FRONT PAGE
Cyrus Mistry, former head of Tata Sons, killed in car crash
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Mains Examination: 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– Cyrus Mistry, the former head of Tata Sons, was killed in a high-speed car crash on National Highway 48 in Maharashtra’s Palghar district on Sunday afternoon. Mistry (54) was travelling with three others from Gujarat to Mumbai.
• Personality in News– Cyrus Mistry
• Do You Know-The death of Cyrus Mistry comes close on the heels of the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, released last week, which showed that in 2021, 1.55 lakh people died in accidents on Indian roads, up from 1.33 lakh in 2020. In other words, every day 425 people lose their lives on Indian roads.
• Former Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry was killed in a road accident on Sunday on the National Highway in Maharashtra’s Palghar district. The tragedy has once again spotlighted the high numbers of fatalities that Indian roads witness every year-Know Broad Profile of Road Accidents 2021 vis-a-vis 2020
• What does the law mandate about seat belts?
• What is the reason for the poor road safety record in India?
• Why Road Safety is must in India?
• What position does India have in terms of Road safety?
• What are the Initiatives Related to Road Safety?
• What actions are being taken by the Supreme Court of India in the matter of Road Safety?
• For your Information– Deaths by accidents on roads increased by almost 17 per cent in 2021 compared to 2020, indicating an increase in the rate of deaths per 1,000 vehicles in India, according to the latest NCRB report. In 2021, 1.55 lakh people died in accidents on Indian roads, up from 1.33 lakh in 2020, when much of the year saw a nationwide lockdown. Total road accidents reported was 4.03 lakh in 2021, up from 3.54 lakh the year before.
• What are the Initiatives Related to Road Safety at national as well at international level?
• What is ‘Brasilia Declaration on Road Safety’?
• Know in detail about Motor Vehicles Amendment Act, 2019
• Do you Know-India’s road density at 1890.75 per 1000 sq.km of area in 2017-18 was higher than that of many developed countries though surfaced/paved road constituting 64.6 vehicles per kilometre of road length has increased from 28 vehicles in 2010 to 46 in 2020. This is indicative of the growing road traffic congestion in the country.
• What is the Significance of Road Safety in India?
• Which Ministry has notified the compensation to victims of hit and run Motor accidents Scheme 2022?
• What is the advanced technique in traffic management?
• How can India improve road safety?
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍In Mistry crash tragedy, a reminder of high numbers of road deaths in the country
📍69 fatal spots mapped in city saw 5 accidents per km in last 2 years: Data
📍2-wheeler riders and pedestrians top casualty list
📍ExplainSpeaking | The economics of road safety: What India can learn from the rest of the world
📍NCRB report: Deaths in road accidents up by 17%
Need for modernising jails, prison reforms law coming: Shah
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
Mains Examination: General Studies II: Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary-Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity.
Key Points to Ponder:
• What’s the ongoing story-Union Home Minister Amit Shah Sunday asked all states to modernise their prisons and said that a new law on jail reforms is coming soon. He also called for a rehabilitative view of prisoners and jails, saying India’s incarceration system is prone to abuse because it was set up by the British to subjugate political prisoners.
• Why prison reforms?
• What are the prison reforms in India?
• What Prisons Statistics of India (PSI) 2020 says?
• What does the Law Commission of India says about prison reforms?
• Why ‘overcrowding’ in prisons ?
• What were the major recommendations of the Mulla Committee, 1983 and Krishna Iyer Committee, 1987?
• For Your Information-As per the National Crime Records Bureau’s 2021 statistics, there were a total of 5,54,034 people in prisons across India, as against a capacity of 4,25,609. A similar trend of overcapacity was seen in 2020 and 2019 as well.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍Mass jailing of undertrials must end
📍76% prisoners are undertrials; ratio is highest in Delhi, J&K
EXPRESS NETWORK
In a first in Bihar, district office goes paperless
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc
Mains Examination: General Studies II: Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.
Key Points to Ponder:
• What’s the ongoing story- Walking into the Collectorate in Saharsa, one can easily be confused. Tables are no longer burdened with dusty files and corridors are no longer congested by rusty almirahs. Instead, there are laptops all around and e-tracking of information is the mantra. From the dealing assistant to the district magistrate, the movement of files has been seamless. That is because Saharsa has become the first district in Bihar to have gone completely paperless.
• How Collectorate in Saharsa transitioned from paper to paperless?
• E-office concept in ‘Sarkari offices’-How they ensure accountability?
• How E-office strengthens decision making?
