Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context:

The National Statistical Office’s Situation Assessment of Agricultural Households (SAAH) report for 2018-19 pegs the country’s “agricultural households” at 93.09 million.

Background: 

The objectives of the survey are:

• ownership and operational holdings of rural households
• ownership of livestock
• income, productive assets and indebtedness of agricultural households
• farming practices of agricultural households
• awareness and access to various technological developments in the field of agriculture
• receipts and expenditure of the agricultural households’ farm and non-farm businesses and receipts from all other economic activities pursued by the members of the agricultural households.

Indices of SAAH report

• Household type – Rural India has an estimated 90.2 million agricultural households— about 57.8% of the total estimated rural households in the country. An agricultural household was defined in the survey as a household receiving value of produce of more than Rs.3,000 from agriculture with at least one member self-employed in farming. What does this mean ? Around 58% of rural households are involved in agricultural activities. 40% make a living out of non-farming economic activities.Under the Census, any area not urban is deemed to be rural. What does this indicate? Farm sector’s share to GDP might keep falling even though rural area will have less of agriculture.
• Marginal Landholding– The percentage of landless households in rural India declined. Marginal landholdings rose. This is likely because of MGNREGS which probably dissuaded farming households from selling their land. This highlights the importance of MGNREGS.
• For marginal land owning families wage and salary employment was their principal source of income and not agriculture. Income from rearing livestock also is a significant component of total income.
• Income – Average monthly income per agricultural households around Rs. 6500. Farmers are earning less than even the person employed in the lowest rung of organized sector.
• Debt Level – Debt levels are very high. Nearly 52% of agricultural households in India are indebted , with levels of debt as high as 90% in AP.
• Access to Loans and Insurance – There is high dependence on non- institutional channels for credit. Loans are sourced from informal sources or moneylenders. The penetration of institutional sources like banks and cooperatives is rather low – only about 15%. Marginal landholdings households face maximum problem to access credit. Farm households are oblivious of crop insurance schemes that can help them hedge their production and income risks.
• Information about Government’s operations – Households are poorly informed of government procurement operations & MSP . Sale of crops is maximum to private procurement agencies. Farmers are unacquainted with new technologies . They do not receive adequate guidance from state run research institutes, Krishi Vigyan Kendras and agricultural universities. There is considerable dependence on other progressive farmers, radio, private commercial agents.

Objectives of PM-KISAN scheme

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana is implemented as a central sector scheme by the Government of India. This scheme was introduced to augment the source of income of many small and marginal farmers. The main objectives of the PM-KISAN scheme are mentioned below:

• To provide income support to all eligible land-holding farmers and their families.
• PM-KISAN scheme also aims to supplement the financial needs of the farmers in procuring various inputs to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yields, commensurate with the anticipated farm income.
• The scheme is expected to increase the coverage of PM-KISAN to around 14.5 crore beneficiaries. It aims to cover around 2 crores more farmers with an estimated expenditure of Rs. 87,217.50 crores will be funded by the Central Government.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context:

The first and historic United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) 2021 was held in September this year.

Background:

• It concluded after an intense ‘bottom-up’ process conceived in 2019 by UN Secretary-General António Guterres to find solutions and ‘catalyse momentum’ to transform the way the world produces, consumes, and thinks about food and help address rising hunger.
• There is a need to achieve the United Nations-mandated Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030 and address climate change in view of food production, leaders and subject matter experts stressed at the United Nations Food System Summit September 23, 2021.
• This transformation can stem from an understanding that we must urgently move from incremental and siloed action towards a systems approach. The food system will not prosper until all sectors concerned work together, they said.
• According to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), food systems encompass the entire range of actors and their interlinked value-adding activities involved in the production, aggregation, processing, distribution, consumption and disposal of food products.
• Food systems comprise all food products that originate from crop and livestock production, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, as well as the broader economic, societal and natural environments in which these diverse production systems are embedded.
• The world is looking forward to a simpler and more inclusive food system. The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has already given the world a ‘One-Health’ vision, and the world is optimistic of a food system that recognises the associated concerns of non-judicious use of chemicals as well as unregulated animal intensification.

