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Recently, on 17 December, Indian Prime Minister and Bangladesh Prime Minister held a virtual summit. The author states that they have discussed a range of issues and the summit demonstrates their desire to reboot India-Bangladesh ties that have faced challenges in recent months. In this regard, let us see some of the challenges that may strain the relationship. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. See, India and Bangladesh are neighbours. As we know, prior to independence, Bangladesh was called as East Pakistan. That is, before its independence in 1971, it was a part of Pakistan. However, there were a lot of issues between the ruling Pakistan government and the East Pakistan over economic and cultural issues. In the late 1960s, under the leadership of Mojibur Rahman, people of East Pakistan demanded for more autonomy. This, in the course of time, also led to the electoral victory for Awami League in the first general election in Pakistan in the year 1970. However, the victory by a party in East Pakistan was not tolerated or accepted by the political leaders from West Pakistan. The previous government and their party, which is based in West Pakistan or present-day Pakistan, did not hand over power to leaders of Awami League. As a result, Mojibur Rahman made a historic declaration on 7 March 1971 about the struggle for freedom and the struggle for independence. Within weeks, on 25th and 26th of March 1971, the Pakistan Army launched operational searchlight to arouse the Bangladesh national movement and a lot of human rights violations were committed by the army. Many people from Bangladesh fled from their own country and property on fear of violence and death. Lacks and lacks of them entered India. This is the reason why India kept the cut-off date as 25th March 1971 while updating the National Register of Citizens of Assam. As per this update, anyone who has come from Bangladesh on or after 25th March 1971 shall be detected and must be sent back to Bangladesh. As per this update, around 19 lakh people have come to Assam on or after the cut-off date. Many or almost all came from Bangladesh. With the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019, this number is expected to reduce as it allows persons belonging to these religions not to be considered as illegal migrants. The Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019 provided that any person belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan who entered into India on or before the 31st day of December 2014 shall not be treated as illegal migrant. It is to be noted that Bangladesh is not happy with India's decision to send back the illegal migrants back to Bangladesh. This is a reason issue that strains the India-Bangladesh relationship. Coming to the independent struggle of Bangladesh, the War of Liberation ended in a decisive victory for Bangladesh. The Pakistan Army surrendered to the joint command of India-Bangladesh forces on 16th December 1971. So India intervened for East Bengal through its forces and India was the first country to recognize Bangladesh as a separate and independent state. India also established diplomatic relations with the country immediately after its independence in December 1971. December 16 is remembered as Independence Day or Victory Day in Bangladesh and interestingly, on the very next day of such remembrance, the two prime ministers have held a virtual summit. So when it comes to India-Bangladesh relations, it is always a historic relationship. India was the only country with Bangladesh when it came into life. However, there are certain recent challenges to this relationship. Let us see them in brief. One is that there are reports that at least 25 Bangladesh's were killed in the first six months this year along the border by Indian forces. Then comes a T-star water dispute which remains unresolved. See, around one-third length of T-star river is in Bangladesh and the remaining length are in upstream in Thikkim and West Bengal in India. Bangladesh warns 50% of the T-star river's water supply, especially in the months between December and May annually. There is disagreement in the share and the issue still remains unresolved. Then, the Bangladesh Prime Minister has called the Citizenship Amendment Act and the activities associated with national register of citizens to be unnecessary. Very importantly, China is ramping up infrastructure investments and expanding economic cooperation in Bangladesh to sway Bangladesh from India. These are some of the current challenges to the India-Bangladesh relationship. So, the author calls India to take a broader view of the changing scenario and the growing competition in South Asia and also to reach out to Bangladesh with an open mind. Now, let us move on to the analysis of the next article. Let us see this news article which talks about a stay imposed by the Supreme Court of India on an order passed by the Andhra Pradesh High Court. While hearing over 14 habeas corpus petitions, recently the Andhra Pradesh High Court has asked the state government to respond on whether there is a situation of constitutional breakdown in the state. The Andhra Pradesh government approached the Supreme Court challenging this order contending that it impinges the doctrine of separation of powers which is a part of the basic structure of constitution. The government said that it is the president who is empowered to go into question of breakdown of constitutional monarchy under Article 356 and not the judiciary. In this context, let us understand about Article 356 or president's rule