01 03 20 · 2020-03-01 · highlights . context ... authority of india (cza), new delhi and council...

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SL. NO. TOPICS

THE HINDU PAGE NO.

1 Bringing cheetahs will be a big challenge 08

2 Presence of colistin-resistant bacteria of food origin in the gut is cause for worry 15

3 Astronomers discover 17 new planets and Habitable planet 12 & 15

4 All benefits reaching right persons: PM 10

5 US strikes a deal with Taliban to end 18-year long Afghan war 01

Dated:01-Mar-2020 DNS Notes

Title 1. Bringing cheetahs will be a big challenge(The Hindu – Pg. 08)

Syllabus Prelims: Environment & Ecology Mains: GS Paper III – Environment & Ecology

Theme Conservation of Endangered species

Highlights Context • Recently the Supreme Court cleared the way for Cheetah Reintroduction in India. • The plan is to introduce African Cheetahs in Kuno-Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary under the

aegis of NTCA. • Ever since plan of reintroduction is debated across the policy circles including the recent

COP13 of CMS held in Gujarat. • Now a scientist from Lacones has highlighted the challenges likely to be faced.

Challenges Habitat Loss

• One of the main reasons for extinction of Cheetah is habitat loss apart from recreation hunting.

• In addition the land use change for agriculture has also led to degradation of grasslands posing a challenge to Cheetah reintroduction.

• This is because Cheetahs are antelope hunters and antelopes are adapted to dry conditions like grasslands.

Lack of Action Plan • For reintroduction we need to adopt an action plan and introduce necessary provisions

under the Wildlife Protection Act. • Otherwise it would have an adverse impact on the interests of other species

Lacones • Short for Laboratory for Conservation of Endangered Species • Promotes excellence in conservation biotechnology and serve for conservation of

endangered wildlife in India. • Promotes both in-situ and ex-situ conservation techniques. • Supported by Dept. of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt. of India, New Delhi, Central Zoo

Authority of India (CZA), New Delhi and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi and Government of Andhra Pradesh

Achievements of LaCONES: • Detection of certain parasitic, bacterial and viral diseases in endangered animals from

different zoological parks and wildlife sanctuaries in India using DNA-based methods. • DNA banking of more than 250 species of mammals, birds and reptiles in India. • Estimation of population, identification of sexes and documentation of their population

structure in tigers using non-invasive DNA based technique. • One of the successful efforts of Lacones has been the reintroduction of mouse deer in

the wild with its captive breeding programme in collaboration with the Nehru Zoological Park here.

• Recently in August 2018 India’s 1st wildlife genebank was established under Lacones. • The National Wildlife Genetic Resource Bank will preserve germplasm of 23 species

including red panda, pygmy hog, Asiatic lion and gharials. • It is one of the few frozen zoos in the world where a repository of germ plasm is stored

for possible future use.


Personal Notes

Dated:01-Mar-2020 DNS Notes Title 2. Presence of colistin-resistant bacteria of food origin in the gut is cause for worry(The Hindu Pg.

No.15) Syllabus Prelims: S&T

Mains: GS Paper III –S&T Theme Anti-Biotic resistance Highlights Context

• Accordingly to new study the origin and spread of colistin resistant bacteria in human gut is majorly on account of poultry.

In focus: Colistin-Resistant bacteria What is Colistin?

• Colistin is a last-resort anti-biotic that is commonly used for treating gram negative infections in humans like Pneumonia, meningitis and other infections caused by E.coli etc

• Besides Colistin use is rampant in poultry where it is used as growth promoter and for disease prevention. (tylosin is another antibiotic used as growth promoter)

Colistin-Resistance in Bacteria • Recently it has been found that bacterial strain Klebsiella pneumonia that lives in

human gut has developed resistance to colistin. • The origin of colistin-resistance in human gut bacteria include

1. Hospital 2. Food

• Poultry consumption • Vegetables: This is because poultry litter is used as manure for growing

vegetables. How resistance is spread?

