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Mobile Application to Aid Farmers

Government to launch a new mobile application, “Uber for tractors”, which will help in hiring of expensive agricultural...

12 Aug 2019 News Analysis
Public Distribution System

Introduction The Public distribution system (PDS) is an Indian food Security System established under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and...

12 Aug 2019 Paper 3
Climate Change and Land

The article is based on the recent IPCC report “Climate change and Land” published on 8th August and an editorial “Climate on the...

10 Aug 2019 News Editorials
In Depth - Political Funding

Across the world, political parties need access to money in order to reach out to the electorate, explain their policies and receive inputs from...

10 Aug 2019 Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha Discussions
77th Anniversary of Quit India movement

The 77th anniversary of the August Kranti Din, which is considered as one of the important milestones in the history of freedom struggle of our...

10 Aug 2019 News Analysis
Mercury Emission Versus its Concentration in Fishes

Recently researchers have found that despite a decrease in seawater concentration of methylmercury, the amount of mercury found in fish is different...

10 Aug 2019 News Analysis
Proposals to Change in CITES Listing

India has submitted proposals regarding changes to the listing of the smooth-coated otter, small-clawed otter, Indian star tortoise, Tokay gecko,...

10 Aug 2019 News Analysis
International Day of Indigenous Peoples

International day of indigenous people is observed on August 9 every year, in order to raise awareness of the needs of indigenous people. The first...

10 Aug 2019 News Analysis
India in US list on Drug Transit

Recently, US designated India among about 20 major drug transit or illicit drug-producing countries. However, it also noted that a country’s...

10 Aug 2019 News Analysis
The Motor Vehicles Bill for Road Safety

This article is based on the “The new Motor Vehicles bill paves the way for safer roads” that appeared in The Hindu Business Line on...

09 Aug 2019 News Editorials
India’s Industrial Policy

For...

09 Aug 2019 Paper 3
New Procedure for Pending Angel Tax Cases

In a move to ease scrutiny of startups over the capital they have received from angel investors, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has recently...

09 Aug 2019 News Analysis
World Breastfeeding Week

The World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) has been observed from 1st to 7th August 2019. The Food and Nutrition Board, Ministry of Women and Child...

09 Aug 2019 News Analysis
Gujarat-Madhya Pradesh Tussle over the Narmada

Recently, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have engaged in a tussle over the sharing of Narmada river waters. What is the Controversy? Madhya Pradesh...

09 Aug 2019 News Analysis
Climate Change and Land: IPCC’s Report

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) report on ‘Climate Change and Land’ reveals the relation between climate...

09 Aug 2019 News Analysis
Linking Farmers with Futures Market

The recent, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) study suggests the need to empower the Farmer Producer...

09 Aug 2019 News Analysis
Improvement in Sex Ratio at Birth

According to the fourth National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) 2015-16, the sex ratio at birth (SRB) in India has improved from 914 to 919. SRB is...

09 Aug 2019 News Analysis
Task Force on Offshore Rupee Markets

The Task Force on Offshore Rupee Markets, set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in February 2019 and chaired by Smt. Usha Thorat, former Deputy...

09 Aug 2019 News Analysis
Changes in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act

Recently, the Union government has issued a notification on certain changes in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which will further...

09 Aug 2019 News Analysis
Women Transforming India Awards

The Women Transforming India awards (4th edition) are being launched by NITI Aayog. The Women Transforming India awards are organized in...

