IMPACT OF NATURAL DISASTERS ON ELDERLY PEOPLE

Chennai Floods has revealed the grim reality of the disaster preparedness in large metropolises. Vulnerable sections of the society are worst affected during such calamities.

Facts 

 According the National Health Profile, released by the health ministry last year, the elderly in India i.e. the population above 60 years comprise 8.6% of the population (103.8 million) and they are also a vulnerable section.

 According to census 2011, 10 per cent of Tamil Nadu’s population is above the age of 60 years- 4, 64,122 people to be specific. By conservative estimates, as many as 5% of older individuals are living alone (urban isolation).

 For this population, the national health policy envisages an effective capacity for routine emergency and, “an army of community members trained as first responder for accidents and disasters.”

 The Health policy envisages a network of emergency care that has an assured provision of life support ambulances linked to trauma management centers- one per 30 lakh population in urban and one for every 10 lakh population in rural areas will form the key to a trauma care policy.

 With no support system, India’s greying population is defenceless against natural calamities.

 Senior citizens are likely to constitute a significant chunk of the total deaths in Chennai Floods.

 Urban isolation leading to helplessness during such disasters

 Number of elderly people were founded stranded during the floods for days without access to relief or rehabilitation

 Inefficient administration- the complete lack of ward-level data on vulnerable populations, such data is vital for any relief and rescue work to be successful

 Lack of institutional capacity to meet the goals for vulnerable population envisaged by the National Health Policy

Way Forward

 The institutional capacity should be increased

 Relief, Rescue and Rehabilitation measures should be at the lightening speed for vulnerable section

 The phenomenon of urban isolation should be addressed by communities and NGOs can play a greater role to lessen psychological pressure on the vulnerable sections of the society

 Need of the greater awareness among people about the issues faced by the elderly

 Use of social media platform and technology to help

ONLINE SALE OF DRUGS

The Drugs Consultative Committee (DCC) constituted under Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 to advise the government, has constituted a 7-Member Sub-Committee to examine the issue of sale of drugs on the internet,while taking care of the risks and concerns related to such sales.

Regulation of e-pharmacies in India:

 The sale and distribution of drugs in the country is regulated as per the provisions under the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 and the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 made there under.

 As per said Rules, Drugs specified in Schedule H, H1 or Schedule X can’t be sold except on and in accordance with the prescription of a Registered Medical Practitioner.

 The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, does not have any provision for online sale of drugs.

 Currently there are three models of online pharmacy that exist in India—organised, unorganised and illegal.

 In the organized sector, technology is used to either connect local licensed pharmacists to the end user or an off-line pharmacist takes orders over the internet. Prescriptions are checked in the organised sector while the unorganised sector does away with this requirement.

Benefits of online sale

 The annual Indian pharmaceutical market is pegged at around Rs. 79,000 crores, growing at around 20%.

If the government decides to allow online sale of drugs, it is likely to give a major boost to sales of the sector while also making medicines accessible to remote areas

 Access to drugs for the disabled or otherwise homebound, for whom a trip to the pharmacy can be

difficult.

 The convenience of shopping 24 hours a day. A complete selection of pharmaceutical products.

 Privacy for those who don’t want to discuss their medical needs in a public place.

Concerns regarding online sale

 The Internet also creates a new marketplace for illegal activity such as the sale of unapproved new

drugs, prescription drugs dispensed without a valid prescription, or products marketed with fraudulent health claims.

 The speed, ease, and anonymity of ordering products on the Internet can attract unscrupulous sellers.

Individuals not licensed to sell prescription drugs can easily create websites that appear to represent

legitimate pharmacies.

 There are concerns that online sale would threaten the interests of small retailers and disturb the

existing supply chain system.

 There is a concern that children today are capable of using the Internet and the concept of prescription drugs against a photocopy of a prescription uploaded online to get a medicine can create havoc.

 Doctors have raised concerns saying that doctors, patients and pharmacists have a relationship based on trust. If a website were to display cheaper variations to the medicine prescribed by a doctor, without offering an explanation, this relationship suffers.

 Self-medication is a rampant practice in India, and online sale of drugs may further encourage it.

