Green Revolution in India

The introduction of high-yielding varieties of seeds after 1965 and the increased use of
fertilizers and irrigation are known collectively as the Green Revolution, which provided
the increase in production needed to make India self-sufficient in food grains, thus
improving agriculture in India. Famine in India, once accepted as inevitable, has not
returned since the introduction of Green Revolution crops. This movement is now under
fire, and is blamed for the spread of Land Degradation in India due to excessive use of
Fertilizers, Pesticides, Etc.

Of the high-yielding seeds, wheat produced the best results. Production of coarse grains-
the staple diet of the poor- and pulses -the main source of protein- lagged behind,
resulting in reduced per capita availability. All India Radio (AIR) played a vital role in
creating awareness for these methods. Along with high yielding seeds and irrigation
facilities, the enthusiasm of farmers mobilized the idea of agricultural revolution and is
also credited to All India Radio.

In 2006, Dr Norman Borlaug, widely known as the 'Father of India's Green Revolution',
was presented India's second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan, by India's
ambassador in Mexico City

Results
1. The major benefits of the Green Revolution were experienced mainly in northern
and northwestern India. The Green Revolution created wide regional and
interstate disparities. The plan was implemented only in areas with assured
supplies of water and the means to control it, large inputs of fertilizers, and
adequate farm credit. These inputs were easily available in at least parts of the
states of Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh; thus, yields increased most
in these states. In other states, such as Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, in areas
where these inputs were not assured, the results were limited or negligible,
leading to considerable variation in crop yields within these states. The Green
Revolution also increased income disparities: higher income growth and reduced
incidence of poverty were found in the states where yields increased the most and
lower income growth and little change in the incidence of poverty in other states.

2. The Green Revolution has also been criticized as unsustainable. It requires

immense amounts of capital each year to purchase equipment and fertilizers. This
may lead to a cycle of debt if a farmer is unable to pay off the loans required each
year. Additionally, the crops require so much water that water tables in some
regions of India have dropped dramatically. If this drop continues, it is possible
that the process of desertification may take place. Already, the low water is
starting the process of salinization. If continued, this would leave the land
infertile, spelling disaster for India.
Operation Flood
Operation Flood was a rural development programme started by India's National Dairy
Development Board (NDDB) in 1970. One of the largest of its kind, the programme
objective was to create a nationwide milk grid.It resulted in making India the largest
producer of milk and milk products, and hence is also called the White Revolution of
India. It also helped reduce malpractices by milk traders and merchants. This revolution
followed the Indian green revolution and helped in alleviating poverty and famine levels
from their dangerous proportions in India during the era.

Operation Flood has helped dairy farmers, direct their own development, placing control
of the resources they create in their own hands. A 'National Milk Grid', links milk
producers throughout India with consumers in over 700 towns and cities, reducing
seasonal and regional price variations while ensuring that the producer gets a major share
of the price consumers pay.

The bedrock of Operation Flood has been village milk producers' cooperatives, which
procure milk and provide inputs and services, making modern management and
technology available to members. Operation Flood's objectives included :

• Increase milk production ("a flood of milk")

• Augment rural incomes
• Fair prices for consumers

Gujarat-based co-operation "Anand Milk Union Limited", often called Amul, was the
engine behind the success of the programme and in turn became a mega company based
on the cooperative approach. Tribhuvandas Patel was the founder Chairman of Amul,
while Verghese Kurien was the chairman of NDDB at the time when the programme was
implemented. Verghese Kurien, gave the professional management skills and necessary
thrust to the cooperative, and is considered the architect of India's 'White Revolution'
(Operation Flood). His work has been recognised by the award of a Padma Bhushan, the
Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership, the Carnegie-Wateler World
Peace Prize, and the World Food Prize.

Some critics of the project argue that the emphasis on foreign cow breeds has been
instrumental in the decimation of Indian breeds. Foreign breeds give higher yields, but
require more feed and are not suited to Indian conditions. Critics also argue that the focus
on the dairy sector during this period came at the expense of development, research, and
extension work in other areas of Indian agriculture. There is also the criticism that the
product from the White Revolution, namely milk and dairy products (like foodgrains
from the harvests using Green Revolution methods and practices) is qualitatively, not
exactly 'technically', inferior to the product obtained employing traditional methods and
practices geared to smaller population levels which had only to be 'scaled up' for larger
populations.
2010 Commonwealth Games
Shame or pride?

