OCT-20 BOUDHIK YOJANA
Oct-04-2020 Samachar Sameeksha: India’s ASTROSAT makes rare discovery
Ø AstroSat, Indias first multi-wavelength satellite, has detected an extreme ultraviolet (UV) light from a galaxy which is 9.3 billion light years away from Earth
Ø It has five unique X-ray and ultraviolet telescopes working in tandem, AstroSat, has detected extreme-UV light from a galaxy, called AUDFs01
Ø The discovery was made by an international team of astronomers led by Dr Kanak Saha, associate professor of astronomy at the IUCAA
Ø These observations lasted for more than 28 hours in October 2016, the release stated.
Ø But it took nearly two years since then to carefully analyse the data to ascertain that the emission is indeed from the galaxy. Since UV radiation is absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere, it has to be observed from space, it said.
Ø Earlier, NASAs Hubble Space Telescope (HST), a significantly larger than UVIT (UV imaging telescope), did not detect any UV emission (with energy greater than 13.6 eV) from this galaxy because it is too faint
Ø AstroSat/UVIT was able to achieve this unique feat because the background noise in the UVIT detector is much less than the ones on HST
Ø Saha said they knew it would be an uphill task to convince the international community that UVIT has recorded extreme-UV emission from this galaxy when more powerful HST has not.
Ø Dr Somak Raychaudhury, Director of IUCAA, said, "This is a very important clue to how the dark ages of the universe ended and there was light in the universe. We need to know when this started, but it has been very hard to find the earliest sources of light. I am very proud that my colleagues have made such an important discovery."
Oct 11-2020 Boudhik: Vijayadashmi
Ø Vijayadashmi is one of the important festival for Hindus. It has connection to Bhagwan Ram and Krishna and Devi Durga’s victory over evil
Ø It has been celebrated from time immemorial as a victory of good over evil. Doctorji started RSS on the same auspicious occasion of Vijayadashmi.
Ø It reflects a much deeper aspect of Hindu culture i.e to worship victory of Dharma. Even in Gita, Bhagwan Krishna advises Arjuna to fight with all his might as victory will give him the kingdom and even death will help him attain Swarg.
Ø During the initial years of Islamic onslaught, Hindus fought with all their might within all the context of rightfulness but lost many battles. It was the loss of sense of ‘victory is paramount’ which led us to believe that ‘sacrifice’ was important
Ø The leadership of Shivaji Maharaj is exemplary because he brought a psychological change in Hindu mind i.e to fight for victory. He removed any taboo from withdrawing from battlefield just to regroup later and finish off the enemy completely.
Ø Bhagwan Krishna in his battle with Kalyavan also withdrew from the battlefield to emerge victorious later.
Ø It is the loss of this pursuit to emerge victorious and erroneous concept of Dharma which has led to sorry state of Hindus today
Ø In 1948 when we could have liberated complete Kashmir or 1965 when we could have kept almost 1800 sq km of Pakistani territory or even occupied Lahore, we lost sight of the ultimate goal of victory or inflicting heavy damages on enemy
Ø During Simla negotiations after 1971 war, Swarna Singh who accompanied Indira Gandhi, commented that, Indira Gandhi was behaving as if she had lost the war and Bhutto was behaving as if he had emerged victorious
Ø The result is for everyone to see, even after 93000 POWs, we lost the plot and got a useless Simla pact in return which has not served us anyways
Ø When CRAY, a supplier of Super-computers to India, denied supplies under pressure from US government, a young engineer Vijay Bhatkar, took up the challenge to develop India’s own super-computer
Ø He was ridiculed and had to overcome many obstacles to develop PARAM, our own super-computer, more cost effective than CRAY
Ø First Nuclear Explosion by India in 1974 was ridiculed by US as ‘theft of nuclear fuel by India’.
Ø However when our scientists were given a free rein we ended up not only establishing India as Nuclear Power but with a capability of Thermonuclear explosion and also sub-kiloton tests.
