Context: The COP 26 United Nations Climate Change Conference will be hosted by the UK from 31st october to 12th November. Heads of state from at least 120 countries are expected to convene in Glasgow for the 26th meeting of the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP). The year 2020 was to …
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Context: India has completed vaccination of 100 crore doses on October 21, 2021, in just about nine months since starting vaccination. This has been a tremendous journey in dealing with COVID-19, especially when we recall how things stood in early 2020. Humanity was dealing with such a pandemic after 100 years and no …
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Context: Environmental disaster has struck Kerala once again. Unusually heavy rains have caused landslides in Kottayam and Idukki. High loss of life due to such disaster must lead to a serious review of the land-use pattern in Kerala. With a population density of 860 persons/sq. km against an all-India average of 368 persons/sq. km …
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Context: In recent, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the “PM GatiShakti — National Master Plan” for infrastructure development aimed at boosting multimodal connectivity and driving down logistics costs. PM Gati Shakti aims to institutionalize holistic planning for major infrastructure projects. The projects will be designed and executed with a common vision and will incorporate …
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Context: West Asia occupies an important position in international relations due to its geographical location and proximity to continents and countries South Asia, China, Central Asia, Europe, and Africa. The virtual meet of the Foreign Ministers of India, the U.S., Israel and the UAE is a strong manifestation of the changes in West …
Introduction: Livestock breeding in India has been largely unorganised because of which there have been gaps in forward and backward integration across the value chain. Such a scenario impacts the quality of livestock that is produced and in turn negatively impacts the return on investment for livestock farmers. Approximately 200 million Indians are …
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Introduction: The Constituent Assembly sat together 114 times to draft a visionary Constitution for India, targeted at transforming an ancient civilisation into a modern nation state. The Preamble inter alia stated that there would be justice (social, economic and political) and equality of status and opportunity. The Sachar Committee Report recommended setting up a …
Continue reading “Insights into Editorial: India needs a caste count”
Context: Over the past week, a big part of the focus on the IMF has been due to the controversy surrounding its Managing Director’s role in the alleged rigging of the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Rankings while she was the chief executive at the Bank. But, away from the controversies, the …
Continue reading “Insights into Editorial: Why recovery in employment may lag the recovery in GDP”
Introduction: The health of a country’s agri-food systems determines the health of its people. The findings from the first round of the Fifth National Family Health Survey suggest that nutrition-related indicators have worsened in most States. The survey covers 17 States and five Union Territories, which comprise 54% of India’s population. In addition, findings …
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Introduction: Two decades after September 11, 2001, when al-Qaeda carried out its most audacious attacks ever on American soil, leading to the Global war on terror and triggering the invasion of Afghanistan by the United States, it might be worthwhile to do a fact check on the outcome. More so given the latest turn …
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Context: India is facing a severe coal shortage. The coal stocks at its thermal power plants can supply just days of fuel. Union Power Minister has said the situation is “touch and go”, and could be “uncomfortable” for up to six months. The Prime Minister’s Office reviewed the coal stock situation in India’s thermal …
Introduction: Like social diversity, India’s geodiversity, or variety of the geological and physical elements of nature, is unique. India has tall mountains, deep valleys, sculpted landforms, long-winding coastlines, hot mineral springs, active volcanoes, diverse soil types, mineralised areas, and globally important fossil-bearing sites. It is long known as the world’s ‘natural laboratory’ for geo-scientific …
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Context: Recently, in-person summit in Delhi was with the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen. This was apt, since Europe looms so large in the Indian diplomatic agenda today and smaller European states draw unprecedented political attention from India. The European Union (EU) is set to push for a closer relationship and stronger presence in …
Context: Events coinciding with the jubilee of India’s Independence draw attention to the federal structure of India’s Constitution, which is a democratic imperative of multi-cultural India, where the constituent units of the sovereign states are based on language, against competing identities such as caste, tribe or religion. This built-in structural potential for conflict within …
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Introduction: In June 2021, two significant documents relating to the Indian agriculture sector were released. The first is a consultation paper on the India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA) from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoA&FW) and the second on Indian Agriculture: Ripe for Disruption from a private organisation, Bain and …
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Introduction: The initiative of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to award Good Samaritans who save lives of road accident victims with a cash prize is a welcome attempt to reduce India’s staggering annual death toll from mishaps. Ranking third among 20 nations that have the highest number of accidents, India fares …
Context: The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded with one half jointly to Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and the other half to Giorgio Parisi. The Nobel Prize Committee said the Physics Prize this year was given for “ground-breaking contributions to our understanding of complex systems”. This is the first-time climate scientists …
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Introduction: In June 2021, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) published a “Consultative Document on Regulation of Microfinance”. While the declared objective of this review is to promote the financial inclusion of the poor and competition among lenders, the likely impact of the recommendations is unfavourable to the poor. If implemented, they will …
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Introduction: Status and trends in forest area: Forest ecosystems are a critical component of the world’s biodiversity as many forests are more biodiverse than other ecosystems. Forests cover 31 percent of the global land area. Approximately half the forest area is relatively intact, and more than one-third is primary forest (i.e. naturally regenerated …
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Introduction: Political Parties in India: In a democracy, political parties provide an agency to the society to gather different views on various issues and to present these to the government. They bring various representatives together so that a responsible government could be formed. They provide a mechanism to support or restrain the government, make …
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