Promote inland waterway transport in India

 The Indian government’s ambitious plans to develop 101 rivers into an integrated Inland Water Transport (IWT) system have triggered fierce debate. Transport and shipping minister, Nitin Gadkari, recently introduced a new National Waterways Bill 2015 in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, in an attempt to gain legislative sanction for the initiative. India’s waterways are underdeveloped. Its share of overall cargo transport remains abysmally low: 0.4% compared to 42% in Netherlands, 8.7% in China and 8% in the US. The country has over 14,500 kilometers of inland waterways — comprising rivers, lakes, canals, creeks and backwaters. Developing an integrated network of rail, road and waterways could also significantly boost India’s economy. The initiative will open up business opportunities and generate employment in the area of dredging, barge construction and operation and terminal construction.

Five stretches of river have already been declared as national waterways, including the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system (Allahabad-Haldia-1620 km); the Brahmaputra River (Dhubri-Sadiya-891 km). The shipping ministry is seeking to attain a 10% share for coastal shipping in India’s overall transport modal mix by 2020.

To achieve this , the cargo shipped through the coastal routes needs to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 23% from about 172 mt a year to around 600 mts by 2020. This requires significant changes in the product mix, vessel-type mix and port-wise traffic distribution, in addition to expanding the coastal cargo-carrying fleet to about 950 vessels, with an average capacity of 3,000 tonnes. The development of coastal shipping and inland waterways will provide a huge spin-off benefit for related maritime sectors. The financial incentive scheme is a significant step also from the point of view of checking environmental degradation, reducing carbon emissions and addressing concerns over social costs arising from the congestion of existing road and railway networks.

Indian Education System

Climate Resilient Agriculture

“Need for climate resilient agriculture in India today”       

National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) was launched during February 2011^[1] by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) with the funding from Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. The mega project has three major objectives of strategic research, technology demonstrations and capacity building. Assessment of the impact of climate change simultaneous with formulation of adaptive strategies is the prime approach under strategic research across all sectors of agriculture, dairying and fisheries. Evolving climate resilient agricultural technologies that would increase farm production and productivity vis-à-vis continuous management of natural and manmade resources constitute an integral part of sustaining agriculture in the era of climate change. The four modules of NICRA – natural resource management, improving soil health, crop production and livestock – is aimed making the farmers self-reliant.

The need for a climate resilient approach to agriculture is critical for India where more than 80 percent agriculturists are small-holder farmers. The insights, lessons, and experiences gained from WOTR’s climate change adaptation project are formulated into a series of Position Papers on various themes. The strong trends in climate change already evident, the likelihood of further changes occurring, and the increasing scale of potential climate impacts give urgency to addressing agricultural adaptation more coherently. There are many potential adaptation options available for marginal change of existing agricultural systems, often variations of existing climate risk management. Hence, more systemic changes in resource allocation need to be considered, such as targeted diversification of production systems and livelihoods, and also to achieve increased adaptation action will necessitate integration of climate change-related issues with other risk factors, such as climate variability and market risk, and with other policy domains, such as sustainable development. Dealing with the many barriers to effective adaptation will require a comprehensive and dynamic policy approach covering a range of scales and issues, for example, from the understanding by farmers of change in risk profiles to the establishment of efficient markets that facilitate response strategies. Science, too, has to adapt. Multidisciplinary problems require multidisciplinary solutions, i.e., a focus on integrated rather than disciplinary science and a strengthening of the interface with decision makers. A crucial component of this approach is the implementation of adaptation assessment frameworks that are relevant, robust, and easily operated by all stakeholders, practitioners, policymakers, and scientists.

International Relations, Afghanistan.

