THE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. INDIA-ISRAEL TO WIDEN SCOPE OF INDUSTRIAL R&D &

TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION FUND

THE CONTEXT: Experts from both countries (India-Israel) deliberated on widening the scope of the
India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund (I4F) at its recently concluded
meeting.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The approval of three joint R&D projects totalling 5.4 million dollars. The projects were
  titled Centrally Monitored IoT Nano sensors for Molecular Diagnostics in Healthcare and
  Screening Applications, NoMoreMos- a mosquito control biological solution, and IoT
  enabled satellite communication for real-time agriculture and environment data collection
  across India.
• Also, unanimously agreed on a strategy for the new phase of I4F 2.0, which included
  broadening the fund’s scope by determining the technical feasibility and market
  acceptability of new products or technologies, co-developing products or technologies for
  commercialization, and co-testing products or technologies for commercialization in R&D
  and pilot areas.
• The members have also suggested the need to focus on Partnership Development Activities
  like more business activities with Indian and Israeli companies and startups through a series
  of online events, follow-up B2B meetings.

About India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund:

• India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund (I4F) fund is a collaboration
  between the Department of Science and Technology (DST), and the Israel Innovation
  Authority, to promote, facilitate and support joint industrial R&D projects between
  companies from India and Israel to address the challenges in the agreed ‘Focus Sectors’.
• The goal of I4F is to promote, facilitate and support joint industrial R&D, which would lead
  to the co-development and commercialization of innovative technologies that can benefit
  both nations. The Global Innovation & Technology Alliance (GITA) is appointed to
  implement the I4F program in India, while Israel Innovation Authority is the implementing
  agency in Israel.

India-Israel Relations:

• India announced its recognition of Israel in 1950. Since the upgradation of relations in 1992,
  defence and agriculture formed the two main pillars of the bilateral engagement between
  both nations.
• In recent years, relations have seen rapid growth across a broad spectrum of areas and the future vision of cooperation, also bilateral trade has diversified into several sectors such as pharmaceuticals, agriculture, IT and telecom, and homeland security.

About Indo-Israeli Agriculture Project:

In the agricultural sector, both countries have jointly developed new crop varieties and share post-
harvest technologies following the success of the 10-year-old Indo-Israeli Agriculture Project (IIAP)
whose accomplishments include the successful growing of cherry tomatoes in Haryana,
rejuvenating mango orchards in Maharashtra, and demonstrating to Indian farmers the
effectiveness of state-of-the-art irrigation technologies.

THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS

2. START-UPS RAISED A RECORD: STUDY

THE CONTEXT: According to a new study by NASSCOM and Zinnov start-ups raised a record $24.1
billion in 2021, a two-fold increase over pre-COVID-19 levels.

THE EXPLANATION:

• According to the study, ‘Indian Tech Start-up Ecosystem: Year of The Titans’, more that
  2,250 start-ups were added in 2021, over 600 more than what was added in the 2020.
• Start-ups raised USD 24.1 billion in 2021, a two-fold increase over pre-COVID levels. In
  comparison to 2020, there was a 3X increase in the number of high value deals (deals > USD
  100 million), demonstrating investor confidence with a pool of active angel investors of
  2400+ and a readiness to take significant risks.”
• “According to the study, the last decade, the ecosystem has played a key role in growing
  direct and indirect jobs, providing 6.6 lakh direct jobs and more than 34.1 lakh indirect
  jobs”. The industries that saw the most net new job creation were BFSI (banking, financial
  services and insurance), ed-tech, retail and retail tech, food-tech, supply chain
  management, and logistics and mobility.
• When compared to the U.K., U.S., Israel and China, 2021 has been an outstanding year for
  the Indian startup ecosystem, with the highest growth rate in terms of deals, both in seed
  stage and late-stage funding, and the number of startups.

Some Government Schemes For Start-ups:

• Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana.
• Credit Guarantee Trust Fund for Micro & Small Enterprises (CGTSME).
• Standup India.
• Venture Capital
• 4E (End to End Energy Efficiency) by Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)

THE INTERNAL SECURITY

3. THE STRATEGIC SIGNIFICANCE OF BRIDGE CHINA IS BUILDING ON PANGONG TSO

THE CONTEXT: The ongoing standoff in eastern Ladakh has led to construction of infrastructure on
both sides of the India-China border. One of the latest constructions is a bridge being built by China
on the Pangong Tso.

