Search results for: “”

GS1 (Geography)

Recently the ozone hole has started healing, after decades of international efforts. What is the ozone hole? How has the world tried to heal it?

Best answer

Udyan Sharma wrote the best answer for this question and got a score of 4.5/10 (if the best answer is an image, it cannot be uploaded here, hence scroll down to see those). The answer is being reproduced below for everyone’s convenience. Of course these answers can always be improved. (Best answer  of a particular only involves those given on that day, later answers may not have been checked)

Recently many communities thought to be prosperous have been asking for reservations, e.g. the Marathas, Patels, Jats, Kapus etc. Many people comment that these communities are simply using their numbers for cornering more benefits from the state. These communities say they have suffered a lot due to poor job growth and need help like that given to backward communities. For their view see this link –

http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2016/10/why-marathas-want-reservations/

All these demands are leading to a situation where Indians are identifying themselves increasingly by their castes/communities. After all it is membership of a caste/communities which is rewarded. An ordinary Indian without a caste/communities will not receive any benefits.

Famous IPS officer Prakash Singh once said that every decade India witnesses the rise of a new internal security issue.

The debate is whether we are witnessing the rise of a new internal security issue in the form of a stronger caste identity appearing, and the weakening of the Indian identity. Also open to debate is the issue of how to help the aspirational new generation (which includes you), without resorting to caste/communities based reservations.

(For those interested, we are starting a new series on internal security issues in India. Extremely important from Mains perspective. Gurleen has written the first blog Go here to read it.)

I want to join prelim flagship course.
Can I attempt the exam papers that I have missed ?
And what about payment?

Please ??

India has suffered tremendously from terrorism and violence within its borders due to various reasons. This Internal Security and Related Issues series will analyse what are the various factors involved. We begin with cross border terrorism.

What does cross-border terrorism mean?

Terrorism is the organized use of violence for political ends and is directed primarily at innocent people, or soft targets.

Terrorism that has its roots in one country and it operates with the support of the country of its origin, but uses violence to create terror in another country, is described as cross-border terrorism.

Cross-border terrorism in the world:

With the rise of radical organisations such as ISIS and Al Qaeda, other countries besides India are also now suffering from cross-border terrorism. In total, more than 1,200 people outside of Iraq and Syria have been killed in attacks inspired or coordinated by the Islamic State, according to a New York Times analysis. Nearly half of the victims were killed in attacks that targeted Westerners. The others have been civilians in Arab and other non-western countries, killed in mosques, government offices and other targets. See other details here.

Source of image: New York Times

Source of image: New York Times

The extent of cross border terrorism being fueled by ISIS can be gauged from the following picture:

Source of image: New York Times

Cross-border terrorism in India:

The problem of cross border terrorism over the last fifty years in India has occurred in three regions – Punjab, Kashmir and the North–East, where people are on the social and physical fringes of India.

Language, religion and the feeling of alienation set these people apart from the people of the heartland of the country.

All the three are concentrated at the outer limits of India adjoining a neighbouring country that has the desire and the ability to create problems in India’s internal security.

Factors responsible for Cross-border terrorism in India:

1. Geographical factors:

a) Length of borders: India has 14818 kilometers of land borders and a coast line of 7516.6 kilometers. All states except Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Telangana, Delhi and Haryana have an international border or a coast line.

b) Extreme geography: Also, borders are quite complex and almost every type of extreme geography is present at different borders viz. Mountains, deserts, fertile lands, swampy marshes or tropical evergreen jungles. Lack of proper security in inhospitable areas further aids cross border terrorism.

c) Shifting courses of rivers located near boundaries further compound the problem of border management e.g. Padma and Brahmaputra in the east and Ravi in the north.

2. India’s economic and military rise:

India is emerging as an economically and military strong nation in both continental Asia as well as the Indian Ocean region. Pakistan views India’s rise as a threat to its own ambitions. It is thus resorting to cross border terrorism tactics to keep India engaged in proxy wars and divert its resources from other developmental issues. It aims to degrade India’s conventional superiority through a process of strategic fatigue.

3. India’s neighbourhood challenge:

India is like island of democracy between seas of anarchical or instable states. Probably, no other neighbouring country has experienced uninterrupted democratic regime for more than 15 years.

Additionally, in some countries there is cultural radicalism targeted at India, and terrorists and mafia groups are patronized by some of India’s neighbouring states.

4. Territorial Ambitions of Pakistan

Pakistan having failed to grab Kashmir despite fighting conventional wars has resorted to the strategy of terrorism. Conventional wars are expensive and the chances of achieving political objectives through wars have diminished due to the development of nuclear weapons and the possible international reaction.

In such a case, proxy war is a low- cost and no- case option but best suited to promote Pakistan’s geo political, diplomatic and military interest, not only to wrest Kashmir but also to gain forward strategic depth.

