UPSC Key- January 31, 2023: Know about Capital Expenditure, Water Diplomacy and Gender Gap

Budget signal from states for FM: Capital spending gets boost

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Main Examination: General Studies III: Government Budgeting

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- The Centre is likely to renew its thrust on capital expenditure in the upcoming Budget, buoyed by some visible traction in capex spending by states late in the current financial year. After remaining muted for the first seven months of 2022-23, capital spending by states has seen a sharp pickup in November, with 18 major states — including Gujarat, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha posting a 49.7 per cent year-on-year increase at Rs 44,647 crore. For the financial year so far till November, these 18 states have seen a rise of 5.7 per cent in their capital expenditure to Rs 2.44 lakh crore, primarily on account of the sharp pickup seen in November, according to official data.

• What is capital expenditure or Capex?

• What are the types of capital expenditures?

• What is the difference between capital and revenue expenditure?

• How does capital spending help the government produce more revenue if it is related with investment or development spending?

• What role does capital spending have in the Indian economy?

• “Experts said better certainty for states’ revenue flow in terms of growth in tax collections and devolution from the central pool has worked in favour of higher capital expenditure by states”-What do you make of this statement?

• For Your Information-Among the states with the highest level of capital expenditure, Uttar Pradesh has seen an increase of 6.6 per cent at Rs 35,658 crore during April-November this fiscal and over 125 per cent increase in November to Rs 9,819 crore. Capex by Gujarat rose 44.3 per cent in April-November to Rs 20,399 crore and by 118.3 per cent in November to Rs 2,129 crore. Capex by Maharashtra increased by 9.2 per cent to Rs 19,310 crore during April-November, but declined from the year-ago level in November by 5.6 per cent to Rs 3,253 crore. Bihar’s capital spending increased by 46 per cent in April-November to Rs 14,290 crore and by over 400 per cent in November to Rs 5,116 crore, while Odisha’s capex rose to Rs 5,046 crore in November as against Rs 1,015 crore last year.

• Who prepares Budget?

• How many times in the Constitution does the word “budget” appear?

• What is the budget referred to as in the Indian Constitution?

• The Indian Constitution has provisions for the enactment of an annual budget. What exactly are they?

• Annual Financial Statement (AFS) or Union Budget and Article 112 of the Indian Constitution-Know in detail

• Department of Economic Affairs-Role, Under which Ministry?

• What are the three major components of Budget?

• The budget consists of two types of expenditure—the expenditure ‘charged’ upon the Consolidated Fund of India and the expenditure ‘made’ from the Consolidated Fund of India, what are the ‘Charged’ and ‘made’ Expenditure?

• Union Budget and the role of Rajya Sabha-Know in detail

• Appropriation Bill-What do you know about this Bill?

• What does appropriation mean in government?

• How can one evaluate or judge a Union Budget?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explain Speaking: How to evaluate a Union Budget

📍4 things to look out for in Union Budget to be presented this week

Gender gap in undergraduate widens, gains of last few years lost to pandemic

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: 

• General Studies I: Social empowerment

• General Studies II: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Crucial gains made in closing the gender gap across different undergraduate programmes suffered a setback in the pandemic year, according to the latest All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) released by the Education Ministry on Sunday. Data show that the number of women for every 100 men enrolled across different Bachelor’s programmes dropped in the academic year 2020-21.

• What exactly is meant by higher education?

• What is the higher education in India?

• What is the All-India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) report?

• All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2020-2021-Know key highlights

• What does gender gap mean?

• Do You Know-Undergraduate programmes such as nursing and education, which have traditionally had more women participation, also witnessed a significant fall in numbers for women – from 385 in nursing and 215 in education (for every 100 men) in 2019-20, to 308 and 185 women, respectively, in 2020-21.

• What All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) report 2020-2021 says on gender gap?

• Why is there a gender gap according to the report?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Department of Higher Education

GOVT &POLITICS

Ukraine war makes obvious UNSC must be reformed: UNGA chief

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Underlining the need for reforms in United Nations, UN General Assembly president Csaba Kőrösi on Monday said the UN Security Council (UNSC) has become “paralysed” and “dysfunctional” in its “present form”, as it has not been able to take any decision since the Russia-Ukraine war started. Earlier in the day, Kőrösi called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who also emphasised the importance of reforming UNSC.

• What is the United Nations?

• United Nations General Assembly and United Nations security council-Compare and Contrast

• What reforms are needed in the United Nations?

• Why reforms are needed in United Nations?

• Non-permanent members and permanent members-compare and contrast

• Who are the 15 members of the UNSC?

• Is Security Council reform in any way moving forward?

• What is the process for Security Council reform?

• How does the Security Council determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression?

• “Veto power was granted in the UN Charter 77 years ago to encourage each other, but it has turned out that the power is being used to block”-Analyse

• “UN Security Council (UNSC) has become “paralysed” and “dysfunctional” in its “present form”, as it has not been able to take any decision since the Russia-Ukraine war started”-How far you agree with the given statement?

• India and United Nations-Know in detail

• What has been India’s stand on UN reformation?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Security Council an ‘impaired’ organ; handful of countries stopping UNSC reform: India at UN

📍Explained: India at the United Nations high table

From March, broadcast 15 hrs of national interest content: Govt to channels

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: 

• General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

• General Studies IV: Ethics and Human Interface

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Beginning March, all private television channels will be required to air national interest content for 15 hours every month. A detailed advisory to this effect was issued by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting Monday.

• Quick Recall-The Union Cabinet had approved the “Guidelines for Uplinking and Downlinking of Television Channels in India, 2022,” under which it has become obligatory for channels to telecast content of national and public interest. While the guidelines are effective from November 9, officials of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said channels will be given time to conceptualise and create such content.