about the basic structure doctrine and other terms mentioned in the article. See, president's rule essentially means that the central government temporarily takes over governance of the state and the state assembly's rule will be taken over by the parliament. Note that if president's rule is imposed, then both the legislative and the executive powers of the state will be taken by the central government. Generally, the state legislature is either dissolved or suspended. Here, dissolved means the MLEs lose their membership and suspended animation means the members do not lose their membership but they cannot enact laws for the state. The proclamation for the president's rule is made by the president under Article 356 of Indian constitution. As per this article, the president can proclaim with the receipt of a report from the governor of a state or Suomoto that is without the report from the governor. Here, Suomoto is a Latin term which means on its own that is it is an action taken by a government agency, court or any other central authority on their own apprehension and without formal prompting from another party. Now, once the rule is proclaimed, both the houses of the parliament have to approve within two months from the date of proclamation and once approved by the parliament, the president's rule continues for six months. It can be extended for maximum period of three years by the approval of the parliament for subsequent period of six months. However, after three years, the president's rule must end and normal constitutional missionary must be restored in the state either through reactivation of legislative assembly from suspended animation or through fresh elections. Please note that the proclamation of the president's rule can be challenged in the court of law. Now, talking about the basic structure doctrine, it is a concept laid down by Supreme Court during the Keshav Nanda Bharati case. Basic structure means basic features. Pointing to basic structure, Supreme Court told that the parliament cannot abridge or take away a fundamental right that forms a part of the basic structure. Various judgments included several elements in the basic structure. At present, it includes supremacy of the constitution, sovereign, democratic and republican nature of the Indian polity, secular and federal characters of the constitution, independence of the judiciary, rule of law, doctrine of separation of powers, parliamentary system, principle of free and fair elections and welfare state. Now, talking about ABS corpus, it is a Latin term which literally means to have the body of. This is one of the rids under Article 32 for Supreme Court and Article 226 for High Court. Under this, the court issues an order to a person who has detained another person to produce the body of the latter before it. The court then examines the cause and legality of the detention. With this, we have come to the end of this analysis. Let us take up this news article titled Deep Sea Fishing Scheme makes slow progress. This particular news article talks about the slow progress in implementing deep sea fishing scheme in Tamil Nadu. For long, we have been hearing news of Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu getting arrested by Sri Lankan authorities. As a solution, a sub-component on assistance for deep sea fishing has been introduced under the centrally sponsored scheme on Blue Revolution, Integrated Development and Management of Fisheries. This Blue Revolution scheme aims to provide deep sea fishing vessels to the traditional fishermen, the societies, associations, self-help groups and fishers' producer organizations for construction of larger deep sea tuna long liners. The project cost is Rs 80 lakh per vessel with 50% central subsidy assistance. See, fisheries is a sunrise sector with varied resources and potential. It engages over 14.50 million people at the primary level and many more along the value chain. So, the government launched a Blue Revolution Integrated Development and Management of Fisheries. The vision of the Blue Revolution or Neil Kranti mission is to achieve economic prosperity of the country and the fishers and fish farmers. It would also contribute towards food and nutritional security through full potential utilization of water resources for fisheries development in a sustainable manner keeping in view the biosecurity and environmental concerns. Now, let us see its important objectives. First and foremost comes the need to increase the overall fish production in a responsible and sustainable manner for economic prosperity. Second is to modernize the fisheries with special focus on new technologies and third is to ensure food and nutritional security. The next to generate employment and export earnings. Finally, to ensure inclusive development and empower fisheries and aquaculture farmers. So, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Department of Animalist Boundary, Diering and Fisheries has reconstructed the scheme by merging all the ongoing schemes under an umbrella of Blue Revolution. The restructured scheme provides focus development and management of fisheries covering inland fisheries, aquaculture, marine fisheries including deep sea fishing and mariculture. It also covers all activities undertaken by the National Fisheries Development Board also called as NFDB. The restructured centrally sponsored scheme on Blue Revolution formulated at a total central outlay of 3000 crore for five years. Its main components are National Fisheries Development Board or NFDB and its activities, development of inland fisheries and aquaculture, development of marine