January 2021 The Hindu Analysis 25th - Lukmaan IAS
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The Hindu Analysis 25th
January 2021)
Important articles
For Mains The Hindu For Prelims The Hindu
Page No. Page No.
1. In agri-credit, small farmers are still 6 1. Mock trials of remote voting project 1
outside the fence (Economy) soon/ CEC (Polity)
2. Troubled waters (IR) 6 2. Sunderbans is home to 428 species 10
of birds, says ZSI (Environment)
3. K.P. Sharma Oli expelled from Nepal 1
Communist Party (IR)
4. ‘Chinese using Indian roads for 1
trespass’ (IR)
5. Changes in Republic Day 2021 4 (City page)
celebrations due to pandemic
6. Data/Facts: Drop out rates of gild 7
child
LUKMAAN IAS DAILY THE HINDU NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS (JANUARY 25, 2021)
UPSC Mains GS-III: Economy
Key points:
• Context- Issues in agricultural credit supply
• To enable small farmers to diversify their crops or improve their income they must have access to credit at reasonable rates of interest. This has been an agenda of the triad of the
Centre, the States and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for decades.
• Unfortunately, while the volume of credit has improved over the decades, its quality and impact on agriculture has only deteriorated. Agricultural credit has become less efficient in
delivering agricultural growth.
Most small farmers left out:
• As in the Agriculture Census, 2015-16, the total number of small and marginal farmers’ households in the country stood at 12.56 crore. These small and marginal holdings make up
86.1% of the total holdings.
• In 2011-12, the target was ₹4.75-lakh crore; now, agri-credit has reached the target of ₹15-lakh crore in 2020-21 with an allocated subsidy of ₹21,175 crore. In the last 10 years,
agriculture credit increased by 500% but has not reached even 20% of the 12.56 crore small and marginal farmers.
• Agricultural households with the lowest land holding (up to two hectares) getting only about 15% of the subsidised outstanding loan from institutional sources (bank, co-operative
society).
• A loose definition of agri-credit has led to the leakage of loans at subsidised rates to large companies in agri-business. In 2017, 53% of the agriculture credit that the National Bank for
Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) provided to Maharashtra was allocated to Mumbai city and suburbs, where there are no agriculturists, only agri-business.
• A review by the RBI’s internal working group in 2019 found various inconsistencies. It shows the diversion of credit for non- agriculture purposes.
Way forward:
• Empower small and marginal farmers by ‘giving them direct income support on a per hectare basis rather than hugely subsidising credit.
• Streamlining the agri-credit system to facilitate higher crop loans to farmer producer organisations, or the FPOs of small farmers against commodity stocks can be a win-win model to
spur agriculture growth’.
• Use of technology: With mobile phone penetration among agricultural households in India being as high as 89.1%, the prospects of aggressive effort to improve institutional credit delivery
through technology-driven solutions can reduce the extent of the financial exclusion of agricultural households. Farmers have been able to avail themselves of loans through mobile phone
apps, says a media report. These apps use satellite imagery reports which capture the extent of land owned by farmers in States where land records are digitised and they grow the crop
to extend the Kisan Credit Card loans digitally.
• Other steps are reforming the land leasing framework and creating a national-level agency to build consensus among States and the Centre concerning agriculture credit reforms to fill
the gap and reach out to the most number of small and marginal farmers.
Q. ‘To enable small farmers to diversify their crops or improve their income they must have access to credit at reasonable rates of interest.’
With reference to this statement, Examine the issues in delivering unhindered credit supply to farmers and suggest suitable way forward.
LUKMAAN IAS DAILY THE HINDU NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS (JANUARY 25, 2021)
UPSC Mains GS-II (IR): India- Sri Lanka bilateral relations
Key points:
• Context- India-Sri Lanka bilateral relations (fishermen issue)
What happened?
• The tragic death of four fishermen from Tamil Nadu - one of them a Sri Lankan Tamil refugee living in India - allegedly when the Sri Lankan Navy was about to arrest them last week, is yet
another instance of the unresolved fisheries conflict in the Palk Bay taking an unacceptable toll of lives.
• While fishermen in Tamil Nadu say the four were killed in an attack by the Sri Lankan Navy, the latter maintains that they died when their trawler collided with a naval vessel while trying
to avoid being apprehended.
• India has lodged a strong protest with the Sri Lankan authorities, who have set up a committee to find a permanent solution to the incursions by Indian fishermen.
Recent developments on the fishermen issue:
• A month ago, the two countries resumed discussions through their Joint Working Group on fisheries after a three-year gap. India sought the early release of fishermen arrested in Sri
Lankan waters, as well as the boats in Sri Lankan custody. Sri Lanka underscored the need to curb the illegal fishing, which adversely affects the livelihood of its war-affected fishermen.
• When the two sides decided to create a joint working group some years ago, they had agreed that there would be no violence or loss of life in the handling of the fishermen and that a
hotline would be established between the respective Coast Guards. It is unfortunate that the hotline is yet to be operationalised, and deaths continue to occur.
Analysis:
• The humanitarian approach that has been expected to be the cornerstone of the approach to this conflict has not always been discernible.
