WSDP Bulletin (23-08-2021)

(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)

Prelim and Main

1. Ministry of Panchayati Raj to organize a national webinar on ‘Zero Hunger by 2030’ as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav READ MORE
2. Fall in currency assets, gold pulls forex reserves off record high READ MORE
3. Dust from the Arabian Desert is melting Himalayan glaciers and affecting the seas READ MORE
4. Maoist insurgency in all three of Chhattisgarh’s tiger reserves has made conservation difficult READ MORE
5. Who are Hazaras, the Afghan minority group hated & tortured by Taliban READ MORE
6. Study shows millets can reduce risk of developing heart disease READ MORE
7. Children in India, 3 other South Asian nations at extremely high risk of climate crisis impacts: UNICEF READ MORE

Main Exam 

GS Paper- 1

1. Make Women’s Voices Central to False Promise to Marry Cases READ MORE

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Breaking the logjam, handing over the baton READ MORE
2. It is time to end judicial feudalism in India READ MORE
3. Tribunals Reforms Act: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly READ MORE

SOCIAL JUSTICE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

1. Focusing on diseases sidelined by COVID-19 READ MORE
2. Why India’s public health insurance doesn’t work very well – and how it can be fixed READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

1. New Delhi must use its clout in the UNSC to put pressure on the Taliban READ MORE
2. How expansionism joined terrorism? The story of how the US, India and Afghanistan were left out completely and the fulcrum shifted towards China and its allies — Russia, Pakistan and Iran READ MORE
3. How Taliban’s return can fuel Indo-Pak hostility READ MORE

 GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. Explain-Speaking: What are the pitfalls of RBI continuing to prioritise economic growth over inflation READ MORE
2. Are oil bonds to blame for high fuel prices? READ MORE
3. Push for palm oil self-reliance READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. Inducing water conservation in affluent urban households READ MORE
2. Despite PM Modi’s assurance, land degradation, desertification increasing READ MORE
3. Enhancing Public-Private Partnership to REDUCE Air Pollution READ MORE

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. The role of ulema according to the holy Quran READ MORE
2. Falling From the Sky: The Insignificance of Being Human READ MORE

Questions for MAIN exam

1. Explain the evolution of collegium system of judicial appointments and transfers.
2. ‘Strengthening the primary healthcare system will help tackle the burden of non-communicable diseases’. Comment.

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• Idealism without pragmatism is impotent. Pragmatism without idealism is meaningless.
• In rape cases that arise out of a broken promise to marry, the courts must try to delve more deeply into the personal narratives of the victim and perpetrator.
• With the Supreme Court Collegium showing the way in judicial appointments, the executive needs to match its pace.
• Strengthening the primary healthcare system will help tackle the burden of non-communicable diseases.
• The Constitution no doubt contemplates a hierarchy of jurisdictions, but no judge, acting within her jurisdiction, is “inferior” or “subordinate”.
• The best bet for India is to set sector-wise emission reduction targets for climate mitigation.
• Though the rapidly growing digital employment economy has its perks, the gig economy has significant barriers to entry for female participation.
• The digital divide between men and women poses a significant hurdle to women’s participation in gig work.
• Developments in Afghanistan are of critical importance to India from a national security perspective.

ESSAY TOPIC

• Genius is the ability to reduce the complicated to the simple.

50-WORD TALK

• Islamabad has done everything in its power to keep New Delhi on the fringes in Afghanistan, persuading Americans to keep India out. President Ghani initially placed India at the outermost circle of his policy of concentric circles as per the power they wielded. Similarly, Russia, at Pakistan’s behest, ensured India was excluded from the Moscow-led extended Troika of China, the US and Pakistan by saying that New Delhi could not influence the Taliban.
• There is a need to build the right physical and social infrastructure that supports the engagement of women in gig work. Fostering social norms which encourage men to equally undertake unpaid care and domestic work and developing public care infrastructure will facilitate women’s movement into gig work.