Indian Agriculture system: Major issues and problems

Recently, farmer agitation and protests regarding agricultural loan waiver have sparked a political debate all over the country. All this happened after UP's CM Mr. Yogi announced to waive off agricultural loans worth 36,359 crores.
The phenomenon of farmer's distress and agitation is not new, to understand this we must have knowledge about features of agriculture system--

Here we provide salient features and problems associated with Indian agriculture and production --

1. India ranks second world wide in farm output or production, obviously number one is China.
2. India holds second largest agricultural land in world, first one being USA.
3. Agriculture along with forestry and fisheries contribute around 17% of India's GDP.
4. 49% of Indian workforce is indulged in agricultural works, in other words we can say it provides employment to half working population of India.
5. India is one of the largest exporter of agricultural/horticultural and processed foods. Products are exported to more than 120 countries. India is world's largest producer of milk, major spices, jute etc. Also one of rhe largest producer of rice and wheat.
6. India also produces a lage number of organic agricultural products. Actually organic methods of farming leads back to indus valley civilization and even before that.
7. Indian agriculture is diverse. This diversity is present due to complex demogrphy and diverse ecosystem of India.

Apart from these India's  agricultural sector suffers from various drawbacks as listed here--

1. In our country around 49% people are associated with agricultural activities, yet this sector contributes only around 13 to 14% of total GDP.Now this should clear doubts about why per capita income in agriculture sector is low as compared to other fields.
2. India has one of the largest agricultural land but due to population density most of the land is fragmented, or we can say it is divided into small parts which leads to inefficiency of production.
3. Indian production (agricultural)  is neither market driven nor fully government controlled, hence wages of farmers are always uncertain.
4. Lack of suitable marketing system and inefficient chain of traders further contribute to lower prices for farm products.
5. Lack of infrastructure like cold storage, transpot etc. is responsible for world's highest crop spoilage rates in India.
6. India is way behind from developed countries technologically, in pacaging, processing and farming productivity. And this leads to income loss to producers.
7. Lack of proper irrigation system increses our dependability on nature and monsoons. It increses risks and losses of input cost to the farming.
8. Cases of farmer's suicide are not new in India. And it haapens mostly due to agrarian crisis( concept of agrarian crisis is explained in next article).

All these factors have resulted in lower economic status of people associated with farming work. Mainly small scale & medium scale farmers are victim of it.

Almost half of India's population is indulged in agricultural works and most of them are below poverty line, means that agricultural work is not yielding benefits to them economically. Less income results in poverty and less consumer capacity, which is harmful for economy and society.

For more details regarding all possible solutions to this problem & initiatives taken by government, check out our next article. 

GST tax system: Pros and Cons

GST stands for goods and services tax. It is indirect tax lavied by the government on various goods and services.

Salient features of GST system -

1. The GST taxation laws will put an end to multiple taxes like excise duty, CST(central sale tax), VAT, service, luxury and entertainment tax among others.
2. GST is an inclusive tax and will replace a number of other indirect taxes currently applicable in India.
3. The GST has two components

• Central GST(CGST) -which will be lavied by central government
• State GST(SGST) - which will be lavied by state government
• Apart from them IGST(the integrated goods and services tax) is charged on interstate transfer of goods.

How does it work(GST)?

• It is single tax on the supply of goods and services right from the manufacturer to consumer. Credits of input taxes paid at each stage will be available in the subsequent stage of value addition. Ita means that GST is a tax only on value addition at each stage.
• Let’s assume, when Manufacturer “A” sells his goods from Gujarat to Haryana, he is liable to collect both Excise Duty and Central Sales Tax at the rate of 12.5% and 2% respectively, being an inter-state sale. Further, Dealer “B” will not get any credit of this Excise Duty and CST. Dealer “B” in turn sells it to Dealer “C” in Gurgaon and charges VAT on such sale. Dealer “C” sells it to Dealer “D” in Delhi and collects CST, and finally Dealer “D” sells these goods to the end consumer in Delhi, collecting VAT.

Pic credit: cleartax.in

From this diagram the difference between previous tax system and GST tax system is clearly understood.

Benefits of GST

For industry/businesses

1. Easy compliance - Transperency in taxation system and online availability of taxpayer services and will help in easy compliance of this system .
2. Uniformity in tax rates and structure -This will ensure that tax rates are consistent across the country. This will increse ease of doing business and remove hidden taxes.
3. Removal of cascading effect is another major factor associated with this system-A product on which excise duty is paid can also be liable for VAT. Suppose a product A is manufactured in a factory. As soon as it releases from factory, excise duty has to be paid to central government. When that product A is sold in same state then VAT has to be paid to state government. Also no credit on excise duty paid can be taken against output VAT. This is termed as cascading effect since double tax is levied on same product. 
4. Possible reduction in cost of utilities -Due to reduced cost of logistics and distribution prices may come down for some goods.

