31 Jan 2023: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

E. Editorials

Category: INDIAN ECONOMY

1. Tasks for India’s millet revolution

Syllabus: Indian Agriculture and Food Security.

Mains: Millet cultivation and associated concerns.

Prelims: International Year of Millets.

Context: 2023 is declared as the International Year of Millets.

Details:

• 2023 has been declared the International Year of Millets by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
• Special properties of millets are:
  • They are rich in proteins, micronutrients, and antioxidants.
  • They are dietary fibres.
  • Millets are drought resistant and can be grown in semi-arid regions.

Background Details:

• Millets grown in India can be classified into two categories:
  • Major Millets: sorghum, pearl millet, and finger millet.
  • Minor Millets: foxtail, little millet, kodo, proso, and barnyard millet.
• The total cereal offtake in the year 2019-20 through Public Distribution System (PDS), Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), and Mid-Day Meal was approximately 54 million tonnes. If 20% of rice and wheat is replaced by millet, states would have to procure around 10.8 million tonnes of millet.
• Notably, the total production of nutri-cereals (earlier called coarse cereals) was around 47.7 million tonnes (Mt) in 2019-20. The overall breakdown is as follows:
  • Maize: 28.8 Mt (Maize is a non-millet crop mainly used as feed)
  • Sorghum: 4.8 Mt
  • Pearl millet: 10.4 Mt 
  • Finger millet and other millets: 3.7 Mt

Also read: Government Schemes, Background, Advantages & Types of Millets in India

Associated Concerns:

• Currently, very few states procure millets. Moreover, the stocks of the central pool are also meagre. For instance, the central stocks (May 2022) had 33 Mt of rice and 31 Mt of wheat with only 4 lakh tonnes of nutri-cereals.
• One of the major issues is the decline in the area of millet cultivation. For example, in the last ten years, 
  • Sorghum (jowar) production declined
  • Pearl millet (bajra) production stagnated
  • The production of other millets including finger millet (ragi) also stagnated or declined. 
• According to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the area under nutri-cereals has drastically reduced from 41 million hectares in the mid-1980s to around 24 million hectares in 2017-18.
• Another major concern is the low productivity of millets. Though the productivity of jowar and bajra has improved, it is marginal.
• Moreover, the processing of millets is a time-consuming and laborious task.
• The most difficult evaluation is the measurement of changes in consumption and nutrition.

CASE STUDY OF KOLLI HILLS: The Kolli hills block in the Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu is a unique geographic and agroecological region in the Eastern Ghats. It is majorly populated by Scheduled Tribes. A project was undertaken in this region with three main objectives: Preserve crop diversity in local millet varieties Increase millet production and consumption  Improve farm incomes There has been a rapid decline in minor millet cultivation in the region, and land use shifted toward more profitable crops like cassava (tapioca), pineapple, coffee, and pepper. A small share of grain was converted into a value-added product and a small quantity was marketed. The three focus areas of the project were: Improvement of yield was attempted through improved seeds, community seed banks, new agronomic practices, and new technology.  Customized post-harvest machinery like small-scale localized mechanical milling was introduced. It was operated by self-help groups. Appropriate training was provided for value addition along with branding and marketing link establishment. Consequences: Net returns from value-added products were 5 to 10 times higher than that of grains. The area under cultivation of minor millets and finger millet increased gradually after 2014-15. Yields also increased. The millet consumption improved in the region. The number of private mills has risen.

Conclusion:

• Increasing the production of millets and reversing the decline in the area cultivated requires multiple interventions like scientific inputs, institutional methods, financial help, and in-kind support.
• The central and state governments (like Odisha and Karnataka) are taking several steps like the Millet Mission. These are good steps but the economics of millet cultivation should be taken into account.
• Ensuring supply through PDS would further help in making it profitable.

Also read: Yojana Magazine Gist for UPSC Exam: January 2023 Issue

Nut Graf: The area under millet cultivation in India has declined since the mid-1980s. The International Year of Millets provides India with a unique opportunity to expand the production as well as consumption of millets. However, it should be noted that appropriate infrastructural, institutional, and financial support would be required to reverse the declining trend.

Category: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

1. A problem of science at the Padma awards

Syllabus: Developments in the field of Science and Technology.

Mains: Concerns associated with awards in the field of  ‘Science and Engineering’.

Context: Padma Awards in the field of science.

Details:

• The Indian government started conferring Padma awards in 1955. In the field of ‘Science and Engineering’, the work of laureates is associated with one of the many fields like mechanical engineering, materials science, metallurgy, aeronautics, space science, agriculture, plant breeding, mathematics, and theoretical physics.
• Science is based on scientific methods and academic publishing. However, socially it is identified as an activity undertaken by highly trained people whose findings and texts are largely presumed to be of superior knowledge.