FACEBOOK’S FREE INTERNET USAGE

Benefits of Free basic usage

 Will reduce the digital divide.

 Free Basics allows customers to access selected social networks, and services like healthcare, education and job listings from their phones without a data plan.

Drawbacks 

 It violates net neutrality, a concept that all Internet traffic should be treated equally. This will be

detrimental to the growing startup entrepreneurs, students, activists and tech employees flourishing in India.

 Free Basics developers can’t innovate on technology without the permission of Facebook. There is a need for unbiased, equal Internet that treats all developers same.

 In Free Basics, Facebook can decide the content for the users on their behalf which leaves them with no choice.

PARIS AGREEMENT : COP 21 DRAFT

The ‘Paris Agreement’, the biggest environment agreement ever, was ‘adopted’ by more than 190 countries

GOAL:-

 The overall goal of the Paris agreement, to keep global temperature rise to a specified quantum

compared to pre-industrial levels, is pegged at either “below 1.5°C”, or, as “well below 2°C”.


 India felt that a transparency and accountability regime should not treat rich and poor nations alike


 India Position is based on logic that developing nation still lacks necessary technology to measure perils of climate change.


For example, India does not have the capacity to measure automotive emissions based on vehicle use accurately, while the U.S. does that every year.

Salient feature of Draft

 Developed country as Role model- Extent to which developing countries would effectively implement their commitments would depend on developed countries living up to their own commitments on  financing, technology transfer and capacity building.

 On peaking of greenhouse gas emissions- The discussion is on making it “as soon as possible” with the caveat that peaking requires deeper cuts of emissions by developed countries and longer periods for developing countries

 Achieving zero GHG emissions growth by 2060-80 is proposed

 Fund mobilisation - Appropriate pricing of greenhouse gas emissions in its many forms, is an important instrument for the reorientation of investment and finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low emission and climate resilient economies and societies.

 Technology framework – By providing overarching guidance to the work of the Technology Mechanism”.It would promote and facilitate enhanced action on technology development and transfer.

 The agreement is much more comprehensive than the Kyoto Protocol which was limited to assigning greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for a group of developed countries

 It asks every country to make “nationally determined” contributions in the fight against climate change.

 It also seeks to establish a mechanism by which the climate actions of all the countries can be

periodically monitored and evaluated to see whether the world was actually able to combat climate

change and whether the actions needed to be scaled up

Win- Win for all

 Developed Nation- The developed countries have ensured that henceforth climate actions would be

taken by every nation and not just them, as was the requirement in the existing climate framework

represented by the Kyoto Protocol of 1997.

 Developing Nation- The developing countries were able to take heart from the fact that the all-
important principle of ‘differentiation’ – that developed nations, being primarily responsible for

greenhouse gas emissions, must take greater action to fight climate change – has been retained, even

though in a diluted form

 The island nations and least developed countries — Most vulnerable to climate change were happy to have forced the rest of the world to acknowledge the need to take a 1.5 degree path instead of the 2 degree it is more comfortable with.

contentious issues

Few of contentious issues which remain unsolved are underneath

 Long term quantified emissions reduction for a 2050 target

 Finance for developing countries

 Updated targets for countries based on stocktaking of carbon dioxide, equitable distribution of the

remaining carbon budget for the world.

 Making explicit the responsibility of developing countries versus developed nations


 Binding targets: Countries have pledged their emission reduction targets. But these are only pledges. EU and the US are strongly opposed to a legally binding road-map

 Periodic Revision of Target- The emission reduction numbers don’t add for now and they need to be revised every 5 years or so. Developed countries don’t accept any criteria that includes historical
accumulated emissions

 Reporting action: After 2020 once the agreement comes in to force countries will have to report back periodically how they are faring against their pledges. This could become the Trojan horse that brings parity between the two without saying as much.

 Developing country targets- most developing countries have made their targets for the Paris agreement

conditional on the nature of the Paris agreement as well as the delivery of finance and technology.

Developed countries want at least a part if not the full target from each developing country to be

enshrined unconditionally

 Technology transfer: Developed countries oppose the proposals from different developing country

groups including India to address issues of intellectual property resources, future technology

development and an institutional arrangement for this under the Paris agreement.

