THE CONTEXT: The recent farmer agitation has brought the issue of farmer distress front and centre in the public consciousness. The time seems ripe to find new solutions to the structural challenges facing farmers. One of the solution is to support farmers by Direct Income Support (DIS) but in recent time several reports highlighted that such schemes are facing many challenges. In this article, we will discuss that what should be the way forward for the effective implementation of these scheme.

Income support scheme in India for farmers

• In agriculture, there are two major types of government support measures. The first one is price support measure and the second is income support measures.
• Price support means the government is procuring the agricultural produce from farmers at a remunerative price. India’s Minimum Support Price based procurement is a classic example of price support scheme.

Direct Income Support

• The second type of support is DIRECT INCOME SUPPORT (DIS).In this scheme, government transfers direct payment to the poor farmers.
• Under the WTO terminology, it is called Direct payments to farmers or Decoupled Income Support. Decoupled means such an income transfer to farmers will not influence (or minimum influence) production and price of the respective crops.

PM KISAN SAMMAN SAMMAN NIDHI

• The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) is the first universal basic income-type of scheme targeted towards landed farmers.
• It was introduced in December 2018 to manage agricultural stress.

• Initially, the scheme was targeted at small and medium landed farmers, but with the declining growth in gross value added of the agricultural sector, it was extended to all farmers in May 2019.
• This direct benefit transfer scheme was aimed at addressing the liquidity constraints of farmers in meeting their expenses for agricultural inputs and services.

Features of the scheme:

• Income support: The primary feature of this Yojana is the minimum income support it provides to farmers. Each eligible farmer family is entitled to receive Rs.6000 per annum across India. However, the amount is not disbursed at once. It’s divided into three equal instalments and meted out four months apart.
• Funding: PMKSNY is an Indian government-sponsored farmer support scheme. Therefore, the entirety of its funding comes from the Government of India.
• Identification responsibility: While the responsibility of funding lies with GOI, the identification of beneficiaries is not under its purview. Instead, it’s the responsibility of State and Union Territory governments.

Benefits of Direct Income Support

Direct Income Supports’ ability to encourage farmers to raise production is less. At the same time, it has some positives:

• There is no leakage – income is transferred through DBT.
• There is protection for farmers against income loss and adverse terms of trade impact on agriculture.
• It is less distortionary and is WTO combatable; there is less influence on production and price.
• Farm income support is superior to price support as it is crop neutral. The farmer is getting reward for continuing with agriculture whatever may be the crop he is cultivating. On the other hand, India’s MSP historically, favored wheat and rice farmers as procurement was concentrated on these two crops.

PM KISAN after two years: A critical review

The PM KISAN scheme has completed two years (seven installments are released of the scheme) but facing several crises.  The scheme is a useful vehicle to provide support to farmers and it was included in the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package during lockdown but, was this a useful way of relieving distress during the lockdown?  A survey by NCAER National Data Innovation Centre in June 2020 provides some useful insights in this regard:

Findings of the survey

• Lower level of economic distress among farmers than among other groups.
• While farmers faced some logistical challenges in transporting and selling their produce, 97 per cent of them continued to harvest Rabi crops and prepared for the Kharif season.
• Nearly 75 per cent of the cultivators who usually hire labourers for agricultural activities continued to do so.
• The farmers were relatively immune to the economic impact of the lockdown as nearly 32 per cent of them experienced a large income loss which is much lower compared to the proportion among casual wage workers and business households
• The proportion of households that had to borrow to meet their day-to-day consumption needs during the lockdown was relatively low for the farmers.

Performance of PM-KISAN during the Pandemic

• Only 21 per cent households received cash transfers through PM-KISAN.
• Around two-thirds reported receiving Rs 2,000 and about a fourth received Rs 4,000, possibly because family members engaged in agricultural activities may be co-residing within a household.
• About 35 per cent of rural PM-KISAN recipients suffered income losses to a large extentin comparison to more than half of the non-recipients.

