Weekly Current Affairs (1st to 7th April 2023) Part - 1 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - UPSC PDF Download

National Mission on Natural Farming

Context: The Government of India has launched the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) as a separate and independent scheme to promote chemical-free and climate-smart agriculture.

What is the National Mission on Natural Farming?

About:

• The National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) has been formulated by upscaling the Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Paddhati (BPKP) to promote natural farming across the country.

Coverage:

• NMNF will cover a 7.5 lakh hectare area by developing 15,000 clusters. The farmers willing to implement natural farming on their field will be registered as cluster members, each cluster shall comprise 50 farmers or more with 50-hectare land.
• Also, each cluster can fall into one village or spread across 2-3 nearby villages under the same gram panchayat.

Financial Assistance:

• Under NMNF, farmers will receive a financial assistance of ₹15,000 per hectare per year for three years for the creation of on-farm input production infrastructure.
• However, the incentives would be provided to farmers only when they commit to natural farming and have actually taken it up.
• If a farmer defaults or does not continue with natural farming, subsequent instalments shall not be disbursed.

Web Portal for Implementation Progress:

• A Web portal has also been launched for the promotion of natural farming with information on the implementation framework, resources, implementation progress, farmer’s registration, blog, and so on.

Master Trainers:

• The agriculture ministry is undertaking large-scale training of master trainers, ‘champion’ farmers and practising farmers in the techniques of natural farming through the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) and National Centre of Organic and Natural Farming (NCONF).

Establishment of BRCs:

• The Centre intends to set up 15,000 Bhartiya Prakritik Kheti Bio-inputs Resources Centres (BRCs) to provide easy access to bio-resources wherein cow dung and urine, neem and bioculture play an important role.
• These bio-input resource centres would be set up alongside the proposed 15,000 model clusters of natural farming.

What is Natural Farming?

About:

• Natural farming is a chemical-free farming method based on locally available resources.
• It promotes traditional indigenous practices, which give freedom to farmers from externally purchased inputs.
• The major stress of natural farming is on-farm biomass recycling with biomass mulching, use of on-farm desi cow dung-urine formulation, managing pests through diversity, on-farm botanical concoctions, and exclusion of all synthetic chemical inputs directly or indirectly.

Significance:

• Ensures Better Health: As Natural Farming does not use any synthetic chemicals; health risks and hazards are eliminated.
  • Food has higher nutrition density and therefore offers better health benefits.
• Increased Farmers’ Income: Natural Farming aims to make farming viable and aspirational by increasing net incomes of farmers on account of cost reduction, reduced risks, similar yields, incomes from intercropping.
• Rejuvenates Soil Health: The most immediate impact of Natural Farming is on the biology of soil—on microbes and other living organisms such as earthworms.
  • It improves soil health and in turn increases productivity.

Issues:

• Lack of Irrigation Facility: Only 52% of India's Gross Cropped Area (GCA) is irrigated at the national level. Even though India has made significant strides since independence, many farms still rely on the monsoon for irrigation, limiting their ability to plant more crops.
• Lack of Readily Availability of Natural Inputs: Farmers often cite the lack of readily available natural inputs as a barrier to converting to chemical-free agriculture. Not every farmer has the time, patience, or labour to develop their own natural inputs.
• Lack of Crop Diversification: In spite of the rapid commercialization of agriculture in India, most farmers assume cereals will always be their main crop (due to skewed Minimum Support Prices in favour of cereals) and ignore crop diversification.

Other Initiatives to Promote Natural Farming:

• Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY):
  • The NMNF is an upscaling of the Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Paddati (BPKP) which is a sub-scheme under Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY).
  • PKVY provides financial assistance to farmers who want to adopt organic farming practices and encourages them to use eco-friendly techniques for pest management and soil fertility management.
• Climate Smart Agriculture:
  • Climate smart agriculture is an integrated approach to managing landscapes-cropland, livestock, forests, and fisheries-that address the interlinked challenges of food security and climate change.
  • It aims to tackle three main objectives: sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and incomes, adapting and building resilience to climate change, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions wherever possible.

