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Important topics and their relevance in UPSC CSE exam for February 26, 2025. If you missed the February 25, 2025 UPSC CSE exam key from the Indian Express, read it here
FRONT PAGE
Rs 2,002-cr loss to Delhi govt due to excise policy, says CAG report
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Main Examination: General Studies II: Powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies.
What’s the ongoing story: The Delhi government incurred a loss of Rs 2,002 crore because of issues in formulating and implementing the excise policy in 2021-22, according to the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) that was tabled in the Assembly Tuesday.
Key Points to Ponder:
• The Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22—know in detail
• What CAG’s ‘Performance Audit on Regulation and Supply of Liquor in Delhi’ says?
• State excise policies in India aim to generate revenue while regulating alcohol consumption—Comment
• Analyse the challenges and controversies surrounding state excise policies with suitable examples.
• The recent CAG report on Delhi’s excise policy highlights potential revenue losses due to policy mismanagement—Suggest reforms that can improve transparency and efficiency in state excise policies.
• Discuss the constitutional provisions related to excise duties and liquor regulation in India.
Key Takeaways:
• Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, who tabled the report, fulfilling a BJP poll promise, said the purpose of the previous AAP government’s policy was to “give benefit to its favourite businessmen” and that “personal interests were placed above the interests of the public”.
• The excise policy was withdrawn by the then AAP government after allegations of corruption. AAP leaders, including then Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, were arrested in cases lodged by the CBI and ED.
• The CAG report stated that the Excise Policy 2021-22 was framed to not allow the “formation of any monopoly or cartel in the liquor trade”, introduce transparency and to ensure equitable access of liquor supply.
• According to the report, the Group of Ministers which oversaw formulation of the policy ignored “without justification” the recommendations of the Expert Committee formed to suggest changes.
• The recommendations included granting wholesale licence to private entities instead of a State-owned wholesale entity and limiting the number of vends an individual could be allotted, the report stated, adding that infirmities pointed out in the policy were ignored.
Do You Know:
• The Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22, which was implemented to simplify the liquor trade in the Capital, bring more transparency in it, check monopoly, generate optimum revenue and ensure a better consumer experience was “fraught with shortcomings and the actual implementation was sub optimal”, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
• One of 14 CAG reports tabled in the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday, the CAG’s ‘Performance Audit on Regulation and Supply of Liquor in Delhi’ notes then-Delhi government’s decision to prevent instances of dual ownership – where entities engaging in the liquor trade were associated with both the manufacture and retail of alcohol – among significant lacunae, which caused a loss of more than Rs 2,002 crore to the state exchequer.
• The others, according to the report, included the “concentration of wholesale (liquor) supply to few entities”, increasing the “risk of monopoly or cartel formation” with wholesale licenses for supply of IMFL (Indian-made foreign liquor) and FL (foreign liquor) being granted to 14 business entities “whereas the same were granted to 77 manufacturers of IMFL and 24 suppliers of FL in the old policy (2020-21).”
• The report said that an expert committee, formed to assess the provisions of the new policy, had recommended to the government to take over the wholesale trade of liquor, through a separate ‘state beverage/wholesale corporation’.
• Another issue noted by the report pertains to the refusal of the GoM to adhere to the expert committee’s suggestion of retaining the collection of excise duty on per bottle basis, while altering the pricing mechanism.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍CAG: Shortcomings in policy, implementation suboptimal
UPSC Previous Year Mains Question Covering similar theme:
📍Exercise of CAG’s powers in relation to the accounts of the Union and the States is derived from Article 149 of the Indian Constitution. Discuss whether audit of the Government’s policy implementation could amount to overstepping its own (CAG) jurisdiction.(2016)
Simultaneous elections: Ex-CJI Lalit flags legal challenges if Assembly terms severely reduced
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
Mains Examination: General Studies II: Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein
What’s the ongoing story: Former Chief Justice of India UU Lalit, who appeared before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on ‘One Nation One Election (ONOE)’ Bill on Tuesday, was said to have made some important suggestions including staggering of the entire process and also cautioning about the legal challenges that severely curtailed Assembly tenures could invite.
Key Points to Ponder:
• What is “one nation, one election”?
• What are the arguments around holding simultaneous elections?
