1. Absence of real education READ MORE

1. Can finite objects give infinite happiness? READ MORE
2. Protection from police: CJI’s remarks should expedite steps to stop custodial torture READ MORE

1. IPCC: Overwhelming Evidence of ‘Irreversible’ Human Footprint on Climate READ MORE
2. Code red: IPCC’s warning on climate points to a small window of opportunity that still exists READ MORE
3. One way India could help both landowners and wildlife is by encouraging agroforestry READ MORE

1. Pegasus scandal points to the making of a surveillance state in India. Our freedoms are at stake READ MORE
2. When the political class unites READ MORE
3. Protection from police: CJI’s remarks should expedite steps to stop custodial torture READ MORE

(Newspapers, PIB, and other important sources)

Prelim and Main:

1. PM releases 9th installment of PM-KISAN READ MORE
2. PM Modi chairs UNSC debate, proposes 5 principles to build global maritime security road map READ MORE
3. India on track to achieve WHO-recommended doctor-population ratio NITI Aayog member Vinod Paul READ MORE
4. Explained: All you need to know about the Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2021 passed in Rajya Sabha on August 9 READ MORE
5. 11,000 crore rupees for new edible oil mission, says PM Modi READ MORE

Main exam:  

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Pegasus scandal points to the making of a surveillance state in India. Our freedoms are at stake READ MORE
2. When the political class unites READ MORE
3. Protection from police: CJI’s remarks should expedite steps to stop custodial torture READ MORE

SOCIAL JUSTICE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

1. Absence of real education READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

1. The road ahead from Gogra: While disengagement happens, a long-lasting solution along the LAC remains a challenge READ MORE
2. The importance of the Gulf in shaping the geopolitics of Afghanistan READ MORE

GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. A circular economy for plastic: The India Plastics Pact will benefit society, the economy and the environment READ MORE
2. Supporting growth outweighs inflation unease READ MORE
3. Riddle of the global minimum corporate tax rate READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. IPCC: Overwhelming Evidence of ‘Irreversible’ Human Footprint on Climate READ MORE
2. Code red: IPCC’s warning on climate points to a small window of opportunity that still exists READ MORE
3. One way India could help both landowners and wildlife is by encouraging agroforestry READ MORE

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. Can finite objects give infinite happiness? READ MORE

Questions for the MAIN exam

1. ‘For smaller economies, the 15 percent minimum corporate tax rate might look attractive, but it will be a great burden on the smaller companies operating inside the smaller economies’. Comment.
2. ‘As India has had a strained relationship with the Taliban; it should not initiate talk with Taliban’. Do you agree with the view? Analyze your view.

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• Authority does not come from the loudest voice, but the wisest.
• India is one of the most agriculturally productive landscapes in the world.
• While the recent moves towards restoring the peace are certainly welcome, finding a more long-lasting solution to ensure peace along the LAC will present a taller challenge.
• If emissions continue to rise, oceans and land, two important sinks and the latter a key part of India’s climate action plan, would be greatly weakened in their ability to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide.
• A decade later, it is quite clear, Qatar’s “peace project” in Afghanistan was about legitimising the Taliban at expense of the current political order in Afghanistan.
• Saudi Arabia and the UAE, whose interests are threatened by the Taliban’s religious extremism, are not going to sit back forever. Integration of the Gulf into India’s regional security calculus is now likely to be a permanent feature.
• The constitutional amendment on OBC reservation was needed. But it also shows the limits of political imagination.
• A robust and advanced military preparedness along the entire perimeter of our nation is the only iron-clad permanent security guarantee.
• Without the freedom to think freely, there are no rights that can be exercised by anyone. If we leave this discussion only to politicians and don’t hold them accountable this time, we are doomed to live through the death of freedom.

ESSAY TOPIC

• Intelligence is not a measurable product; it is the ability to live meaningfully.

 50-WORD TALK

• The latest IPCC report only confirms our worst fears about global warming and climate change, including for us in India. Drastic cuts in emissions now won’t reverse the damage already caused but will prevent the future from being worse. Rich countries can’t delay financing poor ones as they’re evidently equally vulnerable.
• The incendiary anti-Muslim slogans in the heart of India’s capital are an appalling call to violence. That they chanted this under the banner of Bharat Bachao Andolan is doubly troubling. Swift police action and public outrage against the organisers of this event and chanters should be unequivocal, substantive and deterrent.