• The mutation in the mgrB gene confers colistin resistance to Klebsiella bacteria. • Besides in 3% of the cases colistin-resistance in Klebsiella bacteria is due to mutation in

mcr gene. Significance of the study

• So far it was believed that the only colistin resistance spread from food to human gut bacteria was through mcr gene transfer.

• Now the study has shown that in majority of the cases the colistin-resistance was due to consumption of food.

• This shows that mgrB gene mutation also spreads from food to human Klebsiella bacteria


Personal Notes

Dated:01-Mar-2020 DNS Notes Title 3. Astronomers discover 17 new planets Pg 12 and Habitable planet Pg 15 Syllabus Prelims: S&T

Mains: GS PaperIII – S&T Theme Space Exploration Highlights

News Summary • Astronomers have discovered 17 new planets out of which 1 is a potentially habitable

one based on data gathered by Kepler Space Telescope. • Besides Scientists are also studying the exoplanet K2-18b a super earth that was

discovered by Kepler mission. About Kepler Mission

• Kepler mission was launched by NASA in March 2009 in order to search for Earth-like planets around the Milky Way galaxy.

• The main aim of Kepler was to find if Earth-like planets that might harbour life are common or rare in other star systems.

• The significant achievement of Kepler is that it discovered more than 2,600 exoplanets which are planets outside our solar system.

• Kepler has revealed that there are about 50 planets that that may be about the same size and temperature as Earth.

• Recently in 2018 Keppler Mission retired. Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)

• Successor of Kepler Mission • 2-year mission in search of exoplanets

About Exoplanets • Planets outside our solar system are called exoplanets. • Most exoplanets are part of star systems. • According to NASA there are 3449 confirmed exoplanets from among 4,669 candidates

in 2,577 solar systems. • The search for exoplanets is also the search for alien life and habitable spaces beyond

our star system. • NASA’s Kepler and K2 missions have identified several such candidates. • In order to be considered habitable exoplanets must orbit within a distance of their

stars in which liquid water can exist on the planet’s surface. • This distance is called the “Goldilocks” zone.

Major achievements of Kepler mission • Kepler observed more that 150000 stars mainly in the Cygnus and Lyra constellations

in the Milky way in search of planets. • The first five planetary discoveries, named Kepler4b, 5b, 6b, 7b and 8b were gas giants

similar to Jupiter. • Kepler-10b was the first rocky planet to be discovered. • The most significant discovery was Kepler-22b which is the first planet found in the

“habitable zone”. • Earth-like exoplanets of ‘super earths” discovered by Kepler are Kepler-62e, and -62f. • The first Earth-size planet, Kepler-186f in the habitable zone was discovered in 2014. • Kepler’s K2 mission launched in 2104 also revealed great details about TRAPPIST-1

system – home to seven Earth-size planets.

Dated:01-Mar-2020 DNS Notes Title 4. All benefits reaching right persons: PM(The Hindu Pg. No. 10) Syllabus Prelims: Economy

Mains: GS Paper III – Indian Economy Theme Farmer Producer Organisation Highlights

