EducatorIAS

    A griculture engages more than 42 per cent of the country's workforce, feeds a population of more than 1.3 billion, supplies inputs to many industries, and is the source of income for the largest consumer segment of the country. ‘ Grow local, sell local, consume local’ needs to be the mantra now, because decentralising the planning, procurement, processing, and selling of locally grown crops to local consumer preferences will be more agile and the most effective in the short term. Example : Bihar collaborated with India Post to sell litchi and mangoes state-wide during the Covid 1.0 lockdown. The initiative benefited local farmers and made consumers happy by assuring the delivery of their favourite products at reasonable prices. Benefits of decentralising of Agriculture   It could  promote local entrepreneurship development and employment opportunities. It also has the potential to create more jobs and livelihoods opportunities.  provides opportunity fo...

  The Arabian Sea is comparatively less prone to cyclonic storms than the Bay of Bengal. Almost 50 per cent of the storms do not sustain over its waters since the west-central and north Arabian Sea have a colder sea temperature than other adjacent regions. This cold sea surface temperature is not favourable for the development and sustenance of cyclonic storms. In the usual course, there was an occurrence of one extremely severe cyclone in every four-five years in the Arabian. The cyclone pattern and occurrence has shown a change and the climatological data from the last few years suggest that the Arabian Sea (west coast) also started receiving tropical cyclones of high intensity in a small time interval. For instance, in 15 years (1998 to 2013), five extremely severe cyclones originated in the Sea.Nilofar’ Cyclone ‘Chapal’ followed by Cyclone ‘Megh , cyclone Tauktae . There are various reasons for it, i ncluding the geographical location, the sea surface temperature (SST, as...

 

 https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/publication/un-desa-policy-brief-105-circular-agriculture-for-sustainable-rural-development/

 The pandemic has exposed deep-rooted labour market fragilities and structural inequalities, with low-paid workers, young people, women, ethnic minorities, the self-employed and informal and fixed-term workers among the hardest hit by the crisis The unequal impact of the Covid 19 crisis: Low-paid, often low-skilled, workers were particularly affected during the initial phase of the crisis. Many of the so-called “frontline workers”, who put their health at risk, exposing themselves to the virus to ensure the continuation of essential services during lockdowns, work in sectors characterised by relatively low wages. Workers in diverse forms of employment that differ from full-time wage and salary work with a permanent contract – such as self-employed workers, those on temporary, on-call or part-time contracts and informal economy workers – have been highly exposed to the job and income losses prompted by the pandemic. The impact of the crisis has been particularly severe for informa...

  The  COVID-19  pandemic is threatening the long-cherished  food security  of India (FSI). It has impacted all four aspects, namely ' availability , access , stabilit y, and utilization' of food. Availability   ·          The availability of food grains does not seem to have been adversely impacted so far. As of March 1, 2020, the country had sufficient buffers of food grains : 58.4 million tons and pulses 3 million tons . However, it is not so for other commodities such as fruits and vegetables, eggs, meat, milk, and sugar that constitutes 78 percent of the total food consumption . Disruption in supply chains and a decline in demand had caused a huge loss of production and income to the farmers, traders, and consumers . Access ·          Access to food was not fully assured as a result of the decline in incomes and loss of livelihood after the Pandemic COVID-19. It...

 

  The Digital India programme has now become a movement which is empowering common Indians with the power of technology. The extensive spread of mobile phones, Internet etc. has also enabled many social media platforms to expand their footprints in India. Common people are also using these platforms in a very significant way. Some portals, whichpublish analysis about social media platforms and which have not been disputed, have reported the following numbers as user base of major social media platforms in India. Proliferation of social media,on one hand empowers the citizens then on the other hand gives rise to some serious concerns and consequences which have grown manifold in recent years. These concerns have been raised from time to time in various forums including in the Parliament and its committees, judicial orders and in civil society deliberations in different parts of country. Such concerns are also raised all over the world and it is becoming an international issue. T he ...