fisheries, infrastructure and post-harvest operations. The next component is strengthening of database and geographical information system of the fisheries sector. Then comes the institutional arrangement for fishing sector and monitoring control and surveillance and other need-based interventions. Finally, it also focuses on the national scheme of welfare of fishers. With this, we have come to the end of this particular news article. Let us move on to the next news article. Now, let us take up this editorial. We have been extensively discussing about the ongoing issues in the farming sector. Today, we have this editorial in which the author clarifies some of the misconceptions among people regarding MSPs and procurement policy of the government. So, in this context, let us discuss them in detail. The syllabus that is relevant for this analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Let us move on to the editorial article. Here, the author takes into account the misconceptions among people related to three issues. We will talk about them one by one. First comes the issue with respect to the misconception on the proportion of farmers who benefit from government procurement policies. Here, when we say government procurement, we are talking about procurement through MSP. See, we know that the prices of agricultural commodities are inherently unstable and this instability arises due to three aspects. The first comes a variation in the supply of agricultural commodities followed by the lack of market integration and then comes the information asymmetry. To counter this, MSP for major agricultural products is fixed by the government teacher. Remember, MSP is a tool which gives guarantee to the farmers prior to the sowing season that a fair amount of price is fixed to the upcoming crop. In other words, MSP is the price at which government purchases crops from the farmers. The objectives of MSP are to give sufficient remuneration to the farmers, to provide food grain supply to buffer stocks, to support the food security program through PDS and other programs. We know that MSP is fixed on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Cost and Practices or in short called a CACP. This CACP submits separate reports recommending prices for cariff and rabi crops. This CACP also recommends the MSPs for 23 commodities which includes seven cereals, five pulses, seven oil seeds and four commercial crops. The central government, after considering the report and considering the views of the state governments, keeping in view the overall demand and supply situation in the country, will take the final decision. Now, in the case of sugarcane, MSP has been assigned a statutory status and so the announced price is termed a statutory minimum price which was renamed as Fair Remunerative Price or FRP. So, there is statutory binding on sugar factories to pay the minimum announced price and all those transactions or purchases at prices lower than the announced price are considered to be illegal. MSP are announced by the government of India before the sowing season and this makes it possible for the farmer to have an idea about the extents of price insurance cover that is provided by the government for the crop. Now, coming back to our editorial, according to the author, people conceive that less number of farmers are benefited from government procurement. To be specific, the popular belief is that only 6% of farmers benefit and that too those 6% farmers are only large farmers but the author is against this view. He is of the opinion that the procurement policy of the government benefited much more farmers than it is really perceived. To justify his claim, he takes the data on statewide procurement from the FCI and the agricultural household data for the year 2012 to 2013 from the NSS. The data shows that 6% figure from the NSS data for the year 2012 to 2013 relates to procurement of paddy and wheat alone and not all crops. But even here, the author says that 14% and 16% of farmers were able to sell paddy and wheat to government and not 6%. Now comes the second issue which is with respect to the geography of procurement. Here, people perceive that procurement is concentrated in states which had traditionally benefited from green revolution and these states include the states of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. Now, regarding this, the author claims this perception to be wrong which means the geographical coverage of procurement has changed in the past 15 years. Now, let us see how this was made possible. The answer to this is the decentralized procurement scheme or the DCP scheme. Please know that the scheme of decentralized procurement of food grains was introduced by the government of India in the year 1997 to 1998 with a view to enhance the efficiency of procurement and periods and to encourage the local procurement to the maximum extent. The DCP scheme was done with the name to extend the benefits of MSP to local farmers as well as to save on transit cost. This also enabled the procurement of food grains that is more suited to the local taste. Under this scheme, the state government itself undertakes direct purchase of rice and wheat and also stores and distributes these food grains under National Food Security Act of 2013 and also under other welfare schemes. The central government after which undertakes to meet the entire expenditure incurred by the state governments on the procurement operations as per the approved costing. The central government also monitors the quality of food grains that are procured under the scheme and it further reviews the arrangements made to ensure whether the procurement operations are carried on smoothly. At present, 17 states are under the DCP system. Until 2000, barely 10% of wheat and rice are procured outside the traditional states. By the year 2012-13, the share of the DCP states rose to 25-30%. Now, according to the author, DCP states such as Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha have started participating more vigorously in procurement when compared to the less concentration in the traditional states. For example, the wheat procurement from Madhya Pradesh for the year 2020-2021 surpassed the wheat procurement from Punjab. Moreover, among agricultural households would sell Paddy under the procurement system. 