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INSIGHTS NEW SECURE – 2020: YEARLONG TIMETABLE
General Studies – 1
Topic: Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.
Reference: pib.gov.in
Why this question:
The question is about the significance of linguistic diversity that India has and the richness of it.
Key demand of the question:
One must discuss in detail the linguistic diversity of India.
Directive:
analyze – When asked to analyse, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin with brief write up on what you understand by linguistic diversity in Indian context.
Body:
Explain that in India, there are more than 200 languages, being spoken by different groups. There exists ‘linguistic pluralism’ in India, which is a state of ‘mutual existence’ of several languages in a contiguous space.
Discuss the factors responsible for diversity in the languages.
Explain the relevance of official languages.
Conclusion:
Conclude with need to preserve such rich heritage of the country.
Topic: Role of women and women’s organization, population and associated issues.
Reference: Live Mint
Why this question:
The recent incident of woman veterinarian, who was raped and killed on November 27 has again raised the debate of death penalty for the rapists and women’s safety is once again in the news and back in the public consciousness.
Key demand of the question:
Directive:
Critically analyze – When asked to analyse, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, one needs to look at the good and bad of the topic and give a fair judgment.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Briefly talk about the alarming figures of violence against women and the new modes of protest on social media platforms.
Body:
Explain what is violence against women
The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women issued by the UN General Assembly in 1993, defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”
Explain how there has been a huge hue and cry about more stringent laws, death penalty for rapists.
Discuss the associated concerns of poor implementation of law, lack of sensitivity and awareness to the female gender, strong patriarchy etc. still prevalent in the society.
Suggest other measures of sensitizing the male members, how community i.e. We the people—men as much as women—need to feel equally responsible.
Conclusion:
Conclude with what should be the way ahead.
General Studies – 2
Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Reference: pib.gov.in , Live Mint
Why this question:
The Union Cabinet chaired approved the National Education Policy 2020 recently, making way for large scale, transformational reforms in both school and higher education sectors. Built on the foundational pillars of Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability and Accountability, this policy is aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and aims to transform India into a vibrant knowledge society and global knowledge superpower by making both school and college education more holistic, flexible, multidisciplinary, suited to 21st century needs and aimed at bringing out the unique capabilities of each student.
Key demand of the question:
One must explain the key highlights of NEP, 2020. Later, one must also assess as to how the NEP is different from the previous education policies of 1986.
Directive:
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you have to debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You have to give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Talk about the introduction of NEP 2020 and how it was much needed one since there has been a lot of changes in knowledge landscape since last education policy 34 years ago.
Body:
Highlight the features of NEP 2020.
Discuss how the new NEP is trying to overcome the lacunae in the previous policies.
Conclusion:
Conclude with a balanced way forward.
Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Reference: The Hindu , Times Now
Why this question:
The National Education Policy (NEP), approved by the Cabinet yesterday, has a new section on digital education to ensure “equitable use of technology”.
Key demand of the question:
One must explain the new features under the Digital education of NEP, 2020. One has to critically analyse whether equitable and universal access to education will be ensured with the digital education. Discuss the challenges and provide the solutions for the same.
Directive:
Critically Analyse – When asked to analyse, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, one needs to look at the good and bad of the topic and give a fair judgement.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Talk about the introduction of NEP 2020 and inclusion of digital education section in it. Highlight its importance in the current times of pandemic.
While education will play a critical role in this transformation, technology itself will play an important role in the improvement of educational processes and outcomes; thus, the relationship between technology and education (at all levels) is bi-directional.
Body:
Highlight the features of digital education section under NEP 2020.
Discuss the challenges present in ensuring equitable and universal access to education using digital means.
Provide solutions to overcome the same.
Conclusion:
Conclude with a balanced way forward to ensure that digital education is used to reach greater number of people and make India emerge as a knowledge economy.
General Studies – 3
Topic: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
Reference: Down to Earth
Why this question
Offshore wind energy generation estimated to increase between 650 and 3,500 terawatt hours every year by 2050.The central government has recently revealed its aim to build 30 GW of offshore wind energy. Offshore wind energy offers several benefits over onshore wind energy. But there are also several challenges involved in exploitation of such energy.
Key demand of the question.
The question wants us to describe the benefits of offshore wind energy generation in general and also vis a vis onshore wind energy generation. It also wants us to enlist and describe the challenges involved in harnessing offshore wind energy in India.
Directive word
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you have to debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You have to give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Structure of the answer
Introduction– Mention that India has a long coastline, high economic growth rate, high energy demand, increasing pollution which necessitates exploitation of all economically feasible renewable energy generation methods.
Body-
Discuss in points the benefits of offshore wind energy generation over onshore wind energy generation. E.g more area available, lesser turbulence, less visual impact, more consistent and stronger winds, closeness to load centres, lower gestation period etc.
Discuss in points the challenges involved. E.g lack of bathymetric data and wind resource maps, high initial costs, need for policy and regulatory support in the form of a dedicated mission on the lines of JNNSM etc.
Conclusion-
Bring out a fair, concise and a balanced opinion on the overall scope of onshore wind energy generation in India.
Topic: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation.
Reference: Down to Earth
Why this question?
Local bodies and activists are leading by example and working to save the dying the lakes in urban and non-protected areas.
Key demand of the question:
One must first discuss the importance of lakes and wetlands for urban ecosystem. Then analyse the impact of deterioration of lakes and their effect on the ecology and hydrology. Now talk about how the community based conservation efforts have led to the rejuvenation of the lakes.
Directive Word:
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you have to debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You have to give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Start off with the importance of the lakes and wetlands in the urban ecosystem.
Body:
Discuss the challenges faced in safeguarding the lake ecosystem?
- Encroachment and increasing stress on the lake boundaries
- Dumping of the solid waste, sewerage etc.
- Industrial and residential effluents from the cities that discharge into the lake
- spread of the invasive alligator weed is slowly destroying the beneficial vegetation growing in the lake
- Increasing siltation etc.
How can this be overcome?
Discuss the importance of community based conservation efforts.
Conclusion:
Based on your discussion, form a fair and a balanced conclusion on the given issue.
General Studies – 4
Topic: Ethics and Human Interface: Essence, determinants and consequences of Ethics in human actions; dimensions of ethics; ethics in private and public relationships. Human Values – lessons from the lives and teachings of great leaders, reformers and administrators; role of family, society and educational institutions in inculcating values;
Reference: Times Now
Why this question:
The question is statement based and is about analyzing the importance of values in education policy which drives the education system of a nation.
Key demand of the question:
Explain in detail the significance of value education. One must also talk about the values that are driven by the national education policy.
Directive:
Analyze – When asked to analyze, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Define value education in brief.
Body:
Explain the significance of value education.
Discuss the various values that drive the new national education policy and its importance.
Conclusion:
Conclude by reasserting significance of the value education using quotes of great leaders.
