 a very good morning aspirants welcome to the hindu news analysis session by shankarae's academy for the date 16th of january 2022 these are the list of topics we will be discussing today without wasting time let us start today's discussion today as a part of previous year mains question discussion we will be discussing a question from 2019 general studies paper three now let us start our discussion look at the question here let me read the question first elaborate the policy taken by the government of india to meet the challenges of the foot processing sector here the keyword or the directive word is elaborate when the keyword is elaborate what you have to do is give more information or details relating to the statement given in the question there is no need to analyze anything here we have to convince the evaluator that we are updated and no stuff about the question asked so here in reference to this question we must state all the recent policy measures taken by the government to support the foot processing sector see the question here is a very direct question and everyone will be able to write a convincing answer so to get more marks than your fellow competitors you have to make your structuring attractive this will differentiate your answer and give you an edge okay now coming to the introduction part what to write in the introduction for this question we know that foot processing sector is a sunrise sector sunrise sector is a sector that is new or relatively new and it is growing at a fast rate and it is expected to be an important sector in the future so in the introduction you can mention the potential of the foot processing sector industry you can mention about the role that foot processing industry will play in achieving the government's target of doubling farmers income by 2022 and becoming a five trillion dollar economy by 2024 you can mention the employment potential of the industry this sector is alone expected to generate nine million jobs by 2024 you can also add other data relating to the foot processing sector in india in the introduction see according to the india brand equity foundation the foot processing sector in india is expected to reach five hundred and thirty five billion dollar by 2025-26 the indian food industry is expanding at a compounded annual growth rate of 11 percent and the foot processing sector accounts for 32 percent of the total food industry india's food industry attracted 4.18 billion dollars in foreign direct investment between april 2014 and march 2020 you can also mention other benefits of the foot processing sector like its role in reducing malnutrition reducing food wastage reducing food inflation promoting crop diversification and curbing rural to urban migration you can mention the points we discussed now in your introduction or you can add other good data in your introduction that is up to you now having addressed the introduction let us move to the body of the answer see since the question here asks about the policy taken by the government to address challenges of the foot processing sector i am going to structure my answer like this i am not going to just list out the steps taken by the government instead i am going to write a challenge faced by the sector and then list out the government policies to address the challenge the thing i will give more importance here is the policy measure aspect than on the challenge aspect since the question asks us to elaborate on the policy taken by the government now imagine you are planning to start a foot processing industry the first hurdle you will face is the lack of access to credit to address this challenge the ministry of finance has set up a special fund of rupees 2000 crore in nabad for providing direct term loan at affordable rates of interest to designated foot parks and foot processing units in the designated foot parks in addition to this under the pradhan ministry kishan sampatha yojana capital subsidy in the form of grant in aids ranging from 35% to 75% to the eligible project cost subject to maximum specified limit is provided to investors under various schemes for undertaking infrastructure logistic projects and setting up a foot processing units in the country now moving on to the next challenge now using the loan given by the government you have set up a foot processing unit the next challenge you face is in terms of infrastructure you are facing difficulty in your ability to purchase raw materials from your vendors in villages due to lack of road connectivity even if you manage to purchase your raw material most of the raw material are lost during transport due to lack of cold storage facilities to address these challenges under the pradhan ministry kishan sampatha yojana there are two subcomponents the first one is mega foot park scheme this is based on the hub and spokes model the hub being mega foot park and the spokes are the transportation networks connecting the mega foot park to the raw material producing areas the efficient transportation network will bring down the transportation cost and the transportation time it will also minimize wastage the next sub component is the scheme of cold chain value addition and preservation infrastructure the objective of the scheme of cold chain value addition preservation infrastructure is to provide integrated cold chain and preservation infrastructure facilities without any break from the farm gate to the consumer it covers creation of infrastructure facility along the entire supply chain from pre-cooling weighing sorting grading waxing facility at farm level multi-product and multi-temperature cold storage packaging facility blast freezing facility in the distribution hub mobile cooling units for facilitating distribution of horticulture organics produce marine daily meat and poultry produce etc no moving on to the next challenge so you have now started the food processing unit using the fund given by the government and the government through infrastructure has connected your unit with your supplier but for your food processing unit to function properly you need skilled workforce this is the next challenge the lack of proper skilled workforce to address this challenge let us see what measures that the government has taken the predan madri krishan sambhata yojana of the ministry of food processing industries has a skilled development component to it this sub component of predan madri krishan sambhata yojana aims to provide sector specific skilled workforce from floor level workers operators packages and assembly line workers to quality control supervases etc in various segments of the food processing industries the ministry of food processing industries is working in close collaboration with other related agencies to argument skilled manpower in the food processing sector the ministry is collaborating with the food industry capacity and skill initiative the sector skill council in food processing for validation of quality packs for identified job roles and developing course curriculum for food processing sector through the national institute of food technology entrepreneurship and management that is n a f t e m see the ministry has established the national institute of food technology entrepreneurship and management in kundili in sony pet hariana the n a f t e m has been