Ethics: Moral principles that govern a person's behaviour or the conducting of an activity[his guide 1)to distinct

b/w right & wrong 2)duties& obligations] | Integrity: Integrity is the practice of being honest and showing a
consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values [not
deviating/compromising/bending from what one considers right or his duty] | Aptitude: a natural ability or
skill.[inherent competence; Outstanding aptitude can be considered "talent"] | Attitude: a settled way of thinking
or feeling about something [inherent/actual point of view ; inherent way of looking at things; predisposition] . It
decides whether you like or dislike something. | Human Values: Values can be defined as broad preferences
concerning appropriate courses of actions or outcomes [value is basically what & how much you prefer/desire
something; not right or wrong but levels of desirability]. While attitude decides whether you like or dislike
something, values decide by how much. | Approach: the manner of dealing with a situation to get desired results;
Probity: complete and proven integrity [integrity implies trustworthiness and incorruptibility to a degree that one
is incapable of being false to a trust, responsibility, or pledge. probity implies tried and proven honesty or
integrity]. In application it is concerned with procedures, processes and systems rather than outcomes i.e.
designing the system with components & people that have a proven record of ensuring integrity | Public Life: The
aspects of social life which are (happening in) public(work place), in the open, as opposed to more private social
interaction within families, private clubs etc. | Conflict: a serious disagreement or argument, typically a protracted
one.[when 2 sides want two different things; two incompatible issues] | Essence: (1)the basic or most important
idea or quality of something (2)the intrinsic nature or indispensable quality of something, especially something
abstract, which determines its character[for ex a person can be an extreme sanghi(attitude) but if he is a
coward(essence) he’ll speak sweetly to you] | Determinants: factor which decisively affects the nature or outcome
of something[source of something; for ex your faith, experiences, upbringing, lifestyle etc are determinants of your
ethics] | Consequences:(1) importance or relevance (2) a result or effect- - -[how much your ethics influence your
actions] | Reform: make changes in (something, especially an institution or practice) in order to improve it for ex
RR Roy reformed Hinduism to increase it’s societal value. | Administrator: The definition of an administrator is a
person who is in a position of authority or who manages people, practices and policies. | Inculcate: instill (an idea,
attitude, or habit) by persistent instruction[ for ex enculturation/acculturation] | Behavior: (1)The way in which an
animal or person behaves in response to a particular situation or stimulus. (2) The way in which one acts or
conducts oneself, especially towards others. | Thought:(1) the action or process of thinking. (2) An idea or opinion
produced by thinking, or occurring suddenly in the mind. (3) Thought encompasses an aim-oriented flow of ideas
and associations that can lead to a reality-oriented conclusion | Influence: (1) one person (the source) engages in
some behavior (persuading, promising, issuing orders or threatening) that causes another person (the target) to
behave differently from how he or she would otherwise behave (2)The capacity to have an effect on the character,
development, or behavior of someone or something, or the effect itself. | Persuasion may be defined as changing
the beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors of a target(towards something/ someone) through the use of information or
argument. [medium of information/argument: written, spoken words or visual tools to convey information,
feelings, or reasoning, or a combination thereof] . Persuasion is subset/form of influence but it does not involve
coercive methods like orders & threats or incentives like promises. It is a open form of influence i.e. the target
know that he is being persuaded/ influenced | Impartiality: (1) Equal treatment of all rivals or disputants;
fairness.[Andha Kanoon] (2) Impartiality-here- means that, regardless of a public servants personal beliefs and
preferences, and personal relationships with other servants or with members of the public and other public
servants fairly and equally.[for public: procurement, delivery of services, recruitment; for peers: transfer,
promotion, termination] | Non-partisanship: Nonpartisanship is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias toward,
a political party. For a public authority it is a subset of impartiality. While impartiality ensures equality without any
bias and prejudices in the general, non-partisanship ensures a neutral approach in politics and a solid commitment
to the government.[here politics covers both political ideology and political party. [Even if you’re a communist
serve the sanghi government with same dedication and loyalty as would have served if Lenin was in power i.e.
You’ll give the objective and evidence based advise in good faith. You’ll execute the tasks with utmost efficience] |
Objectivity It means telling things that are universally true and analyzing events solely on the basis of available
evidence for ex you’re a devout Muslim and you’re analyzing theory of evolution based on available evidence and
you find all the evidence conforming to the theory then you state so in your thesis. You may publicly announce
that you don’t believe in your own findings and believe that with future evidences the theory would be proved
wrong but to the person who asked you to do the research you give results based only on evidence [available is
underlined to emphasize that you don’t let your biases/theories fill the place for missing evidence]. Same goes for
a civil servant pertaining to his decisions and advice to government. It is assumed that what civil servant decided or
advised would remain universally true [A extreme sanghi and an extreme progressive(SJW) are asked for an advise
or to make a decision w/o one person knowing about the other. Then if both employed objectivity then both
would arrive at same decion or tender same advice]. It is established that objective decisions are not impacted by
personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts. | Dedication: devoted to a task or purpose. |
Tolerance: the ability or willingness to tolerate the existence of opinions or behavior that one dislikes or disagrees
with[Agree to Disagree]. For a civil servant it means being impartial and objective even towards people who you
dislike or disagree with. | Sympathy: It means acknowledging another person’s hardships and feeling bad for their
misfortunes and wishing that they get out of their suffering. [Acknowledging her means that the suffering person
does not “deserve” what has happened to him] |Empathy: Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what
another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in
another's position.[ability to experience other’s pain and inability] | Compassion: Concern for the sufferings or
misfortunes of others and desire to alleviate their pain. It motivates people to go out of their way to help others.[
the emphasis here is on action and wanting to help; while Sympathy focuses on awareness, empathy focuses on
experience; Compassion focuses on action] | Transparency: It means provision of access of government
information to public | Accountability: It means holding a person answerable to his/her acts. | Cognitive
Dissonance: Cognitive dissonance is used to describe the feelings of discomfort that result when your beliefs run
counter to your behaviors and/or new information that is presented to you | Conscience: Conscience is an
aptitude, intuition, or judgment that assists in distinguishing right from wrong. In psychology, conscience is often
described as leading to feelings of remorse when a human commits actions that go against his moral values and
feelings of pleasure and well-being when our actions, thoughts, and words are in conformity to our value systems.
Thus conscience is a subset of cognitive dissonance. It is that cognitive dissonance that we feel when out behavior
run counter to our moral beliefs [and doesn’t include the sphere of new information]. Conscience in one of the
sources of ethics [others sources are evidence, reason, experience, social norms, customary morality etc]. While
ethics provide a reliable source of distinguishing right from wrong, conscience is relatively unreliable. Some
philosophers argue that conscience is innate(in born human characteristic), but no one said that about ethics. |
Governance: It provides the mechanism for various stakeholders to articulate their interests, exercise their rights,
and mediate their differences. In case of government, governance means the act and manner of managing public
affairs. Through the process of governance, the essential link is established between the civil society and the State,
giving a shape to the way decisions are made for serving public interest [other-corporate governance etc] | Ethical
Governance: It is the type of governance that meets the criteria of justice, equality, impartiality, integrity &
fairness | Corruption: It is an abuse of public resources or position in public life for private gain

Content of Attitude: Carl Jung, one of the founders of psychoanalysis, is of the opinion that the contents of the
conscious and unconscious part of the mind are usually different. Accordingly, attitudes are classified as explicit
and implicit. Further there are some attitudes that a person is aware(conscious) of and some that he doesn’t(sub
conscious/unconscious) for ex Maulana Azad was a conscious muslim but not a subconscious muslim i.e. he knew
that there is god and afterlife but some of his subconscious mind prevented him from being a practicing muslim.
He tried but was never able to pursue taqwa for long;
Accordingly, attitudes are classified as explicit and implicit (1) Explicit Attitude (Conscious) – If a person is aware of
his attitudes and how they influence his behaviour, then those attitudes are explicit. Explicit attitudes are formed
consciously (2) Implicit Attitude (Sub-Conscious) – If a person is unaware of his attitudes (beliefs) and how they
influence his behaviour, then those attitudes are implicit. Implicit attitudes are formed sub-consciously.for ex you
like your own hut better than a palace. There is no reason to empirical reason you could think of in which way your
hut is better than the palace but you still go for the hut[it is actually due to familiarity(past experience) which has
convinced your subconscious that the hut is a safe place where your all your needs will be fulfilled] |

Structure of Attitude:(here) the components that make your attitude and how much influence each of them has
on your decisions and how strong the attitude is when facing a situation[does your essence overtake your attitude
or not]. ABC Model:- Structure of attitude consist of 3 components (1) Our value of something based on
abstract/immeasurable emotions for ex I like BMW because it is a status symbol and looks good [bookish: affective
component] (2) Our value of something based on measurable factors for ex I like BMW because it has 3000cc
engine and max speed of 290km/hr [bookish: cognitive component] (3) Our value of something based on past
experiences, which include both immeasurable emotions and measurable factors for ex I like BMW because my
last car was BMW and it gave me a status symbol and on road max speed was nearly equal to the max speed
published on the brochure[bookish: behavioral component]. The above mentioned structure-Affective, Behavioral,
Cognitive-is called ABC model [Bookish]. A change in one component of an attitude structure might very well led to
changes in the others because an attitude structure is dynamic, with each component influ­encing the others.

Strength of Attitude:- The strength with which an attitude is held is often a good predictor of behavior. The
stronger the attitude the more likely it should affect behavior. It depends on (1) Importance / personal relevance
i.e. how much value one attaches to that attitude for ex what law says about it vs what shariat says about it- you
might want to circumvent law but won’t have that attitude towards shariat. If an attitude has a high self-interest
for a person (i.e. it is held by a group the person is a member of or would like to be a member of, and is related to
a person's values), it is going to be extremely important. (2) knowledge aspect i.e. how much a person knows
about the attitude object. People are generally more knowledgeable about topics that interest them and are likely
to hold strong attitudes (positive or negative) as a consequence (3) Attitude ambivalence i.e. the ratio of positive
and negative evaluations that make up that attitude. The ambivalence of an attitude increases as the positive and
negative evaluations get more and more equal. (4) Accessibility of Attitude i.e. with the ease it comes to your mind
[how much your attitude coincide with your essence]

Function of Attitude: Attitudes help a person to mediate between their own inner needs (expression, defence) and
the outside world (adaptive and knowledge). Following are 4 functions of attitude (1) Knowledge: Attitude help us
identify a situation/trend which is consistent with our experiences/beliefs/thoughts for i.e. ex if an islamophobic
speech is going on, the sanghi’s attitude will identify it as a favorable situation as he can meet likeminded people
there and also get validation for his hate but the attitude of a muslim would either will identify this situation to be
one that should be avoided or confronted violently(qital) [best serve out survival in evolutionary terms]. Thus
knowledge function of attitude helps us make sense of things. (2) Self / Ego-expressive: This helps us (a) help
communicate who we are and (b) may make us feel good because we have asserted our identity. ##
Self-expression of attitudes can be non-verbal too: think bumper sticker, cap, or T-shirt slogan. (3)Ego Defensive:
Not everyone can do everything. This is a truth but still our ego gets hurt if we are bad at something [even if we
lose to professional of that field, we’ll still feel bad]. Secondly, in life, we have to do things which go against our
principle or socially accepted behavior, we do it out of necessity but feel bad about doing it[having to sit silently
when our own are subjected to oppression. We do it to ensure our survival but feel bad about our cowardice].
There are also instances when we have done something bad or some damage but are not aware of it, then if we
face criticism for such action we are not able to comprehend the reason behind the criticism and think that other
person is criticizing us due to some ulterior motive/feeling for ex If a manager criticizes employees' work without
offering proper explanation and suggestion for improvement, employees may form a negative attitude and
subsequently dismiss the manager as foolish in an effort to defend their work[suggestion for improvement is
needed because the employee thought his way was the right way or wrong but necessary way]. Thus
ego-defensive attitudes protect our self-esteem or justify actions that make us feel guilty to prevent us from going
into depression.[survival tactic] (4)Adaptive: If a person holds or expresses socially acceptable attitudes, other
people/ society will reward him with approval and social acceptance for ex not criticizing your boss. It has two
dimensions (a) Social Acceptance: Attitudes that helps us fit in with a social group and remain part of it (b)
Utilitarian or Instrumental: Attitudes which lead us to rewards and protect us from getting punished for ex salaried
people are tax compliant out of fear of punishment or taking a torch while going into dark out of fear of getting
hurt due to falling or hitting something. Any attitude that is adopted in a person’s own self-interest is considered
to serve a utilitarian function

Influence of Attitude of Behavior: Attitudes can positively or negatively affect a person’s behavior. A person may
not always be aware of his or her attitude or the effect it is having on behavior. We tend to assume that people
behave according to their attitudes. However, social psychologists have found that attitudes and actual behaviour
are not always perfectly aligned

 When behavior is not aligned with attitude two things happen (1)If the attitude is strong you change
behavior to suit attitude for ex I believe in using most of my time for preparing for UPSC mains but still
waste time on youtube. What I do is change my behavior to suit attitude. If not I experience discomfort
due to cognitive dissonance for ex the bad feeling I get by waking up late (2) If behavior is strong you
change your attitude and come up with a justification to avoid cognitive dissonance for ex I know walking
for 30 minutes every morning is good for my health yet I don’t do it and justify it by saying that till mains
my time should be dedicated to studying only. (3) If neither attitude nor behavior is strong- I like to vote
against Modi but still on the voting day don’t go for vote - - -[there are several factors whose combined
effect culminates in person’s behavior. Attitude is one of those factors. So when we say attitude is weak
but behavior is strong, what we mean that though attitude is weak other contributing factors were strong
thus resulting in strong behavior]

 When attitude is aligned with behavior. It is a sweet feeling. Following are the factors which contribute to
alignment of attitude with behavior. (1) The attitude is strong, and it occupies a central place in the
attitude system. for ex the desire to preserve my health prevents me from drinking un distilled/tap water.
(2) The person is aware of her/his attitude. i.e. explicit attitude. (3) External pressure on the person to
behave in a particular way. (a) When societal norm is aligned with your attitude for ex you want to have a
beard and the current fashion is also of keeping beard (b) When there is no external pressure for ex a
practicing muslim living in Afghanistan will have no problem in condemning inter religious marriage of
muslim girls[you feel the same way as that guy but in public you won’t show your disdain due to presence
of external(societal) pressure] (3) The person’s behavior is not being watched or evaluated by others. For
ex you like hearing Khadim Hussain Rizvi and about Islamic teachings but you’ll do it when you’re alone
and not in presence of your father due to his dislike toward the behavior. Same goes for perverse
activities (4) the person thinks that the behaviour would have a positive consequence, and therefore,
intends to engage in that behavior for ex you think by qualifying UPSC you’ll have means to live your
desired life hence you’re preparing for it.

 There are several factors whose combined effect culminates in person’s behavior, attitude is one of them.
In addition to attitude, behavior is dependent on following factors- monetary factors, opinion of people
 close to him, opinion of society, convenience and perceived control (1) Monetary factor for ex I want to
give money Zakia’s father for his treatment & his business but since my financial condition is not well(out
of job) I won’t do it. (2)Opinion of people close to him for ex I am against caste system but since my
parents value it so much I may not marry someone from lower caste or I want to have more than 1 wife
but since my wife may not agree to it I won’t do it (3) Society’s opinion: Same 4 wife example (4)
Convenience: I want to vote against Modi but won’t do it if the polling booth is far away. (5) Perceived
control: (a) If I knew that I could complete, understand & reproduce in exam, w/o jeopardizing other
sections, I would read the 270 page pdf on physical anthro (b)If I had believed that I would qualify prelims
I would have given more time to optional.

Attitude is one of the components of thought along with value, ethics, integrity and essence. The function of
attitudes, particularly knowledge & ego-defensive functions, best describe it’s affect on thought.

Change in Attitude can Occur in two cases (1) Instrumental Conditioning: External actor is providing positive or
negative reinforcement to a behavior thus altering the underlying attitude. It’ best illustrated by the way parents
condition their child for ex Child is playing with child of another Race(here child of another race in attitude object)
+ Parents of the child giving positive or negative reinforcement = positive or negative attitude towards attitude
object. (2)Imitation: Attitudes are learned through imitation and modelling. Parents and society influence
attitude for ex (a) your attitude towards defensive/offensive war and Barelvi sect changed with speeches of
Khadim Rizvi (b)Many people left violence under influence of Gandhi ### Apart from this tinkering with structure(
i.e. ABC model) of a person can lead to change in his attitude. Factors that decide strength of attitude can be
tinkered with to change the attitude [Except for accessibility of attitude as it’s dependent on person’s essence]

Moral Attitude:- Moral Attitudes are attitudes of individuals towards moral issues for ex abortion, child marriage,
divorce, LGBTQ marriage, environment vs tribal rights debate. Morals are what society considers right or wrong i.e.
society’s ethics. To be more specific what certain section consider right and other sections consider wrong. Except
for few things there’s always a debate on what is moral issues, some people consider one thing right while other
consider the same thing wrong. Moral Attitude is is the attitude you hold towards moral issues i.e. on which side of
debate you’re on.

Political Attitude:- Political attitude is the attitude you hold towards political issues or ideologies. For example,
what is your view of the reservation? What do you support free market or socialism?. Attitude towards patriotism,
democracy, plebiscite, reservation for women, equality, secularism, socialism, communism, scheduled castes and
other minorities in politics, vulnerable sections, communalism, ideals of transparency and accountability,
corruption, voting, political parties etc. comes under the broad umbrella of political attitude.

Social Influence & Persuasion:- (1) It refers to the ways people influence the attitudes, values, beliefs, feelings, and
behaviors of others. Each day we are bombarded by countless attempts by others to influence us (2) Social
influence occurs when: one person (the source) engages in some behavior (persuading, promising, issuing orders
or threatening) that causes another person (the target) to behave differently from how he or she would otherwise
behave.

 Forms of Social Influence: Influence attempts can be either open or covertly manipulative. (1)In open
influence, the attempt is readily apparent to the target. (2)In manipulative influence, the attempt is
hidden from the target.

 Forms of open influence Persuasion, Threat, Promise, Orders

  Based on the amount of pressure put on the target social influence(actually desired result of social
influence) can be classified into 4 categories (1) Imitation: Behavior change is through inspiration. for ex
motorcycle riders imitatin John Abraham after the movie Dhoom. (2) Conformity: Behavior change in
response to real or imagined social pressure. (3)Compliance: Behavior change in response to an explicit
request to perform some action. (4)Obedience :Behavior change in response to an Extreme pressure
demand to perform some action

 Credibility of the source plays an important role in determining the impact of influence/persuasion.
Credibility of the source is depends on his expertise, trustworthiness , attractiveness, likeability.

The Second ARC Report has stated a comprehensive Civil Service Code which can be summed at three levels
namely as shown below:

 Values of Civil Servant:- The public servants are guided by the following values while discharging their
duties: Patriotism, Allegiance to the Constitution, Objectivity, impartiality, honesty, diligence, courtesy &
transparency, Absolute integrity

 Code of Ethics for Civil Servants:- (1)Allegiance to the various ideals enshrined in the preamble to the
Constitution (2)Non Partisanship (3)Dedication to public service (4)Duty to act objectively and impartially
(4)Accountability and transparency in decision-making (5)Maintenance of highest ethical standards (6)
Communication, consultation and cooperation in performance of functions i.e. participation of all levels of
personnel in management.

