Context:  Sugar millers have urged the government to totally exempt sugar from the mandatory 20 percent  jutebag packaging from the 2023- 24 season.

Why has relaxation been sought?

• The relaxation has been sought on grounds of increase in cost due to use of jute bags and also owing to operational challenges. 
• Jute Packaging Materials (Compulsory Use in Packing Commodities) Act, 1987: Under it, the Government is required to consider and provide for the compulsory use of jute packaging material in the supply and distribution of certain commodities.
  • It is in the interest of production of raw jute and jute packaging material and of persons engaged in the production thereof. 
  • 2020: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister has approved that 100% of the foodgrains and 20% of the sugar shall be mandatorily packed in diversified jute bags.

Importance of Jute  for the domestic economy:

• Jute is a natural, biodegradable, renewable and reusable fiber, and hence fulfills all sustainability parameters. 
• The jute industry plays an important role in the domestic economy, especially in states such as West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
• The jute packaging reservation norms account for direct employment to 3.7 lakh workers and several lakh farmers.

Geography of Jute in India:

• Production:
  • It is mainly concentrated in eastern India because of the rich alluvial soil of Ganga-Brahmaputra delta.
  • Major Jute Producing states: West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya and Tripura.

Conditions for Jute Production:

• Temperature Range: Between 25-35°C
• Rainfall Range: Around 150-250 cm
• Soil Type: Alluvial soil.

News Source: Business Standard    

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Context:

The private credit alternative investment fund (AIF) space is witnessing heightened action this financial year (2023-24), with the change in taxation of debt mutual funds (MFs).

About Alternative Investment Fund (AIF): 

• It refers to the collection of pooled investment funds that infuse in hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, and other investment types. 
• They are defined under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulations 2 (1) (b), 2012 set up by the SEBI.
• It can be established through a company or a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP).

Benefits of Investing in AIFs:

• High Return Potential: AIFs generally have a higher return potential than other investment options. 
• Low Volatility: AIFs are not directly related to stock markets. Volatility in these funds is less, particularly when compared with traditional equity investments. 
• Diversification: These funds allow much-needed diversification in an investment portfolio. They act as a cushion at the time of financial crisis or market volatility.

News Source: Business Standard

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Context:  The Reserve Bank of India announced the launch of the Public Tech Platform for Frictionless Credit (PTPFC) pilot project.   

About Public Tech Platform for Frictionless Credit (PTPFC):

• It is an end-to-end digital platform that has been developed by the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the central bank.
• Aim: To connect borrowers and lenders, which will make credit more accessible to millions of individuals looking for small loans.     
• Plug and Play Model: It will have an open architecture, open Application Programming Interfaces (API) and standards, to which all financial sector players would be able to connect seamlessly in a ‘plug and play’ model. 
• Significance: It allows central and state government entities, banks, credit information companies, and digital identity authorities to share information. 
  • This allows the various stakeholders in the lending process to collate the data for each borrower faster leading to speedier processing of loan requests. 
  • It will help in reducing costs while increasing transparency, efficiency, and scalability.

Benefits:

• Enhancing Credit Management: It would provide a basis for improved credit risk and overall credit portfolio management. 
• Diversifying Loan Offerings: It will enable the disbursal of non-collateral based loans for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Kisan Credit Card loans up to Rs 1.6 lakh, dairy loans, personal loans, and home loans.   
• Integration of Financial Data: It simplifies the integration of vital financial data through open APIs, boosting operational efficiency. 
• Lower Cost of Accessing Capital: The borrowers would benefit by the resulting lower cost of accessing capital, which would translate into productive investment spending (essentially, money spent for purchasing capital goods used in the production of capital, final goods and services).  
• Comprehensive Approach to Informed Loan Assessment: It is expected to link with services like Aadhar e-KYC, Aadhar e-signing, land records from onboarded state governments (Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra).
  • Thus, it would cover all aspects of farming operations (essential to understand the exposure and default risk for loans of the nature) alongside those necessary for ascertaining financial profiles. 

