Daily Prelims Notes 31 August 2022

Daily Prelims Notes

31 August 2022

Table Of Contents

1. Abhijit Sen- renowned agriculture economist passed away
2. Housing Price Index
3. Competitiveness Roadmap for India@100
4. What is the NCRB’s ‘Crime in India’ report, and how to read its findings
5. CJI bench to hear EWS quota, reservation for Muslims in Andhra
6. Dunaliellatertiolecta
7. Ganesh Chaturthi: The modak’s history reflects its strong ties to the land; here is how
8. Mikhail Gorbachev’s tragedy – a flawed reformer on an impossible mission
9. Folk Arts
10. One Herb One Standard
11. Integrated Public Alert System

1. Abhijit Sen- renowned agriculture economist passed away

Subject: Economy

Context:

Abhijit Sen, renowned agriculture economist and former member of the Planning Commission, chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP), passed away Monday.

Major contribution:

• He authored the report of the High Level Committee on Long Term Grain Policy that was submitted in July 2000.
  • Major recommendations:
    • CACP be made an empowered statutory body.
    • The  fixation of minimum support prices should be based on the ‘C2’ cost of production—to include all paid-out cultivation expenses in cash and in kind, plus the imputed value of unpaid family labour and rent/interest forgone on owned land and fixed capital assets.

• It paved way for the Swaminathan formula
• Universal public distribution system with uniform central issue prices for rice and wheat, while doing away with ‘below poverty line’ and ‘above poverty line’ categories as
• • This paved the way for the National Food Security Act of 2013.

Concept:

Minimum Support Price (MSP)

• The MSP is the minimum price set by the government for certain agricultural products, at which the products would directly be bought from the farmers if the open market prices are less than the cost incurred.
• It is based on a calculation of at least one-and-a-half times the cost of production incurred by the farmers.
• MSP is a “minimum price” for any crop that the government considers as remunerative for farmers and hence deserving of “support”.
• It is announced  to protect the farmers against a fall in prices in a year of bumper production.
  • When the market price falls below the declared MSP, the government would purchase the entire quantity from the farmers at MSP.
• The chief objectives of setting up MSP are:
  • Support farmers from distress sales
  • To procure food grains for public distribution

Crops under MSP:

• As of now, CACP recommends MSPs of 23 commodities, which comprise
  • 7 cereals (paddy, wheat, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, barley and ragi),
  • 5 pulses (gram, tur, moong, urad, lentil),
  • 7 oilseeds (groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, soyabean, seasmum, sunflower, safflower, nigerseed), and
  • 4 commercial crops (copra, sugarcane, cotton and raw jute).
• CACP submits its recommendations to the government in the form of Price Policy Reports every year, separately for five groups of commodities namely Kharif crops, Rabi crops, Sugarcane, Raw Jute and Copra.

Factors for Recommending the MSP:

• The CACP considers various factors while recommending the MSP for a commodity, including cost of cultivation.
• It takes into account –
  • the entire structure of the economy of a particular commodity or group of commodities
  • Cost of production
  • Changes in input prices
  • Input-output price parity
  • Trends in market prices
  • Demand and supply
  • Inter-crop price parity
  • Effect on industrial cost structure
  • Effect on the cost of living
  • Effect on the general price level
  • International price situation
  • Parity between prices paid and prices received by the farmers
  • Effect on issue prices and implications for subsidy

Production Cost:

• The CACP projects three kinds of production cost for every crop, both at state and all-India average levels.
  • A2–Covers all paid-out costs directly incurred by the farmer in cash and kind on seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, hired labour, leased-in land, fuel, irrigation, etc.
  • A2+FL–Includes A2 plus an imputed value of unpaid family labour.
  • C2–It is a more comprehensive cost that factors in rentals and interest forgone on owned land and fixed capital assets, on top of A2+FL.
• CACP considers both A2+FL and C2 costs while recommending MSP.
  • CACP reckons only A2+FL cost for return.
  • However, C2 costs are used by CACP primarily as benchmark reference costs (opportunity costs) to see if the MSPs recommended by them at least cover these costs in some of the major producing States.

Swaminathan formula:

National commission on farmers headed by M.S Swaminathan recommended the MSPs of crops be at least 50 per cent more than the ‘C2’ costs.

The Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP)

• It is an attached office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India.
• It came into existence in January 1965. 
• Currently, the Commission comprises a Chairman, Member Secretary, one Member (Official) and two Members (Non-Official).
• The non-official members are representatives of the farming community and usually have an active association with the farming community.
• MSP for major agricultural products are fixed by the government, each year, after taking into account the recommendations of the Commission.

