UPSC Key: Diplomatic Decorum, Definition of Aravalli Hills and Herbal Cigarettes
Why new Wholesale Price Index (WPI) series is relevant to the UPSC exam? What is the significance of topics such as food processing industry, On-Screen Marking and Tobacco Consumption in India on both the preliminary and main exams? You can learn more by reading the Indian Express UPSC Key for June 3, 2026.
UPSC Key May 2026: Here's what you should be reading from the June 3, 2026 edition of The Indian Express Important topics and their relevance in UPSC CSE exam for June 3, 2026. If you missed the June 2, 2026 UPSC CSE exam key from the Indian Express, read it here
THE WORLD
‘You’re f*****g crazy’: Trump tells Netanyahu to stop attacking Beirut
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Main Examination: General Studies IV: Ethical issues in international relations
What’s the ongoing story: US President Donald Trump sharply criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call over Israel’s actions in Lebanon, according to Axios, citing US officials familiar with the exchange.
Key Points to Ponder:
• The US President Donald Trump sharply criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu-why?
• ‘The use of abusive, derogatory, or undiplomatic language by international leaders like Donald Trump raises important ethical questions’-can you list out those ethical questions?
• What are the ethical responsibilities of leaders while communicating during sensitive geopolitical situations?
• Why diplomatic decorum is important in international relations?
• How should ethical leadership balance strategic interests with peace and human lives?
• “Words spoken by leaders can either de-escalate or intensify conflicts”-How far you agree with the given statement?
• What are the ethical dilemmas involved when a leader must publicly criticize an ally?
• The “madman theory” and Donald Trump-Connect the dots
• Why Roseanne McManus, professor of political science and international affairs at Pennsylvania State University placed US President Donald Trump’s statements and actions In the framework of the “madman theory”?
• How has Trump’s approach differed from that of former US presidents like Richard Nixon and George W Bush?
• How has Trump’s approach is different from other world leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un?
• In this age, when every action and statement is decoded and dissected, what are the limits to madman theory?
• What impact has Trump’s approach had in terms of how current and future US foreign policy will be perceived — both internally and externally?
• “When a clown moves into a palace he doesn’t become a king, the palace instead becomes a circus.”-decode the quote with the US President Donald Trump’s statements and actions in the framework of the “madman theory”?
Key Takeaways:
• Trump expressed anger at Israel’s plans to expand its operations, including a possible strike on Beirut. One official said he warned that such a move would further isolate Israel internationally.
• According to sources quoted by Axios, Trump told Netanyahu: “You’re f****** crazy… what are you doing? You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your a**. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”
• Another official said Trump raised concerns about civilian casualties and objected to strikes that involved heavy damage to limited targets. He acknowledged Israel’s right to respond to attacks from Hezbollah but said the recent escalation went too far.
• The call came at a time when tensions in the region were already high. Iran had signalled it could step back from ongoing talks with the United States due to Israel’s actions in Lebanon.
• Trump appeared worried that the situation could affect those negotiations. After the call, he said discussions with Iran were still moving forward.
• Following the conversation, Israel decided not to carry out a planned strike on targets in Beirut, an Israeli official told Axios. However, Netanyahu said Israel would continue its military operations in southern Lebanon. In a statement, he said Israel would act if Hezbollah continued its attacks, adding: “Our position remains the same.”
• Trump and Netanyahu have had tense exchanges in the past but have continued to work together on key issues, including Iran. One official described this call as among the “most difficult” between the two leaders in recent months. Despite the tension, both sides remain in contact as the situation in the region develops.
Do You Know:
Uday Bhaskar says in Trump’s abusive post on Iran War reveals a frustrated — and dangerous — president
• The use of abusive, derogatory, or undiplomatic language by international leaders raises important ethical questions in the domains of leadership, diplomacy, public morality, and international relations. When a prominent leader such as Donald Trump uses abusive language in public or private interactions, the issue extends beyond personal conduct and affects international norms and governance.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍UPSC Ethics Simplified: War and Ethics
📍From Kautilya to Immanuel Kant: Lessons for a world at war
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
1) Consider the following pairs: (UPSC CSE, 2023)
| Region often mentioned in news | Reason for being in news | |
| 1. | North Kivu and Ituri | War between Armenia and Azerbaijan |
| 2. | Nagorno-Karabakh | Insurgency in Mozambique |
| 3. | Kherson and Zaporizhzhia | Dispute between Israel and Lebanon |
How many of the above pairs are correctly matched?
