WSDP Bulletin (21-02-2022)

(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)

Prelim and Main

1. Leather, footwear exports to reach $6 billion in 2022-23: Council for Leather Exports READ MORE
2. Explain Speaking: Why record food grain production may trigger renewed demands for MSPs READ MORE
3. Centre moots policy on synthetic biology READ MORE
4. KSI to be first research, studies centre on Kashmir Shaivism READ MORE
5. Assam government to launch ‘Project Arohan’ to hone students’ skills READ MORE
6. Government of India, World Bank sign loan agreement of 115 million US dollar for implementation REWARD Project READ MORE

Main Exam    

GS Paper- 1

1. Tapping technology for multilingual learning: As the theme of International Mother Language Day 2022, it has much relevance in reshaping Indian higher education READ MORE
2. A Bindi, a Hijab and the Inequality in What Is Proclaimed to Be Indian READ MORE
3. Will India’s gender budget truly serve as an instrument for ushering in women-led development? READ MORE

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Upholding the law: UP pays for overreach in penalising anti-CAA protesters READ MORE
2. The steel frame of cooperative federalism READ MORE
3. The artificial intelligence-enabled nation READ MORE

SOCIAL ISSUE

1. Protect LGBT people from violence, bias READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

1. The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between India and the UAE READ MORE
2. The significance of EU-India partnership in the Indo-Pacific READ MORE
3. The imperial roots of the India-China row READ MORE

GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. Beyond the hype of blockchain, a look at its reality READ MORE
2. Green hydrogen’s promise READ MORE
3. Wealth Inequality: Capitalism Versus Socialism READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY  

1. Marine Birds Continue to Die as Peru Oil Spill Clean-Up Stretches On READ MORE
2. Humans have degraded 84% of the world’s coastlines, reveals a new study READ MORE
3. Wildfires will be more frequent, larger and intense due to climate change: UNEP READ MORE

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. When habits return READ MORE
2. LEAD WITH COMPASSION READ MORE
3. Stress: A Positive Phenomenon READ MORE

Questions for the MAIN exam

1. ‘The growing use of artificial intelligence in public policy is the most important thing to track about India’s governance’. Comment.
2. Do you think that Democracy resulting in better economic growth and educational attainment is a universal standard? Substantiate.

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position. But certainty is an absurd one.
• Barely three decades ago, there existed societies where inequality was lower than ever before in human history, as compared to now when a mere 0.027% of world’s population owns a combined wealth of $45 trillion.
• Lightning strikes and air pollution will also increase due to wildfires according to the UNEP Frontiers report.
• Without urgent change, the implications for coastal biodiversity and society will become more profound.
• Co-existing over centuries, borrowing from and nurturing each other, our languages are interwoven with our individual, local and national identity.
• A truly strategic relationship can reshape the post-pandemic world and promote a multipolar order.
• A policy thrust will work well with India’s solar push. An RPO-like package will boost demand.
• At the heart of border dispute is the larger historical challenge of fitting the Ladakh region into a territorial model ill-suited to it.
• The state’s contention that a refund of damages would send a wrong message on deterrence was also rightly denied, highlighting the supremacy of the law.
• Consultation and consensus, and not unilateralism, must inform decision making, being the bedrock of our cooperative federalism.
• Once you create a new inequality, it is difficult to extinguish it; even if this ‘interim’ ban on the hijab is lifted, the harm won’t be undone.

50-WORD TALK

• The current payment and reimbursement structure creates incentives that are not only perverse but also disparate. The larger private sector fuelled by diabolical out-of-pocket payments has little or no incentive to control costs or deliver value. On the other hand, the public sector has strong incentives to underperform, again compromising on the value in healthcare.

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.