 Code of Conduct of Civil Servants:- (1)To discharge official duties with competence and accountability.
(2)To ensure effective management, professional growth and leadership development (3)To not misuse
power and public position for personal financial gains. (4)To bear in mind the objective that public
servants are instruments of good governance and to foster socio-economic development.

 As the public servant serves multiple roles, different values take precedence in different roles. As the
public service exists to serve the government places an emphasis on particular values such as (political)
neutrality and loyalty, whereas viewing the public servant as holders of the ‘public interest’ implies
greater emphasis on fairness, transparency and impartiality

Emotional intelligence:

 Concept:-It is the capability of individuals to recognize their own emotions and those of others, discern
 between different feelings and label them appropriately. It also includes the ability to harness those
emotions and apply them to tasks to get the desired results. Thus it is the ability to identify, understand,
regulate and exploit one’s emotions to get desired results. Following are the components of Emotional
Intelligence mentioned in Daniel Gloleman’s Book Emotional Intelligence(1)Emotional Self-Awareness: The
ability to monitor your own feelings and recognize emotional states as they occur.[identify & understand
your emotions](2) Empathy: It is an awareness of the needs and feelings of others both individually and in
groups, and being able to see things from the point of view of others.[identify & understand other’s
emotions] (3) Self-Management: The ability to control impulses, ensure that emotional reactions are
appropriate i.e. instead of reacting quickly, one can reign in one’s emotions and thus will think before
responding [regulate one’ emotions] (4) Self-Motivation: The ability to channel emotions towards the
achievement of personal goals. This includes the ability to delay gratification, stifle impulses, readiness to
act on opportunities, optimism and resilience. [Exploit one’s emotions for desired results achieving
desired goals]. (5)Social Skills: The ability to react appropriately to the emotions of others as well as
manage one’s own. It is applying empathy and balancing the wants and requirements of others with one’s
own [Use emotional intelligence to increase one’s social competence]. ### Goleman asserts that EQ is a
better predictor of success than IQ for any job and that it is essentially the only useful determinant of
leadership ability

 Importance of EI in Civil Services:- (1)For targeting policies better: Empathy would help the bureaucrats in
identifying & understanding emotions, needs and drives of persons at whom public policy is targeted. This
will give a clearer picture of what problem people are facing and what solution they desire. (2)For
motivating subordinates: Using empathy and social skills the civil servant can motivate his/her
subordinates towards a particular goal. (3)Better work culture: Social Skills will enable a bureaucrat t
foster a healthy relationship with subordinates. (4)Persistence towards goals: by self motivation. (5)Stress
management: by regulating one’s emotions. (6)Personal qualities: EI makes one more flexible, empathetic
and clear in expression.

Ethics in Public Administration:

 What it is? It refers to taking a course of action in compliance with rules or code of conduct established
for such an administrative work and making moral judgments where discretion is involved. Manifestation
of ethics in public administration would include (1) Responsibility & accountability: An administrator must
hold himself morally responsible for his actions & for the use of his discretion while making decisions.
(2)Commitment to work (3)Excellence (4) Fusion: Fusion of individual, organizational & social goals (5)
Utilitarianism: make such policies that serves the maximum number of people is the best possible way.
(6)Compassion[but w/o violating law] (7) National interest & justice: Takes decisions that are based on
equality, equity, fairness, impartiality & objectivity and coincide with national interests (8) Transparency &
integrity[Transparency means letting people know the reason behind the decision]
nd
 Current Status (1)As the 2 ARC points there are certain behaviors that can be classified and ‘ethical
lapses’ but don’t amount to criminal conduct for ex accepting gift in guise of friend ship. Conflict of
interest is the most common example where a public servant takes decisions not on the basis of
objectivity, merit, impartiality and public interest but on the basis of personal gains like financial gain,
promotion, transfer to desired department/location or to benefit his family members. (2)The current
legislations and regulations are of pre liberalization era while post liberalization as the role of private
sector increased so did the scope for ethical lapses.
  Problems: (1) Weak control over administrative action. The decision-making process in government is
often so lengthy and complicated that it is difficult to single out those public servants who should be held
responsible for specific recommendations and decision (2)Individual senior officials seem to wield too
much power and discretion without effective accountability. (3)Cumbersome procedures results in delay
and frustrations in obtaining decisions and services on time, which partially encourages bribery and petty
corruption at the point of service delivery. (4) Another hindrance in accountability is the wide range of
authorities to which public servants are deemed to be accountable. Inter departmental friction and turf
wars delay proceedings and action. (5) Politicization

 Importance of Ethics in Public Administration:- Ethics provide accountability between the public and the
administration. Adhering to a code of ethics ensures that the public receives what it needs in a fair
manner. (1) It gives the administration guidelines for integrity in their operations. That integrity, in turn,
helps foster the trust of the community in the administration i.e. people trust that administration is
working to serve the interests of people. (2) A code of ethics creates standards of professionalism that
co-workers in the public sector can expect from each other — the public can also expect the same from
their leaders.(3) It provides the leaders with guidelines they need to carry out their tasks and inspire their
employees and committees to enforce laws (4) It ensures timely and informative communication with the
community i.e. bring in transparency. This kind of transparency builds trust and prevents or minimizes the
potential issues that can arise when information is divulged from outside sources. If there is something of
consequence that the public needs to know about, it’s better for it to come directly from the leaders and
administration

Ethical concerns and dilemmas in government and private institutions: An ethical dilemma ethical dilemma can
be described as a circumstance that requires a choice between competing sets of morals/ethics, in which to obey
one would be transgressing other for ex (1) you are the head of committee investigating the irregularities of
colleges. You are in dilemma whether to recommend for the derecognition of college and spoil the career
prospects of students or to recommend their regularization in the light of future of thousands of students and let a
institution which deserved to be derecognized continue. (2) personal values and supervisor or governmental
directive; professional ethics and supervisor or governmental directive; ## Some of the most common ethical
dilemmas with which public servants are confronted, revolve around aspects such as: administrative discretion,
corruption, nepotism, administrative secrecy, information leaks, public accountability and policy dilemmas.

Conscience in Decision Making & Types of Conscience:

Whether moral judgments based on conscience are reliable or not is matter of debate | Types of conscience (1)
Antecedent conscience: Asses the morality of act before its committed and thus and advices/commands/warns/
prohibits doing it. (2) Consequent conscience: This stands for mind’s judgment to see the morality of an action
done. If the act is approved, a sense of peace, wellbeing and spiritual joy is promoting while is the act is
disapproved it results in feeling of remorse or guilt. (3) Correct/True conscience: It is a type of conscience where
mind usually makes correct judgment morally of an already done action. Thus mind gives correct subjective
judgment about an act (4)Certain conscience: This is a type of conscience in which mind is completely sure what
issue is morally right or wrong (5) Doubtful conscience: This refers to a mental state where one is not able to
decide if the action is good or bad.

Ethical Principles that govern conscience: Ethical principles governing conscience include: (1) A person should
continuously try to improve his to correct conscience by learning from past experiences. (2)A person should follow
a certain conscience even if it is wrong. (3)It is ethically wrong to act on a doubtful conscience

Laws, Rules and Regulations: Laws are a subset of rules. The scope of rules is much wider, inter alia, it includes
customary rules, rules of family/lineage/tribe , rules of private body/individual, established conventions etc. Laws
are the legal version of rules. Laws are written in specific code so that they can be interpreted as required. The
laws and rules are established to guarantee that everyone is treated as the same. | Difference between Laws and
Rules: (1) Main difference b/w law and rules is the consequences related with breaking them (2) While each is
developed to invoke a sense of order, fair play, and safety, a law is much more powerful than a rule. (3) Rules help
us prepare for living in a society. From childhood we learn that there are rules about hitting, stealing, lying and
being wasteful. Laws are not meant to do such function, they’re to be enforced. | Regulations: Laws usually
provide framework for addressing a subject. Regulations are intended for providing a detailed and intricate
framework for making the laws work. Regulations are generally set by the executive for smooth functioning of the
laws.
Following are the perquisites of accountability (1) It is clearly specified that who is responsible for the task (2) The
task is clearly explained to them i.e. inter alia what has to be done, desired result, timeframe and allocated budget
[no misunderstanding/ difference of expectation/communication gap] (3) Vertical Accountability: The authority to
which task performers are answerable, is clearly specified. Also there is a clear laid down procedure for reporting
progress and completion to the aforementioned authority.[Vertical because the mentioned authority would be
higher in the hierarchy than task performer for ex Commissioner for DM] (4) Horizontal Accountability: An
rd
authority should be specified which would give independent/3 party evaluation of the progress.[Horizontal
because it is at same level as the task performers for ex CAG for government] | Social Accountability: It is the
process where citizens &/or civil society is involved in holding task performers accountable

Strengthening of ethical and moral values in governance: It can be done by making administration/government
more Accountable, Transparent, Responsive, Equitable & Inclusive, Effective & Efficient, Follow rule of law,
Participatory, Consensus oriented. Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct can be effective tools in achieving the said
goal. As a civil servant following can be done to achieve the said goal (1) Absolute Integrity (2) Giving advice to the
ministers which in accordance with constitutional & law of the land. (3)Always keep the interest of bottom 40%
our population in taking decisions and actions. (4) Disposal of cases should be by orders that are short & swift. The
cases shouldn’t move from desk to desk and officer to officer. | In ancient India, good governance was
conceptualized as Ram Rajya. The cardinal maxim of be good and do good was applied to all the realms, whether
personal or professional; and the governmental system was no exception. Kautilya in his magnum opus
(Arthashastra) exhorted the rulers to be compassionate to their subjects.

Corporate Governance: It provides the mechanism for various stakeholders— owners (shareholders), board of
directors, management, employees, suppliers, customers &public at large— to articulate their interests, exercise
their rights, and mediate their differences. Ethics is at the core of corporate governance. SEBI appointed Kumar
Mangalam Birla committee said that (1)the main aim of corporate governance is to maximize the shareholder’s
profit while giving due attention to interests of other shareholders (2) The corporations should not only formulate
code of corporate governance but also practice it.

Ethical issues in international relations and funding:- International ethics is an area of international relations
theory which concerns the extent and scope of ethical obligations between states in an era of globalization. It
promotes the idea that employing ethical approach to international conflicts may lead to mutually acceptable
solutions and lasting peace. Following are the areas where ethical approach can significantly help (1) Human
Rights:-for ex treatment of prisoners of war. Geneva convention helped us secure return of Abhinandan (2)
Accountability: Accountability towards fulfilling (a)treaty obligations[ICJ] (b)Commitments made on climate change
issues pertaining to funding, tech transfer, reduction in emission etc [global stocktake] (3)Rule based maritime
order for ex south china sea (4) Ethics of standing by the countries that are facing political crisis for ex recent
events in Maldives and Sri Lanka (5) Aid during natural disasters for ex Mission Samudra Maitree (6)Ethics in not
allowing terrorists use territory one’s nation against other nations for ex Our ethical high ground during Balakot
strikes helped other nations to side with us.(7) Ethics helps to avoid undue wars, conflicts and provide an
ecosystem where there is mutual trust, goodwill, and confidence among all the Countries and helps to foster
International Relations ### Realism, Idealism and Constructivism are ethical traditions that conceptually address
moral issues in international relations. | Funding (1) International trade relation for ex global value chains (2)
Chequebook Diplomacy for ex predatory(unethical) Chinese loans (3)Climate change funding

Probity in Governance: Probity determines how the constitutional & legal framework is enforce, the nature of
governance and the relation between the government and the governed. It is concerned with procedures,
processes and systems rather than outcomes. Prerequisite for ensuring probity in governance (1) Elimination/
absence of corruption (2) Effective rules, laws and regulations governing every aspect of public life[Public life
hence not infringing on rights of citizens] (3) effective and fair implementation of those rules , laws and regulations
### Measures required/taken to ensure probity (1)Taken: Refinement of Benami Transaction Act(BTA) 1988 in
2016; Required: Effective implementation (2)Taken: (a) BTA 2016 has the provision for confiscation of illegally
acquired assets w/o compensation (b) In 2018 central govt issued a notification stating session courts to act as
special courts for speedy resolution of offences under BTA. (3) Required: Enactment/operationalisation of Whistle
Blower Protection Act (4)Taken: RTI ; Required: Effective implementation and protection of RTI activists (5)Taken:
Appointment of Lokpal in 2018 (6) Strengthening judicial system (7) Iron out issues with CBI, CVC etc to prevent
turf battles and internal rivalry(Alok verma issue).

Corruption and How Corruption becomes a Norm? The ethical standards of public officials are directly related to
society as a whole. If the public accepts that in order to secure an expeditious response from a public official some
pecuniary or other incentive is necessary, and the official accepts the incentive, then the standards of ethical
conduct of officials and the public are in fact in harmony from the point of view of the public. | National
Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution in its paper ‘Probity in governance’ observed that South
Asian corruption has 3 key characteristics: (1)Bulk of corruption in South Asia occurs up-stream, not down-stream.
(2) Most of the corrupt gains made in the region are immediately smuggled out to safe havens abroad. (3)
Corruption in South Asia often leads to promotion, not prison

Concept of Public Service:- Public service is a service purporting to serve all members of a community. It is usually
provided by government to people living within its jurisdiction, either directly (through the public sector) or by
financing provision of services for ex Education, healthcare, sanitation, drinking water, police, court services etc.
Public services offer the most common interface b/w people and state and their functioning shapes people’s sense
of trust and expectations of government.

Citizen's Charter is a document detailing the (1)Commitments of an organization towards it’s citizens (2)
Expectations of the organization from it’s citizens ## The term ‘Citizen’ in the Citizen’s Charter implies the clients or
customers whose interests and values are addressed by the Citizen’s Charter and, therefore, includes not only the
citizens but also all the stakeholders, i.e., citizens, customers, clients, users, beneficiaries, other Ministries/
Departments/ Organisations, State Governments, UT Administrations etc. Citizen’s Charter initiative not only
covers the Central Government Ministries/ Departments/ Organisations but also the Departments/ Agencies of
State Governments and UT Administrations. It’s not legally enforceable. The main objective of the exercise to issue
the Citizen's Charter of an organisation is to improve the quality of public services. A good citizen charter contains
(1) Mandate, Vision & Mission Statement of the concerned Ministry/ Department/ Organisation (2)How one can
get in touch with its officials (3)Expected type & quality of services (4)How to seek a remedy if something goes
wrong. (5) Definition of citizen
Organic Farming:-Schemes: (1)Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region” (MOVCDNER):-development
of certified organic production in a value chain mode to link growers with consumers and to support the development of entire value
chain (2) Parampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY); Network Project on Organic Farming under ICAR; 3rd party certification of
organic farming is promoted by Agriculture Processed Food and Export Development Authority (APEDA) [Mo Commerce] | Stat
:-(1)Total farm area currently under Organic Certification is taken up in an area of 27.70 lakh hectare (2) India is home to 30% of the
total organic producers in the world, but accounts for just 2.59% (1.5 million hectares) of the total organic cultivation area of 57.8
million hectares, according to the World of Organic Agriculture 2018 report (3)ASSOCHAM & EY Study:- Poor policy measures,
rising input costs and limited market are affecting growth (4)Ashok Dalwai committee 1)30 per cent drop in yields when embracing
organic 2)It takes about a decade to attain pre-conversion yield levels (5)Terms:- Variants of Organic Farming:- BIODYNAMIC
Farming[treats soil fertility, plant growth, and livestock care as ecologically interrelated tasks]; Low External Input Sustainable
Agriculture (LEISA); Low Input Sustainable Agriculture (LISA); ‘Eco-technological farming’ [ effective blend of traditional practices w/
appropriate scienctific advances] | Challenges:- 1)more prone to pest attack 2)low returns-higher labor costs, less yield 3)
unavailability of organic inputs in the market 4)lack of economy of scale 5)multiple certification system-cumbersome, time
consuming, expensive 6)farmers located in hilly regions and tribal belts have limited access to the market.

Aviation:- Legislation:-Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2019: improves ease of doing business by
reducing regulatory requirement. |Stat:-Till 2030-31, air traffic in the country is expected to grow at an average annual rate of
10-11%. | Govt Schemes-Udan, Digi yatra(biometic airport), AirSewa 2.0 web portal & app(interactive customer support), Draft
Passenger Charter(Passenger Rights), Udan Phase 2 (40% for NE) | 100% FDI under automatic route in scheduled air transport
service, regional air transport service and domestic scheduled passenger airline Perennial Problems:- high costs of Air Turbine Fuel,
High Airport charges levied by Airport Authority of India, Severe Competition | Target: 3rd largest aviation market by 2025 | NE (1)
Air connectivity is imp mode of transport (2) Upgradation of Airport in North East Region Scheme (3) 92 New flight routes in NE
under UDAN Pahse 2 (4) 2018 Arunachal got it’s only airport
Tax classification direct/indirect, Ad-valorem/specific( one use-progressive indirect tax for sin goods), progressive/proportional
|Surcharge vs Cess |from tax evasion to tax compliance-(ES 2018-19) 1) Removing barriers to filing taxes procrastination, hassle of
filling forms, or failing to understand the terms- can improve compliance. 2) Automatic deduction of tax and directing all or portion of
refunds into savings accounts can be used to encourage savings, including retirement savings 3) Providing information about peer
behavior can make taxpayers adjust their reported income.[best practices] | Tax to GDP ratio= 10.9% | Facts 1) 51% of gross tax
revenue was estimated to accrue from direct taxes and the remaining 49% from indirect taxes. 2) Direct taxes have grown owing to
improved performance of corporate tax while indirect taxes have fallen short of budget estimates largely owing to the shortfall in
GST revenues. 3) Taxes constitute 79% of non debt receipt 4)Corporate tax(32%)>GST(28%)>Income Tax(23%)>Union
Exice(11%)> customs(6%) | Bracket Creep | Tax Incidence | Tax Impact | TDS;TCS | Bracket Creep | Tax Elasticity | Tax Buoyancy
| Laffer Curve | Social Elfare Surcharge(10% on customs of imported Items) | GST Compensation Cess | Corporation tax (25,30 40);
Income tax(5,20,30) | Tax Evasion; Tax Avoidance | Angel tax | Equalization Levy; Minimum Alternative Tax | DTAA | Tobin Tax;
Pigovian Tax | Indirect Tax timeline[Excise- - - Modvat- -Cenvat- - - - GST] | Origin/Destination Based | GST 1)101 CA 2)Article
246A,270,366 amended;268 omitted; 269A&279A added | National Contingency & Calamity Cess(Tobacco CGST); Central Road &
Infrastructure Cess(Petrol,Diesel excise), Health & Education Cess | Himalayan & NE states owing to their poor tax base get
(1)small tax base get 90:10 ratio in core schemes (2) The disaster vulnerability index is highest for the Northeast, this needs to be
factored in while allocating grants. | TCS at E commerce | Sushil Modi Committee 1)Mobilization of revenue (from GST) for natural
calamities 2)revenue shortfall in various states due to GST and how to solve it; Nitin Patel Committee-Real Estate sector’s issues
under GST | Authority of Advance Ruling