• “E-office is the need of the time in the post-Covid scenario”-discuss
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍Dubai world’s first govt to become 100% paperless: Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan
Most number of sedition cases in last 8 years came from Assam: NCRB data
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance
Mains 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– Assam recorded the most number of sedition cases in the country in the last eight years, according to an analysis of official data. The data from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reports showed that out of 475 sedition cases registered in the country between 2014 and 2021, Assam accounted for 69 cases — 14.52 per cent. This means that around one in six sedition cases registered in the country in the last eight years came from Assam.
• What do you understand by ‘Sedition’?
• Sedition laws in India-Know about them
• Historical Background of Sedition Law-Who drafted it?
• When was sedition law used against Mahatma Gandhi and BG Tilak?
• National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report statistics on the Sedition Law-Know the facts and figures given by NCRB
• For Your Information-The NCRB compiles and publishes crime statistics as reported by states and Union Territories, and data on sedition cases (registered under Section 124A of the IPC) is available since 2014. The latest edition of the NCRB’s Crime in India report showed that 76 sedition cases were registered across the country in 2021, a marginal increase from the 73 registered in 2020. The number of these cases stood at 93 in 2019, 70 in 2018, 51 in 2017, 35 in 2016, 30 in 2015 and 47 in 2014.
• Know state-wise analysis of sedition cases by NCRB reports.
• Do You Know-In the NCRB reports, data on sedition cases is given under the headline ‘Offences Against State’. While cases registered under the Section 124A of the IPC have been mentioned under the sub-head ‘Sedition’, the cases registered under Section 121, 121A, 122 and 123 IPC have been given under the second sub-head ‘Others’. In all, 149 offences against the state were registered in the country during 2021, of which 76 were sedition cases and 73 were under the ‘other’ subhead. The total number of offences against the state stood at 172 in 2020 and 163 in 2019.
• What is Section 124A of Indian Penal Code?
• Punishment for the Offence of Sedition in India-Know in detail
• What is the fresh challenge to sedition law?
• Sedition laws in other countries-Compare and Contrast
• What is the Supreme Court’s stand on it?
• Supreme Court Decisions and Discussions on Sedition Law?
• Supreme Court’s Landmark decision in Kedar Nath Singh v. State of Bihar (1962) case and the Balwant Singh vs State of Punjab (1995) case-know in detail
• What are the Kedar Nath Singh guidelines?
• What does the Law Commission of India say on sedition?
• Problems with the sedition laws-Brainstorm
• Legal flaws and spurious interpretation of Sedition Law?
• Mahatma Gandhi on Section 124A as the “prince among the political sections of the Indian Penal Code designed to suppress the liberty of the citizen”-Decode the Quote
• How Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) contradicts Article 14 and Article 21 of the Indian Constitution?
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍 Explained: What is the sedition law, and why Supreme Court’s fresh directive is important
THE EDITORIAL PAGE
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development
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: Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.
Key Points to Ponder:
• What’s the ongoing story-Vikram S Mehta writes: The Prime Minister has called for “Energy Atmanirbharta” by 2040. I offer below 10 suggestions for achieving this objective.
• What is the definition of ‘Atmanirbharta’ given by the author?
• Self-Reliant and Self Sufficient-Know the Difference
• Atmanirbharta translates literally to self-reliance. Many interpret it to mean self-sufficiency. That should not be our goal. Energy self-sufficiency is infeasible and uneconomic. A better statement of intent would be “strategic autonomy”-discuss
• Atmanirbharta or Self-Reliant Campaign-Important Components
• Five Pillars of a Self-reliant India-Know in detail
• Significance of ‘Atmanirbharta’ Abhiyan
• Self-Reliant India Campaign is inspired by Swadeshi Movement 1905-Do you agree?
• Self-Reliant India Campaign-Issues and Challenges ahead
• According to author, Why prioritise access to fossil fuels rather than transitioning to a green energy system?
• What are the other suggestions given by the author to achieve “Strategic-Autonomy”?
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍To become self-reliant and self-sufficient is the biggest lesson learnt from Corona pandemic: PM
📍An ‘atmanirbhar’ India can look the world in the eye
THE IDEAS PAGE
Feeding humanity, saving the planet
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.
Mains Examination: General Studies III: E-technology in the aid of farmers
Key Points to Ponder:
• What’s the ongoing story-Ashok Gulati writes: In India, we have the culture of free power, free water, almost 80 to 90 per cent subsidy on urea, and so on. One critical factor that is needed is the political economy of policies
• What is the real cause behind a rapid deterioration in nature’s wealth
• Can humanity will be able to feed itself in a sustainable manner in the future?