09 Aug 2019 News Analysis

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			'title' => 'Mobile Application to Aid Farmers',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>Government to launch a new mobile application, <strong>&ldquo;Uber for tractors&rdquo;</strong>, which will help in <strong>hiring of expensive agricultural equipment.</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Customer Hiring Centres (CHCs)</strong> will be connected with the help of this app, just like the Uber connects an individual with cabs.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>There are now more than 38,000 custom hiring centres (CHCs) across the country, which rent out 2.5 lakh pieces of farm equipment every year.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The app will show the CHCs which have the equipment available within <strong>5, 20 and 50 km of location,</strong> with their rates.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Benefits</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Informed Decisions:</strong> Feedback from both the CHC and the farmers will allow customers to make <strong>informed decisions.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Database:</strong> The app will also create an <strong>invaluable database for policy-makers,</strong> who can track the use and cost of equipment.</li>
<li><strong>Promotion of New Technology:</strong> The system would also help to <strong>track the usage of new technology</strong> that the government wants to promote, such as the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/crop-stubble-burning-challenge-in-punjab" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Happy Seeder</strong></a> that aims to prevent stubble burning that causes air pollution, or <strong>solar dryers</strong> that can help farmers process and preserve their produce.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Solar Dryers</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Solar dryers uses solar energy in <strong>drying applications.</strong></li>
<li>They use air heated through <strong>solar energy collectors,</strong> which can be installed in modules according to the requirements of hot air.</li>
<li>They have numerous applications in industries such as <strong>textiles, <a href="/to-the-points/paper3/food-processing-in-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener">food processing</a>, paper, pharmaceutical, and agro-industries.</strong></li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Customer Hiring Centres</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Customer Hiring Centres (CHCs) are basically <strong>a unit comprising a set of farm machinery, implements and equipment meant for hiring by farmers. </strong></li>
<li><strong>Marginal farmers</strong> (Farmers whose land holdings are less than two hectares of land), by virtue of their economic condition are unable to own farm machinery on their own or through institutional credit. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Therefore in order to bring farm machinery available within the reach of small/marginal holdings, collective ownership or Custom Hiring Centres are being promoted in a big way.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Ideally, the CHCs should be located <strong>within a radius of 5 to 7 kms</strong> of land holdings. This will reduce the transport cost and time of transport of agricultural machinery.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://www.thehindu.com/business/agri-business/uber-for-tractors-government-to-launch-app-to-aid-farmers/article28985433.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: TH</strong></a></p>',
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		(int) 1 => [
			'title' => 'Public Distribution System',
			'catname' => 'Paper 3',
			'desc' => '<h3>Introduction</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Public distribution system (PDS) is an Indian <strong>food Security System</strong> established <strong>under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution.</strong></li>
<li>PDS evolved as a system of management of scarcity through distribution of food grains at affordable prices.</li>
<li>PDS is operated under the joint responsibility of the Central and the State Governments. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The <strong>Central Government,</strong> through Food Corporation of India (FCI), has assumed the responsibility for procurement, storage, transportation and bulk allocation of food grains to the State Governments.</li>
<li>The operational responsibilities including allocation within the State, identification of eligible families, issue of Ration Cards and supervision of the functioning of Fair Price Shops (FPSs) etc., rest with the <strong>State Governments.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Under the PDS, presently the commodities namely <strong>wheat, rice, sugar and kerosene</strong> are being allocated to the States/UTs for distribution. Some States/UTs also distribute additional items of mass consumption through the PDS outlets such as pulses, edible oils, iodized salt, spices, etc.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Evolution of PDS in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>PDS was <strong>introduced around World War II</strong> as a war-time rationing measure. Before the 1960s, distribution through PDS was generally dependant on imports of food grains.</li>
<li>It was expanded in the 1960s as a response to the food shortages of the time; subsequently, the government set up the <strong>Agriculture Prices Commission</strong> and the <strong>FCI</strong> to improve domestic procurement and storage of food grains for PDS.</li>
<li>By the 1970s, PDS had evolved into a universal scheme for the distribution of subsidised food</li>
<li>Till 1992, PDS was a general entitlement scheme for all consumers without any specific target.</li>
<li>The <strong>Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS)</strong> was launched in June, 1992 with a view to strengthen and streamline the PDS as well as to improve its reach in the far-flung, hilly, remote and inaccessible areas where a substantial section of the underprivileged classes lives.</li>
<li>In June, 1997, the Government of India launched the <strong>Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS)</strong> with a focus on the poor.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Under TPDS, beneficiaries were divided into two categories: Households <strong>below the poverty line or BPL;</strong> and Households <strong>above the poverty line or APL.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY):</strong> AAY was a step in the direction of making TPDS aim at reducing hunger among the poorest segments of the BPL population. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>A National Sample Survey exercise pointed towards the fact that about 5% of the total population in the country sleeps without two square meals a day. In order to make TPDS more focused and targeted towards this category of population, the "Antyodaya Anna Yojana&rdquo; (AAY) was <strong>launched in December, 2000</strong> for one crore poorest of the poor families.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>In September 2013, Parliament enacted the <strong>National Food Security Act, 2013.</strong> The Act relies largely on the existing TPDS to deliver food grains as legal entitlements to poor households. This marks a shift by <strong>making the right to food a justiciable right.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>How PDS system functions?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Central and State Governments share responsibilities in order to provide food grains to the identified beneficiaries.</li>
<li>The centre procures food grains from farmers at a <strong>minimum support price (MSP)</strong> and sells it to states at <strong>central issue prices.</strong> It is responsible for transporting the grains to godowns in each state.</li>
<li>States bear the responsibility of transporting food grains from these godowns to each fair price shop (ration shop), where the <strong>beneficiary buys the food grains at the lower central issue price.</strong> Many states further subsidise the price of food grains before selling it to beneficiaries.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1578479997_image52.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1578479997_image52.png" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="550" caption="false" /></a></p>
<h3>Importance of PDS</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It helps in <strong>ensuring Food and Nutritional Security</strong> of the nation.</li>
<li>It has helped in <strong>stabilising food prices</strong> and making food available to the poor at affordable prices.</li>
<li>It <strong>maintains the buffer stock of food grains</strong> in the warehouse so that the flow of food remain active even during the period of less agricultural food production.</li>
<li>It has helped in <strong>redistribution of grains</strong> by supplying food from surplus regions of the country to deficient regions.</li>
<li>The system of minimum support price and procurement has contributed to the increase in food grain production.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Issues Associated with PDS System in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Identification of beneficiaries:</strong> Studies have shown that targeting mechanisms such as TPDS are prone to <strong>large inclusion and exclusion errors.</strong> This implies that entitled beneficiaries are not getting food grains while those that are ineligible are getting undue benefits. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>According to the estimation of an expert group set up in 2009, PDS suffers from nearly 61% error of exclusion and 25% inclusion of beneficiaries, i.e. the misclassification of the poor as non-poor and vice versa.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Leakage of food grains:</strong> (Transportation leakages + Black Marketing by FPS owners) TPDS suffers from large leakages of food grains during transportation to and from ration shops into the open market. In an evaluation of TPDS, the erstwhile Planning Commission found 36% leakage of PDS rice and wheat at the all-India level.</li>
<li><strong>Issue with procurement:</strong> Open-ended Procurement i.e., all incoming grains accepted even if buffer stock is filled, creates a shortage in the open market.</li>
<li><strong>Issues with storage:</strong> A performance audit by the <strong>CAG</strong> has revealed a serious <strong>shortfall in the government&rsquo;s storage capacity.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Given the increasing procurement and incidents of <strong>rotting food grains,</strong> the lack of adequate covered storage is bound to be a cause for concern.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The provision of <strong>minimum support price (MSP)</strong> has encouraged farmers to divert land from production of coarse grains that are consumed by the poor, to rice and wheat and thus, <strong>discourages crop diversification.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Environmental issues:</strong> The over-emphasis on attaining self-sufficiency and a surplus in food grains, which are water-intensive, has been found to be <strong>environmentally unsustainable.</strong> <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Procuring states such as Punjab and Haryana are under environmental stress, including <strong>rapid groundwater depletion, deteriorating soil and water conditions from overuse of fertilisers.</strong></li>
<li>It was found that due to cultivation of rice in north-west India, the water table went down by 33 cm per year during 2002-08.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>PDS Reforms</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Role of Aadhar:</strong> Integrating Aadhar with TPDS will help in better identification of beneficiaries and <strong>address the problem of inclusion and exclusion errors.</strong> According to a study by the Unique Identification Authority of India, using Aadhaar with TPDS would help eliminate duplicate and ghost (fake) beneficiaries, and make identification of beneficiaries more accurate.</li>
<li><strong>Technology-based reforms of TPDS implemented by states: Wadhwa Committee,</strong> appointed by the Supreme court, found that certain states had implemented computerisation and other technology-based reforms to TPDS. Technology-based reforms helped plug leakages of food grains during TPDS.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Tamil Nadu implements a <strong>universal PDS,</strong> such that every household is entitled to subsidised food grains.</li>
<li>States such as Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have implemented IT measures to streamline TPDS, through the digitisation of ration cards, the use of GPS tracking of delivery, and the use of SMS based monitoring by citizens.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><strong><em>Technology-based reforms to TPDS undertaken by some states</em><br /></strong></p>
<table border="1" style="height: 154px; width: 91.6688%; border-collapse: collapse;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 20.3178%; height: 19px; vertical-align: top; text-align: left; background-color: #dcf7f0;"><strong>Type of reform</strong></td>
<td style="width: 51.6459%; height: 19px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;"><strong>Benefits of reform</strong></td>
<td style="width: 27.9228%; height: 19px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;"><strong>States implementing reforms</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 35px;">
<td style="width: 20.3178%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Digitisation of ration cards</td>
<td style="width: 51.6459%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Allows for online entry and verification of beneficiary data</li>
<li>Online storing of monthly entitlement of beneficiaries, number of dependants, offtake of food grains by beneficiaries from FPS, etc.</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td style="width: 27.9228%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, etc.</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 20.3178%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Computerised allocation to FPS</td>
<td style="width: 51.6459%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Computerises FPS allocation, declaration of stock balance, web-based truck challans, etc.</li>
<li>Allows for quick and efficient tracking of transactions</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td style="width: 27.9228%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, etc.</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 20.3178%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Issue of smart cards in place of ration cards</td>
<td style="width: 51.6459%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Secure electronic devices used to store beneficiary data</li>
<li>Stores data such as name, address, biometrics, BPL/APL category and monthly entitlement of beneficiaries and family members</li>
<li>Prevents counterfeiting</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td style="width: 27.9228%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha etc.</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 99px;">
<td style="width: 20.3178%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Use of GPS technology</td>
<td style="width: 51.6459%; height: 10px; background-color: #dcf7f0; vertical-align: top;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Use of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to track movement of trucks carrying food grains from state depots to FPS</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td style="width: 27.9228%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 51px;">
<td style="width: 20.3178%; height: 51px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">SMS based monitoring</td>
<td style="width: 51.6459%; height: 51px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Allows monitoring by citizens so they can register their mobile numbers and send/receive SMS slerts during dispatch and arrival of TPDS commodities</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td style="width: 27.9228%; height: 51px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 35px;">
<td style="width: 20.3178%; height: 35px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Use of web-based citizens' portal</td>
<td style="width: 51.6459%; height: 35px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Publicises grievance redressal machinery, such as toll free number for call centres to register complaints or suggestions</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td style="width: 27.9228%; height: 35px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Chhattisgarh</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3>PDS vs. Cash Transfers</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>National Food Security Act,2013 provides for reforms in the TPDS including schemes such as Cash transfers for provisioning of food entitlements.</li>
<li><strong>Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)</strong> aims to: <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>reduce the need for huge physical movement of foodgrains</li>
<li>provide greater autonomy to beneficiaries to choose their consumption basket</li>
<li>enhance dietary diversity</li>
<li>reduce leakages</li>
<li>facilitate better targeting</li>
<li>promote financial inclusion</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><strong><em>Advantages and disadvantages of PDS and other delivery mechanisms</em></strong></p>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 16.7013%; height: 19px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;"><strong>Machanism</strong></td>
<td style="width: 34.1717%; height: 19px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;"><strong>Advantages</strong></td>
<td style="width: 34.5876%; height: 19px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;"><strong>Disadvantages</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 83px;">
<td style="width: 16.7013%; height: 27px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;">PDS</td>
<td style="width: 34.1717%; height: 27px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Insulates beneficiaries from inflation and price volatility</li>
<li>Ensures entitlement is used for food grains only</li>
<li>Well-developed network of FPS ensures access to food grains even in remote areas</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td style="width: 34.5876%; height: 27px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Low offtake of food grains from each household&nbsp;</li>
<li>High leakage and diversion of subsidised food grain&nbsp;</li>
<li>Adulteration of food grain</li>
<li>Lack of viability of FPS due to low margins</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 16.7013%; height: 19px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;">Cash transfers</td>
<td style="width: 34.1717%; height: 19px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Cash in the hands of poor increases their choicess</li>
<li>Cash may relieve financial constraints faced by the poor, make it possible to form thrift societies and access credit</li>
<li>Administrative costs of cash transfer programmes may be significantly lesser than that of other schemes</li>
<li>Potential for making electronic transfer</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td style="width: 34.5876%; height: 19px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Cash can be used buy non-food items</li>
<li>May expose recipients to price volatility and inflation</li>
<li>There is poor access to banks and post offices in some areas</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 16.7013%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;">Food coupons</td>
<td style="width: 34.1717%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Household is given the freedom to choose where it buys food</li>
<li>Increases incentive for competitive prices and assured quality of food grains among PDS stores</li>
<li>Ration shops get full food grains from the poor, no incentive to turn the poor away</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td style="width: 34.5876%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Food coupons are not indexed for inflation; may expose recipients to inflation</li>
<li>Difficult to administer; there have known to be delays in issuing food coupons and reimbursing shops</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>PDS is one of the biggest welfare programmes of the government, helping farmers sell their produce at remunerative prices as well as the poorer sections of society to buy food grains at affordable rates.</li>
<li>Its effectiveness can be enhanced with <strong>technology based solutions</strong> as is evident from some of the states&rsquo; successes towards the same. Shifting towards DBT is another idea, but with caution. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>In its report on State finances, the <strong>Reserve Bank of India (RBI)</strong> has advised States that are planning to shift to cash transfer to be cautious while effecting the migration.</li>
<li><strong>Economic survey 2016-17</strong> also highlighted the need for more caution and better infrastructure while replacing subsidised PDS supplies with DBT.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Strengthening of the existing TPDS system by capacity building and training of the implementing authorities along with efforts to plug leakages is the best way forward.</li>
<li>It can be further strengthened by the increased public participation through <strong>social audits</strong> and participation of SHGs, Cooperatives and NGOs in ensuring the transparency of PDS system at ground level.</li>
<li>To enhance the nutritional level of masses, <strong>bio-fortified foods</strong> need to be distributed through the PDS that will make it more relevant in the backdrop of prevalent malnutrition in India.</li>
</ul>
<p><em><a href="/mind-map/gs-paper3/public-distribution-system-mindmap" target="_blank" rel="noopener">For Mind Map</a></em></p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/to-the-points/paper3/public-distribution-system-1'
		],
		(int) 2 => [
			'title' => 'Climate Change and Land',
			'catname' => 'News Editorials',
			'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>The article is based on the recent IPCC report <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/srccl/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>&ldquo;Climate change and Land&rdquo;</strong> </a>published on 8<sup>th</sup> August and an editorial <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/climate-change-ipcc-report-global-warming-un-5893072/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>&ldquo;Climate on the Farm&rdquo;</strong></a> published in The Indian Express on 10<sup>th</sup> August regarding the same.</p>
</div>
<h3>Context</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently, on 8th August, released <strong>Special Report on <em>Climate Change and Land</em> (SRCCL)</strong> which finds that we must dramatically change the way we use land to limit global warming to safe levels by 2030.</li>
<li>It is alarmed about the <strong>degrading land resources globally</strong> and its impact on furthering negative effects of climate change. It concluded that better management of the world&rsquo;s farms and forests is necessary to tackle climate change.</li>
<li>The IPCC report warns that clean energy, clean transport and reduction emissions alone will not cut global emissions enough to avoid dangerous warming beyond 2 degrees Celsius.</li>
<li>It points out that the global food system is responsible for 21 to 37 per cent of the world&rsquo;s GHG emissions.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Land Use and Climate change</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>About a quarter of the Earth&rsquo;s ice-free land area is subjected to <em><strong>&ldquo;human-induced degradation''</strong></em> according to the <strong>IPCC report.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Rapid agricultural expansion</strong> has led to destruction of forests, wetlands and grasslands and other ecosystems thus boosting global warming.</li>
<li><strong>Soil erosion</strong> from agricultural fields, the report estimates, is 10 to 100 times higher than the soil formation rate.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Land degradation is both cause and consequence of climate change. When land is degraded, it becomes <strong>less productive,</strong> restricting what can be grown and reducing the soil&rsquo;s ability to absorb carbon. This exacerbates climate change, while climate change in turn exacerbates land degradation.</li>
<li><strong>Land serves as a sink for carbon,</strong> because healthy ecosystems and soils can absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Between 2007-2016, these sinks removed 28% of total human carbon dioxide emissions from the air &mdash; an important barrier to even more severe climate change.</li>
<li>However, <strong>degraded land does not have the capacity to absorb carbon; it can actually release carbon.</strong> And it&rsquo;s possible that climate change and human activities could damage land to the point where it becomes a net source of carbon emissions.</li>
<li><strong>Agriculture, forestry and other types of land use</strong> account for 23% of human greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time natural land processes <strong>absorb carbon dioxide equivalent to almost a third of carbon dioxide emissions</strong> from fossil fuels and industry.</li>
<li>Land must remain productive to maintain food security as the population increases as well as the negative impacts of climate change on vegetation increase.</li>
<li>Food security will be increasingly affected by future climate change through yield declines &ndash; especially in the tropics &ndash; increased prices, reduced nutrient quality, and supply chain disruptions.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Mitigation Strategies</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The report shows that <em><strong>sustainable land management</strong></em> can contribute to tackling climate change, but is not the only solution. <strong>Reducing greenhouse gas emissions</strong> from all sectors is essential if global warming is to be kept to well below 2&ordm;C, if not 1.5&ordm;C.</li>
<li>Coordinated action to address climate change can simultaneously <strong>improve land, food security and nutrition, and help to end hunger.</strong></li>
<li>The report highlights that climate change is affecting all <strong>four pillars of food security:</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>availability (yield and production),</li>
<li>access (prices and ability to obtain food),</li>
<li>utilization (nutrition and cooking), and</li>
<li>stability (disruptions to availability).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>More sustainable land use, reducing over-consumption and waste of food, eliminating the clearing and burning of forests, preventing over-harvesting of fuelwood, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions will help to address land related climate change issues.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Significance of the Report</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The report is expected to be a key scientific input into forthcoming climate negotiations, such as the Conference of the Parties of the <strong>UN Convention to Combat Desertification</strong> in Delhi in September and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference <strong>(COP25)</strong> in Santiago, Chile, in December.</li>
<li>The report could spur moves to pressure developing countries like India to ramp up their global warming mitigation targets.</li>
<li>Countries, including India, could do well to pay heed to the IPCC report&rsquo;s recommendations on curbing land degradation and soil erosion by improving knowledge systems.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The IPCC report presents another alarming picture regarding climate change effects on agriculture and food systems by emphasising its deleterious effects on land use. It also presents some solutions towards sustainable development strategies to effectively mitigate climate change.</li>
<li>There needs an enhanced commitment from nations more than their pledged <strong>INDCs</strong> (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions) under <strong>Paris Climate Deal.</strong> However, it must not be used to pressurize developing countries to ramp up their global warming mitigation targets.</li>
<li>India, which seems well on course to meeting its Paris Climate Pact targets, should be careful about taking up commitments that hobble its agriculture sector.</li>
</ul>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;" height="75">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 518px; border-style: dotted; border-color: #002fff; background-color: #faf7d4;">
<p><span style="color: #ff0000;"><em><strong>Drishti Input</strong></em></span></p>
<p><em>&ldquo;Examine the relationship between land use and climate change in the light of food security and global warming&rdquo;</em></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p></p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/climate-change-and-land-1'
		],
		(int) 3 => [
			'title' => 'In Depth - Political Funding',
			'catname' => 'Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha Discussions',
			'desc' => '<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JYI3V64FcMI" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>Across the world, political parties need access to money in order to reach out to the electorate, explain their policies and receive inputs from people. And in order to do the same, parties resort to political party funding. One of the primary sources of this funding is voluntary contributions made by individuals. Besides this, corporates pay hefty donations to parties in different forms. Foreign aid is another source.&nbsp;</p>
<h3>What is Political Funding?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Political Funding implies the methods that political parties use to raise funds to finance their campaign and routine activities.</li>
<li>A political party needs money to pitch itself, its objectives, its intended actions to get votes for itself.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Statutory Provisions</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Section 29B</strong> of the <strong>Representation of the People Act (RPA)</strong> entitles parties to accept voluntary contributions by any person or company, except a Government Company.</li>
<li><strong>Section 29C</strong> of the RPA mandates political parties to declare donations that exceed 20,000 rupees. Such a declaration is made by making a report and submitting the same to the EC. Failure to do so on time disentitles a party from tax relief under the Income Tax Act, 1961.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Methods that Indian Political Parties use to raise the funds</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Individual Persons:</strong> Section 29B of RPA allows political parties to receive donations from individual persons.</li>
<li><strong>State/Public Funding:</strong> Here, the government provides funds to parties for election related purposes. State Funding is of two types:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Direct Funding:</strong> The government provides funds directly to the political parties. <strong>Direct funding by tax is prohibited in India.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Indirect Funding:</strong> It includes other methods except direct funding, like free access to media, free access to public places for rallies, free or subsidized transport facilities. <strong>It is allowed in India in a regulated manner.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Corporate Funding:</strong> In India, donations by corporate bodies are governed under the <strong>Companies Act, 2013</strong>. Section 182 of the Act provides that:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>A company needs to be at least three years old to be able to donate to a political party.</li>