“Heart of Asia - Istanbul Process “

It was established to provide a platform to discuss regional issues, particularly encouraging security, political, and economic cooperation among Afghanistan and its neighbors. This region-led to expand practical coordination between Afghanistan, its neighbors and regional partners in facing common threats, including counterterrorism, counternarcotics, poverty, and extremism. The United States and over 20 other nations and organizations serve as “supporting nations” to the process. The Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process presents a new vision of cooperation and confidence building for the region with Afghanistan at its centre. On 2 November 2011, Foreign Ministers from 14 countries spanning from Central Asia to the Middle East South Asia, and South Asia to Eurasia gathered in Istanbul, Turkey, and adopted the "Istanbul Process on Regional Security and Cooperation for a secure and stable Afghanistan,” as a new agenda for regional cooperation. The countries from the above mentioned regions now collectively known as the 'Heart of Asia' Region, declared their 'readiness to engage in sincere, result oriented cooperation at all levels, which will not just help Afghanistan, but will also be beneficial to security and prosperity in the region as a whole'.

The Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process articulates a set of principles, such as respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, and promoting cooperation in the areas of common challenges and shared interests in the region; and provides a platform for discussing key regional issues among participating states. The Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process has three main elements of Political Consultation involving Afghanistan and its near and extended neighbors, A sustained incremental approach to implementation of the Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) identified in the Istanbul Process document and Seeking to contribute and bring greater coherence to the work of various regional processes and organisations, particularly as they relate to Afghanistan.

The Istanbul Process Ministerial examines the Afghani recovery process and, specifically, how interregional cooperation can facilitate it. The Ministerial brings together regional representatives from both the private and public sector to discuss prospective developmental and restructuring initiatives. The process has several areas of concentration on education particularly an emphasis on student exchanges, disaster management, drug trafficking, terrorism and counter terrorism measures. It also emphasizes greater interregional cooperation. The Asian Development Bank’s Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program (CAREC) which is working on cross border transport agreements between Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan. Afghanistan- Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement. Black Sea Corridor Initiative. Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Pipeline. Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan railroad project.

International Relations in India

Main sources of instability in the WANA region and the implications for India : 

  The West Asia North Africa (WANA) region, with Morocco in the west, Pakistan and Afghanistan in the east, Turkey in the north, and Ethiopia and Sudan in the south, is characterized by high population growth, low and erratic rainfall, limited arable land, and severely limited water resources. There are very few possibilities for expansion of farming areas or irrigation. Methods for more efficient and sustainable use of these limited resources must be found. There is more absolute poverty and incidence of poverty in rural than urban areas in WANA. Even though infrastructure in the rural sector has improved in the last twenty years, there has not been a proportional increase in employment or poverty alleviation. Economic disparities will continue to fuel migration from rural to urban areas and from poor to rich countries both within and outside the WANA region.
WANA's agriculture employs large parts of the population; nearly 50 percent, for example in Turkey and Morocco. Women contribute about half the agricultural labor, well above their share of the total labor force.
  
  India gave considerable importance to WANA region in view of its geopolitical importance. It was important for India to see a resolution of the Arab-Israeli problem as it impacted on our interests in the region. Since it did not have an Embassy in Israel, India’s efforts in this direction were made mostly through the diplomacy at the UN. The basic goal was a peace settlement, which recognized Israel’s right to exist in peace and security in the region. The reasons for lack of progress are many and complex, but the most important was the delay on the part of Arab States in recognizing the realities, and instead, focusing on the legalities. By the time recognized them, the realities had become much more adverse from their point of view. Another important foreign policy goal of India was to prevent Islamisation of the Kashmir issue by Pakistan in the WANA countries. Pakistan’s efforts had to be consistently and vigorously countered.  It consumed a lot of our energy and resources, but there was no choice, because WANA was an important arena of contest, as far as Kashmir issue was concerned.
  

What is the envisaged contribution of Farmer Producer organizations (FPO)? How far have they lived up to expectations?

  A farmer producer organisation is typically a company consisting only farmers and producers, but formed under the Indian Companies Act 1956 as amended in 2002. FPO is one of the important initiatives taken by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture to mainstream the idea of promoting and strengthening member-based institutions of farmers. As per the concept, farmers, who are the producers of agricultural products, can form groups and register themselves under the Indian Companies Act. These can be created both at State, cluster, and village levels. It is aimed at engaging the farmer companies to procure agricultural products and sell them. Supply of inputs such as seed, fertilizer and machinery, market linkages, training & networking and financial and technical advice are also among the major activities of FPO. The Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) has been nominated as a central procurement agency to undertake price support operations under Minimum Support Price (MSP) for pulses and oilseeds through the FPO’s.

