UPSC Key- November 4, 2022: Why you should read ‘Climate Finance’ or ‘Biological Weapons’ or ‘Extreme and Absolute poverty’ for UPSC CSE

Gujarat election dates are out: Voting to be held on Dec 1 & 5, counting Dec 8

Syllabus:

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

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– The Election Commission on Thursday announced the much-awaited schedule for the Gujarat Assembly polls, with voting on December 1 and December 5 and counting on December 8, the same as for the November 12 Himachal Pradesh elections.

• What is the process of election system?

• What is the difference between general election and assembly election?

• Gujarat Legislative Assembly or Gujarat Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature-True or false

• What happens after the Election Commission announces schedule for the polls?

• From which date the Model Code of Conduct is enforced and operational up to which date?

• What is the role of Election Commission in the matter?

• What are the salient features of the Model Code of Conduct?

• Whether Govt. can make transfers and postings of officials who are related to election work?

• Election Commission of India and Article 324 of the Constitution-Know in detail

• The independent and impartial functioning of the Election Commission-How it is ensured?

• Election Commission of India- Powers and Functions

• The Constitution of India has prescribed the qualifications (legal, educational, administrative or judicial) of the members of the Election Commission-True or False?

• The Constitution has not specified the term of the members of the Election Commission-True or False?

• Chief Election Commissioner and the two other Election Commissioners have equal powers-True or False?

• In case of difference of opinion amongst the Chief election commissioner and/or two other election commissioners, the matter is decided by the Supreme Court of India-Right or Wrong?

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📍Action speaks louder than words: EC on questions on its neutrality

Delhi NCR gasps, use of non-BS VI diesel vehicles, over 3 lakhs, banned

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change

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

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– With Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) deteriorating on Thursday to 450, which puts it just below the ‘severe plus’ category, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has invoked measures under Stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) with immediate effect, prohibiting the use of diesel four-wheelers that are not BS-VI compliant, as well as the entry of trucks into Delhi.

• What is Bharat Stage?

• What is the difference between BS-IV and BS-VI

• What area unit BSI, BSII, BSIII, BSIV, and BSVI emission norms?

• What it means for vehicles

• What kept Delhi’s air polluted from October 21 to 26, the week that the city recorded the first ‘very poor’ air day of the season?

• What were The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) findings?

• Why Delhi pollution is always in News?

• What are the reasons for Air pollution in Delhi?

• Know the Geographical location of Delhi

• Being landlocked makes Delhi worst in air pollution-How far you agree with this?

• Know the Supreme Courts Judgments on Delhi Air Pollutions

• “Delhi has converted into a gas chamber”-Discuss

• Air Quality Management in NCR Region-Role and Steps Taken so Far

• Know the best International Practices to Curb Air Pollution in Urban Areas

• What is Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP)?

• What are the different Air Quality Index (AQI) categories under Graded Response Action Plan?

• What are the different stages under Graded Response Action Plan?

• Has GRAP helped?

• What was the Supreme court’s verdict in M. C. Mehta vs. Union of India (2016) regarding air quality in the National Capital Region of Delhi?

• Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM)-Know in brief

• Is Commission for air quality Management statutory body?

• System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) Project-Know in brief

• What is the framework developed by SAFAR to forecast air quality in Delhi?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Delhi air pollution: Biggest culprit this year, and possible solutions

📍WHO POLLUTED DELHI’S AIR?

📍What are Bharat Stage emissions standards?

GOVT & POLITICS

India to stress action on climate finance by developed countries

Syllabus:

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

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

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– Maintaining that the 27th edition of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change should be the “COP of action”, Union Environment, Forests and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav on Thursday said that India will “stress on action in climate finance, technology transfer and capacity building” at the upcoming event.

• What is the meaning of climate finance?

• What is the financial mechanism? What are the other funds?

• In accordance with the principle of “common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities” set out in the Convention, developed country Parties are to provide financial resources to assist developing country Parties in implementing the objectives of the UNFCCC- discuss the objective behind this step?

• What is the Standing Committee on Finance? What is the long-term finance process?

• Green finance and climate finance-Compare

• Map Work-Sharm el-Sheikh

• What is COP27?

• Why is COP27 important?

• What is the UN climate summit?

• Why are COP meetings needed?

• What will be discussed at COP27?

• What Is Climate Change?

