Mains Factly June 2023

GS 1 

• According to the U.S. Geological Survey, while identified lithium resources worldwide stood at 89 million tonnes at the start of 2022, the reserves or mineable parts of the resources stood at 22 million tonnes. Half of the world’s lithium resources are concentrated in Latin America (mostly Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina), Australia, and China. In 2021, almost 90% of lithium mining happened in Chile, China, and Australia, with Australia leading production.
• A World Bank study suggests that the demand for critical metals such as lithium (Li) and cobalt is expected to rise by nearly 500% by 2050. While “the global electric vehicle market is projected to reach $823.75 billion by 2030, registering a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 18.2% from 2021 to 2030,” India’s market is projected to register a CAGR of 23.76% by 2028.
• China currently controls 77% of the global lithium-ion battery manufacturing capacity and is home to six of the world’s 10 manufacturing companies.
• In 2021-22, India’s lithium imports were $22.15 million. Hong Kong, China and the US were the top three sources.
• In 2020-21, India imported ₹173 crore worth of lithium metal and ₹8,811 crore worth of lithium batteries. In 2022, between April and November alone, ₹164 crore worth of metal and ₹7,986 crore worth of batteries were imported.
• Industry estimates suggest that this process consumes 170 cubic metres of water and releases 15 tonnes of CO2 for every tonne of Li extracted.

GS 2

In Shamsher Singh vs State of Punjab, 1974, a seven-judge Constitution bench of the SC said that the governor must exercise his powers “only upon and in accordance with the aid and advice of their ministers, save in a few well-known exceptional situations”

GS 3:

Agriculture 

Studies have shown that 1 kg of N, P (phosphorus) and K (potassium) used to yield 12 kg-plus of cereal grains during the 1960s, but only 5 kg now.

Demographic dividend

• India’s average age is 29 years, whereas the average age in US, China, France, Germany and Japan is 38, 38, 42, 45 and 48 years, respectively. India, with its huge population, is now in a phase in which its working-age population is rising and the old-age dependency ratio is coming down.
• The world, in contrast, is aging with an increase in the population of the aged and a drastic reduction in fertility rates. For example, India’s old-age dependency ratio will reach 37 per cent in 2075, whereas the same will be 55.8 per cent in France, 75.3 percent in Japan,49.3percent in the US, 53 percent in the UK and 63.1 percent in Germany.
• Most countries are experiencing record low fertility rates—for example, 6.77 births per 1,000 people in the case of China— and a shrinking labor force.
•  India is the youngest among the most populous countries in the world. Most developed countries today have been able to make use of their phase of favorable demographics for higher growth and standard of living.
•  In Asia, China has already set an example of being a superpower by harnessing its demographic dividend from the early Eighties till 2008-2009. China’s early focus on labor-intensive manufacturing and subsequent structural transformation resulted in an almost 10 per cent annual average growth rate over four decades, which is unprecedented.
• Similarly, major Asian countries — Japan between the mid-50s and late 80s, South Korea, from the early 90s till 2015, Malaysia and Singapore in recent decades — have shown consistent growth by engineering structural transformations to utilize their demographic dividend. They now have a declining working-age population.

Horticulture

According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO; 2021), India leads in the production of certain vegetables (ginger and okra) and fruits (banana, mangoes and papaya). However, in terms of export, India is ranked 14th in vegetables and 23rd in fruits, and its share in the global horticultural market is a mere one per cent. The most notable factor behind this is that the productivity of horticulture has increased from 8.8 tonnes per hectare in 2001-02 to 12.3 tonnes per hectare in 2018-19. The productivity of total foodgrain increased from 1.7 tonnes per hectare to 2.3 tonnes during the same period.

Horticulture crops are characterised by high-value crops, higher productivity per unit of area and lower requirement of irrigation and input cost.

According to National Accounts Statistics 2019, the value of horticulture crops was Rs 4.7 lakh crore in 2011-12 at constant prices, which increased to Rs 5.5 lakh crore in 2017-18. The total value of all crops was Rs 11.9 lakh crore in 2011-12 and increased to Rs 13.2 lakh crore in 2017-18.

The share of horticulture crops in relation to the value of all agricultural crops increased from 39% in 2011-12 to 42% during the same period.

Total horticultural produce in India touched 341.6 million tonnes, surpassing that of foodgrains (314.5 million tonnes) during FY22. Though the production and productivity of fruits and vegetables quadrupled during the last three decades, the same has not been translated into comparable increases in the incomes of the cultivators. Horticulture production in India has more than doubled approximately from 146 million tonnes in 2001-02 to 314 million tonnes in 2018-19 whereas the production of foodgrain increased from 213 million tonnes to 285 million tonnes during the same period.

Around 15-20 per cent of the fruits and vegetables in India are wasted along the supply chain or at consumer level, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.