  Agriculture is characterized by high seasonality, high price volatility, long lead times, and complex value chains. The loan products for this sector therefore need to be worked out appropriately. There are two-levels at which loan products need to be tailored for FPOs: (a) at the level of the farmer-member; and (b) at the FPO-level. For farmer-members, there can be Kisan Credit Cards for facilitating funding requirements at the time of initial production, and term loans for further developmental activities. At the level of the FPO, there can be products that enable effective service provision to members: support for hiring of machinery/tools etc. POs form a core part of the strategy to lift small and marginal farmers out of poverty and enhance their competitiveness in agricultural markets. If we consider this as the story of a ‘second Green Revolution’, it can only become reality if measures that promote sustainable and inclusive agricultural development are taken within the available resources. Producer Organisations potentially offer a unique path towards achieving this, and therefore should be promoted and supported effectively.

  Producer companies can help smallholder farmers participate in emerging high-value markets, such as the export market and the unfolding modern retail sector in India. As elsewhere in the developing world, in India, small farmers’ livelihoods are being threatened due to the liberalization and privatization of Indian agriculture and the increasing interest of private capital in the agribusiness sector. The withdrawal of the state from productive and economic functions, and changes in the organization of marketing channels, present new challenges for small-scale farmers. In this environment of greater instability and competition, organization and collective action can help to enhance farmers’ competitiveness and increase their advantage in emerging market opportunities. We build on the ideas of value-chain governance and collective-action literature and introduce the functions and organizational structure of producer companies in India within this context. On the basis of a case study of a specific producer company in Maharashtra, which produces and markets mango and cashew nuts, we discuss the potential benefits for rural communities and the re-empowering effect of this form of farmer organization. Keywords:  collective action, value chains, governance, agri-food network, smallholder, India.

Economic Reforms in India

The need for scentific temper in India and the world today:

  Scientific temper involves the application of logic and reasoning, and the avoidance of bias and preconceived notions in arriving at decisions, and becomes particularly valuable while deciding what is best for the community or the nation. To apply scientific knowledge to problems, to grapple with them, through the method of scientific inquiry and to work for social transformation inspired by Scientific Temper. Essential for Scientific Temper is the mental attitude of which is, behind the method of acquiring reliable and practical knowledge. Not accepting answers without testing and trial. Requiring of solid information and incontrovertible data then suitable analysis before the accepting anything. Not accepting views and opinions, simply because traditionally they have accepted these views. Not observing obscurantist and superstitious practices. Openness of mind and absence of dogmatism.

  Scientific temper is one of the attributes that Pandit Nehru wanted all of us Indians to cultivate. Scientific temper involves the application of logic and the avoidance of bias and preconceived notions. Since the Upanishad or Mahabharata times, arguments, disputations, questions and dialogues have characterized Indian thought. Heterodoxy was the characteristic of medieval mystical thought including “the Bhakti and Muslim Sufi traditions”. Each community in India has retained its identity within India's spectrum of faiths

The Relevance  and Need of Scientific Temper :

If any organization or the country as a whole were to achieve progress, we have to foster a Scientific Temper in the citizens with absolute capacity for critical evaluation.  With lack of Scientific Temper our ability to take rational decisions weakens. Though sometimes we take rational decisions but at many occasions we don’t. It is the Scientific Temper that enables us to take our decisions rationally. This may be the reason why the concept of “Scientific Temper” was built-in in our constitution.

Article 51 A of our constitution which deals with fundamental duties makes it a duty of every citizen to develop a Scientific Temper.

Article 51 A of our constitution also makes it a duty of every citizen to develop Humanism & spirit of enquiry    and reform.

It further makes it duty of every citizen to abide by the constitution and respect its ideals and as we know Secularism is one of the most important ideals of our Constitution.

