WSDP Bulletin (28-12-2021)

(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)

Prelim and Main

1. Air pollution in parts of central-western India and north India increased during the pandemic in contrast to the general trend READ MORE
2. NITI Aayog Releases Fourth Edition of State Health Index READ MORE
3. Missionaries of Charity denied FCRA nod READ MORE
4. Explained: What is 5G in telecom, and how will this tech work in India? READ MORE
5. Right to be forgotten: govt position, court rulings, and laws elsewhere READ MORE
6. PM Modi to lay foundation stone of 4 hydro power projects in Himachal Pradesh today. 7 points READ MORE

Main Exam   

GS Paper- 1

1. Why Centre wants to raise marriage age of women READ MORE
2. What NFHS-5 data reveals about gender in India READ MORE

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Decoding the draft data protection law READ MORE
2. Sacrilege: The law must prevail READ MORE
3. Democracy in peril: Its spirit can’t be renewed without the power of emancipatory education READ MORE
4. Protection from Data Protection Authority READ MORE
5. Is the freedom of speech absolute? READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

1. The prospects for Indo-Pak relations in 2022 READ MORE
2. Central Asia of strategic import for India READ MORE

GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. The cold truth about India’s income inequality READ MORE
2. Growing divergence in central and state-level fiscal trends READ MORE
3. How to get the economy on the fast track READ MORE
4. How India is wasting its potential demographic dividend READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. The gaps in the plan to tackle plastic waste READ MORE
2. Can India Use MNREGA Work To Make Itself More Climate-Resilient? READ MORE
3. Tweaks in green laws may dilute safeguards, warn experts READ MORE

SECURITY

1. A progressive step: Formation of a panel to look into withdrawal of AFSPA from Nagaland is a welcome move READ MORE

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. Desmond Tutu provided a model for constructive use of religious idioms in politics. In polarised times, he will be missed READ MORE
2. We are not at peace with nature READ MORE

Questions for the MAIN exam

1. ‘The spirit of democracy cannot be renewed without the enchanting power of emancipatory education or critical pedagogy’. Comment.
2. ‘India’s relations with Central Asian countries have acquired a strategic dimension. It will be in India’s interest to augment its linkages with these countries to reduce their dependence on China’. Analyse.

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.
• The linking of Aadhaar with voter ID will create complexities in the voter databases that will be hard to fix.
• An Aadhaar-voter ID linkage will also help political parties create voter profiles and influence the voting process.
• Criminalising the freedom of religion and choices, which is what the Indian compact is based on, by hunting out the diverse, mixed, or cosmopolitan as inauthentic has consequences, both social and economic.
• India’s political stability is not in question during the coming year, but there is intense hostility to any conversation with Pakistan among the government’s ideological base.
• For India to capture global markets, it must focus on boosting technology and digitalisation, strengthening environmental laws, and undertaking tax and business reforms.
• It undermines privacy; places unchecked powers in the hands of the State; holds the government to a much lower standard of accountability; makes unwarranted advances into areas beyond its mandate.
• A constitutional democracy cannot afford to normalise mob violence, and any constriction of due process and fair trial must be contested. Act against desecration but don’t allow people to take the law into their own hands.
• Democracy cannot be saved merely through the ritualisation of periodic elections; nor can it be saved through the occasional delivery of ‘relief packages’ to the poor. Democracy needs our alertness and courage — and this requires the light of critical pedagogy.

50-WORD TALK

• India’s relations with Central Asian countries have acquired a strategic dimension. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have emerged as important suppliers of uranium to fuel India’s nuclear power plants. Tajikistan provided critical help in the evacuation of Indians from Afghanistan. It will be in India’s interest to augment its linkages with these countries to reduce their dependence on China.
• Call it a ‘precaution dose’ or a booster shot, what matters is the Modi government has finally come around and agreed to administer these. But why wait until 3 Jan or 10 Jan for the different categories when Omicron is so much more transmissible? Only India’s health bureaucrats would know.

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.