GS Analyst: Daily Current Affairs

The Andhra Pradesh Community-Managed Natural Farming (APCMNF) program, which promotes sustainable and chemical-free farming practices, has gained significant recognition and success. The program recently won the 2024 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity, highlighting its impact on agriculture and climate action.

What is Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) programme?

• The APCNF programme aims to increase the adoption of natural farming practices among the state’s farmers to help them escape the debt cycle caused by high input costs linked to conventional agricultural practices.
• Launched in 2016, it supports farmers to switch from chemically intensive agriculture to natural farming through practices such as:
  • using organic residues and minimising tillage to improve soil health
  • re-introducing indigenous seeds
  • diversifying crops including trees
• Implemented by:RythuSadhikaraSamstha (RySS), a not-for-profit body under the aegis of the Department of Agriculture.
• The APCMNF is aggressively promoting the Pre-Monsoon Dry Sowing (PMDS) Model, as it enables the farmer to take home three crops in a year, even in rainfed conditions in semi-arid areas.
  • This is a paradigm shift since, in normal conditions, farmers in rainfed situations grow only one crop and leave the land fallow for the rest of the year. This mode of agriculture is based on scientific principles and comes into play in the non-farming season or whenever there is no crop cover on the land.
• Coverage:Currently, the APCNF is implementing natural farming in 4,116 gram panchayats and 7,746 village organisations through 2.31 lakh SHGs across 662 mandals of Andhra Pradesh. The government aims to reach out to all the 8 million farmer households in Andhra Pradesh in the next 10 years and inspire the programme’s replication in other States too.
  • The model is already being incubated across 12 States in India. The programme receives funding from Central schemes like RashtriyaKrishiVikasYojana, ParamparagatKrishiVikasYojana and BharatiyaPrakritiKrishiPadhati. The recently announced National Mission of Natural Farming is also expected to provide funds from this year.

Success and Global Recognition

• Impact and Scale: The APCMNF has become the world’s largest agroecology program, covering over 500,000 hectares and involving more than a million farmers. It has generated environmental benefits such as soil carbon sequestration and increased biodiversity.
• Recognition and Awards: The program received the 2024 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity, recognizing its contribution to climate action and sustainable agriculture. This award highlights the success of APCMNF in integrating scientific knowledge with traditional farming practices.
• Future Plans and Expansion: The APCMNF aims to expand its reach to all 8 million farmer households in Andhra Pradesh over the next decade. It also plans to replicate the model in other Indian states and internationally, with support from various donors and government schemes.

Jammu and Kashmir is set to have its first assembly elections in six years as the Election Commission announced the dates for the newly formed union territory.

Impact of Delimitation

• From state to union territory, Jammu and Kashmir has undergone several changes that could impact the assembly polls - namely delimitation.
• To put it simply, delimitation is a process of redrawing the boundaries of electoral constituencies. After the abrogation of Section 370, the splitting of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two separate union territories, required a delimitation process to be carried out.
• In order to reorganise the state into a union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the boundaries of constituencies would change.
• Delimitation Process in Jammu and Kashmir
  • Legal Framework: The delimitation process in Jammu and Kashmir was conducted under the Delimitation Act, 2002, and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019.
  • Delimitation Commission: Formed in March 2020, the commission was led by retired Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, with Sushil Chandra (former Chief Election Commissioner) and K.K. Sharma (State Election Commissioner of Jammu and Kashmir) as members.
  • Final Report: The commission's final report was presented on May 5, 2022. It proposed increasing the number of assembly constituencies from 87 to 90, with 47 constituencies in Kashmir and 43 in Jammu. It also added one seat in Kashmir and six more in Jammu.
  • Considerations: The commission took into account the region's cultural and geographical diversity while reorganizing constituencies. The final order was implemented on May 20, 2022.
• Constituency Changes: The reorganization has led to renaming several constituencies and shifting tehsils to new assembly constituencies. For example, Tangmarg was renamed Gulmarg, and Zoonimar was renamed Zaidibal.
• Reservation of Seats: There are 18 assembly constituencies within each parliamentary constituency, with nine reserved for Scheduled Tribes and seven for Scheduled Castes.

The Government has launched a digital geo-spatial platform, Krishi-Decision Support System (DSS), which will share real-time data-driven insights on weather patterns, soil conditions, crop health, crop acreage and advisories with all stakeholders — such as farmers, experts and policymakers.

What is Krishi-Decision Support System (DSS)?