 Adaptation- Developed countries see the core agreement as only about reducing emissions and

accounting for these reductions

INDIAN OCEAN WARMING AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

 Recent studies have pointed out an increased warming over the Indian Ocean during the past half-
century, the reasons for warming are not clear but the results have proved problematic for India.

 Increased warming in the ocean enhances the large-scale upward motion of warm moist air over the equatorial ocean.

CONSEQUENCES:-

 This upward motion over the ocean is compensated by subsidence of dry air over the subcontinent

resulting in surplus rains over the ocean at the cost of the monsoon rains over land, thereby drying the Indian subcontinent.

 Decline in the marine phytoplankton in the Indian Ocean – microscopic plants in the ocean which

sustain the aquatic food web, absorb the solar radiation thereby influencing climate processes and

biogeochemical cycles, particularly the carbon cycle.

 Food security issues as large scale distribution of fishes are associated with the phytoplankton’s

availability.

TERROR FINANCING

Terrorism finance (TF) has been termed as the life blood of terrorism, one of the most important factors sustaining its continuing threat, both from within and without.

Recent Development-

 India along with major world economies participated in the first-ever global meeting being held in Paris to discuss and evolve mechanisms to combat the clandestine and largely undetected terrorist financing  network of the Islamic State terror group.

Aim of the meeting was to deal with subjects of money laundering and combating the financing of terrorist was Organised by Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Secretariat office.

Objective:

 To discuss actions jurisdictions are taking and need to take to combat the financing of the ISIS

 To Broader opportunities to strengthen global efforts to combat the financing of terrorism

What is FATF  ?

The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 and is mandated to set global protocols and  standards to combat money laundering and other financial crimes with direct ramifications to terrorist acts  across the globe.

India is a full-member of this reputed global body along with 33 other nations.

 A report by the FATF early this year had underlined the “complicated” pattern of funding being

deployed to mobilise ISIS terrorists and in secretly moving their deadly weapons and ammunition –

 The report said its preliminary investigations found that the group was generating terror funds by using  illicit proceeds from occupation of territory, such as bank looting, extortion, control of oil fields and refineries, kidnapping for ransom, donations including by or through non-profit organisations, fund raising through modern communication networks.

India - France Relations : 14 Agreements signed during French resident visit

• French President Francois Hollande is on his visit to India.

India and France have signed 14 agreements, including an intergovernmental agreement for the purchase of Rafale fighter jets, nuclear reactors, French railway locomotives and a major commitment to counterterror cooperation. However, the financial component of the Rafale deal is yet to be finalised.

Significance of the Rafale Deal:

• For India, it’s another step in a quest to modernize its air force that first began in 2007. About one third of the country’s air fleet is more than 40 years old and set to retire in the next decade, putting pressure on the incumbent government to quickly acquire new warplanes to keep pace with neighbors China and Pakistan.
• India originally picked Dassault in 2012 to build 126 warplanes at an estimated cost of about $11 billion. As talks stalled over price and quality guarantees, Modi flew to France last April and sought to directly buy 36 fighter jets from the French government in a bid to speed things up. The cost of the 36 jets is expected to exceed 600 billion rupees ($9 billion).

Other important agreements signed:

Space: India and France signed three agreements on expanding space collaboration. The Indian Space Research Organisation and its French counterpart CNES (National Centre for Space Studies) have agreed to work together in the next Mars mission, as well as a satellite launch and a thermal infrared observation mission.

Rail: Under the ‘Make in India’ banner, India and France signed a deal that will allow French industrial major Alstom to make 800 high horse power locomotives in India. The locomotives are expected to be made in the electric locomotives factory in Madhepura, Bihar.

Road: Both sides also signed an agreement on upgrading the Delhi-Chandigarh line to 200 kmph, in keeping with France’s special focus on Chandigarh ‘Smart City’ project.

Terrorism: The two countries have said that they would embark on new ways of cooperation on fighting terrorism, including intelligence-sharing and joint exercises along with the annual strategic dialogues and a joint working group on counterterrorism meetings.

Cultural exchange programme: There was an agreement on cultural exchange programme for the period 2016-2018 too.

Both the countries have also signed an agreement on the declaration of intent for conducting next round of Namaste France (Indian festival) in 2016 and Bonjour India (French festival) in 2017.

