31 Dec 2020: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

CNA 31 Dec 2020:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. GS 1 Related
B. GS 2 Related
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. Govt. nod for missions in Estonia, Paraguay and Dominican Republic
C. GS 3 Related
SECURITY
1. Facial recognition technology: law yet to catch up
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
1. Cabinet gives approval for Akash missile export
ENVIRONMENT
1. Boost given for ethanol production
ECONOMY
1. CCEA nod for 3 infra projects
D. GS 4 Related
E. Editorials
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. Himalayan manoeuvres
ECONOMY
1. Separating the wheat from the agri-policy chaff
POLITY
1. Give adequate time for a probe
F. Prelims Facts
1. Dibru-Saikhowa National Park
G. Tidbits
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

Nothing here for today!!!

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. Govt. nod for missions in Estonia, Paraguay and Dominican Republic

Context:

Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister has cleared the proposal from the Ministry of External Affairs to open three missions in Estonia, Paraguay and the Dominican Republic in 2021.

Details:

• While the government had announced the opening of 18 missions in 2018, not all of them have been established yet.
• Opening of the newly announced missions may be further delayed by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Significance:

• The opening of the missions will help expand India’s diplomatic footprint and deepen political relations. It would bolster political outreach in multilateral fora.
• It will enable the growth of bilateral trade, investment and economic engagements.
• Enhancement of India’s diplomatic presence will provide market access for companies and bolster exports of goods and services.
• It would be instrumental in facilitating stronger people-to-people contacts.
• The move would also help the diaspora members residing in these countries.
• It would help garner support for the foreign policy objectives.
• It would also strengthen ties in trade and cybersecurity.

Note:

• Both Paraguay and the Dominican Republic had set up missions in Delhi in 2006.
• India and Estonia will serve together in the Security Council in 2021.

Category: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

1. Cabinet gives approval for Akash missile export

Context:

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister, has approved the export of the indigenously developed and manufactured Akash short-range Surface to Air Missile (SAM) system.

• It also approved the high-level committee formed to expedite clearance of such exports.

Details:

• So far, Indian defence exports included parts and components but the export of big platforms was minimal.
• This decision by the Cabinet would help the country to improve its defence products and make them globally competitive.
• After its induction in the Services, interest was shown in the Akash missile by many friendly countries during international exhibitions/Def Expo/Aero India.

Akash missile:

• Akash is a mid-range surface-to-air missile (SAM).
• It is a medium-range nuclear-capable supersonic missile. It has been indigenously developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under the Integrated Guided-Missile Development Programme (IGMDP).
  • The Integrated Guided Missile Development Program started in 1984.
• It is a multi-target, multi-directional, all-weather air-defence missile system consisting of surveillance and tracking radars for defending vulnerable areas against medium-range air targets penetrating from low, medium and high altitudes.
• It has supersonic speeds ranging from Mach 2.8 to 3.5.
• It has the capability to carry 55- kg fragmentation warhead that is triggered by proximity fuse.
• It can engage aerial targets up to a range of approximately 25 kms. It can reach a high altitude of 18 kms and as low as 30 meters.

Category: ENVIRONMENT

1. Boost given for ethanol production

Context:

Modification of a scheme for interest subvention for ethanol production.

Details:

• The Union Cabinet has approved a modified scheme for interest subvention for ethanol production, expanding the scheme to include grain-based distilleries and not just molasses-based ones.
• The government would bear interest subvention for five years including a one-year moratorium against the loan availed by project proponents from banks @ 6% per annum or 50% of the rate of interest charged by banks whichever is lower.

Significance:

• The decision would encourage ethanol production from grains like barley, maize, corn and rice.
• The scheme would boost production and distillation capacity to 1,000 crore litres and help in meeting the goal of 20% ethanol blending with petrol by 2030.

Read more on Ethanol and E 20 fuel covered in 19^th December 2020 Comprehensive News Analysis.

Also read: Ethanol Blended Petrol Programme (EBP Programme)
Category: ECONOMY

1. CCEA nod for 3 infra projects

Context:

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved three infrastructure proposals estimated at ₹7,725 crore.

Details:

• The proposals are for setting up greenfield industrial cities with connectivity to major transportation corridors such as the eastern and western dedicated freight corridors, expressways and national highways.
• The three projects, proposed by the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, include:
  • Construction of various trunk infrastructure components for the Krishnapatnam Industrial Area in Andhra Pradesh.
  • The Tumakuru Industrial Area in Karnataka.
  • A multi-modal logistics hub (MMLH) and multi-modal transport hub (MMTH) at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh. It will be developed as a world-class facility that will provide efficient storage/transitioning of goods to/from dedicated freight corridors, and offer a one-stop destination to freight companies and customers.

