Solution (a)

The Election Commission registers political parties for the purpose of elections and grants them recognition as national or state parties on the basis of their poll performance.

A party is recognised as a national party if any of the following conditions is fulfilled:

1. If it secures six per cent of valid votes polled in any four or more states at a general election to the Lok Sabha or to the legislative assembly; and, in addition, it wins four seats in the Lok Sabha from any state or states; or
2. If it wins two per cent of seats in the Lok Sabha at a general election; and these candidates are elected from three states; or
3. If it is recognised as a state party in four states.

Power of Deregistration: The ECI is not empowered to de-register parties on the grounds of violating the Constitution or breaching the undertaking given to it at the time of registration. ECI has the power to register parties under the Representation of the People Act,(RPA) 1951, but it does not have the power to deregister parties that are inactive.

Article Link: ECI awaits Law Ministry nod to deregister inactive parties

Solution (b)

How is Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR) different from normal transplanting of paddy?

In transplanting, farmers prepare nurseries where the paddy seeds are first sown and raised into young plants. These seedlings are then uprooted and replanted 25-35 days later in the main field. The nursery seed bed is 5-10% of the area to be transplanted. In DSR, there is no nursery preparation or transplantation. The seeds are instead directly drilled into the field by a tractor-powered machine.

Main advantage with DSR:

• Reduces water requirement. The first irrigation under DSR is necessary only 21 days after sowing. This is unlike in transplanted paddy, where watering has to be done practically daily to ensure submerged/flooded conditions in the first three weeks.
• Less numbers of labourers required.
• Saves labour cost.
• Reduce methane emissions due to a shorter flooding period and decreased soil disturbance compared to transplanting rice seedlings

Drawbacks:

• The seed requirement for DSR is higher, at 8-10 kg/acre, compared to 4-5 kg in transplanting.
• Further, laser land levelling is compulsory in DSR. This is not so in transplanting.
• The sowing needs to be done timely so that the plants have come out properly before the monsoon rains arrive.

Article Link: India gets first herbicide-tolerant & non-GM rice varieties

Solution (b)

Launched under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme is a centrally sponsored scheme that aims to enhance the competitiveness of existing individual micro-enterprises in the unorganized segment of the food processing industry and promote formalization of the sector and provide support to Farmer Producer Organizations, Self Help Groups, and Producers Cooperatives along their entire value chain. 

With an outlay of Rs.10,000 crore over a period of five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25, the scheme envisions to directly assist the 2,00,000 micro food processing units for providing financial, technical, and business support for upgradation of existing micro food processing enterprises.

Article Link: Ministry of Food Processing Industries, in association with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, virtually launched the PMFME Scheme Seed Capital Module

Solution (d)

A rat-hole mine involves digging of very small tunnels, usually only 3-4 feet deep, in which workers, more often children, enter and extract coal. Rat-hole mining is broadly of two types – side-cutting and box-cutting.

Rat-hole mining is primarily practiced only in Meghalaya. Such cases are not witnessed in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh because the coal seems are thick in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh while in Meghalaya coal seems are very thin. So, economically it is not a good idea to do an open mining, and therefore, they prefer rat-hole mining.

Although the coal is of bad quality, people see it as a treasure-chest. In backward regions, where there is loss of livelihood, lack of employment opportunities and under-education, people see rat-hole mines as an opportunity to earn daily bread. A major portion of those involved in rat hole mining are children, who are preferred because of their thin body shape and ease to access depths.

Article Link: Meghalaya to resume coal mining despite green concerns

Solution (d)

The All-India Quarterly Establishment-based Employment Survey (AQEES) has been prepared by the Labour Bureau.

The AQEES has been taken up by the Labour Bureau to provide frequent (quarterly) updates about the employment and related variables of establishments, in both organised and unorganised segments of nine selected sectors. These sectors altogether account for a majority of the total employment in the non-farm establishments. These nine selected sectors are Manufacturing, Construction, Trade, Transport, Education, Health, Accommodation and Restaurant, IT/ BPO and Financial Services.

Of the total employment estimated in the selected nine sectors, Manufacturing accounts for nearly 41 percent followed by Education with 22 percent, and Health 8 percent. Trade as well as and IT/BPO each engaged 7 percent of the total estimated number of workers.

Article Link: Shri Bhupender Yadav releases the report of Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) employing 10 plus workers.