• What does national interest mean?

• Who decides national interest?

• What “Guidelines for Uplinking and Downlinking of Television Channels in India, 2022” says about public service and national interest?

• Guidelines for Uplinking and Downlinking of Television Channels in India, 2022”-Know the key highlights

• But, why ‘Guidelines for Uplinking and Downlinking of Television Channels in India, 2022’?

• In which sectors can the I&B Ministry regulate content?

• But some scholars say that national interests are a key concept in international relations. So, in the state of affairs of the nation, how is “national interest” defined?

• What is the requirement for public service broadcasting?

• What is the rationale behind this?

• What is the definition of national interest for this purpose?

• What kind of powers does it have?

• What kind of content is not allowed?

• Do other agencies play a role?

• Why the Supreme Court of India came down heavily on TV news channels?

• “Hate drives TRPs, drives profit”-decode the quote

• What is the stand taken by the Government of India?

• Why Media is called as the Fourth Pillar of Democracy?

• What are the responsibilities of Journalists or Media towards the Society?

• What are the Issues Associated with Media and Journalism in India?

• What do you understand by ‘Yellow journalism’?

• How Media Is Regulated in India?

• What are the Loopholes in Media Regulation in India?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍Content in national interest: What new TV broadcast guidelines say

THE IDEAS PAGE

Let diplomacy flow

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: General Studies II: India and its neighbourhood- relations.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- A fortnight ago, Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif expressed the desire for a diplomatic handshake from across the border. The environment conducive to the thawing of relations between the two countries is far from appropriate and reconciling rhetoric with practice remains a challenge. As of now, both countries have opted for diplomatic hedging. This attitude has framed the water diplomacy between the two countries as well. By raking up the issue of hydroelectric projects, Pakistan has reiterated its desire for third-party mediation while India has reinforced its call for revisiting the Indus Water Treaty (IWT).

• Why Indus Water Treaty (IWT) is in news?

• What is the Indus Waters Treaty?

• Indus Waters Treaty-Know the key Provisions

• Map Work-Mark Indus River, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej

• Quick Recall-In a recent notice to Islamabad via the Indus Commissioners, New Delhi claimed that the “intransigence” of Pakistan had made the communication channels over shared waters defunct. New Delhi has asserted that in light of this “material breach” of the agreement, it would like to “update the Treaty to incorporate the lessons learnt over the last 62 years”. It has given a 90-day notice to Islamabad — this has opened space, both legally and politically, for discussing, debating, interpreting and possibly also analysing the fault lines of water diplomacy of both countries.

• What are the issues and Challenges with Indus Water Treaty (IWT)?

• Indus Water Treaty and Geopolitical Conflict between India and Pakistan in present context-Know in Detail

• What is the concept of water diplomacy?

• Water diplomacy between India and Pakistan-Know in detail

• For Your Information-Under Article 60 of the Vienna Convention on the Laws of the Treaties, a party can criticise an agreement and give notice of its intention to terminate it if the other party violates its fundamental provisions. India has adopted the moderate approach of not terminating but modifying the Indus Water Treaty (IWT).

• ‘New Delhi claims that Islamabad has violated the dispute settlement mechanisms, as mandated by Articles 8 and 9 of the Treaty’-Elaborate

• Do You Know-Article 8 specifies the roles and responsibilities of the Permanent Indus Commission — a regular channel of communication for matters relating to the implementation of the Treaty. Article 9 is relevant for addressing any difference or dispute that might emerge between the two countries. Article 9 offers a graded pathway to address any issue related to the implementation or interpretation of the IWT — for instance, it provides for the appointment of a neutral expert in case there is a lack of consensus among the Commissioners. If the neutral expert believes that the difference should be treated as a dispute, it can be referred to the Court of Arbitration. However, it adds that the Commission has to report the facts to the two governments.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Indus Water Treaty at 60: why there is a need to give it a fresh look

Previous year Prelims Question Based on similar theme:
📍With reference to the Indus River system, of the following four rivers, three of them pour into one of them which joins the Indus direct. Among the following which is one is such river that joins the Indus direct? (UPSC Prelims GS-1, 2021)
a. Chenab
b. Jhelum
c. Ravi
d. Sutlej

EXPLAINED

Three years of Covid-19

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Mains Examination:

• General Studies I: Population and associated issues

• General Studies II: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– It was on January 30, 2020 that India reported its first case of infection with the novel coronavirus: a 20-year-old medical student in Kerala’s Thrissur, who had returned from Wuhan, China, the epicentre of the outbreak. The virus came to be named as SARS-CoV-2, and the infection was termed coronavirus disease, or Covid-19. In the three years since, India has seen three distinct waves of the pandemic — the first driven by the original virus in 2020, a sharp peak driven by the deadly Delta variant in April-May 2021, and the third by the less lethal but more contagious Omicron variant in January 2022. More than 4.4 crore Covid-19 infections and 5.3 lakh deaths have been reported across the country so far.

• India’s three Covid waves-Know in detail

• Impact of the lockdown-Brainstorm each and every dimension

• “The second wave in April-May 2021 was brutal, with a huge spike in cases and deaths reported over a short period. The sheer numbers overwhelmed health systems, leading to a shortage of beds, oxygen, and healthcare professionals”-How India dealt with second wave?

• What was the World Health Organization data on the number of Covid deaths in India?

• What did India learn from COVID 19?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Covid deepened inequalities: wealth, education, gender

Previous Year Question on Similar Theme:
📍COVID-19 pandemic accelerated class inequalities and poverty in India. Comment. (General Studies Paper 1, 2020)

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