For government

1. Simple and easy to administer tax system as compared to previous system. 
2. Better control on leakages of tax money.
3. Higher revenue efficiency -This system will decrese the cost of collection of revenues and hence incres the efficiency of revenue collection

For consumer

1. Single and transparent taxation system
2. No hidden taxes

Now negatives of the GST system are

1. GST is being referred as a single taxation system but in reality it is a dual tax in which state and centre both collects separate tax on a single transaction of sale and service.
2. GST taxation system limits the power of state government in terms of revenue collection. It is estimated that due to implementation of GST system a large revenue will be transferred to centre instead of states. This can further create disharmony in federal system of India.
3. There is a lot of confusion about new tax system, even after so many days of GST implementation. Some business owner are also opposing it for it may result in extra burden on their pockets. 

Election process of Indian President

 Presidential Election 2017 is going to be the next big thing in Indian politics. The countdown for India’s top post has begun as President Pranab Mukherjee’s term is ending on July 25. With speculations going around the Bjp's president candidate Mr. Ramnath kovind ,presidential election is all set to take place in India on 17 July 2017, and counting will be done on 20 July 2017, five days before the incumbent President's term expires.

Who elects the president?

Article 54 of the Indian Constitution lays the guidelines about voters in a Presidential election. All MPs and MLAs Form the electoral college for election of president. Nominated members of parliament and legislative assembly can't vote in this election. 

Eligibility to be the President of India

The following are the mandatory requirements for anyone to contest the election for the President of India.

• Must be a citizen of India
• Must have completed 35 years of age
• Must be eligible to be a member of the Lok Sabha.
• Must not hold any office of profit under the Government of India or the Government of any State or under any local government (Exceptions are the offices of President and Vice-President, Governor of any State and Ministers of Union or State)

The one major difference between any normal general election and the Presidential election is the differential value of votes of various electors (voters). In any normal election, the value of the vote of every citizen is the same. His/her vote is counted as one vote. But in the Presidential election, the value of the MP vote is different from the value of a MLA vote. Not just that, the value of a MLA vote from one state differs from the value of the MLA vote of another state. The value of all the votes put together is the value of the voters for the election. Before each such election, the Election Commission notifies the total value of all the votes based on vacancies etc at that point in time.The value of votes of electors (voters) is basically determined on the basis of population of the States. Since population figures are dynamic and keep changing every year, it has been decided through the 84th constitutional amendment , that until the population figures for the first census after 2026 are published (in other words, 2031 census), the population of the States for the purpose of this calculation will mean the population as per the 1971 census.

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Proportional Representation: Proportional Representation is an electoral system designed to represent in a legislative body each political group or party in proportion to its actual voting strength in the electorate. To understand how it works please understand the methods to count & use Value of an M.L.A. Vote & Value of an M.P. Vote.

Value of an M.L.A. Vote:

The value of an M.L.A. Vote = [(Total population of state or U.T.)] / [(Total number of elected members of the Legislative Assembly) * 1000]

Let us take Uttarakhand state for illustration :

• Name of the State/Union Territory: Uttarakhand
• Number of Legislative Assembly seats (elective): 70
• Population (1971 Census): 4,491,239
• Value of the vote of each MLA: 64 (4491239/70000)
• Total value of votes for the State/Union Territory: 4480 (64 * 70)

So, in approximate terms, total value of votes for a State/Union Territory is proportional to its population according to the 1971 census.

Value of an M.P. Vote

The Value of an M.P. Vote = [(The sum of vote value of elected members of all the legislative assemblies)] / [(The sum of elected members of both the houses of Parliament)]

• The sum of vote value of elected members of all the legislative assemblies (of all the State or Union Territory) = 549474
• The sum of elected members of both the houses of Parliament = Lok Sabha (543) + Rajya Sabha (233) = 776
• The value of each vote of an M.P. = 549474 / 776 = 708 (approx.)
• The total value of votes of the Rajya Sabha = 233 * 708 = 164964
• The total value of votes of the Lok Sabha = 543 * 708 = 384444
• The total value of votes of the Parliament = 776 × 708 = 164964 + 384444 = 549408

So, in approximate terms, the total value of votes of the Parliament is almost equal to the total value of votes of all the legislative assemblies (of all the State or Union Territory).