• Krishi-DSS was a first-of-its-kind geospatial platform specifically designed for Indian agriculture.
• The platform provides seamless access to comprehensive data, including satellite images, weather information, reservoir storage, groundwater levels and soil health information, which can be easily accessed from anywhere at any time.
• Application:Krishi-DSS includes several advanced modules designed to support comprehensive agricultural management.
  • Crop Management:With crop mapping and monitoring, cropping patterns will be understood by analysing parcel-level crop maps over the different years. This information helps in understanding crop rotation practices and promotes sustainable agriculture by encouraging the cultivation of diverse crops.
  • Drought and Flood Monitoring: It provides near real-time information on soil moisture, water storage, and other critical indicators.
  • Policy Support: It helps inform agricultural policies and disaster response strategies.

China will impose export controls on some antimony products (including ore, ingots and oxide), citing national security, adding to measures imposed by Beijing since last year to curb shipments of strategic minerals.

What is Antimony?

• Antimony is a shiny grey metalloid with a variety of industrial uses. It has been known since ancient times and was historically used in medicine and cosmetics.
• Applications:
  • Flame Retardants: Antimony is predominantly used in flame retardants, accounting for around half of its global usage in 2023. These retardants are crucial in preventing or slowing the spread of fire in materials such as textiles and plastics.
  • Photovoltaic Glass: About 20% of antimony is used to make photovoltaic glass, which enhances the efficiency of solar cells.
  • Lead-Acid Batteries: Antimony is used in the manufacturing of lead-acid batteries, contributing to their performance and longevity.
  • Military Equipment: Antimony is used in various military applications, including infrared missiles, nuclear weapons, night vision goggles, and as a hardening agent for bullets and tanks.
• Global Production:
  • China: Dominates the production of antimony, accounting for 48% of global mine production in 2023 and is the largest producer of processed antimony products, including antimony trioxide (ATO).
  • Tajikistan: The second-largest producer, contributing 25% to global production.
• National Security: Antimony's use in military equipment and its role as a critical material in various advanced technologies have made it increasingly strategic.

Haryana has tagged 24,353 hectares of Aravali land in five of its districts - Gurgaon, Nuh, Rewari, Mahendergarh and CharkhiDadri - as protected forest, under the compensatory afforestation swap meant to make up for the destruction of tropical rainforests in Great Nicobar.

About Aravali Ranges

• The Aravali Ranges are a major mountain range in western India, stretching across the states of Rajasthan, Haryana (southwestern parts), and Gujarat.
• Length: Approximately 800 km (500 miles) in length.
• The Aravalis are one of the oldest mountain ranges in India, formed around 2.5 billion years ago.
• Type: They are primarily composed of ancient metamorphic rocks including granite, gneiss, and quartzite.
• Key Peaks: Guru Shikhar is the highest peak in the range, located in the Sirohi district of Rajasthan, with an elevation of 1,722 meters (5,650 feet).
• Haryana is home to around 1 lakh hectares of the Aravalis. Of this, 45,000 hectares of the hills are notified under Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) and the Aravali Plantation, giving them legal cover from non-forest activities.
  • The remaining 55,000 hectares were never recorded or notified as forests.

Indian Space Research Organisation recently achieved a significant milestone with the successful launch of its third and final developmental flight, the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle-D3 (SSLV-D3). The mission involved deploying the Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-08) and the SR-O DEMOSAT satellites into their designated orbits.

About SSLV-D3-EOS-08 mission

• The objectives of the SSLV-D3-EOS-08 mission include designing and developing a microsatellite and creating payload instruments compatible with the microsatellite bus
• Built on the Microsat/IMS-1 bus, EOS-08 carries three payloads
  • Electro Optical Infrared Payload (EOIR): Captures images in the Mid-Wave Infrared (MIR) and Long-Wave Infrared (LWIR) bands. Applications include satellite-based surveillance, disaster monitoring, environmental monitoring, and industrial disaster management.
  • Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflectometry Payload (GNSS-R): Demonstrates GNSS-R-based remote sensing for ocean surface wind analysis, soil moisture assessment, cryosphere studies, flood detection, and inland waterbody detection.
  • SiC UV Dosimeter: Monitors UV irradiance and serves as a high-dose alarm sensor for gamma radiation, relevant to the Gaganyaan Mission.

Recently, Elon Musk hosted a live audio interview with former US President and Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump on the social media platform X. The event faced a 40-minute delay and technical issues, which Musk attributed to a “massive DDoS attack” on the platform.