Tourism India was ranked third in the tourism sector, according to the 2018 report of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC)
| WEF Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index 2017-India rank 40 | The global revenue growth from tourism sector was 5% and
Indian tourism sector grew by 19.4 % | Classification 1)Foreign Tourist arrivals increased by 14% and foreign exchange earning by
20.6% 2)Domestic tourist-Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra-favorite destinations- 63%
domestic tourists 3)Medical Tourism a) The market size of medical tourism in India is estimated at US$ 3 billion in 2017 and is
forecasted to reach US$ 9 billion by 2020 b) India currently has around 18% the global medical tourism market 4)Eco Tourism
5)Religious tourism- a)domestic pilgrimage, NRI, Foreigner-Buddhist sites b) >60%of the total domestic tourists 6)Outbound
tourism(Indians to foreign) –grew by 9.5% in 2017[loss for us] | Govt initiatives-Incredible India Campaign ,‘National Mission on
Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive’ (PRASHAD), Swadesh Darshan Scheme, Adopt a Heritage,
‘Medical Visa’,‘E- Medical Visa’, Google+ Archaeological Survey of India=360 degree virtual tour-280 Indian monuments | Issues 1)
Land should be made available for hotels and reserve land for hotels in all new townships under planning 2) Fast-track clearances
for hotel projects 3) Make the Taxation regime on Hospitality Industry globally competitive. | NE –Eco Tourism, Spiritual
Tourism(Monasteries, Madan Kamdev &Kamakhya Temples of Assam)

Teeth to Fight 1)Terrorism :UAPA individual terrorist; National Investigation Agency (Amendment) Bill 2019 2)Illegal Immigrant:
Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 3)Women: ‘SHe Box’, Triple Talaq Bill 4)Children: POCSO-Death penalty 5)ED:Fugitive Economic
Offender | Vulnerable (1) Civil Rights Act (2) Anti Dowry Act-IPC Section 498A

Tribunal Tribunals were added in the Constitution by 42nd CA(1976) as Part XIV-A, which has only two articles viz. 323-A and
323-B| Article 323A: Parliament can establish Administrative Tribunals for adjudication- recruitment, conditions of service-persons
appointed to public services and other allied matters |Article 323 B-Parliament/state legislature-create tribunals-tax, foreign
exchange, industrial and labour disputes, land reforms, ceiling on urban property, election to Parliament and State Legislatures, etc.
| National Tax Tribunals, NCLT/NCLAT, Debt Recovery Tribunal | Vijay Kelkar Committee recommended creation of tribunals for
PPP | Sarkaria Commission-Inter State Water Dispute Tribunals- Sarkaria Commission. 1)Inordinate delay in settling such
disputes 2)Inadequate provisions for the enforcement of the Tribunal’s award 3)Non- compliant States 4)Politicization 5)They are
too procedural and do not emphasis on negotiations and consensus. | Judiciary’s objections -1)It is not against the formation of
tribunals. It is a constitutional right and hence alright. But, it is against the composition of them. 2)Since tribunals deal with matters
dealt with courts, they should have the same composition, autonomy, character, competence as the judiciary. 3)SC says they
should enjoy the same constitutional rank as the courts and should be headed by people with such capability. The tribunals should
be institutionally as strong, should not depend on parent departments, impartial and independent. 5 Judicial wisdom is more
important than administrative experience in adjudicating disputes. | ES 2018-19 recommended-judicial delay-establishment Indian
Courts and Tribunal Services | Especial Care for proposed Foreigner Tribunals

Tools PARIVESH, BHIM, National Crime Records Bureau, NITI Aayog Women Entrepreneurship Platform, ‘Bharat ke Veer’ portal, |
Vulnerable –(1) ‘SHe Box’ (2) PENCIL (Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour) (3) National Scheduled Caste &
Scheduled Tribe HUB[SC/ST entrepreneur quota-25% mandatory procurement-MSME] (4) DBT Tribal

Travel Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project; Bharatmala; MOVE: Global Mobility Summit; Jal Marg Vikas Project; Port
Community System ‘PCS1x’; FAME India Scheme[electric and hybrid vehicle]; USA (21%), China, Japan and South Korea use
more than 40% internal transport through inland water; National Common Mobility Card; National Intelligent Transportation Systems
(ITS) Policy | In India, transport sector is the second largest contributor to CO2 emissions after the industrial sector. | Mo Road
Transport and Highways declared 2018-19 as the ‘Year of Construction’ | ES 2018-19 1)Road Transport a)It accounts for 69% and
90%t of the country wide freight and passenger traffic respectively 2)Rail: Mission Electrification: Indian Railways has initiated a
major electrification program for electrifying 100% of its Broad-Gauge network 3)Air: National Air Cargo Policy’s outline was
released in 2019 to achieve the target of handling domestic & export freight of 10 million tonnes by 2026-27 4) Ports handle around
90% of EXIM Cargo by volume and 70% by value 5)Inland Water Transport: The cargo traffic on National Waterways has increased
by 31% in 2018-19. | NE:-(1) Only about 30% to 35%t of the area of North East is plain land. The rest is hilly/mountainous region.
Such a terrain makes it difficult to develop productive infrastructure like Transport networks, Industry etc. in the region (2) Assam’s
Jogighopa Logistics Hub (2018) could turn into India’s new gateway to South-East Asia (3) Along with connectivity, the level of
economic activity is bound to increase. Previously, even fiscal concession given to the states failed to attract significant industrial
investments. The reason was high logistical costs of moving merchandise to high consumption regions. (4) Bogibeel Bridge
(Arunachal) (5)Pakyong Airport Sikkim (6)NEC funding upgradation of 12 NE airports (7) Arunachal has least road density | E-way
Bill[x good of y value];

Health Care ES 2018-19 1) Maternal Health: Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) of India has declined by 37 points from 167 per lakh
live births in 2011-13 to 130 per lakh live births in 2014-16[SDG Target 2030:MMR=70] 2)Under Five Mortality Rate (U5MR) in India
is 39 per 1000 live births 4)Infant Mortality Rate is 34 per 1000 live births[SDG Target 2030:U5MT=11] (5)Neonatal Mortality Rate
is 24 per 1000 live births. 6)Out of Pocket Expenditure remains the major component of healthcare expenditure[>60%] 7)Reducing
Health Expenditure: National Ayush Mission ; Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana 8) Rural health facilities suffer from
difficulty in attracting, retaining, and ensuring regular presence of highly trained medical professionals. There are large number of
PHCs which are functioning with one doctor or without doctor. (9)| National Health Policy, 2017 | Menstrual Hygiene for Adolescent
Girls Schemes; Mission Indradhanush; Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, Ayushman Bharat–PM Jan Arogya Yojana |
Health & Education Cess(on Corporation tax/Income >50L) | Vulnerable Section (1) Women schemes- Pradhan Mantri Matru
Vandana Yojana; Maternity Benefit Act; Poshan Abhiyan (2) Swasth North East Initiative (3) UNICEF Study: (a) On an average,
every household in an ODF village saved about ₹50,000 per year on account of financial savings due to lower likelihood of disease.
(b) Financial savings from a household toilet exceed the financial costs to the household by 1.7 times, on average and 2.4 times for
poorest households.

Total Growth/Health of Economy(Power, Employment, Skill, Manufacturing, Ease of Doing Business):-ES 2018-19 1)Energy
a)Affordable to all b)Reliable-Coal(38% of total energy) c)Sustainable-Renewable(175 GW by 2022) d) India has a per-capita
energy consumption of only about one-third of the global average. India cannot become an upper-middle-income country
without-ensuring universal energy access, rapidly raising its per capita consumption by 2.5 times e) Almost 60 per cent of India's
installed capacity is in thermal power f)India has utilized less than 30% of its hydro potential 2)Employment a) unemployment rate
stood at 6.1% with 5.3% in rural areas and 7.8% in urban areas b)large firms-37.2% employment c)NON ES: MNREGA;
Entrepreneurship Development and Employment Generation (EDEG; MoA&FW);National Rural Livelihood Mission; Shyama Prasad
Mukherji Rurban Mission; 3)Skill a) Up-skilling the MGNREGS Workers: Converge of MGNREGS with Deen Dayal Upadhyaya
Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) b) According to NSSO Report 2011-12, only 2.3% of the total workforce in India had formal
sector skill training. Hence government had formulated the National Policy on Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, 2015 under
which the Skill India Mission by 2022 was formulated c) Industry should be incentivized to set up training institutions in PPP mode d)
Local bodies can be used for skill mapping and creating a data base of youth at local level to assess demand supply gaps e)NON
ES: Jan Shikshan Sansthans; Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana; Hunar Haats; Atal Innovation Mission; National
Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET); ASPIRE –promote startups through Network of Technology Centres and
Incubation and commercialisation of Business Idea Programme; Project Saksham(2018;railway;upskilling employees) 4)
Manufacturing a) dwarfs account for half of all the firms in organized manufacturing but their Net Value Added (NVA) is 7.6 % b)
Large firms account for only 5.5 % of firms by number but their NVA is 37% c)India has potential to become global maunufacturing
hub for electric vehicles d)Under Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code maximum cases had been filed from the manufacturing sector
e)manufacturing sector slowed down in FY 2018-19 due to (i)slower credit flow to SMEs (ii) reduced lending by NBFCs owing to
liquidity crunch (iii) volatility in international crude oil prices f)Govt Initiatives: FAME; National Policy on Electronics 2019(promotion
of electronic components manufacturing ecosystem) 5)Ease of doing Business(EODB) a) World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business
Report 2018 ranked India at 77[2017-rank 100]. Factors that facilitated this jump are Insolvency reforms,cross border trade
facilitation efforts, simplification and rationalization of the existing rules and introduction of information technology to increase
efficacy of governance b)Contract enforcement remains the single biggest constraint to improve our EODB ranking d) For facilitating
EODB, Mo Shipping had identified various parameters for reducing dwell time and transaction costs in the major ports. These
include elimination of manual forms, Direct Port Delivery e) Authority of Advance Ruling f) E-way Bill[x good of y value]; | IMF’s
World Economic Outlook-India’s economy will grow at 7% in the year 2019 |ES 2018-19 1)Private investment as driver of growth
2)Dwarf to Giant; nourishing infant MSME 3)Inclusive growth by making energy accessible & affordable to all 4)use behavioral
economics to bring desired social & attitudinal change-hence success of govt policies 5) India continues to remain the fastest
growing major economy-6.8%[FY2018-19] 6) India’s growth of real GDP has been high with average growth of 7.5 per cent in the
last 5 years. 7)Current Drivers of growth private consumption>Govt Consumption>investment.>exports

Help Groups(SHG+NGO) SHGs are groups of 10-20 people in a locality formed for any social or economic purpose. Most of the
SHGs are formed for the purpose of better financial security among its members. SHGs can exist with or without registration |SHG –
Bank Linkage Programme was started in India in 1992 under the guidelines of NABARD and Reserve Bank of India. They form the
basis of Indian Micro finance Model. | Researchers find that woman’s groups, practising “participatory learning and action” in
settings as varied as Bangladesh, India, Malawi, and Nepal, showed a 49%t reduction in maternal mortality and a 33% reduction in
neonatal mortality. | RBI has asked banks to provide loans up to Rs 3 lakh at 7% interest rate to SHGs under NRLM-Ajeevika
scheme |Under Van Dhan Scheme 1) 10 SHGs of 30 Tribal gatherers will be constituted. 2) SHGs will then be trained and provided
with working capital to add value to products they collect from forest. | Functions of SHGs 1) To build the functional capacity of the
poor and the marginalized in the field of employment and income generating activities. 2) Resolves conflicts through collective
leadership and mutual discussion. 3)It provides collateral free loan with terms decided by the group at the market driven rates.
4)Such groups work as a collective guarantee system for members who propose to borrow from organised sources. The poor collect
their savings and save it in banks. In return they receive easy access to loans with a small rate of interest to start their micro unit
enterprise.Consequently, SHGs have emerged as the most effective mechanism for delivery of microfinance services to the poor |
Women SHG movement is classified into two phases (1)Symbolic: limited to financial inclusion (2)Substantial: Expanded to women
entrepreneurship, delivery of govt schemes, social movements | Examples SHG (1)Café Kudumbashree” chain of women-owned
and operated canteens in Kerala[Kerala govt’s Kudumbashree Mission(Poverty Eradication Mission)] (2) Chhattisgarh Nasha
Virodhi Manch | NGOs are organizations within the civil society that work on the “not-for-profit” approach in the space which exists
between the family (household), market and state | India is estimated to have 3.3 million registered NGOs | They work at grassroots
level in the remotest of areas and their reach is much wider. Many a time, NGOs act as a bridge between hard-to -reach areas and
the government. | According to the report of CBI only 10% of NGOs file Income Tax returns and submitting Balance sheets. | In
2017, The Union Ministry of Home Affairs had directed all NGOs, individuals and business entities receiving foreign funds to open
accounts in any of 32 designated banks. Government has banned some international NGOs owing to their non-compliance to
Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. | Government had cancelled registrations of 18,868 NGOs between 2011 and 2017 for
violating laws | To effectively regulate NGOs it has been made mandatory for all NGOs/voluntary organisations to sign up on NITI
Aayog’s NGO-DARPAN portal to obtain a system-generated unique ID before applying for grant under any scheme of central
government or ministries. | Challenges: (1) Complex overlapping legislations (2)Cumbersome process (3) Cancellation of license
under FCRA (4)Fund crunch (5)Unable to attract & retain talent (6)Credibility issue: many miscreants have sprouted up | Examples
NGO/civil Society: Ritinjali NGO working for jail inmates; Amnesty International’s efforts led to UNGA adopting convention against
torture; Naz Foundation’s efforts led to the SC scrapping Art-377; People’s Union for Civil Liberty and Democratic rights (PUCLDR),
All India Human Rights Watch[make people aware about their rights]; Sulabh Movement[Dalits; Manual Scavengers]; Pratham-
education of under privileged children; Akshaya Patra Foundation[mid day meal]; Bonded Labor Liberation Front (BLLF); BNHS;
TERI[Energy,Environment]; Indian Environmental Society (IES); Smile Foundation[Child education; women empowerment];
Disaster/Rescue: Rapid Response, Oxfam India(Odisha cyclone Phany), SEEDS India(J&K floods), CARE India(Uttrakhand floods)

Horizontal Growth/Inequality/Integration:- The result of inclusive growth is reduction in vertical inequalities (individual
inequalities) and horizontal inequalities (group inequalities) | Horizontal integration is an approach where a company/body/
institution/scheme acquires, mergers or takes over another company/body/ institution/scheme in the same industry value
chain/sector/area of concern/jurisdiction | Horizontal imbalance - It arises because of differing levels of attainment by the States due
to differential growth rates and their developmental status in terms of the state of social or infrastructure capital. It manifests in two
types of imbalances 1)adequate provision of basic public goods and services 2) growth accelerating infrastructure | a vertical
industrial policy (economic growth’) would not work without a sound horizontal industrial policy (dealing with labour and land
reforms, bringing about basic literacy and raising women’s participation in the labour force) |Horizontal Federalism- A form of
cooperative federalism where centre and state collaborate as equals |

Hybrid Approach-1)PPP 2)Centre + State 3) State + State 4) Govt + Civil Society 5)Bilateral/Multilateral 6)combining different
methodologies for ex CACP adopts hybrid approach of fixing sugarcane prices, which involved fair and remunerative price (FRP) or
floor price and revenue sharing formula (RSF)

Human Trafficing:- Human Trafficking is the action or practice of illegally transporting people from one country or area to another,
typically for the purposes of forced labour or sexual exploitation | Devadasi System- Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. | Article
23-human trafficking and forced labour |Majority of identified victims of trafficking are women | According to the data of NCRB, the
number of cases of human trafficking has increased over the years in India w/ West Bengal being the most affected state. | West
Bengal government-Swayangsiddha scheme [Engaging youth from different schools and colleges to combat human trafficking]. |
Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Act, 2018 |

Hygiene:- Kayakalp: Clean Hospital Initiative aims to promote sanitation and hygiene in public healthcare institutions |SBM |
Menstrual Hygiene for Adolescent Girls Scheme | Ujjwala Sanitary Napkins Initiative |

Housing:-PMAY(U);PMAY(R) | Global Housing Technology Challenge | Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016
(RERA) | Smart Cities Mission | ES2017-18 India’s housing requirements are complex and policies have mostly “focused on building
more homes and on homeownership. A more holistic approach is needed that takes into account rentals and vacancy rates | Nitin
Patel Committee-Real Estate sector’s issues under GST
Education:- ES2018-19 1) There has been a general increase across all social sectors especially education where the public
expenditure as a per cent of GDP increased from 2.8% in 2014-15 to 3% in 2018-19 2) Up-to secondary level the Gross Enrolment
Rate (GER) for girls has exceeded that of boys but is lower than that of boys at the higher education level. At this level, the gap is
visible across the social categories too. 3) The drop-out rates are very high for boys at the secondary school level. The reasons
include economic activities, lack of interest in education and financial constraints 4) While the Pupil Teacher Ratio appears to be
satisfactory, it is clear that while there are sufficient teachers, the main issue is their balanced deployment based on student
strength. There were 9.08 lakh vacancies of teachers at elementary level in government schools as on 31st March 2016 5) Annual
Status of Education Report (ASER, 2018), from 2014 to 2018, there is a gradual improvement in both basic literacy and numeracy
for Class III students but still only a quarter of them are at grade level (ability to read and do basic operations like subtraction of
Class II level) 6) 25% children leaving Class VIII are without basic reading skills (ability to read at least at Class II level). 7)Govt
Initiatives: a)Samagra Shiksha b)Swayam c)UDISE+ is updated,online and realtime version of UDISE(Unified District Information on
School Education) d) Shaala Sidhi e) e-Pathshala f) Ministry of Human Resource Development has launched a 70-point
Performance Grading Index (PGI) to assess areas of deficiency in each state’s school education system so that targeted
interventions can be made at every level from pedagogy to teacher training | National Achievement Survey by NCERT; National
Knowledge Network; Institutes of Eminence Scheme; Program for International Student Assessment (PISA); Impactful Policy
Research in Social Sciences (IMPRESS); Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC); Eklavya
Model Residential Schools; National Agricultural Higher Education Programme; Eklavya Model Residential School; AIM’s Atal
Tinkering Labs (ATL)- ‘Cultivate one Million children in India as Neoteric Innovators’; National Council for Vocational Education and
Training (NCVET) | Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Act, 2019 | HEFA | Health & Education
Cess(on Corporation tax/Income >50L) | NITI Aayog School Education Quality Index

Renewable Energy:- Renewable Purchase Obligation(RPO) | Perform Achieve Trade(PAT)| Renewable Energy Certificates[PAT
for states to meet their RPOs] | 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022[100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from bio-power
and 5 GW from small hydro-power] |Issues-intermittency of renewable power supply; Weather depend; Grid harmony; Land
acquisition; Poor battery efficiency; High capital cost; lack of skilled manpower for maintenance | ES2018-19 1)Globally India stands
4th in wind power, 5th in solar power and 5th in renewable power installed capacity 2) Green Energy Corridor project continues to
facilitate smooth integration of increasing share of renewables into the national grid 3) Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan
Mahabhiyan (KUSUM) scheme 4) New Hydro Policy 5) National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020 (NEMMP)” was conceived with
an objective to achieve sales of 60-70 lakh units of total EVs by 2020. | ISA | Sustainable India Finance Facility (SIFF) | Sustainable
Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT)[Compressed Bio Gas] | Katowice Cop 24 |FAME | Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN
(Jaiv Indhan- Vatavaran Anukool fasal awashesh Nivaran) Yojana [provide financial support to 2G Ethanol sector] | Large
Hydropower Projects to be declared as Renewable Energy source (earlier, only hydropower projects less than 25MW are
categorized as Renewable Energy) | India gains access to Bolivian Lithium Reserves | India became 25th member of International
Energy Agency’s Technology Collaboration Programme on Bioenergy | Government aims to create a Rs 2 lakh cr methanol
economy [from current 11k crore]| Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency in MNRE’s financial arm for renewable energy &
energy efficiency projects | Union Food Ministry has notified decision to allow sugar mills to manufacture ethanol directly from
sugarcane juice | National Policy on Biofuels-2018-target by 2030 1)20% blending of ethanol in petrol 2)5% blending of bio-diesel in
diesel by 2030

