Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Challenges facing cooperatives in India
Context
The article delved into the past of the cooperative movement and give some suggestions to resolve the issues facing cooperatives in India.
Background of cooperatives
- Friedrich Raiffeisen, who along with compatriot Schulze-Delitzsch in Germany, and Luzzatti of Italy, pioneered cooperatives in Europe.
- Cooperatives in India: The Governor of the Madras Presidency, Lord Wenlock, was the first to seriously attempt replicating European cooperatives in India.
- Principles: Raiffeisen based them on the principles of self-help, self-governance, and self-responsibility.
- Nicholson wrote that the ‘future of rural credit lies with those who being of the people, live among the people, and yet by their intelligence, prescience and energy, are above the people’.
- Plunkett, in his foreword to Eleanor Hough’s The Cooperative Movement in India (1932), commented that what India had was not a movement, but a policy.
- It was ‘created by ‘resolutions of the Central Government’ unlike Europe.
- Increasing government control: John Matthai wrote in 1925 that the challenge was to loosen government grip on cooperation over the years.
- But, government control has only increased, violating a core cooperative principle of political neutrality.
- This reflects a collective failure of the political class.
Challenges facing cooperatives
- After Independence, cooperative institutions became an instrument of planning and state action.
- Not surprisingly, successful Indian cooperatives such as the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF)/Amul, Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) and Krishak Bharati Cooperative Limited (KRIBHCO), are outside government control.
- Globally, seven of the top 10 cooperatives by asset size are from the financial sector.
- The Indian financial sector is nowhere in the picture going by asset size.
- Cooperatives have also become avenues for regulatory arbitrage, circumventing lending and anti-money laundering regulations.
- The committees which examined cooperative banking suffered from the top-down quality that Plunkett and others frowned upon.
- Recent initiatives such as an umbrella organisation for urban cooperatives and a new Ministry of Cooperation at the Centre threaten to further this approach in the absence of safeguards.
Suggestions
- First, the powers of the RCS need to be scaled back.
- In almost all States, the RCS has become an instrument of inspection and domination, one which imposes uniform by-laws, and amends them when individual societies do not fall in line.
- There is a need to transfer work from the RCS to cooperative federations — as in Singapore.
- Second, the rural-urban dichotomy in the regulatory treatment of cooperatives is specious and outdated.
- Such differences are immaterial when regulation is to be based on the cooperative nature of organisations.
- Third, the regulation and the supervision of cooperative banks should move to a new body from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for urban banks and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for rural banks.
- Fourth, lessons from the Netherlands, where cooperative banks owe their success to a segmented market, are pertinent.
- In India, adopting a multi-agency approach, especially after bank nationalisation, has affected the efficiency of both commercial and cooperative banks.
- Commercial bank-cooperative sector linkages at various levels could alternatively provide better synergies.
Conclusion
The cooperative sector in India faces challenges on various fronts. There is a need for implementing the changes suggested above to play an important role expected from it in the economy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Tackling air pollution through solar farming
Context
Supreme Court (SC) judges have pulled up the Delhi and central governments for not doing enough to correct the dire air quality situation. They also remarked on what message we are sending to the world.
The pollution problem raises doubt about the quality of urbanisation in India
- If one looks at the capitals of G20 countries, Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) during November 1-15, is by far the worst at 312, as per World Air Quality Index Project.
- India’s distinction goes beyond Delhi.
- As per the World Air Quality Report of 2020, prepared by IQAir (a Swiss organisation), of the 30 most polluted cities in the world, 22 are in India.
- The problem is much deeper, raising doubts about the quality of our urbanisation.
Contributing sources and their share
- Contributing sources: As per the report of the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change submitted to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change following sources contribute in the given proportion:
- Energy generation (largely coal-based thermal power) is the biggest culprit with a share of 44 per cent in greenhouse gas emissions,
- Energy generation is followed by manufacturing and construction-18 per cent.
- Agriculture-14 per cent.
- Transport-13 per cent industrial processes and product use- 8 per cent and waste burning- 3 per cent.
Suggestions to tackle Delhi’s pollution
- As per the System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the reasons for poor AQI differ day to day.
- On a particular day, say November 7, stubble burning contributed 48 per cent of Delhi’s air pollution, which fell to just 2 per cent on November 18.
- Reduce rice cultivation: The Centre needs to sit down with neighbouring states and come up with a plan to reduce the rice area in this belt, which is already depleting the water table, creating methane and nitrous oxide, to incentivise farmers to switch to other crops through better returns than in rice cultivation.
- Adopt EVs: To tackle vehicular pollution, we need a massive drive towards electric vehicles (EVs), and later towards green hydrogen when it becomes competitive with fossil fuels.