Context – PM launched 10,000 FPOs across the country to help double farmer’s income. What is Farmers Producer Organisation (FPO)? A Producer Organisation (PO) is a legal entity formed by primary producers such as farmers, milk producers, fishermen, weavers, rural artisans, craftsmen etc. It can be in the form of Producer Company, a cooperative society or any other legal form which provides for sharing of profits/benefits among the members. It is to be noted that PO is a generic name for an organization of producers of any produce, for example, agricultural, non-farm products, artisan products, etc. On the other hand, FPO is a type of PO where the members are farmers. The FPOs can be registered as Cooperatives (under Cooperative Societies Act of the respective State), Farmer Producer Company (Under Companies Act, 2013) or Societies (under Society Registration Act, 1860). Let us understand some of the essential features of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs). First, it is formed by a group of farmers who act as shareholders in the organisation. Second, it is a registered legal entity in the form of Cooperatives, Famer Producer companies (FPCs) or Societies. Third, it works for the benefit of the farmers and deals with various business activities related to agriculture such as procurement of agricultural inputs, marketing of agricultural commodities etc. Fourth, a certain part of the profits of the organisation is shared among the farmers and rest of the funds is used for business expansion of the organisation. How are Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) different from Cooperatives? Any organisation that seeks to promote the interests of the small and marginal farmers should lay down main emphasis on the welfare of its members. It should be professionally managed, adopt best practices and free from political interference. In this regard, the farmer producer companies (FPCs) are considered to be much better than farmer cooperatives. Some of the salient features that provide the FPCs a competitive edge are: First, the FPC is a hybrid between a cooperative and a private limited company. It combines cooperative values of mutual benefit and a professional style of functioning. It is seen as the most appropriate organizational form to address the issues of market linkages and small land holdings. It breaks the FPCs free of the welfare-oriented, inefficient, and corruption-ridden image of cooperatives. Second, the cooperatives are registered under the Cooperative Societies Act and hence Registrar of Cooperatives and the Government hold veto power over the decisions of the cooperative society. This gives scope for political interference by the Government leading to bureaucratic delays and inefficiencies. On the other hand, the FPCs are registered under the Companies Act and only those members having transactions with


the company can vote. Thus, the FPCs rule out political interference and it leads to efficient management of the company. Third, the FPCs allow registered and non-registered groups such as self-help groups (SHGs) to become members in a FPC. This enabling provision is a distinct improvement over the cooperatives, which allows only individual producers to be members. Fourth, the FPCs allow only those people who are engaged in an activity connected with or related to primary produce to be enrolled as members of FPC. This ensures that outsiders do not capture the control of the company. Fifth, the FPCs can appoint professionals to its Board of Directors. This enables the small and marginal farmers to avail professional management inputs and at the same time retain control of the FPC. Finally, unlike the cooperatives, FPCs have stronger regulation which demands regular disclosure and reporting. This empowers the farmers to demand operational and fiscal discipline and thus promote greater accountability of the FPCs. How FPCs benefit small and marginal farmers? It is being said that the FPCs can act as game-changer by benefitting the small and marginal farmers who comprise the majority of the farming community in India. This becomes even more pertinent since the agricultural sector is presently facing distress. The main aim of FPC is to ensure better income for the producers through an organization of their own. Small and marginal farmers do not have the volume individually (both inputs and produce) to get the benefit of economies of scale. Besides, in agricultural marketing, there is a long chain of intermediaries/middlemen leading to the situation where the producer receives only a small part of the value that the ultimate consumer pays. Through collectivisation of small and marginal farmers and aggregation of their produce, the FPCs can avail the benefit of economies of scale. They will also have better bargaining power with respect to the bulk buyers of produce and bulk suppliers of inputs. Further, FPCs enable sharing of services such as knowledge input, production supervision, storage, transportation, etc and hence reduce the transaction costs for the small and marginal farmers. They also create opportunities for farmers to get more involved in value addition activities such as input supply, credit, processing, marketing and distribution. Thus, the FPCs create an interface between the farmer and global market, provide access to capital for farmers, manage risk for farmers through diversification and thus promote economic democracy at the grass root level. Genesis of FPCs in India The co-operative movement in India got fillip through the Anand model or AMUL. However, subsequently, the cooperatives across India failed to live up to the expectation due to multiple challenges such as political interference, exclusion of small and marginal farmers, growing bureaucratisation etc. Accordingly, the Indian Government constituted a High Powered Committee under the leadership of Yogendra Alagh. On the basis of recommendations of this committee, the government amended the Companies Act, 1956 in 2012-13 to provide for "Producer Companies" in India. Presently, around 5000 FPOs (including FPCs) are in existence in the country, which