News Source:  The Hindu

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Investment Plans 2022-23

• According to RBI, the overall investment plans shot up by 79.50 per cent with a record capital outlay of Rs 352,624 crore, the highest since 2014-15.
• Skewed Investment: Five states accounted for more than half of the total bank-assisted investment proposals made during the year 2022-23.
• Uttar Pradesh accounted for the highest share of 16.2 per cent, followed by Gujarat (14 per cent), Odisha (11.8 per cent), Maharashtra (7.9 per cent) and Karnataka (7.3 per cent). 

Rainfall Deficit in August 2023

• India is experiencing its driest August in over 100 years since records began in 1901, mostly due to the El Nino weather pattern.
• India is on course to receive an average of less than 7 inches of rainfall in August, the month’s normal average is 10 inches.
• India received just 3.6 inches in the first 17 days of August, nearly 40% lower than normal.
• The monsoon delivers nearly 70% of the rain India needs to water farms and refill reservoirs and aquifers.

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Context:

A large number of megalithic hat stones were found during a recent archaeological salvage excavation conducted by the Kerala Archaeology Department at Nagaparamba in Kuttippuram village, near Tirunavaya.

About Hat Stones:

• Hat stones, popularly called Thoppikkallu in Malayalam, are hemispherical laterite stones used as lid on burial urns during the megalithic period.

What is Salvage excavation?

• Salvage excavation also known as rescue archaeology or emergency archaeology, refers to a type of archaeological excavation that is conducted in response to a situation where archaeological remains are threatened by construction, development, or other activities

Megaliths 

• Megaliths were constructed either as burial sites or commemorative (non-sepulchral) memorials. 

• Origin: As megalithic societies were preliterate, the racial or ethnic origins of the megalithic people are thus difficult to pin down.
• Significance: Megaliths were not built for commoners. They signify the emergence of a ruling class or elite who presided over a surplus economy.
• Time – Period: In India, archaeologists trace the majority of the megaliths to the Iron Age (1500 BC to 500 BC), though some sites precede the Iron Age, extending up to 2000 BC.
• Geographical Spread: Megaliths are spread across the Indian subcontinent, though the bulk of them are found in peninsular India, concentrated in the states of Maharashtra (mainly in Vidarbha), Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
• • Even today, a living megalithic culture endures among some tribes such as the Gonds of central India and the Khasis of Meghalaya.
• Different Types of Megalithic Structure include: Stone Circles, Dolmen, Cist, Monolith and Capstone style.

News Source: The Hindu

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Context:

• Recent, regional Review Meeting for the Animal Husbandry and Dairy sector highlighted that the livestock sector is consistently  growing at a high Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 7.67% during 2014-15 to 2021-22.

More about the news:

• Changing diets and income: The growth is attributed to parameters of the Livestock Sector such as Dairy, Bovine, Poultry, Goatery/Piggery etc.
  • The increasing demand for animal products like meat, milk, and eggs, driven by higher incomes and changing diets, contributes to the attractiveness of livestock farming. 
• Reliable source of livelihood: Animal husbandry is becoming a more dependable source of livelihood for farmers compared to crop cultivation showing a higher growth rate than crop production, reflecting a transition in the agriculture sector. 
• Vagaries of climate change: The shift is due to climate change-related uncertainties that threaten crops, making animal farming a safer option. 
• Contribution to GVA: Livestock’s contribution to the gross value added(GVA) has risen, while crops’ share has decreased. 
  • The crops sub-sector which had accounted for 62.44 per cent of the agriculture and allied sectors in 2011-12, consistently declined to 55.33 per cent in 2021-2022. 
  • The GVA of the livestock sector increased steadily from 25.56 per cent in 2011-12 to 30.19 per cent in 2021-22.
• Primary means of sustenance: This trend suggests that livestock husbandry could replace crop farming as the primary agricultural focus. 
  • Even today, small farmers and landless individuals heavily rely on livestock for sustenance, with the dairy industry alone supporting millions of dairy farmers.
• Role in women empowerment: Women producers form the major workforce of the dairy sector in the country. The sector is an important job provider, especially for women, and plays a leading role in women’s empowerment. 
  • There were five million women members in dairy cooperatives in 2015-2016, and this increased further to 5.4 million in 2020-2021, accounting for 31 percent of total members. 