Lack of Data Base

• The scheme was hurriedly announced right ahead of the 2018 elections and then the government did not have proper database of farmers.
• There are nearly 14.5 crore families in India but govt did not has proper database of these families. Many states like West Bengal, have delayed or did not submit the data related to farmers.

Difficulty in Identifying Beneficiary Farmers

• According to agricultural census of 2015-16, number of landholdings in the country was projected at Rs 14.65 crore. But land holding do not determine the number of farmer families present in the country as there are multiple owners for a single land. In such scenario, all the farmer families which own the land are eligible for the scheme.
• Number of landholdings in Punjab according to agricultural census were 10.39 lakh but number of beneficiaries’ farmers in PM-kisan data base list were 17.52 lakh till October 23, 2019.

Census Issue

• Other problem includes the agricultural census that counts the number of operational landholdings. Which is the piece of land being used for cultivation without considering the title of land. Whereas PM-kisan scheme considers the farmer families recognised as land holders under the state or union territory.
• Further, around 14.3 crore landless farmers (census 2011) will not be able to avail this scheme. Mainly due to the fact they are not the land holders and are contract farmers.

Others

Intended Farm Households are not covered: PM-KISAN is not reaching all farmer households as intended as most of the farmers in UP, Haryana and Rajasthan own land and should be receiving benefits but only 21 per cent of the cultivators interviewed reported receiving the benefit.

1. 1. Not a pro-poor scheme: it is not pro-poor since recipients of PM-KISAN seemed to be better off than the general rural population even before the lockdown.
   2. Lack of digitized land records: In many States, land records are not updated regularly and therefore, there could be instances where the cultivating farmers would have partitioned their holdings from other family members, but would not have the records-of-right to claim the benefit instantly.

What should be the Way Forward?

Proactive role of Banks

• There are reports that after the loan waiver in Maharashtra or transfer of first instalment to the Bank accounts of farmers under KALIA scheme in Odisha, concerned bank branches adjusted the deposit money against past liabilities of few farmers.
• This kind of scenarios may lead to subversion of the objectives of the income support scheme, which is clearly intended to assist the farmers with some disposable cash for purchase of inputs.

Strengthening IT backbone

• Needless to say that States with robust computerized land records data base and a good IT infrastructure will be in a better position to implement PM-KISAN.
• With ICT usage and direct transfer of money to farmers’ bank accounts, pilferage would also be less.
• Farmers not having bank accounts should be encouraged to open ‘no-frills’ accounts under the Jan-Dhan Yojana. Linking Aadhaar data base will further strengthen the system and analytics later on from this big-data eco-system could assist decision making empirically.

Targeting benefits and updation of land records

• In many States, land records are not updated regularly and therefore, there could be instances where the cultivating farmers would have partitioned their holdings from other family members, but would not have the records-of-right to claim the benefit instantly.
• These kind of genuine cases need to be redressed by revenue authorities so that eligible cases are not deprived.

Lesson from states policies

• Odisha’s KALIA scheme offers some important lessons for the effective implementation of the scheme.
• Odisha used a three-step framework to identify beneficiaries. These are:
• Unification:The first step involved unifying state databases with “green forms” which were essentially applications from farmers who wanted to opt in.
• Verification:The second step involved verification of information through databases like the Socio-Economic Caste Census, National Food Security Act and other databases; de-duplication through Aadhaar; and bank account verification through bank databases.
• Exclusion: The third step involved excluding ineligible applicants like government employees, tax payers, large farmers, and those that voluntarily opted out.
• The use of technology and non-farm databases meant that KALIA could include sharecroppers, tenant and landless farmers as beneficiaries, which is a significant step towards inclusive agricultural policy-making.
• KALIA has now laid the foundation for a state-wide farmer database with 100 per cent Aadhaar, mobile number and financial address seeding. This database can be leveraged for targeted scheme delivery beyond DIS, issuing customised agri-advisories and improving financial access.

