PSC Notes

Wegner’s Continental Drift Theory

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Alfred Wegner was a German Meteorologist in the early 1900s who studied ancient climates. Like most people, the jigsaw puzzle appearance of the Atlantic continental margins caught his attention. He put together the evidence of ancient glaciations and the distribution of fossil to formulate a theory that the continents have moved over the surface of the Earth, sometimes forming large supercontinents and other times forming separate continental masses. He proposed that prior to about 200 million years ago all of the continents formed one large land mass that he called Pangea .

According to Alfred Wegener, the entire landmass of the globe was together about 280 million years ago. It was termed as Pangea, a super continent. The huge water body surrounding the Pangea was known as Panthalasa. From 80 to 150 million years ago, Pangea was broken latitudinally into northern and southern parts known as Laurasia (Angaraland) and Gondwanaland, respectively. Both of them drifted away and in between a shallow sea emerged by filling up the water from Panthalasa. It was known as Tethys sea. Later on Laurasia and Gondwanaland rifted and finally drifted to form the present day distribution of land and water on the earth .

 

Wegener’s explanation of continental drift in 1912 was that drifting occurred because of the earth’s rotation. Fossil records from separate continents, particularly on the outskirts of continents show the same species.

The evidence which gave rise to the theory of continental drift includes the following:

  • The coasts of the continents surrounding the Atlantic ocean could, if the continents were moved closer, fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.
  • Living animals in widely separated lands are similar. For example India and Madagascar have similar mammals, which are quite different from those in Africa, even though it is now near to Madagascar.
  • Fossil plants in India, South Africa, Australia, Antarctica and South America are similar to each other. This so-called Glossopteris flora is quite different from plants found in other parts of the world at the same time.
  • There are numerous geological similarities between eastern South America and western Africa.
  • Apparent Polar Wandering: Paleomagnetism tells us how far from the poles rocks were when they formed, by looking at the angle of their magnetic field. The story told by different continents is contradictory, and can only be explained if we assume the continents have moved over time.There are ridges in the floors of the main oceans.Paleomagnetism shows that the sea floor has spread away from these ridges. Distinct patterns of stripes can be seen in the magnetism of rocks on either side of the ridges.

WET LAND ECOSYSTEM

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Areas of marsh, fen, peatland/water, whether natural (or) artificial, permanent (or) temporary with water that is static (or) flowing, fresh, brackish (or) salt, including areas of marine

water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed 6 mtrs.

Wetlands Classification-

  1. Inland wetland-

a)Natural- Lakes / Ponds, Ox-bow Lakes, Waterlogged, Swamp/marsh

  1. b) Manmade- Reservoirs Tank, Ash pond
  2. Costal Wetland-
  3. A) Natural- Coral reef, Tidal flat, Mangroves, Salt marsh, Estuary, Lagoon, Creek,

Backwater, Bay

b)-manmade -• Salt pans, Aquculture

Functions of Wetlands-

  • Habitat to aquatic flora and fauna, birds
  • Filtration of sediments and nutrients from surface water,
  • Nutrients recycling, Water purification Floods mitigation,
  • Ground water recharging, Buffer shorelines against erosion,
  • Genetic reservoir for various species of plants(rice)
  • the National Lake Conservation Programme (NLCP) considers lakes as standing water
  • bodies which have a minimum water depth of 3 m, generally cover a water spread of more than ten hectares, and have no or very little aquatic vegetation.
  • Wetlands (generally less than 3 m deep over most of their area) are usually rich in nutrients (derived from surroundings and their sediments) and have .abundant growth of aquatic macrophytes

India’s Wetland

Wetlands occupy 18.4% of the country’s area of which 70% are under paddy cultivation.

Inland wetlands >Costal Wetlands

 

National Wetlands Conservation Programme (NWCP)

  • NWCP was implemented in the year 1985-86.
  • Under the programme, 115 wetlands have been identified by the Ministry which require urgent conservation and management interventions.

Aim

  • Conservation of wetlands to prevent their further degradation and ensuring their wise
  • use for the benefit of local communities and overall conservation of biodiversity.

Objectives

  • to lay down policy guidelines for conservation and management of wetlands in the country.
  • to provide financial assistance for undertaking intensive conservation measures in the identified wetlands
  • The Central Government is responsible for overall coordination of wetland
  • conservation programmes and initiatives at the international and national levels. It also provides guidelines, financial & technical assistance to state govt.
  • State Governments/UT Administration are responsible for management of wetlands and implementation of the NWCP for ensuring their wise-use

 

Criteria for Identification of Wetlands of National Importance

Criteria for identification of wetlands of national importance under NWCP are same as those prescribed under the ‘Ramsar Convention on Wetlands’ and are as given below:

  1. Sites containing representative, rare or unique wetland types

example of a natural or near-natural wetland type’ found within the appropriate biogeographic region.

  1. Criteria based on species and ecological communities
  • If it supports vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered species; or
  • threatened ecological communities.
  • If it supports populations of plant and/or animal species important for maintaining the biological diversity of a particular biogeographic region.
  • If it supports plant and/or animal species at a critical stage in their life cycles, or provides refuge during adverse conditions.

 

  1. Specific criteria based on water birds
  • If it regularly supports 20,000 or more water birds.
  • If it regularly supports 1% of the individuals in a population of one species or subspecies of waterbirds.

 

  1. Specific criteria based on fish
  • If it supports a significant proportion of indigenous fish subspecies, species or families, life-history stages,  species  interactions  and/or  populations  that  are representative of wetland benefits and/or values and thereby contributes to global biological diversity.
  • If it is an important source of food for fishes, spawning ground, nursery and/or migration path on which fish stocks, either within the wetland or elsewhere, depend.
  1. Specific criteria based on water/life and culture
  • If it is an important source of food and water resource, increased possibilities for recreation  and eco-tourism, improved scenic values, educational opportunities, conservation of cultural heritage (historic or religious sites)

 

Spread of Modern Education

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1781: Hastings set up the Calcutta Madrasah for the study and teaching of Muslim law and related subjects

1791: Jonathan Duncan started a Sanskrit College at Varanasi for the study of Hindu law and philosophy.

1813: Charter of 1813 directed the Company to spend Rs. 1 lakh for promoting modern sciences in the country. This sum was however made available only in 1823.

1835: Macaulay’s minute.

English was made the medium of instruction in schools. Education of masses was however neglected. British advocated the ‘downward filtration theory’ for education. As per this theory, since the allocated funds could educate only a handful of Indians, it was decided to spend them in educating a few persons from the upper and middle classes who were expected to assume the task of educating the masses and spreading modern ideas among them.

1844: Compulsion for applicants for government employment to possess knowledge of English. This made the English medium schools more popular.

1854: Wood’s Dispatch asked the government of India to assume responsibility for the education of the masses. It thus repudiated the ‘downward filtration theory’. As a result, Departments of Education were instituted in all provinces and universities were setup in 1857 at Madras, Calcutta and Bombay.

The main reason why British adopted some measures towards education in India was because:

  1. They needed educated people to man their system of administration. It was not possible to get enough Englishmen to man all the posts.
  2. Another important motive was the belief that educated Indians would help expand the market for British manufactures in India.
  3.  Lastly, it was expected to reconcile the people of India to British rule.

Major drawbacks of the English education system:

  1. Neglect of mass education. Mass literacy in India was hardly better in 1921 than in 1821. High fees in schools and colleges led to the education becoming a monopoly of the rich.
  2. Almost total neglect of the education of girls. As late as 1921 only 2 percent Indian women could read and write.
  3. Neglect of scientific and technical education.
  4. The government was never willing to spend more than a scanty sum on education.

Development of Education

 

  • Charter act of 1813
    • Sanctioned 1 lakh rupees annually for promoting education and modern sciences
    • Not made available till 1823
  • Orientalist-Anglicist Controversy
  • Lord Macaulay’s minute (1835)
  • Wood’s Despatch (1854)
    • Rejected the downward filtration theory
    • Asked the government of India to assume the responsibility of education of the masses
    • English as medium for higher studies and vernaculars at school level
  • 1857: University of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras
  • Hunter Commission (1882-83)
    • State care required for promotion and spread of primary and secondary education
    • Transfer control of primary education to district and municipal boards
  • Raleigh Commission, 1902
  • Universities Act 1904
  • Saddler Education Commission (1917-19)
    • School course should cover 12 years
    • Less rigidity in framing university regulations
  • Hartog Committee (1929)
    • No hasty expansion or compulsion of education
  • Wardha Scheme of basic education (1937)
    • Vocation based education

 

Natural Resources of India

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What are natural resources ?

Natural resources are useful raw materials that we get from the Earth. They occur naturally, which means that humans cannot make natural resources. Instead, we use and modify natural resources in ways that are beneficial to us. The materials used in human-made objects are natural resources. Some examples of natural resources and the ways we can use them are:

 

Natural resources                                                                Products and services

Air                                                                                         Wind energy

Animals                                                                                Foods ( Milk, Steak, Bacon etc.),

Clothing ( wool, silk etc.

Coal                                                                                       Electricity

Minerals                                                                                Coins, wire, Steel, Aluminium etc.

Natural gas                                                                             Electricity and Heating

Oil                                                                                           Electricity, Fuel for vehicles

Plants                                                                                      Wood, Paper, Cotton etc.

Sunlight                                                                                   Solar power, Photosynthesis

Water                                                                                       Hydroelectricity, Drinking, Cleaning

 

INDIA : NATURAL RESOURCES

  1. Land Resources: In terms of area India ranks seventh in the world with a total area of 32, 87.263 sq. km. (32.87 crore hectare). It accounts for 2.42% of total area of the world. In absolute terms India is really a big country. However, land man ratio is not favourable because of the huge population size.

Land utilisation figures are available for about 92.9% of total geographical area, that is, for 3,287.3 lakh hectare. Forest constitutes 24.01 % of the total geographical area of country. Out of a total land area of 304.2 million hectares about 170.0 million hectares is under cultivation. Food grains have preponderance in gross cropped areas as compared to non food grains. According to Agricultural Census, the area operated by large holdings (10 hectares and above) has declined and area operated under marginal holdings (less than one hectare) has increased. This indicates that land is being fragmented.

  1. Forest Resources: India’s forest cover is 78.92 million hectare which is 24.01 % of the geographical area of the country. The per capita forest in India (0.5 hectare) is much less than that in the world (1.9 hectares). According to the National Policy on Forests (1988), one-third (33%) of the country’s area should be covered by forests in order to maintain ecological balance.
  2. 3. Mineral Resources :

Iron-Ore: India possesses high quality iron-ore in abundance. The total reserves of iron-ore in the country are about 14.630 million tonnes of haematite and 10,619 million tonnes of magnetite. Haematite iron is mainly found in Chbattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Goa and Karnataka. The major deposit of magnetite iron is available at western coast of Karnataka. Some deposits of iron ore arc also found in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

Coal reserves : India has the fifth largest coal reserves in the world. As on 31 March 2015, India had 306.6 billion metric tons (338.0 billion short tons) of the resource. The known reserves of coal rose 1.67% over the previous year, with the discovery of an estimated 5.04 billion metric tons (5.56 billion short tons). The estimated total reserves of lignite coal as on 31 March 2015 was 43.25 billion metric tons (47.67 billion short tons). The energy derived from coal in India is about twice that of the energy derived from oil, whereas worldwide, energy derived from coal is about 30% less than energy derived from oil. Coal deposits are primarily found in eastern and south-central India. Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra accounted for 99.08% of the total known coal reserves in India. As on 31 March 2015, Jharkhand and Odisha had the largest coal deposits of 26.44% and 24.72% respectively .

The top producing states are:

Other notable coal-mining areas are as follows :

 

Bauxite:

Bauxite is a main source of metal like aluminium. It is not a specific mineral but a rock consisting mainly of hydrated aluminium oxides. It is clay-like substance which is pinkish whitish or reddish in colour depending on the amount of iron content.