Things to Remember:

• For prelims-related news try to understand the context of the news and relate with its concepts so that it will be easier for you to answer (or eliminate) from given options.
• Whenever any international place will be in news, you should do mapping work (marking those areas in maps and also exploring other geographical locations nearby including mountains, rivers, etc. same applies to the national places.)
• For economy-related news (banking, agriculture, etc.) you should focus on terms and how these are related to various economic aspects, for example, if inflation has been mentioned, try to relate with prevailing price rises, shortage of essential supplies, banking rates, etc.
• For main exam-related topics, you should focus on the various dimensions of the given topic, the most important topics which occur frequently and are important from the mains point of view will be covered in ED.
• Try to use the given content in your answer. Regular use of this content will bring more enrichment to your writing.

ART AND CULTURE

1. INDIAN INSTITUTE OF HERITAGE

THE CONTEXT: Government has decided to set up the ‘Indian Institute of Heritage’ at Noida.

ANALYSIS :

• Indian Institute of Heritage will be a world-class university-IIH would offer Masters and Ph.D. courses in History of Arts, Conservation, Musicology, Archival Studies, and Archaeology.
• The Institute is being set up as Deemed to be University by integrating Institute of Archaeology (Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya Institute of Archaeology), School of Archival Studies under National Archives of India, New Delhi, the National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property (NRLC), Lucknow, National Museum Institute of History of Art, Conservation and Museology (NMICHM) and Academic Wing of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi. These shall become various schools of Institute.
• Indian Institute of Heritage will be a world-class university that would focus on the conservation and research in India’s rich tangible heritage while offering research, development, and dissemination of knowledge, excellence in the education of its students, and activities associated with a heritage that contributes to the cultural, scientific and economic life of India.
• This would be a standalone Institution of its type in the country.

SOURCE: PIB

INDIAN POLITY, GOVERNANCE, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

2. NATIONAL EDIBLE OIL MISSION-OIL PALM (NMEO-OP)

THE CONTEXT: Prime Minister announced a National Edible Oil Mission-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) to make India self-sufficient in cooking oils, including palm oil.

Analysis:

• Rs 11,000 crore will be invested in the edible oil ecosystem.
• The country is dependent on huge imports of edible oils. Of the total oil imports, palm oil constitutes about 55 percent.
• It will benefit farmers, consumers as well as food processing industry thereby creating employment too.
• The government will ensure that farmers get all facilities, from quality seeds to technology to promote farming to produce palm oil and other oil seeds.
• The Prime Minister said north-eastern states and Andaman and the Nicobar Islands could be promoted for palm farming.
• The NMEO-OP’s predecessor was the National Mission on Oil Seeds and Oil Palm, which was launched in2014, and later in 2018-19, it was merged with the National Food Security Mission.

SOURCE: TH

3. TRIBUNALS REFORMS BILL, 2021

THE CONTEXT: Parliament passed the Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2021. The Bill seeks to abolish many appellate tribunals set up under various Acts. The Bill replaces a similar Ordinance promulgated in April 2021.

THE KEY FEATURES OF THE TRIBUNALS REFORMS BILL, 2021

• ABOLITION OF APPELLATE TRIBUNALS:
  • The Bill seeks to dissolve certain existing appellate bodies and transfer their functions to other existing judicial bodies, such as adjudication of appeals.
  • The Tribunals that the Bill seeks to abolish include Film Certification Appellate Tribunal, Airports Appellate Tribunal, Authority for Advance Rulings, Intellectual Property Appellate Board, and Plant Varieties Protection Appellate Tribunal. The functions of these tribunals will be transferred to the existing judicial bodies.
  • The tribunals under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 and the Control of National Highways (Land and Traffic) Act, 2002, would also be wound up, once this Bill becomes a law.
  • All cases pending before such tribunals or authorities will be transferred to the Commercial Court or High Court.
• SEARCH-CUM-SELECTION COMMITTEES:
  • The Bill proposes to include provisions related to the composition of selection committees and term of office in the Act itself. As per Section 3 (7) of the Bill, the Chairperson and the Members of the various tribunals are to be appointed on the recommendations of the Search-cum-Selection Committee.
  • The Bill amends the Finance Act, 2017 to specify that the members of the committee will be (i)Chief Justice of India, or a Supreme Court Judge nominated by him, as the Chairperson, (ii)two secretaries nominated by the central government, (iii) the sitting or outgoing Chairperson, or a retired Supreme Court Judge, or a retired Chief Justice of a High Court, and (iv) the secretary of the Ministry under which the Tribunal is constituted.
  • The state tribunals will have separate search-cum-selection committees. These Committees will consist of (i) the Chief Justice of the High Court of the concerned state, as the Chairman (ii) the Chief Secretary of the state government and the Chairman of the Public Service Commission of the concerned state, (iii) the sitting or outgoing Chairperson, or a retired High Court Judge, and (iv) the Secretary or Principal Secretary of the state’s general administrative department.
  • The Centre has to decide on the recommendations of selection committees preferably within three months from the date of the recommendation.
  • TENURE: The Bill provides for a four-year term of office (subject to the upper age limit of 70 years for the Chairperson, and 67 years for members).  Further, it specifies a minimum age requirement of 50 years for the appointment of a chairperson or a member.

