NOTE: Please remember that following ‘answers’ are NOT ‘model answers’. They are NOT synopsis too if we go by definition of the term. What we are providing is content that both meets demand of the question and at the same time gives you extra points in the form of background information.
General Studies – 1
Topic: History of the world will include events from 18th century such as industrial revolution, world wars, redrawal of national boundaries, colonization, decolonization, political philosophies like communism, capitalism, socialism etc.— their forms and effect on the society.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: Chapter-1: Mastering Modern World History – Norman Lowe
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 1.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the reasons for the outbreak for the first world war and responsibility of Germany for the war.
Directive word:
Examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we must investigate the topic (content words) in detail, inspect it, investigate it and establish the key facts and issues related to the topic in question. While doing so we should explain why these facts and issues are important and their implications.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by giving the context of assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that started the great war of 1914.
Body:
First, write about the geo-political Tensions had been brewing throughout Europe—especially in the troubled Balkan region of southeast Europe, the alliances involving European powers, the Ottoman Empire, Russia and other parties had existed for years, The political instability in the Balkans etc, Hyper nationalism leading to mutual distrust. Mention other factors such as economic and military causes.
Next, write about the German responsibility for the first world war. Mention is role in the war as well as the responsibility of the others in it.
Conclusion:
Conclude with a balanced opinion on the German responsibility for the first world war.
Introduction
World War I occurred between July 1914 and November 11, 1918. By the end of the war, over 17 million people would be killed including over 100,000 American troops. The reason why war erupted is actually much more complicated than a simple list of causes. While there was a chain of events that directly led to the fighting, the actual root causes are much deeper and part of continued debate and discussion.
Body
Causes that led to outbreak of World War I
- Mutual Defense Alliances: Over time, countries throughout Europe made mutual defense agreements that would pull them into battle. These treaties meant that if one country was attacked, allied countries were bound to defend them. Before World War 1, the following alliances existed:
- Russia and Serbia
- Germany and Austria-Hungary
- France and Russia
- Britain and France and Belgium
- Japan and Britain
- Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Russia got involved to defend Serbia. Germany seeing Russia mobilizing, declared war on Russia.
- France was then drawn in against Germany and Austria-Hungary. Germany attacked France through Belgium pulling Britain into war.
- Then Japan entered the war. Later, Italy and the United States would enter on the side of the allies.
- Imperialism: Before World War I, Africa and parts of Asia were points of contention among the European countries. This was especially true because of the raw materials these areas could provide.
- The increasing competition and desire for greater empires led to an increase in confrontation that helped push the world into WW I.
- Militarism: As the world entered the 20th century, an arms race had begun. By 1914, Germany had the greatest increase in military buildup.
- Great Britain and Germany both greatly increased their navies in this time period. Further, in Germany and Russia particularly, the military establishment began to have a greater influence on public policy.
- This increase in militarism helped push the countries involved into war.
- Nationalism: Much of the origin of the war was based on the desire of the Slavic peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina to no longer be part of Austria Hungary but instead be part of Serbia.
- In this way, nationalism led directly to the War. But in a more general way, the nationalism of the various countries throughout Europe contributed not only to the beginning but the extension of the war in Europe. Each country tried to prove their dominance and power
- Assassination of arch-duke: The immediate cause of World War I that made the aforementioned items come into play (alliances, imperialism, militarism, nationalism) was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary.
- This assassination led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia.
- When Russia began to mobilize due to its alliance with Serbia, Germany declared war on Russia.
- Thus began the expansion of the war to include all those involved in the mutual defense alliances.
Germany’s role in causing world war-I
- Germany played an important role. After the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, Germany became a unified state.
- It quickly became the largest industrial power in Europe.
- This changed the balance of power and many of German’s neighbours became nervous.
- Because of this tension, Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany decided to form alliances in order to protect Germany and avoid a war on two fronts.
- After several default alliances, the Triple Alliance, consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, was formed in 1882.
- In 1907, after Germany challenged the naval supremacy of Great Britain, the Triple Entente was formed, comprising Britain, France, and Russia.