France has also committed itself to supporting India’s bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council and India’s accession to the multilateral (nuclear) export control regimes in 2016 itself.

National Industrial Corridor Authority

The Union Cabinet is expected to grant its approval for a proposal to establish a National Industrial Corridor Authority (NICA) for fulfilling a promise made by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

• With a corpus of around Rs 18,500 crore, the authority will supervise the implementation and coordination among the five industrial corridors in the works.

Background:

In his Budget speech, 2014-15, Mr. Jaitley had said the proposed NICA will be headquartered in Pune and coordinate the development of the industrial corridors. However, the proposal was not taken up by the cabinet.

Why we need NICA?

Bringing all the corridors under the ambit of an Authority (NICA) — on the lines of the National Highways Authority of India — is aimed at providing certainty to investors as well as to multilateral agencies like Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and JBIC (which are supporting DMIC and CBIC) and the Asian Development Bank (which has completed a conceptual development plan for VCIC).

Significance of NICA:

The authority will effectively monitor the development of these industrial corridors. The corridors, with smart cities linked to transport connectivity, will be the cornerstone of the strategy to drive India’s growth in manufacturing and urbanization.

Way ahead:

The government was earlier considering a proposal to bring into force a NICA Act on the lines of the NHAI Act. Since that move would need Parliament approval and therefore, is more time-consuming than giving a Cabinet approval to the NICA, NICA Bill has also been deferred for the time being.

Please note that DIPP is the nodal agency at the Centre for Industrial Corridors.

‪#‎SmartCities‬ - Consultations and Citizen Engagements

......................................................................................

On 25 June 2015, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched the #SmartCities Mission to enable the holistic development of Indian cities. This bold new initiative under the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) aims to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of people by enabling local development and harnessing technology as a means to create smart outcomes for citizens. According to MoUD, the core elements of a Smart City include: adequate water and electricity supply, suitable sanitation and solid waste management, efficient public transportation, affordable housing, robust IT connectivity and digitalization, e-governance with citizen participation, sustainable environment, and safety and security of citizens with health and education for all. These objectives are proposed to be attained through a judicious mix of retrofitting, redevelopment and greenfield development.

Citizen consultation is an important pillar of the first phase of the Smart Cities Mission. The Ministry encouraged local governments to engage citizens as they worked on their city’s Smart City Proposal, and recommended MyGov as the core platform for citizen consultation. Municipal governments supplemented their online MyGov activities with meetings, discussions, and other public interactions in their respective cities.
MyGov facilitated citizen consultation for the Smart Cities Mission in two stages. During the first round, it offered cities a range of citizen consultation methodologies, such as discussion forums, tasks, online polls, public talks, and blogs. These tools served as a catalyst for citizens to participate in the Smart Cities Mission and the competition, also known as the India Smart Cities Challenge, and offer suggestions for the development of their city.

During the second round of the Smart Cities Mission, municipal authorities from the shortlisted cities used MyGov to collect suggestions from citizens on their vision for a Smart City to incorporate these into draft proposals. Of the 98 cities, 57 put the draft proposals online for further comments and inputs from the public. Overall, the proposals received a total of 1,42,895 comments.

The 98 cities adopted a range of measures to encourage citizen engagement. Municipalities reached out to young citizens by visiting schools and colleges to educate them about the Mission. Municipal corporations used popular social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter to spread awareness about the mission. Still others created dedicated websites with detailed updates on progress. SMS campaigns, voice message campaigns, and airtime on radio channels helped expand a municipality’s reach. Many cities even created free Wi-Fi hotspots in crowded areas so that people could access Internet and submit suggestions. Advertisements in newspapers, pamphlets, hoardings, and the MyGov app played a significant role in making the Smart City Mission a nationwide phenomenon.

The Smart Cities Mission – MyGov collaboration is an unprecedented exercise in urban planning, which has transformed planning from a top-down centralized activity into a democratic consultative process, taking the citizens’ perspective as the foundation stone on which the city plan is built. MyGov looks forward to partnering with more cities and citizens in the subsequent rounds of the Smart Cities Mission play its part in developing Smart Cities across India.

