06 Jan 2021: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

A. GS 1 Related

B. GS 2 Related

C. GS 3 Related

Category: ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. States on alert as fear of bird flu grows

Context:

States are on alert as there is an outbreak of bird flu in various states across India.

This topic has been covered in 5^th January 2021 Comprehensive News Analysis.

D. GS 4 Related

Nothing here for today!!!

E. Editorials

Category: ECONOMY

1. Shock treatment will not work in agriculture

Context:

• The recently enacted farm laws have brought into focus issues such as the relevance of Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC)-mandis, the continuation of Minimum Support Price, contract farming, etc.

Details

• There is a wide consensus among various stakeholders in agriculture that the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC)-mandi policies have passed their sell-by date.
• The need for reforms is inevitable in the times of the agricultural sector’s growth slowdown, the crop-composition not widening, and investment in land not forthcoming.
• The farm laws have opened up the output market under the garb of providing more freedom to the farmers to sell beyond the age-old APMCs. It is backed with an argument that market forces will lead to better efficiency and at the same time create more value for farmers and the economy.
• Another important reform pushed through has been contract farming. The laws seek to promote forging partnerships between farmers and food-processing companies under contract farming. The amendment of the Essential Commodities Act 1955 has meant that there is a provision that allows unlimited hoarding of food except in special circumstances.

What farmers want

• The deadlock between the farmers and the Government doesn’t seem to be coming to an end soon. The farmers have expressed three main desires:
  1. Remunerative return: The farmers expect that the prices for their produce should be the cost of production plus a reasonable mark-up;
  2. Reduced price volatility: The output prices must be consistent and fluctuations if any must be minimal; and
  3. Bureaucratic highhandedness: The farmers have been clear on the need to have little or no interface with legal or administrative officials —
• Several experts have suggested to bring in more crops under the purview of the agriculture sector. The farmers expect that the much talked about crop-diversification must be accompanied by a market for the same and the market should deliver a remunerative return, price consistency and less bureaucratic interference.

New markets are an unknown

• The mandis are known for their shortcomings. The inefficiencies of the mandis are widely acknowledged, but the farm laws make way for new markets, which are an unknown entity and which cannot be regulated as desired.
• The farmers fear that the vulnerability that the new-markets bring in, cannot be foreseen to avert the dangers.
• The Government has said that the mandi-MSP system is not in danger but will continue to exist. However, there are going to be question marks over its long term existence.
• If the alternative traders offer better prices, farmers will choose to take their produce to them instead of taking it to the mandis as before. While this may bring higher immediate returns to the farmers, it will endanger the existence of mandis on the longer run.
• The above scenario creates an existential crisis to the mandis. There is a possibility that the mandis have to shut down owing to lack of business.
• There are many issues here. Traders could reduce the prices on more than one pretext, such as,
  • finding faults with the product;
  • declining to buy on the pretext of glut (a wait and watch strategy);
  • defaulting on payments, and so on.

Collusion among traders

• There is a possibility of traders colluding amongst themselves to form a cartel and dictate prices to the farmers, especially when the number of traders at the local level are not many in number.
• The farmers are left with little choice but to allow themselves to be bullied by the traders after having travelled long distances with loads of several quintals/tonnes of produce on hired tractors. Returning without having sold the produce is not economically viable to them.
• The mandis are thronged by small and marginal farmers. The agricultural census says that close to 85% of the farmers in India are small and marginal farmers, thus their cash needs are immediate.

Advantage corporate buyers

• The two common-most problems that may arise with corporate buyers are:
  • They may choose not to purchase the entire quantity of the product on one or another pretext
  • Not making timely payments
• The farmers in the above-mentioned scenarios are backed into a corner, if they resort to complaining, the corporates would not hesitate to bring in their legal arsenal backed with top-lawyers, the fine print in contracts, the advantage of language, and, above all, the capacity and the luxury to wait it out.
• The contract between two unequal entities seldom works, there is a huge differential between the farmers and the corporate players.