declared a deemed university it is running a beta chemtech and phd courses and undertakes rnd projects in the area of food technology funds have been allocated to the institute to promote research activity expand village adoption program and skill development in the food processing sector in addition to this the ministry has also established the indian institute of food processing technology in tanjavur tamiladu this institute also works towards developing skilled manpower now you have got your food processing unit setup and running with skilled manpower created using the efforts of ministry of food processing industry you have started producing you are planning to export the goods you have produced to europe but people in europe are not ready to buy your product due to lack of quality certification this will be your next challenge to address this our government has taken the following initiative that is the food safety and the quality assurance infrastructure scheme this is a subcomponent under pradhan mndri kishan sampath yojana see quality and food safety has become a competitive agenda global market for food products so the subcomponent aims to help in all-round development of food processing sector in the country through various aspects of total quality management such as quality control quality system and quality assurance which would be developed in a horizontal fashion this food safety and quality assurance infrastructure scheme has two programs under it the first one is setting up or upgrading food testing laboratories program under this a network of food testing and analysis laboratories will be established this network will act as a surveillance system and also for a timely analysis of samples and ensure compliance of international and domestic standards on food in case of exports as well as imports the next program is HACCP ISO standards food safety or quality management systems program HACCP ISO standards are necessary conditions for improving the overall quality of food safety and hygiene in the country and also to increase india share in global food trade here HACCP that is hazard analysis critical control point is a tool to assess hazards and establish control system that focus on prevention rather than delaying mainly on the end product testing HACCP is a internationally recognized method of identifying and managing food safety related risk see under this program grant in aid is given in the form of reimbursement of expenditure towards implementation of HACCP or ISO standards at the rate of 50 percent in general area and at the rate of 75 percent in northeastern region okay now coming back you have produced your product use the network of testing lab to certify your product with ISO standard or the HACCP certification now you can export your product to europe to improve your market further you are planning to sell your product in the domestic market also here again comes the problem of infrastructure in terms of inefficient forward linkages to address this challenge there is the scheme for creation of forward and backward linkages which is also subcomponent under Pradhan Mandri Kisan Sampath Yojana here to improve forward linkages a retail chain of outlets including facilities such as frozen storage deep freezers refrigerated display cabinets cold rooms chillers packing and packaging etc in addition to this distribution center associated with the retail chains of outlets with facilities like cold room cold storage ripening chamber okay this will address the challenge of forward linkages now using the government credit you have established your food processing unit government policy has ensured you with good infrastructure connectivity cold storage chain institution to provide you with high quality manpower network of food labs subsidy to get your product certified and finally forward linkages to improve your domestic footprint now you have a well established food processing unit to improve your unit further you will have to do research and development this is your next challenge our government has a scheme for this too here the ministry of food processing industries has been extending financial assistance to undertake demand driven research and development work for the benefit of food processing industry in terms of product and process development efficient technology improved packing value addition etc with commercial value finally to provide incentive to help you produce more from your food processing unit the government has launched another initiative recently the union cabinet announced the production linked incentive scheme for the food processing industries see this is a central sector scheme this scheme aims to boost domestic manufacturing and cut down on import bills the production linked incentive scheme aims to give companies incentives on incremental sales from products manufactured in domestic units apart from inviting foreign companies to set up shop in India the scheme also aims to encourage local companies to set up or expand existing manufacturing units the scheme will be monitored at the center by the import group of secretaries chaired by the cabinet secretary in addition to all the above challenges there is another challenge that the food processing sector faces most of the food processing unit in India are in the informal sector the unorganized food processing sector comprising nearly 25 lakh units contributes to 75 percent of employment in the food processing sector nearly 66 percent of these units are located in rural area and about 80 percent of them are family-based enterprises supporting livelihood of rural households these units largely fall within the category of microinterprises the unorganized food processing sector faces a number of challenge which limit their performance and their growth the challenges include lack of access to modern technology or equipment lack of access to training lack of access to institutional credit lack of basic awareness on quality control on products and lack of branding and marketing skills to address this the ministry of food processing industry launched the Pradhan Mantri formulation of micro food processing enterprises scheme as a part of Atman Irbar Bharat apiyan this scheme will provide support for capital investment for upgradation and formulation with registration for GST, FSSAI, hygiene standards and Udyogadar the scheme will provide capacity building through skill training imparting technical knowledge on food safety and quality improvement the scheme will also provide hand-holding support for availing bank loans and for updating the technology finally the scheme will provide support to former producer organizations self-help groups producers corporatives for providing them with capital investment common infrastructure branding and marketing now in this discussion we saw the challenges faced by the food processing sector and the initiatives taken by the government to address the challenges see instead of just dictating you the answer I have followed a different approach today I have put you guys in the position of the entrepreneur wishing to start a food processing unit the challenge you will face as a result of this and finally the various policy measures that the government has taken to address these challenges that you might face while