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From concerns on inflation to advice on meeting WTO obligations and suggestions to address labour shortages and rising wages, key Central government ministries and departments had conveyed apprehensions to the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare on its proposal to hike the minimum support price (MSP) for kharif crops in the 2023-24 season.
Data accessed by The Indian Express under the Right to Information (RTI) Act shows that in response to the Agriculture Ministry’s April 20 note on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Cost & Prices (CACP), the Department of Expenditure in the Ministry of Finance, the Niti Aayog, and the Department of Commerce wrote back on May 9, May 16 and May 18, respectively.
On June 7, the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the increase in MSP ranging from 6 per cent to 10 per cent.
The government had said the increase was in line with the Union Budget 2018-19 announcement of fixing MSP at a level of at least 1.5 times the cost of production, aimed at reasonably fair remuneration for farmers.
In response to the Agriculture Ministry’s note, Niti Aayog, the Centre’s think tank, wrote that “this much” of an increase in MSP would make it difficult to keep inflation in check.
The increase suggested in MSP varies from 5.3 per cent in case of urad to more than 10 per cent in crops like cotton (long staple), sesamum and moong. If this much increase is given to MSP, it will be very difficult to keep food inflation in the stipulated range of 4-6 per cent, which is very important for macro-economic stability.
Rover explores Lunar surface, ISRO send sun mission Sept 2 (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Five days after its Chandrayaan-3 Lander Module scripted history by landing successfully near the lunar south pole, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) released photographs taken by the Moon rover and announced that its first solar mission, Aditya-L1, to study the Sun will be launched from the Sriharikota spaceport at 11.50 am on September 2.
Putting out photographs of a crater and the imprint of the rover’s wheels on the lunar surface, ISRO said, “On August 27, 2023, the Rover came across a 4-metre diameter crater positioned 3 metres ahead of its location. The Rover was commanded to retrace the path. It’s now safely heading on a new path.”
The rover has left tracks behind on the lunar surface as captured by its navigation camera. One of the reasons for choosing a landing spot close to the Moon south pole is the presence of craters that usually remain in shadow completely, increasing the likelihood of frozen water presence that will be key to future space missions.
The space agency also announced the liftoff Saturday of Aditya L1. It is being prepared for its travel 1.5 million km away from Earth — only 1% of the distance to the Sun — to the Lagrange 1 point or L1 point which provides an unobstructed view of the Sun even during a solar eclipse.
Govt & Politics
MSP hike by 5-10% on Kharif crops did not alone move the needle on inflation (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The spike in food inflation in July is not necessarily because of the 5.30-10.35% hike in the minimum support price (MSP) of Kharif crops.
In fact, the 13 food crops for which MSP was announced on June 7 this year have a combined weight of just 2.748 in the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), and even among them, four show a lower WPI-based inflation in July compared with last July.
Cereals are part of a larger ‘Food Articles’ category which has a weight of 15.255 in the WPI.
The data shows that the rate of inflation for this category stood at 14.25% in July, higher than 10.77% in July last year.
In the MSP hikes that came in June, the maximum 10.35% was for moong, followed by sesamum (10.28%), cotton-long staple (10.03%), groundnut (9.0%), cotton-medium staple (8.88%), jowar-maldandi (7.86%), ragi (7.49%), jowar-hybrid (7.07%), paddy -common (7.01%), soybean-yellow (6.98%), paddy-grade A (6.94%), maize (6.52%), bajra (6.38%), niger seed (6.13%), tur/ arhar (6.06%), sunflower seed (5.63%) and urad (5.3%).
No case will last two years after new criminal, penal codes: Shah (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that with the passage of the three Bills recently introduced in the Parliament to replace the Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and Indian Evidence Act, “no case can continue for more than two years”. Shah was speaking at the 26th meeting of the Western Zonal Council of states in Gandhinagar.
The meeting was attended by chief ministers of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and the administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Bhupendra Patel, Eknath Shinde, Pramod Sawant and Praful Patel, respectively.
Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and ministers and chief secretaries from the states of the western zone also attended the meeting among others.
An official release from the Press Information Bureau quoted Shah as saying, “…after the passage of the three new Bills – Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill, 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill, 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023 – recently introduced by the Modi government in the Parliament, no case can continue for more than two years, which will result in elimination of 70% negative energy.”
He asked all states to work towards creating the necessary basic infrastructure and capacity for the implementation of these laws. The release added that 17 issues were discussed in the meeting and nine of them resolved, while the rest were kept for monitoring and in-depth discussion.
Editorial
BRICS in perspective (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
The 15th BRICS Summit concluded in Johannesburg last week with the membership of the grouping going from 5 to 11, after the induction of four countries from the Gulf and West Asia — Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — as well as Ethiopia and Argentina from Africa and South America, respectively.
There are major implications of this enlargement, beyond the current five members — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — which will come into effect on January 1, 2024, as also of pressures on this grouping to acquire a more geopolitical agenda (with Chinese characteristics), particularly in the context of the escalating strategic contestation between the US and China.
However, what hogged the headlines in India was the conversation Prime Minister Narendra Modi had with President Xi Jinping of China in Johannesburg.
The two sides have come out with somewhat contradictory readouts. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has claimed that the meeting was organised at India’s request, while we have put out that there was a pending Chinese request.
The Chinese statement characterises the interaction as a “candid and in-depth exchange of views”, while we have suggested it was an informal conversation.
