UPSC Essentials | Mains answer practice : GS 3 (Week 10)

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QUESTION 1

What do you understand by dryland agriculture? List out the problems associated with dryland agriculture.

QUESTION 2

What are the different types of cyber-attacks? Discuss steps to strengthen cyber security in India.

General points on the structure of the answers

Introduction

— The introduction of the answer is essential and should be restricted to 3-5 lines. Remember, a one-liner is not a standard introduction.

— It may consist of basic information by giving some definitions from the trusted source and authentic facts.

Body

— It is the central part of the answer and one should understand the demand of the question to provide rich content.

— The answer must be preferably written as a mix of points and short paragraphs rather than using long paragraphs or just points.

— Using facts from authentic government sources makes your answer more comprehensive. Analysis is important based on the demand of the question, but do not over analyse.

— Underlining keywords gives you an edge over other candidates and enhances presentation of the answer.

— Using flowcharts/tree-diagram in the answers saves much time and boosts your score. However, it should be used logically and only where it is required.

Way forward/ Conclusion

— The ending of the answer should be on a positive note and it should have a forward-looking approach. However, if you feel that an important problem must be highlighted, you may add it in your conclusion. Try not to repeat any point from body or introduction.

— You may use the findings of reports or surveys conducted at national and international levels, quotes etc. in your answers.

Self Evaluation

— It is the most important part of our Mains answer writing practice. UPSC Essentials will provide some guiding points or ideas as a thought process that will help you to evaluate your answers.

THOUGHT PROCESS

You may enrich your answers by some of the following points

QUESTION 1: What do you understand by dryland agriculture? List out the problems associated with dryland agriculture.

Introduction:

A simple introduction to this answer can revolve around a general statement about agriculture and dryland farming.

— Indian agriculture is regulated by an impossible trinity that asks it to achieve three goals simultaneously – global competitiveness, social inclusiveness and environmental sustainability.

— Almost 65 per cent of India’s arable land area of around 140 million hectares is classified as rainfed. Farming activities in such areas are typically marked by low productivity, high risk, and a lack of adoption of current technology/agronomic methods.

— Drylands are areas with low soil moisture and high evapotranspiration, resulting in water deficit prevailing throughout the year.

— Dryland farming helps increase the amount of organic matter in the soil, improving its fertility and structure. It also helps to address the problem of hunger and malnutrition prevailing in society.

(Sources: Dryland Farming: Bringing watershed management back to the policy agenda by Pravesh Sharma, krishi.icar.gov.in)

Body:

You may incorporate some of the following points in the body of your answer:

Problems Associated with Dryland Agriculture

Soil and Moisture

— In semiarid regions, the alfisols and vertisols predominate, whereas in river basins inceptisols and entisols are seen and in desert regions.

— Crops grown in alfisols are subjected to severe drought stress, whereas those produced in vertisols have less severity to drought, due to their better water-holding capacity.

— Soil erosion by water is found to be the primary cause in mountainous areas and in undulating terrains in Central India.

— Salinization has turned out to be a significant cause of the degradation of soils.

— Watershed-based approaches are found to be more productive regarding water and soil conservation.

Environmental changes in water logging and salinity

— Soil degradation has a close link with water logging and salinity problems. Irrigation salinity has a major impact on dryland crops.

— The major causes of water logging and salinity are overirrigation, poor drainage, improper irrigation for damaged soils etc.

— These environmental changes result in the reduction of yields and abandonment of lands which has facilities for irrigation.

Dietary habits and nutritional characteristics of crops grown

— The choices of crops that are to be grown in drylands are very limited such as oilseed pulses and coarse grains like bajra are grown.

— The dryland crops are not much remunerative leading to an economic imbalance. Crop substitution is another alternative.

(Source: krishi.icar.gov.in)

Conclusion:

Your conclusion should be short.

— From a larger perspective, dryland farming helps conserve water resources, minimises soil erosion and promotes sustainable agriculture.

— Several technologies for dryland farming can help to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change by reducing greenhouse emissions and promoting soil carbon sequestration.