About DoS and DDoS Attacks:

• Denial-of-Service (DoS) Attack: A DoS attack targets a website or online service to make it unavailable by overwhelming it with excessive requests or data. It floods the target server with a high volume of traffic, which can slow down or halt its functionality, making it inaccessible to legitimate users.
• Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Attack: A DDoS attack involves multiple systems working together to launch a coordinated attack on a single target. It utilizes a network of compromised computers (botnets) to generate traffic or requests from multiple sources, complicating the process of identifying and stopping the attack.
• Types of Attacks:
  • Smurf Attack: Involves sending ICMP packets with a spoofed IP address, causing the target system to flood itself with responses.
  • SYN Flood: Exploits the TCP handshake process by sending incomplete connection requests, overloading the server with half-open connections.
• Signs and Mitigation:

• • Signs: Slowed internet speeds, difficulty accessing services, and overall system unresponsiveness.
  • Mitigation: Firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and network monitoring tools can help identify and mitigate DoS/DDoS attacks by filtering malicious traffic and ensuring the availability of online services.

Pakistan has confirmed at least one case of the mpox virus, a day after Sweden confirmed an infection with a more easily spread and deadlier variant linked to a recent outbreak in Africa.

WHO declares an International Emergency

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the recent outbreak of MPox, a public health emergency of international concern.
  • This move follows the identification of a new strain of the virus and recent confirmations of an infection in Sweden, which is linked to the growing outbreak in Africa.The majority of the affected individuals are children.
  • This is the second alert. In 2022, a different form of the mpox virus – clade IIb – spread globally, largely through sexual contact among men who have sex with men.
• Symptoms: Mpox, caused by the monkeypox virus, presents symptoms that include a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes, and fever, headache, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes and can result in severe illness for some patients. In rare cases, the infection can be deadly.
• Contagious Period: The affected individuals can spread the virus from the onset of symptoms until the rash has fully healed and new skin has formed.
• Duration of Mpox Symptoms: Symptoms typically start within 21 days of exposure to the virus.
• Incubation Period ranges from 3 to 17 days. During this period, individuals may feel fine and show no symptoms.
• Transmission:
  • Direct skin-to-skin contact
  • Contact with saliva or upper respiratory secretions (snot, mucus)
  • Bodily fluids or lesions around the genitals
  • Prolonged face-to-face interactions (talking or breathing)
  • Contact with contaminated objects, fabrics, and surfaces
  • Pregnant women can pass the virus to the fetus during pregnancy or to newborns during and after birth
• Vaccination: Smallpox vaccines can protect due to the relatedness of Mpox and smallpox viruses (both are orthopoxviruses).

The Right to Education (RTE) Act, which mandates free and compulsory education for children, has faced implementation challenges. Recent developments highlight how state governments, like Maharashtra, have attempted to bypass RTE provisions, such as the reservation of seats for economically weaker sections (EWS) in private schools, leading to legal and policy disputes.

Implementation Challenges

• Maharashtra’s Order: The Maharashtra government issued a directive exempting private schools from reserving 25% of seats for poor children if a government school is within one kilometer. This decision was challenged in court.
• Arguments Against RTE Provisions: The Maharashtra government argued that duplicating resources between government and private schools is inefficient. They claimed that the RTE is not an absolute right, which undermines its legislative intent.
• Legal Repercussions: The Bombay High Court upheld the RTE's provisions, countering the state's attempt to dilute the law. This ruling may influence other states to reconsider their implementation strategies.

Historical and Pedagogic Context

• Historical Perspective: The RTE Act, passed in 2010, represented a significant milestone in Indian social policy, mandating the inclusion of children from diverse socio-economic backgrounds in private schools.
• Resistance from Private Schools: Many private schools resisted the EWS reservation, viewing it as an intrusion. They proposed various alternatives, such as separate classes for EWS children, which the RTE did not permit.
• Pedagogic Vision: The RTE was designed to enhance classroom diversity and learning experiences. However, many private institutions failed to embrace this vision, leading to implementation gaps.

Systemic Issues and Future Prospects

• Weak Implementation: Despite the RTE’s intent, progress has been hindered by inadequate teacher training and declining interest in the act’s provisions. This has led to a disconnect between the policy's goals and its real-world impact.
• State-Specific Variations: States like Karnataka and Punjab have implemented their own restrictive measures, complicating the RTE's execution. For example, Punjab requires parents to first seek admission in government schools before applying for EWS quotas in private schools.
• Need for Reform: Addressing these issues requires a reassessment of RTE’s implementation strategies and stronger enforcement mechanisms to ensure that the act’s provisions are fully realized.