There is also divergence on what transpired during the interaction: Our briefing indicates that the two leaders agreed to “direct their relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation”, while the Chinese statement suggests that the two sides should “bear in mind the overall interests of their bilateral relations and handle properly the border issue so as to jointly safeguard peace and tranquillity in the border region”.
Express Network
In 2019, undid mistakes of the past: Govt to SC (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
The Centre told the Supreme Court that the Home Minister had told Parliament that the Union Territory status for Jammu and Kashmir is a temporary measure and that its statehood will be restored.
The Hon’ble Home Minister on the floor of the House has said that this (reorganisation in Union Territory) is a temporary measure.
Ultimately it will become a state,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and J&K administration, told a five-judge Supreme Court bench headed by CJI D Y Chandrachud, which is hearing petitions challenging changes made to Article 370 of the Constitution by Parliament in 2019.
Mehta told the bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul, Sanjeev Khanna, B R Gavai and Surya Kant, that there were “situations where it is necessary for sometime, this remains under Union as Union Territory”.
Meanwhile, the SC, which was hearing arguments for the 11th day, observed that the now-scrapped Article 35A of the Constitution, which enabled the erstwhile state to define who is a permanent resident to grant them special rights and privileges, took away three fundamental rights, besides the power of judicial review.
The CJI said this as Mehta said the provision removed references to Scheduled Tribes from Article 15(4) of the Constitution. So you alienate those who did not fall within the artificially created definition of permanent residents and those who belonged to Scheduled Tribe.
Centre tells top court only it can conduct census (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that the Census Act, 1948, empowers “only the Central Government” to conduct a Census.
In a short affidavit filed in the Bihar caste survey matter, the Centre said, “Census is a statutory process and is governed by the Census Act, 1948.
It is submitted that the subject of Census is covered in the Union List under Entry 69 in the Seventh Schedule. In exercise of the powers under the said Entry, the Central Government has made the Census Act, 1948.
The government said it is filing the affidavit “only with a view to place the Constitutional and legal position for consideration of this court”.
The government said it is “committed to take all affirmative actions for upliftment of SCs/STs/SEBCs and OBCs in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and applicable law”.
Earlier in the day, the Centre filed another affidavit stating in paragraph 5 that “no other body under the Constitution or otherwise is entitled to conduct the exercise of either Census or any action akin to Census”.
World
US and China agree to discuss export controls, not ready to blink on disputes (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The United States and China have agreed to launch an export control enforcement information dialogue and a new formal working group on commercial issues, the U.S. Commerce Department said on Monday, giving Beijing a potential forum to express concerns.
After meetings between U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, the exchange would provide a "platform to reduce misunderstandings of U.S. national security policies.
The United States is committed to be transparent about our export control enforcement strategy. To show you how real this is, the first meeting of that new information exchange is tomorrow in Beijing.
Explained
On Moon, very hot to very cold – separated by just a few mm (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft has begun releasing important data from the scientific experiments being conducted by the instruments on board.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) released first-of-its-kind data from the observations made by ChaSTE (Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment), one of the four instruments on the lander module.
ChaSTE is meant to study the heat conductivity of the Moon’s surface and measure the differences in temperatures at different points on and below the surface, with the overall objective of creating a thermal profile of the Moon.
This instrument has been developed by the Space Physics Laboratory at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram and the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad.
The first set of data released by ISRO showed a very sharp difference in temperatures just above and below the surface of the Moon.
A graphical plot put out by ISRO showed that while temperatures on the surface were over 50 degree Celsius, they dropped to nearly -10 degree Celsius just a few millimetres below the surface.
The measurements suggested that the topsoil of the lunar surface did not conduct heat very well, and insulated the sub-surface from heat.
Feet on moon eyes on sun (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Barely 10 days after creating history by landing near the South Pole of the Moon, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to launch its spacecraft to study the Sun. Aditya-L1 will be launched on September 2 at 11:50 am from Sriharikota.
The spacecraft will travel 1.5 million km from the Earth to the Lagrange 1 or L1 point between the Earth and the Sun.
This distance is nearly four times that travelled by the Chandrayaan missions, but just 1% of the 150 million km between the Earth and the Sun.
The Aditya-L1 mission will see the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) carry the 1,475-kg spacecraft to an elliptical orbit around the Earth. The spacecraft, which will carry seven scientific payloads, is more than two times lighter than the one to the Moon.
Like the Chandrayaan-3 mission, the orbit as well as the velocity of the spacecraft around the Earth will be increased till it is slingshot towards the Sun.
The distance to L1 point will be covered in nearly four months. The spacecraft will then be inserted into a halo orbit around the L1 point. It will collect data for five years.
Economy
50 crores came into banking system under PMJDY (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
More than 50.09 crore accounts have been opened under the PM Jan Dhan Yojana in the last nine years and the deposit balance swelled to over Rs 2.03 lakh crore, the Finance Ministry said on August 28 via a release as the scheme completed nine years of successful implementation.
The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) was launched on August 28, 2014, with the aim to provide universal banking services through the opening of zero-balance bank accounts for every unbanked household, based on the guiding principles of banking the unbanked, securing the unsecured and funding the unfunded.
On the 9th anniversary of PMJDY, Union Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, in her message said, “The 9 years of PMJDY-led interventions and digital transformation have revolutionised financial inclusion in India.
It is heartening to note that more than 50 crore people have been brought into the formal banking system through the opening of Jan Dhan Accounts".