 Good evening aspirants, welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankara Ace Academy for the date 4th July 2019. The list of articles which has been chosen for today's analysis along with the page numbers of Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Tiruvantapuram Medicines are provided here. The link for the handwritten notes in the PDF format and the time stamping for the news articles has been provided in the description box below. And for the benefit of smartphone users, the time stamping is also provided in the comment section. Let's move on to our first article discussion. This article is about the scope and implementation of PM Kisan scheme. The discussion based on this article will be useful in preliminary examination under current events of national importance and also under economic and social development, particularly in poverty, inclusion and social sector initiatives. And this article is also relevant in main syllabus under GS paper 2 in the areas welfare schemes for the vulnerable sections of the population by the centre and states and the performance of these schemes and then also in issues relating to poverty. This article is about the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana scheme that is PM Kisan scheme. The author in this article talks about the scope and implementation of the PM Kisan scheme. So, to understand the article, let us first know about the scheme. Here Pradhan Mantri as you know means Prime Minister, Kisan means farmer, Samman means respectful or dignified and Nidhi means fund. So, in short, it is a scheme for farmers that provide a dignified fund for the welfare of the farmers. This scheme is an income support scheme for the farmers. It was launched by the Prime Minister in February 2019 in the interim budget. It is a 100 percent centrally sponsored scheme. It aims to provide a benefit of Rs. 6000 per annum per family. This benefit will be provided in three equal installments of Rs. 2000 every four months. The scheme is implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare and the scheme incurs an annual expenditure of Rs. 75,000 crore. Initially, the scheme aimed at providing income support to the small and marginal farmer families who have combined land holding or ownership of up to 2 hectares, that is approximately 5 acres. But now the ambit of the scheme has been extended. Presently, all the land holding eligible farmer families can avail the benefits under the scheme irrespective of the size of the land. Under the scheme, the fund will be transferred directly to the account of the beneficiaries by the direct benefit transfer method, that is, DBT method. And also know that the beneficiaries will be identified by the respective state and administration of the union territories. So, now let us know what are the benefits or the positives of this scheme. Firstly, the scheme ensures an assured supplemented income to the vulnerable farmer families. Secondly, it aims to fulfil the emergent needs of farmers before the harvest season. This is because before the harvest season, the farmers need money for employing labourers to manage the input cost, etc. Now, if they do not have this money to meet their needs, they are compelled to borrow money from the local money lenders, which in turn pushes them into a debt trap. Thirdly, the scheme paves the way for farmers to earn and to lead a respectable living in the society. And also under the scheme, the fund is transferred directly to the beneficiary account, so it avoids leakages and ensures timely delivery of funds. Hence, it helps the poor farmer families to recover from the distress due to poverty. So, now this is the basics about the PM Kisan scheme. Now, let us get into the article discussion. The author has noted that the broadening of the scheme to include all land-holding eligible farmer families as a welcome step, as it will benefit an additional 10% of rural land-holding household. And as we discussed earlier, the scheme offers Rs. 6000 per year per household. The author says this amounts to only one-tenth of the production cost or consumption expenditure that has to be spent by the poor farmer. Look here, the consumption expenditure is nothing but the spending by any household on goods and services. The author calls this amount of Rs. 6000 as meager amount. That is very inadequate amount. But even though it is meager, the amount promises some relief to poor farmers by partially supplementing their spending on input costs or consumption needs. Then the author calls the scheme as a response to assuage or relieve the agrarian unrest. See whenever we use the word agrarian, it means agriculture or it is related to agriculture. So according to the author, the scheme is a response to relieve the problems related to agriculture which is faced by the farmers. Then the author also notes that the scheme has a long way to go in terms of both the implementation of the scheme and also in terms of the scope of its coverage. We will see why the author says this later in this discussion. Then if you see the article in the beginning of the article, the author says that the PM Kisan scheme is based on major initiatives by two state governments. The initiatives which the author mentions here are, one is Raithubandhu scheme of the Langana state government and the other is the Kaliya scheme of Odisha state government. The Raithubandhu scheme is an investment support scheme. The beneficiaries under the scheme are land holding farmer families who are given financial assistance of rupees 8000 per acre per year. And if