• Attempts to forge a negotiated settlement through direct talks involving fishermen from both sides have also reached a stalemate.
• Sri Lanka favours joint patrolling by both countries, and a ban on unsustainable fishing practices by Tamil Nadu fishermen - such as bottom trawling - but the latter want a lengthy phase-
out period.
• Political leaders in Tamil Nadu rarely acknowledge that the State’s fishermen contribute immensely to the problem by crossing territorial waters. Nor is there sufficient recognition that the
incursion into Sri Lankan waters is driven by trawler owners who force their poor employees to do so, who then get killed or arrested, leading to the festering conflict.
Conclusion: A comprehensive solution, one that would severely curtail unauthorised fishing and help in an orderly sharing of and sustainable use of resources by fishermen from both sides,
is long overdue.
Q. Analyse the issue of fishermen leading to bilateral conflict between India and Sri Lanka. What approach should be adopted to resolve this
conflict?
LUKMAAN IAS DAILY THE HINDU NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS (JANUARY 25, 2021)
UPSC Mains GS-II and Prelims: Electoral
Reforms
Key points:
• In his television and radio address on the eve of the National Voters Day, Mr. Arora highlighted the vision
of the EC going forward.
• “We have already started a research project on remote voting using cutting-edge technology with IIT-
Chennai and other leading institutions and it has made good progress. Mock trials of this project will
begin soon,” he said.
• The system being developed by the IIT-M uses blockchain for two-way remote voting at designated
centres, an EC official had said when the project was started in 2020. Mr. Arora said “another significant
change we can look forward to is grant of postal ballot facility to overseas electors”.
• In another development, electors will be able to download electronic versions of the elector photo ID
card, or e-EPIC, from 25th January 2021 with the Election Commission launching it during the National
Voter Day celebration.
• The digital version of EPICs would be available for download from the voter helpline app,
voterportal.eci.gov.in and nvsp.in, the EC said.
• The e-EPIC would be a non-editable PDF version of the EPIC that can be downloaded on the phone and
stored on the DigiLocker app or printed from a computer.
National Voters Day:
• In order to encourage more young voters to take part in the political process, Government of India has
decided to celebrate January 25 every year as "National Voters' Day".
• It has been started from January 26, 2011 to mark Election Commission's foundation day. (Election
Commission was established on 25th January 1950 under Article 324 of Indian Constitution)
LUKMAAN IAS DAILY THE HINDU NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS (JANUARY 25, 2021)
Key points: • The Indian Sunderbans, which is part of the largest mangrove forest in the world, is home to 428 species of birds, a recent publication of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) states. • The publication, Birds of the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve, released earlier this month by the ZSI. • The Indian Sunderbans, which covers 4,200 sq. km, also includes the Sunderban Tiger Reserve of 2,585 sq. km - home to about 96 royal Bengal tigers (as per the last census in 2020). It is a world heritage site and a Ramsar site (a wetland site designated to be of international importance). • Scientists and nature lovers are observing the 125th birth anniversary year of Salim Ali, the Birdman of India. • The mudflats exposed in the low tides, rich in microorganism deposited during tidal activity, are ideal feeding for migratory birds. The mudflats and wetlands of the Sunderbans act as a stopover site for migratory flight south [southwards] and back. LUKMAAN IAS DAILY THE HINDU NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS (JANUARY 25, 2021)
UPSC Mains GS-II (IR) Key points: • The ruling Nepal Communist Party, led by rebel leaders Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal expelled Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli from the party. • The decision divided the party into two groups and sparked a dispute over the party symbol but the Election Commission declined to recognise either faction as the official party. • The deepening crisis emerged weeks after Mr. Oli dissolved the Lower House, Pratinidhi Sabha, of Parliament on December 20, which was strongly opposed by Mr. Prachanda and Mr. Nepal who wanted the House to be restored. LUKMAAN IAS DAILY THE HINDU NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS (JANUARY 25, 2021)
UPSC Mains GS-II (IR): India-China standoff
at LAC (follow up)
Key points:
• As India and China started the ninth round of Corps Commander talks on 24th January 2021 to address the nine-month-long
standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, the head of one of the border villages claimed that
Chinese vehicles were using Indian roads to enter Indian territory.
Vehicles turned away:
• Urgain Tsewang, the nambardaar (village head) of Koyul (Kakjung), one of the last settlements in the Demchok sector,
shared a video with The Hindu, dated December 16, 2020, where two Chinese vehicles are seen being turned away by a
group of locals and security personnel.
• Mr. Urgain, who shot the videos, told The Hindu that when the nomads went for winter grazing this year, Chinese people
asked them to vacate the area.
LUKMAAN IAS DAILY THE HINDU NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS (JANUARY 25, 2021)Changes in Republic Day 2021
celebrations due to the COVID-
19 pandemic.
LUKMAAN IAS DAILY THE HINDU NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS (JANUARY 25, 2021)Data/Facts- Dropout rates among girl children LUKMAAN IAS DAILY THE HINDU NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS (JANUARY 25, 2021)
Thank You LUKMAAN IAS DAILY THE HINDU NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS (JANUARY 25, 2021)
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