• How Is Climate Change measured over time?

• What Causes Climate Change?

• What are the effects of Climate Change?

• “At the COP27 climate conference in November 2022, the international community and each country individually must set out what it has done and intends to do to limit the increase of global temperature to 1.5 degrees”-How?

• What are the expectations from COP27?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍Introduction to Climate Finance

At UNSC, India abstains on Russian motion on Ukraine ‘bio weapons’

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

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

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– India has abstained on yet another resolution involving Ukraine, this time a motion sponsored by Russia at the UNSC that sought to establish a commission to investigate claims by Moscow that the US and Ukraine are carrying out “military biological activities” in laboratories in Ukraine in violation of the biological weapons convention.

• What is Bioterrorism?

• What are Biological weapons?

• What are the types of Biological weapon?

• What do you understand by “Weapons of Mass Destruction”?

• What are the types of weapons of mass destruction?

• Does the Biological weapons comes under weapons of mass destruction?

• What is the Biological Weapons Convention?

• What are the Key Provisions of the Biological Weapons Convention?

• Biological weapons and Australia Group-Connect the dots

• What does the Australia Group do?

• Is India in Australia Group?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍History of the Biological Weapons Convention

THE IDEAS PAGE

Poverty is down, period

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Mains Examination: 

• General Studies II: Issues relating to poverty and hunger

• General Studies III: Inclusive growth and issues arising from it

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Surjit S Bhalla and Karan Bhasin writes: India’s poverty decline was already remarkable before 2014. Now, it is second to none.

• The recent release of the NFHS data for 2019-21 allows for a detailed analysis of the progress in the reduction of absolute poverty and related determinants like nutrition-What are the determinants of poverty?

• India’s economic growth had been the most inclusive between 2014 and 2019-What steps were taken during this time for the poverty alleviation?

• What is the meaning of extreme and absolute poverty?

• What data’s and statistics says about poverty in India? (Hint: Given in the Article)

• For Your Information-Despite the significant reductions, however, the largest number of poor people in the world, 228.9 million lived in India in 2020, said the MPI report, released Monday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford.

• Do you Know-India’s MPI value and incidence of poverty were both more than halved. The MPI value fell from 0.283 in 2005-2006 to 0.122 in 2015-2016 to 0.069 in 2019-2021. The incidence of poverty fell from 55.1 per cent in 2005-2006 to 27.7 per cent in 2015-2016 to 16.4 per cent in 2015-2016.

• What is the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)?

• MPI uses three dimensions and ten indicators-Know in detail the dimensions, indicators, deprivation cut-offs, and weights of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index

• “India’s progress shows that Sustainable Development Goal 1.2 to reduce poverty is feasible, even at a large scale,”-How India reduced poverty?

• What is Poverty?

• How poverty is defined by different international institutions??

• What has the Multidimensional Poverty Index stated about India’s poverty levels?

• Classifications of poverty-Know in Detail (Hint: Absolute and Relative)

• Poverty estimation in India-How Poverty is defined in India?

• Alagh Committee (1979) Lakdawala Committee (1993), Tendulkar Committee (2009), Rangarajan committee (2012) and their poverty estimation.

• What do you understand by the term ‘head-count ratio’?

• What do understand by Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE) and Government Final Consumption Expenditure (GFCE)?

• Poverty Alleviation Programs in India by Government of India

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍2022 GLOBAL MULTIDIMENSIONAL POVERTY INDEX (MPI)

EXPLAINED

MAUNALOA, WORLD’S LARGEST ACTIVE VOLCANO, IS RUMBLING COULD IT ERUPT?

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian and World Geography-Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.

Mains Examination: General Studies I: Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location-changes in critical geographical features and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– The ground is shaking and swelling at Mauna Loa, the largest active volcano in the world, indicating that it could erupt. Scientists say they don’t expect that to happen right away but officials on the Big Island of Hawaii are telling residents to be prepared in case it does erupt soon. Here are some things to know about the volcano.

• Where is Mauna Loa?

• Will Mauna Loa erupt like Kilauea?

• Where will Mauna Loa erupt from?

• Will Mauna Loa explode like Mount St. Helens?

• How do scientists monitor Mauna Loa?

• Why are the volcano’s eruptions so highly explosive?

• Know the types of volcanos

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍Explained: What is the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’?

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