Daily Practice Sheet 19 April 2021

Agriculture

The Agriculture Ministry’s last Input Survey for 2016-17 pegged the total operational holdings at 146.19 million.
NABARD All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey of the same year estimated the country’s “agricultural households” at 100.7 million.
The Pradhan MantriKisanSammanNidhi (PM-Kisan) has around 111.5 million enrolled beneficiaries.
The 2016-17 Input Survey report shows that out of the total 157.21 million hectares (mh) of farmland with 146.19 million holdings, only 140 mh was cultivated. And even out of this net sown area, a mere 50.48 mh was cropped two times or more.
In 1970-71, when the minimum support price (MSP) of wheat was Rs 76 per quintal, 10 grams of 24-carat gold cost about Rs 185 and the monthly starting pay for a government schoolteacher was roughly Rs 150. Today, the wheat MSP is at Rs 1,975/quintal, gold prices are Rs 45,000/10g and the minimum salary of government schoolteachers is Rs 40,000/month.

Foreign Portfolio investment

Three countries (the US, Mauritius and Luxembourg) account for over 50 per cent of FPI inflows
In terms of equity, investors from the US account for nearly 37 per cent of the total followed by Mauritius with a share of 11 per cent.

Insurance penetration and density

Insurance penetration in India is 3.76%, which is lower than this is in countries like Malaysia (4.72%), Thailand (4.99%) and China (4.3%), and appallingly lowers than the global average of 7.26%.
In insurance density India stands at $78 against a whopping global average of $818.

Article 324
Mohinder Singh Gill vs The CEC, New Delhi and Others (1977)Article 324 is a plenary provision vesting the whole responsibility for national and State elections in the ECI and therefore, the necessary powers to discharge that function.

GS2: Polity

GS3: Economy

GS3: Science

Explain the following terms in the context of Intellectual Property
1. Ever greening
2. Compulsory Licensing
3. Product vs Process Patent

Reference: The Hindu