Daily Newspaper Analysis UPSC pdf

 Daily Newspaper Analysis UPSC pdf

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Current Affairs ( November 22, 23 )

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News Analysis

 

Repealing Farm Laws

Why in News

Recently, the Prime Minister announced the repeal of the three contentious farm laws.

• The Parliament ( Lok Sabha + Rajya Sabha + President) has the authority to enact, amend, and repeal any law.

• The farm laws had witnessed protests from farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, on the borders of Delhi for more than a year.

Key Points

• Three Farm Laws:
  
  

• Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020: It is aimed at allowing trade in agricultural produce outside the existing APMC (Agricultural Produce Market Committee) mandis.

• Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020: It seeks to provide a framework for contract farming.

• Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020: It is aimed at removing commodities such as cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onion and potato from the list of essential commodities.

• Reason for Enacting the Laws:
  
  

• There has been a long-pending demand for reforms in agricultural marketing, a subject that comes under the purview of state governments.

• The Centre took the issue up in the early 2000s by pushing for reforms in the APMC Acts of the states.

• The Agriculture Ministry under the then government designed a model APMC Act in 2003 and circulated it among the states.
  
  

• The subsequent government, too, pushed for these reforms. But given that it is a state subject, the Centre has had little success in getting the states to adopt the model APMC Act.

• It was in this backdrop that the government went for reforms in the sector by passing these laws.

• Reasons Behind Farmers Protest:
  
  

• Repealing the farm laws: The first and foremost demand of the protesting farmers’ organisations is the repeal of three new agricultural laws.
  
  

• As per the farmers the law is framed to suit big corporations who seek to dominate the Indian food and agriculture business and will weaken the negotiating power of farmers. Also, big private companies, exporters, wholesalers, and processors may get an edge.

• Minimum support price: The second demand of farmers is the guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) to ensure procurement of crops at a suitable price.
  
  

• The Farmers are also demanding to get a written assurance in the form of a Bill for the continuation of the MSP and conventional food grain procurement system.

• The Farmers’ organisations want the APMC or the Mandi System to be protected.

• Electricity (Amendment) Bill: The third demand of farmers is the withdrawal of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, as they feel that they won’t get free electricity due to this.

• Swaminathan Commission: The Farmers are demanding MSP as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission.
  
  

• The Swaminathan Commission Report states that the government should raise the MSP to at least 50% more than the weighted average cost of production. It is also known as the C2+ 50% formula.

• It includes the imputed cost of capital and the rent on the land (called ‘C2’ ) to give farmers 50% returns.

• Staying the Implementation:
  
  

• The Supreme Court stayed the implementation of the three laws in January 2021.
  
  

• The farm laws were in force for only 221 days — June 5th 2020, when the ordinances were promulgated to January 12th 2021, when the Supreme Court stayed their implementation.

• Since the stay, the laws have been suspended. The government has used old provisions of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 to impose stock limits, having amended the Act through one of the three farm laws.

• Impacts of Repealing the Law:
  
  

• Need of Consultation:
  
  

• The repeal underlines that any future attempts to reform the rural agricultural economy would require a much wider consultation, not only for better design of reforms, but for wider acceptance.

• The repeal would leave the government hesitant about pursuing these reforms in stealth mode again.
  
  

• The government will doubtless have to walk the path of reform very cautiously.

• Low Farmers Income:
  
  

• Given that the average holding size stands at just 0.9 ha (2018-19). Unless one goes for high-value agriculture — and, that’s where one needs efficient functioning value chains from farm to fork by the infusion of private investments in logistics, storage, processing, e-commerce, and digital technologies — the incomes of farmers cannot be increased significantly.

• There is no doubt that this sector is crying for reforms, both in the marketing of outputs as well as inputs, including land lease markets and direct benefit transfer of all input subsidies — fertilisers, power, credit and farm machinery.

• Negative Impact on Industries:
  
  

• Industries including logistics, cold chain, agri-related, and farm equipment would be impacted the most because they were supposed to be the direct beneficiaries of these laws.

• Constant Agri-GDP:
  
  

• The agri-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth has been 3.5% per annum in the last 14 years. One expects this trend to continue — there might be minor changes in the agri-GDP depending on rainfall patterns.