SHIA SUNNI CONFLICT :Rift between IRAN and saudi Arabia increased

INTRO:-

The entire Middle East starting from the Gulf state of Saudi Arabia to Iran is in a crisis. The relations between the two countries which was already tense has exacerbated further in the last week or so. 

WHY?

The execution of 46 people belonging to Shia sect on charges of terrorism by Saudi Arabia has created a major divide. 

The divide which is taking place between Shias and Sunnis is being seen as a concern for the entire region. 

This conflict has seen other countries in the region getting involved too. Meanwhile, the fight against ISIS is getting affected due to this. 

Within days, the stand-off has snowballed into a full-blown diplomatic crisis with sectarian overtones. 

Saudi missions in Tehran and Mashhad were ransacked by protesters. In return, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Sudan have cut diplomatic relations with Iran, while the United Arab Emirates has downgraded ties.

West Asia is already witnessing sectarian conflicts. Iraq, which is torn apart on sectarian lines, is taking baby steps under the new Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, to rebuild national unity. The country witnessed a bloody phase of sectarian strife in the aftermath of the U.S. invasion. Parts of the country, including the second largest city, Mosul, are still under the control of Islamic State, which is carrying out a systematic campaign against non-Sunni religious groups. In Yemen, the Shia Houthi rebels are fighting forces loyal to a Saudi-protected government led by Sunnis.

FIGHT OF REGIONAL SUPREMACY :---

Saudi Arabia and Iran have a long history of enmity. The former considers itself the leader of the Islamic majority Sunnis, while the latter is the leading nation representing the minority Shias. For decades, one of the main sources of instability in West Asia has been the cold war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Though the ultimate goal of both nations has been regional supremacy, they use sectarianism as a vehicle to maximise their interests. Now, with the recent incident the stage is set for a dangerous Shia-Sunni conflict across the region.

The Sunni-Shiite schism may also provoke violence between Muslims in such places as Pakistan, Nigeria and Indonesia. About 85% of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims are Sunnis. Shiites form a majority only in Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan and Bahrain, which is ruled by Sunni royals. Where Sunnis are a majority or dominate government, Shiites frequently complain of discrimination, and vice versa.

EFFECTS ON FIGHT AGAINST ISIS:--

The latest fallout will have a bearing on the fight against the Islamic State (IS) and will increase the lack of cohesion among nations fighting this menace. The interests of different countries in the region have often been at cross-purposes with no unified plan to date. Saudi Arabia and Iran should be exploring means of compromise now. The international community must hasten to mediate and urge the two countries to meet halfway, with the United States in the lead. If hostility deepens between Saudi Arabia and Iran, both of which are major oil producing countries, it is feared that their deteriorating relationship could influence the crude oil market and global economy. Unless tensions are dialled down between these two heavyweights, there will not be peace in West Asia. Both the U.S. and Russia, allies of Saudi Arabia and Iran respectively, have called for calm. The U.S. and Russia should use their influence to rein in further escalation of tensions. Unchecked, the Saudi-Iran rivalry could plunge the region, already torn apart by invasions, civil wars and terrorism, into further chaos.

This conflict could have repercussions for India too, which has adopted a position of neutrality since it enjoys good relations with both countries. However, the situation is worrying for India since the Gulf region has vital economic and strategic significance for the country. Additionally, the rift could see many Gulf nations with a sizable number of Indian expatriates picking sides. The region has seven million Indian nationals who account for about $40 billion of the $70 billion that India receives in remittances annually. Saudi Arabia has the maximum number of Indian passport-holders outside the country. But with oil prices falling and Saudi Arabia grappling with mounting unemployment for people under 30 who constitute 70% of its population, there are concerns that the kingdom will not remain a key employment destination for Indians for long.

India also enjoys robust security cooperation with Saudi Arabia, which has deported several most wanted terrorists such as Abu Jundal, linked to the Mumbai attacks case. Although such steps do not in any way diminish the strategic partnership between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the growing security cooperation is of vital significance for India. Iran also holds the key for India’s ambitious connectivity plans for the oil and gas-rich Central Asian republics and to provide land-locked Afghanistan access to the sea via Iran’s Chabahar port, bringing down Kabul’s dependence on Islamabad.

