Goaltide Daily Current Affairs 2021

Jun 10, 2021

Current Affair 1:
Centre announces hike in MSP for Kharif Crops

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The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the increase in the Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for all mandated Kharif crops for marketing season 2021-22.

 

See below crops: We are giving entire details of crops:

  1. You will know which are kharif crops.
  2. You will get rough idea about MSP of crops. For example, if we say MSP of cotton is less than Jowar, Bajra, you will say YES.

Now some details about CACP.

The MSP is fixed on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP). The Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP) is an attached office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. It came into existence in January 1965.

It is mandated to recommend minimum support prices (MSPs) to incentivize the cultivators to adopt modern technology, and raise productivity and overall grain production in line with the emerging demand patterns in the country. Towards this end, MSP for major agricultural products is fixed by the government, each year, after taking into account the recommendations of the Commission.

Procedure:

  1. CACP submits its recommendations to the government in the form of Price Policy Reports every year.
  2. Commission draws a comprehensive questionnaire from different stakeholders.
  3. Based on all these inputs, the Commission then finalizes its recommendations/reports, which are then submitted to the government. The government, in turn, circulates the CACP reports to state governments and concerned central Ministries for their comments.
  4. After receiving the feed-back from them, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) of the Union government takes a final decision on the level of MSPs and other recommendations made by CACP.

As of now, CACP recommends MSPs of 23 commodities, which comprise 7 cereals (paddy, wheat, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, barley and ragi), 5 pulses (gram, tur, moong, urad, lentil), 7 oilseeds (groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, soyabean, seasmum, sunflower, safflower, nigerseed), and 4 commercial crops (copra, sugarcane, cotton and raw jute).

MSP is determined for the country as a whole and not region or state-specific.

How MSP pricing is determined?

Cost of production is one of the important factors in the determination of MSPs. While recommending its price policy, the CACP considers all costs in a comprehensive manner which is based on the methodology recommended by Expert Committees from time to time.

CACP considers both A2+FL and C2 costs while recommending MSP, both at state and all-India average levels. ‘A2’ covers all paid-out costs directly incurred by the farmer — in cash and kind — on seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, hired labour, leased-in land, fuel, irrigation, etc. ‘A2+FL’ includes A2 plus an imputed value of unpaid family labour. ‘C2’ is a more comprehensive cost that factors in rentals and interest forgone on owned land and fixed capital assets, on top of A2+FL.

Determinants Of MSP

While recommending price policy of various commodities under its mandate, the Commission keeps in mind the various Terms of Reference given to CACP in 2009. Accordingly, it analyses

Current Affair 2:
Scientists identify genes to improve fertiliser nitrogen use efficiency in rice

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Indian biotechnologists have identified candidate genes for nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in rice in what is a major boost to the scientific efforts for crop improvement to save nitrogenous pollution and fertilisers worth billions.

The researchers analysed over 16,600 genes compiled from their own research and dozens of others. They then systematically shortlisted ‘62 candidate genes. They further narrowed them down to ‘06 high priority target genes’ for their potential to improve NUE in rice. NUE is controlled by too many genes and shortlisting them is very important for crop improvement towards NUE

A brief introduction to explain NUE.

The Phenomenal growth in the use of fertilizers for crop production, coupled with poor nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE) is increasingly polluting the soil, water and air, which adversely affects health, biodiversity, and climate change. A recent simulation study showed that a 20% increase in the crop NUE can save $743 million per year. Therefore, improving the crop NUE remains a highly desirable economic and environmental goal.

NUE can be defined in terms of uptake/utilization or remobilization efficiencies, but it is agronomically best expressed as yield per unit nitrogen input. An inability to biologically distinguish between the N-response and NUE and the poor characterization of the phenotype and genotype for NUE have hampered crop improvement, till they were discovered recently.

Rice has the lowest NUE among cereals and therefore consumes most N-fertilizer among them. It is also the third most produced and consumed crop in the world.