you note, there is no upper limit on number of acres to get benefit under the Raithubandhu scheme. Next, if we consider the Kaliya scheme, Kaliya is the acronym for Krushak assistance for livelihood income augmentation scheme. It is a financial assistance and interest free crop loan scheme. It provides a financial assistance of rupees 10,000 per family per year. The beneficiaries are land holding farmer families, landless agricultural labourers and landless agricultural households also. Now for the landless households, the financial assistance is rupees 12,500. And the scheme also provides an interest free crop loan of rupees up to rupees 50,000. Now if you look at these two schemes, you can say that the PM Kisan scheme is based on these. So the shortage in implementation and scope of PM Kisan scheme which we mentioned earlier is based on these. The author says that the cash transfer under the PM Kisan scheme is not linked to the size of farmer's land like the Raithubandhu scheme. The landless tenants have been left out in both the schemes that is in both PM Kisan scheme and the Raithubandhu scheme. But as the Raithubandhu scheme provides the financial assistance based on the land size, the author calls it as more substantial or meaningful than the PM Kisan scheme. Then if you compare the PM Kisan scheme with the Kaliya scheme, the Kaliya scheme also includes or supports the poor rural households that do not own land which the PM Kisan scheme does not do as of now. So we can say this is one of the drawbacks of the PM Kisan scheme. Then one another problem with the scheme is that even though two installments have been provided after the implementation of the scheme, the benefits did not reach the farmers in most parts of the country. As the cropping season that is the Karif season has already started, the benefits have not reached the farmers. So this is a problem. As the farmers who did not get the benefits will be forced to take loan from local money lenders and in turn this loan will push them into the debt trap. So the author questions whether the scheme has the potential to deliver or not. The author says it is still unpredictable because we saw in the beginning that one of the main objective of the scheme is to stop farmers from borrowing money from local money lenders which pushes them into the debt trap. So if the benefits have not reached the farmers who are in need, it directly hampers the potential of the scheme. Then if we see the statistics, the scheme was originally framed to benefit 12.5 crore farming households who own small and marginal lands. But at present only 32% of the 12.5 crore have been benefited so far. Majority of the farmers are yet to receive even the first installment that is they have not received the first installment yet which they should have been received before the elections itself. The author says only 27% of the intended beneficiaries have got the first installment and only 24% intended beneficiaries have received the second installment. Now this totally amounts only to 17% of the estimated total expenditure that is it amounts only to 17% of the 75,000 crore which was the estimated total expenditure. Then another problem of the scheme is that the implementation of the scheme has been prioritized in certain states. If you take Uttar Pradesh it accounts for one-third of total beneficiary households that is around 1.11 crore of the farmers out of 3.4 crore who have got the first installment. And around 1.08 crores of the farmer families are beneficiaries of the second installment from the Uttar Pradesh out of the total 3 crore beneficiaries of the nation. On a whole about half of the states small and marginal farmers have been covered under the scheme so far. And even the states of Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh have gained a prominent share in the implementation of the scheme. But about 17 states have received only a negligible share of the first installment. And this amounts for less than 9%. So the author says for the scheme to be effective the scheme has to be uniformly implemented. That is every state should have an equal number of beneficiaries which will happen only if the scheme is implemented uniformly without giving priority to any particular state. But this is not a fix or not a solution for the structural issues of the PM Kisan scheme. This is because the author is worried that if the budget allocated to the agricultural sector is shifted to cash transfer that is only to this PM Kisan scheme it will create a great concern. And the scheme will also not be effective because if the budget allocated for the agricultural sector is shifted to cash transfer only then other long term budgetary commitments will be withdrawn by the government. The other budgetary commitments provide stability to the agricultural production. This includes the schemes for irrigation subsidies for input and the procurement assurances. Then also the food security which is provided through the National Food Security Act. And all of these will get affected. If these schemes are hampered then it will affect the agricultural production and in turn it will affect the farmers. So the author says the government should not only concentrate on providing cash transfers but it should also allocate a required budget to other agricultural schemes. And should give equal importance to the schemes which are required for the stability of agricultural product. The next structural problem or issue with the PM Kisan scheme is that the PM Kisan scheme recognizes the land owning farmers as beneficiaries and not