WSDP Bulletin (15/10/2022)

(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)

Prelim and Main

1. Dangerous to push policy rate above neutral rate when growth outlook fragile: RBI Monetary Policy Committee member READ MORE
2. India ranks 107th out of 121 countries on Global Hunger Index READ MORE
3. Nuclear-powered INS Arihant carries out successful launch of SLBM READ MORE
4. ISRO’s LVM3 to make commercial foray with launch of 36 OneWeb satellites on October 23 READ MORE
5. Xi Jinping, the Chinese Communist Party, and India READ MORE
6. Organic fertiliser: A must for the next green revolution READ MORE
7. India’s green push for second-generation bioethanol READ MORE
8. Ocean currents protect Galápagos Islands from global warming; but are they safe forever? READ MORE
9. Heavy metal out there: Researchers detect barium in atmospheres of 2 exoplanets READ MORE

Main Exam

GS Paper- 1

1. Do India’s women have the right to choose? READ MORE

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. No time for placebo: India has to work harder on its image of having an independent drug regulator READ MORE
2. Onus of salvaging democracy lies with us READ MORE
3. Liberal values are absolute READ MORE

SOCIAL ISSUES

1. Ramana’s collegium didn’t diversify judiciary. Data shows most judges are upper-caste Hindus READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES AND RELATIONS

1. FOREIGN POLICY IN FLUID WORLD ORDER READ MORE

GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. Indian Deep Tech and a case for a strategic fund READ MORE
2. Economics Nobel Has Lessons for India’s Macro-Economic Policy Thought READ MORE
3. The Digital Rupee: The launch of the central bank digital currency is a bold step in the right direction. READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. Shrinking biodiversity: An alarming wake-up call to halt unsustainable growth READ MORE
2. Lesson From Nepal: Decentralisation Alone Won’t Enable a Local Climate Response READ MORE
3. Pollution is blackening Ladakh’s glaciers and the repercussions could be devastating READ MORE

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. Light up your life with happiness READ MORE
2. Karma and economics READ MORE

Questions for the MAIN exam

1. India needs a better, broad-based and transparent method of appointing senior judges to the High Courts and the Supreme Court. In the light of the statement discuss whether the mechanism of collegium should be preplaced with new mechanism?
2. ‘Inclusive economic growth requires reaching out to the poorest of the poor’. Discuss why India needs dedicated and sustained efforts are made to pull millions of destitute citizens out of poverty and how can India achieve it?
3. India Judiciary has become a more public Judiciary in recent times but is hampering the image of this institution. Critically examine.

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• The heresy of one age becomes the orthodoxy of the next.
• Holding peaceful assemblies only at “designated” spaces makes them inferior to other “regular” activities conducted in a public space.
• If correctly aligned with the Government’s programmes, CSR funds and tax incentives can boost a nascent Indian Deep Tech ecosystem.
• India has to work harder on its image of having an independent drug regulator.
• India has to work harder at its image of having an impartial and independent regulator that can be trusted internationally as well as domestically.
• Our apex court understands that their adjudicative obligation is to be able to discern changing mores — in this case, the varied contexts of relationships and families.
• There is also a need to strengthen our drug alert and pharmacovigilance programmes. These are ways to ensure the safety of our products post-marketing.
• Policy-makers must step up conservation and restoration efforts to mitigate the crisis before it is too late.
• Democracy’s demise is not only about the capture of institutions by populists; it is about us, the people, who have not taken on the responsibilities of a political public.
• India actively maintained a neutral stance on Russia’s attack on Ukraine, but gradually it is fine-tuning the narrative to sound more and more critical of Russian action.

50-WORD TALK

• While the transition towards other sources of energy and increasing the fossil fuel output is an ongoing process, India due to its sheer consumer base can bargain on price, if it remains consistent in its approach and does not buckle under international pressure as it did during the Iran sanctions.
• An RTI application is the cheapest and most effective weapon to redress governmental apathy. It has led to the uncovering of several corruption scandals in the public sector and inspired persistent efforts to dig out information by RTI activists and common citizens, several of whom have been at the receiving end.

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 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.