Evergreen Revolution:-MS Swaminathan coined the term ’’Evergreen Revolution” and said 1)It is the pathway of increasing
production and productivity in a manner such that short and long term goals of food production are not mutually antagonistic. 2)Aim:
Doubling current grain production 3)Prerequisites: Promotion of soil health, Promotion of lab to land exhibitions, Making rainwater
harvesting compulsory and providing credit to farmers on suitable conditions. | While Green Revolution was commodity centric,
Evergreen Revolution is Farming system centric[Holistic] | NITI Aayog’s 3-year roadmap(2017-20) for 'evergreen revolution' 1)
Increase in production of Pulses by National Food Security Mission (NFSM-Pulses) 2) Use of wasteland: Extend irrigation via
PMKSY to rainfed portions of net cultivated & culturable wastelands 3)Seed Village programme 4) Certified Seed Production of
Pulses, oilseeds, Fodder & Green Manure crops through Seed Village 5) Model Contract Farming Act

Executive 1)Executive Accountability via parliamentary control,RTI 2) Executive Overreach-examples a)Notification of Information
Technologies (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules 2011 which inter alia expanded the scope of offences under the IPC in the context
of internet by criminalizing activities such as blasphemy[circumventing parliamentary control via sub legislation ] b) Patent office
guidelines for examination of computer related inventions that completely changes the interpretation of Patents Act, 1970 and the
legislative intent behind certain provisions of the Act. 3) Executive Judiciary relations 4)Minimum government maximum governance
5) Union Executive consists of the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and the Attorney
General 6) Union Executive, enumerated in Part V Chapter 1 Articles. 52 to 78, and State Executive, enumerated in Part VI, Chapter
2 Articles 153 to 167

E-NAM:- eNAM is pan-India electronic trading portal for farm produce which aims to create unified national market for agricultural
commodities by integrating existing Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) markets | It provides single window service for
all APMC related services and information | Benefits:- 1) For the farmers, NAM promises more options for sale. It would increase his
access to markets through warehouse based sales and thus obviate the need to transport his produce to the mandi. 2) For the local
trader in the mandi / market, NAM offers the opportunity to access a larger national market for secondary trading. 3) Bulk buyers,
processors, exporters etc. benefit from being able to participate directly in trading at the local mandi / market level through the NAM
platform, thereby reducing their intermediation costs. 4) The NAM will also facilitate the emergence of value chains in major
agricultural commodities across the country and help to promote scientific storage and movement of agri goods 5) The gradual
integration of all the major mandis in the States into NAM will ensure common procedures for issue of licences, levy of fee and
movement of produce

Export:- ES2018-19 1)Export creates additional demand for the large capacities created by high investments in the economy. Apart
from it, they are crucial as higher savings prevent domestic consumption as the driver of final demand. 2)To attain the target of $5T
economy a virtuous cycle of savings, investment and exports catalyzed and supported by a favorable demographic phase is
required. 3) Exports have become more competitive due to depreciation of rupee in FY2018-19. 4) Growth of both merchandize
exports and merchandize imports accelerated from 2016-17 to 2017- 18. However, thereafter the annual growth rate of both
merchandise exports and imports fell in 2018-19. 4)Petroleum products continue to have the largest share in India’s export basket.
4) Software services, accounting for about 40% of total services export, along with financial services, have been the main drivers in
the service exports. 5) India ratified the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA) in 2016 and subsequently constituted a
National Committee on Trade Facilitation (NCTF) under Cabinet Secretary and under it a)E-Sanchit Project- for paperless filing of
import/ exports documents was launched b) National Single Window system to route all import related formalities 6) Even if
consumption slows down in the economy, increase in investment and exports may become the new drivers of the Indian economy.
7) According to WTO India is the 8th largest exporter of services |Government has also created a dedicated fund of 5000 crore for
financing sectoral initiatives under the Champion Services Sector Scheme | Under Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management&
Transboundary Movement) Amendment Rules, 2019-permission of MoEFCC won’t be required for- Electrical and electronic
assemblies and components manufactured in and exported from India, if found defective can now be imported back into the country,
within a year of export. | Agriculture Export Policy 2018 1) Double agricultural exports from present US$ 30+ Billion to US$ 60+
Billion by 2022 and reach US$ 100 Billion in next few years 2) Diversify India’s export basket, destinations and also boost high value
and value added agricultural exports including perishables | EXIM Bank | Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) |
Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) for specified agriculture products that will provide assistance for the international
component of freight and marketing of agricultural produce. | Zero Rated Exports

Law &Order (right vs Duty):- Padmavat issue-Haryana, Gujarat, M.P banned it despite censor board clearing it. SC order lifted the
ban | 28 people were killed in 63 such incidents from 2010 to 2017 in cow vigilantism. At present there is no law that criminalises
mob killings. The Indian Penal Code has provisions for unlawful assembly, rioting, and murder but nothing that takes cognisance of
a group of people coming together to kill (a lynch mob). | A huge number of obsolete Acts remained in the law books despite losing
their relevance and utility. In last 4 years that more than 1800 obsolete laws have been repealed for ex Prevention of Seditious
Meetings Act(1911), Preventive Detention Act(1950). Under Personal Laws (Amendment) Act 2019 many archaic laws allowing
leprosy as a ground for divorce have been removed. | Preventive Detention is the most contentious part of fundamental rights in the
Indian constitution. The Article 22 (3) of the Indian constitution provides that if a person is arrested or detained under a law providing
for preventive detention, then the protection against arrest and detention under Article 22 (1) and 22 (2) shall not be available. SC’s
view: Preventive detention cannot be resorted to when sufficient remedies are available under the general laws. | Scheme of
Modernisation of Police Forces (MPF) for years 2017 to 2020 aims to strengthen country’s law and order mechanism, modernise
police forces and effectively fight against terrorism. It is biggest ever internal security scheme in country. | Police Reform: 1) NCRB
Report a)Conviction rate is 46.9% under IPC crimes b)About 300% increase in agrarian riots. Depicts weak law and order in
hinterland and rising lawlessness. 2) 300,000 vacancies is state police depts. 3) Prakash Singh vs Union of India Case | Armed
Forces (Special Powers) Act | ES2018-19 1) Rule of Law (Dandaniti) as the key to prosperity, and a bulwark against Matsyanyaya
(i.e. law of the fish/jungle) 2)Indian judicial system has over 3.53 crore pending cases (Supreme Court- 0.16%, High Courts-12.30%
and Subordinate Courts-87.54%) 3) Case Clearance Rate (CCR): It is the percentage of the number of cases disposed of in a given
year to the number of cases instituted in that year. For making judiciary more efficient, two issues are needed to be addressed –a)
100 % CCR b)Backlog of cases already present in the system must be removed 4)Ways of increasing productivity of courts a)
Increase number of working days b) Establishment of Indian Courts and Tribunal Services c)ICT initiatives like eCourts Mission
Mode Project, National Judicial Data Grid.

Labor:- PENCIL (Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour) | Maternity Benefit Amendment Act, 2017:- 1)enhancing
paid maternity leave from a period of 12 weeks to 26 weeks[ILO-14 weeks]. It is applicable to all institutions with 10 or more
employees. 2)Mandatory for every organisation with 50 or more employees to have a crèche. | Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyan Yojna [Job
loss] |ES2018-19 1) As per the NSSO Periodic Labour Force Survey 2017-18, India’s labour force participation rate for the
age-group 15-59 years is around 53% (80% for males, 25%for females) 2) Code on Wages Bill seek ensure a minimum wage
across all sectors by integrating existing labour related laws. 2) Setting a National Floor Level Minimum Wage- and notified by the
Central Government that can vary across the five geographical regions. Accordingly, the states can fix the minimum wages, which
should not be less than the ‘floor wage.’ | Census 2011 ~40 lakh child labors | Walk Free Foundation (NGO): ~1.4 crore bonded
labors in India | Labor-1)concurrent list 2)>200 labor laws(centre + States) | ILO : India Wage Report 2018 1) Real average daily
wages in India almost doubled in the first two decades after economic reforms, but low pay and wage inequality remains a serious
challenge 2)In 2009-10, a third of all of wage workers were paid less than the national

minimum wage. 3) Regional disparities in average wages have actually increased over time, with wages rising more rapidly in
high-wage States than in low-wage ones 4) Gender wage gap decreased from 48% in 1993-94 to 34% in 2011-12
Land:- Agriculture Census (2015-16): 1) the number of operational holdings (land put to agricultural use), has increased to 14.6
crore (2015-16) from 13.8 crore (2010-11) 2)86% land holdings= < 2hectare w/ 68.5% being<1 hectare | ES 2018-19 recommends1)
redefining land use categories to include fisheries and aquaculture as components of agriculture 2) Land should be made available
for hotels and reserve land for hotels in all new townships under planning. 3)one of the major constraint in road construction sector
is lengthy processes in acquisition of land and payment of compensation to the beneficiaries | Clean Meat: Replacing livestock with
lab-grown meats will cut down on the land needed by 99 %, and the water needed by 90% | Using satellite based hyperspectral
imaging for studying land use, soil, terrain, minerals | Forest Rights Act ,2006- recognizes rights of forest-dwelling communities over
land and other resources | land use 1) Net Sown Area is 46% 2)forest 22% 3) 14% tree crops, grooves, permanent pastures and
grazing lands etc 4)Barren and un-culturable waste land-8.5% 5) 5.5% is under non-agricultural uses like houses, industries etc. |
Land with Govt 1) Centre does not know exactly how much Land it owns. While various Central Ministries admit to owning only
about 13.5L hectares of land, disparate official sources suggest that the correct figure is several times more than what is disclosed
2) large proportion of government land lies unused. The Ministries of Railways and Defence, respectively, have 43,000 hectares and
32,780 hectares of land lying vacant, without even any proposed use.3) The problem of land scarcity has been aggravated by
grossly wasteful land use by government agencies | Model Act for farm land lease:-1)Due to lack of any legal framework for leasing,
the informal tenants of agricultural land have, in many parts of the country, been deprived access to institutional credit, disaster
relief, and other support services. 2)The situation, where beneficiaries of agricultural support services have been the land-owners
and not the actual tillers, has fuelled problems of farmer suicides, default on agricultural loans on one hand and reduced agricultural
productivity on other. | Land Pooling: Under land pooling mechanism, group of land-owners pool their land and hand it over to
government agency for development of infrastructure projects. After the development of land, the agency redistributes the land after
deducting some portion as compensation towards infrastructure costs | Land Acquisition: land is a state subject while land
acquisition is a concurrent subject. This creates friction in federal nature of our polity as the state sensitivities are sometimes not
realized by Union’s acquisitions.

Peace & Harmony:- Hate Speech vs Freedom of Expression:- Freedom of speech and expression inherently implies freedom to
criticise .This freedom has to be differentiated from the right to propagate hate through incitement to violence and hatred |
Communal Harmony- 1)National Foundation for Communal Harmony(MHA) 2) Festivals: to merge social differences and making
monolithic bloc of society | Global Peace Index 2018- India ranked 136 |Steps to maintain peace & harmony 1) promote
interdependence 2) distributive justice 3) Welfarism with the consent of all w/ focus on sections lagging on economic front 4)Special
attention on accommodating demand and addressing grievances of non mainland areas to promote national integrity. 5)tackle
organized crime 6)interstate Migrant welfare| demand for separate states

MSP:-ES2018-19: In 2018-19, the government raised the MSP of both kharif and rabi crops to ensure a return of at least 50% above
the cost of production to enhance farmers’ income. Issues with MSP and food procurement include (1) In various states like Punjab,
Haryana, Chhattisgarh etc. where MSP procurement is well established, there arise problems in storage of food grains. Hence, the
government tries to liquidate excess stocks through open market sale to bulk buyers above the reserve price( MSP + procurement
cost). (a)But bulk buyers prefer wheat over rice. (b) Also, Exports of food grains by FCI at prices lower than the reserve price would
effectively imply and export subsidy. Moreover, this would expose India to disputes in the multilateral trade framework. (2)In majority
of the states, farmers are unaware of the MSP announcement before the sowing season.(3) In certain cases, though aware of the
MSP, the absence of procurement centres in the villages, transportation costs, reluctance of mill owners to buy small quantities from
the farmers remain stumbling blocks. (4) MSP is one of the factors responsible for Indian cropping pattern being highly skewed
towards crops that are water intensive.

Lack of Government Support:- Agriculture 1)Farmer Distress 2)Procurement of non cereals 3)tenant farmers 4)landless labor
5)rain fed agriculture| Migrant Labor | Manual Scavengers | Unorganized sector labors |UBI |Sports |Tribal Distress | LGBTQ |
ES2018-19 highlights contradiction b/w MSP & ease of agricultural export: Exports of food grains by FCI at prices lower than the
reserve price would effectively imply export subsidy. Moreover, this would expose India to disputes in the multilateral trade
framework |Public Healthcare |Illiterate 1)Long term solution: education 2)But what about the interim period | vicious cycle: Weaker
Section-no time/knowledge/resource to get documents-no document hence no benefit from govt schemes- remain weak

Lack of Resource:- Energy- 1)Coal- Poor coal quality; lack of capital for coal gasification 2) Solar: Lack of storage batteries
technology, insufficient micro grids and low capacity of our national grid 3)Nuclear Third stage nuclear generation uses thorium
reserves. We still haven’t reached there. Moreover, no progress on 4th generation nuclear reactors 4)Coal Bed Methane: CBM and
shale require state of the art fracking technology which is unavailable - - -[ India has the 3rd largest reserves of coal, significant
thorium reserves, capacity for solar power, numerous rivers with hydropower feasibility, tidal energy, geo thermal, wind and newly
found abundant coal bed methane and shale reserves] | India has 17.7% of world’s population, but only 2.5% of global landmass
and 4% of the world's freshwater resources. | Sustainability Vs Development | Healthcare 1) Every government hospital serves
estimated 61k people in India with one bed for every 1833 people 2) Every government allopathic doctor serves population of over
11k people 3) Vaccination : Coverage about 80%. Still India has one of the lowest child vaccination rates in world and lags far
behind Bangladesh and Nepal 4) Proportion of undernourished child is still around 39%. | Access to safe drinking water stagnated at
around 90% | Sustainable Cities: UN Habitat estimates that by 2030 India will have 14 major clusters of cities accounting for 40% of
its GDP. They need to be climate proofed.
Legislative:- Post-legislative scrutiny:- 1) India has 2500 laws at central level, one of the highest 2) It will help in making evidence
based decision pertaining to amendment in a law. 3) identify unintended effects 4)identify loopholes 5) Assess administrative
capacity : as many laws are difficult to enforce due to poor capacity and need reassessment | Women Reservation in Legislature
|Less time spent in debate and discussion prevents detailed legislation hence giving lot of discretion to executive for sub
legislation[responsible government] | Legislators lacking staff and infrastructure to provide them with expertise needed for deciding
on critical issues | Whip | National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) Project .

Amenities:- Industrial Safety- 1)Worker Safety-anecdote(true)- lack of basic amenities and equipment at Employees State
Insurance Corporation(ESIC) designated facilities[ESIC runs Hospitals] 2)Plant Safety | Govt initiatives: Apni Dharohar Apni
Pehchan Project; Ujjwala; SBM; PMAY; Swajal scheme(Drinking water); Integrated Child Development Services | Urban Sprawl-
New expansions are largely led by private developers. Hence, the state cannot afford to turn a blind eye to growth led by private
developers in these areas as it only leads to the development of certain pockets like gated communities, with no attention paid to
public infrastructure for ex water-logging crises in Gurgaon and Bangalore | Census Towns | Prison Reforms 1)overcrowded: over
110% occupancy in most prisons 2) 67% are under trials i.e. lack of legal services

Administration:- Public Administration- Social influence is perhaps the single largest cause for unethical behavior in public
administration. It has both Internal and external components 1) Internal consideration:- These factors are internal to a human and
taken by a person himself due to his social up bringing 2) External consideration;- It is mainly a result of peer pressure and political
demands for e.g. a political party and power favoring people from his own community in recruitment and promotions | initiatives to
increase citizen participation:- 1) Citizen charters for all public institutions 2) Use of ICT 3) Social media presence and promotion of
policies for easy and quick dissemination of information 4)Lokpal 5)engaging civil society | The bureaucrats are now facing complex
issues due to the demands of the new domains[Generalist vs Specialist] | Cadre management has also been dismal. Numerous
posts are lying vacant. No proposals being sent to the upsc to recruit. State bureaucracy is being promoted instead, this goes
against the constitutional spirits of uniform administration across the country | Gender inequality is one problem. Women constitute
only a fifth of the officers

Accountability:-1)Executive to legislative 2)Govt to people 3)Media accountability[Fake news; impartiality; Sensitivity] 4) Judicial
Accountability: a) Independence of the judiciary means independence from the executive and legislative and not lack of
accountability b)Countries like Denmark and Sweden have institutions to look into special courts to hear complaints against the
judges c)Post retirement posts-political favor 5)Corporate accountability to consumers| RTI | Right to Recall

Adverse Impact:- 1)Environmental 2)Social 3)Internal Security 4)National Integrity 5)Children 6)Women 7)Economy 8)Cinema

Attrocities:- 1)Women 2)Children 3)Minorities 4)Tribals 5)Animals 6)Poor 7)State actors 8)Non state actors 9)caste based
10)Senior to Juniors-Private & Public sector, Colleges 11)Environmental

Augmentation:- 1) Revenue augmentation 2)Augment Air/water quality 3)Augment Capacity process/organization/

infrastructure/industry/executive/legislative/judiciary 3)Augment Efficiency 4)Augment Image [soft power]

Govt Vision:- Vision 2030 | Renewable Energy: installed capacity of renewable based power of 175 GW by the year 2022.
2)National Clean Air Programme: Tentative national level target of 20% to 30% reduction of PM2.5 and PM10 concentration by 2024
is proposed under the NCAP with 2017 as the base year 3)ISA: Mobilize more than US $1000 billion of investments needed by 2030
for massive deployment of solar energy 4)Doubling Farmers Income by 2022 5)Housing for all by 2022 6)$5Trillion economy by
FY2024-25 7)Drinking water to all by 2024 8)100% ODF by 2nd October2019 9) 24x7 Power for All by 2022 10)30% electric vehicles
by 2030 11) Reduction in Stunting from 38.4% (NFHS-4) to 25% by 2022 (Mission 25 by 2022)

Adaptation:- 1)Climate Change 2)Changing Geo Politics 3)Emerging security challenges 4)Adapt to Disruptive technology 5)Adapt
to Health challenges: New Pandemics, Superbugs, Antimicrobial resistance 6)Adapt to Scarcities

