 Welcome to the Hindi News Analysis by Shankar Ayes Academy. The list of topics chosen for today's discussion along with the page numbers is given here for your reference. Let us start today's news analysis. This article discussion is going to be based on the long-pending measures in agriculture, which we normally do not discuss. In general, for the plight of farmers and their lower income, people aim, monsoon, middlemen, moneylenders, etc. Often we turn blind eye to one main issue that is making farmers' life miserable and bringing low income to them. This main issue which we are going to discuss today is farmers don't have an option to sell their produce according to their will. See this article is authored by Vice President of India Mr. Vankain Aidu. If you see, the article starts with a Bhagavad Gita phrase, Karma Nye Vadikaaraste Maa Phaleshu Kadachana, which talks about Nishkam Karma Philosophy. See this Karma Nye Vadikaaraste Maa Phaleshu Kadachana means doing one's duty without expecting any fruits or anything in return. This is called Nishkam Karma Philosophy. See you can mention these kind of phrases or concepts in your GS4 paper, especially in topics like foundational values of public service and in concepts like good governance. You can also use these phrases in your case studies in GS4 paper. Coming back to crux of this article. See as we know, freedom of trade, commerce, and intercourse is a constitutional right under Article 301, but farmers for a long time have been denied this right of freedom and trade. Because they don't have the freedom of selling their produce even in their neighborhood. So their farm incomes are under the control of markets, middlemen, and moneylenders. Due to exploitative procurement and marketing of farm produce, others in the supply chain like middlemen, retailers, get more money than farmers. According to the Vice President, this exploitation has its roots in the Bengal famine of 1943, World War II, and the droughts and food shortages of the 1960s. See the food shortages after the independence necessitated large imports of food. This gave rise to PL480 program or Public Law 480 program of United States. Under PL480, the US provided concessional sales of agricultural commodities to India. See under this program, US provided agricultural commodities to be used in schools, midday meals program, preschool, child feeding, and nutrition. This is also called ship to mouth existence because food grains which came in ships from USA were used to feed people in India. See from a sad situation like this, we have progressed from being a country which depends on imports to a country that is a leading producer of those commodities. For example, rice and wheat. This happened only due to farmers. Though we achieved this because of our farming community, farmers are not getting the desired price for their commodities that is food grains here. Their farm incomes are at the mercy of markets, middlemen, and moneylenders. For every rupee a farmer makes, others in the supply chain like middlemen and moneylenders get much more. This is because there are restrictive trade and marketing policies being practiced with respect to agricultural prices. So if you ask what are those restrictive marketing policies, we can list two very important policies. They are Essential Commodities Act of 1955 and Agricultural Produce Market Committee acts of different states. As you know, this Essential Commodities Act enables the government to regulate the production, supply, and distribution of commodities when it declares a commodity as essential. If a food grain is declared as essential, then farmers have to sell agricultural produce to licences in APMCs only. These two laws severely restricted the options of farmers to sell their produce. We know that there are wide economic disparities in our country, so to protect the interests of consumers, these acts were brought by the government. But can this protection be at the cost of commodity producers? This question needs a serious rethinking and lot of deliberations. See, we all know that there is no taxation on agriculture. But do you believe, if I say, farmers are paying Rs 2.56 lakh crore every year? Yes, this may sound startling, but according to Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, this is true. The restrictions on agricultural marketing amounted to implicit taxation on farmers which amounted to Rs 45 lakh crore during the period of 2002-2017. This equates to Rs 2.56 lakh crore per year. Apart from these, farmers also incur losses due to perishable commodities. Often, farmers are forced to dump their produce on the roads or offer it to cattle due to lack of storage facilities. These are the problems outlined by the author. So, what is the way forward or solution for these prolonged issues facing by the farmers? In this context, one recent important development is, government has announced a big fiscal stimulus package. The agree and allied sectors are also getting around Rs 4 lakh crore out of this package. This might increase and improve their farm income. Also, government showed firm commitment to rewrite Essential Commodities Act and APMC laws. So, the revision of these restrictive laws will remove the hurdles that farmers face in getting a remunerative price for their produce. In addition, allowing several buyers to directly access the farm produce will also be a solution to this problem. A strong and effective network of firm producers' organization