24 December 2022

MAINS QUESTIONS DAILY QUESTIONS & MODEL ANSWERS:

Q1.What are the drawbacks of designating some cadre roles for particular government services? Examine how it has affected Indian governance. (250 words)

 Paper & Topic: GS II – Civil Service related issues

 Model Answer:

Introduction:

• There is a system in place in India that designates some positions as cadre positions and reserves them for providing certain services, both at the federal and state levels. As a result, all services have developed exclusive behaviour to fend off clients from competing companies. The recent Supreme Court case involving CAPF and IPS employees is one such instance.

Body:

 Cons of keeping some duties reserved for cadre positions:

• First of all, regardless of the skill set that any individual service member possesses, it demotivates all members of the military.
• Second, officers from a particular service must be assigned to a particular station, which frequently requires making less-than-ideal choices despite the knowledge that casting a wider net may be desirable from a national perspective.
• Thirdly, it results in strange anomalies when peers who passed the same exam get promoted more slowly or more swiftly merely because they work for other services rather than because they are less or more qualified.
• When the government believes there is a skill gap that has to be filled by hiring from the private sector, the inability to fully utilise its personnel is particularly troubling.
• Due to the lack of lateral movement, all employees are forced to remain in their primary functional areas and must be promoted frequently, most frequently concurrently. As a result, all services are top-heavy.
• Each service has been trained to perform a fundamental role. For instance, a customs officer is trained differently from a police officer or an income tax officer. However, some people outgrow their fundamental functional areas and pick up additional abilities in the process.
• However, the cadre position structure makes sure that they are unable to effectively demonstrate any abilities they may have picked up. And even though the skills of these officers were acquired at the expense of tax payers, the nation does not benefit from them.

Moving ahead:

• By classifying all top jobs as cadre appointments, we appear to have eliminated the adaptability and nimbleness needed to meet the needs of a world that is changing quickly.
• Additionally, it gives the various services a tool to employ in court battles to keep competitors off their property.
• We must look into whether the concept of cadre posts has helped the nation or has had the opposite impact.
• Because it restricts the possibilities, it does not initially seem to be a viable strategy for managing human resources.
• It wouldn’t be a smart idea to completely discard the concept given that we need departmental officials with specialised training to staff the base and middle of the administrative pyramid.
• We might want to either make positions cadre-neutral or, at the absolute least, make multiple services with appropriate expertise eligible for the post in order to widen the talent pool accessible for the cadre function.
• In each of the two models, the significance of the selection process can be greatly increased by using objective criteria based on domain expertise.
• Cadre roles are just one of a number of antiquated ideas that limit competition, create barriers to entry, and weaken administrative efficiency.
• They continue despite the fact that many of them are no longer useful because they help the services defend their region.

Conclusion:

• It is past time to identify similar limiting concepts in our administrative dogma and conduct a thorough analysis of them in light of cutting-edge HRM methods. We must incorporate the concept of “ease of doing business” into our administrative concepts and practises. The talent pool we have both inside and outside of government will only be fully utilised then.

Q2. How is climate change affecting agriculture in India? Discuss the steps required to deal with the ongoing climate issue. (250 words)

 Paper & Topic: GS II – Government Policies and Interventions

 Model Answer:

Introduction:

• In India, the agricultural sector, which generated 16% of the country’s GDP in 2017, supports 44,9% of the population. From 53.1% in 2008 to 43.9% in 2018, the employment rate in this sector decreased by 10 percentage points in a decade. Numerous problems are being faced by the industry, including as crop failures, unfavourable crop pricing, and low returns on output. Due to the extreme agrarian hardship, many farmers are becoming hopeless; in 2015, 39% of farmer suicide cases were attributed to debt and bankruptcy.

