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  • Decimate Prelims Open Test – 24th Jan 2021 | Register for free IAS pre tests

    Decimate Prelims Open Test – 24th Jan 2021 | Register for free IAS pre tests

    REGISTER FOR FREE DECIMATE PRELIMS OPEN TEST 2021

    Are you preparing in the right direction for IAS pre-2021? Check your current preparedness with Decimate Prelims Open Tests 2021.

    Based on UPSC previous years’ question papers, there are two (of three) Open Tests now scheduled on 24th Jan and 31st Jan 2021, before the start of our DECIMATE PRELIMS 2021 program. Attempt them and join us on Habitat for further discussions. (Link will be emailed to you)

    Details and Instructions:

    1. Register here for the Decimate Prelims open tests
    2. The first test will go live at 10 am on 24th Jan 2021.
    3. These are full-length tests- 100 questions, 2hrs
    4. Mode- Online, in English
    5. All India Ranking will be released on 25th Jan 
    6. Test solutions and explanations will be emailed to you.
    7. Test discussions will take place on Habitat on 25th Jan 2021.

    Click here to enroll for Decimate Prelims 2021 program

    What is Decimate Prelims 2021?

    Click here to download the Decimate Prelims 2021 brochure 

    It is a holistically designed crash course for the UPSC IAS prelims exam. To make it more efficient and outcome-oriented we’ve integrated it with Habitat.

    Decimate Prelims 2021 Clear upsc prelims 2021 in first attempt

    Decimate Prelims 2021 @ Habitat is a three-phased program that ensures full coverage of current affairs related to UPSC prelims syllabus, related static parts, tests, intensive discussions, and revision.

    We’re going more intensive and comprehensive to make sure that you comfortably go beyond 130+ marks and literally decimate prelims.

    UPSC is evolving, are you? Bury the old ways of IAS Prelims preparation.

    How daily Habitat classes will be held?

    Since we’re going to be comprehensive and effective, we’ve planned Habitat classes twice a day (2+2 hrs/day) as per a schedule.

    Forenoon session: 10am – 12:30pm

    You’ll be provided with the base notes and reading material beforehand. In the Habitat class the focus will be on:

    1. Explanation and conceptual clarity.
    2. Making linkages with static part.
    3. Relevance of the topic or its components for the prelims exam.
    4. The kind of questions that could be asked from a particular topic.
    5. Things you need to focus on and the things you can avoid.

    You’ll get a video summary lecture of this discussion covering the most important and relevant aspects of the topic.

    A discussion session on Habitat

    Evening session: 7pm – 9pm

    In the second session, we’ll be focussing on the application and utilization of the information part:

    1. Doubts resolution
    2. Daily mini-tests (MCQs) based on day’s discussions
    3. Explanation, discussion, and Tikdams
    4. Revision of the day’s topics

    After this session, you’ll be provided with the PDFs of mini-tests, notes for the next session, and reference material (if required).

    Habitat sessions will continue till Prelims 2021 in the next two phases as well.

    MCQ discussion on Habitat

    Decimate Prelims 2021 progression

    Phase 1: Course coverage- 7 weeks

    In the first 50 days, we are going to cover 2+ yrs current affairs, associated static topics, and prelims worthy issues. These will be covered in 4+ hours daily classes on Habitat.

    1. Notes and Habitat video lectures

    Crisp but comprehensive notes are going to cover these current affairs on a preliminary level. These will be followed by discussion sessions on Habitat.

    2. Daily Habitat classes

    Habitat classes will be conducted by the subject-specific mentors twice a day. Here in the first session, you’ll be having an in-depth discussion and analysis of the scheduled topics. Why a particular topic is important and how it could be asked in prelims will be discussed. In the second session of Habitat class, you’ll be attempting MCQs, resolving doubts, and revising.

    By the end of the discussion, you will be provided with video summary lectures, MCQs, mindmaps, and reference material, etc.

    Phase 2: Tests and Assessment, Discussion, Tikdams- Till May

    In the second phase of Decimate Prelims 2021, we’re going to focus on the application of information; testing and evaluation; doubts resolution and course correction; and learning smart ways of attempting the paper through Tikdams sessions. We’re also going to discuss the previous UPSC prelims question paper answer key as well.

    1. Test series and discussions

    Since learning must be accompanied by regular assessment, Decimate Prelims includes 8 Full-Length tests, 10 Current affairs tests, and 4 CSAT tests. These are a part of high-quality test series for UPSC covering the most relevant issues for IAS prelims 2021.

    Hailed as the best UPSC mock test, these will be followed by discussion and analysis on Habitat will help in finding out the mistakes you are committing to and how to address them in a most effective manner.

    2. Tikdams and Score boosting sessions

    We’ve perfected Tikdams or the art of intelligent elimination. It has the potential of raising your score by 30 marks or more. Score boosting sessions, in this phase, will prepare you and enhance your ability to perform under pressure (& lack of information). 

    Following these Tikdams many of our students like Abhishek Saraf were able to score more than 30 marks above the UPSC cut off 2019.

    3. Revision and discussion

    We’re going to have scheduled revision and doubt resolution sessions on Habitat. These 4+hrs sessions will ensure thorough coverage of the IAS Prelims syllabus.