Public Distribution System in India

The Public Distribution System (PDS) which evolved as a system of management for food and distribution of food grains was relaunched as Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) in June 1997. This programme is controlled by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Government of India. TPDS emphasizes on the implementation and identification of the poor for proper arrangement and delivery of food grains. Therefore, the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) under the Government of India plays the same role as the PDS but adds a special focus on the people below the poverty line.

Procurement of foodgrains:

• The center is responsible for procuring the food grains from farmers at a Minimum Support Price (MSP).
• The MSP is the price at which the FCI purchases the crop directly from farmers; generally, the MSP is higher than the market price.
• This is intended to provide price support to farmers and incentivize the production.
• Who sets MSP: Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).
• Procurement: Two types of procurement, Centralised Procurement, and decentralized procurement.
• Centralized procurement is carried out by the FCI(Food corporation of India) where FCI buys crops directly from farmers.
• Decentralized procurement is a central scheme under which 10 states/Union Territories procure food grains for the central pool at MSP on behalf of FCI.
•  Why decentralized procurement? The purpose is to encourage local procurement of food grains and minimize expenditure incurred when transporting grains from surplus to deficit states over long distances.

Storage of food grains

According to the storage guidelines of the FCI, food grains are normally stored in covered godowns and silos. In case if FCI has insufficient storage space, it hires space from various agencies such as the central and state warehousing corporations (CWC, SWC), state government agencies and private parties.

ISSUES WITH STORAGE:

• Inadequate storage capacity with FCI.
• Food grains rotting or damaging on the CAP or Cover & Plinth storage.

Allocation of Foodgrains

• The central government allocates food grains from the central pool to the state governments at uniform Central Issue Price (CIP) for the distribution through PDS.
• Identification of poor people- The onus is on the state Government to identify the eligible households in each state. Apart from that allocation of food grains within State, issue of Ration Cards and supervision of the functioning of Fair Price Shops (FPSs) etc. rest with the State Governments.
• Allocation for BPL and AAY(Antyodaya Anna Yojana –poorest among the BPL families) families is done on the basis of the number of identified households.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context:

 Indian Prime Minister along with his counterparts from Australia and Japan attended the first in-person summit of Quad leaders hosted by the US President.

• The first in-person summit of the Quad powers — Australia, Japan, India and the United States — has clearly advanced the work begun by the virtual summit. 
• It is necessary to critically analyse the summit’s outcome in order to appreciate the development and formalisation of a new grouping and its direction in the coming years.

Key takeaways of the summit

• Joint statement: The leaders’ emphasized commitment to “a free and open Indo-Pacific, which is also inclusive and resilient”. Promoting security and prosperity in this region is a goal to be achieved through practical cooperation among the four powers.
• The self-image of Quad: The US President portrayed the Quad as a group of democratic partners “who share a worldview and have a common vision for the future”. 
  • The Indian Prime Minister was confident that the Quad would “play the role of a force for global good”.
  • The Australian Prime Minister stressed the point that the grouping wanted the Indo-Pacific region to “be always free from coercion”. It was an indirect criticism of China’s policy. 
  • The Japanese Prime Minister projected the Quad as “an extremely significant initiative”, designed to promote “a free and open international order based on the rule of law in the Indo-Pacific”.
• New areas of collaboration: The Washington summit added new areas of collaboration: infrastructure; cybersecurity and space; education and people-to-people relations. 
  • Infrastructure: The plan is to promote “sustainable infrastructure”, with stress on aligning the Quad with the G7’s Build Back Better World (B3W) Partnership, based on the G20’s quality infrastructure investment principles. 
    • The Build Back Better World (B3W) initiative, will provide a transparent infrastructure partnership to help narrow the $40 trillion.
    • The G7 and its allies will use the B3W initiative to mobilise private-sector capital in areas such as climate, health and health security, digital technology, and gender equity and equality.
    • The Quad can focus on four key B3W elements: digital connectivity, climate, health security and gender equality infrastructure. 
    • The formation of an infrastructure coordination group composed of senior officials was announced. It will map and coordinate infrastructure needs and catalyse private-sector investment.
  • On cybersecurity, the Quad will cooperate on combating cyber threats and securing critical infrastructure. 
  • On the space front, the plan is to identify new collaboration opportunities, especially sharing of data to monitor climate change, disaster response and preparedness, and sustainable uses of ocean and marine resources. 
    • A senior cyber group and a new working group on space will be established. 
  • On education, the Quad fellowship programme will award 25 scholars from each Quad country — opportunities in leading STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programmes in the U.S. 
  • The three working groups on vaccines, climate and emerging technologies established last March, have reported progress. 
  • On vaccines, the Quad stands committed to donate over 1.2 billion doses globally, although only 79 million doses have been delivered so far. 
    • The production of vaccines in India — with the target of “at least 1 billion doses” of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2022 — is on track. 
    • Vaccines are for free distribution in the Indo-Pacific region. Sufficient funding has been assured by Japan and Australia. 
    • Further research and step-up preparedness to handle future pandemics. 
  • Climate change: The Quad working group on climate change has focused on three thematic areas: climate ambition, clean-energy innovation, and climate adaptation and resilience. 
  • The Quad leaders emphasised enhanced action for achieving global net-zero emissions preferably by 2050, with an important clause — “taking into account national circumstances” — added at India’s instance. 
• A Quad shipping task force has now been launched to build a green-shipping network and green port infrastructure. 
• Critical and emerging technologies: Developing 5G and beyond 5G networks; supply chains of critical minerals including semiconductors; and emerging advances in biotechnology. 
  • To be successful, building the supply chains will need expert resources and coordination from each country. 
  • A contact group on Advanced Communications and Artificial Intelligence will focus on standards-development and foundational research.

