UPSC Key- December 22, 2022: Why you should read ‘New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (NDIAC)’ or ‘Not an era of war’ for UPSC CSE

Govt appoints former SC judge Hemant Gupta as chief of NDIAC

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Two months after his retirement as a judge of the Supreme Court, the Centre has appointed Justice Hemant Gupta as Chairperson of the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre. In a notification issued December 19, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved Justice Gupta’s appointment. He retired on October 16, after a four-year tenure in the top court.

• What is New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (NDIAC)?

• Personality in News-Justice Hemant Gupta

• International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ICADR) and New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (NDIAC)-compare and contrast

• New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (NDIAC) was set up through which act?

• New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (NDIAC)-Know its composition and members

• What is the purpose of New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (NDIAC)?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍The New Delhi International Arbitration Centre Bill, 2019

Bali echoed PM advice to Putin, now CIA chief says Modi concern has had impact on Russians

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Weeks after the G20 Bali Declaration echoed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “not an era of war” advice to Russian President Vladimir Putin, CIA Director William J Burns has said concerns raised by Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping over the Kremlin’s threat to use nuclear weapons has had an “impact on the Russians”.

• “Not an era of war”-Decode

• Why is the phrase “This is not a war era” used in so many international forums?

• PM’s ‘not era of war’ comment gave voice to global sentiment-How?

• “New world order for the post-Covid period”-Deconstruct the given statement

• What were the key takeaways from the 2022 G20 Bali summit?

• The 2022 G20 Bali summit was very special for India-why?

• How has the phrase “today’s era must not be of war”, united the world?

• What is meant by international law?

• What is the role of international law?

• What are the most effective ways to enforce international law?

• What are the international ethics?

• Is international law same as international ethics? If not, then how these two terms differ?

• Why there is need to “uphold international law”?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍PM’s ‘not era of war’ comment gave voice to global sentiment: Jaishankar in Rajya Sabha

IN PARLIAMENT

RS passes Maritime Anti-Piracy Bill

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Parliament and State legislatures—structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed a Bill which the government said would provide an effective legal instrument to combat maritime piracy. The Bill provides for stringent punishment to those convicted of such crimes. The Bill was passed by Lok Sabha earlier this week.

• What is piracy in maritime law?

• What is piracy under United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)?

• What is Anti maritime piracy Bill?

• What is the purpose of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea?

• How was maritime piracy handled in the past?

• Why India needs Anti-Maritime Piracy Bill?

• Anti maritime piracy Bill, 2019-Provisions

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:    

📍Tackling maritime piracy: Lok Sabha clears bill to add provision of life imprisonment for convicts

THE IDEAS PAGE

The odds of mass prosperity

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Mains Examination: General Studies I: Population and associated issues

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Manish Sabharwal , Ashish Dhawan writes: Experience and evidence now firmly suggest the odds of mass prosperity in the planet’s most populous nation rise from possible to probable by anchoring our strategy in human capital and formal jobs rather than fiscal or monetary policy.

• “Sometime in April 2023, we estimate that India’s 1.43 billion people will exceed China’s population. This milestone is bittersweet”-Why Bittersweet?

• What is the reason that mass prosperity for massive populations is hard?

• Do You Know-According to the 2022 edition of the United Nations’ World Population Prospects (WPP), released recently, India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country in 2023. It also projected the world’s population to reach 8 billion on November 15, 2022. World Population Prospects 2022 is the twenty-seventh edition of the official estimates and projections of the global population that have been published by the United Nations since 1951.

• World Population Prospects 2022- What are the main takeaways for the global population?

• According to the World Population Prospects 2022, Population growth is caused in part by declining levels of mortality, as reflected in increased levels of life expectancy at birth-true or false?

• According to the World Population Prospects 2022, International migration is having important impacts on population trends for some countries. How?

• The size of the population is intimately connected to the power dynamics shaping the relationship between nations, regions and generations-Do you agree with the given statement?

• What is ‘Demographic gravitation’?

• Can you highlight population transformations around the globe?

• In what ways, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected all components of population change, including fertility, mortality and migration?

• How Population data provide critical information for use in development planning?

• What are the factors influencing the population growth?

• Most countries have population policies and programmes to influence fertility levels. What are the policies and programmes in India to influence fertility levels?