doing so we have developed a holistic and a structured answer for today's question see I use this method while writing mains answer to generate points and to structure my answer I hope you found this method of main useful if not no problem you can have your own method of generating points anyways I have discussed various challenges and the associated policy reforms of the government like I already mentioned since the question has elaborate the policy taken by the government of India in your answer focus more on the policy part and less on the challenges part now coming to the conclusion here you can mention the potential of the food processing sector to lift millions out of poverty and moral nutrition you can say that the government recognizing the importance of the food processing sector has allowed 100% foreign direct investment in food processing through automatic route you can also mention about the draft food processing policy okay I hope this session was useful if you have any suggestions regarding today's main question discussion post them in the comment section it will help me make some course corrections okay with this let us conclude the previous year mains question discussion session now let us move on to the news article discussion session take a look at this FAQ article here this is the first article we will be discussing today it talks about the verdict of WTO's dispute settlement panel the panel ruled that India is breaking rules framed under the general agreement on trade and tariff that is GATT by subsidizing sugar producers so what has India done India has filed an appeal with appellate body of the WTO against the verdict given by the dispute settlement panel this is the essence of the article given here in this article discussion let us understand about the dispute briefly and we will see what is the WTO mechanism in relation to subsidies and finally we shall end the discussion by glancing through the support given by the Indian government to sugar producers and before that the syllabus regarding this discussion is highlighted here just go through it now let us start our discussion first of all let us see the dispute see in 2019 Australia Brazil and Guatemala Guatemala is a country in Central America see these countries complained about India in the WTO they argued that subsidies provided by the Indian government to sugar producers are against the rules governing international trade see it is very important to understand why these countries made a complaint against India take a look at this image here countries like India Brazil Australia and Guatemala they are the major sugar producing countries in the world so they fear that India's intervention will be detrimental to the sugar market okay and moreover all the WTO members have trade rules regarding agricultural subsidies and based on these rules only they argued that the subsidies provided by India which include both domestic subsidies as well as export subsidies exceeded the limits imposed by the WTO under the trade rules having said that we will see what are those WTO rules see in WTO terminology subsidies in general are identified by boxes which are given the colors of traffic light like green amber and red in agriculture it is a bit different the agreement on agriculture has no red box instead it has a blue box and a special and differential treatment box or the development box in this discussion we will see about amber box which is relevant here see for more detailed discussion regarding the agreement on agriculture refer to Keith Ramams 17th December 2021 discussion there she explained every aspect of agreement on agriculture in a very detailed manner okay now back to her discussion what is this amber box subsidy see nearly all domestic support mechanisms considered to distort production and trade falls into the amber box category this includes subsidies directly related to production quantities but these support are subjected to limits their threshold is generally five percent of the value of agriculture production for developed countries and 10 percent of the value of agricultural production for developing countries so according to WTO rules subsidies provided by India cannot exceed 10 percent of the total value of sugar production as a result the countries that we saw like Australia, Guatemala and Brazil had made a complaint against India believing that the subsidies offered by India has breached the 10% limit and this has led to increased production of sugar and this in turn has caused the global sugar prices to drop significantly okay so after inquiring this complaint WTO ruled in December that India's sugar policy was favoring domestic producers through subsidies to the disadvantage of foreign producers in the verdict the panel recommended that India withdraw its alleged prohibited subsidies under the production assistance buffer stock and the marketing and transportation scheme within 120 days so what is India's stand on this see India has stated that WTO's dispute panel ruling has made certain incorrect findings about domestic schemes of India India has argued at the WTO that it does not offer direct subsidy to sugarcane farmers and thus does not break any international trade rules now let us see some of the supports provided by the Indian government to sugarcane farmers and the sugar mills see the central and the state government in India mandate the minimum price or the fair and remunerative price at which the sugar mills can buy sugarcane from the farmers in fact in august last year the center set the fair and remunerative price at rupees 290 per quintal for sugar for the season of 2021 to 2022 see one quintal is equal to 100 kgs rupees 290 per quintal is the highest ever fair and remunerative price for sugarcane procurement see in addition to that individual states also set minimum procurement price that may be higher than center's price to adjust to the local conditions the highest procurement price for sugarcane set by the government is believed to have led to a surplus this intern has caused the sugar prices to drop so to help the sugar sector the center has mandated the compulsory blending of ethanol derived from sugarcane with fuels such as petrol according to the food ministry the country's sugar production is likely to remain flat at 30 million tons in the next season as more sugar can will be diverted for ethanol making the state governments and the center have also regularly intervene to reduce the depth burden of the sugar mills also see recently the center has mandated to restructure loans worth 3000 crores offered to sugar mills by the sugar development fund see without such assistance it may not be possible for sugar mills to procure sugarcane from farmers at the minimum prices fixed by the government further the center also regularly sanctions fund to encourage sugar mills to export sugar depending on sugar prices in the global market in the recent budget the center allocated rupees 3500 crores to fund the export of 6 million tons of sugar see these measures are justified because india is the second largest sugar producer in the world after brazil and it is estimated that more than five crore people depend on the cultivation of sugarcane alone for their livelihood see compare this to it sector see it sector provides