- The emergence of alliances was a major cause of the First World War, because it divides the European powers, making them rivals, and countries forced to participate in war if one of his allies were involved in the war, which could turn a small war into a large one.
- In 1890, William II of Germany adopted Weltpolitik foreign policy to meet the colonial aspirations of Germany and created a strong navy and empire abroad.
- This imperialist policy had a great impact on relations between Germany and other countries and led Germany into conflict with Britain because of colonial conflicts.
Conclusion
The two world wars were caused by several different factors and many countries participated in it. Several arguments exist as to who should be held responsible for the wars. World War I moved into full force from 1914 through 1918, ending when peace was brokered between the German and Central Forces and the Allied Powers with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. However, this treaty forced punitive measures on Germany that further destabilized Europe and laid the groundwork for the start of World War II. By understanding the causes of World War I, historians can develop a keen comprehension of how and why this devastating conflict began.
General Studies – 2
Topic: Indian Constitution—historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.
Difficulty level: Easy
Reference: Polity by M. Laxmikanth
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 2.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the nature of borrowings with respect to the Indian constitution and elements of originality.
Directive word:
Critically analyze – When asked to analyse, you must examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them 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 balanced judgment on the topic.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by giving context about borrowed features of India constitution.
Body:
First, write about the major borrowings of Indian constitution from various constitutions of the world.
Next, write about certain unique features of Indian constitution. write about how even though India referred to other countries Constitution it cannot be concluded as a mere copying or borrowing. It is evident in the Constitution that it is not bare copying which is happened but a clear adaptation of ideas in a way which is suitable for the Indian society. Such approach or references thus cannot be termed as copying moreover its studying and adapting ideologies in a suitable manner.
Conclusion:
Conclude by opining that Indian Constitution was as a bag of adaptations and not a bag of borrowings.
Introduction
The Constitution of India is the longest written constitution of any independent country in the world. However, the Indian Constitution is known as a bag of borrowings for its varied sources of many features.
Dr BR Ambedkar rightly said that it was created after ransacking the known Constitutions across the world.
Body
Borrowed features of Indian Constitution
- Government of India Act of 1935: Federal Scheme, Office of governor, Judiciary, Public Service Commissions, Emergency provisions and administrative details.
- British Constitution: Parliamentary government, Rule of Law, legislative procedure, single citizenship, cabinet system, prerogative writs, parliamentary privileges and bicameralism.
- British Constitution: Parliamentary government, Rule of Law, legislative procedure, single citizenship, cabinet system, prerogative writs, parliamentary privileges and bicameralism.
- Irish Constitution: Directive Principles of State Policy, nomination of members to Rajya Sabha and method of election of president.
- Canadian Constitution: Federation with a strong Centre, vesting of residuary powers in the Centre, appointment of state governors by the Centre, and advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
- Australian Constitution: Concurrent List, freedom of trade, commerce and inter-course, and joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament.
- Weimar Constitution of Germany: Suspension of Fundamental Rights during Emergency.
- Soviet Constitution (USSR, now Russia): Fundamental duties and the ideal of justice (social, economic and political) in the Preamble.
- French Constitution: Republic and the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity in the Preamble.
- South African Constitution: Procedure for amendment of the Constitution and election of members of Rajya Sabha.
Unique features of Indian Constitution
- Lengthiest constitution: It is the lengthiest and the longest constitution in the world. It has 395 Articles and 12 Schedules.
- Also, about 90 Articles have been added since 1951 and there have been more than 100 Amendments.
- Federal and Unitary features: The federal features of governance are a dual system of government i.e. center and states, the division of powers.
- But, it also contains many unitary features such as a strong center, All India Services common to the center and the states, emergency provisions that can modify the Constitution into a unitary one, the appointment of Governors by the President on the advice of the center, etc.
- Rigid and flexible: The Indian Constitution is a combination or a blend of rigidity and flexibility.
- As per Article 368, some provisions can be amended by a special majority of the Parliament i.e. a 2/3rd majority of the members of each House present and voting and majority which is more than 50 percent of the total membership of each House.