Cooperation among the Quad members in the areas mentioned will help the grouping to address the economic and technological challenges posed by China.

Significance of Quad-ASEAN and Quad-EU relations:

• Regionally, the Quad sees the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as “the heart of the Indo-Pacific region”. 
  • Together with the small island States in the South Pacific, ASEAN countries gain benefit from growing cooperation within the Quad. 
• The European Union (EU) Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific was welcomed by the Quad. The EU is also looking to launch the “Global Gateway” as a scheme to compete with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). 
  • The EU faces challenges like potential risks of emerging technologies, ensuring supply chain resilience, and countering disinformation in the Indo-Pacific region.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context:

• In a speech at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meet on 17 September, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dwelt on how Central Asia had been a connectivity bridge between various regional markets at different points in history. 
  • In the 21st century, India was committed to increasing its connectivity with land-locked Central Asia.

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• The land-locked Central Asian countries can benefit immensely by connecting with India’s vast market. Unfortunately, many connectivity options are not open to them today due to the lack of mutual trust. 
• India’s investment in Iran’s Chabahar port and efforts towards the International North-South (Transit) Corridor (INSTC) is driven by this reality.

India and Central Asian relations

• India’s decades-old wish of New Delhi to connect with the resource and fuel-rich Central Asian nations. 
• Since the emergence of the Central Asian Republics as independent countries in the early 1990s, New Delhi has been trying to establish contacts with those countries and boost trade opportunities. 
• Analysts have repeatedly spoken about the potential to collaborate in a variety of areas—from construction, sericulture and pharmaceuticals to IT and tourism. 
• India’s trade with the five Central Asian Republics—Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan—was below $ 2 billion in 2018. 
  • Much of this trade was routed through Iran, Russia or the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 
  • In contrast, China’s trade with Central Asia was $50 billion-$60 billion in the same period.

Advantage to China

• The obvious advantage in China’s favour is geographical proximity. 
• In India’s case, tensions with Pakistan mean there is no viable land route towards Central Asia. And New Delhi’s efforts to look for a circuitous route via Iran (and Afghanistan) have floundered due to US sanctions aimed at containing Tehran’s suspected nuclear weapons programme. 
• It is in the context of this potential Iran-Afghanistan bypass route that recent events acquire broader geopolitical relevance for India.

Concerns

• The takeover of Afghanistan by the Pakistan-backed Taliban on 15 August has severely set back India’s plans in Central Asia—at least for now. 
• The road ahead in the short term is difficult as India doesn’t seem to have any real leverage to get the connectivity projects with Central Asia going. India has been negotiating with individual bilateral partners though,” he said.