employment only to 40 lakh people in india so sugarcane production is a important part of indian economy okay so what has india done india has appealed to the appellate body that is the wto appellate body the wto appellate body's decision will be considered final on the dispute in case india refuses to comply with the decision it may have to face retaliatory action from other countries this retaliatory action could be in the form of additional tariff on indian export and other stringent measures so we have to wait and see what the decision of the wto appellate body will be okay with this we have come to the end of the article discussion see in this segment we saw about india wto dispute regarding sugarcane what is india's position regarding the issue and finally we saw the steps taken by the indian government to support sugar cultivators and the sugar mills with this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article look at this article this article says that on january 7th a 70 year old man from the united states has become the first person to receive a hot transplant from a genetically modified pig in this context we will learn about zeno transplantation gene editing and the ethical issues surrounding it the syllabus relevant to this article is highlighted here for a reference just go through it now let us start our discussion see first of all what is zeno transplantation zeno transplantation is any procedure that involves the transplantation implantation or infusion into a human recipient of either a live cells tissues or organs from a non-human animal source or be human body fluids cells tissues or organs that have had x y o contact with live non-human animal cells tissues or organs simply put zeno transplantation involves the transplantation of non-human tissues or organs that is pig in this case to replace an injured part of human recipient look at this picture to understand zeno transplantation first the pixel is genetically altered then these genetically modified pigs are raised in a controlled environment then the organs of the pigs are removed to transplant to humans and why are pigs chosen for zeno transplantation see pigs are preferred because they mature very quickly they produce very large liters and they have organs of comparable size and functions to human organs in both infancy and adulthood they also can be bred into high health standards in microbiologically controlled environments pigs have been preferred as ideal candidates for zeno transplantation despite their immune system being different from humans for the simple reasons that organs are anatomically similar to those of humans but it is not done that easily because human immune system rejects anything that is foreign whether it is from another person who is immunologically matched to the recipient or from a another species such as pig so the scientists had to tweak the pig genome to make the organs less likely to be rejected according to the new scientist magazine revivicar a us-based company is raising a small herd of genetically engineered pigs these pigs have 10 of their genes genetically modified to reduce the possibility of immunorejection in the recipient now how are these genes modified see these genes are modified using gene editing techniques see genome editing also called as gene editing is a group of technologies that give scientists the ability to change an organism's DNA these technologies allow genetic material to be added removed or altered in particular location in the genome several approaches to gene editing have been developed a recent one being CRISPR-Cas9 see the CRISPR-Cas9 system has generated a lot of excitement in the scientific community because it is faster cheaper accurate and more efficient than other existing genome editing methods we will see about CRISPR-Cas9 brief here see CRISPR stands for clustered regularly interspaced short parent roam repeats they are patterns of DNA sequence found in the genomes of bacteria and other microorganisms see if a virus threatens a bacteria the bacteria uses the CRISPR immune system to identify and destroy the viral genome see scientists have adopted this system to use in cells from animals unknowing humans also and Cas9 here is an enzyme that works like a pair of molecular scissors a guide molecule is programmed to tell the enzyme where exactly to cut in the DNA sequence look at this image to understand the working of CRISPR-Cas9 system see a small piece of guide molecule attaches or binds to a specific target sequence of DNA in the genome it is used to recognize the target DNA sequence and the Cas9 enzyme cuts the DNA at the targeted location once the DNA is cut it is replaced with the healthy copy this is all about CRISPR-Cas9 now back to our discussion about xenotransplantation what is the need for xenotransplantation see the development of xenotransplantation is driven by the fact that the demand for human organs for clinical transplantation far exceeds the supply of human organs see last year nearly 4,000 people in the US received donor hearts but the need is far more the highest demand for human organs is in case of kidneys see according to health ministry around 180,000 people in India are estimated to suffer from renal failure every year but only 6,000 renal transplants are carried out in the country in addition to that around 25 to 30,000 liver transplants are needed annually in India but only 1,500 transplants are actually performed now in case of heart 50,000 people suffer from heart failure and are need of heart transplant and yet only 10 to 15 heart transplants are carried out in India each year see harvesting organs from genetically engineered pigs is a viable alternative to meet this organs shortage though xenotransplantation is a life saver in most of the cases it has many ethical concerns also let us see them one by one the first one is animal rates see the animal rates groups such as people for the ethical treatment of animals that is PETA has condemned this pig heart transplantation as unethical dangerous and a tremendous waste of public resources many campaigners says that it is wrong to modify the genes of animals to make them more like humans see the pigs heart had to be removed during the operation so the activist argue that the animal also have a right to live they also argue that it has a right to live without being genetically manipulated with all the pain and trauma this entails only to be killed and their organs to be harvested the second ethical concern is in case of religion see the jewish and the islamic law forbids them from raising or eating pigs but some argue that receiving a pig heart to save a life is not in any way violation of their religious law see these are some ethical concerns regarding xenotransplantation the opposers to xenotransplantation argue that instead of xenotransplantation more awareness must be generated to encourage human organ donation so that the demands apply cap in case of organ donation can be addressed so this is all regarding this article in this segment we discussed about the basics of xenotransplantation then we saw about the basics of gene editing and the CRISPR Cas9 technology then we saw about the need for xenotransplantation and finally we saw about the ethical concerns surrounding xenotransplantation with