(a) Only one
(b) Only two
(c) All three
(d) None
Previous year UPSC Main Question Covering similar theme:
📍Strength, Peace and Security are considered to be the pillars of International Relations. Elucidate. (UPSC, GS4, 2017)
FRONT PAGE
What CBSE ignored: its own panel found glitches in dry run, said delay OSM by a year?
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Main Examination: General Studies II: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
What’s the ongoing story: After trial in Delhi in Jan 2026, two reports sent to Board, highlighted major problems, tech glitches, random increase, decrease in marks
Key Points to Ponder:
• What is On-Screen Marking (OSM)?
• Why did CBSE decide to adopt OSM now?
• What do researchers say about digital evaluation?
• How do examination boards abroad use digital marking?
• What concerns are being raised about CBSE’s rollout?
• Is OSM the future of evaluation?
Key Takeaways:
• Some of the problems with the digital evaluation system that were explicitly flagged to the CBSE by participants in an evaluation dry run carried out by the Board less than a month before this year’s Class 12 examinations began on February 17.
—The CBSE’s new On-Screen Marking (OSM) system needs at least a year’s trial and rectification before being implemented.
—The OSM system depends heavily on well-equipped evaluation centres and highly trained evaluators.
—Improved training is essential for fair, transparent, and error-free marking of answer scripts. This needs time to be done properly.
—The OSM system is glitchy, and it is unable to resolve these glitches speedily.
• The CBSE pushed through the system anyway. Instead of paper booklets, examiners used computers to evaluate digitally scanned copies of answer scripts submitted by the examinees, which the CBSE put on a secure online platform.
• Students started complaining about their marks almost immediately after the CBSE declared the Class 12 results on May 13.
• The OSM pilot exercise was conducted in Delhi over three days in mid-January. Participants in the exercise included representatives of five among the capital’s most reputed schools – a group that includes private schools, schools run by the Delhi government, and Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas, which are administered by the central government.
• Principals, evaluators, examiners, and subject experts appointed by the CBSE took part in the exercise. The participants were trained on the OSM system, and were then asked to evaluate mock answer scripts using the new platform.
• The participants in the pilot exercise flagged a wide variety of problems with the marking schemes, calculations, and the technical working of the system, official sources familiar with the dry run told The Indian Express.
• Specifically, the sources said the problems that were identified on the first day of the exercise could not be rectified even by the end of the third day, when the exercise concluded.
Do You Know:
• On-Screen Marking, or OSM, is a digital evaluation system in which teachers assess scanned copies of answer books on a computer rather than checking physical scripts.
Students still write their examinations in conventional answer booklets. The change begins after the exam, when answer books are scanned, uploaded onto a secure platform, anonymised and distributed digitally to evaluators.
• CBSE says the idea is not new. The Board first explored OSM in 2014 but did not proceed because suitable scanning technology was not available. At the time, answer books often had to be cut from the spine before scanning, creating the risk of pages being mixed up.
• Major UK examination boards such as Assessment and Qualification Alliance (AQA), Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examination ( OCR) and Pearson Edexcel which conducts exams like the A-levels have used online marking for many years.
—Scripts are scanned centrally and distributed electronically to examiners. In some cases, examiners do not mark entire answer books; instead, they evaluate specific questions across thousands of scripts, helping improve consistency.
—According to Britain’s regulator Ofqual, online marking was introduced primarily to improve quality control, increase efficiency and strengthen examiner monitoring. Vickers stated that the British system differs from many Asian examination systems because GCSE and A-level examinations frequently include long-form written responses and essays.
—The International Baccalaureate (IB), whose examinations are taken in more than 150 countries, also relies heavily on digital evaluation. Scanned scripts are accessed online by examiners around the world, while senior examiners monitor marking quality through moderation and standardisation exercises.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍How does CBSE’s On-Screen Marking system compare with global practices?