should be created to enhance the bargaining power of farmers. Further, an effective law on contract farming will boost the private investment in the agree sector and promises a secure income to the farmers. Also, the farmers' income can be raised by supplementary incomes from dairy or poultry. And at the last, declaring the entire country as one food zone would be beneficial. This has to be done by removing the restrictive agree marketing laws in each state. This would allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere and helps a better price realization. As a conclusion, we should keep one thing in mind. Unlike many of us, farmers do not have the privilege of working from home even during the pandemic. They are still working and producing larger farm outputs. So, this is the right time to provide them the long-awaited freedom to sell their produce and get remunerative prices. See, many of us would have forwarded many posts and shared many articles, many images related to farmers and farming communities. And even sometimes, we have showed our sympathies. But the truth is, farmers do not need our sympathy. They deserve respect and justice in the form of better price realization. We all hope that doubling farmers' income by 2022 becomes a reality. The displayed question will be discussed at the end of session. Let us move ahead with this news article. This opiate article talks about possible consequences of fiscal stimulus announced by the government of India. We all know that the government has announced a 20 lakh crore fiscal stimulus called Atma Nirbar Bharat Abhyan or Self Reliant India Mission. See, the author of this article believes that the fiscal stimulus will lead to decline in economic efficiency rather than reviving the economy. Now, let us discuss in brief about this author's views. See, in modern economies, including India, the production of goods happen through a complex supply chains that cross geographical boundaries. So what is a supply chain? See, a supply chain is a network between company and its suppliers to produce and distribute a specific product to the final buyer. This supply chain involves a series of steps including moving and transforming raw materials into finished products and then transporting those finished products and distributing them to end users. For example, upstream sectors like mining produce metals. These metals are used to produce machines. These machines are used to sow seeds, harvest crops and transport fuel. Finally, these harvested crops are used by downstream sectors to produce flour and bread. If you see, at each step, machines and labour combine to produce goods which are inputs for sectors further downstream. So now, what is the issue raised by the author? As we know, under the lockdown, numerous inputs have not moved from producers to their users. We can say lockdown has triggered the supply chain disruptions from upstream sectors to downstream sectors. In the above example, you can consider mining as upstream sector and bakery which produce flour and bread as downstream sector. Hence the availability of consumer goods started to decline. So in the example, as bakers run out of flour and mills exhaust their stalks of wheat. So why it is happening? This is because a lot of economic activities are halted and production of non-essential goods are suspended. If I say the flow of essential goods will depend on non-essential goods, do you accept this? So we will try to understand this with a small example. So during lockdown, we all thought that the automobiles, the automobile spares and automobile service are non-essential services, right? But to transport the essential goods like medicines, food, we need trucks and vans. So these trucks and vans need maintenance, spare parts, etc. But during the lockdown, all the spare parts shops, service centres are closed. So which are thought as non-essential services are having direct impact on movement of essential services. So this is what others says as disruption in supply chain management. In addition, others says that India is a labour intensive economy. It needs people or labour more than machines for the economy to run. As we all know, due to lockdown, people are at home causing labour shortages in the industries. So consequently, the labour shortage leads to the greater reduction in output in the factories. So far, others has explained how this lockdown has disrupted supply chain and consequently reduced the supply side or output side. Next, the other tries to explain how this fiscal stimulus won't help in reviving the economy. According to others, putting money in the hands of people will only increase the demand for goods, but won't increase the supply of goods and services. As government is pushing a lot of money, the money and the liquidity available in the market is going to increase. When there is more money and more liquidity, people tend to buy more, which will result in increase in demand. But we have just seen that due to lockdown, the supply side has been disrupted a lot. So one side demand is going to increase and the second side supply is declining. So this leads to some kind of misbalance. So in this context, others tries to suggest some solutions. So what are they? According to others, the existing supply chain of our economy needs some small adjustments. The entrepreneurs, workers and consumers must adjust to new reality caused due to lockdown and pandemic. For example, one adjustment may be