Search results for: “”

GS4 (Ethics)

Can correct decisions be dishonest? Can incorrect decisions be honest? Discuss. How would you decide the correctness or incorrectness?

GS3 (Science and Technology)

In the recent auction of telecom spectrum the government has failed to generate attractive revenue. There was lack of participation from the telecom companies. What are the reasons for poor response? What effects will it have on services to the consumers? Examine.

GS2 (Polity and Governance)

The government in power has been focusing on the idea of cooperative federalism. Critically analyse in the view of the meetings of GST council, if GST will be good for cooperative federalism or not.

GS1 (Indian society)

Recently certain practices such as triple talaq are being discussed as derogatory to the dignity of women and against the provisions of the constitutions. What other practices are considered derogatory to women and how do they affect society in general?

Hiii, Sir/ma’am
I didn’t get through this prelims that is a little shocking because I had prepared for it but somewhere it remained down the line.
Hence I want to start again with double energy .my optional is Pub Ad. I wanted a Detailed suggestion about how to start again and specially way to study pub ad in effective manner and GS also Kindly help me out sir ,I don’t want to wait more . Time is really high and failures are knocking me hard :-(.. Please

Thank you

I am going to appear for this mains, regularly following current affairs, but don’t know when to stop it roughly?
Can anybody advice????

source

At the onset, let me clarify that most of the schemes that we discuss in this series may get altered, may get renamed, may get trashed etc. so the data might become irrelevant for the users studying these blogs after the 12th Five Year Plan ends (2012-2017) but, but – the underlying philosophy and narrative will always remain the same.

I hope while reading through part 1, part 2 and now this – you are able to understand the narrative around Indian Agricultural Economics and are able to appreciate the efforts.

Cool? Good! Let’s start with a question today.

With so many schemes and missions in place, why is that the condition of Indian Agriculture is still not great?

To answer this question, let’s understand the RKVY scheme along with the CAG’s audit report on it. We will get to know the overall scheme of things in a much better way.

In 2007, RKVY was launched to promote decentralised agriculture planning. This is a special Additional Central Assistance (ACA) Scheme introduced to incentivize States:

• To draw up comprehensive agriculture development plans,
• Taking into account agro-climatic conditions,

• Natural resources and technology for ensuring more inclusive and integrated development of agriculture and allied sectors.

As per the State of Indian Agriculture, 2011-12, “experience from BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries indicates that one percent growth in agriculture is at least 2 or 3 times more effective in reducing poverty than the same growth emanating from non-agriculture sectors.”

Do you understand the gravity/ uniqueness of this scheme?

• For the first time, agricultural planning was decentralised and plans prepared at the district and state level: District Agriculture Plan (DAP) and State Agriculture Plan (SAP).
• The state governments were to make sure of RKVY’s convergence with other programmes as well as with Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).
• States had the flexibility and autonomy to adopt an effective monitoring system at grassroots level within this provision.

What were the objectives of RKVY?

1. To incentivize the States so as to increase public investment in agriculture and allied sectors
2. To provide flexibility and autonomy to States in the process of planning and executing agriculture and allied sector schemes
3. To ensure the preparation of Agriculture Plans for the districts and the States based on agro-climatic conditions, availability of technology and natural resources
4. To ensure that the local needs/crops/ priorities are reflected in the agricultural plans of the States

How does the funding take place? What are the criteria?

The RKVY funds are provided to the states as 100% grant by the Central Government. But since RKVY is a State Plan Scheme, the amount of assistance would depend upon the amount provided in State Plan Budgets for Agriculture and allied sectors, above a baseline expenditure on these sectors. That’s where state planning becomes crucial.

It is an incentive scheme – allocations are not automatic.

The states are mandatorily required to prepare the District and State Agriculture Plans (SAP and DAP) that comprehensively cover resources and indicate definite action plans.

You are likely not to be quizzed upon the structure and flow of reports and approval for these funds so we will skip that part and come straight to the sub-schemes under RKVY.