The total reserves of bauxite in India are estimated at 27.40 crores tonnes. The major bauxite producing states in India are Orissa, Jharkhand, Gujrat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Goa in a descending order of importance.

Large amount of bauxite comes from:

Orissa : Sambalpur, Koraput, Kalahandi and Ganjam,

Jharkhand : Lohardaga near Ranchi and Palamau districts,

Maharashtra: Ratnagiri and Kolaba, Thane, Satara of Kolhapur district,

Madhya Pradesh:  Chhattisgarh – Balaghat, Rajgarh and Bilashpur,

Gujarat : Bhavanagar, Junagarh and Amreli,

Karnataka: Belgaum and Bababudan hills,

Tamil Nadu: Salem.

Uranium deposits : Jaduguda in Singhbhum Thrust Belt (in the state of Jharkhand, formerly part of Bihar) is the first uranium deposit to be discovered in the country in 1951. The Singhbhum Thrust Belt (also known as Singhbhum Copper belt or Singhbhum shear Zone) is a zone of intense shearing and deep tectonization with less than 1km width and known for a number of copper deposits with associated nickel, molybdenum, bismuth, gold, silver etc. It extends in the shape of an arc for a length of about 160 km. This discovery of uranium at Jaduguda in this belt paved the way for intensive exploration work and soon a few more deposits were brought to light in this area. Some of these deposits like Bhatin, Narwapahar and Turamdih are well known uranium mines of the country. other deposits like Bagjata, Banduhurang and Mohuldih are being taken up for commercial mining operations. Some of the other areas like Garadih, Kanyaluka, Nimdih and Nandup in this belt are also known to contain limited reserves with poor grades. Apart from discoveries in the Singhbhum Thrust Belt, several uranium occurrences have also been found in Cuddapah basin of Andhra Pradesh. These include Lambapur-Peddagattu, Chitrial, Kuppunuru, Tumallapalle, Rachakuntapalle which have significantly contributed towards the uranium reserve base of India. In the Mahadek basin of Meghalaya in NorthEastern part of the country, sandsyone type uranium deposits like Domiasiat, Wahkhyn, Mawsynram provide near-surface flat orebodies amenable to commercial operations. Other areas in Rajsthan, Karnataka and Chattishgarh hold promise for developing into some major deposits.

 

 

 

 

Thorium

The IAEA’s 2005 report estimates India’s reasonably assured reserves of thorium at 319,000 tonnes, but mentions recent reports of India’s reserves at 650,000 tonnes. A government of India estimate, shared in the country’s Parliament in August 2011, puts the recoverable reserve at 846,477 tonnes. The Indian Minister of State V. Narayanasamy stated that as of May 2013, the country’s thorium reserves were 11.93 million tonnes (monazite, having 9-10% ThO2, with a significant majority (8.59 Mt; 72%) found in the three eastern coastal states of Andhra Pradesh (3.72 Mt; 31%), Tamil Nadu (2.46 Mt; 21%) and Odisha (2.41 Mt; 20%). Both the IAEA and OECD appear to conclude that India may possess the largest share of world’s thorium deposits.

 

Iron reserves : Iron ore is a metal of universal use. It is the backbone of modern civilisation. It is the foundation of our basic industry and is used all over the world. four varieties of iron ore are generally recognized.

(i) Magnetite: This is the best quality of iron ore . It possesses magnetic property and hence is called magnetite. It is found in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

 

(ii) Haematite:

It contains 60 % to 70 % pure iron and is found in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

(iii) Limonite:

It contains 40 per cent to 60 per cent pure iron. It is of yellow or light brown colour. Damuda series in Raniganj coal field, Garhwal in Uttarakhand, Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh and Kangra valley of Himachal Pradesh.

(iv) Siderite:

It contains many impurities and has just 40 to 50 per cent pure iron. However, due to presence of lime, it is self fluxing.

 

(4) Oil reserves : India had about 750 Million metric tonne of proven oil reserves as April 2014 or 5.62 billion barrels as per EIA estimate for 2009, which is the second-largest amount in the Asia-Pacific region behind China. Most of India’s crude oil reserves are located in the western coast (Mumbai High) and in the northeastern parts of the country, although considerable undeveloped reserves are also located in the offshore Bay of Bengal and in the state of Rajasthan. The combination of rising oil consumption and fairly unwavering production levels leaves India highly dependent on imports to meet the consumption needs. In 2010, India produced an average of about 33.69 million metric tonne of crude oil as on April 2010 or 877 thousand barrels per day as per EIA estimate of 2009. As of 2013 India Produces 30% of India’s resources mostly in Rajasthan.

India’s oil sector is dominated by state-owned enterprises, although the government has taken steps in past recent years to deregulate the hydrocarbons industry and support greater foreign involvement. India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation is the largest oil company. ONGC is the leading player in India’s upstream sector, accounting for roughly 75% of the country’s oil output during 2006, as per Indian government estimates. As a net importer of all oil, the Indian Government has introduced policies aimed at growing domestic oil production and oil exploration activities. As part of the effort, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas crafted the New Exploration License Policy (NELP) in 2000, which permits foreign companies to hold 100% equity possession in oil and natural gas projects. However, to date, only a handful of oil fields are controlled by foreign firms. India’s downstream sector is also dominated by state-owned entities, though private companies have enlarged their market share in past recent years.

The Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve (ISPR) is an emergency fuel store of total 5 MMT (million metric tons) or 36.92 MMbbl of strategic crude oil enough to provide 10 days of consumption which are maintained by the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited.

Strategic crude oil storages are at 3 underground locations :  in Mangalore, Visakhapatnam and Padur(nr Udupi). All these are located on the east and west coasts of India which are readily accessible to the refineries. These strategic storages are in addition to the existing storages of crude oil and petroleum products with the oil companies and serve in response to external supply disruptions .

In the 2017-18 budget speech by the Indian finance minister Arun Jaitley, it was announced that two more such caverns will be set up Chandikhole in Jajpur district of Odisha and Bikaner in Rajasthan as part of the second phase. This will take the strategic reserve capacity to 15.33 million tons.

Apart from this,India is planning to expand more strategic crude oil facilities in second phase at Rajkot in Gujarat, Padur in and Udupi district of Karnataka.

(5)  Natural gas reserves : Natural gas consists primarily of methane .Propane , butane, pentane and hexane are also present . KG basin, Assam, Gulf of Khambhat, Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu, Barmer in Rajasthan etc. are natural gas reserves of India.

 

 

 

 

Wind energy resources : The development of wind power in India began in the 1990s, and has significantly increased in the last few years. Although a relative newcomer to the wind industry compared with Denmark or the US, domestic policy support for wind power has led India to become the country with the fourth largest installed wind power capacity in the world.

As of March 31, 2016 the installed capacity of wind power in India was 26,769.05 MW, mainly spread across Tamil Nadu (7,269.50 MW), Maharashtra (4,100.40 MW), Gujarat (3,454.30 MW), Rajasthan (2,784.90 MW), Karnataka (2,318.20 MW), Andhra Pradesh (746.20 MW) and Madhya Pradesh (423.40 MW) Wind power accounts for 14% of India’s total installed power capacity. India has set an ambitious target to generate 60,000 MW of electricity from wind power by 2022.

 

 

 

Solar power : Solar power is attractive because it is abundant and offers a solution to fossil fuel emissions and global climate change. Earth receives solar energy at the rate of approximately 1,73,000 TW. This enormously exceeds both the current annual global energy consumption rate of about 15 TW, and any conceivable requirement in the future. India is both densely populated and has high solar insolation, providing an ideal combination for solar power in India. India is already a leader in wind power generation. In solar energy sector, some large projects have been proposed, and a 35,000 km² area of the Thar Desert has been set aside for solar power projects, sufficient to generate 700 to 2,100 GW.

With about 300 clear sunny days in a year, India’s theoretical solar power reception, just on its land area, is about 5 PWh/year (i.e. = 5 trillion kWh/yr ~ 600 TW). The daily average solar energy incident over India varies from 4 to 7 kWh/m2 with about 1500–2000 sunshine hours per year, depending upon location. This is far more than current total energy consumption. The India Energy Portal estimates that if 10% of the land were used for harnessing solar energy, the installed solar capacity would be at 8,000GW, or around fifty times the current total installed power capacity in the country. For example, even assuming 10% conversion efficiency for PV modules, it will still be thousand times greater than the likely electricity demand in India by the year 2015.

NATIONAL SOLAR MISSION

 

NTPC  Vidyut Vyapar Nigam(NVVN) ,the nodal agency for implementing the first phase of JNNSM , received 418 applications against a requirement of 650 MW(500 MW Solar Thermal and 150 MW Solar PV) for Batch I. Out of this 343 applications were for solar PV and 55 for Solar Thermal. The interest was high in the investor community for solar PV as applications worth 1715 MW (343*5 MW) were received as against a total of 150 MW. 30 bidders were selected through reverse bidding and projects were allocated to companies that offered highest discount to base tariff rate of Rs. 17.91/kWh. Projects totaling 610 MW were awarded with 145 MW under solar PV and 470 MW under Solar Thermal. The winning bids for solar PV varied from Rs. 10.95/kWh to Rs. 12.76/kWh and for Solar Thermal it was Rs. 11.14/kWh  in Phase I Batch I. Camelot Enterprises Private Ltd was the lowest bidder and other successful bidders included Mahindra Solar One, Azure Power, SunEdison Energy, Lanco Infratech.  The project capacity under Batch I is 5 MW for solar PV and minimum 5 MW and maximum 100MW for Solar Thermal. By July 2011, negotiations were concluded, PPAs awarded and financial closure achieved for 34 projects.

Under batch II, the project size has been increased up to 20 MW and the base price for solar PV projects is Rs. 15.39/kWh.  NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) received 154 applications for 1915 MW of solar PV projects against a requirement of 350 MW. The results of the bidding for solar PV projects indicate that the grid parity for solar power may not be too far off. The winning bids varied from Rs. 7.49/kWh to Rs. 9.41/kWh. The average bid price for both batch I and II was Rs. 12.15/kWh. French project developer Solairedirect emerged as the lowest bidder and Green Infra Solar the highest bidder. The other successful bidders included companies like Welspun Solar, Azure Power, SunBorne Energy  and Mahindra Solar One. Around 70% and 85% of the allocated capacity under Phase I Batch I and Phase I Batch II respectively is to be implemented in Rajasthan.

LAND RESOURCES : UTILIZATION PATTERN IN INDIA

Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. It also has been defined as “the total of arrangements, activities, and input that people undertake in a certain land cover type.

Land is a scarce resource, whose supply is fixed for all practical purposes. At the same time, the demand for land for various competing purposes is continuously increasing with the increase in human population and economic growth.

Agricultural land: Agricultural land (also agricultural area) denotes the land suitable for agricultural production, both crops and livestock. It includes net sown area, current fallows and land under miscellaneous trees crops and groves. Agricultural land in India totals approx. 46 %  of the total geographical area in the country. This is the highest among the large and medium-sized countries of the world. This indicates The influence of favourable physical factors (like size, extent of plains and plateaus, etc.) and  The extension of cultivation to a large proportion of the cultivable land. But, because of the large population of the country, the per capita arable land (i.e. land suitable for agriculture) is low: 0.16 hectares against the world average of 0.24 hectares. About 15 per cent of the sown area is multi-cropped.

Non-agricultural land: This includes land under forests and permanent pastures, land under other non-agricultural uses (towns, villages, roads, railways, etc.) and  land classified as cultivable waste as well as barren and uncultivated land of mountain and desert areas.