  Secularism, Humanism & Spirit of enquiry and reform are directly related to Scientific Temper. It is the Scientific Temper that helps in developing Secularism, Humanism & Spirit of enquiry and reform. Secularism is basic requirement for Human Development. Secularism unites people, whereas religion divides them in to different groups. We can get rid of religion and its irrational beliefs only with the help of Scientific Temper. Without Scientific Temper we can’t become Secular. Though the country today can claim in various spheres like atomic energy, space and telecommunication, technological excellence, it is a matter of regret that the  Scientific Temper among the general public, more so with the educated public has not progressed to the desirable degree.  It should be realized that our education, especially our school education has not generated this critical spirit of Scientific Temper. Scientific Temper has to be an inherent quality in minds of our people, particularly the educated and it has to be a societal responsibility also. This quality is somehow missing in the modern educated Indians

 Need and proposals for labour reforms in India today: Critically Examine. 

  Labour reforms have a key role to play in improving the ease of doing business in India. Therefore, there is a rising expectancy that government, both federal and state is set to push through major initiatives for making changes in labour laws. The government has to actively and aggressively discussing, drafting and engaging with labour groups to address their concerns and has assured that the reforms are not directed against labour. Traditionally Indian governments at federal and state level have sought to ensure a high degree of protection for workers, but in practice, legislative rights only cover a minority of workers. India is a federal form of government and because labour is a subject in the concurrent list of the Indian Constitution matters are in the jurisdiction of both central and state governments. Both central and state governments have enacted laws on labour relations and employment issues. In the Constitution of India from 1950,  Article 14 states everyone should be equal before the law, article 15 specifically says the state should not discriminate against citizens, and article 16 extends a right of "equality of opportunity" for employment or appointment under the state. Article 23 prohibits all trafficking and forced labour, while article 24 prohibits child labour under 14 years old in a factory, mine or "any other hazardous employment”.

  Labour reforms have long been pending in India. Almost 90 per cent of the labour community is casual and not protected by laws and regulations. On the other hand, some sections of industry and neo-liberal thought have argued for greater flexibility in labour markets and easier hire and fire policies for increased competitiveness, push in manufacturing, and greater output.  Reforms in Labour laws are being much talked in recent years. It is being advocated that all talk of liberalization is futile without squarely facing up to the imperative of labour reforms. These are an integral part of the economic reforms process itself. Other efforts at raising the standard of performance on the economic front to world class are apt to stall if those managing enterprises find themselves hamstrung by outdated trade union laws and dilatory methods of adjudication of industrial disputes. For instance, the unwieldy number of adjudicating authorities -conciliation officers, conciliation boards, courts of inquiry, labour courts, industrial tribunals and the national industrial tribunal — under the Industrial Disputes Act and the complex procedures are out of sync with the essential pre-requisites for the success and even the survival of companies in a globally integrated economy. Productivity, customer service, cost-effectiveness, keeping to delivery schedules, technological up gradation and modernization have emerged as the criteria for judging the quality of management of companies, and labour reforms hold the key to increased competitiveness and investment flows in all these respects. The need for introducing labour market flexibility and simplifying labour laws has no doubt been emphasized by the President and Prime Minister of the country downwards from time to time.

  India's labor regulations - among the most restrictive and complex in the world - have constrained the growth of the formal manufacturing sector where these laws have their widest application. Better designed labor regulations can attract more labor- intensive investment and create jobs for India's unemployed millions and those trapped in poor quality jobs. Given the country's momentum of growth, the window of opportunity must not be lost for improving the job prospects for the 80 million new entrants who are expected to join the work force over the next decade.

ETHICS and INTEGRITY

Ethics is universal while morality may not be :

  Ethics is known as moral philosophy which addresses questions of morality. The word "ethics" is "commonly used interchangeably with 'morality,' and sometimes it is used more narrowly to mean the moral principles of a particular tradition, group, or individual. certain types of ethical theories distinguish between ethics and morals. Although the morality of people and their ethics amounts to the same thing, there is a usage that restricts morality to systems such as that of on notions such as duty, obligation, and principles of conduct, reserving ethics for the practical reasoning, based on the notion of a virtue, and generally avoiding the separation of 'moral' considerations from other practical considerations.

