MSP: The MSP is the rate at which the government purchases crops from farmers, and is based on a calculation of at least one-and-a-half times the cost of production incurred by the farmers. The Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP) recommends MSPs for 22 mandated crops and fair and remunerative price (FRP) for sugarcane. CACP is an attached office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. The CACP considers various factors while recommending the MSP for a commodity, including cost of cultivation. It takes into account the supply and demand situation for the commodity, market price trends (domestic and global) and parity vis-Ã -vis other crops, and implications for consumers (inflation), environment (soil and water use) and terms of trade between agriculture and non-agriculture sectors.
Angadia: The Angadia system is a century-old parallel banking system in the country where traders send cash generally from one state to another through a person called Angadia that stands for courier. It is by and large used in the jewellery business with Mumbai – Surat being the most popular route as they are two ends of the diamond trade. The cash involved is huge and it is the responsibility of the Angadia to transfer cash from one state to another for which they charge a nominal fee. Generally, it is the Gujarati, Marwari and Malbari community that are involved in the business. The Angadia system works completely on trust as large sums, at times in crores, are involved. While the Angadia system per se is legal, there hangs a cloud over the activity as it is suspected that a lot of times it is used to transfer unaccounted money.
IMR: The Infant Mortality Rate or IMR is the number of deaths of children (under one year of age) per 1000 live births. On the other hand, the death rate of children under five year of age is called Child Mortality Rate. The major leading cause of IMR at global level is birth defect. The other significant causes of IMR are pneumonia, asphyxia, congenital malformations, prolonged labor, fetal umbilical prolapse, malaria, diarrhea, measles and malnutrition. The most common preventable cause of IMR is smoking during pregnancy. The different forms of IMR are perinatal mortality, neonatal mortality and post-natal mortality. The perinatal mortality is the death of the fetus or baby between 28 weeks of gestation and the first week of birth. Gestation is the period of carrying the baby in the uterus. Neonatal mortality is death of the baby occurring within 28 days of its birth. The post neonatal mortality is the death of the baby between 29 days and one year of birth. The IMR in India stands at 33 per 1000 live births. The IMR of India is poor as compared to China (8), Bangladesh (27), Sri Lanka (8) and Bhutan (26).
BIMSTEC: The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional multilateral organisation.. Its members lie in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity. Out of the 7 members, Five are from South Asia – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal & Sri Lanka. Two are from Southeast Asia – Myanmar, Thailand.
Liquified Natural Gas: Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas that has been cooled to a liquid state (liquefied), at about -260° Fahrenheit, for shipping and storage. The volume of natural gas in its liquid state is about 600 times smaller than its volume in its gaseous state in a natural gas pipeline.
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