Central Asia’s importance

• While Central Asia is seen as fuel-rich and, hence, important for an energy-starved India, critics argue that with the world switching to greener sources of fuel, the region’s relevance would start diminishing in due course. 
  • But the Central Asian states are also mineral-rich, and Kazakhstan, for one, has been a source of uranium for India’s nuclear power plants. A country like India which is seen as a major economy has to have a presence in these markets.
• Another reason is that India can forge a common position on terrorism and radicalization, which is a matter of concern to the region as much as it is to India.. In recent years, New Delhi has engaged with Central Asian Republics in the defence sphere through military exercises. 
  • Political and economic engagement would also be important, given the imperatives of working together at a body such as the United Nations (UN).
• There is huge scope for collaboration in areas like building (power) transmission lines and contract farming; our people have set up universities there—Sharda and Amity are examples.
• There is scope for collaboration in the dairy sector too. Our people have been setting up pharmaceutical units in Russia that can serve these countries as well. 
• There is a cultural connection. (Bollywood stars like) Raj Kapoor and Mithun Chakraborty are famous in these countries. 
• It is this that we need to develop into stronger bonds of trade and commercial bonds which will be possible once the INSTC (international transit corridor between India and Europe via Iran, Central Asia and Russia) fructifies. 

Routes to Central Asia

• In the 1990s, just years after the 1991 Soviet breakup, India explored a route through Iran’s Bandar Abbas port and Mashad—near the border with Turkmenistan—to Central Asia. 
  • This coincided with the first period of the Pakistan-backed Taliban in Afghanistan (between 1996 and 2001). But this project did not succeed.
• In 2000, India, Iran and Russia agreed on a new route for trade that later came to be known as INSTC. 
  • It was aimed at cutting the costs and time in moving cargo between Russia and India. The pact was ratified in 2002 and the original multi-modal route linked Mumbai in India to Bandar Abbas and Bandar-e-Anzali in Iran, then across the Caspian Sea to Astrakhan, Moscow and St. Petersburg in Russia. 
  • Over the years, more countries joined the INSTC; the 7,200-kilometre multi-modal project with thousands of kilometres of all-weather highways now include Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Central Asia, and Europe as offshoots of the original plan.
• In 2003, India and Iran announced the development of the Chabahar port in the Sistan-Balochistan province. 
  • The idea was to find a route bypassing Pakistan to Afghanistan.
  • The original idea was that India would construct the road linking Zaranj, the capital of Afghanistan’s Nimroz province and on the Afghan-Iran border, with Delaram, which was part of the road linking Herat in the west to Mazar-e-Sharif (close to the Afghan-Uzbek border in the north). 
  • Once Chabahar was complete, this would serve as an alternate route to Central Asia. That was New Delhi’s calculation.
• While India completed the Afghan road project in 2008, Indian officials said delays on the Iranian side resulted in New Delhi taking up the development of Chabahar as well to ensure that the project was completed.
  • But repeated US sanctions on Iran for its suspected nuclear programme meant that Indian firms were reluctant to participate in the projects, leading to cost and time overruns. 
  • Sanctions on Iran have played a major role in slowing down the INSTC.

The Pakistan-China factor

• Cut to 2021, with the Taliban in power in Kabul, India’s “Connect to Central Asia” plans seem to have come undone again. 
• With signs of friction within the Taliban and most of the commerce in the region being conducted by private traders, “there is room to watch the situation carefully.
• With aid cut off by global donors after the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan’s revenues have plummeted, the revenues of the current government in Kabul totalled some $2 billion—approximately $1.5 billion from the opium trade and $500 million from customs duties.
• If the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline materializes, any government in Kabul could get transit fees worth around $400 million annually. 
  • That could be a good reason for them to agree to guarantee security for the pipeline to India.