    Phase 3: Probable questions discussion, intensive revision – till prelims

    We’ll be providing 300+ most probable topics to you and will be having a discussion session on Habitat around these topics.

    Moreover, intensive revision based on listicles, reports, and important topics will continue till your prelims.

    Mentorship

    Mentorship is an important component of Decimate Prelims 2021. It is essential for guiding your preparation towards the most effective path so that you can make the most out of this program.

    On Habitat, you will get mentorship by subject-specific mentors and teachers. You can reach out to them whenever you want and get your doubts resolved as soon as you get them.

    Notes and study material

    As mentioned above high-quality PDF notes of current affairs, daily MCQs, discussion summaries, etc. are going to be provided. You’ll also be getting an annual subscription to Civils Digest, our monthly magazine.

    Other reference material, listicles, etc. will be provided as and when required.

    Program inclusion:

    1. Daily Habitat classes: 4+ hrs
    2. Comprehensive Current Affairs coverage
      • 2+ years Prelims worth issues and topics
      • CA associated static topics
      • Video lectures/summaries.
    3. Exclusive membership to Habitat group
    4. Test series with doubt resolution discussions
      • 8 Full-Length Tests
      • 10 Current Affairs Tests
      • 4 CSAT 
    5. Mentorship 
      • Connect with subject-specific mentors on Habitat
    6. Score Booster sessions (Tikdams)
      • Habitat sessions in the second phase
      • Video summary lectures
    7. Notes and study material
      • High-quality current affairs notes (PDF)
      • Daily discussion summaries, mindmaps, and MCQs
      • Civils Digest: Monthly magazine

    Click here to enroll for Decimate Prelims 2021

  • Improving the diet of low income households to address malnutrition

    The article suggests the ways to deal with the menace of malnutrition in the country.

    Findings of the first phase of NFHS-5

    • Recently, the first phase of the NFHS-5 survey was published.
    • The deteriorating nutrition and anaemia indicators, especially among children is a cause for concern.
    • More deterioration in nutrition indicators following the COVID-19 pandemic is feared in the next phase of NFHS-5.
    • This deterioration would be on account of loss of livelihoods, reduced food consumption among the poor and disruption of government nutrition programmes.

    Challenges

    • Unlike a disease outbreak there may not be any popular demand to address malnutrition — the public, by and large, does not have adequate information about the damage malnutrition causes.
    • Hence, in the Indian context, it becomes the responsibility of the government/civil society to first provide information and awareness to the community about malnutrition.

    Steps to be taken

    • The government should examine the current nutrition-related programmes, and analysing why they are not able to reduce malnutrition faster.
    • Additional interventions could be introduced in pockets, identified as high-burden districts.
    • There should be different norms and more intensive interventions within the ICDS for these chronically malnourished pockets.
    • We need to know if the National Nutrition Policy 1993 is still operational.
    • If not, it seems that we are attempting to address this problem without a policy framework or plan of action.

    Addressing the root cause of malnutrition in India

    The following three deficits are the root cause of malnutrition in India.

    1) Dietary deficit

    • There is a large dietary deficit among at least 40 per cent of our population of all age groups, shown in— the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau’s Third Repeat Survey (2012), NFHS 4, 2015-16, the NNMB Technical Report Number 27, 2017.
    • Our current interventions are not being able to bridge this protein-calorie-micronutrient deficit.
    • The NHHS-4 and NFHS-5 surveys reveal an acute dietary deficit among infants below two years, and considerable stunting and wasting of infants below six months.
    • Unless this maternal/infant dietary deficit is addressed, we will not see rapid improvement in our nutritional indicators.

    2) Information deficit at household level

    • We do not have a national IEC (information, education and communication) programme that reaches targeted households to bring about the required behavioural change regarding some basic but critical facts.
    • For example, IEC tells about the importance of balanced diets in low-income household budgets, proper maternal, child and adolescent nutrition and healthcare.

    3) Inequitable market conditions

    • The largest deficit, which is a major cause of dietary deficiency and India’s chronic malnutrition, pertains to inequitable market conditions.
    • Such market conditions deny affordable and energy-fortified food to children, adolescents and adults in lower-income families.
    • The market has stacks of expensive fortified energy food and beverages for higher income groups, but nothing affordable for low-income groups.

    Conclusion

    Raising the diet of our people from subsistence level to higher levels of nourishment by overcoming the triple deficit is the only way to improve the nutritional indicators of our population — amongst children, adolescents and adults.

  • Social sector: the post-Covid priority

    The article highlights the need for more focus on the social sector in the post-Covid society and suggest ways to do the same.

    Why focus on social sector

    • No country has progressed without investing in the social sector.
    • India is committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, and social sector development is important in reaching them.
    • Progress in this sector has intrinsic (for its own sake) and instrumental (for higher growth) value.
    • It is needed even to build a $5 trillion economy faster.

