29 June 2023 : Indian Express
Indian Express
29-June-2023
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1. National Research Foundation gets Centre nod, Rs 50,000 crore over 5 years for R&D
Syllabus – GS III
Recent Context – Cabinet approves proposal for apex body on scientific research.
National Research Foundation
- National Research Foundation (NRF) will be set up as an apex body to promote, fund and mentor scientific research in higher education institutions across the country, focusing on cultivating the culture of research in universities and colleges.
- The Union Cabinet cleared the introduction of a Bill in Parliament to enable the setting up of the NRF, which is modelled on the lines of the hugely successful National Science Foundation of the United States.
- The NRF is estimated to have an initial budget of Rs 50,000 crore over a five-year period between 2023 and 2028.
- The creation of NRF was one of the key recommendations of the National Education Policy 2020.
- The Department of Science and Technology’s main funding body—the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB)–which was set up in 2008 and is responsible for funding science and technology start-ups, setting up incubators and funding science-related projects in central and state universities, will be absorbed in the NRF.
- Facilitating research in universities is expected to be one of the key focus areas for NRF.
- The NRF would promote research not just in the natural sciences and engineering but also in social sciences, arts and humanities, with one of the primary aims being to find solutions to the big problems facing Indian society.
- The NRF would be housed in the DST and would have a 16-member governing board with two members from DST, five from industry, one from humanities and six experts who would be selected depending on the nature of the project being evaluated; the Prime Minister will be the ex-officio president of the board.
Research and Development in India
- India spends 0.7 per cent of its GDP on research and development, which is extremely low compared to many other countries.
- The gross expenditure on R&D declined from 0.84 per cent in 2008 to about 0.69 per cent in 2018, the last year for which confirmed figures are available.
- In comparison, the US spent 2.83 per cent, China spent 2.14 per cent, and Israel spent 4.9 per cent. Even Brazil, Malaysia and Egypt spend more of their GDP on research.
2. Govt clears Rs 3.70 lakh cr agri package, urea subsidy to stay until March 2025
Syllabus – GS III
Recent Context – The Centre cleared the continuation of the urea subsidy scheme for three years, up to 2024-25.
Highlights
- An outlay of Rs 3.68 lakh crore has been cleared as part of a Rs 3.70 lakh crore package of “innovative schemes for farmers” focussed on their “overall well-being” and “sustainable agriculture”.
- It also approved a new scheme, PM-PRANAM (PM Programme for Restoration, Awareness, Generation, Nourishment and Amelioration of Mother Earth), which was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech in February, to incentivise states to reduce the use of chemical fertilisers and promote alternative fertilisers.
- The urea subsidy scheme would ensure fertiliser availability to the farmers at the same price of Rs 242/45 kg bag, excluding taxes and neem coating charges. Farmers don’t need to spend anything extra to purchase urea, which will help moderate their input costs.
- The initiatives announced under the package will boost farmers’ income, strengthen natural and organic farming, rejuvenate soil productivity and ensure food security.
- Under PM-PRANAM, Rs 1,451.84 crore has been approved for Market Development Assistance (MDA) to promote organic fertilisers from gobardhan (biogas) plants.
- The MDA scheme entails an incentive of Rs 1,500 per MT to support the marketing of organic fertilisers, including fermented organic manures (FOM), liquid FOM, and phosphate-rich organic manures, which are a by-product of biogas plants and compressed biogas plants set up under the umbrella of the GOBARdhan initiative.
- Such organic fertilisers would be branded as ‘Bharat’ and will help address the challenge of managing crop residue and problems of stubble burning while also offering an additional source of income for farmers.
- This initiative will also facilitate the implementation of the Budget announcement of establishing 500 new waste-to-wealth plants under the GOBARdhan scheme for promoting a circular economy by increasing the viability of these plants.
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
- It is chaired by Prime Minister.
- It is supposed to review economic trends, problems and prospects for evolving a consistent and integrated economic policy, coordinate all activities requiring policy decisions at the highest level, and deal with the fixation of agricultural produce prices and essential commodities.
- It considers proposals for more than Rs 1,000 crore investment, deals with industrial licensing policies and reviews rural development and the Public Distribution System.
3. CAMPAIGN CODE
Syllabus – GS II
Recent Context – PM Modi’s strong push for a UCC.
Issues
- The framing of the beginning is the biggest challenge.
- In a country as diverse as India, the UCC — the idea that there should be a common set of personal laws that govern marriage and divorce, inheritance and adoption across religious communities— is a thorny issue with social, political, legal and constitutional implications.
- Debates on its desirability and feasibility, in one form or another, go back to the birth of a new nation and even before that.