Current Status of India

• For now, India is keeping out a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan from a quadrilateral grouping that has been proposed to discuss the use of Chabahar port. 
  • At this point, alternatives to Indian connectivity projects also seem to be taking shape. 
• Pakistan, Uzbekistan, US and Afghanistan are expected to hold talks on a connectivity initiative announced in July 2021. Earlier this year, representatives of Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to a road map for the Mazar-i-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway project.
• “Pakistan’s obstructionist attitude has played a big role in keeping India out of Central Asia. There was a plan to bring electricity from Tajikistan to India via Afghanistan and Pakistan. But Pakistan played spoilsport.
• Given its close ties with China, Pakistan would likely push Afghanistan to join connectivity projects initiated by Beijing and not New Delhi, analysts said. According to Kondapalli, China has so far announced $100 million for improving connectivity in Afghanistan. “It seems China is playing a waiting game,” he said. “In the past 20 years, Beijing has made considerable inroads into the region, boosting trade and co-opting Central Asian states into its Belt and Road Initiative,” Kondapalli said. “There are four energy pipelines from Central Asia to China, one implemented and three in the final stages,” he said.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context:

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the formation of a composite Financial Inclusion Index (FI-Index) to capture the extent of financial inclusion across the country.

Key points:

• The index has been conceptualised as a comprehensive index incorporating details of banking, investments, insurance, postal as well as the pension sector in consultation with the government and respective sectoral regulators.
• The annual FI-Index for the period ended March 2021 stood at 53.9 compared with 43.4 for the period ended March 2017. 
• The FI-Index will be published in July every year.
• FI-Index comprises three broad parameters (weights indicated in brackets):
  • Access (35%), 
  • Usage (45%), and 
  • Quality (20%) 
• Of the three categories, Access, Usage and Quality, there has been more progress on Access, with Usage lagging the most. 
• The index is responsive to ease of access, availability and usage of services, and quality of services for all 97 indicators.
• The FI-Index has been constructed without any ‘base year’ and as such it reflects cumulative efforts of all stakeholders over the years towards financial inclusion
• The index captures information on various aspects of financial inclusion in a single value ranging between 0 and 100, where 0 represents complete financial exclusion and 100 indicates full financial inclusion.
• A unique feature of the index is the parameter related to the quality of financial inclusion as reflected by financial literacy, consumer protection, and inequalities and deficiencies in services.
  • As the index looks beyond just banking services to include insurance, pension and digital payments, the approach taken for financial inclusion is broader than mapping progress under Financial Inclusion Plans. 

Shortcomings of the index:

• Less information: Just two numbers were announced: the index stood at 53.9 for the period ending March 2021, as against 43.4 for the period ending March 2017. 
  • Though the 97 indicators used have not been listed in this note, inequality at the district level is being mapped as one indicator of Quality.
• Lack of relevant data: There has been a high dependence on surveys, with the World Bank Findex and Financial Inclusion Insights data giving us some idea of trends in access and usage every two years or so. 

Schemes for financial inclusion

• The opening of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana accounts has enabled millions to have access to financial services. This has addressed the supply side issue to a considerable extent.
• Six years after its implementation, the total number of accounts opened under Jan Dhan Yojana has touched 41.4 crores, with deposits adding up to Rs 1.30 lakh crore as of December 2 last year. 
• Other than PMJDY, there are several other financial inclusion schemes in India — Jeevan Suraksha Bandhan Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, Stand Up India scheme, Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes under the social-sector initiatives, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Atal Pension Yojana (APY), Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana (VPBY), Credit Enhancement Guarantee Scheme (CEGS) for scheduled castes, and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana.
• Digital identity (Aadhaar), along with the proliferation of mobile phones with new payment systems, have addressed the first two challenges of access and usage to a large extent. The third challenge, i.e. quality, requires both demand and supply-side interventions. 

The current state of financial inclusion in India

• A significant segment of the country is still financially excluded, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s first composite Financial Inclusion Index (FI-Index) unveiled Tuesday, which seeks to capture the extent of financial inclusion across the country.
• The FI-Index of 53.9 for 2020-21 indicates that 46.1 per cent of the parameters considered are still financially excluded, despite the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana for unbanked sections of society, digital payment revolution and entry of a host of players in the insurance and mutual fund segments over the last couple of years. 

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context:

China’s Belt and Road plans are losing momentum as opposition and debts are mounting.

Background

1. China’s vast Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is in danger of losing momentum as opposition in targeted countries rises and debts mount, paving the way for rival schemes to squeeze Beijing out. 
2. President Xi Jinping launched BRI in 2013 to use China’s strengths in financing and infrastructure construction to “build a broad community of shared interests” throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America.
3. But the President’s “project of the century” is now facing major challenges and significant backlashes abroad. 