2. Housing Price Index

Subject: Economy

Context

During the first quarter of 2022-23, the pricing index for homes in India went up by 3.5 per cent year-on-year, data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed.

Details:

• Housing prices rose in 42 cities in the first quarter of 2022-23, while the rates of residential units fell in five cities and remained stable in three cities, according to the price index Residex released by NHB.
• On an all-India basis, the house price index expanded sequentially by 2.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2022-23.
• There was sequential contraction of the index for Delhi, Kolkata and Jaipur. Apart from these three cities, all other cities saw the index expanding.
• The overall increase in composite HPI at Assessment Price and HPI at Market Price is an indication of reviving the housing demand and rising cost of production.

Concept:

Housing Price Index:

• The all-India house price index (HPI) is a quarterly release done by the Reserve Bank of India Base Year- 2010-11.
• It is based on transaction-level data obtained from the housing registration authorities in 10 major cities in the country.
• The cities are: Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, and Mumbai.

NHB RESIDEX:

• By the National Housing Bank (NHB) undertaken at the behest of the Ministry of Finance, Government of India.
  • The National Housing Bank (NHB) was established under the National Housing Bank Act of 1987 by the Government of India. Previously, NHB was considered a functional unit of RBI.
• The index was formulated under the guidance of a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) composed of stakeholders from the housing market.
• It  is a set of benchmarks that aims to track housing price indicators across Indian cities.
• Originally flagged off in July 2007, the index was discontinued in 2015
• It was refurbished and re-introduced with effect to 2018 with:
  • enhanced city coverage (rising from 26 to 50, to be eventually raised to 100),
  • a new base year (2012-13) and
  • new data sources (with data from banks and home finance companies and market surveys).
• The NHB Residex currently offers two sets of quarterly Housing Price Indices (HPIs) across the cities it tracks.
  • List prices of under-construction property, collated through a survey of developers, are captured in– the Market HPI. 
  • Data reported by banks and finance companies that extend home loans, is collated into – the Assessment HPI. 

3. Competitiveness Roadmap for India@100

Subject: Economy

Context

A 7-7.5 per cent real economic growth can make India an upper-middle income ($10,000 per capita income) country by 2047, Bibek Debroy, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM), said at the release of ‘The Competitiveness Roadmap for India@100’.

Details:

• India is now a lower-middle income country with average prosperity levels at $2,000 ($7,150 at purchasing power parity).
• A 7-7.5 per cent real economic growth can make India an upper-middle income ($10,000 per capita income) country by 2047
• The growth rate needs to accelerate to 8-8.5 per cent to make the country a higher income nation ($12000 per capita income).

Competitiveness Roadmap for India@100. 

• The India@100 document released  by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) .
• It will serve as a roadmap for India’s ascent to its centenary year and will inform and direct the country’s path to higher income status by 2047.
• It is based on the Competitiveness frameworkwhich  puts forth the idea of productivity as a driver of sustained prosperity.
• It  guides the way for India to become a high-income country by 2047 through sector-specific and region-specific policies based on the ‘4 S’ principles– social progress, to be shared across all regions within India, to be environmentally sustainable, and to be solid in the face of external shocks
• The competitiveness framework underlying the roadmap offers a strategic perspective on how to translate the diagnostics on a country’s competitiveness fundamentals into actionable insights.
• It offers a thorough diagnostic assessment of India’s current competitiveness level, the primary challenges faced, and opportunities for growth.
• The roadmap suggests essential areas of action, including improving labour productivity and enhancing labour mobilization, boosting the creation of competitive job opportunities, and improving policy implementation through greater coordination across different ministries.

4. What is the NCRB’s ‘Crime in India’ report, and how to read its findings

Subject: Polity

Section: National Organisation

Context

• A new edition of ‘Crime in India’, the annual report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), was released on August 29, for crime-related statistics in 2021. NCRB reports have been a valuable compilation of statistics over the years on offences ranging from crimes against women to economic and financial crimes.

Who publishes the NCRB report?

• The NCRB was established in January 1986 with the aim of establishing a body to compile and keep records of data on crime.
• It functions under the Union Home Ministry.
• Apart from publishing annual reports, its functions include “Collection, coordination and exchange of information on inter-state and international criminals to the respective states”.
• NCRB also acts as a “national warehouse” for the fingerprint records of Indian and foreign criminals, and assists in locating interstate criminals through fingerprint search.