• But when elections were first held in independent India, where they not simultaneous to begin with?
• Has the idea of simultaneous polls been explored before?
• When and how did the idea of simultaneous Lok Sabha, Assembly and local body polls come up?
• How exactly will holding Lok Sabha and Assembly polls together help?
• What have political parties said? What is the system in other countries?
• What will happen if India does decide on simultaneous elections?
Key Takeaways:
• Justice Lalit had been called to depose before the committee as an expert to help it understand whether the Bill would pass the Constitutional muster. It is learnt members had an engaging conversation on a range of clauses and issues associated with the Bill and the discussion went on for almost three hours.
• Parliamentary committee proceedings are privileged and details of exchanges between members during meetings are not made public.
• Former Law Commission of India chairperson Ritu Raj Awasthi also appeared before the committee and is learnt to have summarised the paper he had submitted to the committee earlier. In his view, the Bill does not violate the Constitution or the federal structure of the country.
• A high-level committee, headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind, was constituted by the Modi government on ‘One Nation One Election’ and it had, in its voluminous report, strongly recommended simultaneous polls.
• Subsequently, the Union Cabinet accepted the committee’s recommendations and the government tabled two Bills in Lok Sabha.
Do You Know:
• For holding simultaneous elections, the Kovind committee had recommended 15 amendments to the Constitution of India — in the form of both new provisions and changes to existing provisions — to be carried out through two Constitution Amendment Bills.
• According to the Kovind committee, this Bill can be passed by Parliament without the requirement for consultation with state governments or ratification by state Assemblies.
The second Bill will deal with municipal and panchayat elections, as well as the creation of a Single Electoral Roll by the Election Commission of India (ECI), with details of every voter and the seat for which they are eligible to vote.
• The Kovind committee has acknowledged that this Bill deals with subjects on which states have the primary power to enact laws — and it would, therefore, require the approval or ratification of more than half of India’s states before it can be enacted.
Here are further details.
—The first Bill recommended by the Kovind committee would begin by inserting a new article 82A into the Constitution. Article 82A will establish the process by which the country will move to a system of simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and state Assemblies.
—According to the committee report, Article 82A(1) will state that “on the date of the first sitting of the House of the People after a general election”, the President will issue a notification bringing Article 82A into effect. The date of this notification “shall be called the Appointed date”.
—Article 82A(2) will state that “all the Legislative Assemblies constituted in any general election held after the appointed date shall come to an end on the expiry of the full term of the House of the People”.
—The proposed Article 82A(3) requires the ECI to hold “General elections to the House of the People and the Legislative Assemblies simultaneously”. If the ECI believes that elections to any legislative assembly cannot be conducted simultaneously, “it may make a recommendation to the President, to declare by an Order, that the election to that Legislative Assembly may be conducted at a later date”. (Article 82A(4)).
—However, even in cases where the state Assembly election is deferred, “the full term of the Legislative Assembly shall end on the same date as the end of the full term of the House of the People constituted in the General Election”. (Article 82A(5))
—The proposed Bill also recommends amending Article 327, which gives Parliament the power to make laws relating to elections to Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, and state legislatures, including the preparation of electoral rolls and delimitation of constituencies.
• The Kovind committee has recommended that the power of Parliament under Article 327 should be expanded to include “conduct of simultaneous elections” as well.
• Lok Sabha and state Assemblies are constituted for a period of five years after each election. The committee has recommended that this five-year period be referred to as “the full term” by amending Sub-clause 2 of Article 83 (“Duration of Houses of Parliament”) and Sub-clause 1 of Article 172 (“Duration of the State Legislatures”).
• The second Constitution Amendment Bill recommended by the Kovind committee contains amendments that would require ratification by the states. Under Article 368(2), any constitutional amendment that deals with subjects in the State List (where states have the power to enact laws) would have to be ratified by at least half of the state legislatures in the country before it can be passed.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍One Nation One Election Bill Explained: Proposals, key takeaways
UPSC Previous Year Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
1. Consider the following statements: (2017)
1. The Election Commission of India is a five-member body.
2. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs decides the election schedule for the conduct of both general elections and bye-elections.