the firms choosing to source inputs from suppliers closer to them to minimize the risk of future disruptions. Second, the producers have to evaluate the prices of inputs or raw materials. If the price of some input rises instead of purchasing them, they have to look for alternative suppliers. Even they can start to produce those goods on their own if possible. This is the second adjustment outlined by the author. And coming to buyers or consumers, the author recommends that the consumers need to look for alternate options or alternate suppliers to purchase. Firms may locate new provider of inputs, new buyers for their output and even build factories at new locations. As much of the decline in output is due to supply chain disruptions, these are the small adjustments needed in order to increase the productive capacity of the whole economy. The key to economic recovery lies in millions of such adjustments done by everyone at every stage of supply chain. In this context, author relates current situation to a situation happened during World War II. So during World War II, Allied powers bombed the infrastructure of Germany, which led to disruption in German supply chain. This devastated the German economy. To recover the economy, Germany introduced measures like lifting of price controls and tax cuts. Within five years, that is by 1950, German entrepreneurs reestablished a thriving supply chain through which goods went from upstream sectors to final consumers. So in the same context, author tells that Indian economy, which is now facing the supply chain disruption, must also resort to removing price controls and opening of trade to reestablish the supply chain. If you remember, at the start of this discussion, we said that fiscal stimulus will lead to decline in economic efficiency. Now we shall discuss how this fiscal stimulus is going to affect the economic efficiency. See, government is pumping a lot of money in the name of fiscal stimulus package. To bring this money, government resorted to printing money, rising debt by borrowing money, or increasing the taxes. When government borrows money, this leads to crowding out effect of private players. It means when government borrows money from the market, the lenders choose to give money to government instead of private players. This is because the risk attached with the loans to government is far less compared to loans given to private players. So this reduced the money in the hands of private entrepreneurs and resources are transferred from private entrepreneurs to government bureaucrats. When it comes to management of scarce resources like money, according to author, bureaucrats tend to be less efficient than profit-motivated private firms. This is because bureaucrats have little incentive or information to bring about the granular supply chain adjustments necessary to revive growth. Hence, economic efficiency is likely to decline and so are the chances of a timely recovery of output. The author concludes by saying that the recent supply chain disruptions are likely to last long. Hence, the path to recovery lies in cutting government expenditure, removing price controls and opening of trade and reducing the taxes. Thereby, the economy can re-establish the supply chain with adjustments needed. With this, we come to end of this news article. The displayed practice question will be discussed at the end of the session. Let us move ahead with the next news article. This article discussion is regarding the human-tiger conflict. In our 20th May video, we have discussed the human-tiger conflict in Bandipur National Park of Karnataka. Similarly, a tiger killed a man in Nagarhol National Park recently. In this context, let us discuss in brief about Nagarhol Tiger Reserve and National Park. In addition, for your prelims examination, we shall have a quick recap of tiger and its conservation status in India. The syllabus relevant for this discussion is highlighted here for your reference. See, the Nagarhol National Park is also known as Rajiv Gandhi National Park. It is situated in two districts of Karnataka which are Mysore and Kodagu. This protected area was originally set up as a wildlife sanctuary in 1955. Subsequently, it was enlarged to include the adjoining areas of Mysore district and was given the status of National Park in 1983. Also know that this protected area was declared as 37th Tiger Reserve in the country. Further, it is also under the consideration of UNESCO and may soon become a World Heritage Site. Hence, this National Park, this Tiger Reserve assumes a lot of significance for your UPSC exam. As you see, this National Park forms a part of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. The river Karbini revolves around this National Park and forms a water edge with the Bandipur National Park. As you can see in the picture, the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, the Wynard Wildlife Sanctuary and Bandipur National Park are adjacent to this Nagarhol protected area. All together, it is one of the last remaining and best protected habitat for endangered species like Elephant and Tiger. Coming to the biodiversity in this Nagarhol National Park include the Bengal Tiger, Indian Leopard, Sloth Bear, Striped Hina and Herbivores like Elephants, Cheethal, Sambar deer, Barking deer etc. Further, know that there are total of five Tiger Reserves in Karnataka, including this Nagarhol Tiger Reserve. The other four are Badra, Dandeli, Anshi, Bandipur and