<li>Companies can donate up to 7.5% of average net profits made during three simultaneous preceding financial years.</li>
<li>Such contributions must be disclosed in the company&rsquo;s profit and loss account.</li>
<li>Approval of the Board of Directors needs to be obtained for the contribution.</li>
<li>If a company violates said provisions, it may have to pay a fine up to 5 times the amount contributed and every officer of the company who is in default shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Note:</strong> The government has removed the cap of 7.5% (seven point five percent) on corporate contributions to the political parties with the <strong>Finance Act, 2017</strong>. The same Act also removed the obligation to report such contributions in the company&rsquo;s profit and loss account.</p>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Electoral Trusts:</strong> A non-profit company created in India for orderly receipt of voluntary contributions from any person like an individual or a domestic company.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>According to the Election Commission Guidelines, all electoral trusts formed after January 2013 are required to declare details of the money received and disbursed.</li>
<li>The Central Government rules mandate these firms to donate 95% of their total income to registered political parties in a financial year.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Issues with Political Funding</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>One of the biggest disadvantages of the corporate funding is the use of fake companies to route black money.</li>
<li>Influence of people and companies over political parties to which they provide funds.</li>
<li>There are various gaps in Indian rules, the benefit of which political parties take to avoid any kind of reporting.</li>
<li>Hidden sources of funding lead to more spending of funds in election campaigns, thus impacting the economy of the country.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Recent Steps Taken</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In March, 2018, the government passed a key amendment to the <strong>Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010</strong> allowing foreign companies to fund political parties in India.</li>
<li><strong>Introduction of Electoral Bonds:</strong> The government notified the Electoral Bond Scheme on 2<sup>nd</sup> January, 2018 to establish and cleanse the system of political funding in the country.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>An electoral bond is a bearer instrument like a Promissory Note. It can be purchased by any citizen of India or a body incorporated in India to donate to the political party of their choice. Donor&rsquo;s name is not there on the bond.</li>
<li>These bonds can be used for making donations to the political parties registered under <strong>Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951</strong> and which have secured not less than one per cent of the votes polled in the last general election to the House of the People or a Legislative Assembly.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A party&rsquo;s expenditure limit should be 50% or less of the combined maximum spend prescribed for all of its candidates.</li>
<li>Individual spending needs to be capped based on whether a candidate has stood for an assembly or a general election.</li>
<li>Anonymous donations should be limited to 20% of a party&rsquo;s total collections</li>
</ul>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/loksabha-rajyasabha-discussions/in-depth-political-funding'
		],
		(int) 4 => [
			'title' => '77th Anniversary of Quit India movement',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>The 77<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the <strong>August Kranti Din</strong>, which is considered as one of the important milestones in the history of freedom struggle of our country, was observed on <strong>August 8, 2019.</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>On 8<sup>th</sup> August 1942, <a href="/to-the-points/paper4/gandhian-ideologies" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Mahatma Gandhi</strong></a> gave a clarion call to end the British rule and launched the <strong>Quit India Movement</strong> at the session of the All-India Congress Committee in Mumbai.</li>
<li>The movement had begun from Gawalia Tank Maidan in Mumbai and the day is observed as August Kranti Day every year. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>After the failure of the <strong>Cripps Mission,</strong> Gandhiji gave the call <strong>&ldquo;Do or Die&rdquo;&rsquo;</strong> in his speech delivered at the <strong>Gowalia Tank Maidan,</strong> now popularly known as August Kranti Maidan.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Gandhiji was soon imprisoned at <strong>Aga Khan Palace in Pune</strong> and almost all leaders were arrested.</li>
<li>New leaders like <strong>Aruna Asaf Ali</strong> emerged out of the vacuum of leadership.</li>
<li>The Britishers declared the INC to be an<strong> unlawful association.</strong></li>
<li>Over 100000 people were arrested and the <strong>government resorted to violence</strong> in order to crush the agitation.</li>
<li>Gandhiji was released in 1944 on health grounds. However, in the absence of any central leadership, there were <strong>some incidences of violence.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Muslim League, the Communist Party of India and the Hindu Mahasabha did not support the movement.</strong> The Indian bureaucracy also did not support the movement.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The League was not in favour of the British leaving India without partitioning the country first.</li>
<li>The Communist party supported the British since they were allied with the Soviet Union.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Meanwhile, Subhas Chandra Bose, organised the <strong>Indian National Army</strong> and the Azad Hind government from outside the country.</li>
<li>As, <strong>C Rajagopalachari</strong> was not in favour of complete independence he resigned from the INC.</li>
<li>There were <strong>strikes and demonstrations</strong> all over the country and workers provided the support by not working in the factories.</li>
<li>At some places (Ballia, Tamluk, Satara etc.) <strong>parallel governments</strong> were also set up.</li>
<li>Women took active participation in the movement. Female leaders like <strong>Usha Mehta</strong> has helped set up an underground radio station which led to the awakening about the movement.</li>
<li><strong>Aruna Asaf Ali</strong> popularly known as the 'Grand Old Lady' of the Independence Movement is known for hoisting the Indian flag at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Mumbai during the Quit India Movement.</li>
<li>While the Quit India campaign was <strong>crushed in 1944,</strong> with the British refusing to grant immediate independence, saying it could happen only after the war had ended, they came to the important realization that <strong>India was ungovernable in the long run</strong> due to the cost of World War II.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Cripps Mission</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Japanese aggression</strong> in South-East Asia, keenness of British Government to secure the <strong>full participation of India in the war,</strong> mounting <strong>pressure from China and the United States,</strong> as well as from the <strong>Labour Party</strong> in Britain, led Britsh Prime Minister <strong>Winston Churchill</strong> to send Cripps Mission to India in March 1942.</li>
<li>Under Stafford Cripps, the mission was sent to <strong>resolve the Indian question of a new constitution and self-government.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Main proposals</strong> of the mission were:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>An Indian Union with a <strong>dominion status</strong> would be set up; it would be free to decide its relations with the Commonwealth and free to participate in the United Nations and other international bodies.</li>
<li><strong>A constituent assembly</strong> would be convened after the war to frame a new constitution.</li>
<li>Members of the assembly <strong>partly elected</strong> by the provincial assemblies and partly nominated by the princes.</li>
<li>Any province not willing to accept the constitution would be given <strong>&lsquo;the same full status as the Indian Union&rsquo;,</strong> - designed to appease the Muslim League&rsquo;s call for Pakistan.</li>
<li>The constitution making body and the British Government would negotiate a<strong> treaty to effect the transfer of power</strong> and to safeguard racial and religious minorities.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The Indian National Congress, however, was not satisfied as its <strong>demand for immediate complete independence had been rejected.</strong></li>
<li>Mahatma Gandhi said that Cripps offer of Dominion Status after the war was a <strong>"post-dated cheque drawn on a failing bank&rsquo;&rsquo;.</strong></li>
</ul>
</div>
<p><a href="http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=124656" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: PIB</strong></a></p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/77th-anniversary-of-quit-india-movement'
		],
		(int) 5 => [
			'title' => 'Mercury Emission Versus its Concentration in Fishes',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>Recently researchers have found that despite a decrease in <strong>seawater concentration of methylmercury,</strong> the amount of mercury found in fish is different among different species</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A joint research conducted by the <strong>Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IIT-H), Harvard University,</strong> and <strong>Fisheries and Oceans Canada</strong> (a Canadian government agency) has found that though there has been a decrease in the levels of mercury emission, the concentration of mercury in fish varies across different species.</li>
<li>Some species of fish have <strong>less mercury</strong> than before, while others have a very <strong>high concentration</strong> of mercury (tuna, salmon and swordfish).</li>
<li>The researchers warn that human exposure to the toxin (methylmercury) through <strong>fish consumption</strong> is bound to increase as a result of <a href="/loksabha-rajyasabha-discussions/the-big-picture-climate-change-act-now" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>climate change.</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Key Facts</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Mercury is a naturally occurring element that is found in air, water and soil.</li>
<li>Exposure to mercury &ndash; even small amounts &ndash; may cause serious health problems, and is a threat to the development of the child in utero and early in life.</li>
<li>Mercury may have toxic effects on the <strong>nervous, digestive</strong> and <strong>immune systems,</strong> and on lungs, kidneys, skin and eyes.</li>
<li>Mercury is considered by <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/strategy-against-the-threat-of-influenza" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>World Health Organisation (WHO)</strong></a> as one of the top ten chemicals or groups of chemicals of major public health concern.</li>
<li>People are mainly exposed to <strong>methylmercury,</strong> (an organic compound) when they eat fish and shellfish and are more vulnerable to Minamata disease.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Minimata Disease:</strong> A disorder caused by <strong>methyl mercury poisoning</strong> that was first described in the inhabitants of <strong>Minamata Bay, Japan</strong> and resulted from their eating fish contaminated with mercury industrial waste.</li>
<li>The disease is characterized by <strong>peripheral sensory loss, tremors, dysarthria, ataxia, and both hearing and visual loss.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Methylmercury</strong> is very different to ethylmercury. Ethylmercury is used as a preservative in some vaccines and does not pose a health risk.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p><strong>Variation in Mercury Accumulation in Fish:</strong> Three factors that can be attributed to the variation in accumulation of mercury in fish are:<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/338Images3.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/338Images3.jpg" width="265" height="531" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Overfishing:</strong> Leads to <strong>dietary changes</strong> among marine animals.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Cod relied more on lobsters and other large invertebrates (which are low in mercury), while the dogfish went for more squid and other cephalopods (which tend to be high in mercury).</li>
<li>Hence cod ended up with lower mercury levels than the dogfish.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Variations in the Temperature of the Seawater:</strong> Seawater temperatures may also alter mercury accumulation.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Fish metabolism</strong> is temperature-dependent, so as <strong>ocean temperature increases,</strong> fish experience higher metabolism and more energy obtained from food are spent on maintenance rather than growth, leading to more methylmercury getting concentrated in predatory fish.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Changes in the amounts of mercury</strong> found in seawater as a result of pollution.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>The Minamata Convention</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Minamata Convention on Mercury is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury and its compounds.</li>
<li>It was agreed at the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee in Geneva, Switzerland 2013.</li>
<li>Controlling the anthropogenic releases of mercury throughout its lifecycle is one of the key obligations under the Convention.</li>
<li>The Convention also addresses interim storage of mercury and its disposal once it becomes waste, sites contaminated by mercury as well as health issues.</li>
<li>More than 140 countries including <strong>India</strong> have ratified the Convention.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p><a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/iit-h-harvard-university-study-mercury-accumulation-in-fish/article28969597.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: TH</strong></a></p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/mercury-emission-versus-its-concentration-in-fishes'
		],
		(int) 6 => [
			'title' => 'Proposals to Change in CITES Listing',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>India has submitted proposals regarding changes to the listing of the <strong>smooth-coated otter, small-clawed otter, Indian star tortoise, Tokay gecko, wedgefish and Indian rosewood</strong> in the <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-international-institution/cites" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>CITES</strong></a> secretariat meeting, scheduled in August 2019 in Geneva (Switzerland).</p>
<h3>Smooth-coated otter and Small-clawed otter</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong><a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-international-institution/cites" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Otters</a></strong> are found world over, except in Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar, and other oceanic islands.</li>
<li>India is home to 3 of the 13 species of otters found worldwide. These are - Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra); <strong>Smooth-coated Otter</strong> (Lutra perspicillata) and <strong>Small-clawed otter</strong> (Aonyx cinereus).</li>
<li>The Smooth-coated Otter is distributed throughout the country from the <strong>Himalayas southward.</strong></li>
<li>But the Common Otter and the Small-clawed Otter are <strong>restricted to the Himalayas, to the north of the Ganges and to southern India.</strong></li>
<li>These otters have generally been described as fish specialist.</li>
<li>Major threats to Asian otter population are <strong>loss of <a href="/to-the-points/paper3/wetlands-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wetland</a> habitats</strong> due to construction of large scale hydroelectric projects, conversion of wetlands for settlements and agriculture, reduction in prey biomass, poaching and contamination of waterways by pesticides.</li>
<li>The <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/iucn-red-list" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)</strong></a> has listed these otters under the <strong>vulnerable category.</strong></li>
<li>India, Nepal and the Philippines have proposed that the listing of these otters should be <strong>moved from CITES Appendix II to Appendix I.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/598Image5.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/598Image5.jpg" width="478" height="247" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" /></a></p>
<h3>Indian star tortoise</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-9th-november-2018" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Indian star tortoise</strong></a> is found across the Indian sub-continent, more specifically, in the Central and Southern parts of India, in West Pakistan and in Sri Lanka.<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/822Image2.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/822Image2.jpg" width="199" height="176" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></li>
<li>Star Tortoises are protected under <strong>Schedule IV of Wild Life Protection Act, 1972</strong> and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Fauna and Flora.</li>
<li>The IUCN has listed it under the vulnerable category.</li>
<li>The species faces two threats: <strong>loss of habitat to agriculture and illegal harvesting</strong> for the pet trade.</li>
<li>India is among the parties proposing the re-listing of the star tortoise<strong> from CITES Appendix II to Appendix I.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Tokay gecko</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Tokay Gecko or <strong>Gekko gecko</strong> is one of the largest geckos (Lizard) in the country and the world.<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/779image10.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/779image10.jpg" style="float: right;" width="164" height="119" caption="false" /></a></li>
<li>This is a <strong>nocturnal arboreal gecko,</strong> ranging from northeast India, Nepal and Bangladesh, throughout Southeast Asia.</li>
<li>Occurring in the <strong>rainforests,</strong> it is primarily a tree-dweller.</li>
<li>It&rsquo;s use as a<strong> traditional Asian medicine</strong> &mdash;everything from energy drinks to treatments for diabetes, cancer, and HIV/AIDS (there is <strong>no proof of efficacy</strong> in any of these uses), make it prone to illegal trade across borders.</li>
<li>The <strong>IUCN has listed it under Least Concern category.</strong></li>
<li>India has proposed it&rsquo;s listing should be <strong>moved from CITES Appendix II to Appendix I.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Wedgefish</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Wedgefish are <strong>shallow water coastal species,</strong> found in northern Indian Ocean and northwestern Pacific Ocean.<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/291image6.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/291image6.jpg" style="float: right;" width="196" height="122" caption="false" /></a></li>
<li>Alongwith giant <strong><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/iucn-red-list" target="_blank" rel="noopener">guitarfishes</a></strong>, they are collectively known as <strong>Rhino Rays</strong> because of their elongated snouts.</li>
<li>They have been listed as the <strong>&lsquo;most imperilled marine fish families in the world&rsquo;.</strong></li>
<li>The main drivers of the decline are the <strong>loss of free flowing rivers and increasing agricultural and urban pollution.</strong></li>
<li>The IUCN has listed it under <strong>vulnerable category.</strong></li>
<li>Indian proposed to <strong>include Wedgefish in Appendix II of CITES.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Indian rosewood</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is <strong>deciduous rosewood tree</strong> native to the Indian subcontinent, also grown in Nigeria, Kenya, Vietnam, the Philippines, and other parts of tropical Africa.</li>
<li>It is used for <strong>making furniture, plywood,</strong> and decorative wood products.</li>
<li>The species grows at a very fast rate and has the capacity to become naturalised outside its native range, it is<strong> invasive</strong> in other parts of the world as well.</li>
<li>India has proposed to <strong>remove rosewood from Appendix II of CITES.</strong></li>
<li>Its IUCN Red List status is <strong>&lsquo;vulnerable&rsquo;.</strong></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>CITES Appendices</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Appendices I, II and III to the Convention are lists of species afforded different levels or types of protection from over-exploitation.</li>
<li><strong>Appendix I</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It lists species that are the <strong>most endangered</strong> among CITES-listed animals and plants.</li>
<li>Examples include gorillas, sea turtles, most lady slipper orchids, and giant pandas. Currently 931 species are listed.</li>
<li>They are <strong>threatened with extinction</strong> and CITES <strong>prohibits international trade</strong> in specimens of these species except when the purpose of the import is not commercial, for instance for scientific research.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Appendix II</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It lists species that are <strong>not necessarily now threatened with extinction but that may become so unless trade is closely controlled.</strong></li>
<li>International trade in specimens of Appendix-II species may be authorized by the granting of an export permit or re-export certificate.</li>
<li>No import permit is necessary for these species under CITES (although a permit is needed in some countries that have taken stricter measures than CITES requires).</li>
<li>Permits or certificates should only be granted if the relevant authorities are satisfied that certain conditions are met, above all that trade will not be detrimental to the survival of the species in the wild.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Appendix III</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It is a list of species <strong>included at the request of a Party that already regulates trade in the species</strong> and that needs the cooperation of other countries to prevent unsustainable or illegal exploitation.</li>
<li>Examples include map turtles, walruses and Cape stag beetles. Currently 147 species are listed.</li>
<li>International trade in specimens of species listed in this Appendix is allowed only on presentation of the appropriate permits or certificates.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Species may be added to or removed from Appendix I and II, or moved between them, only by the Conference of the Parties.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>However, species may be added to or removed from Appendix III at any time and by any Party unilaterally.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/833image8.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/833image8.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" width="557" height="268" /></a></p>
</div>
<p><a href="https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/indian-seeks-change-of-status-of-several-species-like-star-tortoise-otters-in-cites/article28917079.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: TH</strong></a></p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/proposals-to-change-in-cites-listing'
		],
		(int) 7 => [
			'title' => 'International Day of Indigenous Peoples',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>International day of indigenous people is observed on August 9 every year, in order to raise awareness of the needs of indigenous people. The first meeting of the <strong>UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations</strong> was held in Geneva in 1982.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The <strong>theme of 2019</strong> is <strong>Indigenous People&rsquo;s Languages</strong> in view of 2019 being marked as the <strong>International Year of Indigenous Languages</strong> by the United Nations.</li>
</ul>
<h3>International Day of Indigenous Peoples in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>On International day of indigenous people, the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-7th-may-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Khadi and Village Industry Commission (KVIC)</strong></a> has launched a new programme <strong>&lsquo;Leather Mission&rsquo;.</strong></li>
<li>It has distributed as many as 50 leather kits and 350 Bee-Boxes with live bee colonies in tribal-dominated village in Sirohi district of Rajasthan, one of the <a href="/summary-of-important-reports/NITI-AAYOG-2018-transformation-of-aspirational-districts-baseline-ranking-and-real-time-monitoring-programme" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>aspirational districts</strong></a> in India identified by the NITI Aayog.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Indigenous people</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>They are inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of relating to people and the environment.</li>
<li>They have retained social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live. Despite their cultural differences, indigenous peoples from around the world share common problems related to the protection of their rights as distinct peoples.</li>
<li>The indigenous people in the world make up less than 5 percent of the total population, but fall in the 15 percent of the poorest, according to the UN website. They represent as many as 5,000 different cultures.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>International Year of Indigenous Languages</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Languages play a crucially important role in the daily lives of all people. They are pivotal in the areas of human rights protection, peace building and sustainable development, through ensuring cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>However, despite their immense value, languages around the world continue to disappear at an alarming rate due to a variety of factors. Many of them are indigenous languages.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Indigenous languages in particular are a significant factor in a wide range of other indigenous issues, notably education, scientific and technological development, the biosphere and the environment, freedom of expression, employment and social inclusion.</li>
<li>The <strong>International Year of Indigenous Languages</strong> is a United Nations observance in 2019. It aims to raise awareness of the consequences of the endangerment of indigenous languages across the world, with an aim to establish a link between language, development, peace, and reconciliation.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/6-of-the-worlds-languages-are-spoken-in-india/article28851168.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source: TH,</a></strong><a href="https://www.un.org/en/events/indigenousday/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UN</a></p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/international-day-of-indigenous-peoples'
		],
		(int) 8 => [
			'title' => 'India in US list on Drug Transit',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>Recently, US designated India among about 20 major drug transit or illicit drug-producing countries.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>However, it also noted that a country&rsquo;s presence on the list is not necessarily a reflection of its government&rsquo;s counter-narcotic efforts.</li>
<li>Apart from India, the countries identified in the list are Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Burma, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/912image4.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/912image4.jpg" width="613" height="290" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" /></a></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>There are a combination of <a href="/loksabha-rajyasabha-discussions/the-big-picture-fighting-drug-menace" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>geographic, commercial, and economic factors</strong></a> that allow drugs to transit or be produced, even if the government has engaged in robust and diligent narcotics control measures.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>For instance, India is in the middle of two major illicit opium production region in the world the Golden Crescent (Iran-Afghanistan-Pakistan) in the west and the Golden Triangle (South-East Asia) in the east.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/386image1.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/386image1.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="565" height="160" caption="false" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-in-us-list-on-drug-transit/story-k38UkOlpMQ8C9JPDvTPx7K.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source:HT</strong></a></p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/india-in-us-list-on-drug-transit'
		],
		(int) 9 => [
			'title' => 'The Motor Vehicles Bill for Road Safety',
			'catname' => 'News Editorials',
			'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>This article is based on the <a href="https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/editorial/the-new-motor-vehicles-bill-paves-the-way-for-safer-roads/article28917169.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>&ldquo;The new Motor Vehicles bill paves the way for safer roads&rdquo;</strong></a> that appeared in The Hindu Business Line on 8<sup>th</sup> August. It talks about the provisions of the <strong>Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019</strong> and their utility in making India&rsquo;s Road safer.</p>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><em><strong>India sees more than five lakh road accidents a year leading to 1.5 lakh deaths.</strong> </em>According to the Union Transport Minister, this could come down by half if the provisions of this Bill are implemented.</li>
<li>The <strong>Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019</strong> is based on the recommendations of the Group of Transport Ministers (GoM) of States constituted by the Ministry of Road Transport &amp; Highways to address the issue of road safety and to improve the access of the citizens while dealing with transport departments.</li>
<li>The <strong>amendments</strong> in the Bill mainly focus on issues relating to improving road safety, citizens&rsquo; facilitation while dealing with the transport department, strengthening rural transport, last mile connectivity and public transport, automation and computerization and enabling online services.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Key Features of the bill</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Road safety:</strong> Bill proposes to <strong>increase penalties</strong> to act as a deterrent against traffic violations.</li>
<li><strong>Compensation for road accident victims:</strong> Cashless treatment of road accident victims during the golden hour (first 1 hour after accident). The minimum compensation for death or grievous injury due to hit and run has been moved up substantially to ₹2 lakh and ₹50,000, respectively.</li>
<li><strong>Road Safety Board:</strong> The Bill provides for a National Road Safety Board, to be created by the central government through a notification. The Board will advise the central and state governments on all aspects of road safety and traffic management.</li>