- Parliamentary Sovereignty and Judicial Supremacy: The Indian Constitution has a proper balance between Parliamentary sovereignty and Judicial Supremacy.
- The Supreme Court has the power of judicial review vide Articles 13, 32 and 136.
Critical analysis
- The critics opined that the Indian Constitution contains nothing new and original. They described it as a ‘borrowed Constitution’ or a ‘bag of borrowings’ or a ‘hotch-potch Constitution’ or a ‘patchwork’ of several documents of the world constitutions.
- However, this criticism is unfair and illogical. This is because, the framers of the Constitution made necessary modifications in the features borrowed from other constitutions for their suitability to the Indian conditions, at the same time avoiding their faults.
- While answering the above criticism in the Constituent Assembly, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the Chairman of the Drafting Committee, said: “One likes to ask whether there can be anything new in a Constitution framed at this hour in the history of the world. More than hundred years have rolled over when the first written Constitution was drafted. It has been followed by many countries reducing their constitutions to writing.
- What the scope of a Constitution should be has long been settled. Similarly, what are the fundamentals of a Constitution are recognized all over the world.
- Given these facts, all Constitutions in their main provisions must look similar. The only new things, if there can be any, in a Constitution framed so late in the day are the variations made to remove the faults and to accommodate it to the needs of the country.
- The charge of producing a blind copy of the Constitutions of other countries is based, on an inadequate study of the Constitution
Conclusion
India is a country which adopted its provisions of Constitution from more than 60 countries. The references made to these countries made Indian Constitution the lengthiest of the world. Provisions from other countries made Indian Constitution more accurate and helped to involve major set of provisions which is necessary for a country. Even though India referred to other countries Constitution it cannot be concluded as a mere copying or borrowing. It is evident in the Constitution that it is not bare copying which is happened but a clear adaptation of ideas in a way which is suitable for the Indian society. Such approach or references thus cannot be termed as copying moreover its studying and adapting ideologies in a suitable manner.
Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: Indian Express , Indian Express
Why the question:
The country’s frontline health workers or ASHAs were one of the six recipients of the WHO’s Global Health Leaders Award-2022 that recognizes leadership, contributions to advancing global health and commitment to regional health issues.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the importance of ASHA for grassroot level development.
Directive word:
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you must debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You must give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by writing about ASHA workers as part of National Rural Health Mission.
Body:
First, write about the major roles played the ASHA workers – The ASHA programme is considered as being vital to achieving the goal of increasing community engagement with the health system, improving the health status of the community through securing people’s access to health care services. Mention the work done by the ASHA workers in the Pandemic.
Next, write certain limitations with respect to the ASHA programme and suggest measures to empower the ASHA workers further.
Conclusion:
Conclude by writing a way forward.
Introduction
The World Health Organisation has recognised the country’s 10.4 lakh ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers as ‘Global Health Leaders’ for their efforts in connecting the community to the government’s health programmes.
While this is laudable, the women health volunteers continue to fight for higher remuneration, regular jobs, and even health benefits. While intermittent protests have been going on in several states, thousands of ASHAs from across the country took to the streets in September last year to fight for their demands.
Body
About ASHA workers
- ASHA workers are volunteers from within the community who are trained to provide information and aid people in accessing benefits of various healthcare schemes of the government.
- They act as a bridge connecting marginalised communities with facilities such as primary health centres, sub-centres and district hospitals.
- The role of these community health volunteers under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was first established in 2005.
- ASHAs are primarily married, widowed, or divorced women between the ages of 25 and 45 years from within the community. They must have good communication and leadership skills; should be literate with formal education up to Class 8, as per the programme guidelines.
- The aim is to have one ASHA for every 1,000 persons or per habitation in hilly, tribal or other sparsely populated areas.
- There are around 10.4 lakh ASHA workers across the country, with the largest workforces in states with high populations – Uttar Pradesh (1.63 lakh), Bihar (89,437), and Madhya Pradesh (77,531). Goa is the only state with no such workers, as per the latest National Health Mission data available from September 2019.