THE EXPLANATION:

• China is building the bridge, about 400 m long and 8 m wide, close to the friction points on
  the north bank of the Pangong Tso, and the Chushul sub-sector on the south bank. It will
  help China mobilise troops quicker, if needed.
• The bridge is around 20 km east (35 km by road) of Finger 8 on the north bank. In India’s
  perception, the Line of Actual Control lies at Finger 8. The site of the bridge is within India’s
  claim line, although the area has been under Chinese control since 1958.

Significance of the bridge for China

• Construction of the bridge is significant, as it bridge will facilitate quick induction since it will
  reduce the distance and time to reach the contested areas at the Pangong Lake.
• It will connect the two banks and thus allow Chinese forces easy access on either side to
  combat any threat.
• The bridge site is just east of Khurnak Fort in Rutog county where the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) has frontier bases. Historically a part of India, Khurnak Fort has been under Chinese control since 1958.
• From Khurnak Fort, the LAC is considerably west, with India claiming it at Finger 8 and China
  claiming it at Finger 4.

New Border Law

• On January 2021, China implemented its new border law. The new law calls to strengthen
  its border defence, infrastructure near the borders and development of villages.
• It also lays down conditions, under which emergency measures can be imposed across the
  border areas.

What are India’s concerns?

Ever since tensions started in Ladakh, in May 2021, China has enhanced its troop deployment of
about 50,000 in this sector. Apart from Ladakh, China has been making aggressive moves in Eastern
Sector bordering Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Recently, China also renamed 15 places in
Arunachal Pradesh on its map.

Why is China increasing deployment and construction at the LAC?

Possible Reasons are:

• India’s decision to strengthen its border infrastructure (eg- construction of Darbuk-Shyok-
  Daulat Beg Oldie road).
• India’s tilt towards United States (eg- Quad).
• China consider India’s assertions on Gilgit-Baltistan, as an attack on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project of China.
• China’s growing assertiveness in South China Sea.

Importance of The Pangong Tso Lake

• In the Ladakhi language, Pangong means extensive concavity, and Tso is a lake in Tibetan.
• Pangong Tso is a long narrow, deep, endorheic (landlocked) lake situated at a height of
  more than 14,000 ft in the Ladakh Himalayas.
• The western end of Tso lies 54 km to the southeast of Leh. The 135 km-long lake sprawls
  over 604 sq km in the shape of a boomerang and is 6 km wide at its broadest point.
• The brackish water lake freezes over in winter and becomes ideal for ice skating and polo.

THE PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

QUESTION OF THE DAY 22 ND JANUARY 2022

Q1. According to 2018 Tiger census, which of the following statements is incorrect:
a) Rise of 33% over the previous census of 2014.
b) Karnataka has the highest tiger population.
c) There was no tiger found in Buxa tiger reserve.
d) There is no change in the tiger population in Odisha.

ANSWER FOR 21 ST JANUARY 2022.

Answer: B)

Explanation:

• Statement 1 is incorrect: It is a supersonic cruise missile.
• Statement 2 is correct: It can be launched from land, sea, sub-sea and air against surface and sea-
  based targets.

1. Wrong remedy: States have rightly raised questions about proposed rule changes on IAS, IPS deputation READ MORE
2. The ground rules of ‘the one land of many’: Today, some in positions of power in India seem to be questioning those rules — which makes it crucial to reaffirm them READ MORE
3. How to fix the anti-defection loophole READ MORE
4. The medium: To teach in English or in mother tongue? A multilingual approach is the answer READ MORE
5. Why the Supreme Court Said Reservation is Not at Odds With Merit READ MORE

1. Income and Livelihood Promotion through Individual Assets under MGNREGA READ MORE
2. Tagore and Development READ MORE

1. States have an important role to play as India sets sights on net-zero carbon emissions by 2070 READ MORE
2.  How the Quad can help climate action READ MORE

1. The way to be free from worldly pressures READ MORE
2. Tagore and Development READ MORE

(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)

Prelim and Main

1. Amar Jawan Jyoti now merged with National War Memorial flame, says Government READ MORE
2. Brent at 7-year high: how are economy, markets and investors impacted? READ MORE
3. Explained: The concern over 5G and flight safety READ MORE
4. Why India is unwilling to discuss forests at international fora READ MORE
5. India-Israel to widen scope of Industrial R&D & Technological Innovation Fund READ MORE
6. RBI holds special repo auction as GST outflow tightens liquidity READ MORE

