Important topics and their relevance in UPSC CSE exam for February 12, 2024. If you missed the February 9, 2024 UPSC CSE exam key from the Indian Express, read it here

FRONT PAGE

30 held for Haldwani violence, some people flee affected area

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies IV: Case Studies on above issues.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Uttarakhand Police on Sunday said 30 people were arrested, including 25 in the last 24 hours, in connection with Thursday’s violence in Nainital district’s Haldwani city that left five people dead and dozens injured. Several country-made weapons and live rounds were recovered from those arrested, police said.

• Why Violence had erupted in Haldwani?

• What is Nazool land?

• How did Nazool land emerge?

• How does the government use Nazool land?

• How is Nazool land governed?

• Is the Halwani land where the demolition drive took place registered as Nazool land?

• For Your Information-Nazool land is owned by the government but most often not directly administered as state property. The state generally allots such land to any entity on lease for a fixed period, generally between 15 and 99 years. In case the lease term is expiring, one can approach the authority to renew the lease by submitting a written application to the Revenue Department of the local development authority. The government is free to either renew the lease or cancel it — taking back Nazool land.

In almost all major cities of India, Nazool land has been allotted to different entities for a variety of different purposes. During British rule, kings and kingdoms which opposed the British frequently revolted against them, leading to several battles between them and the British Army. Upon defeating these kings in battle, the British would often take their land away from them. After India got Independence, the British vacated these lands. But with kings and royals often lacking proper documentation to prove prior ownership, these lands were marked as Nazool land — to be owned by the respective state governments.

The government generally uses Nazool land for public purposes like building schools, hospitals, Gram Panchayat buildings, etc. Several cities in India have also seen large tracts of land denoted as Nazool land used for housing societies, generally on lease. Very often, the state does not directly administer Nazool land, but rather leases it to different entities. While several states have brought in government orders for the purpose of framing rules for Nazool land, The Nazool Lands (Transfer) Rules, 1956 is the law mostly used for Nazool land adjudication.

As per the Haldwani district administration, the property where the two structures are situated is registered as the Nagar Nigam’s (Municipal Council’s) Nazool land. The administration says that for the last 15-20 days, a demolition drive has been underway in connection with Nagar Nigam properties to free roads from traffic congestion.

• What is Encroachment?

• What is urban encroachment?

• What is encroachment under IPC?

• To remove illegal Encroachments: What’s the procedure for doing so?

• What is riot and violence?

• Riot and Violence-Compare

• Haldwani Violence is a Communal Violence?

• How administration handled the situation?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Haldwani violence: what is Nazool land

????From failed negotiations to ‘stones raining down’, what happened before, during Haldwani violence

Talks with farmers today, Centre going with an open mind: Agriculture Minister

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Main Examination: General Studies III: Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- As Punjab farmer unions, who have called for a protest march to Delhi on Tuesday, announced they would wait for word on the outcome of talks Monday over their demands, Union Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda said Sunday that the Centre is always ready to talk with an “open mind”.

• Why farmers are protesting now?

• What do they want?

• ‘Legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for all the crops’-Comment

• MSP (minimum support price) and effectiveness of MSP implementation-discuss

• Which are the Crops Covered under MSP?

• How MSP is calculated (paid out costs, labour etc.) and Crops covered under the MSP

• The Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP)-Know in Detail

• The Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP) and Minimum support prices (MSP)-Connect the dots

• How Government fix MSPs of crops before every planting season?

• What are the demands by Farmers in the context of MSP in the recent scenario?

• “Right to MSP”-is it possible to implement and if not, then what are the issues and Challenges?

• Kharif, Rabi crops, MSP and Doubling Farmers Income-How they are interconnected?

• Recommendation of Ashok Dalwai Committee and M. S. Swaminathan Committee on MSP-Key highlights

• What do you understand by the term ‘comprehensive cost of production of a crop’?

• Demand for legal guarantee for MSP-Pros and Cons

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Explained: What is minimum support price (MSP), and how is it fixed?

????The 360° UPSC Debate | Should Minimum Support Prices Be Made A Legal Right?

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

????Which of the following factors/policies were affecting the price of rice in India in the recent past? (UPSC GS1, 2020) (1) Minimum Support Price (2) Government’s trading (3) Government’s stockpiling (4) Consumer subsidies Select the correct answer using the code given below: (a) 1, 2 and 4 only (b) 1, 3 and 4 only (c) 2 and 3 only (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4 ????In India, which of the following can be considered as public investment in agriculture? (UPSC GS1, 2020) (1) Fixing Minimum Support Price for agricultural produce of all crops (2) Computerization of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (3) Social Capital development (4) Free electricity supply to farmers (5) Waiver of agricultural loans by the banking system (6) Setting up of cold storage facilities by the governments. In India, which of the following can be considered as public investment in agriculture? Select the correct answer using the code given below: (a) 1, 2 and 5 only (b) 1, 3, 4 and 5 only (c) 2, 3 and 6 only (d) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 ????The Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane is approved by the (UPSC GS1, 2015) (a) Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (b) Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (c) Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, Ministry of Agriculture (d) Agricultural Produce Market Committee

Back with BJP, Nitish to take Bihar floor test today, remove Speaker

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Parliament and State legislatures—structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- More than two weeks after he joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and took oath as Bihar Chief Minister for a ninth time, Nitish Kumar will face a floor test in the Bihar Assembly on Monday.

