Withdraw Cash From an ATM Through UPI
Context:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed to make cardless cash withdrawal facility available at all ATMs, irrespective of banks, through the Unified Payment Interface (UPI), one of the key decisions made by the RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).
Relevance:
GS III- Indian Economy
Dimensions of the Article:
- What is Unified Payments Interface (UPI)?
- How will cash withdrawals via UPI work?
- Current ways of cardless cash withdrawals at ATMs
- Could this impact debit card usage?
- What’s next in the UPI pipeline?
What is Unified Payments Interface (UPI)?
- Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank), merging several banking features, seamless fund routing & merchant payments into one hood.
- UPI, which was introduced in 2016, has become one of the most used digital payments platforms in the country.
- The volume of UPI transactions has already reached ₹76 lakh crore in the current year, compared to ₹41 lakh crore in FY21 ,
- Advantages of UPI Includes – Immediate money transfer through mobile device round the clock 24*7 and 365 days.
- UPI Enables Single mobile application for accessing different bank accounts with Single Click 2 Factor Authentication – Aligned with the Regulatory guidelines yet provides for a very strong feature of seamless single click payment.
- It also features Virtual address of the customer for Pull & Push providing for incremental security with the customer not required to enter the details such as Card no, Account number; IFSC etc.
How will cash withdrawals via UPI work?
- While the RBI did not disclose specific details on how the process will work, a person having knowledge about the matter said ATMs soon will show an option to withdraw cash using UPI.
- Upon selecting that option, a user would have to add the amount they wish to withdraw following which a QR code would be generated on the ATM machine.
- The user would then have to scan that code on their UPI app and enter their pin following which the ATM will dispense cash.
- Allowing cash withdrawals through UPI would increase the security of such transactions.
Current ways of cardless cash withdrawals at ATMs
- At the moment, a few banks such as ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI, allow their users to withdraw cash from their ATMs without a card, a feature introduced in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Users have to install apps of their respective banks and first select the option of cardless cash withdrawal on the app, followed by adding beneficiary details and the withdrawal amount.
- After confirming the mobile number of a user, the bank will send an OTP and a nine-digit order ID to the beneficiary’s phone.
- Post that, the beneficiary would have to visit an ATM and key-in the OTP, order ID, amount for transaction and mobile number to get the cash.
Cardless cash withdrawals have certain limits as well —
- Such withdrawals start from Rs 100 per transaction and have an upper limit put in place by respective banks. For HDFC Bank users, such withdrawals are restricted to a maximum of Rs 10,000 each day and Rs 25,000 per month.
- Such withdrawals also come with a service fee of Rs 25 per transaction.
- At the moment, it is unclear whether UPI-based cash withdrawals would also be subject to the same restrictions and service fee.
- RBI Governor said that the RBI would soon send separate instructions to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), ATM networks and banks.
Could this impact debit card usage?
- Debit cards are currently the most popular way of cash withdrawals at ATMs.
- As of now, there are more than 900 million debit cards in the country, and experts have cautioned that allowing cash withdrawals through UPI could negatively impact debit card usage.
- First-order impact on debit cards as this step would reduce the need to carry debit cards.
- Second-order impact on other payment forms such as credit cards and wallets since this step seems to promote ubiquity of the UPI.
- RBI Governor clarified that the issuance of debit cards would not stop due to the move since they have other uses beyond cash withdrawals, a sentiment also echoed by some industry stakeholders.
What’s next in the UPI pipeline?
- It is projected that in the next 3-5 years, UPI would be processing a billion transactions a day, and to enable that, a number of initiatives have been introduced.
- Chief among these is UPI’s AutoPay feature, which has already seen increased adoption owing to RBI’s disruptive guidelines on recurring mandates.
- The RBI has also announced UPI on feature phones without an Internet connection, which is expected to open up the payments system to more than 40 crore individuals who use such devices.
- This will expand digital financial inclusion and add to the number of transactions made on the platform.
Why Sowing Maize In Spring Is Not A Good Choice For Punjab Farmers
Context:
As per the initial field report of the Punjab Agriculture department, around 35,000 hectares (86,450 acres) are being used for the cultivation of spring/summer maize.
- Utilizing more area for maize cultivation is always a welcome move in a state like Punjab where maize is seen as an alternative to the water-guzzling paddy crop. But growing maize during spring is not always a good choice in Punjab.