- UCC is different—because it touches all citizens and reaches deep inside their ways of life for generations and their personal spaces.
- The UCC does not affect Muslims alone. It affects the Hindu majority, as well as the various other minority communities and tribal groups.
Way Ahead
- An issue of this labyrinthine complexity that defies easy answers needs a wider platform.
- It needs a deliberative space that is open to nuanced views. The UCC is the BJP’s poll promise — along with the abrogation of Article 370 and the Ram temple in Ayodhya, it is, in fact, part of the party’s “core” manifesto.
- It requires even more, an engagement in patient and intricate processes of persuasion and negotiation.
- Recognising the enormity and complexity of the task of implementing it, and the pull and tug that is bound to ensue, the Constitution included a nudge towards the UCC in its section on Directive Principles of State Policy — these are legally unenforceable.
- The 21st Law Commission said that a UCC is “neither necessary nor desirable at this stage”. But the 22nd Law Commission has opened an arrow 30-day window for consultation with stakeholders.
4. PARTNERSHIP FOR THE FUTURE
Syllabus – GS II
Recent Context – India-Philippines relations.
Philippines and its interest
- The Philippines is on the threshold of achieving upper-middle-income status and becoming a trillion-dollar economy by 2033.
- Anchoring diplomacy is the socio-economic agenda of President Ferdinand R Marcos Jr to facilitate conditions for reducing poverty and for sustaining economic growth and resilience in sectors like agriculture, energy, and infrastructure.
- Both nations are deep into fostering greater inclusion and the empowerment of our growing populations as we drive smarter strategies for a prosperous and climate-proof future.
- These factors underline the prospects for expanding trade and economic cooperation in innovation, new technologies and clean energy for supporting the goals to successfully transition vital sectors of the economy.
Further Steps
- India’s economic trajectory is highly promising, with projections indicating it will become the world’s third-largest economy by 2027. With an average GDP growth of 5.5per cent over the past decade, India is the fastest growing among the large economies.
- Business-to-business partnerships can be upscaled to leverage synergies between the economies in light of India’s leadership in developing renewable energy, particularly wind and solar power.
- Between 2009 and 2022, some 280 billion Philippine pesos were invested in renewable energy technologies in the Philippines, almost half of them going to solar energy.
- Synergies can also be unlocked in the context of the “Digital India” project and the Philippines’ spirited shoring up of our digital infrastructure.
- Additionally, as the Philippines works to become a spacefaring country by 2030, more vigorous capacity-building and collaboration between the Philippine Space Agency and the ISRO are on the horizon.
- The signing of a $374-million contract for the procurement by the Philippines’ defence forces of India’s BrahMos Shore-based Anti-Ship Missile System in January 2022 signals only a first step.
- Engagements within the framework of ASEAN, which enjoys a constructive dialogue partnership with India, and India’s “Act East Policy” aim to strengthen economic, strategic, and cultural relations in the Indo-Pacific region.
- More intensified regional cooperation is essential to harness the power of the Indo-Pacific as a catalyst for growth.
- Stronger economic integration, improved connectivity, and increased innovation are key to buttressing the region as a global economic powerhouse.
- As champions of the rule of law and inclusive multilateralism, the Philippines and India play important roles in this respect.
5. HOW THE AMERICAN BALD EAGLE CAME BACK FROM THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION
Syllabus – GS III
Recent Context – The rise in the population of American bald eagles.
Population Decline
- As per the American Eagle Foundation, when the bald eagle was adopted as the country’s national symbol in 1782, there were as many as 100,000 nesting pairs in the continental United States.
- Populations began to decline in the early 1800s when colonial settlers started hunting these majestic birds to protect livestock.
- Post-1940s, however, there was a precipitous fall in bald eagle populations due to the widespread use of the insecticide DDT, which contaminated marine ecosystems and found its way into the birds’ bloodstreams through the fish in their diet.
- DDT resulted in female eagles laying fragile shelled eggs, leading to nesting failures.
Conservation Efforts
- The introduction of a nationwide ban on the use of DDT in agriculture in 1972.
- In 1973, the Endangered Species Act was enacted, with the bald eagle one of the original species listed under this Act.
- Construction activities were barred within a radius of 100 m of a bald eagle nesting site.
- Captive breeding programmes were launched in the1970s. Together, these efforts led to a steady growth in bald eagle populations, and it was removed from the endangered species list in 2007.
For Enquiry
29 June 2023 : Indian Express
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29 June 2023 : The Hindu Editorial
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28 June 2023 : Indian Express
28 June 2023 : PIB
28 June 2023 : The Hindu Editorial
28 June 2023 : Daily Current Affairs
27 June 2023 : Daily Quiz
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