<li><strong>Protection of Good Samaritan:</strong> To help road accident victims, Good Samaritan guidelines have been incorporated in the Bill. They will not be liable for any civil or criminal action for any injury to or death of an accident victim, caused due to their negligence in providing assistance to the victim.</li>
<li><strong>Motor Vehicle Accident Fund:</strong> The Bill requires the central government to constitute a Motor Vehicle Accident Fund, to provide compulsory insurance cover to all road users in India.</li>
<li><strong>Third-party insurance</strong> terms are friendlier with no cap on liability of insurers and quicker claims processing.</li>
<li>To <strong>reduce scope for manipulation and corruption</strong> in transport departments, vehicle fitness tests will be automated and driving tests, computerised. Also, the driver training process for commercial driving will be strengthened and more training schools set up.</li>
<li><strong>Recall of vehicles:</strong> The Bill allows the central government to order for recall of motor vehicles if a defect in the vehicle may cause damage to the environment, or the driver, or other road users.</li>
<li><strong>National Transportation Policy:</strong> The central government may develop a National Transportation Policy, in consultation with state governments.</li>
<li><strong>Taxi aggregators:</strong> The Bill defines aggregators as digital intermediaries or market places which can be used by passengers to connect with a driver for transportation purposes (taxi services). These aggregators will be issued licenses by state. Further, they must <strong>comply with the Information Technology Act, 2000.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Issues and challenges</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>There will be implementation challenges at all-India level.</li>
<li>Road transport being a subject on the <strong>Concurrent List,</strong> State governments are also free to make their own laws and rules. Some states feel that the amendment infringes upon the rights of the states.</li>
<li>For effective monitoring of traffic violations and accidents and ensuring that the perpetrators don&rsquo;t go scot-free, <strong>electronic surveillance</strong> is essential that needs installation of CCTVs, Speed guns, and other equipments.This could involve substantial investment, and it is not clear who will bear the cost.</li>
<li>Laxity of vehicle-manufacturers in implementing safety features is also a concern.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Road safety Initiatives in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Ministry of Road Transport and highways took several steps in the past to improve road safety:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><em>National Road Safety Policy</em> outlines various policy measures such as promoting awareness, establishing road safety information database, encouraging safer road infrastructure including application of intelligent transport, enforcement of safety laws etc.</li>
<li><em><strong>National Road Safety Council</strong></em> as the apex body to take policy decisions in matters of road safety.</li>
<li>A <strong>dashboard for road accident data,</strong> through which people can access related data and other information both state-wise and the national averages, has been introduced.</li>
<li>Comic books <em><strong>Swachha Safar</strong></em> and <em><strong>Surakshit Yatra</strong></em> have been been released, with an aim to create awareness among children about road safety.</li>
<li><strong>VAHAN</strong> (an ICT-based solution for vehicle registration) and <strong>SARATHI</strong> (for licencing) app to curb malpractices in issuing licences and vehicle registration.</li>
<li><strong>Setu Bharatam programme</strong> to make all national highways free of railway crossings by 2019.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Tamil Nadu model of integrated data-driven road safety initiatives:</strong> the Supreme Court-appointed three-member road safety committee led by <strong>Justice (retd) KS Radhakrishnan</strong> praised Tamil Nadu&rsquo;s efforts in reducing fatalities in road accidents. NCRB data reveals that road accident deaths in TN came down in 2018 by 24.39%, the biggest decrease recorded in the country.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Strict and effective enforcement of the amended rules in Motor Vehicle Act would surely help in curbing road-accident related deaths in India.</li>
<li>The central and state governments should work out proper plans to effectively implement the rules.</li>
<li>State governments should ensure transparency and provide a hassle-free experience for citizens at the Regional Transport Offices.</li>
<li>Vehicle manufacturers should update their technologies and adopt the best global practices regarding vehicles&rsquo; and passengers&rsquo; safety.</li>
<li>Simultaneously, the rise of Internet of Things-enabled, connected cars in India, which international auto majors are heavily investing in currently, can give a digital edge to road safety. With an array of embedded sensors informing drivers of other on-road cars, onboard analytics can give them real-time driving suggestions to avoid collisions.</li>
<li>The unprecedented pace of construction and infrastructure improvement is one more link in the journey to safer roads.</li>
</ul>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;" height="83">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; border-style: dotted; background-color: #e3ffe0; border-color: #ff0000;">
<p><span style="color: #000080;"><em><strong>Drishti Input</strong></em></span><br /><br />"Recently the government had introduced the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2019, with special focus on road safety. Critically examine if it will be able to address the issue of road safety in India?&rdquo;</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/the-motor-vehicles-bill-for-road-safety'
		],
		(int) 10 => [
			'title' => 'India’s Industrial Policy',
			'catname' => 'Paper 3',
			'desc' => '<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/504India&rsquo;s%20Industrial Policy (Mind Map)_Artboard 1.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/504India&rsquo;s Industrial Policy (Mind Map)_Artboard 1.jpg" width="410" height="1383" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="/to-the-points/paper3/india-s-industrial-policy" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>For TTP</em></a></p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/mind-map/gs-paper3/indias-industrial-policy-mind-map'
		],
		(int) 11 => [
			'title' => 'New Procedure for Pending Angel Tax Cases',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>In a move to <strong>ease scrutiny of startups</strong> over the capital they have received from <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/timely-review-on-start-up-tax" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>angel investors</strong></a>, <strong>Central Board of Direct Taxes</strong> <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-4th-april-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>(CBDT)</strong></a> has recently laid out a procedure to address <strong>pending angel tax assessments.</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The procedure has followed the announcement made by the Finance Minister in <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/highlights-of-budget-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Budget 2019-20.</strong></a> The Finance Minister proposed a host of incentives, including a <strong>special arrangement</strong> for <strong>resolution</strong> of pending assessments of income tax cases, with a view to <strong>encouraging startups.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>New Procedure</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>No verification will be done by an assessing officer if a startup has been recognised by the <strong>Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/dipp-renamed-as-dpiit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">(DPIIT)</a></strong> and the case is selected under <strong>limited scrutiny.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>In case the startup has not received DPIIT approval, officers are only allowed to carry out any inquiry or verification only after obtaining <strong>approval of his/her supervisory officer.</strong></li>
<li>In the event that a startup is recognised by DPIIT, but the assessing officers are scrutinising it for <strong>multiple issues,</strong> the officials cannot pursue scrutiny under an <strong>anti-evasion provision</strong> of the Income Tax Act, 1961, in its assessment proceedings.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Section 56(2)(vii)(b)</strong> of the Income Tax Act,1961 deals with the taxation of share premiums received in excess of the fair market value and has been used in the past to serve demand notices to startups over the angel capital they have raised.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;"></ul>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The applicability of <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/timely-review-on-start-up-tax" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>angel tax</strong></a> would not be pursued during the assessment proceedings and inquiry or verification with regard to other issues in such cases shall be carried out by the assessing officer <strong>only after obtaining approval of his/her supervisory officer.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Steps Taken by Indian Government Against Tax terrorism</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In order to reduce the long pending grievances of taxpayers and to minimise litigations pertaining to tax matters, Government of India in July 2018, has decided to increase the threshold monetary limits for filing Departmental Appeals at various levels.</li>
<li><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/redesigning-india-s-fiscal-federalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Goods and Services Tax</strong></a> has been introduced.</li>
<li><a href="/loksabha-rajyasabha-discussions/in-depth-insolvency-and-bankruptcy-code-act" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code</strong></a> has been implemented.</li>
<li><strong><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/aaykar-diwas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&ldquo;Kardaata e-Sahyog Abhiyaan&rdquo;</a> </strong>has been launched by CBDT etc.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/business/startups/relief-for-startups-cbdt-lays-down-procedure-for-pending-angel-tax-cases-5890523/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: IE</strong></a></p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/new-procedure-for-pending-angel-tax-cases'
		],
		(int) 12 => [
			'title' => 'World Breastfeeding Week',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>The World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) has been observed from 1st to 7th August 2019. The Food and Nutrition Board, Ministry of Women and Child Development, has organized a number of activities on the theme <strong>&ldquo;Empower Parents, Enable Breastfeeding&rdquo;</strong>. The focus is on protection, promotion, and support of breastfeeding.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The objectives of World Breastfeeding Week are:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>To create awareness among the parents about breastfeeding</li>
<li>Encourage parents to adopt breastfeeding</li>
<li>Creating awareness about the importance of initiation and exclusive breastfeeding, and adequate &amp; appropriate complementary feeding</li>
<li>Providing advocacy material about the importance of breastfeeding</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Importance of Breastfeeding<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It promotes <strong>better health</strong> for mothers and children alike</li>
<li>It <strong>prevents infections</strong> like diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections in early infancy and thus reduce infant mortality</li>
<li>It <strong>decreases the risk of mothers developing breast cancer</strong>, ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease and</li>
<li>It <strong>protects infants from obesity-related illnesses,</strong> diabetes and increases the IQ.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>MAA - "Mothers Absolute Affection"</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is a nationwide programme of the <strong>Ministry of Health and Family Welfare</strong> to promote breastfeeding and provision of counselling services for supporting breastfeeding through health systems.</li>
<li>The programme has been named &lsquo;MAA&rsquo; to signify the support a lactating mother requires from family members and at health facilities to breastfeed successfully.</li>
<li>The following are the <strong>objectives of the Programme</strong> in order to achieve the above mentioned goal:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Build an enabling environment for breastfeeding through awareness generation activities, targeting pregnant and lactating mothers, family members and society in order to promote optimal breastfeeding practices.</li>
<li>Breastfeeding to be positioned as an important intervention for child survival and development.</li>
<li>Reinforce lactation support services at public health facilities through trained healthcare providers and through skilled community health workers.</li>
<li>To incentivize and recognize those health facilities that show high rates of breastfeeding along with processes in place for lactation management.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>&lsquo;Vatsalya &ndash; Maatri Amrit Kosh&rsquo;,</strong> a National Human Milk Bank and Lactation Counselling Centre has been established at the Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC), Delhi. It has been established in collaboration with the Norwegian government, Oslo University and Norway India Partnership Initiative (NIPI).</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p><a href="http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=192549" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source: PIB</a></p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/world-breastfeeding-week'
		],
		(int) 13 => [
			'title' => 'Gujarat-Madhya Pradesh Tussle over the Narmada',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>Recently, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have engaged in a tussle over the sharing of Narmada river waters.</p>
<h3>What is the Controversy?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Madhya Pradesh has <strong>threatened to restrict the flow of water into the Sardar Sarovar Dam</strong>, located in Gujarat.</li>
<li>The Sardar Sarovar Project<strong> includes two powerhouses,</strong> the River Bed Power House (RBPH; 1,200 MW) and the Canal Head Power House (250 MW).
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Power is shared among Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat in a 57:27:16 ratio.</li>
<li>The RBPH has been shut since 2017, Gujarat has sought that generation should not start until the water reaches the full reservoir level (FRL).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Gujarat&rsquo;s view is that its share of 9 MAF (million-acre feet)<strong> water in a normal monsoon year is insufficient to generate power</strong> as drinking water and irrigation are priorities.</li>
<li>Gujarat has also argued that <strong>reaching the FRL is necessary</strong> for testing whether the increased height of the dam can withstand the thrust at that level.</li>
<li>In light of this Narmada Control Authority has granted the permission<strong> not to start generation at a powerhouse until the dam fills to its full level.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Madhya Pradesh is discontented by frequent power outages</strong> and has refused to release the surplus share for power generation and to allow the dam to be tested at FRL.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Sardar Sarovar Project</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) is a <strong>gravity dam</strong> on the Narmada River crossing Gujarat in India.</li>
<li><strong>It involves a series of large irrigation and hydroelectric multi-purpose dams.</strong></li>
<li>The project <strong>took form in 1979</strong> as part of a development scheme to increase irrigation and produce hydroelectricity.</li>
<li>The hydroelectric power of the SSP is to be <strong>shared by the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh</strong>; the irrigation benefits would accrue to the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/719image3.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/719image3.jpg" width="503" height="303" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-why-gujarat-mp-arguing-over-narmada-water-hydro-power-5890515/">Source: IE</a></p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/gujarat-madhya-pradesh-tussle-over-the-narmada'
		],
		(int) 14 => [
			'title' => 'Climate Change and Land: IPCC’s Report',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/global-warming-of-1-5-c-ipcc-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change&rsquo;s (IPCC)</a> report on &lsquo;Climate Change and Land&rsquo; reveals the relation between climate change and land use pattern.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>This is the first time that the IPCC, has focused its attention solely on the land sector.</li>
<li>The report focuses on the contribution of land-related activities to global warming i.e how the different uses of land, like agriculture, industry, forestry, cattle-rearing, and urbanisation, was affecting <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/greenhouse-gas-levels-reach-record-highs-un-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">emission of greenhouse gases</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Key Findings</h3>
<h3><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/578image2.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/578image2.jpg" width="676" height="349" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" /></a></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Climate Change and Land degradation:</strong> <a href="/loksabha-rajyasabha-discussions/in-depth-biodiversity-warning-bells" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Land degradation</a> is linked to several climate variables, such as temperature, precipitation, wind, and seasonality.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Reduced Photosynthesis:</strong> Extreme <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/heat-is-an-invisible-climate-risk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">heat</a> events can reduce photosynthesis in trees, restrict growth rates of leaves and reduce the growth of the whole tree.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>In regions where plants decline, land degradation is expected to occur as vegetation provides a vital safeguard against erosion.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Increased Aridity:</strong> global warming will exacerbate heat stress thereby increasing deficits in soil moisture that in turn will increase the rate of drying/ aridity.</li>
<li><strong>Rainfall and Flooding:</strong> as a consequence of climate change can also delay planting, increase soil compaction, and cause crop losses.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Land Degradation</strong></p>
<p>IPCC report defines land degradation as a negative trend in land condition, caused by direct or indirect human-induced processes including anthropogenic climate change, expressed as long-term reduction or loss of at least one of the following: biological productivity, ecological integrity, or value to humans.&nbsp;</p>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>However, report states that some aspects of climate change can improve the condition of the land like CO2 fertilisation, where higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere increase plant growth.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>How Does the Land contribute to Climate Change:</strong> Land acts as both the source as well as a sink of carbon thereby, large scale land-use changes like deforestation or urbanisation, or even a change in cropping pattern, have a direct impact on the overall emissions of greenhouse gases.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/238image7.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/238image7.jpg" width="409" height="382" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" /></a></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Carbon Source:</strong> Land-based activities such as agriculture and forestry are sources of greenhouse gas emissions hence act as carbon source.</li>
<li><strong>Carbon Sink:</strong> Soil, trees and vegetation absorb carbon dioxide, thus act as carbon sinks.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Climate Change and Desertification:</strong> The IPCC land report defines desertification as land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas, collectively known as drylands, resulting from many factors, including human activities and climatic variations.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>According to report risks from desertification are projected to increase due to climate change.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/909image5.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/909image5.jpg" width="520" height="375" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" /></a></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The decline in vegetation can leave the soil more at risk of erosion, increasing the likelihood of sand and dust storms that in turn would tend to decrease precipitation in the local climate, thus further reinforcing desertification.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Impacts of Climate Change-driven Land Degradation:</strong> <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Poverty:</strong> Report states that climate change is frequently noted as a risk multiplier for both land degradation and poverty.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/245image4.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/245image4.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" width="640" height="632" /></a></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Migration:</strong> Climate-related land degradation and migration are directly linked to each other.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>When people are pushed into poverty or have their livelihoods stripped as a result of changes in their environment, one adaptation option is to move to another area and this can be internally or across borders.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Climate Change and Food Security:</strong> Climate change is affecting food security through increasing temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and greater frequency of some extreme events.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Agricultural Production:</strong> Increasing temperatures are affecting agricultural productivity in higher latitudes, raising yields of some crops (maize, cotton, wheat, sugar beets), while yields of others (maize, wheat, barley) are declining in lower-latitude regions.</li>
<li><strong>Nutritional Quality:</strong> Increased atmospheric CO2 levels can lower the nutritional quality of crops.</li>
<li><strong>Livestock Production:</strong> Future climate change could affect livestock production.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>An increase in desertification and <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/heat-wave-warning" target="_blank" rel="noopener">heatwaves</a> could have a direct impact on animal morbidity, mortality and distress that in turn could adversely affect the food security.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Higher Prices:</strong> Report states that cereal prices could increase by 1-29% by 2050 as a result of climate change, leading to higher food prices and increased risk of food insecurity and hunger</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/world/world-food-supply-risk-climate-change-un-report-ipcc-5890160/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source: IE</a></p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/climate-change-and-land-ipcc-report'
		],
		(int) 15 => [
			'title' => 'Linking Farmers with Futures Market',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>The recent, <strong>Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)</strong> study suggests the need to empower the Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) to trade in the commodities <strong>futures market</strong>.</p>
<h3>Farmer Producer Organisation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The concept of <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/farmer-producer-bodies-need-help" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'Farmer Producer Organizations (FPO)'</a> consists of <strong>collectivization of producers, especially small and marginal farmers</strong> so as to form an effective alliance to collectively <strong>address many challenges of agriculture</strong> such as improved access to investment, technology, inputs, and markets.</li>
<li>An FPO is <strong>a legal entity formed by primary producers</strong>, viz. farmers, milk producers, fishermen, weavers, rural artisans, craftsmen.</li>
<li>The FPO can be a production company, a cooperative society or any other legal form which provides for sharing of benefits among the members. In some forms like producer companies, institutions of primary producers can also become a member of PO.</li>
<li>The FPOs are generally mobilized by promoting institutions/ resource agencies (RAs). <strong>Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) provides support for the promotion of FPOs.</strong></li>
<li>The resource agencies leverage the support available from governments and agencies like NABARD to promote and nurture FPOs, but attempting an assembly line for mass production of FPOs has not given the desired results.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Future Market</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Futures contracts are used as hedging instruments in agricultural commodities. Hedging is a common practice that insures the farmer against a poor harvest by purchasing futures contracts in the same commodity.</li>
<li><strong>Forward Markets Commission (FMC)</strong> was a regulatory authority for commodity futures market in India. <strong>Forward Markets Commission (FMC) has been merged with</strong> Securities and Exchange Board of India <strong>(SEBI) with effect from September 28, 2015</strong>.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Future Trading in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The first futures trade by an Indian FPO took place in 2014 when the Ram Rahim Pragati Producer Company &ndash; an enterprise started by 3,000 women belonging to self-help groups in a tribal area of Madhya Pradesh &ndash; hedged soyabean price risk on the <strong>National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX)</strong>. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Between April 2016, when NCDEX began making formal efforts to directly engage with FPOs, and May 2018, FPOs had a miniscule 0.004% share of the agri-futures trade at NCDEX. More than half of the FPO futures trade of ₹50.8 crore was in soybeans, while another third was in maize. <strong>Bihar, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh account for 92% of the trade.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Reasons:</strong> The Small farmers often hesitate to trade in the futures market due to their limited capacity as individuals. Future market is viewed with suspicion and termed as gambling. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Instead, they depend on traders in traditional marketing channels who charge high commissions, but provide easy access to credit and market.</li>
<li>However, FPOs, as aggregates of small farmers, can provide the scale of production needed if they receive sufficient information and support.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) is an online commodities exchange dealing primarily in agricultural commodities in India.</li>
<li>It is a public limited company, established on 23 April 2003 under the Companies Act, 1956.</li>
<li>The exchange was founded by some of India's leading financial institutions such as ICICI Bank Limited, the National Stock Exchange of India and the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development, among others.</li>
<li>NCDEX is located in Mumbai but has offices across the country to facilitate trade. Trading is done on 27 commodity contracts as of March 2018. These include 25 contracts for agricultural products. NCDEX is run by an independent board of directors with no direct interest in agriculture.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Benefits of Future Market</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Efficient Price Discovery for Farmers:</strong> Linking farmers with futures market can be mutually beneficial to both. Farmers, when linked with a consistent, liquid and deep futures market will be able to reap the benefits of efficient price discovery.</li>
<li><strong>More Liquidity to Market:</strong> Higher farmer participation will provide more liquidity to the market, helping it achieve its objective of price discovery.</li>
<li><strong>Removing Middlemen:</strong> The trading in <strong>futures market</strong> will help farmers make their cropping decisions based on next year&rsquo;s prices rather than last year&rsquo;s rates, as well as break the crippling hold of middlemen and traders and ultimately boost income for agricultural families.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Learning from the example of China, where the state has helped small land holding farmers by providing customised products and reducing price distortions, the <strong>Government of India should have limited intervention in prices and procurement of commodities</strong>.</li>
<li>The government needs to identify production centres and build warehouses and delivery centres around them in order to encourage futures trading in these areas.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/linking-farmers-with-futures-market-can-benefit-both/article28919062.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: TH</strong></a></p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/linking-farmers-with-futures-market'
		],
		(int) 16 => [
			'title' => 'Improvement in Sex Ratio at Birth',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>According to the fourth National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) 2015-16, the sex ratio at birth (SRB) in India has improved from 914 to 919.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>SRB is defined as the number of female births per 1,000 male births.<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/414image1.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/414image1.jpg" width="158" height="226" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></strong></li>
<li>Survey held that <strong>the highest improvement in SRB was noted in Punjab at 126</strong> points, but its SRB remained at 860 (one of the lowest SRB in the states).<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>This success can be attributed to the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-25th-january-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme</a>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Despite the North-Eastern societies traditionally being matriarchal, the sharpest decline was in Sikkim, where the SRB dropped 175 points to reach 809, the lowest among all states in 2015-16.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Next, to Sikkim, the five states with the highest declines included four more from the Northeast.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/280image6.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/280image6.jpg" width="422" height="387" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/sex-ratio-at-birth-kerala-on-top-northeast-states-show-decline-5890615/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: IE</strong></a></p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/improvement-in-sex-ratio-at-birth'