AYUSH:- ES2018-19 1) The potential of AYUSH in reducing health expenses is immense 2) National Ayush Mission (NAM) by
co-locating AYUSH healthcare services under single roof so that people are free to choose, what is appropriate for them, thus
making healthcare more accessible, accountable, affordable and customized. | Commission for Scientific and Technical
Terminology has decided to adopt the word ‘AYUSH’ in Hindi and English languages for scientific and technical purposes. Hence
This decision will give a boost to India’s efforts to find a place for the Indian Systems of Healthcare in the International Classification
of Diseases (ICD) of the World Health Organization. The Indian systems finding a place in ICD will lead to their international
acceptance, increased rigor of research in them and their over-all development | Traditional Knowledge Digital Library 1)repository
of traditional knowledge, especially about medicinal plants and formulations 2) protect the ancient and traditional knowledge of the
country from exploitation through biopiracy and unethical patents 3) foster modern research based on traditional knowledge |
Ministry of External Affairs will send groups of AYUSH experts who will help set up departments of AYUSH in major universities of
the member countries of U.N
Judicial Activism:- Often result from complacency of executive & legislative | The decision taken is based on the judges personal
wisdom that do not go rigidly within the text of the statutory passed by the legislature | Example: SC ordered the creation of a
National Disaster Mitigation Fund while national and state disaster response funds already exist | Why Good? 1) There are many
issues that are sensitive, which need to be handled with a certain amount of care that many laws don’t allow. Judicial activism
allows a judge to use his personal judgement in situations where the law fails 2) Provides a system of checks and balances to the
other government branches. It also includes reviewing court’s own judgment. | Why Bad? 1)In many cases, courts are often
ill-equipped to weigh the economic, environmental and political costs involved 2)Against separation of power 3)Laws can be should
be modified/repealed by judiciary only when there is sound constitutional backing 3) Judicial activism becomes a more profound
subject for those who serve on the Supreme Court, as their rulings generally stand. With the power to have the final say on matters,
their judicial opinions would also become standards for ruling on other cases. Therefore a case specific decision becomes general
precedent

Arbitration:-Why needed? Foreign companies have expressed their reluctance in doing business in India because of the
long-drawn litigations | Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2018 1)Seeks to help India become hub for domestic and
global arbitration for settling commercial disputes 2) It establishes Arbitration Council of India (ACI) as an independent body for
promotion of arbitration, mediation, conciliation and other alternative dispute redressal mechanisms. 3) It allows Supreme Court and
High Courts to designate arbitral institutions, which parties can approach for appointment of arbitrators. For international commercial
arbitration, appointments will be made by institution designated by Supreme Court 4) The application for appointment of arbitrator is
required to be disposed of within 30 days. 5) Confidentiality of proceedings | B N Srikrishna Committee (Arbitration) | New Delhi
International Arbitration Centre Bill 1)Aim: set up a revamped International Arbitration Centre at New Delhi with an aim to make India
the hub of arbitration 2)pursuant to recommendation of B N Srikrishna Committee

Agriculture:- India is home to 30% of the total organic producers in the world, but accounts for just 2.59% (1.5 million hectares) of
the total organic cultivation area of 57.8 million hectares, according to the World of Organic Agriculture 2018 report | ZNBF |
Agriculture Export Policy 2018 1) Double agricultural exports from present US$ 30+ Billion to US$ 60+ Billion by 2022 and reach
US$ 100 Billion in next few years 2) Diversify India’s export basket, destinations and also boost high value and value added
agricultural exports including perishables |Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) for specified agriculture products that will
provide assistance for the international component of freight and marketing of agricultural produce. |Agriculture Census (2015-16):
1) the number of operational holdings (land put to agricultural use), has increased to 14.6 crore (2015-16) from 13.8 crore (2010-11)
2)86% land holdings= < 2hectare w/ 68.5% being<1 hectare | ES 2018-19 recommends1) redefining land use categories to include
fisheries and aquaculture as components of agriculture 2) With fragmentation of agricultural holdings and depletion of water
resources, the adoption of a resource-efficient, ICT based climate-smart agriculture can enhance agricultural productivity and
sustainability. 3) The agriculture landscape has to undergo tremendous transformation and shift from the philosophy of ‘green
revolution led’ productivity to ‘green methods’ led sustainability in agriculture in order to achieve a safe and food secure future 4)
GVA in Agriculture: The Gross Value Added (GVA) in agriculture improved from a negative 0.2% in 2014-15 to to 2.9%in 2018-19 5)
Almost 89 per cent of groundwater in India is extracted for irrigation. By 2050, India will be in the global hot spot for ‘water insecurity
6) The cropping pattern in India is highly skewed towards crops that are water intensive. This is due to incentive structures like MSP,
heavily subsidized electricity, water and fertilizers. The water guzzlers, paddy and sugarcane, consume more than 60% of irrigation
water available in the country, thereby reducing water availability for other crops 7) Focus in agriculture should shift from ‘land
productivity’ to ‘irrigation water productivity’. 8) Regional distribution of agricultural credit is highly skewed. Distribution of agricultural
credit is low in North Eastern, Hilly and Eastern States. | eNAM | M.S. Swaminathan Commission (Agriculture) | Evergreen
Revolution | Aquaponic method combines aquaculture — cultivating fish and other aquatic animals in tanks — with hydroponics,
where plants are cultivated in water. Hydroponics can save up to 90% water than conventional agriculture |Millets | Govt Initiatives
Kisan Credit Card Scheme; Agri-Market Infrastructure Fund; National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP); Pradhan
Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana; Online Portal “ENSURE”; Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA; 3
type-procurement); KALIA(Odisha); PM KISAN; PM KUSUM; | Doubling Farmers Income-Areas of intervention (1) Strategies for
Accelerated Growth (2) Agri-Logistics (Backbone of the System) (3) Agricultural Marketing (Brain of the System) (4)
Sustainability Concerns in Agriculture (6) Input Management – Resource Use Efficiency (a) Water (b) Soils and Fertilizers (c) Pest
Management (Non-vertebrates) (d) Pest Management (Vertebrates) (e) Seeds (7) Labour - Farm Mechanisation (8) Credit (9)
Production Enhancement through Productivity Gains (a) Cereals: staple crops – rice, wheat & maize (b) Nutri-rich Cereals (c)
Pulses (d) Oilseeds (e) Commercial Crops (Cotton and Sugarcane) (f) Model Cropping Patterns / Cropping Systems (g) Horticulture
(h) Sericulture (g) Dairy and Livestock[dairy & meat] (h) Small Ruminants and Poultry (i) Fisheries (j) Bee-keeping (h) Mushroom
cultivation (i) Lac cultivation (j) Agro-forestry & Bamboo (9) Farm Linked Activities and Secondary Agriculture (a) Compost making
and Vermi-culture (b) Agri-tourism (10) Skilling (11) Risk Management in Agriculture (12) Empowering the Farmers through
Extension & Knowledge Diffusion (13) Science for Doubling Farmers’ Income (a) Research & Development in Agriculture (b) Digital
Technology in Agriculture – Information Technology (IT), Space Technology & Geo-spatial Technology (14) Structural Reforms and
Governance Framework

Attitude:- 1)Towards Environment-Consumption to Conservation 2)Towards: Women 3)Entitlement to Empowerment 4)Jobseeker

to Job Creator 5)Towards society: For Me to We 6)Towards less privileged: From Sympathy to Support 7)Towards Education: From
Examination to Innovation 8)Towards other section: a)From Co existence to Complementary Existence b) From tolerance to
acceptance

Implementation of Schemes:-Good:- convergence; Targeted Delivery; Continuous monitoring ; community participation ;

awareness; Principle of Subsidiarity; 4P: -public-private- people partnership | Bad: Goal Displacement; Excessive Fragmentation in
Thinking and Action[failure to recognize inter connected nature of things]; Excessive overlap between policy making and
implementation, thus leading to focus on operational convenience rather than on public needs; Lack of non-governmental inputs and
informed debate; confrontational federalism

Infrastructure:- Govt Schemes-Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana; National Agricultural Higher Education Project
(NAHEP); Bharatmala; Sagarmala; Online Portal “ENSURE; Institutes of Eminence Scheme; Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban
Mission; PARIVESH; GeM; SAUBHAGYA; Street Lighting National programme; FAME India Scheme; PCS 1x System; Jal Marg
Vikas Project;UDAN; Border Area Development Programme; Aspiratinal District Programme; Paisa – Portal for Affordable Credit &
Interest Subvention Access; Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) Programme | ES2018-19 1)Data Infrastructure:-a)Governments:
They can improve targeting in welfare schemes and subsidies by reducing both inclusion and exclusion errors b) Private sector
firms: Data may be sold to corporate sector which may in turn use these to discover untapped markets or innovate new products.
This also generates revenues for the government. c)Citizens: Enable citizens to demand and access their data in a
machine-readable format, so that it can be used by them meaningfully. 2) Charging infrastructure: In India, the limited availability of
charging infrastructure seems to be a major impediment to increased adoption of EVs. This is primarily due to the limited driving
range of batteries in the EVs. It, therefore, becomes important that adequate charging stations are made available throughout the
road networks. Compared to conventional vehicles, even fast chargers can take around half an hour to charge an electric car while
slow chargers could take even 8 hours. It is, therefore, an important policy issue to come up with universal charging standards for
the country as a whole to enable increased investment in creation of such infrastructure. 3)Logistics Infrastructure: a) Launching of
the Bharatmala Yojana, the Sagarmala Yojana and the Dedicated Freight Corridors to develop infrastructure for logistics. b)
Infrastructure status has been given to select logistics activities like warehousing, cold chains, Multi modal logistics parks and slurry
pipelines. 4)Agricultural Infrastructure: A combination of enhancing rural infrastructure to improve connectivity, ICT to provide timely
information about prices, aggregation and storage facilities can help small and marginal farmers in overcoming the marketing
bottlenecks. 5) A robust and resilient Infrastructure is fundamental and essential for budding industries. India needs to spend 7-8 per
cent of its GDP on infrastructure annually, which translates into annual infrastructure investment of US$200 billion currently.
However, India spends only about US$100-110 billion annually on infrastructure 6) Credit Rating System for infrastructure projects,
has been created to provide additional risk assessment mechanism for informed decision making 7) As per the Private Participation
in Infrastructure database of World Bank, India is ranked second among developing countries by the number of PPP Projects. |
Infrastructure Investment Gap:- ES 2017-18India will face a $526 billion infrastructure investment gap by 2040 as there are 1,263
projects in progress across sectors such as power, road, railways, shipping and telecom | Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs)-It
is is like a mutual fund that invests in infrastructure projects || National Investment and Infrastructure Fund | Cenrtal Road &
Infrastructure Cess(Pertoleum,Diesel excise)

Indigenous:-1)Technology 2)Research 3)Defence [Sector Strategic Partnership Guidelines-domestic private defence sector ]
4)Crop varieties 5)farming practices 6)Methods of water harvesting 8)Pharma Industry 9)Medicinal System(AYUSH) 10)Nuclear
Programme | Examples:-Shakti microprocessor; India Cooling Action Plan; Vande Bharat; Chandrayaan

Inclusive Growth:- ES 2018-19 Steps to achieve inclusive growth 1)Effective minimum wage policy 2) Agriculture and allied sectors
are critical in terms of employment and livelihoods for the small and marginal farmers, who dominate the agriculture ecosystem in
India. To attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of ending poverty and bringing in inclusive growth, activities related to
agriculture need to be closely integrated with the SDG targets 3)By making energy affordable, reliable & sustainable | WEF Inclusive
Development Index –India rank 62 | Women Entrepreneurship Platform | Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education
(Amendment) Act, 2019 | Reservation to Transgenders | MOVE: Global Mobility Summit | Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY) | Khadi
& Village Industries Commission | Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram | Welfare panel for nomadic Communities | Pradhan Mantri
Shram-Yogi Maandhan Yojana | PM-KISAN | New e-commerce policy | Kisan Credit Card Scheme | MSP for Minor Forest Produce
scheme | National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP) | Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN | Credit Linked Capital Subsidy and
Technology Upgradation Scheme | Online Portal “ENSURE” |Jan Shikshan Sansthans | Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana |
Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission | Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission | Hunar Haats |
Womaniya on Government e Marketplace | SAUBHAGYA |

Information Dissemination:- 1)Disaster/rescue operation 2)Warning of natural calamity 3)weather information-Farmers, Fishermen
4)Awareness about Disease outbreak and necessary precautions 5)Dissemination of agricultural info 6)To officers about recent
rules and Judgments | e-Court Project; NeVA, RTI,

International Relation:- Act East; UNSC; NSG; IORA; BBIN; BIMSTEK; SAARC; CAATSA; LEMOA,GSOMIA,COMCASA; STA 1
status; TAPI gas pipeline; SCO; Raisina Dialogue; Shangri La Dialogue; Quad; Korea+; 2+1 Dialogue Mechanism[India,China + S
Asian Nation]

Industrial Development:- ES2018-19 recommends/mentions initiatives to boost industrial sector 1) improve EODB by simplification
and rationalization of the existing rules and introduction of information technology to increase efficacy of governance 2) Start-up
India: steps taken to boost startups a) Exemption from Income tax on investments raised by Start-ups b) Self- certification regime for
6 labour laws and 3 environmental laws c) Start-up India Hub as ‘One Stop Shop’ for the start-up ecosystem. 3)FDI: It is a major
driver of economic growth as it enhances productivity by bringing capital, skills and technology to the host country |Important
Industries: 1)Steel: Globally, India is the 2nd largest producer of crude steel and 3rd largest consumer of the finished steel 2)Leather
& Footwear: India is the second largest producer of footwear, second largest exporter of leather garments and fifth largest exporter
of leather goods 3)Jewelry: Gold imports by specified agencies have been exempted from IGST 4)MSME:PSB 59 minutes.com;
Credit Guarantee Trust Fund for Micro and Small Enterprises; Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme for Technology Up-gradation,
5)Textile: a)largest employer after agriculture b) Indian textile industry, the 2nd largest manufacturer and exporter in the world. India
has a share of 5% of the global trade in textiles and apparel c)Challenge: Absence of scale or fragmented and scattered
manufacturing; Indian exports of apparel continue to face higher average tariffs in external markets as compared with competing
nations which enjoy duty free access. 6)Transport [Already done] 7) Telecom Sector: Is growing due to high domestic demand
a)High Level 5G India 2020 Forum submitted its report on “Making India 5G eady” b) 13-digit Machine to Machine (M2M) Numbering
Plan for M2M communication c) ‘National Digital Communications Policy- 2018’. 8)Petroleum & Natural Gas a)India need to
augment refining capacity to meet growing demand for petroleum fuels and petrochemicals b) Hydrocarbon Exploration Licensing
Policy (HELP) c) Policy framework for exploration of Unconventional Hydrocarbons under existing Production Sharing Contracts d)
Coal Bed Methane contracts. e) National Data Repository for re-assessment of Hydrocarbon Resources 9)Energy
a)Thermal>RE>Hydro>Nuclear b)WEF Energy Transition Index rank 76 c)>2.6 Cr home electrified under SAUBHAGYA
10)Urbanization & Housing: a)RERA 2016 b)PMAY c)Smart Cities

Internet Connectivity:-ES2018-19 1) Inclusive Internet Index (III) 2018-India rank 47 2) Bharat Net seeks to connect all of India’s
households, particularly in rural areas, through broadband by 2017 3) National Digital Communications Policy-2018 a) 50 MBPS
Broadband for all by 2022 b) Provide 1 Gbps connectivity to all Gram Panchayats by 2020 and 10 Gbps by 2022 c)Propelling India
to Top 50 Nations in ICT Development Index of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) from 134 in 2017, 2022 d) Establish
National Digital Grid by creating National Fibre Authority. |Operation Digital Board | SWAYAM

Pledge:- 1)India has pledged to eradicate tuberculosis by 2025, five years ahead of global target set by WHO 2)UNEP Global
Environment Outlook 2019 a) India could save at least $3 trillion (Rs 210 trillion approx.) in healthcare costs if India implements
policy initiatives which are consistent with ensuring that the globe didn’t heat up beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius by the turn of the
century. b)To achieve the goal to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5.deg c, India needs to abandon plans to build new
coal-fired power plants. c)India’s INDC -reducing emission intensity of its GDP by 33-35% compared to 2005 levels by 2030 and
increasing the total cumulative electricity generation from fossil-free energy sources to 40% by 2030

Power:- ES 2018-19 1)Affordable to all 2)Reliable-Coal(38% of total energy) 3)Sustainable-Renewable(175 GW by 2022) 4) India
has a per-capita energy consumption of only about one-third of the global average. India cannot become an upper-middle- income
country without-ensuring universal energy access, rapidly raising its per capita consumption by 2.5 times 5) Almost 60% of India's
installed capacity is in thermal power f)India has utilized less than 30% of its hydro potential 6) Thermal>RE>Hydro>Nuclear 7)WEF
Energy Transition Index rank 76 8)>2.6 Cr home electrified under SAUBHAGYA | India has the 3rd largest reserves of coal,
significant thorium reserves, capacity for solar power, numerous rivers with hydropower feasibility, tidal energy, geo thermal, wind
and newly found abundant coal bed methane and shale reserves but 1)Coal- Poor coal quality; lack of capital for coal gasification
2) Solar: Lack of storage batteries technology, insufficient micro grid and low capacity of our national grid 3)Nuclear Third stage
nuclear generation uses thorium reserves. We still haven’t reached there. Moreover, no progress on 4th generation nuclear reactors
4)Coal Bed Methane: CBM and shale require state of the art fracking technology which is unavailable

Persistence:-1)efforts by executive 2)vigil by legislative on executive 3) of attitudinal change by positive reinforcements 4)of
incentives is not fiscally sustainable

Policies & Policy paralysis:- National Policy on Electronics 2019;National Policy on Software Products 2019; National Digital
Communications Policy-2018; National Policy for Senior Citizens, 2018; National Policy on Biofuels - 2018; MNRE issues National
Wind-solar Hybrid Policy 2018;National Intellectual Property Rights Policy 2016; National Policy for Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship 2015 | Agriculture Export Policy, 2018 | Act East Policy | Hydrocarbon Exploration Licensing Policy (HELP); Open
Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP); Discovered Small Field (DSF) Policy | Policy Uncertainity/Paralysis:- The policymakers have to
design policy in an inherent uncertain world. Among various sources of economic uncertainty, economic policy uncertainty matters
significantly because this uncertainty refers to one that policymakers can control and thereby influence economic activity. Two key
features of the decision to invest highlight the key role of uncertainty. First, investment represents a forward- looking activity.
Second, it is irreversible. Thus the required return on investment correlates positively with the systematic risk underlying the
investment. An increase in uncertainty in the economy increases this systematic risk and thereby increases the rate of return
required to justify the investment. As a result, projects that generate a lower return than their expectation become unviable when
uncertainty increases in the economy

Precaution & Prevention:- 1)Spread of epidemic 2)spread of unrest/fake news/radical ideologies 3)Taking precaution to prevent a
calamity to turn into disaster 4)take precaution to prevent complaint(on sensitive issue) turning into conflict

Procurement:- National Procurement Policy 2017-1)Public procurement in India is about 30% of GDP and most vulnerable to
corruption. Apart from reduction in corruption, ensuring access for government to best product and service at reasonable prices the
policy can lead to Fiscal Savings (of about 0.6-1.2% of GDP). 2) Since it required 50% of procurement to be local it would give boost
to domestic manufacturing & Services sector. | Govt is trying to promote bio-fuels by enabling lignocellulosic route for ethanol
procurement and simplifying procurement procedures of OMCs | Procurement of MFP | Swiss Challenge method in Public
Procurement

Prohibition:- Alcohol is a subject in the State list under the seventh schedule of the Indian Constitution |Prohibition states/UT
Gujarat, Bihar, Nagaland , Mizoram, Lakshadweep and parts of Manipur| Why Good? 1)Article 47 of the Directive Principle in the
Constitution of India states that “The state shall undertake rules to bring about prohibition of the consumption except for medicinal
purposes of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health.” 2) Abstinence from liquor has been regarded as a virtue
from time immemorial | Why Bad? 1) Prohibition rarely work. That a ban on liquor is very difficult to implement owing to porous
borders of states 2) Imposition of ban has often give rise to a thriving black market 3) Prohibition frequently comes along with moral
vigilantism and amounts to a trampling of civil liberties 4)All India prohibition is very difficult as excise on liquor is an important
source of revenue for states.