Overview of various animal husbandry sectors in India:

Challenges of Animal Husbandry:

• Low Productivity: The average annual milk yield of Indian cattle is 1172 kg which is only about 50 per cent of the global average.
• Animal Diseases: The inadequate coverage of vaccination is continuously resulting in economic losses due to various animal diseases.
  • Average annual economic losses due to Haemorrhagic Septicaemia (HS), Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), Brucellosis, Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), Classical Swine Fever were around Rs. 429 crores (2016).
• Shortage of Fodder:  India with only 2.29 percent of land area of the world is maintaining nearly 10.70 percent of livestock with only 5 percent of its cultivable land under fodder production.
• Institutional Support: There is no MSP support for animal husbandry product and they lack marketing like crop-based commodities.
  • Inadequate Funding at about 12% of the total public expenditure on agriculture and allied sectors, which is disproportionately lesser than its contribution to agricultural GDP. 
• Inadequate processing and value addition:  The processing rate of buffalo meat is around 21 percent and 6 percent for the poultry due to lack of necessary infrastructure.
• Informalisation of sector: The Indian livestock and livestock product market are mostly underdeveloped, irregular, uncertain, and lack transparency and often dominated by informal market intermediaries who exploit the producers.
  • Nearly 60 percent of milk is sold by the unorganized sector.
• Inadequate attention towards extension services: Except for poultry products and to some extent for milk, markets for livestock and livestock products are underdeveloped, irregular and lack transparency dominated by informal market intermediaries.

• Insurance: Currently, only 6% of the animal heads (excluding poultry) are provided insurance cover.
• Greenhouse gas emissions: India’s huge population of ruminants contributes to greenhouse gasses emission. Reducing greenhouse gasses through mitigation and adaptation strategies will be a major challenge. 
  • Cattle in India account for approximately 33% of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

Way Forward:

• Establishment of gene banks:  Preserving indigenous breeds of livestock is crucial as they are disease resistant, adaptable to climate. Establishing gene banks aids research institutions in studying and conserving these breeds effectively.
• Strengthening forward and backward linkages: Forward linkages need to be developed for wool, fibre, meat and milk such as cold storage, food processing industries and textile industries for the consumption of livestock produced.
• One Health approach: . It promotes coordination between multiple stakeholders for strengthening and improving ecosystem health, and is crucial to promote animal health (both wild and domestic) alongside human health. 
  • One Health is an approach which recognizes that animal health, human health and the environment are inextricably connected.
• Cadre of wildlife-trained veterinarians: They will be veterinarians dedicated to monitoring wildlife health and treating wildlife diseases.
• Disease Surveillance: Surveillance for disease occurrence needs to be strengthened for livestock as well as wild animals to ensure that wild diseases do not cause outbreaks.
• Developing capacities of extension personnel on extension management: The livestock extension personnel need to have or acquire process competencies such as training methods, audio visual aids, data collection tools, etc.
• Area specific policy:  Area specific policies should be followed. For example, focus should be towards poultry in areas suitable for poultry production and towards fisheries and aquaculture in coastal areas. 
• Women Inclusive Policies: Women-inclusive cooperatives and other producer’s associations or groups can improve women’s contribution in policy-making processes as well their bargaining power and access to inputs and markets. 
  • For example, National Smallholder Poultry Development Trust (NSPDT), facilitated by PRADAN, enables poor women in rural India to start and run successful poultry enterprises.

News Source: Business Standard 

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Context: 

Recently, two Major General-level talks between India and China were held on August 18 as a follow-up to the 19th round of Corps Commander-level talks held earlier this week.