		],
		(int) 17 => [
			'title' => 'Task Force on Offshore Rupee Markets',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>The <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-fact-for-prelims-1st-march-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Task Force on Offshore Rupee Markets,</strong></a> set up by the <strong>Reserve Bank of India <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-national-institutions/important-institutions-national-institution-reserve-bank-of-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener">(RBI)</a></strong> in February 2019 and chaired by <strong>Smt. Usha Thorat</strong>, former Deputy Governor, RBI, submitted its report to the Governor recently.</p>
<div class="border-bg">
<p>The Task Force was set up to examine the issues relating to the <strong>offshore Rupee markets</strong> and recommend appropriate <strong>policy measures</strong> while factoring in the requirement of ensuring <strong>stability of the external value of the Rupee</strong> including <strong>measures for incentivising <a href="/to-the-points/Paper2/indian-diaspora" target="_blank" rel="noopener">non-residents</a></strong> to access the onshore foreign exchange market.</p>
</div>
<h3>Key Recommendations</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Indian banks should not be allowed to deal in the offshore rupee derivative market &mdash; or <strong>Non-Deliverable Forward (NDF) markets &mdash;</strong> for the present.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The onshore rupee derivatives market is currently more deep and liquid as compared to the offshore rupee market and participation of the Indian banks in the offshore market might, over time, take away this advantage.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>NDF</strong> is a foreign exchange derivatives contract whereby two parties agree to exchange cash at a given spot rate on a future date. The contract is settled in a widely traded currency, such as the US dollar, rather than the original currency.</p>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Extension of onshore market hours</strong> to improve access of overseas users and permit Indian banks to freely offer prices to global clients around the clock.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Banks should be allowed to freely offer prices to non-residents at all times either by a domestic sales team or by using staff located at overseas branches.</li>
<li>Also, wide access to the forex-retail trading platform to non-residents would be a major incentive to use the onshore market.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Enabling rupee derivatives (settled in foreign currency) to be traded in the <strong>International Financial Services Centers <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/international-financial-services-centres-authority-bill-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">(IFSC)</a></strong> in India.</li>
<li>To allow users to undertake <strong>forex transactions up to USD 100 million in over the counter (OTC) currency derivative market</strong> without the need to establish underlying exposure (security that must be delivered when a derivative contract is exercised).</li>
<li>To <strong>facilitate non-residents</strong> to <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/rbi-eases-hedging-norms-for-external-commercial-borrowings" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>hedge</strong></a> their foreign exchange exposure onshore by:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Establishing a <strong>central clearing and settlement mechanism</strong> for non-resident transactions in the onshore market;</li>
<li>Implementing <strong>margin requirements</strong> for non-centrally cleared OTC derivatives and allowing Indian banks to post margins abroad;</li>
<li><strong>Aligning the tax treatment</strong> of foreign exchange derivatives with that in major international centres; and</li>
<li><strong>Centralising the KYC requirements</strong> across financial markets with uniform documentation requirement.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p>&lsquo;Onshore&rsquo; currencies simply mean buying the currencies locally, whereas &lsquo;offshore&rsquo; currencies mean buying the currencies outside the national boundaries</p>
</div>
<h3>Currency derivatives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>These are <strong>exchange-based futures and options contracts</strong> that allow one to hedge against currency movements.</li>
<li>In simple words, one can use a currency future contract to exchange one currency for another at a future date at a price decided on the day of the purchase of the contract.</li>
<li>In India, one can use such derivative contracts to hedge against currencies like Dollar, Euro, U.K. pound and Yen.</li>
<li>While all such currency contracts are cash-settled in rupees, the Securities and Exchange Board of India <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-national-institutions/securities-and-exchange-board-of-india-sebi" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>(SEBI)</strong></a>, in July 2018, gave a go-ahead to start cross currency contracts on euro-dollar, pound-dollar and dollar-yen.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Trade in currency derivatives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The two national-level stock exchanges, (Bombay Stock Exchange) BSE and the (National Stock Exchange) NSE, have currency derivatives segments.</li>
<li>One can trade in currency derivatives through brokers.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Over the Counter (OTC) Market</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Prior to the introduction of currency derivatives on exchanges, there was only the OTC &ndash; over the counter &ndash; market to hedge currency risks and where forward contracts were negotiated and entered into.</li>
<li>It was kind of an <strong>opaque and closed market</strong> where mostly banks and financial institutions traded.</li>
<li>Exchange-based currency derivatives segment is a <strong>regulated and transparent market</strong> that can be used by small businesses and even individuals to hedge their currency risks.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/business/banking-and-finance/rbi-task-force-against-indian-banks-dealing-in-offshore-ndf-rupee-market-5890557/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source: IE</a></strong></p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/task-force-on-offshore-rupee-markets'
		],
		(int) 18 => [
			'title' => 'Changes in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>Recently, the Union government has issued a notification on certain changes in the <strong>Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)</strong>, which will further empower the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in tackling the cases of Money Laundering.</p>
<h3>What are the proposed amendments?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The amendment seeks to treat <strong>money laundering as a stand-alone crime.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Till now Money Laundering was not an independent crime; rather depended on another crime, known as the <strong>'predicate offence'</strong> or 'scheduled offence', the proceeds of which are made the subject matter of crime of money laundering.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>It also <strong>expands the ambit of &ldquo;proceeds of crime&rdquo;</strong> to those properties which &ldquo;may directly or indirectly be derived or obtained as a result of any criminal activity relatable to the scheduled offence.</li>
<li>The most crucial amendments are the <strong>deletion of provisions</strong> in sub-sections (1) of Section 17 (Search and Seizure) and Section 18 (Search of Persons).<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>These provisions required the pre-requisite of an FIR or charge sheet by other agencies that are authorised to probe the offences listed in the PMLA schedule.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>An explanation is added to Section 45 that clarifies that all <strong>PMLA offences will be cognisable and non-bailable.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Therefore, ED will be empowered to arrest an accused without a warrant, subject to certain conditions.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Another vital amendment makes concealment of proceeds of crime, possession, acquisition, use, projecting as untainted money, or claiming as untainted property as independent and complete offences under the Act.</li>
<li>Section 72 will now give power to the Centre to set up an <strong>Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee</strong> for inter-departmental and inter-agency coordination for operational and policy level cooperation, for consultation on anti-money laundering and counter-terror funding initiatives.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>What is Money Laundering?</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Money laundering is the process of making large amounts of money generated by criminal activity, such as drug trafficking or terrorist funding, appear to have come from a legitimate source.</strong></li>
<li>Criminal activities like illegal arms sales, smuggling, drug trafficking and prostitution rings, insider trading, bribery and computer fraud schemes produce large profits.</li>
<li>Thereby it creates the incentive for money launderer to "legitimize" the ill-gotten gains through money laundering.</li>
<li>The money so generated is called 'dirty money' and <strong>money laundering is the process of conversion of 'dirty money', to make it appear as 'legitimate' money.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>How does Money Laundering take place?</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Money laundering is a three-stage process :<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Placement:</strong> The first stage is when the crime money is injected into the formal financial system.</li>
<li><strong>Layering:</strong> In the second stage, money injected into the system is layered and spread over various transactions with a view to obfuscate the tainted origin of the money.</li>
<li><strong>Integration:</strong> In the third and the final stage, money enters the financial system in such a way that original association with the crime is sought to be wiped out and the money can then be used by the offender as clean money.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Bulk Cash Smuggling, Cash Intensive Businesses, Trade-based laundering, Shell companies and trusts, Round-tripping, Bank Capture, Gambling, Real Estate, Black Salaries, Fictional Loans, Hawala, False invoicing are some of the common methods of Money Laundering.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>The legal framework in India to deal with Money Laundering</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In India, the specific legislation dealing with money laundering is the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act((PMLA), 2002</li>
<li>The law was enacted to combat money laundering in India and has three main objectives :<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>To prevent and control money laundering.</li>
<li>To provide for confiscation and seizure of property obtained from laundered money.</li>
<li>To deal with any other issue connected with money-laundering in India.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Under the PMLA Act, the Enforcement Directorate is empowered to conduct a Money Laundering investigation.</strong></li>
<li>Apart from the provisions of PMLA, there are other specialised provisions such as RBI/SEBI/IRDA anti-money laundering regulations</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Enforcement Directorate</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Directorate of Enforcement is a specialized financial investigation agency under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.</li>
<li>On 1 May 1956, an &lsquo;Enforcement Unit&rsquo; was formed, in Department of Economic Affairs, for handling Exchange Control Laws violations under Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947.</li>
<li>In the year 1957, this Unit was renamed as &lsquo;Enforcement Directorate&rsquo;.</li>
<li>ED enforces the following laws:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Foreign Exchange Management Act,1999 (FEMA)</li>
<li>Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA)</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p><a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/changes-in-pmla-act-empower-ed/article28916974.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: TH</strong></a></p>',
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		(int) 19 => [
			'title' => 'Women Transforming India Awards',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>The Women Transforming India awards (4th edition) are being launched by <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-national-institutions/niti-aayog-national-institution-for-transforming-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>NITI Aayog</strong></a>.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Women Transforming India awards are organized in collaboration with the <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-international-institution/united-nations-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>United Nations.</strong></a><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>For WTI-2019 awards WhatsApp (facebook owned messaging platform) has collaborated with NITI Aayog.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The theme of the Women Transforming India- 2019 awards is <strong>Women and Entrepreneurship</strong> (same as in 2018).</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>National Entrepreneurship Awards</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The National Entrepreneurship Awards aim to honour outstanding young first-generation entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders for their exceptional contribution in entrepreneurship development.</li>
<li>They recognise individuals or organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the entrepreneur ecosystem of India.</li>
<li>The National Entrepreneurship Awards are announced annually by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.</li>
<li><strong>To be eligible for</strong> National Entrepreneurship Awards the nominee (entrepreneur) must be:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Under the age of 40 years</li>
<li>First-generation entrepreneur</li>
<li>Hold 51% or more equity and ownership of the business</li>
<li>Women entrants must individually or collectively own 75% or more of the enterprise.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Women Transforming India Awards</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>WTI awards were launched by NITI Aayog and the United Nations in India in <strong>2016,</strong> to honour the <strong>women entrepreneurs,</strong> who are breaking the glass ceiling and challenging stereotypes, through businesses, enterprises and innovative initiatives.</li>
<li>WTI award recognizes women who are flag bearers of the next wave of business innovations and connect with potential business opportunities, through NITI Aayog&rsquo;s <strong>Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP).</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Women Entrepreneurship Platform (unified access portal to help women realise their entrepreneurial aspirations) is an initiative by NITI Aayog to promote and support aspiring as well as established women entrepreneurs in India.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://pib.nic.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1581564" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source:PIB</strong></a></p>',
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		'title' => 'Mobile Application to Aid Farmers',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>Government to launch a new mobile application, <strong>&ldquo;Uber for tractors&rdquo;</strong>, which will help in <strong>hiring of expensive agricultural equipment.</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Customer Hiring Centres (CHCs)</strong> will be connected with the help of this app, just like the Uber connects an individual with cabs.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>There are now more than 38,000 custom hiring centres (CHCs) across the country, which rent out 2.5 lakh pieces of farm equipment every year.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The app will show the CHCs which have the equipment available within <strong>5, 20 and 50 km of location,</strong> with their rates.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Benefits</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Informed Decisions:</strong> Feedback from both the CHC and the farmers will allow customers to make <strong>informed decisions.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Database:</strong> The app will also create an <strong>invaluable database for policy-makers,</strong> who can track the use and cost of equipment.</li>
<li><strong>Promotion of New Technology:</strong> The system would also help to <strong>track the usage of new technology</strong> that the government wants to promote, such as the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/crop-stubble-burning-challenge-in-punjab" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Happy Seeder</strong></a> that aims to prevent stubble burning that causes air pollution, or <strong>solar dryers</strong> that can help farmers process and preserve their produce.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Solar Dryers</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Solar dryers uses solar energy in <strong>drying applications.</strong></li>
<li>They use air heated through <strong>solar energy collectors,</strong> which can be installed in modules according to the requirements of hot air.</li>
<li>They have numerous applications in industries such as <strong>textiles, <a href="/to-the-points/paper3/food-processing-in-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener">food processing</a>, paper, pharmaceutical, and agro-industries.</strong></li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Customer Hiring Centres</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Customer Hiring Centres (CHCs) are basically <strong>a unit comprising a set of farm machinery, implements and equipment meant for hiring by farmers. </strong></li>
<li><strong>Marginal farmers</strong> (Farmers whose land holdings are less than two hectares of land), by virtue of their economic condition are unable to own farm machinery on their own or through institutional credit. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Therefore in order to bring farm machinery available within the reach of small/marginal holdings, collective ownership or Custom Hiring Centres are being promoted in a big way.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Ideally, the CHCs should be located <strong>within a radius of 5 to 7 kms</strong> of land holdings. This will reduce the transport cost and time of transport of agricultural machinery.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://www.thehindu.com/business/agri-business/uber-for-tractors-government-to-launch-app-to-aid-farmers/article28985433.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: TH</strong></a></p>',
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	(int) 1 => [
		'title' => 'Public Distribution System',
		'catname' => 'Paper 3',
		'desc' => '<h3>Introduction</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Public distribution system (PDS) is an Indian <strong>food Security System</strong> established <strong>under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution.</strong></li>
<li>PDS evolved as a system of management of scarcity through distribution of food grains at affordable prices.</li>
<li>PDS is operated under the joint responsibility of the Central and the State Governments. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The <strong>Central Government,</strong> through Food Corporation of India (FCI), has assumed the responsibility for procurement, storage, transportation and bulk allocation of food grains to the State Governments.</li>
<li>The operational responsibilities including allocation within the State, identification of eligible families, issue of Ration Cards and supervision of the functioning of Fair Price Shops (FPSs) etc., rest with the <strong>State Governments.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Under the PDS, presently the commodities namely <strong>wheat, rice, sugar and kerosene</strong> are being allocated to the States/UTs for distribution. Some States/UTs also distribute additional items of mass consumption through the PDS outlets such as pulses, edible oils, iodized salt, spices, etc.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Evolution of PDS in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>PDS was <strong>introduced around World War II</strong> as a war-time rationing measure. Before the 1960s, distribution through PDS was generally dependant on imports of food grains.</li>
<li>It was expanded in the 1960s as a response to the food shortages of the time; subsequently, the government set up the <strong>Agriculture Prices Commission</strong> and the <strong>FCI</strong> to improve domestic procurement and storage of food grains for PDS.</li>
<li>By the 1970s, PDS had evolved into a universal scheme for the distribution of subsidised food</li>
<li>Till 1992, PDS was a general entitlement scheme for all consumers without any specific target.</li>
<li>The <strong>Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS)</strong> was launched in June, 1992 with a view to strengthen and streamline the PDS as well as to improve its reach in the far-flung, hilly, remote and inaccessible areas where a substantial section of the underprivileged classes lives.</li>
<li>In June, 1997, the Government of India launched the <strong>Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS)</strong> with a focus on the poor.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Under TPDS, beneficiaries were divided into two categories: Households <strong>below the poverty line or BPL;</strong> and Households <strong>above the poverty line or APL.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY):</strong> AAY was a step in the direction of making TPDS aim at reducing hunger among the poorest segments of the BPL population. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>A National Sample Survey exercise pointed towards the fact that about 5% of the total population in the country sleeps without two square meals a day. In order to make TPDS more focused and targeted towards this category of population, the "Antyodaya Anna Yojana&rdquo; (AAY) was <strong>launched in December, 2000</strong> for one crore poorest of the poor families.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>In September 2013, Parliament enacted the <strong>National Food Security Act, 2013.</strong> The Act relies largely on the existing TPDS to deliver food grains as legal entitlements to poor households. This marks a shift by <strong>making the right to food a justiciable right.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>How PDS system functions?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Central and State Governments share responsibilities in order to provide food grains to the identified beneficiaries.</li>
<li>The centre procures food grains from farmers at a <strong>minimum support price (MSP)</strong> and sells it to states at <strong>central issue prices.</strong> It is responsible for transporting the grains to godowns in each state.</li>
<li>States bear the responsibility of transporting food grains from these godowns to each fair price shop (ration shop), where the <strong>beneficiary buys the food grains at the lower central issue price.</strong> Many states further subsidise the price of food grains before selling it to beneficiaries.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1578479997_image52.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1578479997_image52.png" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="550" caption="false" /></a></p>
<h3>Importance of PDS</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It helps in <strong>ensuring Food and Nutritional Security</strong> of the nation.</li>
<li>It has helped in <strong>stabilising food prices</strong> and making food available to the poor at affordable prices.</li>
<li>It <strong>maintains the buffer stock of food grains</strong> in the warehouse so that the flow of food remain active even during the period of less agricultural food production.</li>
<li>It has helped in <strong>redistribution of grains</strong> by supplying food from surplus regions of the country to deficient regions.</li>
<li>The system of minimum support price and procurement has contributed to the increase in food grain production.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Issues Associated with PDS System in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Identification of beneficiaries:</strong> Studies have shown that targeting mechanisms such as TPDS are prone to <strong>large inclusion and exclusion errors.</strong> This implies that entitled beneficiaries are not getting food grains while those that are ineligible are getting undue benefits. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>According to the estimation of an expert group set up in 2009, PDS suffers from nearly 61% error of exclusion and 25% inclusion of beneficiaries, i.e. the misclassification of the poor as non-poor and vice versa.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Leakage of food grains:</strong> (Transportation leakages + Black Marketing by FPS owners) TPDS suffers from large leakages of food grains during transportation to and from ration shops into the open market. In an evaluation of TPDS, the erstwhile Planning Commission found 36% leakage of PDS rice and wheat at the all-India level.</li>
<li><strong>Issue with procurement:</strong> Open-ended Procurement i.e., all incoming grains accepted even if buffer stock is filled, creates a shortage in the open market.</li>
<li><strong>Issues with storage:</strong> A performance audit by the <strong>CAG</strong> has revealed a serious <strong>shortfall in the government&rsquo;s storage capacity.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Given the increasing procurement and incidents of <strong>rotting food grains,</strong> the lack of adequate covered storage is bound to be a cause for concern.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The provision of <strong>minimum support price (MSP)</strong> has encouraged farmers to divert land from production of coarse grains that are consumed by the poor, to rice and wheat and thus, <strong>discourages crop diversification.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Environmental issues:</strong> The over-emphasis on attaining self-sufficiency and a surplus in food grains, which are water-intensive, has been found to be <strong>environmentally unsustainable.</strong> <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Procuring states such as Punjab and Haryana are under environmental stress, including <strong>rapid groundwater depletion, deteriorating soil and water conditions from overuse of fertilisers.</strong></li>
<li>It was found that due to cultivation of rice in north-west India, the water table went down by 33 cm per year during 2002-08.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>PDS Reforms</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Role of Aadhar:</strong> Integrating Aadhar with TPDS will help in better identification of beneficiaries and <strong>address the problem of inclusion and exclusion errors.</strong> According to a study by the Unique Identification Authority of India, using Aadhaar with TPDS would help eliminate duplicate and ghost (fake) beneficiaries, and make identification of beneficiaries more accurate.</li>
<li><strong>Technology-based reforms of TPDS implemented by states: Wadhwa Committee,</strong> appointed by the Supreme court, found that certain states had implemented computerisation and other technology-based reforms to TPDS. Technology-based reforms helped plug leakages of food grains during TPDS.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Tamil Nadu implements a <strong>universal PDS,</strong> such that every household is entitled to subsidised food grains.</li>
<li>States such as Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have implemented IT measures to streamline TPDS, through the digitisation of ration cards, the use of GPS tracking of delivery, and the use of SMS based monitoring by citizens.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><strong><em>Technology-based reforms to TPDS undertaken by some states</em><br /></strong></p>
<table border="1" style="height: 154px; width: 91.6688%; border-collapse: collapse;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 20.3178%; height: 19px; vertical-align: top; text-align: left; background-color: #dcf7f0;"><strong>Type of reform</strong></td>
<td style="width: 51.6459%; height: 19px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;"><strong>Benefits of reform</strong></td>
<td style="width: 27.9228%; height: 19px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;"><strong>States implementing reforms</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 35px;">
<td style="width: 20.3178%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Digitisation of ration cards</td>
<td style="width: 51.6459%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Allows for online entry and verification of beneficiary data</li>
<li>Online storing of monthly entitlement of beneficiaries, number of dependants, offtake of food grains by beneficiaries from FPS, etc.</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td style="width: 27.9228%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, etc.</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 20.3178%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Computerised allocation to FPS</td>
<td style="width: 51.6459%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Computerises FPS allocation, declaration of stock balance, web-based truck challans, etc.</li>
<li>Allows for quick and efficient tracking of transactions</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td style="width: 27.9228%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, etc.</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 20.3178%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Issue of smart cards in place of ration cards</td>
<td style="width: 51.6459%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Secure electronic devices used to store beneficiary data</li>
<li>Stores data such as name, address, biometrics, BPL/APL category and monthly entitlement of beneficiaries and family members</li>
<li>Prevents counterfeiting</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td style="width: 27.9228%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha etc.</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 99px;">
<td style="width: 20.3178%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Use of GPS technology</td>
<td style="width: 51.6459%; height: 10px; background-color: #dcf7f0; vertical-align: top;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Use of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to track movement of trucks carrying food grains from state depots to FPS</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td style="width: 27.9228%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 51px;">
<td style="width: 20.3178%; height: 51px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">SMS based monitoring</td>
<td style="width: 51.6459%; height: 51px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Allows monitoring by citizens so they can register their mobile numbers and send/receive SMS slerts during dispatch and arrival of TPDS commodities</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td style="width: 27.9228%; height: 51px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 35px;">