UAPA Tribunal Upholds Centre’s Decision to Ban PFI

Context: Recently, five months after its constitution, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal upheld the Centre's decision to ban Popular fronts of India and its affiliates.

What is the Background of the Issue?

• In September 2022, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in a gazette notification declared the PFI an “unlawful association” along with “its associates or affiliates or fronts.
• The notification issued by the MHA imposed a ban on the PFI and its associate organizations, including the Rehab India Foundation (RIF) and Campus Front of India, for five years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967.

What is UAPA?

About:

• The UAPA is aimed at prevention of unlawful activities association in India. Its main objective is dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India. It is also known as Anti-terror law.
• Unlawful activities refer to any action taken by an individual or association intended to disrupt the territorial integrity and territorial sovereignty in India.
• The act assigns absolute power to the central government and provides for death penalty and life imprisonment as the highest punishments.

Major Provisions of the UAPA:

• UAPA provides special procedures to deal with terrorist activities, among other things; the central government may designate an individual/organization as a terrorist/terrorist organization if it:
  • Commits/participates in acts of terrorism,
  • Prepares for terrorism,
  • Promotes terrorism, or
  • Is otherwise involved in terrorism.
• Under the Act, an investigating officer is required to obtain the prior approval of the Director General of Police to seize properties that may be connected with terrorism.
• Additionally, if the investigation is conducted by an officer of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the approval of the Director General of NIA would be required for seizure of such property.
• It empowers the officers of the NIA, of the rank of Inspector or above, to investigate cases in addition to those conducted by officers of the rank of Deputy Superintendent or Assistant Commissioner of Police or above

Procedure Followed:

• The declaration of an association as unlawful is communicated through a gazette notification and by affixing a copy on the association's offices or through loudspeakers in the area where the association conducts its activities.
• The notification remains valid for five years from the date of publication, subject to the tribunal's order under the UAPA.
• When the Centre declares an organization as unlawful, a tribunal is established by the Center to further investigate and confirm whether the decision is justified.
• The notification by the Centre does not take effect until the tribunal confirms the declaration and the order is published in the official gazette.
• The government must send the notification to the tribunal within 30 days of issuing the gazette notification to have the ban ratified.
• Additionally, the MHA must refer to the Tribunal along with the cases that the NIA, Enforcement Directorate, and state police forces have registered against the association and its members across the country.

What is the UAPA Tribunal?

• The UAPA provides for a tribunal to be constituted by the government for its bans to have long-term legal sanctity.
• It is headed by a retired or sitting judge of a High Court.
• On receiving notification from the Centre, the Tribunal calls upon the concerned association to show cause, within 30 days from the date of the service of such Centre’s notice, that why it should not be declared unlawful.
• After hearing arguments from both sides, the Tribunal can hold an inquiry to decide within 6 months whether there is sufficient evidence to declare an association unlawful association.
• Under the UAPA, the Centre's notification cannot have an effect until the tribunal confirms the declaration in its order.

What are the Criticisms of the UAPA?

• Lack Of Substantive and Procedural Process: Section 35 of UAPA allows government to list any individual as a terrorist. The government may do so, based on only major suspicion and without any process.
  • The vague powers of State to detain and arrest individuals who it believes to be indulged in terrorist activities gives itself more powers vis-a-vis individual liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
• Indirect Restriction on Right to Dissent: The right to dissent is a part and parcel of the fundamental right to free speech and expression and therefore, cannot be abridged in any circumstances except for mentioned in Article 19 (2).
  • The Amendment to UAPA in 2019 empowered the ruling government, under the garb of curbing terrorism, to impose indirect restriction on the right to dissent which is detrimental for a developing democratic society.
• Time Consuming: In almost 43% of the cases, the charge sheet has taken more than a year or two to be filed. This has led to a delay in getting justice.

Rapidly Melting Antarctic Ice

Context: A study published in Nature has revealed that rapidly melting Antarctic ice is dramatically slowing down the flow of water through the world’s oceans, and could have a disastrous impact on global climate, marine food chain and on the stability of ice shelves.

What are the Key Highlights of the Report?