• Total number of electors of Legislative Assemblies (elected) = 4120
• Total value of votes of Legislative Assemblies = 549,474
• Total number of electors of Parliament (elected) = 776
• Total value of votes of Parliament = 549,408
• Total number of electors = 4896
• Total value of votes of all Electors (i.e. the Electoral College) = 1,098,882

The Election Process

A ballot paper is given to each voter with the names of the contesting candidates, green ballot paper for MPs & Pink ballot paper for MLAs. This election happens through the Single Transferable Vote (STV).  Hence each voter can mark as many preferences, as the number of candidates contesting the election. These preferences for the candidates are to be marked by the voter, by marking the figures 1,2,3, 4, 5 and so on, against the names of the candidates, in the order of preference.

The concept of single transferable vote is same as rajya sabha election. Unlike the general election counting, where an MP or an MLA is elected through ‘first past the post’ system, the winner in Presidential election is declared on the basis of a quote which is obtained by dividing the total number of valid votes by 2, and adding 1 to quotient (total number of valid votes/2+1).

Let’s understand this in detail:

For example, if there are three candidates – A, B and, C and 10 valid votes are casted. The winner in this case will require 10/2 + 1 = 6 votes

Case 1: i) A gets 6 votes as 1st preference

i) A gets 6 votes as 1st preference

ii) B gets 3 votes as 1st preference

iii)C gets 1 votes as 1st preference

In this scenario, A will be declared as the winner for clearing the quota.

Case 2: i) A gets 5 votes as 1st preference

ii) B gets 3 votes as 1st preference

iii)C gets 2 votes as 1st preference

In this scenario, candidate C will get eliminated and the second preference of the two voters, who opted for C as their first preferences, would be added to the total first preference votes of the remaining two candidates.

If A clears the quota at this stage, then s/he will become the President. If not, the process would be repeated until one candidate emerges as the clear winner by getting the required quota of votes

Left Right Politics Simplified

We regularly hear people arguing about Left wing or Right wing in politics, or people having 'Leftist','Liberal' or 'Right wing' terms in their Facebook ,twitter profiles.

  So what exactly these words mean ? What is the difference between Left and Right ideologies of the politics? And most importantly how these terms left and right originated ?

 

 In this post we have tried to throw some light on this issue---

pic credits iagreetosee.com

• Basically the left right political spectrum is a system of classifying political positions,ideologies and parties.
• Left and Right wing politics are often represented as opposed.Although a particular individual may take left wing stance on one matter and a right wing stance on another. Sometimes both may overlap and be considered either Left or Right wing depending upon the ideology.
• Historically Right has broadly come to be associated with conservative parties ,while Left with socialist parties.
• Left are those groups challenging the establishment.Right are those groups that was about preserving the traditions.
• Generally, the Left wing is characterized by emphasis on ideas such as freedom, equality, fraternity, rights, progress, reform and internationalism. While the Right wing is characterized by an emphasis on notions such as authority, hierarchy, order ,duty, tradition and 'Nationalism' .
• The right is considered the party sector associated with the interests of the upper or dominant classes.While Left  is assumed , expressive of the lower economic or social classes. Although this division may not be entirely true. 

History of Left & Right term :(Why these terms named left & right)-

     A lot of terms that we use in modern democracies come from the French revolution. In 1789,Louis XVI convened a national assembly.In this assembly supporters of the king sat on one side(right),and those of the revolution on the other(left). Since then Left and Right terms are constantly being used in philosophy and politics.

     In France where the terms originated the left has been called "The party of movement",and the Right "the party of order". The intermediate stance is called centrism and a person with such a position is a moderate or centrist.

Some more facts regarding Left and Right ideologies-

1. The contemporary Left in the United states is usually understood or identified with 'Democratic party', and 'Republican party as right wing.Though it won't be justice to call them strictly left or Right. 
2. The term extreme right wing has also been applied to movements including Fascists, Nazis & radical supremacists.And movement against racism etc are considered left oriented.
3. The term Capitalism is also sometimes associated with Right wing.
4. In Indian context BJP & SHIV SENA are Right leaning and CPI,CPM are Left leaning among the popular parties. All the other parties are a mash up of both Right and Left ideas and policies. 

(We hope this article will clear many doubts regarding Left or Right ideologies of politics, for any query drop a comment) 

Decoding The procedure of Rajya Sabha elections

India is a democratic republic, with representative democracy. The advantage with a representative democracy is that public votes only every few years ,instead of voting each policy one by one. This provides  a certain level of stability and accountability in government.
Elections form the backbone of democracy, where people elect their representatives and decide the composition of government. From parliamentary elections to panchayati polls, India goes through the electoral process at regular intervals at various levels. Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, state legislative assembly elections and president elections are the examples of elections at various levels.