Relevance:
GS I- Geography (Cropping patterns)
Dimensions of the Article:
- Why do farmers opt for sowing of spring maize in the state?
- Why do experts discourage sowing spring maize in the state?
- Which crops can be an alternative to spring maize in the state?
- What is cropping pattern?
- Rabi Crops
- Kharif Crops
- Zaid Crops
Why do farmers opt for sowing of spring maize in the state?
- Before paddy sowing, which starts by mid-June and ends by early July, the fields of potato growers remain empty.
- During this time, from February to mid-June, farmers prefer to grow one more crop before paddy.
- Therefore, spring maize is a good option as it is a 120-122 days’ crop and it is also harvested by June.
- During spring, maize of hybrid quality is grown the yield of which is very high.
- Farmers get 90 to 100 quintals per hectare during spring, which is quite a high yield.
- If they get a good rate, which happens rarely, and if it is at par with the MSP decided by the centre government, which is around Rs 1900 per quintal, then they can earn a huge amount due to the high yield.
Why do experts discourage sowing spring maize in the state?
- From March to June, the temperature in the state is very high and the sunshine hours are also long.
- The temperature starts rising from March from 35 degree centigrade to 45 degree in June.
- Also, the average sunshine hours remain between 9 to 9.5 hours.
- Due to high temperature, the water gets evaporated soon and frequent watering of the maize crop is needed in peak summer season. This affects the water table drastically.
Which crops can be an alternative to spring maize in the state?
- Experts said that summer moong and sunflower crops are the best alternatives.
- Summer moong is a 70-day crop and sunflower is a 100-day crop. While summer moong needs only 3-4 irrigations, sunflower also takes 25-30% less water than summer maize.
- Both the crops are extremely vital in the country as India imports 2.5 million tonnes sunflower oil every year and also 2-3 million tonnes of pulses.
- Even Punjab meets 85% of its requirement of pulses from other states. Growing pluses also improves soil health.
- Apart from these, mash pulse, vegetables, sugarcane and green manure, which enhances the fertility of the soil, can be grown in spring.
What is cropping pattern?
Cropping pattern is basically the nature and variety of crops grown both spatially and temporally in an area or a geographical region. In spatial terms, it is what different type of crops grown in adjacent lands of a region. In temporal terms, it is the nature of crops that are taken up in a specific land over different agrarian seasons of a year (like kharif-rainy, rabi-winter, zaid-summer). It depends upon following factors:
- Infrastructure facilities: Irrigation, transport, storage, trade and marketing, post-harvest handling and processing etc.
- Socio-economic factors: Financial resource base, land ownership, size and type of land holding, household needs of food, fodder, fuel, fibre and finance, and labour availability etc.
- Technological factors: Enhanced varieties, cultural requirements, mechanization, plant protection, access to information, etc.
Rabi Crops
- Rabi crops are sown in winter from October to December and harvested in summer from April to June.
- Some of the important rabi crops are wheat, barley, peas, gram and mustard.
- Though, these crops are grown in large parts of India, states from the north and north-western parts such as Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh are important for the production of wheat and other rabi crops.
- Availability of precipitation during winter months due to the western Temperate Cyclones help in the success of these crops.
- However, the success of the green revolution in Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and parts of Rajasthan has also been an important factor in the growth of the abovementioned rabi crops.
Kharif Crops
- Kharif crops are grown with the onset of monsoon in different parts of the country and these are harvested in September-October.
- Important crops grown during this season are paddy, maize, jowar, bajra, tur (arhar), moong, urad, cotton, jute, groundnut and soyabean.
- Some of the most important rice-growing regions are Assam, West Bengal, coastal regions of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra, particularly the (Konkan coast) along with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
- Recently, paddy has also become an important crop of Punjab and Haryana. In states like Assam, West Bengal and Odisha, three crops of paddy are grown in a year. These are Aus, Aman and Boro.
Zaid Crops
- In between the rabi and the kharif seasons, there is a short season during the summer months known as the Zaid season.
- Some of the crops produced during ‘zaid’ are watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber vegetables and fodder crops. Sugarcane takes almost a year to grow.