• What are the imbalances between people, our planet and the political economy of policies which the Author has highlighted?
• Can this planet provide food for all through natural farming without the use of any chemical fertilisers, pesticides, modern high yielding varieties of seeds, etc?
• Most of the studies conducted by ICAR in India show that with the adoption of natural farming yields go down for major staple crops like wheat and rice by as much as 30 to 50 per cent. In this scenario, how natural farming can ensure sustainable and inclusive development?
• What is Precision farming?
• How Precision farming is different from natural farming?
• How Precision farming can give “more from less”?
• Geographical Information System, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, use of sensors, drones, doves, and low earth orbits, space technologies, cloud computing, Drips, hydroponics, and aeroponics, vertical farming can help in farming or Precision Farming?
• How technology can help farmers?
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
THE WORLD
China, Japan ground flights as year’s strongest typhoon nears
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 strongest tropical storm of 2022, dubbed Super Typhoon ‘Hinnamnor’, has been barrelling across the western Pacific Ocean and is presently hurtling back towards the islands of Japan and South Korea, packing wind speeds of upto 241 kilometres per hour.
• Where is Super Typhoon ‘Hinnamnor’ likely to make an impact?
• How is the typhoon presently moving?
• What is Typhoon, Cyclone, Hurricanes and Tornado?
• How Are Typhoon, Cyclone, Hurricanes and Tornado Formed?
• Cyclone, Tornado, Hurricane and Typhoon-How they are different from each other?
• How Are Cyclone, Tornado, Hurricane and Typhoon Named?
• Typhoon and Super Typhoon -Compare and Contrast
• Types of Typhoon and Super Typhoon or Classification of Typhoon and Super Typhoon -Know in detail
• What are the Stages of Formation of Typhoon and Super Typhoon?
• What are Air Masses and Fronts?
• World Meteorological Organisation (WMO)-About, Role, Vision and Mission
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍What do we know about Super Typhoon ‘Hinnamnor’, the strongest storm of 2022
📍How Are Hurricanes and Typhoons Named?
EXPLAINED
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Mains Examination: General Studies III: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.
Key Points to Ponder:
• What’s the ongoing story– The US space agency NASA was forced to abort its Artemis 1 mission to the Moon for the second time in a week, after engineers could not fix a leak of liquid hydrogen during the fuelling of the tanks of the rocket engine. A similar problem had aborted the scheduled launch of the mission on August 29 as well.
• NASA Artemis 1 launch aborted: What went wrong?
• Is this twin failure unusual?
• What is NASA’s Artemis 1 mission?
• What is the goal of NASA’s Artemis mission?
• Where Did The Name Artemis Come From?
• What will the Artemis program’s upcoming missions be?
• Know the Moon Exploration History in detail
• Do You Know-NASA’s Artemis 1 mission is aimed at exploring the Moon with the specific objective of getting human beings back on the lunar surface and possibly beyond — to Mars and elsewhere. With Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and first person of colour on the Moon, using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before.
• But why does NASA want to go back to the Moon, where it has been several times, and last went 50 years ago?
• What does this new Moon mission hope to achieve?
• What new things have scientists discovered about the Moon in recent decades?
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
Ramon Magsaysay of Philippines, and his stance on communism
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Mains Examination: General Studies I: History of the world will include events from 18th century such as industrial revolution, world wars, redrawal of national boundaries, colonization, decolonization, political philosophies like communism, capitalism, socialism etc.— their forms and effect on the society.
Key Points to Ponder:
• What’s the ongoing story– Former Kerala health minister K K Shailaja has declined her nomination for the 2022 Ramon Magsaysay Award, considered to be Asia’s equivalent to the Nobel Prize.
• Who was Ramon Magsaysay?
• Communism and Magsaysay-Connect the dots
• What is communism?
• What is the difference between ‘communism’ and ‘socialism’?
• How communism can be classified?
• Know about the Ramon Magsaysay Award
• Know the name of Indian who had won this award
• For Your Information-Launched in 1958, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, widely considered to be Asia’s equivalent to the Nobel Prize, recognises outstanding leadership and communitarian contributions in Asia. This year’s annual list of awardees was announced last week. Shailaja was considered for the award for her performance as state health minister from 2016 to 2021, a period which saw Kerala fight against the Nipah virus and Covid-19.
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
📍What is the Ramon Magsaysay Award
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