Significance:

• The objective of the Industrial Corridor Programme is the creation of greenfield industrial cities with sustainable, ‘plug n play’, ICT enabled utilities to facilitate manufacturing investments into the country.
• Industrial Corridor programme was launched with the aim of development of futuristic industrial cities and the creation of employment opportunities.
• These projects would generate ample employment opportunities through industrialisation.

D. GS 4 Related

Nothing here for today!!!

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. Himalayan manoeuvres

Context:

Political crisis in Nepal.

Background:

• The Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Oli recommended to dissolve the Parliament when the house had two more years to serve.
• This has paved the way for a constitutional crisis in the country.

This topic has been covered in the Editorials segment of 22^nd December 2020 Comprehensive News Analysis.

Details:

• A senior delegation of the Communist Party of China was sent to Kathmandu within days of Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli’s controversial decision to dissolve Parliament and call for elections.
• Through this, Beijing has sent a worrying message that it is prepared to intervene in Nepal’s politics.
• In contrast, India has chosen to be more pragmatic and restrained.
• India is not playing its traditional leading role in Nepal.
• Both Mr. Oli, who has reached out to India after months of the map controversy, and his rival Mr. Dahal, who has been a closer Indian ally during this period, are engaging the government.
• The positive situation gives India a little more space in which to consider its moves, and how to avoid instability in its neighbour’s polity.

Conclusion:

Avoiding political crisis/instability is crucial to India-Nepal relations and in the long term, to their closely inter-linked prosperity.
Category: ECONOMY

1. Separating the wheat from the agri-policy chaff

The article talks about the exchequer-farm subsidies issue and the spending on farm subsidies.

Issue:

• In the on-going debates around the three agricultural laws and the farmers’ demand for the continuation of minimum support prices (MSP), questions have often been raised whether the government should be using the taxpayers’ money to provide subsidies to the farming community in this country.
• The other two questions that need to be answered are:
  1. Why have successive governments used the exchequer to provide farm subsidies?
  2. How large is India’s spending on farm subsidies as compared to those of other countries having substantial interests in agriculture?

Adverse terms of trade:

• India’s agriculture has been living beyond its means.
  • In 1950-51, agriculture’s share in the country’s GDP was 45%, the share of the workforce dependent on the sector was close to 70%.
  • Seven decades later, agriculture’s share in GDP is below 16%, but almost 50% of the country’s workforce depends on this sector.
• Agriculture has been facing adverse terms of trade over extended periods since the 1980s.
• Even during the phases when the terms of trade have moved in its favour, there was no distinct upward trend.
• Farming communities have almost consistently faced adverse terms of trade vis-à-vis non-farmers.
• Growing inefficiencies due to lack of meaningful investment in agriculture triggered erosion of farm incomes.
• The share of this sector in the total investment undertaken in the country consistently fell from about 18% in the 1950s to just above 11% in the 1980s. In the subsequent decades, the situation has got far worse with agriculture’s share not even reaching double digits.

Agricultural yields:

• A comparison of the yields of the major crops in India with those of other countries confirms the gloomy state of agriculture in the country.
• If one ranks countries in terms of their yields in wheat and rice — India’s two major crops — the country’s ranks were 45 and 59 respectively, in 2019.
  • This ranking would go down sharply if the areas recording high yields, such as Punjab and Haryana, are excluded.
• For farmers in most regions of the country, it is an uphill battle for survival amid low yields.

Marketing system:

• The market has always been the farmers’ biggest rival, making it impossible for them to realise remunerative prices for their produce.
• The existing marketing system dominated by the Agricultural Produce Market Committees has long been proved to be against the interests of the small farmers.
• The government has now, decided to introduce even larger middlemen, which would further aggravate misery for the farming communities.

Agricultural Policies:

• The lack of a coherent policy for agriculture is seen as the most remarkable failures of the governments in post-Independence India.
• The magnitude of this failure can be better understood if one considers the fact that the United States, with less than 2% of its workforce engaged in agriculture, has been enacting farm legislations every four years since 1933.
• Similarly, members of the European Common Market adopted their Common Agricultural Policy in 1962, only a few years after establishing the institution.
• These policies comprehensively address the needs of the farm sector through proactive support from the respective governments.

Issue of farm subsidies:

• Distribution of subsidies without a proper policy framework has distorted the structure of production and, consequently, undesirable outcomes in terms of excessive food stockpiling.
• Instead of engaging with the farming communities for putting in place a comprehensive set of policies, successive governments have chosen to dole out subsidies in order to ensure domestic food security and protect rural livelihoods.
• The government dole out is a price that India is paying for the failure of the policymakers to comprehensively address the problems of the farm sector.
• The two major providers of farm subsidies, namely, the U.S. and the members of the European Union (EU) gave much larger magnitudes of support than India did.
  • However, absolute numbers do not provide a good yardstick to compare the farm subsidies.
  • The ratios of subsidies to agricultural value addition must be considered.
  • For 2017, India’s farm subsidies were 12.4% of agricultural value addition, while for the U.S. and the EU, the figures were 90.8% and 45.3%, respectively.