Role of ASHA workers
- They go door-to-door in their designated areas creating awareness about basic nutrition, hygiene practices, and the health services available.
- They focus primarily on ensuring that women undergo ante-natal check-up, maintain nutrition during pregnancy, deliver at a healthcare facility, and provide post-birth training on breast-feeding and complementary nutrition of children.
- They also counsel women about contraceptives and sexually transmitted infections.
- ASHA workers are also tasked with ensuring and motivating children to get immunised. Other than mother and child care, ASHA workers also provide medicines daily to TB patients under directly observed treatment of the national programme.
- They are also tasked with screening for infections like malaria during the season.
- They also provide basic medicines and therapies to people under their jurisdiction such as oral rehydration solution, chloroquine for malaria, iron folic acid tablets to prevent anaemia, and contraceptive pills.
- The health volunteers are also tasked with informing their respective primary health centre about any births or deaths in their designated areas.
ASHA workers and pandemic response
- ASHA workers were a key part of the government’s pandemic response, with most states using the network for screening people in containment zones, getting them tested, and taking them to quarantine centres or help with home quarantine.
- They went door-to-door and check people for Covid-19 symptoms. Those who had fever or cough had to be tested. They informed the authorities and helped the people reach the quarantine centres.
- They went to households with confirmed Covid-19 cases and explained the quarantine procedure. They provided them with medicines and pulse-oximeters. All of this was on top of their routine work.
- With the vaccination drive for Covid-19 beginning in January last year, they have also been tasked with motivating people to get their shots and collect data on how many people are yet to get vaccinated.
Challenges faced by ASHA workers
- Wages: They have low and non-fixed salary and does not come under Minimum Wages.
- There are over 10.4 lakh ASHAs across India. In the past three years, ASHAs from at least 17 states have demanded fixed salaries, higher incentives and inclusion in social safety schemes such as pensions.
- ASHAs are not recognized as workers and thus get less than Rs 18,000 per month. They are the cheapest healthcare providers in India.
- ASHAs say they normally earn through antenatal care (Rs 300), institutional delivery (Rs 300), family planning (Rs 150) and immunization rounds (Rs 100) as cases of other diseases are far and few.
- Administrative issues: They are paid from the NRHM fund for which they have to wait for long time. The scheme does not have a dedicated budgetary allocation and the funds are arranged on an ad-hoc basis from different government schemes under NRHM such as National Immunisation Programme.
- The delays in reimbursement of incentives hurt the self-esteem of ASHAs and has a bearing on her service delivery.
- Instead of focussing solely on community healthcare and related work, they are burdened with surveys and other non-related work.
- Infrastructure: Many Anganwadi workers and Asha activists have reported against dilapidated buildings and hazardous environment.
- It becomes difficult to ensure proper nutrition and early childhood care for children under these conditions.
- Occupational Hazard: Recent attack on ASHA workers during the COVID-19 pandemic shows the vulnerability of these workers and the non-performance of state in providing basic security.
Conclusion and way forward
- Fixed salary and dedicated fund: A Parliamentary Committee on Empowerment of Women way back in 2010 recommended fixed salaries for ASHAs. There should be a dedicated fund for ASHAs, which will ensure timely payment of the incentives and boost the morale of the volunteers.
- Skill training: Skill upgradation should be an integral part of the scheme. Volunteers should be encouraged to take short-term courses on auxiliary nurse mid-wives/general nursing and midwifery.
- This will not only help the volunteers in getting a better incentive, but will also ensure that the people living in remote areas have better health access.
- Currently, nursing schools in 11 states give preference to ASHAs for auxiliary nurse mid-wives and general nursing courses.
- In recent times, centre has provided Insurance cover to Asha workers and increased their honorarium. This must be institutionalized, so that more community workers can come forward and effectively execute their responsibility.
Topic: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: India Times , live Mint
Why the question:
After 16 months in office, the Joe Biden administration has finally pulled back the curtain on its signature economic initiative: the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). However, as grand reveals go, IPEF has been more than a little underwhelming.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), the advantages it can offers and its limitations.
