WSDP Bulletin (28-02-2022)

(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)

Prelim and Main

1. EXERCISE EASTERN BRIDGE -VI READ MORE
2. Exclusion from SWIFT: what it entails READ MORE
3. Russia-Ukraine conflict hits sunflower oil imports; industry weighs options in other countries READ MORE
4. Explained | What are market infrastructure institutions? READ MORE
5. SC quashes Bihar notification to declare Lohar caste ST READ MORE
6. India abstains from UNSC procedural vote for emergency General Assembly session on Ukraine READ MORE
7. Cabinet approves supply of coal through common e-auction window READ MORE

Main Exam    

GS Paper- 1

1. Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation READ MORE

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. No quick fix: India must not allow mushrooming of medical colleges without trained faculty, infrastructure READ MORE
2. Liberalise, do not bureaucratise READ MORE
3. Too many IAS chief secretaries, not enough posts — Indian states have a problem READ MORE

SOCIAL ISSUE

1. Mental health needs more than medicine READ MORE  

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

1. A testing vote: India had good reasons to abstain, but might have to revisit its stance if the conflict worsens READ MORE
2. Russia-West conflict of interest over Ukraine READ MORE
3. A tightrope: India’s abstention at the UNSC resolution against Russia sends out conflicting signals READ MORE
4. UN Security Council Remains as Powerless as Ever READ MORE

GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. With Russia-Ukraine conflict, comes inflation challenge READ MORE
2. Our forex cushion READ MORE
3. Food for thought READ MORE
4. It’s time to simplify the direct tax laws READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY  

1. Tackling the plastic problem: The UN Environment Assembly meet could finalise a way forward for global cooperation in reducing plastic consumption READ MORE
2. India: We May Have Overestimated How Much Carbon Our Forests Can Hold READ MORE

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

1. India’s journey at CERN has been remarkable READ MORE
2. Science needs bigger investment for better results READ MORE 

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. Save the world from war, spread meditativeness READ MORE
2. Leo Tolstoy’s Law of Love READ MORE
3. Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation READ MORE

Questions for the MAIN exam

1. ‘The recent Ukraine invades by Russia shows that United Nations Security Council is remains as powerless as ever’. In the light of the statement discuss the need for the reform in UNSC.
2. ‘India’s record procurement levels should not be viewed as an achievement, but instead as pointers to deep flaws in the agriculture marketing system’. In the light of the statement discuss how India can address this cropping imbalance?

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• There never was a good war or a bad peace.
• India had good reasons to abstain from UNSC, but might have to revisit its stance if the conflict worsens.
• India must not allow mushrooming of medical colleges without trained faculty, infrastructure.
• Merely having private establishments start medical schools, without a long-term commitment to offer necessary training and post-graduate education, could lead to a repeat of the engineering fiasco after the dotcom boom.
• The UN Environment Assembly meet could finalise a way forward for global cooperation in reducing plastic consumption.
• Prices must be prevented from surging upwards. This calls for reforming India’s grain management and food subsidy system.
• It is important to reform the grain-management-cum-food-subsidy system to release precious resources for growth of agriculture.
• We’ll soon confront a moment of truth over how the country plans to get its high debt pile-up back under a level that would allow for a sustainable fiscal approach in the years to come.
• India’s record procurement levels should not be viewed as an achievement, but instead as pointers to deep flaws in the agriculture marketing system.
• A self-reliant India needs to at least double its investment in S&T. Nobel prizes will follow and the long drought could end sooner than later.
• The government might be working on simplifying the capital gains tax rules, bringing a more uniform definition for long-term capital gains and the tax rate on them.
• Punitive measures like sanctions, severing diplomatic ties, or delinking trade might just be symbolic when it comes to powerful nations, and these steps might not deter them.
• The entire spotlight is on how Russia has violated territorial integrity, but no one is asking as to why the current system of collective security has failed to maintain international peace and security in the game of great power politics.
• Russia should not fall into the trap of China to share the financial burden of keeping a terrorist country like Pakistan functional.

50-WORD TALK

• Owing to the collective failure of the West to check the economic juggernaut of the CPC, the US and its allies are now desperate to cobble up an economic coalition. Moscow too has been making its way into the European heartland through one of the most lucrative exports — natural gas. Russia alone was enough to meet the energy needs of the politico-economic geography of the European Union and NATO nations.
• India’s journey from being food-deficient to becoming food-surplus helped the country achieve independence in food production. But today, the Green Revolution of yesteryear needs to turn into an ‘ever-Green Revolution’ to find solutions to air pollution caused by stubble burning in northern India. Again, national science will have to come to the rescue.

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.