3. Election Commission resolves the disputes relating to splits/mergers of recognised political parties.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 3 only
Why Telangana, Uttarakhand tunnel crises are different
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Main Examination: General Studies III: Disaster and disaster management
What’s the ongoing story: Around 5:30 am on November 12, 2023, an under-construction tunnel on the Yamunotri National Highway, connecting Silkyara and Dandalgaon in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district, collapsed, trapping 41 workers inside. On February 22, 2025, another tunnel collapse was reported, trapping eight men, this time in Telangana, but experts say this is a more challenging operation.
Key Points to Ponder:
• Map Work-SLBC tunnel
• How part of SLBC tunnel collapsed?
• Where are the rescue teams struggling?
• What are the ways in which tunnels are excavated in rock?
• Frequent tunnel collapses in India highlight gaps in construction safety and disaster preparedness. Discuss the challenges faced in tunnel construction and suggest measures to improve safety standards.
• Rescue operations in disaster scenarios, such as tunnel collapses, require advanced technology and efficient coordination—Analyse the role of agencies like NDRF and state disaster management forces in handling such crises.
Key Takeaways:
• With operations underway at the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Nagarkurnool, The Indian Express spoke with experts to understand how the operations are different from that of Uttarakhand’s Silkyara tunnel rescue.
• National Disaster Response Force Tenth Battalion Commandant N Prasanna Kumar, who is coordinating rescue efforts in Telangana with the Army, Navy, and other agencies, said that the primary challenge and the difference between the two incidents is that in Silkyara, there was no water and mud seepage involved.
• “In water, anyone can survive at best for 20 minutes. Had it been a dry area, those trapped could survive for at least five days. We are dealing with a thick wall of mud-water mix here,” he said.
• “Another difference is workers trapped in Silkyara had a two-kilometre moving space inside the tunnel, but here, there is no such gap as they are in the dead end of the tunnel,” he said, adding that the situation is similar to the Tapovan incident from 2021. In that incident, a flood severely damaged the hydropower project on the Dhauli Ganga River in Chamoli’s Tapovan, leading to slush choking a part of the tunnel and trapping and killing over 200 people.
Do You Know:
• A key set of rescuers in the Silkyara incident, rat hole miners, will not be practical in Telangana, said Kumar. “Rat hole miners only work in sand and dry areas, and here, in water, they cannot be useful. There is little technology to go through this wall of slush to reach the trapped men,” he said.
• In the Silkyara rescue, when parts of the auger machine drilling through the debris broke inside the pipes meant to help people crawl through, excavators used gas torches to cut through steel. The machine, after digging some distance, halted again after its blades broke inside the pipe. Though the excavators cut the blades and cleared the steel with gas cutters, it generated heat and wore the rescuers out.
• At this stage, the rat hole miners, known to employ a method of extracting coal from narrow, horizontal seams, went in to drill manually through the remaining 12 metres of debris. They pulled out the 41 men after almost a day of digging.
• One of the most viable methods to use when there is debris in case of a collapse is the side drift method, he said. “But by the time we arrived, earth auger machines used to drill through soft soils were used. We had also initiated vertical drilling from the top in Silkyara, but horizontal drilling got us to the other side first. This is challenging in Telangana because the top surface is 400 metres high. Also, these rigs could damage the aquifers, and water could start pouring in, further endangering the trapped men,” said the official.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍‘Mudslide led to 8 men getting trapped in Telangana tunnel’
EXPRESS NETWORK
Delimitation: CM Stalin calls all-party meet on March 5
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
Mains Examination: • General Studies I: population and associated issues
• 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: STEPPING UP his war of words with the Centre, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has announced an all-party meeting on March 5 to galvanise “political consensus” in the state on the looming delimitation exercise.
Key Points to Ponder:
• What is delimitation and how is it done?
• The history of delimitation—Know about the same
• What the 2026 delimitation could look like?
• What the gap between delimitation exercises has meant?
• What is Tamil Nadu’s concern regarding delimitation?
• Tamil Nadu has raised concerns over the potential impact of the next delimitation exercise on its political representation—How the delimitation process can create regional imbalances in representation.
• Should Government of India reconsider its delimitation process to balance political representation and equitable development?
