Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Assam, Arunachal CMs sign pact to resolve border dispute

• The two states signed an agreement (Namsai Declaration) to end border issues between the two states and decided to “restrict” the number of disputed villages to 86 instead of 123.
• Chief Ministers of the two North-eastern neighbours met at Namsai in Arunachal Pradesh and signed the agreement.

Background

• The two states share an 804.1 km-long border.
• The grievance of Arunachal Pradesh which was made a union territory in 1972 is that several forested tracts in the plains that had traditionally belonged to hill tribal chiefs and communities were unilaterally transferred to Assam.
• After Arunachal Pradesh achieved statehood in 1987, a tripartite committee was appointed which recommended that certain territories be transferred from Assam to Arunachal.
• Assam contested this and the matter is in the Supreme Court.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 4

Defence Minister launched Y- 3023 Dunagiri, Project 17A frigate built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders Limited (GRSE) in Kolkata

• Christened after a mountain range in the state of Uttarakhand, ‘Dunagiri’ is the fourth ship of P17A Frigates.
• These are follow-on of the P17 Frigates (Shivalik Class) with improved stealth features, advanced weapons and sensors and platform management systems.
• The first two ships of P17A Project, were launched in 2019 and 2020 at MDL and GRSE respectively.
• The third ship (Udaygiri) was launched at MDL on 17 May 2022 earlier this year.
• Seven P17A Frigates are under various stages of construction at Mazagaon Dock Limited (MDL) and GRSE.

P17A Frigates

• The Nilgiri-class frigate or Project 17A is follow-on of the Project 17 Shivalik-class frigate for the Indian Navy.
• The frigates are built with extensive use of low-observability technologies, including new radar-absorbing coatings, composite materials and “faceted” shape superstructures.
• P17A ships have been designed in-house by Indian Navy’s Directorate of Naval Design (DND), which has successfully spear-headed design of numerous class of indigenous warships in the past.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Andhra Pradesh has decided to rejoin the crop insurance scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) from the ongoing kharif season

• Andhra Pradesh was one of six states that have stopped implementation of the scheme over the last four years.
• The other five, which remain out, are Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Telangana.

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY):

• PMFBY insures farmers against all non-preventable natural risks from pre-sowing to post-harvest.

Coverage:

• The Scheme covers all Food & Oilseeds crops and Annual Commercial/Horticultural Crops for which past yield data is available and for which requisite number of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) are being conducted under General Crop Estimation Survey (GCES).

Objectives:

• To provide insurance coverage and financial support to the farmers in the event of failure of any of the notified crops as a result of natural calamities, pests & diseases
• To stabilise the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming
• To encourage farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices
• To ensure flow of credit to the agriculture sector

Revamped PMFBY

• Completely Voluntary: It has been decided to make enrolment 100% voluntary for all farmers from 2020 Kharif.
• Limit to Central Subsidy: The government has capped the Centre’s premium subsidy under these schemes for premium rates up to 30% for unirrigated areas/crops and 25% for irrigated areas/crops.
• More Flexibility to States: The government has given the flexibility to states/UTs to implement PMFBY and given them the option to select any number of additional risk covers/features like prevented sowing, localised calamity, mid-season adversity, and post-harvest losses.
• Penalising the Pendency: A provision has been incorporated wherein if states don’t release their share before March 31 for the Kharif season and September 30 for rabi, they would not be allowed to participate in the scheme in subsequent seasons.
• Investing in ICE Activities: Insurance companies have to now spend 0.5% of the total premium collected on information, education and communication (IEC) activities.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare launched the Platform of Platforms (POP) under the National Agriculture Market (e-NAM).

• e-NAM integrates the platform of Service Providers as “Platform of Platforms” which includes Composite Service Providers, Logistics Service Provider, Quality Assurance Service Provider, Cleaning, Grading, Sorting & Packaging Service Provider etc
• The inclusion of various service providers not only adds to the value of the e-NAM platform, but also gives the users of the platform options to avail services from different service providers.
• It enables farmers, FPOs, traders and other stakeholders to access a wide variety of goods and services across the agricultural value chain through a single window, thereby giving more options to the stakeholders.
• With the introduction of POP, farmers will be facilitated to sell the produce outside their state borders.
• This will increase farmers’ digital access to multiple markets, buyers and service providers and bring transparency in business transactions with the aim of improving price search mechanism and quality commensurate price realisation.
• The PoP will create a digital ecosystem, which will benefit from the expertise of different platforms in different segments of the agricultural value chain.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Ministry of Women and Child Development issues Detailed Guidelines for ‘Mission Shakti’.

