enhance ease of living for the youth.”
Conclusion
Taking job opportunities closer to the people is a radical step that would greatly enhance ease of living for the youth.
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 3- Opportunities and challenges in outer space
The article analyses opportunities and challenges the outer space technology offers to us.
Emerging trends in space industry
- The price for reaching low Earth orbit has declined by a factor of 20 in a decade.
- It enhances human space travel possibilities by leveraging new commercial capabilities.
- According to a Bank of America Report, the $350 billion space market today will touch $2.7 trillion by 2050.
- Starlink, the constellation being constructed by SpaceX to provide global Internet access, plans more than 10,000 mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit.
- In a decade, 80,000 such satellites could be in space compared to less than 3,000 at present.
- Companies such as Planet, Spire Global and Iceye are using orbital vantage points to collect and analyse data to deliver fresh insights in weather forecasting, global logistics, crop harvesting and disaster response.
- Space could prove attractive for high-tech manufacturing too.
- In short, an exciting new platform is opening up for entrepreneurs.
3 Challenges
1) Governance of outer space
- Framework for governance of outer space as it becomes democratised, commercialised and crowded is becoming obsolescent.
- The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 enshrines the idea that space should be “the province of all mankind” and “not subject to national appropriation by claims of sovereignty”.
- The Rescue Agreement, Space Liability Convention, and the Space Registration Convention expanded provisions of the Outer Space Treaty.
- The Moon Treaty of 1979 was not ratified by major space-faring nations.
- Space law does not have a dispute settlement mechanism, is silent on collisions and debris, and offers insufficient guidance on interference with others’ space assets.
- These gaps heighten the potential for conflict in an era of congested orbits and breakneck technological change.
2) Acknowledging role of non-state entities
- The legal framework related to outre space is state-centric, placing responsibility on states alone.
- However, non-state entities are now in the fray for commercial space exploration and utilisation.
- Some states are providing frameworks for resource recovery through private enterprises.
- Some scholars and governments view this as against the principle of national non-appropriation, violating the spirit if not the letter of the existing space law.
- The lack of alignment of domestic and international normative frameworks risks a damaging free-for-all competition for celestial resources involving actors outside the space framework.
3) The arms race in outer space
- The space arms race is difficult to curb, especially since almost all space technologies have military applications.
- For example, satellite constellations are commercial but governments could acquire their data to monitor military movements.
- Investment in technologies that can disrupt or destroy space-based capabilities is under way.
- Despite concerns about military activity in outer space for long, not much progress has been made in addressing them.
- The UN General Assembly passes a resolution on Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space since 1982.
- The current geopolitical situation does not hold hope for addressing concerns of a space arms race.
Need for space legislation in India
- India has invested enormous resources in its space programme through the Indian Space Research Organisation.
- More importantly, our space assets are crucial for India’s development.
- The proposed involvement of private players and the creation of an autonomous body IN-SPACe for permitting and regulating activities of the private sector are welcome efforts.
- However, the space environment that India faces requires us to go beyond meeting technical milestones.
- We need a space legislation enabling coherence across technical, legal, commercial, diplomatic and defence goals.
Consider the question “Outer space technology is expanding its horizon day by day. However, there are certain challenges the expansion of the space technology faces. What are these challenges and suggest ways to deal with such challenges.”
Conclusion
Our space vision also needs to address global governance, regulatory and arms control issues. As space opens up our space vision needs broadening too.
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: IMR, MMR
Mains level: Marriage age issues
PM had announced a panel to fight malnutrition in young women and ensure they get married at the right age. Take a look at how the two are linked:
How prevalent is underage marriage?
- Data show that the majority of women in India marry after the age of 21.
- Chart 1 shows the mean age of women at marriage is 22.1 years, and more than 21 in all states. This does not mean that child marriages have disappeared.
- The latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) found that about 26.8% of women aged 20-24 (Chart 2) were married before adulthood (age 18).
Try this question for mains:
Q. Discuss how marriage age and women’s health are linked with each other?
How does the age of marriage correlate with health?
- Preventing early marriage can reduce the maternal mortality ratio and infant mortality ratio.
- At present, the maternal mortality ratio — the number of maternal deaths for every 100,000 children born — is 145.
- India’s IMR shows that 30 of every 1,000 children born in a year die before the age of one.
- Young mothers are more susceptible to anaemia. More than half the women of reproductive age (15-49 years) in India are anaemic.
What delayed marriage can alter?
- Poverty, limited access to education and economic prospects, and security concerns are the known reasons for early marriage.
- If the main causes of early marriage are not addressed, a law will not be enough to delay marriage among girls.
What do the data show?
- Women in the poorest 20% of the population married much younger than their peers from the wealthiest 20% (Chart 5).
- The average age at marriage of women with no schooling was 17.6, considerably lower than that for women educated beyond class 12 (Chart 6).
- Almost 40% of girls aged 15-18 do not attend school, as per a report of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
- Nearly 65% of these girls are engaged in non-remunerative work.
- That is why many believe that merely tweaking the official age of marriage may discriminate against the poorer, less-educated and marginalised women.
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: BRICS, AI
Mains level: 5G Technology and the Huawei issue
China has made a proposal to create what it has termed a BRICS innovation base to take forward 5G and Artificial Intelligence (AI) cooperation.
Try this question from CSP 2019:
Q.With reference to communication technologies, what is/are the difference/differences between LTE (Long-Term Evolution) and VoLTE (Voice over Long-Term Evolution)?
- LTE ‘is commonly marketed as 3G and VoLTE is commonly marketed as advanced 3G.
- LTE is data-only technology and VoLTE is voice-only technology.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
BRICS Innovation Base
- China is considering the establishment of a BRICS innovation base in China, in order to strengthen practical cooperation with the BRICS.