CONCLUSION

PM- KISAN is India’s first direct support scheme, which should be surely successful. But for this, govt of India should learn some important lessons from other sources like the KALIA scheme and for that technology can play a vital role. The potential of technology to transform social welfare delivery is exciting. An approach that leverages data to maximize citizen benefits, while ensuring privacy, security and access, must be the way forward if we are to truly realize the power of digital to serve every Indian.

Just add to your knowledge

The MSP as a Price Support Measure

• WTO calls these subsidies as amber box subsidies that distorts trade. Such subsidies should be reduced as they may make a high cost producer a big produce and the country may export its produce.
• According to the WTO, a support (subsidy) by the government that influences production and price is trade distorting and it should be reduced.

PM-KISAN (Direct Income Support)

• In this case; the government will be giving direct payment to the farmers for their low income from farming.
• Under the WTO terminology, it is called Direct payments to farmers or Decoupled Income Support.
• Decoupled means such an income transfer to farmers will not influence production and price of the respective croops.
• Under Agreement on Agriculture (WTO), the direct payment to farmers comes under the Green Box.

Sources

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/kalia-scheme-direct-income-support-odisha-welfare-7228320/

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/5-top-performing-states-under-pm-kisan-scheme-101614160699833.html

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/pm-kisan-farmer-scheme-lockdown-6536208/

1. Teachers Transform Lives READ MORE
2. The Most Important decisions READ MORE

1. Climate crisis in North East India: What is behind water scarcity in the region READ MORE
2. Explained: What a new study says about fossil fuel extraction and global warming READ MORE

1. Do quotas in public sector employment for disadvantaged groups enhance their welfare? READ MORE
2. Learning disabilities: Govt must reopen primary schools immediately READ MORE

1. Why hasn’t marital rape been criminalised in India yet? READ MORE
2. Stop arbitrariness in tribunal appointments READ MORE
3. Nations Don’t Fail, States Fail READ MORE
4. The Right to Education Act has brought hope – but the pandemic has shown flaws that should be fixed READ MORE

(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)

Prelim and Main

1. Union Education Minister releases India Rankings 2021 READ MORE
2. India’s first Indigenously Designed High Ash Coal Gasification Based Methanol Production Plant at BHEL R&D Centre, Hyderabad READ MORE
3. Explained: Island discovered off Greenland is the new speck on the world map READ MORE
4. Human-driven speciation: A peek into how we may alter the morphology of African elephants READ MORE
5. India’s 1st emergency landing strip on the highway to be inaugurated in Barmer today READ MORE

Main Exam  

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Why hasn’t marital rape been criminalised in India yet? READ MORE
2. Stop arbitrariness in tribunal appointments READ MORE
3. Nations Don’t Fail, States Fail READ MORE
4. The Right to Education Act has brought hope – but the pandemic has shown flaws that should be fixed READ MORE

SOCIAL JUSTICE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

1. Do quotas in public sector employment for disadvantaged groups enhance their welfare? READ MORE
2. Learning disabilities: Govt must reopen primary schools immediately READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

1. The fall of Afghanistan, the fallout in West Asia READ MORE
2. India’s diplomatic win on Afghanistan READ MORE
3. Victims at the Heart of International Criminal Justice READ MORE

GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. Catching up: The success of the PLI is likely to hinge on how entrepreneurs weigh the risk-reward equation READ MORE
2. We must focus on human development, not GDP growth READ MORE
3. 30 years on, economic reforms have paid off READ MORE
4. Why has India’s growth slowed? The slowdown in growth is primarily on account of the banking crisis READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. Climate crisis in North East India: What is behind water scarcity in the region READ MORE
2. Explained: What a new study says about fossil fuel extraction and global warming READ MORE

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. Teachers Transform Lives READ MORE
2. The Most Important decisions READ MORE

Questions for the MAIN exam

1. The RTE Act seems to be more of a “right to access schooling” than a “right to education’’. In the light of the statement discuss the need for the inclusion of online education in the Act.
2. The growing NPA problem can aggravate the balance-sheet imbalances of the banking sector. This is requiring reforms to make the banking and financial sector more transparent and accountable. Comment on the statement.
3. The global discourse on national security is changing and India should also align itself to such change. Comment.