the tenant farmers. The author says that the tenant farmers constitute around 13.7% of farm households. Further they have an additional input cost other than the input cost faced by land holding farmers. That additional input cost is the rent for the land. Since the tenant farmers do not own any land they do not gain anything from this scheme. So the author says if the government really wants to help the farmers then the PM Kisan should be broadened again to include the landless tenants and other poor families like the schemes provided by the state governments of Telangana and Odisha. And then another structural issue with the scheme is that the scheme is not based on the scale of production. That is the farm size is not taken into account to provide benefit under the PM scheme. The scheme is conceptualized to supplement the cost spent by the farmers on the agricultural inputs. But the size of the land is not included. So the author feels that the scheme will be ineffective. That is it will not benefit the farmers. This is because many farmers hold many acres of land. And now the scheme has also included all the land holding eligible farmers. So the input cost for all the acres of the land will be high as the land size increases and the input cost also increases. This is why the author says that the meager amount of rupees 6000 which is provided under the scheme will not benefit the farmers. Because it will not help to cover the input cost. Hence the author concludes by saying that if the objective of the scheme is to provide income support to the farmers then the most deserving should be given precedence. The most deserving includes all in the farmer community which includes small and marginal farmers, tenant farmers and landless farmers also. So all should be benefited from the scheme. Let us hope that the government will exchange the scheme to benefit all the farmers. With this we have come to the end of this discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next article discussion which is about the constitutional crisis in Puducherry and the concerns with respect to federalism. This article discussion will be a part of your prelim syllabus under the area current events of national importance and then also under Indian polity and governance. Then the discussion will also be helpful in your main syllabus in general studies paper two under the area Indian constitution, its evolution, significant provisions and the basic structure. Then the discussion is especially relevant under the issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure. In this article the author highlights some instances when the present ruling alliance at the central government has went against its proposed ideal of cooperative federalism in the last five years. First it dismantled or destroyed the planning commission and transferred the powers of planning commission to make state grants to the union finance ministry. Then the author talks about the introduction of certain provisions in the terms of reference of finance commission which is constituted under article 280 of Indian constitution. The author says that these terms threaten to lower the revenue share of southern states and thus affects federalism. The author here is referring to one of the terms of reference that is given to the 15th finance commission because the 15th finance commission was asked to use the population data of 2011 while making its recommendations. It reads the commission shall use the population data of 2011 while making its recommendations. Let us see how it will affect the revenue of southern states. Earlier the recommendations were mostly based on 1971 population data. Between 1971 to 2011 particularly the southern states of India have taken various progressive measures to contain the population growth. It has been found that the northern states have not made any strong measures or have poorly implemented the family control programs. As a result the population in northern states have increased between these years in comparison with the population growth in southern states. In such a situation if a finance has to be allocated based on the population of 2011 census then the southern states would lose their share because their population growth is relatively less in comparison with the northern states between 1971 to 2011. So introduction of this particular term of reference was therefore seen as an action against the federalism by this author. Also know that the 15th finance commission was constituted in the year 2017 for the purpose of making recommendation for a period of five years from 1st April 2020. Then the author talks about the misuse of the office of governor in calling an elected leader to form the government in case of hung assemblies in various states. Some of the states that had hung assemblies recently are the state of Karnataka, Jamun Kashmir, Goa, and even Tamil Nadu almost has an hung assembly like situation. The author says that the imposition of a president's rule in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand was the most open or blatant action of abuse of power. These decisions of imposing president's rule in both the states was called as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The author uses the sentence, president's rule imposed in a position ruled Arunachal Pradesh to symbolically highlight that if the central ruling party was in power in that state, it would not have imposed president's rule. Then the author says that the central government almost brought the administration of Union Territory of Delhi into a