Answers: Mains Marathon – UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions – May 3, 2018

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Q.1)Over the past few years, the government has taken various steps to make India a global food processing hub but the initiatives have not produced the desired results. Analyse the reasons behind the same and suggest measures to make India realize its potential in the Food Processing Industry.(GS-3)

Introduction:

• India is one of the biggest food producing hub in the world but recently food processing industry in India is not showing the desired results.
• India is not able to increase the export of food processing export because of issues generated by advance economy which impacts out export potential.
• In domestic sector the problems are associated with poor storage and warehousing facilities and lack of dedicated institution to promote post-harvest activity in India.
• Lot of inorganic chemicals is being in India to produce farm product which needs to be replaced with organic component.
• The international standards do not allow export of Indian farm product because of high inorganic components.
• The public investment in agriculture is another issue that needs to be addressed.
• In India agriculture is being done without focusing on quality and MNCs are very focus on quality of farm produce and law abiding.

Scope for food processing industry:

• India is 1, 2 or 3rd rank in production of major farm product & dairies etc. and globally India is very important in all food production.
• At present the food processing industry in India has $ 10 billion market with a potential to increase to $ 540 Billion by 2020.
• It is major sector which directly creates jobs and could help to achieve double farmer’s income by 2022.
• It has to be combination of output livestock and food processing industries. India should fit in to global supply chain system of food processing.
• India has done basic environment preparedness to attract investment in food processing sector. If will have good domestic market to attracts investment.
• Ease of Doing Business is important for food processing sector because it is significant part of Make in India program.
• The sector has immense potential but full of problems.
• India has 2 % of global food processing export of food processing export as compared to 10% of USA.

What needs to be done?

• India is importing $ 22 Billion of food processing product from foreign market. If we substitute our farm product with diversification of agriculture with a focus on second Green Revolution.
• Food habit in world is changing and with diversification of crop pattern that will concentrate not only new food items, new seeds, technology but also competes with the global food giants such as USA and China.
• India is agrarian economy and the large farmers of India have potential to diversify their crop pattern.
• There is a lot of diversity in farm productivity among the states.
• Many states such as Punjab, Haryana has high crop productivity as compared to other states. Thus, by adopting measures to increase farm productivity to give a big push to food processing sector.
• Adaptation of good practices of major food processing successful ventures such as Amul, Nestle, Haldiram, Bikanerwals etc.
• Indian food processing market is as good as foreign market and by promoting domestic food processing industries and branding their product in international market will boost the food processing sector in India.

Q.2)India’s rank has slipped in the recently published World Press Freedom Index 2018. What are the challenges to the freedom of the press in India. Suggest measures to improve the same.(GS-2)

Introduction:

• Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through various mediums, such as electronic media and published materials.
• Wherever such freedom exists mostly implies the absence of interference from an overreaching state and its preservation may be sought through constitutional or other legal protections.
• In India, freedom of the press has been treated as part of the “freedom of speech and expression”guaranteed by Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution.

What are the restrictions of freedom of press?

• Article 19(2): The restrictions that apply to the “freedom of speech and expression” also apply to the “freedom of press and media”.
• Article 19(2), provides reasonable restrictions on the following grounds:
  • Sovereignty & Integrity of India
  • Security of the State
  • Friendly relations with Foreign States
  • Public Order
  • Decency or Morality
  • Contempt of Court
• Press Council of India: The Press Council of India acts as a watchdog for the print media.
• It has quasi- judicial powers which have empowered the council to hold hearings on receipt of complaints and take suitable action where appropriate.
• News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA): In the case of television news, the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) looks into violation of code of ethics laid out by the News Broadcasters Association (NBA).
• No law for protection of identity of sources: The protection of identity of sources used by the journalists is an important element in how they unearth the truth.
• However, in India, there are no statutory rights accorded to journalists to protect their sources.
• Criminal defamation: Criminal defamation, as defined under Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code, permits any person who has suffered damage in reputation on action of others to sue for defamation.

Way ahead:

• It is essential that proper reform is brought about by way of Legislation or Precedent by the Supreme Court to ensure the legitimacy of news and the “Freedom of the Press”.
• A regulatory body comprising both of media persons and government bodies should be established to give media a fair play and check its arbitrariness at the same time.
• Senior editors and journalists should start exposing cases of fake news, conflict of interest, making the working of press more transparent.
• Press freedom under Article 19(1) (g) has to be secured as such to allow the public to be well informed.

Q.3) Write short notes:

Bio-ethanol (GS – 3)

Definition:

• The principle fuel used as a petrol substitute for road transport vehicles is bioethanol.

Usage:

• Bioethanol fuel is mainly produced by the sugar fermentation process, although it can also be manufactured by the chemical process of reacting ethylene with steam.

Source:

• The main sources of sugar required to produce ethanol come from fuel or energy crops.
• These crops are grown specifically for energy use and include corn, maize and wheat crops, waste straw, willow and popular trees, sawdust, reed canary grass, cord grasses, jerusalem artichoke, myscanthus and sorghum plants.
• There is also ongoing research and development into the use of municipal solid wastes to produce ethanol fuel.

CubeSat (GS -3)

Definition:

• A CubeSat is a type of miniaturized satellite for space research that is made up of multiples of 10×10×10 cm cubic units.

Usage:

• CubeSats have a mass of no more than 1.33 kilograms per unit,and often use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components for their electronics and structure.
• CubeSats are most commonly put in orbit by deployers on the International Space Station, or launched as secondary payloads on a launch vehicle.

• The development of CubeSats has advanced into its own industry with government, industry and academia collaborating for ever increasing capabilities.  
• CubeSats now provide a cost effective platform for science investigations, new technology demonstrations and advanced mission concepts using constellations, swarms disaggregated systems.

Standard CubeSat:

• The standard CubeSat size uses a “one unit” or “1U” measuring 10x10x10 cms and is extendable to larger sizes; 1.5, 2, 3, 6, and even 12U.  Originally developed in 1999 by California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) and Stanford University to provide a platform for education and space exploration.