- Charging stations: Scaling up EVs quickly demands creating charging stations on a war footing.
- Develop carbon sink: Delhi also needs a good carbon sink.
- Rejuvenating the Ridge area with dense forests and developing thick forests on both sides of the Yamuna may help.
Enhancing farmers income through solar farming
- The Prime Minister has done a commendable job in Glasgow to commit that 50 per cent of India’s energy will be from renewable sources by 2030.
- To replace coal in energy generation, solar and wind is the way to go at the all-India level.
- The current model in solar energy is heavily tilted towards companies.
- They are setting up large solar farms on degraded or less fertile lands.
- We can supplement that model by developing solar farms on farmers’ fields.
- This would require solar panels to be fixed at a 10 feet height with due spacing to let enough sunlight come to the plants for photosynthesis.
- These “solar trees” can then become the “third crop” for the farmers, earning them regular income throughout the year, provided the law allows them to sell this power to the national grid.
- The Delhi government’s pilot in Ujwa KVK land on these lines showed that farmers can earn up to Rs 1 lakh per acre per year from this “solar farming”.
- This is on top of the two crops they can keep growing under those solar trees.
- This will double farmers’ income within a year.
Conclusion
As deteriorating air quality grips the whole country, we need to work on multiple levels with coordination to tackle the problem.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: S-400
Mains level: Paper 2- India- Russia ties in the changed geopolitical context
Context
The Russian president is on visit to India. Visits by Russian presidents to India always invoke a sense of nostalgia. The Moscow-Delhi relationship dates back to the Cold War era and it has been strong ever since.
Factors limiting the possibilities for bilateral partnership
- The conflict between Russia and the West: One factor is the continuing conflict between the Kremlin and the West.
- Absence of trade between India and Russia: The other is the absence of a thriving commercial relationship between India and Russia.
- India-US relations: India’s relations with Washington has never been as intense as it is today.
- Russia-China relations: Moscow’s embrace of Beijing is tighter than ever.
- The US-China rivalry: That the US and China are now at each other’s throats makes the great power dynamic a lot more complicated for India and Russia.
Importance of trade ties
- Need for robust business ties: That Delhi and Moscow have problems with the best friend of the other would have been more manageable if business ties between India and Russia were solid.
- Where India and Russia have greater freedom is in the economic domain, but their failure to boost the commercial relationship has been stark.
- India-Russia annual trade in goods is stuck at about $10 billion.
- Slow progress on enhancing trade and investment ties: During the last 20 summits with Putin, the two sides have repeatedly affirmed the importance of enhancing trade and investment ties; but progress has been hard to come by.
- How to fix the problem? The problem clearly can’t be fixed at the level of governments.
- The Russian business elites gravitate to Europe and China. The Indian corporations are focused on America and China.
Russia-US ties and its implications for India
- Implications for India? The structural constraints posed by the great power dynamic and vastly different appreciation of the regional security environment could be reduced if matters improve between Washington and Moscow.
- In Washington, the Biden administration recognises the importance of ending this permanent crisis in US-Russian relations.
- Winning a strategic competition with China: The Biden administration, which is focused on winning the intensifying strategic competition with China, values a stable relationship with Russia.
- Nothing pleases Moscow more than the image of being Washington’s equal on the global stage.
- Relief for India: A less conflictual relationship between Washington and Moscow will be a huge relief for India; but Delhi can’t nudge them closer to each other.
Why the partnership with India matters to Russia
- Dangers of excessive reliance on China: Persistent conflict with the US, Europe, and Japan have moved Moscow ever closer to Beijing.
- But Moscow knows the dangers of relying solely on a neighbour which has risen to greatness — the Chinese economy at nearly $15 trillion today is nearly 10 times larger than that of Russia.
- Sustaining the traditional partnership with India: While resetting Russia’s relations with the West is hard, sustaining the traditional partnership with Delhi is of some political value to Moscow.
- Longstanding defence ties: Russia is pleased that the S-400 missile sale has gone through despite strong US opposition.
- For it signals Delhi’s commitment not to let Washington roll back India’s longstanding defence ties with Russia.
- Russia knows India’s strategic cooperation with the US has acquired an unstoppable momentum; and Delhi knows it has no veto over the Sino-Russian strategic partnership.
- Moscow and Delhi are learning to live with this uncomfortable unreality and stabilising their political ties within that context.
Consider the question “While both India and Russia have drifted apart from the depth of past partnerships, there is a need for stabilising their political ties within the changed context.Comment.”