Points to Ponder

Contribution of Drylands to Indian Agriculture

Importance of dry land farming

Related Previous Year Questions

What is Integrated Farming System? How is it helpful to small and marginal farmers in India? (2022)

QUESTION 2: What are the different types of cyber-attacks? Discuss steps to strengthen cyber security in India.

Introduction:

A simple introduction to this answer can revolve around a general statement about cyber space and cyber security.

— Cyberspace is a global domain within the information environment consisting of the interdependent network of information technology infrastructures, including the Internet, telecommunications networks, computer systems, and embedded processors and controllers.

— Cyber Intrusions and Attacks have increased dramatically over the last decade, exposing sensitive personal and business information, disrupting critical operations, and imposing high costs on the economy.

— India ranks 3rd in terms of the highest number of internet users in the world after the USA and China which makes it more vulnerable to threats.

— The Cyber & Information Security (CIS) division of MHA deals with matters relating to cybersecurity, cybercrime, national information security policy and guidelines (NISPG) and its implementation, and the national intelligence grid.

The different types of threats which have been identified are:

Malware – Malicious software to disrupt computers

Viruses and worms

Theft of Intellectual Property or Data

Hacktivism – Cyber protests that are socially or politically motivated

Mobile Devices and applications and their associated Cyber Attacks

Social Engineering – Entice Users to click on malicious links

Spear Phishing – Deceptive Communications (e-mails, texts, tweets)

Domain Name System (DNS) Attacks

Router Security – Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Hijacking

Denial of Service (DoS) – blocking access to websites

The motives are different for different cyber players such as:

— Cybercriminals seek commercial gain from hacking banks and financial institutions as well as phishing scams.

— Cyber terrorist seeks to penetrate and attack critical assets and national infrastructure.

— Cyber espionage seeks to penetrate both corporate and military data using stealthy IT malware.

— Cyber hacktivists have political agendas that hack sites and servers to virally communicate messages.

(Source: niti.gov.in)

Body:

You may incorporate some of the following points in the body of your answer:

Steps to Strengthen Cyber Security in India

— Network Security: Protect your networks against external and internal attacks.

— Malware Protection: Produce relevant policies and establish anti-malware defences that are applicable and relevant to all business areas.

— Incident Management

Establish an incident response and disaster recovery capability.

Produce and test incident management plans.

Provide specialist training to the incident management team.

Report criminal incidents to law enforcement.

— Monitoring: Establish a monitoring strategy and produce supporting policies. Continuously monitor all ICT systems and networks.

— User Education and Awareness

Produce user policies covering acceptable and secure use of the organisation’s systems.

Establish a staff training programme.

— Home and Mobile Working

Develop a mobile working policy and train staff to adhere to it.

Apply the secure baseline to all devices.

— Secure Configuration: Apply security patches and ensure that the secure configuration of all ICT systems is maintained.

— Removable Media Controls: Produce a policy to control all access to removable media.

— Managing User Privileges: Establish account management processes and limit the number of privileged accounts.

— Information Risk Management Regime: Establish and effective governance structure and determine your risk appetite.

(Sources: How to strengthen cyber security the right way by Subimal Bhattacharjee, niti.gov.in)

Conclusion:

Your conclusion should be short.

— The government shall take appropriate steps for enhancing the awareness of citizens and small businesses for cybersecurity.

— Cybersecurity Capacity building and training for professionals, extending the ISEA program, introducing curricula academia and organizing conferences.

You may also provide recent examples of cyber attacks like at AIIMS Hospital.

Points to Ponder

Cyber Security Challenges

Related Previous Year Questions

Discuss the potential threats of Cyber attack and the security framework to prevent it. (2017)

Discuss different types of cyber crimes and measures required to be taken to fight the menace. (2020)

What are the different elements of cyber security? Keeping in view the challenges in cyber security, examine the extent to which India has successfully developed a comprehensive National Cyber Security Strategy. (2022)

Previous Mains Answer Practice

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 1 (Week 8)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 1 (Week 9)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 2 (Week 8)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 2 (Week 9)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 3 (Week 8)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 3 (Week 9)

Post your inputs and answers to points to ponder in the comment box below and engage with other aspirants too. All the best!

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