Main Exam   

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Wrong remedy: States have rightly raised questions about proposed rule changes on IAS, IPS deputation READ MORE
2. The ground rules of ‘the one land of many’: Today, some in positions of power in India seem to be questioning those rules — which makes it crucial to reaffirm them READ MORE
3. How to fix the anti-defection loophole READ MORE
4. The medium: To teach in English or in mother tongue? A multilingual approach is the answer READ MORE
5. Why the Supreme Court Said Reservation is Not at Odds With Merit READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

1.  How the Quad can help climate action READ MORE
2. How Ukraine standoff can impact India READ MORE

GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. FCRA, NGOs and the Question of Which Foreign Funding Is in National Interest READ MORE
2. The Gandhian path can help farmers and consumers READ MORE
3. Income and Livelihood Promotion through Individual Assets under MGNREGA READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY  

1. States have an important role to play as India sets sights on net-zero carbon emissions by 2070 READ MORE

SECURITY

1. Why India needs a single agency to guard its borders READ MORE

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. The way to be free from worldly pressures READ MORE
2. Tagore and Development READ MORE

Questions for the MAIN exam

1. ‘If India polity wants to get rid of open corruption, it needs to take urgent steps to fix the Tenth Schedule’. In the light of the statement discuss how to fix the loopholes in anti-defection?
2. ‘Effectively confronting climate change as a shared responsibility of the Centre and the state as a collaborative effort within the federal system represents our best hope’. In the light of the statement, discuss how states can play an active role in achieving net-zero by 2070?

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• The Constitution cannot protect us unless we protect the Constitution.
• States have rightly raised questions about proposed rule changes on IAS, IPS deputation.
• The idea of India as a modern nation based on a certain conception of human rights and citizenship, vigorously backed by due process of law, and equality before law, is a gift of the Constitution.
• In our social and economic life, we shall, by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value.
• If our polity wants to get rid of open corruption, it needs to take urgent steps to fix the Tenth Schedule.
• The most commendable commitment is their focus on increasing the Indo-Pacific region’s resilience by improving critical climate information-sharing and disaster-resilient infrastructure.
• In a country where most children live their lives in two or three languages, multilingual teaching methods provide a level playing field for diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds while reconciling the desires of both parents and the NEP.
• If foreign funding promotes an agenda inimical to the national interest, what about foreign investment which the government has been welcoming.
• If merit is a social good that must be protected, we must first critically examine the content of merit.
• In response to the global and national discourse, climate change is increasingly becoming a priority for state governments.
• Effectively confronting climate change as a shared responsibility of the Centre and the state as a collaborative effort within the federal system represents our best hope.
• Despite the tremendous potential for livelihoods based on the creativity of villagers and particularly women in this work, this path has been steadily abandoned.

50-WORD TALK

• Supreme Court should be applauded for its landmark judgement separating quotas from merit. Its call to socially contextualise merit couldn’t have been more timely considering the new learning faultlines the pandemic has created. It also deflates all the hype about competitive exams. This should settle the reservation debate for now.
• Nitish Kumar government’s move to amend Bihar prohibition law to dilute irrational and draconian penalty provisions is overdue. Frequent hooch tragedies exposed the failure of this law while courts choking with bail applications underlined its arbitrariness. Kumar must cut his losses and stop investing political capital in a failed law.

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.

THE CONTEXT: The recent farmer agitation has brought the issue of farmer distress front and center 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.
• While 7 per cent of farm households suffered from occasional unavailability of food during the lockdown, this figure was much higher for casual workers and business households.

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 exendin comparison to more than half of the non-recipients.
• A little more than a third of PM-KISAN recipients borrowed money during this period as against 48 per cent of 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.
• It may happen that a single farmer holds multiple lands. The agricultural census may record multiple land holdings which PM-Kisan scheme would otherwise recognize as single farmer.

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 recognized 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.
• However, the government is trying to release fund to farmers by linking their account to Aadhaar card. Government extended the date to seed the Aadhaar account to November 30 2019.

Others:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Overlapping of with other schemes: Various state governments have launched schemes with similar benefits such as Rythu Bandu (Telangana), Annadatha Sukhibhava (Andhra Pradesh), KALIA Scheme (Odisha) and Bhavantar Bhugtaan Yojana (Madhya Pradesh).

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.
• Banks involved in primary sector lending or disbursement of crop loans, etc. need to be sensitized properly on their critical role in implementation of PM-KISAN.

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.
• Similarly, fraudulent claims should also be avoided. Involving the Gram Panchayats, wherever possible in targeting of beneficiaries may be explored.

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 customized agree-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 crops.
• Under Agreement on Agriculture (WTO), the direct payment to farmers comes under the Green Box.