(Newspapers, PIB and other important sources)
Prelim and Main
1. More than 80% of tree species endemic to the Atlantic Rainforest are threatened with extinction, finds study READ MORE
2. Gujarat bans exotic Conocarpus tree amid health and environment hazard READ MORE
3. Four new octopus species discovered in the deep-sea vents off Costa Rica READ MORE
4. Rainfall rising in over half of India’s sub-districts, says four-decade study READ MORE
5. Over half of youth struggling with basic maths: ASER study READ MORE
6. More droughts brought on by climate change could worsen wildfires in US’s southern Appalachian forests READ MORE
7. Conducive climate, beach this year: In February, large number of Olive Ridley turtles expected to lay eggs in Rushikulya READ MORE
8. Over half of global mines and their impacts are undocumented: Paper READ MORE
Main
GS Paper- 1
1. People working fewer hours due to Long COVID, as sick days increase dramatically: ILO report READ MORE
2. How smartphones can make education inclusive READ MORE
3. Surface irrigation may encourage monocropping: Evidence from Telangana holds lessons for India READ MORE
4. Hot springs served as catalyst for life on Earth billions of years ago, study finds READ MORE
5. Indian tectonic plate is breaking into two. It’s happening beneath Tibet READ MORE
GS Paper- 2
POLITY AND GOVERNANCE
1. Supreme Court wants authorities to act tough on incitement to violence, hate speech READ MORE
2. Custodial torture challenges democracy and dignity READ MORE
3. Centre for Policy Research’s FCRA Registration Cancelled READ MORE
SOCIAL ISSUES
1. Express View on ASER report: Cues for reform READ MORE
2. Holistic national educational outlook READ MORE
INTERNATIONAL ISSUES
1. Hostile shift in Maldives’ relations with India READ MORE
2. Why India faces a strategic dilemma in the unfolding Myanmar crisis READ MORE
GS Paper- 3
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
1. FDI interest has improved, but not across States READ MORE
2. Fiscal deficit, external headwinds on FM’s agenda READ MORE
3. MSMEs need cost institutional credit READ MORE
4. Establishing a robust and resilient tax system READ MORE
5. India’s youth need jobs not freebies. Can govt deliver before demographic dividend fades? READ MORE
ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY
1. Haryana: Alarming Levels of Arsenic and Fluoride Contamination Found in Haryana’s Groundwater READ MORE
2. The Only Way to Make Climate Progress READ MORE
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
1. Deepfake crisis: Hold creators and disseminators accountable READ MORE
2. Science Fiction as the Blueprint: Informing Policy in the Age of AI and Emerging Tech READ MORE
INTERNAL SECURITY
1. Maritime Security Architecture and Western Indian Ocean: India’s Stakes READ MORE
2. Border management cannot ignore Myanmar situation READ MORE
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
1. Awareness and deterrence key to reducing fire hazards READ MORE
GS Paper- 4
ETHICS EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDY
1. Exploring existence through metaphysics of logic READ MORE
2. Work-life balance READ MORE
3. Why does a mother kill her own child? READ MORE
Questions for the MAIN exam
1. The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are critical to unlocking the potential of India envisioned under the ‘Make in India’ campaign. Discuss how the Schemes like Merchant Credit Card can be vital for helpful for enhancing global competitiveness and credit access for MSMEs.
2. India’s pre-eminence in the global arena will rest on the strength of its democratic edifice sustained and nurtured by an abiding deference to human rights and accountability of state power. Discuss how custodial torture challenges democracy and dignity?
3. Deepfakes use AI algorithms blur the line between reality and fabrication by creating highly convincing fake content and pose a threat to privacy. Discuss how a stringent regulatory and accountable framework can be implemented to address the issues involved effectively.
4. Instead of relying on doles and handouts, India must adopt an inclusive growth path and for that India requires rapidly growing jobs at the bottom, and not just the top, of the wage and skill distribution pyramid. Discuss how jobless growth threatens the demographic dividend.
5. Fostering collaboration between policymakers, creative industries, and international bodies can establish a future that balances technological advancement with contextualised societal norms. Analyse.
QUOTATIONS AND CAPTIONS
- We do not need guns and bombs to bring peace, we need love and compassion.
- While the government’s insistence that academic institutes act as carriers of their political propaganda is becoming more trenchant, the concept of universities being vehicles of free thought would fall by the wayside.
- Placing restrictions on the articulation of one’s opinion or ideas can negatively impact academic work and hurt the research environment.
- The constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech is often hindered by the application of sedition law (Section 124A) or more commonly misused clauses under Section 295A – hurting religious feelings.
- The enactment of an anti-torture legislation is a collective burden of the executive, legislative and judicial wings of the Indian state.
- Government action is needed to enhance global competitiveness and credit access for MSMEs. Schemes like Merchant Credit Card can be helpful.
- The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are critical to unlocking the potential of India envisioned under the ‘Make In India’ campaign.
- Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.
- A nation inspired by the ideals of a dignitarian Constitution cannot carry the burden of an unconscionable indifference to the inadequacy of legal structures to prevent brazen infractions of individual dignity by torture in custody of the state’s agencies.
- India’s pre-eminence in the global arena will rest on the strength of its democratic edifice sustained and nurtured by an abiding deference to human rights and accountability of state power.
- Deepfakes use AI algorithms to generate videos, audio recordings or images that look and sound real. They blur the line between reality and fabrication by creating highly convincing fake content. Deepfakes also pose a threat to privacy.
- Notwithstanding the developments that surround Myanmar’s future, India should anvil a strategy that is not only in line with its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy.
- India’s boycott of the Maldives might have a big impact on both nations’ economies and relations. Tense relations might develop diplomatically and harm stability and cooperation in the region.
- Instead of relying on doles and handouts, India must adopt an inclusive growth path, where jobs grow commensurately with GDP numbers.
- Inclusive growth requires rapidly growing jobs at the bottom, and not just the top, of the wage and skill distribution pyramid. In the absence of such a comprehensive strategy, the demographic dividend is indeed threatened.
- Fostering collaboration between policymakers, creative industries, and international bodies can establish a future that balances technological advancement with contextualised societal norms.
ESSAY TOPIC
- The truly happy ones, understand life.
50-WORD TALK
- Government has imposed 50% duty on molasses exports to increase ethanol production. This, just a month after it banned using sugar for ethanol production. It later relented but imposed strict limits. If India is serious about its ethanol blending programme, it needs a systematic plan rather than stop-gap, contradictory measures.
- Niti Aayog’s findings that 44% of Indians are deprived of cooking fuel, 31% of sanitation and 41% of housing show multidimensional poverty remains widespread in India. All these fall under Modi government’s flagship schemes, for which it has claimed resounding success. It’s time rhetoric met reality, and accomplishments meet requirements.
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.