Context
Delhi and Moscow have no reason to be satisfied with the poor state of their commercial ties. The success of Monday’s summit lies not in squeezing more out of bilateral defence ties, but in laying a clear path for expansive economic cooperation, and generating a better understanding of each other’s imperatives on Afghanistan and the Indo-Pacific.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Hypersonic Glide Vehicle, ICBM
Mains level: Hypersonic weapons race
China recently tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile while Russia announced that it had successfully test-launched a Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missile in early October.
What are Hypersonic Weapons?
- The speed of sound is Mach 1, and speeds upto Mach 5 are supersonic and speeds above Mach 5 are hypersonic.
- They are manoeuvrable weapons that can fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, five times the speed of sound.
- A number of other countries – including Australia, India, France, Germany, and Japan—are developing hypersonic weapons technology.
Features of HSWs
- Trajectory: Ballistic Missiles are long-range missile that leaves the earth’s atmosphere before re-entry, pursuing a parabolic trajectory towards its target
- Maneuverability: HSW travel within the atmosphere and can manoeuvre midway which combined with their high speeds make their detection and interception extremely difficult.
- Stealth: Radars and air defences cannot intercept them till they are very close. They can penetrate most missile defences and further compress the timelines for response by a nation under attack.
Types of Hypersonic Weapons
There are two classes of hypersonic weapons:
- Hypersonic glide vehicles (HGV): They are launched from a rocket before gliding to a target.
- Hypersonic cruise missiles (HCM): They are powered by high-speed, air-breathing engines, or scramjets, after acquiring their target.
Where does the US stand?
- The US has active hypersonic development programs.
- It is said to be lagging behind China and Russia because most US hypersonic weapons are not being designed for use with a nuclear warhead.
- It is in process of developing prototypes to assist in the evaluation of potential weapon system concepts and mission sets.
Hypersonic program in India
- HSTDV program: India is developing an indigenous, dual-capable hypersonic cruise missile as part of its Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV) program.
- Capacity: India operates approximately 12 hypersonic wind tunnels and is capable of testing speeds of up to Mach 13.
- In-operation: The DRDO has successfully tested a Mach 6 scramjet in June 2019 and September 2020 using the demonstrated scramjet engine technology.
DRDO has validated many associated crucial technologies such as:
- Aerodynamic configuration for hypersonic maneuvers
- Use of scramjet propulsion for ignition and sustained combustion at the hypersonic flow
- Thermo-structural characterization of high-temperature materials
- Separation mechanism at hypersonic velocities has been validated
Conclusion
- There are rising tensions between the US, China and Russia worsening the geopolitical situation worldwide.
- The focus for hypersonic weapons is only set to accelerate more countries to invest significant resources in their design and development.
Back2Basics:
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Provision for Bail
Mains level: Bail as an FR under Article 21
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has approached the Supreme Court against a Bombay High Court order granting bail to an advocate and activist.
What is the case?
- In its bail order, the court has asked the NIA Court to decide the conditions for her release.
- The activist was given ‘default bail’.
- The case highlights the nuances involved in a court determining the circumstances in which statutory bail is granted or denied, even though it is generally considered “an indefeasible right”.
What is default bail?
- This is enshrined in Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
- Also known as statutory bail, this is a Right to Bail that accrues when the police fail to complete investigation within a specified period in respect of a person in judicial custody.
- When it is not possible for the police to complete an investigation in 24 hours, the police produce the suspect in court and seek orders for either police or judicial custody.
When is the Bail granted?
- For most offences, the police have 60 days to complete the investigation and file a final report before the court.
- However, where the offence attracts death sentence or life imprisonment, or a jail term of not less than 10 years, the period available is 90 days.
- In other words, a magistrate cannot authorise a person’s judicial remand beyond the 60-or 90-day limit.
- At the end of this period, if the investigation is not complete, the court shall release the person “if he is prepared to and does furnish bail”.
How does the provision vary for special laws?
The extension of time is not automatic but requires a judicial order.
- Ordinary law (IPC/CrPC): The 60- or 90-day limit is only for ordinary penal law.
- Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act: In NDPS Act, the period is 180 days. However, in cases involving substances in commercial quantity, the period may be extended up to one year.
- Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act: In UAPA, the default limit is 90 days only. The court may grant an extension of another 90 days, if it is satisfied that the progress made in the investigation and giving reasons to keep the accused in further custody.
What are the laid-down principles on this aspect?
- A matter of Right: Default or statutory bail is an indefeasible right’, regardless of the nature of the crime liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.
- Stipulated period calculation: The stipulated period within which the charge sheet has to be filed begins from the day the accused is remanded for the first time. It includes days undergone in both police and judicial custody, but not days spent in house-arrest.
- Voluntary: There is no automatic bail.
Try this similar PYQ from CSP 2021:
Q. With reference to India, consider the following statements:
- When a prisoner makes a sufficient case, parole cannot be out denied to such prisoner because it becomes a matter of his/her right.
