WSDP Bulletin (18-09-2021)

(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)

Prelim and Main

1. S. President Joe Biden unveils plan to cut methane emissions READ MORE
2. Council raises GST on low-cost footwear, garments to 12% READ MORE
3. India sets record with 2.5 crore COVID-19 jabs in one day READ MORE
4. Explained: In equity wave, don’t forget the basics READ MORE
5. World Likely To Miss Climate Targets Despite COVID Pause in Emissions: UN READ MORE
6. Supreme Court collegium recommends appointments, transfer of chief justices in High Courts: Reports READ MORE
7. Railways launch Rail Kaushal Vikas Yojana READ MORE

Main Exam 

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Act and friction: On appointments to tribunals- A national commission is essential to make appointments to tribunals READ MORE
2. EWS quota is a bad law, it needs to go READ MORE
3. Engineering Flexibility without Accountability: Changing chief ministers reflects deep damage to substantive accountability in a democracy. READ MORE

SOCIAL JUSTICE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

1. A Feminist Interrogation of the POCSO Judgments and Criminal Law in India READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

1. Multilateral power game in the region READ MORE
2. India and Australia: Emerging global leaders- In the post-COVID order, the US alone may be unable to guarantee international peace and security, and India and Australia have to step in READ MORE
3. The AUKUS deal: Resets geopolitical stance against assertive Beijing READ MORE

GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. National Monetisation Pipeline shows promise — and limits READ MORE
2. Railways could turn the corner with infra push READ MORE
3. ‘Bad bank’ for big business- New reforms a new form of ‘socialism’ reserved exclusively for capitalists READ MORE
4. Government Policies Drive Farmers to Penury: Ironically, agricultural households now earn “more” income from wages than from crop farming. READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. Climate crisis may destroy aquatic food systems — and livelihoods, economies READ MORE
2. World Likely To Miss Climate Targets Despite COVID Pause in Emissions: UN READ MORE

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. The Bhagwad Gita’s royal path to success READ MORE
2. Serve Others READ MORE
3. Who is Satisfied here? READ MORE

Questions for the MAIN exam

1. The issue of tribunals has been a source of consider-able friction between the Government and the Court. Discuss in the light of recent developments.
2. Discuss the opportunities and challenges for the India-Australia partnership in indo-pacific.

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• Every reform movement has a lunatic fringe.
• The Supreme Court has repeatedly called for the establishment of a national tribunals commission to make suitable appointments and evaluate the functioning of tribunals. If the Government has been dragging its feet on this, it is only because there is a method to its mulishness.
• Government must address the low revenue potential and efficiency hurdles that could trip up its asset monetization plan.
• If the private sector is indeed more efficient in running infrastructure assets, the most efficient strategy would be to lease out the worst-performing assets rather than the best performing ones.
• The NITI Aayog would do the policy landscape a big service by following up the proposal with a white paper that addresses some of these efficiency-related issues. Without that, the monetization plan, while intriguing, is incomplete.
• AUKUS not only represents Washington’s renewed focus on the Indo-Pacific region but also marks a significant shift in the UK foreign policy, which is now eager to be more involved after its exit from the European Union.
• From agriculture to artificial intelligence, Indian science has seen a resurgence over the last year and made notable contributions to several domains.
• Indian has made notable contributions in infrastructure developments, especially in high altitude roads, bridges and tunnels. They are of vital importance for a nation to grow, develop, protect and indeed become Atmanirbhar.
• Both the US-India and India-Australia ties are seen as “natural” partnerships, for upholding democracy, respect for territorial sovereignty and unrestrained access to global common goods.
• Reservation is a constitutional scheme to ensure the participation of backward classes in the nation-building process. The EWS Act is the subversion of the constitutional scheme for reservation.
• Changing chief ministers reflects deep damage to substantive accountability in a democracy.
• The government must now set aside the rhetoric of doubling farmer incomes and focus on efforts to increase agriculture productivity and product prices and improve the viability of farming.

50-WORD TALK

• The government’s Bad Bank plan might only work as a band-aid by removing NPAs from balance sheets. The full impact on the exchequer will be known only when the bank is successful in selling bad loans. Sadly, the plan has nothing to make banks improve lending practices and keep books clean.
• Prime Minister Modi spoke of how Afghanistan complicates the threat from radicalised extremism. But the SCO meet also signals the coming together of ‘another Quad’. This is of greater significance to India’s security — with China, Russia and Iran being sharply adversarial toward the US, and Pakistan cynically duplicitous, as usual.

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 map 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.