this let us conclude our discussion okay now we will move on to the next news article this news article is with reference to the newly revised guidelines released by the union ministry of power to be specific these guidelines here is about the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles see these standards were released to enable faster adoption of electric vehicle by guaranteeing a safe reliable and affordable charging infrastructure so in this context we will see in brief about the newly revised guidelines the syllabus 11 to this news article is given here just go through it now let us start our discussion first let us have a basic understanding about electric vehicle and some of its features see a convention vehicle will have a internal combustion engine okay normally such an internal combustion engine gains its energy from the heat released during the combustion of fuel in the combustion chamber such engines usually emit carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and which in turn results in global warming okay no contrast to this with the electric vehicle see electric vehicle is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion here propulsion is the power that moves something in a forward direction so in order to propel a electric vehicle it uses electric motors electric vehicle not only includes road and rail vehicles they also include surface and underwater vessels electric aircrafts and even electric spacecrafts okay now let us see some major classification of electric vehicles see there are three main types of electric vehicles namely hybrid lugging hybrid and battery electric vehicles both the hybrid and plug-in hybrid have both the electric motor and a combustion engine which works together to generate power and propel your car but the difference here is that hybrid vehicle does not require a external power source connection here the source of power for hybrid vehicles are internal they feature regenerative braking so that even when you apply brake a generator generates electricity that is stored in the battery for later use now in case of plug-in hybrids they feature a large battery these battery are charged using a electric outlet for longer electric only driving now in case of battery electric vehicle the entire energy requirement is derived only from the battery without the assistance of another region such as fuel cell or internal combustion engine remember in both the cases that is in both the plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles charging of the battery requires an external power source connection see these are the three main types of electric vehicle in market now let us see the newly revised guidelines regarding charging infrastructure released by the union ministry of power firstly the guidelines allows an individual or a entity to set up charging stations without a license if they meet the technical safety and performance standards see this step was taken to ensure ease of doing business here in this image you can see the location of the various charging stations this is one of the biggest problem faced by the consumer and from the seller side getting license to set up stations itself is difficult so in order to solve this issue the ministry has announced this step secondly the guidelines allow electric vehicle owners to charge their vehicles using their existing energy connections at home or at work this also does not require a license that is an individual can set up a small infrastructure in their home or office without a license for charging their electric vehicle now thirdly the guidelines made technology neutral by including not just existing international charging standards but also new Indian standards so that there will not be any problem of compliance now fourthly to address the challenge of making a charging station financially viable in the period of growth of electric vehicle a revenue sharing model has been put in place for land used for the same in case of a government entity government land will be provided and the revenue sharing basis for the station will be at a fixed rate of rupees one per kilowatt hour this will reduce the input cost apart from this until March 31 2025 the pricing for supplying electricity to public electric vehicle charging station will be a single part tariff that does not exceed average cost of supply the tariff for domestic charging will also be equal to the tariff for home consumption see these guidelines employ over the state government to fix the ceiling for service charges also before concluding see in this segment we got a basic understanding about electric vehicle different types of electric vehicles and finally the newly revised guidelines regarding charging infrastructure released by the union ministry of power with this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article see this photo feature here it shows different images of food available to different community of people see this image here it shows two children eating jackfruit it is the main force produced that the coned tribe eat in addition to this the news article talks about global hunger index and the hunger category of india so this is the crux of the article in this context let us see some important points regarding global hunger index from prelims perspective first of all let us see about global hunger index the global hunger index is a tool designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger at global regional and national levels it is jointly published by concern worldwide and wealth hunger health a german non-governmental organization the global hunger index scores are calculated each year to assess the progress and setbacks in combating hunger the global hunger index is designed to raise awareness and to understand the struggle behind hunger see this index provides a way to compare levels of hunger between countries and regions in addition to this it calls attention to those areas of the world where hunger levels are highest and where the need to address efforts to eliminate hunger is greatest now let us see what are all the things the index measures for each country the values are determined based on four indicators firstly undernourishment see undernourishment means the share of population that is undernourished that is the share of population whose calorific intake is insufficient secondly it measures child wasting see child wasting is a share of children under the age of five who are wasted that is who have low weight for their height reflecting acute undernourishment thirdly it measures child stunting see child stunting is the share of children under the age of five who are stunted that is who have low height for their age reflecting chronic undernourishment finally it measures child mortality child mortality is the mortality rate of children under the age of five this in part reflects the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments so firstly these measured values are calculated and secondly each of the four component indicators are given a standardized score on a hundred point scale and finally the standardized scores are aggregated to calculate the global hunger index score for each country with each of the three dimensions that is inadequate food supply child mortality and child under nutrition