Universal vaccination programs have eliminated smallpox and reduced serious diseases including measles, mumps, rotavirus, and polio. But in the coming few months, India will witness another great event in its history — the great Covid vaccination exercise. This is vaccination going to be one of the most anticipated events in the country. This mass universal vaccination drive might prove to be a daunting task.

Making of a vaccine

• A vaccine has to pass three tests to be successful – quality, ease of delivery, and public acceptance.
• Quality, in turn, has three attributes – safety, efficacy, and duration of protection.
• These are initially assessed in animals, then in humans through rigorously three-phased clinical trials involving thousands of persons, followed by post-marketing surveillance of several thousands more.

India’s potential in vaccine-making

• The universal immunisation programme in India has well established and time-tested vaccine distribution systems.
• India has run massive immunisation programme earlier too, makes 60% of the world’s vaccines and is home to half a dozen major manufacturers, including Serum Institute of India – the largest in the world.
• Not surprisingly, there’s no lack of ambition when it comes to vaccinating a billion people against Covid-19.
• India plans to receive and utilise some 500 million doses of vaccines against the disease and immunize up to 250 million people by July next year.

Mechanisms available

• India’s vaccine distribution network is operated through four government medical store depots (GMSDs) in Karnal, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, which procure vaccines from the manufacturers.
• About 53 state vaccine stores get their supplies either from these GMSDs or directly from manufacturers.
• The state vaccine stores then distribute the vaccines to regional, district and sub-district level cold chain points via insulated vans.
• The vaccine management has improved over the years thanks to a real-time supply chain management system known as the electronic vaccine intelligence network (eVIN).

EVIN: The COVID-19 delivery system will use the UIP platform, with the innovative Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network enhancing efficiency and diligence.

CO-WIN Platform: This user friendly mobile app for recording vaccine data is working as a beneficiary management platform having various modules. Once people start to register for the app, the platform will upload bulk data on co-morbidity provided by local authorities.

India’s efficacy

• India ranked within the 51-75 percentile range among 89 countries on effective vaccine management as per a global analysis by WHO-UNICEF in 2018.
• Its performance was relatively poor when it came to following the required vaccine arrival procedures and using the MIS system for estimating demand of vaccine, syringe, etc.

Various challenges looming before the roll-out of Vaccine

[A] Infrastructure and other ground challenges

For India, the magnitude of the task at hand is huge. If we have 1.3 billion Indians, a two-dose vaccine (such as Moderna or Oxford vaccine) implies 2.6 billion doses that need to be given across the nation.

(1) Supply-chain challenges

• The  supply  chain  of  the  vaccines  has to  be  strictly monitored  for  temperatures as the vaccines tend to be very sensitive to temperature variations.
• Storing  the vaccines  in  temperature controlled  boxes proves  to  be  challenging  in  India,  because  of problems  with electricity supply, which in many places in India tends to get interrupted frequently.

(2) Infrastructure challenges

• Getting vaccines to people who need them will require over a billion vials to be manufactured, filled and shipped, at top speed and in some cases, under extreme stress.
• India needs to scale up its cold chain and distribution infrastructure for the last-mile connectivity.
• Cooling facilities in the final delivery stages and a lack of storage at clinics would pose the biggest challenge to delivering vaccines on a high scale.

 (3) Inter-state disparity

• What adds to the vaccination challenge is the inter-state disparity in the distribution of cold chain points across the country.
• Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar are among the least served states when it comes to cold chain infrastructure.
• It won’t be easy to fill such deficits given that most of the private sector cold chain network is concentrated in the bigger cities and towns.

[B] Access challenges

(1) Access and affordability

• Vaccine distribution poses another daunting challenge, and is accompanied by questions such as how much it will cost and who will pay for it.
• Some of the concerns are about corruption over access to vaccines.

(2) Vaccine safety

• It is essential to assess safety as the vaccine will be administered to healthy persons.
• This is a concern because some candidate vaccines have previously been known to have serious adverse effects.
• The choices of vaccines, distribution, identifying groups for early vaccination, storage and more importantly, trained personnel, all play a role, the experts underline.

(3) Uptake and monitoring

• Apart from distribution and delivery, other issues would be vaccine uptake and monitoring.
• Vaccine uptake requires confidence in the vaccines and the delivery system.
• Documentation of vaccination and the tracking and investigation of vaccine safety events are essential components of monitoring.
• India also has to battle with vaccine hesitancy. These have not been done well looking at the past experience.

[C] Ethical challenges

Acute humanitarian crises pose complex ethical dilemmas for policy-makers, particularly in settings with inadequate health-care services, which often become dependent on external agencies for urgently needed care.

