World / Sun, 07 Jul 2024 The Indian Express

UPSC Key | Primary Agricultural Credit Societies, Right to Repair Portal, Crowd management and more

He added that this move is in addition to an established database which identifies cooperative societies across the country. For Your Information:— PACS are village level cooperative credit societies that serve as the last link in a three-tier cooperative credit structure headed by the State Cooperative Banks (SCB) at the state level. Credit from the SCBs is transferred to the district central cooperative banks, or DCCBs, that operate at the district level. One of the most important functions of DCCBs is to provide funds to the Primary Agricultural Credit Societies. — These efforts come at a time when the three new criminal laws have come into effect on July 1, while their official translations into Indian languages are yet to be notified.

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Govt and Politics

UPSC Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Mains Examination: GS-II, GS-III: Government policies and interventions; Development processes and the development industry, Economic Development

What’s the ongoing story- Minister of Home Affairs and Cooperation Amit Shah urged stakeholders in cooperative societies — district registrars, heads of district cooperative banks and heads of milk unions — to support the establishment of primary agricultural credit societies (PACS) in all villages and blocks of the country, which, he said, has 2 lakh gram panchayats lacking such societies.

Prerequisites:

— What are PACS?

— Constitutional provision related to the cooperative societies.

— Read about the evolution of the cooperative sector in India.

— National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and Union Ministry of Cooperation.

Key takeaways:

— Addressing a programme at Gandhinagar marking the 102nd International Day of Cooperatives in Gandhinagar, Shah said that the cooperation ministry has undertaken a drive to “establish 2 lakh dairies and PACS” for the 2 lakh gram panchayats which he says lack such facilities. He added that this move is in addition to an established database which identifies cooperative societies across the country.

— Shah also appealed to the NABARD and other state-level district cooperative banks along with milk producers’ unions across the country “to ensure that all dairies, all PACS and all cooperatives of districts open their bank accounts with district or state cooperative banks.

For Your Information:

— PACS are village level cooperative credit societies that serve as the last link in a three-tier cooperative credit structure headed by the State Cooperative Banks (SCB) at the state level. Credit from the SCBs is transferred to the district central cooperative banks, or DCCBs, that operate at the district level. The DCCBs work with PACS, which deal directly with farmers.

— Since these are cooperative bodies, individual farmers are members of the PACS, and office-bearers are elected from within them. A village can have multiple PACS.

Points to Ponder:

— What is the significance of PACS?

— What are the issues and challenges associated with PACS?

— What initiatives have been taken to promote PACS?

Post Read Question:

Prelims

Consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE 2020)

1. In terms of short-term credit delivery to the agriculture sector, District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) deliver more credit in comparison to Scheduled Commercial Banks and Regional Rural Banks.

2. One of the most important functions of DCCBs is to provide funds to the Primary Agricultural Credit Societies.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Mains

“In the villages itself no form of credit organization will be suitable except the cooperative society.” – All India Rural Credit Survey. Discuss this statement in the background of agricultural ﬁnance in India. What constraints and challenges do ﬁnancial institutions supplying agricultural ﬁnance face? How can technology be used to better reach and serve rural clients? (UPSC CSE 2014)

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

Every village to have agricultural credit societies by 2027, says Amit Shah

UPSC Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: GS-II, GS-III: Government policies and interventions; Awareness in the fields of IT, Computers, robotics,

What’s the ongoing story- In order to reduce its reliance on state governments to translate Central legislation into Indian languages, the Union Law Ministry is working on developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) to translate laws into the official languages, likely by December, The Indian Express has learnt.

Prerequisites:

— Read about AI and Its applications in different sectors.

— Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India.

— What are the new criminal laws?

Key takeaways:

— According to senior officials of the Ministry, a recent trial of AI to translate laws was only around 40% successful. The Ministry and the National Informatics Centre are feeding in words from the legal glossary in Hindi and other Indian languages into the AI to improve results, officials said.

— While there are 22 Indian languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, translations are likely to be in 14 languages, including Bengali, Tamil, Gujarati, Urdu, Punjabi and Marathi, as not all languages are used in courts, the official said.

— These efforts come at a time when the three new criminal laws have come into effect on July 1, while their official translations into Indian languages are yet to be notified.