<td style="width: 20.3178%; height: 35px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Use of web-based citizens' portal</td>
<td style="width: 51.6459%; height: 35px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Publicises grievance redressal machinery, such as toll free number for call centres to register complaints or suggestions</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td style="width: 27.9228%; height: 35px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dcf7f0;">Chhattisgarh</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3>PDS vs. Cash Transfers</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>National Food Security Act,2013 provides for reforms in the TPDS including schemes such as Cash transfers for provisioning of food entitlements.</li>
<li><strong>Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)</strong> aims to: <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>reduce the need for huge physical movement of foodgrains</li>
<li>provide greater autonomy to beneficiaries to choose their consumption basket</li>
<li>enhance dietary diversity</li>
<li>reduce leakages</li>
<li>facilitate better targeting</li>
<li>promote financial inclusion</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><strong><em>Advantages and disadvantages of PDS and other delivery mechanisms</em></strong></p>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 16.7013%; height: 19px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;"><strong>Machanism</strong></td>
<td style="width: 34.1717%; height: 19px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;"><strong>Advantages</strong></td>
<td style="width: 34.5876%; height: 19px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;"><strong>Disadvantages</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 83px;">
<td style="width: 16.7013%; height: 27px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;">PDS</td>
<td style="width: 34.1717%; height: 27px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Insulates beneficiaries from inflation and price volatility</li>
<li>Ensures entitlement is used for food grains only</li>
<li>Well-developed network of FPS ensures access to food grains even in remote areas</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td style="width: 34.5876%; height: 27px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Low offtake of food grains from each household&nbsp;</li>
<li>High leakage and diversion of subsidised food grain&nbsp;</li>
<li>Adulteration of food grain</li>
<li>Lack of viability of FPS due to low margins</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 16.7013%; height: 19px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;">Cash transfers</td>
<td style="width: 34.1717%; height: 19px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Cash in the hands of poor increases their choicess</li>
<li>Cash may relieve financial constraints faced by the poor, make it possible to form thrift societies and access credit</li>
<li>Administrative costs of cash transfer programmes may be significantly lesser than that of other schemes</li>
<li>Potential for making electronic transfer</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td style="width: 34.5876%; height: 19px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Cash can be used buy non-food items</li>
<li>May expose recipients to price volatility and inflation</li>
<li>There is poor access to banks and post offices in some areas</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 16.7013%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;">Food coupons</td>
<td style="width: 34.1717%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Household is given the freedom to choose where it buys food</li>
<li>Increases incentive for competitive prices and assured quality of food grains among PDS stores</li>
<li>Ration shops get full food grains from the poor, no incentive to turn the poor away</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td style="width: 34.5876%; height: 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; background-color: #dff2ef;">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Food coupons are not indexed for inflation; may expose recipients to inflation</li>
<li>Difficult to administer; there have known to be delays in issuing food coupons and reimbursing shops</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>PDS is one of the biggest welfare programmes of the government, helping farmers sell their produce at remunerative prices as well as the poorer sections of society to buy food grains at affordable rates.</li>
<li>Its effectiveness can be enhanced with <strong>technology based solutions</strong> as is evident from some of the states&rsquo; successes towards the same. Shifting towards DBT is another idea, but with caution. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>In its report on State finances, the <strong>Reserve Bank of India (RBI)</strong> has advised States that are planning to shift to cash transfer to be cautious while effecting the migration.</li>
<li><strong>Economic survey 2016-17</strong> also highlighted the need for more caution and better infrastructure while replacing subsidised PDS supplies with DBT.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Strengthening of the existing TPDS system by capacity building and training of the implementing authorities along with efforts to plug leakages is the best way forward.</li>
<li>It can be further strengthened by the increased public participation through <strong>social audits</strong> and participation of SHGs, Cooperatives and NGOs in ensuring the transparency of PDS system at ground level.</li>
<li>To enhance the nutritional level of masses, <strong>bio-fortified foods</strong> need to be distributed through the PDS that will make it more relevant in the backdrop of prevalent malnutrition in India.</li>
</ul>
<p><em><a href="/mind-map/gs-paper3/public-distribution-system-mindmap" target="_blank" rel="noopener">For Mind Map</a></em></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/to-the-points/paper3/public-distribution-system-1'
	],
	(int) 2 => [
		'title' => 'Climate Change and Land',
		'catname' => 'News Editorials',
		'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>The article is based on the recent IPCC report <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/srccl/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>&ldquo;Climate change and Land&rdquo;</strong> </a>published on 8<sup>th</sup> August and an editorial <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/climate-change-ipcc-report-global-warming-un-5893072/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>&ldquo;Climate on the Farm&rdquo;</strong></a> published in The Indian Express on 10<sup>th</sup> August regarding the same.</p>
</div>
<h3>Context</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently, on 8th August, released <strong>Special Report on <em>Climate Change and Land</em> (SRCCL)</strong> which finds that we must dramatically change the way we use land to limit global warming to safe levels by 2030.</li>
<li>It is alarmed about the <strong>degrading land resources globally</strong> and its impact on furthering negative effects of climate change. It concluded that better management of the world&rsquo;s farms and forests is necessary to tackle climate change.</li>
<li>The IPCC report warns that clean energy, clean transport and reduction emissions alone will not cut global emissions enough to avoid dangerous warming beyond 2 degrees Celsius.</li>
<li>It points out that the global food system is responsible for 21 to 37 per cent of the world&rsquo;s GHG emissions.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Land Use and Climate change</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>About a quarter of the Earth&rsquo;s ice-free land area is subjected to <em><strong>&ldquo;human-induced degradation''</strong></em> according to the <strong>IPCC report.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Rapid agricultural expansion</strong> has led to destruction of forests, wetlands and grasslands and other ecosystems thus boosting global warming.</li>
<li><strong>Soil erosion</strong> from agricultural fields, the report estimates, is 10 to 100 times higher than the soil formation rate.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Land degradation is both cause and consequence of climate change. When land is degraded, it becomes <strong>less productive,</strong> restricting what can be grown and reducing the soil&rsquo;s ability to absorb carbon. This exacerbates climate change, while climate change in turn exacerbates land degradation.</li>
<li><strong>Land serves as a sink for carbon,</strong> because healthy ecosystems and soils can absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Between 2007-2016, these sinks removed 28% of total human carbon dioxide emissions from the air &mdash; an important barrier to even more severe climate change.</li>
<li>However, <strong>degraded land does not have the capacity to absorb carbon; it can actually release carbon.</strong> And it&rsquo;s possible that climate change and human activities could damage land to the point where it becomes a net source of carbon emissions.</li>
<li><strong>Agriculture, forestry and other types of land use</strong> account for 23% of human greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time natural land processes <strong>absorb carbon dioxide equivalent to almost a third of carbon dioxide emissions</strong> from fossil fuels and industry.</li>
<li>Land must remain productive to maintain food security as the population increases as well as the negative impacts of climate change on vegetation increase.</li>
<li>Food security will be increasingly affected by future climate change through yield declines &ndash; especially in the tropics &ndash; increased prices, reduced nutrient quality, and supply chain disruptions.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Mitigation Strategies</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The report shows that <em><strong>sustainable land management</strong></em> can contribute to tackling climate change, but is not the only solution. <strong>Reducing greenhouse gas emissions</strong> from all sectors is essential if global warming is to be kept to well below 2&ordm;C, if not 1.5&ordm;C.</li>
<li>Coordinated action to address climate change can simultaneously <strong>improve land, food security and nutrition, and help to end hunger.</strong></li>
<li>The report highlights that climate change is affecting all <strong>four pillars of food security:</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>availability (yield and production),</li>
<li>access (prices and ability to obtain food),</li>
<li>utilization (nutrition and cooking), and</li>
<li>stability (disruptions to availability).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>More sustainable land use, reducing over-consumption and waste of food, eliminating the clearing and burning of forests, preventing over-harvesting of fuelwood, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions will help to address land related climate change issues.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Significance of the Report</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The report is expected to be a key scientific input into forthcoming climate negotiations, such as the Conference of the Parties of the <strong>UN Convention to Combat Desertification</strong> in Delhi in September and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference <strong>(COP25)</strong> in Santiago, Chile, in December.</li>
<li>The report could spur moves to pressure developing countries like India to ramp up their global warming mitigation targets.</li>
<li>Countries, including India, could do well to pay heed to the IPCC report&rsquo;s recommendations on curbing land degradation and soil erosion by improving knowledge systems.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The IPCC report presents another alarming picture regarding climate change effects on agriculture and food systems by emphasising its deleterious effects on land use. It also presents some solutions towards sustainable development strategies to effectively mitigate climate change.</li>
<li>There needs an enhanced commitment from nations more than their pledged <strong>INDCs</strong> (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions) under <strong>Paris Climate Deal.</strong> However, it must not be used to pressurize developing countries to ramp up their global warming mitigation targets.</li>
<li>India, which seems well on course to meeting its Paris Climate Pact targets, should be careful about taking up commitments that hobble its agriculture sector.</li>
</ul>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;" height="75">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 518px; border-style: dotted; border-color: #002fff; background-color: #faf7d4;">
<p><span style="color: #ff0000;"><em><strong>Drishti Input</strong></em></span></p>
<p><em>&ldquo;Examine the relationship between land use and climate change in the light of food security and global warming&rdquo;</em></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/climate-change-and-land-1'
	],
	(int) 3 => [
		'title' => 'In Depth - Political Funding',
		'catname' => 'Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha Discussions',
		'desc' => '<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JYI3V64FcMI" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>Across the world, political parties need access to money in order to reach out to the electorate, explain their policies and receive inputs from people. And in order to do the same, parties resort to political party funding. One of the primary sources of this funding is voluntary contributions made by individuals. Besides this, corporates pay hefty donations to parties in different forms. Foreign aid is another source.&nbsp;</p>
<h3>What is Political Funding?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Political Funding implies the methods that political parties use to raise funds to finance their campaign and routine activities.</li>
<li>A political party needs money to pitch itself, its objectives, its intended actions to get votes for itself.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Statutory Provisions</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Section 29B</strong> of the <strong>Representation of the People Act (RPA)</strong> entitles parties to accept voluntary contributions by any person or company, except a Government Company.</li>
<li><strong>Section 29C</strong> of the RPA mandates political parties to declare donations that exceed 20,000 rupees. Such a declaration is made by making a report and submitting the same to the EC. Failure to do so on time disentitles a party from tax relief under the Income Tax Act, 1961.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Methods that Indian Political Parties use to raise the funds</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Individual Persons:</strong> Section 29B of RPA allows political parties to receive donations from individual persons.</li>
<li><strong>State/Public Funding:</strong> Here, the government provides funds to parties for election related purposes. State Funding is of two types:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Direct Funding:</strong> The government provides funds directly to the political parties. <strong>Direct funding by tax is prohibited in India.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Indirect Funding:</strong> It includes other methods except direct funding, like free access to media, free access to public places for rallies, free or subsidized transport facilities. <strong>It is allowed in India in a regulated manner.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Corporate Funding:</strong> In India, donations by corporate bodies are governed under the <strong>Companies Act, 2013</strong>. Section 182 of the Act provides that:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>A company needs to be at least three years old to be able to donate to a political party.</li>
<li>Companies can donate up to 7.5% of average net profits made during three simultaneous preceding financial years.</li>
<li>Such contributions must be disclosed in the company&rsquo;s profit and loss account.</li>
<li>Approval of the Board of Directors needs to be obtained for the contribution.</li>
<li>If a company violates said provisions, it may have to pay a fine up to 5 times the amount contributed and every officer of the company who is in default shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Note:</strong> The government has removed the cap of 7.5% (seven point five percent) on corporate contributions to the political parties with the <strong>Finance Act, 2017</strong>. The same Act also removed the obligation to report such contributions in the company&rsquo;s profit and loss account.</p>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Electoral Trusts:</strong> A non-profit company created in India for orderly receipt of voluntary contributions from any person like an individual or a domestic company.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>According to the Election Commission Guidelines, all electoral trusts formed after January 2013 are required to declare details of the money received and disbursed.</li>
<li>The Central Government rules mandate these firms to donate 95% of their total income to registered political parties in a financial year.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Issues with Political Funding</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>One of the biggest disadvantages of the corporate funding is the use of fake companies to route black money.</li>
<li>Influence of people and companies over political parties to which they provide funds.</li>
<li>There are various gaps in Indian rules, the benefit of which political parties take to avoid any kind of reporting.</li>
<li>Hidden sources of funding lead to more spending of funds in election campaigns, thus impacting the economy of the country.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Recent Steps Taken</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In March, 2018, the government passed a key amendment to the <strong>Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010</strong> allowing foreign companies to fund political parties in India.</li>
<li><strong>Introduction of Electoral Bonds:</strong> The government notified the Electoral Bond Scheme on 2<sup>nd</sup> January, 2018 to establish and cleanse the system of political funding in the country.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>An electoral bond is a bearer instrument like a Promissory Note. It can be purchased by any citizen of India or a body incorporated in India to donate to the political party of their choice. Donor&rsquo;s name is not there on the bond.</li>
<li>These bonds can be used for making donations to the political parties registered under <strong>Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951</strong> and which have secured not less than one per cent of the votes polled in the last general election to the House of the People or a Legislative Assembly.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A party&rsquo;s expenditure limit should be 50% or less of the combined maximum spend prescribed for all of its candidates.</li>
<li>Individual spending needs to be capped based on whether a candidate has stood for an assembly or a general election.</li>
<li>Anonymous donations should be limited to 20% of a party&rsquo;s total collections</li>
</ul>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/loksabha-rajyasabha-discussions/in-depth-political-funding'
	],
	(int) 4 => [
		'title' => '77th Anniversary of Quit India movement',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>The 77<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the <strong>August Kranti Din</strong>, which is considered as one of the important milestones in the history of freedom struggle of our country, was observed on <strong>August 8, 2019.</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>On 8<sup>th</sup> August 1942, <a href="/to-the-points/paper4/gandhian-ideologies" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Mahatma Gandhi</strong></a> gave a clarion call to end the British rule and launched the <strong>Quit India Movement</strong> at the session of the All-India Congress Committee in Mumbai.</li>
<li>The movement had begun from Gawalia Tank Maidan in Mumbai and the day is observed as August Kranti Day every year. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>After the failure of the <strong>Cripps Mission,</strong> Gandhiji gave the call <strong>&ldquo;Do or Die&rdquo;&rsquo;</strong> in his speech delivered at the <strong>Gowalia Tank Maidan,</strong> now popularly known as August Kranti Maidan.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Gandhiji was soon imprisoned at <strong>Aga Khan Palace in Pune</strong> and almost all leaders were arrested.</li>
<li>New leaders like <strong>Aruna Asaf Ali</strong> emerged out of the vacuum of leadership.</li>
<li>The Britishers declared the INC to be an<strong> unlawful association.</strong></li>
<li>Over 100000 people were arrested and the <strong>government resorted to violence</strong> in order to crush the agitation.</li>
<li>Gandhiji was released in 1944 on health grounds. However, in the absence of any central leadership, there were <strong>some incidences of violence.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Muslim League, the Communist Party of India and the Hindu Mahasabha did not support the movement.</strong> The Indian bureaucracy also did not support the movement.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The League was not in favour of the British leaving India without partitioning the country first.</li>
<li>The Communist party supported the British since they were allied with the Soviet Union.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Meanwhile, Subhas Chandra Bose, organised the <strong>Indian National Army</strong> and the Azad Hind government from outside the country.</li>
<li>As, <strong>C Rajagopalachari</strong> was not in favour of complete independence he resigned from the INC.</li>
<li>There were <strong>strikes and demonstrations</strong> all over the country and workers provided the support by not working in the factories.</li>
<li>At some places (Ballia, Tamluk, Satara etc.) <strong>parallel governments</strong> were also set up.</li>
<li>Women took active participation in the movement. Female leaders like <strong>Usha Mehta</strong> has helped set up an underground radio station which led to the awakening about the movement.</li>
<li><strong>Aruna Asaf Ali</strong> popularly known as the 'Grand Old Lady' of the Independence Movement is known for hoisting the Indian flag at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Mumbai during the Quit India Movement.</li>
<li>While the Quit India campaign was <strong>crushed in 1944,</strong> with the British refusing to grant immediate independence, saying it could happen only after the war had ended, they came to the important realization that <strong>India was ungovernable in the long run</strong> due to the cost of World War II.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Cripps Mission</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Japanese aggression</strong> in South-East Asia, keenness of British Government to secure the <strong>full participation of India in the war,</strong> mounting <strong>pressure from China and the United States,</strong> as well as from the <strong>Labour Party</strong> in Britain, led Britsh Prime Minister <strong>Winston Churchill</strong> to send Cripps Mission to India in March 1942.</li>
<li>Under Stafford Cripps, the mission was sent to <strong>resolve the Indian question of a new constitution and self-government.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Main proposals</strong> of the mission were:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>An Indian Union with a <strong>dominion status</strong> would be set up; it would be free to decide its relations with the Commonwealth and free to participate in the United Nations and other international bodies.</li>
<li><strong>A constituent assembly</strong> would be convened after the war to frame a new constitution.</li>
<li>Members of the assembly <strong>partly elected</strong> by the provincial assemblies and partly nominated by the princes.</li>
<li>Any province not willing to accept the constitution would be given <strong>&lsquo;the same full status as the Indian Union&rsquo;,</strong> - designed to appease the Muslim League&rsquo;s call for Pakistan.</li>
<li>The constitution making body and the British Government would negotiate a<strong> treaty to effect the transfer of power</strong> and to safeguard racial and religious minorities.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The Indian National Congress, however, was not satisfied as its <strong>demand for immediate complete independence had been rejected.</strong></li>
<li>Mahatma Gandhi said that Cripps offer of Dominion Status after the war was a <strong>"post-dated cheque drawn on a failing bank&rsquo;&rsquo;.</strong></li>
</ul>
</div>
<p><a href="http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=124656" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: PIB</strong></a></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/77th-anniversary-of-quit-india-movement'
	],
	(int) 5 => [
		'title' => 'Mercury Emission Versus its Concentration in Fishes',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>Recently researchers have found that despite a decrease in <strong>seawater concentration of methylmercury,</strong> the amount of mercury found in fish is different among different species</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A joint research conducted by the <strong>Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IIT-H), Harvard University,</strong> and <strong>Fisheries and Oceans Canada</strong> (a Canadian government agency) has found that though there has been a decrease in the levels of mercury emission, the concentration of mercury in fish varies across different species.</li>
<li>Some species of fish have <strong>less mercury</strong> than before, while others have a very <strong>high concentration</strong> of mercury (tuna, salmon and swordfish).</li>
<li>The researchers warn that human exposure to the toxin (methylmercury) through <strong>fish consumption</strong> is bound to increase as a result of <a href="/loksabha-rajyasabha-discussions/the-big-picture-climate-change-act-now" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>climate change.</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Key Facts</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Mercury is a naturally occurring element that is found in air, water and soil.</li>
<li>Exposure to mercury &ndash; even small amounts &ndash; may cause serious health problems, and is a threat to the development of the child in utero and early in life.</li>
<li>Mercury may have toxic effects on the <strong>nervous, digestive</strong> and <strong>immune systems,</strong> and on lungs, kidneys, skin and eyes.</li>
<li>Mercury is considered by <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/strategy-against-the-threat-of-influenza" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>World Health Organisation (WHO)</strong></a> as one of the top ten chemicals or groups of chemicals of major public health concern.</li>
<li>People are mainly exposed to <strong>methylmercury,</strong> (an organic compound) when they eat fish and shellfish and are more vulnerable to Minamata disease.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Minimata Disease:</strong> A disorder caused by <strong>methyl mercury poisoning</strong> that was first described in the inhabitants of <strong>Minamata Bay, Japan</strong> and resulted from their eating fish contaminated with mercury industrial waste.</li>
<li>The disease is characterized by <strong>peripheral sensory loss, tremors, dysarthria, ataxia, and both hearing and visual loss.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Methylmercury</strong> is very different to ethylmercury. Ethylmercury is used as a preservative in some vaccines and does not pose a health risk.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p><strong>Variation in Mercury Accumulation in Fish:</strong> Three factors that can be attributed to the variation in accumulation of mercury in fish are:<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/338Images3.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/338Images3.jpg" width="265" height="531" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Overfishing:</strong> Leads to <strong>dietary changes</strong> among marine animals.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Cod relied more on lobsters and other large invertebrates (which are low in mercury), while the dogfish went for more squid and other cephalopods (which tend to be high in mercury).</li>
<li>Hence cod ended up with lower mercury levels than the dogfish.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Variations in the Temperature of the Seawater:</strong> Seawater temperatures may also alter mercury accumulation.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Fish metabolism</strong> is temperature-dependent, so as <strong>ocean temperature increases,</strong> fish experience higher metabolism and more energy obtained from food are spent on maintenance rather than growth, leading to more methylmercury getting concentrated in predatory fish.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Changes in the amounts of mercury</strong> found in seawater as a result of pollution.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>The Minamata Convention</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Minamata Convention on Mercury is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury and its compounds.</li>
<li>It was agreed at the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee in Geneva, Switzerland 2013.</li>
<li>Controlling the anthropogenic releases of mercury throughout its lifecycle is one of the key obligations under the Convention.</li>
<li>The Convention also addresses interim storage of mercury and its disposal once it becomes waste, sites contaminated by mercury as well as health issues.</li>
<li>More than 140 countries including <strong>India</strong> have ratified the Convention.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p><a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/iit-h-harvard-university-study-mercury-accumulation-in-fish/article28969597.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: TH</strong></a></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/mercury-emission-versus-its-concentration-in-fishes'
	],
	(int) 6 => [
		'title' => 'Proposals to Change in CITES Listing',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>India has submitted proposals regarding changes to the listing of the <strong>smooth-coated otter, small-clawed otter, Indian star tortoise, Tokay gecko, wedgefish and Indian rosewood</strong> in the <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-international-institution/cites" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>CITES</strong></a> secretariat meeting, scheduled in August 2019 in Geneva (Switzerland).</p>
<h3>Smooth-coated otter and Small-clawed otter</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong><a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-international-institution/cites" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Otters</a></strong> are found world over, except in Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar, and other oceanic islands.</li>
<li>India is home to 3 of the 13 species of otters found worldwide. These are - Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra); <strong>Smooth-coated Otter</strong> (Lutra perspicillata) and <strong>Small-clawed otter</strong> (Aonyx cinereus).</li>
<li>The Smooth-coated Otter is distributed throughout the country from the <strong>Himalayas southward.</strong></li>
<li>But the Common Otter and the Small-clawed Otter are <strong>restricted to the Himalayas, to the north of the Ganges and to southern India.</strong></li>