deadlock or stalemate. This they have done by having a protracted or prolonged war with the elected Delhi government through the left and in governor. The central government waged the war against the elected chief minister and council of ministers in Delhi through an unelected nominee of the central government, who is none other than the left and in governor. This matter of deadlock was taken to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, which is the highest court of appeal, affirmed the primacy or superiority of the elected government in Delhi above the unelected left and in governor. The Supreme Court gave the primacy to the elected government respecting the federal rights of the concerned elected government of the Union Territory. That is why the title of the article is the primacy of the elected. Then another long run battle affecting the federal provisions is going on between the unelected left and governor of Puducherry and the elected chief minister and the council of ministers of Puducherry. This matter is presently in the Supreme Court and the author says that this case will further test the strength of Indian federalism in the present era. These are some of the instances highlighted by the author that has happened in the last five years and some of them are still continuing. These measures threatens the federalism, which is the basic structure of the constitution in our country. Then in the article the author says that there are two different distinct provisions in the constitution, one for Union Territory of Delhi and the other for the Union Territory of Puducherry. The term or the statement Union Territory of Delhi is mentioned in the Government of Union Territories Act of 1963. The author says about these two different distinct provisions based on two articles. One is article 239AA and the article 239AA. Here article 239AA deals with the scope and limits of the powers of the legislative assembly and the council of ministers of the Union Territory of Delhi. It restricts the legislative assembly of Delhi from enacting laws in subjects of police, public order and land. Next the article that deals with the Union Territory of Puducherry is article 239AA. Article 239AA enables the parliament to enact a law to create legislature and council of ministers for the Union Territory of Puducherry. Unlike the article 239AA, this article 239AA does not restrict the legislature of Puducherry enacting law in any specific subjects. Also the section 18 of the Government of Union Territories Act of 1963 allows the legislative assembly of Puducherry to make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in the state list or the concurrent list in the seventh schedule to the constitution. Therefore, the author says that the legislative and executive powers of Puducherry are broader than the Union Territory of Delhi. Also under article 239AA of the constitution, the left-wing and governor can promulgate an ordinance when the legislature of the Union Territory is not in session. That too only after obtaining instructions from the president. Article 239AA deals with the powers of the administrator of Union Territory to promulgate ordinances during recess of legislature. And also know that left-wing and governor is the administrator in the Union Territories of Puducherry and Delhi. Hence the tussle between the unelected nominee of the central government and the elected council of ministers led the matter to be challenged before the Madras High Court. The Madras High Court ruled that the left-wing and governor must act on the aid and advice of the council of ministers and she should not interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the government of the Union Territory. One of the main reasons behind the decision of a Madras High is the decision of Supreme Court. In the case law between Union Territory of Delhi and Union of India. In that case the Supreme Court helped that the chief minister is the executive head of the government of National Capital Territory of Delhi with respect to the powers under clause four of article 239AA. And the left-wing and governor is bound by the aid and advice of the council of ministers. Also the left-wing and governor must follow the decisions of the cabinet on all matters where the legislative assembly has the power to make laws. Also article 239AA states that when there is a difference of opinion between the left-wing and governor and the council of ministers in Union Territory of Delhi the administrator may refer the matter to the president and act according to the decision of the president. The author says that the same type of reference can also be made by the left-wing governor of Puducherry also. So with the pronouncements of Supreme Court in the case related to Union Territory of Delhi the Madras High Court has given its verdict on the matter between the administrator of Puducherry and the chief minister of Puducherry. The central government has now challenged the decision of a Madras High Court in the Supreme Court. So in an interim order the Supreme Court has asked the cabinet of Union Territory of Puducherry to take no important decisions before next hearing in the court. The Supreme Court has not given its final judgment on this matter yet. The author states that the central government should respect the principles of democracy by giving primacy to the elected government. It should also give respect to federalism by respecting the rights of the elected legislative members of the Union Territory. Otherwise the purpose of the legislative assembly and council of ministers