When resources, especially staff, are scarce, decision-makers often choose among interventions – implicitly or explicitly – on the basis of cost-effectiveness because they are seeking to maximize benefits.

Many ethical issues surround the development and use of vaccines. These issues include

• Requiring vaccination by law;
• Development and testing of vaccines;
• Informed consent about the benefits and risks of vaccination; and
• Equitable distribution of vaccines

Among these, one is very crucial, i.e.

#Prioritization

It is a matter of distributive justice. Distributive justice requires the fair allocation of scarce basic resources, such as shelter, food, potable water and vaccines is not an exception to this.

• Different rules govern decision-making and priority-setting during acute crises.
• Objective, transparent processes for making priority-setting decisions are extremely important to maintain trust in the vaccination plans.
• Incidentally, the intent behind identifying the high-priority groups to receive the vaccine first was to safeguard them from severe disease and not to break the virus transmission chain.

Prioritized group as per our Health Ministry

Prioritized Population Groups include:

1. Healthcare Workers in both Government and Private Healthcare facilities
2. Frontline Workers including personnel from state and central police department, armed forces, home guard, civil defence organizations, disaster management volunteers and municipal workers and
3. Prioritized Age Group, which includes those aged above 50 years & those with co-morbidities

(Note: This is not the sequence, but categorization.)

[D] The biggest global challenge: Vaccine Nationalism

• Vaccine nationalism occurs when a country manages to secure doses of vaccine for its own citizens or residents before they are made available in other countries.
• This is done through pre-purchase agreements between a government and a vaccine manufacturer.
• It is harmful to equitable access to vaccines.

Why it has to go away?

• Most vaccine development projects involve several parties from multiple countries.
• With modern vaccines, there are very few instances in which a single country can claim to be the sole developer of a vaccine.
• And even if that were possible, global public health is borderless. As COVID-19 is illustrating, viruses can travel the globe.

“An outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere”.

Way forward

• Considering the large population and limited capacity of production and distribution of vaccine, it will not be easy to provide everyone around the world with the vaccine at the same time.
• There is a need to develop a strategy for the same which will guide us in deciding who should receive the vaccine first.
• In this context, any effective vaccine that is developed should be treated as a global public good and should be distributed equally around the world, regardless of where it was invented or of a country’s ability to pay.
• There has to be a comprehensive global framework that will ensure priority for the most vulnerable populations.
• International institutions — including the WHO — should coordinate negotiations ahead of the next pandemic to produce a framework for equitable access to vaccines during public health crises.

Conclusion

The allocation of a limited supply of vaccine calls for a fine balance between utility and equality and fairness. Accountability demands that decision-making be explicit, documented and open to public review.

• Efforts to maximize utility can conflict with the egalitarian goal of helping the neediest.
• When limited supplies are allocated to the most vulnerable, overall health utility is sometimes suboptimal.
• From the perspective of value pluralism, balancing utility and equality should be the goal, rather than prioritizing one or the other.
• When it comes to vaccination, the utility is fortunately often greatest when the most socially disadvantaged groups are targeted.

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References

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/india-s-vaccine-distribution-challenge-explained-in-five-charts-11607106132744.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-55048925

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/09/covid-19-vaccine-global-health-covax/ https://intelligence.weforum.org/topics/a1G0X000006O6EHUA0?tab=publications

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30773-8/fulltext#seccestitle90

https://www.devex.com/news/opinion-the-unspoken-covid-19-vaccine-challenges-distribution-and-corruption-98437

The ongoing stand-off between the Union government and protesting farmers does not show any signs of a resolution at the moment. Farmers, especially in Punjab and Haryana, have been protesting against the three agriculture laws enacted by the central government.

The situation is extremely volatile since the farmers are determined not to leave Delhi and camp therein for months for further protests.

The Three Contentious Laws: A quick recap

(1) Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020:

• It expands the scope of trade areas of farmers produce from select areas to “any place of production, collection, and aggregation”. It allows electronic trading and e-commerce of scheduled farmers’ produce.
• It prohibits state governments from levying any market fee, cess or levy on farmers, traders, and electronic trading platforms for trade of farmers’ produce conducted in an ‘outside trade area’.

(2) Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020:

• It creates a national framework for contract farming through an agreement between a farmer and a buyer before the production or rearing of any farm produce.
• It provides farmers engaging with Agri-business firms, processors, wholesalers, exporters or large retailers for farm services and sale of future farming produce by a mutually agreed price framework.

