EducatorIAS

Monetary policy and liquidity operations during 2020-21 were geared towards mitigating the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. The monetary policy committee (MPC) cut the policy repo rate by 115 basis points (bps) during March-May 2020, on top of a cumulative reduction of 135 bps during February 2019 to February 2020. Backed by conventional and unconventional liquidity measures, these actions bolstered financial market sentiments while ensuring orderly market conditions. Interest rates and bond yields declined across market segments and spreads narrowed, with a distinct improvement in monetary transmission.   In the face of COVID-19 related stress and the large contraction in output, and in consonance with the monetary policy stance, the Reserve Bank undertook several monetary policy measures, both conventional and unconventional, during 2020-21, driven by the goals of  (i) improving monetary transmission;  (ii)facilitating and incentivising bank credit flows;  (iii)address...

Millets are grown on marginal and un-irrigated land and procurement will help in doubling farmers income. Millets are more nutritious and hence would help India fight against malnutrition, Millets are more environment friendly and hence help in promoting sustainable agriculture and in preservation of environment, Local procurement and local consumption will save transportation and avoidable movement of other cereals and Shelf life of some coarse grains is more than three months. Coarse grains are procured by State Government Agencies/FCI from farmers as per extant guidelines. The major coarse grains crop covered under Minimum Support Price (MSP) are Jowar (Hybrid), Jowar (Maldandi), Bajra, Ragi, Maize and Barley. All millets, Maize and Barely are known as Coarse grains.In India, total 3,04,914 farmers have been benefitted during KMS 2020-21. Total of 1162886 (11.62 LMT) coarse grains have been procured during year 2020-21. revision of norms will result in encouraging procur...

India has lauded the Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) as ‘a very successful model of local area development’that ‘should serve as a best practice for several other countries where regional disparities in development status persist for many reasons’.   The report said due to concerted efforts made under the ADP, previously neglected districts, including those in remote locations and those affected by Left Wing Extremism, ‘haveexperienced more growth and development in the last three years than ever before’. Notwithstanding some speedbumps in its journey, the APD ‘has been immensely successful in propelling development among the backward districts’.   The reportwas handed over today by UNDP India Resident Representative Shoko Noda to NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar and CEO Amitabh Kant. It captures the progress of the Aspirational Districts Programme and makes recommendations for further improvements. The report is based on quantitative analysis of publicly availab...

    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/