of Puducherry Union Territory would be defeated. The author asks the Supreme Court to uphold the verdict given by the Madras High Court so as to ensure that the lieutenant governor to act only on the aid and advice of the elected government. The Supreme Court should adhere to its verdict in NCT Delhi case to extend the same purposive interpretation of the constitution where the Supreme Court has held that the representative government is a basic structure of the constitution. The Supreme Court should do this also because the Puducherry has lesser legal restrictions on its powers. Also, the principle of federalism is not only for states but also for legislative assemblies of Union Territories and councils of local governments. Finally, the author calls for reaffirming the values of federalism at every forum with increasing centralizing tendencies these days such as proposal for simultaneous elections. With this, we come to the end of this article discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next discussion which is about the breach of a Tiwre Dam in the state of Maharashtra. This article discussion will be relevant in prelim syllabus under the area of current events of national importance and then also under physical geography of India. The discussion can also be linked to your main syllabus in general studies paper one under the area important geophysical phenomena. Then also in general studies paper three under the area disaster and disaster management. The news article mentions that because of breach in Tiwre Dam almost 11 persons have died. It was feared that a total of 23 persons could have died. This dam is in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. Also, the southwest monsoon rainfall has reached Maharashtra after delay of almost 11 days. It is reported that usually by June 10, the state receives the rainfall from southwest monsoon. Then also recently a portion of a compound wall of a housing society in Pune has collapsed during heavy downpour of rainfall in southwest monsoon. More than 15 people died in this incident. There was also another wall collapse in Pune where around six people have died. With these incidents happening, yesterday there was a breach of dam in Ratnagiri. When we say dam breach, it means opening or a breakthrough of a dam caused by rapid erosion of water. As a result of this, a huge volume of water will breach out through the opening and will cause flooding if appropriate preventive mechanisms are not made. This is what has happened yesterday. Flooding has happened in seven nearby villages in the Ratnagiri district. The state police and the National Disaster Response Force have launched the search and rescue operation. It was said that the villagers, along with the elected representatives of local bodies, have asked the district administration to repair the dam after they spotted cracks in the dam in the November last year. But still preventive mechanisms have not been taken. Then as a response to this dam breach incident, there is also an editorial based on this. The editorial is titled as Mumbai Maroud. The author of this editorial reminds about a flood that happened in July 2005. This flood was caused by 94 centimeter rainfall in one day. The state government of Maharashtra has also failed to prepare for floods, keeping the 2005 floods as a baseline disaster. It has failed to upgrade the infrastructure. It is because of this failure, there is loss of human lives and damage to property. And Mumbai has been trapped into an unmanageable situation because of such reason. That is why the title of the article is called Mumbai Maroud. This time it was just 37 centimeter rainfall in a day. And the state government is still unable to manage it. The inability to manage, despite spending massive expenditure on management projects means there is lack of resolve among political leaders. There is rampant inefficiency and there is lack of effective coordination in the administration machinery. The comptroller and auditor general of India has found that there are prolonged delays in upgrading storm water drain infrastructure in Mumbai. Also, after the floods in 2005, it was decided to increase the flood carrying capacity in the Mithi River. But it is still not achieved to tackle the present challenges. Mithi River runs through the city of Mumbai. It runs through densely populated areas and industrial areas. And it finally meets the Arabian Sea at Mahim Creek. It travels through a length of about 18 kilometer. It carries overflow discharges of Powai and Vihar lakes. It is a natural drainage channel that carries excess water during monsoons. This is the river that experienced flooding in the year 2005. So in addition to management of floodwaters by relying on storm drains, the author calls for a new standard. Even within Maharashtra, in places such as Mumbai, Thane, Ratnagiri and Raigad, the monsoon rainfall happens for a small window period, but brings lot of rain. Whereas in the central districts of Maharashtra, there is a steady prolonged rainfall. By this, the author means to have a site-specific response mechanism to flood or flood-like situation. With climate change, what is normally expected is fewer days of torrential rain and erratic or irregular and unpredictable monsoon. If the rainfall is more than 35 centimeters in one day, then the rainfall is called as torrential rainfall. If it is more than 50 centimeters in 24 hours, then it is called as extremely torrential rainfall. So managing such climate change-influenced rainfall requires new ecological approach. In this approach, the