(3) Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020:

• It allows for the center to regulate food items through essential commodities.  
• It also requires that imposition of any stock limit on agricultural produce be based on price rise

Agitators at the forefront

Farmers in Punjab and Haryana are known for their adamant attitudes. They are heavily dependent on public procurement and assured price through MSP. Nearly 88% of the paddy production and 70% of the wheat production in Punjab and Haryana (in 2017-18 and 2018-19) has been absorbed through public procurement.

Why are farmers fuming over these laws?

These bills sought to bring much-needed reforms in the agricultural marketing system. However, farmers are apprehensive that the free market philosophy supported by these bills could undermine the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system and make farmers vulnerable to market forces.

Let us look at all their concerns one by one:

(1) Fear against the end of Mandi System

• The APMC regulates the mandi (marketplace) where farmers bring their produce, and therefore, guarantees that they receive the MSP.
• Since the state governments will not be able to regulate the trade outside the APMC markets, farmers believe the laws will gradually end the mandi system and leave farmers at the mercy of corporates.

(2) Fear over MSPs and procurement guarantee

• Farmers believe that dismantling the mandi system will bring an end to the assured procurement of their crops at MSP.
• Similarly, farmers believe the price assurance legislation may offer protection to farmers against price exploitation, but will not prescribe the mechanism for price fixation.
• They are demanding the government guarantee MSP in writing, or else the free hand given to private corporate houses will lead to their exploitation.

(3) Fear of Arhatiyas

• The arhatiyas (commission agents) and farmers enjoy a friendship and bonding that goes back decades.
• On an average, at least 50-100 farmers are attached with each arhatiyas, who takes care of farmers’ financial loans and ensures timely procurement and adequate prices for their crop.
• Farmers believe the new laws will end their relationship with these agents and corporates will not be as sympathetic towards them in times of need.

 (4) Fear over the end of subsidised electricity

• Farmers concerns are also fuelled by the proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2020 which might end their access to subsidised electricity.
• The bill seeks to create an Electricity Contract Enforcement Authority (ECEA), a move aimed to further centralization.
• Another concern is the transfer of subsidies through DBT. Farmers will have to pay first from their own pocket, after which they will get subsidies.

(5) Fear over Contract Farming

• The FAPA Act formalizes contract cultivation through a “national framework” and explicitly prohibits any sponsor firm from acquiring the land of farmers through purchase, lease or mortgage.
• But farmers fear over the big corporate players’ monopoly over food processing industry and its supply chain dynamics.
• They fear that their ownership rights would be at risk as the Act provides for debt instruments for the companies which have their own recovery mechanisms.

(6) Fear over dispute resolution

• The FAPA Act provided for a three-level dispute settlement mechanism by the conciliation board, Sub-Divisional Magistrate and Appellate Authority.
• Since the highest level of appeal for the farmer against any private entity was the Appellate Authority, the farmer is effectively prevented from moving the Court.
• Thus, they claim that the Act was highly skewed in favor of private entity as the individual farmers did not have the resources that private companies had.

(7) Fear over EC Amendment Act

• The original EC Act de-regulated food items including cereals, pulses, potato, onion, edible oilseeds, and oils, and could only be regulated in the extraordinary circumstances.
• The new law states that government regulation of stocks will be based on rising prices.
• This stock-limiting puts farmers at the peril of the government and thus prevent them from making from any profit during any extra-ordinary circumstances as most of the time they only have to bear losses. (Ex. Onion farmers in Maharashtra).

What are the broader concerns?

Agriculture per se deals with everything that a farmer does — right from field preparation and cultivation to also the sale of his/her own produce.

 (1) The centre has overreached

• Article 246 of the Constitution places “agriculture” in entry 14 and “markets and fairs” in entry 28 of the State List.
• But entry 42 of the Union List empowers the Centre to regulate “inter-State trade and commerce”.
• While trade and commerce “within the State” are under entry 26 of the State List, it is subject to the provisions of entry 33 of the Concurrent List – under which the Centre can override.
• The Centre, in other words, has passed a law that removes all impediments to both inter-and intra-state trade in farm produce, while also overriding the existing state APMC Acts. The FPTC Act does precisely that.

(2) States authority grossly surpassed

• The act of primary sale at a mandi by the farmer is as much “agriculture” as production in the field.
• “Trade” begins only after the product has been “marketed” by the farmer.
• Going by this interpretation, the Centre is within its rights to frame laws that promote barrier-free trade of farm produce (inter-as well as intra-state) and do not allow stockholding or export restrictions.
• But these can be only after the farmer has sold. Regulation of the first sale of agricultural produce is a “marketing” responsibility of the states, not the Centre.

