Mains Practice Questions for the Day
- Q. “Sustainable agriculture in India requires not only ecological reform but also economic incentives, institutional support and market integration.” Discuss the major challenges in its adoption and suggest suitable measures.
- Q. Kerala’s recurrent Nipah outbreaks reflect the interaction of ecological vulnerability, human-wildlife contact and public-health risk. Examine the factors driving spillovers and evaluate Kerala’s preparedness in containing outbreaks.
Q. “Sustainable agriculture in India requires not only ecological reform but also economic incentives, institutional support and market integration.” Discuss the major challenges in its adoption and suggest suitable measures.
( GS Paper III: Sustainable Agriculture, Climate Change, Irrigation, E-Technology, Agricultural Marketing and Food Security)
Introduction:
Sustainable agriculture seeks to meet present food and textile needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own. It balances environmental health, economic profitability and social equity through practices such as crop rotation, agroforestry, reduced tillage, integrated pest management and drip irrigation.
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Significance
- Soil and Water Security: Crop rotation, organic manuring and reduced tillage restore soil fertility, while precision irrigation improves water-use efficiency.
- Climate Resilience: Agroforestry, carbon sequestration and climate-resilient seeds help farms withstand climatic shocks.
- Farmer Viability: Local inputs and diversified production reduce the input-output cost gap and vulnerability to market fluctuations.
- Public Health: Lower pesticide residues and nutrient-dense crops improve food safety and nutrition.
Major Challenges
- Labour-Sustainability Paradox: Mulching, intercropping and manual weed management are labour-intensive, while mechanisation remains limited.
- Carbon-Market Exclusion: High monitoring and verification costs prevent smallholders from earning through soil-carbon sequestration.
- Tenancy Disincentives: Short-term tenants have little incentive to invest in soil restoration or agroforestry.
- Digital Divide: AI, IoT and precision farming remain concentrated among large farms due to infrastructure and literacy gaps.
- Weak Post-Harvest Infrastructure: Sustainable produce faces inadequate cold storage, segregated logistics and market access.
- Subsidy Distortion: Heavily subsidised urea makes chemical fertilisers cheaper than organic and bio-based alternatives.
- Consumer Awareness Gap: Sustainable produce is often viewed as a luxury product rather than a source of ecosystem services.
Measures Needed
- Realign Incentives: Shift from input subsidies to payments linked to soil carbon, water conservation and biodiversity.
- Transition Support: Provide temporary income support during the initial 3–5 years of lower yields.
- Grassroots Extension: Promote farmer-to-farmer learning and field demonstrations.
- Simplify Certification: Expand PGS-India and use digital traceability tools.
- Strengthen FPOs: Enable collective marketing, shared technology and better price negotiation.
- Improve Infrastructure: Invest in village-level solar cold storage, micro-irrigation and climate-resilient systems.
- Promote Seed Sovereignty: Establish regional seed banks for indigenous and climate-resilient varieties.
- Support Long-Term Research: Compare sustainable and conventional systems over longer periods.
Conclusion:
India’s transition to sustainable agriculture must combine ecological regeneration with farmer profitability. Outcome-based incentives, strong FPOs, better infrastructure, inclusive technology and long-term research can make sustainable farming both environmentally sound and economically viable.
Q. Kerala’s recurrent Nipah outbreaks reflect the interaction of ecological vulnerability, human-wildlife contact and public-health risk. Examine the factors driving spillovers and evaluate Kerala’s preparedness in containing outbreaks.
(UPSC GS Paper II: Public Health, Health-System Preparedness and Government Response)
Introduction:
Nipah virus is a highly lethal zoonotic disease whose natural reservoir in Kerala is the Indian flying fox bat, Pteropus medius. Repeated outbreaks since 2018 show that Kerala’s risk emerges from the convergence of ecological conditions, dense settlement patterns and close human-wildlife interaction.
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Factors Driving Spillovers
- Permanent Natural Reservoir: Nipah virus continues to circulate in fruit-bat colonies, especially in northern Kerala.
- Roosts Near Settlements: Bat-roosting sites are located close to human habitations, plantations and agricultural lands, increasing exposure risk.
- Seasonal Risk: Spillovers peak between April and September, when fruit availability, bat foraging, breeding and viral shedding coincide.
- Ecological Disturbance: Deforestation, habitat fragmentation, urbanisation and agricultural expansion push wildlife closer to settlements.
- High Population Density: Dense habitation along forest fringes intensifies the human-wildlife interface.
- Climate-Related Changes: Ecological disruptions may alter bat movement, food availability and disease-transmission patterns.
Evaluation of Kerala’s Preparedness
Kerala’s 2018 outbreak exposed the danger of nosocomial transmission, as most infections spread within hospitals. Since then, the State has strengthened:
- Surveillance of acute encephalitis and severe respiratory infections
- Rapid laboratory confirmation through expanded VRDL networks
- Hospital infection-prevention and control protocols
- Early identification of index cases and contact tracing
- Clinical algorithms for emerging viral infections
- One Health-based community surveillance involving over 2.5 lakh trained volunteers
- Research through the One Health Centre for Nipah Research and Resilience
- Sero-surveillance, epidemiological studies and monoclonal-antibody development
The effectiveness of these measures is evident from the limited human-to-human transmission after 2018.
Conclusion:
Kerala may not be able to eliminate Nipah spillovers because of the persistent bat reservoir. However, its experience demonstrates that One Health surveillance, rapid diagnosis, community participation and strong infection control can prevent isolated spillovers from becoming large outbreaks.