• Cropping patterns will remain skewed in favour of rice and wheat, with the granaries of the Food Corporation of India bulging with stocks of grain. The food subsidy will keep bloating and there will be large leakages.

 

Threat to Gender Equality due to Covid-19: UNESCO Study

Why in News

Recently UNESCO released a new study, ‘when schools shut’, exposing the gendered impact of Covid-19 school closures on learning, health and well-being.

• It was released on the occasion of the 2021 International Day of the Girl Child (11th October).

International Day of the Girl Child

• History:
  
  

• In 1995, at the World Conference on Women in Beijing, the need for an event focused on young and vulnerable girls was identified.

• The initiative began as a non-government international plan of action to address the challenge faced by young women.

• A resolution to declare 11th October as the International Day of the Girls Child was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2011.

• In 2020, this marked 25 years of the adoption of the Beijing declaration.

• Aim:
  
  

• It is celebrated for empowering and amplifying the voices of young girls around the world.

• Theme for 2021:
  
  

• ‘Digital generation'. Our generation’.

Key Points

• About the Study:

• The global study titled “When schools shut: Gendered impacts of Covid-19 school closures” brings to the fore that girls and boys, young women and men were affected differently by school closures, depending on the context.

• At the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, 1.6 billion students in 190 countries were affected by school closures.

• Areas of Gendered Impacts:

• Household Demands:

• In poorer contexts, girls’ time to learn was constrained by increased household chores. Boys’ participation in learning was limited by income-generating activities.

• Digital Divide:

• Girls faced difficulties in engaging in digital remote learning modalities in many contexts because of limited access to internet-enabled devices, a lack of digital skills and cultural norms restricting their use of technological devices.

• The study pointed out that digital gender-divide was already a concern before the Covid-19 crisis.

• Rate of School Return:

• Limited data available to date about school return rates also show gender disparities.

• A study conducted in four counties in Kenya found that 16 % of girls and 8 % of boys aged 15 to 19 failed to re-enrol during the two months following school reopening in early 2021.

• Impact on Health:

• School closures have impacted children’s health, notably their mental health, well-being and protection.

• Girls reported more stress, anxiety and depression than boys in 15 countries across the world. LGBTQI learners reported high levels of isolation and anxiety.

• Suggestions:

• Factor Gender in Policies and Programmes:

• The study calls on the education community to factor gender in policies and programmes to tackle declining participation and low return-to-school rates in vulnerable communities, including through cash transfers and specific support to pregnant girls and adolescent mothers.

• Track Trends and Expand Interventions:

• Continued efforts are needed to track trends and expand interventions to bring an end to child marriages as well as early and forced marriages, practices which rob girls of their right to education and health and reduce their long-term prospects.

• No-Tech and Low-Tech Remote Learning Solutions:

• A strong need for no-tech and low-tech remote learning solutions, measures to enable schools to provide comprehensive psychosocial support and to monitor participation through sex-disaggregated data, among other necessary measures is needed.

 

USOF Scheme for Aspirational Districts in 5 states

Why in News

Recently, the Union Cabinet has approved the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) scheme for provisioning of 4G-based mobile services in uncovered villages of aspirational districts across five states — Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and Odisha.

• NITI Aayog's Aspirational Districts programme aims to quickly and effectively transform 112 most under-developed districts across the country.

Key Points

• About:
  
  

• It envisages to provide 4G based mobile services in the 7,287 uncovered villages of 44 Aspirational Districts across five States. It would be funded by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).

• It will enhance digital connectivity useful for self-reliance, facilitate learning, dissemination of information and knowledge, skill upgradation and development, disaster management, e-Governance initiatives, establishment of enterprises & e-commerce facilities, etc.

• It seeks to fulfill the vision of Digital India promoting domestic manufacturing and fulfilling the objectives of Atmanirbhar Bharat etc.

• Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF):
  
  

• About:
  
  

• USOF ensures that there is universal non-discriminatory access to quality ICT (Information and Communications Technology) services at economically efficient prices to people in rural and remote areas.

• It was created under the Ministry of Communications in 2002.