SOURCE: MONEY CONTROL

4. INDIA ON TRACK TO ACHIEVE WHO-RECOMMENDED DOCTOR-POPULATION RATIO

THE CONTEXT: According to NITI Aayog member Vinod Paul India is well on the path to achieving the World Health Organisation-recommended ratio of one doctor per thousand populations by 2024 and is increasing the number of hospital beds from 11 lakh to 22 lakh.

Analysis:

• In the last 75 years, India has made significant progress in the health sector. At the time of independence, the average life was just 28 years and it has now reached close to 70 years.
• However, we are still far away from meeting the aspirations of people in terms of access to health services, and this remains a challenge.
• Ayushman Bharat Yojna and Jan Arogya Yojna are programs that focus on providing all kinds of health facilities to people and are steps towards universal health coverage, making health services affordable, and ensuring access to health facilities.

SOURCE: THE WEEK

ENVIRONMENT, GEOGRAPHY, AND AGRICULTURE

5. IPCC’S SIXTH ASSESSMENT REPORT

THE CONTEXT: IPCC released Sixth Assessment Report, “Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis”

 Analysis:

• The 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature goal of the Paris Agreement would likely be breached around 2030.
• Tropical cyclones are getting stronger and wetter, while Arctic Sea ice is dwindling in the summer and permafrost is thawing.
• Glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region will keep shrinking and the snow cover will retreat to higher altitudes.
• The report attributes catastrophic events to sustained global warming, particularly frequency and intensity of hot extremes, marine heatwaves, heavy precipitation, agricultural and ecological droughts, the proportion of intense tropical cyclones, reductions in Arctic Sea ice, snow cover.
• Based on existing commitments by countries to curb their emission, the world is on track for global temperature warming by at least 2.7°C by 2100, predicts the report, calling it ‘Code red for humanity’.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE (IPCC)

• It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide the governments of the world with a clear scientific view of what is happening to the world’s climate.
• The secretariat is supported by WMO and UNEP and hosted at WMO headquarters in Geneva.
• It is open to all member countries of the United Nations (UN) and WMO.
• It does not conduct any research nor does it monitor climate-related data or parameters.
• Review is the main part of the IPCC process, to ensure an objective and complete assessment of current information.

SOURCE: TH

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

6. PM MODI PROPOSES 5 PRINCIPLES TO BUILD A GLOBAL MARITIME SECURITY ROAD MAP

THE CONTEXT: Chairing a high-level United Nations Security Council open debate on “Enhancing Maritime Security – A Case for International Cooperation”, Prime Minister put forward five principles: a global roadmap for maritime security cooperation can be prepared.

Analysis:

• 5 PRINCIPLES:

1. 1. We should remove barriers to legitimate maritime trade. Global prosperity depends on the active flow of maritime trade.
   2. The settlement of maritime disputes should be peaceful and based on international law.
   3. The global community should together face natural disasters and maritime threats created by non-State actors.
   4. Preserving the maritime environment and maritime resources,
   5. encouraging responsible maritime connectivity

• The open debate was focused on ways to effectively counter maritime crime and insecurity, and strengthen coordination in the maritime domain.
• The UN Security Council has discussed and passed resolutions on different aspects of maritime security and maritime crime in the past. However, this is the first time that maritime security was discussed holistically as an exclusive agenda item in such a high-level open debate.

SOURCE: THE PRINT

August 10, 2021 Prelim Practice Questions

Q 1.  Consider the following statements about IPCC:

1. It was established in 1988 by WMO and UNDP.
2. Its headquarter is hosted at WMO headquarters in Geneva.
3. It is a scientific body that gathers, monitors, and does research on climate-related data.

Which of the above-given statements is/are incorrect?

a) 1 only

b) 2 and 3 only

c) 1 and 3 only

d) 3 only.

Answer for August 08 & 09, 2021 Prelims Practice Questions

Q1: Answer: c)

Explanation:

• Aruna Asaf Ali, popularly known as the ‘Grand Old Lady’ of the Independence Movement.
• She hoisted the National Flag at Mumbai’s Gowalia Tank Maidan during QIM.

Q2: Answer: a)

Explanation:

• The Pradhan Mantri Dakshta Aur Kushalta Sampann Hitgrahi (PM-DAKSH) Yojana is being implemented by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment from the year 2020-21.
• Under this Yojana, eligible target groups are being provided skill development training programs.

[WpProQuiz 17]