Body:

 The India climate change risk profile:

• Although India is fortunate to have the monsoon, it is also particularly vulnerable to global warming.
• India is ranked fourteenth on the Global Climate Risk Index for 2019.
• Rain-fed agriculture, which is practised on more than 67% of our fields, can result in high costs, especially for coarse grains (which are mostly grown in rain-fed areas).
• In 2011, 6 billion tonnes of GHGs, or around 13% of global emissions, were emitted by agricultural operations. The agriculture industry is currently the second-largest emitter in the world, behind the energy sector.
• More than 60% of Indian agriculture depends on rainfall, making farming a high-risk venture that is subject to the whims of the monsoons and local climatic conditions.
• Due to the increasing climate variability, it is vitally important to inform farmers in advance of the risk of unexpected or extreme weather events.
• Climate change has an effect on the three components of food security—availability, access, and absorption. As productivity decreases, food availability decreases. Climate change has a particularly negative effect on the poor. Since they lack the funds to purchase the food, they are unable to receive it. This ultimately has an impact on health and hinders absorption.
• Around 570 million farms globally are threatened by climate change. Between 4 and 9 percent of agriculture is affected annually by climate change. In India, where agriculture contributes 15% of GDP, climate change is predicted to cause a 5% decline in GDP.
• According to one estimate, as a result of the worsening droughts, they may see a loss in household income of 24–58% and an increase in household poverty of 12–33%.
• The land in India has been damaged in some way on more than 120 million hectares.
• Our kharif crops would suffer from an increase in mean temperatures.

The potential treatments:

Climate-smart agriculture:

• Promotion of conservation farming and dryland agriculture, including timely rainfall forecasts for each hamlet and weather-based alerts for crop diseases and pests throughout the year.
• We should emphasis our agricultural research efforts on dryland research and introduce drought-tolerant breeds that could reduce production risks in half.
• It should be considered to shift planting dates, notably for wheat, which might reduce the damage brought on by climate change by between 60 and 75 percent.
• Organic farming enhances the soil’s organic content and nutrient cycling, which can increase soil resilience to climate change and help soils store carbon.

Finance & Credit:

• Credit availability was expanded by the Rural Insurance Development Fund’s expansion and insurance coverage that now covers all crops.
• Lowered interest rates because of government support.
• As previously announced, the government will offer a basic income to the most indigent farmers.

Planting trees as reparation:

• According to estimates, India lost over 26 million hectares of forest and 20 million hectares of grasslands and shrublands between 1880 and 2013. Due to urbanisation, India continues to utilise 135 hectares of forest every day.
• Compensatory afforestation must be implemented locally if we are to avoid losing any net forest cover.
• State CAMPAs (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority) should be mandated to meet frequently.
• State-level forest authorities’ record-keeping procedures need to be improved, notably with regard to the assessment and payment of fees for compensatory afforestation initiatives.

 Empowerment of the Indian Forest Service:

• Also in need of restructuring is the Indian Forest Service (IFS). This service must remain a specialised one and not be run by deputies from other services.
• In the area of the environment, the IFS must be given status comparable to that of the military or police.
• It must provide state-of-the-art training for its staff.
• Specialization in wildlife, tourism, and protection should be encouraged for new workers.

Green smart cities:

• It is vital to develop adjacent cities into smart, eco-friendly communities with improved garbage recycling systems.

Van Dhan Yojana:

• The Van Dhan Yojana, which the state government of Rajasthan has embraced, may be expanded to form a green mission to save our unprotected forests, or those that are not currently found inside national parks or animal sanctuaries.
• More consideration ought to be given to places like Sawai Madhopur, Bharatpur, Chikmagalur, and Jabalpur.

Conclusion:

• Through wise investments and legal changes, India may become more robust to the effects of climate change.
• Any effort to adapt to the current level of climate change must include climate justice.
• Cooperative research and development organisations like the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Centre can promote this by fusing India’s emerging smart cities with green cities in the West.
• Without a doubt, India needs to cut emissions in order to decarbonize. But the West too has expenses to cover.