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- October 2019
Index
Toppers Talk
Art & Culture
Polity
- Right to access internet is fundamental right declares Kerala High Court
- Legal rights of Deities in India, Difference in Natural and Juristic Person
- Bru refugees refuse to return to Mizoram
- No animal sacrifice in Tripura temple-Orders High Court
- EC’s Order on Reducing Sikkim CM’s Disqualification Period
- Law Ministry issues corrigendum to Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act
- Appointment of the Judges in India.
- New Chief Justice of India- How is CJI appointed?
- Indian Penal Code 1860, HM Amit Shah wants to Overhaul IPC
- National Population Register (NPR) 2020
- Whistle Blowers Allegations on Infosys
Governance & Social Justice
- 60% girls in Delhi colleges anaemic
- Niti aayog’s School education quality index
- Multipurpose National Identity Card
- Population pyramid : India Vs China, Demographic dividend Phase of India
- UN Population Report, India will become the most populous country by 2027
- Supreme Court upholds SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendments Act
- Comparing Population Pyramids of India and China
- Waqf boards-Their governance and purpose
- Harvard Admissions Case
- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana- Ist Anniversary, Problems and solutions
- Significance of sexual and Reproductive Health-Status of reproductive services in India
- Pregnancy in Old Age, What is In Vitro Fertilisation-Risks and legal shortcomings
- Supreme Court Judgement on NGOs and RTI
- Social Stock Exchange
- Rajasthan Govt changes EWS norms, Sets Rs 8 lakh family income as only criteria
- Global hunger index 2019
- No Government job for those with more than two kids
- Ranitidine CANCER risk
- IIT Council Introduces Tenure track system
International Relations
- Bangladesh growing faster than India ?
- Cyprus dispute explained
- Donald Trump impeachment
- India wins Hyderabad Nizam case against Pakistan
- India’s reply to Pakistan at UNGA
- Prime Minister of Malaysia calls India and invader in Kashmir
- Should India recognise the armenian genocide ?
- Why are CARICOM countries important for India ?
- Why are countries leaving OPEC ?
- Attacks on Saudi Oil facilities
- Organization of Islamic Cooperation issues statement on Jammu and Kashmir
- Sri Lanka’s relations with India & China
- US troops start pullout in Syria as Turkey prepares for operation
- What are Vanilla Islands?
- India-USA trade deal
- UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award-2019
- Modi – Xi Informal meet at Mamallapuram – Historic Chinese links
- India China informal summit in Tamil nadu
- Pakistan save from FATF blacklist till 2020
- USA blacklists China organisations over Uighur Muslim abuse
- Why is Chile burning ?
- Why is the Philippines important for India
- Xi jinping Nepal visit 2019 and impact on India
- India Pakistan Cross LOC Trade suspended, Should India revoke suspension?
- Protests in Lebanon
- Chennai to Vladivostok Sea Route
- End of baghdadi
- Indian government’s security advisory
- Indians no longer require Visa to visit Brazil
- Non Aligned Movement 2019 summit
- US backed Ceasefire between Turkey and Kurds
- Pakistan stops postal exchange with India
- China’s GDP growth slows to 6% slowest in 27 years
- Common Goods for Health project by WHO
- Turkey attack Kurds in Syria
Geography
Economy
- Behavioural Aspect of Farmer Suicide
- Is rural India really open defecation free ?
- Global Growth Slow Down
- Nobel Prize in Economics 2019
- Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership
- SBI wrote off bad loans worth 76,000 crores
- Surge in Onion Price
- Agriculture Credit by RBI’s Internal Working Group
- What is Debt to GDP Ratio?
- Yes Bank Crisis
- Nobel prize in Literature – Controversy
- Boosting Indian Exports
- Sopore Fruit Mandi deserted
- What is Pink Collarisation?
- Mizoram to have Broad Gauge railway line by 2021
- Demand downturn in Indian Economy
- Payment facilitation fund
- Participatory Guarantee Scheme
- RBI’s 4th Bi-monthly Monetary Policy 2019-20
- Tourism restrictions lifted in Kashmir
- Link between Jobs, Farming, and Climate
- Draft Social Security Code 2019
- State Tax Revenues, SGST and Central Tax Devolution are likely to fall short
- Competitiveness Index 2019 by World Economic Forum
- NITI Aayog’s Water Resources Strategy
- BSNL and MTNL financial issues-DoT prepares Rs 74000 crore revival plan
- 20th Livestock Census
- India falls 10 ranks in World economic forum’s Global competitiveness index
- RBI stops Printing Rs 2000 Notes
- What is the Unified Approach proposal of OECD?
- FCI granaries overflowing
- India’s Economic Growth 2019
- Financial Sector Scams in India
- Labour Market of India
- New Strategic Disinvestment Process
- Payment Delays to Sugarcane Farmers
- Why India’s IMF Quota is not increased
- What is monetary policy Transmission? Why banks are not reducing interest
- Mahatma Gandhi’s theory of Economics
- India moves up 14 spots to 63 on world Bank ease of doing business index
- New amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act
- Power Sector Scenario in India
- Telecos to Pay Rs 96,642 crore to the Government
- Camel population declines in Rajasthan
- Merger of BSNL and MTNL
- World bank on Indian economy
Defence & Security
- Nagas Kukis Conflict, What is the cause of the latest tensions?
- Case against 50 Celebrities controversy
- Can Indian Government intercept WhatsApp?
- UP Government fires 25000 home guards, Is Yogi Government’s decision justified?