9% and 7% come from Punjab and Haryana and 11% from Odisha and 33% from Chattisgarh. And for wheat, Madhya Pradesh performs well with 33% when compared to 22% from Punjab and 18% from Haryana. Now comes the third issue that is with respect to the misconception that only large farmers have benefited from procurement. Here, the author says that it is predominantly the small and marginal farmers who have benefited from the MSP and procurement even if the size of the benefits may be larger for larger farmers. According to the statistics at the all India level, among those who sold Paddy to the government, 1% were large farmers owning over 10 hectares of land and small and marginal farmers with less than 2 hectares accounted for 70% and the rest 29% were medium farmers owning between 2 to 10 hectares. In the case of wheat, 3% of all wheat selling farmers were large farmers and more than 56% were small and marginal farmers. Now, the author also talks about the consequences of the MSP on diversification of crops. Popularly, it is believed that MSP resulted in less diversification of crops since farmers are incentivized to grow Paddy and Wheat. To prove this to be a misconception, the author tells that among Punjabis who cultivated any crop, 21 to 37% did not grow Paddy and Wheat. Similarly, the author also talks about the confusion which rains around the new farm loss which allows farmers to sell outside the Agricultural Produce Market Committee also called as APMC. We had discussed about APMC and the fear of farmers with respect to the new loss on our 14th December Hindu News Analysis. Please watch if in case you have missed it. Now, coming back to the analysis, it is feared that farmers will be forced to sell to private players who monopolize the markets. Here, the author is of the opinion that even for commodities for which MSP is announced, the proportion of sales through the Monday ranges is between 10-64%. Also, the prices paid outside the Monday tend to be much lower and this in turn increases the demand for the MSP. It is to be noted that, country-wide sales to Monday or government procurement agencies fetched on average 13.3% higher prices for Paddy and 5.8% for Wheat. So, when this is the case, a healthy competition can be expected between private players and Mondays which in turn will benefit the farmers. So, in this discussion, we talked about the three misconceptions and the opinion of the author on them. With this, we came to the end of this analysis. Let us move on to the next news article. Let us take up this news article titled, The Mystery Disease of Eluru. This ground-zero article elaborately discusses about the mysterious illness with symptoms of giddiness, back pain, vomiting and anxiety that affected hundreds of residents in Eluru which is a district in Andhra Pradesh. In this regard, let us look into the possible causes as given by the author. The syllabus relevant for this news is given below for your reference. Let us now move on to the news analysis. According to an Ames report, traces of heavy metals like lead and nickel were found in the blood samples of patients. See, heavy metal poisoning occurs due to excessive exposure to heavy metal which affects the normal body function. In medical usage, heavy metals are loosely defined, that is, it includes all toxic metals irrespective of the atomic weight. So, therefore, heavy metal poisoning it includes excessive amount of iron, manganese, aluminum, mercury or a semi-metal like arsenic. Such heavy metal pollution arises from many sources but the most common among them is from the purification of metals. We humans get exposed to these metals through diet, medications, from the environment or anywhere in the course of our day-to-day activities. These heavy metals enter our body through skin or by inhalation or ingestion and on entering, these heavy metal poisons and affects a central nervous system, kidneys, liver, skin, bones or even our teeth. The next theory related to the cause of this mysterious disease is found to be pesticide poisoning. This pesticide poisoning is considered to be as a cause because government agencies in the field found pesticide residues in tomato and brinjal samples. Also, some of the patients' blood samples contained hazardous endosulfene and DDT. DDT is also called as dichloro-difinyl trichloethane. So, in this regard, the theory of the presence of organochloride in the bodies through pesticides started gaining ground. Now, coming to organochlorine pesticides, these are chlorinated hydrocarbons that were used extensively from the 1940s throughout the 1960s in agriculture and mosquito control. Some of the representative compounds in this group includes the DDT, methoxychlor, chlorodane, toxophen and benzenexachloride. Since they are neurotoxicants, many organochlorine pesticides were banned in countries like U.S., although a few were still registered for use. Please note, the manufacture, import