    India’s social sector expenditure

    • India’s progress in the social sector has been much slower compared to its GDP growth.
    • In the social sector expenditure, the share of education as a percentage of GDP has been stagnant around 2.8-3 per cent during 2014-15 to 2019-20.
    • In the case of health, the expenditure as a percentage of GDP increased from 1.2 per cent to 1.5 per cent.
    • This is lower than the required 2-3 per cent of GDP.
    • An increase in health expenditure is also important to take care of the present and future pandemics.
    • There are supply side problems regarding the health infrastructure.
    • It is essential to have a huge increase in public expenditure on health and provide accessible, affordable and quality health coverage to all.

    Following are some key issues in the social sector India needs to focus on.

    1) The problem of undernutrition

    • The NFHS-5 report shows that malnutrition level has reduced marginally in a few states and has worsened in some other states between 2015-16 and 2019-20.
    • We can’t have a society with 35 per cent of our children suffering from malnutrition.
    • Apart from undernutrition, obesity seems to be increasing in both rural and urban areas.
    • There is a need to raise allocations for ICDS and other nutrition programmes.
    • The determinants of nutrition are agriculture, health, women’s empowerment, including maternal and child practices, social protection, nutrition education, sanitation and drinking water.
    • The Poshan Abhiyan is a good programme, but has to cover all these determinants with a multi-pronged approach to reduce undernutrition.

    2) Quality education

    • Quality education is key for raising human development.
    • The pandemic has enhanced inequalities in education and has revealed the widening digital gap.
    • Equality of opportunity in terms of quality education is the key for raising human development and for reducing inequalities in the labour market.
    • Several committees have recommended that public expenditure on education should be at 6 per cent of GDP.

    3) Social safety nets

    •  It is known that migrant workers were the most affected during the pandemic and that they do not have any safety nets.
    • There is a need to have safety nets like an employment guarantee scheme for the urban poor and facilities for migrants.
    • Similarly in rural areas, allocations to MGNREGA have to be increased because of the reverse migration.

    4) Programs for vulnerable section need to be continued

    • The government has done well in providing cooking gas through Ujjwala Yojana and electricity through Saubhagya Yojana, introducing programmes such as Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and initiatives for housing, financial inclusion and providing loans to the self-employed.
    • These programmes have helped the vulnerable sections, particularly women.
    • Another initiative of the government was to facilitate direct benefit transfers (DBT) for welfare schemes.
    • These initiatives have to be continued.

    Way forward

    • The government should give more focus to the social sector with better policies and implementation.
    • It has to work closely with the states in revitalising the social sector as major expenditures particularly on health and education are met by them.
    • The 15th Finance Commission also seems to have mentioned that health expenditure should be increased to 2.1 per cent of GDP.
    • The Commission may also suggest some incentives for states to increase health expenditure.
    • Both Centre and states should have a five-year vision on the social sector.

    Consider the question “No country has progressed without investing in the social sector. In the post pandemic world India needs to chart the plan to invest more in the sector. In light of this, examine the challenges in the social sector and suggest the ways to deal with them.

    Conclusion

    India, aspiring to be a global power, should have a harmonious and inclusive social sector development. This is also important for achieving the SDGs, reducing inequalities and building a $5 trillion economy faster.

  • Salary to women for domestic work

    Recently, a political party promised salaries to housewives as a part of its electoral campaign in Tamil Nadu. This led to the debate on the issue. The article deals with the issue.

    Salary for housework: Historical background

    • Demand for wages against housework was first raised at the third National Women’s Liberation conference in Manchester, England.
    •  In 2012, the then minister for Women and Child development announced that the government was considering mandating a salary for housework to wives, from husbands.
    •  The purpose, once again, was to empower women financially and help them live with dignity.

    Recognising the value of unpaid domestic work

    • Time-use data from 2019 gathered by the National Sample Survey Organisation revealed that only about a quarter of men and boys above six years engaged in unpaid household chores, compared to over four-fifths of women.
    • Every day, an average Indian male spends 1.5 hours per day in unpaid domestic work, compared to about five hours by a female.
    • Housework demands effort and sacrifice, 365 days a year, 24/7.

    Issues with paying for domestic work

    •  Asking men to pay for wives’ domestic work could further enhance their sense of entitlement.
    • It may also put the additional onus on women to perform.
    • There is a risk of formalising the patriarchal Indian family where the position of men stems from their being “providers” in the relationship.

    Way forward

    • Despite a legal provision, equal inheritance rights continue to be elusive for a majority of women.
    • More than creating a new provision of salary for housework, we need to strengthen awareness, implementation and utilisation of other existing provisions.
    • Starting from the right to reside in the marital home, to streedhan and haq meher, to coparcenary and inheritance rights as daughters and to basic services, free legal aid and maintenance in instances of violence and divorce.
    • Women should be helped to reach their full potential through quality education, access and opportunities of work, gender-sensitive and harassment-free workplaces and attitudinal and behaviour change within families to make household chores more participative.

    Conclusion

    Just like we do not want women to commodify their reproductive services because of their inherently exploitative nature — we have, therefore, banned commercial surrogacy in the country — let us not allow commodification of housework and personal care.

  • What are Spectrum Auctions?

    In the spectrum auctions scheduled to begin on March 1this year, the government plans to sell spectrum for 4G in the 700, 800, 900, 1,800, 2,100, 2,300, and 2,500 MHz frequency bands.