top priority should be given to the restoration of existing urban wetlands, rivers and canals and the creation of reservoirs and water channels also. The reservoir is to be constructed for the purpose of regulating floods and excess runoff water. With the water question being the biggest challenge for cities in India, with both drought on one side and floods on the other, state governments should give priority to managing water-related challenges and also should make the urban planning as people-centric. A plan that prevents and minimizes damage for flood and maximizes the water supply to meet the demands should be implemented. With this, we have come to the end of this discussion. Displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next discussion, which is about the status of education of children with disabilities in India. The article is relevant in prelim syllabus under inclusion in social development. Then the discussion is relevant in main syllabus under general studies paper two, particularly in issues relating to development and management of social sector of education. Then the discussion can also be linked to general studies paper three under inclusive growth. Very recently, a report titled as the state of the education report for India 2019, children with disabilities was released. This report was released by UNESCO and the report was prepared in partnership with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. According to census 2011, there are more than 78 lakh children with disabilities in India. They are in the age group of five to 19 years. The report states that of the 78 lakh children, 27% of them had never been to school at all. The report also finds that girls with disabilities are lesser in number compared with boys with disabilities in school. From this, we could infer that a greater number of boys with disabilities are attending schools. In other words, a smaller number of girls with disabilities are attending schools. The report also notes a significant school dropout rate among the differently able children with each successive level of schooling. We can find around 13 to 15 lakh children with disabilities in primary school. But if you have a look at children with disabilities in higher secondary school level, it will be just around 70,000. So among the children with disabilities, the drop rate varies heavily with each successive level of schooling. Experts in this field say that the real situation is much worse than what has been stated in the report. The article states that if a parent of a child with disability opts for home-based education under Sarvaseksha Abhiyan, then a teacher is supposed to visit the child and check the child. The experts argue that this does not happen in real sense with the required level of commitment from the teachers. The article also states that the Right to Education Act of 2009 actually mandates the enrollment of children with disabilities in this school. But the Act lacks the provision for the required resources to attend these special needs for the education and development of children with disabilities. The absence of such provisions means there is a lack of understanding of these special needs of children with disabilities. And then absence of care-taking of special needs is one of the reasons why there is a huge dropout with successive levels of schooling. The report recommends to amend the Right to Education Act of 2009 to make it aligned with Right of Persons with Disabilities Act of 2016. The report also recommends for structural changes in education system for children with disabilities. It also recommends for better and enough funding. And then, attitudinal change among various stakeholders is also required to ensure that no child is left out of Right to Education. With this, we have come to the end of this article discussion. Moving on to the next discussion, which is based on the minimum support price. The discussion based on this article will be relevant in prelim syllabus under the area, current events of national importance, and then in economic and social development, and also under sustainable development. The discussion is also relevant in GS Paper 2, in the area government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation. Then, next in welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the center and states, and the performance of these schemes. And next, the discussion is more important in GS Paper 3, under the area major crops, cropping patterns in various parts of the country, marketing of agricultural produce, and issues and related constraints. Next, also under minimum support prices. Before getting into the article discussion, let us first understand about the minimum support price. We know that the prices of agricultural commodities are inherently unstable. And this is primarily due to the variation in the supply of agricultural commodities, lack of market integration, and also because of information asymmetry. So, a very good harvest in any year results in a short fall in the price of that commodity during that year, which in turn will have an adverse impact on the future supply of that commodity, as the farmers withdraw from showing that crop in the next or following years because it does not yield any profit. This then causes scarcity of supply of that commodity the next year, and hence it will lead to increase in price of that commodity for the consumers. So, to counter this cycle, MSP or minimum support price for major agricultural products is fixed by the government. It is fixed every year. MSP is a tool