<li>These otters have generally been described as fish specialist.</li>
<li>Major threats to Asian otter population are <strong>loss of <a href="/to-the-points/paper3/wetlands-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wetland</a> habitats</strong> due to construction of large scale hydroelectric projects, conversion of wetlands for settlements and agriculture, reduction in prey biomass, poaching and contamination of waterways by pesticides.</li>
<li>The <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/iucn-red-list" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)</strong></a> has listed these otters under the <strong>vulnerable category.</strong></li>
<li>India, Nepal and the Philippines have proposed that the listing of these otters should be <strong>moved from CITES Appendix II to Appendix I.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/598Image5.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/598Image5.jpg" width="478" height="247" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" /></a></p>
<h3>Indian star tortoise</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-9th-november-2018" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Indian star tortoise</strong></a> is found across the Indian sub-continent, more specifically, in the Central and Southern parts of India, in West Pakistan and in Sri Lanka.<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/822Image2.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/822Image2.jpg" width="199" height="176" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></li>
<li>Star Tortoises are protected under <strong>Schedule IV of Wild Life Protection Act, 1972</strong> and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Fauna and Flora.</li>
<li>The IUCN has listed it under the vulnerable category.</li>
<li>The species faces two threats: <strong>loss of habitat to agriculture and illegal harvesting</strong> for the pet trade.</li>
<li>India is among the parties proposing the re-listing of the star tortoise<strong> from CITES Appendix II to Appendix I.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Tokay gecko</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Tokay Gecko or <strong>Gekko gecko</strong> is one of the largest geckos (Lizard) in the country and the world.<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/779image10.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/779image10.jpg" style="float: right;" width="164" height="119" caption="false" /></a></li>
<li>This is a <strong>nocturnal arboreal gecko,</strong> ranging from northeast India, Nepal and Bangladesh, throughout Southeast Asia.</li>
<li>Occurring in the <strong>rainforests,</strong> it is primarily a tree-dweller.</li>
<li>It&rsquo;s use as a<strong> traditional Asian medicine</strong> &mdash;everything from energy drinks to treatments for diabetes, cancer, and HIV/AIDS (there is <strong>no proof of efficacy</strong> in any of these uses), make it prone to illegal trade across borders.</li>
<li>The <strong>IUCN has listed it under Least Concern category.</strong></li>
<li>India has proposed it&rsquo;s listing should be <strong>moved from CITES Appendix II to Appendix I.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Wedgefish</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Wedgefish are <strong>shallow water coastal species,</strong> found in northern Indian Ocean and northwestern Pacific Ocean.<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/291image6.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/291image6.jpg" style="float: right;" width="196" height="122" caption="false" /></a></li>
<li>Alongwith giant <strong><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/iucn-red-list" target="_blank" rel="noopener">guitarfishes</a></strong>, they are collectively known as <strong>Rhino Rays</strong> because of their elongated snouts.</li>
<li>They have been listed as the <strong>&lsquo;most imperilled marine fish families in the world&rsquo;.</strong></li>
<li>The main drivers of the decline are the <strong>loss of free flowing rivers and increasing agricultural and urban pollution.</strong></li>
<li>The IUCN has listed it under <strong>vulnerable category.</strong></li>
<li>Indian proposed to <strong>include Wedgefish in Appendix II of CITES.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Indian rosewood</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is <strong>deciduous rosewood tree</strong> native to the Indian subcontinent, also grown in Nigeria, Kenya, Vietnam, the Philippines, and other parts of tropical Africa.</li>
<li>It is used for <strong>making furniture, plywood,</strong> and decorative wood products.</li>
<li>The species grows at a very fast rate and has the capacity to become naturalised outside its native range, it is<strong> invasive</strong> in other parts of the world as well.</li>
<li>India has proposed to <strong>remove rosewood from Appendix II of CITES.</strong></li>
<li>Its IUCN Red List status is <strong>&lsquo;vulnerable&rsquo;.</strong></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>CITES Appendices</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Appendices I, II and III to the Convention are lists of species afforded different levels or types of protection from over-exploitation.</li>
<li><strong>Appendix I</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It lists species that are the <strong>most endangered</strong> among CITES-listed animals and plants.</li>
<li>Examples include gorillas, sea turtles, most lady slipper orchids, and giant pandas. Currently 931 species are listed.</li>
<li>They are <strong>threatened with extinction</strong> and CITES <strong>prohibits international trade</strong> in specimens of these species except when the purpose of the import is not commercial, for instance for scientific research.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Appendix II</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It lists species that are <strong>not necessarily now threatened with extinction but that may become so unless trade is closely controlled.</strong></li>
<li>International trade in specimens of Appendix-II species may be authorized by the granting of an export permit or re-export certificate.</li>
<li>No import permit is necessary for these species under CITES (although a permit is needed in some countries that have taken stricter measures than CITES requires).</li>
<li>Permits or certificates should only be granted if the relevant authorities are satisfied that certain conditions are met, above all that trade will not be detrimental to the survival of the species in the wild.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Appendix III</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It is a list of species <strong>included at the request of a Party that already regulates trade in the species</strong> and that needs the cooperation of other countries to prevent unsustainable or illegal exploitation.</li>
<li>Examples include map turtles, walruses and Cape stag beetles. Currently 147 species are listed.</li>
<li>International trade in specimens of species listed in this Appendix is allowed only on presentation of the appropriate permits or certificates.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Species may be added to or removed from Appendix I and II, or moved between them, only by the Conference of the Parties.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>However, species may be added to or removed from Appendix III at any time and by any Party unilaterally.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/833image8.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/833image8.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" width="557" height="268" /></a></p>
</div>
<p><a href="https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/indian-seeks-change-of-status-of-several-species-like-star-tortoise-otters-in-cites/article28917079.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: TH</strong></a></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/proposals-to-change-in-cites-listing'
	],
	(int) 7 => [
		'title' => 'International Day of Indigenous Peoples',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>International day of indigenous people is observed on August 9 every year, in order to raise awareness of the needs of indigenous people. The first meeting of the <strong>UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations</strong> was held in Geneva in 1982.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The <strong>theme of 2019</strong> is <strong>Indigenous People&rsquo;s Languages</strong> in view of 2019 being marked as the <strong>International Year of Indigenous Languages</strong> by the United Nations.</li>
</ul>
<h3>International Day of Indigenous Peoples in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>On International day of indigenous people, the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-7th-may-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Khadi and Village Industry Commission (KVIC)</strong></a> has launched a new programme <strong>&lsquo;Leather Mission&rsquo;.</strong></li>
<li>It has distributed as many as 50 leather kits and 350 Bee-Boxes with live bee colonies in tribal-dominated village in Sirohi district of Rajasthan, one of the <a href="/summary-of-important-reports/NITI-AAYOG-2018-transformation-of-aspirational-districts-baseline-ranking-and-real-time-monitoring-programme" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>aspirational districts</strong></a> in India identified by the NITI Aayog.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Indigenous people</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>They are inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of relating to people and the environment.</li>
<li>They have retained social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live. Despite their cultural differences, indigenous peoples from around the world share common problems related to the protection of their rights as distinct peoples.</li>
<li>The indigenous people in the world make up less than 5 percent of the total population, but fall in the 15 percent of the poorest, according to the UN website. They represent as many as 5,000 different cultures.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>International Year of Indigenous Languages</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Languages play a crucially important role in the daily lives of all people. They are pivotal in the areas of human rights protection, peace building and sustainable development, through ensuring cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>However, despite their immense value, languages around the world continue to disappear at an alarming rate due to a variety of factors. Many of them are indigenous languages.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Indigenous languages in particular are a significant factor in a wide range of other indigenous issues, notably education, scientific and technological development, the biosphere and the environment, freedom of expression, employment and social inclusion.</li>
<li>The <strong>International Year of Indigenous Languages</strong> is a United Nations observance in 2019. It aims to raise awareness of the consequences of the endangerment of indigenous languages across the world, with an aim to establish a link between language, development, peace, and reconciliation.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/6-of-the-worlds-languages-are-spoken-in-india/article28851168.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source: TH,</a></strong><a href="https://www.un.org/en/events/indigenousday/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UN</a></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/international-day-of-indigenous-peoples'
	],
	(int) 8 => [
		'title' => 'India in US list on Drug Transit',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>Recently, US designated India among about 20 major drug transit or illicit drug-producing countries.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>However, it also noted that a country&rsquo;s presence on the list is not necessarily a reflection of its government&rsquo;s counter-narcotic efforts.</li>
<li>Apart from India, the countries identified in the list are Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Burma, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/912image4.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/912image4.jpg" width="613" height="290" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" /></a></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>There are a combination of <a href="/loksabha-rajyasabha-discussions/the-big-picture-fighting-drug-menace" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>geographic, commercial, and economic factors</strong></a> that allow drugs to transit or be produced, even if the government has engaged in robust and diligent narcotics control measures.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>For instance, India is in the middle of two major illicit opium production region in the world the Golden Crescent (Iran-Afghanistan-Pakistan) in the west and the Golden Triangle (South-East Asia) in the east.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/386image1.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/386image1.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="565" height="160" caption="false" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-in-us-list-on-drug-transit/story-k38UkOlpMQ8C9JPDvTPx7K.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source:HT</strong></a></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/india-in-us-list-on-drug-transit'
	],
	(int) 9 => [
		'title' => 'The Motor Vehicles Bill for Road Safety',
		'catname' => 'News Editorials',
		'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>This article is based on the <a href="https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/editorial/the-new-motor-vehicles-bill-paves-the-way-for-safer-roads/article28917169.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>&ldquo;The new Motor Vehicles bill paves the way for safer roads&rdquo;</strong></a> that appeared in The Hindu Business Line on 8<sup>th</sup> August. It talks about the provisions of the <strong>Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019</strong> and their utility in making India&rsquo;s Road safer.</p>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><em><strong>India sees more than five lakh road accidents a year leading to 1.5 lakh deaths.</strong> </em>According to the Union Transport Minister, this could come down by half if the provisions of this Bill are implemented.</li>
<li>The <strong>Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019</strong> is based on the recommendations of the Group of Transport Ministers (GoM) of States constituted by the Ministry of Road Transport &amp; Highways to address the issue of road safety and to improve the access of the citizens while dealing with transport departments.</li>
<li>The <strong>amendments</strong> in the Bill mainly focus on issues relating to improving road safety, citizens&rsquo; facilitation while dealing with the transport department, strengthening rural transport, last mile connectivity and public transport, automation and computerization and enabling online services.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Key Features of the bill</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Road safety:</strong> Bill proposes to <strong>increase penalties</strong> to act as a deterrent against traffic violations.</li>
<li><strong>Compensation for road accident victims:</strong> Cashless treatment of road accident victims during the golden hour (first 1 hour after accident). The minimum compensation for death or grievous injury due to hit and run has been moved up substantially to ₹2 lakh and ₹50,000, respectively.</li>
<li><strong>Road Safety Board:</strong> The Bill provides for a National Road Safety Board, to be created by the central government through a notification. The Board will advise the central and state governments on all aspects of road safety and traffic management.</li>
<li><strong>Protection of Good Samaritan:</strong> To help road accident victims, Good Samaritan guidelines have been incorporated in the Bill. They will not be liable for any civil or criminal action for any injury to or death of an accident victim, caused due to their negligence in providing assistance to the victim.</li>
<li><strong>Motor Vehicle Accident Fund:</strong> The Bill requires the central government to constitute a Motor Vehicle Accident Fund, to provide compulsory insurance cover to all road users in India.</li>
<li><strong>Third-party insurance</strong> terms are friendlier with no cap on liability of insurers and quicker claims processing.</li>
<li>To <strong>reduce scope for manipulation and corruption</strong> in transport departments, vehicle fitness tests will be automated and driving tests, computerised. Also, the driver training process for commercial driving will be strengthened and more training schools set up.</li>
<li><strong>Recall of vehicles:</strong> The Bill allows the central government to order for recall of motor vehicles if a defect in the vehicle may cause damage to the environment, or the driver, or other road users.</li>
<li><strong>National Transportation Policy:</strong> The central government may develop a National Transportation Policy, in consultation with state governments.</li>
<li><strong>Taxi aggregators:</strong> The Bill defines aggregators as digital intermediaries or market places which can be used by passengers to connect with a driver for transportation purposes (taxi services). These aggregators will be issued licenses by state. Further, they must <strong>comply with the Information Technology Act, 2000.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Issues and challenges</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>There will be implementation challenges at all-India level.</li>
<li>Road transport being a subject on the <strong>Concurrent List,</strong> State governments are also free to make their own laws and rules. Some states feel that the amendment infringes upon the rights of the states.</li>
<li>For effective monitoring of traffic violations and accidents and ensuring that the perpetrators don&rsquo;t go scot-free, <strong>electronic surveillance</strong> is essential that needs installation of CCTVs, Speed guns, and other equipments.This could involve substantial investment, and it is not clear who will bear the cost.</li>
<li>Laxity of vehicle-manufacturers in implementing safety features is also a concern.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Road safety Initiatives in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Ministry of Road Transport and highways took several steps in the past to improve road safety:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><em>National Road Safety Policy</em> outlines various policy measures such as promoting awareness, establishing road safety information database, encouraging safer road infrastructure including application of intelligent transport, enforcement of safety laws etc.</li>
<li><em><strong>National Road Safety Council</strong></em> as the apex body to take policy decisions in matters of road safety.</li>
<li>A <strong>dashboard for road accident data,</strong> through which people can access related data and other information both state-wise and the national averages, has been introduced.</li>
<li>Comic books <em><strong>Swachha Safar</strong></em> and <em><strong>Surakshit Yatra</strong></em> have been been released, with an aim to create awareness among children about road safety.</li>
<li><strong>VAHAN</strong> (an ICT-based solution for vehicle registration) and <strong>SARATHI</strong> (for licencing) app to curb malpractices in issuing licences and vehicle registration.</li>
<li><strong>Setu Bharatam programme</strong> to make all national highways free of railway crossings by 2019.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Tamil Nadu model of integrated data-driven road safety initiatives:</strong> the Supreme Court-appointed three-member road safety committee led by <strong>Justice (retd) KS Radhakrishnan</strong> praised Tamil Nadu&rsquo;s efforts in reducing fatalities in road accidents. NCRB data reveals that road accident deaths in TN came down in 2018 by 24.39%, the biggest decrease recorded in the country.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Strict and effective enforcement of the amended rules in Motor Vehicle Act would surely help in curbing road-accident related deaths in India.</li>
<li>The central and state governments should work out proper plans to effectively implement the rules.</li>
<li>State governments should ensure transparency and provide a hassle-free experience for citizens at the Regional Transport Offices.</li>
<li>Vehicle manufacturers should update their technologies and adopt the best global practices regarding vehicles&rsquo; and passengers&rsquo; safety.</li>
<li>Simultaneously, the rise of Internet of Things-enabled, connected cars in India, which international auto majors are heavily investing in currently, can give a digital edge to road safety. With an array of embedded sensors informing drivers of other on-road cars, onboard analytics can give them real-time driving suggestions to avoid collisions.</li>
<li>The unprecedented pace of construction and infrastructure improvement is one more link in the journey to safer roads.</li>
</ul>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;" height="83">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; border-style: dotted; background-color: #e3ffe0; border-color: #ff0000;">
<p><span style="color: #000080;"><em><strong>Drishti Input</strong></em></span><br /><br />"Recently the government had introduced the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2019, with special focus on road safety. Critically examine if it will be able to address the issue of road safety in India?&rdquo;</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/the-motor-vehicles-bill-for-road-safety'
	],
	(int) 10 => [
		'title' => 'India’s Industrial Policy',
		'catname' => 'Paper 3',
		'desc' => '<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/504India&rsquo;s%20Industrial Policy (Mind Map)_Artboard 1.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/504India&rsquo;s Industrial Policy (Mind Map)_Artboard 1.jpg" width="410" height="1383" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="/to-the-points/paper3/india-s-industrial-policy" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>For TTP</em></a></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/mind-map/gs-paper3/indias-industrial-policy-mind-map'
	],
	(int) 11 => [
		'title' => 'New Procedure for Pending Angel Tax Cases',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>In a move to <strong>ease scrutiny of startups</strong> over the capital they have received from <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/timely-review-on-start-up-tax" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>angel investors</strong></a>, <strong>Central Board of Direct Taxes</strong> <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-4th-april-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>(CBDT)</strong></a> has recently laid out a procedure to address <strong>pending angel tax assessments.</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The procedure has followed the announcement made by the Finance Minister in <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/highlights-of-budget-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Budget 2019-20.</strong></a> The Finance Minister proposed a host of incentives, including a <strong>special arrangement</strong> for <strong>resolution</strong> of pending assessments of income tax cases, with a view to <strong>encouraging startups.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>New Procedure</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>No verification will be done by an assessing officer if a startup has been recognised by the <strong>Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/dipp-renamed-as-dpiit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">(DPIIT)</a></strong> and the case is selected under <strong>limited scrutiny.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>In case the startup has not received DPIIT approval, officers are only allowed to carry out any inquiry or verification only after obtaining <strong>approval of his/her supervisory officer.</strong></li>
<li>In the event that a startup is recognised by DPIIT, but the assessing officers are scrutinising it for <strong>multiple issues,</strong> the officials cannot pursue scrutiny under an <strong>anti-evasion provision</strong> of the Income Tax Act, 1961, in its assessment proceedings.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Section 56(2)(vii)(b)</strong> of the Income Tax Act,1961 deals with the taxation of share premiums received in excess of the fair market value and has been used in the past to serve demand notices to startups over the angel capital they have raised.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;"></ul>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The applicability of <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/timely-review-on-start-up-tax" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>angel tax</strong></a> would not be pursued during the assessment proceedings and inquiry or verification with regard to other issues in such cases shall be carried out by the assessing officer <strong>only after obtaining approval of his/her supervisory officer.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Steps Taken by Indian Government Against Tax terrorism</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In order to reduce the long pending grievances of taxpayers and to minimise litigations pertaining to tax matters, Government of India in July 2018, has decided to increase the threshold monetary limits for filing Departmental Appeals at various levels.</li>
<li><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/redesigning-india-s-fiscal-federalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Goods and Services Tax</strong></a> has been introduced.</li>
<li><a href="/loksabha-rajyasabha-discussions/in-depth-insolvency-and-bankruptcy-code-act" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code</strong></a> has been implemented.</li>
<li><strong><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/aaykar-diwas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&ldquo;Kardaata e-Sahyog Abhiyaan&rdquo;</a> </strong>has been launched by CBDT etc.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/business/startups/relief-for-startups-cbdt-lays-down-procedure-for-pending-angel-tax-cases-5890523/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: IE</strong></a></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/new-procedure-for-pending-angel-tax-cases'
	],
	(int) 12 => [
		'title' => 'World Breastfeeding Week',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>The World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) has been observed from 1st to 7th August 2019. The Food and Nutrition Board, Ministry of Women and Child Development, has organized a number of activities on the theme <strong>&ldquo;Empower Parents, Enable Breastfeeding&rdquo;</strong>. The focus is on protection, promotion, and support of breastfeeding.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The objectives of World Breastfeeding Week are:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>To create awareness among the parents about breastfeeding</li>
<li>Encourage parents to adopt breastfeeding</li>
<li>Creating awareness about the importance of initiation and exclusive breastfeeding, and adequate &amp; appropriate complementary feeding</li>
<li>Providing advocacy material about the importance of breastfeeding</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Importance of Breastfeeding<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It promotes <strong>better health</strong> for mothers and children alike</li>
<li>It <strong>prevents infections</strong> like diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections in early infancy and thus reduce infant mortality</li>
<li>It <strong>decreases the risk of mothers developing breast cancer</strong>, ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease and</li>
<li>It <strong>protects infants from obesity-related illnesses,</strong> diabetes and increases the IQ.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>MAA - "Mothers Absolute Affection"</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is a nationwide programme of the <strong>Ministry of Health and Family Welfare</strong> to promote breastfeeding and provision of counselling services for supporting breastfeeding through health systems.</li>
<li>The programme has been named &lsquo;MAA&rsquo; to signify the support a lactating mother requires from family members and at health facilities to breastfeed successfully.</li>
<li>The following are the <strong>objectives of the Programme</strong> in order to achieve the above mentioned goal:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Build an enabling environment for breastfeeding through awareness generation activities, targeting pregnant and lactating mothers, family members and society in order to promote optimal breastfeeding practices.</li>
<li>Breastfeeding to be positioned as an important intervention for child survival and development.</li>
<li>Reinforce lactation support services at public health facilities through trained healthcare providers and through skilled community health workers.</li>
<li>To incentivize and recognize those health facilities that show high rates of breastfeeding along with processes in place for lactation management.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>&lsquo;Vatsalya &ndash; Maatri Amrit Kosh&rsquo;,</strong> a National Human Milk Bank and Lactation Counselling Centre has been established at the Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC), Delhi. It has been established in collaboration with the Norwegian government, Oslo University and Norway India Partnership Initiative (NIPI).</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p><a href="http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=192549" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source: PIB</a></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/world-breastfeeding-week'
	],
	(int) 13 => [
		'title' => 'Gujarat-Madhya Pradesh Tussle over the Narmada',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>Recently, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have engaged in a tussle over the sharing of Narmada river waters.</p>
<h3>What is the Controversy?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Madhya Pradesh has <strong>threatened to restrict the flow of water into the Sardar Sarovar Dam</strong>, located in Gujarat.</li>
<li>The Sardar Sarovar Project<strong> includes two powerhouses,</strong> the River Bed Power House (RBPH; 1,200 MW) and the Canal Head Power House (250 MW).
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Power is shared among Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat in a 57:27:16 ratio.</li>
<li>The RBPH has been shut since 2017, Gujarat has sought that generation should not start until the water reaches the full reservoir level (FRL).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Gujarat&rsquo;s view is that its share of 9 MAF (million-acre feet)<strong> water in a normal monsoon year is insufficient to generate power</strong> as drinking water and irrigation are priorities.</li>
<li>Gujarat has also argued that <strong>reaching the FRL is necessary</strong> for testing whether the increased height of the dam can withstand the thrust at that level.</li>
<li>In light of this Narmada Control Authority has granted the permission<strong> not to start generation at a powerhouse until the dam fills to its full level.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Madhya Pradesh is discontented by frequent power outages</strong> and has refused to release the surplus share for power generation and to allow the dam to be tested at FRL.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Sardar Sarovar Project</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) is a <strong>gravity dam</strong> on the Narmada River crossing Gujarat in India.</li>