were formed under various initiatives of the Govt. of India, State Governments, NABARD and other organizations over the last 8-10 years. Of these, around 3200 FPOs are registered as Producer Companies and the remaining as Cooperatives or Societies. Majority of these FPOs are in the nascent stage of their operations with shareholder membership ranging from 100 to over 1000 farmers and require not only technical handholding support but also adequate capital and infrastructure facilities including market linkages for sustaining their business operations. In this regard, the Government has announced various initiatives for the promotion of FPCs in India. Let us have a look at some of the important initiatives. Initiatives for the Promotion of FPOs in India The SFAC is the nodal agency at the national level for the creation of FPOs. The SFAC operates a Credit Guarantee Fund to mitigate credit risks of financial institutions which lend to the FPCs without collateral. This helps the FPCs to access credit from financial institutions for establishing and operating businesses. Further, SFAC also provides matching equity grant up to Rs. 10 lakh to double the share capital of FPCs. NABARD also provides financial support to the FPOs through two dedicated funds. It has created “Producers Organization Development Fund (PODF)” in 2011, to support the FPOs through credit facilitation, capacity building and market linkage support. Further, the Government of India has set up PRODUCE Fund (Producers’ Organization Development and Upliftment Corpus) under the NABARD in 2014-15 for building of 2000 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) in the country. The aim of the PRODUCE Fund is to promote new FPOs and support their initial financial requirements, to make them credit worthy, commercially vibrant and sustainable business enterprise of farmers. Challenges and Issues in Building Robust FPCs The FPCs have so far played a positive role in the Indian agriculture in terms of increasing the income of the farmers throughinformed decision making, improved access to inputs and agro-services, institutional credit, marketing facilities and enhanced efficiency in the farming operations. However, there are certain challenges and policy gaps in building and nurturing FPCs. Lack of Professional Management of FPCs As discussed before, the FPCs have been allowed to appoint professional experts to the Board of directors in order to efficiently manage their operations. However, such trained manpower is presently not available in the rural areas to manage FPO business professionally. Poor Financial Resources FPCs are mostly owned by Small and Marginal Farmers with poor resource base and hence they are not financially strong enough to support the members. This reduces the ability of the FPCs to cater to the needs of the farmers such as access to inputs and market. Inadequate Access to credit Lack of access to affordable credit is one of the major constraints of the FPCs. It has been observed that banks and financial institutions tend to refuse to lend to FPCs due


to disaggregated land holdings and lack of collateral. Small and marginal farmers, who may not hold formal land titles, are unable to access institutionalised credit. Further, the credit guarantee cover being offered by SFAC for collateral free lending is available only to Producer Companies having minimum 500 shareholders. Hence, the small sized FPCs are unable to access this benefit. Due to this, a large number of small sized FPCs have failed to take off. Inadequate Access to Infrastructure The FPCs have inadequate access to basic infrastructure required for aggregation like transport facilities, storage, value addition (cleaning, grading, sorting, etc.) and processing, brand building and marketing. Lack of technical Skills/ Awareness Presently, there is lack of awareness among the farmers about the potential benefits of joining FPCs. Further, most of the farmers are not aware about the legal and technical knowledge about various acts and regulations related to formation of FPCs. Way Forward Thus, as discussed, the FPCs can indeed emerge as game changer in order to alleviate the present agrarian distress. However, the Government and all the stakeholders need to create a right ecosystem in order to nurture and develop the FPCs. The promotion of FPCs should not to be seen as a one-time exercise. Though there is sufficient focus on providing financial assistance to FPCs, there is limited hand-holding subsequent to their formation. After mobilisation of farmers into FPC, there is very little support in marketing, value addition etc. In this regard, the Government must provide for sustained and continuous support until the time the FPCs become financially viable and independent. The overall development of FPCs is inextricably linked to reforms in the agricultural marketing. In this regard, states must be encouraged to reform their APMC acts so as to create a single, unified domestic market for the agricultural produce. The FPCs should be given direct market access by establishing a platform to link all the FPCs with the e-NAM. Further, in order to give further boost to FPCs, the government must provide for appropriate provision in the food grain procurement policy requiring procurement of agricultural commodities directly through FPCs under MSP scheme. In order to improve the governance of FPCs, Agricultural Universities should introduce special courses on FPO promotion and agribusiness management, with focus on rural youths including women. Thus, as discussed, the FPCs hold immense potential to alleviate the agrarian distress and pull out a large number of small and marginal farmers out of poverty. The FPCs can also build social capital and promote economic democracy at the grassroots level. The success of FPCs may in turn lead to “Second Green Revolution” in the Indian Agriculture and bring about rural transformation.

