Q What is the context ?A The Russia-Ukraine conflict will impact India’s economy through several channels. The first order impact, emanates from the negative terms of trade shock from higher commodity prices, particularly oil.Crude prices have surged well past a $110/barrel and there is a growing expectation that, as the conflict gets more entrenched, crude could remain elevated for much longer and average close to $100/barrel in 2022, vis-a-vis $70/barrel in 2021.Q Why crude oil price is increasing?A Limited Supply:Major oil-producing countries had cut oil p... Read More...
Q Why is it in News ?A After its proposal to amend the All India Service Rules that would allow it to call any IAS, IPS or IFoS officer on central deputation with or without the state’s consent, the Centre has issued another order on central deputation of Deputy Inspector General-level IPS officers.Q What is the order?AThe Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has said that IPS officers coming to the Centre at DIG level would no longer be required to be empanelled at that level with the Union Government.According to existing rules, a DIG-ranked IPS officer with a mini... Read More...
Q What is the context ?A Members of the World Health Organisation (WHO) held the first round of negotiations towards the pandemic treaty on February 24, 2022. Q What is the Pandemic Treaty?A In December 2021, the World Health Assembly agreed to start a global process to draft the pandemic treaty.The need for an updated set of rules was felt after the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the shortcomings of global health systems.The Health Assembly adopted a decision titled “The World Together” at its second special session since it was founded in 1948.Un... Read More...
Q Why is it in News ?A Ever since the pandemic struck, concerns have been raised about the improper use of antimicrobials amongst Covid-19 patients.Q Why is there concern over anti-microbial resistance ?A The “Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 204 countries and territories in 2019 (GRAM)” report, released last month, 4.95 million people died from drug-resistant bacterial infections in 2019, with 3,89,000 deaths in South Asia alone.AMR directly caused at least 1.27 million of those deaths.Lower respiratory infections accoun... Read More...
Q What is the context ?A Last week, a little over 13 years after the blasts in 2008 (in July) in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, the designated court to conduct a speedy trial decided the fate of 78 of the accused people. Within a week, the court sentenced 38 of 49 people to death.Q What is the debate on the death sentence ?A The death sentence grants the state the monopoly of violence.This monopoly is justified by claiming that such a step prevents crime or that it is a measure of long-due justice.Use in ‘rarest of rare’ case: Read More...
Q Why is it in News ?A The SilverLine Project to be built by the government of Kerala will link Thiruvananthapuram in the south to Kasargode in the north.The project has received its share of criticism, much of it from political quarters, but also some academic sections.Q What is the SilverLine project?A The project entails building a semi high-speed railway corridor through the state linking its southern end and state capital Thiruvananthapuram with its northern end of Kasaragod. The line is proposed to be 529.45 kms long, covering 11 districts through 11 stations. When the project is rea... Read More...
Q What is the context ?A With tensions escalating between Russia and the West over the Ukraine crisis, India, which has major defence cooperation with Moscow and Kyiv, faces uncertainty over timely deliveries of the S-400.The S-400 is known as Russia’s most advanced long-range surface-to-air missile defence system, capable of destroying hostile strategic bombers, jets, missiles and drones at a range of 380-km.Q What are US reservations against S-400 purchase ?A The US has made it clear that the delivery of the five S-400 systems is considered a “significant... Read More...
Q Why is it in News ?A A shift is taking place in the business of global dominance and hegemony, from the model of expressing force through troop presence to financial sanctions. It is led by the US and has become recently visible in the US and EU sanctions on Russia.Q How sanctions works ?A Sanctions are designed by the government and implemented by both profit-making and non-profit private enterprises, domestic and international NGOs (including the United Nations).From rule-bound globalism, there is a move to an understanding of the management of indiv... Read More...
Q What is the context ?A The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is likely to come out with new cyber security regulations which will put the onus on organisations to report any cybercrime that may have happened against them, including data leaks.Q What are damages inflicted by the cyber crimes ?A Apart from private firms, government services, especially critical utilities, are prone to cyber attacks and breach incidents.The ransomware attack against the nationwide gas pipeline in 2021 in the U.S. virtually brought down the transportation of about 45% of ... Read More...
Q Why is it in News ?A Ukraine has filed an application before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), instituting proceedings against the Russian Federation for committing Genocide.Q What is International Court of Justice ?A The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN).It was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations and began work in April 1946.The court is the successor to the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ), which was brought into being through, and by, the League of Nations.It held its inaugura... Read More...