Objectives of the Silk Road Economic Belt

The objectives of the Silk Road Economic Belt are in sync with its parent initiative, One Belt One Road. They are as follows:

• To create a cohesive economic zone by building hard infrastructures, such as rail and road links, and creating soft infrastructures in the form of signing a trade agreement and creating a commercial legal structure with a court system to monitor and enforce the agreements.
• To strengthen cross-cultural exchanges and mutual understanding between nations that are part of the BRI initiative.
• This strategy is also in line with pushing export of Chinese technologies in new markets, as well as increasing the production capacity in industries such as electronics, construction and logistics. It is expected that both the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and the sea-based 21st Century Maritime Silk Road both will play a crucial role in this regard.

Significance of Belt and Road Initiative 

• In the wake of the global slowdown, BRI offers a new model of development to China to maintain its economic growth. OBOR envisions building networks of roadways, railways, maritime ports, power grids, oil and gas pipelines, associated infrastructure projects which helps the Chinese economy.
• BRI has a domestic and international dimension: as it visualises a shift from developed markets in the west to developing economies in Asia, Africa And a shift in China’s development strategy concentrating on provinces in central and western China instead of the developed east coast region.
• Strategically important as China utilizes its economic clout to build it soft power.

Criticism and Issues with Belt and Road Initiative 

• Debt-trap diplomacy of China where BRI projects are pushing recipient countries into indebtedness and do not transfer skills or technology. For instance, Hambantota port, where Sri Lanka was forced to lease the port to China for 99 years. Also, there has been rethinking of projects in Malaysia, Maldives, Ethiopia and even in Pakistan.
• BRI represents the political and economic ambitions of China making countries like the US, Japan, Germany, Russia, and Australia unhappy about the impact of Beijing’s moves on their own economic and political interests.
• China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), an important component of BRI, passes through Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, which is the main reason for India signalling its displeasure over BRI and not participating in both the BRFs.

Syllabus: General Studies 3

Context:

A NASA satellite was successfully launched on September 27 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The earth monitoring satellite, Landsat 9, is a joint mission of NASA and the US Geological Survey (USGS).

Background

• The first Landsat satellite was launched in 1972 and since then, Landsat satellites have collected images of our planet and helped understand how land usage has changed over the decades.
• In 2008, it was decided that all Landsat images will be free and publicly available and the policy has helped scores of researchers, farmers, policy analysts, glaciologists, and seismologists. 
• Landsat images have been used to study the health of forests, coral reefs, monitor water quality and melting glaciers.

What is new about Landsat 9?

• The Landsat 9 joins Landsat 8 that was launched in 2013 and the satellites together will collect images of Earth’s surface. It takes 8 days to capture the whole Earth.
• Landsat 9 carries instruments similar to the other Landsat satellites, but it is the most technologically advanced satellite of its generation. 
• It can see more colour shades with greater depths than the previous satellites, helping scientists capture more details about our ever-changing planet.
• The instruments aboard Landsat 9 are the Operational Land Imager 2 (OLI-2) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2). 
  • They will measure different wavelengths of light reflected off the Earth’s surface.
• OLI-2 can see the light that we can’t see too. 
  • It captures sunlight reflected off Earth’s surface and studies the visible, near-infrared, and short wave infrared portions of the spectrum.
• TIRS-2 has a four-element refractive telescope and photosensitive detectors that capture thermal radiation and help study the Earth’s surface temperature.
• As the satellite orbits, these instruments will take pictures across 185 kilometers and each pixel will represent an area of about 30 meter X 30 meter.
• Landsat 9 will provide data that can help make science-based decisions on key issues such as impacts of wildfire, coral reef degradation, the retreat of glaciers, and deforestation.
• NASA is working in tandem with the other Landsat satellites, as well as European Space Agency partners who operate the Sentinel-2 satellites. They are getting a more comprehensive look at Earth than ever before. 
  • With these satellites working together in orbit, They will have observations of any given place on our planet every two days. 
  • This is incredibly important for tracking things like crop growth and helping decision-makers monitor the overall health of Earth and its natural resources

How will the satellite help monitor climate change?

