09 August 2023

MAINS DAILY QUESTIONS & MODEL ANSWERS

Q1. What are crucial minerals? Explain why critical minerals are important for a country’s prosperity.

GS I – Geography-related issues

• A mineral is labelled as critical when the risk of supply shortage and associated economic impact is relatively higher than for other raw materials; these minerals are critical for a country’s economic development and national security, and their lack of availability or concentration of extraction or processing in a few geographical locations could lead to supply chain vulnerabilities and even supply disruption.

The importance of key minerals for a country’s development and advancement includes the following:

• Economic importance: Critical minerals play a role in a variety of economic sectors, including information and communication technology, semiconductors, advanced manufacturing inputs, and materials such as defence applications, permanent magnets, ceramics, and so on.
• Transition to electric vehicles: The rapid adoption of electric vehicles is increasing demand for critical minerals such as cobalt, nickel, lithium, and rare earth elements.
• Increasing self-reliance: As a result of government initiatives such as Make in India, Smart City, Atmanirbhar Bharat, the 100 GW target for renewable energy, and the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes, India’s demand for critical minerals is expected to rise significantly.
• Clean energy technologies: As India strives for indigenous development of emerging technologies in the clean energy sector, scaling up manufacturing operations for components such as solar panels, wind turbines, and so on becomes critical, and critical minerals are important for meeting the “Net Zero” commitment.
• Building supply chains: The discovery of mineral riches and the identification of areas of its potential through the use of new technology is critical for India’s competitive value chains.
• National security: Critical minerals are required for defence, aerospace, nuclear, and space applications because they can perform complex functions and withstand extreme temperatures; they are also necessary for ensuring defence preparedness and achieving self-reliance in the defence sector.
• As a result, India’s focus on critical minerals stems from the realisation that the next economic growth story must follow two parallel processes: improving living standards and establishing manufacturing in strategic sectors, and following and investing more in sustainable models of growth, energy, and lifestyle by focusing on decarbonization.

Q2. Discuss the recent issues experienced by sugarcane producers and what steps might be taken to solve these challenges.

GS III – Agriculture related issues

• India surpassed Brazil as the world’s top sugar producer in 20212022, and the country is also the world’s largest consumer of sugar. Positive policy measures to encourage farmers to produce excess sugarcane have also resulted in higher exports, with a record of 110 lakh tonnes exported in 20212022.

Sugarcane producers confront the following challenges:

• Water availability: Sugarcane is a water­intensive crop that requires 3,000 mm of rainfall; however, top-growing states receive only 1,000­1,200 mm of rainfall; as a result, these states rely significantly on groundwater for irrigation, raising concerns about groundwater depletion.
• High investment: Growing sugarcane is capital expensive since farmers need money to prepare the fields, till the soil, and level it in preparation for sugarcane production. Additionally, high labour costs during the cutting season have a detrimental impact on sugarcane producers.
• Sugarcane is one of the most profitable cash crops for farmers across most of India; as a result, India produced record sugarcane to the tune of over 5,000 lakh tonnes during the 2021-22 season, increasing storage and transportation costs for farmers while sugar mills struggle to pay their dues to farmers.
• Problems with the cane reservation area: There is an agreement in place where designated mills must purchase from cane farmers within their cane reservation region and farmers must sell to mills in that region, limiting farmers’ ability to negotiate better prices with mill owners.
• Low Sugar recovery Rate: The average rate of sugar recovery from sugarcane in India is less than 10%, which is relatively low when compared to other big sugar-creating nations.

The following actions can be made to resolve the aforementioned challenges:

• Shifting to less resource-intensive crops: A better and more sustainable approach would be to assess and then correct incentives that favour sugarcane over other crops. Introducing fair and comprehensive subsidy schemes for a variety of crops can help farmers diversify while also distributing cultivation evenly, preventing monocultures, and ensuring an equitable income.
• Promoting mechanisation: Given the high labour costs, the government should encourage mechanisation in sugarcane farms by subsidising machinery for planting sugarcane stems, de-weeding, and harvesting; once available in the village, farmers can hire them as they do tractors and crushing machines.
• To address the issue in the long run, promote cultivation practises such as drip irrigation, which allows water to drip slowly but directly to the roots of sugarcane plants, reducing water consumption by up to 70% compared to the current flood irrigation method.
• Implementing the Rangarajan Committee’s recommendations: The Rangarajan Committee recommended that states encourage the development of market-based long-term contractual arrangements over time, and phase out cane reservation areas and bonding. Such individual contracts with farmers would give them the flexibility to choose which mill they want to sell their produce to.
• Diversion of surplus sugar into ethanol: The government has launched the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme, under which Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) sell petrol blended with up to 10% ethanol. Diversion of surplus sugar into ethanol will improve liquidity and keep sugar prices stable.
• The government has made various efforts to protect sugarcane farmers’ interests, such as Fair and Remunerative Prices (FRP), the Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative, and the Ethanol Blending Programme, but addressing structural issues and bringing long-term solutions will be critical for holistically addressing sugarcane farmers’ woes.