 

The population continues to grow rapidly in India and great pressure is being placed on arable land resources to provide an adequate supply of food and energy requirements. Even if land resources are never exhausted, on a per capita basis they will decline significantly because they must be divided among more people. Land is one such natural resources of a nation on which the entire superstructure is created. Thus, land use is a synthesis of physical, chemical and biological systems and processes on the one hand and human/societal processes and behavior on the other hand. Land is important not only for producing food stuffs, cereals, fruits and vegetables for consumption but also for generating surpluses to meet the increasing demands created by rising population and developing industrial sector, for laying down the transport network, communication lines, for the construction of dwellings and public institutions, etc. Due to unprecedented population growth, man has made uses and misuses of land resources causing environmental degradation.

Again environmental degradation in developing countries like India, especially its manifestations in the form of soil erosion, deforestation etc, is often attributed to rapid population growth. It has however been increasingly realized that since these predominantly agricultural countries are undergoing the process of technological progress and development, many other factors also modify the relationship between population and land. Changing techniques of production, changes in the pattern of land utilization of natural as well as human resources, industrialization, urbanization, changing life styles, rising aspirations, change in consumption pattern are some of the macro level factors which make the relationship between population and land use much more complex.

 

 

 

Objective questions

 

Q 1. Which one of the following is an example of non-renewable resources?

  1. Wind
  2. Natural gas
  3. Solar energy
  4. Soil

Q 2. Consider the following statements regarding the reserves of natural resources in India ?

  1. Naharkatia and Kalol are famous for reserves of Crude oil .
  2. Kolar is source of Diamond .
  3. India’s forest cover is 14 % of the total geographical area .

Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?

  1. only 1
  2. only 1 and 2
  3. only 2 and 3
  4. only 1 and 3

Q 3. Which of the statements given below is / are correct ?

  1. Natural gas primarily consists of Butane and methane and propane are also present in minor amount .
  2. Barmer in Rajasthan is natural gas reserve.

Choose the correct answer from the code given below :

  1. only 1
  2. only 2
  3. 1 and 2 both
  4. Neither 1 nor 2

 

Q 4. Which of the following place is well known for Uranium reserves ?

  1. Narwapahar
  2. Koraput
  3. Ratnagiri
  4. Balaghat

 

Q 5. Consider the following statements regarding land use pattern in India :

  1. More than 50 % area is swon area in the country .
  2. Urbanization and industrialization are the factors changing India’s land use pattern

Which of the statements given above is / are correct :

  1. Only 1
  2. Only 2
  3. 1 and 2 both
  4. Neither 1 nor 2

Q 6. Which of the following statements is / are correct ?

  1. India’s geographical location is favourable for solar power .
  2. India ranks first in wind energy production.

Choose the correct answer from the code given below :

  1. Only 1
  2. Only 2
  3. 1 and 2 both
  4. Neither 1 nor 2

Q 7. Which the following is / are non-metallic mineral/s ?

  1. Limestone
  2. Mica
  3. Gypsum
  4. All of the above

 

Q 8. With reference to the Iron ore which of the following statement/s  is / are correct ?

 

  1. Limonite contains max. percentage of pure iron.
  2. Magnetite is not found in India.

Choose the correct answer from the code given below:

  1. Only 1
  2. Only 2
  3. 1 and 2 both
  4. Neither 1 nor 2

 

Q 9. Which of the following statement is correct ?

 

  1. Neyveli lignite mines are located in Jharkhand.
  2. Singrauli coalfield is in Uttar pradesh .
  3. Kalahandi is famous for Bauxite.
  4. Lohardaga bauxite mine is located in Karnataka.

 

Q 10. Siderite is an ore of :

 

  1. Aluminium
  2. Thorium
  3. Iron
  4. Uranium

 

 

ANSWER KEYS

  1. B
  2. A
  3. B
  4. A
  5. B
  6. A
  7. D
  8. D
  9. C
  10. C

MARKETING MANAGEMENT

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Marketing Management is a social and managerial process by which individuals or firms obtain what they need or want through creating, offering, exchanging products of value with each others.

 

CORE CONCEPTS OF MARKETING

 

  • NEED/ WANT/ DEMAND:

 

Need: It is state of deprivation of some basic satisfaction.

 

Want: Desire for specific satisfier of need.

 

Demand: Want for a specific product backed up by ability and willingness

to buy.

 

Marketers cannot create needs. Needs pre exists. Marketers can influence wants. This is done in combination with societal influencers.

 

  • PRODUCTS- GOODS/ SERVICES/ PLACE.

 

Product is anything that can satisfy need/ want.

 

Product component-              1.Physical Good.

  1. Service.
  2. Idea.

 

Hence, products are really a via- media for services.

Hence, in marketing, focus is on providing/ satisfying service rather than providing products.

 

Marketing Myopia:  Focus on products rather than on customer needs.

 

(3) VALUE/ COST/ SATISFACTION:

 

  • Decision for purchase made based on value/ cost satisfaction delivered by product/ offering.
  • Product fulfills/ satisfies Need/ Want.
  • Value is products capacity to satisfy needs/ wants as per consumer’s perception or estimation.
  • Each product would have a cost/ price elements attached to it.

 

VALUE– Products capacity to satisfy.

COST–    Price of each products.

 

  • EXCHANGE/ TRANSACTION:

 

EXCHANGE: – The act/ process of obtaining a desired product from someone by offering something in return. For exchange potential to exist, the following conditions must be fulfilled.

  1. There must be at least two parties.
  2. Each party has something of value for other party.
  3. Each party is capable of communication & delivery
  4. Each party is free to accept/ reject the exchange offer.
  5. Each party believes it is appropriate to deal with the other party.

 

TRANSACTION: – Event that happens at the end of an exchange. Exchange is a process towards an agreement. When agreement is reached, we say a transaction has taken place.

 

Proof of transaction is BILL/ INVOICE.

 

TRANSFER: – It is one way. Hence, differ from Transaction.

 

NEGOTIATION: – Process of trying to arrive at mutually agreeable terms.

Negotiation may lead to               – Transaction

– Decision not to Transaction

 

  • RELATIONSHIP/ NETWORKING:

 

Relationship marketing:-    It’s a pattern of building long term satisfying relationship with customers, suppliers, distributors in order to retain their long term performances and business.

 

Outcome of Relationship Marketing is a MARKETING NETWORK.

 

MARKETING NETWORK:      It is made up of the company and its customers, employees, suppliers, distributors, advertisement agencies, retailers, research & development with whom it has built mutually profitable business relationship.

 

Competition is between whole network for market share and NOT between companies alone.

 

  • MARKET:

A market consists of all potential customers sharing particular need/ want who may be willing and able to engage in exchange to satisfy need/ want.

 

Types of Markets:

  1. Resource Market,
  2. Manufacturing Market,
  • Intermediary Market,
  1. Consumer Market,
  2. Government market.

 

  • MARKETERS/ PROSPECTS:

 

Working with markets to actualize potential exchanges for the purpose of satisfying needs and wants.

 

One party seeks the exchange more actively, called as “Marketer”, and the other party is called “Prospect”.

 

Prospect is someone whom marketer identifies as potentially willing and able to engage in exchange.

 

Marketer may be seller or buyer. Most of time, marketer is seller.

A marketer is a company serving a market in the face of competition.

 

Marketing Management takes place when at least one party to a potential exchange thinks about the means of achieving desired responses from other parties.

 

AMA- American Marketing Association.

 

It defines marketing management as the process of planning & executing the conception of pricing, promotion, distribution of goods, services, ideas to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals.

  • Can be practiced in any market.
  • Task of marketing management is to influence the level, timing, composition of demand in a way that will help the organization to achieve its objective. Hence, marketing management is essentially demand management.

 

 

Traditional Concept of Marketing

 

According to this concept, marketing consists of those activities which are concerned with the transfer of ownership of goods from producers to consumers. Thus, marketing means selling of goods and services. In other words, it is the process by which goods are made available to ultimate consumers from their place of origin. The traditional concept of marketing corresponds to the general notion of marketing, which means selling goods and services after they have been produced. The emphasis of marketing corresponds is on the sale of goods and services. Consumer satisfaction is not given adequate emphasis. Viewed in this way, marketing is regarded as Production/Sales oriented.

 

Modern concept of Marketing

 

According to the modern concept, Marketing is the concerned with creation of customer. Creation of Customers means identification of Consumer needs and organising business to satisfy needs. Marketing in the modern sense involves decision regarding the following matters.

 

  • Products to be produced.
  • Prices to be charged from Customers.
  • Promotional techniques to be adapted to contact and influence existing and potential customers.
  • Selection of middlemen to be used to distribute goods and service.

 

Modern concept of marketing requires all the above decisions to be taken after due consideration of consumer needs and their satisfaction.

The business objective of earning profit is sought to be achieved through provision of consumer satisfaction. This concept of marketing is regarded as consumer oriented as the emphasis of business is laid on consumer needs and their satisfaction.

 

Five fundamental concept of marketing are –

  1. Exchange concept
  2. Production concept
  3. Product concept
  4. Sales concept
  5. Marketing concept

 

  1. Exchange Concept: The exchange concept holds that the exchange of a product between seller & buyer is the central idea of marketing Exchange is an important part of marketing, but marketing is much wider concept.

 

  1. Production Concept: The production concept is one of the oldest concepts in business. It holds that consumers will prefer products that are widely available and expensive. Manager of Production oriented business concentrate on achieving high production efficiency low cost & mass distribution.

 

  1. Product Concept: This concept holds that consumers will prefer those products that are high in quality, performance or innovative features. Managers in these organization focus on making superior products and improving them. Sometimes, this concept leads to marketing myopia, Marketing myopia is a short-sightedness about business. Excessive attention to production or the product or selling aspects at the cost of customers & his actual needs creates this myopia.

 

  1. Selling Concepts: This concept focuses on aggressively promoting & pushing its products, it cannot except its product to get picked up automatically by the customer. The purpose is basically to sell more stuff to more people, in order to make profits.

 

  1. Marketing Concept: The marketing concept emerged in the mid 1950’s. The business generally shifted from a product – cantered, make & sell philosophy, to a customer centered, sense & respond philosophy. The job is not to find the right customers for your product, but to find right products for your customers. The Marketing concept holds that the key to achieving organizational goals consist of the company being more effective than competitors in creating, delivering & communicating superior customers value. This concept puts the customers at both the beginning & the end of the business cycle. Every department & every worker should think customer & act customer.

Indian Agriculture

by

 

  • Mainstay of Indian Economy
  • Since independence, undergone a change from being the sector contributing the highest share to the GDP to one contributing the lowest share.
  • Agriculture is a state subject.
  • GDP contribution (Agriculture and allied sector)
    • 5 pc in 1950-51
    • 7 pc in 2008-09 and 14.6 pc in 2009-10. It was 19 pc in 2004-05. (2004-05 prices)
    • Agricultural GDP grew by 0.4 pc in 2009-10 and -0.1 pc in 2008-09.
  • Employment
    • 9 pc in 1961
    • 9 pc in 1999-2000
    • 2 pc in 2008-09
    • 1999-2000: Number at 237.8 million
  • GCF
    • Share in total GCF 2009-10: 7.7 pc (2004-05 prices)
    • GCF as % of agricultural GDP: 2007-08 – 16.3, 2008-09(P) – 19.67, 2009-10(QE) – 20.3
    • GCF as % of total GDP: 2007-08 – 2.69, 2008-09P – 3.09, 2009-10QE – 2.97
  • Contributes to agricultural growth and industrial demand
  • Contributed 10.59 pc of total exports in 2009-10.
  • Due to the large number of workforce in this sector, the growth of agriculture is a necessary condition for inclusive growth.
  • Food grains production
    • Highest in 2008-09: 234. 47 mn t
    • 2009-10: 218.11 mn t

Agriculture and Industry

  • Agriculture as
    • Supplier of wage goods to the industrial sector
    • Provider of raw materials
    • Consumer of agricultural capital goods produced by industry
  • Stagnation in agriculture
    • Get data on CAGR