which gives guarantee to the farmers prior to the sowing season that a fair amount of price is fixed to their upcoming crop. In other words, minimum support price is the picture at which government purchases crops from the farmers. Also know that minimum support price is an important part of India's agricultural price policy. This MSP is provided to encourage higher investment and production of agricultural commodities by the farmers. The MSP is in the nature of an assured market at a minimum guaranteed price that is offered by the government. Also, the MSP helps to incentivize the farmers and it does ensures adequate food grains production in the country. It gives sufficient remuneration to the farmers. It provides a proper food grain supply to buffer stocks also and it supports the food security program through PDS or public distribution system and other programs also. So, you may think who fixes this minimum support price. The minimum support price is fixed on the recommendations of the commission for agricultural costs and prices which is in short called as CACP. The CACP is a statutory body and it submits separate reports recommending prices for Khareef and Rabi seasons. Then after considering the report and then considering the views of the state government and then also keeping in view the overall demand and the supply situation in the country, the central government takes the final decision. In case of sugarcane, you should know that MSP has been assigned a statutory status and so the announced price is termed as statutory minimum price which was rechristened or renamed as fair remunerative price or FRP. So, keep in mind that fair remunerative price is related to sugarcane. In case of sugarcane, there is a 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 illegal. Then MSP for the different agricultural crops namely food grains, oil seeds, fiber crops, sugarcane and tobacco are announced by the government of India before their sowing seasons. This makes it possible for the farmers to have an idea about the extent of price insurance cover which is provided by the government for the crop. At present, the MSP covers 24 crops that includes seven cereals that is paddy, wheat, barley, jovar, bajra, maize and ragi and five pulses namely gram, arhar or tur, moong, urad and lentil and then eight oil seeds such as groundnut, rapeseed or mustard, toria, soya bean, sunflower seed, sesame, safflower seed and Niger seed. Then other commercial crops such as cobra, cotton, jute and dehusked coconut. So, now let us discuss the news article. The news article mentions that there is a marginal rise or hike in the minimum support prices for the kharif crops of 2019-20. So, from the 24 crops the kharif crop or the summer crops are paddy, jovar, bajra, ragi, maize, tur or arhar, moong, urad, groundnut, sunflower seed, soya bean, sesame, Niger seed and cotton. The government has increased the MSP of soya bean by Rs. 311 per quintal and then MSP of sunflower has been increased by Rs. 262 per quintal and for sesame it has been increased by Rs. 236 per quintal. This is a major step towards increasing the income of farmers. Then the government has also increased the MSPs of tur dal by Rs. 125 per quintal and urad dal by Rs. 100 per quintal. Now, this increase will help to address the issues related to requirement of pulses. The requirement of pulses are in need to meet the nutritional security and protein requirements of a large section of the population. Then MSP of jovar has been hiked by Rs. 120 per quintal while in case of ragi it has been hiked by Rs. 253 per quintal. This move comes in the backdrop of the need to promote cultivation and consumption of nutri cereals. Nutri cereals are nothing but the millets. The three major millets which are grown in India are jovar, bajra and ragi. And also know that India celebrated the year 2018 as the national year of millets. Further the food and agriculture organization that is FAO council has approved India's proposal to observe an international year of millets in the year 2023. Then next for cotton the MSP has been increased by Rs. 105 per quintal. These numbers are not important. It is just to show how much has been increased. These increase of MSP for the curry crops of 2019 to 2020 season is in line with the principle of fixing the MSPs. The principle is to fix a price at a level of at least 1.5 times of the cost of production. Here the cost of production includes all paid out costs such as those costs incurred on account of hired human labor, bullock labor or machine labor, rent paid for lease in land, then expenses incurred on use of material inputs like seeds, fertilizers, manures, irrigation charges, then expenses incurred on depreciation of implements and farm buildings and then interests on working capital. Then the expenses on diesel or electricity for operation of pump, et cetera. And the cost of production also include miscellaneous expenses and contributed or imputed value of family labor also. So under this MSP policy the farmers are assured of a minimum of 50% as a margin of profit. It is one of the important and progressive steps towards doubling farmers income and to improve their welfare substantively. We saw that the price is fixed at a level of at least 1.5 times of the cost of production. But some crops even have the highest percentage written to farmers over their cost of production. This trend is seen in three crops. They are Bajra which has 85% written which is followed by Urad. Urad has 64% written and then Tur which has 60% written. With this we have come to the end