(3) A totalitarian move

• There is a debate around the constitutional provisions with regard to the respective domains of the State and the Union with regard to agricultural marketing,
• However, issues affecting the farming community have a far greater bearing on the States relative to the Centre.
• While enacting the Bills, the Centre extended little consideration to the sensitivity or consultations of the States who are busy fighting the pandemic this hour.

(4) Media insensitivity

• Punjab and Haryana farmers have been at the forefront of this struggle and the other regions were slow to catch up.
• The media terming it as a movement of ‘middlemen’ carried out by opposition parties and covertly supported by the ‘Khalistanis’ is the most distressing aspect.
• This claim, for which no evidence has been offered, has been amplified by many news channels.

Wait! Before you make up your mind ….. Ever wonder, why did the govt intervene through these legislations?

(1) Flawed argument over MSP

• These bills do not mention to do away with MSPs. Moreover APMCs have never assured that farmers get MSPs (which itself has no legal backings).
• Over 80% of all land holdings were small and marginal with less than 2 hectares of farm land and hence, most of them, far from selling, end up buying food for even their own consumption.
• In such cases, the rise in MSP actually hurts these farmers instead of helping them. The government assured price only helps a few large farmers.

(2) Food security is no more an issue

• The roots of state intervention in agriculture, from government procurement to rationing and restrictions on private traders are to found in recurring food shortages in the period after Independence.  
• Many experts believe that these incentives are not needed today because India is a food-surplus country now.
• This is what the current reforms seek to abolish. The sharp rise in India’s agriculture exports is often cited as evidence of this fact.

(3) An equalizing move for all

• The average nutritional intakes in India are much lower than just developed countries and, the purported food surplus seems to be the result of inadequate food consumption due to affordability issues.
• There still exists malnutrition as most of the public cannot afford good diets.
• According to research by the International Food Policy Research Institute, 63.3% of people in rural India could not afford the Cost of a Recommended Diet (CoRD).

(4) Protesting farmers are better off than the rest

Data from a 2013 survey carried out by the National Statistical Office (NSO) shows that farmers from Punjab and Haryana had the highest incomes in the country.

• The farmers who are protesting outside Delhi’s borders are among the richest among their peers in India.
• A disproportional share in government procurement at MSP plays an important role in this.
• States where there are no large-scale MSP operations tend to have lower prices in private markets as well. That incentivizes the richer farmers to lobby for the continuation of the status quo.

(5) Contract farming was a long pending issue

• Contract farming in India has shown that marginal and small farmers are generally excluded.
• The problems they face include the following- highly one-sided i.e. pro-contracting agency contracts, delayed payments, undue rejections and outright cheating among others.
• Hence it was necessary for the govt. to bring legislation.

Much of government procurement at MSPs — of paddy, wheat and increasingly pulses, cotton, groundnut and mustard — happens in APMC mandis. In a scenario where more and more trading moves out of the APMCs, these regulated market yards will lose revenues. “They may not formally shut, but it would become like BSNL versus Jio. And if the government stops buying, we will be left with only the big corporates to sell to….

Govt and farmers at crossroads: A timeline

In its first term, the government was forced to retract its proposal to ease the 2014-15 land acquisition norms fearing a political backlash, following massive protests across the country.  But the peace it bought with the farmers was short-lived.

Farmers’ angst in nooks and corners of rural India had been simmering, bursting out in spurts of violence like the one witnessed in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur in 2017 where farmers were protesting, demanding loan waiver and higher crop prices.

This was followed by the 2018 farmers’ agitation in Maharashtra. Moved by the poor implementation of the loan waivers, thousands of farmers undertook a march from Nashik to Mumbai demanding redressal. Though then the government decided to fulfil the demands, it, however, retreated.

Why do farmers get on the streets?

• It’s not that farmers’ agitation has picked pace only since 2014. But agriculture sector experts say farmers’ grievances have mostly remained unaddressed.
• Rural distress has been on the rise, stoking farmers’ anger. Politics has added fuel, making a lethal cocktail.
• Even though Punjab and Haryana are not as critical to the country’s food security as they were a few decades ago, they are extremely important in India’s farm economy.
• Decades of high farm earnings also mean that the peasantry in these two states has much more in terms of material wherewithal to fight for its interests.
• Therefore, the fact that the government’s attempts to undermine their interests by enacting the recent farm laws have triggered a sharp political backlash is hardly surprising.

What do they want?

• Farmers would want no restrictions on the movement, stocking and export of their produce.
• For example, Maharashtra’s onion growers have vehemently opposed the Centre’s resort to banning on exports and imposition of stock limits whenever retail prices have tended to go up.
• But these restrictions relate to “trade”.
• When it comes to “marketing” — especially dismantling of the monopoly of APMCs — farmers, especially in Punjab and Haryana, aren’t very convinced about the “freedom of choice to sell to anyone and anywhere” argument.