More on the News:

• General level talks were held at Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) and Chushul along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh to work out the finer details of resolving the existing friction points.
  • The two countries have been locked in a border conflict for more than three years after fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020.
• India and China have Border Personnel Meeting (BPM) points at Chushul and Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) in eastern Ladakh.
  • DBO lies close to the Depsang Plains where Chinese PLA troops have continued to deny access to the patrolling points in the area from 2020.
  • Chushsul lies close to the south bank of Pangong Tso, where Indian troops in a surprise operation in 2020 had occupied several heights.
• The two sides agreed to resolve the remaining issues along the LAC in the Ladakh sector in a speedy manner through continued dialogue. 

India-China Border Dispute

• Border Dispute: India’s border dispute with China is the most complex and longstanding one, involving an ill-defined, 3,440 km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC) that runs along the Himalayan region. 
  • The dispute stems from the legacy of British colonialism and the 1962 Sino-Indian War.
  • The two countries have had several clashes and stand-offs along the LAC, most notably in 1967, 1987, 2013, 2017 and 2020-2021.
• The latest conflict in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 was the first fatal confrontation between the two sides since 1975, killing at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers. 
  • The two countries have also been competing to build infrastructure and assert their claims along the border, which has increased the risk of escalation.

About India Border Dispute and Challenges

• Location: India is located in a strategic position in South Asia and occupies a dominant position in the Indian Ocean. 
  • India has a coastline of 7516.6 km and 1382 small and big offshore islands. 
  • India has a total land frontier of approximately 15,200 km, which it shares with seven neighbouring countries: China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Afghanistan.
• India’s border with Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar are considered open borders.
• Constraint in Peaceful Border: India’s internal security challenges are invariably linked with the security of India’s borders especially when India faces adversary in its Northern and Western Sector.

Existing Border Dispute Settlement Mechanisms with neighbors such as: 

• Bilateral talks: India has engaged in direct talks with its neighboring countries to resolve border disputes. 
  • For example, India and China have held several rounds of talks to resolve their long-standing border dispute.
• Joint committees: India has set up joint committees with its neighboring countries to discuss and resolve border disputes. 
  • For example, the India-Bangladesh Joint Boundary Working Group was set up to resolve border disputes between the two countries.
• Agreements: India has signed agreements with its neighboring countries to maintain peace and tranquility along the border. 
• For example, India and China signed the Agreement on the Maintenance of Peace and Tranquility along the Line of Actual Control in 1993.
• International organizations: India has sought the involvement of international organizations such as the United Nations to facilitate peaceful resolutions to border disputes. 
• For example, India has raised the issue of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir at the UN.

Other Border Dispute of India with Neighbours

Way Forward: 

• Non-lethal Strategy: There is a need to have a humane approach towards border guarding and ensuring right to life of the border population, enabling a strong state administration to deliver the basic needs of the population and deter transborder crime syndicates from exploiting the economically weaker population. 
• Ease of Living, Trusted Trade and Trusted Travelers: Smooth movement of people and trade can be implemented by adopting technologies like use of Biometric data( facial recognition) which is used at smart borders to identify people and run random security checks. 
• Electronic Sensors: Responsive intelligence network, supported by disruptive technologies like AI powered data bases, will enable smooth and monitored movement of people and trade along the borders. 
• Command Centres: Utilize cognitive analytics and AI/ML for behavior prediction and quick interception.
• Drones and Counter Drones: Replicate the procurement of indigenous drones and develop counter drone technology for detection and interception. 
• Anti-Smuggling Syndicate Measures: Establish synergy between stakeholders for prosecution and deportation of transborder criminals. 
• Technological Training: Maintaining and sustaining new technological solutions will require upgradation of skill of the existing manpower to be bridged by use of contractors in the interim and also reviewing the recruitment intake. 
• Strategic Communication Strategy: Build narratives and sensitize forces on border management to achieve effective communication. 
• Budgeting: Increase capital outlays three to four times to modernize and adopt smart border management solutions.

News Source: The Hindu

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