Lok Sabha elections happen every five year, same is true for state elections but Rajya Sabha elections have a different process, Here is described the process of Rajya Sabha elections and some interesting facts related to it...

1. Rajya Sabha is called upper house of parliament while Lok Sabha is lower house of parliament.
2. Rajya Sabha is also known as 'council of states', as its mp's are chosen by MLAs of states. Rajya Sabha is said to representing the interests of states at parliamentary level.
3. The Rajya Sabha is to consist of not more than 250 members, according to our constitution, 238 members representing the states and union territories and 12 members nominated by president. Although these 12 members are not entitled to vote in presidential election. Currently upper house of parliament has 245 members out of which 233 are representatives of states.
4. The representatives of state and of union territories in the Rajya Sabha are elected by the MLA's of that state and the members of electoral college for that union territory.
5. The allocation of seats in Rajya Sabha to each state or union territory(delhi and Puducherry) is set out in the 4th schedule of the constitution of India. This number is roughly in proportion to state population.
   
6. Members of Rajya Sabha are elected (indirectly) or nominated. It is done with the system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote.we common people elect the MLA's of state and these MLAs further vote to elect the Rajya Sabha members.In Single Transferable vote system Each voter ranks his preferences and if the first choice candidate has enough votes already or no chance of being elected, the vote is transferred to the second choice and so on.This system also ensures that only majority party can not get its all members elected. This is further explained in example at the end of this post. 
7. Rajya Sabha member has tenure of six years, every two years, 1/3 rd of total members of Rajya Sabha retire.
8. The minimum necessary votes required for any member to get elected as Rajya Sabha MP, from that particular state are calculated by this formula: -

         [total elected MLA's of state/(total no. of candidates to be elected+1)]+1


To understand the process lets take the example of uttarakhand, it has 3 Rajya Sabha seats. It means that every six years, 3 new Rajya Sabha members need to be elected from this state.
This state has 70 elected MLAs.
According to the formula minimum votes required for any person to become Rajya Sabha member from this state is [70/(3+1)]+1=18.5 ~18
Hence minimum 18 votes are required.
for sake of simplicity lets assume that there are only two parties in the state Congress and BJP. Of 70 seats of state legislative assembly suppose BJP has 50 seats and Congress has 20 seats-

Election process :

Members dont vote for each seat. If that had been the case then only the ruling party representatives will make it through.Rather, they are given a paper with the names of all 6 candidates( 3 of congress and 3 from BJP). They have to give their preferences for each candidate as 1,2,3. If 18 or more members choose a candidate as their first choice, he gets elected. So the opposition with 20 seats can get 1 member elected.The ruling party on the other hand can get only 2 members elected (with 36 MLAs giving 18 votes each to their party candidate). It means that 2 votes of Congress and 14 mla votes of BJP are redundant.  From this example it is evident that if BJP had 4 more MLAs i.e 54 it could have elected all 3 members as 18*3=54.

Usually what happens is that parties
wont field candidates for all
seats.Depending on their proportional
representation in the assembly, they
decide after a meeting and field
candidates. That is, Party BJP will field 2
and Party congress will field 1. All of them will
get elected without any problem.

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Interesting facts about Indian flag : Tricolour (Tiranga)

Indian national flag is symbol of our national pride .Tricolour flag represents dominion of India. The constitution says ''the Indian national flag represents the hopes and aspirations of the people of India''. Indian flag is made of three colours ; namely saffron, white and green. That is why name Tiranga. The philosopher Dr. S Radhakrishnan,who later became vice president and president of India explained the meaning of different colours in Tricolour during adoption of flag

"Bhagwa or the saffron colour denotes renunciation or disinterestedness. Our leaders must be indifferent to material gains and dedicate themselves to their work. The white in the centre is light, the path of truth to guide our conduct. The green shows our relation to (the) soil, our relation to the plant life here, on which all other life depends. The "Ashoka Chakra" in the centre of the white is the wheel of the law of dharma. Truth or satya, dharma or virtue ought to be the controlling principle of those who work under this flag. Again, the wheel denotes motion. There is death in stagnation. There is life in movement. India should no more resist change, it must move and go forward. The wheel represents the dynamism of a peaceful change."