5. Boundary disputes

Unsolved border disputed with Pakistan in the area of Sir Creek in Gujarat, the LOC in J&K, AGPL portion in Siachin and with China in Aksai Chin, Arunachal Pradesh and Transk-Karakoram tract further compound the problem.

Indian Concerns:

1. State sponsored terrorism: The links between top army personnel, bureaucrats and political leaders, on the one hand, and terrorists and drug barons, on the other, have acquired a measure of legitimacy under the banner of Islam and jihad in Pakistan.

2. Pakistan’s failure to act against terror outfits: Despite being handed over evidence of Pakistan based terrorists’ involvement in Pathankot terror attacks, and the Pakistan JIT team being allowed access to the terror site, Pakistan has not taken any steps that indicate its intent to act tough on terror.

3. The China-Pakistan nexus has given rise to external concerns such as covert assistance in Pakistan’s nuclear and missile program. Also, China continues to block India’s bid to get Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar (accused in the Parliament terror attack case and, more recently, the Pathankot attack) listed as a terrorist by the United Nations. China has also previously blocked India’s demand for taking action under the Security Council’s anti-terrorism resolutions against Pakistan for releasing Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zaki-ur Lakhvi—the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

3. Recent joint military exercises between Pakistan and Russia (traditionally seen as India’s close ally) despite ongoing India-Pakistan hostilities also paint a picture of concern.

4. India has also become the target in the global jihadi plan of outfits such as ISIS and Al Qaeda which are not only instigating violence through sleeping modules, but also attract educated urban youths to spread terror agenda on social media and to fight in alien lands. There are over hundred Indian youths who are estimated to be fighting for ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Also, the radicalization and recruitment of youth for such terror organisations has become more sophisticated, thanks to the internet.

5. Pakistan’s funding, arming, training and diplomatic support to varied terrorist groups active in Kashmir has emboldened the terrorists all over the world.

Thats it for this part!

The next part in this series will analyse India’s counter-terrorism set-up and the issues with it (click here for Part 2). This is supposed to be one of the most comprehensive series in Internal Security related Issues. Your feedback is welcome 🙂

1) better formatting options. maybe the use of <tags> that get rendered after posting. </tags> for bold, italic, quotes.
2) the ability to respond inline . Just like you would in an email. This has some benefits as the context in which the person replies is very clear. This is very beneficial where most people are commenting on something the other person has written.
3) The ability to PM other people,without it being a public post.
4) I still can’t figure how to upload and edit my profile picture. ( using Version 52.0.2743.116 Built on Ubuntu , running on Ubuntu 14.04 (64-bit))
@discuss
@root

India had seen one of the worst food disaster in 1943, that was known as Bengal Famine. Things were not so great after Independence either and in 1961, we were again on the brink of mass famine. This is where we called upon a US agro-scientist Norman Borlaug, who is also called the father of green revolution to seek his help & secure India’s food output.

source

This is where Indira Gandhi and M.S. Swaminathan come into picture – a heavily government backed programme which delivered the much critical food security and sufficiency at a time of great peril.

In comes HVY (high-yielding varieties) of wheat and India transformes from “a begging bowl to a bread basket”. Punjab is frequently cited as the Green Revolution’s most celebrated success story. Yet, far from bringing prosperity, two decades of the Green Revolution have left the Punjab riddled with discontent and violence

Whoaah, what were the negative impacts of Green Revolution in India?

#1. The Myth of High Yields: The term “high-yielding varieties” was a misnomer, because it implies that the new seeds are high yielding of themselves. But these HYV seeds were more like “high responsive varieties” as they highly responsive to certain key inputs such as fertilizers and irrigation water.

In the absence of additional inputs of fertilizers and water, the new seeds perform worse than indigenous varieties

#2. Loss of Diversity: If and when you study Environment and Biodiversity, you will realise the importance of diversity. Green revolution hampered it in two ways –

• It replaced mixtures and rotations of crops like wheat, maize, millets, pulses and oil seeds with monocultures of wheat and rice
• The introduced wheat and rice varieties came from a very narrow genetic base

#3. Increasing Pesticide Use/ Fertilizer use: This follows naturally from the point #1. While this did give a boost to manufacturing sector (those who produced fertilisers), it killed the soil. This is the reason why Eco Survey talks about indiscriminate use of urea and the need for soil health cards. Read this amazing backgrounder on Soil Health Card and the backgrounder on Fertilisers and the Challenge of Reform. There are some amazing infographics inside!

Fair enough, so what did we do next? Did we call for a revised Green Revolution and how did it shifted the policy making in India?

Here’s where this National Food Security Mission steps in + Call for a Second Green Revolution in India. We will focus the rest of the write up on National Food Security Mission only.

