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TOPIC: General Studies 3
- Infrastructure
- Disaster and disaster management.
In News:
The stampede at Mumbai’s Elphinstone Road suburban station foot over-bridge claimed 23 lives.
Need for fixing gaps:
The risk of such a tragedy occurring, particularly on the 45-year-old foot over-bridge, was well known to both the Railways as well as commuters. To be fair, the Railways had recognised, albeit belatedly, that it needed to address the inadequacy of the infrastructure.
Fault line:
Construction of a new bridge had been cleared by former railway minister Suresh Prabhu about two years ago, but ironically tenders for its construction were floated only on the day of the tragedy. The blame for the tragedy must squarely lie with the Railways bureaucracy.
Way forward:
The tragedy has served as a wake-up call for the Railways and the new railway minister Piyush Goyal has acted with urgency to announce a host of new infrastructure projects that will make passenger movement at Mumbai’s suburban stations easier.
Connecting the dots:
TOPIC:
General Studies 2
General Studies 3
Need of agriculture reform:
Private sector is yet to harness the business potential of agriculture and allied sectors in India. The dilemma arises in the absence of enough policy enablers to ensure private participation despite the promising potential. Land fragmentation has resulted in poor yields and productivity, making the sector unviable for small farmers.
What needs to be done?
Solving this crisis and reforming the sector will involve re-organisation of key factors of farm production — land, labour, capital and technology. What makes such a comprehensive relook at agriculture imperative is the fact that 49 per cent of the national workforce and 64 per cent of the rural work force still depend on the sector for a living, even though the share of the sector in the overall GDP has shrunk massively from around 45 per cent in the 1950s to about 16 per cent today.
Long-term leasing laws:
The primary challenge is low productivity due to fragmented land holdings. Today, about 85 per cent of all land holdings belong to small and marginal farm categories of less than 2 hectares. This has hindered infusion of technology (use of hybrid varieties and farming techniques) and discouraged capital investment (in irrigation and mechanisation).
The only way to overcome this challenge is by facilitating a legal framework to consolidate these holdings in to larger operational units through “long term leasing of farmland without alienating the land ownership — as has been introduced by Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. This policy reform can be a game changer as also suggested by Niti Aayog in the Model Land Leasing Act — no change in ownership and no tenancy rights, land reverts back upon expiry of lease.
Long-term leasing can facilitate the entry of the private sector into agriculture to infuse much needed energy in the form of:
Conclusion:
These partnerships may not just impact productivity but have a substantial influence on farmer income as well. Industry also stands to gain by getting access to assured supply of commodities for their processing and marketing operations.
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