WSDP Bulletin (13-03-2023)

(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)

Prelim and Main

1. Sickle cell screening meets only 1% of target, hurting ambitious elimination goal READ MORE  
2. Net direct tax collection rises 16.8%, reaches closer to Budget target for 2022-23 READ MORE
3. SVB fallout. Indian SaaS and YC-backed start-ups may feel the heat of SVB shutdown READ MORE
4. Explained | Why is crypto trade within PMLA ambit? READ MORE
5. No neutralising antibodies after Japanese encephalitis vaccination READ MORE
6. The evil effects of deforestation READ MORE
7. States demand that lightning be declared a natural disaster READ MORE
8. Rishi Sunak, Joe Biden, Anthony Albanese to meet in San Diego to finalise AUKUS deal READ MORE
9. Explained | The rise of the ESG regulations READ MORE  
10. Isro brings down decommissioned weather satellite: What is a controlled re-entry? Why is it done? READ MORE
11. What factors will affect India’s wheat output and food inflation in 2023? READ MORE

Main Exam

GS Paper- 1

1. Women’s empowerment is a real necessity of time READ MORE
2. Living with the in-laws: Effect on women’s employment in India READ MORE

GS Paper- 2

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Migrant fears in Tamil Nadu: Migration is a constitutional right, a symbol of hope and prosperity READ MORE
2. In politics and bureaucracy, women are severely under-represented READ MORE
3. Right Outcome, Wrong Remedy: Why SC’s ECI Judgment Deserves Support and Criticism READ MORE
4. New Changes to MPLADS Will Make it More Centralised and Less Inclusive READ MORE

SOCIAL ISSUES

1. Income Inequality: A Cross-states and Cross-community Analysis READ MORE
2. A Legal Remedy Is Required to Stop Caste Discrimination in Academic Institutions READ MORE

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

1. New reality: On Saudi Arabia-Iran reconciliation and China’s role READ MORE
2. How Chinese big show revealed Xi’s vulnerabilities READ MORE
3. Australia-India ties, solid line & length READ MORE
4. The growing centrality of India in Australia’s Indo-Pacific Policy READ MORE

GS Paper- 3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. Reimagining the urban-rural dichotomy READ MORE
2. Powering Amrit Kaal READ MORE
3. Myriad alibis for an underachieving economy READ MORE
4. Terms of engagement: India-US economic partnership needs more energy READ MORE

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

1. Display technologies on the fast lane READ MORE

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. Global production under threat due to climate hazards, finds study READ MORE
2. Weather report. Shadow of El Nino over growth READ MORE

SECURITY

1. China-Russia cybersecurity ties taking darker turns. India needs to worry too READ MORE

DISASTER MANAGEMENT

1. Lessons from Turkey: How to make India earthquake prepared READ MORE

GS Paper- 4

ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY

1. Smile genuinely, people will like you more READ MORE
2. Scientific Temper~I READ MORE
3. Scientific Temper~II READ MORE

Questions for the MAIN exam

1. Enumerates the reasons those are major factors for women’s under-representation in Civil Services. What are those factors that lead women to opt out of civil services?
2. In a country like India, where inequality is so prominent, a development scheme can come a cropper if it lacks inclusivity. In light of the statement, discuss how the new changes in the MPLADS scheme Will Make it More Centralised and Less Inclusive?
3. While the judgment on the CEC appointment produces an outcome that strengthens Indian democracy, it equally strengthens the court’s institutional legitimacy. Examine.
4. Any revision should have been to enrich the scheme rather than diluting the essence of inclusivity. Comment on the statement in light of the government’s decision on the MPLADS scheme.
5. While committees and reform commissions have repeatedly stressed on civil servants becoming customer-centric and people-friendly, the situation on the ground appears to be very different. In light of the statement, discuss whether civil services reforms should focus on citizen satisfaction rather than officer performance?

QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS

• What you see depends not only on what you look at, but also on where you look from.
• Security is an ever-changing landscape.
• Rapid international transportation and the use of sophisticated weapons have helped the expansion of terrorist networks globally.
• Appointments to top positions in the UN have also been captured by China in the two decades, giving it the unfair advantage of running its stated national policies through a global platform like the UN, thereby sculling many relevant interests of other member nations including India.
• It is observed that income inequalities among Indians are unlikely to be narrowed down on their own from trickledown effect of income growth.
• Our schools, colleges and universities possess large untapped potential. The need of the hour is to provide sports facilities to the upcoming sportspersons, provide them facilities and a conducive environment to nurture themselves.
• Indian civil society remains hierarchical and fragmented with the desire of integrating itself into ruling power structures.
• India, which holds the presidency of the G-20, has been repeatedly stressing the need for a globally coordinated regulatory response to deal with crypto assets.
• Despite performative obeisance to the idea by the state, decentralisation has always been hostage to a number of contradictory impulses.
• The lack of clarity over municipal governance, and the hijacking of cities by the political economy of contracting, makes the idea of cities being governed by some sort of collective deliberation a bit of a joke.
• Local government requires many technical, administrative and financial fixes. There is a case to be made that the distinction between the 73rd and 74th amendments is now obsolete.
• The guiding philosophy behind decentralisation was a faith in institutions. These were meant to be the pathways to inclusive growth and active citizenship. You cannot have inclusive growth without inclusive governance, so went the mantra.
• The non-seriousness about the 73rd and 74th amendments is a lack of seriousness about democracy itself.
• The domains of ‘public’ and ‘private’ have become separated in the market economy. The needs of the masses must be heeded, not just the needs of the classes who have wealth to invest in markets.
• The management of the economy must become a PPPP enterprise — People, Public, Private Partnership. ‘People’, the missing ‘P’ in PPP, must be included and come first.

ESSAY TOPIC

• Women are ready to take charge of this era but they can’t leave their responsibilities behind.

50-WORD TALK

• Another corruption scandal and Karnataka’s Bommai government is bouncing on potholes, as if driving on Bengaluru’s roads. Don’t write off MLA Virupakshappa in coming election though. Rousing welcome after securing bail suggests normalisation of corruption. Karnataka Lokayukta deserves praise, but for real change, voters have to feel revulsion with corruption.
• NAAC chairman Bhushan Patwardhan’s resignation after alleging corruption in higher education institute grading calls for a systemic audit. Can the young rely on ratings? Is the system gamed? Is there political interference? Aspirational Indians depend on the index to make decisions for their future. It’s time to review and reform.

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.