1 April 2024, The Hindu
Army is cranking up efforts to boost infrastructure, connectivity along LAC in Arunachal
(Page-4)
(GS 3, Indian Economy)
- Over the past year, the Kibithoo, one of the easternmost villages in Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh of about 130 residents has witnessed its Primary Health Centre and residences of the school teachers being upgraded, and concrete tracks being laid under the Central government’s Vibrant Villages Programme (VVP).
- For administrative purposes, the Army classifies Arunachal as Kameng, derived from the name of the river that flows through the State. Tawang district is part of the Kameng area, while the remaining part of the State is considered separate and was earlier referred to as the Rest of Arunachal Pradesh (RALP).
- Of the 3,488-km-long LAC, 1,346 km falls in the eastern sector, comprising Sikkim and Arunachal. While the Tawang and Kameng areas are under the Army’s IV Corps, headquartered at Tezpur, RALP is under the III Corps, which is based at Dimapur. Kameng and Tawang have seen development in the last 10-15 years, with the remaining areas only now catching up with the kind of infrastructure that China possesses.
Genetic profiling of captive jumbos of Kerala to begin soon
(Page-5)
(GS 3, Science & Tech.)
- The genetic profiling of the IDUKKI 400-odd captive elephants of the State will begin shortly. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII), which is carrying out the profiling to add the details of the elephants to a national database, has provided the forensic kits to the Kerala Forest department.
- The department has entrusted assistant conservators (social forestry) in the districts with the responsibility of collecting blood and dung samples of the animals in their respective areas. An online training programme has also been planned for the forest officials on April 5 and 6 on sample collection, and updating the reports.
- The profiling of the captive elephants has been completed in a few States. It is estimated that there are around 3,000 captive elephants in the country.
The Finance Commission and public finance in Kerala
(Page-6)
(GS 2, Local Self Governance)
- Public debt management is getting wider attention in Centre-State financial relations, against the backdrop of recently constituted Sixteenth Union Finance Commission. One of the States in India, Kerala, had filed a suit in the Supreme Court of India against the Centre’s decision on the net borrowing ceiling of States.
- These recent developments relate to a clarion call for “asymmetric fiscal rules” relating to deficits and debts in India.
- This issue requires wider discussion and debate as debt- deficit dynamics is the single most significant issue now in Centre-State financial relations.
- In the post-COVID-19 pandemic fiscal strategy, the fiscal deficit to GDP is envisaged as 3.5% for States, with 0.5% tied to power sector reforms and the general government public debt to GDP at 60% and central government debt at 40%. The outstanding liabilities of Kerala are 36.9 percentage of GSDP as per 2024-25 (BE).
Compounding crises
(Page-6)
(GS 3, Environment)
- There is only enough water to fill 23% of the holding capacity in all of South India’s reservoirs, The Hindu reported last week based on an analysis of Central Water Commission data.
- This, according to the analysis, is nine percentage points lower than the rolling decadal average, speaking to the certainty and the magnitude of the impending crisis.
- The last time South India faced a summertime water crisis was in 2017. The crisis in the same region this year is poised to be different, and worse, for a few reasons.
- Climate change will impose a deadlier cost on low and middle-income countries such as India by creating simultaneous crises.
- While the phenomenon changes the way weather events co-evolve, it also affects the frequency of their occurrence such that two events may develop a greater chance of transpiring together than they did before — such as a drought and a disease outbreak, which in turn will worsen socio-economic conditions among marginalised groups.
Workers, not tech, should be state’s priority
(Page-7)
- The Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS) has been accorded sufficient attention, mostly on account of the myriad issues plaguing it.
- This begs critical attention because the state, through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), is legally mandated to offer up to 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
- Additionally, there has been a notable increase this year in the budgetary allocation to MGNREGS to nearly ₹86,000 crore.
- Research shows that there are more than 26 crore workers registered with MGNREGS. Of them, as many as 5.2 crore workers were deleted from the database in 2022-23.
- An article in The Hindu noted that 34.8% of job card holders remain ineligible for ABPS.
- The objective of MGNREGS is not to offer a playing field for technological interventions, but to provide deprived households a sense of work security, facilitated by digital technology.
Tamil Nadu accounts for 30% of India’s electronics exports
(Page-7)
(GS 3, Indian Economy)
- Tamil Nadu, India’s largest exporter of electronic goods in FY23, accounted for 30% of all electronic goods exports from India in FY24. The State is in fact a late bloomer in this sector, with Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka dominating electronic goods exports until FY22.
- However, in recent years, among the top exporters of electronics, only Tamil Nadu’s numbers have consistently risen, while the figures of other States have either dropped or become stagnant.
- The share of the electronic goods sector in India’s overall exports has more than doubled — mostly due to the rise in Tamil Nadu’s contribution — in recent years. At the core of this rise is the surge in exports of smartphones, which currently forms close to 40% of India’s electronics exports.
- In the last two fiscal years, close to 40% of smartphones in India were sent out from just one district, Kancheepuram, located in the north-eastern part of Tamil Nadu.
How neuroscience reshapes marketing strategies in India
(Page-9)
(GS 3, Science & Tech.)
- Elon Musk’s N1 implant, introduced to facilitate operating devices by just intending it in the brain, has jolted many into realising how far seemingly exotic neuroscience has been put to practical, commercial use.
- While the implant may be the outlier in neuroscience, what’s common and par for the course today is mapping the brain to understand and predict human responses with data and real insight.
- This is being used in India to solve business problems from why life insurance buyers typically stop paying premiums after the first two years to whether an online ad can be made to ensure the consumer hits the “buy” button.
- Neuro-scientific techniques provide a scientific or objective understanding of the brain-behaviour relationship. Advertisements, product design, aesthetics, store layout, use of music, colour to attract attention, nudges and so on can all be tested with the use of neuro-scientific tools to ensure their effectiveness before being launched.
Biggest challenge yet for the great Indian election
(Page-11)
(GS 2, Indian Polity)
- Democracies survive as long as those who lose elections do not question the fairness of the process.
- When the losers think, rightly or wrongly, that they have been short-changed by the process, democracy is undermined.
- India appears to be at a crossroads precisely for this reason. The central question about 2024 is no longer about victory and defeat, but about whether the process of election itself is free and fair.
- What casts a cloud on the integrity of the process on the eve of the election is the selective law enforcement by state agencies under the control of the incumbent BJP that target Opposition parties and leaders.
- The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo and Delhi Chief Minister is in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), accused in an alleged corruption case.
- The principal Opposition party Congress finds its funds frozen by the Income Tax Department that is purportedly investigating discrepancies in filings by the party from several years ago.
- The Election Commission (EC) is facing questions regarding its independence, after one of its members resigned abruptly and without explanation, which was followed by the hurried appointment of two new members by the BJP government.
A record 60 traditional products from across India granted GI tag
(Page-12)
(Prelims)
- Over 60 products from across India, including Banaras Thandai, have been given the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
- This is the first time that such a large number of products have been given the GI tag at one go, a senior official from the Geographical Indications Registry said, adding that more States were coming forward and filing applications to get a GI tag for their traditional products.
- Six traditional crafts from Assam-Asharikandi terracotta craft, Pani Meteka craft, Sarthebari metal craft, Jaapi (bamboo headgear), Mishing handloom products, and Bihu dhol have bagged the GI tag.
