WSDP Bulletin (16-02-2022)

(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)

Prelim and Main

1. India, Australia, and Singapore come together to address marine pollution with a focus on plastic debris READ MORE
2. India to prepare digital maps of all villages READ MORE
3. ‘Communal Mindset’: India Slams OIC for Statement on Hijab Row, Muslims in India READ MORE
4. Sansad TV YouTube channel hacked READ MORE
5. Public order: A constitutional provision for curbing freedoms READ MORE
6. New IPCC report will strengthen science on links between biodiversity loss, climate change: UNEP READ MORE
7. Lassa Fever Claims 3 Lives in UK: All You Need To Know About It READ MORE

 Main Exam    

GS Paper- 1

1. To Be Or Not To Be – Secular READ MORE

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. HC strikes down law banning online gaming READ MORE
2. Reforming for a qualitative democracy READ MORE
3. The Unequal Republic READ MORE

SOCIAL ISSUE

1. Time to Criminalise Marital Rape READ MORE

 INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

1. India may come under pressure on Russia READ MORE  
2. To counter China, invest in regional deterrence READ MORE

GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. RBI’s gamble on banks’ balance sheets READ MORE
2. Job Security READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY  

1. The Quest To Understand How Earth’s Magnetic Field Shows Birds the Way READ MORE
2. Indian agriculture: The route post-CoP 26 READ MORE

SECURITY

1. Phensedyl smuggling remains a challenge on the India-Bangladesh border READ MORE

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. A lesson from the Mahabharata READ MORE
2. Diverse beliefs, theories, faiths and attitudes READ MORE

Questions for the MAIN exam

1. ‘Rape laws aim to protect not just physical safety but also preserve the sexual autonomy of women; they exist to also acknowledge the unique nature of this offence and its ubiquity’. In the light of the statement discuss the need for the criminalize marital rape.
2. How far do you agree with the view banning on online games a ban will militate against individual freedom? Justice your view.

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• And empty words are evil.
• The existence of marital rape exemption encourages the subordination of women within their private lives. It also means that the State has legitimised men’s illegitimate control over women, to the extent that it can even allow routinized sexual assault on them in order to secure this control.
• The authority of the chair and its subsequent abuse by the person sitting in it and uttering ‘no’ is slowly destroying the power of knowledge and accountability in our society.
• To avoid delay in approving poll reforms by Parliament, the EC should be empowered to implement the reforms by giving one-year notice to it.
• The first industrial plastic — celluloid — was created partly with environmental conservation in mind, replacing ivory in the making of billiard balls.
• India’s relationship with ASEAN, a key cornerstone of our foreign policy, may be finally consolidated by addition of this critical security dimension that ASEAN members have sought from India’s leadership for a long time.
• Raising policy rates to curb inflation and using unconventional policy to rein the yield curve would have been a better option.
• No signifier has the ability to produce meaning in isolation. Its signifying capability is determined by its place among all of other signifiers.
• All legislation that assumes that sections of society require the hand of the state to guide and support them have some populist appeal. And there is an addictive element to online gaming, but that does not mean there is no individual freedom and choice at all.

50-WORD TALK

• Another ‘bank fraud’, India’s biggest involving Rs 22,842 crore and leading lender being ICICI Bank, not a PSU, shows how deep the NPA rot runs. A bad bank or recapitalising banks can’t fix this. More forensic audits, enforcement, better corporate governance are needed. Indian economy needs a healthy banking system.
• Having lectured India on the right to protest, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is using emergency powers to crush anti-vaccine demonstrators. Less than a third of Canadians support the far-Right protests, but they have paralysed the economy and everyday life. Ensuring law and order, Trudeau’s learned, is tougher than scoring points.

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.