Land Reforms

  • Great scarcity and uneven distribution of land
  • Focus of agricultural policies in the initial years was on institutional changes through land reforms
  • Two objectives of land reforms in India
    • To remove the impediments to agriculture that arise due to the character of agrarian structure in rural areas
    • To reduce or eliminate the exploitation of tenants/small farmers
  • Four main areas of land reforms in India
    • Abolition of intermediaries (zamindars)
    • Tenancy reforms
    • Land ceilings
    • Consolidation of disparate land holdings
  • Economic arguments for land reforms
    • Equity
    • Small farms tend to be more productive than large farms
    • Owner cultivated plots of land tend to be more productive that those under sharecropped tenancy
  • Abolition of zamindari was successful while the other three areas of land reforms met with limited success
  • Operation Bargha. Also, LR in Kerala
  • Regional trends in LR
  • Effect of land reforms
    • On tenants
      • Absentee landlordism declined
      • Tenancy declined. In some cases, tenants were evacuated from the land.
      • In some cases there was a drift of tenants into landless
      • Where tenants had not been evicted, tenancy was pushed underground
    • On equity
    • On productivity
    • On agrarian power relations
  • The National Commission on Farmers has placed the unfinished agenda in land reform first in its list of five factors central overcome an agrarian crisis
  • Way forwards
    • Land reforms that make tenancy legal and give well defined rights to tenants, including women, are now necessary

 

Technology and Green Revolution

  • In the early 60s India faced several crises
    • It had to fight two wars: Pakistan and China
    • Severe drought in 1965 and 1966
    • US was using PL-480 food supply as a means to twist India’s arms to meet US interests
  • This called for an overhaul of the agricultural strategy and the need to be self-sufficient in food production
  • Three phases of green revolution
    • 1966-1972
    • 1973-1980
    • 1981-1990
  • 1966-1972
    • C Subramaniam and MSS
    • 1965: Agricultural Prices Commission and Food Corporation of India set up
    • Introduction of HYV seed of wheat from Mexico created by CIMMYT
    • Under the new agricultural policy, the spread of HYVs was supported by public investments in fertilisers, power, irrigation and credit
    • Food grain production shot up
      • 1966-67: 74 mt
      • 1971-72: 105 mt
    • India became nearly self-sufficient in food grains
    • What led to the increased production?
      • Favourable pricing policy led to adequate incentives
      • National research system proceeded to indigenise the new seeds to tackle their shortcomings
      • Availability of inputs including canal water, fertilisers, power and credit
      • Subsidies
      • Role of credit began to be important after 1969
    • 1973-1980
      • This phase saw many challenges
      • Consecutive droughts in 1972-73
      • Oil shock
      • Production fell. Imports began again.
      • Thereafter, government increased fertiliser subsidies
      • Groundwater irrigation increased in  importance
      • HYV technology extended from wheat to rice
    • 1981-1990
      • 1986
        • Rice prod: 63.8 mt (1964: 37)
        • Wheat prod: 47 mt (1964: 12 mt)
      • Even when the ‘worst drought of the century’ struck in 1987, food needs could be adequately met due to buffer stocks
      • HYV technology spread eastward to states like West Bengal and Bihar
      • The impact of HYV technology had started to plateau however
      • Input subsidies kept on increasing
      • 1991: Input subsidy was 7.2 pc of agricultural GDP
    • What was the impact of highly regulated policies on agriculture?
      • There were barriers on pricing, movement and private trading of agricultural produce
      • The external sector was burdened with various tariff and non-tariff barriers to agricultural trade flows
      • The overvalued rupee produced an anti-export environment for agriculture
      • High protection to industry produced high industrial prices and adverse terms of trade for agriculture, reducing the relative profitability of the primary sector
    • What was the aim of agricultural pricing in pre-reform era?
      • Ensure inexpensive food for consumers
      • Protect farmers’ incomes from price fluctuations
      • Keep the balance of payments in check
    • Agriculture in post-reform era
      • Impact: 1. Growth in PCI led to an increase in food demand and also diversification. Terms of trade between agricultural and industrial prices improved in favour of agriculture
      • Increased profitability has led to increase in private investments which are now double the public investment in agriculture.
      • Growth rates
        • 1980s: 3 pc
        • 1990s:
        • 2000s:
        • Tenth Plan: 2.47 pc (as against 7.77 pc of overall economic growth)
      • This has however not translated into reduction of poverty
      • There has been an increase in both urban and rural inequality
    • Deceleration in agricultural growth
      • Declined during 90s
      • Deceleration in the growth of area, production and yield
      • Food production of Rabi crops has off late equalled the Kharif crops. This has to an extent reduced the over dependence on monsoon and imparted some stability to agricultural production
      • Area-wise, the deceleration was more in case of the Indo-Gangetic region
    • The instability in agricultural growth is more in states with high percentage of rain-fed areas
    • Acreage: declining trend in most crops during the period 1995-96 to 2004-05
    • Productivity: sharp decline (1995-2005). Healthy performance of cotton and maize though

Major factors affecting growth potential

  • Lack of long term policy perspective
    • No long term strategy for agricultural development
    • National Agricultural Policy was announced only in the year 2000
    • Sectoral priority to industry from the second FYP
    • Weaknesses of policies followed for agricultural development
      • Policies provided little incentives for the farmers as the prices were depressed and the sector was disprotected vis a vis other sectors of the economy
      • Inward-looking policies
      • Excessive price based focus than non-price factors like water, infrastructure, R&D, extension services etc
    • Investment in Agriculture and Subsidies
      • There have been cutbacks in agricultural investment and extension, but not in subsidies
      • Agricultural subsidy as pc of GDP:
      • Public investment in agriculture declined from 4 pc of agriculture GDP in 1976-1980 to
      • Subsidies on fertiliser, power and irrigation have contributed to soil degradation
      • It is important to reduce subsidies and increase public investment in crucial areas such as soil amelioration, watershed development, groundwater recharge, surface irrigation and other infrastructure
      • Public Sector GCF in agriculture stood at less than Rs 50 bn at 1993-94 prices
      • It is imperative to reduce these subsidies for stepping up public investment in agriculture
      • After 2003, the investments have started to increase. In  2006-07 public sector GCF was 3.7 pc of agricultural GDP and  total GCF was 12.5 pc of agricultural GDP
      • Three areas should get priority in public investments
        • Rural roads
        • Electricity
        • Irrigation projects
        • <all three of them are under Bharat Nirman project>
      • Complimentarity between public and private sector capital formation in agricultural sector. Public sector can create infrastructure while the private investment is essential for short term asset building mainly in the areas of mechanisation, ground levelling, private irrigation etc
    • Lagging research and development efforts
      • After the green revolution, there has been no major breakthrough in agricultural research. GM is a promising area but its safety has not yet been conclusively established.
      • Poor productivity in India compared to other countries and even compared to world average
      • India, however, has the largest public agricultural research establishment in the world. ICAR and agricultural universities
      • India spends only 0.3 pc of agricultural GDP for research as compared to 0.7 pc in other developing countries and 2-3 pc in case of developed countries.
      • There is hardly any scope for expansion of area. Hence, productivity must increase to keep up with the increasing demand. R&D has a lot of role to play here
      • New varieties of seeds need to be developed suited to different regions of the country
      • The research system should be responsive to the changing needs and circumstances
    • Technology generation and dissemination
      • Fixed land. Hence technology
      • Focus on yield as well as sustainable use of land
      • Focus should be on specific requirements of each agro-climatic region
      • Ned to develop much stronger linkages between extension and farmers
    • Rising soil degradation and over-exploitation of groundwater
      • Around 40 pc of Indian’s total geographical area are officially estimated as degraded
      • Soil health is deteriorating in Punjab and Haryana
    • Degradation of natural resources
    • Subsidies vis-a-vis investments and farm support systems
    • Agriculture’s terms of trade and farm price volatility
      • Ensure rapid development of backward farm linkages
    • Summary: Need to correct the policy bias against agriculture, make higher investments, develop new varieties of seeds, conserve natural resources like land and water and provide incentives to the farmers to adopt modernisation

 

Some Issues in Indian Agriculture

  • Low public investment
  • Halt in the modernization of agriculture
  • Agricultural indebtedness
  • Farmer suicides
  • Agricultural imports and future markets

Subsidies

  • Talk about bringing urea under the Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) system and decontrolling its prices
  • Downsides
    • Fertilizer subsidy touched almost 1 lakh crore in 2008-09
    • Promotes overuse of fertiliser and thereby catalysing soil degradation
    • As a result, agricultural production in the bread baskets of the country has stagnated, posing a threat to the food security of the country
    • Drylands do not receive the benefit of crores of subsidy given in fertilizers

 

Government Intitiatives

  • Green Revolution
  • National Policy on Agriculture, 2002
  • National Policy for Farmers, 2007
    • Major policy provisions include provisions for asset reforms, water use efficiency, use of technology, inputs and services like soil health, good quality seeds, credit, support for women etc
    • Focus on millets as well

Agriculture during the 11th plan

  • Flagship schemes
    • Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana
    • National Food Security Mission
    • National Horticulture Mission (2005-06)
    • Integrated Scheme of Pulses, Oilseeds and Maize
    • Technology Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture in North-east and Himalayan States (2001-02)
    • National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture
    • National Mission on Micro Irrigation was launched in 2010 in addition to the earlier Micro Irrigation Scheme launched in 2006
    • National Bamboo Mission
  • Avg growth of 2.03 pc against the Plan target of 4 pc per annum.
  • For sustainable and inclusive growth
    • Must focus on the small and marginal farmers as well as female farmers
    • Group approach should be adopted so that they can reap economies of scale
    • Bring technology to farmers
    • Improving efficiency of investments
    • Diversifying while also protecting food security concerns
    • Fostering inclusiveness through a group approach
  • Irrigation
    • Envisages creation of an additional potential of 16 mn ha
    • Bharat Nirman aims to bring an additional 1 crore ha of land under irrigation by 2012
    • Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme still on

Irrigation

  • 45 pc of nearly 175 mn ha of cropped area is irrigated
  • Trends
    • Nearly trebled from 24 mn ha in 1953-64 to 75 mn ha in 1998-99
    • It accounts for the largest part of total investments in the agricultural sector
    • Importance of ground water as an irrigation source has also increased considerably
  • Uneven access
    • Inter-regional variance
    • Inequality in access within the farming population
  • Areas of concern
    • Depletion of ground water
    • Environmental concerns
    • Costs
  • Steps to take
    • Improving water use efficiency
    • Water governance
    • Economic incentives for efficient use
  • Govt Schemes
    • Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme was started during 1996-97. It extends assistance for the completion of incomplete irrigation schemes
  • In 11th FYP – refer previous section

Way Forward

  • Second green revolution (?)
  • Relook at all the issues offering forward and backward linkages in the agricultural production cycle
  • Focus on oilseeds, pulses and coarse cereals
  • Coarse cereals: high nutrition, can be grown in dry areas, enhance fertility of soil in rotation
  • PDS should be reformed: coarse cereals should also be provided through PDS
  • Timely availability of credit at affordable costs
  • Wider extension of insurance facilities to the farm sector
  • Water and irrigation infrastructure
  • Drip irrigation
  • Organic manures should be popularized and their commercial production encouraged
  • Educate farmers about technology and agricultural techniques

Food Security

  • Food security should also incorporate nutritional security. This requires emphasising the increase in production of pulses, fruits, vegetables, poultry and meat.
  • Interpreted broadly
  • Includes nutritional security which particularly incorporates maternal health and infant health due to the involvement of the nutritional aspect
  • Also covers employment security (?)
  • Affordability, accessibility and availability
  • Food security seeks to address all the three dimensions of hunger: chronic, hidden and transient
  • It also is the first step towards inclusive development

Public Distribution System

  • High procurement prices

Irrigation

  • The total irrigation potential in the country has increased from 81.1 mn hectares in 1991-92 to 108.2 mn hectares in March 2010.
  • 1996-97: Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme initiated
  • Reservoir Storage Capacity: 151.77 billion cubic metres

