Brief of newspaper articles for the day bearing
relevance to Civil Services preparation
- GS PAPER 1
- GS PAPER 3
- Freedom for the farmer { Agriculture}
- India slips on business optimism index: survey {Economy}
- Popularise digital technology among farmers: Union Minister Radha Mohan { Agriculture}
- Exports return to growth after 18 months {Economy}
GS PAPER 1
[1]Census 2011 records rise in literacy among disabled
Context
New data released by Census 2011 shows that more than half of the total disabled population in India is literate.
Analysis
- The literacy rate has increased to 54.5% in 2011. It was 49.3% in 2001.
- The number might seem good at the face but when compared to the overall literacy rate of 75% of the country, these figures still show a poor picture.
- There has been an increase in literacy among disabled in both rural and urban areas.
- In urban areas, 68% disabled people are literate while in rural areas 49% of them are literate.
If we do the gender comparison of both the areas:
- In urban areas 72% disabled males and 61% females are literate. In rural areas the figure stands at 58% and 38% respectively for males and females.
- Thus, there is a large gender gap in literacy amongst disable in rural areas which must be filled.
[2]For Manipuris, it doesn’t pay to have a small family
Context
In the state of Manipur, having a large family is incentivized. NGOs in Manipur run a competition in which the woman having highest number of babies is awarded annually.
Analysis
- In the era where having a small family is being prefered with time, this trend in Manipur is concerning. Because of monetary incentives, woman are motivated or maybe forced at times to have more babies.
- The reason why NGOs are incentivizing such moves is because there is a fear among Manipuris about the large scale migration, which would make them less in number and their land would be dominated by the migrants if the population is not increased.
- This fear of becoming a minority in their own home is the reason for such trends and examples of ethnic tripuris who have now been outnumbered by non-tripuris has exacerbated the fears.
Conclusion
One must understand that the problem lies not only with the NGOs or Manipuris in general but with the inability of the government to restrict illegal migration which is forcing the people to take such steps. Govt. must take note of these issues and beef up its efforts to solve such problems.
GS PAPER 3
[1]Freedom for the farmer
Context
An ordinance made by Maharashtra government has exempted the farmers to sell fruits and vegetables,mandatorily in Mandis.
Analysis
- Presently, the produce of fruits and vegetables had to be sold through Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMC). But due to this the farmer did not benefit from the price movement, middleman/traders used to appropriate the entire profit due to increase in prices for the consumer.
- This reform would not only benefit the farmer but would also result in less cost of agricultural products for the household, since there would be no intermediaries between the farmer and customer.
- The move becomes very important in the light of the present situation where farmers are highly debt-ridden. This move by awarding better remuneration to them will ease up some pressure.
- For agriculture sector to grow and to be hopeful of doubling the income of farmers in 5 years as envisaged by the govt. such a move becomes highly important.
- At the level of centre govt. too such steps have been taken by creating an e-National Agriculture Market for 25 major crops.
[2]India slips on business optimism index: survey
News
- India slipped to the third position on the scale of global business optimism, during April-June, after remaining on top globally for the two preceding quarters.
Concerns of the Companies
- Companies were concerned about the delays in key reforms like the goods and services tax, non-resolution of tax disputes and the banking sector’s performance.
- Respondents said red tape continued to hamper growth and ranked India as number two on the issue.
Silverlining
- While the business confidence in India has weakened, there is a rise in optimism on the export front.
- India continues to top the chart on expectations of revenue increases with 96 per cent of the respondents having voted in favour of increasing revenue as prices are seen witnessing an upsurge.
Consumer spending
- On the global front, there is a rise in the proportion of businesses worldwide expecting increased revenue over the coming 12 months.
- However, growth in global export expectations continues to be slow, indicating that revenue is dependent on domestic consumer spending power.
- Consumer spending is now under threat from increased political instability, recovering oil prices and reduced plans to offer pay increases.
[3]Popularise digital technology among farmers: Union Minister Radha Mohan
Issue
- Promotion of digital technology among farmers.
Role of the Farm Scientists
- Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) plays a great role in knowledge dissemination and in economic gains so farm scientists should be digital savvy and should also popularise it among the farming community.
Steps taken by the Government
- Already web-based ‘Farmers Portal’ and mobile based ‘mKisan’ SMS portal along with two mobile Apps (‘Kisan Suvidha’ & ‘Pusa Krishi’) have been launched to farmers equipped with mobile and internet connectivity. Information is also being disseminated through the ‘Kissan Call Center’ and ‘DD Kisan Channel’.
- Under the ‘National Agriculture Market’, common eMarket platforms would be set up in 585 regulated markets across the country enabling the farmers to sell their produce through e-marketing.
- Steps have been initiated to improve soil fertility on a sustainable basis through the soil health card scheme and support to the organic farming scheme ‘Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana’, access to irrigation through ‘Pradhan Mantri Gram Sinchai Yojana’, efficiency through ‘Per Drop More Crop’, etc.
- Besides, ‘Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana’ was launched to cover risk to farmers from climatic vagaries.
What else needs to be done?
- There is a need for standardising regulatory measures such as IPR, farmers’ rights, bio-safety and Phyto-sanitary issues to promote rational sharing of techniques, technologies, products and knowledge to improve linkages between institutions and with the private sector.
[4]Exports return to growth after 18 months
Good news
- India’s goods exports returned to positive growth.
Key points
- According to government data, India’s merchandise exports rose 1.27 per cent year-on-year in June to $22.57 billion, reversing a trend that started in December 2014 due to weak global demand and a fall in commodity prices.
- In value terms, this was the highest since March.
- India’s goods exports returning to the positive growth territory comes at a time when the World Trade Organisation (WTO) had said that it would introduced a new World Trade Outlook Indicator (WTOI) to provide “real time” information on trends in global trade.
- The turnaround in the headline exports numbers has come about in the face of pick up in some agri products and iron ore.
- Though the positive growth has instilled optimism among exporters, global scenario remained challenging.
- A marginal cause of concern is the decline in labour-intensive sectors such as gems & jewellery and apparel exports. However firming of gold prices and the government’s recent package given to the textile and apparel sector will lead to better results in short span of time.
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