• What is floor test?

• What is going in Bihar politics-have a brief knowledge about this

• What are the Constitutional Provisions Related to Governor?

• What Article 174(2)(b) of the Constitution says?

• Recent verdict by the Supreme Court on floor test-Know in detail

• What is a floor test?

• Is the floor test and trust vote the same?

• What is the difference between a no-confidence motion and trust vote?

• How Floor test and collective responsibility are interlinked?

• Governor can ask Government to prove majority in floor test-True or False

• A no-confidence motion is a parliamentary motion which is moved in only in the Lok Sabha and not in the Rajya Sabha, State Assemblies or State Council-True or False?

• What Supreme Court said about the ‘floor test’?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Explained: The three pillars of Nitish Kumar’s political-social strategy of survival and success

????What is a floor test?

Verdict split; Nawaz leads push to form coalition govt

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: India and its neighbourhood- relations.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- A day after the PML-N bolstered its parliamentary support by gaining the allegiance of a PTI-backed candidate, five more independent candidates have joined the party, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif posted on X. All the members expressed confidence in Nawaz Sharif’s leadership and announced their decision to join the Muslim League (N), Shehbaz said in the post.

• What is happening in Pakistan?

• Who won the Pakistan election 2024?

• What are key takeaways from Pakistan’s election 2024?

• What are the rules for independents?

• How do National Assembly numbers stack up?

• So what are the PTI-backed independents likely to do?

• For Your Information-First, despite the people of Pakistan turning out in large numbers to vote against the Pakistan Army-backed Sharifs and the Bhutto-Zardaris and casting their “anti-establishment” vote against the Pakistan Army, the establishment has been able to manipulate the outcome in their favour.

Second, the voting and the outcome in the provincial assemblies of Punjab, KPK, Sindh and Balochistan give a window to the outcome. PTI and PMLN have been neck-to-neck in Punjab, which has more voters than the other three provinces put together — 7.32 cr out of 12.85 cr — and 141 of the 266 general seats in the National Assembly. In KPK, Khan’s PTI — which had first time formed the government — has retained its dominance, while PPP has dominated the Sindh. Balochistan has seen a complete fractured outcome, split between PPP, PMLN, PTI, thereby not giving any party a clear mandate. PTI, therefore, has managed to be the major player in the battleground province of Punjab, keep its dominance intact in KPK and marginal presence in Balochistan and Sindh. With this, it has challenged the established parties in their own turf, despite no level playing field — having lost the election symbol, the cricket bat, facing challenges in filing nominations, campaigning.

Third, the fact that neither Sharif or Bhutto-Zardari have the required numbers on their own, and even brought together, they still fall short of the simple majority mark tells you that none of them have the political influence or the strength, like in the past — when PPP had the numbers in 2008, PMLN had the numbers in 2013.

Fourth, the lack of political power centre in the civilian structure, Pakistan Army now has the complete control and levers on each of the political actors. Having learnt their lessons from the past experiences — with Sharif challenging them in 2017-18 and Khan challenging them since last year — Rawalpindi has gotten smarter and doesn’t want to empower any of the civilian political leaders.

• Why is there political unrest in Pakistan?

• How does political unrest in Pakistan affects India?

• Whom does New Delhi talk to in Pakistan?

• The current unrest in Pakistan could present a new challenges to the already strained relationship between India-Pakistan?

• The current unrest in Pakistan can put a damper on hopes for effective regional cooperation and commerce in South Asia-Discuss

• “The unrestrained powers and insatiable avarice of Pakistan’s ‘deep state’ are to blame for the majority of the country’s internal problems and subsequent instability”-How far you agree?

• India-Pakistan Relations-Know the Historical Background

• “A strong, stable and peaceful Pakistan is in India’s interest”-Elucidate

• “Geoeconomics” rather than geostrategy between India and Pakistan-Comment

• What makes peace elusive between India-Pakistan in present scenario?

• Current events shaping India-Pakistan Relations-What are they?

• For Your Information-According to Vivek Katju, the true protagonists in the February 8 national polls in Pakistan were two individuals — Army Chief General Asim Munir and former Prime Minister and founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party, Imran Khan. Munir used all levers of state power from behind the scenes and through other institutions and individuals to try to grind Khan into electoral dust. With results of 250 of the 266 general seats contested in the elections announced so far, it is certain, that he has failed to do so.