• It is a non-lapsable fund, i.e., the unspent amount under a targeted financial year does not lapse and is accrued for next years’ spending.

• All credits to this fund require parliamentary approval and it has statutory support under Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Act, 2003.

• Objectives:
  
  

• Economic: Network extension & stimulate uptake of the ICT services

• Social: Mainstreaming the underserved & un-served areas/groups by bridging the Access Gap.

• Political: to enable citizens exercise their political rights in an informed way and

• Constitutional: Equitable distribution of the fruits of the telecom/digital revolution and fair allocation of national resources (pooled USO levy) via targeted subsidies.

• Significance:
  
  

• The rural areas get the Village Public Telephones (VPTs), Rural Community Phones (RCPs), Rural Household Telephones (RDELs), and mobile infrastructure.

• With access to affordable telecom services in remote and rural areas it can help stemming urban migration and ensure generating employment opportunities in the rural areas.

• The increased awareness of ICT services in the rural areas and growing participation of the rural people will help promote facilities related to health, education etc.

• It can ensure the growth of Rural Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs-Rural) and Rural Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPOs-Rural.)

• USOF is also perceived as the right tool to extend the benefits of the government schemes aimed at the social development of the rural population.

 

Great Ancient Kings: Alexander & Chandragupta

Why in News

Recently, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said that Chandragupta Maurya had defeated Alexander and yet, it is the latter whom historians have chosen to call great.

• Alexander was referred to as great by early historians. Similarly in Indian history, ‘great’ has been used for the emperors Ashoka, Rajaraja and Rajendra Chola, and Akbar, among others.

• However, later historians have moved their focus away from the political triumphs of individual rulers to the society, economy, art and architecture of their times.

Key Points

• Reason for Greatness of Kings:
  
  

• Alexander:
  
  

• Because of his stupendous military conquests which amazed European writers and chroniclers of the ancient world.

• He had established, before he turned 30 years of age, the largest empire (323 B.C.) the world had seen until then, which stretched across modern western and central Asia all the way from Greece to India’s northwestern frontier.

• Chandragupta Maurya:
  
  

• He was the architect of the Mauryan empire (321 B.C - 185 B.C) that controlled the plains of both the Indus and the Ganga, and which stretched until the eastern and western oceans.
  
  

• With Pataliputra at its imperial centre, the Mauryan Empire for the first time unified most of South Asia.

• He laid the foundations of an extensive and efficient system of centralised administration and tax-collection that formed the bases of his empire.

• Trade and agriculture were reformed and regulated with the building of infrastructure and standardisation of weights and measures, and provisions were made for a large standing army.

• Chola Emperors:
  
  

• The Chola emperors Rajaraja I (985-1014) and Rajendra I (1014-1044) built strong navies that conquered the Maldives, and reached Sri Lanka and several countries of Southeast Asia across the Bay of Bengal.

• Ghenghis Khan & Others:
  
  

• Ghenghis Khan (1162-1227) stamped his authority over a bigger swathe of Asia and Europe, and other conquerors such as Tamerlane, Atilla the Hun, and Charlemagne, as well as Ashoka, Akbar, and Aurangzeb built their own very large empires.

Alexander (356-323 BC)

• About:
  
  

• Alexander was born in 356 BC at Pella in ancient Greece, and succeeded his father, king Phillip II, to the throne at the age of 20.
  
  

• Over the next 10 years, Alexander led campaigns across large parts of West Asia and North Africa.

• In 330 BC, he defeated Darius III in the decisive battle of Gaugamela, and after a long campaign in Bactria in the region of the Amu Darya north of today’s Afghanistan, he crossed the Hindu Kush and entered the Kabul valley.

• Indian Campaign:
  
  

• In 326/327 BC, Alexander crossed the Indus, the farthest frontier of the old Persian empire, and began his Indian campaign that lasted about two years.

• The king of Taxila surrendered to Alexander, but beyond the Jhelum he was challenged by the legendary warrior whom Greek sources have identified as Porus.

• In the battle of Hydaspes that followed, Alexander won, but following his famous interview with Porus — during which the wounded king is said to have demanded that the invading emperor treat him “as befits a king” — was impressed enough to return to the captive Porus his kingdom, and to leave him in charge of Punjab when the Greek army ultimately retreated.