Partition:-1)of large states for economic efficiency for ex Uttrakhand, Jharkhand 2)Partition to minimize risk for ex micro-zoning
3)Clear partition of jurisdictions avoid friction and red tapism 4)Partition in Geo Politics- Nimble Diplomacy 5)Partition of power to
ensure checks and balances

Panchayti Raj:- 73rd CA; Part IX Article 243 to 243O | Ashok Mehta Committee, G V K Rao Committee, L M Singhvi Committee |
GOI has accepted the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission for providing grants to the tune of Rs 2L crore between
2015 and 2020 to gram panchayats (GPs) directly. | State Election Commission(SEC) is not a independent body and comes under
state government. The terms and conditions of the SEC are subject to the whims of the state government who can change it
according to their liking | District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee (DDCMC) or DISHA- The main purpose of
the DISHA is to coordinate with Central and State and local Panchayat Governments. It has been created for effective coordination
and development of Central Government’s programme for infrastructure development or Social and human resource development.
[MP is Chairman]| Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA) 1) It is central government scheme that aims at making rural local
bodies self-sustainable, financially stable and more efficient. 2) It seeks to address critical gaps that hinder success of Panchayats
by enhancing their capacities and effectiveness, and promote devolution of powers and responsibilities 3)RGSA focuses on training,
building infrastructure, stepping up initiatives for e-governance under e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP) to deliver
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) | On Finance Commission’s recommendation central govt gives to states Local Body Grant
(1)Basic (2)Performance based | ES 2017-18: Noted that compared to Brazil, Germany and other countries with federal polity,
India’s state governments and local bodies are collecting less amount of tax for two reasons (1) constitution has not given them
sufficient taxation powers (2) even where constitution gave them powers like collection of Agricultural Income Tax, Land Revenue,
Property Tax- they are shy of collecting taxes for electoral politics. Hence States/PRI/ULBs unable to deliver public services
satisfactorily

Pride:-Good reason/result 1)Achievement of Indian Government ,Institutions, Private Bodies, Individuals in science, art, literature
etc 2)Development of regional literature 3)Making Voting a matter of pride[other civic duties] 4)Nationalism 5)Diaspora are nation’s
pride; Prosperity & strength of nation fills them with pride and motivation[Modi effect; Khalistan anti protest] | Bad reason/result
1)regionalism 2)casteism 3)Hyper Nationalism 4)Lack of tolerance[Padmavat]

PDS:- PM AASHA | Mo Petroleum & Natural Gas-Direct Benefit Transfer in PDS Kerosene (DBTK) Scheme | PDS in Puducherry,
Chandigarh is DBT based | National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 1) aims to provide subsidized food grains to approximately two
thirds of the population (75% in rural areas and 50% in urban areas). 2) Converts existing food security programmes of the Central
Government into legal entitlements 3) high nutrition food to the children from age group of 6 months to 14 years. | United Nation’s
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2018 report-1)Despite of NFS Act 2013 & PDS 14.5% of the population suffers from
undernourishment 2)In 2018 Centre said that it received only 3,888 complaints on the public distribution system (PDS) over a
five-year period. This shows that either people are not aware of channels to register their grievance or the process is cumbersome. |
Shanta Kumar committee |Aadhar to plug leakages in PDS

Duty:- 1) Import Duty:- tax collected on imports by customs authorities 2)Safeguard Duty is tariff barrier imposed by government on
the commodities to ensure that imports in excessive quantities do not harm the domestic industry 3) Inverted duty structure – high
import duties on raw materials and intermediates, and lower duties on finished goods 4) Countervailing duty: It is imposed to
safeguard domestic industry against unfair trade subsidies provided by local governments of exporting nations. It is mainly levied to
neutralize effect of subsidies in exporting country on price and domestic market of importing country 5) Anti-Dumping Duty is a trade
levy imposed by any government on imported products which have prices less than their fair normal values in their domestic market.
The difference between this and Countervailing duty is that it’s imposed even if the domestic industry doesn’t produce that product
w/ the aim to maintain the origin diversity of the import basket.

Demographic Dividend:- ES 2018-19 1)It has been estimated that demographic advantage in India is available for five decades
from 2005-06 to 2055-56, longer than any other country in the world. This demographic advantage can be reaped only if education,
skilling and employment opportunities are provided to the young population 2) To achieve the target of $5Trillion economy by 2024,
a virtuous cycle of savings, investment and exports catalyzed and supported by a favorable demographic phase. This claim is made
on the basis of international experience. China and East Asian countries, whose high growth rates were sustained by a growth
model driven by such a virtuous cycle and a favorable demographic phase 3) Savings are primarily driven by demographics and
income growth. For this it is recommended that policymakers should reduce the cost of capital and real interest rates, which can
foster the virtuous cycle of investment, growth, exports and jobs. 4) India’s demographic dividend will peak around 2041, when the
share of working-age, i.e. 20-59 years, population is expected to hit 59%. | By 2021 India will have the world’s largest population of
working people. 5) As per the NSSO Periodic Labour Force Survey 2017-18, India’s labour force participation rate for the age-group
15-59 years is around 53% (80 per cent for males, 25 per cent for females). Depending on the trajectory, additional jobs will need to
be created to keep pace with the projected annual increase in working-age population of 9.7 million during 2021-31 and 4.2 million
during 2031-41. |Prerequisites to reap DD: 1)Better skills & education for employability 2)improved health for an improved human
capital 3)job creation to absorb both men and women | Challenges 1) In 2015, India added the fewest organized-sector jobs 2)The
proportion of jobs in the unorganized sector was rise to 93% in 2017 3)Rural wages are at a decadal low, as agriculture, which
accounts for 47% of jobs is experiencing slow growth 4)As many as 60% of those with jobs do not find employment for the entire
year, indicating widespread ‘under-employment’ and temporary jobs 5)Technological change is making labour partially or wholly
redundant in a number of sectors, across the world | What needs to be done? 1)The nation needs to create ten million jobs per year
to absorb the addition of young people into the workforce 2) Improved infrastructure, skill development, access to easy finance,
reducing barriers to entrepreneurship and forums for mentorship of emerging entrepreneurs in partnership with corporates 3)The
current situation calls for more and better schools, especially in rural areas. Currently India’s education system is well below global
standards. RTE must be properly and qualitatively implemented with proper funding 4)It also calls for better transportation links
between rural areas and regional urban Hubs. 5) Diploma, Degree and Certificates courses should focus more on skill development
6) The government must also ensure better quality of jobs with a focus on matching skill-sets and job opportunities. 7)Promoting
growth of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) to facilitate long term employment to youth is vital

Direct Benefit Transfer:- Benefit:- 1)The Union Government has saved around Rs 57,000 crore in 2016-17 through Direct Benefit
Transfer (DBT) scheme under which subsidies are given directly to beneficiaries. This was only due to PAHAL, PDS, MNREGA,
National Social Assistance Programmme. In 2017-18, a total of 485 schemes have been identified from 60 ministries for the DBT. |
ES2018-19 DBT in MNREGS 1) Before implementation of DBT, wages were transferred to panchayat bank accounts and workers
had to collect these wages from gram panchayat office 2) After this, there were attempts to introduce a system of DBT but there
came two major constraints: a)rural population did not have bank accounts b)verification of genuine beneficiary was still posing a
problem. 3) National electronic Fund Management System (NeFMS): Implemented in the year 2016, under this the Central
Government directly credited the wages of the MGNREGS workers, on a real time basis, to a specific bank account opened by the
State Governments. a) Currently NeFMS is implemented in 24 States and 1 Union Territory. This initiated the implementation of
DBT in this scheme. b) As a result of this initiative, the e-payment under MGNREGS has increased from 77.34% in 2014-15 to 99%
in 2018-19. 4) Aadhar Linked Payments (ALP): Almost 55.05% of all the payments under MGNREGS are through Aadhaar Based
Payment Systems (ABPS). It speeded up the wage payment cycle in thefollowing two ways. a)Government officials require less time
to verify and audit claims from such accounts. b)Central Government can transfer wages directly to the bank accounts of the
beneficiaries, thereby cutting the bureaucratic red tape. | ES2018-19 Benefits of DBT 1)DBT +JAM=Targeted Delivery[minimise
exclusion and inclusion errors] 2) Timely release of payments.[increased people’s confidence and participation in that
welfare/development scheme] 3) reducing corruption & leakages in system 4) near real time tracking, accountability and
transparency | 100% DBT in fertilizer subsides[money goes to fertilizer company] |

Defence:- Defence Acquisition Council is Defence Ministry’s highest decision making body for capital acquisition proposals
forwarded by the Indian armed forces |In 2018 GOI formed Defence Planning Committee (DPC), a new integrated institutional
mechanism that will drive country’s military and security strategy and guide defence equipment acquisitions. It will be under the
chairmanship of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval | Chief of Defence Staff- 1)It provides the three arms with a unity of purpose
required in operations involving more than one form of military and establish a synergy between three forces. 2) It will act as the
direct link between the defence ministry and the country’s military. 3) Help the ministry in drafting better defence policies 4)
Permanent CDS will be independent of service chiefs 5)Persuant to recommendations of Kargil Review Committee (KRC) 6) Why
needed? a) KRC Report pointed out that India is the only major democracy where the Armed Forces Headquarters is outside the
apex governmental structure b) It is observed that Service Chiefs devote most of their time to their operational roles. Hence,
long-term defence planning suffers as day-to-day priorities dominate c) Prime Minister and Defence Minister do not have the benefit
of the views and expertise of military commanders, in order to ensure that higher level defence management decisions are more
consensual and broadbased 7)Challenges? a) no clear blueprint for the office to ensure its effectiveness b) India’s political
establishment is seen as being largely ignorant of, or at best indifferent towards, security matters, and hence incapable of ensuring
that a CDS works c) Militaries by nature tend to resist transformation | CAATSA | COMCASA, LEMOA, GSOMIA, STA 1 status, US
India 2+2 Dialogue | S-400 Triumf | Sittwe Port(Myanmar) | Quad |CPEC | Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA) | Asia Pacific to
Indo Pacific | Indonesia has agreed to give India economic and military access to the strategic island of Sabang at the northern tip of
Sumatra and close to the Malacca Strait |Naval Exercise in South China Sea-Group Sail(US ,Japan, Philippines, India), SIMBEX
19(India, Singapore) | India acquires Mattala airport adjoining the Hambantota seaport |

Differently Abled:- Yatri Mitra Scheme(Mo Railways) 1) Elderly people, differently abled and ill people will get an assistant to assist
them while travelling in trains 2)One can avail wheelchair or porter | Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan | Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana
(ALIMCO) | UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 2006 [India ratified]| Rights of Persons with
Disabilities Act 201 6 |What can be done? 1)Inclusive work place 2)provision for access to basic amenities | Disability Rights | 2.21%
of the total population | Accessible India Campaign | Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme | Assistance to Disabled Persons
for Purchase / Fitting of Aids and Appliances (ADIP Scheme)

Digital 3 pillars of Digital India 1)creating digital infrastructure 2)delivering services digitally 3)making people digitally literate | Trade
Receivable Discounting System (TreDS) |DigiLocker |ENSURE EDEG | PARIVESH | NeVA | eCourt |JAM Trinity | National
Knowledge Network | SWAYAM | mStripes | eAushadi |eVidyaBharti eArogya Bharti |Operation Digital Board | Vulnerable (1) UN
report titled ‘Leaving No One Behind’ praised India’s decision of launching Aadhaar as it will be a step forward in ensuring
inclusion of all people especially the poorest and the most marginalized (2) Digitised Ration cards (3) Pradhan Mantri Digital
Saksharta Abhiyan has been appreciated as the world's largest Government effort to bridge the digital divide (4) Common Service
Centres (5) A number of important government welfare services including PMAY, FSSAI, Soil Health Cards, Swachh Bharat
Abhiyan, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana etc. have been added on Digital Seva Portal | NITI Aayog Digital Transformation Index

Decentralization:- Political Decentralization: Political decentralization aims to give citizens or their elected representatives more
power in public decision-making. It is often associated with pluralistic politics and representative government, but it can also support
democratization by giving citizens, or their representatives, more influence in the formulation and implementation of policies. For ex
a)involving civil society b) MPLADS;Rashtriaya Gram Swaraj Abiyan[Local representatives are better aware of needs & desires of
people] | Administrative Decentralization: Administrative decentralization seeks to redistribute authority, responsibility and financial
resources for providing public services among different levels of government. It has 3 components a) Deconcentration redistributes
decision making authority and financial and management responsibilities among different levels of the central government[or same
federal level] b) Through delegation central governments transfer responsibility for decision-making and administration of public
functions to semi-autonomous organizations not wholly controlled by the central government, but ultimately accountable to it.[any
federal level] c) Devolution: When governments devolve functions, they transfer authority for decision-making, finance, and
management to quasi-autonomous units of local government | Fiscal decentralization can take many forms, including a)
self-financing or cost recovery through user charges, b) co-financing or co-production arrangements through which the users
participate in providing services and infrastructure through monetary or labor contributions for ex Centre 60%,state 40% c)
expansion of local revenues through property or sales taxes, or indirect charges; d) intergovernmental transfers that shift general
revenues from taxes collected by the central government to local governments for general or specific uses; and e) authorization of
state/municipal borrowing and the mobilization of either national or local government resources through loan guarantees | Economic
or Market Decentralization:- It involves deregulation &/or privatization and shifts responsibility for functions from the public to the
private sector. | Educational decentralization- more autonomy to academic institutions for ex IoE |Procurement decentralization:-PM
AASHA, Procurement of MFP | Minimum Government Max Governance | Rashtriaya Gram Swaraj Abiyan | Central schemes w/
states given freedom to implement them by the model that suits them for ex PMKSY, PMJAY |

Good Governance:- Sankalp se Siddhi, New India 2022 Sarvashreshtha Bharat, Jagat Guru 1) New India Movement
2017-2022 envisages an India free of Poverty, Corruption, Terrorism, Communalism, Casteism and Un-cleanliness 2) Sankalp Se
Swachh Siddhi is a nationwide campaign, in which Essay, Short Films and Painting competitions were organized for general public,
with a special focus on school children. It’s aim is to garner & reinforce public commitment towards new India movement. 3)
Sarvashreshtha Bharat, Jagat Guru-Aim to make India 3rd largest economy by 2047---[NITI-NEW INDIA @2022] | Zero Tolerance
to Corruption | Economic Reforms with a Human Face –1)Economic Reform:withdrawing the state from activities that the private
sector could carry on profitably 2)Human face: a)redoubling the involvement of the state where only the state can mediate b) fruits
of the reforms must reach the poorest sections of the society | Development as mass movement [PM Modi: Mahatma Gandhi
made the freedom struggle a mass movement. The same way, we must make development a mass movement] | Cosmetic
Reforms [reforming for sake of optics ie inherent structure/problem remains unchanged] | Swastha, Shikshit, Sampann,
Saksham, Surakshit Bharat [NITI-NEW INDIA @2022] | From Disjointed effort/ Piecemeal and Adhoc approach to Whole of
the Govt. approach - Whole-of-Government Approach (“WGA”) refers to the joint activities performed by diverse Ministries, Public
Administrations and Public Agencies in order to provide a common solution to a particular problem or issue | Chakravyuha
Challenge-(ES 2015-16) 1)Ease to enter, barriers to exit 2) India has made great strides in removing the barriers to the entry of
firms, talent, and technology into the Indian economy. Less progress has been made in relation to exit 3) Impeded exit has
substantial fiscal, economic, and political costs 4) In a market economy exit is as important as entry of novel ideas & processes
because it ensures that resources are forced or enticed away from inefficient and unsustainable uses | Shanti, Ekta, Sadbhavana
1)sprit of India 2)pillars of new India---[anti casteism, communalism] | Census Town | Swiss Challenge

Sustainable:- Sustainable Development 1) Sustained Rise in Real per Capita Income 2) Rational Use of Natural Resources 3)
Preserving the natural resources for future generations | NITI Aayog SDG Index- Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu are top
3 and and are on track to achieve the UN SDGs | Sustainable Cities: UN Habitat estimates that by 2030 India will have 14 major
clusters of cities accounting for 40% of its GDP. Hence the need to be made climate resilient. | UN Sustainable Development
Framework (UNSDF) 1)Agreement b/w NITI Aayog & UN in India 3) UNSDF 2018-2022 outlines development cooperation strategy
between Union Government and United Nations Country Team in India in support of achievement of India’s key national
development priorities and SDGs |

Surrogacy:- The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019 1) defines surrogacy 2) prohibits commercial surrogacy, but allows altruistic
surrogacy. 3) Altruistic surrogacy involves contracting a ‘close relative’ as a surrogate by a heterosexual married couple and no
monetary compensation to the surrogate mother other than the medical expenses and insurance coverage during the

Pregnancy 4) Purposes for which surrogacy is permitted: a) for intending couples who suffer from proven infertility b) for any
condition or disease specified through regulations 5)documentation- ‘certificate of essentiality’ & certificate of eligibility’ 6)Surrogate
mother can surrogate only once in her life time. 7) Surrogacy clinics cannot undertake surrogacy related procedures unless they are
registered by the appropriate authority 8) National and State Surrogacy Boards shall be constituted to advise respective govts,
giving guidelines & supervison 9) Parentage and abortion of surrogate child: A child born out of a surrogacy procedure will be
deemed to be the biological child of the intending couple. An abortion of the surrogate child requires the written consent of the
surrogate mother and the authorisation of the appropriate authority 10) 228th LCI report recommended prohibiting commercial
surrogacy and allowing ethical altruistic surrogacy 11)criticisms: a) Restricting limited, conditional surrogacy to married Indian
couples and disqualifying other persons on the basis of nationality, marital status, sexual orientation or age does not appear to
qualify the test of equality (article 14) b) The Bill raises questions over the reproductive rights of a woman. It is for the person and
not the state to decide modes of parenthood. c) The bill deprives single parents, homosexuals of availing the bliss of parenthood
through surrogacy

Skill:- ES2018-19 1) Up-skilling the MGNREGS Workers: Converge of MGNREGS with Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen
Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) 2) According to NSSO Report 2011-12, only 2.3% of the total workforce in India had formal sector
skill training. Hence government had formulated the National Policy on Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, 2015 under which the
Skill India Mission by 2022 was formulated 3) Industry should be incentivized to set up training institutions in PPP mode 4) Local
bodies can be used for skill mapping and creating a data base of youth at local level to assess demand supply gaps | Jan Shikshan
Sansthans; Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana; Hunar Haats; Atal Innovation Mission; National Council for
Vocational Education and Training (NCVET)

Smart City:- 1) Objective: To develop 100 cities all over the country making them citizen friendly and sustainable 2) Smart cities to
be selected through City Challenge Competition 3) These cities to be developed as satellite towns of larger cities and by
modernizing the existing mid-sized cities. 4) 4 approaches are adopted for development of Smart Cities: a) Retrofitting i.e. city
improvement: Introduce planning in an existing built-up area to achieve smart city objectives, along with other objectives, to make
the existing area more efficient and livable b) Redevelopment i.e. city renewal: Replacement of the existing built-up environment and
enable co-creation of a new layout with enhanced infrastructure using mixed land use and increased density c) Greenfield
development : Introduce most of the Smart Solutions in a previously vacant area. It must have provision for affordable housing d)
Pan-city development envisages application of selected Smart Solutions to the existing city-wide infrastructure ---[first 3 require
consultation w/ citizens] 5)Challenges a)slums b)limited scope of expanding roads and bridges in the midst of cities c)data intrusion
and hacking d)displacement of population and land acquisition problems e)No mention of earthquake resistant design of buildings in
smart city concept.

