Daily Mains Practice Questions 25-04-2023

KEY POINTS

·        Farmer producer organisations (FPOs) are collectives of farmers formed to leverage the benefit of economies of scale and a better connect to market.

·        The purpose of FPOs is to offer input and output services to members and to act as aggregator.

·        FPOs can negotiate with institutional buyers to leverage better prices for its farmer members.

·        For any collective action to sustain, there is a need for a social movement. This is more so if there is urgency for a change in the way things operate.

·        Social movement is an organised effort by a large number of people to change some aspects of market or society. Market failures are the primary sources of social movement.

·        FPOs engage in conflictual collective action. This implies oppositional relationships between actors who are seeking control over the same stake.

·        FPOs promoted by social movements can leverage these informal networks among actors to spot and leverage unprecedented opportunities.

·        Coalition with various interest groups including political parties are key to success of FPOs.

·        The sense of collective identity can also help FPOs in different locations to collaborate with each other even when they are probably not dealing with the same product or market.

KEY POINTS

·        The third India-Japan Intellectual Dialogue (April 11–12, 2023), hosted by the Asian Confluence (ASCON), in Agartala, Tripura, was an ideal opportunity to assess the evolving thinking of experts and policymakers.

·        It showed that the current decade may produce path-breaking changes in the northeast, bringing the troika of Bangladesh, India and Japan closer.

·        One of the most important projects is the development of the Matarbari Deep Sea Port (DSP) on the southeastern coast of Bangladesh.

·        It is being constructed with Japanese assistance and is scheduled to be operational in 2027. A recent ASCON study envisages this port to be “a game changer.

·        Roads and ports must be accompanied by job opportunities that can come only from new industrial enterprises set up with national and foreign investment.

·        An important argument was advanced by Bangladesh’s Shahriar Alam, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.

·        By facilitating it, India can assist Bangladesh in becoming an integral part of the Act East Policy.

·        This leadership can come from the triad of Bangladesh, India and Japan (BIJ). A BIJ Forum should be launched first at the level of Foreign Ministers, a move that will be welcome in the northeast.

KEY POINTS

·        In another spectre of violence in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), five soldiers were killed and another critically injured in a terror attack in the Rajouri-Poonch Sector.

·        The attack also comes at a time when J&K is working diligently to host a G-20 Tourism Working Group meeting, in May.

·        Separately, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is likely to attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Goa next month, which has kindled the possibility of fresh India-Pakistan engagement.

·        The images of the Army vehicle on fire and charred bodies have reignited memories of and visuals from the Pulwama attack in 2019.

·        With Indian intelligence agencies pointing to the role of the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), India sent its fighter jets across the Line of Control to strike JeM training camps in Balakot, Pakistan, inflicting casualties and damaging the terror infrastructure there.

·        Claims on the subject made recently by the then J&K Governor have brought to the fore fresh questions about the intent behind the political class while approaching the issue of terrorism in the country.

·        Perhaps it is time India reviewed its strategy in Kashmir, including the current freeze on talks with Pakistan.