Directive word:
Examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we must investigate the topic (content words) in detail, inspect it, investigate it and establish the key facts and issues related to the topic in question. While doing so we should explain why these facts and issues are important and their implications.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by giving context about the announcement of Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) and its members.
Body:
First, write about the reasons as to why India withdrew from RCEP.
Next, write about advantages IPEF can offer for India – cooperation on infrastructure and clean energy, apart from coordination over taxation, rule enforcement and its trade prospects etc.
Next, write about the various concerns associated with IPEF.
Conclusion:
Conclude by writing a balanced opinion regarding the formation of IPEF.
Introduction
In the presence of United States President Joe Biden in Tokyo, Indian Prime Minister announced India’s partnership in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), the US-led economic initiative that has on board the four Quad partners apart from South Korea and New Zealand and seven of the 10 Southeast Asian nations.
The IPEF will focus on trade, supply chains, clean energy, taxation and anti-corruption measures. It is a declaration of the collective will to make the region an engine of global economic growth while pushing for “trust, transparency and timeliness” as the three main pillars of resilient supply chains.
Body
Background: IPEF
- The move of these 13 nations to strengthen economic partnership to enhance resilience, sustainability, economic growth, fairness, and competitiveness in the Indo-Pacific is significant, given China’s economic and military assertiveness in the region.
- The door has been left open for more nations in the region.
- Apart from the Quad members US, India, Australia and Japan, the new grouping contains Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Reasons for withdrawal from RCEP
- Non-acceptance of Auto-trigger Mechanism: To deal with the imminent rise in imports, India had been seeking an auto-trigger mechanism. Auto-trigger Mechanism would have allowed India to raise tariffs on products in instances where imports cross a certain threshold. However, other countries in the RCEP were against this proposal.
- Unfavourable Balance of Trade: Though trade has increased the post-Free Trade Agreement with South Korea, ASEAN countries and Japan, imports have risen faster than exports from India. According to a paper published by NITI Aayog, India has a bilateral trade deficit with 11 out of 15 member countries of RCEP.
- China factor: India fears that the RCEP pact will enable China to dump its products at lower prices and finally capture the market. India’s trade deficit with RCEP countries stood at $105 billion, out of which China alone accounted for $52 billion.
- Rules of Origin: Rules of origin are the criteria used to determine the national source of a product. India was concerned about a “possible circumvention” of rules of origin. The deal did not have sufficient safeguards to prevent routing of the products.
- Vulnerable domestic sectors: India’s vulnerable agriculture and dairy sectors will be exposed to vagaries of global trade. For instance, the dairy industry is expected to face stiff competition from Australia and New Zealand.
- Issue of Market Access: RCEP also lacked clear assurance over market access issues in countries such as China and non-tariff barriers on Indian companies.
- IPR provisions: Japan and South Korea are proposing intellectual property provisions referred to as TRIPS-plus, which go far beyond the obligations under the WTO’s agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
Potential of IPEF for India
- Economy: The Indo-Pacific covers half the population of the world and more than 60% of the global GDP and the nations who will join this framework in the future, are signing up to work toward an economic vision that will deliver for all people.
- Trade: It intends to build high-standard, inclusive, free, and fair-trade commitments and develop new and creative approaches in trade and technology policy that advance a broad set of objectives that fuels economic activity and investment, promotes sustainable and inclusive economic growth, and benefits workers and consumers.
- Supply Chains: IPEF is committed to improving transparency, diversity, security, and sustainability in supply chains to make them more resilient and well-integrated.
- To coordinate crisis response measures; expand cooperation to better prepare for and mitigate the effects of disruptions to better ensure business continuity; improve logistical efficiency and support; and ensure access to key raw and processed materials, semiconductors, critical minerals, and clean energy technology.
- Clean Energy, Decarbonization, and Infrastructure: In line with the Paris Agreement goals and efforts to support the livelihood of peoples and workers, it plans to accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy technologies to decarbonize our economies and build resilience to climate impacts.