you can refer to the image here for better understanding now let us see India's position in the rank in 2021 global hunger index India ranked 101st out of 116 countries participating with the score of 27.5 India has a hunger level that is serious okay see this image shows the trend of global hunger index score for India over the years and this image shows the trend of various indicator values in India this is undernourishment child stunting child wasting and mortality from this graph you can understand that the under five mortality and the prevalence of under five stunting has been declining in the past few years while the proportion of undernourishment and the prevalence of under five wasting has been raising so to improve India's ranking in the global hunger index government must focus more on addressing insufficient colorific intake and acute under nutrition now coming back to the article see generally the hunger problem can be elevated by the pandemic people who used to go for workers migrant wage laborers are now stuck in their villages people living in villages in the forest cannot do farming in the forest land the constant state of hunger had led to different morbidities and subsequent mortalities in worst condition adding to this poverty remains a grave concern in India food inadequacy and hard and hazardous work condition lead to disease such as tuberculosis silicosis and these diseases often lead to deaths see experts with extensive field experience say that this is a state of slow starvation see slow starvation is nothing but a condition where people do not get enough nutritious food for a long period of time which results in their health taking a downwards lead in most cases health effects of slow starvation cannot be reversed another problem with slow starvation is that it is not properly reported see in case of deaths due to slow starvation such deaths are usually tagged under death by disease and not death by starvation so slow starvation is grossly under reported in India now moving on see the government of India is working towards making India a five trillion dollar economy by 2024 this is not possible if India does not have a good and healthy human capital for India to have a good and healthy human capital hunger and malnutrition should be completely uprooted so government must take measures to address this problem this is all regarding this news article in this segment we discussed about global hunger index who publishes it how global hunger index is calculated India's ranking in global hunger index India's performance over the years and finally we ended up discussing some points about slow starvation with this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article look at this news article this news article talks about a law proposed by two us senators this bill aims to protect the us from the threat of rareth metal supply disruption why because for the supply of rareth elements the united states is largely dependent on china see china has a choke hold on global rareth element supply thus the bill also aims to encourage domestic production of those elements which will help the united states reduce its import dependency on these metals from china which stood at 80 percent in 2019 this is the crux of the news article so in this context let us discuss what are rareth elements their applications their strategic importance the reason behind chinese monopoly in this and we will also discuss about indian rareth element reserves the important policies taken by india in rareth element extraction and trade and finally we will see what are all the reforms that india can take in this regard to rareth elements okay the syllabus regarding this discussion is highlighted here for your reference just go through it now let us start our discussion see the name rareth element is itself a misnomer because at the time of their discovery that is in the 18th century they present seem to be scars and thus the name rareth elements but these elements are quite abundant and they exist in many workable deposits throughout the world let us see the list of rareth elements from the periodic table see it includes three elements from the group three of periodic table along with the lanthanoid series look at the periodic table the 17 rareth elements are scandium yttrium and lanthanum from group three and cerium through luteinium which are called lanthanides see the rareth elements are all metals and the group is often referred to as rare earth metals okay now let us see some of its applications see the rare earth elements are used in products as simplest lighter flints and it goes up to modern automobiles who are one of the biggest consumers of rare earth products then it is used in electrical sensors three-way catalytic converters in prosperous optical displays and even in speakers and headsets see when you are purchasing premium headphones you might have noticed that statement these headphones contains neodymium magnets here neodymium is a rare earth metal also it is used in polishing of windshield mirrors and lenses see even in refining of gasoline or diesel fuel rare earth metals are used and most importantly they are used in rechargeable battery with the start of electric vehicle revolution all over the world the importance of rare earth metals will improve many fold okay and they are used in modern media and communication devices such as cell phones televisions and computers thus the application of rare earth metal goes on i have given a table containing various applications of rare earth metals just go through it you can expect a statement type question in terms from this okay so have a good look at it now let us go further and discuss the strategic importance of these rare earth metals of the 17 rare earth metals neodymium is arguably the most needed in the world right now why because electric vehicles cannot function without this and lithium note that lithium is mostly found in bolivia and lithium is not a rare earth metal okay see neodymium is also necessary for vibration of cell phones working of headphones and even for working of wind turbines this is because for all of them to work they need to be powered by rare earth permanent magnets which are the most powerful permanent magnets this neodymium magnets are used here okay in addition to this rare earth metals play an essential role in our national defense rare earth metals like terbium tetrium and european are used in night vision goggles precision guidance weapons communication equipments gps equipments batteries and key ingredients for making very hard alloys which are used in armored vehicles and projectiles projectile meaning bullets see from the discussion so far we can understand that this rare earth metals are used in everything from batteries to defense equipments hence they are strategically very important okay now let us see the reason for chinese monopoly see china began producing notable amount of rare earth oxides in the early 1980s and it became a leading producer in the world in early 1990s the reason behind this is that the process to obtain rare earth metals is environmentally destructive and the process of refining rare earth oxides produces radioactive waste so countries around the world have gone away with the refining process but china has