    Q.What are the various challenges faced by India’s telecom before the upgradation to 5G technology?

    What is Spectrum?

    • Devices such as cellphones and wireline telephones require signals to connect from one end to another.
    • These signals are carried on airwaves, which must be sent at designated frequencies to avoid any kind of interference.
    • The Union government owns all the publicly available assets within the geographical boundaries of the country, which also include airwaves.
    • With the expansion in the number of cellphones, wireline telephone and internet users, the need to provide more space for the signals arise from time to time.

    Spectrum allocations

    • Spectrum refers to the invisible radio frequencies that wireless signals travel over. The frequencies we use for wireless are only a portion of what is called the electromagnetic spectrum.
    • To sell these assets to companies willing to set up the required infrastructure to transport these waves from one end to another, the central government through the DoT auctions these airwaves from time to time.
    • These airwaves called spectrum is subdivided into bands which have varying frequencies.
    • All these airwaves are sold for a certain period of time, after which their validity lapses, which is generally set at 20 years.

    Why is spectrum being auctioned now?

    • The last spectrum auctions were held in 2016 when the government offered 2,354.55 MHz at a reserve price of Rs 5.60 lakh crore.
    • Although the government managed to sell only 965 MHz – or about 40 per cent of the spectrum that was put up for sale.
    • The need for a new spectrum auction has arisen because the validity of the airwaves bought by companies is set to expire in 2021.

    How is the spectrum priced?

    • The reserve price of all these bands together has been fixed at Rs 3.92 lakh crore.
    • Depending on the demand from various companies, the price of the airwaves may go higher, but cannot go below the reserve price.

    How will the payment plan work?

    • As part of the deferred payment plan, bidders for the sub-1 GHz bands of 700, 800 and 900 MHz can opt to pay 25 per cent of the bid amount now, and the rest later.
    • In the above-1 GHz bands of 1,800, 2,100, 2,300, and 2,500 MHz frequency bands, bidders will have to pay 50 per cent upfront, and can then opt to pay the rest in equated annual instalments.
    • The successful bidders will, however, have to pay 3 per cent of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) as spectrum usage charges, excluding wireline services.

    Who is likely to bid for the spectrum?

    • All major private telecom players in India are eligible contenders to buy additional spectrum to support the number of users on their network.
    • Apart from these three, new companies, including foreign companies, are also eligible to bid for the airwaves.
    • Foreign companies, however, will have to either set up a branch in India and register as an Indian company or tie-up with an Indian company to be able to retain the airwaves after winning them.

  • First Advance Estimates of GDP for 2021

    The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released the First Advance Estimates (FAE) for the current financial year.

    What do estimates show?

    • According to MoSPI, India’s gross domestic product (GDP) — the total value of all final goods and services produced within the country in one financial year — will contract by 7.7 per cent in 2020-21.
    • The first advance estimates of GDP, obtained by extrapolation of seven months’ data, are released early to help officers in the Finance Ministry and other departments in framing the broad contours of Union Budget 2021-22.

    What are the First Advance Estimates of GDP?

    • For any financial year, the MoSPI provides regular estimates of GDP. The first such instance is through the FAE.
    • The FAE for any particular financial year is typically presented on January 7th.
    • Their significance lies in the fact that they are the GDP estimates that the Union Finance Ministry uses to decide the next financial year’s budget allocations.
    • The FAE will be quickly updated as more information becomes available.
    • On February 26th, MoSPI will come out with the Second Advance Estimates of GDP for the current year.

    How is the FAE arrived at before the end of the concerned financial year?

    • The FAE are derived by extrapolating the available data. (Hope you remember Newtons’ interpolation and extrapolation from XII std.)
    • According to the MoSPI, the approach for compiling the Advance Estimates is based on Benchmark-Indicator method.
    • The sector-wise estimates are obtained by extrapolating indicators such as-
    1. Index of Industrial Production (IIP) of the first 7 months of the financial year
    2. Financial performance of listed companies in the private corporate sector available up to quarter ending September 2020
    3. The 1st Advance Estimates of crop production,
    4. The accounts of central & state governments,
    5. Information on indicators like deposits & credits, passenger and freight earnings of Railways, passengers and cargo handled by civil aviation, cargo handled at major seaports, sales of commercial vehicles, etc., available for first 8 months of the financial year.

    How is the data extrapolated?

    • In the past, extrapolation for indicators such as the IIP was done by dividing the cumulative value for the first 7 months of the current financial year by average of the ratio of the cumulative value of the first 7 months to the annual value of past years.
    • So if the annual value of a variable was twice that of the value in the first 7 months in the previous years then for the current year as well the annual value is assumed to be double that of the first 7 months.
    • However, this year, because of the pandemic there were wide fluctuations in the monthly data. Moreover, there was a significant drop, especially in the first quarter, on many counts.
    • That is why the usual projection techniques would not have yielded robust results.
    • As such, MoSPI has tweaked the ratios for most variables.

    What are the key takeaways from the First Advance Estimates for 2020-21?

    There are 7 key takeaways.