Bilgiri Ranganath Temple Tiger Reserves. The latest developments say that the Malai Mahadeshwara Hills Wildlife Sanctuary is also going to be declared as a Tiger Reserve very soon. If declared, Karnataka hosts six Tiger Reserves in the country. Dear viewers, we have discussed about Malai Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary in our 24th February analysis video. Kindly have a look there to get detailed understanding about Malai Mahadeshwara Hills Wildlife Sanctuary. See, we all know that Tiger is a very important animal and flagship species as well. So, what about its conservation in the country? See, to conserve the national animal, Indian government in 1973 itself launched the Project Tiger. Initially, from only nine Tiger reserves in the beginning, that is in 1973, the Project Tiger coverage has increased to 50 at present across 18 Tiger range states. In premise point of view, it is very important to know that the Project Tiger is a centrally sponsored scheme. This scheme functions under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. If you see, the Project Tiger is mandated to provide central assistance to Tiger states for Tiger conservation in their designated Tiger areas. According to last Tiger census, which was conducted in 2018, the number of Tigers in India is around 3000. To be precise, it is 2967. Know that the first National Tiger Census was conducted in their 2006, and since then, once in every four years that number of Tigers in the country are counted. It means once every four years, the Tiger Census will be conducted in the country. In this context, we should also know about National Tiger Conservation Authority. This is a statutory body under Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. Know that this body was established under Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. This body has an overarching coordination role for the conservation of Tiger and its protection in the country. In addition, there is one more statutory body under the same act that is the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 called Wildlife Crime Control Bureau. This is a statutory multidisciplinary body established under Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. This body is mandated to combat organized wildlife crime in the country. Further know that the National Board for Wildlife, which is chaired by Prime Minister, is also set up under the same act that is Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. So far, we discussed three statutory bodies established under the same act. They are National Tiger Conservation Authority that is NTCA and then Wildlife Crime Control Bureau that is WCCB and now National Board for Wildlife. Very importantly, know that this National Board for Wildlife is chaired by Prime Minister of India. So far, we discussed about various national parks, Tiger reserves, the conservation of Tiger and other statutory bodies for the conservation of wildlife in the country. So what about the conservation status of Tiger according to various national and international bodies? According to IUCN Red List, the Tiger is listed under Endangered category. When it comes to sites, it is listed under Appendix 1. As you know, sites stand for Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wildlife, Fauna and Flora. When it comes to Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, Tiger is protected under Schedule 1. So this is all about Tiger, its conservation, its status, its census, etc. So we all know that Royal Bengal Tiger is the national animal of our country. But it was declared as national animal only 1973 with the initiation of Project Tiger. So before that, some other carnival was our national animal. Viewers Google it and find out what is our national animal before 1973. So let us move on to the next news article. This question is based on this news article which talks about Kakatiya Mission. The question says that the term Mission Kakatiya sometimes seen in news refers to. The correct answer for this question is Option D, a program for restoring all the minor irrigation tanks and lakes in the state of Telangana. Now let us discuss what are all mentioned in this news article. See a town called Circella which is present in Rajanna Circella district of Telangana has transformed from a drought hit region to water surplus region now. This model called Circella water management model is now going to be studied by trainee IAS officers in Lal Bahadur Shastri national academy of administration or in short, Labasna. See the authorities at Labasna has asked the government to send details pertaining to Circella water management model so that it could be included among the lessons for trainee IAS officers. After studying the model, the trainee IAS officers would make a field visit to Circella to understand and to get more knowledge regarding this Circella water management model. They would also study about Mission Kakatiya steps taken by Circella administration to stop groundwater pollution and water conservation methods. So in this context, let us see some background information and discuss in brief about Mission Kakatiya. See due to Telangana's geographical positioning, tanks have been the lifeline of the state. The people of the state are highly dependent on the tanks to a huge extent. The topography and rainfall pattern in Telangana have made tank irrigation an ideal type of irrigation to store and regulate water flow for agricultural