What to Read in Indian Express Editorial( Topic and Syllabus wise)

Editorial 1: From farm to shelf

Context

Gyanish Kumar Mishra, a young entrepreneur, with support from the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) scheme, has transformed a traditional crop — foxnut, or makhana — into a nationally recognised brand of flavoured snacks.

A remarkable arc of change

• History reflects the broader vision of India’s food processing mission: To turn local strengths into global opportunities.
• From Kashmir to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, micro-entrepreneurs are embracing formalisation and entering new markets.
• There is a structural transformation underway, aligning the strength of rural India with the momentum of national growth.
• With reforms to enhance Ease of Doing Business, industries today are empowered with greater autonomy and policy support.
• Amidst this broader transformation, the food processing sector has emerged as one of the most potent instruments of inclusive growth, agri-industrial integration, and global engagement.

Initiatives to encourage

• A few years ago, the food processing landscape was fragmented, with rampant post-harvest losses and unrealised value from agricultural produce.
• In 2014, the gross value addition of the sector stood at Rs 1.34 lakh crore. Today, following sustained policy focus and institutional drive, that figure has risen to Rs 2.24 lakh crore.
• At the forefront of this transformation stands the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, whose flagship schemes have created a supportive environment across the entire spectrum of the food processing sector.
• Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana, numerous projects have boosted food processing capacity, attracted major private investment, benefited farmers, and generated significant employment.
• Launched under Atmanirbhar Bharat, the PMFME scheme aims to empower unorganised micro food enterprisesthrough formalisation, training, and credit access. It has supported thousands of loans and SHG members across the country.
• A robust foundation for skill development and entrepreneurship has been laid under the scheme, with over one lakh individuals trained across the country.
• To foster innovation and support early-stage enterprises, 75 incubation centres have been approved.
• The scheme has also launched 17 distinctive regional brands, each rooted in local heritage.
• Further along the value chain, the Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Food Processing Industriesis catalysing industrial capacity and formal job creation.

Boosting Food Processing and Innovation

• To boost food safety and export readiness, the Union Budget 2024–25 announced 50 multi-product irradiation units to cut post-harvest losses and 100 NABL-accredited labsto enhance quality assurance across the value chain.
• Further, in a landmark step to promote regional specialties, the government has also announced the establishment of a National Makhana Board, aimed at boosting value addition, branding, and global positioning of this unique superfood from India.
• NIFTEM-Kundli and NIFTEM-Thanjavur, Institutes of National Importance, functioning under the aegis of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries are shaping the next generation of food technologists and entrepreneurs.
• India’s growing leadership in the global food economy finds powerful expression through World Food India — the Ministry’s flagship international platformfor investment, innovation, and collaboration.
• Yet, the most profound impact of this decade remains rooted in rural India. Food processing has become a force for grassroots transformation.
• In Bastar, Chhattisgarh, a tribal kitchen supported by the PMFME scheme has turned Mahua flowers into products like chocolates and tea,preserving heritage while reaching national and global markets.

Conclusion

Our goal is unambiguous: To ensure that every shelf in the world carries a product that proudly bears the name of India — and behind every such product stands a story of collective prosperity and national pride.

 

Editorial 2: Our moral paralysis

Context

Worldwide reactions to the US attack on Iran demonstrate once again that we live in an age of moral paralysis.

Global moral paralysis

• The refusal to speak up is not born out of a genuine ambiguity, complexity or confusion. This is fear in the face of capricious power.
• This pathetic spectacle of morality turned upside down does not affect us all equally. As with every episode of moral equivocation, there are perpetrators of evil and their collaborators who stand to gain.
• Then there are losers, direct or indirect, and bystanders. As we know from the last episode of global moral paralysis — the failure of European powers in the 1930s to act in time against Adolf Hitler— such abdication comes back to haunt everyone.
• There is no clear evidence that Iran was about to make atom bombs soon. The global inspector of those weapons, the IAEA, does not think Iran is anywhere close to making nuclear weapons.
• The U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear sites highlights a double standard: critics scrutinize Iran’s minor IAEA deviations while ignoring how the U.S. action breaches UN resolutions and the NPT.
• While there is some attention on whether POTUS may have violated US laws, there is little discussion on how the US action has violated every international law and convention.

A case of moral bankruptcy

• While the U.S. masks its aggression, global leaders like Macron and Starmer urge restraint—from Iran, the victim.
• Their calls reek of hypocrisy, shifting blame onto the attacked and ignoring blatant violationsof the NPT.
• Even Iran’s FM noted he was negotiating till the day before. Regional powers stay silent out of self-interest, not principle.
• That Russia and China—hardly moral beacons—offer the clearest condemnation underscores the West’s double standards and moral decay.

Position of India

• In a morally paralyzed world, India’s silence disappoints. We were told it had found an independent voice—above camps and ideologies—but it, too, has diminished itself.
• So far in this global redefining moment, India has been a bystander. No one seems to think that the country that was once seen to be the voice of the Global South matters in this instance.
• Worse, we have let down Iran, an old ally that stood with us in difficult times and went out of its way to evacuate our stranded citizens.
• India’s PM expressed “concern” to Iran’s President but avoided mentioning the US strikes—no condemnation, regret, or call for ceasefire. Unsurprising from a government that couldn’t back a Gaza ceasefire at the UN.

Conclusion

We are told that this is the new “realism”, a smart approach to advance our national interest, unconstrained by moralism. History tells us otherwise. Too-clever-by-half and momentary pursuits of selfish interest get you the worst of both worlds: You don’t get respect, nor do you protect your interests. You need friends and some principles to survive in the real world.