Also read: AIR Spotlight: Padma Awards 2023

Padma Awards in Science: 

• Scientific works in all fields are identified by scientific papers. However, plant breeding is an exception, where the work of a plant breeder can be evident either as a paper or in the form of a plant variety (having beneficial properties and/or that are being preserved) that many cultivators adopt.
• Two recipients of Padma Awards in 2023:
  • Cheruvayal K. Raman: 
    • He was awarded Padma Shri for conserving more than 50 rice varieties in Wayanad. 
    • He is not formally trained as a botanist or scientist. Moreover, he has not published any scientific papers.
    • He is recognized “for conserving plant agro-biodiversity” and for preserving seed varieties that could strengthen India’s food security during the climate crisis.
  • Khader Vali Dudekula:
    • He was conferred Padma Shri in ‘science and engineering’. He popularized the dietary benefits of millets.
    • However, he also prescribed certain other scientifically doubtful elements like homoeopathy, millet consumption to “prevent” or “cure” cancers, diabetes, and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), and encouraged avoiding the consumption of milk, eggs, and non-vegetarian food.
    • He also lacks scientific papers demonstrating the efficacy of the suggested prescriptions.

Associated Concerns and Way Ahead:

• Sometimes the claims of such award winners undermine important, time-sensitive dietary and medical interventions.
• There is a threat of overlooking the possible side-effects of ‘traditional’ medicine and delay of tested treatments.
• If scientific papers exist, then through clinical trials, errant practitioners can be held accountable.
• Certain products whose consumption might be denied like milk, egg, and non-vegetarian food are actually cheap and good sources of minerals and proteins.
• There is apprehension that alternative systems can compromise the trust in scientifically tested medicines.
• Certain claims about the therapeutic benefits of millets against cancer require scrutiny.
• It is suggested by the author that plant breeders should be rewarded under the category of ‘agriculture and seeds’ as opposed to ‘science and engineering’ so as to indicate that their success is not absolutely scientific.
• It is also recommended by the author that conferring Padma Awards in the field of ‘Science and Engineering’ should be adequately and scientifically validated. This would help in insulating the purpose of science and public healthcare from arbitrary claims.

Also read: National Science Day 2022: Themes and Awardees

Nut Graf: The Padma Awards in the field of ‘Science and Engineering’ in the past few years have been accused of showing no adherence to scientific approaches. It is suggested that before conferring awards in this field, the government should scientifically validate all claims in order to ensure trust and insulate public healthcare from untested cures and solutions.

Category: POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. In 2022, trial courts imposed most death sentences in 20 years

Syllabus: Judiciary and government policies and interventions.

Mains: Statistics of death sentences in India.

Prelims: Annual Statistics Report 2022.

Details:

• According to the Annual Statistics Report 2022, by the end of 2022, there were around 539 prisoners on death row in India. This is the highest since 2016.

• The reason for the peak is that the trial courts imposed 165 death sentences in 2022, which was the highest in two decades.
• The increase can be attributed to a special ruling of the Ahmedabad serial blasts case of 2008 that left around 56 people dead and more than 200 injured. The court in February 2022 awarded the death penalty to 38 convicts and sentenced 11 others to life imprisonment until death.
• The highest among all the states is Gujarat which imposed 51 death penalties in 2022. It should be noted that the average number of death sentences imposed between 2016 and 2021 was 2.5.
• Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand also registered a significant rise in death sentences imposed by trial courts in 2022.
• However, in September 2022, the three-member Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court referred the matter of meaningful opportunity to those guilty of capital punishment to a five-judge bench. 
• It is suggested that the court might look beyond the reports and involve psychologists and behavioural experts considering mental history, childhood experience, upbringing, social and cultural factors, etc. This might decrease the number of death penalties by the trial courts in the future.
• Another major factor for the increase in death row prisoners was the low disposal rate of death penalty cases by the appellate courts. Notably, the number of cases confirmed by the High Courts was very low in most years.
• In 11 cases heard by the Supreme Court that involved 15 prisoners, 5 were acquitted of all charges; the death sentences for 8 were commuted to life imprisonment; and 2 death penalty verdicts were confirmed.

Figure: Death penalty cases handled by Supreme Court

Read about the case against the death penalty for the UPSC exam.

Nut Graf: The trial courts imposed the largest number of death sentences in 2022 when compared to the last twenty years. However, it is speculated that capital punishment will be imposed in the future by considering aspects like mental health, and social and cultural factors of the accused.