How does the NCRB collect information for its report?

• The NCRB report contains data received from the 36 states and Union Territories across the country. Similar data is furnished for 53 metropolitan cities, or those having a population of more than 10 lakh as per the 2011 census, by respective state-level crime records bureaus.
• This information is entered by state/UT police at the police station/ district level, and is then validated further at the district level, then the state level, and finally by the NCRB.

How should the NCRB report be read?

• By its own admission, the NCRB says there are limitations to its data. For one, “Since the publication caters to the ‘Principal Offence Rule’ for classification of crime, the actual count of each crime head may be under reported.”
• The Principal Offence Rule states that in a case where multiple offences are registered, only the “most heinous crime”, carrying the most stringent punishment, will be considered when counting. For example, ‘Murder with Rape’ is accounted as ‘Murder’, leading to undercounting of the crime of rape.

National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)

• It is implementing and monitoring agency of Crime & Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS), a Mission Mode Project under the National e-Governance Plan of Government.
• It also imparts training in Information Technology (IT)and Finger Print Science for Indian Police Officers as well Foreign Police officers.
• NCRB publishes 4 annual publications on Crime, Prison Statistics, Accidental Deaths & Suicides and Finger Prints. These publications serve as principal reference points on crime statistics.

5. CJI bench to hear EWS quota, reservation for Muslims in Andhra

Subject: Polity

Section: Judiciary

Context: A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India U U Lalit will take up two pleas dealing with reservation from September 13.

• Another Constitution bench headed by Justice Indira Banerjee, which also met on Tuesday, fixed the second week of October to take up for hearing petitions challenging constitutional validity of the practice of polygamy and nikah halala permitted by Muslim personal law.
• While one of the petitions before the CJI bench challenges the constitutional validity of the 103rd Amendment Act, 2019, which introduced the provision for a 10-per cent quota for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), the other, pending since 2005, pertains to reservation given to Muslims in Andhra Pradesh as a Socially and Economically Backward Class (SEBC) and raises questions of religion-based reservation.

Constitution bench of the Supreme Court

• A Constitution Bench is a bench of the Supreme Court having five or more judges on it.
• These benches are not a routine phenomenon.
• A vast majority of cases before the Supreme Court are heard and decided by a bench of two judges (called a Division Bench), and sometimes of three.

Constitutional provisions

Article 145(3):

• Article 145(3) provides, “The minimum number of Judges who are to sit for the purpose of deciding any case involving a substantial question of law as to the interpretation of this Constitution or for the purpose of hearing any reference under Article 143 shall be five.”

Article 143:

• When the President seeks the Supreme Court’s opinion under law under Article 143 of the Constitution.
• As per the provision, the President of India has the power to address questions to the Supreme Court, which he deems important for public welfare.
• The Supreme Court upon reference advises the President by answering the query. However, such referral advice by the apex court is not binding on the President, nor is it ‘law declared by the Supreme Court’.

New edible coating to prolong shelf life of fruits and vegetables

• A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) — Guwahati has developed an edible material that, coated on vegetables and fruits, substantially extended their shelf-life.
• The material was tested on potato, tomato, green chili, strawberry, Khasi Mandarin, apple, pineapple and kiwifruit and was found to keep these vegetables fresh for nearly two months.

6. Dunaliellatertiolecta

Subject: Polity

Section: National Organisation

• The team used a mix of an extract of a marine microalga called Dunaliellatertiolecta and polysaccharides to produce it. The microalga is known for its antioxidant properties and has various bioactive compounds such as carotenoids and proteins.
• It is also used to produce algal oil, a non-animal source of omega-3 fatty acid and is considered a good source of biofuel. After the oil is extracted, the residue is usually discarded.
• The researchers used extracts from this residue in formulating their film, in combination with chitosan, which is a carbohydrate. It also has antimicrobial and antifungal properties and can be made into an edible film.
• The researchers said, “The films were made with varying algal extract contents and their properties were analysed and compared with controls. They displayed superior antioxidant activity, thermal stability, mechanical strength, total phenolic content and water vapour barrier property. They also had excellent UV-Vis light-blocking properties”.