The 2010 Commonwealth Games are the nineteenth Commonwealth Games. The Games
are scheduled to be held in Delhi, India between 3 October and 14 October 2010. The
games will be the largest multi-sport event conducted to date in Delhi and India
generally, which has previously hosted the Asian Games in 1951 and 1982. The opening
ceremony is scheduled to take place at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi. It will also
be the first time the Commonwealth Games will be held in India and the second time the
event has been held in Asia (after 1998 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).

Bidding
The two principal bids for the 2010 Commonwealth Games were from Delhi, India and
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. India's bid motto was New Frontiers and Friendships.

Green Games
Logo for the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games being recognized as the first ever "Green
Commonwealth Games"

The organisers signed a Memorandum of Understanding

(MoU) with the United Nations Environment Programme to
show the intention to host a "sustainable games" and to take
the environment into consideration when constructing and
renovating venues. Thyagaraj Stadium is intended to be a key
example of environmentally-considered construction.

In opposition to this intention, a number of environmental

controversies arose and the adverse ecological impact of
various aspects of the games have been protested by city
residents. City residents filed a public interest petition to the
Supreme Court of India against the felling of 'heritage' trees
in the Siri Forest area to make way for Games facilities. The
court appointed architect Charles Correa to assess the impact and he severely criticised
the designs on ecological grounds. In spite of this, in April 2009 the Supreme Court
allowed the construction on the grounds that "much time had been lost" and "the damage
already caused to the environment could not be undone"

Marketing
The games mascot is an anthropomorphic tiger called Shera; a name derived from the
Hindi word Sher – meaning tiger The logo and the look for the games were designed by
Idiom Design and Consulting
Criticism and controversies
Delays

In September 2009, Commonwealth Games federation chief Mike Fennell reported that
the games were at risk of falling behind schedule and that it was "reasonable to conclude
that the current situation poses a serious risk to the Commonwealth Games in 2010". A
report by the Indian Government released several months prior found that construction
work on 13 out of the 19 sports venues was behind schedule. All CWG projects were to
be completed by May 2009 and the last year should have been kept for trial runs.

Vigilance-related irregularities

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) released a report showing irregularities in up

to 14 CWG projects. The detailed preliminary findings include

1. Award of works at higher prices

2. Poor Quality Assurance
3. Award of work to ineligible agencies

There are also allegations of wide spread corruptions in various aspects of organising the
games including procurement and awarding contracts for constructing the game venues

Social Impact

Labour Violations

Campaigners in India have accused the organisers of enormous and systematic violations
of labour laws at construction sites. These represent violations of the Minimum Wages
Act; Interstate Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Condition of Services)
Act There have been documented instances of the presence of young children at
hazardous construction sites, due to a lack of child care facilities for women workers
living and working in the labour camp style work sites. Furthermore, workers on the site
of the main Commonwealth stadium have reportedly been issued with hard hats, yet most
work in open-toed sandals and live in cramped tin tenements in which illnesses are rife.
The High Court of Delhi is presently hearing a public interest petition relating to
employers not paying employees for overtime.

During the construction of the Games Village, there was controversy over financial
mismanagement, profiteering by the Delhi Development Authority and private Real
Estate Companies, and inhumane working conditions.

Slum eviction and no-beggar-zones

It has discovered that ‘no tolerance zones’ for ‘beggars’ are being used in Delhi, and that
the city has arbitrarily arrested homeless citizens under the Bombay Prevention of
Begging Act. Furthermore, many families have already been evicted in order to make
space for CWG-related projects.

Terror threats

Following the attacks on Mumbai in 2008 some athletes and their representative bodies
expressed security fears during the games. In April 2010, during the Indian Premier
League, two low intensity bombs went off outside the stadium in Bangalore. Although
there were no casualties, this postponed the start of the game by an hour.

Sports

Kabaddi will also be a demonstration sport at the 2010 Games.

