UPSC Key- December 12, 2022: Why you should read ‘Age of Consent’ or ‘Greater Tipraland’ or ‘Excess liquidity and inflation’ for UPSC CSE

First urea, now DAP: High use of subsidised fertilisers raises crop yield fears

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- For a long time, India’s fertiliser sector has been riddled with distortions from excessive use of urea. But now, there’s a second fertiliser — di-ammonium phosphate or DAP — that is seeing a similar phenomenon of over-application due to under-pricing.

• Why excessive use of urea and now di-ammonium phosphate or DAP?

• What harm can excessive use of urea and now di-ammonium phosphate, or DAP, do to a farmer?

• For Your Information-High government subsidies are behind the low pricing, and high sales, of these two fertilisers. And the resulting nutrient imbalance owing to their use — disproportionate to other, more expensive fertilisers — could have implications for soil health, ultimately affecting crop yields. The use of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) in the country has over the last few years sharply deviated from the ideal NPK use ratio of 4:2:1.

• Do You Know-The ideal NPK use ratio for the country is 4:2:1, whereas it was 6.5:2.8:1 in 2020-21 and 7.7:3.1:1 in 2021-22. In the recent 2022 kharif season, the ratio got further distorted to 12.8:5.1:1.

• Fertilizer Consumption in India-Know in detail

• What is Fertilizer?

• Primary (Macro) Nutrients and Secondary (Micro) Nutrients in Fertiliser-Know the difference

• Know more about Fertiliser Sector in India and Related Policies

• Fertilizer comes under Union List, State List or Concurrent List?

• know the basics of Fertiliser Subsidy

• Subsidy Mechanism in the form of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)-know more in detail

• What is the fertiliser requirement of a typical farmer?

• How much subsidy does a farmer really get per acre?

• What is Di-ammonium phosphate (DAP)?

• NPK in Fertilisers-Have you heard of ‘NPK’? What is NPK and Its Ideal Ratio in Fertilizers?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍Explained: How fertiliser subsidy works

📍Explained: Why has the Modi government increased subsidy on DAP?

EXPRESS NETWORK

‘25% of POCSO cases are romantic relations’

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.

Main Examination: General Studies I: Indian Constitution—historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- One in every four cases under the Protection of Children from of Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in West Bengal, Assam and Maharashtra constituted “romantic cases”, where the victim was found to be in a consensual relationship with the accused, a study by Enfold Proactive Health Trust and UNICEF-India has found. Significantly, the study also found that in nearly half of the “romantic cases” (46.6%), the girl was between 16 to 18 years. The findings echo Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud’s call to lawmakers to address the “growing concern” on the criminalisation of adolescents, who engage in consensual sexual activity.

• What are the key takeaways from the study conducted by Enfold Proactive Health Trust and UNICEF-India?

• Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012- Know the Salient features of the Act and its amendment

• Who is regarded as child as per the provisions of POCSO Act, 2012?

• Why Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012?

• What are the challenges associated with child sexual abuse?

• What are the Initiatives, legislations and laws taken by the Government of India in this direction?

• What are the Rights of a child in India as per the Indian Constitution?

• What is ‘Age of Consent’?

• According to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act of 2012, what age is specified as the “age of consent”?

• Recently, Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud urged Parliament to review the age of consent under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, 2012-Why?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍‘POCSO Act not meant to criminalise consenting young adult relationships’

📍Explained: How the POCSO Act has been amended

TIPRA forms panel for ethnic and religious inclusivity

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- The TIPRA Motha party Sunday launched the TIPRA Citizens Federation platform for like-minded people cutting across ethnic, linguistic, and religious lines. Making the announcement, the TIPRA Motha said it was not just a tribal regional party but a movement for ‘Greater Tipraland’. The party added that it also seeks to address issues affecting the non-tribal population, especially backward communities.

• What is Tipraland?

• Why is the demand for a separate state, Greater Tipraland, for indigenous communities in the region making headlines these days?

• Map Work-Mark Proposed Tipraland state on map

• Who all is demanding a Greater Tipraland?

• Several tribal outfits in Tripura have joined hands to push their demand for a separate state for indigenous communities in the region, arguing that their “survival and existence” was at stake- What is their main demand?

• What does the Constitution say?

• What is Article 2 and Article 3 of the Indian Constitution?

• How did the demand originate?

• What has been done to address the grievances of indigenous communities?

• What was the immediate trigger for the demand?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍Explained: What is ‘Greater Tipraland’ and why are tribal outfits in Tripura pushing for it

Over 90 artists come together for 4-month art celebration

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies I: Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Facing the vast waters of the Arabian Sea, the sprawling Aspinwall House in Fort Kochi was a sight of creative chaos over the weekend. At the main venue of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, it was a race against time as artworks were being unwrapped, installed and protected from the unexpected rain, a day before the four-month-long art showcase opens for the public on December 12.