• If a forest is affected by drought, it will be seen in Landsat images and can help the researchers decode the areas at risk. 
• Similarly during a wildfire, the Landsat images will capture the plumes of smoke and help study the extent of a burning. 
• The satellite images can also help recovery experts plan sites for replanting.
• Landsat images can also help identify water bodies affected by potentially harmful algal blooms. 
• According to NASA, scientists are now developing computer programs that would use Landsat and other satellite data to automatically warn lake recreation managers when blooms pop up.
• Landsat images have helped glaciologists study the melting ice sheets of the Antarctic and Arctic regions. 
• The images can help track cracks in the glaciers, movement of glaciers, and decode how further global warming will impact them.

Syllabus: General Studies paper 2

Context:

The biggest challenge today to Indian bureaucracy is the shift from desk to digital. 

• This shift is not limited to a transition towards e-office and e-governance but includes the organisational and bureaucratic response to digital spaces, especially the use of social media. 
• The focus has been mostly on the former, while the latter has remained largely unaddressed.

Arguments for bureaucrats using social media

• The use of social media is gradually getting institutionalised in many Westminster system-based countries. 
  • During the Brexit debate in the U.K., many civil servants shaped public debate through the use of social media even while remaining politically neutral. 
• Many civil servants have become accessible to the common people and public service delivery issues have been resolved through the use of social media. 
• Social media has also created a positive outlook towards an institution long perceived as opaque and inaccessible. 
• Social media has increased awareness among people about government policies and programmes.
• Social media is becoming effective in dealing with cyber-crime, and in delivering social good.
• It provides an opportunity for bureaucrats to shape the public discourse and engage with the public while being politically neutral. 
• Social media ensures that blind obeying political executive is minimised and bureaucrats serve the people.
• Anonymity has been a hallmark of Westminster bureaucracies, including in India. But governance in public is now the new normal. 
  • Values are becoming more dominant than facts in public policymaking. And both values and facts are getting reshaped due to fake news and systematic propaganda within public policy circles as well. 
  • In such a scenario, the bureaucracy, which is expected to be the epitome of public values and a storehouse of facts, shouldn’t be expected to govern in private.
• Social media is critical for bureaucrats to equip themselves against the menace of misinformation and disinformation.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context:

• A group of US officials are set to tour Latin America this week to scout infrastructure projects as they prepare a counter to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative.

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• The group is tasked with turning Build Back Better World (B3W), the international infrastructure investment initiative announced by the Group of Seven richest democracies in June, into reality.
• The program is focused on areas including climate, health, digital technology and gender equality.
• A formal US B3W launch event is planned for early next year that will include details of some initial projects aimed at narrowing the $40 trillion needed by developing nations by 2035.
• In just over a month, US officials also plan to huddle with allies at the Group of 20 rich countries and COP26 climate change conferences in Europe, which China is also set to attend. 

About China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)

• China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which Xi launched in 2013, involves development and investment initiatives stretching worldwide. 
• More than 100 countries have signed agreements with China to cooperate in BRI projects like railways, ports and highways.
• It is a union of development and investment initiatives that would stretch from East Asia to Europe, and in the process significantly expand China’s economic and political influence in these massive regions.

• Belt and Road, or yi dai yi lu, is a “21st century silk road,” confusingly made up of a “belt” of overland corridors and a maritime “road” of shipping lanes.
• The plan, initially named ‘One Belt, One Road’, is two-pronged:
  • Overland Silk Road Economic Belt: On land, Beijing aims to connect the country’s underdeveloped hinterland to Europe through Central Asia.
  • Maritime Silk Road: The maritime component will build ports and railways to connect the fast growing Southeast Asian region to China’s southern provinces and beyond till Europe via the Middle East and East Africa.

Concerns

• • Economic imperialism: It is a form of economic imperialism that gives China too much leverage over other countries, often those that are smaller and poorer.
  • Expanding military presence: Some worry expanded Chinese commercial presence around the world will eventually lead to expanded military presence.
  • In 2016 China established its first overseas military base in Djibouti. Analysts say almost all the ports and other transport infrastructure being built can be dual-use for commercial and military purposes, called militarization of the supply chain.