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• Stay faithful to the stories in your head.
• While Pakistan is playing the lead public role in Afghan affairs, the country’s West Asian/Gulf neighbours will be a significant influence in shaping the future of that beleaguered country.
• Inadequate teaching has given rise to an aversion to programming across campuses.
• All UNSC members praised India’s presidency and acknowledged the value added by India in building bridges in the midst of polarised UNSC dynamics, strengthening its claim for permanent membership.
• A major reason for the rising inequality is the heterogeneity of the Indian population, leading to varying adjustment capacity.
• The application of nano-fertilisers is emerging as a promising strategy to promote plant growth and development and limit environmental degradation.
• India’s ‘development diplomacy’ is taking shape in the Maldives by funding the largest infrastructure development project there.
• The RTE Act seems to be more of a “right to access schooling” than a “right to education’’. With the pandemic, even the “right to access schooling” is coming undone. It is a right served all wrong.
• The second crucial window of opportunity for India is the QUAD summit (in person) in end-September and the India-US head of government level bilateral. The focus has to be on peaceful co-existence for all powers in the region for sustained prosperity.

50-WORD TALK

• That the Karnal SDM has become a sticking point in the talks between protesting farmers and the state government is not surprising. Such a provocation by a magistrate on duty will not disappear easily. Transferring the officer doesn’t amount to punishment or accountability. The state’s action must be seen to be exemplary.

Things to Remember

• For prelims-related news try to understand the context of the news and relate with its concepts so that it will be easier for you to answer (or eliminate) from given options.
• Whenever any international place will be in news, you should do map work (marking those areas in maps and also exploring other geographical locations nearby including mountains, rivers, etc. same applies to the national places.)
• For economy-related news (banking, agriculture, etc.) you should focus on terms and how these are related to various economic aspects, for example, if inflation has been mentioned, try to relate with prevailing price rises, shortage of essential supplies, banking rates, etc.
• For main exam-related topics, you should focus on the various dimensions of the given topic, the most important topics which occur frequently and are important from the mains point of view will be covered in ED.
• Try to use the given content in your answer. Regular use of this content will bring more enrichment to your writing.

INDIAN POLITY, GOVERNANCE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

INDIA RANKINGS 2021

THE CONTEXT: Union Education Minister released the India Rankings 2021 instituted by the National Institutional Ranking Framework.

ANALYSIS:

• This is the sixth consecutive edition of India Rankings of HEIs in India. During its maiden year in 2016, rankings were announced for University category as well as for three domain-specific rankings, namely Engineering, Management and Pharmacy institutions.
• Over the period of six years, three new categories and five new subject domains were added to bring the total tally to 4 four categories, namely Overall, University, College and Research Institutions and 7 subjects, namely Engineering, Management, Pharmacy, Architecture, Medical, Law and Dental in 2021.
• Research institutions have been ranked for the first time in India Rankings 2021.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF INDIA RANKINGS 2021

• Indian Institute of Technology Madras retains 1st Position in Overall Category as well as in Engineering for the third consecutive year.
• Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru tops the University as well as Research Institution category introduced for the first time in India Rankings 2021.
• IIM Ahmedabad tops in Management subject and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi occupies the top slot in Medical for the fourth consecutive year.
• Jamia Hamdard tops the list in Pharmacy subject for the third consecutive year.
• Miranda College retains 1st position amongst colleges for the fifth consecutive year.
• IIT Roorkee takes the top slot for the first time in Architecture subject displacing IIT Kharagpur.
• National Law School of India University, Bangalore retains its first position for in Law for the fourth consecutive years.
• Colleges in Delhi dominate ranking of colleges with five colleges out of first 10 colleges from Delhi.
• Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Manipal, secure 1st position in “Dental” category.