At present RKVY has following 6 sub-schemes

#1. Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern Region – This programme was initiated in 2010-11 targeting the improvement in the rice based cropping system of Assam, West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

#2. Initiative on Vegetable Clusters – Growing demand for vegetables was proposed to be met by a robust increase in the productivity and market linkage. For the purpose, an efficient supply chain needed to be established, to provide quality vegetables at competitive prices.

#3. National Mission for Protein Supplements – National Mission for Protein Supplements was launched with an allocation of Rs.300 crore during 2011-12 to take up activities to promote animal based protein production through livestock development, dairy farming, piggery, goat rearing and fisheries in selected blocks.

#4. Saffron Mission – The Scheme was initiated in 2010-11 with an overall Government of India budgetary support of Rs.288.06 crore over four years. The mission was meant to bring economic revival of J&K Saffron.

#5. Vidarbha Intensive Irrigation Development Programme – The Scheme was initiated in 2012-13 which seeks to bring in more farming areas under protective irrigation.

#6. Crop Diversification – The original Green Revolution States have the problem of stagnating yields and over-exploitation of water resources. The answer lies in crop diversification.

This info comes straight from this pib article and now we should resume our assessment of RKVY (as per CAG).

What were the deficiencies in the implementation of RKVY?

1. As per CAG’s report (2015), there were deficiencies in the preparation of SAP and DAP
2. In most of the states, the planning process was deficient in aspects like participation of grassroots local agencies such as gram sabha or gram panchayat
3. The DAPs did not integrate the centrally-sponsored schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Backward Region Grant Fund, Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana and Bharat Nirman
4. The capacity building of field extension professionals is very important and it was lagging. Field level extension workers of the agriculture department were not well oriented with RKVY’s concepts, objectives and programs.
5. The report also revealed that RKVY funds to the tune of Rs. 91.24 crore were diverted for other purposes in 9 projects.

That’s all for the third lesson. We move onto next in a few days only if I know that this helped you in some practical way. What are the next natural questions that come to you about Indian Agriculture? This is a unique initiative to make things interesting for you all so give your inputs!

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!

Couple of Queries:
1. I have heard that after selection some services do not allow candidates to appear more than once for CSE ?Any info about this.
2. For documents do I have to upload all eight marksheets of graduation or simply degree certificate will do?
3. Any little info abt these or preference order:
Indian Railways Accounts Service
Indian Defence Estate
Indian Defence Accounts
Indian P & T Accounts & Finance
Indian Railway Personal Service
Indian Postal Service

Naxalism has been identified as India’s most serious internal security challenge. In this series we begin by understanding what Naxalism means and how it has evolved in India.

What is Naxalism or Left Wing Extremism (LWE):

The term ‘Naxal’ derives its name from the village Naxalbari of district Darjeeling in West Bengal, where the movement originated in 1967 under the leadership of Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal.

It refers to the use of violence to destabilize the state through various communist guerrilla groups.

Philosophical background of Naxalism:

Naxalism in India, like any other leftist movement around the globe draws its ideological basis from the Russian revolution wherein Lenin successfully fought against the Czar through a combination of peasant movement and an armed struggle. The prime intent was to bestow power in the hands of the exploited and marginalized and enforce societal control over governance and nation building.

After the success of the Lenin-led revolution in Russia, the intellectual class in many countries started thinking of ushering in a change in their respective nations. Prominent amongst them were Fidel Castro and Mao Zedong.

In China, Mao Zedong used this philosophy successfully which led to the origin of ‘Maoism’. Maoism is a doctrine that teaches to capture State power through a combination of armed insurgency, mass mobilisation and strategic alliances. Mao called this process, the ‘Protracted People’s War’. ‘Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun’ is the key slogan of the Maoists.

Naxalites are far-left radical communists who derive their political ideology from the teachings of Mao Zedong.

History and evolution of Naxalism in India:

Background (The run-up to the Naxalbari uprising):

 Tebhaga movement: It was the first communist movement which started in West Bengal in 1946 with the intention of getting the land revenue reduced from ½ to 1/3^rd. This movement turned violent as the farmers started an armed fight against the landlords.

 Telangana Movement: Telangana movement which was led by the people of Telangana in the period of 1946-51 against the atrocities of the Nizam rule also acquired radical dimensions as it progressed.

