UPSC Key- June 1, 2023: Know about Service Sector, Purana Qila, Convergence of Schemes and CITIIS 2.0

Services sector fires GDP growth to 6.1% in Q4

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.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- INDIA’S GROSS Domestic Product (GDP) clocked a higher-than-expected growth rate of 6.1 per cent in January-March 2023, in turn pushing up the growth estimate for full year 2022-23 to 7.2 per cent, according to data released Wednesday by the National Statistical Office (NSO). This is higher than NSO’s advance estimates of 7 per cent for 2022-23.

• What is Service Sector?

• What are examples of service sector?

• What are other Economic sector?

• What National Statistical Office (NSO) said regarding Service sector?

• “The 2022-23 GDP growth figures underscore the resilience of the Indian economy amidst global challenges”-Examine

• For Your Information-The January-March GDP growth reflected a broad-based strengthening of the growth impulse across segments, especially agriculture and the services sector output, and capital formation appears to be gaining strength on the expenditure side. An area of concern remains the struggling private consumption demand.

• What is Gross domestic product (GDP)?

• GDP-How it is Calculated?

• Gross domestic product (GDP) and Gross National Product (GNP)-Key Differences

• What is Gross Value added (GVA)?

• How are GDP and GVA different?

• What do the GDP data show?

• Do You Know-The GDP data also reveals that net exports, through a sequential increase in exports and decrease in imports, actually helped add to the headline growth figure by as much as about 1.4 percentage points. “A closer look though suggests that higher provisional GDP growth of FY23 than second advance estimate has primarily been driven by higher exports and lower imports in Q4FY23. As a result, the net exports dropped from Rs (-) 975.1 billion in Q3FY23 to Rs (-) 62.6 billion Q4 FY23. This also helped the Q4 FY23 GDP to come in at 6.1%, much higher than Ind-Ra’s expectation of 4.1%.

• What do the GVA data show?

• ‘Nominal’ GDP and ‘Real’ GDP-What is the difference?

• What is National Statistical Office (NSO)?

• What is the main function of National Statistical Office (NSO)

• What are the Eight core sector industries in the Indian Economy?

• What is the weight/weightage of the different core sectors in the Index of Industrial Production?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: Reading GDP growth Data

📍Service Sector: Place in Economy, Definition and Examples

Gyanvapi row: HC says Hindu women’s plea on worship is maintainable

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance and History of India

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- DISMISSING A petition filed by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, the Allahabad High Court (HC) on Wednesday upheld a Varanasi district court order which had said that Hindu groups are not barred by the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, and the suit seeking the right to worship inside the Gyanvapi mosque was maintainable. Five Hindu women had filed a suit seeking the right to worship Maa Shringar Gauri on the outer wall of the mosque complex located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple. While the Hindu side said the mosque was built on the site of a temple, the Muslim side argued that the mosque was built on Wakf premises, and the Places of Worship Act barred changing the character of the mosque.

• Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi mosque controversy- What is the issue thus far?

• What are the historical claims made by petitioner with respect to Gyanvapi mosque?

• What exactly Allahabad High Court (HC) on Wednesday said?

• What is the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991?

• For Your Information-The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, bars conversion of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947. The mosque side had argued that the 1991 law bars the civil suit seeking right to worship in the mosque premises. The Hindu side argued that until 1993, regular worship of Maa Shringar Gauri was allowed in the “back side of Gyanvapi”. Since 1993, they said, the district administration of Varanasi restricted the entry to only once a year.

• Under what circumstances was the Places of Worship Act, 1991 law enacted, and how did the government justify it?

• How Judiciary has interpreted the Places of Worship Act, 1991?

• The Places of Worship Act, 1991-Know the Key Provisions

• What Section 3 of the Places of Worship Act, 1991 is all about?

• Section 4(1) and Section 4(2) of the Places of worship act, 1991-Know the provisions

• What is Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act, 1983?

• The court cited Section 4 (9) of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act, 1983, defines “Temple”-What is Temple?

• Is right to worship a fundamental right?

• What is the meaning of freedom of worship?

• Right to Freedom of Religion from Articles 25 to 28-Know in detail

• Is litigation the best method to resolve disputes between faith-based communities?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍The Places of Worship Act

📍Court order on Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi Mosque site in Varanasi: history and context

THE CITY

Idols, coins, seals: Latest finds at Purana Qila excavation site

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: History of India and Indian National Movement.