    #1 GDP Growth Rate:

    • In the context of recent history, the 7.7 per cent contraction in GDP is a sharp one considering that India has registered an average annual GDP growth rate of 6.8 per cent since the start of economic liberalisation in 1992-93.

    #2 Absolute level of real GDP:

    • At Rs 134.4 lakh crore, India’s real GDP — that is, GDP without the influence of inflation — in 2020-21 will be lower than the 2018-19 level.
    • In other words, from the start of the next financial year, India would first have to raise its GDP back to the level it was at in 2019-20 (Rs 143.7 lakh crore).

    #3 Per Capita GDP:

    • While the GDP provides an all-India aggregate, per capita GDP is a better variable if one wants to understand how an average India has been impacted.
    • India’s per capita GDP will fall to Rs 99, 155 in 2020-21.
    • In fact, while the overall real GDP will fall by 7.7 per cent, per capita real GDP will fall by 8.7 per cent.

    #4 Absolute level of real Gross Value Added (or GVA):

    • The GVA provides a picture of the economy from the supply side.
    • It maps the value-added by different sectors of the economy such as agriculture, industry and services. In other words, GVA provides a proxy for the income earned by people involved in the various sectors.
    • This fiscal, at Rs 123.4 lakh crore, India’s real GVA level, too, will fall below the 2018-19 level.

    #5 Absolute level of Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE):

    • India’s overall GDP can be divided into four main sections. The biggest demand for goods and services comes from private individuals trying to satisfy their consumption needs.
    • Typically this would include all the things — be it toothpaste or a car — that you and your family members buy in their private individual capacity.
    • This demand is called PFCE and it constitutes over 56 per cent of the total GDP.

    #6 Per capita PFCE:

    • Just like per capita GDP, the per capita PFCE is also a relevant metric as it shows how much does an average Indian spend in his/her private capacity.
    • Typically, with rising incomes standards, such consumption levels also rise.
    • However, at Rs 55,609, per capita, PFCE will fall below the 2017-18 level.

    #7 Absolute level of Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF):

    • The second biggest component of GDP is called GFCF and it measures all the expenditures on goods and services that businesses and firms make as they invest in their productive capacity.
    • So if a firm buys computers and software to increase the overall productivity then it will be counted under GFCF.
    • This type of demand accounts for close to 28 per cent of India’s GDP. Taken together, private demand and business demand account for almost 85 per cent of all GDP.

  • Why insects are crucial for ecological balance?

    This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in the DownToEarth.  It talks about the ecological importance of insects.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Consider the following:

    1. Birds
    2. Dust blowing
    3. Rain
    4. Wind blowing

    Which of the above spread plant diseases?

    (a) 1 and 3 only

    (b) 3 and 4 only

    (c) 1, 2 and 4 only

    (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

    Various threats to insects

    • Insects are increasingly susceptible to extinction due to increasing climate crisis.
    • They form the basal part of the food pyramid and impact our agriculture ecosystems as well as human health.
    • Their extinction can have a cascading effect on the upper levels of the food pyramid.
    • Rampant and indiscriminate use of chemicals in commercial agricultural practices, mainly monocropping systems, has been taking a toll on insects in the vicinity of farmlands and plantations.
    • While everyone is talking about sustainability in agriculture, the role of insects has largely been ignored.

    A few common insects whose existence is taken for granted and their ecological relevance are:

    (1) Butterflies

    • They are important pollinators like bees.
    • Species diversity and density of butterfly indicate a good diversity of plants in an area. Several types of butterflies have specific host plants.
    • Climate change, forest degradation, habitat loss, unavailability of hosts and nectar plant species are among major reasons for a decline in butterfly population.
    • This leads to loss of plants species that depend on the butterflies for pollination.
    • Backyard gardening and growing host plants in public spaces are important strategies to conserve butterfly species.

    (2) Dragonflies

    • They are one of the most widely recognised insects, need clean aquatic systems and are hence a good indicator of the health of local aquatic systems.
    • These, along with damselflies, are well-known biological predators with both larvae and adults acting as natural bio-control agents.
    • They are highly sensitive to changes in their habitats and are declining due to increasing habitat loss, anthropogenic activities, pollutants, climate change and rapid urbanisation.
    • For their conservation, use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has to be prohibited or minimized in agriculture systems.

    (3) Grasshoppers

    • They feed on different plants and can cause serious damage to economic crops.
    • However, in a biodiversity-rich region, they are an important component of the food chain, being an important food source for many birds.
    • Grasshoppers and insects such as crickets are often consumed by people as they are rich in protein.

    (4) Ants

    • They are in the most abundance. Ants act as scavengers/decomposers by feeding on organic wastes and other dead animals.
    • Ants also aerate the soil.
    • Heavy use of chemicals in agriculture causes harm to ants.

    (5) Wild honey bees

    • They play a major role in the pollination of forest species affecting cross-pollination and maintenance of variability within species.
    • Wild honey is also a food source for humans and many wild animals.
    • When forest covers are lost, wild bees tend to migrate to newer areas where they may or may not adapt.
    • With the possibility of commercial apiaries, wild bees need to be left alone and honey tapping from wild hives discouraged.
    • This can help sustain the natural processed of pollination among forest species and maintain diversity in plants conventionally propagated through seeds.