Agricultural Pricing

  • To ensure
    • Remunerative prices to growers
    • Encouraging higher investment and production
    • Safeguard the interest of consumers by making sure that adequate supplies are available
  • It also seeks to evolve a balanced and integrated price structure in the perspective of the overall needs of the economy

 

Investment in Agriculture

  • FAO estimates that global agricultural production needs to grow 70 pc by 2050 in order to meet projected food demand
  • Hence investment should grow by a whopping 50 pc
  • In India, public investment in agriculture has witnessed a steady decline from the 6th FYP onwards
  • Share of investment in agriculture has been between 8-10 pc
  • Most of this has gone into current expenditure in the form of increased output and input subsidies
  • Though private sector investment has been increasing, it has not proved to be enough
  • Decreased public spending in creation of supporting infrastructure in rural areas has discouraged private investment in this sector
  • Some of the measures could be
    • Investment in general service like R&D, education, marketing and rural infrastructure
    • Increased investment in rainfed areas
    • Private sector participation
    • Increased investment for sustainable development

 

WTO and Agriculture

 

  • Uruguay Round multilateral trade negotiations were concluded after 7 years of negotiation in December 1993
  • The WTO Agreement on Agriculture was one of the main agreements which was negotiated
  • Agreement on Agriculture contains provisions in three broad areas of agriculture
    • Market Access
    • Domestic Support
    • Export Subsidies
  • Market Access
    • This is the most important aspect of the negotiation because all countries restrict market access while only few have export subsidies and domestic support
    • This includes tariffication, tariff reduction and access opportunities
    • Tariffication means that all NTTBs should be withdrawn (such as quotas, minimum export prices etc)
    • Adopts a single approach using a tiered formula
    • Single approach: everyone except LDCs have to contribute by improving market access for all products
    • Sensitive products: All countries can list some sensitive products and are allowed flexibility in the way these products are treated, although even sensitive products have to see ‘substantial improvements’ in market access.
    • Special and differential treatment
      • Purpose: for rural development, food security and livelihood security
      • Specifically, special treatment is to be given to developing countries in ‘all elements of the negotiation’, including ‘lesser’ commitments in the formula and long implementation period
      • Special products: developing countries will be given additional flexibility for products that are specially important for their food security, livelihood security and rural development.
      • Special Safeguard Mechanisms: is intended to provide contingent protection to poor farmers in developing countries from negative shocks to import prices or from surges in imports. [Safeguards are contingency restrictions on imports taken temporarily to deal with special circumstances such as a sudden surge in imports. AoA has special provisions on safeguards. In agriculture safeguards, (unlike normal safeguards) can be triggered automatically when import volumes rise above a certain level or if prices fall below a certain level; and it is not necessary to demonstrate that serious injury is being caused to the domestic industry]
    • AoA requires (from 1995)
      • 36% average reduction by developed countries, with a minimum per tariff line reduction of 15% over six years
      • 24% average reduction by developing countries with a minimum per tariff line reduction of 10% over ten years
    • Domestic Support (subsidies)
      • AoA structures domestic support into three categories
        • Green Box
        • Amber Box
        • Blue Box
      • Green Box
        • Non (or minimal) trade distorting subsidies
        • They have to be government funded and must not involve price support
        • They tend to be programmes that are not targeted at particular products and include direct income supports for farmers that are not related to current production levels or prices. They also include environmental protection and regional developmental programmes. These subsidies are therefore allowed without limits
      • Amber Box
        • All domestic support measures considered production and trade fall into the amber box
        • These include measures to support prices, or subsidies directly related to production quantities
        • These supports are subject to limits which are allowed: 5% of total production for developed countries, 10% for developing countries
        • Reduction commitments are expressed in terms of a “Total Aggregate Measurement of Support” (Total AMS)
      • Blue Box
        • This is the “amber box with conditions” – conditions designed to reduce distortion
        • Any support that would normally be in the amber box, is placed in the blue box if the support also required farmers to limit production
        • At present there are no limits on spending on blue box subsidies.
      • Export subsidies
        • Developed countries are required to reduce their export subsidy by 36% (by value) or 21% (by volume) over the six years
        • For developing countries the % cuts are 24% (by value) or 14% (by volume) over 10 years
      • India’s commitment
        • As India was maintaining QRs due to balance of payments reasons (which is a GATT consistent measure), it did not have to undertake any commitments in regard to market access
      • In India, exporters of agricultural commodities do not get any direct subsidy. Indirect subsidies are given

 

 

Food Processing

  • Food processing is a large sector that covers activities such as agriculture, horticulture, plantation, animal husbandry and fisheries
  • Ministry of Food Processing indicated the following segments within the Food Processing industry:
    • Dairy, fruits and vegetable processing
    • Grain processing
    • Meat and poultry processing
    • Fisheries
    • Consumer foods including packaged foods, beverages and packaged drinking water
  • Industry is large and has grown after 1991. However, of the country’s total agriculture and food produce, only 2 per cent is processed.
  • FP has 9% share in manufacturing
  • Structure
    • 42 pc: Unorganised
    • 33 pc: SSI
    • 25 pc: Organised

 

Constraints & Drivers of Growth
Changing lifestyles, food habits, organized food retail and urbanization are the key factors for processed foods in India, these are post-liberalization trends and they give boost to the sector.
There has been a notable change in consumption pattern in India. Unlike earlier, now the share and growth rates for fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy have gone higher compared to cereals and pulses. Such a shift implies a need to diversify the food production base to match the changing consumption preferences.
Also in developed countries it has been observed that there has been a shift from carbohydrate staple to animal sources and sugar. Going by this pattern, in future, there will be demand for prepared meals, snack foods and convenience foods and further on the demand would shift towards functional, organic and diet foods.
Some of the key constraints identified by the food processing industry include:

  • Poor infrastructure in terms of cold storage, warehousing, etc
  • Inadequate quality control and testing infrastructure
  • Inefficient supply chain and involvement of middlemen
  • High transportation and inventory carrying cost
  • Affordability, cultural and regional preference of fresh food
  • High taxation
  • High packaging cost

In terms of policy support, the ministry of food processing has taken the following initiatives:

  • Formulation of the National Food Processing Policy
  • Complete de-licensing, excluding for alcoholic beverages
  • Declared as priority sector for lending in 1999
  • 100% FDI on automatic route
  • Excise duty waived on fruits and vegetables processing from 2000 – 01
  • Income tax holiday for fruits and vegetables processing from 2004 – 05
  • Customs duty reduced on freezer van from 20% to 10% from 2005 – 06
  • Implementation of Fruit Products Order
  • Implementation of Meat Food Products Order
  • Enactment of FSS Bill 2005
  • Food Safety and Standards Bill, 2005
  • Mega Food Parks

Apart from these initiatives, the Centre has requested state Governments to undertake the following reforms:

  • Amendment to the APMC Act
  • Lowering of VAT rates
  • Declaring the industry as seasonal
  • Integrate the promotional structure

 

Plan Schemes

During the 10th Plan, the Ministry implemented Plan schemes for Technology Upgradation/Modernization/Establishment of Food Processing Industries, Infrastructure Development, Human Resource Development, Quality Assurance, R&D and other promotional activities.

In the 11th Plan, it has been proposed to continue assistance to the above schemes with higher levels of assistance. In the 11th Plan, the Ministry proposes to launch a revamped Infrastructure Scheme under which it will promote setting up of Mega Food Parks, cold chain infrastructure, value added centres and packaging centres. The Mega Food Park Scheme will provide backward and forward linkages as well as reliable and sustainable supply chain. The emphasis will be on building strong linkages with agriculture and horticulture, enhancing project implementation capabilities, increased involvement of private sector investments and support for creation of rural infrastructure to ensure a steady supply of good quality agri/horticulture produce. It will provide a mechanism to bring farmers, processors and retailers together and link agricultural production to the market so as to ensure maximization of value addition, minimize wastages and improve farmers’ income. The Mega Food Park would be a well-defined agri/horticultural-processing zone containing state of the art processing facilities with support infrastructure and well established supply chain. The primary objective of the proposed scheme is to facilitate establishment of integrated value chain, with processing at the core and supported by requisite forward and backward linkages. It is envisaged that the implementation of the projects would be assisted by professional Project Management Agencies (PMA) from concept to commissioning. In 11th Plan it is planned to support establishment of thirty (30) Mega Food Parks in various parts of the country.

Vision 2015 on Food Processing Industries

A vision, strategy and action plan has also been finalized for giving boost to growth of food processing sector. The objective is to increase level of processing of perishable food from 6% to 20%, value addition from 20% to 35% and share in global food trade from 1.6% to 3%. The level of processing for fruits and vegetables is envisaged to increase from the present 2.2% to 10% and 15% in 2010 and 2015 respectively. The Cabinet has approved the integrated strategy for promotion of agri-business and vision, strategy and action plan for the Food Processing Sector, based on the recommendations made by the Group of Ministers (GOM).

Integrated Food Law

An Integrated Food Law, i.e. Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 was notified on 24.8.2006. The Act enables in removing multiplicity of food laws and regulatory agencies and provide single window to food processing sector. Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has been designated as the nodal Ministry for administration and implementation of the Act.

National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship & Management (NIFTEM)

The Ministry has set up a National Institute of Food technology Entrepreneurship & Management (NIFTEM) at Kundli (Haryana). The Institute will function as a knowledge centre in food processing. Certificate of Incorporation of NIFTEM as a section 25 Company under the Companies act 1956 has been obtained.

 

SWOT Analysis of Food–Processing Industry
Strengths

  • Abundant availability of raw material
  • Priority sector status for agro-processing given by the central Government
  • Vast network of manufacturing facilities all over the country
  • Vast domestic market

Weaknesses

  • Low availability of adequate infrastructural facilities
  • Lack of adequate quality control and testing methods as per international standards
  • Inefficient supply chain due to a large number of intermediaries
  • High requirement of working capital.
  • Inadequately developed linkages between R&D labs and industry.
  • Seasonality of raw material

Opportunities

  • Large crop and material base offering a vast potential for agro processing activities
  • Setting of SEZ/AEZ and food parks for providing added incentive to develop greenfield projects
  • Rising income levels and changing consumption patterns
  • Favourable demographic profile and changing lifestyles
  • Integration of development in contemporary technologies such as electronics, material science, bio-technology etc. offer vast scope for rapid improvement and progress
  • Opening of global markets

Threats

  • Affordability and cultural preferences of fresh food
  • High inventory carrying cost
  • High taxation
  • High packaging cost

 

Subsidies

 

Fertilizer Policy:    Urea is the only fertilizer under statutory price control.  Government of India has introduced nutrient based subsidy with effect from 1st April, 2010 in respect of phosphatic and potassic  fertilizers. Under the policy, subsidy is based  on the nutrient (N,P,K and S) content of the  decontrolled P and K fertilizers. Price of Urea has been increased by 10% while price of other subsidized fertilizers are being maintained around current levels. Additional subsidy on micronutrients has been introduced on Boron and Zinc, to begin with.  In order to promote the concept of balanced use of fertilizers and to encourage use of micronutrients, several fertilizers fortifed with Boron and Zinc have been incorporated in the Fertilizer (Control) Order, 1985.

PROFIT & LOSS

by

Profit and loss

 

IMPORTANT FACTS

Cost Price:

The price, at which an article is purchased, is called its cost price, abbreviated as C.P.

 

Selling Price:

The price, at which an article is sold, is called its selling prices, abbreviated as S.P.

 

Profit or Gain:

If S.P. is greater than C.P., the seller is said to have a profit or gain.

 

Loss:

If S.P. is less than C.P., the seller is said to have incurred a loss.