Main Examination: General Studies I: Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Excavations at Purana Qila, where the ‘sixth city’ of Delhi once stood, have so far revealed nine cultural levels and a continuous history spanning over 2,500 years. The artefacts recovered — ranging from idols of Hindu deities to over a hundred coins and almost three dozen seals among others — will be showcased as an Open Air Site Museum at the fort.

• Why has Delhi been the focus of a succession of magnificent empires and powerful kingdoms, making it one of the world’s longest serving capitals and one of the oldest inhabited towns?

• What are the seven cities of Delhi?

• Do You Know-Purana Qila which served as an internment camp for Japanese civilians of British India during the Second World War and as a refugee camp following the Partition — has witnessed multiple excavations in the past. Padma-awardee Professor BB Lal conducted excavations in 1955 and 1969-73, followed by excavations led by Dr Vasant Kumar Swarnkar of the ASI in 2013-14 and 2017-18.

• Why are excavations at Purana Qila important?

• For Your Information-As per the Ministry of Culture, the ongoing leg of excavation work, which was initiated in January, aims to establish “a complete chronology of the site”, which has yielded artefacts from different historical periods: Pre-Mauryan, Mauryan, Sunga, Kushana, Gupta, Post Gupta, Rajput, Sultanate and Mughal. Currently, after reaching a depth of 5.50 metres, according to the Ministry, structures from early Kushana level have been exposed, and the excavation is expected to provide further insights into the ancient city of Indraprastha. The ministry listed a stone image of Vaikuntha Vishnu, a terracotta plaque of Gaja Laxmi, a stone image of Ganesha, seals and sealings, coins, terracotta figurines, beads of various stones and a bone needle among the notable recoveries from the site.

• The present Purana Qila is the creation of whom?

• What is Purana Qila also known as?

• Do You Know-According to the District South East website, Purana Qila is one of the oldest forts in Delhi. The present citadel at Purana Qila was believed to have been built under Humayun and Afghan Sher Shah Suri. Excavations point to traces from the 3rd century BC, the pre-Mauryan period. The first two rounds of excavations, in 1954–55 and 1969–72 by then ASI director BB Lal, unearthed traces of PGW under the mound. At the time, Lal had embarked on a mission to excavate various sites mentioned in the Mahabharata text and had found such traces as a common feature at all those sites. The fort was the inner citadel of the city of Din Panah during Humayun’s rule, who renovated it in 1533 and completed it five years later. The founder of the Suri Dynasty, Sher Shah Suri, defeated Humayun in 1540, naming the fort Shergarh; he added several more structures to the complex during his five-year reign. Purana Qila and its environs flourished as the “sixth city of Delhi”.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍New find in Purana Qila pushes Delhi history back by centuries

GOVT & POLITICS

Nod for panel to set up ‘largest’ grain storage in co-op sector

Syllabus:

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

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 III: Issues of buffer stocks and food security, Food processing and related industries in India

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved forming and empowering an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) to create the “world’s largest grain storage plan in the cooperative sector” by converging eight ongoing schemes of three ministries. The Cabinet meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Briefing the media on the Cabinet decision, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said, “We will start the world’s largest grain storage scheme in the cooperative sector with an outlay of around Rs 1 lakh crore.”

• Which eight ongoing schemes of three ministries are to be converged?

• What is convergence of schemes?

• What is difference between scheme and policy?

• But why convergence of schemes?

• How is the storage of food grains in India done?

• How will the cooperative sector improve grain storage in India?

• What is the role of the Inter-Ministerial Committee?

• For Your Information-The government said in a statement that an inter-ministerial committee (IMC) will be formed under the chairmanship of Minister of Cooperation, with ministers of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Food Processing Industries, and secretaries as members “to modify guidelines/ implementation methodologies of schemes of the respective ministries as and when need arises”. This, it stated, will be done “within the approved outlays and prescribed goals” to facilitate the “world’s largest grain storage plan in the cooperative sector” by creating infrastructure such as godown for agriculture and allied purposes at “selected ‘viable’ Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS)”. As per the statement, a national-level coordination committee will be formed within one week of the Cabinet’s approval.

• Highlighting the benefits of the “multi-pronged” plan, what Government said?