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
2) Which of the following provisions of the Constitution of India have a bearing on Education? (UPSC CSE, 2012)
1. Directive Principles of State Policy
2. Rural and Urban Local Bodies
3. Fifth Schedule
4. Sixth Schedule
5. Seventh Schedule
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3, 4 and 5 only
(c) 1, 2 and 5 only
(d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
Top court appoints high-powered panel to review Aravalli definition report
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Main Examination: General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
What’s the ongoing story: The Supreme Court on Tuesday constituted a High-Powered Committee (HPC) under Kanchan Devi, Director General, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), to obtain a “fair, impartial and independent” opinion and “resolve critical ambiguities” in the report on the definition of the Aravalli hills submitted last October by a panel headed by the Environment Secretary.
Key Points to Ponder:
• What are the Aravalli Hills?
• Know Aravalli Hills geographical extent and significance in India.
• What is the 100-metre definition for Aravalli?
• Why the definition and demarcation of the Aravalli Range become a matter of public policy and legal debate?
• Why Supreme Court constituted a High-Powered Committee (HPC) under Kanchan Devi?
• How differences between ecological, geological, and administrative definitions creates governance challenges?
• What is Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE)?
Key Takeaways:
• The HPC has been asked to submit its comprehensive report by August 31. ICFRE is an autonomous council under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and is registered as a society with the MoEF Minister as its President.
• Kanchan Devi, a 1991-batch Indian Forest Service officer, reports to the ICFRE Board of Governors headed by the Environment Secretary. The High Powered Committee will review the October 2025 report of the earlier Aravalli panel, which was chaired by the MoEF Secretary.
• Other than Kanchan Devi who will be the ex-officio chairperson, the HPC announced on Tuesday has four members — Dr Subhash Ashutosh, former Director General of the Forest Survey of India; Dr Rajendra Kumar Sharma, former Director of the Geological Survey of India; Brij Mohan Singh Rathore, former Joint Secretary in the Environment Ministry; and Prof Ashok K Bhatnagar, former head of the Department of Botany at Delhi University.
• The SC also named two special invitees — Prof Jagdish Krishnaswamy of the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, Bengaluru, and Prof Laxmikant Sharma of the Central University of Haryana — who will be “associated from time to time
by the chairperson” of the HPC.
• In the past, high powered committees have often been chaired by independent experts like Dr Madhav Gadgil (Western Ghats), Dr Ravi Chopra (Char Dham Project) and Prof MGK Menon (hazardous waste).
• A series of investigations by The Indian Express during November-December 2025 reported that a SC-appointed committee headed by the Environment Secretary ignored the Forest Survey of India’s (FSI) warning that a 100-metre height threshold would exclude nearly 90 per cent of Aravalli hills, overlooked objections raised by the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), and disregarded the SC’s own rejection of the 100-metre benchmark in 2010.
Do You Know:
• The Aravalli Mountains, one of the world’s oldest ranges, are a prominent geological feature shaping western and northwestern India. It serves as a natural barrier against desertification, preventing the expansion of the Thar Desert and protecting cities like Delhi, Jaipur, and Gurgaon. The range also supports water recharge systems and is the source of important rivers such as Chambal, Sabarmati, and Luni. Its forests, grasslands, and wetlands harbour endangered flora and fauna, contributing to biodiversity and regulating precipitation through evapotranspiration, which helps mitigate droughts. The highest peak of the Aravalli mountain range is Guru Shikhar, located in the Sirohi district of Rajasthan.
• Critics fear that this definition, under which the Aravallis comprise any landform at an elevation of 100 metres or more above the local relief, would be a hammer blow for an already degraded hill range that provides diverse ecological and environmental services to northern and northwestern India.
• In late 2025, the Supreme Court of India approved a new, uniform definition for the Aravalli Hills, classifying them as any landform rising 100 metres or more above the surrounding local terrain. However, this new definition sparked major controversy, and the Court has since stayed its ruling.
• The new definition of the Aravallis, was proposed by the Centre on October 13, 2025 effectively excludes almost 90% of the range from protections against mining and other development activities, as per an internal assessment of the Forest Survey of India.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
3) Consider the following information: (UPSC CSE, 2024)
| Region | Name of the mountain range | Type of mountain | |
| 1. | Central Asia | Vosges | Fold mountain |
| 2. | Europe | Alps | Block mountain |
| 3. | North America | Appalachians | Fold mountain |
| 4. | South America | Andes | Fold mountain |
In how many of the above rows is the given information correctly matched?