SOURCE:  PIB

ENVIRONMENT, GEOGRAPHY AND AGRICULTURE

A NEW STUDY SAYS ABOUT FOSSIL FUEL EXTRACTION AND GLOBAL WARMING

THE CONTEXT: A new study conducted by researchers from University College London says that the global oil and gas production should decline by three per cent per year until 2050 to keep global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius, which is the target set by the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. The study has been published in the journal Nature.

ANALYSIS:

• A Greenpeace report published in early 2020 estimated that the global cost of air pollution from fossil fuels was around $2.9 trillion per year, or $8 billion per day, which was 3.3 per cent of the world’s GDP at the time. As per this report, India is estimated to bear a cost of $150 billion from air pollution caused by fossil fuels.
• Keeping this goal set out by the climate agreement, the study says that as of now, both planned and operational fossil fuel extraction projects are not conducive to meeting the targets set out by the climate agreement signed in 2015.
• Significantly, the study says that a substantial number of regions in the world have already reached their peak fossil fuel production and that any increase in fossil fuel production will have to be offset by a decline elsewhere, if the goal wants to be achieved.
• Further, the required unextracted reserves need to be 58 percent for oil, 59 percent for fossil methane gas and 89 percent for coal by 2050.  Which is to say that these percentages of fossil fuels need to remain unextractable if global warming targets are kept in mind.
• Specifically for coal, the unextractable estimates show less variation across regions, the report notes.

SOURCE:  IE

INDIAN ECONOMY

GOVERNMENT PROVIDES BIG BOOST TO EXPORTERS

THE CONTEXT: Government of India has decided to budget Rs 56,027 crore in this Financial Year FY 21-22 itself in order to disburse all pending export incentives due to exporters.

ANALYSIS:

• Benefits would be disbursed to more than 45,000 exporters, out of which about 98% are small exporters in the MSME category.
• Centre has provided a massive relief to the exporters.
• This amount is over and above duty remission of Rs 12,454 crore for the RoDTEP scheme and Rs 6,946 crore for RoSCTL scheme already announced.
• Benefits would help sectors to maintain cash flows and meet export demand in international market
• This support would have a multiplier effect and spur employment generation
• Robust export growth is being witnessed in recent months and this decision will lead to an even more rapid export growth in coming months

SOURCE : PIB

MAIN BHI DIGITAL 3.0

THE CONTEXT: Ministry of Housing and urban Affairs( MoHUA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) launched the pilot drive ‘Main Bhi Digital 3.0’ – A special Campaign for Digital Onboarding and Training for street vendors under PM SVANidhi scheme across 223 cities in the country .

ANALYSIS:

• The special drive aims to accelerate on-boarding of street vendors on the UPI QR code and handhold them to start accepting/making digital payment transactions.
• Five major aggregators including Paytm, Phone Pe, Bharat Pe, Mswipe and Aceware have agreed to participate in 45 days special drive for digitally onboarding the street vendors with BHIM-UPI QR code on pro-bono basis.
• The drive will cover 223 cities across the country with around 8,68,184 street vendors to be onboarded under various urban local bodies.
• Digital Payment Aggregators will educate the street vendors about the benefits of digital payments such as convenience, increased operational efficiency, seamless transfer of funds, cost saving, transparency and security.
• They will also hand hold the street vendors by performing penny drop transaction and any further support that is required to accept/ pay digitally.
• Digital footprints including  digital payment transactions and loan repayment data under the scheme would help in credit profiling  of street vendors. This will enable inclusion of street vendors in the formal credit ecosystem, and help in driving financial inclusion of unorganized sector.
• This will enable inclusion of Street Vendors in the formal credit ecosystem, and help in driving financial inclusion of the unorganized sector.
• The Covid-19 pandemic has catazalyzed behavioural changes in citizens for adoption of digital payments, as reflected in the tremendous growth in BHIM UPI transactions from  99.95 crore in April 2020 to  355.55 crore in August-2021.  During the coronavirus crisis, digital payments, particularly BHIM UPI has played a significant role in keeping economy running by supporting commerce and business.