For Your Information:

— The Supreme Court has also deployed AI to translate its judgments. The project, which started in 2019, had translated 31,184 judgments into 16 languages using “AI translation tools” as on December 2, 2023.

— Under Article 348 of the Constitution, all proceedings of the Supreme Court and High Courts and authoritative texts of Bills introduced and passed by Parliament or any state legislature have to be English, unless the Governor of state, with the prior consent of the President, authorises the use of Hindi or any other official language of the state.

Points to Ponder:

— What are the advantages and disadvantages of AI?

— What ethical considerations should be taken into account when developing and using AI?

— Is there any legal framework for AI regulation globally and nationally?

Post Read Question:

With the present state of development, Artificial Intelligence can effectively do which of the following? (UPSC CSE 2020)

1. Bring down electricity consumption in industrial units

2. Create meaningful short stories and songs

3. Disease diagnosis

4. Text-to-Speech Conversion

5. Wireless transmission of electrical energy

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1, 2, 3 and 5 only

(b) 1, 3 and 4 only

(d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

UPSC Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: GS-II, GS-III: Government policies and interventions; Environmental Pollution & Degradation.

What’s the ongoing story- The Centre asked the automobile companies to join the unified Right to Repair Portal India which has been launched by the Department of Consumer Affairs to provide consumers with an easy access to information for repairing their products and enabling them to reuse it.

Prerequisites:

— Read about the Right to Repair Portal.

— Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

— What is the status of e-waste management in India?

Key takeaways:

— “Companies were urged to on board the portal which facilitates and works as a catalyst to provide relevant repair associated information between the consumers and companies,” the official said.

— During the meeting, it was emphasised that products that cannot be repaired or subject to planned obsolescence compel consumers to buy new products due to lack of repair options or if it is expensive and contribute to e-waste, the official said.

Points to Ponder:

— What are the factors contributing to high e-waste in India?

— What measures have been taken for efficient e-waste management?

— What are the main challenges in ensuring the protection of consumer rights in India?

— What steps should be taken to address the challenge of increasing e-waste?

Post Read Question:

What are the impediments in disposing of the huge quantities of discarded solid waste which are continuously being generated? How do we safely remove the toxic wastes that have been accumulating in our habitable environment? (UPSC CSE 2018)

UPSC Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: GS-II: International relations- Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.

What’s the ongoing story- The elections in Iran took place more than a month after hardliner President Ebrahim Raisi died in a chopper crash in May this year.

Prerequisites:

— History of India-Iran bilateral relations.

— Read about the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal

— Chabahar Port and International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC)

Key takeaways:

— Reading the verdict in Tehran, Modi’s expression of working closely with the newly elected President from the reformist group is an expression of hope from South Block — since Delhi has had good experience of working with the reformists in the past.

— India and Iran ties have gone through several ups and downs in the past two decades. The relations were impacted during hardliner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s (2005-13) tenure due to the India-US nuclear deal and the sanctions on the Iranian nuclear programme.

— The relations improved in 2015, when reformist Hassan Rouhani (2013-2021) came to power and the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) nuclear deal was signed between Iran and P5+1 and the sanctions were eased, but the moment was short-lived.

— When US President Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018, the sanctions were back, and India had to stop buying oil from its traditional supplier Iran. Though Chabahar got an exemption from the sanctions, the pace of work has been slower than usual.

— The Indian approach has been to wait and watch, especially since a possibility of Trump to be back in the White House is there in the next six months. Delhi will be extremely measured in how it moves forward in its ties with Iran, which has been low-key in recent years.

For Your Information:

— Chabahar is a deep water port in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan province. It is the Iranian port that is the closest to India, and is located in the open sea, providing easy and secure access for large cargo ships.

Points to Ponder:

— What is the current state of relations between India and Iran?

— What is the strategic importance of Iran for India?

— What are the major issues between Indo-Iranian Ties?

Post Read Question:

What is the importance of developing Chabahar Port by India? (UPSC CSE 2017)

(a) India’s trade with African countries will enormously increase.

(b) India’s relations with oil-producing Arab countries will be strengthened.

(d) Pakistan will facilitate and protect the installation of a gas pipeline between Iraq and India.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

The India-Iran reconnect