General Studies - II
Government Policies
1) Does the revised domestic natural gas pricing guidelines to ensure a stable pricing regime? Examine (200 Words)
Refer - Business Line
General Studies – III
Agriculture
2) Do you think that there must be strong push to make millets a part of government food schemes? Analyse (200 Words)
Refer - Business Line
S & T
3) India has a great window of opportunity to join the existing second space age Do you agree with this view? Comment. (200 Words)
Refer - The Hindu
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
ELAVARASAN_R 2 years
Q. 3
IAS Parliament 2 years
Try to provide a proper conclusion. Keep Writing.
IAS Parliament 2 years
KEY POINTS
· The Centre, based on the Kirit Parikh panel report, approved the revised domestic natural gas pricing guidelines to ensure a stable pricing regime for consumers and protect producers from market fluctuations.
· The pricing guidelines for gas produced from nomination fields of ONGC/OIL, New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) blocks and pre-NELP blocks, where Production Sharing Contract (PSC) provide for government’s approval of prices.
· The price of such natural gas shall linked to the monthly average of Indian Crude Basket, which shall be notified on a monthly basis.
· For the gas produced by ONGC and OIL from their nomination blocks, the Administered Price Mechanism (APM) price shall be subject to a floor and a ceiling.
· Gas produced from new wells of ONGC and OIL, would be allowed a premium of 20 per cent over the APM price.
· In the near term it will lead to significant decrease in prices of piped gas for households and CNG for transport.
· But, it will not really result in opening the gas market, nor will it result in creating a level playing field, as there is still a differential gas price regime – at least four different price points.
· Otherwise global exploration and production firms may feel that the government is trying to control prices through policy guidelines.
KEY POINTS
· Having successfully proposed 2023 as the International Year of Millets to the United Nations, India has positioned itself as the global leader in production, research and innovation of these nutritious grains.
· Millets have enormous potential in tackling the country’s concurrent nutritional challenges of widespread ‘hidden hunger’ and high cardio-metabolic disease.
· However, the strategies being utilised to re-introduce millets as a mainstream staple are misdirected and could result in failure, unless greater thoughtfulness and creativity are exercised now.
· Ultra-processed foods are those which are composed of ingredients that are extracted from whole foods utilising industrial processing techniques.
· They usually have added sugar, salt, and fat, as well as flavour enhancers, artificial colouring, stabilisers, and preservatives to make the product hyper-palatable and prolong shelf life.
· Ultra-processing of millets is not the solution to promoting their use. In fact, it will be harmful. The evidence is clear — consumption of ultra-processed foods increases the risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, depression, and premature mortality.
· Findings from the urban context may have little relevance in rural areas, where non-communicable diseases are under-diagnosed.
· This means the remaining 85 per cent can include ingredients such refined white flour, hydrogenated fats, sugar, and additives, yet in all likelihood will still be marketed as a health food to consumers.
KEY POINTS
· The origins of the Second Space Age can be traced to the Internet. In India, the process began accelerating as the 1990s saw the emergence of private TV channels, together with cable TV followed by direct-to-home transmissions.
· In 2020, the global space economy was estimated at $450 billion, growing to $600 billion by 2025. The Indian space economy, estimated at $9.6 billion in 2020, is expected to be $13 billion by 2025.
· However, the potential is much greater with an enabling policy and regulatory environment. The Indian space industry could easily exceed $60 billion by 2030, directly creating more than two lakh jobs.
· In terms of space activities, downstream activities such as satellite services and associated ground segment are dominant, accounting for over 70% of India’s space economy; upstream activities of satellite manufacturing and launch services contribute the smaller share.
· The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) was set up in 2020 as a single-window-clearance for the private sector.
· This provides the legal grounding that policy papers lack; help set up a regulatory authority and create an enabling environment for raising venture capital funding into the Indian space start-up industry.