Key Takeaways:
• Speaking to the press on Tuesday after a Cabinet meeting, Stalin warned of a “major battle” for Tamil Nadu’s rights. Pressed on whether the state was prepared for another “language war” as a part of this, he responded unequivocally, “Of course, we are ready for that.”
• The fear in the state is that the proposed delimitation – slated to be held after the Census, delayed since 2021, is conducted – could affect Tamil Nadu if the number of the overall Lok Sabha constituencies is not increased.
• Stalin called it “a sword hanging over the head of South India”. “Tamil Nadu, being one of the best in all development indicators, is going to be affected severely in this process,” he said, noting that states that have managed to control their population rates could lose out in a delimitation exercise that uses the number of people as the sole criterion for deciding constituencies.
Do You Know:
• Article 82 of the Indian Constitution mandates a delimitation exercise after every decennial Census, to adjust the number of seats in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies based on population. A Constitutional Amendment in 1971 froze this until 2026, and it is likely to be further delayed now as the process to conduct the Census has not yet started.
• Stalin’s remarks on delimitation reflect an apprehension shared by all southern states, which are ahead of their northern counterparts in development indices, including in meeting family planning goals.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍Delimitation, and the changing India political map
UPSC Previous Year Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
2. With reference to the Delimitation Commission consider the following statements: (2012)
1. The orders of the Delimitation Commission cannot be challenged in a Court of Law.
2. When the orders of the Delimitation Commission are laid before the Lok Sabha or State Legislative Assembly, they cannot effect any modification in the orders.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
THE IDEAS PAGE
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Main Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
What’s the ongoing story: C Raja Mohan writes: India’s strategy had assumed that the globalised economic order is irreversible. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to India provides an opportunity for Delhi and Brussels at a pivotal moment
Key Points to Ponder:
• India-European Union (EU) bilateral relations—Know the background
• What are the key areas of cooperation between India and the European Union?
• What are the contentious issues between India and the European Union?
• How India’s strategic relationship with Europe is evolving in the light of changing global geopolitics.
• Discuss the implications of Donald Trump’s foreign policy on global alliances.
• How should India and Europe navigate their relationship in a world where the U.S. may take a more isolationist approach?
• India and the European Union have been negotiating a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) for years. What are the key sticking points in the negotiations, and how can they be resolved to strengthen bilateral economic relations?
• How can India and Europe enhance their security and defense cooperation in the wake of shifting U.S. policies?
Key Takeaways:
C Raja Mohan writes:
• European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to India this week, accompanied by the entire College of Commissioners (the European Cabinet), marks a critical moment in the EU-India strategic partnership.
• Although her visit was planned before Trump’s re-election, her mission to deepen ties with India has gained new urgency. It was a deliberate choice for von der Leyen to make India her first international destination in her second term as the President of the European Commission.
• Trump is not only reshaping US policy towards Ukraine and Russia but also walking away from longstanding alliances and upturning the global economic order.
• In other words, the great power dynamics between the US, Russia, and China are once again in flux. Over the past century, these three powers have alternated between being allies, friends, enemies and frenemies. India cannot take any relationship for granted. This reality necessitates broadening India’s strategic partnerships, and Europe remains the major missing link in India’s strategic calculus.
• Von der Leyen’s visit provides Delhi with the perfect opportunity to revitalise its engagement with the European Union — the world’s third-largest economy after the US and China, and a vital source of science, technology, advanced industry, capital, and a vast consumer market.
Do You Know:
C Raja Mohan writes:
• Over the last decade, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has worked to overcome the prolonged neglect of India-EU relations. While the two sides proclaimed a strategic partnership in 2004, momentum had waned by the early 2010s. Trade talks stalled due to a lack of progress, and Brussels appeared disinterested in even convening regular summits with India. At the same time, the EU remained focused on its deep commercial ties with China, cultivated over three decades.
• By 2016, India sought to reinvigorate its engagement with the EU, prompting Brussels to convene a long-overdue summit. In 2022, following the pandemic, the two sides resumed trade negotiations, expanded their security dialogue, established a Trade and Technology Council, and launched a connectivity initiative. At the G20 Summit in Delhi in September 2023, both parties announced the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC). As India recognised Europe’s strategic value in a multipolar world, the EU also moved to “de-risk” its economic ties with China and increase its engagement in the Indo-Pacific region.