Dated:01-Mar-2020 DNS Notes Title 5. US strikes a deal with Taliban to end 18-year long Afghan war (The Hindu Pg. No. 01) Syllabus Mains: GS Paper II – International Relations Theme Neighbourhood Highlights Context

• In a much-anticipated move, the US has finally signed the peace deal with Taliban

paving the way for withdrawal of US troops and beginning of an intra-Afghan peace process.

Background

• Start of talk with Taliban – Mid-2018 (in line with President Trump's agenda to withdraw troops from Afghanistan).

• 9th round in Qatar in August 2019 close to signing the deal. • In September 2019, the US President Donald Trump abruptly called off ‘peace’ talks

with the Taliban citing the killing of an American soldier in a suicide bomb attack for which the Taliban claimed credit.

About the Draft Agreement: • Withdrawal of around 5,400 out of nearly 14,000 U.S. troops from five Afghan bases in

135 days • Intra-Afghan talks • Enemies of the US i.e. namely Daesh/ISIS and Al Qaeda will not be allowed to set up

base in Afghanistan. Concern for India: Threat to regional security

• Giving legitimacy to Taliban will lead to further radicalization of the region. • Taliban leadership in Pakistan and deep state of Pakistan will accelerate efforts to

talibanise the Gilgit-Baltistan and Mirpur-Muzzaffarabad region. • Besides the Pakistan-based terrorist groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jamaat-ud-Dawa,

and Jaish-e-Mohammed will start filling up empty spaces in Afghanistan. • India is a part of number of development projects in Afghanistan which will threat

from terrorist groups including the Haqqani network, Al Qaeda, Islamic State. India’s stand

• The peace process has to be Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled. • Afghanistan should build national consensus for talks with the Taliban. • India was among the countries that had refused to recognise the Taliban regime of

1996-2001, as Taliban’s growth in Afghanistan was being driven by deep state in Pakistan

• India was among the countries that had refused to recognise the Taliban regime of 1996-2001, as Taliban’s growth in Afghanistan was being driven by Pakistan’s army and the ISI.

• India’s stand has been that the peace process has to ‘Afghan-led, Afghan-controlled and Afghan-owned’.

• All initiatives and processes must include all sections of the Afghan society, including the legitimately elected government.

• Any process should respect the constitutional legacy and political mandate. • Establishment of democratic process with respect for human rights, including women’s

rights. • The peace process should not leave any ungoverned spaces where terrorists and their

proxies can relocate. Why Afghanistan is important to India?

• Regional Balance of Power: Afghanistan is tied to India’s vision of being a regional leader and a great power, coupled with its competition with China over resources and its need to counter Pakistani influence.


• India’s ability to mentor a nascent democracy will go a long way to demonstrate to the world that India is indeed a major power, especially a responsible one.

• India’s interest in Afghanistan relates to its need to reduce Pakistani influence in the region.

• Energy Security : The pipeline project TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India), which seeks to connect an energy-rich Central to South Asia, will only see the light of the day if stability is established in Afghanistan

• Strategic Location: For access to the landlocked Central Asian countries that border Afghanistan.

• Natural Resources: The country is home to resource deposits worth one trillion dollars, according to the US Geological Survey.

• Regional Security: A stable Afghanistan is important for regional security in South Asia

01 03 20 · 2020-03-01 · highlights . context ... authority of india (cza), new delhi and council...

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