and the use of benzenexachloride, chlorodane, toxophen, endosulfene are banned in India and coming to the use of DDT and trifluorine, they are restricted from being used. And recently, the government came up with a proposal to ban 27 widely used pesticides since it regards them to be dangerous to humans as well as for animals. People may get exposed to organochlorine pesticides through accidental inhalation, especially when you are in an area where they were recently applied. The chemicals can also enter a body through contaminated fish, dairy products or any other fatty food for that matter. These are some of the means through which organochlorine pesticides get accumulated in the environment. So, these pesticides are very persistent and they move long distances in surface runoff or groundwater. Before mid 1970s, organochlorines resulted in widespread reproductive failure among the birds because birds laid eggs with thin shells that cracked even before hatching. Exposure to organochlorine pesticides over a short period may produce convulsions, headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and sweating and long term exposure to organochlorine pesticides may damage the liver, kidney, central nervous system, thyroid and even the bladder. Many of these pesticides have been linked to elevated rates of kidney and liver cancer in animals. Also, there are some evidences indicating that organochlorine pesticides may also cause cancer in humans. Or knowing the dangers related to it, one of the easiest ways to avoid such mysterious disease is to shift ourselves to organic products. So, organic products are crops that are grown under a system of agriculture with an environmentally and socially responsible approach where the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides are restricted. Next comes a need for an hygienic environment. As pointed by the author, the general hygiene conditions and management of garbage in Eluru is quite alarming since almost all the canals are filled with garbage, stagnant water and plastic materials which can be a potential threat to good health. So, proper management of domestic, industrial, solid and liquid waste is necessary to maintain our good health. With this, we come to the end of this particular news article. Now, let us take up this prelims question which states, with reference to the basic structure doctrine of Indian constitution, consider the following statements. Statement 1, the term basic structure is not explicitly defined in the constitution. Statement 2, it includes sovereign, secular and federal characters of the constitution, doctrine of separation of powers and parliamentary system. Which of the above given statements is or are incorrect? When you look at both the statements, you find that both the statements are correct and are relevant to the basic structure doctrine of Indian constitution. Let us take up the first statement which states, the term basic structure is not explicitly defined in the constitution. This statement is correct because the term basic structure is not defined in the constitution. In its verdict in Kesavananda Bharati case, the Supreme Court said that Parliament is empowered to abridge or take away any of the fundamental rights. At the same time, Supreme Court laid down new doctrine of the basic structure or basic features of the constitution. It means Parliament cannot abridge or take away a fundamental right that forms a part of the basic structure. Please note, the Kesavananda Bharati judgment did not define what constituted the basic structure. Over the years, various judgments included several elements in the basic structure and the ones which are mentioned in the second statement are some of the elements of basic structure. So, the second statement is also correct. Please remember, this basic structure doctrine has formed the basis of the Indian judiciary's power to review amendments to the constitution by Parliament. Let us now discuss this prelims question which states, Blue Revolution, often seen in news, is related to A. Fertilizers, B. Fisheries, C. Powell Tree and D. Oil Seeds. As seen earlier in the analysis, Blue Revolution, Integrated Development and Management of Fisheries aims to achieve economic prosperity of the country and the fishers and the fish farmers. As per this, the right option is Fisheries because Blue Revolution is often seen in the news related to Fisheries. Therefore, the right option is B. Fisheries. In this prelims practice question, consider the following, Aldrin, Bensin, Xerchloride, Calcium cyanide, Tendosulfon, the manufacture, import and use of which of the above pesticides are banned in India and the options for it is given below. The Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare have released a report regarding the pesticides that are banned in India. So, when you look at the list, you can find Aldrin, Bensin, Xerchloride, Calcium cyanide and also Endosulfon in the list. When viewed in this report, all the four pesticides are found to be banned in India. Therefore, the right option is Option D that is all the above. Now, let us look at this main question which states, effort of government of India to alleviate the farmer's distress through its procurement policy has always met with criticism that it is non-inclusive in nature. Critically analyze. Write the answer and post it in the comment section below. With this, we have come to the end of today's news analysis. If you like the video, don't forget to like, comment and share and do subscribe to Shankaraay's Academy YouTube channel for updates regarding UPSC civil service preparation.