of this discussion. The spirit practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the last session for the day that is the practice questions discussion session. The first question is about the article 239AA of Indian constitution. Four options have been given. The question is that article 239AA of Indian constitution deals with the special provisions with respect to which among the following. So four unit territories have been given here. Today in one of our discussions we discussed about this article. The discussion was about two unit territories. One is the unit territory of Puducherry and then national capital territory of Delhi. So based on today's discussion you can eliminate options C and D directly. Then one confusion may arise about which option option A or B is correct. Remember that article 239AA of Indian constitution deals with the national capital territory of Delhi. The article 239AA deals with unit territory of Puducherry. When there is AA it deals with Delhi. When there is single AA it deals with Puducherry. This article has been inserted by the 69th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1991. It deals with the provisions of legislative assembly and council of ministers of NCT Delhi. And according to this article the unit territory of Delhi shall be called as the national capital territory of Delhi. Now if you see the next question it is based on the Mithi river. It has asked the Mithi river is associated with which of the following cities. Now today we discussed about this river in one of our discussion. The discussion was related to the state of Maharashtra. So from that you can easily recollect that Mithi river is directly associated with the city of Mumbai because it is the only city given here which is in the state of Maharashtra. Now you may think this is a very simple question but in this year's prelims question there was one question in the match the following format. They have asked to match the name of the rivers with the famous places they are associated with. So whenever you read about one river in newspaper try to know which state it belongs to. And this Mithi river flows through the densely populated city of Mumbai. It drains in the Arabian Sea at Mahimkri. This river is known for carrying excess water during monsoon. So you can remember whenever we talk about Mumbai you can easily remember Mithi M for M. Now this next question is based on minimum support price. Two statements have been given and we have to choose the correct statement. The first statement is it is fixed by the central government based on the recommendations of the commission for agricultural costs and prices. They are saying that minimum support price is fixed by the central government. Yes it is fixed by the central government. So this part of the statement is correct. Then the second part states that it is based on the recommendations of the commission for agricultural costs and prices. This is also correct. Even the name itself says commission for agricultural costs and prices. So from this you can remember that minimum support price is recommended by the commission for agricultural costs and prices that is CACP. Now in the second statement four crops have been given. They are saying which of the crop is covered under minimum support price. Now in this you can see that paddy, cotton, sunflower seed we all discussed about these crops during our discussion but we did not discuss about rubber because rubber is not included in the minimum support price. Rubber is a plantation crop and no plantation crop has been included in the minimum support price. The plantation crops are like coffee, tea, rubber. So the second statement is wrong. So the correct answer to this question is option A1 only. Now let us see one main question based on GS paper 2. Discuss the benefits and challenges of PM Kisan scheme. Now for answering this question first you can talk about the benefits of the scheme like how it is providing a benefit of rupees 6000 per annum per family and how recently the ambit of the scheme has been extended to all the land holding eligible farmer families irrespective of the size of the land. And you can also say that the benefit is given through the direct benefit transfer method. So there is no leakages and you can also add that this benefit is given to the farmers before the harvest season. So they can use this money for their needs such as employing laborers and to manage input cost, et cetera. Then for the challenges of the scheme you can say how the scheme is lacking to include the tenant farmers and how this 6000 amount given by the government is such a meager amount and how it will not help the farmers to meet their needs. Then you can also mention about how the benefits did not reach the farmers in most parts of the country and you can also talk about how the scheme is prioritized in certain states and how certain states have not even received the first installments. And you can also talk about what happens if the budget allocated to the agricultural sector is totally shifted to the cash transfer of PM Kisan scheme. How it will affect the other budgetary commitments which provides stability to agricultural productions such as the schemes which gives subsidies for input and which gives procurement assurances and which gives food security to the National Food Security Act. With this, we have come to the end of our all sessions. If you like the video, don't forget to like, comment and share. Do subscribe to Shankar Ayes Academy YouTube channel for more updates on civil service examination preparation.