(a) Only one
(b) Only two
(c) Only three
(d) All four
Previous year UPSC main Question Covering similar theme:
📍What are the consequences of Illegal mining? Discuss the Ministry of Environment and Forests’ concept of GO AND NO GO zones for coal mining sector. (UPSC, GS3, 2013)
📍 “The most significant achievement of modern law in India is the constitutionalization of environmental problems by the Supreme Court.” Discuss this statement with the help of relevant case laws. (UPSC GS3, 2022)
THE EDITORIAL PAGE
From Ladakh, a sea buckthorn parable about enterprise
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.
Main Examination: General Studies III: Food processing and related industries in India- scope’ and significance, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management. What’s the ongoing story: Under PMFME, common incubation centres have been approved for sea buckthorn processing in Leh and apricot processing in Kargil, giving local producers access to facilities that would otherwise remain beyond their individual reach.
Key Points to Ponder:
• What is sea buckthorn berry?
• Which state in India produces sea buckthorn berries?
• What is Food Processing?
• Why food processing industry is significant in India’s economic development?
• How does food processing contribute to agricultural modernization?
• Do you think that food processing industry is important for rural transformation?
• What are the various models of food processing industries in India?
• What is hub and spoke model in food processing?
• What are the major issues and challenges in the food processing industry?
• How do inadequate cold-chain facilities affect the growth of food processing industries?
• What are steps and measures taken by the Government of India to promote food processing industries?
• What is the Pradhan Mantri formalization of micro food processing enterprises scheme?
Key Takeaways:
• On a recent visit to Ladakh, I drove from Leh to Tirith, a village in Nubra, crossing Khardung La to reach a food processing unit in one of the remotest corners of the country. The drive explained the place’s economics better than any report could. Here, altitude, weather and distance are not background conditions; they are built into the price of every product that must leave the valley. Inside the unit, there were no sea buckthorn berries.
• It was May, and the harvest had ended months earlier, in the short autumn window when the fruit comes off the bush. What stood there instead were juice and pulp sealed and labelled, and dried berries packed from last autumn’s harvest. The unit also had mobile aseptic processing capacity. That detail stayed with me because it demonstrated the enterprise’s practical intelligence. They had understood the problem clearly: In Ladakh, the crop is brief, the road is long, and the berry cannot wait. So the first act of processing had to be brought closer to the harvest.
• Food processing is usually discussed in the language of large plants, investment figures and export targets. In Tirith, the point was narrower and more immediate. The unit showed that enterprise in a remote region is often an answer to necessity.
• Sea buckthorn brings the difficulty and the opportunity into one plant. The shrub grows over cold, thorny ground.
The berries are small, soft and hard to pick. The harvest window is short, and once the fruit is off the bush, it cannot wait for processing somewhere distant. It has to be cleaned, pulped, dried or preserved quickly. Delay costs quality, and lost quality costs price. Deachen’s unit grew because the support she received met the crop’s actual needs. Under the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme, she accessed finance and invested in the machinery needed to process sea buckthorn quickly, package it properly and sell it under her own brand.
• Deachen Angmo’s journey from a wage labourer to the head of a thriving multi-crore enterprise is powerful proof of what happens when local potential meets the right institutional support. The ultimate goal of our efforts is not just to celebrate a single success story, but to replicate it across every valley.
Do You Know:
• Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) was launched in FY21 with an outlay of Rs 10,000 crore for five years and has been extended till September 30, 2026. The scheme entails credit-linked subsidy on a project up to Rs 30 lakh each.
• The scheme aims to support individual micro-enterprises as well as farmer producer organisations (FPOs), shelf-help groups and cooperatives operating in the unorganised food processing segment.
• According to official notes, there are close to 2.5 million food processing enterprises which are unregistered and informal, but have historically faced constraints related to access to credit, modern technology, branding, packaging, quality standards and organised market linkages.