Impact on World's Ocean:

• As temperatures rise and freshwater from Antarctica's melting ice enters the ocean, the salinity and density of the surface water are reduced, diminishing the downward flow to the sea's bottom.
• The study showed that warm water intrusions in the western Antarctic ice shelf would increase, but it did not look at how this might create a feedback effect and generate even more melting.
• The report found deepwater circulation in the Antarctic could weaken at twice the rate of decline in the North Atlantic.
• Also, deep ocean water flows from Antarctica could decline by 40% by 2050.

Impact on Global Climate:

• The findings also suggest the ocean would not be able to absorb as much carbon dioxide as its upper layers become more stratified, leaving more CO2 in the atmosphere.

Impact on Food Chain:

• Ocean overturning allows nutrients to rise up from the bottom, with the Southern Ocean supporting about three-quarters of global phytoplankton production, the base of the food chain.
• Slowing the sinking near Antarctica slows down the whole circulation and hence also reduces the amount of nutrients that get returned from the deep ocean back up to the surface.

What are India’s Initiatives in Antarctica’s Context?

• Antarctic Treaty: India officially acceded to the Antarctic Treaty System on 1st August 1983. On 12 September 1983, India became the fifteenth Consultative Member of the Antarctic Treaty.
• Research Stations: The Dakshin Gangotri station (decommissioned) and the Maitri station, Bharti were established to carry out research in Antarctica.
• Establishment of NCAOR: The National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR) was established to counduct the country’s research activities in the Polar and Southern Ocean realms.
• Indian Antarctic Act 2022: It envisages regulating visits and activities to Antarctica as well potential disputes that may arise among those present on the continent.
  • Other provisions of the act involve protecting mineral resources, protecting native plants, prohibition on introducing birds not native to Antarctica and provisions for Indian tour operators.

What about Deglaciation in the Rest of the World?

• Melting of Thwaites Glacier: Thwaites Glacier is 120 km wide, fast-moving glacier located in Antarctica.
  • Because of its size (1.9 lakh square km), it contains enough water to raise the world sea level by more than half a metre.
  • Its melting already contributes 4% to global sea-level rise each year.
• Ice Melting at Mt. Kilimanjaro: The ice cap on Africa's biggest peak, Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro, is among the famous glaciers predicted to melt by 2050 because of climate change.
  • It has melted more than 80% since 1912.
• Retreating Himalayas: The Himalayan glaciers form the largest body of ice outside the polar caps and are the source of water for the innumerable rivers that flow across the Indo-Gangetic plains.
  • Glaciers in the Himalaya are receding faster than in any other part of the world.
  • The glaciers have been losing the equivalent of more than a vertical foot and half of ice each year since 2000; double the amount of melting that took place from 1975 to 2000.

Foreign Trade Policy 2023

Context: Recently, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles launched the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2023 which comes into effect from April 1, 2023.

• FTP 2023 is a policy document which is based on continuity of time-tested schemes facilitating exports as well as a document which is nimble and responsive to the requirements of trade.

What are Details of FTP 2023?

About:

• The policy is based on the principles of trust and partnership with exporters and aims at process re-engineering and automation to facilitate ease of doing business for exporters.

The Key Approach is based on Four Pillars:

• Incentive to Remission,
• Export promotion through collaboration - Exporters, States, Districts, Indian Missions,
• Ease of doing business, reduction in transaction cost and e-initiatives, and
• Emerging Areas – E-Commerce Developing Districts as Export Hubs and streamlining Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment, and Technologies (SCOMET) policy.

Goals and Targets:

• The government aims to increase India’s overall exports to USD 2 trillion by 2030, with equal contributions from the merchandise and services sectors.
• The government also intends to encourage the use of the Indian currency in cross-border trade, aided by a new payment settlement framework introduced by the RBI in July 2022.
• This could be particularly advantageous in the case of countries with which India enjoys a trade surplus.

What are the Salient or Important features of FTP 2023?