    (6) Rainbow leaf beetles

    • They are found in forests, woodlands and mountain grasslands.
    • They mostly depend on leaves and flowers of some specific plant family like Apocynaceae.
    • These are listed as endangered species in International Union for Conservation of Nature from 1994.
    • The species is also known to be poisonous to its predators for they feed on dogbane that contains poisonous cardenolides.

    (7) Fireflies

    • They are a good indicator of a healthy environment, especially a good aquatic system. They avoid regions with chemical toxicity.
    • They are good pollinators and natural pest control agents in several ecosystems.

  • [pib] New Industrial Development Scheme for Jammu & Kashmir (J&K IDS, 2021)

    The Union Govt. has formulated the New Industrial Development Scheme for Jammu & Kashmir (J&K IDS, 2021).

    Tap to read more about: Reorganization of J&K

    J&K IDS, 2021

    • It is a new Central Sector Scheme for the development of Industries in the UT of Jammu & Kashmir.
    • The main purpose of the scheme is to generate employment which directly leads to the socio-economic development of the area.

    Incentives available

    • Capital Investment Incentive at the rate of 30% in Zone A and 50% in Zone B on the investment made in Plant & Machinery (in manufacturing) or construction of the building is available.
    • Capital Interest subvention: At the annual rate of 6% for a maximum of 7 years on loan amount up to Rs. 500 crore for investment in plant and machinery (in manufacturing) or construction of the building.
    • GST Linked Incentive: 300% of the eligible value of actual investment made in plant and machinery (in manufacturing) or construction in building for 10 years.
    • Working Capital Interest Incentive: All existing units at an annual rate of 5% for a maximum of 5 years. Maximum limit of incentive is Rs 1 crore.

    Key features:

    • The scheme is made attractive for both smaller and larger units.
    • Smaller units with an investment in plant & machinery upto Rs. 50 crore will get a capital incentive upto Rs. 7.5 crore and get capital interest subvention at the rate of  6% for a maximum of 7 years
    • The scheme aims to take industrial development to the block level in UT of J&K, which is the first time in any Industrial Incentive Scheme of the GoI.
    • The scheme has been simplified on the lines of ease of doing business by bringing one major incentive- GST Linked Incentive- that will ensure less compliance burden without compromising on transparency.
    • It is not a reimbursement or refund of GST but gross GST is used to measure eligibility for industrial incentive to offset the disadvantages that the UT of J&K face

    Major Impact and employment generation potential:

    • The scheme is to bring about a radical transformation in the existing industrial ecosystem of J&K with emphasis on job creation, skill development and sustainable development.
    • It is anticipated that the proposed scheme is likely to attract unprecedented investment and give direct and indirect employment to about 4.5 lakh persons.
    • Additionally, because of the working capital interest subvention, the scheme is likely to give indirect support to about 35,000 persons.

  • [Burning Issue] Dedicated Freight Corridors

    Our PM has inaugurated Rewari-Madar section of Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC).  He also flagged off the world’s first double-stack long-haul 1.5-km-long container train hauled by electric traction from New Ateli-New Kishangarh. Last month, he had inaugurated a 351-km section between Khurja and Bhaupur in Uttar Pradesh for commercial operations.

    For years, freight trains suffered second class treatment as express trains and other passenger trains got priority to use the tracks. All trains use the same tracks. As a result, goods never reached their destination in time. Both industry and the railways suffered as a result.

    Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs)

    • The DFC project was first proposed in April 2005 to address the needs of the rapidly developing Indian economy.
    • They were proposed to ensure a more reliable, economical and faster transportation of goods.
    • DFCs are planned to be ‘freight-only’ corridors which will make it cheaper, faster, and more reliable to move goods between industrial heartlands in the North and ports on the Eastern and Western coasts.
    • These corridors seek to bring a paradigm shift in Railway Freight Operations in the country, thus providing relief to the heavily congested Golden Quadrilateral.

    Its conceptualization

    • The inception of DFCs can be understood clearly as one delves into Indian Railways’ freight operations scenario in the past.
    • It was majorly the Golden Quadrilateral, linking the four metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Howrah and its two diagonals.
    • This comprised 16% of the route, that carried over 52% of passenger traffic and 58% of freight traffic.

    Executing into reality

    • Several large coal mines and steel production facilities are located along the proposed Eastern DFC line.
    • Container traffic is also predominant along the Western DFC route, arriving mainly from the Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT).
    • An SPV, ‘Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited’ (DFCCIL) has been set up under the Ministry of Railways to facilitate the functioning of these corridors.
    • Both corridors entail an investment of $12 billion, with the World Bank and JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) partly funding the project with around $1.86 bn and $5.2 bn respectively.

    Eastern and Western DFCs

    (A) The Eastern DFC passes through Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. It will be divided into two segments:

    1. An electrified double-track segment of 1,409 km between Dankuni in West Bengal and Khurja in Uttar Pradesh
    2. A single line segment of 447 km between Ludhiana – Khurja – Dadri

    (B) From JNPT to Dadri via Vadodara-Ahmedabad- Palanpur-Phulera- Rewari, Western DFC will pass through Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

    • It is proposed to join the Eastern Corridor at Dadri.
    • The Western Corridor primarily comprises of container traffic from JNPT and Mumbai Port in Maharashtra and other ports, including Pipavav, Mundra and Kandla in Gujarat.