 

IMPORTANT FORMULAE

  1. Gain = (S.P.) – (C.P.)
  2. Loss = (C.P.) – (S.P.)
  3. Loss or gain is always reckoned on C.P.
  4. Gain Percentage: (Gain %)
    Gain % = Gain x 100
C.P.
  1. Loss Percentage: (Loss %)
    Loss % = Loss x 100
C.P.
  1. Selling Price: (S.P.)
    SP = (100 + Gain %) x C.P
100
         
  1. Selling Price: (S.P.)
    SP = (100 – Loss %) x C.P.
100
  1. Cost Price: (C.P.)
    C.P. = 100 x S.P.
(100 + Gain %)
  1. Cost Price: (C.P.)
    C.P. = 100 x S.P.
(100 – Loss %)
  1. If an article is sold at a gain of say 35%, then S.P. = 135% of C.P.
  2. If an article is sold at a loss of say, 35% then S.P. = 65% of C.P.
  3. When a person sells two similar items, one at a gain of say x%, and the other at a loss of x%, then the seller always incurs a loss given by:
    Loss % = Common Loss and Gain % 2 = x 2 .
10 10
  1. If a trader professes to sell his goods at cost price, but uses false weights, then
    Gain % = Error x 100 %.
(True Value) – (Error)

 

Questions:

Level-I:

 

 

1. Alfred buys an old scooter for Rs. 4700 and spends Rs. 800 on its repairs. If he sells the scooter for Rs. 5800, his gain percent is:
A.
4 4 %
7
B.
5 5 %
11
C. 10%
D. 12%

 

2. The cost price of 20 articles is the same as the selling price of x articles. If the profit is 25%, then the value of xis:
A. 15
B. 16
C. 18
D. 25

 

3. If selling price is doubled, the profit triples. Find the profit percent.
A.
66 2
3
B. 100
C.
105 1
3
D. 120

 

4. In a certain store, the profit is 320% of the cost. If the cost increases by 25% but the selling price remains constant, approximately what percentage of the selling price is the profit?
A. 30%
B. 70%
C. 100%
D. 250%

 

 

5. A vendor bought toffees at 6 for a rupee. How many for a rupee must he sell to gain 20%?
A. 3
B. 4
C. 5
D. 6

 

6. The percentage profit earned by selling an article for Rs. 1920 is equal to the percentage loss incurred by selling the same article for Rs. 1280. At what price should the article be sold to make 25% profit?
A. Rs. 2000
B. Rs. 2200
C. Rs. 2400
D. Data inadequate

 

7. A shopkeeper expects a gain of 22.5% on his cost price. If in a week, his sale was of Rs. 392, what was his profit?
A. Rs. 18.20
B. Rs. 70
C. Rs. 72
D. Rs. 88.25

 

8. A man buys a cycle for Rs. 1400 and sells it at a loss of 15%. What is the selling price of the cycle?
A. Rs. 1090
B. Rs. 1160
C. Rs. 1190
D. Rs. 1202

 

9. Sam purchased 20 dozens of toys at the rate of Rs. 375 per dozen. He sold each one of them at the rate of Rs. 33. What was his percentage profit?
A. 3.5
B. 4.5
C. 5.6
D. 6.5

 

10. Some articles were bought at 6 articles for Rs. 5 and sold at 5 articles for Rs. 6. Gain percent is:
A. 30%
B.
33 1 %
3
C. 35%
D. 44%
 

 

 

 

 

 

11.

  

 

 

Level-II:

 

 

On selling 17 balls at Rs. 720, there is a loss equal to the cost price of 5 balls. The cost price of a ball is:
A. Rs. 45
B. Rs. 50
C. Rs. 55
D. Rs. 60

 

 

12. When a plot is sold for Rs. 18,700, the owner loses 15%. At what price must that plot be sold in order to gain 15%?
A. Rs. 21,000
B. Rs. 22,500
C. Rs. 25,300
D. Rs. 25,800

 

13. 100 oranges are bought at the rate of Rs. 350 and sold at the rate of Rs. 48 per dozen. The percentage of profit or loss is:
A.
14 2 % gain
7
B. 15% gain
C.
14 2 % loss
7
D. 15 % loss

 

14. A shopkeeper sells one transistor for Rs. 840 at a gain of 20% and another for Rs. 960 at a loss of 4%. His total gain or loss percent is:
A.
5 15 % loss
17
B.
5 15 % gain
17
C.
6 2 % gain
3
D. None of these

 

 

15. A trader mixes 26 kg of rice at Rs. 20 per kg with 30 kg of rice of other variety at Rs. 36 per kg and sells the mixture at Rs. 30 per kg. His profit percent is:
A. No profit, no loss
B. 5%
C. 8%
D. 10%
E. None of these

 

  1. A man buys an article for Rs. 27.50 and sells it for Rs 28.60. Find his gain percent
  2. 1%
  3. 2%
  4. 3%
  5. 4%

 

 

  1. A TV is purchased at Rs. 5000 and sold at Rs. 4000, find the lost percent.
  2. 10%
  3. 20%
  4. 25%
  5. 28%

 

 

  1. In terms of percentage profit, which among following the best transaction.
    1. P. 36, Profit 17
    2. P. 50, Profit 24
    3. P. 40, Profit 19
    4. P. 60, Profit 29

 

 

 

 

Answer:1 Option B

 

Explanation:

Cost Price (C.P.) = Rs. (4700 + 800) = Rs. 5500.

Selling Price (S.P.) = Rs. 5800.

Gain = (S.P.) – (C.P.) = Rs.(5800 – 5500) = Rs. 300.

Gain % = 300 x 100 % = 5 5 %
5500 11

 

Answer:2 Option B

 

Explanation:

Let C.P. of each article be Re. 1 C.P. of x articles = Rs. x.

S.P. of x articles = Rs. 20.

Profit = Rs. (20 – x).

20 – x x 100 = 25
x

2000 – 100x = 25x

125x = 2000

x = 16.

 

 

Answer:3 Option B

 

Explanation:

Let C.P. be Rs. x and S.P. be Rs. y.

Then, 3(y – x) = (2y – x)    y = 2x.

Profit = Rs. (y – x) = Rs. (2x – x) = Rs. x.

 Profit % = x x 100 % = 100%

 

 

Answer:4 Option B

 

Explanation:

Let C.P.= Rs. 100. Then, Profit = Rs. 320, S.P. = Rs. 420.

New C.P. = 125% of Rs. 100 = Rs. 125

New S.P. = Rs. 420.

Profit = Rs. (420 – 125) = Rs. 295.

 Required percentage = 295 x 100 % = 1475 % = 70% (approximately).
420 21

 

 

Answer:5 Option C

 

Explanation:

C.P. of 6 toffees = Re. 1

S.P. of 6 toffees = 120% of Re. 1 = Rs. 6
5

 

For Rs. 6 , toffees sold = 6.
5

 

For Re. 1, toffees sold = 6 x 5 = 5.
6

 

 

Answer:6 Option A

 

Explanation:

Let C.P. be Rs. x.

Then, 1920 – x x 100 = x – 1280 x 100
x x

1920 – x = x – 1280

2x = 3200

x = 1600

 Required S.P. = 125% of Rs. 1600 = Rs. 125 x 1600 = Rs 2000.
100

 

 

Answer:7 Option C

 

Explanation:

C.P. = Rs. 100 x 392 = Rs. 1000 x 392 = Rs. 320
122.5 1225

Profit = Rs. (392 – 320) = Rs. 72.

 

Answer:8 Option C

 

Explanation:

S.P. = 85% of Rs. 1400 = Rs. 85 x 1400 = Rs. 1190
100

 

 

 

Answer:9 Option C

 

Explanation:

Cost Price of 1 toy = Rs. 375 = Rs. 31.25
12

Selling Price of 1 toy = Rs. 33

So, Gain = Rs. (33 – 31.25) = Rs. 1.75

 Profit % = 1.75 x 100 % = 28 % = 5.6%
31.25 5

 

 

 

Answer:10 Option D

 

Explanation:

Suppose, number of articles bought = L.C.M. of 6 and 5 = 30.

C.P. of 30 articles = Rs. 5 x 30 = Rs. 25.
6

 

S.P. of 30 articles = Rs. 6 x 30 = Rs. 36.
5

 

 Gain % = 11 x 100 % = 44%.
25

 

 

Answer:11 Option D

 

Explanation:

(C.P. of 17 balls) – (S.P. of 17 balls) = (C.P. of 5 balls)

C.P. of 12 balls = S.P. of 17 balls = Rs.720.

 C.P. of 1 ball = Rs. 720 = Rs. 60.
12

 

 

Answer:12 Option C

 

Explanation:

85 : 18700 = 115 : x

 x = 18700 x 115 = 25300.
85

Hence, S.P. = Rs. 25,300.

 

Answer:13 Option A

 

Explanation:

C.P. of 1 orange = Rs. 350 = Rs. 3.50
100

 

S.P. of 1 orange = Rs. 48 = Rs. 4
12

 

 Gain% = 0.50 x 100 % = 100 % = 14 2 %
3.50 7 7

 

 

 

Answer:14 Option B

 

Explanation:

C.P. of 1st transistor = Rs. 100 x 840 = Rs. 700.
120

 

C.P. of 2nd transistor = Rs. 100 x 960 = Rs. 1000
96

So, total C.P. = Rs. (700 + 1000) = Rs. 1700.

Total S.P. = Rs. (840 + 960) = Rs. 1800.

 Gain % = 100 x 100 % = 5 15 %
1700 17

 

 

 

Answer:15 Option B

 

Explanation:

C.P. of 56 kg rice = Rs. (26 x 20 + 30 x 36) = Rs. (520 + 1080) = Rs. 1600.

S.P. of 56 kg rice = Rs. (56 x 30) = Rs. 1680.

 Gain = 80 x 100 % = 5%.
1600

 

Answer:16 Option D

 

Explanation:

So we have C.P. = 27.50
S.P. = 28.60

Gain = 28.60 – 27.50 = Rs. 1.10

Gain%=(Gain/Cost∗100)%=(1.10/27.50∗100)%=4%

 

 

 

 

Answer:17 Option B

 

Explanation:

We know, C.P. = 5000
S.P. = 4000
Loss = 5000 – 4000 = 1000
Loss%=(Loss/Cost∗100)%=(1000/5000∗100)%=20%

 

 

Answer:18 Option D

 

Explanation:

Hint: Calculate profit percent as

Profit% = (profit/cost) * 100

Administrative Organization of the British

by

Army

Army fulfilled four important functions:

  1. Instrument to conquer Indian powers
  2. Defended the British Empire in India against foreign rivals
  3. Safe-guarded against internal revolt
  4. Chief instrument for extending and defending the British Empire in Asia and Africa.

Bulk of the army consisted of Indians. In 1857, of the total strength of 311400, about 265900 were Indians. Highest Indian rank was that of Subedar.

British could conquer and control India through a predominantly Indian army because:

  1. There was absence of modern nationalism at that time
  2. The company paid its soldiers regularly and well, as opposed to the Indian rulers and chieftains.

Police

Cornwallis was responsible for the creation of a modern police system in India. He established a system of Thanas (or circles) headed by a daroga. The police:

  1. Prevented organization of a large-scale conspiracy against foreign control
  2. Was used to suppress the national movement.

Judiciary

Though started by Hastings, the system was stabilized by Cornwallis.

Civil Cases

District: Diwani Adalat (civil court) presided over by the District Judge

Provincial Court: Appeal from civil court

Sardar Diwani Adalat: Highest appeal

There were also, below the District Court, Registrar’s Court (headed by Europeans) and subordinate courts headed by Indians known as munsifs or amins.

Criminal Cases

4 divisions of Bengal presidency. Each had a Court of Circuit presided over by the civil servants. Appeals could be made to Sardar Nizamat Adalat.

William Bentinck:

  • Abolished the provincial courts of appeal and circuit
  • Their work was assigned to District Collectors
  • Raised the status and power of Indians in the Judicial service.

In 1865, High Courts were established at Madras, Calcutta and Bombay.

British brought about  uniformity in the system of law. In 1833, the government appointed Law Commission headed by Macaulay to codify Indian Laws. This eventually resulted in the Indian Penal Code, Code of Civil and Criminal Procedures and other codes of laws.