Great Indian Bustard
Context:
The Supreme Court of India sought an update April 1, 2022 from the committee formed for making power lines underground in Rajasthan and Gujarat ordered a year ago.
- The habitat of the state bird of Rajasthan — the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) or Godavan — is under threat due to the zigzag web of high-tension power lines through the sacred groves of Jaisalmer. The sacred groves of the Degrai Oran and adjoining area are few of the last remaining habitats of the GIB.
Relevance:
Prelims, GS-III: Environment and Ecology (Species in News, Conservation of Biodiversity)
Dimensions of the Article:
- About the Great Indian Bustard
- About the Habitat of Great Indian Bustard
- On the brink of extinction
About the Great Indian Bustard
- The Great Indian Bustard is one of the heaviest flying birds in the world often found associated in the same habitat as blackbuck.
- GIBs are the largest among the four bustard species found in India, the other three being MacQueen’s bustard, lesser florican and the Bengal florican.
- The GIB is Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, and comes under the Appendix I of CITES, and Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
- Threats to the GIB include widespread hunting for sport and food, and activities such as mining, stone quarrying, excess use of pesticides, grassland conversion and power projects along with the expansion of roads and infrastructures such as wind-turbines and power cables.
About the Habitat of Great Indian Bustard
- The Great Indian Bustard’s habitat includes Arid and semi-arid grasslands with scattered short scrub, bushes and low intensity cultivation in flat or gently undulating terrain. It avoids irrigated areas.
- GIBs’ historic range included much of the Indian sub-continent but it has now shrunken to just 10 per cent of it.
- Among the heaviest birds with flight, GIBs prefer grasslands as their habitats. Being terrestrial birds, they spend most of their time on the ground with occasional flights to go from one part of their habitat to the other.
- GIBs are considered the flagship bird species of grassland and hence barometers of the health of grassland ecosystems.
- They feed on insects, lizards, grass seeds etc.
On the brink of extinction
- In 2020, the Central government had told the 13th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) held in Gandhinagar, that the GIB population in India had fallen to just 150.
- Of the 150 birds in 2020, over 120 birds were in Rajasthan, some were in Kutch district of Gujarat and a few in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
- Pakistan is also believed to host a few GIBs.
- Due to the species’ smaller population size, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has categorised GIBs as critically endangered, thus on the brink of extinction from the wild.
- Scientists of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) have been pointing out overhead power transmission lines as the biggest threat to the GIBs.
PM Kisan
Context:
The Prime Minister has said that PM Kisan Samman Nidhi and other schemes related to agriculture are giving new strength to crores of farmers of our country. Underlining the strength of farmers, he said that when farmers become stronger, the nation prospers.
Relevance:
GS II- Welfare Schemes
Dimensions of the Article:
- About PM KISAN
- Some of the categories of beneficiaries who are NOT eligible for benefit under this scheme are:
About PM KISAN
Nodal: Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
- The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme is a Central Sector Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Scheme.
- Under the scheme an income support of 6,000/- per year in three equal installments will be provided to small and marginal farmer families having combined land holding/ownership of upto 2 hectares.
- The Scheme initially provided income support to all Small and Marginal Farmers’ families across the country, holding cultivable land upto 2 hectares.
- Its ambit was later expanded to cover all farmer families in the country irrespective of the size of their land holdings.
- Definition of family for the scheme is husband, wife and minor children.
- State Government and UT administration will identify the farmer families which are eligible for support as per scheme guidelines.
- The fund will be directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
- There are various Exclusion Categories for the scheme.
Some of the categories of beneficiaries who are NOT eligible for benefit under this scheme are:
- Any institutional land-holders.
- The farmer as well as any member of the family belonging to the following categories:
- Former and present holders of constitutional posts
- Former and present Ministers/ State Ministers
- Former or present members of LokSabha/ RajyaSabha/ State Legislative Assemblies/ State Legislative Councils
- Former and present Mayors of Municipal Corporations
- Former and present Chairpersons of District Panchayats.
- Any serving or retired officers as well as employees under the Central/ State Government Ministries /Offices/Departments.
- All retired pensioners who get a monthly pension of Rs.10,000/-or more and belonging to the above category.
- Any individual who paid their income tax in the last assessment year is not eligible under this scheme.
- Professionals like Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Chartered Accountants, and Architects registered with Professional bodies and carrying out profession by undertaking practices.