- NCRB’s Crime in India 2017 report
- Aadhaar Social Media mandatory linking case
- What is TechSagar? National repository of India’s cyber tech capabilities.
Disaster Management
Science & Technology
- ISRO’S Project NETRA
- Facebook’s LIBRA Currency in trouble
- WHO launches first World report on Vision
- 2019 Nobel prize in physics
- 2019 Nobel prize in Physiology and Medicine
- Elon musk’s starlink project
- NASA’s ICON mission
- New King of the Moons in the Solar system is Saturn
- What Is Spectroscopy ?
- Quantum supremacy
Environment
- Climate Vulnerable Mapping Of India
- C40 Cities
- Gujarat Unveils emission trading scheme
- Forest Plus 2.0
- Himalayan States seeks Green Bonus
- India to Phase Out Single Use Plastic (SUP) by 2022
- Role of Volcanoes in Global Warming
- NH 766 ban controversy, Protests in Kerala against night traffic ban on the forest stretch
- Climate Change needs Global Solution
- Aarey Forest -2185 trees to be cut for Mumbai metro
- Government to build 1400 km long Green wall
- Graded Response Action Plan in Delhi
- Aerosol formation brightening clouds
- Anthrax outbreak in Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, Two affected buffaloes died
- Species in News from June to October 2019
- Climate Action Summit 2019
Prelims bits

Tag:GS3 || Economy|| Agriculture || Agricultural Production & Productivity
Why in news?
- Kashmir’s apple traders stuck between government and militants beacuse of The clampdown in Kashmir, implemented before the abrogation of Article 370 over a month ago, continues to hurt the livelihoods of locals.
- With the clampdown and the unrest that has been there for more than 50 days, the Kashmiri apple trade has been hit
Apple Production In Kashmir:
- Jammu & Kashmir grow 19 lakh metric tonnes of apples each year.
- This covers three-fourth of all apples produced in the country.
- J&K’s total apple economy is estimated at Rs 8,000 crore (roughly 2% of its GDP).
- Due to this, India is the world’s 5th largest apple producing country.
- Apples are the lifeblood of Kashmir’s economy, involving 5 million people, around half the population of the state.
Sopore’s Fruit Mandi:
- This is Asia’s 2nd largest apple market spread over 50 acres just outside town.
- June to December are the busiest months at the Sopore fruit mandi.
- During this time, the mandi normally employs around 5,000 people.
- Doing the bulk of its annual business of up to Rs 2,500 crore.
- The sellers reach the mandi by dawn, and after a day of transactions, truckloads of apples leave for destinations
- Like New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, and even Bangladesh and Nepal.
What Is The Problem?
- Since the abrogation of Article 370, the mandi stalls are empty.
- This could further create problems in Kashmir if these apples are not sold as people would loose their income.
- The central government realized the importance of fruit in its attempts to restore “normalcy” in Kashmir.
- Hence, the Central government announced on September 5 that NAFED (the National Agricultural Produce Marketing Federation) would procure apples in the Valley.
- It is for the first time the central agency is procuring apples in Kashmir.
- NAFED official said, “We have been told to buy whatever is offered to us
- The indicative target is to procure 12 lakh metric
- The total cost of operations is tentatively assessed at Rs 5,000 crore.
Militants Threat:
- Before when the shutdown in Kashmir used to take place like- Amarnath land row agitation of 2008 and the Burhan Wani’s killing in 2016.
- There was an unwritten understanding that the fruit would not be touched.
- But for the 1st time, the apple has become a target in the Valley’s three-decade-old conflict.
- This unwritten code was broken in the first week of September, nearly a month into the clampdown.
- Militants are threatening apple growers against complying with government plans.
- A day later, militants barged into the house of a prominent apple grower in Sopore, opened fire and left four wounded, And warned the family against going to the mandi.
Problems Of Apple Growers:
- The apple growers in Kashmir get advance money from the big fruit dealers in Delhi and Kashmir. The growers have long-standing relationships with partners in different parts of the country,they borrow money from them.
- Procurement in the future: Whether the government will procure apples next season from them or not. government cannot force them to sell to NAFED. They will store the produce in cold storage and sell when normalcy returns.
- Impact on other sectors: it is not just the fruit industry that is reeling – two other key sectors of Kashmir’s economy, tourism, and handicrafts, have also been hit hard.
- Lack of communication: the continuing lack of internet and mobile connections had paralyzed their work, including the ability to file taxes and make bank transactions.
- Labour shortage: A labor shortage has made it difficult to operate.
- With a few businessmen raided and more under detention, why would anyone from the rest of the country engage with them(Growers) and subject himself to a possible enquiry of his transaction and opening of his books?
Government Efforts:
- The government is proposing to increase the price of apples under the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) for apple growers in Kashmir
- On September 5, the Centre announced a Market Intervention Scheme to procure apples in the Valley through NAFED, so as to “ensure good remunerative prices.
Additional info:
Article 370:
- Union Home Minister Amit Shah has announced the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution, which provides a special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
What are the provisions of Article 370?
- Parliament needs the Jammu & Kashmir government’s approval for applying laws in the state — except in cases of defense, foreign affairs, finance, and communications.
References:
- https://www.indiatoday.in/business/story/kashmir-lockdown-apples-rot-tourism-business-economy-article370-1600947-2019-09-19
- https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/good-news-for-kashmiri-apple-farmers-government-mulls-hike-in-prices/articleshow/71349403.cm