The Hindu Newspaper Analysis for UPSC
The Hindu Newspaper Analysis 14 September 2023
- India’s foreign trade hit a fresh trough in August, with goods exports shrinking for the seventh successive month, services exports estimated to have dropped for the first time in well over a year, and the goods trade deficit hitting a 10-month high.
- The extent of decline in outbound shipments eased to 6.86% in August from double-digit contractions in recent months, to hit a three-month high worth $34.5 billion.
- Services exports, after growing at a sharp 26.7% rate in 2022-23, were reckoned to have shrunk 0.4% in August to $26.39 billion, stoking fears about a widening current account deficit in this quarter.
- The merchandise import bill for August dropped 5.23% year-on-year to $58.64 billion, but was 10.85% higher than July’s $52.9 billion import tally, lifting the goods trade deficit for August to $24.16 billion, just 2.8% below August 2022 numbers and almost 17% over July’s $20.67 billion gap.
- Bharat (as is described in Article 1 of the Constitution); therefore, Bharat can be used.
- Parliament has the absolute power to change the name of the country at any time by amending the Constitution. Article 368 of the Constitution empowers Parliament to amend any provision of the Constitution which includes the name of the country, as mentioned in Article 1.
- Article 52 says that there shall be a President of India.
- Article 1 says, “India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States”.
- As a matter of fact, the word ‘Bharat’ is not used in any of the articles of the Constitution except in the Hindi version, which was published under the authority of the President under Article 394A.
- The adoption of science-based technologies for crop improvement such as genetic engineering for developing genetically modified (GM) crops as a supplement to conventional breeding methods has become an absolute necessity to address the burgeoning and complex challenge of achieving global food and nutritional security under the fast-changing climate.
- According to the global Food Security and Nutrition Report, 2019, it is difficult to achieve the ‘Zero Hunger’ target by 2030.
- GM crops have benefited more than 1.95 billion people in five countries (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India and the United States) or 26% of the current world population of 7.6 billion.
- Bt cotton was commercialised as the first GM crop in India more than 20 years ago, and has been viewed globally as a great success story in terms of economic advantage to farmers and to the nation.
- India faces a major deficit in edible oils, with 60% of its demand being met by imports. Mustard is one of the most important edible oil crops in India; however, its per hectare yield is very low when compared to the global average.
- Thus, increasing the productivity of mustard in the country is vital for the economic well-being of farmers and self-sufficiency in edible oil production.
- More improved GM food crops are needed to boost the profitability of Indian farmers.
- About Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC):
- It is a statutory committee constituted under the “Rules for the Manufacture, Use/Import/Export and Storage of Hazardous Micro Organisms/Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells (Rules, 1989)” framed under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.