• Retreat:
  
  

• After the defeat of Porus, Alexander wished to march on into the heartland of the Gangetic basin — but upon reaching the Beas, the last of the five rivers of Punjab, his generals refused to go further.

• Alexander was forced to turn back, and he followed the Indus southward to its delta, where he sent part of his army to Mesopotamia by sea, while leading the other part overland along the Makran coast.

• He reached Susa in Persia in 324 BC, and in the following year, died in the ancient city of Babylon, to the south of today’s Baghdad.

• His aborted Indian campaign notwithstanding, Alexander is believed to have died undefeated in any battle — seemingly fulfilling the prophecies that he would conquer the entire world.

• At the time Alexander turned back from the threshold of India, his army was tired and homesick, they had wearied of fighting in the heavy Indian monsoon, and it is possible they were intimidated by stories of two great armies that lay in wait for them ahead:
  
  

• That of the Nandas of Magadha (c. 362 BC-321 BC), comprising, according to Greek writers, at least 20,000 cavalry, 200,000 infantry, and 3,000 war elephants.

• And the Gangaridai empire corresponds to what is today West Bengal and parts of Bangladesh.

Chandragupta and Alexander

• Historians estimate the year of Chandragupta’s rise to power in a band stretching from 324 BC to 313 BC, however, it is generally accepted that he ascended the throne in 321 BC and died in 297 BC.
  
  

• Even accepting the least recent year for his accession would, however, place him after Alexander had left India — and just before the Greek emperor’s death in Babylon.

• Greek sources suggest that Chandragupta may have been in communication with Alexander during the latter’s Indian campaign.
  
  

• A L Basham’s The Wonder That Was India notes that “classical sources speak of a young Indian named Sandrocottus — identical with the Chandragupta Maurya of Indian sources.

• Plutarch states that Sandrocottus advised Alexander to advance beyond the Beas and attack the Nanda emperor, who was so unpopular that his people would rise in support of an invader.

• The Latin historian Justin adds that later Sandrocottus offended Alexander by the boldness of his speech and after many adventures succeeded in expelling the Greek forces and gaining the throne of India.

• Based on these accounts, Basham concluded that “it is reasonable to believe that the emperor Chandragupta Maurya, who rose to power soon after Alexander’s invasion, had at least heard of the conqueror, and perhaps derived inspiration from his exploits”.

Chandragupta

• About:
  
  

• Greek and Indian sources agree that Chandragupta overthrew the unpopular last king of the Nandas, Dhana Nanda, and occupied his capital, Pataliputra.
  
  

• Chandragupta is said to have been a protege of the Brahmin philosopher Kautilya who, having been insulted by the Nanda king, bore a grudge against him.

• Chanakya, also known as Kautilya and Vishnugupta, to whom is attributed the legendary Arthashastra, the pioneering Indian treatise on political science, statecraft, military strategy, and economy.

• Buddhist texts say Chandragupta Maurya belonged to the kshatriya Moriya clan associated with the Shakyas.
  
  

• Brahmanical texts, however, refer to the Mauryas as shudras and heretics.

• Guided by the guile and strategy of Kautilya and by his own great military prowess, Chandragupta went about fulfilling his imperial ambitions.

• Movement to North-West:
  
  

• He moved north-west to occupy the power vacuum left by the retreat of Alexander’s army.

• These areas fell to him rapidly, until he reached the Indus. Here he paused as the Greek Seleucus Nicator — the successor to Alexander — had fortified his hold on the area.
  
  

• Consequently, “Chandragupta moved to central India for a while, but 305 BC saw him back in the north-west, involved in a campaign against Selucus”, in which he was successful.

• By the peace treaty that was negotiated in 303 BC, some Seleucid territories that today would cover eastern Afghanistan, Balochistan, and Makran were ceded to the Maurya.

• Some matrimonial alliances followed as well, and during the campaign and afterward, there was considerable cultural contact between the Mauryans and the Greek

   With the treaty of 303 BC, the routes and nodal points of the north-west region shifted from Persian-Hellenistic to Mauryan control. 

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