• India’s Views

• • India, for its part, had taken an early stance against the BRI and refused to participate in the inaugural Belt and Road Forum in 2017 as it passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
  • It had long emphasised that connectivity projects should respect the participating country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, not create unsustainable debt burden, involve transparent accounting, and create benefits for the local economy.

Major initiatives by other countries (to counter China’s BRI)

• Asia-Africa Growth Corridor: Japan, along with India has unveiled their own development cooperation with third countries under the banner of the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor.
• US International Development Finance Corporation (USIDFC): The US, meanwhile, has launched a new development finance institution, the US International Development Finance Corporation (USIDFC) to compete with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank(AIIB), headquartered in Beijing, China, which substantially finances BRI.
• Blue Dot Network: And the US and Australia have joined Japan in announcing plans through the Blue Dot Network for an alternative to BRI.
  • Led by the USIDFC, the Blue Dot network was jointly launched by the US, Japan (Japanese Bank for International Cooperation) and Australia (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) in November 2019 on the sidelines of the 35th ASEAN Summit in Thailand.
  • It is meant to be a multi-stakeholder initiative that aims to bring governments, the private sector and civil society together to promote “high quality, trusted standards for global infrastructure development”.
  • However, there is no financing component involved in this.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context:

Germany has voted for a change. Germany’s centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) have claimed victory in the federal election, telling the party of outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel it should no longer be in power. Angela Merkel was Chancellor for 16 years — from 2005 to 2021.

Impact of Angela Merkel on Europe and world

• Merkel broke the glass ceiling to become the first woman Chancellor from the conservative party and was kept in the post by a combination of political, economic, and social factors. 
• As a strong export-based economy, Germany under Merkel outperformed France, the UK, Spain, and Italy in Europe, and posted robust exports behind only China and the US.
• During her tenure, unemployment in Germany came down by an order of 3 million, and 5 million more people got jobs. 
• The financial crisis of 2008 was followed by the Eurozone crisis. Germany paid the largest amount in the EU’s first bailout of Greece in 2010. 
• In 2015, the refugee crisis swamped Europe, and Merkel pushed to take in the swelling numbers who landed on European shores. 
• Germany chose to go ahead with the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline to supply gas to Europe.

India’s bilateral relationship with Germany under Merkel

Since the inauguration of the India-Germany strategic partnership in 2001, relations have grown in a robust manner. 

• India is one of the few countries with which Germany holds Cabinet-level Intergovernmental Consultations (IGC).  The IGC is a unique broad-format dialogue chaired by both leaders with members of the Cabinet from the two sides holding initial discussions in their respective areas of responsibility.
• They signal growing political engagement and economic partnership that has led to strong institutionalised arrangements to discuss bilateral and global issues.
• Although trade and investment have been at the heart of the bilateral engagement, the IGC has expanded its scope to artificial intelligence and digital transformation and pushed forward the ‘Make in India Mittelstand’ programme. 
• Other areas of cooperation include science and technology, sustainable energy, smart cities, and circular economies.

Significance of Indo-German relations

• Tackling slowdown: As both countries are together reeling under slowdown, both can find ways to further collaborate and converge to find sustainable and effective solutions. 
• India stands to gain from Germany as Germany is an economic powerhouse just as Germany stands to gain because she is a promising market that is growing and developing. 
• High end manufacturing: Germany is famous for internationally acclaimed high-end brands like Daimler, Siemens etc.. India is an obvious choice for German companies due to the availability of potential markets and talent pools.
• Renewable sector: 

• India and Germany have signed an agreement on technical cooperation under the Indo-German Energy Programme – Green Energy Corridors (IGEN-GEC).
• Germany also provides a loan of 7 million euro for training activities in the photovoltaic solar rooftop sector.

• Post-Brexit scenario: The kind of Europe that emerges post-Brexit is critical for India. Thus, we need to have a very good economic relationship with Germany as well as France in the post Brexit era.
• Germany’s role in reviving the India-EU free trade talks : 
  • India has made a special appeal to Merkel to take the lead in this context. 
  • India had called off talks when the EU banned 700 Indian pharma companies from exporting to the EU because one company was found wanting on quality standards.