{"id":15088,"date":"2018-01-30T13:02:43","date_gmt":"2018-01-30T07:32:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=15088"},"modified":"2018-01-29T20:03:40","modified_gmt":"2018-01-29T14:33:40","slug":"answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-january-29-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-january-29-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 January 29, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/mains-marathon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Archives<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.1)<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What are the major features of Paris Agreement (21<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">st<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Conference of the Parties) of the United Nations\u2019 framework convention on climate change. (GS\u20133)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Introduction:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Paris Agreement is an agreement within the UNFCCC dealing with <\/span><b>greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> starting in the year 2020.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Paris Accord is considered as a <\/span><b>turning point for global climate policy<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Aims:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The central aim is to strengthen the global response to the <\/span><b>threat of climate change<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It further aims at pursuing efforts to <\/span><b>limit the temperature increase<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The agreement aims to increase the ability of countries to deal with the <\/span><b>impacts of climate change.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It also aims at making <\/span><b>finance flows consistent <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Major features:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Paris Agreement was adopted by <\/span><b>195 countries<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at the 21<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">st<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Conference of the Parties of the UNFCC in Paris on 12<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> December 2015.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It came into force on <\/span><b>4th November 2016<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As of June 2017, <\/span><b>195 countries have signed<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the agreement.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">148 countries have ratified it.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs):<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NDCs are <\/span><b>contributions<\/b> <b>that<\/b> <b>each country should make<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in order to achieve the worldwide goals<\/span><b>.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The level of NDC that each country sets determines the <\/span><b>targets to be achieved by the particular country.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These contributions should be <\/span><b>reported every five years<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The principle of <\/span><b>\u2018progression\u2019 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">prevails which indicates that the next NDC should be more \u2019ambitious\u2019 than the previous one.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Paris Agreement is <\/span><b>not legally binding<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as a whole.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It <\/span><b>does not penalise<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the countries who fail to fulfil their commitments.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, it <\/span><b>imposes obligations on countries<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to implement their plans.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This includes a <\/span><b>review process every five years<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, designed to pressure them into compliance and increase their efforts to fulfil their commitments.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.2)\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In your view what strategy should be adopted to double farmer\u2019s income by 2022 as targeted by the Indian government. (GS\u20132)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Introduction:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Farming is the most important enterprise in India and farmers are an integral part of our country.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To address the agrarian crisis and farmer\u2019s unrest across the country, the government needs to take steps to secure farmer\u2019s income.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Steps to increase farmers\u2019 income:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is need to <\/span><b>set up mulit-disciplinary monsoon management centre<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in each drought-affected district, to provide timely information to rural families on the methods of mitigating the effects of drought<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Animal husbandry camps could be set up<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to make arrangements for saving cattle and other farm animals because usually animals tend to be neglected during such crises<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Farm loan waivers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are posing a bigger burden on the government exchequer compared to what higher pay for farm produce will incur<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>India\u2019s ranking on the Global Hunger Index<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has become worse over the years and country missed out on the Millennium Development Goals of halving hunger<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unless <\/span><b>land titling recognizes female ownership<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of land for cultivation, half of India\u2019s farmers cannot claim institutional credit<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Agriculture will have to <\/span><b>grow at 12 or 14% <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to realize such rise in farmers earning but according to World Bank data India\u2019s agriculture growth rate stood at 1.2%<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Crop insurance schemes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is the welcome step in order to provide security to farmers<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Creating irrigation infrastructure across the nation<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Distributing <\/span><b>soil health cards<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to farmers<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Streamlining <\/span><b>farm credit<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> facilities<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Making efforts for <\/span><b>second green revolution in eastern India<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and giving special attention to allied activities.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Governments steps to increase farmers\u2019 income:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Finance Minister Arun Jaitley <\/span><b>announced a slew of measures<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the Union Budget 2017 to boost the agricultures sector.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Higher agricultural credit, higher allocation for irrigation projects, a crop insurance scheme and increased allocations for <\/span><b>MGNREGA to dig farm ponds <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">were some of the measures.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>In case of rubber, a<\/b> <b>price stabilization fund<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was set up which helped farmers get better prices for their produce.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>India\u2019s fertiliser subsidy<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which has increased by around five times in the last ten years from Rs 12, 595 crore in 2001-02 to Rs 67, 971 crore in 2012-14 at current prices<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2015-16, the government budgeted Rs 73,000 crore (about 0.5% of GDP) on <\/span><b>fertiliser subsidy<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>The Economic Survey of 2015-16 pitched for<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> reforms to increase domestic availability via less restrictive imports and to provide benefits directly to farmers using \u2018JAM\u2019 (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, mobile)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>The crop insurance scheme<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is rightly protect farmer from the vegaries of the weather, allocations for which have been increased in the Union Budget 2017.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recently, <\/span><b>Niti Aayog urged the states to take steps<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, ranging from creating farmers specific agricultural markets to land ceiling reforms, needed for doubling farmers\u2019 income by 2022.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, Accelerated Irrigation Benefits, programme, Har Khet Ko Pani, and Per Drop, More Crop<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are some of the steps taken by government.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recently, Niti Aayog came out with its <\/span><b>\u201cthree point action agenda \u201c.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Conclusion:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Government need to take long-term steps to ensure the economic viability of farming.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Raising productivity, reforming land policies and solving remunerative price mess will require massive amount of public investment and political will.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.3)<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is the National Security Strategy? How will the National Security Strategy affect India&#8217;s security concerns in the neighborhood and beyond? (GS-3)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Context:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">United States of America recently introduced its national security strategy.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It describes India as a leading global power the document promises support to India&#8217;s its emergence as a global leader.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>How will the National Security Strategy the affect India&#8217;s security concerns in the neighbourhood and beyond?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Russia:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As far as Russia is concerned India no quarrel.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>India and China:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As far as China is concerned, India is strong enough on her borders, nuclear weaponsand defenses along our Himalayan border.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What we need the United States for, is the larger balance.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It&#8217;s the Indian Ocean and South Asian balance where India needs to work cooperatively with the United States.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the same time India has to understand the importance of China.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chinese strategic community for instance may see India in a particular way but the Chinese business community and their state-owned enterprises see the potentialities of the Indian market.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So therefore it is very important that relationship with China also mature.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Pakistan:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The National Security Strategy document says that Pakistan will have to take action against the terror emanating from its soil.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To some extent the United States is putting pressure on Pakistan for the past seven eight months of a kind.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The challenge for India is how to use this U.S pressure to moderate Pakistani behavior.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Afghanistan:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">United States is going to continue to stay with Afghanistan is good for India.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because by walking away, the United States had created a major problem because no one knew who was going to look up<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India should do bit from the economic aid side.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Archives\u00a0 Q.1) What are the major features of Paris Agreement (21st Conference of the Parties) of the United Nations\u2019 framework convention on climate change. (GS\u20133) Introduction: The Paris Agreement is an agreement within the UNFCCC dealing with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020. The Paris Accord is considered as&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-january-29-2018\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 January 29, 2018<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":2292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mains-marathon-answers","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/pen-paper-laptop.jpg?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}