Letter writing NABARD exam -grade B

As a grade B manager at NABARD located in Rajender place New Delhi. Write a letter of complaint to the agriculture ministry explaining the impropriety to fund allocation and nepotism under your watch.

To,
ABC,
Union Minister of Agriculture,
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
New Delhi, 600-001

Subject: Complaint regarding impropriety in fund allocation at NABARD branch

Respected Sir,
I regret bringing you this bad news, but these events need to be brought to light. At the Rajender
place branch of NABARD, the funds received for the Interest Subvention Scheme under the Pradhan
Mantri Krishi Kalyan Yojana are being misused. I have found various discrepancies in the accounts for the fund allocation to a few Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) located in Gurugram. 

The Chartered Accountant at the main office has traced these funds to one of the sons-in-law of the Minister of Parliament for the same constituency.These funds are meant for the poor farmers. Kindly look into the matter and initiate an independent inquiry into this so that justice is done in time. I have attached copies of all the evidence along with thisletter for your perusal. You may contact me at (+91) 9876543210 or nabardgradeb@nabard.com. Thank you. I look forward to your positive reply.

XYZ,
Grade B Manager,
Rajender place branch.

Doubling Farmers Income by 2022

Doubling Farmers Income by 2022

Green revolution raised India’s agricultural output and improved food security. However, it did not address the issue of low farmers’ income which led to distress and poverty to farmers. The idea of doubling farmers’ income by 2022 was given by PM in one of his speech in 2016.This led to the creation of Ashok Dalwai committee which gave recommendations regarding the same.

Indian agriculture faces many challenges which are major hindrances in increasing farmers’ income. Marginal land holding (average share holding is 0.1 ha) is the reason for low produce and high cost of input. It also leads to subsistence farming. Agriculture in India is largely rain fed which makes it uncertain to crop production and fluctuation in income of farmers. Cartelization and regional market forces keep prices low which makes farmer take below average prices for their produce. Low productivity of land and irrigation are also the reasons for low income from farming. These challenges have prevented agriculture from achieving its true potential. Indeed the government has taken some measures to solve these problems like e-NAM to hinder cartelization, PMKSY (krishi sinchai yojana) to solve irrigation issues, PMFBY (Fasal Bima Yojana)  for crop insurance against uncertain situations. However these are not enough to solve the agrarian crisis and increase farmers’ income.

Some measure should be taken in this regard like a comprehensive land leasing law can solve the problem of marginal land holding. Cluster based approach can help in reducing input cost. Focusing on allied sectors and non-farm activities can also increase farmers’ income by at least 30% (according to Dalwai Committee).State specific measures can also proved to be useful in this.

The government’s measures like Operation Green to handle price fluctuation, increasing MSP of kharif crops by 1.5 times and extending Kisan credit cards to fisheries and animal husbandry sector etc are indeed right steps in this direction but ultimately all depends on the implementation of programmes which is upto the states and so they have to work proactively. Doubling farmers’ income by 2022 is indeed a mammoth task but it is also the need of the hour and as said by MS Swaminathan “If agriculture fails, everything else will fail”.

Taxation in agriculture income

Taxing agriculture income

India doesn’t impose tax on agricultural income. As per Constitution, the right to impose tax on agricultural income lies with states.Nearly 90 per cent of the farmers have a farm holding of less than 2 hectares and as per present tax laws, Section 10(1) of the Income Tax Act instructs that agricultural income earned by the taxpayer in India is exempted from tax.

Taxing agricultural income can improve access to finance a large section of farmers because verified income tax returns can provide a credible signal of the earnings potential of a farmer. Well-directed agricultural loans would not only enhance agricultural productivity, but also hasten the movement of unproductive agricultural workers to the manufacturing sector, thus gives impetus to non waiving of Loans. India can also improve its present Tax to GDP ratio which is lying between 16-17% as against the Emerging economies average of 21%..

But, a one size fits all approach will not work in this sector since a lot of factors needs to be taken into account primarily agriculture sector being an informal one, intra-regional variability,crops failure and many other minute details before arriving at taxable income.The government can take the help of technology like satellite imaging to track the productivity of the region through soil data analysis.

 Government needs a holistic and inter-disciplinary approach to effectively implement the taxation system. It can use a hybrid or combined model of say crop based and income based approach or even include value of the produce.

Global Warming and India’s approach to tackle climate change

Global warming and India's approach to tackle climate change 

India is one of top five largest contributors of Global Warming. But India has taken various to reduce it in accordance with Paris Summit 2015. Paris summit talks about maintaining the average Global temperature below 2-degree Celsius. On the sidelines of this Summit, India and France came forward to create International Solar Alliance(ISA) which works towards achieving the sustainable source of energy i.e Renewable energy.

There are various reasons behind increasing Global Warming. One of them is increasing industrialisation in developing countries like India. This is due to increasing population which requires food, clothing. Shelter and many other amenities. These can be fulfilled by increasing per capita income which requires boosting of the manufacturing sector. Ultimately results in increasing Global Warming.

The government has taken several initiatives tackle fast changing climatic conditions which pose threat to environmental sustainability. India has committed 175GW renewable energy target by 2022 of which 100 GW from solar power. Till now, India has achieved 20GW solar power which is the target of previous Jawahar Solar Mission. E- Mobility is another initiative towards adopting Electric vehicles in public transport by 2030. This is done to reduce air pollution and dependence on crude oil import. 

Reducing climate venerabilities along with Economic growth is a herculean task but continuous and holistic approach can meet both targets in long run. It is the need for the hour to be committed towards sustainable use of the scarce resource by balancing both growth and climate change.

Artificial Intelligence in India and applications

Artificial intelligence in India and its applications

Artificial intellegence(AI) is defined as the ability of a machine to perform cognitive functions that are associated with the human mind like perceiving, reasoning, learning, interacting with the environment, problem-solving, and even exercising creativity. There is a huge potential to deploy AI in various sectors of the economy in India to accelerated growth and productivity.

 According to Pricewater coopers, there is a global opportunity of $15.7 trillion worth of AI market in the future. India is the largest Information technolgy (IT) services exporter, have potential to be developed as AI hub. Since major IT companies have research and development lab in India. Recently, Apple, Google and Facebook like Giant Multinational companies have opened R&D lab in India. Government is also promoting various flagship programme to develop AI ecosystem in India such as Digital India program, Bharatnet project and make In India etc. These programmes not only address Digital governance but also increases the penetration of AI in various sectors of Indian economy. 

In India, there are less than one(.725) doctors per thousand people and the number is even worse for specialised doctors. According to the current scenario, this figure is not going to improve in near future. AI plays a very crucial role in health sector especially in rural and tribal areas where the availability of doctors is acute. Tele-medicine and video conferencing help in interacting rural citizen with doctors without physical presence. Agriculture is the important sector because two-thirds of Indian population depends on agriculture for their livelihood. Deploying AI will increases productivity by disseminating important weather forecast information, use of fertiliser, and which crop to be sown for maximum yield and many more information. The government has taken various initiatives to deploy AI technology in agriculture like in Pradhan Mantri fasal bima yojana.

 AI is the future market which is untapped, so it is the best time to gear up and explore this opportunity. it is not only accelerated growth but also moves people from low productive activity to high productive one. Government is also focussed on tapping this opportunity by skilling people through various programmes.