use. In this context, Telangana government has launched a flagship program in 2015 called Mission Kakatiya. This mission is aimed at rejuvenation of irrigation tanks, lakes and other water storage structures thereby providing assistance and help to small and marginal farmers of the state. The tanks and lakes are dug by removing the silt for increasing water storage capacity. This silt, which is rich in soil nutrients, will be used by the farmers in their fields to increase the fertility and the yield. Importantly, the water table in the Circella-Rasanna district of Telangana increased to six meters with the government implementing several developmental programs especially related to water management. See the name Kakatiya to this mission is given in the memory of valor and courage of the rulers of Kakatiya dynasty. This Kakatiya dynasty ruled over territory of current Andhra Pradesh and Telangana with Varangal or Oragallu as their headquarters or capital. This dynasty is known for their significant role in development of large number of tanks in their kingdom. So the government of Telangana has used the name of this dynasty, Kakatiya to this mission, hence the name Kakatiya mission. Let us move ahead to the next news article. This question is based on this news article which talks about sports authority of India. Before addressing the question, we shall discuss in brief about sports authority of India or shortly Psy. See the sports authority of India was set up as a society under the Society's Registration Act of 1860. Know that it is a successor organization of 9th Asian Games which were held in New Delhi in 1982. This authority was mandated to carry forward the legacy of 9th Asian Games and know that it functions under the ministry of youth affairs and sports. This sports authority has been interested with twin objectives of promoting sports and achieving sports excellence at national and international level. These are the aims and objectives of Psy. The aims and objectives of Psy are given here for your reference. Kindly take a note of them. Also know that Psy has got two academic wings namely Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sports Partiala and Lakshmi by National College of Physical Education at Trivandrum or Thiruvananthapuram. In addition know that the governing body of Psy is set up by government of India. This governing body is headed by minister of youth affairs and sports. Apart from these Psy has played a significant role in shaping India sports development by a number of schemes for identification and development of young talents in India. Through its sports promotional schemes this authority supports and nurtures talent among youth and provide them with requisite infrastructure, equipment, coaching facilities and competition exposure. With this information let's try to answer the given question. The question says with reference to sports authority of India which of the following statements these are are incorrect. So we have to find incorrect statements out of the given two statements. The first statement says that it is a successor organization of the commonwealth games held in New Delhi. This statement is incorrect since the Psy is a successor organization of ninth Asian games which were held in New Delhi and not the commonwealth games. So statement one is incorrect. Coming to statement two it is an apex body for promotion of sports and sports excellence in the country. Yes the statement two is correct. As we are supposed to find the incorrect statements the correct answer for this question is option A one only. Let us move on to the next news article. Have a look at this given question. This question is based on Charu muscle or mitralis trigata which is mentioned in this news article. So what is this Charu muscle or mitralis trigata? See it is an invasive muscle species native to south and central American coasts. In out of view it resembles the green and brown muscles but is much smaller in size and is even edible. The edible means can be eaten or consumable. The news article highlights that the invasive muscles are found in large numbers in estuaries and backwaters of Kerala. For example in Astramudi lake a Ramsar site in column district of Kerala is one of the worst hit areas because of this invasive species. This fast breeding Charu muscle is threatening several species like Asian green muscle and edible oyster named Magalana bilineata on short neck clams. So what is the concern with this Charu muscle? See they have the potential to outcompete the lucrative clam fishery in Kerala thereby affecting livelihood of fishermen engaged in molluscan fisheries. So Charu muscle which is a fast breeding pest can cause huge economic loss and damage to native biodiversity. So how do they spread? So far we discussed what is Charu muscle and where it came from. So it came from south and central American coasts. How did they come from America to Indian coasts? One reason might be the muscles attached to ship hulls would have reached Indian shores. Another possibility is they are spread through ballast water discharge. In addition the cyclone woeke which devastated Kerala in 2017 might have brought marine water along with the invasive muscles into backwaters and estuaries of Kerala. So these are considered as potential or possible reasons how Charu muscle came from America to India. So in this regard there is an urgent need to identify the presence of Charu muscle in other parts of India. See if