1) PM-PRANAM Scheme and Increased FRP: Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), approved the PM-PRANAM scheme, aimed at restoring and nurturing Mother Earth through the use of biofertilizers.
- PM-PRANAM stands for PM Programme for Restoration, Awareness, Nourishment and Amelioration of Mother Earth.
- Objective: Encourage the balanced use of fertilizers in conjunction with biofertilizers and organic fertilizers.
- Financing: The scheme will be financed by the savings of existing fertilizer subsidies under schemes run by the Department of Fertilizers, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers.
- The Centre will provide 50% of the subsidy savings to the states as a grant. Out of the grant, 70% can be used to create assets related to the technological adoption of alternative fertilizers and production units at various levels. The remaining 30% can be used to reward and encourage farmers, panchayats, and other stakeholders involved in fertilizer reduction and awareness generation.
- The reduction in urea consumption by a state will be compared to its average consumption of urea over the previous three years.
- Encouraging the use of biofertilizers and organic fertilizers will promote sustainable agricultural practices.
2) Mahalanobis’s Approach: Addressing India’s Big Data and AI Challenges: India celebrated National Statistics Day on June 29th, commemorating the birthday of Prof. Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, renowned as the ‘Plan Man’ of India.
- As AI poses challenges such as job displacement, spread of disinformation and other ethical concerns, there is a global push for its regulation. Mahalanobis’s introduction of built-in cross-checks in his surveys, inspired by Kautilya’s Arthashastra, demonstrates his foresight in ensuring data integrity.
- Mahalanobis advocated for integrating diverse data sources to capture a holistic view of the economy and society.
- Mahalanobis stressed the importance of statistical models to derive meaningful inferences and predictions. In the era of Big Data and AI, advanced machine learning algorithms and predictive modeling techniques play a pivotal role in analyzing vast datasets.
3) Feminist Approach to International Relations: After World War 2, the changing global order witnessed the rise of non-state actors, ethnic tensions, and the Cold War. This necessitated alternative approaches to International Relations (IR), including the Feminist Perspective that views the international arena through a gendered lens.
Contribution of different Feminist theories to the Understanding of Existing Challenges in IR:
- Liberal Feminist: While liberal feminist theory does not fundamentally challenge the traditional ideas of IR, it questions the content. Liberal feminists look on the role of the gender gap in global politics and the disproportionate effect of war on women in the form of sexual violence and trafficking.
- Constructivist Feminist: Constructivist feminist theory looks at how gendered identities play a role in global politics. It looks at gender as the core component which influences structures and personal relationships.
- Feminist Post Structuralist: A feminist post structuralist approach talks about binary linguistic oppositions in IR like order/anarchy, developed/underdeveloped, national/international etc., which perpetuate and seek to empower the masculine over the feminine.
- Postcolonial Feminist: It seeks to challenge the assumption of universality of women’s experience across regions and cultures.