• India’s trade deficit with China continues to rise, fueled by an ongoing boom in Chinese exports. Unless India takes decisive steps to reduce its dependence on Chinese imports, the deficit — already nearing $100 billion annually — will grow even further. The answer lies in renewing economic reform at home and rebooting India’s strategic partnerships, especially with Europe. The synergies between India and Europe are real and the bilateral partnership remains underdeveloped. Von der Leyen’s visit provides an opportunity for India and Europe to make amends at this pivotal moment of accelerating history.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍EU seeks duty sops on cars, wine and whiskey, says India ‘relatively closed’
UPSC Previous Year Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
3. Consider the following statements: (2023)
The ‘Stability and Growth Pact’ of the European Union is a treaty that
1. limits the levels of the budgetary deficit of the countries of the European Union
2. makes the countries of the European Union to share their infrastructure facilitie
3. enables the countries of the European Union to share their technologie
How many of the above statements are correct
(a) Only one
(b) Only two
(c) All three
(d) None
ECONOMY
RBI moves to boost credit flow to NBFCs, cuts risk weight on loans
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development
Main Examination: General Studies II: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.
What’s the ongoing story: In a major relief to non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday slashed the risk weights of bank loans to NBFCs by 25 percentage points depending on the ratings.
Key Points to Ponder:
• Discuss the role of Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) in India’s financial sector.
• How does RBI’s move to cut risk weights on loans to NBFCs impact credit flow and financial stability?
• Analyse the challenges faced by NBFCs in India and suggest policy measures that can help in improving their financial health and credit availability.
• Explain the concept of risk weight in banking regulations. How does altering risk weights influence the flow of credit in the economy?
• What are the key differences between banks and NBFCs in India?
• In what ways does RBI’s regulatory framework ensure financial stability while supporting credit growth in the NBFC sector?
Key Takeaways:
• The decision, which is applicable in all cases where the existing risk weight as per external rating of NBFCs is below 100 per cent, comes at a time when bank credit to NBFCs has hit a new low, sparking concerns about the sector’s ability to lend to retail customers.
• By reducing the risk weights, the RBI aims to encourage banks to lend more to NBFCs, thereby boosting credit growth in the economy. The move is seen as a positive step towards revitalising the NBFC sector and promoting financial stability.
• The risk weight on the exposures of Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) to NBFCs was increased by 25 percentage points by the RBI in November 2023. “On a review, it has been decided to restore the risk weights applicable to such exposures and the same shall be as per the external rating,” the RBI said.
• A lower risk weight on loans means that lenders need to set aside less capital against those loans, which typically results in lower interest rates for borrowers as banks try to maintain their profit margins, making it less expensive for individuals, businesses or NBFCs to take out such loans. Risk-weighted assets are the loans and other assets of a bank, weighted (that is, multiplied by a percentage factor) to reflect their respective level of risk of loss to the bank.
Do You Know:
• According to Investopedia, Nonbank financial companies (NBFCs), also known as nonbank financial institutions (NBFIs), are financial institutions that offer various banking services but do not have a banking license. Generally, these institutions are not allowed to take traditional demand deposits—readily available funds, such as those in checking or savings accounts—from the public. This limitation keeps them outside the scope of conventional oversight from federal and state financial regulators.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍RBI proposes 4-tier structure for tighter regulation of NBFCs
UPSC Previous Year Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
4. With reference to the Non-banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) in India, consider the following statements: (2010)
1. They cannot engage in the acquisition of securities issued by the government.
2. They cannot accept demand deposits like Savings Account.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Females spent 201 mins more than males in unpaid household work: Time Use Survey 2024
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.
Main Examination: General Studies I: Social empowerment
What’s the ongoing story: Females also spent 62 more minutes in a day in unpaid caregiving activities for household members than males, with the average time spent by females registering an increase to 137 minutes in 2024 from 134 minutes in 2019.
Key Points to Ponder:
• Time Use Survey 2024-what are key highlights?
• ‘The Time Use Survey 2024 highlights a stark gender disparity in unpaid household work’— Discuss the socio-economic implications of this disparity on women’s workforce participation in India.