7. Ganesh Chaturthi: The modak’s history reflects its strong ties to the land; here is how

Subject: History

Section:

Context:

• The sweet and some of the recipes used in making it are quite old; its ingredients include some of the Deccan’s famous crops like ambemohur rice
• The artwork at Ellora (600-1000 CE) has the attribute of Ganesha as someone who is eating something that looks like a modak,
• Ganesha worship really came into its own in the area that is now Maharashtra during the reign of the Yadavas of Devagiri (1187-1317).
• During the Peshwa period, a collection of eight temples known as ashtavinayaka were established and became popular in the pilgrimage circuit.
• Bal Gangadhar Tilak started Ganeshotsava as a public sort of celebration. During that time, the festival was also used as a cover for revolutionary activities against the British Raj.

Yadavas of Devagiri

• The Seuna, Sevuna, Gavli Kings or Yadavas of was a Medieval Indian dynasty, which at its peak ruled a kingdom stretching from the Narmada river in the north to the Tungabhadra river in the south, in the western part of the Deccan region.
• Its territory included present-day Maharashtra, north Karnataka and parts of Madhya Pradesh, from its capital at Devagiri (present-day Daulatabad in modern Aurangabad district, Maharashtra).
• The Yadavas initially ruled as feudatories of the Western Chalukyas. Around the middle of the 12th century, as the Chalukya power waned, the Yadava king BhillamaV declared independence.
• The Yadava kingdom reached its peak under Simhana II, and flourished until the early 14th century, when it was annexed by the Khalji dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate in 1308 CE.
• When Alauddin Khilji, sultan of Delhi crossed the Narmada River, the northern frontier of Yadavas in 1294, the Yadava Ruler Raja Ramchandra (1291-1309 AD) was obliged to surrender and was ransomed his life by a large treasure

Literature and Language:

• The Yadavaswere the first major dynasty to use Marathi as an official language. Earlier, both Sanskrit and Kannada had been used for official inscriptions in present-day Maharashtra; subsequently, at least partly due to the efforts of the Yadava rulers, Marathi became the dominant official language of the region
• Mukundaraya wrote Vivekasindhu in Marathi.
• Gnyaneshwar wrote Gnyaneshwari, a marthi language commentary on Bhagwad Gita.
• Hemadri composed Chaturanga Chintamani. (Sanskrit)
• Sarangapani composed sangeetaratnakara (considered to be first book on music).
• Kannada was one of the court languages during early Yadava times, as is evident from a number of Kannada-language inscriptions.

Architecture

• The Gondeshwar temple is an 11th-12th century Hindu temple located in Sinnar, a town in the Nashik district of Maharashtra, India.
• It features a panchayatana plan; with a main shrine dedicated to Shiva; and four subsidiary shrines dedicated to Surya, Vishnu, Parvati, and Ganesha.
• The Gondeshwar temple was built during the rule of the Seuna (Yadava) dynasty, and is variously dated to either the 11^th or the 12th century.

8. Mikhail Gorbachev’s tragedy – a flawed reformer on an impossible mission

Subject: IR

Section: International Organisation

• Gorbachev, who died on Tuesday, had set out to revitalize the moribund Communist system and shape a new union based on a more equal partnership between the 15 republics, of which the two most powerful were Russia and Ukraine. Yet in the space of six years, both Communism and the Union came crashing down.
• He attempted political and economic reforms simultaneously and on too ambitious a scale, unleashing forces he could not control. It was a lesson not lost on China’s leaders, who embraced the market economy but served notice with the 1989 killings of protesters on Tiananmen Square that they would act ruthlessly to defend the Communist Party’s grip on power.

He introduced two reforms Perestroika and Glasnost

Perestroika

Perestroika, which in English translates to “restructuring,” was Gorbachev’s program to restructure the Soviet economy in an attempt to revitalize it.

To restructure, Gorbachev decentralized the controls over the economy, effectively lessening the government’s role in the decision-making processes of individual enterprises. Perestroika also hoped to improve production levels by bettering the lives of workers, including giving them more recreation time and safer working conditions.

The overall perception of work in the Soviet Union was to be changed from corruption to honesty, from slacking to hard work. Individual workers, it was hoped, would take a personal interest in their work and would be rewarded for helping to better production levels.

Glasnost

Glasnost has several general and specific meanings – a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information, the inadmissibility of hushing up problems, and so on. It has been used in Russian to mean “openness and transparency” since at least the end of the 18th century.

Baltic republics

• Baltic states, the northeastern region of Europe, includes the countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea.
• In 1991, their then popularly elected governments declared independence from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) with overwhelming support.

9. Folk Arts

Subject: Art and Culture

Section:

Context: To mark the celebration of 75  years of India’s Independence, Sangeet Natak Akademi celebrated Rang Swadheenta – a festival to cherish the memories of freedom fighters who laid down their lives to free India from the shackles of imperialism.