1959: Kisan Sabhas were started by CPI (Communist Party of India) as an informal peasant movement with the intention of finding a political solution to the problems faced by farmers.

1962: When Indo-China war broke out, majority of CPI leaders viewed it as struggle of a socialist country against Capitalist India. Consequently, they supported China’s cause, and faced mass arrests.

1964: Further, there was growing dissent in party for party’s diversion toward democratic state which was contrary to Communist principle of armed struggle to overthrow the state. This finally led to a split in the party in 1964 which resulted in new party called Communist Party of India (Marxist).

1967: CPI (Marxist) participated in polls and formed a coalition United Front government in West Bengal. This leads to schism in the party with younger cadres, including the “visionary” Charu Majumdar, accusing CPM of betraying the revolution.

Naxalbari Uprising (25th May,1967): The rebel cadres led by Charu Majumdar launched a peasants’ uprising at Naxalbari in Darjeeling district of West Bengal.

The CPI (M)-led United Front government cracked down on the uprising and in 72 days of the rebellion, a police sub-inspector and nine tribals were killed. The incident echoed throughout India and naxalism was born.

The spread and growth of Naxalism in India can be broadly divided into three phases or stages as described below:

The first phase of Naxalism:

In response to the crackdown by the Government, revolutionary leaders fled the area and declared armed struggle against state of India. Under the leadership of Charu Majumdar, they formed a new party Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) in 1969 which was motivated and influenced deeply by Communist Party of China.

After Charu Majumdar’s death, the CPI (M-L) was deprived of any credible central leadership and the party withered away to be finally reborn as CPI (M-L) Liberation in 1974.

The movement faced a severe blow during emergency when around 40,000 cadres were imprisoned in 1975.

The Second Phase of Naxalism [Steady growth of the Naxal movement across different parts of the country]:

The movement arose again in a more violent form after the emergency. It continued to widen its base as per the strategy of ‘protracted war’. Their base grew from West Bengal to Bihar to Odisha and also to Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

CPI(ML) was converted into People’s War Group (PWG) in 1980 which had its base in Andhra Pradesh and struck heavy casualities among police personnel.

Simultaneously, Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI) grew in strength in Bihar and carried out large scale attacks on landlords and other upper caste outfits.

The Third Phase of Naxalism:

2004: Andhra Pradesh’s PWG and Bihar’s MCCI merged to form CPI(Maoist). CPI (Maoist) is the major Left Wing Extremist outfit responsible for most incidents of violence and killing of civilians and security forces. It has been included in the Schedule of Terrorist organisations under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967.Over 13 LWE groups are currently operating in the country.

The movement’s capacity to challenge the state has increased enormously considering the incidents of violence and casualities resulting from them. E.g. the 2010 Dantewada ambush in which 76 CRPF armed personnel were killed.

2013: The LWE movement made international headlines when naxalists killed 27 people, including some high level politicians, in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh.

But violence cannot be the only yardstick to measure Maoist expansion. Maoists are also expanding in terms of indoctrination and consolidation. They are also trying to spread their ideology in the Bhil and Gond tribes dominated area, the ‘golden corridor’ stretching from Pune to Ahmedabad.

As of February 2016, 106 districts in 10 States have been identified by the Government of India as Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected districts in the country. More details regarding the same can be found here.

Estimated to be 40,000 strong, the Naxalites have been a strain on the country’s security forces and a barrier to development in the vast mineral rich region in Eastern India known as the ‘red corridor’. It is a narrow but contiguous strip passing through Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

July 2016: The Union government plans to reduce the number of Maoist-affected districts by about a fifth. This decision has been taken on the basis of the districts’ violence profile, an assessment of the kind of logistical and other support provided to armed Maoist cadres by their sympathisers and “over ground workers”, and the kind of positive changes brought about by development work that these districts have seen.

Most of the worst affected districts fall in the Dandarkaranya region which includes areas of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Maoists have been running a parallel government and a parallel judiciary in these regions.

The next part in this series will analyse the ideology of Naxalites and the factors responsible for its rise in India (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 ?