From the government’s standpoint, the elephant in the room would be if the farmers insist on an additional demand: Making MSP a legal right. That would be impossible to meet, even if the three farm laws get repealed.

What options does the government have?

While the farmers want the three farm laws to be repealed and a new law with a provision that ensures the MSP is not tinkered with, the government has maintained that MSP is not being done away with.

These may be just fears, but they aren’t small.

(1) Repealing the laws

• Punjab farmer leaders, including two major political parties, demand repeal of these laws.
• Overall, almost 90 per cent of the agri-produce is sold to the private sector. However, repealing would mean bringing back controls, licence raj and the resultant rent-seeking.
• Milk, poultry, fishery, etc. don’t go through the mandi system and their growth rates are 3 to 5 times higher than that of wheat and rice.

(2) Legally enforcing the MSPs

• Another demand is making the MSP statutory and legally binding even on the private sector.
• This is impractical as there are 23 commodities for which MSPs are announced, but in actual practice only wheat and rice enjoy MSPs in any meaningful manner and that too only in 6-7 states.
• The FCI is overloaded with grain stocks that are more than 2.5 times the buffer stock norms.
• If the government cannot cope up with excess production of just wheat and rice in any meaningful way, think of how it will handle 23 commodities under MSP.

(3) Implementing Price Stabilization Scheme

• The third policy option is to use the Price Stabilization Scheme to give a lift to market prices by pro-actively buying a part of the surplus whenever market prices crash.
• Farmers can use Commodity Derivatives Exchanges where farmers can buy “put options” at MSP before they even sow their crops.
• If the market prices at the time of harvest turn out to be below MSP, government can compensate them partly for lower market prices (which again aren’t feasible for the govt.)

(4) Decentralizing MSPs and other subsidies

• Another option is to totally decentralize the MSP, procurement, stocking, and public distribution system (PDS).
• The Centre can get off from MSP, PDS, fertilizer subsidy, and MGNREGA and let the states decide it.
• So, the whole money on food subsidy can be allocated to states on the basis of their share in all-India poverty/proportion of vulnerable population.

A bigger challenge at the moment

• Several farmers said that they had come prepared to dig in for a prolonged struggle.
• Farmers are carrying ration that can last months and are in no mood to turn back. Any use of force by the state may lead to a major law and order disruption.
• In the current situation, the police have already used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the agitated farmers — but both methods have failed.
• This could lead to a severe law and order crisis.
• Moreover, international voices are also rising on the credibility of the government to address the farmers concerns, which is not a healthy sign.

Way forward: Give reforms a chance

Reforms in agriculture have been overdue.  There has been rhetoric in last 10 years in favour of agricultural but very few concrete steps have been taken.

One rhetoric is very clear now. The APMC mandis were never filled with good samaritans and neither is the MSP religiously enforced everywhere.

• Just passing these laws won’t be enough. The success of liberalizing the farm market will hinge on effective implementation, constant monitoring and timely action.
• Accelerating research and academic excellence could bring in the ‘best in class’ technologies and can multiply farmers’ incomes.
• As far as the APMCs and commission agents are concerned, the governments should work on a clear roadmap to modernize them by facilitating them in providing value-added services.
• They could be leveraged to set-up grading and sorting, warehousing, cold chains and food processing infrastructure. This way, it is a win-win-win for the state government, farmers and the commission agents.
• While taking the control away from these agents, the government must also ensure that the gap is filled with foolproof mechanisms to ensure timely payments to farmers to avoid any cash crunch.

Don’t fear the competition

• When we create competition for their produce, the price improves. There are more buyers, more choices. Farmers can reap the benefits of that.
• The COVID-19 crisis opened a window of opportunity to reform the agri-marketing system.  Patience and professionalism will bring rich rewards in due course, not noisy politics.

Conclusion

• The governments must try to allay the fears of farmers over the Farm Bills and it is never too late to rethink. Unconditional talks with farmers would be an appropriate starting point.
• There is genuine uncertainty over what private procurement will mean. Will it mean greater corporate power over farmers, possibly unhealthy monopolies or duopolies?
• Leveraging the reforms and moving forward rather is the most feasible solution than to protest amid the pandemic.
• What farmers need and are asking for is legally guaranteed remunerative prices. If the Bills are perceived of good intent, then the government should not shy away from proper parliamentary scrutiny of all its details.
• Political parties that are opposing these Bills should coordinate better keeping farmers’ interests in the forefront, and not their party politics.