Queen's Baton relay

The Queen's Baton Relay began when the baton, which contains Queen Elizabeth II's
message to the athletes, left Buckingham Palace on 29 October 2009. The baton will
arrive at the 2010 Games opening ceremony on 3 October 2010, after visiting the other
70 nations of the Commonwealth and travelling throughout India, reaching millions of
people to join in the celebrations for the Games.The baton arrived in India on the 25th
June 2010 through the Wagah Border crossing from Pakistan It is a triangular section of
aluminium twisted into a helix shape and then coated with coloured soils collected from
all the regions of India. The coloured soils are a first for the styling of a Queen's Baton. A
jewel-encrusted box was used to house the Queen's message, which was laser-engraved
onto a miniature 18 carat gold leaf – representative of the ancient Indian 'patras. The
Queen's baton is ergonomically contoured for ease of use. The Queen's baton has a
number of technological features including:

• The ability to capture images and sound

• Global positioning system (GPS) technology so the baton's location can be
tracked
• Embedded light emitting diodes (LEDs) which will change into the colours of a
country’s flag whilst in that country
• A text messaging capability so that people can send messages of congratulations
and encouragement to the baton bearers throughout the relay

Real Time Gross Settlement

Real time gross settlement systems (RTGS) are funds transfer systems where transfer of
money or securities takes place from one bank to another on a "real time" and on "gross"
basis. Settlement in "real time" means payment transaction is not subjected to any waiting
period. The transactions are settled as soon as they are processed. "Gross settlement"
means the transaction is settled on one to one basis without bunching or netting with any
other transaction. Once processed, payments are final and irrevocable.
This "electronic" payment system is normally maintained or controlled by the Central
Bank of a country. There is no physical exchange of money; the Central Bank makes
adjustments in the electronic accounts of Bank A and Bank B, reducing the amount in
Bank A's account by $1000 and increasing the amount of Bank B's account by the same.

The RTGS system is suited for low-volume, high-value transactions. It lowers settlement
risk, besides giving an accurate picture of an institution's account at any point of time.

Such systems are an alternative to systems of settling transactions at the end of the day,
also known as the net settlement system such as BACS. In the net settlement system, all
the inter-institution transactions during the day are accumulated. At the end of the day,
the accounts of the institutions are adjusted. Extending the example above, say another
person deposits a check drawn on Bank B in Bank A for $500. At the end of the day,
Bank A will have to "electronically" pay Bank B only $500 ($1000 - $500).

The implementation of RTGS systems by Central Banks throughout the world is driven
by the goal to minimize risk in high-value electronic payment settlement systems.

In an RTGS system, transactions are settled across accounts held at a Central Bank on a
continuous gross basis. Settlement is immediate, final and irrevocable. Credit risks due to
settlement lags are eliminated.

RTGS does not require Core Banking to be implemented across participating banks, since
transactions are direct, with no central processing or clearing operations. Any RTGS
employs two sets of queues: one for testing outgoing funds availability on a
chronological FIFO basis with the option of prioritizing specific inquiries, while the other
queue is for processing debit/credit requests received from the central bank's Integrated
Accounting System].

What is the minimum / maximum amount for RTGS /NEFT transactions under
Retail Internet Banking?

Type Minimum Maximum

RTGS Rs. 1 Lakh Rs. 5 Lakhs
NEFT - Rs. 5 Lakhs
• What is the minimum / maximum amount for RTGS /NEFT transactions
under Corporate Internet Banking?

Type Minimum Maximum

RTGS Rs. 1 Lakh No Limit
NEFT - No Limit

Each Bank branch participating in the RTGS is identified by a unique Indian Financial
System Code (IFSC). With the advancement of the Technological changes in the
Banking industry the RTGS introduction has become a boom in settling the Interbank
funds instantaneously. The Customer can avail this facility and make instantaneous
transfer of funds to beneficiary`s account
The MRTP Act, 1969
The Monopolistic and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969, was enacted

1. To ensure that the operation of the economic system does not result in the
concentration of economic power in hands of few,
2. To provide for the control of monopolies, and
3. To prohibit monopolistic and restrictive trade practices.

The MRTP Act extends to the whole of India except Jammu and Kashmir. Unless the
Central Government otherwise directs, this act shall not apply to:

1. Any undertaking owned or controlled by the Government Company,

2. Any undertaking owned or controlled by the Government,
3. Any undertaking owned or controlled by a corporation (not being a company
established by or under any Central, Provincial or State Act,
4. Any trade union or other association of workmen or employees formed for their
own reasonable protection as such workmen or employees,
5. Any undertaking engaged in an industry, the management of which has been
taken over by any person or body of persons under powers by the Central
Government,
6. Any undertaking owned by a co-operative society formed and registered under
any Central, Provincial or state Act,
7. Any financial institution.

Source : www.wikipedia.org

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