Here we present some interesting facts and general knowledge about our national flag :

• Current flag became the official flag of India on 15th august 1947. The current flag(tricolour) is an adaption of Pingali venkeyya's original design and he is generally credited as designer of flag.
• Usage of flag is governed by the  Flag code of India 2002,and other laws relating to national emblems such as The emblems & names(prevention of improper usage)act,1950; and The prevention of insults to national honour act,1971.
• According to flag code of India ,the Indian flag has a ratio of 2:3(where the length of flag is 1.5 times that of the width).
• The standard flag is made of hand spun cotton or silk or khadi.
• size of Asoka chakra is not specified in the flag code, but it has 24 spokes that are evenly spaced and it has navy blue colour.
• According to flag code of India ,insult to national flag,including gross affronts or indignities to it or violation of flag code are punishable by law with imprisonment up to three years or a fine or both.



standard flag sizes
img source;wikipedia

• The privilege of flying the national flag on vehicles is restricted to :

1. The president
2. The vice president
3. Prime minister
4. Governors and lieutenant governors of states
5. Chief ministers
6. Union ministers
7. MP and MLAs
8. Judges of supreme court and high courts
9. Flag officers of army,navy and air force

• Earlier it was not permitted to use the national flag as a portion of costume or uniform of any description or embroidering or printing it on cushions,handkerchiefs,napkins or any dress material. But amendments in 2005(Prevention of insult to national honour(amendment)act 2005) allows members of public to use national flag on their costumes or uniform in a respectable manner,with a safeguard that it shall not be used or worn below the waist,nor it would be used by way of embroidering or printing in items of daily use such as handkerchiefs,napkins,undergarments etc.
• On 18th feb 2016,the MHRD decreed that the national flag will fly on a minimum 207 feet high mast on the premises of all centre sponsered universities of India.This decision came in the wake of ongoing JNU controversy.

        

JALLIKATTU - A bull taming sport

The Supreme Court's restriction on holding Jallikattu, a bull-restraining game, is bringing on offensive frustration and outrage to some extremely vocal areas of Tamil Nadu who were getting ready to arrange the game considered by them as a fundamental piece of Pongal celebration.
Strangely, an uncommon solidarity is being seen today among vital political gatherings in the State –
the AIADMK, DMK, BJP, PMK, DMDK, Nam Tamilar and numerous other little gatherings – for resuscitating this country don in peril of eradication. There is a request that the officially sanctioned a Statute to sidestep the Court stay, which is a major hit to the Union Ministry of Environment and forest (MoEF), which had lifted the prohibition on this game forced by the Supreme Court in 2014. The late stay was allowed on an appeal to drive by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Associations (FIAPO), People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA) against the notification of the Ministry expelling bulls from the rundown of performing creatures under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act.

It was, however, an emphasis of the stand taken by the Supreme Court in 2014 to affirm the amazingness of the Constitutional guideline cherished in Article 51A (g) and (h) and to ensure the rights and welfare of creatures.Jallikattu is a deep rooted customary bull-restraining sports occasion basic in towns in Tamil Nadu, particularly in the southern locale. Its history is followed with pride to medieval kingdoms and even to an antiquated period to accentuate its vestige and its status as a social legacy.

From past days, it is a diversion played amongst men and bulls to bring the last under control. The battle shows boldness and quality of men and the diversion itself are named as "session of valour of Tamilians". The soul of the diversion has been maintained over hundreds of years and stories of ladies picking to wed the champs have listened. Indeed, even in a few movies in which best stars have acted, scenes of Jallikattu have been incorporated to highlight the bravery of the hero.

The game has nearly turned into an industry in which bull proprietors have a high stake. Unique and uncommon types of bulls are raised and prepared to make the game increasingly energising. Prizes given to the champs have additionally expanded complex and are as money and kind and incorporate gold coins, current devices, and family unit articles. Taking after the Supreme Court's boycott arrange on Jallikattu, a Division seat of the Kerala High Court pronounced this would be relevant to certain amusements like Kannupootu, Kaalapootu, and Maramadi played in the State with creature members.

As indicated by the data from the Jallikattu Peravai, the game is held in 175 towns crosswise over 17 locales as a major aspect of Pongal celebrations, furthermore, is likewise a "fundamental piece of sanctuary celebrations and that is the reason the boycott has influenced the conclusions of individuals". Pongal is a collect celebration praised all over Tamil Nadu with incredible energy by individuals of all standings. It is basic information that bulls taking part in Jallikattu are made to experience extreme preparing and uncommon raising. Be that as it may, every living creature's common sense entitlement bunches gripe that bulls are compelled to drink liquor, and tormented to make them forceful and savage. Direct reports specify unspeakable types of savagery inflicted on these creatures however supporters of the game deny all assertions.

In any case, the reality remains that the more vivacious the battle meaning the more savage the bulls, the more noteworthy is the fervour in the amusement. Rights activists have the motivation to denounce this amusement as one not showing "valour" in the best possible feeling of the term, however, an unrefined battle between a creature and men taking after the unfeeling recreations played in the antiquated Roman realm.