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References

Minimum Support Prices for Agricultural Produce

https://theprint.in/opinion/newsmaker-of-the-week/farmers-protest-a-big-challenge-for-modi-bigger-than-demonetisation-gst/553541/

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/four-key-aspects-of-the-farmers-protest/story-UKuhPOVY7N3nAs1OZXBU0L.html

https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/apmc-and-msp-will-continue-under-new-farm-bills-2020/slidelist/78230172.cms

UPSC by design is an exam that should take just one attempt to crack it. Any further attempt after that must be just to improve your rank. And to accomplish this feat you must perform extremely well in GS mains papers.

Sajal sir here in this video will help you analyze the UPSC Mains 2020 GS paper 2, explain the changing trend and discuss the strategy for UPSC Mains 2021.

He also talked about Smash Mains 2021 in the video. Below are the details of the program.

Mains Program 2021: https://bit.ly/MEP_2021

Samachar Manthan 2021: https://bit.ly/SM2021_NP

About Smash Mains 2021

Smash mains is a highly personalized and intensive handholding program for the crème-de-la-crème (veterans) amongst UPSC aspirants (the intake is 50 students).

Note: The Entry Restricted to those who have given mains in the past 2 years and have failed to score high marks.

It’s a three-phased program under personalized guidance by Sajal sir. The focus is on identifying and highlighting the issues with your preparation (information / analysis / utilization). According to your strength and weaknesses, a tailor-made strategy is developed. And it is worked on under Sajal sir’s strict monitoring, aiming for incremental improvements every day, after every session with Sajal sir.

Sajal sir’s marks in UPSC 2017 GS Mains paper were:

• GS Paper 1 – 132
• GS Paper 2 – 125
• GS Paper 3 – 130

It’s a three-phased program under personalized guidance by Sajal sir. The focus is on identifying and highlighting the issues with your preparation (information / analysis / utilization). According to your strength and weaknesses, a tailor-made strategy is developed. And it is worked on under Sajal sir’s strict monitoring, aiming for incremental improvements every day, after every session with Sajal sir.

Program inclusion:

1. One-to-One mentorship by Sajal sir.
2. Mains Test Series
3. Samachar Manthan – For holistic and comprehensive coverage of Current Affairs.
4. Decimate Prelims Crash Course
5. Prelims Full-Length Tests – To prepare you for prelims.
6. Exclusive membership to Smash Mains group in Civilsdaily’s Habitat.

The fact that you have been missing the cut-off with a small margin (repeatedly) tells that there are some fundamental issues with your approach. The answers to which you might or might not have. For bringing the change you have to work upon its execution as well. (Realization is not enough). And bringing that to fruition is not possible in isolation. Now onwards, it should be a guided process under a meticulously designed plan.

It is all about redesigning the machinery which is unable to convert your knowledge and analysis into marks in Mains. And you know it – Fewer marks in mains, very low chances of seeing your name in the final list.

What makes Smash Mains unique?

Individual attention and approachability are the USPs of this program.

Not putting Penguins among the Fowls – You already know how to write an average answer (you’re missing it by a few marks actually). You want to know how to increase your score from 90 to 110-115. The approach followed by other institutes in their Test series is the same for a veteran and a complete newbie and here lies the problem. Without personalized one-to-one interaction with someone like Sajal sir (who has scored these awesome marks), it will be difficult for you to rectify these minute yet very important shortcomings.

Evaluation is a strength of this program and we put it on a high priority. Sajal sir himself is involved in the process, unlike other institutes where evaluation is outsourced to those who themselves might not have appeared for mains (It’s bizarre). It shouldn’t be based on ‘model answers’ as there are 3-4 ways of approaching an answer. Only a seasoned player will be able to go beyond these model answers and be able to appreciate your approach (If it’s innovative) even if it differs from the model answers provided.

Test copies get checked in a time-bound manner. The questions, answers and material provided are of the highest quality.

Always on time and insightful discussions end with a reality check and motivation to perform better in the next test.

Emphasis on execution and utilization of knowledge – Mains is not only about knowledge but the way you express the relevant knowledge in the most optimum manner.

Sajal sir’s interventions are highly specific and not generalized. Sitting right in front of you he walks you through each and every question. Always there, he will not let you lose your focus.

We deliver what we promise.

Progression of the program:

Phase 1: Identifying the fundamental flaws in your Answers. Working on them with Sajal sir.

Phase 2: Prelims- This is the first hurdle. Decimate Prelims course will be provided here. We’ll work on strategy and the way to attempt a prelims paper here.

Phase 3: After Prelims- Mains Test series each followed by one-to-one detailed and in-depth interaction with Sajal sir. Final refinements are done in this phase. Value addition material, as well as pointers, will be provided here.