    India’s ‘Act East’ policy is a diplomatic initiative to promote economic, strategic and cultural relations with the vast Asia-Pacific region at different levels. “The objective of the ‘Act East’ policy is to promote economic cooperation, cultural ties and develop strategic relationship with countries in the Asia-Pacific region through continuous engagement at bilateral, regional and multilateral levels thereby providing enhanced connectivity to the States of the Northeastern Region including Arunachal Pradesh with other countries in our neighbourhood (emphasis added)”. Example :Commerce, Culture and Connectivit y are the three pillars of India’s robust engagement with ASEAN India’s AEP had to factor in: a. The development of its Northeast to reap the benefits of linking with eastern economic success models (while tackling insurgencies) b. its relationship with some of its closest regional strategic partners like Vietnam c. its strategic/economic interests with the major po...

  Liberalised Pricing and Accelerated National Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy ? India’s National Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy is based on scientific and epidemiological evidence and focuses on systematic end-to-end planning. This strategy derives guidance from Global Best Practices, SoPs of WHO as well as recommendations of India’s foremost experts in the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC). National Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy encourages domestic R&D, domestic manufacturing and efficient administration of vaccination to protect and strengthen country’s Healthcare System as well as protect the most vulnerable (i) Vaccine manufacturers would supply 50% of their monthly Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) released doses to Govt. of India and would be free to supply remaining 50% doses to State Govts. and in the other than Govt. of India channel.  (ii) Manufacturers would in a transparent manner make an advance declaration of the price for 50% s...

  In the midst of death, life persists. In the midst of untruth, truth persists. In the midst of darkness, light persists. ––M. K. Gandhi ––M. K. Gandhi The fact that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was a leading figure in India’s liberation process and thus responsible for the birth of one of the largest democracies in the world But Gandhi was much more than that. he rebelled against racism, against all kinds of injustice, defended the humble, making his satyagraha movement or ‘force of truth’ a permanent compass of his life. H e associated truth with tolerance, developed philosophical ideas that guided him in defining non-violence as a method of struggle, understanding this form of resistance not as the passive acceptance of injustice but as the strongest weapon against the violence of colonialism, of imperialism and all forms of oppression. There have been several successful experiences of Satyagraha in the past 50 years. Among the followers of Gandhi in the 20th century who successf...

 India recently unveiled a draft Arctic policy outlining its engagement in the Arctic. The draft paper noted the five pillars of India’s Arctic policy: science and research; economic and human development cooperation; transportation and connectivity; governance and international cooperation; and national capacity building. 

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Introduction :  The Sangam Age in Indian history witnessed the rapid development of literary works in the southern regions. The literature that was created during this time came to be known as Sangam literature Mostly literary sources help us to understand t he society and culture of the Sangam age , which provides information regarding t he classification of the people, caste system , various occupations , practice of slavery , d ress and food hab it, status of women , religious practice s, education a nd other f ine ar t. Sources to understand Cultural Tradition of south India  The literatures are the primary sources for understanding the socio-cultural life of the people of Sangam age. The literatures of the Sangam age consists of the earliest Tamil literary works such as Tolkappiyam, the Ettutogai (Eight Anthologies), the Pattuppattu (Ten Idylls), the Pandinenkilkanakku (Eight Minor works) and the Five Epics Silappathikaram, Manimegalai, Sivaga Sindamani, Valaiyap...

  What is fertiliser subsidy? Subsidy is given by Goverment of India to the P&K fertilizer companies which are therefore able to provide P&K fertilizers to the farmers at a subsidized MRP, which is lower than it would have been. Accordingly, farmers across the country who are procuring fertilizers at MRP, is availing the benefit of subsidy. ·          The MRP of neem-coated urea , for instance, is fixed by the government at Rs 5,922.22 per tonne, whereas its average cost-plus price payable to domestic manufacturers and importers comes to around Rs 17,000 and Rs 23,000 per tonne, respectively. The difference, which varies according to plant-wise production cost and import price, is footed by the Centre as subsidy.   ·          The MRPs of non-urea fertilisers are decontrolled or fixed by the companies. The Centre, however, pays a flat per-tonne subsidy on these nutrients to ensure t...