12 Dec 2023 : The Hindu Editorial

Editorial 1 : Harvest the Odsiha story to ensure food security.

Context: With climate change threatening global food productivity, Odisha’s efforts in climate-proofing its agricultural system have resulted in a unique development model.

Introduction

• As the world’s leaders are in a huddle for COP28, or the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (November 30 to December 12, 2023), in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, the worsening impact of the climate crisis paints a grim picture for the planet, peace and prosperity.
• As the world witnesses a worsening global food crisis precipitated by the mounting climate crisis, spiralling conflicts and distressed livelihoods, Odisha’s transformational journey is increasingly being cited as a model and a source of ideas for creating food security that is built around equity and sustainability.
• Odisha’s story has three specific themes in the current scenario: how the State strengthened food security by transforming agriculture through a community-driven approach and built resilience to climate impact.

Agricultural transformation

• In the past two decades, Odisha has moved from importing rice from other States and making ends meet in the pre-2000s to, in 2022, producing 13.606 million tonnes of food grains, its highest production on record.
• There are two notable aspects: a majority of farmers are small/marginal, and productivity has increased despite stable crop area. The average rice yield, which is Odisha’s main crop, has tripled in two decades. In 2000-01, the average yield was 10.41 quintals per hectare, but by 2020-21, it had increased to 27.30 quintals per hectare.
• Kalahandi district was known as the “land of hunger,” but has now been transformed into Odisha’s rice bowl. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik shared this at the United Nations World Food Programme headquarters, where he addressed Odisha’s commitment towards achieving the ‘Zero Hunger’ goal of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2.
• The focus is on small and marginal farmers and increasing their income. This has directly contributed to strengthening their food security and creating resilient livelihoods.
• Implementing flagship schemes such as Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) and disseminating scientific crop management practices through conventional and digital extension have increased non-paddy crop cultivation, while paddy cultivation has decreased. Schemes such as the Odisha Millet Mission have also helped diversify crops and promote climate resilience.

Resilience and sustainability

• Due to its geographical location and physical conditions, Odisha is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. This phenomenon can disrupt current growth strategies and exacerbate poverty, as it may lead to a loss of life, livelihoods, assets, and infrastructure. Odisha has proactively developed a comprehensive Climate Change Action Plan to address these concerns.
• This plan covers various sectors, including agriculture, coastal zone protection, energy, fisheries and animal resources, forests, health, industries, mining, transport, and urban and water resources.
• The approach towards climate resilience is being developed from the bottom up. The Crop Weather Watch Group conducts weekly meetings, sees field visits by officers, and has video conferences to monitor the crop programme.
• This helps the authorities to take necessary measures during adverse weather conditions such as cyclones, floods, and droughts, which are frequent in the State.
• Crop planning is done at the district level by officials of allied departments, considering the agro-climatic zone. Farmers are adopting climate-resilient cultivation practices, that include integrated farming, zero-input-based natural farming, non-paddy crops, better water management, water-saving devices, e-pest surveillance, and large-scale farm mechanisation with women-friendly drudgery-reducing farm implements.
• Training farmers in crop-specific techniques, including integrated nutrient and pest management, has boosted food grains production.

Social protection

• The consistent improvement of the agricultural sector has made Odisha a surplus State for paddy production. It is the fourth most significant contributor to the paddy pool of the Food Corporation of India.
• According to the available statistics for 2020-21, Odisha produces 9% of the total rice in India and accounts for 4.22% of the total food-grain production of the country.
• The partnership between the United Nations World Food Programme and the Government of Odisha has seen innovation for pilots on improving food and nutrition security schemes, such as the application of biometric technology in the Targeted Public Distribution System in remote Rayagada district back in 2007, or rice fortification in Gajapati district, to name a few.
• In the State Ranking Index for the National Food Security Act by the Department of Food and Public Distribution, Government of India, for 2022, Odisha emerged as the top-ranked State in the entire country. The WFP collaborates with the Government of Odisha on its food security, livelihood and climate resilience initiatives.