• What is Total Fertility Rate (TFR)?

• What does Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 2.1 mean?

• What National Family Health Survey 5 said about Total Fertility Rate (TFR)?

• What is Replacement Fertility Rate?

• How is the Total Fertility Rate calculated?

• What is the difference between birth rate and Total Fertility Rate (TFR)?

• Does an increase in births mean that TFR will go up?

• What is demographic dividend?

• The UN projections say that by 2050, India’s population will reach 1,668 million, far exceeding China’s declining population at 1,317 million. What will be its implications?

• What is the significance of India overtaking China?

• What pattern of population distribution is India?

• What are the policy implications arising out of these two trends?

• How reliable is the UN projection, and how do they compare with India’s Census?

• Family Planning in India-Issues and Challenges

• Population growth brings what sort of challenges for Indian public policy?

• Do you think that massive growth in population in India is blessing in disguise?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Reading UN population report

📍Global life expectancy falls after Covid years

📍The missing women

📍THE MOST POPULOUS

THE WORLD

As hearses queue at China morgues, WHO cautions Covid-19 emergency not over yet

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: General Science and Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: 

• General Studies II: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.

• General Studies III: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nanotechnology, bio-technology.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- The head of the World Health Organisation said the agency is “very concerned” about rising reports of severe coronavirus disease across China after the country largely abandoned its “zero Covid” policy, warning that its lagging vaccination rate could result in large numbers of vulnerable people getting infected.

• What is reason for the explosive surge of Covid cases in China?

• “China’s definition of Covid deaths was too narrow”-What is exactly China’s policy on Covid?

• China Covid-19 surge: What’s happening?

• Why BF.7 is in news?

• What is BF.7?

• Is BF.7 variant of Covid-19 circulating in India?

• Covid surge: What was different in China?

• “The very success of China’s zero-Covid policy is now turning out to be a weakness, with reports of a surge in cases. The vast majority of its population has not been infected by the virus and hence has no immunity”-Comment

• What is the official picture?

• So what’s the problem then?

• What exactly is zero-Covid?

• With this “zero-COVID” policy, have China’s COVID cases slowed down?

• How China defends its zero-Covid policy?

• Why is the current large-scale public protest in China unusual?

• What about vaccinations in China?

• For Your Information-Globally, the number of Covid-19 cases has remained almost stable at around 3.3 million in a week. However, the number of deaths increased by 10% over the preceding week, according to the latest situation report of the World Health Organisation released on December 14. “The number of newly reported weekly deaths increased across three WHO regions: the African Region (+975%; partly due to batch reporting from South Africa), the Region of the Americas (+37%), and the Eastern Mediterranean Region (+81%),” the report said.

• Do You Know-Globally, nearly every country has grappled with how to count Covid deaths, and official numbers are believed to be a major underestimate. In May, WHO estimated there were nearly 15 million coronavirus deaths worldwide, more than double the official toll of 6 million.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍What is BF.7, the Omicron sub-variant driving the surge in China?

EXPLAINED

Changes to the Co-ops Act

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Indian Constitution—historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- The Lok Sabha on Tuesday referred the Multi-State Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill 2022 to a joint committee of Parliament. The Bill was introduced on December 7, when Opposition members argued that it seeks to “take away” state governments’ rights, and demanded that it be sent to the standing committee. The Bill is aimed at overhauling the existing law, which was enacted 20 years ago.

• But first, what is a cooperative society, and who governs them presently?

• Why amend the existing law?

• The Multi-State Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022-Know its provisions

• The Bill provides for the merger of “any co-operative society” into an existing multi-state co-operative society-Know in detail

• What is Co-operative Election Authority?

• Who can be appointed the chairperson of the authority?

• What was the Constitution (Ninety Seventh Amendment) Act, 2011?

• Ombudsman to have powers like Civil Court

• For Your Information-The Bill also seeks to insert a new section 63A in the principal Act, relating to “establishment of the Co-operative Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Development Fund” for revival of “sick multi-State co-operative societies”. It also proposes to insert a new section 70A relating to “concurrent audit” for multi-state co-operative societies having an annual turnover or deposit of more than the amount as determined by the Central Government.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍Multistate cooperatives: how they function, why govt plans to amend the law

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