Ø ISRO is not only a low cost space programme, but we are the only country to reach Mars in first attempt, that too at a budget which is lower than Hollywood films
Ø Same story repeats in Private sector as well, very few people know that Titan is the producer of the slimmest water resistant watch, which even Swiss declared as impossible
Ø When Westerners talked badly about immunization and poor capability of Indians to produce vaccines, Dr K I Varaprasad Reddy went on to establish Shantha Biotech
Ø Shantha Biotech developed a Hepatitis B vaccine at 1/20th cost of Western MNCs
Ø Tata Nano was called impossible by Osamu Suzuki, founder of Suzuki Motors, however it was successfully launched
Ø Pursuit of victory is also pursuit of excellence in every field, It is only when we will worship victory in every field that we will attain glorious heights attained by our ancestors
Oct 18 – 2020 Charcha : Farm Bill-2020
The Standing Committee on Agriculture (2018-19) observed that the APMC laws are not implemented in their true sense and need to be reformed urgently. Issues identified by the Committee include: (i) most APMCs have a limited number of traders operating, which leads to cartelization and reduces competition, and (ii) undue deductions in the form of commission charges and market fees.13 Traders, commission agents, and other functionaries organise themselves into associations, which do not allow easy entry of new persons into market yards, stifling competition. The Acts are highly restrictive in promotion of multiple channels of marketing (such as more buyers, private markets, direct sale to businesses and retail consumers, and online transactions) and competition in the system.
During 2017-18, the central government released the model APMC and contract farming Acts to allow restriction-free trade of farmers’ produce, promote competition through multiple marketing channels, and promote farming under pre-agreed contracts. The Standing Committee (2018-19) noted that states have not implemented several of the reforms suggested in the model Acts.
The central government promulgated three Ordinances on June 5, 2020: (i) the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020, (ii) the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020, and (iii) the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020.
The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020
Trade of farmers’ produce: The Ordinance allows intra-state and inter-state trade of farmers’ produce outside: (i) the physical premises of market yards run by market committees formed under the state APMC Acts and (ii) other markets notified under the state APMC Acts. Such trade can be conducted in an ‘outside trade area’, i.e., any place of production, collection, and aggregation of farmers’ produce including: (i) farm gates, (ii) factory premises, (iii) warehouses, (iv) silos, and (v) cold storages.
Electronic trading: The Ordinance permits the electronic trading of scheduled farmers’ produce (agricultural produce regulated under any state APMC Act) in the specified trade area. An electronic trading and transaction platform may be set up to facilitate the direct and online buying and selling of such produce through electronic devices and internet. The following entities may establish and operate such platforms: (i) companies, partnership firms, or registered societies, having permanent account number under the Income Tax Act, 1961 or any other document notified by the central government, and (ii) a farmer producer organisation or agricultural cooperative society.
Market fee abolished: The Ordinance prohibits state governments from levying any market fee, cess or levy on farmers, traders, and electronic trading platforms for trade of farmers’ produce conducted in an ‘outside trade area’.
The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020
Farming agreement: The Ordinance provides for a farming agreement between a farmer and a buyer prior to the production or rearing of any farm produce. The minimum period of an agreement will be one crop season, or one production cycle of livestock. The maximum period is five years, unless the production cycle is more than five years.
Pricing of farming produce: The price of farming produce should be mentioned in the agreement. For prices subjected to variation, a guaranteed price for the produce and a clear reference for any additional amount above the guaranteed price must be specified in the agreement. Further, the process of price determination must be mentioned in the agreement.
Dispute Settlement: A farming agreement must provide for a conciliation board as well as a conciliation process for settlement of disputes. The Board should have a fair and balanced representation of parties to the agreement. At first, all disputes must be referred to the board for resolution. If the dispute remains unresolved by the Board after thirty days, parties may approach the Sub-divisional Magistrate for resolution. Parties will have a right to appeal to an Appellate Authority (presided by collector or additional collector) against decisions of the Magistrate. Both the Magistrate and Appellate Authority will be required to dispose of a dispute within thirty days from the receipt of application. The Magistrate or the Appellate Authority may impose certain penalties on the party contravening the agreement. However, no action can be taken against the agricultural land of farmer for recovery of any dues.