Subsidies:-1)Fertilizer subsidy 2)subsidized power 3)Subsidy on loans-Education, MSME, Startups, Vulnerable Sections, Farmers
etc 4) WTO – Farm Subsidies 5) India-USA : Export Subsidy Issue[US accuse India of export subsidies] 6)DBT of subsidies 7)
Political-Corporate nexus for continuing subsidies 8)Pilgrimage subsidy 9)Subsidy for electoral gains

Undernutrition:- Hidden Hunger | Poshan Abhiyan | Reduction in Stunting from 38.4% (NFHS-4) to 25% by 2022 (Mission 25 by
2022) |Global Hunger Index- India rank 103 | Millets | NFHS-4: 1)21% of Indian children are ‘wasted’[extremely low weight for their
height; 2nd highest in world] 2) 35.7% are underweight 3 38.4% are stunted| National Nutrition Strategy 1)aim: Kuposhan Mukt
Bharat 2)Calls for convergence of 4 determinants of nutrition: a)uptake of health services b)food c)drinking water & sanitation
d)income & livelihoods. |

Uniqueness:- 1)Pilgrimage 2)Historical Monuments 3)Cultural tourism 4)GI Tags 5)Aadhar 6)Traditional Crafts 7)PVTG
8)Disappearing Indian languages 9)IPR

Under Utilized Resources:- 1)Innovation potential 2)Entrepreneurial potential 3)Demographic advantage 4)Diaspora
5)Factories/power plants not working on full capacity | India has the 3rd largest reserves of coal, significant thorium reserves,
capacity for solar power, numerous rivers with hydropower feasibility, tidal energy, geo thermal, wind and newly found abundant
coal bed methane and shale reserves but 1)Coal- Poor coal quality; lack of capital for coal gasification 2) Solar: Lack of storage
batteries technology, insufficient micro grid and low capacity of our national grid 3)Nuclear Third stage nuclear generation uses
thorium reserves. We still haven’t reached there. Moreover, no progress on 4th generation nuclear reactors 4)Coal Bed Methane:
CBM and shale require state of the art fracking technology which is unavailable

Cooperative Societies:- 97th CA 2011; Article 19(1)(c); Article 43B-DPSP; Part IXB Articles 243ZH-243ZT; State Subject; Board of
Directors 1)Max number of directors 21. 2)Reservation of one seat for the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes and two seats
for women on the board of every co-operative society having members from such a category of persons. 3)Term 5yrs |Cooperative
Farming |Cooperative Credit Sector |Consumers Cooperative Societies |Housing Cooperative Society| Producers cooperatives |
Industrial service cooperatives | Manufacturing cooperatives | Marketing Cooperatives | Housing Cooperatives |International
Experience:- Israel’s success story for their KIBUTZs | Success Stories 1)Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited(IFFCO)
2)Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED) 3) National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing
Federation of India(NAFED) 4)Amul 5)Mother Dairy 6) Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad 7) Indian Coffee House[restaurant
chain in India, run by a series of worker co-operative societies] (8)Apna Bazar[Procure food from farmers thus eliminating
middlemen] | Cooperatives are by default very prevalent in India, as being a developing country. Cooperative is a cause as well as
consequences of rural development in India. At present there are more than 5 lakhs rural cooperatives existing in India. Rural
development has had tremendous dependency on the success of cooperative societies in India. | Issues 1)Politicization affects
decisions 2) Low Pay 3) Conflict b/w board and managers 4) No performance based incentives 5)Low efficiency
Credit:- Credit Enhancement Fund:- Objective improving credit rating of bond issued by infrastructure companies by credit
enhancement | CIBIL |Public Credit Registry | Sovereign Credit Rating| Concessional Financing Scheme: Mo EA scheme w/ aim to
provide concessional finance for investment in strategic important projects abroad | External Commercial Borrowing | Credit
Diplomacy for ex India- Bangladesh : Line of Credit to wean Bangladesh away from China

Creeping Normality- Use it for most of the controversial/radically progressive issues/debates.

Clean Tech:- Clean coal technology is a collection of technologies being developed in attempts to lessen the negative
environmental impact of coal energy generation and to mitigate worldwide climate change. | Coal Bed Methane-Benefits- 1) It is
environmentally safe and clean fuel which on combustion emits only carbon dioxide and water. 2)It is not only considered as an
efficient fuel but also reduces emission of greenhouse gas from coal mining[Earlier it was not collected thus adding methane to
atmosphere] 3)Its extraction prior to coal mining activities makes mining activities safer by degassing the coal seams. | Mission
Innovation 1)Global Initiative conceived at COP 21 by Modi, Obama & Hollande(France)[at Paris Climate Agreement 2015] 2) It
objective is to accelerate global clean energy innovation with the following aims a) make clean energy affordable
b)address climate change c)create green jobs and commercial opportunities 3)Participating countries doubling their clean energy
R&D investment by 2020 | WEF Energy Transition Index 2018- India rank 78 | National Clean Energy Fund 1)Aim: funding research
and innovative projects in clean energy technology 2) It gets money from clean energy cess on coal produced in India and coal
imported in India | Science and technology acts as a portion of geopolitics where technological developments boost Geo-political
domination of the country. Chinese moves in clean energy and space have made technology a prime pawn in the international
power play. China aims to become a superpower in Artificial Intelligence, leading to a technology race with the US

Crisis:- 1)Institution Crisis for ex CBI crisis 2)Rupee Crisis[currency crisis] 3) Maldives Political Crisis[Internal Political struggle]
4)Qatar Crisis[regional group] 5) IL&FS Controversy[Scam/ NPA crisis] 6)Water Crsis[resource crisis] 7) Cuban Missle
Crisis[International Geopolitical crisis]

Child:-1)Adoption 2)Labor 3)Education 4)Nutrition 5)Child Shelters

Consumer:- Consumer Protection Bill 2018 1) Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions will be set up at District, State and
National levels 2)Aim: To protect of the interests of consumers and to provide effective administration and timely settle consumer
disputes | National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission 1)quasi judicial body 2)hear cases above 1 Cr | National Anti
Profiteering Committee

Corporate:- Corporate Social Responsibility | Corporate Governance | Corporate Corruption

Community Participation:- Community Policing:- Community Policing focuses on community engagement to address issues of
crime and social disorder through the delivery of police services, which include aspects of traditional law enforcement, prevention
and solving the safety and security challenges for ex Area Suraksha Mitras | Community Participation: Successful delivery of
services depends on the good governance and people’s participation. But people participation depends on the good governance
where in how effectively government is providing various ways for them to get involved. Initiatives to increase citizen participation:-
1) Citizen charters for all public institutions 2) Use of ICT 3) Social media presence and promotion of policies for easy and quick
dissemination of information 4)Lokpal 5)engaging civil society | Community Reserve; 1) established under Wildlife (Protection) Act,
1972. 2)It enables any state government to declare community-owned forest area as “community reserve” if locals are willing to
participate in conservation efforts for same | Successful Examples:- SBM, Project Snow Leopard, Smart City, PM Mahila Shakti
Kendra

Rights:- Fundamental Rights; Constitutional Rights; Statutory Rights; Right owing to lack of prevention by law | Rights of Citizens
|Article 19(1)(a) Right to Information |Refugee Rights(Chakma,Hajong etc) |Human Rights (Amendments) Bill, 2018 1) Under the
Act, the chairperson of the NHRC is a person who has been a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The Bill amends this to provide
that a person who has been Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, or a Judge of the Supreme Court will be the chairperson of the
NHRC 2) Under the Act, the chairperson of a SHRC is a person who has been a Chief Justice of a High Court. The Bill amends this
to provide that a person who has been Chief Justice or Judge of a High Court will be chairperson of a SHRC 3) The Act provides for
two persons having knowledge of human rights to be appointed as members of the NHRC. The Bill amends this to allow three
members to be appointed, of which at least one will be a woman 4) Under the Act, chairpersons of various commissions such as the
NCSC, NCST, and NC Women are members of the NHRC. The Bill provides for including the chairpersons of the NC for Backward
Classes, the NCfor the Protection of Child Rights, and the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities as members of the
NHRC. | Right Based Approach:- In this welfare/economic development of weaker section is seen as their right not charity. India has
followed the path of rights based social welfare policies to guarantee the social rights of the people. This framework is based on four
pillars – Right to Information(RTI), Right to Education(RTE), Right to Work(MNREG Act 2005) and Right to Food(Food Security Act
2013) | Right to Privacy- Justice Puttaswamy vs Union Of India; Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948); International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) |Right to Religion | Animal Rights |Patients’ Rights | Consumer Rights | Risk-Return |

Rehabilitation:-1)Structure/Process/Institution/Machine/Facility for ex Dam Rehabilitation 2)Mental Health Patients 3)Released

Prisoners 4)Trafficked Person 5)Prostitutes 6)Displaced due to development works 7)Disaster[Sendai Framework] 8)Manual
Scavenger[or any other demeaning job which is against Constitutional morality but provides income] 9)Refugee 10)Surrendered
rebel

Refugee:- Internal Refugee 1)Kashmiri Pandits 2)Bru Tribe[displaced from Mizoram] | External Refugees-Chakma, Hajong, Bengali
Hindus, Hindus from Pakistan, Tamilians from Sri Lanka, Tibetan Rfugees | Almost 90% of the world’s refugees are hosted in
developing countries. 8 countries host more than half the world’s refugees. | Refugee Convention 1951; Protocol Relating to the
Status of Refugees 1967[1951 convention was limited to European refugees; India signed neither] | India 1)hosts over 2L refugees
2)Legal Framework: Foreigners Act (1946) and the Registration of Foreigners Act (1939).They govern the entry and exit of all
refugees, treating them as foreigners without due consideration of their special circumstances. 3)Court Case: National Human
Rights Commission vs State of Arunachal Pradesh, 1996: SC ruled Article 14 & Article 21 applies to foreigners 4)India is only major
democracy w/o legislation for refugees. A well-defined asylum law would establish a formal refuge granting process with suitable
exclusions (war criminals, serious offenders, etc.) kept.|New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants 2018 1) Protect human
rights of all refugees and migrants. It includes rights of girls and women and also promote their full, equal and their meaningful
participation to find solutions. 2) Ensure that all refugee and migrant children receive education within few months of arrival 3)
Condemn strongly xenophobia against refugees and migrants and support global campaign to counter it. 4) Improve delivery of
humanitarian and development assistance through innovative multilateral financial solutions to those countries most
affected.5)Strengthen global governance of migration by bringing the International Organization for Migration (IOM) into the UN
system.

Rural:- 1)Rural healthcare 2)Rural Urban Divide 3)Impact of globalization on Rural India 4)Monsoon link w/ rural economy 5)
National Rural Drinking Water Scheme

Youth:-1) Attracting and Retaining of Youth in Agriculture (ARYA) Scheme 2) Scheme for Higher Education Youth in Apprenticeship
and Skills (SHREYAS) 3)Know India Programme [NRI & PIO youth] 4)Khelo India 5) Green Skill Development Programme: under it ,
youth (especially 10th and 12th dropouts) would be imparted green skills | Rashtriya Yuva Sashaktikaran Karyakram
Scheme[personality building]; Nai Manzil; Naya Savera; Nai Udaan; Yuva Sahakar-Cooperative Enterprise Support and Innovation
Scheme; Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana;HIMAYAT(Kasmir);ROSHNI(LWE district); Smart Hackathon; Ek
Bharat Shrestha Bharat; National Youth policy 2014; National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme 2016; National Career Service;
SABLA[girls; skill & personality development]; Saksham[boys; skill & personality development]; FRashtriya Kishor Swasthya
Karyakra | According to India Skill report 2019 more than 50% of youth with college degrees are unemployable.

Manufacturing 1) dwarfs account for half of all the firms in organized manufacturing but their Net Value Added (NVA) is 7.6 % 2)
Large firms account for only 5.5 % of firms by number but their NVA is 37% 3)India has potential to become global maunufacturing
hub for electric vehicles 4)Under Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code maximum cases had been filed from the manufacturing sector
5)manufacturing sector slowed down in FY 2018-19 due to (a)slower credit flow to SMEs (b) reduced lending by NBFCs owing to
liquidity crunch (c) volatility in international crude oil prices f)Govt Initiatives: FAME; National Policy on Electronics 2019(promotion
of electronic components manufacturing ecosystem)

MSME:- ES2018-19 (1) Definitions: (a)The firms employing less than 100 workers are categorized as small firms(=MSME) and firms
employing 100 or more workers as large firms. (b) Dwarf firms correspond to those small firms, which employ less than 100
employees, despite being in existence for more than 10 years (c) Young firms refer to firms younger than 10 years. (2) While dwarfs
account for half of all the firms in organized manufacturing by number, their share in employment is 14.1 % only and share in Net
Value Added (NVA) is 7.6 % only. While large firms account for only 15.57% of firms by number but contribute >71% of the
employment and 87% of the NVA. (3)New Small firms account for around 35%% of firms by number but contribute ~15% of the
employment and >5% of the NVA. Thus disproving the notion that MSME generate most employment. Small firms may generate a
higher number of new jobs but they destroy as many jobs as well. Small firms find it difficult to sustain the jobs they create whereas
large firms create permanent jobs in large numbers. It is the young MSMEs (=Small firms) that disproportionately account for share
of employment and productivity. (4) International experience: An average 40- year old firm in the U.S. generates 5 times the
employment and has 2.5 times more productivity than the average 40-year old Indian firm. (5) Indian policies have created a
“perverse” incentive for firms to remain small for ex exemption provided inIndustrial Disputes Act 1947, Small Scale Industries (SSI)
reservation policy 1967. If the firms grow beyond the thresholds that these policies employ, then they will be unable to obtain the
said benefits. Therefore, rather than grow the firm beyond the said threshold, entrepreneurs find it optimal to start a new firm to
continue availing these benefits. (6) But these small firms are not able to enjoy the benefits, which the large firms get from economy
of scale and therefore remain unproductive. The lack of productivity and growth inhibits the ability of the dwarfs to create jobs. (7)
way forward (a) Incentivizing ‘infant’ firms rather than ‘small’ firms. Using the platform of Aadhaar,it can be ensured that the owner of
a dwarf doesn’t stat a new firm to get incentives intended for infants. (b) Re-orienting Priority Sector Lending: Priority should b given
to start ups’ and ‘infants’ in high employment elastic sectors (c) Sunset Clause for new Incentives & Grandfathering existing
incentives (d) Focus on High Employment Elastic Sectors (e) Focus on Service Sectors with high Spillover Effects
(8)Terms/phrases:- Grandfathering of Existing Incentives; Nourishing Dwarfs to become Giants; Small Scale Industries (SSI)
reservation policy, 1967; Perverse incentives; Spillover Effects; Bane of Dwarfism (9) About 55-60 lakh jobs will have to be created
annually over the next decade. To achieve this, it is essential that the potential of MSMEs is harnessed by making suitable changes.
| Integrating MSMEs with Global Value Chain 1)making then globally competitive 2)ensure adherence to global standards &
norms | RBI’s UK Sinha Committee Report-Key challenges faced by MSMEs (1) Absence of adequate and timely banking finance,
as per Economic Survey 2017-18, the MSME received only 17.4 per cent of the total credit (2)Delayed payments to MSMEs (3) Due
to their lack of scale and in-house capabilities, MSEs find it difficult to access proper market (4) Large-scale presence of MSMEs in
informal sector, which doesn’t allow them to use different assistance available to MSMEs (5) Non-availability of suitable technology,
creating public perception of products with low quality standards. (6) There are large numbers of clusters but the resource
availability for undertaking cluster development activities is limited (7) A huge divergence persists between research institutions
(suppliers of technology) and the business requirements of MSMEs (consumers of technology) (8) Presently, MSMEs must do
multiple registrations with various entities such as Udyog Aadhaar portal, GSTN, NSIC, etc [cumbersome process; duplication of
effort] ### Way forward (1) Review of the legislative framework (2) Change in the definition of MSMEs- from current investment
based to turnover-based definition, as it would be more transparent, progressive, easier to implement. It will also remove the bias
towards manufacturing enterprises in the existing definition. (3) Strengthening the procurement mechanism by promoting GeM (4)
Exit Policy for MSMEs-Due to the lack of sophistication on the part of MSMEs, Insolvency code/ delegated legislation should provide
for out-of-court assistance to MSMEs such as mediation, financial education, or the appointment of a trustee (5) Performance of
Clusters- needs to be improved by (a) Bringing synergy and coordination within large number of support schemes (b)Involving local
intermediaries such as business membership organizations in developing linkages with other stakeholders such as training,
educational and research institutions (6) Improving access to technology (7) Setup a National Council for MSMEs- under the
Chairmanship of the Prime Minister, in order to facilitate coherent policy outlook and unity of monitoring. | Steps taken by
Govt:-MSME Outreach Programme-for 100 days covering 100 Districts across India-spread awareness about various facilities being
extended to MSME Sector by the Government and financial institutions; MSMEs in ZED(Zero Defect Zero Effect; zero defect in
product & zero effect on environment by technolgy up gradation) Certification;Trade Receivables e-Discounting System (TReDS)
;59 minute loan portal; PSU compulsorily procure 25%; Udyami Mitra Portal; MSME Sambandh[Public Procurement Portal for
MSEs]; MSME Samadhaan[MSME Delayed Payment Portal]; Digital MSME Scheme; Prime Minister Employment Generation
Programme; Revamped Scheme of Fund for Regeneration Of Traditional Industries (SFURTI); A Scheme for Promoting Innovation,
Rural Industry & Entrepreneurship (ASPIRE); National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme (NMCP); Micro & Small
Enterprises Cluster Development Programme (MSE-CDP); Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS) aims at facilitating
technology upgradation of the MSME sector; Credit Guarantee Scheme for Micro and Small Enterprises; Interest Subvention: 2%
interest subvention will be provided for all GST registered MSMEs, on fresh or incremental loans; Udyog Aadhaar Number by self
certification | Cluster based Approach | Vulnerable:- (1) National Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Hub to provide professional
support to SC/ST entrepreneurs (2)Women: Out of 25% mandatory procurement from MSMEs 3% is reserved for women (3)Socially
backward groups own >66% of the MSMEs (4) Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI)[mostly owned
by Minority & marginalized sections] | Budget 2019 (1) Interest subvention scheme for MSMEs: `350 crore allocated for 2019-20 (2)
Payment platform for bill filing for MSMEs to be created: to address delays (3) 2% interest subvention for GST-registered MSME on
fresh or incremental loans. (4) Pension benefit extended to retail traders with annual turnover less than Rs 1.5 crore.