Conclusion

• Odisha’s transformative journey, from food grains scarcity to the generation of surplus, sustained efforts in climate-proofing its agricultural system, crop diversification, protection of the interest of the smallholders, and food and nutrition security for the vulnerable presents a unique development model for other States in the context of the challenges of global climate change.

Editorial 2 : Decoding Putin’s dramatic visit to the Gulf

Context: Vladimir Putin’s recent interactions with Gulf leaders have brought Russia into the mainstream of West Asian affairs and affirmed that the Sino-Russian alliance will challenge U.S. hegemony.

Introduction

• Russian President Vladimir Putin, largely confined to the Kremlin due to western restrictions, on December 6 dramatically set out on whirlwind tours to Abu Dhabi and Riyadh in one day.
• The next day, he received Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Moscow. And on December 8, Mr. Putin announced that he would be standing for elections in 2024, affirming that he would be leading Russia at least up to 2030 and possibly beyond.

Talks in the Gulf

• A Russian spokesman described the talks in the Gulf capitals as “a concentrated shot”. The agenda was self-evident: continued cooperation among “OPEC +” members on oil policy; exchange of views on the Ukraine and Gaza conflicts; increasing humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians trapped in Gaza; and enhancing bilateral-political-economic ties.
• Cooperation among “OPEC +” countries led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, for instance, has ensured that the agreed production cuts are adhered to and oil prices, much to the U.S.’s chagrin, remain at levels that serve the producers’ interests.
• Despite their long-standing alliance with the U.S., both the UAE and Saudi Arabia have in recent years been asserting “strategic autonomy” and have prioritised expanding ties with China and Russia. The UAE is now Russia’s most important trade partner in the Gulf. Neither the UAE nor Saudi Arabia have supported the U.S.-sponsored sanctions on Russia or criticised the latter for the Ukraine war.
• In fact, thousands of Russians have set up alternative homes, businesses, and investments in the UAE. Cooperation is thriving between the two countries in the technology sector. As a result, the West has placed the UAE under scrutiny to ensure that restrictions on export of hi-tech products to Russia are complied with.
• Russia has also conveyed it is standing by to support Saudi Arabia’s civilian nuclear programme at the opportune moment.
• Iran and Russia, as targets of increasingly onerous western sanctions, challenge the West’s global strategic leadership and seek the realisation of a multipolar world order. Flowing from this, they have built substantial bilateral relations in the energy and military areas: in March this year, the Russian, Chinese and Iranian navies carried out joint exercises in the Gulf of Oman.
• In November, it was reported that Iran would get Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft from Russia, as also training aircraft and attack helicopters. Iran has boosted Russia’s military prowess in Ukraine with supplies of drones, ammunition and body armour.

Putin’s agenda

• Putin was signalling that Russia was not isolated and that it had some close friends, such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, that, till recently, had been the U.S.’s closest allies in the region. But beyond this, Mr. Putin would have had a more ambitious agenda.
  • On the basis of Russia’s close ties with Iran, he would have told the UAE and the Kingdom that the Gaza war will not spread across the region, conveying the assurance that Iran will restrain the Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen in the interests of regional stability.
  • Putin would have sought a deeper strategic and political alignment between the Gulf Cooperation Council states and Iran, presenting Russia and China as guarantors of regional peace.
  • Putin would have sought the support of his Gulf interlocutors to the consolidation of this regional alignment so that, in the post-Gaza war scenario, they would act unitedly with Russia and China in managing regional political and diplomatic challenges, while excluding the U.S. from this arrangement.
  • Above all, Mr. Putin would have assured his Gulf interlocutors that there would be continuity in Russia’s regional approach, by giving them advance notice that he will be seeking re-election in March 2024 and lead Russia at least till the end of this decade.
  • Above all, Mr. Putin would have assured his Gulf interlocutors that there would be continuity in Russia’s regional approach, by giving them advance notice that he will be seeking re-election in March 2024 and lead Russia at least till the end of this decade.

Conclusion

• Mr. Putin’s recent interactions with Gulf leaders have brought Russia into the mainstream of West Asian affairs and affirmed that the Sino-Russian alliance will challenge U.S. hegemony and seek to redefine the regional political order.

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