  Morality is the differentiation of intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are distinguished as proper and those that are improper. Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of conduct from a particular philosophy, religion, or culture, or it can derive from a standard that a person believes should be universal. Morality may also be specifically synonymous with "goodness" or "rightness"

  Linguist and political theorist Noam Chomsky states:

 if we adopt the principle of universality: if an action is right (or wrong) for others, it is right (or wrong) for us. Those who do not rise to the minimal moral level of applying to themselves the standards they apply to others—more stringent ones, in fact—plainly cannot be taken seriously when they speak of appropriateness of response; or of right and wrong, good and evil.

  R. W Hepburn, To move towards the objectivist pole is to argue that moral judgement s can be rationally defensible, true or false, that there are rational procedural tests for identifying morally impermissible actions, or that moral values exist independently of the feeling-states of individuals at particular times.

  Moral universal-ism is the meta ethical position that some system of ethics, or a universal ethic, applies universally, that is, for "all similarly situated individuals", regardless of culture, race, sex, religion nationally, sexual orientation, or any other distinguishing feature. Moral universal-ism is opposed to moral nihilism and moral relativism. However, not all forms of moral universal-ism are absolutist, nor are they necessarily value monist; many forms of universal-ism, such as utilitarianism are non-absolutist, and some forms,may be value pluralist.

Every tax is to the person who pays it a badge, not of slavery, but of liberty : 

(Adam Smith) 

  Taxation comes with government. people "must agree" to give up a little of their properity in order to maintain governments. what government do, even aside from protecting property, is important enough to justify taxation, and one ought generally to trust that the taxes get raised for these important purposes. One who objects to taxation really government itself. All governments must and do impose taxes on their subjects, and subjects are and should be willing to go along with such taxes in much the same way, and to much same degree, that they are willing to go along with the existence of government.

Indeed,Smith believes that people are generally proud to pay taxes. The fact that the government taxes them is a mark of their citizenship, a sign that they are free. "Every tax is to the person who pays it a badge, not of slavery,but of liberity". It denotes that he is subject to government, indeed, but that, as he has some property, he cannot himself be the property of master . Government expand everyone's liberty,protecting each of us against other people's love of domination, and the fact that we pay taxes to support the governments but a sign and a consequence of the freedom we thereby receive. as we saw above, Smith proclaims that people have a duty to pay for government, and that the more revenue they "enjoy under the protection of state," the more they ought to contribute to the state's unkeep.

  "So Smith does not see in taxation any presumptive challenge to our right of property. He does worry about injustice in the way taxes are imposed."

As free people, we recognize that the size of and the right to our (derived) property is the product of our shared activities. Even when we enjoy perfect liberty that is we can switch occupations freely, we are subject to government. So none of us can claim an inviolable, absolute right to all of it. One can see in this, a reflective endorsement from the perspective of having an equal authority to make claims and demands on one another at all.

Civils Aspirants about civils pattern :

Civils mains model expected questions:

1.  “Secularism does not mean recognising all religions. It means not recognising any 

     religion.” (Justice Vikramjit Sen). Comment.

2.  How does Digital India contribute to financial inclusion?

3.  “..internet is a powerful poverty alleviation tool.” Elaborate. 

4.  How is “zero effect’ growth achieved in India?

5.  In December 2015, the unanimous adoption of resolution 2253 under Chapter VII of the 

     United Nations Charter, by the Security Council is a blow to terrorism. How? 

6.  How do you define net neutrality? Contextualise the recent controversies in this regard in 

     India.

7. Write on the functions of Competition Commission of india . Does the CCI have a 

     role in the case of Free basics? 