Khan, imprisoned since early May last year, convicted in numerous cases which prevented him from both contesting elections or campaigning, was compelled to make his party candidates stand as independents. This was because the Pakistan Election Commission suspended PTI’s symbol. However, despite these steps and also pressures on Khan’s leading colleagues, PTI candidates contesting as independents came through as the single largest group. They secured more seats (declared so far) in the National Assembly (91) than either the Munir favoured party, the Pakistan Muslim League (N) of the Sharifs (71) or the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) of the Bhutto-Zaradaris (53). This indicates that Khan has retained a large measure of his voter base amidst very adverse political circumstances.

As no party has secured a majority, Pakistan is necessarily heading towards a coalition government. To understand the complexities in government formation, it is essential to turn to the Pakistan constitution. It provides for a National Assembly of 342 members of which 242 (elections were held for 235 seats) are to be elected directly. At the same time, 60 seats are reserved for women which are proportionately filled, on a provincial basis, from lists provided by parties. It is mandatory for a party to secure 5 per cent of the vote to be eligible for women’s seats. Ten seats are reserved for minorities on a national basis.

How should these election results be read? Imran Khan once again swept KP. That is not surprising for his Pathan heritage has always resonated with its people. What is interesting is that Imran retained his base in Punjab, politically the country’s most important province. Significantly, the country’s army is largely Punjabi and on May 9 last year, Imran Khan’s supporters attacked army institutions. That had led to a permanent breach between Munir and Khan. In the nine months since, the army has sought to strengthen the narrative that Khan and PTI are unpatriotic while the army is the ultimate guardian of its territorial and ideological integrity. Clearly, the first aspect of the army’s propaganda did not cut any ice with Khan’s supporters but it would be wrong to read this support for Khan as a fatal weakening of the trust that the Pakistani people, on the whole, have for the army as an institution. This is especially so regarding the army’s role in defending the country against its “permanent” threat, India.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Election without winner

????The key question for India: whom does New Delhi talk to

????With Imran’s independents in the lead, what next?

GOVT & POLITICS

PM-SVANidhi boosted annual income of street vendors by `23,000: St

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- A study that evaluated the impact of the PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi), a small working capital loan scheme for street vendors, has found that the first tranche of `10,000 led to an additional annual income of `23,460 for each beneficiary, The Indian Express has learnt.

• What is PM-SVANidhi (PM Street Vendors’ AtmaNirbhar Nidhi)?

• Why PM-SVANidhi (PM Street Vendors’ AtmaNirbhar Nidhi) was launched?

• Who are street vendors in India?

• Street Vendors in India-What data’s and statistics says?

• What are the issues and challenges faced by Street Vendors?

• Do we have any Government’s Initiatives for Street Vendors?

• How PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme for street vendors helped alleviate poverty?

• What are the various challenges that vendors are facing while applying for the loan?

• What is the National Association for street vendors of India?

• For Your Information- PM SVANidhi was launched in 2020 to help street vendors resume their livelihood impacted by the Covid-19 lockdown, by offering them affordable working capital loans. To begin with, a beneficiary can avail `10,000 and, upon its repayment, `20,000. After repaying the second loan, a beneficiary is entitled to apply for a third loan of `50,000. Data on the PM-SVANidhi portal, as seen on Saturday, showed that 60.65 lakh first-term loans, 16.95 lakh second-term loans and 2.43 lakh third-term loans have been disbursed so far under the scheme.

The recent study commissioned by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, was carried out between January and June last year by the Centre for Analytical Finance of the Indian School of Business (ISB). The report will be used by the Ministry for its own assessment of PM SVANidhi and is not likely to be made public, sources said.

The ISB study covered 5,141 vendors across 100 urban local bodies in 22 states, the report said. For 95% of those surveyed, the PM-SVANidhi loan was their first-ever bank loan, while for 72% of them said it was the first business loan, the report said. According to the study, 94% of those beneficiaries who had availed the first loan of Rs 10,000 said they used it to make “business investments”. It was 98% in case of those who had availed the second loan.

The first loan resulted in an additional income of `1,955 per month, or `23,460 in total during the loan’s one-year duration, the report said, adding this was in line with the estimates of marginal returns of small businesses in many parts of the world, it said. In the sample, the study found 13.9% of all the loans disbursed had been classified as non-performing assets (NPAs), meaning no payments had been made for three months and more. The NPAs were the highest during Covid-19 pandemic and declined over time, with only 9% of loans disbursed in 2022 turning into NPA.