Mains Question

Q. Evaluate the implementation challenges of the Right to Education (RTE) Act in India, focusing on state-level deviations and their impact on the Act’s objectives. Discuss potential reforms needed to ensure the effective realization of RTE’s provisions.

The lack of Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) officers involved in framing the 2024 Budget, highlights a broader issue of underrepresentation. The Finance Minister's response, pointing to similar disparities in charitable trusts, shifted the focus to political countercharges. The underlying issue, however, is the dominance of upper-caste officers in senior civil service positions.

Current Representation Issues

• Low SC/ST Representation: Data shows that SC/ST officers hold only 4% of Secretary and Joint Secretary positions in central ministries. This indicates a significant underrepresentation at high policy-making levels.
• Limited Career Advancement: SC/ST and other reserved category candidates face challenges advancing to senior positions due to age limits for civil service exams and the impact of early retirement. This hampers their ability to reach top levels in government.
• Impact of Retirement Policies: Existing retirement policies disadvantage late entrants, who are often from SC/ST backgrounds. These policies contribute to the slow progress of reserved category officers in reaching senior ranks.

Proposed Solutions for Increased Representation

• Revised Retirement Age: A suggested reform includes implementing a fixed tenure for civil service officers, regardless of their entry age. This could help SC/ST and OBC officers reach senior positions more effectively.
• Flexible Retirement Age: Adjusting retirement age limits could accommodate longer careers for all officers, allowing more time to reach senior levels. Suggested changes include lowering the upper age limit to ensure earlier retirements.
• Committee for Review: Establishing an independent committee with diverse representation to evaluate retirement policies and their impact on social justice in civil services. This committee could propose more inclusive reforms.

Addressing Systemic Issues

• Efficiency Over Age: Emphasis should shift from the age of entry to the efficiency and performance of civil servants. This would ensure that officers are assessed on their contributions rather than the age at which they joined.
• Focus on Social Justice: Reforming retirement policies to create a more equitable environment in civil services could enhance social justice. This includes ensuring reserved category officers have fair opportunities to ascend to senior positions.
• Political and Administrative Balance: Addressing the imbalance in senior civil service roles requires both political will and administrative changes. Effective policy reforms should be pursued to ensure better representation and equity.

Mains Question

Q. What are the challenges faced by SC/ST officers in advancing to senior positions in the Indian civil services? Suggest measures for improving representation and social justice in the bureaucracy.

The Economic Survey preceding the Union Budget has suggested excluding food prices from the inflation target that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is mandated to control. This proposal, aiming to target 'core' inflation rather than 'headline' inflation, has significant implications given the recent inflationary trends and current policy challenges.

Current Food Price Inflation

• High Food Inflation: Food price inflation in India has recently reached nearly 10%, significantly above historical averages. This trend has persisted since 2019, suggesting domestic factors beyond global events like the COVID-19 pandemic and Ukraine war.
• Impact on Overall Inflation: Food inflation contributes heavily to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), leading to higher overall inflation rates. The share of food in the CPI in India is about 50%, making food prices a crucial component in assessing inflation.
• Persistent Food Inflation Issue: Historical data shows that food price inflation has been consistently high over the past decade. The notion that food price fluctuations are 'transitory' does not align with the persistent nature of food inflation in India.

Challenges of Targeting Core Inflation

• Past Performance of RBI: The RBI has struggled to meet the 4% inflation target over the past five years. This difficulty is evident in both developed and developing economies, where central banks have faced challenges in controlling inflation.
• Core vs. Headline Inflation: Core inflation, which excludes food prices, has also been difficult for the RBI to manage. Past data shows core inflation has only briefly been within the 4% target, highlighting the challenges of this approach.
• Food Prices Affecting Core Inflation: Food prices influence core inflation through their impact on wages and production costs. Thus, focusing solely on core inflation might not effectively control overall inflation.

Policy Implications and Recommendations

• Ineffectiveness of Excluding Food Prices: Removing food prices from the inflation target does not address the root causes of inflation. It risks neglecting a significant factor affecting the majority of the population.
• Need for Comprehensive Agricultural Policies: Addressing inflation effectively requires enhancing agricultural productivity and managing food supply costs. This approach is crucial for stabilizing food prices and controlling overall inflation.
• Financial and Welfare Concerns: Reliance on income transfers to offset rising food prices can strain the budget and limit resources for other public goods. A holistic approach to controlling all aspects of inflation is necessary.

Mains Question

Q. Discuss the implications of excluding food prices from the inflation target in the context of India’s inflation control policy. Evaluate whether such a shift would address the challenges faced by the Reserve Bank of India in managing inflation.