Welcome to UPSCVerse Weekly Summary #13! This week, we have compiled a collection of important topics from major news sources that will be useful for UPSC preparation. We hope you find this summary and recommendations helpful!
UPSC Gyan
“People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits, and their habits decide their futures.” JM Alexander
What is that one habit you are consciously working on, or one bad habit that you are trying to give up? In UPSC world, to do and not to do are equally important. As James clear says, You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.
“Tṛishṇā: Weekend Recommendations for Curious Minds”
Movies: The Bridge on the River Kwai This is a class apart, actually makes you think in the climax is it nishkama karma or anti climax ?
Books: Does the elephant dance [ Just a suggestion for those who want to know more about IR] My weekend suggestions are based on various conversations with students, or books I read.
Podcast: How Bureaucracy Can Work for the Poor ?
YouTube: How Western weapons transformed the war in Ukraine
Others in UPSCVerse: —NA—
Quotes I liked:
“I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places of this world.” ~ Alexander Papaderous
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou
T.N Sheshan seems to have been forced to comment on civil servants functioning as "polished call girls who continuously prostitute their position"
If you are New Here! Please kindly consider subscribing, thank you.
Essay, Ethics and IR
Online Games skill or Gambling ?
Long reads are very helpful in developing perspectives because they help you notice both sides of the coin and how some people benefit while some lives are ruined, and why the state chooses a source of revenue over social costs.
The industry is poised to grow astronomically. A report by the All-India Gaming Federation estimated that the Indian real money gaming industry would cross $2 billion in value this year. Aside from a proposed 28% Goods and Services Tax that may soon be imposed on deposits, the runway for the real money gaming industry is largely clear.
ICMR releases first ethical guidelines for AI in healthcare
The induction of AI into healthcare has the potential to be the solution for significant challenges like diagnosis and screening, therapeutics, preventive treatments, clinical decision-making, public health surveillance, complex data analysis, and predicting disease outcomes.
However, AI as data-driven technology has many potential ethical challenges which include algorithmic transparency and explainability, clarity on liability, accountability and oversight, bias and discrimination.
AFSPA removed from 3 police station limits in Nagaland
Even after all these years of Independence we still have legacy issues, Internal security, International relations, and Politics overlap in such complex issues, development and negotiations is the only way forward.
The prevalence of insurgencies in almost all states in the Northeast — from the Naga rebellion that dates backs to the 1940s, to the Mizo uprising in the 1960s, radical Left groups in Manipur in the 1970s, and the ULFA in Assam in the 1980s — may arguably have necessitated the imposition of the AFSPA.
statistics suggest that violence in the region has been on the decline. The Centre can take some credit for this, for it has tactfully negotiated peace treaties with rebel groups, wherever possible. The time is indeed ripe for the government to reduce dependence on the AFSPA to impose its writ.
AFSPA to be extended in 8 Assam districts for another 6 months from April 1
Utility : Only Mains, what is AFSPA , for Prelims map of entire North east.
Prelims perspectives
Don’t Ignore such articles for prelims, they are useful.
What is a Ringfenced account?
Where are Vembanad and Ashtamudi lakes? Are they Ramsar sites?
What is the Polluters pay principle?
What is NGT what are the various acts that come under it?
PYQS are your best friend, they are your north star
QR code-based system that will streamline collection of waste and reduction of garbage along the route.
Visitors will scan a QR code on each plastic bottle and multi-layer plastic bag (of chips or biscuits) and pay a deposit over the maximum retail price (MRP). They can claim this amount back as a refund when they deposit the waste at a point at the end of the yatra. Up to 45 lakh QR codes are expected to be printed this year.
Report sheds light on role of procession routes in riots
In his foreword to the report, former Supreme Court judge Justice Rohinton F. Nariman underscored the “primary importance to sensitize the police force in all the States of India”.
“This can be done by first informing them that Muslims situated in India are Indians,” he stressed.
Utility: Ethics case studies where you are an SP, small things can make a huge difference in a law and order situation.
Remember Burhan Wani’s funeral? And the aftermath.
Can distant planets harbour life? — what are Terminator Zones?
A new study (The Astrophysical Journal) describes how extraterrestrial life has the potential to exist on distant exoplanets inside a special area called the ‘terminator zone’, which is a ring on planets that have one side that always faces its star and the other side that is always dark.
The ‘terminator’ is the dividing line between the ‘day’ and ‘night’ sides of the planet and terminator zones are the regions that could exist in that sweet spot between too hot and too cold.
Science for All | What are ‘Terminator zones’?
Can countries be sued over climate change?
The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution that asked the International Court of Justice at The Hague to provide an opinion on what kind of obligations countries have towards climate change reduction, based on the promises they have made to the U.N. Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC).
What made it particularly important was that the resolution passed by consensus had been pushed through by one of the smallest countries in the world, the Pacific Island of Vanuatu, an island that was devastated in 2015 by the effects of Cyclone Pam, believed to have been spurred by climate change, that wiped out 95% of its crops and affected two-thirds of its population
"Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau" called the resolution "a win for climate justice of epic proportions"
Utility: Essay Vanuatu is an unfortunate and good example of climate change and things that are going to come for all of us.
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. ~ German pastor Martin Niemöller
Paraphrased version for UPSC Essay Introduction
First, they faced the rising tides, and we did not act— Because we were not small island nations.
Then the storms battered their shores, and we did not act— Because we were not the coastal communities.
Then the resources dwindled, and we did not act— Because we were not the ones most affected.
Finally, climate change hit us too—and there was no one left to fight for our world.
Why did India reject J&J’s patent on TB drug?