What you have to do?

As it’s a limited intake program a sieving process has been put in place by us. Please do the following:
1. Send your last Mains scorecard to sajal@civilsdaily.com .
2. We’ll send you one Civilsdaily’s GS Mains test, write it, submit it. It’ll be followed by evaluation and an on-call discussion with Sajal sir.
3. Or send your already attempted and evaluated test copies (at least 3) to sajal@civilsdaily.com

What our students have to say about Smash Mains?

Read this answer here. Other answers here

Important Announcement:  Topics to be covered on 1st February

GS-1  Role of women and women’s organization.

GS-4 Attitude.

Question 1)

Analyse the rise of social media as a consequence of lacunae in the traditional Indian society. 10 marks

Question 2)

Over the last few years, there has been increasing evidence of the government and external partners working together on complex policy problems. In light of this, examine the advantages of a partnership with the private sector for governance. Also, explain the meaning of thought partnership and its implications for policymaking. 10 marks

Question 3)

Despite growing levels of agriculture credit, small farmers still lack access to it. What are the reasons for it. Suggest the measures to deal with the issue. 10 marks

Question 4)  

Discuss the ethical aspects involved in regulation of betting and gambling. 10 marks

Reviews will be provided in a week. (In the order of submission- First come first serve basis). In case the answer is submitted late the review period may get extended to two weeks.

*In case your answer is not reviewed in a week, reply to your answer saying *NOT CHECKED*. If Parth Sir’s tag is available then tag him.

For the philosophy of AWE and payment, check  here: Click2Join

Important Announcement:  Topics to be covered on 27th January

GS-1  Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India. 

GS-4 Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration.

Question 1)

Assess the role of Indian Civil Services in facilitating and furthering the British Rule in India. 10 marks

Question 2)

How Socio-Economic and Caste Census is different from the Census? How linking and syncing of these data with other databases could help in the governance? 10 marks

Question 3)

As per the OECD methodology, net support provided by Indian government to its farmers is negative for the year 2019. However, India’s expenditure on agriculture is consistently rising. What explains this conundrum? What are the concerns for India in the price support method of OECD? 10 marks

Question 4)  

What is the objective of the Right to Information Act? Evaluate the ethics underlying the provisions of this Act. 10 marks

Reviews will be provided in a week. (In the order of submission- First come first serve basis). In case the answer is submitted late the review period may get extended to two weeks.

*In case your answer is not reviewed in a week, reply to your answer saying *NOT CHECKED*. If Parth Sir’s tag is available then tag him.

For the philosophy of AWE and payment, check  here: Click2Join

The second Decimate Prelims Open(free) Test 2021 will be live tomorrow. – 24th Jan.

To help you understand your current preparation level before the start of our DECIMATE PRELIMS 2021 program three Free prelims tests were scheduled on 17th Jan, 24th Jan, and 31st Jan 2021.

How to give the test?

After registering for the test follow these steps:

• Go to https://prelims.civilsdaily.com/login/
• Log in with your username and password
• Go to learn tab
• Find the decimate prelims open test there.

You’ll also receive links in your email inbox.

Other details:

1. Price- FREE
2. These are full-length tests- 100 questions, 2hrs
3. Mode- Online, in English

What to do after enrolling in the test?

If you hvaent attempted the first test yet, attempt it. Take some rest. Test solutions and explanations will be emailed to you as soon as you submit the test. Check your All India Ranking. 

Quickly go through the solutions. Join us on this (click) Habitat group for the discussions and for doubts. We’ll discuss on how to proceed from there.

3rd Free Decimate Prelims Open Test will be held on 31st Jan 2021. Register for free below.

Click here to enroll for Decimate Prelims 2021

What is Decimate Prelims 2021?

Decimate Prelims 2021 @ Habitat is a three-phased program that ensures full coverage of current affairs syllabus, related static parts, tests, intensive discussions, and revision.

We’re going more intensive and comprehensive to make sure that you comfortably go beyond 130+ marks and literally decimate prelims.

UPSC is evolving, are you? Bury the old ways of IAS Prelims preparation

Decimate Prelims 2021 progression – 3 Phases

Click here to enroll for Decimate Prelims 2021

Economics for UPSC IAS prelims is a tricky affair for many aspirants. The breadth and complexity of topics keeps them doubtful and confused about the approach to be followed to cover the syllabus.

Watch Sajal sir provide his insights on the Economics syllabus and trend analysis of Economics PYQs in IAS Prelims exam. He has also discussed the approach you should be following for IAS prelims 2021 exam.

Sajal sir will be taking up the module of Economics in Decimate Prelims 2021 program (crash course for IAS pre 2021). You can discuss and connect with him on Habitat as well.