The study also found that the debt-to-income (DTI) ratio of the beneficiaries (9%) was lower than what was expected of small businesses, reflecting the “high creditworthiness” of the vendors. The study found that after the launch of PM SVANidhi, there had been no significant improvement in the street vendors getting formal credit from other sources — only 9% of the beneficiaries had loans from other financial institutions.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Explained: How scheme for street vendors will help alleviate poverty

????Explained: What is the PM SVANidhi scheme for street vendors, and why was it launched?

 EXPLAINED

What Charan Singh did for farmers’ welfare

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: 

• General Studies I: Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present significant events, personalities, issues

• General Studies I: Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- “There are officers in the Agriculture Department who cannot distinguish between a barley plant and a wheat plant and those in the [Irrigation] Department who do not know how many waterings and at what time a certain crop required”.

• Personality in News-Charan Singh

• Charan Singh-Know in detail

• ‘There is a reason for his popularity’-know in detail

• Charan Singh-Know his contribution and legacy

• For Your Information-Charan Singh was Union home minister in the Morarji Desai-headed Janata Party government that appointed the Backward Classes Commission under B.P. Mandal in January 1979. Its report submitted in December 1980 led to the announcement of 27% reservations for OBC (other backward classes) communities, in addition to the existing 22.5% for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST), in August 1990.

Although he backed the setting up of the Mandal Commission, Singh insisted that reservations for farmers had nothing to do with caste, which “has had its day” and “must be abolished”. Except in regard to SC/STs, the caste of a candidate “should not be inquired into while seeking admission into an educational institution or public service”.

For Singh, the principal line of division in Indian society was between cultivators and city-dwellers. The latter “lord it over the poor peasantry and…have little sympathy with the troubles of the agriculturalists”. The town-bred non-agriculturalist “calls his poor countryman from the village a ‘dehati’, ‘ganwar’ or ‘dahqani’ in the same contemptuous tone in which a heaven-born European flings…‘native’…[at all] Indians without distinction”. This was despite agriculture employing nearly 70% of India’s workforce and generating 54% of its GDP in 1950-51.

Singh saw reservations as a means “to set right the principle on which privileges of entering government service are enjoyed by one class of town dwellers, businessmen, traders and profession followers over the other class of villagers, peasants…who have so far groaned under the weight of poverty due to lack of opportunities denied to them”.

Singh was struck by a 1961 survey that showed only 11.5% of Indian Administrative Service officers with agricultural family backgrounds and 45.8% having fathers who were government servants. He, therefore, not only proposed 60% reservations for farmers’ children, but also ineligibility for government jobs to those whose parents had already benefitted from public employment.

Reservations, Singh argued, would actually improve efficiency in government departments: The agriculturalist’s son “by reason of the surroundings in which he is brought up, possesses strong nerves, an internal stability, a robustness of spirit and a capacity for administration…Agriculture is a pursuit wherein contention with the forces of nature brings home to the peasant a daily lesson in patience and perseverance, and breeds in him hardihood and an endurance, i.e. a character, denied to the followers of other pursuits…his hands and heart will not tremble in a crisis as those of a soft person from the city”. He would react differently to the farmer whose crop has been destroyed by hailstorm than the normal Tahsildar or Deputy Collector who “fixes a dozen dates for hearing a petty suit of [even Rs 100]”.

• Bharat Ratna for Chaudhary Charan Singh-Why this is significant

• Bharat Ratna -Historical Background

• Bharat Ratna and Padma Awards-Know the Difference

• Is Bharat Ratna given every year?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????THREE RATNAS

ECONOMY

Proposals for industry body rejected, Centre to regulate e-gaming

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The government will act as a regulator for the online gaming sector rather an industry-led self-regulatory organisation (SRO). The ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) will now prepare a framework for permitting and certifying online games which involve money, officials said.

• ‘Earlier, MeitY had proposed an SRO’-Why?

• What was the purpose of self-regulatory organisation (SRO)?

• Why a central-level law for the online gaming sector?

• How have stakeholders reacted to the proposed rules?

• What are the recommendations of the task force?

• Which ministry will be in charge of the regulation?

• Online gaming so far has been a state subject-true or false?

• How big is the online gaming market in India?

• What are the recommendations of the task force?

• Which ministry will be in charge of the regulation?

• What did the task force say about offshore betting apps?

• Games of chance and Games of skill-compare and contrast

• “The distinction between a game of chance and a game of skill has been maintained for over 150 years”-Analyse the statement

• ‘In May 2022, Group of Ministers (GoM) were formed to look into the tax rate on casinos, online gaming and race courses, has arrived at a broad consensus to levy a flat rate of 28 per cent on these services under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime’-But, why 28 percent?

• GST on online gaming-brainstorm the pros and cons

• What is your opinion on this entire issue?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????The online gaming market in India, and proposed rules to regulate it

????Explained: Why online gaming could now attract a higher GST of 28%

????Why online gaming in India needs regulation

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