- This also involves deepening cooperation on technologies, on mobilizing finance, including concessional finance, and on seeking ways to improve competitiveness and enhance connectivity by supporting the development of sustainable and durable infrastructure and by providing technical assistance.
- Tax and Anti-Corruption: It is committed to promoting fair competition by enacting and enforcing effective and robust tax, anti-money laundering, and anti-bribery regimes in line with existing multilateral obligations, standards, and agreements to curb tax evasion and corruption in the Indo-Pacific region.
- This involves sharing expertise and seeking ways to support the capacity building necessary to advance accountable and transparent systems.
Conclusion and way forward
- India needs to go beyond bilateral pacts and focus on broad competitiveness instead of two-way particulars.
- On its part, the US would do well not to insist on caveats that could blunt any Indian advantage.
- Our put-offs will have to be spelt out with clarity right at the onset of IPEF talks.
- But then, just as the White House is seized of the need to keep Indo-Pacific sea-lanes free of a Chinese shadow, it must also be aware of how constraints on Indian export success could work against the Quad’s geopolitical goals.
General Studies – 3
Topic: Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing
Difficulty level: Tough
Reference: Indian Express
Why the question:
The UN’s FAO estimates indicate that growth in total fish consumption outpaced all other animal proteins, recording year-on-year growth of 2.1% since 2015 (SOFIA 2020–21).
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the impediments to blue revolution and the measures needed to achieve it.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by defining as to what constitutes a blue revolution in India.
Body:
In the first part, write the about the various impediments to blue revolution – untapped water resources, lack of new technologies, lack of cold storage and marketing etc.
Next, write about the various steps that are needed to rectify the above and achieve blue revolution.
Next, write about the importance of cage culture in order to ensure increased fish catch and increased profitability.
Conclusion:
Conclude by writing a way forward.
Introduction
The term “blue revolution” refers to the remarkable emergence of aquaculture as an important and highly productive agricultural activity. Blue Revolution, is important to achieve economic prosperity of the country and the fishers and fish farmers as well as contribute towards food and nutritional security, keeping in view the bio-security and environmental concerns.
Body
Background: Blue Revolution
- It refers to the time of intense growth of the worldwide aquaculture industry from the mid-1960s to the present day.
- The aquaculture industry has been growing at an average rate of 9% a year and India is one of the fastest growers.
- In other words, the rapid increase in the production of fish and marine product through a package program is known as the Blue Revolution.
- The Blue Revolution is part of the Government’s efforts to promote fishing as an allied activity for farmers in order to double their incomes.
- As part of its efforts to raise seafood output and exports and promote sustainable aquaculture, the Government has constituted an independent Ministry for Fisheries.
- In the budget 2019-20, the government allocated an estimated 3,737 crore rupees for the newly carved out Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.
Various impediments to blue revolution in India
It is a matter of great concern that India is able to exploit only a fraction of the aquaculture potential available to it. India uses only about 40% of the available ponds, tanks and other water bodies for freshwater aquaculture and 15% of total potential of brackish water resources.
- High input cost: The cost of inputs per unit of fish weight is higher than in extensive farming, especially because of the high cost of fish feed. Netting involves regular and labour-intensive cleaning.
- Social problems: Norms and religious values excluded women or other groups from participation in certain activities. Lack of family encouragement considering lower prestigious occupation.
- Lack of data: There are lack of reliable database relating to aquatic and fisheries resources in India as well as lack of suitable policies of government and inefficiency of an enforcement agency to monitor the supply of good quality seeds and feeds.
- Lack of finance: Lack of adequate financial support and proper transport and marketing facilities for the products.
- Inadequate family labour: Multiple use of pond water especially domestic purposes restrict the commercial fish farming. Multiple ownership of land is the cause of dispute and opinion diversification. Disputed ownership of water areas.
- Technological problems: Lack of value addition for enhancing profit margin. The market for processed fish is limited in the domestic market and is restricted to fish pickles, cutlets etc. Fish production technology is a complex technology. Lack of timely availability of inputs nearby, lack of quality feed in local market, lack of location specific improved technology, inadequate knowledge and skill about scientific fish farm management.