- It has urged fellow nations, including India, to boost cooperation in areas including 5G and AI in partnership with Huawei.
- The move could pose an awkward question for India, which is the only country in the grouping that is leaning towards excluding Chinese participation in the roll-out of India’s 5G networks.
Huawei in BRICS
- In South Africa, Huawei is providing services to three of its telecom operators in the roll-out of their 5G networks.
- Brazil has allowed participation in trials but yet to take a final call.
- India is unlikely to allow Chinese participation in 5G, particularly in the wake of recent moves to tighten investment from China and national security concerns.
Back2Basics: BRICS
- BRICS is an acronym for the grouping of the world’s leading emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
- The BRICS Leaders Summit is convened annually. It does not exist in form of organization, but it is an annual summit between the supreme leaders of five nations.
- On November 30, 2001, Jim O’Neill, a British economist who was then chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, coined the term ‘BRIC’ to describe the four emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
- The grouping was formalized during the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers on the margins of the UNGA in New York in September 2006.
- The first BRIC Summit took place in 2009 in the Russian Federation and focused on issues such as reform of the global financial architecture.
- South Africa was invited to join BRIC in December 2010, after which the group adopted the acronym BRICS.
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: NDC, TIA
Mains level: India's NDC
NITI Aayog will virtually launch the India Component of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)–Transport Initiative for Asia (TIA).
Try this PYQ:
Q.The term Intended Nationally Determined Contribution is sometimes seen in the news in the context of:
(a) Pledge made by the European countries to rehabilitate refuges from the war-affected Middle East.
(b) Plan of nation outlined by the countries of the world to combat climate changes.
(c) Capital contributed by the member countries in the establishment of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
(d) Plain of action outlined by the countries of the regarding SDGs.
What is NDC-TIA?
- It is a joint programme, supported by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).
- On behalf of the GoI, NITI Aayog will be the implementing partner.
- It aims to promote a comprehensive approach to decarbonize transport in India, Vietnam, and China.
- It is implemented by a consortium of seven other organisations.
Working
- The programme has a duration of 4 years.
- The India Component will focus on establishing a multi-stakeholder dialogue platform for decarbonizing transport in India, strengthening GHG and transport modelling capacities.
- It would help in financing climate actions in transport, offering policy recommendations on electric vehicle (EV) demand and supply policies.
Why need TIA?
- India has a massive and diverse transport sector that caters to the needs of billion people.
- It has the world’s second-largest road network, which contributes to maximum GHG emissions through all means of transportation.
- With increasing urbanisation, the fleet size i.e. the number of sales of vehicles is increasing rapidly.
- It is projected that the total number of vehicles will be doubled by 2030.
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: Export Preparedness Index (EPI)
Mains level: Export promotion measures
NITI Aayog in partnership with the Institute of Competitiveness has released the Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2020.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which one of the following is not a sub-index of the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business Index? (CSP 2019)
(a) Maintenance of law and order
(b) Paying taxes
(c) Registering property
(d) Dealing with construction permits
EPI 2020
- EPI intends to identify challenges and opportunities; enhance the effectiveness of government policies; and encourage a facilitative regulatory framework.
- The structure of the EPI includes 4 pillars –Policy; Business Ecosystem; Export Ecosystem; Export Performance.
- It has 11 sub-pillars –Export Promotion Policy; Institutional Framework; Business Environment; Infrastructure; Transport Connectivity; Access to Finance; Export Infrastructure; Trade Support; R&D Infrastructure; Export Diversification; and Growth Orientation.
Highlights of the EPI
- This edition of the EPI has shown that most Indian states performed well on average across the sub-pillars of Exports Diversification, Transport Connectivity, and Infrastructure.
- Overall, most of the Coastal States are the best performers. Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu occupy the top three ranks.
- Six of eight coastal states feature in the top ten rankings, indicating the presence of strong enabling and facilitating factors to promote exports.
- In the landlocked states, Rajasthan has performed the best, followed by Telangana and Haryana.
- Among the Himalayan states, Uttarakhand is the highest, followed by Tripura and Himachal Pradesh.
- Across the UTs, Delhi has performed the best, followed by Goa and Chandigarh.
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: Eat Out to Help Out Scheme
Mains level: NA
Since the lockdown began in India, different bodies representing the country’s hospitality sector have repeatedly asked the government for financial assistance to help tide over the crisis. UK’s popular Eat Out to Help Out (EOHO) Scheme can be an example of the kind of intervention in India.
Note: The ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ Scheme recently seen in news is related to Hospitality. One may get confused over Poverty and Hunger.
What is the EOHO Scheme?
- The EOHO Scheme is an economic recovery measure by the UK government to support hospitality businesses as they reopen after the lockdown.
- The scheme was announced as part of the Plans for Jobs summer economic update.
- Under the EOHO Scheme, the government would subsidise meals (food and non-alcoholic drinks only) at restaurants by 50 per cent.
- There is no minimum spending and no limit on the number of times customers can avail the offer, since the whole point of the scheme is to encourage a return to dining in restaurants.
Why was this scheme deemed necessary?
- All over the world, the food services sector is one of the worst affected by the pandemic.
- The top two concerns were customers avoiding restaurants for fear of contracting the virus and customers having less disposable income for dining out.
- Instead of delivering a financial package to operators, it makes eating out more affordable for consumers directly and helps restore demand.
- Restoring consumer demand is being seen as crucial to the UK’s economic recovery.
Can India benefit from such a scheme?
- The main problem confronting the restaurant industry, following Unlock 1.0 in June, has been consumer fear, even as the government has remained silent about specific recovery packages aimed at the hospitality industry.
- The government needs to work on the demand side.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now