    The western corridor would primarily cater to containerized traffic, mostly exports and imports, while the eastern corridor will be used most to move coals from mines in east India to power plants in north.

    Why need DFCs?

    • To resolve the increasing need for road decongestion, accident reduction and ensuring energy security, the DFCs were launched to aid the growth of rail transportation in India.
    • With the construction of these Freight Corridors, Indian Railways will open new avenues for investment and greater economic development.
    • This will also lead to the construction of industrial corridors and logistic parks along these routes, thereby making the industrial ecosystem more competitive.
    • The new corridors will permit the trains to carry higher loads, in a more reliable manner.
    • These lines are also being built to maximise speeds to 100 km/hour, up from the current average freight speed of 20 km/hour. They will carry a capacity of 6,000 to 12,000 gross tonne of freight trains.
    • Additionally, the DFCs will also reduce transit time from freight source to destination.

    Global examples

    Critical economies across the world have their own DFCs.

    • China’s new DFCs have been designed with the objective to link hinterland areas with ports, along with the aim to transfer commodities, raw materials, and other critical resources of production to-and-fro from the northern to the southern region.
    • As per their recent plans, China aims to divorce its passenger traffic completely from its freight traffic by 2020.
    • Freight Railways in America, though privately-owned, is one of the best in the world, and while some of its routes are used by passenger Amtrak service trains, it carries 4 times the freight for a single kilometre.
    • While China carried 3,358 million tonnes of freight in 2015 via rail, for India the number stood at 1,220 million tonnes as late as 2018.

    Clearly, for its geographic scale, India must look at China and the US as ideal examples when it comes to DFCs.

    Issues with Railways Freight

    (a) Highways are more feasible

    • The share of roads in freight transport is more than half in India; while in China, it is only 30%.
    • As more highways are getting built rapidly, the share of roads in freight transport is increasing at accelerating rate.

    (b) Costly transport

    • The working of Indian Railways is caught up between making it a self-sufficient organisation and serving it as a transport system for the poor.  The passenger fares usually remain static for years.
    • In order to keep finances in check, freight charges have been raised in the past. This discrepancy between freight charges and passenger fares seem to distort the Railways’ performance.

    (c) Decline in coal freight

    • Freight contributes nearly two-thirds of Indian Railway’s revenue and coal transport alone contributes to half of that.
    • Decreasing dependency on coal with increasing thrust on renewable energy has crippled railway revenue from freights.

    (d) Lack of finances

    • Indian Railways spends heavily on revenue expenditure – there is little left for capital expenditure.
    • About 94 percent of the system’s revenues are spent on operating costs and social obligations, leaving little to modernize its infrastructure.

    (e) A network of delays

    • The railways have been losing freight for years. Today, trains carry just 30 percent of India’s freight, down from nearly 80 percent 30 years ago.
    • Most passenger and freight lines are shared, and, when there is a delay, passenger trains are always prioritized. This makes it impossible to ensure deliveries within a set time.

    (f) Stuck into monopoly

    • The Indian railways have lacked investment. There’s been an inability to raise passenger fares because it’s a political ideology that public transport in India needs to be accessible for everyone.
    • Popular reforms aim at subsidised tariff due to political incentives. This leads to an increase in freight pricing which adds to inflation.

    (g) Populist development

    • Railways sometimes seem to be diverting from core issues of safety and operation and to populist needs.
    • These measures are aimed at wooing corporate travellers. Rail budgets are often about new trains, bullet trains and Wifi.

    Significance of DFCs

     (a) Decongestion of roads

    Around 70% of the freight trains currently running on the Indian Railway network are slated to shift to the freight corridors, leaving the paths open for more passenger trains. This will reduce congestion on the main tracks and enable passenger trains to move faster.

    (b) Increased NTKM Capacity

    The DFC shall reform the transportation sector and will create more capacity on trunk routes of Indian Railways as goods trains shall be able to run freely on DFC without any restrictions imposed by the movement of passenger trains. (NTKM stands for transportation of 1 tonne of goods over 1 km.)

    (c) Improvised logistics and connectivity

    Tracks on DFC are designed to carry heavier loads than most of the Indian Railways. It will connect the existing ports and industrial areas for faster movement of goods.

    (d) Speed and Punctuality

    To begin with, freight trains will run according to a timetable and as fast as express trains. DFCs would offer a sharp increase in the average speed of freight trains – from a frustrating 25kmph to 70kmph.

    (e) Employment generation

    Thousands of people will get employed in the construction of the corridor and other facilities along the corridor, including logistics parks to handle cargo and townships these corridors.

    Some inevitable challenges

    DFC has been a showcase project for IR in the past decade but it has suffered challenges relating to land acquisition, utility shifting, funding from multilateral and donor agencies, lack of consensus on the design and re-bidding of construction contracts.

    These bottlenecks have seen the project fall behind the original timelines.