• What are art biennales?

• What is the significance of art biennales?

• A brief history of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale-Know in brief

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍BIENNALE

THE IDEAS PAGE

An example and a warning

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Ashok Gulati , Manish K Prasad Writes: The best way to proceed is to set up a high level committee of credible professionals to look into this and suggest ways and means to bring in frugality and efficiency in public expenditures of the Centre and the states, making it more growth oriented, creating more jobs and livelihoods, and more environment protecting.

• “As India takes over the G20 presidency, one of the big jobs under the finance track is to ensure that G20 nations come up with a credible policy framework to tame inflation, especially food inflation, while protecting growth and ensuring overall financial stability”-How India is dealing with inflation recently?

• How excess liquidity, causes inflation?

• Why food prices in several countries are rising?

• “The year 2023 will be a test case for the collective wisdom of the G20 in taming inflation and protecting growth”-What G20 nations can do?

• Compare India’s food inflation with that of her neighbours as well as the USA, UK, Turkey, and Argentina.

• According to the authors, “India is in a much better position with 7 per cent food inflation”-How?

• The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act of 2003 (FRBMA)-Know in detail

• What do you understand by the term ‘fiscal deficit’?

• What is fiscal deficit for the current financial year in India?

• What are the causes of India’s rising subsidies?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍Fiscal challenges loom as job plan, subsidies drive up expense

EXPRESS NETWORK

Focus on commercial use of NavIC, ISRO’s future satellites to get additional frequency

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-With an aim to promote the civilian use of NAVigation with the Indian Constellation (NavIC), the regional navigation satellite system developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the space agency is introducing the L1 frequency in all its future satellites. “The next satellites, starting from NVS-01 onwards, will have an L1 band for civilian navigational use,” said Union Minister of State for the Department of Space Jitendra Singh in a written reply in Parliament on Wednesday.

• What is the L1 frequency?

• Do You Know-The L1 frequency, one of the most commonly used frequencies in the Global Positioning System (GPS), will increase the use of the regional navigation system in wearable devices and personal trackers that use low-power, single-frequency chips. At present, the satellites operate on two frequencies — L5 and S bands.

• What is NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation)?

• How does NavIC compare?

• Why is India promoting NavIC?

• What is the significance of NavIC?

• Applications of NavIC-Know in detail

• What are the issues and challenges associated with NavIC?

• What other navigation systems around the world are in use?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍What is NavIC, India’s home-grown alternative to the GPS navigation system?

EXPLAINED

The Centre’s subsidy bill

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Government Budgeting.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-On Friday (December 9), the Narendra Modi government sought Parliament’s approval for fresh expenditure of Rs 214,580.88 crore towards major subsidies, over and above the Rs 317,865.91 crore budgeted for 2022-23 (April-March).

• The extra subsidy outgo, for which the Finance Ministry presented its first tranche of supplementary demand for grants, includes what?

• The Rs 532,446.79 crore spending on subsidy in 2022-23 would be the second highest after the Rs 706,006.53 crore of 2020-21. However, there’s a difference between 2020-21 and 2022-23-What is that difference?

• For Your Information-The extra subsidy outgo, for which the Finance Ministry presented its first tranche of supplementary demand for grants, includes Rs 109,288.95 crore on fertilisers, Rs 80,348.25 crore on food and Rs 24,943.68 crore on petroleum. If passed by both Houses – and assuming no further batches of demands for additional expenditures – it will take the total subsidy bill to Rs 532,446.79 crore: Food (Rs 287,179.34 crore), fertiliser (Rs 214,511.27 crore) and petroleum (Rs 30,756.18 crore).

• What’s different in 2022-23?

• The overshooting of subsidies, both in 2022-23 and 2021-22 (the budget estimate was Rs 336,439.03 crore, against the provisional final of Rs 446,047.72 crore), has been largely courtesy of what factors?

• What are the prospects for the coming year?

• What will be the overall subsidy savings?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍Explained: Reining in the subsidy bill

What is at stake in Turkey’s new Syria escalation

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- After weeks of deadly Turkish airstrikes in northern Syria, Kurdish forces and international players are trying to gauge whether Ankara’s threats of a ground invasion are serious. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly warned of a new land incursion to drive Kurdish groups away from the Turkish-Syrian border, following a deadly Nov. 13 bombing in Istanbul. Turkish authorities blamed the attack on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and on the Syria-based People’s Protection Units, or YPG. Both have denied involvement.

• What is going between Turkey and Syria?

• Map Work-Turkey and Syria

• What Turkey wants?

• What was the Kurdish reaction?

• What is the role of the Syrian insurgents?

• What is the Syrian Government’s stance?

• Will the United States get involved?

• Will Russia broker a deal?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍Turkey launches air strikes in heart of Syria as retaliation for bomb attack

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