endless expanse of deserts and areas where nobody lives and coupled with lack environmental laws china steadily strengthened its whole on world rare earth oxide market another reason is china's low selling price which could not be competed even by the mountain pass mine which is the only integrated rare earth mining and processing site in north america see some mines even stopped their operation due to china's low selling price thus china gained a monopoly in this rare earth metal market using which it could punish any country by controlling the supply of rare earth metals but this monopoly of china was realized by the world only in 2010 when china stopped its supply of rare earths to japan after a chinese fishing boat was arrested near the disputed sinca co islands further china imposed restriction on exports of rare earth metals in the very same year thereby pushing up the prices of these metals by nine times this is how china is controlling the global market with this rare earth metals okay now let us see some important points about rare earth element deposits and resource rare earth element deposits can be classified into three types they are primary deposits example being carbonate associated deposit then there are secondary deposits which include marine placer deposits and finally there is industrial process residues this includes coal fly ash we did not go deep into this instead let us learn about indian reserves of rare earth metals through this indian map see in general they occur in pigmented belt of rajasthan vihar andhra pradesh karnataka odisha chattisgarh madhya pradesh and tamil nadu they occur in carbonate complex in gujarat also also they are found in riverine placers of central india see in the global level the major rare earth element deposits are in china and in the united states of america see as of 2018 china had 44 million tons of rare earth deposits and us had 1.4 million tons in addition to these countries the major rare earth element producers are india australia brazil and malaysia now let us see the producers and explorers of these metals in india indian rare earths limited under the department of atomic energy is involved in processing of monosite for the production of various rare earth compounds since 1952 the rare earth elements available in monosite comprises basically of the lighter fraction the technology for producing rare earths from monosite and that of producing pure rare earth of high purity is available with the indian rare earth limited note that mining of beach sand is carried out by indian rare earth limited and kmml which is the kaira state government undertaking okay now let us see few important policy taken by india in this regard first is the atomic minerals concession rules 2016 see these rules were amended to reserve all beach sand mines deposit containing more than 0.75 monosite in the total heavy minerals for government owned corporations second is the foreign trade policy 2015 to 2020 this policy allowed for free import of ores and concentrates of rare earth metals and rare earth toxic third is the bromefield expansion of oscom unit see oscom or orisa sand complex is one of the indian rare earth limited flagship unit located at chattapur in the district of ganjam odisa at present beach sand mining and mineral separation activity are carried out by oscom it focuses on extraction of eliminate and other associated metals like rutile zircon silimonite and garnet see all these policies helps in enhancing the extraction and trade of rare earth metals lastly let us see the reforms that india has planned to take in this rare earth metal extraction and utilization see india had firstly planned for specific and high precision laboratory field studies to help overlocalization secondly india has intensified exploration efforts in targeted areas by detailed survey and exploratory drilling thirdly india has planned for face-wise exploratory drilling and laboratory analysis of potential blocks in hard rock terrain that is in ambadongar carbonate tight complex in kucharat fourthly india has planned for identification of potential beach sand placer deposit for exploration up to the depth of 50 meter utilizing sonic drilling to argument additional beach sand heavy metal resources in addition india has planned for systematic general exploration of shoreline along the coastal stretches of odisa andhra pradesh tamil nadu and kerala see all these exploration inputs are likely to argument the monocyte resources in quaternary deposit thus by taking all these reform along with foreign companies association india's natural wealth can be changed into our country's strategic assets this is all about this news article and the discussion see in this discussion or in this segment we saw what are rare earth elements their application their strategic importance the reason behind chinese monopoly indian rare earth metal reserves indian producers and explorers of rare earth metals and important policies taken by india in rare earth metal extraction and trade and finally we saw what are all the reforms that india has planned in this regard okay with this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article this news article talks about the applications seeking gi tag for two famous products from tamil nadu what are they they are kumbakuram betrilai and two alai manikam alai so in this context let us learn some basic information about gi tag and we will also cover the information given in this news article now let us start our discussion what is the geographical indication it is an indication to identify agricultural natural or manufactured goods that originate from different geographical territory see the manufactured goods should be produced or processed or prepared in that territory and it should have a special quality or reputation or other characteristics some of the examples of registered indian geographical indications are darjali gitti, tirupathi laddu, kongra paintings, nagpur orange, kashmir pashmina etc so when a product has a gi tag it conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness which is essentially attributable to the place of its origin see gi tags are not only part of our rich culture and collective intellectual heritage but they also supplement the incomes of our rural farmers weavers artisans and craftsmen across the country note that these geographical indications are covered as a element of intellectual property rights under the paris convention for the protection of industrial property they are also covered under trade related aspects of intellectual property rights that is trips agreement which are part of the agreement concluding the uruguay part of GATT negotiations now let us see few important information mentioned in the news article the GA or the geographical indication application for kumbakonam vettilai was filed by the tamilnadu agricultural university in koembatur whereas the geographical indication application for thuvalai manikamalai was given by the thuvalai manikamalai kaivinai kalingergal nalasangam in kanyakumari geographical indication application is made for kumbakonam beetle leaves for its heart shaped appearance these beetle leaves are grown by small and marginal farmers in the kaviri delta region to be particular it is grown in im betai, rajagiri, pandara