Agricultural Crops of India

by

 

Crop State Prod Prod Yield Rainfall Temp Soil
% (Mil Kg/Ha cm Deg C
T)
Rice W. Bengal 15 87 1900 125-200 cm >23 C Deep Fertile
UP 14 Clayey or loamy
Andhra Pr 13 soil
Punjab 11
Wheat UP 35 74 2700 80 cm 10-25 C Light loam

 

Punjab 20 Sandy Loam
Haryana 172 Clay Loam
M.P. 11
Jowar Maharashtra 47 7.7 770 30-65 cm 27-32 C Black clayey soil
Karnataka 20
M.P. 10
Bajra Rajasthan 33 7.1 720 40-50 cm 25-30 C Light sandy
UP 18 Shallow black
Gujarat 16 Red upland soil
Maharashtra 14
Maize U.P. 15 12.1 1850 50-75 cm 21-27 C Well drained
Karnataka 15 alluvial or red
Rajasthan 11 loamy soil
Bihar/MP 10
Barley UP 44 1.7 1750 70-90 cm 10-18 C Light soil
Rajasthan 30
MP 7
Ragi Karnataka 60 2.3 1350
TamilNadu 13
U.P. 8
Pulses M.P. 25 14
U.P. 20
Rajasthan 17
Gram M.P. 40 3.5 720 35-50 cm 20-25 C Drained loamy
Rajasthan 31 soil
U.P. 12
Tur/Arhar Maharashtra 22 2.3 620 40-80 cm 20-25 C Range of soil
U.P. 20
M.P./Gujar. 15
Sugarcane U.P. 43 300 70 tonne 150 cm 20-25 C Deep rich loamy
Maharashtra 14 soil
Tamil Nadu 13
Karnataka 10

Commercial & Plantation Crops of India

Crop State Prod Prod Yield Rainfall Temp Soil
% (Mil Kg/Ha Cm Deg C
T)
Cotton Gujarat 28 11.6 226 50-75 cm 21-30 C Black Soil
Maharashtra 15 Million
Andhra Pr 11 Bales
Haryana 10 170 Kg
Jute W. Bengal 75 10 1960 125-200 cm 25-35 C Light sandy or

 

Bihar 14 Million Clayey Loams
Assam 9 Bales
Orissa 1 180 kg
Tobacco Andhra Pr. 31 .65 1400 50 cm 15-38 C Well Drained
Gujarat 29 Friable sandy
U.P. 23 loams
Groundnut Gujarat 33 9.2 1220 50-100 cm 20-30 C Sandy loam, red,
Andra Pr. 15 yellow, black soil
Tamil Nadu 22
Sunflower Karnataka 47 1.3 620 50 cm 15-25 C Loamy soils
Maharashtra 23
Andhra Pr. 17 5
Soyabeen M.P. 75 1000 50 cm 14-24 C Friable loamy
Maharashtra 13 Acidic Soil
Rajasthan 9
Tea Assam 55 0.78 1900 150-250 cm 25-30 C Well drained deep
W. Bengal 22 friable loams or
Tamil Nadu 15 Acidic Forest soil
Coffee Karnataka 71 0.3 960 150-250 cm 15-28 C Well drained
Kerala 21 friable forest loam
Tamil Nadu 8
Rubber Kerala 90 0.6 1600 300 cm 25-35 C Deep, well
Tamil Nadu drained loams
Oilseeds
1. Ground Nut Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu
2. Rapeseed & Rajasthan (45%), U.P, M.P.
Mustard
3. Seasum Gujarat (28 %), W. Bengal
4. Linseed U.P, Maharashtra
5. Castorseed Gujarat (82%)
6. Soyabeen Madhya Pradesh (75%), Maharashtra, Rajasthan
7. Sunflower Karnataka (47%), Maharashtra (23%), Andhra Pradesh (17%)
8. Coconut Kerala (45%), Tamil Nadu (28 %)

 

 

 

 

 

Spices
1. Black Pepper Kerala (97 %)
2. Chillies Andhra Pradesh (37%)
3. Turmeric Andhra Pradesh (56%)
4. Ginger Kerala (22), Meghalaya (20%)
5. Cardamom Karnataka (57%)
6. Arecanut Karnataka (41%), Kerala (30%)

 

Horticultural Crops

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Mango UP (32), Bihar (13) Andhra Pradesh. Accounts for 40 percent of all fruits
2. Banana Maharashtra (28%), Gujarat (10%), Andhra Pradesh. Jalgaon district
alone supplies more than 80 % of Maharashtra’s Banana
3. Cashew Kerala (31%), Maharashtra (18%), Andhra Pradesh (14%). Cashew is a
genus of Brazil. Largest foreign exchange earner
4. Orange Maharashtra, M.P, Karnataka. Genus from China
5. Grapes Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra. Native plant of Armenia. Grapes are
imported in India.
6. Guava U.P., Bihar. Native plant of Tropical America
7. Apple J & K, Himachal Pr, Uttaranchal
8. Potato U.P (35%), West Bengal (33%)
9. Onion Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh
Types of Crops
Kharif Crops Rice, Maize, Jowar, Ragi, Bajra, Tur, Moong, Urad, Cotton,
Jute, Seasum, Groundnut, Soyabeen,
Rabi Crops Wheat, Barley, Jowar, Rapeseed, Mustard, Linseed, Lentil,
Gram, Peas
Zaid Crops Sown during march to June. E.g. Water Melon, Melon,
Cucumber, Vegetables, Moong, Urad.
Jowar is both a Kharif & Rabi Crop.

Services

by

Current Status
  • It is the largest and fastest growing sector globally contributing to the global output and employing more people than any other sector
  • Why has services sector grown?
    • Increase in urbanisation, privatisation and more demand for intermediate and final consumer services
    • Availability of quality services is vital for the well being of the economy
  • Service sector in India accounts for more than half of India’s GDP.
  • Key service industry in India: health and education
    • A robust healthcare system will help create a strong and diligent human capital who in turn can contribute productively to the nation’s growth
  • Marked increase in services sector growth in the post liberalisation period
  • Account for 55.2 % share of GDP
  • Grows annually by 10%
  • Contributing to about a quarter of total employment, high share of FDI inflows, over one third of total exports and recording a very fast growth of 27.4 pc through the first half of 2010-11.
  • The ratcheting of the overall growth rate (CAGR) of the Indian economy from 5.7% in the 1990s to 8.6 pc during 2004-05 to 2009-10 was to a large measure due to the acceleration of CAGR in the services sector from 7.5 pc in the 1990s to 10.3 pc in 2004-05 to 2009-10.
  • Services sector growth has been around 10 pc since 2005-06

Contribution of Services sector to Indian economy

  • Share in GDP
    • 1950-51: 30.5 pc
    • 2009-10: 55.2 pc
    • If construction is included (RBI and WTO method): 63.4 pc
  • CSO Classification
    • Trade, hotels and restaurants (16.3 of national GDP)
    • Transport, storage and communication (7.8 of GDP)
    • Financing, insurance, real estate and business services (16.7)
    • Community, social and personal services (14.4)
  • Services trade surplus: USD 54 bn (2008-09)
    • USD 35.7 bn (2009-10)
  • China (10.5%) followed by India (8.9%) remain the two fastest growing economies in top 12 countries.
  • Statewise
    • States such as Delhi, Chandigarh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have shares equal to or above all-India share of services in the GDP

FDI in Services

  • 44 pc of FDI inflows between 2000 and 2009 were in the services sector (construction excluded)
    • Of this financial and non-financial companies have attracted the largest FDI
  • Not all sectors are fully open for FDI. Reforms are needed.
  • FDI in retail <do detailed>
    • FDI in single brand retail is permitted upto 51%. Now 100 pc.
    • FDI in multi-brand retail is being debated
    • Permitting FDI in retail in a phased manner beginning with the metros and incentivising existing retailer to modernise could help the interests of consumers as well as farmers
    • FDI in retail in bring in latest technology and supply chain management in the country
    • The move for FDI in retail has been opposed on the ground that the move could result in widespread closure of small time shops.
    • The way out could be lay down strict rules of operation for foreign retail chains
      • Include requirement of local procurement
      • This will also lead to stabilising prices by cutting out the middlemen
    • FDI in insurance
      • There is a proposal to raise the FDI cap in the insurance sector from the current 26 pc to 49 pc.
      • A bill for this has been pending before the Parliament
      • Some new sectors in insurance should be opened up – like health insurance
      • This will enable India export super speciality hospital services and medical tourism
      • Withdraw FDI restrictions on foreign re-insurance companies. This will help India access the global re-insurance businesses
    • Banking
      • There is a scope for attracting large investments from abroad
      • Currently 74% investment is allowed.
      • There is 10 pc limit on voting rights in respect of banking companies
      • FDI in banking should be seen in the context of overall financial stability
    • New Areas for FDI
      • Railways
        • Rakesh Mohan Committee on infrastructure had recommended throwing up the entire railway sector open to private investment
        • The finance ministry paper (2010) suggested 26 FDI in railways which can help overcome the current drought in investment in the railways
      • Shipping
        • India’s shipping tonnage is inadequate, accounting for mere 1.17% of global registration
        • The share of India’s vessels in carriage of India’s overseas trade had dropped from 40% in late 1980s to about 9.5% in 2008-09
      • Accountancy, legal services, healthcare and education services

Way Forward

  • Retain the country’s competitiveness in those services sectors where it has already distinguished such as IT and ITeS
  • The next task is to make foray into some traditional realms such as tourism and shipping where other nations have already established themselves.
  • Make serious inroads into globally traded services in still niche areas for India such as financial services, healthcare, education, accountancy, legal and other business services where the country possesses a huge domestic market but has also displayed signs of making a dent in the global market.
  • This requires
    • Reciprocal movements on the part of India in opening up its own market, liberalising FDI not only to improve the infrastructure but also to absorb the best practices that are so universally acclaimed.
    • Set up strong institutional bodies in the form of regulatory agencies to take care of both domestic and international interests in case when market-distorting moves are made by either party.
  • Non-equity modes of engagement could be used to bypass the political difficulties in reforms

The Government of India has adopted a few initiatives in the recent past. Some of these are as follows:

  • The Government of India plans to significantly liberalise its visa regime, including allowing multiple-entry tourist and business visas, which is expected to boost India’s services exports.
  •  The Government of India announced plan to increase the number of common service centres or e-Seva centres to 250,000 from 150,000 currently to enable village level entrepreneurs to interact with national experts for guidance, besides serving as a e-services distribution point.
  • The Central Government is considering a two-rate structure for the goods and service tax(GST), under which key services will be taxed at a lower rate compared to the standard rate, which will help to minimize the impact on consumers due to increase in service tax.
  • The Government of India plans to take mobile network to nearly 10 per cent of Indian villages that are still unconnected.
  • The Government of India has proposed provide tax benefits for transactions made electronically through credit/debit cards, mobile wallets, net banking and other means, as part of broader strategy to reduce use of cash and thereby constrain the parallel economy operating outside legitimate financial system.
  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed third-party white label automated teller machines (ATM) to accept international cards, including international prepaid cards, and has also allowed white label ATMs to tie up with any commercial bank for cash supply.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Money supply is the entire stock of currency and other liquid instruments in a country’s economy as of a particular time. The money supply can include cash, coins and balances held in checking and savings accounts.

Money Supply can be estimated as narrow or broad money.

There are four measures of money supply in India which are denoted by M1, M2, M3 and M4. This classification was introduced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in April 1977. Prior to this till March 1968, the RBI published only one measure of the money supply, M or defined as currency and demand deposits with the public. This was in keeping with the traditional and Keynesian views of the narrow measure of the money supply.