- State Governments have their own Prisoners Release on Parole Rules.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Hallmark Gold
Mains level: Not Much
The Government has made it mandatory for the introduction of a Hallmark Unique Identification (HUID) number in every piece of jewellery.
What is HUID?
- HUID is a six-digit alphanumeric code, or one that consists of numbers and letters. It is given to every piece of jewellery at the time of hallmarking and is unique for each piece.
- It is being implemented by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in a phased manner.
- Hallmarking & HUID are mandatory for 14-, 18- and 22-carat gold jewellery and artefacts.
- Before buying any piece of gold jewellery, the buyer should check all these three symbols.
Implementation of HUID
- Symbols: The hallmark consists of three symbols which give some information about the jewellery piece. The first symbol is the BIS logo; the second indicates purity and fineness; and the third symbol is the HUID.
- A&H centre: Jewellery is stamped with the unique number manually at the Assaying & Hallmarking centre.
Why is it being introduced?
- Authentication: HUID gives a distinct identity to each piece of jewellery enabling traceability.
- Credibility: It is critical to the credibility of hallmarking and to help address complaints against adulteration.
- Registration: In HUID-based hallmarking, registration of jewellers is an automatic process with no human interference.
- Prevents malpractice: It also helps check malpractice by members of the trade.
- Data privacy: It is a secure system and poses no risk to data privacy and security.
- Financial tracking: HUID provides traceability and financial tracking of purchases.
Issues with HUID
- Time-consuming: It is cumbersome to number each piece of jewellery
- Intricate jewellery: HUID cannot be engraved in tiny pieces.
- Unnecessary expense: Also it will increase cost for consumers.
- Infrastructural issues: there needs to be ample AH Centres.
What does this mean for the consumer?
- Consumer protection: Given that gold plays a big role in the lives of Indians, mandating gold hallmarking is aimed at protecting consumer interests.
- Assurance of quality: It provides ‘third-party assurance’ to consumers on the purity of gold jewellery.
Conclusion
- HUID concept is innovative, out-of-the-box thinking and more than makes up for stepping in late with mandatory hallmarking.
- It is the sort of global leadership India has and needs to show in gold-related reforms.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Dhawan-1
Mains level: Space startups in India
Skyroot Aerospace successfully tested Dhawan-1 last month. It became the country’s first privately developed fully cryogenic rocket engine.
Dhawan-1
- The indigenous engine was developed using 3D printing with a superalloy.
- It runs on two high-performance rocket propellants — liquid natural gas (LNG) and liquid oxygen (LoX).
- This was after successfully designing and developing the solid propulsion rocket engine, the first private firm in the country to do so.
Other projects by Skyroot
- Skyroot is working simultaneously on different stages of both solid propulsion and liquid propulsion engines.
- It is named after eminent scientists, like Kalam (Abdul Kalam) series for the former and Dhawan (Satish Dhawan).
- The launch vehicles are named after Vikram Sarabhai.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Konyak Tribe
Mains level: Not Much
An angry mob allegedly vandalized an Assam Rifles camp and the office of the Konyak Union in Nagaland’s Mon district.
Konyak Tribe
- With a population of roughly 3 lakh, the area inhabited by the Konyaks extends into Arunachal Pradesh, with a sizeable population in Myanmar as well.
- They are known to be one of the fiercest warrior tribes in Nagaland.
- The Konyaks were the last to give up the practice of head-hunting – severing heads of enemies after attacking rival tribes – as late as the 1980s.
Significance in Naga Peace Process
- Mon is the only district in Nagaland where the separatist group has not been able to set up base camps, largely due to resistance from the Konyaks.
- The Konyaks therefore, are imperative for a smooth resolution of the peace talks, as well as the post-talk peace process in the state.
Also read:
Naga Peace Accord
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Project RE-HAB
Mains level: Man-Animal Conflict
Buoyed by the success of its innovative Project RE-HAB (Reducing Elephant-Human Attacks using Bees) in Karnataka, Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has now replicated the project in Assam.
Project RE-HAB
- Project RE-HAB is a sub-mission of KVIC’s National Honey Mission.
- Under the project, “Bee-fences” are created by setting up bee boxes in the passageways of elephants to block their entrance to human territories.
- The boxes are connected with a string so that when elephants attempt to pass through, a tug or pull causes the bees to swarm the elephant herds and dissuade them from progressing further.
- It is a cost-effective way of reducing human-wild conflicts without causing any harm to the animals.
How does it work?
- It is scientifically recorded that elephants are annoyed by the honey bees.
- Elephants also fear that the bee swarms can bite the sensitive inner side of the trunk and eyes.
- The collective buzz of the bees is annoying to elephants that force them to return.
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