Concept:

• Powadais a rich traditional style of singing ballads popular in Maharashtra. Powada singing has also played an important role in the socio-cultural and political development of the region. Its origin is considered to be from the time of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
• Ragini is a Kauravi folk song form which is very popular throughout northern India particularly western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
• Dastangoiis a compound of Persian words ‘dastaan’ meaning a long tale and ‘goi’ meaning to narrate.Dastangoi is a 13th century Urdu oral storytelling art form. The Persian style of dastan evolved in 16th century. One of the earliest references in print to dastangoi is a 19th-century text containing 46 volumes of the adventures of Amir Hamza titled Dastan e Amir Hamza.
• Oggukathacomes from the compound ‘oggu’ meaning a damarukam (pellet drum) and ‘katha’ meaning tales. Although oggukatha usually centers around Myths and Gods,Oggukatha is a traditional folk theatre form which is an ancient narrative form of Telugu speaking region.
• Panduan KeKadde is very specific and significant art form of the Meo community of Mewat region. It is a form of cultural identification for the community. The narrative (on which the tradition is based) written by SaddalahMeo in the 16th Century, originally consisted of two thousand five hundred couplets and took approximately forty eight hours of musical rendition. The main instrument Bhapang remains the core instrument for the exposition of the narrative but choruses use Harmonium, Dholak and Khanjari too to encompass the performance.The existence of Panduan ka Kada, traditionally performed by the Jogi Muslims, is at stake as its patronage has declined.
• Dhadi singing tradition of Punjab was begun by Guru Hargobind to inspire bravery among armed men in the battlefield.Dhadi, is one who sings ballads using Dhadd and Sarangi, the folk instruments of Punjab. According to Kahn Singh Nabha’s Mahan Kosh the definition of dhadhi is “One who sings ballads of warriors playing Dhadd”.Dhadis are a distinct group performers emerged in the time of Sikh gurus

10. One Herb One Standard

Subject: Polity

Section: National Organisation

Context: Ministry of Ayush has taken a significant step to achieve “One Herb, One Standard”. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy (Ministry of Ayush) and Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (Ministry of Health & Family Welfare

Concept:

• The primary objective of this MoU is the development of cooperative efforts between PCIM&H and IPC to promote public health by facilitating the development of harmonized Herbal drug standards. Since both PCIM&H and IPC are working with the common cause, it is logical and meaningful to harmonize the standards to achieve “One Herb – One Standard”.
• This MoU will further facilitate collaboration for promoting exchange of information in the area of standardization of Traditional medicine by sharing of scientific information and drug raw materials/extracts, seminars, workshops, training and brainstorming programs.
• The sole authority of publication of monographs categorized under the “one herb one standard” will lie with PCIM&H only.
• Ministry of Ayush believes that this harmonization of standards will fulfill the objective of “One Herb, One Standard and One Nation” and improve ease of doing business in India and also improve overall trade of Indian botanicals.
• Through this MoU each monograph will have Indian Standards along with the international quality requirements, so that all Indian quality standards become contemporary with the global standards for the same botanicals.

11. Integrated Public Alert System

Subject: Polity

Section: National Organisation

Context:  C-DOT (Centre for Development of Telematics), the premier R&D centre of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Communications, Government of India and (NDMA) National Disaster Management Authority, Government of India are jointly conducting an All India Workshop centered on Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) based Integrated Alert System

Concept:

• Integrated Public Alert System, an early warning platform based on ITU’s Common Alerting Protocol (CAP), has been developed by C-DOT for effective disaster management.
• The platform has been widely used by National and State Disaster Management authorities for dissemination of alerts, advisories and other useful information to the massses on all available media during emergencies like floods, cyclones and Covid pandemic.
• It provides a converged platform for dissemination of targeted alerts to people in vernacular languages through SMS.
• As a one-stop solution and a concrete step towards realizing Hon’ble Prime Minister’s 10 point Agenda for Disaster Risk Reduction, soon messages will be disseminated over all available communication media including, Cell Broadcast, Radio, TV, Siren, Social Media, Web Portal and Mobile Application.
• The system is already operational in 34 States and UTs. More than 75 Crores SMSes have already been sent by the system during various disasters like Cyclones (Asani,Yass, Nivar, Amphan), Floods (Assam, Gujarat), Lightning (Bihar), etc. The system has also been used to facilitate the pilgrims during Amarnath Ji Yatra