Issues and farmers’ reactions

• The argument that is held against the farmer protests in Punjab and Haryana, is that farmers from outside the wheat-rice belts in northern India are not protesting.
• The logic behind such claims is not based on sound logical principles. It has to be kept in mind that farmers are not a homogeneous lot, the Indian agrarian setup is very diverse with close to 50 crops grown and over a dozen agro-climatic zones.
• The farmers thus will protest only against those policies that will directly hurt their interests. This is not a new-age phenomenon, it has been like this historically. Examples are: farmers revolted in 1860 against indigo-farming, Mappilas revolted in 1921, or even the Warli Adivasi Revolt of 1945. More recently, in the 1970s to 2010s, Sharad Joshi led agitations for the farming sector mainly in Maharashtra; or farmers in Tamil Nadu had protested demanding Cauvery water.
• Therefore, the above pieces of evidence suggest that a pan-India blanket reform will be met with resistance and there is a need for more decentralized and region-specific solutions or reforms.

Expert recommendations

• The government while initiating reforms in a sector like agriculture which is going to have a wide-ranging consequence should be relying upon a body of knowledge that is assimilated by committees like the M.S. Swaminathan Commission and/or the Ashok Dalwai Committee.
• Examples such as transitions being worked out for farmers to move out of water-guzzling paddy crop in the states of Punjab and Haryana to other crops, say, in five years, they would reduce the area under paddy by 25-30%, and the loss they incur in the short run, will be compensated for by the government. This could, for example, also be done for sugarcane in western Maharashtra.

Conclusion:

• The issues of stagnation, high input prices in agriculture have to be addressed via consultation with various stakeholders and also by deliberating in the Parliament, but the current farm laws seem to go against all of that.
• The evidence from the 1991 economic reforms will come in handy of how far-reaching reforms led to second de-industrialisation leading to the loss of thousands of jobs. A sudden imposition of these reforms will see the same scenario in the agrarian sector, a scenario that India could ill-afford.

Category: HEALTH

1. England in lockdown

Context:

• The rapid spread of the new COVID-19 variant should alert other countries to remain vigilant.

Details:

• The United Kingdom has announced a fresh lockdown as a combative measure against the new strain of coronavirus.
• The strain appears to have emerged from the U.K and there have been concerns over the nature of the new strain and the efficacy of the vaccine in combating the new strain.

The new strain

• The new strain has been named VUI-202012/01 (the first ‘variant under investigation’ in December 2020).
• The new strain has 23 variations, a few of these mutations are seen in the vicinity of the region of the virus that binds to the human receptor. A single mutation — N501Y — has been found to increase the binding affinity, making the variant more transmissible.

The U.K lockdown

• The new national lockdown is being aimed at slowing down a surge in COVID-19 cases that threatens to overwhelm parts of the health system before a vaccine programme reaches the vulnerable sections of the population.
• The fresh lockdown is expected to be operational in London and southeast England and is anticipated to be in operation till mid-February.
• The decision to impose the lockdown came after intense deliberation and hesitation. The news of the new virus mutation in the U.K prompted the scientific advisory panel to recommend imposition of lockdown days before Christmas, however, the decision to impose lockdown was made later.
• The U.K currently has the second-highest toll in Europe with close to 75,000 deaths. The lockdown was imminent with a recent surge of more than 50,000 new cases having been reported daily since December 29, 2020, with a peak of nearly 59,000 cases on the day the fresh lockdown was announced.
• The first week of the year saw more than 26,000 COVID-19 patients being admitted to hospitals, an increase of 30% from the previous week.
• The studies hitherto have suggested that the new variant does not contribute towards increasing the disease severity or mortality. A surge in cases and hospitalisation can lead to more deaths.
• The new strain may not be more severe or fatal but it is more contagious in nature, its reproduction number (number of people a person can infect) is 1.5-1.7, a huge cause for concern; the spread is considered to be under control when the reproduction number is less than 1.
• The analysis of cases and genome sequences of nearly 44,500 samples collected from England between September 21 and December 13 has revealed that the new variant spread in many locations even while the previous lockdown was in operation.
• Astonishingly, the evidence so far has suggested that the new strain was existent even as the fresh cases were generally dropping due to reduced spread of the then-dominant strain. What can be inferred from this is that the lockdown was effective in curbing the then-dominant strain, while the new variant grew in absolute terms.
• The rapid spread of the new variant even when the lockdown was in operation is suggestive of the inherent nature of the new variant to rapidly spread owing to its higher transmissibility.
• A positive bit of news is that in areas which saw a slower baseline virus spread also reported a degree of reduced spread of the new variant, suggesting that it is within reach to reduce if not suppress the transmission of the new variant if the lockdown is meticulously implemented and the compliance is better.
• The current lockdown appears to have taken a slightly different approach by choosing to have schools and universities closed down. The new variant appears to affect a greater proportion of individuals under 20 years.
• The selective spread among the young might probably be more because educational institutions were open during the previous lockdown than due to the inherent nature of the virus.
• It is hoped that an increased pace in rollout of the vaccine will be able to combat the re-emergence of the new variant when the lockdown is eventually lifted.
• The spread of new variants should alert other countries, particularly South Africa where a problematic mutation has been found, to remain vigilant.