MPPCS -2015 PRELIMS PAPER FULLY SOLVED WITH ANSWER EXPLANATION ( HELD ON 24 JANUARY 2016 )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwVFrYPXPEs

Farmer’s Suicides in India and particular in Maharashtra

Concerning Issues :--

Maharashtra has recorded 20,504 farmer suicides since 2001.

With 610 deaths in just two months ( Nov & Dec 2015), State records highest ever suicides by farmers.

In 2014, the National Crime Record bureau of India reported 5,650 farmer suicides.

The highest number of farmer suicides were recorded in 2004 when 18,241 farmers committed suicide.

Reasons of Suicides :--

Activists and scholars have offered a number of conflicting reasons for farmer suicides, such as monsoon failure, 
high debt burdens, 
genetically modified crops, 
government policies, 
public mental health, 
personal issues and 
family problems.

There are also accusation of states fudging the data on farmer suicides.

Drought-As much as 79.5% of India’s farmland relies on flooding during monsoon season, so inadequate rainfall can cause droughts, making crop failure more common.

In regions that have experienced droughts, crop yields have declined, and food for cattle has become scarcer.

Agricultural regions that have been affected by droughts have subsequently seen their suicide rates increase.

New Economic Policies-  favoured privatisation, liberalisation and globalisation is the root cause of farmer suicides

GM Crops-  The Bt cotton seeds cost nearly twice as much as ordinary ones. The higher costs forced many farmers into taking ever larger loans, often from private moneylenders charging exorbitant interest rates (60% a year).

State Government’s failure to tackle problems in the farm sector like indebtedness, irregular power supply, failure of bore-wells and erratic monsoon are major reasons for farmers’ suicides in the State.

Responses to Farmer’s Sucides till Now

2006 Relief Package
Agriculture Debt waiver and debt relief scheme, 2008
Regional Initiatives-
Maharashtra Bill to Regulate farmer loan terms, 2008
Maharashtra relief Package, 2010
Kerala Farmers’Debt Relief Commission (Amendment ) Bill, 2012

Deepak Mohanty Committee on Medium-term Path on Financial Inclusion

This committee was appointed by RBI. 

The Committee recognized that substantial progress has been made in terms of access of financial products and services especially after the launch of the Jan Dhan Yojana.

GAPS in Financial Inclusion :--

However, the committee identified following gaps : 

1. Low usage of financial services 
2. Inadequate ‘last mile’ service delivery
3. Exclusion of women, small and marginal farmers 
4. Very low formal link for micro and small enterprises.

The committee also mentioned systemic issues of stability of the credit system, over-indebtedness and agrarian distress.

Against this background, the Committee recommended following measures:--

A. Sukanya Shiksha

To mitigate gender gap in financial inclusion, banks have to make special efforts to step up account opening for females. 

The Government may consider a deposit scheme for the girl child – Sukanya Shiksha - as a welfare measure.

The Sukanya Shiksha scheme will link education with banking habits. 

A nominal amount to be credited in the name of each girl child belonging to the lower income group who enrolls in middle school.

B. Linking Aadhar with Credit Accounts

To enhance the stability of the credit system and improve access to credit a unique biometric identifier such as Aadhaar should be linked to each individual credit account and the information shared with credit information companies.

This will help in identifying multiple accounts and will also help mitigate the overall indebtedness of individuals who are often lured into multiple borrowings without being aware of the consequences.

C. G2P payments

Bottom quartile of the population has low level of personal disposable income. On account of this, the committee is of the view that meaningful financial inclusion will not happen without Government-to-Person (G2P) social cash transfers.

D. Mobile Banking

Committee recommends a low-cost solution by utilisation of the mobile banking to improve ‘last mile’ service delivery and to translate financial access into enhanced convenience and usage.

E. Agriculture

To increase formal credit supply to all agrarian segments, the committee recommended digitisation of land records.

Digitisation of land records should be backed by an Aadhaar-linked mechanism for Credit Eligibility Certificates. 

Credit Eligibility Certificates will help facilitate credit flow to actual cultivators.

The agricultural interest subvention scheme has distorted the agricultural credit system. 

The committee recommended phasing out the agricultural interest subvention scheme.