these muscles are identified early suitable measures can be taken to conserve and protect the native biodiversity there. While talking about possibility of Charu muscle coming to India we discussed about something called ballast water. So what is this ballast water? See the ballast water is taken on board by the ships for stability. This large quantity of water contains thousands of aquatic marine microbes, plants, animals which are carried across the globe in the ships. So when this untreated ballast water is released at the ship's destination this could potentially introduce a new invasive marine species. This ballast water is considered as one possible reason how this invasive muscles reached India. Hundreds of such invasions through ballast water have already taken place across the world. Sometimes this ballast water even had devastating consequences for local ecosystem and biodiversity. So if you ask is there any international convention to control ill effects of ballast water? The answer is yes. See the International Maritime Organization adopted a convention called International Convention for the control and management of ships ballast water and sediments. This convention was adopted in 2004 and entered into force in 2017. As of now, India is not a party to this convention. So the correct answer for this question is Option D an invasive muscle native to South and Central American coasts. Now let us take up other practice questions. See in this question a tiger reserve is described and we should identify the tiger reserve from the given description. It is a part of Nilgiri biosphere reserve. It is one of the last remaining and best protected habitats for endangering spaces like the tiger and the elephant. By reading these two statements you can eliminate Option A and C as they are not part of Nilgiri biosphere reserve. So coming to Options B and C to arrive at the correct answer we should identify the third description that is the river Khabini or Khabini forms the southern boundary of this protected area. So as you can see in the picture the river Khabini forms southern boundary of Nagarhol tiger reserve. So the correct answer is Option D Nagarhol tiger reserve. Let us take up this main question. Do you think that farmers have the freedom to market their produce at a place and price of their choice? Discuss. See this is a discuss question so you can talk about both positives as well as negatives and you can take a stand at the end of the answer. So if you agree with the given statement we can write examples like APMC Act 2003. It provided freedom for farmers to sell their produce and the government came up with E&M that is single market in the state and single market in the country. So thereby ensuring better price realization for farmers and you can also talk about recent relaxations announced through stimulus package that is Atman Irbar Bharatabhiyan. If you are not agreeing with the given statement we can write about existing Essential Commodities Act APMC Act, APLM Act which are putting a lot of restrictions on the sale of farm produce. Though government has announced a revision of these acts we need to wait and see what the revision and amendments are going to be and government is giving minimum support price which is not adequate and remunerative and more importantly the supply chains and value chains for farmers are not encouraging so farmers are forced to sell their perishables at a very low price and we can also talk about shackles problems due to middlemen etc. And finally you can take a stand if you think yes farmers are having the freedom you can take a stand like that and if you think farmers are not having enough freedom to market their produce at a place and price of the choice you can take the appropriate stand. So this is all about this main question write the answers and send to us we will evaluate them and get back to you as soon as possible. Let us take up one more main question. This question is based on the supply chain article which we discussed today. The pandemic imposed lockdown has disrupted the supply chains in the country suggest measures to rebuild the supply chains in order to revive the economy. So in this question we need to suggest a few measures to rebuild the supply chains and to revive the economy. So while discussing that article we talked about what is the supply chain how supply chains are disrupted and what are the possible consequences of a disrupted supply chain etc. And coming to measures to rebuild the supply chain the author suggested few adjustments to be done in the economy. For example sourcing inputs from local suppliers and second is evaluating the prices of inputs on raw materials and if possible producing goods on their own and the buyers or consumers need to look at alternative options and to find new provider of inputs new buyers and even building new factories etc. The author also talked about example of West Germany where lifting of price controls and tax cuts and opening of trade helped to reestablish the supply chain. So these kind of examples you can write in the answer if you have any other viewpoints you can include them and complete the answer with a proper conclusion. So just now we discussed two main answers we request you to write more main answers and send them to us we will evaluate them and get back to you with necessary feedback within short time. With this we conclude today's news analysis. 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