• Under branding and marketing support, 32 proposals and 40 ‘one district, one product’ (ODOP) brands have been approved, leading to the launch of more than 200 food products including millet-based products, geographical indication (GI)-tagged items, pickles, makhana products, spices, dairy and bakery products.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
4) With what purpose is the Government of India promoting the concept of “Mega Food Parks”? (UPSC CSE, 2011)
1. To provide good infrastructure facilities for the food processing industry.
2. To increase the processing of perishable items and reduce wastage.
3. To provide emerging and eco-friendly food processing technologies to entrepreneurs.
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Previous year UPSC main Question Covering similar theme:
📍Examine the scope of the food processing industries in India. Elaborate the measures taken by the government in the food processing industries for generating employment opportunities.(UPSC GS3, 2025)
📍What are the challenges and opportunities of the food processing sector in the country? How can the income of the farmers be substantially increased by encouraging food processing? (UPSC GS3, 2020)
ECONOMY
Data upgrade: New WPI, PPIs on June 15
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development
Mains Examination: General Studies III: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.
What’s the ongoing story: The release of a revised WPI series and an output PPI continues the government’s overhaul of India’s official statistics, with the CPI, GDP, and IIP having been updated so far in 2026.
Key Points to Ponder:
• What do you understand by Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and Consumer Price Index?
• WPI and CPI is published by whom?
• What is the Producer Price Index (PPI)?
• Why are price indices important indicators of economic health?
• What are the methodology used for the calculation of Wholesale Price Index in India?
• What are the strengths and limitations of WPI and CPI and PPI as a measure of inflation?
• How Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and Consumer Price Index affect policy responses by central banks?
Key Takeaways:
• The commerce ministry, on June 15, will release the new Wholesale Price Index (WPI) series with 2022-23 as the base year, starting with data for May as well as a back-series from April 2023 onwards. However, this new year series will in all likelihood be discontinued after five years in 2031 and the Producer Price Index (PPI) based on output prices will become the main measure of non-retail inflation.
• While inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the most widely considered measure of price increases in the country for households and used by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to decide interest rates, the WPI is crucial too and used in price escalation clauses in the supply of raw materials, machinery, and construction work.
• For example, in long-term sales and purchase contracts, WPI inflation is used by companies as an indexing tool to adjust terms to account for changes in prices in the future. The Ministry of Finance’s Department of Expenditure will issue a circular on the same, Praveen Mahto, Principal Economic Adviser in the commerce ministry’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), said on Tuesday.
• Along with the new WPI series, the commerce ministry will, on June 15, also release three different types of Producer Price Indices. These include the monthly output PPI – for May as well as a back-series starting from April 2023 – and a monthly input PPI for the manufacturing sector on an experimental basis starting with March. It is expected the input PPI trial will last for around a couple of years, during which time the quality of data is examined and feedback from the users of data and other stakeholders are discussed.
• The new WPI series as well as the release of an output PPI continues the government’s overhaul of India’s official statistics.
New WPI series table
• Earlier this year, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) not only updated the base years for CPI and GDP data but also improved the methods used to calculate these key economic indicators.
• On Monday, MoSPI released its revised Index of Industrial Production (IIP) series, with 2022-23 as the base year. MoSPI is also working on the services sector counterpart of the IIP.
• The output PPI helps measure the prices received by producers and excludes net tax as well as trade and transport margins. A year-on-year change in the output PPI will be the output PPI inflation. To begin with, the output PPI will contain 125 items. Once the WPI is discontinued, the items in the output PPI will be disaggregated and rise to around 1,500.
• According to officials, while the output PPI is similar to the WPI, the input PPI is closer to CPI.
Do You Know:
• The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is a key macroeconomic composite indicator that measures the short-term changes in the volume of production within an economy’s industrial sector during a given period, relative to a fixed base year.
—In India, this critical statistical metric is compiled and published monthly by the National Statistical Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
• The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in India is a key macroeconomic indicator that measures the average change over time in retail prices paid by households for a specific basket of consumer goods and services. It is the primary metric used to track the cost of living and headline retail inflation. It is compiled and published monthly by the National Statistical Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
• The Producer Price Index (PPI) is an economic indicator that measures the average change in selling prices received by domestic producers for their output. Unlike the retail-focused Consumer Price Index (CPI), it tracks inflation from the supply side by capturing price changes at the factory or farm gate before they reach the consumer.