Conclusion

• The news of the new strain has received a mixed response, while one response has been that the new strain will be tackled by the vaccines being developed, the other response has been that mutations will make the virus more transmittable and thus cause more infections.
• However, the imposition of fresh lockdown in the U.K is an essential step in dealing with the new strain. There is a need to have a strict vigilance and surveillance network to ensure the new strain doesn’t create more damage.

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. Changing contours of India-U.K. ties

Context:

• The polite decline of the invitation to be at India’s Republic Day as a chief guest by the British Prime Minister due to the new strain of the coronavirus in the United Kingdom.

Details:

• India and the United Kingdom have a shared past and need to chart a different shared future.
• India’s relationship with the European Union bloc was dour, failing to reach a trade agreement since 2007, prompting an international relations expert refer to the relationship as a “loveless arranged marriage”.
• BREXIT allows both the parties to infuse the much-needed dynamism into the relationship.

India –UK relations in the recent past

• The year 2015 saw the Indian Prime Minister visit the U.K, the visit was accompanied by six major agreements being signed.
• The agreements ranged from nuclear energy collaboration to cooperation in railways to set up a mechanism for fast-tracking investment.
• Apart from this, the two countries set out a bold vision for the UK-India Strategic Partnership.
• The UK is supporting the Skill India Mission through a Centre for Excellence for the automobile sector in Pune. The U.K announced a commitment of up to £12m to support India’s Skill India Mission. Technology transfer from the UK will facilitate international training standards in up to 5 sectors including apprenticeships and certification.
• More recently, India’s extension of an invitation to the U.K Prime Minister for being the chief guest at the Republic Day parade has been politely turned down owing to heightened fears of COVID-19 mutations in the U.K.

A fortuitous invite

• From Britain’s perspective, India’s invitation to its Prime Minister was fortuitous because BREXIT necessitates the U.K to expend every ounce of its energy in trying to seek commercial advantage in Asian countries with high growth rates.
• India and the E.U have been locked in a stalemate over a trade deal for close to 13 years now, with several sticking points.
• The EU aspired for duty reductions on autos, wines and spirits and wanted India to open up its financial sectors such as banking and insurance, postal, legal, accountancy, maritime, security and retail. India, as always, sought free movement for service professionals.
• It is very likely that these will be the sticking points between India and Britain post-BREXIT, because both the countries have a similar export profile, being predominantly services-oriented.
• In response to free movement for professionals under mode-4 of services under the World Trade Organisation, Britain will refer to its new points-based system for immigrants.
• India’s reluctance to join the bandwagon of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership implies that India is cautious about negotiating any new trade agreement, and is likely to emphasize on issues concerning the country of origin and percentage of value addition in exports.
• Therefore, when the time comes for a discrete agreement with Britain, the two countries would prefer to err on the defensive side and settle for a limited one perhaps covering pharmaceuticals, financial technology, chemicals, defence production, petroleum and food products.