All that you need to know on National Food Security Mission

source

1. The National Food Security Mission is a Centrally sponsored scheme and was launched in the year 2007
2. Main Focus Areas (at the time of launch): Increase the production of rice, wheat and pulses by 10, 8 and 2 million tonnes respectively by the end of 11th Plan
3. How was it to be achieved? (you will see hints of undoing the cons of green revolution)
   • Area expansion and productivity enhancement;
   • Restoring soil fertility and productivity;
   • Creating employment opportunities; and
   • Enhancing farm level economy
4. Fast Forward to 12th Plan (2012-2017), the mission and targets have changed:
   • Additional production of 25 million tonnes of food grains comprising of 10 million tonnes rice, 8 million tonnes of wheat, 4 million tonnes of pulses and 3 million tonnes of coarse cereals (coarse cereals are new entrants!)
   • Promotion of commercial crops like cotton, jute & sugarcane (note this too – could be a prelims question!)

Here are the 5 components of NFSM

1. NFSM- Rice (implemented in 194 districts of 25 states)
2. NFSM-Wheat (in 126 districts of 11 states)
3. NFSM-Pulses: (in 622 districts of all 27 States) This mission is further supplemented by Accelerated Pulses Production Program (A3P). India is biggest producer of pulses at 25% of world’s production and still it has to import pulses. This is mainly because of low yields. A3P aims at Integrated Nutrient Management and Plant protection to enhance yields and productivity.
4. NFSM-Coarse cereals
5. NFSM-Commercial Crops 

Note: All states were not covered during 11th plan for NFSM.

So, basically we keep on reviewing the performance of our active missions and include more districts, states into the plan. Seems logical right? Whenever such upgrades take place, we also deploy some best practices. And you will find that such best practices aim at correcting the errors of First Green Revolution. Hope this helps you tie up the basics else Agricultural economics largely lacks that glamour which let’s say Rajan Economics had 😉

Note: If you have some agricultural background, please feel motivated to share more insights. Most of the UPSC aspirants never had a first hand interaction with the fields of India hence we sometime lack the appreciation.

This sorts of finish the tidbits on NFSM. Now, here’s an interesting question which might trouble you from time to time as you study these schemes in greater details.

What is the difference between Centrally Sponsored Schemes and Central Sector Schemes?

Differences arise due to 2 things –

• Pattern of funding
• Implementation strategy

#1. Centrally Sponsored Scheme (sponsor = take it as some discount from sarkar)

• Certain % is borne by states like: 50:50, 60:40, 90:10
• Mainly formulated on subjects from the State List
• Funding Route: Transferred directly to State/ District Level Autonomous Bodies/Implementing Agencies
• Implemented by: State Govt.

#2. Central Sector Schemes (sab kuch sarkar par)

• 100% by Union government
• Implemented by: Central Government Machinery
• Mainly formulated on subjects from the Union List
• Schemes directly implemented in States/UTs but resources are not generally transferred to states
• Can you please give some examples of schemes under these 2 categories?

It is usually recommended that you read the preface of a novel before you dive headlong into the chapters. Helps you get the flavour of what’s to come. Likewise, spend next 1 minute in understanding the organisation structure of the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer Welfare. These departments often come in news directly or by virtue of some attached office and a brief familiarity is good to have!

source

Departments under Min. Of Agriculture & Farmer Welfare

• Department of Agriculture, Co-operation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW):
  • Major department – has five attached offices and twenty-one subordinate offices
  • Further, one Public Sector Undertakings, nine autonomous bodies, ten national-level cooperative organizations and two authorities work under its administrative control!
• Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries (DAHD&F)
• Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE):
  • This department manages the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and you will keep on hearing about ICAR in news as it innovates on a lot of things.

Now that you know this, let’s spend next 4 minutes in understanding an important attached office of DAC&FW

[Tidbits] Why is Directorate of Economics & Statistics (DES) so important?

• The Directorate provides statistical inputs to DAC&FW, CACP
• Coordinates with international bodies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on global efforts to improve agricultural statistics
• The DES releases 4 advance estimates and final estimates of area, production and yield in respect of major food grains, oilseeds, sugarcane and fibres.
• Provides Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) initiative of the G20 members of agriculture

UPSC is notorious for asking about such initiatives like AMIS & associated partners (G20).

Do we really have to go into such great details? Not really. Don’t overburden yourself. Infact just read it once and pray to god that you retain the name. UPSC asks such tidbits type questions in PRELIMS. It keeps an eye on some important department/ directorate and frames a very easy question (provided you know basic info!)

That’s all for the second lesson. We move onto next in a few days only if I know that this helped you in some practical way. And the best way to show that is by commenting and sharing this blog post 🙂

References: Apart from extensive research around news articles, the mainstay of this series is the annual report of the Ministry of Agriculture to the GOI –Click to download a copy

All articles in this series are listed here – First timers to IAS Prep? Prepare Indian Agriculture for GS Mains with me!