<li><strong>It involves a series of large irrigation and hydroelectric multi-purpose dams.</strong></li>
<li>The project <strong>took form in 1979</strong> as part of a development scheme to increase irrigation and produce hydroelectricity.</li>
<li>The hydroelectric power of the SSP is to be <strong>shared by the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh</strong>; the irrigation benefits would accrue to the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/719image3.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/719image3.jpg" width="503" height="303" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-why-gujarat-mp-arguing-over-narmada-water-hydro-power-5890515/">Source: IE</a></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/gujarat-madhya-pradesh-tussle-over-the-narmada'
	],
	(int) 14 => [
		'title' => 'Climate Change and Land: IPCC’s Report',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/global-warming-of-1-5-c-ipcc-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change&rsquo;s (IPCC)</a> report on &lsquo;Climate Change and Land&rsquo; reveals the relation between climate change and land use pattern.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>This is the first time that the IPCC, has focused its attention solely on the land sector.</li>
<li>The report focuses on the contribution of land-related activities to global warming i.e how the different uses of land, like agriculture, industry, forestry, cattle-rearing, and urbanisation, was affecting <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/greenhouse-gas-levels-reach-record-highs-un-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">emission of greenhouse gases</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Key Findings</h3>
<h3><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/578image2.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/578image2.jpg" width="676" height="349" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" /></a></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Climate Change and Land degradation:</strong> <a href="/loksabha-rajyasabha-discussions/in-depth-biodiversity-warning-bells" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Land degradation</a> is linked to several climate variables, such as temperature, precipitation, wind, and seasonality.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Reduced Photosynthesis:</strong> Extreme <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/heat-is-an-invisible-climate-risk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">heat</a> events can reduce photosynthesis in trees, restrict growth rates of leaves and reduce the growth of the whole tree.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>In regions where plants decline, land degradation is expected to occur as vegetation provides a vital safeguard against erosion.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Increased Aridity:</strong> global warming will exacerbate heat stress thereby increasing deficits in soil moisture that in turn will increase the rate of drying/ aridity.</li>
<li><strong>Rainfall and Flooding:</strong> as a consequence of climate change can also delay planting, increase soil compaction, and cause crop losses.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Land Degradation</strong></p>
<p>IPCC report defines land degradation as a negative trend in land condition, caused by direct or indirect human-induced processes including anthropogenic climate change, expressed as long-term reduction or loss of at least one of the following: biological productivity, ecological integrity, or value to humans.&nbsp;</p>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>However, report states that some aspects of climate change can improve the condition of the land like CO2 fertilisation, where higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere increase plant growth.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>How Does the Land contribute to Climate Change:</strong> Land acts as both the source as well as a sink of carbon thereby, large scale land-use changes like deforestation or urbanisation, or even a change in cropping pattern, have a direct impact on the overall emissions of greenhouse gases.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/238image7.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/238image7.jpg" width="409" height="382" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" /></a></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Carbon Source:</strong> Land-based activities such as agriculture and forestry are sources of greenhouse gas emissions hence act as carbon source.</li>
<li><strong>Carbon Sink:</strong> Soil, trees and vegetation absorb carbon dioxide, thus act as carbon sinks.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Climate Change and Desertification:</strong> The IPCC land report defines desertification as land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas, collectively known as drylands, resulting from many factors, including human activities and climatic variations.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>According to report risks from desertification are projected to increase due to climate change.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/909image5.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/909image5.jpg" width="520" height="375" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" /></a></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The decline in vegetation can leave the soil more at risk of erosion, increasing the likelihood of sand and dust storms that in turn would tend to decrease precipitation in the local climate, thus further reinforcing desertification.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Impacts of Climate Change-driven Land Degradation:</strong> <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Poverty:</strong> Report states that climate change is frequently noted as a risk multiplier for both land degradation and poverty.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/245image4.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/245image4.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" width="640" height="632" /></a></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Migration:</strong> Climate-related land degradation and migration are directly linked to each other.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>When people are pushed into poverty or have their livelihoods stripped as a result of changes in their environment, one adaptation option is to move to another area and this can be internally or across borders.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Climate Change and Food Security:</strong> Climate change is affecting food security through increasing temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and greater frequency of some extreme events.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Agricultural Production:</strong> Increasing temperatures are affecting agricultural productivity in higher latitudes, raising yields of some crops (maize, cotton, wheat, sugar beets), while yields of others (maize, wheat, barley) are declining in lower-latitude regions.</li>
<li><strong>Nutritional Quality:</strong> Increased atmospheric CO2 levels can lower the nutritional quality of crops.</li>
<li><strong>Livestock Production:</strong> Future climate change could affect livestock production.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>An increase in desertification and <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/heat-wave-warning" target="_blank" rel="noopener">heatwaves</a> could have a direct impact on animal morbidity, mortality and distress that in turn could adversely affect the food security.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Higher Prices:</strong> Report states that cereal prices could increase by 1-29% by 2050 as a result of climate change, leading to higher food prices and increased risk of food insecurity and hunger</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/world/world-food-supply-risk-climate-change-un-report-ipcc-5890160/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source: IE</a></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/climate-change-and-land-ipcc-report'
	],
	(int) 15 => [
		'title' => 'Linking Farmers with Futures Market',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>The recent, <strong>Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)</strong> study suggests the need to empower the Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) to trade in the commodities <strong>futures market</strong>.</p>
<h3>Farmer Producer Organisation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The concept of <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/farmer-producer-bodies-need-help" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'Farmer Producer Organizations (FPO)'</a> consists of <strong>collectivization of producers, especially small and marginal farmers</strong> so as to form an effective alliance to collectively <strong>address many challenges of agriculture</strong> such as improved access to investment, technology, inputs, and markets.</li>
<li>An FPO is <strong>a legal entity formed by primary producers</strong>, viz. farmers, milk producers, fishermen, weavers, rural artisans, craftsmen.</li>
<li>The FPO can be a production company, a cooperative society or any other legal form which provides for sharing of benefits among the members. In some forms like producer companies, institutions of primary producers can also become a member of PO.</li>
<li>The FPOs are generally mobilized by promoting institutions/ resource agencies (RAs). <strong>Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) provides support for the promotion of FPOs.</strong></li>
<li>The resource agencies leverage the support available from governments and agencies like NABARD to promote and nurture FPOs, but attempting an assembly line for mass production of FPOs has not given the desired results.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Future Market</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Futures contracts are used as hedging instruments in agricultural commodities. Hedging is a common practice that insures the farmer against a poor harvest by purchasing futures contracts in the same commodity.</li>
<li><strong>Forward Markets Commission (FMC)</strong> was a regulatory authority for commodity futures market in India. <strong>Forward Markets Commission (FMC) has been merged with</strong> Securities and Exchange Board of India <strong>(SEBI) with effect from September 28, 2015</strong>.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Future Trading in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The first futures trade by an Indian FPO took place in 2014 when the Ram Rahim Pragati Producer Company &ndash; an enterprise started by 3,000 women belonging to self-help groups in a tribal area of Madhya Pradesh &ndash; hedged soyabean price risk on the <strong>National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX)</strong>. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Between April 2016, when NCDEX began making formal efforts to directly engage with FPOs, and May 2018, FPOs had a miniscule 0.004% share of the agri-futures trade at NCDEX. More than half of the FPO futures trade of ₹50.8 crore was in soybeans, while another third was in maize. <strong>Bihar, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh account for 92% of the trade.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Reasons:</strong> The Small farmers often hesitate to trade in the futures market due to their limited capacity as individuals. Future market is viewed with suspicion and termed as gambling. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Instead, they depend on traders in traditional marketing channels who charge high commissions, but provide easy access to credit and market.</li>
<li>However, FPOs, as aggregates of small farmers, can provide the scale of production needed if they receive sufficient information and support.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) is an online commodities exchange dealing primarily in agricultural commodities in India.</li>
<li>It is a public limited company, established on 23 April 2003 under the Companies Act, 1956.</li>
<li>The exchange was founded by some of India's leading financial institutions such as ICICI Bank Limited, the National Stock Exchange of India and the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development, among others.</li>
<li>NCDEX is located in Mumbai but has offices across the country to facilitate trade. Trading is done on 27 commodity contracts as of March 2018. These include 25 contracts for agricultural products. NCDEX is run by an independent board of directors with no direct interest in agriculture.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Benefits of Future Market</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Efficient Price Discovery for Farmers:</strong> Linking farmers with futures market can be mutually beneficial to both. Farmers, when linked with a consistent, liquid and deep futures market will be able to reap the benefits of efficient price discovery.</li>
<li><strong>More Liquidity to Market:</strong> Higher farmer participation will provide more liquidity to the market, helping it achieve its objective of price discovery.</li>
<li><strong>Removing Middlemen:</strong> The trading in <strong>futures market</strong> will help farmers make their cropping decisions based on next year&rsquo;s prices rather than last year&rsquo;s rates, as well as break the crippling hold of middlemen and traders and ultimately boost income for agricultural families.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Learning from the example of China, where the state has helped small land holding farmers by providing customised products and reducing price distortions, the <strong>Government of India should have limited intervention in prices and procurement of commodities</strong>.</li>
<li>The government needs to identify production centres and build warehouses and delivery centres around them in order to encourage futures trading in these areas.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/linking-farmers-with-futures-market-can-benefit-both/article28919062.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: TH</strong></a></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/linking-farmers-with-futures-market'
	],
	(int) 16 => [
		'title' => 'Improvement in Sex Ratio at Birth',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>According to the fourth National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) 2015-16, the sex ratio at birth (SRB) in India has improved from 914 to 919.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>SRB is defined as the number of female births per 1,000 male births.<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/414image1.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/414image1.jpg" width="158" height="226" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></strong></li>
<li>Survey held that <strong>the highest improvement in SRB was noted in Punjab at 126</strong> points, but its SRB remained at 860 (one of the lowest SRB in the states).<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>This success can be attributed to the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-25th-january-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme</a>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Despite the North-Eastern societies traditionally being matriarchal, the sharpest decline was in Sikkim, where the SRB dropped 175 points to reach 809, the lowest among all states in 2015-16.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Next, to Sikkim, the five states with the highest declines included four more from the Northeast.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/280image6.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/280image6.jpg" width="422" height="387" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/sex-ratio-at-birth-kerala-on-top-northeast-states-show-decline-5890615/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: IE</strong></a></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/improvement-in-sex-ratio-at-birth'
	],
	(int) 17 => [
		'title' => 'Task Force on Offshore Rupee Markets',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>The <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-fact-for-prelims-1st-march-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Task Force on Offshore Rupee Markets,</strong></a> set up by the <strong>Reserve Bank of India <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-national-institutions/important-institutions-national-institution-reserve-bank-of-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener">(RBI)</a></strong> in February 2019 and chaired by <strong>Smt. Usha Thorat</strong>, former Deputy Governor, RBI, submitted its report to the Governor recently.</p>
<div class="border-bg">
<p>The Task Force was set up to examine the issues relating to the <strong>offshore Rupee markets</strong> and recommend appropriate <strong>policy measures</strong> while factoring in the requirement of ensuring <strong>stability of the external value of the Rupee</strong> including <strong>measures for incentivising <a href="/to-the-points/Paper2/indian-diaspora" target="_blank" rel="noopener">non-residents</a></strong> to access the onshore foreign exchange market.</p>
</div>
<h3>Key Recommendations</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Indian banks should not be allowed to deal in the offshore rupee derivative market &mdash; or <strong>Non-Deliverable Forward (NDF) markets &mdash;</strong> for the present.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The onshore rupee derivatives market is currently more deep and liquid as compared to the offshore rupee market and participation of the Indian banks in the offshore market might, over time, take away this advantage.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>NDF</strong> is a foreign exchange derivatives contract whereby two parties agree to exchange cash at a given spot rate on a future date. The contract is settled in a widely traded currency, such as the US dollar, rather than the original currency.</p>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Extension of onshore market hours</strong> to improve access of overseas users and permit Indian banks to freely offer prices to global clients around the clock.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Banks should be allowed to freely offer prices to non-residents at all times either by a domestic sales team or by using staff located at overseas branches.</li>
<li>Also, wide access to the forex-retail trading platform to non-residents would be a major incentive to use the onshore market.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Enabling rupee derivatives (settled in foreign currency) to be traded in the <strong>International Financial Services Centers <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/international-financial-services-centres-authority-bill-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">(IFSC)</a></strong> in India.</li>
<li>To allow users to undertake <strong>forex transactions up to USD 100 million in over the counter (OTC) currency derivative market</strong> without the need to establish underlying exposure (security that must be delivered when a derivative contract is exercised).</li>
<li>To <strong>facilitate non-residents</strong> to <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/rbi-eases-hedging-norms-for-external-commercial-borrowings" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>hedge</strong></a> their foreign exchange exposure onshore by:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Establishing a <strong>central clearing and settlement mechanism</strong> for non-resident transactions in the onshore market;</li>
<li>Implementing <strong>margin requirements</strong> for non-centrally cleared OTC derivatives and allowing Indian banks to post margins abroad;</li>
<li><strong>Aligning the tax treatment</strong> of foreign exchange derivatives with that in major international centres; and</li>
<li><strong>Centralising the KYC requirements</strong> across financial markets with uniform documentation requirement.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p>&lsquo;Onshore&rsquo; currencies simply mean buying the currencies locally, whereas &lsquo;offshore&rsquo; currencies mean buying the currencies outside the national boundaries</p>
</div>
<h3>Currency derivatives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>These are <strong>exchange-based futures and options contracts</strong> that allow one to hedge against currency movements.</li>
<li>In simple words, one can use a currency future contract to exchange one currency for another at a future date at a price decided on the day of the purchase of the contract.</li>
<li>In India, one can use such derivative contracts to hedge against currencies like Dollar, Euro, U.K. pound and Yen.</li>
<li>While all such currency contracts are cash-settled in rupees, the Securities and Exchange Board of India <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-national-institutions/securities-and-exchange-board-of-india-sebi" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>(SEBI)</strong></a>, in July 2018, gave a go-ahead to start cross currency contracts on euro-dollar, pound-dollar and dollar-yen.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Trade in currency derivatives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The two national-level stock exchanges, (Bombay Stock Exchange) BSE and the (National Stock Exchange) NSE, have currency derivatives segments.</li>
<li>One can trade in currency derivatives through brokers.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Over the Counter (OTC) Market</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Prior to the introduction of currency derivatives on exchanges, there was only the OTC &ndash; over the counter &ndash; market to hedge currency risks and where forward contracts were negotiated and entered into.</li>
<li>It was kind of an <strong>opaque and closed market</strong> where mostly banks and financial institutions traded.</li>
<li>Exchange-based currency derivatives segment is a <strong>regulated and transparent market</strong> that can be used by small businesses and even individuals to hedge their currency risks.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/business/banking-and-finance/rbi-task-force-against-indian-banks-dealing-in-offshore-ndf-rupee-market-5890557/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source: IE</a></strong></p>',
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		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/task-force-on-offshore-rupee-markets'
	],
	(int) 18 => [
		'title' => 'Changes in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>Recently, the Union government has issued a notification on certain changes in the <strong>Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)</strong>, which will further empower the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in tackling the cases of Money Laundering.</p>
<h3>What are the proposed amendments?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The amendment seeks to treat <strong>money laundering as a stand-alone crime.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Till now Money Laundering was not an independent crime; rather depended on another crime, known as the <strong>'predicate offence'</strong> or 'scheduled offence', the proceeds of which are made the subject matter of crime of money laundering.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>It also <strong>expands the ambit of &ldquo;proceeds of crime&rdquo;</strong> to those properties which &ldquo;may directly or indirectly be derived or obtained as a result of any criminal activity relatable to the scheduled offence.</li>
<li>The most crucial amendments are the <strong>deletion of provisions</strong> in sub-sections (1) of Section 17 (Search and Seizure) and Section 18 (Search of Persons).<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>These provisions required the pre-requisite of an FIR or charge sheet by other agencies that are authorised to probe the offences listed in the PMLA schedule.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>An explanation is added to Section 45 that clarifies that all <strong>PMLA offences will be cognisable and non-bailable.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Therefore, ED will be empowered to arrest an accused without a warrant, subject to certain conditions.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Another vital amendment makes concealment of proceeds of crime, possession, acquisition, use, projecting as untainted money, or claiming as untainted property as independent and complete offences under the Act.</li>
<li>Section 72 will now give power to the Centre to set up an <strong>Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee</strong> for inter-departmental and inter-agency coordination for operational and policy level cooperation, for consultation on anti-money laundering and counter-terror funding initiatives.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>What is Money Laundering?</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Money laundering is the process of making large amounts of money generated by criminal activity, such as drug trafficking or terrorist funding, appear to have come from a legitimate source.</strong></li>
<li>Criminal activities like illegal arms sales, smuggling, drug trafficking and prostitution rings, insider trading, bribery and computer fraud schemes produce large profits.</li>
<li>Thereby it creates the incentive for money launderer to "legitimize" the ill-gotten gains through money laundering.</li>
<li>The money so generated is called 'dirty money' and <strong>money laundering is the process of conversion of 'dirty money', to make it appear as 'legitimate' money.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>How does Money Laundering take place?</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Money laundering is a three-stage process :<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Placement:</strong> The first stage is when the crime money is injected into the formal financial system.</li>
<li><strong>Layering:</strong> In the second stage, money injected into the system is layered and spread over various transactions with a view to obfuscate the tainted origin of the money.</li>
<li><strong>Integration:</strong> In the third and the final stage, money enters the financial system in such a way that original association with the crime is sought to be wiped out and the money can then be used by the offender as clean money.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Bulk Cash Smuggling, Cash Intensive Businesses, Trade-based laundering, Shell companies and trusts, Round-tripping, Bank Capture, Gambling, Real Estate, Black Salaries, Fictional Loans, Hawala, False invoicing are some of the common methods of Money Laundering.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>The legal framework in India to deal with Money Laundering</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In India, the specific legislation dealing with money laundering is the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act((PMLA), 2002</li>
<li>The law was enacted to combat money laundering in India and has three main objectives :<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>To prevent and control money laundering.</li>
<li>To provide for confiscation and seizure of property obtained from laundered money.</li>
<li>To deal with any other issue connected with money-laundering in India.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Under the PMLA Act, the Enforcement Directorate is empowered to conduct a Money Laundering investigation.</strong></li>
<li>Apart from the provisions of PMLA, there are other specialised provisions such as RBI/SEBI/IRDA anti-money laundering regulations</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Enforcement Directorate</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Directorate of Enforcement is a specialized financial investigation agency under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.</li>
<li>On 1 May 1956, an &lsquo;Enforcement Unit&rsquo; was formed, in Department of Economic Affairs, for handling Exchange Control Laws violations under Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947.</li>
<li>In the year 1957, this Unit was renamed as &lsquo;Enforcement Directorate&rsquo;.</li>
<li>ED enforces the following laws:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Foreign Exchange Management Act,1999 (FEMA)</li>
<li>Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA)</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p><a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/changes-in-pmla-act-empower-ed/article28916974.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: TH</strong></a></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/changes-in-the-prevention-of-money-laundering-act'
	],
	(int) 19 => [
		'title' => 'Women Transforming India Awards',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>The Women Transforming India awards (4th edition) are being launched by <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-national-institutions/niti-aayog-national-institution-for-transforming-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>NITI Aayog</strong></a>.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Women Transforming India awards are organized in collaboration with the <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-international-institution/united-nations-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>United Nations.</strong></a><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>For WTI-2019 awards WhatsApp (facebook owned messaging platform) has collaborated with NITI Aayog.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The theme of the Women Transforming India- 2019 awards is <strong>Women and Entrepreneurship</strong> (same as in 2018).</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>National Entrepreneurship Awards</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The National Entrepreneurship Awards aim to honour outstanding young first-generation entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders for their exceptional contribution in entrepreneurship development.</li>
<li>They recognise individuals or organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the entrepreneur ecosystem of India.</li>
<li>The National Entrepreneurship Awards are announced annually by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.</li>
<li><strong>To be eligible for</strong> National Entrepreneurship Awards the nominee (entrepreneur) must be:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Under the age of 40 years</li>
<li>First-generation entrepreneur</li>
<li>Hold 51% or more equity and ownership of the business</li>
<li>Women entrants must individually or collectively own 75% or more of the enterprise.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Women Transforming India Awards</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>WTI awards were launched by NITI Aayog and the United Nations in India in <strong>2016,</strong> to honour the <strong>women entrepreneurs,</strong> who are breaking the glass ceiling and challenging stereotypes, through businesses, enterprises and innovative initiatives.</li>
<li>WTI award recognizes women who are flag bearers of the next wave of business innovations and connect with potential business opportunities, through NITI Aayog&rsquo;s <strong>Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP).</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Women Entrepreneurship Platform (unified access portal to help women realise their entrepreneurial aspirations) is an initiative by NITI Aayog to promote and support aspiring as well as established women entrepreneurs in India.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://pib.nic.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1581564" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source:PIB</strong></a></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/women-transforming-india-awards'
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