Economically weak farmers:

• India has notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) that 99.43% of its farmers are low income or resource-poor.
• According to the agricultural census conducted in 2015-16, these are the farmers whose holdings are 10 hectares or less.
• Thus, according to the Government of India, almost the entire farm sector comprises economically weak farmers.

Way forward:

• There is a need to step up investment in agriculture, which will not only ensure more efficient use of farm resources but also is a crucial step towards improving farm incomes.
• A comprehensive agricultural policy must also provide for the setting up of farmer-friendly institutions in order to improve the economic viability of the sector.
• India must strive to increase the ratios of subsidies granted to the agricultural value addition.
• Complex problems facing Indian agriculture need an agricultural policy that addresses the challenges facing this sector in a comprehensive manner.

Category: POLITY

1. Give adequate time for a probe

Context:

Taking a cue from the Andhra Pradesh’s Disha Bill of 2019, the Maharashtra government has announced that it would enact a law to deal sternly with the cases of sexual assault on women.

Details:

• The proposed Maharashtra Shakti Act of 2020 will have stern punishment for offences of sexual assault and a provision to complete the investigation within 15 days.

Concern:

• Concerns have been raised that narrow timelines for investigation of sensitive cases create scope for procedural loopholes.

Time for investigation:

• In the ‘Nirbhaya’ case, the police filed a charge sheet on the 18th day of its reporting. No effort was spared to nab the criminals and the case was rigorously supervised.
• In the recent Hathras case, the police took more than 90 days to file a charge sheet.
• The Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) provides that:
  • Investigation relating to offences punishable with imprisonment up to 10 years must be completed within 60 days.
  • For offences with higher punishment (including rape), the investigation must be completed within 90 days of detaining the accused, else he or she shall be released on bail.
• To speed up the process, the CrPC was amended in 2018 and the period of investigation was reduced from 90 to 60 days for all cases of rape.
• Though every investigation has to be completed without unnecessary delay, there is no upper limit to complete investigation when the offenders are at large. Each investigation is guided by its own set of facts and circumstances.

Factors to be considered:

• Generally, the time of investigation depends on the severity of the crime, the number of accused persons and agencies involved.
• It includes:
  • Examination of the scene of crime by the investigating officer (IO) and forensic expert;
  • Recording the statement of the victim (by the IO and the judicial magistrate) and witnesses;
  • Medical examination of the victim (at a place where a female doctor is available) and accused persons;
  • Collecting documents relating to age from parents, local bodies and school (in case of child victim and delinquents);
  • DNA findings of the forensic science lab (FSL); test identification parade of accused persons (if initially not named);
  • Seizing weapons of offence;
  • The arrest of accused persons; etc.
• In many cases of rape, the victim remains under trauma for some time and is not able to narrate the incident in detail.
• The speed and quality of investigation also depend on whether a police station has separate units of investigation and law and order (a long-pending police reform awaiting compliance of the apex court’s directives).
• It also depends on the number of available IOs and women police officers, and the size and growth of the FSL and its DNA unit.

Conclusion:

• Investigation of sensitive offences should be done expeditiously.
• However, setting narrow timelines for investigation creates scope for procedural loopholes which may be exploited during trial.
• Therefore, instead of fixing unrealistic timelines, the police should be given additional resources so that they can deliver efficiently.

Q1.Consider the following statements with respect to Akash Missile:

1. Akash is a medium-range mobile surface-to-surface missile.
2. It has been indigenously developed by DRDO under Integrated Guided-Missile Development Programme.

Which of the given statement/s is/are correct?

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

Q2.Consider the following statements with respect to SAHAYAK-NG:

1. It is India’s first indigenously designed and developed Air Droppable Container.
2. It has the capacity to carry a payload of up to 500 kg and can be dropped from a heavy aircraft.
3.  It is a GPS aided air dropped container.

Which of the given statement/s is/are INCORRECT?

1. 1 only
2. 1 and 2 only
3. 2 only
4. 2 and 3 only

Q3.Consider the following statements Dibru-Saikhowa:

1. Dibru-Saikhowa is a National Park as well as a Biosphere Reserve situated on the south bank of the river Brahmaputra.
2. It is an identified Important Bird Area (IBA) notified by the Bombay Natural History Society.
3. The park is bound by the Lohit River in the south and Dibru river in the north.

Which of the given statement/s is/are correct?

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 1 and 3 only
3. 2 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Q4.Consider the following statements with respect to Kala-azar:

1. Kala-azar is endemic to the Indian subcontinent.
2. It is also known as Visceral leishmaniasis (VL).
3. It is a parasitic disease.

Which of the given statement/s is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 1 and 2 only
3. 2 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Read the previous CNA here.

CNA 31 Dec 2020:- Download PDF Here