Close relations

1. Diaspora

• India-U.K. links are significant. Close to one and a half million persons of Indian origin reside in Britain. The diaspora has a substantial political representation, having 15 Members of Parliament, three in Cabinet and two holding high office as Finance and Home Ministers.

2. Tourism

• In the pre-COVID era, Britain consistently received streams of Indians as tourists. Britain was one of the popular tourist destinations for Indians with half a million tourists from India visiting Britain annually and twice that figure in the reverse direction.

3. Education

• Around 30,000 Indians study in Britain despite restrictive opportunities for post-graduation employment, making it a hub for higher education among Indians.

4. Investments

• Britain is among the top investors in India and India is the second-biggest investor and a major job creator in Britain.
• India has a credit balance in total trade of $16 billion, but on the flip side, it is below India’s trade with Switzerland, Germany or Belgium, therefore, the room for improvement is huge.

Conclusion:

• India has a shared past with Britain and needs to chart a different shared future, now that Britain has left the European Union (EU).
• The UN Security Council, where Britain has permanent status and India holds a non-permanent seat this year and the next, will offer a platform for both countries to work together on global affairs.
• 2021 will see the United Kingdom hosting India as an invitee to the G-7, and the UN Climate Change Conference.
• Thus India and the U.K will have to cross each other’s path on multiple platforms and issues. Hence, it is very important for both of them to have a well-established and structured relationship.

1. PM inaugurates Kochi-Mangaluru LNG pipeline

What’s in News?

The Prime Minister inaugurated the 450-km Kochi-Koottanad-Mangaluru LNG (liquefied natural gas) pipeline.

Details:

• The facility is part of the government’s “one nation, one gas grid” policy.
• This is as part of efforts to make India a natural gas-based economy.
• The government plans to increase the share of natural gas in the energy sector from the present 6% to 15% by 2030.
• 10,000 more CNG (compressed natural gas) stations would be opened and several lakh PNG (piped natural gas) household connections given in the coming days.
• The Kochi-Mangaluru pipeline would provide another 21 lakh PNG connections.

This topic has been covered in 3^rd January 2021 PIB.

1. U.K. PM Boris Johnson calls off India visit

What’s in News?

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has cancelled his visit to India. He was to be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade.

• The decision has been taken in view of the escalation in the COVID-19 situation.

Read more on this topic covered in 18^th December 2020 Comprehensive News Analysis.

2. Government launches hackathon for toys

What’s in News?

The Centre launched a hackathon for students, teachers and start-ups to design and develop toys and games based on Indian culture and ethos, local folklore and heroes, and Indian value systems.

This topic has been covered in 5^th January 2021 PIB Summary and Analysis.

3. An Indian gift helps Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 fight

What’s in News?

India-funded free ambulance service is playing a vital role in Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 response.

• On Sri Lanka’s request, India provided a grant of $7.56 million for the Suwa Seriya [vehicle or journey for good health] service.
• It was launched in 2016, in Sri Lanka’s Western and Southern Provinces, with 88 ambulances.
• In the next couple of years, the service was expanded to cover all nine provinces on the island, with a fleet of 297 ambulances.
  • Sri Lanka purchased them from Tata Motors, with an additional Indian grant of $15.09 million.
• It is India’s second-largest grant project in the island.
• The largest grant is for the housing project of more than 60,000 houses, with a nearly $400-million grant.

Q1. Global Economic Prospects is released by:

Q2. Which of the given pairs are correctly matched?

1. Channapatna toys – Karnataka
2. Etikoppa toys – Tamil Nadu
3. Sawantwadi toys – Gujarat
4. Kondapalli Bommalu – Andhra Pradesh

Choose the correct option:

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

Q3. Consider the following statements with respect to Gulf Co-operation Council:

1. It is a political and economic union of countries surrounding the Persian Gulf.
2. Its headquarters is located at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
3. Iraq is not a part of GCC

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

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

Q4. What is the status of Indian Skimmer in the IUCN Red List?

1. Critically Endangered
2. Endangered
3. Vulnerable
4. Least Concern