Simplifying UPSC IAS Preparation
Insights into Editorial: Ecological perils of discounting the future Introduction: Once the wettest place on Earth, Cherrapunji, a town in northeastern India, has faced a drought each winter for the past few years. Kerala, a state in the southwest, flooded devastatingly in 2018, but saw its wells run dry soon after. Chennai, a …
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Insights into Editorial: India’s foreign policy needs rework in the next five years Introduction: Need for a Foreign Policy: Foreign policy is not a fixed concept as it keeps on changing according to changing domestic and international conditions. National interest is the core objective of foreign policy of a nation. The secondary national interest may …
Insights into Editorial: Tread with caution: on labour laws Context: As a part of its ease of doing business initiative, the government will be subsuming a total of 44 labour laws into four codes — on wages, social security, industrial safety and welfare and industrial relations. The Four codes of Labour laws are: Code …
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Insights into Editorial: The malaise of malnutrition Context: A new report, ‘Food and Nutrition Security Analysis, India, 2019’, authored by the Government of India and the United Nations World Food Programme, paints a picture of hunger and malnutrition amongst children in large pockets of India. This punctures the image of a nation marching towards prosperity. …
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Insights into Editorial: Crimes that India’s statute books have failed to define Introduction: Neither ‘crimes against humanity’ nor ‘genocide’ has been made part of India’s criminal law, a lacuna that needs to be addressed urgently. This was the lament of Justice S. Muralidhar of the Delhi High Court, while pronouncing the judgment in State v. …
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Insights into Editorial: Going electric: on plans to switch to electric vehicles Context: The Union Budget has announced a bold move to make a transition to electric vehicles, and offered a tax incentive for the early adopters. Its stated vision to leapfrog into an era of electric mobility and domestic vehicle manufacturing, led by public …
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Insights into Editorial: Zero Budget Natural Farming in India Introduction: Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) is a set of farming methods, and also a grassroots peasant movement, which has spread to various states in India. It has attained wide success in southern India, especially the southern Indian state of Karnataka where it first evolved. …
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Insights into Editorial: Quota politics: on U.P.’s move to confer SC status on 17 backward castes Context: The government of Uttar Pradesh has included 17 communities belonging to the Other Backward Classes in the Scheduled Castes list. A decision to this effect was taken and authorities have been directed to issue certificate to families …
Insights into Editorial: The macro does not gel with the micro Introduction: The India Budget 2019 describes with admirable practicality what we would like to see in India, but it is not convincing on how we can have the growth to afford the same. The budget was nevertheless marked by an even-handedness and attention …
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Insights into Editorial: Searching for reform signals Budget 2019: There were high expectations from the Budget to provide a clear road map for much-needed reforms, given that the government received an unprecedented electoral mandate. The GDP growth in the last quarter of 2018-19 was the slowest in the last five years, and considering that the …
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Insights into Editorial: Lessons from Bhutan Context: Bhutan has recently announced a policy wherein Bhutan’s teachers, doctors and other medical staff will earn more than civil servants of corresponding grades. The new salary scales will benefit about 13,000 teachers and doctors. This is …
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Insights into Editorial: A thumbs down to unilateralism Context: U.S. has decided to undermine the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism and walk down the path of unilateralism instead. Recent trade war between India and USA wherein the author argues that US has been unfairly targeting India for its trade …
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Insights into Editorial: Imitation registry: on Nagaland NRC Context: The Nagaland government has initiated a move to implement its own version of citizenship register, albeit only for indigenous communities of the state. The exercise to prepare the Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN) will start from 10 July and will be completed in 60 …
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Insights into Editorial: Among members: on G-20 Osaka summit Context: Recently the 11th G20 Summit was held in Osaka, Japan on 28th-29th June, 2019. The G-20 is an international forum for the governments and central bank governors. On the name of its members its name is termed as the G-20. G-20 was founded in 1999 …
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Insights into Editorial: The state of Indian prisons Context: In the midst of the election process this year, the release of the data-driven report, the Prison Statistics India 2016, published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in April went largely unnoticed. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is an attached office of the Ministry …
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Insights into Editorial: GST’s performance versus promise Introduction: The launch of the goods and services tax (GST) across the country. Billed as the biggest tax reform since independence, the landmark tax reform, with its first of its kind ‘one nation-one tax’ approach, aimed at subsuming almost all indirect taxes at the Central and State levels. …
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Insights into Editorial: India must recognise the right to a minimally decent life Context: More than 400 children with acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) have been admitted to various hospitals in Bihar. It has claimed the lives of over 100 children. Most of the deaths have been attributed to low blood sugar level (hypoglycaemia). Encephalitis results …
Insights into Editorial: Reimagining the NITI Aayog Introduction: India’s Constitution-makers thought of India as a union of States with a centripetal bias, done, advisedly, to preserve the unity and integrity of a newly fledged nation. The Constitution provides for a Parliamentary form of government which is federal in structure with certain unitary features. Since then, …
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Insights into Editorial: An idea whose time may not have come Context: Not even a month after the world’s largest elections in history were over, the debate around “one nation, one election” has been resurrected. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had continued to flag the issue for the last five years, has now called …
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Insights into Editorial: Why South Asia must cooperate About South Asian Countries: South Asia covers only about 3.5% of the world’s land surface area but hosts a fourth (25%) of its population, making it a region of significant importance for international development. In spite of the geographic proximity countries in this region enjoy and their …
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