 

 

M1 (Narrow Money) consists of:

(i) Currency with the public which includes notes and coins of all denominations in circulation excluding cash on hand with banks:

(ii) Demand deposits with commercial and cooperative banks, excluding inter-bank deposits; and

(iii) ‘Other deposits’ with RBI which include current deposits of foreign central banks, financial institutions and quasi-financial institutions such as IDBI, IFCI, etc., other than of banks, IMF, IBRD, etc. The RBI characterizes as narrow money.

M2. which consists of M1 plus post office savings bank deposits. Since savings bank deposits of commercial and cooperative banks are included in the money supply, it is essential to include post office savings bank deposits. The majority of people in rural and urban India have preference for post office deposits from the safety viewpoint than bank deposits.

M3. (Broad Money) which consists of M1, plus time deposits with commercial and cooperative banks, excluding interbank time deposits. The RBI calls M3 as broad money.

M4.which consists of M3 plus total post office deposits comprising time deposits and demand deposits as well. This is the broadest measure of money supply.

High powered money – The total liability of the monetary authority of the country, RBI, is called the monetary base or high powered money. It consists of currency ( notes and coins in circulation with the public and vault cash of commercial banks) and deposits held by the Government of India and commercial banks with RBI. If a memeber of the public produces a currency note to RBI the latter must pay her value equal to the figure printed on the note. Similarly, the deposits are also refundable by RBI on demand from deposit holders. These items are claims which the general public, government or banks have on RBI and are considered to be the liability of RBI.

RBI acquires assets against these liabilities. The process can be understood easily if we consider a simple stylised example. Suppose RBI purchases gold or dollars worth Rs. 5. It pays for thr gold or foreign exchange by issuing currency to the seller. The currency in circulation in the economy thus goes up by Rs. 5, an item that shows up on the liabilityside of RBI’s Balance sheet. The value of the acquired asset, also equal to Rs. 5, is entered under the appropriate head on the Assets side. Similarly, the RBI acquires debt bonds or securities issued by the government and pays the government by issuing currency. It issues loans to commercial banks in a similar fashion.

 

 

 

 

 

Role of RBI
Pre-reform Post-reform
Developmental Role: the developmental role has increased in view of the changing structure of the economy with a focus on SMEs and financial inclusion Priority Sector Lending: Introduced from 1974 with public sector banks. Extended to all commercial banks by 1992 In the revised guidelines for PSL the thrust is on ensuring adequate flow of bank credit to those sectors that impact large segments of the population and weaker sections, and to the sectors which are employment intensive such as agriculture and small enterprises
Lead Bank Scheme Special Agricultural Credit Plan introduced.
Kisan Credit Card scheme (1998-99)
Focus on credit flow to micro, small and  medium enterprises development
Financial Inclusion
Monetary Policy: the role of RBI has changed from regulating credit and money flow directly to using market mechanisms for achieving policy targets. MP framework has changed to promote financial deregulations and market development. Role as a facilitator rather than as principal actor. M3 as an intermediary target Multiple Indicator Approach
Regulation of foreign exchange Management of foreign exchange
Direct credit control Open Market Operations, MSS, LAF
Rupee convertability highly managed Full current ac convertability and some capital account convertability
Banker to the government Monetary policy was linked to the fiscal policy due to automatic monetisation of the deficit Delinking of monetary policy from the fiscal policy. From 2006, under FRBM, RBI ceased to participate in the primary market auctions of the central government’s securities.
As regulator of financial sector: As regulator of the financial sector, RBI has faced the challenge of regulating the increasing financial sector in India. Credit flows have increased. RBI had to make sure that financial institutions are regulated in a way to protect the consumers while not impeding economic growth. Reduction in SLR
Custodian of FOREX reserves Forex reserves have increased drastically. Need to manage it adequately and avoid inflationary impact
Inflation Direct instruments were used Multiple indicators
Financial Stability Closed economy Increased FDI and FII has made financial stability one of the policy objectives.
Money Market Narsimhan Committee (1998) recommended reforms in the money market

 

 

  1. Role of Commercial Banks
  2. Issue of NPA
  3. Financial Inclusion
Role of Commercial Banks

A Commercial bank is a type of financial institution that provides services such as accepting deposits, making business loans, and offering basic investment products

There is acute shortage of capital. People lack initiative and enterprise. Means of transport are undeveloped. Industry is depressed. The commercial banks help in overcoming these obstacles and promoting economic development. The role of a commercial bank in a developing country is discussed as under.

  1. Mobilising Saving for Capital Formation:

The commercial banks help in mobilising savings through network of branch banking. People in developing countries have low incomes but the banks induce them to save by introducing variety of deposit schemes to suit the needs of individual depositors. They also mobilise idle savings of the few rich. By mobilising savings, the banks channelize them into productive investments. Thus they help in the capital formation of a developing country.

  1. Financing Industry:

The commercial banks finance the industrial sector in a number of ways. They provide short-term, medium-term and long-term loans to industry.

  1. Financing Trade:

The commercial banks help in financing both internal and external trade. The banks provide loans to retailers and wholesalers to stock goods in which they deal. They also help in the movement of goods from one place to another by providing all types of facilities such as discounting and accepting bills of exchange, providing overdraft facilities, issuing drafts, etc. Moreover, they finance both exports and imports of developing countries by providing foreign exchange facilities to importers and exporters of goods.

  1. Financing Agriculture:

The commercial banks help the large agricultural sector in developing countries in a number of ways. They provide loans to traders in agricultural commodities. They open a network of branches in rural areas to provide agricultural credit. They provide finance directly to agriculturists for the marketing of their produce, for the modernisation and mechanisation of their farms, for providing irrigation facilities, for developing land, etc.

They also provide financial assistance for animal husbandry, dairy farming, sheep breeding, poultry farming, pisciculture and horticulture. The small and marginal farmers and landless agricultural workers, artisans and petty shopkeepers in rural areas are provided financial assistance through the regional rural banks in India. These regional rural banks operate under a commercial bank. Thus the commercial banks meet the credit requirements of all types of rural people. In India agricultural loans are kept in priority sector landing.

  1. Financing Consumer Activities:

People in underdeveloped countries being poor and having low incomes do not possess sufficient financial resources to buy durable consumer goods. The commercial banks advance loans to consumers for the purchase of such items as houses, scooters, fans, refrigerators, etc. In this way, they also help in raising the standard of living of the people in developing countries by providing loans for consumptive activities and also increase the demand in the economy.

  1. Financing Employment Generating Activities:

The commercial banks finance employment generating activities in developing countries. They provide loans for the education of young person’s studying in engineering, medical and other vocational institutes of higher learning. They advance loans to young entrepreneurs, medical and engineering graduates, and other technically trained persons in establishing their own business. Such loan facilities are being provided by a number of commercial banks in India. Thus the banks not only help inhuman capital formation but also in increasing entrepreneurial activities in developing countries.

  1. Help in Monetary Policy:

The commercial banks help the economic development of a country by faithfully following the monetary policy of the central bank. In fact, the central bank depends upon the commercial banks for the success of its policy of monetary management in keeping with requirements of a developing economy.

 

Issue of NPA

A non performing asset (NPA) is a loan or advance for which the principal or interest payment remained overdue for a period of 90 days.According to RBI, terms loans on which interest or installment of principal remain overdue for a period of more than 90 days from the end of a particular quarter is called a Non-performing Asset.

However, in terms of Agriculture / Farm Loans; the NPA is defined as under:

  • For short duration crop agriculture loans such as paddy, Jowar, Bajra etc. if the loan (installment / interest) is not paid for 2 crop seasons , it would be termed as a NPA.
  • For Long Duration Crops, the above would be 1 Crop season from the due date.

The Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act has provisions for the banks to take legal recourse to recover their dues. When a borrower makes any default in repayment and his account is classified as NPA; the secured creditor has to issue notice to the borrower giving him 60 days to pay his dues. If the dues are not paid, the bank can take possession of the assets and can also give it on lease or sell it; as per provisions of the SAFAESI Act.

Reselling of NPAs :- If a bad loan remains NPA for at least two years, the bank can also resale the same to the Asset Reconstruction Companies such as Asset Reconstruction Company (India) (ARCIL).  These sales are only on Cash Basis and the purchasing bank/ company would have to keep the accounts for at least 15 months before it sells to other bank. They purchase such loans on low amounts and try to recover as much as possible from the defaulters. Their revenue is difference between the purchased amount and recovered amount.

Financial Inclusion

Financial inclusion or inclusive financing is the delivery of financial services at affordable costs to sections of disadvantaged and low-income segments of society, in contrast to financial exclusion where those services are not available or affordable.

Government of India has launched an innovative scheme of Jan Dhan Yojna for Financial Inclusion to provide the financial services to millions out of the regulated banking sector.

 

Various program’s for financial inclusion are:-

  • Swabhimaan Scheme: under the Swabhimaan campaign, the Banks were advised to provide appropriate banking facilities to habitations having a population in excess of 2000 (as per 2001 census) by March 2012.
  • Extention of  the banking network in unbanked areas,
  • Expansion of Business Correspondent Agent (BCA) Network
  • Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL)
  • RuPay, a new card payment scheme has been conceived by NPCI to offer a domestic, open-loop, multilateral card payment system which will allow all Indian banks and financial Institutions in India to participate in electronic payments.
  • Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) was formally launched on 28th August, 2014. The Yojana envisages universal access to banking facilities with at least one basic banking account for every household, financial literacy, access to credit, insurance and pension. The beneficiaries would get a RuPay Debit Card having inbuilt accident insurance cover of Rs.1.00 lakh. In addition there is a life insurance cover of Rs.30000/- to those people who opened their bank accounts for the first time between 15.08.2014 to 26.01.2015 and meet other eligibility conditions of the Yojana.

  •  Public Finance

    Public finance is the study of the role of the government in the economy. It is the branch of economics which assesses the government revenue and government expenditure of the public authorities and the adjustment of one or the other to achieve desirable effects and avoid undesirable ones.

    It includes the study of :-

    • Fiscal Policy
    • Deficits and Deficit Financing
    • Fiscal Consolidation
    • Public Debt- Internal and External debt

    Fiscal policy relates to raising and expenditure of money in quantitative and qualitative manner.Fiscal policy is the use of government spending and taxation to influence the economy. Governments typically use fiscal policy to promote strong and sustainable growth and reduce poverty. The role and objectives of fiscal policy gained prominence during the recent global economic crisis, when governments stepped in to support financial systems, jump-start growth, and mitigate the impact of the crisis on vulnerable groups.

    Historically, the prominence of fiscal policy as a policy tool has waxed and waned. Before 1930, an approach of limited government, or laissez-faire, prevailed. With the stock market crash and the Great Depression, policymakers pushed for governments to play a more proactive role in the economy. More recently, countries had scaled back the size and function of government—with markets taking on an enhanced role in the allocation of goods and services—but when the global financial crisis threatened worldwide recession, many countries returned to a more active fiscal policy.

    How does fiscal policy work?

    When policymakers seek to influence the economy, they have two main tools at their disposal—monetary policy and fiscal policy. Central banks indirectly target activity by influencing the money supply through adjustments to interest rates, bank reserve requirements, and the purchase and sale of government securities and foreign exchange. Governments influence the economy by changing the level and types of taxes, the extent and composition of spending, and the degree and form of borrowing.

    Deficit financing, practice in which a government spends more money than it receives as revenue, the difference being made up by borrowing or minting new funds.

    Fiscal consolidation is a term that is used to describe the creation of strategies that are aimed at minimizing deficits while also curtailing the accumulation of more debt. The term is most commonly employed when referring to efforts of a local or national government to lower the level of debt carried by the jurisdiction, but can also be applied to the efforts of businesses or even households to reduce debt while simultaneously limiting the generation of new debt obligations. From this perspective, the goal of fiscal consolidation in any setting is to improve financial stability by creating a more desirable financial position.

    The public debt is defined as how much a country owes to lenders outside of itself. These can include individuals, businesses and even other governments.public debt is the accumulation of annual budget deficits. It’s the result of years of government leaders spending more than they take in via tax revenues.

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