• The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) in India is a key macroeconomic indicator that measures the average change in the prices of goods traded in bulk at the wholesale or producer level, before they reach retail consumers. It is primarily used to track wholesale inflation and evaluate the supply-and-demand dynamics in industry, manufacturing, and construction. The WPI is calculated and published monthly by the Office of the Economic Adviser (OEA), which operates under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) within the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍Knowledge Nugget: CPI vs WPI and Inflation basics for UPSC preparation
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
5) Consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE, 2019)
1. The weightage of food in Consumer Price Index (CPI) is higher than that in Wholesale Price Index (WPI).
2. The WPI does not capture changes in the prices of services, which CPI does.
3. Reserve Bank of India has now adopted WPI as its key measure of inflation and to decide on changing the key policy rates.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
EXPLAINED
Don’t take that puff: ‘Herbal’ cigarettes are not healthy alternatives to tobacco
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
Mains Examination: General Studies II: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
What’s the ongoing story: In recent years, several supposedly “healthy” alternatives to cigarettes have been growing in popularity. Among these products are tobacco-free “herbal” cigarettes that market themselves as “safer”, “natural” alternatives that can help you with everything from depression to anxiety to stress.
Key Points to Ponder:
• What are herbal cigarettes?
• What are the key takeaways from the study, titled The lure of “Healthier Smoke”: Comparative physical, chemical, and oxidative potential characterization of emissions from herbal and tobacco cigarettes?
• How did the study measure the impact?
• What’s behind the popularity of herbal cigarettes?
• Tobacco Consumption in India-what data says?
• How tobaccos are cultivated?
• What are the measures taken by Government of India against Tobacco?
• How tobacco taxation policies are one of the hurdles in curbing tobacco consumption?
• India has proposed an increase in Goods and Services Tax (GST) on aerated drinks, cigarettes, and tobacco to 35%- Know the rationale behind such a proposal.
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of using indirect taxes, such as GST, to address issues like health risks associated with tobacco?
Key Takeaways:
• At first sight, this safety claim would appear to make sense. After all, the most harmful part of conventional
cigarettes is the nicotine in tobacco. A recent study, however, has busted the claim that tobacco-free means risk-free, finding that these “herbal” cigarettes are as harmful as tobacco-based ones, if not more.
Do You Know:
• Herbal cigarettes, unlike regular ones, do not use tobacco as fillers. They instead use herbs and dried flowers — such as clove, basil, mint and cinnamon — that impart different flavours.
And while conventional cigarettes use paper as wrappers, herbal cigarettes use tendu (ebony) leaves — just like bidis, India’s most widely consumed smoking product.
Herbal cigarettes are generally longer than a bidi but shorter and thinner than a cigar.
• The study, titled The lure of “Healthier Smoke”: Comparative physical, chemical, and oxidative potential characterization of emissions from herbal and tobacco cigarettes, was published on May 17 in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, a peer-reviewed international journal.
Alok Kumar Thakur, the study’s lead author who is currently pursuing post-doctoral research on air quality emissions at Colorado State University, told The Indian Express that several of the herbal cigarettes they tested were marketed with claims such as relieving cough, improving sleep or easing anxiety. However, studies on their emissions and toxicological impacts have been limited, he pointed out.
• This study compared emissions from two of India’s highest selling tobacco brands and four popular herbal varieties containing combinations of basil, clove, cinnamon, mint, green tea, water lily and chamomile.
• It found that emissions from herbal cigarettes were comparable to or exceeded those from tobacco cigarettes on nearly every metric measured.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍Herbal cigarettes can be as harmful as tobacco cigarettes: IITGN-Illinois University study
Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
6) Which one of the following groups of plants was domesticated in the ‘New World’ and introduced into the ‘Old World’? (UPSC CSE 2019)
(a) Tobacco, cocoa and rubber
(b) Tobacco, cotton and rubber
(c) Cotton, coffee and sugarcane
(d) Rubber, coffee and wheat
7) Which of the following are the reasons/factors for exposure to benzene pollution? (UPSC CSE, 2020)
1. Automobile exhaust
2. Tobacco smoke
3. Wood burning
4. Using varnished wooden furniture
5. Using products made of polyurethane
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1, 2 and 3 only
(b) 2 and 4 only
(c) 1, 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
|
PRELIMS ANSWER KEY |
|
1.(d) 2.(d) 3.(b) 4.(b) 5.(a) 6.(a) 7.(a) |
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