vadai and swamy valai in tanjavu districts now what about this thuvalai manikamalai see it is a special type of garland made only in thuvalai which is a small village in kanyakumari see the flowers in this garland are positioned which when folded looks like a gem the flowers are generally arranged in five rows but at times for other decorations 20 rows are also used the height ranges from 1 foot to 24 feet and above and the key materials are chamba fiber nochi leaves voliander and rose flowers see the thuvalai village is famous for its abundance of flowers and most of the flowers for this garland are sourced locally note that the technique for manikamalai was invented by palani pandaram as per the details in the ga application okay this is all regarding the news article in this segment we saw some basic point support geographical indications kumbhavanam vitrilayi and thuvalai manikamalai with this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article look at this article this is the last article we will be discussing today this news article is with reference to the enforcement direct rate the enforcement direct rate or ed has attached assets worth 42 lakh rupees of a freelance journalist named Raju Sharma that said journalist is said to have revealed confidential and sensitive information to chinese intelligence officers in exchange for remuneration this is the context of this news article so with this we will learn about enforcement direct rate in prelims perspective see the enforcement direct rate or ed is a law enforcement agency under economic intelligence agency responsible for enforcing economic laws and fighting economic crime in india it is a specialized financial investigation agency under the department of revenue ministry of finance okay which enforces the following laws the first law it enforces is the foreign exchange management act 1999 it is a civil law the officers are empowered to conduct investigations into suspected violations of the foreign exchange law and regulation the enforcement direct rate can also impose penalties on those who have violated the law the second law is prevention of money laundering act 2002 it is a criminal law here the officers are empowered to provisionally attach or confiscate the assets and to arrest and prosecute the offenders found to be involved in money laundering now some basic facts about enforcement direct rate see the enforcement direct rate was established in the year 1956 with its headquarters at new daly it is headed by the director of enforcement besides directly recruiting personnel the direct rate also draws officers from different investigating agencies like customs and central excise income tax police etc on deputation there are five regional officers for enforcement direct rate they are at Mumbai Chennai Chandigarh Kolkata and Delhi and these regional officers are headed by special directors of enforcement as we have seen it is responsible for enforcement of fine exchange management act 1999 and certain provisions under the prevention of money laundering act 2002 now you can have a look at some of the other function of enforcement direct rate here go through these functions carefully that's all regarding this article in this discussion we saw about the enforcement direct rate and the functions of enforcement direct rate with this let us conclude the news article discuss sensation now let us take up the practice prelims question look at the first practice prelims question this question is about geographical indications tag we have to find the incorrect statements okay let us take up the first statement the kumbakonam beetle leaves recently got the gi tag see this statement is incorrect because gi application is only made for kumbakonam beetle leaves gi tag is not at given so the first statement is incorrect now let us take up the second statement gi tag is given only for agricultural and natural products see this statement is also incorrect because from our discussion we saw that gi tag is given for agricultural natural and also manufactured products an example for a manufactured product that has received a gi tag is dindical block so since both statements are incorrect the correct answer is option c both one and two now moving on to the second question this question is about enforcement direct rate here also two statements are given we have to find the incorrect statement let us take up the first statement direct rate of enforcement is mandated with task of enforcing the provisions of foreign exchange management at 1990 and prevention of money laundering at 2002 see this statement is correct because from our discussion we saw that the enforcement direct rate works on enforcing the provisions of foreign exchange management at 1999 and prevention of money laundering at 2002 now let us take up the second statement it works under the ministry of corporate affairs see this statement is wrong because the enforcement direct rate works under the department of revenue which is under ministry of finance so the first statement is correct the second statement is incorrect since the question asks us to find the incorrect statement the correct answer is option b two only now moving on to the third question this question is in regards to the recent global hunger index 2021 two statements are given we have to find the correct statement let us take up the first statement India ranks 110th in the global hunger index 2021 see this statement is incorrect because we saw in our discussion that in the 2021 global hunger index India ranks 101st out of the 116 countries with a score of 27.5 and India has a level of hunger that is in the serious category now let us take up the second statement the value of the GA score is arrived at by using three indicators which includes food supply under nutrition and child mortality see this statement is also incorrect because for each country the global hunger index values are determined using four indicators they are undernourishment child wasting child stunting and child mortality here child wasting and child stunting are grouped under the dimension called child under nutrition so since both statement one and statement two are incorrect the correct answer here is option d neither one nor two now let us take up the last practice prelims question this question is about rare earth metals here they are asking us to find the correct statements let us take up the first statement lanthanoid and actinoid series comes under rare earth metals see this statement is wrong because from our discussion we saw that only lanthanoid series comes under rare earth metals in addition to the elements in the lanthanoid series scandium e-trium and lanthanum are also rare earth metals now let us take up the second statement india is the leading producer of rare earth metal for the past five years this statement is also completely wrong because from our discussion we saw that china is the leading producer with 44 million tons as of 2018 okay so since both the statements are incorrect the correct answer is option d neither one nor two the main question based on today's discussion is displayed write your answers and post it in the comment section if you like today's session like comment and share it with 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