• Examine the role of Time Use Surveys in shaping gender-sensitive economic policies in India.
• Why there is the need of a hour for incorporating unpaid work into national economic indicators.
• Suggest policy measures that the Government of India can implement to reduce gender gap.
• Compare India’s situation regarding unpaid domestic work with global trends. What lessons can India learn from other countries to address gender disparity in household responsibilities?
Key Takeaways:
• Even as the time spent by females in a day on unpaid domestic services for household members reduced by 10 minutes to 289 minutes in 2024 from 299 minutes in 2019, females spent 201 more minutes in a day in unpaid domestic services for household members than their male counterparts last year, the Time Use Survey 2024 (January-December) released by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on Tuesday showed.
• Females also spent 62 more minutes in a day in unpaid caregiving activities for household members than males, with the average time spent by females registering an increase to 137 minutes in 2024 from 134 minutes in 2019.
• The share of unpaid household work for females aged 15-59 years remained high as they spent 305 minutes in such work in 2024, even as it reduced by 10 minutes from 315 minutes spent on those activities during 2019.
• Unpaid activities include care for children, sick, elderly, differently-abled persons in own households; production of other services for own consumption; production of goods for own consumption; voluntary work for production of goods & services in households and market/non-market units; unpaid trainee work and other unpaid work for production of goods and services.
• Paid work includes self-employment for production of goods and services; regular wage or salary or casual labour for production of goods and services.
Do You Know:
• Time Use Survey (TUS) measures time dispositions by the population on different activities. The primary objective of the Survey is to measure the participation of men and women in paid and unpaid activities, the ministry said.
• The gap between the minutes spent by females than males in a day is the sharpest for unpaid domestic work, followed by unpaid caregiving services for household members.
• Overall, around 83.9 per cent females participated in unpaid activities during a day in 2024, almost the same as the level of 84.0 per cent in 2019, while for paid activities, their share increased 20.6 per cent in 2024 from 17.1 per cent in 2019.
• Time spent in a day in employment and related activities increased to 341 minutes among females in 2024 from 333 minutes, while for males, it increased to 473 minutes from 459 minutes.
708 minutes in a day was spent on self-care and maintenance activities by persons aged 6 years and above. Females of this age group spent 706 minutes, while males spent 710 minutes in such activities, the report said.
• Culture, leisure, mass media and sports practices accounted for 164 minutes of a female’s time in a day in 2024, almost flat from 165 minutes in 2019. For males, however, there was a sharp increase in time spent in a day in culture, leisure, mass media and sports practices at 177 minutes in 2024 from 164 minutes in 2019.
• This survey covered 4,54,192 persons belonging to 1,39,487 households (rural: 83,247 and urban: 56,240). Information on time use was collected from each member of age 6 years and above of the selected households.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍Explained: How to measure unpaid care work and address its inequalities
UPSC Previous Year Mains Question Covering similar theme:
📍Distinguish between ‘care economy’ and ‘monetized economy’. How can the care economy be brought into a monetized economy through women empowerment? (2023)
EXPLAINED
How US-Europe ‘break’ is changing the ‘world order’
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance
Main Examination: General Studies II: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests
What’s the ongoing story: The United States appears to have reversed its policy on the Russia-Ukraine war – and now seems to be working with the Kremlin to force a settlement in Kyiv. On Monday (February 24), the third anniversary of the war, the US opposed an attempt by its European allies at the UN to condemn Russia for its aggression.
Key Points to Ponder:
• Discuss the factors leading to the recent geopolitical rift between the US and Europe. How could this impact global power dynamics?
• Is this a return to older imperialistic impulses?
• Analyse the implications of deteriorating transatlantic relations on NATO’s effectiveness and European security.
• How is the concept of ‘strategic autonomy’ shaping European foreign policy? Discuss its potential consequences for global trade and diplomacy.
• Examine the role of the US-EU partnership in maintaining global stability. In what ways could a breakdown in this relationship affect India’s strategic interests?
Key Takeaways:
• In both these theatres of ongoing conflict, America seems willing and keen to move forward without the parties that are the worst affected – Palestinians and Ukrainians – being represented.