• Food grains production and total storage capacity available with Food Corporation of India (FCI), Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) and the State Agencies (both owned and hired capacity)-Know in detail

• Food Corporation of India (FCI)-About, Role, Functions

• What are the Challenges associated with Food grains storage in India?

• What will be the significance of the proposed plan?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Cabinet approves Constitution and Empowerment of an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) for Facilitation of “World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector”

Scheme for circular economy in Smart Cities gets approval

Syllabus:

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

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

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain (CITIIS) 2.0 to promote circular economy in 18 smart cities to be selected through a competition. The total funding for the scheme Rs 1,760 crore will come from loans from French Development Agency (AFD) and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), a German development bank; and a grant of Rs 106 crore from the European Union, the government said in a statement.

• What is City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain (CITIIS) 2.0?

• French Development Agency (AFD) and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW)-Know them in brief

• City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain (CITIIS) 2.0-Know its features and components

• For Your Information-“The programme envisages to support competitively selected projects promoting circular economy with focus on integrated waste management at the city level, climate-oriented reform actions at the state level, and institutional strengthening and knowledge dissemination at the National level,” the statement read. The first iteration of the programme, CITIIS, was launched in 2018 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), AFD, the EU and the NIUA with a total outlay of Rs 933 crore. Twelve cities out of the 100 smart cities were selected for this. CITIIS 2.0 will include financial and technical support for 18 cities to develop projects on climate resilience, with a focus on integrated waste management. In the second component, all states and UTs will be eligible for support to set up climate centres, creating state- and city-level climate data observatories and capacity-building for municipal staff.

• What do you understand by the term ‘circular economy’?

• Do You Know-A circular economy entails markets that give incentives to reusing products, rather than scrapping them and then extracting new resources. In such an economy, all forms of waste, such as clothes, scrap metal and obsolete electronics, are returned to the economy or used more efficiently, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Delhi Confidential: Will the Smart Cities Mission meet its 2024 deadline?

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

Now for the software

Syllabus:

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

Main 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– Arvind P Datar writes: The opening of the impressive new Parliament building is indeed a historic event and intended to mark the foundation of India’s glorious future. On deeper introspection, it really matters little whether the President was invited or not, whether the Prime Minister was correct in opening the new building or whether the “Sengol” was the right symbol to adopt or signify the beginning of a new phase.

• “Of far greater concern is the steady deterioration in the functioning of Parliament and its increasing irrelevance”-Elaborate

• For Your Information-Decadal data furnished by PRS Legislative Research shows a startling reduction in the average of annual sitting days. From a high of 127 days during 1952-1960, it dropped to 77 days for 1991-2000 and to 64 days in 2011-20. The average for the last two years is 58 days. The 15th Lok Sabha (2009-2014) was scheduled to sit for 606 days but the actual sitting was just 357 days with 51 per cent of time lost due to adjournments. The 16th Lok Sabha (2014-2019) had a scheduled sitting of just 337 days over a five-year period and lost 16 per cent of that time due to adjournments.

• How many times has the nation witnessed a proper debate on any important bill or a current issue of national importance?

• “The great danger today is the overarching shadow that the executive has come to cast in the governance of the country”-How far you agree?

• Do You Know-It is an elementary principle of constitutional law that essential functions of Parliament cannot be delegated. But that is exactly what is happening on a daily basis. In 1923, Lord Hewart bitterly criticised the excessive role of the bureaucracy in governing the nation in his seminal book, The New Despotism. This led to the formation of the Donoughmore Committee and the eventual growth of administrative law and a system of checks and balances. In 2023, a century later, India faces the same problem with little being done to restore Parliament’s primacy as the law-making body.

• “The ruling party has also played a significant part in downgrading the role of Parliament”-How?

• “The healthy practice of referring bills to parliamentary committees has dropped sharply in the recent past”-Comment

• “A healthy Parliament is the bedrock of the rule of law”-Decode the quote

📍Parliament is in decline due to absence of dialogue

EXPLAINED

The personal & the political: reading Nepal PM Prachanda’s visit to India

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

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

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ of Nepal arrived in New Delhi for a four-day visit on Wednesday. Dahal, who took office in December 2022, will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday for talks that will focus on cooperation in energy, trade, and connectivity.

• Why is Nepal so important?

• Nepal under Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda”-Know in brief

• India-Nepal Bilateral Relations and Shared Heritage-Know in detail

• What is India’s Neighbourhood First Policy?