Q What is the context ?A The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the second part of its sixth assessment report. The first part was released in 2021.Q What is IPCC?A The IPCC, an intergovernmental body was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).It was later endorsed by the UN General Assembly. Membership is open to all members of the WMO and UN.The IPCC produces reports that contribute to the work of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the m... Read More...
Q. Why is this in news?A. Recently, the central government requested state governments/union territory administrations to explore the possibility of introducing millets under the PM POSHAN Scheme preferably in the districts where eating millets is a culturally accepted food habit.NITI Aayog has also been advocating the need to introduce millets in the mid-day meal programme (now PM POSHAN Scheme), moving away from rice and wheat.Q. What are the Benefits of Millets?A.Millets or nutri-cereals, which include Read More...
Q. Why is this in news?A. Recently, the Supreme Court Collegium has recommended appointing Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari as Chief Justice of Madras High Court.Q. What is a Collegium System and How Did It Evolve?A.It is the system of appointment and transfer of judges that has evolved through judgments of the Supreme Court (SC), and not by an Act of Parliament or by a provision of the Constitution.Q. How does the system evolve ? Read More...
Q. Why is this in News?A. Recently, as per official estimates for the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), India's industrial recovery slowed sharply in December 2021, with output growing just 0.4% year-on-year, and manufacturing activity contracting 0.1%.Contrary to expected growth of 2.5%, growth has come in at 0.4% which is disappointing.Q. What is the Index of Industrial Production?A.IIP is an indicator that measures the changes in the volume of production of industrial products during a given period.It is compiled and published mo... Read More...
Q. Why is this in News?A. Recently, the fourth meeting of the foreign ministers of the QUAD grouping (India, the US, Australia and Japan) was held in Melbourne , Australia.The meeting was held amid escalating tension between Russia and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries over Ukraine, the Afghan crisis and increasing concerns over China's "coercion" in the Indo-Pacific region.Q. What is QUAD?A.It is the Read More...
Q Why is it in News ?A The Supreme Court has asked the Government if it will create an Indian Environmental Service (IES) as recommended by a committee headed by former Cabinet secretary T.S.R Subramanian in 2014.Q Why is the IES debate back in the news?A The Supreme Court was responding to a petition whose counsel pointed out that the matters of environment required special expertise.Currently, matters of environmental regulation rest on scientists of the Ministry of Environment and Forests as well as bureaucrats from the Indian Administrative Services (IAS).The ape... Read More...
Q What is the context ?A At COP-26 in Glasgow, countries got together to sign the Declaration on Forests and Land Use (or the Deforestation Declaration). However, India was among the few countries that did not sign the declaration.Q What is this Deforestation Declaration?A It was signed by 142 countries, which represented over 90 percent of forests across the world.The declaration commits to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030 while delivering sustainable development and promoting an inclusive rural transformation.The signatories committed... Read More...
Q Why is it in News ?A Late last week, India abstained from a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution which called for condemning the Russian military action against Ukraine.Q What is India’s position on the Ukraine issue ?A New Delhi has taken a subtle pro-Moscow position on the question of Russian attacks against Ukraine.A geopolitical necessity: India’s Russia tilt should be seen not just as a product of its time-tested friendship with Moscow but also as a geopolitical necessity. Read More...
Q What is the context ?A With the Russia-Ukraine conflict flaring into a war, global commodity prices, especially that of crude oil and gas, are likely to see a strong surge. This poses a challenge not only for India to contain inflationary pressures but also the world at large.Q What is the problem of rising inflation ?A At 6 per cent, India’s consumer price index (CPI) inflation crossed the upper limit of RBI’s tolerance band in January 2022.Implications: High inflation inflicts a large “inflation tax” on the ge... Read More...
Q Why is it in News ?A Alongside the missiles and bombs slamming down in Ukraine, the country has also been hit by a wave of cyber-attacks targeting critical infrastructure companies.Q What is Cyberwarfare?A Cyberwarfare has emerged as a new form of retaliation or passive aggression deployed by nations that do not want to go to actual war but want to send a tough message to their opponents.In June 2020, security experts from Cyfirma uncovered a conspiracy by Gothic Panda and Stone Panda, two China-based hacker groups, to target media and critical infra companies in India. Read More...