• The Government of India has launched ‘Mission Shakti’ – an integrated women empowerment programme as umbrella scheme for the safety, security and empowerment of women.
• It seeks to realize the Government’s commitment for “women-led development”.
• The scheme seeks to make women economically empowered, exercising free choice over their minds and bodies in an atmosphere free from violence and threat.
• It also seeks to reduce the care burden on women and increase female labour force participation by promoting skill development, capacity building, financial literacy, access to micro-credit etc.

Mission Shakti

• Mission Shakti has two sub-schemes – ‘Sambal’ and ‘Samarthya’.
• While the “Sambal” sub-scheme is for safety and security of women, the “Samarthya” sub-scheme is for empowerment of women.

Sambal

• The components of ‘Sambal’ sub-scheme consist of erstwhile schemes of One Stop Centre (OSC), Women Helpline (WHL), Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) with a new component of Nari Adalats – women’s collectives to promote and facilitate alternative dispute resolution and gender justice in society and within families.

Samarthya

• The components of ‘Samarthya’ sub-scheme consist of erstwhile schemes of Ujjwala, Swadhar Greh and Working Women Hostel, National Creche Scheme for children of working mothers and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) under umbrella ICDS have now been included in Samarthya.
• A new component of Gap Funding for Economic Empowerment has also been added in the Samarthya Scheme.

Guidelines

• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, the Centre’s flagship programme for women’s empowerment, which focuses on education of girl child and improving sex ratio, will now be extended across the country.
• The component will aim for zero-budget advertising and encouraging greater spend on activities that have on-ground impact.
• It aims for promoting sports among girls, self-defence camps, construction of girls’ toilets, making available sanitary napkin vending machines and sanitary pads, especially in educational institutions, awareness about PC-PNDT Act, etc
• The ministry has now targeted improvement in the Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) by 2 points every year, improvement in the percentage of institutional deliveries at 95% or above, 1 per cent increase in enrolment at secondary education level and skilling of girls and women per year, to check dropout rate among girls at secondary and higher secondary levels and raising awareness about safe menstrual hygiene management.
• The ministry also plans to strengthen One-Stop Centres (OSCs), set up to help women facing violence, including domestic violence and trafficking.
• The ministry has further introduced a new component — Nari Adalat — for providing women with an alternate grievance redress mechanism to resolve cases of petty nature (harassment, subversion, curtailment of rights or entitlements) at gram panchayat-level, which will be implemented in a phased manner.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Prime Minister of India participated in first-ever I2U2 Virtual Summit along with the heads of the other members of the grouping.

What does I2U2 stand for?

• I2U2 stands for India, Israel, the UAE, and the US, and was also referred to as the ‘West Asian Quad’.
• Besides Prime Minister of India the virtual summit was attended by US President Joe Biden, Israel Prime Minister Yair Lapid and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

What is the aim of I2U2 grouping?

• Its stated aim is to discuss common areas of mutual interest, to strengthen the economic partnership in trade and investment in our respective regions and beyond.
• Six areas of cooperation have been identified by the countries mutually, and the aim is to encourage joint investments in water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security.
• With the help of private sector capital and expertise, the countries will look to modernise infrastructure, explore low carbon development avenues for industries, improve public health, and promote the development of critical emerging and green technologies.

Takeaways

• UAE will invest $2 billion USD to develop a series of integrated food parks across India that will incorporate state-of-the-art climate-smart technologies to reduce food waste and spoilage, conserve fresh water, and employ renewable energy sources.
• The I2U2 group will also advance a hybrid renewable energy project in Gujarat consisting of 300 megawatts (MW) of wind and solar capacity, complemented by a battery energy storage system.
• The leaders also welcomed India’s interest in joining the United States, the UAE, and Israel in the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate initiative (AIM for Climate).
• The I2U2 leaders reaffirmed their support for the Abraham Accords and other peace and normalization arrangements with Israel

About AIM for Climate

• The Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate / AIM4C) is a joint initiative by the United States and the United Arab Emirates.
• AIM for Climate seeks to address climate change and global hunger by uniting participants to significantly increase investment in, and other support for, climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation over five years (2021 – 2025).

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 4

Recently, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has issued the Forest (Conservation) Rules, 2022.

Forest Conservation Rules

• The Forest Conservation Rules deal with the implementation of the Forest Conservation Act (FCA), 1980.
• They prescribe the procedure to be followed for forest land to be diverted for non-forestry uses such as road construction, highway development, railway lines, and mining.
• The broad aim of the FCA are to protect forest and wildlife, put brakes on State governments’ attempts to hive off forest land for commercial projects and striving to increase the area under forests.
• For forest land beyond five hectares, approval for diverting land must be given by the Central government. This is via a specially constituted committee, called the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC).
• This committee examines whether the user agency, or those who have requested forest land, have made a convincing case for the upheaval of that specific parcel of land, whether they have a plan in place to ensure that the ensuing damage will be
• Once the FAC is convinced and approves (or rejects a proposal), it is forwarded to the concerned State government where the land is located, who then has to ensure that provisions of the Forest Right Act, 2006, a separate Act that protects the rights of forest dwellers and tribals over their land, are complied with.