• India’s Neighbourhood First Policy and Nepal-Connect the dots

• “While India’s role in mobilising external support, mainly from the European Union and United States, in favour of the establishment of the secular republic in 2006 was widely appreciated, its attempts at “micro-management” in Nepal, as Dahal said once, resulted in a significant loss of goodwill”-Comment

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Nepal Prime Minister Prachanda to focus on long-term power trade during India visit

THE WORLD

What turned Venice’s famous Grand Canal florescent green?

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialization.

Main Examination: General Studies III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story--For days, Venetians have wondered what caused a swath of their city’s famous Grand Canal to turn bright green. On Monday, the authorities had an answer: Test samples of the water confirmed that the canal’s bright new hue was caused by fluorescein, a chemical often used to find leaks during underwater construction. Now, Italian officials are investigating how the chemical got into the canal.

• Map Work-Venice

• What is Fluorescein?

• What is fluorescein used for?

• For Your Information-Fluorescein can have low levels of toxicity; however, it is routinely used in some medical eye exams, according to the US National Library of Medicine. The environmental authorities in Veneto said that tests had not indicated any levels of toxicity in the canal. Even before tests confirmed fluorescein was in the water, officials believed the chemical was causing the abnormal hue based on similar episodes in the past, the environmental agency said. In 1968, Argentine artist Nicolás García Uriburu turned the Grand Canal green using fluorescein “to bring attention to the relationship between nature and civilization and to promote ecological consciousness as a critical part of culture,” according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The colour faded after about a day, according to the museum. This week, Veneto’s environmental agency said that depending on how much fluorescein was in the water, it could take a few more days for the canal to return to its normal colour as the chemical dissolves.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Italy: Water in Venice’s Grand Canal goes bright green

ECONOMY

Govt reopens window to apply for `76 k-cr chip manufacturing plan

Syllabus:

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

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The Centre will reopen the window for applying to its Rs 76,000 crore semiconductor manufacturing plan as the three applications it had received under the previous window last year have run into hurdles in setting up their respective plants. The government opened the first window for entities to apply to the scheme in January 2022 and closed it in 45 days. The new window, set to open on June 1, will remain until December 2024.

• What is semiconductor?

• What is the most basic component of a semiconductor chip?

• Semiconductors are the foundation of nearly every modern electronic gadget. Where does India stand in the semiconductor industry?

• The Government of India has undertaken several initiatives to promote electronics manufacturing-Know the important schemes

• What are the current challenges of the semiconductor industry in India?

• “India’s ambition of manufacturing semiconductor chips seem to have run into a wall”-Discuss

• Vedanta-Foxconn struggle to find a tech partner-what is going on?

• Why the reboot is crucial for India

• Do You Know-India has identified electronics manufacturing as a key sector to boost its growth in the coming years by producing goods not just for the domestic market, but also for exporting to the world. While some manufacturing schemes, such as that for smartphone manufacturing, have taken off in the country with Apple taking a lead, the entire process is largely centred around assembling various components that are imported from elsewhere. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made chip manufacturing a top priority for India’s economic strategy as he wants to “usher in a new era in electronics manufacturing” by luring global companies. It is, therefore, clear that building semiconductors domestically is crucial for the government’s vision to develop a domestic electronics supply chain and eventually reduce its imports from foreign countries, especially China – which despite its own challenges remains to be the number one destination for such manufacturing.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Why India’s semiconductor manufacturing industry is yet to take off

SEBI proposes additional disclosure for high-risk foreign portfolio investors

Syllabus:

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

Main Examination: General Studies III: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Wednesday released a consultation paper on framework for mandating additional disclosures from Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) especially those who have either concentrated single group exposures or significant overall holdings in their equity investment portfolio. The paper said that some FPIs have been observed to concentrate a substantial portion of their equity portfolio in a single investee company/ company group. In some cases, these concentrated holdings have also been near static and maintained for a long time.

• What is the objective of the consultation paper?

• What has SEBI proposed?

• What is Press Note 3?

• How are FPIs circumventing MPS regulations?

• How is the FPI route misused for circumvention of PN3 regulations?

• Will the proposed norms be applicable to FPIs?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Why has SEBI proposed additional disclosure norms for ‘high-risk’ FPIs?

For any queries and feedback, contact priya.shukla@indianexpress.com
The Indian Express UPSC Hub is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest Updates.