WSDP Bulletin (23-09-2021)

(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)

Prelim and Main

1. FDI Inflows grow 62% during the first four months of the current Financial Year over the corresponding period last year READ MORE
2. DICGC to pay depositors of PMC and other stressed banks READ MORE
3. On World Rhino Day, 2,500 horns turned to ashes in Assam READ MORE
4. WHO Announces Revised Air Quality Limits. Will the New Numbers Save the Day? READ MORE
5. These animals and plants of India could have become ‘possibly extinct’: IUCN READ MORE
6. India’s sewage treatment plants treat only a third of the sewage generated daily: CPCB READ MORE

Main Exam  

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. This judicial selection needs more than a tweak: The collegium system and the mysteries underlining its decision-making dilute the importance of the High Courts READ MORE
2. Judiciary must re-examine how it has viewed citizenship question in Assam READ MORE
3. Citizen scorecards for better accountability: The CAG’s auditing standards highlight the importance of performance audits for promoting transparency and evaluating outcomes READ MORE
4. A village is sensitized: How an SC toddler’s ‘temple run’ catalysed equality READ MORE

SOCIAL JUSTICE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

1. How far will the global population rise? READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

1. Explained: Why the SAARC meeting was cancelled READ MORE
2. The importance of Quad meeting amidst current geopolitical flux READ MORE
3. AUKUS and Afghanistan – Now is the time for the Modi govt to deploy every diplomatic instinct READ MORE

GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. Need higher investment in healthcare, infrastructure for sustainable growth: Shaktikanta Das READ MORE
2. Is India’s market cap headed towards $5 trillion? READ MORE
3. Recovery by 2030 needs public sector revival READ MORE
4. Government departments pose a major hurdle in bankruptcy cases READ MORE
5. Regaining fiscal balance: GST rate restructuring will be critical for consolidation READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. Sea level rise is certain: This has implications for the future even under the low emissions scenarios READ MORE
2. An Expert Explains: How rare species of Sundarbans are threatened by human activities READ MORE

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. Why get away from the madding crowd? READ MORE
2. The Key of Contentment READ MORE
3. Peace Must Arise from Within READ MORE

Questions for the MAIN exam

1. Separation of powers is a bedrock principle of Indian constitutionalism. In this respect, examine the collegium system of judicial appointments.
2. What are the causes of sea-level rise? Assess the vulnerability of sea-level rise in India and suggest measures of adaptation for it.
3. ‘India’s diplomatic advance in the US could be pivotal with long-lasting effects in both South Asia as well as the future of the Indo-Pacific’. Examine the statement.

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.
• The durability of private consumption, the mainstay of aggregate demand, will be ‘crucial in the post-pandemic future.
• The collegium system and the mysteries underlining its decision-making dilute the importance of the High Courts.
• Separation of powers is a bedrock principle of Indian constitutionalism. Inherent in that idea is the guarantee of an autonomous judiciary.
• Adaptation to sea-level rise must include a range of measures, along with coastal regulation, which should be stricter, not laxer, as it has become with each update of the Coastal Regulation Zone.
• The grouping has to fulfil past commitments. The onus is on the US to prove that Afghan experience has strengthened its resolve to defend its interests in the Indo-Pacific.
• Citizenship is an important right; in fact, the most important right because it is the right to have other rights. But that’s not how the pillars of Indian democracy have treated citizenship.
• The Government must realise the importance of community radios and sustain them by providing financial support and professional facilities.
• Even high growth is insufficient to remove ‘the widened income and wealth inequalities and rising social unrest’ in the country.
• India’s diplomatic advance in the US could be pivotal with long-lasting effects in both South Asia as well as the future of the Indo-Pacific.

ESSAY TOPIC

• Contentment lays the foundation for happiness.

50-WORD TALK

• The Karnataka law to protect illegal religious structures is poorly thought through and has politics written all over it. It risks incentivising newer encroachments, sparking tensions and presenting a future government with a similar fait accompli. Religion is sensitive but Karnataka has set a bad example in these fraught times.
• US President Biden’s ‘America is back’ speech promising to replace the era of endless wars with endless diplomacy is good on paper. But US withdrawal from Afghanistan coincides with Washington’s refocus on a different foe and geography. A localised hot war is being replaced by a globalised new cold war.
• SAARC has been hostage to India-Pakistan tensions over Kashmir and terrorism, and a summit hasn’t been held for seven years. Islamabad has made it more complicated now by demanding the Taliban’s participation in a foreign ministers’ meeting. Deep divisions aside, it’s time to revisit or remake the very purpose of SAARC.

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.