What do the updated rules say?

• The rules make a provision for private parties to cultivate plantations and sell them as land to companies who need to meet compensatory forestation targets.
• The new Forest Conservation Rules do not mention the earlier requirement of attaining a gram sabha NOC before diverting forest land for a project.
• They also allow forest rights to be settled after the final approval for forest clearances has been granted by the Centre
• Since forest rights now need to be carried out by the state government, state governments will be under even greater pressure from the Centre to accelerate the process of diversion of forest land.

Forest Conservation Act 1980

• Alarmed at India’s rapid deforestation and resulting environmental degradation, the Centre Government enacted the Forest (Conservation) Act in 1980.
• It was enacted to consolidate the law related to forest, the transit of forest produces and the duty liveable on timber and other forests produce.
• Forest officers and their staff administer the Forest Act.
• The Act deals with the four categories of forests, namely reserved forests, village forests, protected forests, and private forests.

Features

• Section 2 of the act lists four criteria where permission of the Central Government is required for any action of State regarding –
• Declaring that any reserved forest ceases to be reserved.
• Use of forestland for non-forest purposes.
• Leasing forest to any private person.
• Declaring that any forest land may be cleared of trees that have grown naturally in that land, for the purpose of using it for reforestation.
• Removing self-regenerating forest for the creation of plantation is also the non-forest purpose.
• There is also a provision of compensatory afforestation. User agency has to pay for forestland as if is revenue land. NPV (Net Present Value) has to be paid for 50 years. NPV is an ecological cost of forests.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Recently Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry has invited public feedback on the New Draft National Policy on Disability (PwD).

Provisions of the Draft Policy

• According to the draft, current national programme on prevention of disabilities by Health Ministry focuses on “traditional causes”. But there are other causes of disability, including malnourishment, socio-cultural factors, medical negligence, and impairment caused by disasters.
• Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 also increased the number of disabilities from 7 to 21.
• Policy called for a comprehensive national programme on prevention of disabilities and other medical conditions that could manifest as a disability.
• According to the draft, one-third of most disabilities in children were preventable, if detected timely and early.
• The draft policy also said the States and Union Territories should add a provision on compliance with the RPD Act when granting permission or recognition to educational institutions.
• Disability module should also be included in MBBS and other medical courses.

Necessity for a new policy

• India’s signing of the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities;
• Enactment of new disability legislation (Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016)
• Being a party to the Incheon Strategy for Asian and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities, 2013-2022 (“Incheon commitment”)

The policy document highlights a detailed commitment to education, health, skill development and employment, sports and culture, social security, accessibility and other institutional mechanisms.

However, a absence of any commitment to the political uplift of persons with disabilities makes the draft incomplete.

Importance of Political Participation

• Article 29 of the Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities mandates that state parties should ensure that persons with disabilities can effectively and fully participate in political and public life on an equal basis with others, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
• The Incheon goals also promote participation in political processes and in decision making.
• The exclusion of disabled people from the political space happens at all levels of the political process in the country, and in different ways.
• For instance, the inaccessibility of the voting process, barriers to participation in party politics or a lack of representation at the local, State or national levels have all aggravated the marginalisation of the disabled.
• Political parties in India still do not find the disabled as the large electorate to specifically address their needs.
• The lack of accessible space for party meetings, inaccessible transport for campaigning or an attitudinal barrier among voters and party leaders can be termed as contributing factors

Way forward

The goal of the policy document — of inclusiveness and empowerment — cannot be achieved without political inclusion.

The policy should include

• Capacity building of disabled people’s organisations and empowering their members through training in the electoral system, government structure, and basic organisational and advocacy skills’;
• the creation, amendment or removal of legal and regulatory frameworks by lawmakers and election bodies to encourage the political participation of the disabled;
• inclusion of civil societies to conduct domestic election observation or voter education campaigns;
• And a framework for political parties to conduct a meaningful outreach to persons with disabilities when creating election campaign strategies and developing policy positions.

Learn from the Best practice

• Few States have begun the initiative at local levels to increase participation. For instance, Chhattisgarh started the initiative of nominating at least one disabled person in each panchayat.
• This step increases the participation of the disabled in the political space at local level.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

After funding highway projects through public money for a better part of the last decade the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is set to return to funding through private investments using the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model during the current quarter.

