Relevance: GS-2 (Polity) & GS-3 (Economy, Agriculture, Science & Tech) | Source: The Indian Express

1. ECLGS 5.0: Saving Stressed Industries

What is the issue? The ongoing conflict in West Asia (Red Sea blockade) has severely broken global supply chains. Shipping goods has become delayed, and fuel costs have shot up. This has left domestic Indian industries struggling for cash.

The Solution: The Cabinet has launched the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme 5.0 (ECLGS 5.0).

• How it works: It is a “Guarantee Scheme.” This means the government promises to repay the banks if a business fails to repay the loan. Because the government takes the risk, banks can confidently give emergency loans to struggling businesses without asking for collateral (security).

Who gets the help?

• For MSMEs (Small Businesses):
  • The Problem: Their cash is stuck due to delayed export shipments.
  • The Relief: They can take an extra loan of up to 20% of their working capital (maximum Rs 100 crore).
  • Administrative Benefit: The loan is for 5 years, with a 1-year “moratorium” (a break where they don’t have to repay the principal amount). This lifeline stops them from becoming failed accounts (NPAs) for the banks.
• For the Aviation Sector (Airlines):
  • The Problem: Airlines are bleeding money because they have to fly longer routes to avoid war zones, and jet fuel (ATF) has become very expensive.
  • The Relief: They get a much bigger lifeline. They can take loans up to 100% of their outstanding debt (maximum Rs 1,500 crore) to be repaid comfortably over 7 years.

2. Expanding the Supreme Court (Polity)

What is the news? To quickly clear the massive backlog of pending cases and form larger benches for important constitutional matters, the Cabinet has decided to make the Supreme Court bigger.

• The Numbers: The total strength of the Supreme Court will increase from 34 judges to 38 judges (including the Chief Justice of India).
• The Constitutional Rule (UPSC Focus): Under Article 124(1) of the Constitution, the power to increase the number of Supreme Court judges rests exclusively with the Parliament (by passing an ordinary law). The President or the Judiciary cannot increase this number on their own.

3. Push for Technology & Agriculture

The Cabinet also approved two big development missions:

• 1. Semiconductor Mission (Tech): The government approved Rs 3,936 crore to build two new microchip manufacturing plants. Significance: This is a major step towards ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ (Self-Reliance) to reduce India’s heavy dependency on China and Taiwan for critical electronics.
• 2. National Cotton Mission (Agriculture): The government approved a 5-year, Rs 5,659 crore mission to help cotton farmers.
  • The Core Issue: India is one of the world’s largest cotton producers, but our per-hectare yield (how much cotton grows on one piece of land) is very low. This is mainly due to severe pest attacks (like the Pink Bollworm) and climate stress. This mission will provide farmers with modern seeds and planting techniques to boost their income and help the textile industry.

UPSC Value Box

• Moratorium: A legally authorized temporary break or delay in paying back a loan.
• NCGTC: National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company. It is the government body that actually provides the loan guarantees to the banks under the ECLGS scheme.
• Pink Bollworm: A highly destructive insect pest that eats the cotton flower and seeds, causing massive financial losses to Indian cotton farmers.

With reference to recent administrative decisions and constitutional provisions, consider the following statements:

1. Under Article 124 of the Constitution, the President of India holds the exclusive power to increase the maximum number of judges in the Supreme Court.
2. The Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) provides 100% guarantee coverage to banks to enable them to provide emergency credit facilities to stressed sectors.
3. Despite having the largest area under cotton cultivation globally, India suffers from a significantly low per-hectare cotton yield compared to the global average.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3

Correct Answer: (b)