    Way forward

    DFCs present a significant opportunity for freight logistics in India. What is important is to see how increasingly optimistic traffic projections will be realized.  That depends upon the industrial and trade growth in India and the development of industrial corridors and the feeder network.

    • Once DFC is operational, the average speed of freight trains will go up from 25 kmph to 70 kmph, reducing the transit time by more than half.
    • Trainload would be increased almost thrice (5000 tonnes to 13,000 tonnes), ensuring an enhanced economy of scale and reduced the cost of transport.
    • This will ensure a higher modal share for railways in the freight business.
    • Also, the capacity released by freight trains on the existing lines can be used by IR to operate more passenger trains at higher speeds, resulting in increased revenues for the transporter.

    It would also play a lead role in transforming the railways from a loss-making operation to an efficient and profitable venture. Also, it would be interesting to see the potential all these corridors hold for the regions they pass through.

    Conclusion

    • The DFCs project is the biggest leap for Indian Railways, not just because of its route length, but also because of the technology it ushers, the rail infrastructure it will enable, and the socio-economic transformation it shall result in.
    • 20-30 years from now, the DFCs are going to be indispensable to India’s logistics sector. From private to public, every company would want a ride on these corridors.

    If completed on a timely basis, DFC has the potential to be a game-changer not just for Indian Railways, but the trade and economics of the country. It will reduce the overall logistics cost of trade between the hinterland and gateway ports, making India a favourable destination for EXIM trade.

    References

    https://swarajyamag.com/infrastructure/indian-railways-dedicated-freight-corridor-will-change-more-than-just-the-way-goods-are-hauled

    https://www.financialexpress.com/economy/dedicated-freight-corridor-vital-for-getting-indain-railways-back-on-track-irctc-co-in/243542/

    https://www.dailyo.in/business/indian-railways-transportation-narendra-modi-freight-trains-national-development-alliance/story/1/2859.html

    https://www.businesstoday.in/current/policy/5-big-challenges-indian-railways-faces/story/237388.html

  • Payment banks

    The article highlights the important role Payment Banks could play in furthering the financial inclusion in India.

    Financial inclusion and challenges

    • Interventions, especially the JAM trinity—Jan Dhan accounts, Aadhaar and Mobile phones—have accelerated digital and financial inclusion in India.
    • Four of every five Indian adults have a registered bank account.
    • Financial inclusion is not only about opening accounts, it encompasses access to credit, insurance and micro-investment products in a simple and safe way.
    • This remains a challenge for ‘weaker sections and low-income groups’.
    • For instance, only 16% of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have access to formal credit amid an estimated debt demand of ₹69.3 trillion.

    High-technology, low-cost banking to accelerate financial inclusion

    • In 2014, Nachiket Mor committee recommended setting up “high technology—low cost” banking models to accelerate financial inclusion to the last mile.
    • Subsequently, the Reserve Bank of India licensed ‘vertically differentiated banking systems’, such as Payments Bank (PBs) and Small Finance Banks (SFBs).
    • SFBs have grown profitably thanks to the yield spread between deposits and lending.
    • Most of them started off as micro finance institutions with a ready asset base, and after converting into SFBs, they have got a better liability franchise but continue to operate in niche geographies.
    • On the other hand, PBs have shown strong growth in revenues, while operating at a larger scale than SFBs.
    • The high-tech PB model has shown more rigour than the cost-heavy branch-based SFB model in terms of its impact on inclusion.

    Need for structural intervention

    • If we intend to make a real move ahead on the inclusion front, PBs will have to play a larger role.
    • However, to realize their full potential, they need certain structural interventions:

    1) Liabilities

    • PBs can take deposits only up to ₹1 lakh, which limits their ability to augment profit that can be further deployed to enhance efficiencies.
    • For a few segments, such as self-help groups and MSMEs, the savings account limit blocks the adoption of highly-accessible bank accounts.
    • Since the model has matured, it would be prudent to enhance the deposit limit to ₹5 lakh and benchmark it to Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation limits.
    • Banking Correspondents (BCs) are a critical link in driving financial inclusion.
    • PBs could offer low-value and simple fixed or recurring deposit products and sell to consumers through their BC distribution network, thus improving their viability.

    2) Assets

    • Currently, there is no national-level lender with the risk appetite for thin-credit consumers.
    • PBs can evolve new micro-lending models through their BC networks and mobile apps and create an alternate credit score for these consumers.
    • Allowing micro-lending by PBs could be a starting point. Thereafter, regulators may consider a transition path for them to become SFBs, or even Universal Banks.

    3) Working together for collective impact

    • PBs have an edge in technology and reach, while traditional players have a trust legacy.
    • For collective impact on inclusion, two options can be evaluated with safeguards in place.
    • One, PBs could co-originate loans with traditional institutions so that capital requirements are shared.
    • Two, they can originate credit and allow it to mature, or securitize and turn it into a market-linked instrument.
    • This could accelerate credit formalization.

    Conclusion

    We must remind ourselves that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to achieve complete financial inclusion for the diversified needs of our people. An enabling framework needs to be in place. Payments Banks, in particular, have the potential to bridge India’s financial inclusion gaps.

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