The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020
Regulation of food items: The Essential Commodities Act, 1955 empowers the central government to designate certain commodities (such as food items, fertilizers, and petroleum products) as essential commodities. The central government may regulate or prohibit the production, supply, distribution, trade, and commerce of such essential commodities. The Ordinance provides that the central government may regulate the supply of certain food items including cereals, pulses, potatoes, onions, edible oilseeds, and oils, only under extraordinary circumstances. These include: (i) war, (ii) famine, (iii) extraordinary price rise and (iv) natural calamity of grave nature.
Stock limit: The Ordinance requires that imposition of any stock limit on agricultural produce must be based on price rise. A stock limit may be imposed only if there is: (i) a 100% increase in retail price of horticultural produce; and (ii) a 50% increase in the retail price of non-perishable agricultural food items. The increase will be calculated over the price prevailing immediately preceding twelve months, or the average retail price of the last five years, whichever is lower.
Reference:1) https://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/farmers-produce-trade-and-commerce-promotion-and-facilitation-bill-2020
Oct-25-2020 Katha: Bhaskar Rao Kalambi
He was born in Yangon on 5th October 1919, where his father Dr Shiv Ram Kalambi was a popular medical practitioner and a RSS Swayamsewak. His mother Smt Radha Devi was instrumental in giving Bhaskar the intrinsic values of a Hindu family. Unfortunately his both parents died too early forcing Bhaskar to return to Mumbai with his uncle and pursue studies. He did graduation from St Xaviers College and took LLB degree from Bombay university.
But the destiny had a different field reserved for him. He felt the plight of the Hindus who were struggling for the independence from the British yoke on one side and the attacks of the Islamists and Christian evangelists on the other. He decided to be a pracharak in the RSS and was sent to Kerala in 1946.
It was the most difficult time for the Hindu consolidation in Kerala those days. Muslim intransigence and offensive against the Hindus was on a rise, Christians were forcibly trying to take over many Hindu shrines and their zeal to convert Hindus was unstoppable, Hindu society was deeply divided in caste and community segments. RSS had hardly twenty shakhas in the entire Kerala region as it was known then as Travancore-Cochin or Thiru-Kochi (1949–1956), originally called United State of Travancore and Cochin.
He had to tackle the situation and hold the flood of assaults on Hindus as well as keep the morale of the society high. His focus on the low income groups, making new Sangha swayamsewaks among fishermen, poor artisans, farmers, rickshaw drivers, teachers and students was a big success. RSS grew leaps and bounds in rural areas and among the poorest of the poor sections.
It drew the brutal ire of the communist leadership that saw they’re losing ground in a big way. The long list of the martyrs of the Sangh is a testimony to the bewildered CPM leadership that found refuge in killing the young RSS workers. It goes to the credit of Bhaskar Rao that he remained an unwavering source of solace and strength to the bereaved Sangha families as well as creating a new generation of Swayamsewaks who won’t be fearful of CPM violence.
His life’s second avatar was to join India;’s largest tribals service organization Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram in 1984. It certainly was a new challenge for him when he was asked to work among tribal people, as organizing secretary of the Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram , which is running thousands of schools, colleges, hostels, all over India- in specifically tribal pockets. It was a new world for him— as tribals form a very distinct fabric of the Indian milieu , brilliant and yet clouded by various inhospitable factors that make them vulnerable to exploitation by the rich urban traders, miners, bureaucrats and of course foreign funded conspiracies of proselytization.
Very soon Bhaskar Rao grasped the situation and he focused on giving quality education to the tribal students so that they become aware of their environment, are able to understand the threats and reduce their vulnerability to fall prey to exploitative forces. You can’t awaken a person who wont understand what exploitation means and neither can you teach religious texts to a hungry boy.
He said that the education must be such that it must inculcate values of love for motherland, dharma and culture- and they must understand that a conversion to an alien faith not only makes them alien to the very heritage of their ancestors but also cuts all threads that form their cultural and civilizational fabric. First make tribal youth understand what are the values that define his being, his existence, his tribal social world- then he would stand tall and protect his dharma and culture.
Reference: https://www.organiser.org/Encyc/2019/10/5/Bhaskar-Raoji.html
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