PM SVANIDHI

• PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) was launched on June 1, 2020 as a Central Sector Scheme.
• The scheme facilitates affordable working capital loan of up to ₹10,000 with an interest subsidy @7% on regular repayment.
• The street vendors are not required to pay any collateral for the loan. The scheme provides Graded Guarantee Cover, to Lending Institutions, on a portfolio basis. The scheme targets to cover 50 lakh street vendors, who had been vending on or before March 24, 2020.
• The street vendors also stand a chance to avail a loan of ₹20,000 and ₹50,000 in the second and third tranches respectively on timely repayment of the loan.
• To encourage digital transaction a cash back up to ₹1,200 on digital transactions at ₹100 per month is provided to the street vendors under the scheme.
• An Integrated IT Platform has been developed to provide end-to-end solution for the paper less loan processing.
• SIDBI has been appointed as the implementation agency for scheme administration.

SOURCE :  PIB

INTERNAL SECURITY

MRSAM

THE CONTEXT:  The first deliverable Firing Unit (FU) of Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM) System was handed over to Indian Air Force (IAF) in the presence of Raksha Mantri.

ABOUT MRSAM

• MRSAM provides air defence against aerial threats like fighter aircraft, UAVs, guided and unguided munitions & cruise missiles
• Capable of engaging multiple targets at ranges up to 70 kilometres
• Indigenously developed rocket motor & control system for achieving high manoeuvrability
• State-of-the-art missile system

SOURCE: PIB

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

HIGH ASH COAL GASIFICATION BASED METHANOL PRODUCTION PLANT

THE CONTEXT:  India’s first Indigenously Designed High Ash Coal Gasification Based Methanol Production Plant at BHEL R&D Centre, Hyderabad

ANALYSIS:

• Methanol is utilized as a motor fuel, to power ship engines, and to generate clean power all over the world.
• Methanol is also used to generate di-methyl ether (DME), a liquid fuel that is very similar to diesel — existing diesel engines simply need to be minimally changed to use DME instead of diesel.
• The majority of worldwide methanol production is derived from natural gas, which is a relatively easy process. Since India doesn’t have much of the natural gas reserves, producing methanol from imported natural gas lead to outflow of foreign exchange and sometimes uneconomical due to excessive prices of natural gas.
• The next best option is to utilise India’s abundant coal. However, due to the high ash percentage of Indian coal, most internationally accessible technology will not be adequate for our demands.
• To address this issue, BHEL R&D centre at Hydrabad began working on Indian high ash coal gasification in 2016 with support from the NITI Aayog to produce 0.25 ton per day methanol.
• The project was supported by the Department of Science and Technology with a Rs 10 crore grant. With four years of hard work BHEL successfully demonstrated a facility to create 0.25 TPD Methanol from high ash Indian coal using a 1.2 TPD Fluidized bed gasifier. The methanol purity of the crude methanol produced is between 98 and 99.5 percent.

SOURCE : PIB

Q1. Consider the following statements about PM SVANIDHI:

1. The street vendors are not required to pay any collateral for the loan.
2. SIDBI has been appointed as the implementation agency for scheme administration.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

ANSWER FOR SEPTEMBER 09, 2021 PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS (REFER RELEVANT ARTICLE)

Answer: a)

Explanation:

• Statement 1 is correct: MSP is the minimum price at which government purchases crops from farmers. It is based on a calculation of at least one-and-a-half times the cost of production incurred by the farmers.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) decides the minimum support price and recommend it to government.

[WpProQuiz 43]