Process Re-Engineering and Automation:

• The policy emphasizes export promotion and development, moving away from an incentive regime to a regime which is facilitating, based on technology interface and principles of collaboration.
• Reduction in fee structures and IT-based schemes will make it easier for MSMEs and others to access export benefits.
• Duty exemption schemes for export production will now be implemented through Regional Offices in a rule-based IT system environment, eliminating the need for manual interface

Towns of Export Excellence (TEE):

• Four new towns, namely Faridabad, Mirzapur, Moradabad, and Varanasi, have been designated as TEE in addition to the existing 39 towns.
• The TEEs will have priority access to export promotion funds under the MAI scheme and will be able to avail Common Service Provider (CSP) benefits for export fulfillment under the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) Scheme.

Recognition of Exporters:

• Exporter firms recognized with 'status' based on export performance will now be partners in capacity-building initiatives on a best-endeavor basis.
• Similar to the 'each one teach one' initiative, 2-star and above status holders would be encouraged to provide trade-related training based on a model curriculum to interested individuals.
• Status recognition norms have been re-calibrated to enable more exporting firms to achieve 4 and 5-star ratings, leading to better branding opportunities in export markets.

Promoting Export from the Districts:

• The FTP aims at building partnerships with State governments and taking forward the Districts as Export Hubs (DEH) initiative to promote exports at the district level and accelerate the development of grassroots trade ecosystem.
• Efforts to identify export worthy products & services and resolve concerns at the district level will be made through an institutional mechanism – State Export Promotion Committee and District Export Promotion Committee at the State and District level, respectively.
• District specific export action plans to be prepared for each district outlining the district specific strategy to promote export of identified products and services.

Streamlining SCOMET Policy:

• India is placing more emphasis on the "export control" regime as its integration with export control regime countries strengthens.
• There is a wider outreach and understanding of SCOMET among stakeholders, and the policy regime is being made more robust to implement international treaties and agreements entered into by India.
• A robust export control system in India would provide access of dual-use High end goods and technologies to Indian exporters while facilitating exports of controlled items/technologies under SCOMET from India.

Facilitating E-Commerce Exports:

• Various estimates suggest e-commerce export potential in the range of USD 200 to USD 300 billion by 2030.
• FTP 2023 outlines the intent and roadmap for establishing e-commerce hubs and related elements such as payment reconciliation, book-keeping, returns policy, and export entitlements.
• As a starting point, the consignment wise cap on E-Commerce exports through courier has been raised from ₹5Lakh to ₹10 Lakh in the FTP 2023.
• Depending on the feedback of exporters, this cap will be further revised or eventually removed.

Facilitation under (EPCG) Scheme:

• The EPCG Scheme, which allows import of capital goods at zero Customs duty for export production, is being further rationalized. Some key changes being added are:
• Prime Minister Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel Parks (PM MITRA) scheme has been added as an additional scheme eligible to claim benefits under CSP(Common Service Provider) Scheme of EPCG.
• Dairy sector to be exempted from maintaining Average Export Obligation – to support the dairy sector to upgrade the technology.
• Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) of all types, Vertical Farming equipment, Wastewater Treatment and Recycling, Rainwater harvesting system and Rainwater Filters, and Green Hydrogen are added to Green Technology products – will now be eligible for reduced Export Obligation requirement under EPCG Scheme

Facilitation under Advance authorization Scheme:

• Advance authorisation Scheme accessed by DTA (Domestic tariff area) units provides duty-free import of raw materials for manufacturing export items and is placed at a similar footing to EOU and SEZ Scheme.
• Special Advance Authorisation Scheme extended to export of Apparel and Clothing sector on self-declaration basis to facilitate prompt execution of export orders.
• Benefits of Self-Ratification Scheme for fixation of Input-Output Norms extended to 2 star and above status holders in addition to Authorized Economic Operators at present.

Amnesty Scheme:

• Under the amnesty scheme, an online portal will be launched for registration and a six-month window will be available to exporters to avail the scheme.
• It will cover all pending cases of default in export obligation of authorisations, these can be regularised on payment of all customs duties exempted in proportion to unfulfilled export obligation.

What About Previous Trade Policy?

• The previous foreign trade policy for 2015-2020 had targeted exports of USD 900 billion by 2020;
  • This target was extended along with the policy for three years till March 2023.
  • India is, however, likely to end 2022-23 with total exports of USD 760-770 billion as against USD 676 billion in 2021-22.