• Trump’s detractors have argued that the “rules-based order” that the US and its Western allies have championed vis-à-vis China in the Indo-Pacific and Russia in Europe is now under threat from the US itself.
• Benjamin Jensen, a senior fellow for the Futures Lab in the Defense and Security Department at the Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), argued in a paper published last week that Trump aims to strike a “grand bargain” to reshape the world order and recreate the era of “spheres of influence”.
• Every act of US interventionism over the past seven decades – in Latin America, Asia, Middle East, or Afghanistan – has provoked cries of “American neo-imperialism”. This cry is now being heard as the US appears to move towards a more isolationist stance in Europe – even though there does seem to be less outrage, at least in the West, about the idea of occupying Palestine.
Do You Know:
• Broadly, since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, foreign policies of the western powers have been domestic politics-proof. In the UK, for example, until Brexit, both Labour and Tory governments were broadly predictable in the positions they took on the “big questions” of foreign policy.
• Even in India, the broad direction of foreign policy – the growing closeness to the West, maintaining ties with Russia, and even neighbourhood policy – has not been upended by changes of guard in New Delhi.
• Trump’s election, though, is seen as a “great disruption” – it is for some an event that could potentially be as far-reaching as Mikhail Gorbachev’s term in the USSR. This appears remarkable because conventional wisdom sees democracies with strong institutions as being more stable and considered than one-party systems ruled by strongmen.
• The US and the UK aren’t the only countries where domestic politics has become more consequential than before for foreign policy. The rise of the far right across Europe – from the AfD’s dramatic success in Sunday’s German federal election to Marine Le Pen’s ambition of entering the Élysée Palace – threatens the idea of “Europe” as an economic and geopolitical unit.
• Indeed, changes in domestic politics in several countries are being driven by a new kind of internationalism, what strategic affairs analyst C Raja Mohan has called the “Con-intern” a nascent ideological formation akin to the Comintern or Communist International (founded in Moscow in 1919).
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development
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: Union Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan launched the Central government’s new initiative—‘NAtional geospatial Knowledge-based land Survey of urban HAbitations’ (NAKSHA)— on February 18 from Raisen in Madhya Pradesh.
Key Points to Ponder:
• What is NAKSHA?
• The NAKSHA scheme aims to modernize urban land records. Discuss the significance of digitized land records in urban governance and economic development.
• How does the NAKSHA scheme complement existing land record digitization initiatives in India?
• Land disputes and unclear property rights remain a major governance challenge in Indian cities. How can the NAKSHA scheme help address these issues?
• Compare India’s urban land record modernization efforts with global best practices.
• Analyze the role of technology, including AI, GIS, and blockchain, in improving urban land record management in India.
Key Takeaways:
• NAKSHA is a city survey initiative under the existing Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP). It is spearheaded by the Department of Land Resources (DoLR), under the Ministry of Rural Development.
• Under the new initiative, maps of towns and cities will be prepared. The programme has been launched as a pilot across 152 urban local bodies in 26 states. The cities selected meet two criteria: area less than 35 sq km, and population less than 2 lakhs. The pilot will be completed in a year.
• The programme addresses the issue of updation of land records in urban areas – while land records have improved in rural areas, several cities lack maps even today. Most urban areas – barring a few states like Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa – have outdated or unstructured land records, causing inefficiencies in governance and taxation.
Do You Know:
• The idea of this initiative was first mooted in the Union Budget last year. “Land records in urban areas will be digitised with GIS mapping. An IT-based system for property record administration, updating, and tax administration will be established. These will also facilitate improving the financial position of urban local bodies,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her budget speech on July 23, 2024.
• As per the Census 2011, India has 7,933 towns covering 1.02 lakh square km of the total 32.87 lakh square km geographical area of the country. NAKSHA will cover 4,142.63 square km of area.
• The initiative is 100 per cent centrally funded. The pilot project is expected to cost about Rs 194 crore. At the unit level, the cost varies depending on the camera used. For a simple camera, the cost is about Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 per square km, while for a 3D camera, it comes to about Rs 60,000 per square km.
• Once completed, NAKSHA is expected to provide comprehensive digital urban land records, reduce land disputes, aid in faster and more efficient urban planning, improve property tax collection, simplify property transactions and improve access to credit.
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