Steps taken in this regard
- Blue Revolution 2.0/ Neel Kranti Mission: The focus of the Blue Revolution 2.0 is on development and management of fisheries. This covers inland fisheries, aquaculture, marine fisheries including deep sea fishing, mariculture and all activities undertaken by the National Fisheries Development Board
- The National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) was established in 2006 as an autonomous organization under the administrative control of the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, to enhance fish production and productivity in the country and to coordinate fishery development in an integrated and holistic manner. The Program has certain objectives which includes:
- Transforming the fisheries sector as a modern industry with special focus on new technologies and processes.
- Doubling the income of fishers and fish farmers with special focus on increasing productivity and better post-harvest marketing infrastructure including e-commerce and other technologies and global best innovations.
- Ensuring inclusive participation of fishers and fish farmers in the income enhancement.
- Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana: The Scheme is aimed to turn India into a hotspot for fish and aquatic products through appropriate policy, marketing and infrastructure support.
- With the Scheme, the government intends to bring all fishermen under the ambit of farmer welfare programmes and social security schemes.
- Through this scheme, the Department of Fisheries will establish a robust fisheries management framework. This will address a critical gap in the value chain including infrastructure modernisation, traceability, production, productivity, post-harvest management and quality control.
- Financial Allocation: The government has allocated 75 crore rupees for the fisheries sector in the current fiscal.
- Its aim is to augment fish production to achieve its target of 15 million tonnes by 2020 under the Blue Revolution and raise it thereafter to about 20 million tonnes by 2022-23.
● Initiative Taken under the MGNREGA: The government under the MGNREGA has started to develop the farm ponds, where pisciculture is taking place.
Conclusion
India’s long coastline has the potential of becoming the strength of the economy particularly through the exploitation of the Blue Revolution. India can grow to the extent of 10 trillion-dollar economy as against 2.7 trillion dollars today with the help of the Blue Economy. India needs to develop more scientifically its fishing system and other related aspects such as freezing, packaging, etc.
Value addition
Statistics
- Fisheries, are in fact, India’s single largest agricultural export with a growth rate of 6-10% in the last five years. In comparison, the growth rate of the farm sector in the same period is around 2.5%.
- Fishing is the primary source of livelihood for several communities in India and the country is the world’s second largest fish producer with exports worth more than 47,000 crore rupees.
- Currently, the USA is the largest market for Indian seafood products with a share of 26.46% in terms of India’s exports of marine products followed by South East Asian Countries- 25.71% and the European Union Nations- 20.08%.
- The fisheries and aquaculture production contribute around 1% to India’s GDP and over 5% to the agricultural GDP.
Topic: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.
Difficulty level: Easy
Reference: The Hindu
Why the question:
The adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) chips has risen, with chipmakers designing different types of these chips to power AI applications.
Key Demand of the question:
To write the differences between AI and traditional chips and applications of AI chips.
Directive word:
Elaborate – Give a detailed account as to how and why it occurred, or what is the context. You must be defining key terms wherever appropriate and substantiate with relevant associated facts.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by giving details regarding Artificial Intelligence (AI) chips
Body:
First, write about the differences between Artificial Intelligence (AI) chips and traditional chips – handle higher computational necessities, optimised cores and heterogeneous enterprise etc.
Next, write about the applications of AI chips – natural language processing (NLP), computer vision, robotics, and network security across a wide variety of sectors, including automotive, IT, healthcare, and retail. Substantiate with examples.
Conclusion:
Conclude by summarising their importance.
Introduction
AI chips are built with specific architecture and have integrated AI acceleration to support deep learning-based applications. AI chips, essentially, reimagine traditional chips’ architecture, enabling smart devices to perform sophisticated deep learning tasks such as object detection and segmentation in real-time, with minimal power consumption.
Body
About Artificial Intelligence chips
- These chips, with their hardware architectures and complementary packaging, memory, storage and interconnect technologies, make it possible to infuse AI into a broad spectrum of applications.