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Reminder- 2nd IAS prelims Free test

2nd Free Decimate Prelims Open Test will be held on 24th Jan 2021. Register for free below.

Click here to enroll for Decimate Prelims 2021

What is Decimate Prelims 2021?

Decimate Prelims 2021 @ Habitat is a three-phased program that ensures full coverage of current affairs syllabus, related static parts, tests, intensive discussions, and revision.

We’re going more intensive and comprehensive to make sure that you comfortably go beyond 130+ marks and literally decimate prelims.

UPSC is evolving, are you? Bury the old ways of IAS Prelims preparation

Decimate Prelims 2021 progression – 3 Phases

Click here to enroll for Decimate Prelims 2021

Essay writing is an art as well as a skill that must be learned and practiced. But for most of the aspirants, it is a bane of their lives.

Since it’s the right time to start focussing on Essay writing (and not postpone it after prelims) Ajay Verma sir will be live with you for an interactive session on Essay writing where he will be unraveling the mystery of UPSC IAS Essays.

Time and Date: 8 pm, 22 Jan. Click on the video and set a reminder. Join free Essay Writing group on Habitat (click)

https://youtu.be/ieXWF4yKico

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Another reminder, the 2nd Free Decimate Prelims Open Test will be held on 24th Jan 2021. Click below to register for free.

Important Announcement:  Topics to be covered on 25th January

GS-1  Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues. 

GS-4 Case Studies.

Question 1)

Discuss the key features and significance of folk dance of North Eastern India. 10 marks

Question 2)

With a view to the contentious issue of delay in the carrying out the death penalty, do you think that India should abolish the death penalty? Give reasons in support of your argument. 10 marks

Question 3)

Digital corporations can operate in a market without a physical presence. The current basis for taxing in a particular jurisdiction is a notion of a fixed place of business. In light of this, examine the challenges in taxing the digital companies and how India is dealing with such a challenge? 10 marks

Question 4)  

Explain tolerance and compassion in Indian context. How effectively can tolerance and compassion be used by the respective authority in the process of decision making in public administration? 10 marks

Reviews will be provided in a week. (In the order of submission- First come first serve basis). In case the answer is submitted late the review period may get extended to two weeks.

*In case your answer is not reviewed in a week, reply to your answer saying *NOT CHECKED*. If Parth Sir’s tag is available then tag him.

For the philosophy of AWE and payment, check  here: Click2Join

Important Announcement:  Topics to be covered on 22nd January

GS-1  Salient aspects of art forms, literature and
Architecture from ancient to modern times. 

GS-4 Human Values – lessons from the lives and teachings of great leaders, reformers and administrators; role of family, society and educational institutions in inculcating values. 

Question 1)

Examine the biological significance of soil and give a bio-climatic classification of the soils found on the surface of the earth. 10 marks

Question 2)

It is only when the people value and protect the freedom of expression and celebrate the culture of dissent democracy flourishes. Comment. 10 marks

Question 3)

What is deepfakes and the treats posed by it? Also mention the ways to deal with the threats associated with it. 10 marks

Question 4)  

The term ‘governance’, ‘good governance’ and ‘ethical governance’ though appear alike, mean different in our society. In this context, compare and contrast these terms in the light of governance structure in India. 10 marks

Reviews will be provided in a week. (In the order of submission- First come first serve basis). In case the answer is submitted late the review period may get extended to two weeks.

*In case your answer is not reviewed in a week, reply to your answer saying *NOT CHECKED*. If Parth Sir’s tag is available then tag him.

For the philosophy of AWE and payment, check  here: Click2Join

Important Announcement:  Topics to be covered on 21st January

GS-1  Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian subcontinent).

GS-4 Work culture, Quality of service delivery, Utilization of public funds, challenges of corruption.

Question 1)

Discuss the starring role and influences of Basavanna as a social reformer. 10 marks

Question 2)

India-Nepal ties are in a new transition after a brief interregnum in ties owing to some issues. In light of this, examine the issues that affect the relationship between the two countries and progress made on the various new initiatives. 10 marks

Question 3)

What is Bad Bank? What are the challenges it could face in the Indian context? 10 marks

Question 4)  

“Good governance and anti-corruption measures as central to its poverty alleviation mission.” Discuss. 10 marks

Reviews will be provided in a week. (In the order of submission- First come first serve basis). In case the answer is submitted late the review period may get extended to two weeks.

*In case your answer is not reviewed in a week, reply to your answer saying *NOT CHECKED*. If Parth Sir’s tag is available then tag him.

For the philosophy of AWE and payment, check  here: Click2Join