8.  How far can the Odd-Even traffic formula of Delhi solve the problem of air pollution?

9.  Recommendations of Deepak Mohanty panel on agricultural subsidies. 

10. Kelkar panel on Public Private Partnerships. 

11. Advantages of bankruptcy code proposed by the Viswanathan panel.

Amartya Sen :

"Justice and Identity"

This paper discusses the relationship between justice and identity. While it is widely agreed that justice requires us to go beyond loyalty to our simplest identity – being just oneself – there is less common ground on how far we must go beyond self-centredness. How relevant are group identities to the requirements of justice, or must we transcend those too? The author draws attention to the trap of confinement to nationality and citizenship in determining the requirements of justice, particularly under the social-contract approach, and also to the danger of exclusive concentration on some other identity such as religion and race. He concludes that it is critically important to pay attention to every human being's multiple identities related to the different groups to which a person belongs; the priorities have to be chosen by reason, rather than any single identity being imposed on a person on grounds of some extrinsic precedence. Justice is closely linked with the pursuit of impartiality, but that pursuit has to be open rather than closed, resisting closure through nationality or ethnicity or any other allegedly all-conquering single identity.

India is the only country which is trying to get universal healthcare through the private sector.

There are a number of changes linking theory with empirical observations , that's a positive thing.there is much greater interest in not seeing analytical mathematical economics as a separate discipline from normal non-mathematical reasoning because we have to put them together. There are many lessons from traditional economics which have not been sufficiently well absorbed in policy making.

One, we need a succesful market economy for continued fast growth and development. Second, while the market economy does well for industries and agriculture, by and large, with a few exceptions, it does not do well for education and healthcare. Thirdly, the issue of asymmetric information: the fact that buyers don't know  what the seller is selling. The basic thing that alis the Indian people is lack of education, lack of healthcare and lack of social security. And nomatter how extraordinarily innovative-sounding these new schemes may be, it is not going to to take away from the fact that with an unhealthy, uneducated labour force, it is very difficult to generate income from them and very difficult for solidly-shared development growth at a high level to continue.

A country where half the population doesn't have a school to go to, to concentrate on the Internet is abit of a mistake.

WELCOME TO CIVILS ASPIRANTS

CURRENT EVENTS:  

* Fiscal consolidation : News realities demand revised goalsheets.

As the economy moves into the fourth quarter and the fiscal year 2015-16 nears its end,fresh factors- both global as well as domestic - have emerged during the period suggesting that the government would not be able to meet its budgeted fiscal targets,there by calling for their revision.

* Hopeful of gst bill in ensuing budget session :

The goods and services tax(GST) is already delayed and should have come much earlier. The GST regime,touted as the most important indirect tax reform since independence, aims to integrate central excise,service tax and state value-added tax. The constitution amendment bill hit a road block in Rajya Sabha,where the government does not have a majority. The Lok Sabha had passed the constitution amendment on GST.

*Water crisis will define 2016 : Government cannot do bring rain to the farmer, but there are some things it can do.

First, cooperative banks is almost defunct. its neither have resources to give new loans  nor is it easy to access funds.

Second, form packages for crop losses must be more transparent and in keeping with real losses.

Third, at the distirict and taluka levels ,the government machinery needs to be more responsive.

The government exercise some control over agricultural commodity prices and guarantees us a fair minimum price, there is no hope for us.

*The many must resist the some : The developed countries chip away at the egalitarian moorings of the WTO, India must work with like-minded countries to translate its agenda into actual results.

 Of equal importance is the need to prepare for the new issues, approaches and architecture that "sdome WTO members have expressed their desire for in the Nairobi Declaration. The recently concluded TPP agreement perhaps provides a clear glimpse of what these new issues are likely to be - environment, labour, investment, competition, government procurement, and so on, The WTO remains an institution that is worth preserving. India needs to approach it from a position of strength, with clesarly defined agendas, and with preparedness for the new challenges its presents.

* India  to pitch for TFA in services :

 India will pitch for a trade facilitation agreement(TFA) in services at the WTO andother bilateral free trade pacts as the sector has huge potential and it contributes significantly to the country's economy. India is already pushing hard for a comprehensive trade pact in the services sector, a key area of interest for the country, in the ongoing free trade agreement negotiations including with the European Union and Regional comprehensive economic partnership(RCEP). TFA in services means liberalized visa regime such as multiple entry visas,visa-free travel for foreign tourists and long term visas for business community. India is very strong in the services area as the sector contributes over 50 per cent in the country's economic growth. To boost services exports,the ministry is already working on some reform measures in sectors including educational and legal.