- There are different types of AI chips such as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), central processing units (CPUs) and GPUs, designed for diverse AI applications.
Artificial chips vs traditional chips
- When traditional chips, containing processor cores and memory, perform computational tasks, they continuously move commands and data between the two hardware components.
- These chips, however, are not ideal for AI applications as they would not be able to handle higher computational necessities of AI workloads which have huge volumes of data.
- Although, some of the higher-end traditional chips may be able to process certain AI applications.
- In comparison, AI chips generally contain processor cores as well as several AI-optimised cores that are designed to work in harmony when performing computational tasks.
- The AI cores are optimised for the demands of heterogeneous enterprise-class AI workloads with low-latency inferencing, due to close integration with the other processor cores.
Applications of AI chips in various sectors
- Semiconductor firms have developed various specialised AI chips for a multitude of smart machines and devices, including ones that are said to deliver the performance of a data centre-class computer to edge devices.
- Some of these chip’s support in-vehicle computers to run state-of-the-art AI applications more efficiently.
- AI chips are also powering applications of computational imaging in wearable electronics, drones, and robots.
- Use of AI chips for NLP applications has increased due to the rise in demand for chatbots and online channels such as Messenger, Slack, and others
- They use NLP to analyse user messages and conversational logic.
- Then there are chipmakers who have built AI processors designed to help customers achieve business insights at scale across banking, finance, trading, insurance applications and customer interactions.
Conclusion
The rise in the need for smart homes and cities, and the surge in investments in AI start-ups are expected to drive the growth of the global AI chip market, as per a report by Allied Market Research. The Worldwide AI chip industry accounted for $8.02 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $194.9 billion by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 37.4% from 2021 to 2030.
General Studies – 4
Topic: Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and the world to the concepts of morality;
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 4 and part of ‘Conceptual Tuesdays’ in Mission-2022 Secure.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the coming together of communities by act of compassion during the pandemic.
Directive word:
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you must debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You must give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by giving context regarding the tough times during the pandemic.
Body:
Write about how compassion led to solidarity among communities locally, nationally as well as internationally during the pandemic. Substantiate with examples.
Conclusion:
Conclude by mentioning that key lessons learnt during the pandemic should be replicated even in the normal times.
Introduction
In March 2020, when the pandemic first hit, the world saw kindness spread all over the world. People came together to sing on balconies in Italy and others set up mutual aid groups to offer support to the elderly or vulnerable. In India there was lighting of lamps to show solidarity with health care workers and those affected by covid-19 to boost their morale.
We learned that amid the fear, there was also community, support and hope.
Body
Performing a selfless act increases one’s sense of gratitude, as one is in a position to do something generous for another person Doing a kind act for another person can increase the sense of feeling connected to another person, which in turn helps people see the worth and value in their own lives.
It had become clear that dealing with the pandemic situation required the entire country to come together, especially to support the poor and the vulnerable. To a large extent, this actually happened. In fact, within hours of the lockdown being announced, there were enthusiastic groups on the streets, distributing food packets to the poor and needy.
Compassion and acts of kindness during pandemic
- India and many European nations sent masks, vaccines and essential medicines to a lot of African nations thereby showing solidarity in the crisis. India even helped USA with essential medicines.
- During second wave, medical aid poured in for India when there was severe oxygen shortage.
- People helping those in need, older giving away their beds to younger people, cremation of the dead by strangers transcending community barriers showed the kindness and compassion of human beings in times to distress to help out fellow humans.
- Health care workers worked tirelessly, round the clock to ensure the best medical care was given to patients suffering from the disease.
- Free food to the needy and poor were given by many to hosting Langars in Gurudwaras and mobile food distribution etc.
Conclusion
The commitment shown by volunteers and people was admirable and there is great value in what they did during those times. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that our ability to overcome such crisis comes from this very spirit that our people possess — the ability to reach out to the needy and help. Kindness, empathy, compassion and selflessness were displayed all over the world when the world tumbled against the force of an unknown biological danger that engulfed everyone.
