WSDP Bulletin (20-01-2023)

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(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)

Prelim and Main

1. Spot Bellied Eagle Owl spotted in Seshachalam forest of Andhra Pradesh for the first time READ MORE  
2. ‘RBI to guide inflation towards 4% target by 2024’ READ MORE
3. Women officers in command soon READ MORE
4. National Export Co-operative Society to export farm, non-farming products in three months READ MORE
5. Scrapping of scheme did not raise price of rice: Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra READ MORE
6. Study finds ‘hybrid immunity’ most effective against severe Covid: the findings, implications explained READ MORE
7. FAME probe: Six more EV makers under scanner READ MORE
8. Indo-Bangla Friendship Pipeline set to start by February READ MORE
9. Madhya Pradesh: Bhopal Declaration released after discussion in two-day meeting of Think-20 under G20 in Bhopal READ MORE

Main Exam

GS Paper- 1

1. Recycled waste glass can help solve sand shortages READ MORE
2. New Report Shows Alarming Changes in the Entire Global Water Cycle READ MORE
3. Babies & jobs: Lesson for India from China’s population decline is to get many more of its working age groups into work READ MORE

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Judging a decade of the POCSO Act: There needs to be a review of the way the Act has been implemented, as there are still imperfections despite its impact READ MORE
2. If government wants a place in the collegium, that’s not unreasonable READ MORE
3. Machines for migrants: Inclusion of migrant voters is important READ MORE

SOCIAL ISSUES

1. What is key to controlling diabetes? Awareness or wealth? READ MORE
2. Why more kids are going to school but learning less READ MORE
3. Drop in reading ability: Need to plug gaps red-flagged by ASER READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

1. The inevitable geopolitical lens in Sri Lanka READ MORE
2. Maldives polls, India’s concerns READ MORE

GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. Ethanol blending crucial to cut oil imports but doubling it will hurt India’s food security READ MORE
2. FCI clean-up: Corruption taint overshadows any positive work READ MORE
3. Is This a Lost Decade for Indian Manufacturing? READ MORE
4. Why demonetisation verdict is significant for India’s digital currency pilot project READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. Cost of green clearance violations: Recalling 3 cases opened by NGT READ MORE
2. How India Can Achieve the New Biodiversity Goals READ MORE

TECHNOLOGY

1. Fourth industrial revolution: ‘4IR is not real’ READ MORE

SECURITY

1. Defence budget must be capability-driven READ MORE

DISASTER MANAGEMENT

1. Joshimath crisis is a warning from the Himalayas READ MORE
2. Monitor construction in the Himalayas to avoid tragedy READ MORE
3. Stop meddling with nature now: Joshimath is not an isolated incident. It is happening all over Uttarakhand. The govt must stop all hydro power project immediately READ MORE

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. Life is a spiral READ MORE
2. Live in peace, not in search of it READ MORE

Questions for the MAIN exam

1. ‘New defense and security cooperation efforts are springing up across the Indo-Pacific’. In the light of statement, analyse how new security grouping in Indo-Pacific are fueling up regional tensions in region?
2. ‘Careful management of hydropower resources is essential to ensure its positive impacts on climate change and avoid transboundary river conflicts’. Comment on the statement in light of transboundary riven conflicts between India and neighboring countries.
3. ‘A system of checks and balances that prevents any one branch gaining the upper hand is essential for democratic functioning’. Comment on the statement in the light of recent stand-off between Judiciary and Executive.

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• There’s a certain nostalgia and romance in a place you left.
• New defense and security cooperation efforts are springing up across the Indo-Pacific, between some Quad members and those outside the grouping.
• Emerging and critical technologies, including space, cyber, and information security, found mention in the statement, with the goal “to strengthen mission assurance, interoperability, and operational cooperation, including through enhanced collaboration in space domain awareness.”
• Careful management of hydropower resources is essential to ensure its positive impacts on climate change and avoid transboundary river conflicts.
• In law, the government has no primacy in the appointment of judges yet it has succeeded on multiple occasions to frustrate the recommendations of the collegium. It appears, though, that what the government really wants is primacy — not just a consultative role — in the appointment of judges.
• The court may have perhaps missed an opportunity to clarify the true extent or limits to the guarantee of the currency by the state.
• Technology can potentially meet the diverse needs of different demographic groups of workers, in terms of location, flexibility and hours of work.
• India’s population presents a chance for growth, but inequality and elderly care need attention.
• Like the larger policy framework within which they are set, the UGC’s draft rules emphasise quality without corresponding measures to safeguard equal access.
• To suggest that the basic structure doctrine is by itself unsanctioned is to place the Constitution at the legislature’s whim.
• A system of checks and balances that prevents any one branch gaining the upper hand is essential for democratic functioning.

50-WORD TALK

• Having had this long experience of underfunding and underutilisation, maybe it is time for a fixed amount to be transferred every year to a defence modernisation fund that can be managed by the RBI or a designated bank. This fund should be drawn upon to make acquisitions in a time-bound manner. A necessary concomitant would be transparent acquisition processes, whether it’s from domestic or foreign sources. The defence budget should not be viewed as a drain on the national economy.
• Constitutionally minded citizens and civil society groups need to stand up to collectively raise their voices and demand that the Central government and its functionaries stop the public attacks on the collegium and the judiciary, abide by the spirit of the Constitution and respect its values, ethos and proprieties.

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.