General Studies – II
International Relations
1) Along with strengthening ties with Russia, India must make a clear stand against the war. Analyse (200 Words)
Refer - The Hindu
Government Policies
2) Do you think that the amended Information Technology rules will diminish the right to question authority? Comment (200 Words)
Refer - The Hindu
General Studies – III
Agriculture
3) Strengthening farmer producer organisations will raise farmers’ bargaining power and help them achieve economies of scale. Discuss (200 Words)
Refer - Business Line
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 2 years
KEY POINTS
· Growing and balancing India-Russia trade ties dominated the agenda of Russian Deputy Prime Minister’s India visit and the Inter-governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation
· Both sides noted the problem of trade imbalance, calling for more market access and the use of “national currencies” to circumvent sanctions.
· While the impetus in trade and the effort to balance imports and exports with an important partner (Russia) are welcome, it is hard to ignore the circumstances surrounding these developments.
· Since Russia’s war in Ukraine began last year, and western sanctions drastically cut Russian exports, Moscow has turned increasingly to India and other countries including China that have not joined the sanctions to export resources.
· India’s oil imports from Russia (a negligible 0.2%), have jumped since the war to a massive 28% of its total oil intake, contributing to trade as well as a growing deficit.
· What is harder to explain is that no public comment was made by any Indian leader during any of Mr. Manturov’s meetings in Delhi, about the original reason for the current turmoil and its global economic impact
· Moscow’s decision to launch attacks on its neighbour, and the bombing of civilians, that has continued for over a year.
KEY POINTS
· Union government introduced a new set of measures with a view to crushing fake news and misinformation on the Internet.
· These introductions came through an amendment made to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, or IT Rules.
· An intermediary under the law refers to any person who receives, stores, or transmits electronic records it would include Internet service providers, search engines, and social media platforms.
· The amendments introduced this month bring with them a new assault on our liberty. To be sure, misinformation or fake news whatever one might want to call it is rampant on the Internet.
· Certainly, thoughtless censorship is never an answer. What is worse, in the case of the IT Rules, restrictions flow not through legislation, but through executive diktats.
· And these commands militate against substantive constitutional guarantees. Article 19(1)(a) grants to every citizen a right to freedom of speech and expression.
· But the amendments made to the IT Rules do not caveat the restraints they place in any manner.
· Instead, they confer on the Fact Check Unit limitless powers to decide what information is false and, in the process, compel social media intermediaries to act based on these findings.
· Any workable and constitutionally committed campaign against fake news would have looked first towards a comprehensive parliamentary legislation on the matter.
KEY POINTS
· Besides, the Minimum Support Price (MSP) model in India resulted in skewed cropping pattern and other adverse implications, namely, unbridled exploitation of groundwater, soil alkalinity and chemicalisation of farming.
· Input credit to farmers: Input subsidy to farmers may be given on seeds, pesticides, and fertilisers so that MSP can be phased out gradually.
· Besides, labour from MGNREGS may be provided to farmers, especially the small and marginal, to reduce their cost of cultivation.
· Data show more than two-thirds of FPOs are in seven States: Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar and Karnataka.
· Diversification of crops: India has been importing edible oil, pulses, cashew and spices, losing precious foreign exchange in the process.
· As more than half of formal credit is granted to other than small and marginal farmers, it is imperative to improve access to low cost institutional credit to this group.
· Seamless market linkages: A few FPOs supply to e-commerce retailers such as JioMart, Grofers, Big Basket, etc., either directly or through agri start-ups.
· This may be complemented by crafting a marketing strategy through procurement of agri-produce at farm-gate in all districts through the public-private partnership model.