• Over the last few years, the NHAI resorted to offering projects under the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) that ensures funds to the company building the road, thereby insulating it from financial risk to a certain extent.
• The BOT (toll) model was the preferred model for road projects, accounting for 96% of all projects awarded in 2011-12. But this progressively reduced to nil. HAM was designed and adopted.

Investment Models

• In simpler terms investment means exchange of money for a profit yielding asset.
• The same profit earned is used to invest in other assets as well.
• As far as the economic well being of the country is concerned, investment is important as it contributes to growth and development.

Types of Investment Models

Public Investment Model:

• In this model Government requires revenue for investment that mainly comes through taxes.
• Properly targeted public investment can do much to boost economic performance, generating aggregate demand quickly, fueling productivity growth by improving human capital, and spurring private-sector investment by increasing returns.

Private Investment Model:

• Private investment can be source from domestic or international market.
• From abroad private investment comes in the form of FDI or FPI.

Public-Private Partnership Model:

• PPP is an arrangement between government and Private sector for the provision of public assets and/or public services.
• PPP allow large-scale government projects, such as roads, bridges, or hospitals, to be completed with private funding.
• Commonly adopted model of PPPs include engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) model, Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT), Build-Operate-Lease-Transfer (BOLT), Hybrid Annuity Model

PPP Models

Engineering, Procurement and Construction Model (EPC)

• The EPC Model partnership requires the government to undertake the total funding of the project while the Private sector partner will provide the engineering and construction requirements.
• The cost is completely borne by the government.
• Government invites bids for engineering expertise from the contractors. Procurement of raw material and construction costs are met by the government.
• From design to commissioning, the EPC Contractor is responsible for all activities and handover of the project to the Government.

Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT)

• It is conventional PPP model in which private partner is responsible to design, build, operate (during the contracted period) and transfer back the facility to the public sector.
• Private sector partner has to bring the finance for the project and take the responsibility to construct and maintain it.
• Public sector will allow private sector partner to collect revenue from the users.
• The national highway projects contracted out by NHAI under PPP mode is a major example for the BOT model.

Build-Operate-Lease-Transfer (BOLT)

• In this approach, the government gives a concession to a private entity to build a facility, own the facility, lease the facility to the public sector and then at the end of the lease period transfer the ownership of the facility to the government.

Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM)

• Hybrid annuity stands for a combination in which the government makes payment in a fixed amount in the beginning and then in a variable amount at a later stage.
• The HAM is a combination of BOT and EPC Models.
• The government will give 40% of the Project Cost as Construction Support during the construction period, and the remaining 60% as annuity payments to the concessionaire throughout the operations period, plus interest.
• The payment made in the later stage will be based on the assets created and the performance of the developer.
• In HAM, the company has no right to collect tolls.
• Revenue is collected by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and refunded to the private players in installments for 15-20 years.

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)

• It is a nodal agency of the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
• NHAI is an autonomous agency of the Union Government, responsible for management of a network of over 70,000 km of national highways in India.
• It was established through National Highways Authority of India Act, 1988.
• In 1995, it was formally made an autonomous body.
• It is responsible for the development, management, operation and maintenance of National Highways.
• It is a statutory body.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Recently, A U.S. destroyer sailed near the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, drawing an angry reaction from Beijing.

• The United States regularly carries out what it calls Freedom of Navigation Operations in the South China Sea challenging what it says are restrictions on innocent passage imposed by China and other claimants.
• July 11 marked the sixth anniversary of a ruling by an international tribunal that invalidated China’s sweeping claims to the South China Sea, a conduit for about $3 trillion worth of ship-borne trade each year.
• China has never accepted the ruling.

China’s Claim:

• China lays claim to nearly all of the South China Sea, including the Paracel Islands.
• However, Taiwan, Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam also claim parts of the region, believed to hold valuable oil and gas deposits.

South China Sea

• Location: South China Sea is an arm of western Pacific Ocean in Southeast Asia.
• It is connected by Taiwan Strait with the East China Sea and by Luzon Strait with the Philippine Sea.
• Bordering states & territories: the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam
• Strategic Importance: This Sea holds tremendous strategic importance for its location as it is the connecting link between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean (Strait of Malacca).

Contesting Claims Over Islands:

• The Paracel Islands are claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam.
• The Spratly Islands are claimed by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei and Philippines.
• The Scarborough Shoal is claimed by Philippines, China and Taiwan.

China’s Assertion:

• Since 2010, China has been converting uninhabited islets into artificial islets to bring it under UNCLOS.
• China has been changing the size and structure of the reefs by modifying their physical land features. It has also established airstrips on Parcel and Spratly.
• Chinese fishing fleets are engaged in paramilitary work on behalf of the state rather than the commercial enterprise of fishing.
• The US is very critical of this building of artificial islands and terms these actions of China as building a ‘great wall of sand’