The Indian Patent Office rejected an application by pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to extend its patent on the drug bedaquiline beyond July 2023. Bedaquiline is a drug in tablet form used to treat drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). This opens the door for drug manufacturers to produce generic versions of bedaquiline, which are expected to be more affordable and to contribute to India’s goal of eliminating TB by 2025.
As of 2017, India accounted for around one-fourth of the world’s burden of multi-drug-resistant (MDR) TB and of extensively-drug-resistant (XDR) TB.
MDR TB resists treatment by at least two frontline drugs in TB treatment, isoniazid and rifampicin.
XDR TB resists these two drugs as well as fluoroquinolones and any second-line injectable drug. XDR TB is rarer than MDR TB — there were 1,24,000 cases of the latter in India (2021) versus 2,650 cases of the former (2017).
According to the Indian Patent Act 1970 Section 2(1)(ja), an ‘inventive step’ is an invention that is “not obvious to a person skilled in the art”.
Assam’s Bodoland council on mission happiness
Happiness will soon be an academic subject in Assam’s Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC).
All stakeholders have been involved for developing the course material after interacting with different categories of people to understand and assess the factors responsible for their “anger, frustration and unhappiness”.
peace and happiness are two important aspects for building a positive environment in the region. Without peace and happiness, no society can think of anything in day-to-day life
Utility : Socialization and role of education.
Mann Ki Baat, PM speaks of organ donation
During Sunday’s address, the Prime Minister spoke about Amritsar-based couple Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Supreet Kaur, who he said had been blessed with a daughter. In the couple’s conversation with the PM, they said that they had named her Ababat because of its connotation of service to others.
Ababat passed away 39 days after she was born. Mr. Modi praised the parents’ decision to donate her organs and save the lives of strangers in need. Similarly, the PM spoke to the son of the late Chowdhary, who was killed in a road accident, and lauded the family’s decision to donate her organs, which saved the lives of four people and gave two others the power of sight.
The Prime Minister also spoke of India’s strides in women’s empowerment, pointing out the achievements of the country’s first locomotive pilot, Surekha Yadav; the first women legislators elected in Nagaland’s history; recent Oscar winners Guneet Monga and Kartiki Gonsalves; and the Under-19 Indian women’s cricket team, among others.
ISRO puts 36 OneWeb satellites in orbit
Indian Space Research Organisation’s heaviest payload rocket, LVM3 carrying 36 OneWeb satellites onboard took off on March 26 from the second launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre SDSC-SHAR, Sriharikota. The 43.5 metre tall vehicle weighs 643 tonne.
Utility : Essay Indias progress in science also OneWeb a solution to rural and remote parts of India ?
TN custodial torture: Balveer Singh summoned by TN Human Rights Commission
Utility : Ethics of Human rights and Empathy
Not everything we read in the papers is true, at the same time, not everything is a lie as well. In a perfect world black and white exits, we live in grey.
Tamil Nadu IPS officer Balveer Singh who was accused of custodial torture has been suspended, Singh, from the 2020 IPS batch, was accused of plucking the teeth of at least 10 men and repeatedly hitting at least two of them on their genitalia while they were in custody.
MP judge seeks transfer saying daughter to soon start practising there, SC Collegium accepts
The Supreme Court Collegium has accepted a Madhya Pradesh High Court judge’s request to transfer him out of the state as his daughter, a law student, will start practising in the district courts and before the Indore bench of the high court starting next year.
Utility: Ethics Conflict of interest , Nepotism.
61 deaths by suicide at IITs, IIMs, NITs since 2018: Govt
“The reasons identified behind such suicides include academic stress, family reasons, personal reasons, mental health issues, etc,” the Ministry response said.
Falling support systems?
Indore Municipal Corporation was very much aware of the illegal constructions and the consequent danger at Shri Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal temple in Patel Nagar. After an exchange of notices and replies, the IMC ordered the temple trust to remove the slab in seven days or face a forced removal and bear its cost.
This was in the last week of January.
Two months passed, but IMC took no action, apparently due to a furious pushback by certain sections who alleged that the corporation was acting on false information and risked flaring up religious sentiments.
"This is a matter related to a temple and we have to take note of the sensitive issue," IMC commissioner
"Laws are only words on paper. Without enforcement, they mean nothing." - Benjamin Cardozo,
Utility: Ethics case study : Social awareness, Rule of law and
NGOs got ₹55,449 crore as foreign funds in 3 years, Centre informs Parliament
Indian non-government organisations (NGOs) received foreign funding worth ₹55,449 crore in the last three years, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) informed Parliament
According to government data, the FCRA licences of over 6,600 NGOs have been cancelled in the last five years for legal violations.
Fast-track courts clogged too, pendency up 40% in last 3 yrs
Fast-track courts (FTCs) were set up to expedite the disposal of long-pending cases, especially those related to women, children, elderly, and the disabled.
The pendency of cases in FTCs has increased by 40% in the last three years, from 10.78 lakh to over 15 lakh cases since 2020.
There are presently 764 FTSCs functional in 28 states/UTs, with more than 1,44,000 cases disposed of and 1,98,563 cases pending, including 411 exclusive POCSO courts.
Out of the planned 1,800 FTCs to be set up by states as per the recommendation of the 14th Finance Commission, 843 FTCs are currently functional across the country as of January 31.
Note: I wish I had more time to compile this week’s edition, I will try to cover them in next week’s edition. I appreciate your patience with this, thank you for understating.
I loved this cartoon by Alok
Please share!
If you like this post, please share it with your UPSC friends, and groups. Nudge them to subscribe. Please spread the word!
Thanks for sharing. Quite informative.