An affordable technology-aided universal crop insurance scheme with a monetary ceiling of ₹2 lakh to end agrarian distress.

The government should replace the current agricultural input subsidies on fertilizers, power and irrigation by a direct income transfer scheme.

To encourage discipline in loan repayments, the panel recommended ‘Gold KCC’ (Kisan Credit Card). 

Gold KCC will be issued to borrowers with prompt repayment records. 

Gold KCC will give higher flexibility to borrowers in terms of borrowing and repayment.

F. Micro and small enterprises (MSEs)

Development of a system of unique identification for all MSME borrowers and sharing of such information with credit bureaus.

The panel also suggested establishing a system of professional credit intermediaries/advisors for MSMEs to help both the sector banks in credit assessment.

Committee recommended to encourage multiple guarantee agencies to provide credit guarantees in niche areas for micro and small enterprises (MSEs), and explore possibilities for counter guarantee and re-insurance.

G. Interest Free Banking

The panel recommended that the commercial banks be enabled to open specialised interest-free windows with simple products like demand deposits, agency and participation certificates on the liability side and cost-plus financing and deferred payment, deferred delivery contracts on the asset side.

In an interest-free banking structure, the bank accepting deposits will not engage in lending as a purely financial activity.

H. Reforms in Banking

A banking eco-system with multiple models should be encouraged with will foster partnerships amongst national full-service banks, regional banks of various types. 

NBFCs, semi-formal financial institutions, as well as the newly-licensed payments banks and small finance banks.

Banks’ business model to integrate Business Correspondents (BCs) with appropriate monitoring.

A geographical information system (GIS) to map all banking access points.

More ATMs in rural and semi-urban centres.

A multi-lingual mobile application for customers who use non-smart phones

All regulated entities should be required to put in place a technology-based platform for SMS acknowledgement and disposal of customer complaints.

I. Self Help Group (SHG)The panel recommended to step up the self help group (SHG)-bank linkage programme (SBLP) initiated by NABARD.

Corporates should be encouraged to nurture SHGs as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

Provision of credit history of all SHG members by linking with individual Aadhaar numbers to check over-indebtedness.

J. Financial LietracyFinancial Literacy Centre (FLC) network to be strengthened to deliver basic financial literacy at the ground level.

K. OthersTo strengthen the Information Monitoring System for District Consultative Committees (DCC) and State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) deliberations.

SLBCs to focus more on inter-institutional issues, livelihood models, social cash transfer, gender inclusion, Aadhaar seeding, universal account opening, and less on credit deposit ratio which is a by-product.

UPPCS Lower PCS 2015 Exam fully Solved Paper (held on 17 jan 2016 )

‪#‎LowerPCS2015FullySolved‬

Most authentic and genuine ( after 8 hours of google research and data collected from other books and websites ..although 2-3 ques. may b wrong as per UPPSC official key )

Please share with your frnds and others aspirants

‪#‎Answerkeys‬ ‪#‎Explanation‬ ‪#‎UPLowerPCSExam2015‬

Sikkim has become India's first fully organic state

Sikkim has become India's first fully organic state by converting around 75,000 hectares of agricultural land into sustainable cultivation. 




He said around 75,000 hectares of agricultural land was gradually converted to certified organic land by implementing organic practices and principles as per guidelines laid down in National Programme for Organic Production. 

It was 12 years ago in 2003 when the Pawan Chamling-led government decided to make Sikkim an organic farming state through a declaration in the legislative assembly. 

Later r the entry of chemical inputs for farmland was restricted and their sale banned. Farmers therefore had no option but to go organic. 

Organic cultivation is free of chemical pesticides and chemical fertilisers as it tries to strike a harmonious balance with a complex series of ecosystems. 

In the long term, organic farming leads in subsistence of agriculture, bio-diversity conservation and environmental protection, agriculture secretary Khorlo Bhutia said. 

Sustainable farming will also help in building the soil health resulting in sustainable increased crop production, he said. 

Besides it will also boost the tourism industry in the tiny landlocked Himalayan state. 

Resorts have already been marketing themselves as completely organic where tourists can pluck, cook and relish fresh organic food from their kitchen gardens.