According to Indian Nitrogen Assessment, rice is important for NUE, as it consumes 37 per cent of all N-fertilisers in India, the highest among all crops on account of its lowest NUE. Fertilisers like urea emit ammonia, which can deposit on particulate matter and impact human health.

Current Affair 3:
Operation Pangea

Coordinated by INTERPOL, Operation Pangea, is a well-established international effort to disrupt the online sale of counterfeit and illicit health products. Just as importantly, Pangea works to raise awareness of the risks associated with buying medicines from unregulated websites.

Since its launch in 2008, the operation has removed more than 105 million units (pills, ampoules, sachets, bottles and so on) from circulation and made more than 3,000 arrests.

About INTERPOL:

It is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime control. Formed in 1923 as the International Criminal Police Commission, and started calling itself Interpol in 1956.

NTERPOL has 194 member countries, making us the world's largest police organization. They work together and with the General Secretariat to share data related to police investigations.

India joined the organisation in 1949, and is one of its oldest members.

Each country hosts an INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB), which links national police with our global network.

As part of their role in global investigations, NCBs work with:

  • Law enforcement agencies in their own country
  • Other NCBs and Sub-Bureaus around the world
  • The General Secretariat’s offices worldwide

The General Assembly is INTERPOL’s supreme governing body, comprising representatives from each of our member countries.

Current Affair 4:
Researchers re-animate 70-year-old coffee killer fungus in Africa

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Researchers have re-animated 70-year-old frozen samples of fungus to look for modern-day clues that cause coffee to wilt.

Coffee wilt disease, caused by a fungus Fusarium xylarioides, has led to devastating outbreaks in sub-Saharan Africa since the 1920s. It currently affects two of Africa’s most popular coffee varieties — Arabica coffee in Ethiopia and Robusta coffee in east and central Africa.

The first outbreak in the 1920s-1950s was brought under control by management practices such as burning infected trees, looking for natural resistance in coffee and breeding programmes.

However, the disease re-emerged in the 1970s; it spread extensively through the 1990s and 2000s. It continues to cause damage in 2021.

This study provides a wealth of information on the development of crop diseases and discover new, sustainable ways to control them.

The discovery could help farmers reduce the risk of emerging new disease strains, researchers said. For example, coffee beans could be planted separately from other crops. Farmers could also work to prevent the accumulation of plant waste that can shelter the associated fungus.

Current Affair 5:
Rengma Nagas demand autonomous council

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With signing of the proposed Karbi Accord expected soon, the Rengma Naga People’s Council (RNPC) has demanded for “creation of Rengma Hills Autonomous District bifurcating from Karbi Anglong” district. The RNPC alleged that the Government’s announcement of signing of proposed Karbi Accord has “pushed the Rengmas into the dark side of democracy which the government fails to see.

“…the govt has recently announced to sign accord with the Karbi militants with bigger packages without taking into account the legitimate rights of the sons of the soil or the Rengmas and other communities,”

What are Autonomous District Council?

As per the Sixth Schedule, the four states viz. Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram contain the Tribal Areas which are technically different from the Scheduled Areas.

Though these areas fall within the executive authority of the state, provision has been made for the creation of the District Councils and regional councils for the exercise of the certain legislative and judicial powers.

Each district is an autonomous district and Governor can modify / divide the boundaries of the said Tribal areas by notification.

The Governor may, by public notification:

  • Include any area.
  • exclude any area.
  • create a new autonomous district.
  • increase the area of any autonomous district.
  • diminish the area of any autonomous district.
  • alter the name of any autonomous district.
  • define the boundaries of any autonomous district.

Constitution of District Councils and Regional Councils:

  1. There shall be a District Council for each autonomous district consisting of not more than thirty members, of whom not more than four persons shall be nominated by the Governor and the rest shall be elected on the basis of adult suffrage.
  2. There shall be a separate Regional Council for each area constituted an autonomous region.
  3. Each District Council and each Regional Council shall be a body corporate by the name respectively of the District Council of (name of district) and the Regional Council of (name of region), shall have perpetual succession and a common seal and shall by the said name sue and be sued.

 

 

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