Textile; Son meta pregerene; Makin In India; JAM Trinity; UBI; Protectionism; ST; PVTGG; Minority; NE; Differntly abled;
Transgeneder; LGBT; Child; Single Parents; Released prisoner; Abandoned Widows; Devadasi; Refugees; Prisoners, Undertrials;
Orphans; Aged, Poor migrants, People living with HIV/AIDS and Sexual Minorities, Iliterates

Less Cash Economy:-Facilitator 1)Banking Cash Transaction Tax 2)No on above cash transaction above 2L 2)incentive on
Presumptive Tax | Inhibitor 1)tax on digital transaction by govt for ex NEFT,RTGS,IMPS etc come under GST 2) charge by financial
intermediary on digital transaction for ex MDR

15th Fianace Commission/Fiscal Federalism:- Grants given by Central government (1) Disaster Management Grant (2)Local Body
Grant (a)Basic (b)Performance based (3) Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant | 15th FC Term of Reference- (1)New India by
2022[less money to sates] (2)Article 293: States can’t borrow money w/o consent of union. 15th FC to suggest additional conditions
that Union must apply before giving consent (3)Fiscal discipline & fiscal consolidation at centre and state level (4)Disaster
management initiatives (5)should Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant be continued or not (6)Performance based incentives to
states-(a)Deepening GST net (b)Population control (c)avoid populist schemes (d)controlling power sector losses (e)Behavioral
change to end open defacaion- - - [geographical, political, historical limitations; encroachment on prerogative of GST council;
imposition of SBM; State’s share is their constitutional right and this shouldn’t be dictated by performance based on parameters
decided by centre;2011 Census ]

Corruption:- Transparency International (TI) : India had highest bribery rate among the 16 Asia-Pacific countries | Nearly seven in
10 people who had accessed public services in India have payed bribe. | National Commission to Review the Working of the
Constitution in its paper ‘Probity in governance’ observed that South Asian corruption has 3 key characteristics: (1)Bulk of corruption
in South Asia occurs up-stream, not down-stream. (2) Most of the corrupt gains made in the region are immediately smuggled out to
safe havens abroad. (3) Corruption in South Asia often leads to promotion, not prison

Population:- ES2018-19 page 20 to 22; 5 point & answer | [Census 2001 and Census 2011 from 927 in 2001 Child Sex ratio
declined to 919 in 2011] | National Population Policy 2000 | National Population Fund [Family Planning, Immunization etc]. |
Although overall population of India has been on rise, annual population growth rate has slowed down from 2.3% in 1970s-80s to
1.2% presently. | However, the fertility rates are also declining. The average number of children that a woman is expected to bear in
her lifetime is called the total fertility rate (TFR). A TFR of about 2.1 is considered as replacement-level fertility – if achieved, it will
lead the population to stabilise in the long run. | As per National Family Health Survey data, the country-level TFR in India is 2.23 an
it was projected that TFR of 2.1 would be achieved by 2026. ES 2018-19 says that TFR at the national level will lie below
replacement level fertility (2.1) at 1.8 as early as 2021 and would stabilize around 1.7 thereafter. By 2031, all states would see below
replacement level fertility. Thus population is naturally declining at a rapid pace. The pace of decline is higher than expected as by
2015 we assumed that we’ll reach TFR of 2.1 by 2025. Some are even worried about the rapid decline as it may lead to tax
overburden on future generations.[high Dependency Ratio | ES 2018-19 The average value of sex ratio at birth is around 1.05, i.e.
105 boys born per every 100 girls. Thus, there are more men than women in the population when compared to the natural level.
This implies that the required replacement level fertility at the national and state level is higher than the usual benchmark of 2.1, i.e.,
due to the skewed sex ratio, a woman would have to give birth to more than 2.1 children in order for the population to replace itself.
The effective replacement level fertility considering the skewed sex ratio could be of around 2.15-2.2 for India with a sex ratio of
1.11. [Census 2001 and Census 2011 from 927 in 2001 Child Sex ratio declined to 919 in 2011] | India is a country with a booming
technology industry, one that relies on young people. There is fear that, by restricting the number of children that can be born, there
will not be enough educated young people in the next generation to carry on India’s technological revolution. |
Urbanization:- Economic model followed by India has led to concentration of economic activities & jobs in urban areas. This has
compelled people to migrate from rural to urban areas for employment opportunities & good standard of living | Agriculture sector,
which is major employment generator in rural areas,since many decades has been in distress due to critical structural issues forcing
small & marginal farmers & landless laborers to migrate to cities in search of employment. | Unplanned urbanization & lack of
relevant statistical data has made it difficult to plan physical infrastructure keeping long term future in mind.| ULB lack financial &
human resources|At present nearly 30% of population of India stays in urban areas which are projected to increase to 50% by 2050
according to UN’s report. | UN Habitat estimates that by 2030 India will have 14 major clusters of cities accounting for 40% of its
GDP. At present nearly 30% of population of India stays in urban areas which are projected to increase to 50% by 2050 according to
UN’s report. | Overcrowding of an urban area refers to a condition where physical infrastructure of that city is not sufficient to support
the population residing in the city at that point of time

Vulnerable Section
Schedule Caste Census 2011 population -1)16.6% 2)growth rate 20.8% | Article 338-NCSC | Article 341-1) privileges &
concessions 2) 1st list of SCs in relation to a states/UT is to be issued by a notified Order of the President after consulting concerned
state Government.[so far 6 presidential orders(new state formation)]. Any subsequent inclusion in or exclusion from the list of
Scheduled Castes can be effected through an Act of Parliament |Article 15(4): State can make special provisions for advancement
of SEBC, SC and ST | Article 17: Abolition of untouchability | Political Safeguard: Reservation in House of people (Article 330),
Legislative Assemblies of State (Article 335), Panchayats (Article 243D, 243T) | Article 335: Reservation for SC-ST in Government
jobs | Article 341: Notification of Scheduled Caste |Article 366: Definition |Reservation in promotion 1)1992 Indira Sawhney case-
test or requirement of social and educational backwardness cannot be applied to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, who
indubitably fall within the expression ‘backward class of citizens’ 2)2006 Nagaraj judgment- government cannot introduce a quota in
promotion for its SC/ST employees unless they prove that the particular Dalit community is backward, inadequately represented and
such a reservation in promotion would not affect the overall efficiency of public administration. The opinion of the government should
also be based on quantifiable data. Creamy layer concept is not applicable to SC/ST 3) B K Pavitra vs Union of India-supreme court
overturns Nagraj judgement ans allows reservation in promotion. | Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of
Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2018 |Manual Scavenger Act 2013 |Bodies 1)NCSC 2) National Safai Karamcharis Finance and
Development Corporation (NSKFDC)-PSU 3) National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSCFDC) |
Welfare Schemes: 1) Special Central Assistance (SCA) to Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan (SCSP) 2) Scheme of Assistance to
Scheduled Castes Development Corporations (SCDCs) 3) Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes 4) Credit Enhancement
Guarantee Scheme for Scheduled Castes-[credit guarantee-young SC entrpreneur] 5) Pre-Matric Scholarships 6) Post Matric
Scholarship for Scheduled Caste Students 7) National Fellowship- [Financial assitance-research students ] 8) National Overseas
Scholarship: students belonging to SCs, de-notified, nomadic, semi-nomadic tribes etc for pursuing higher studies of Master level
courses and PhD programmes abroad

LGBTQ:- Historically, gay rights existed in India. E.g. Homosexual poses at Khajuraho temple, important positions assigned to
Homosexual during Mughal period. Homo sexuality was criminalized only during British period under penal code. |International
influence/experience: (1) First petition against section 377 in 1980s was inspired by stonewall inn incident in U.S. U.S supreme court
judgment in Obergefell vs. Hodges in 2015, which legalized same sex marriages, strengthened similar demands in India. |Court
Cases: (1)Delhi High Court in Naz Foundation case, 2009 held that Section 377 was unconstitutional (2)In 2013, Supreme
Court(SC) declared criminalization LGBT again by two judge bench. (3)In the review petition, Navtej Singh Johar vs. Union of
India(2018) SC unanimously ruled that Section 377 was unconstitutional.(3) Supreme Court in KS Puttaswamy case, 2017 held that
the right to privacy included the right to bodily integrity, self-determination and sexual autonomy. (4) National Legal Services
Authority(NALSA) vs. Union of India is a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of India, which declared transgender people to be
a 'third gender', affirmed that the fundamental rights granted under the Constitution of India will be equally applicable to transgender
people, and gave them the right to self-identification of their gender as male, female or third-gender | Majority of democratic nation
have legalized homosexuality. E.g. Indonesia, Germany, Australia etc. | Pew research center states acceptance of LGBT rights
have increased globally | In 2000, Law Commission was the first to recommend decriminalizing Section 377 | Reservation to
Transgender community: (1) Supreme Court in NALSA v Union of India(2014) directed government to treat trangender people as
socially and economically backward classes and grant them reservations in admissions to educational institutions and jobs. (2)
Kerala was the first state to grant reservation for transgender students in colleges (3) Uttarakhand HC Directs Reservation In
Admissions, Govt. Jobs For Transgenders | LGBT people are banned from openly serving in the Indian Armed Forces | In 2017, the
Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation instructed states to allow transgender people to use the public toilet of their choice |
Transgender Persons Bill, 2018 (1)It doesn’t provide Tans people the reservation.[despite SC order] (2) Recognizes trans people to
chose their gender (3) Criminalises begging by making it an offence for someone to compel or entice a transgender person into
seeking alms. When begging itself is no more seen as an offence, it may harm the community if such a means of livelihood – in the
absence of employment – is criminalised.
The judges of the Supreme Court and High Court in India are appointed by President as per Article 124(2) and 217 of the constitution.

Article 19(1)(c)-Right to form Cooperative Society | Article 43B- DPSP cooperative society | Article 19 (1) (a)-Right to Information | Article 280- Finance Commission

Article 352-National Emergency |

Article 46 directs the state to promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the “weaker sections of the people”, particularly of the Scheduled
Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and also directs the state “to protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation”

Article 341-1) privileges & concessions 2) 1st list of SCs in relation to a states/UT is to be issued by a notified Order of the President after consulting concerned state
Government.[so far 6 presidential orders(new state formation)]. Any subsequent inclusion in or exclusion from the list of Scheduled Castes can be effected through an
Act of Parliament | Article 338-NCSC | Article 338A-NCST | Article 338B-National Commission for Backward Classes[102nd CA] | Article 17: untouchability

Political Safeguard-SC/ST: 1)Article 330-Reservation in House of people 2)Article 335-Legislative Assemblies of State 3)Panchayats (Article 243D, 243T) | Article 335:
Reservation for SC-ST in Government jobs | Article 341: Notification of SC/ST | Article 366: Definition

Articles 330-342 under Part 16 of the Constitution outline special provisions for certain classes – SCs, STs, Backward Classes and Anglo Indians. The Constitutional
promise is explicitly for ‘social exclusion and discrimination’. Notably, the “socially and educationally backward classes” was the target group in quotas for OBCs.

Indra Sawhney vs Union of India:- Supreme Court had held that reservations under Article 16(4) could only be provided at the time of entry into government service but
not in matters of promotion.
77th CA introduced Article 16(4A), which permits reservation in promotion posts for the SCs and STs if they aren’t adequately represented

Article 330 :- Mandates test of proportionality to the population-Reservation of seats for SCs & STs in the House of People. Article 16(4A) does not do so in the provision
of reservations in promotions.

SC upheld Karnataka govt’s Reservation Act 2018, which grants reservation in promotion. Also 1)Upheld the principle of creamy layer in reservations in promotion 2)
Relieved the states from collecting quantifiable data on backwardness for providing reservation in promotions for STs and STs

CRPC Section 125 recognizes right of illegitimate child to receive parental care; IPC Section 315:- recognizes an unborn child as human life and preventing him from being
born is liable to prison upto 10 yrs &/or fine; IPC section 316: Causing death of ‘quick unborn child’ amount to homicide [recognizes-human life; Quick child is a fetus that
has developed to such a stage that it moves within the womb of the mother]; IPC section 317: Child under 12 yrs entitled to parental care-else 7yrs &/or fine.

Article 101- 1)If a person gets elected to both houses of parliament he must intimate his choice w/i 10 days or his Rajya Sabha seat will automatically become vacant 2)If
a MLA is elected to LS he must resign from state legislature w/i 14 days or his LS seat will become vacant; ] RPA 1951:- 1)Section 68- If a sitting MP from one house
contests & wins seat in another house, his seat in 1st house becomes vacant 2) Sec 33:- A person can contest from 2 constituencies, if elected from both, he has to resign
one seat within 14 days of the declaration of the result, failing which both his seats shall fall vacant.

Part XXI of the Constitution deals with “Temporary, Transitional and Special provisions”[Article 370 to 371 J]

Article 20:-No person accused of an offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself | Article 180(1)- Protem Speaker

Article 124(4) and the Judges Inquiry Act 1968 determine the procedure of removal of the judges of HC&SC

Article 87:-President’s address to joint sitting Parliament[originally individual houses-1st CA- joint sitting]; Articles 86 :- 1)Motion of thanks 2) President may address
either House of Parliament or both Houses assembled together, and for that purpose require the attendance of members.

Cabinet Committess-Government of India Transaction of Business Rules, 1961 emerging out of Article 77(3)

Article 370 Section 92: Governor’s Rule-J&K | Article-124 of the constitution deals with the appointment of judges in higher judiciary

Judicial Standards and accountability Bill, 2012: The Bill seeks to put in a place a system to probe complaints against High Court and Supreme Court Judges.[Natio]

Article 239A symbolises the supremacy of the Legislature above the Administrator in case of the Union Territory of Puducherry ie civil servants take order from elected
govt and not LG.

Article 112:- Annual Financial Statement | Art 266-Consolidated Fund of India; Public Account of India; Appropriation Bill | Art 265-Finance Bill | Art 267- Contingency
Fund of India | Art.110 (3): LS Speaker's decision final, whether a given bill is money bill or not. | Art.122: courts can't enquire into the validity of the proceedings of the
Parliament | Art 110- Appropriation Bill & Finance Bill(presented as part of budget) are considered money bill

IPC Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code required the bridegroom and his family to be automatically arrested if a wife complains of dowry harassment. The law was
widely abused and in 2014, the Supreme Court ruled that arrests can only be made with a magistrate's approval

IPC Section 497- Adultery | IPC Section 377 –Homosexuality.

As originally enacted, Articles 233 and 234 of the Constitution vested all powers of recruitment and appointment with the State Public Service Commission and High
Courts. During the Emergency, Parliament amended Article 312 of the Constitution to allow for the Rajya Sabha to pass a resolution, by two-thirds majority, in order to
kick-start the process of creating an all India judicial service for the posts of district judge. Once the resolution is passed, Parliament can amend Articles 233 and 234
through a simple law (passed by a simple majority), which law will strip States of their appointment powers.

Fundamental Duties
Article 51 A it shall be the duty of every citizen of India:
(a) to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem;
 (f) to value and preserve the rich heritage of the country’s composite culture;
(g) to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures;
(h) to develop scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform;
(i) to safeguard public property and to abjure violence;
(j) to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and
achievement;
(k) to provide opportunities for education to his child or ward between the age of 6 and 14 years. [86th CA 2002]

Directive Principles of State Policy

Article 36: Definition: In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires, “the State” has the same meaning as in Part III.

Article 37: Application of the principles contained in this PartThe provisions contained in this Part shall not be enforced by any court, but the principles therein laid down
are nevertheless fundamental in the governance of the country and it shall be the duty of the State to apply these principles in making laws.

Article 38: To promote the welfare of the people by securing a social order permeated by justice—social, economic and political—and to minimize inequalities in income,
status, facilities and opportunities.

Article 39: To secure (a) the right to adequate means of livelihood for all citizens; (b) the equitable distribution of material resources of the community for the common
good; (c) prevention of concentration of wealth and means of production; (d) equal pay for equal work for men and women; (e) preservation of the health and strength
of workers and children against forcible abuse; and (f) opportunities for healthy development of children

Article 39A: Equal justice and free legal aid. The State shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice, on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall, in
particular, provide free legal aid to poor, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities.

Article 40: Organisation of village panchayats. The State shall take steps to organise village panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be
necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government.

Article 41: To secure the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement

Article 42: To make provisions for just and humane conditions for work and for maternity relief.

Article 43: Living wage, etc., for workers. The State shall endeavor to secure, by suitable legislation or economic organization or in any other way, to all workers
agricultural, industrial or otherwise, work, a living wage, conditions of work ensuring a decent standard of life and full enjoyment of leisure and social and cultural
opportunities and, in particular, the State shall endeavor to promote cottage industries on an individual or co-operative basis in rural areas.

Article 43A: To take steps to secure the participation of workers in the management of industries

Article 43B: To promote voluntary formation, autonomous functioning, democratic control and professional management of co-operative societies.

Article 44: To secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.

Article 45: State shall early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years.

Article 46: directs the state to promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the “weaker sections of the people”, particularly of the Scheduled
Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and also directs the state “to protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation”.

Article 47: To raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living of people and to improve public health. The State shall endeavor to bring about prohibition of the
consumption except for medicinal purpose of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health.

Article 48: Organization of agriculture and animal husbandry. The State shall endeavour to organize agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and
shall, in particular, take steps for preserving and improving the breeds, and prohibiting the slaughter, of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle.

Article 48A: To protect and improve the environment and to safeguard forests and wild life.

Article 49: To protect monuments, places and objects of artistic or historic interest which are declared to be of national importance.

Article 50: To separate the judiciary from the executive in the public services of the State.

Article 51: Promotion of international peace and security. The State shall endeavor to (a) promote international peace and security (b) maintain just and honorable
relations between nations (c) foster respect for international law and treaty obligations in the dealings of organized people with one another (d) encourage settlement of
international disputes by arbitration.
Consumer:- A consumer is defined as a person who buys any good or avails a service for a consideration.

Interoperability is the ability of customers to transact across commercially and technically independent payment platforms.

Merchant Discount Rate(MDR) is the fee that a merchant must pay to a bank for every credit / debit card transaction.

Indian Constitution is unique in its contents and spirit. It derives the power from the citizens of India. It accepts the necessity of modifications
according to the changing needs of the society. The constitution will always have something that is contemporary and something that has a
more durable importance.

Blockchain: 1)A secured decentralized database that maintains a continuously growing list of records / transactions. Old entries can’t be
deleted, new entries will be visible to all. Mainly used for running cryptocurrency network 2) A system in which a record of transactions made in
bitcoin or another cryptocurrency are maintained across several computers that are linked in a peer-to-peer network

Cashless Economy: It is an economy where financial transactions are not conducted with money in the form of physical banknotes or coins, but
rather through electronic methods such as card payments, mobile apps, Prepaid Payment Instruments etc

Corruption:- It is dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery; the process by which a word or expression is
changed from its original state to one regarded as erroneous or debased [Ethics]; Corruption= Monopoly + Discretion – Accountability

Sustainable Energy is a principle in which human use of energy "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs." Sustainable energy strategies generally have two pillars: cleaner methods of producing energy and
energy conservation

Whip:-A whip in parliamentary parlance is a written order that party members be present for an important vote, or that they vote only in a
particular way. The term is derived from the old British practice of “whipping in” lawmakers to follow the party line. Parties appoint a senior
member from among their House contingents to issue whips — this member is called a Chief Whip, and he/she is assisted by additional Whips

Coalition Government:- A coalition is an alliance of parties formed for the purpose of contesting elections jointly and/or forming a government.
So coalition implies co-operation between political parties and this co-operation may take place may take place at Electoral, Parliamentary and
Governmental levels.

Leader of the Opposition is the politician who leads the official opposition in either House of the Parliament of India. To claim the status of
“official opposition” in either house a party has to secure 55 seats (10%) of the seats in the Lok Sabha and likewise 25 (10%) of the seats in the
Rajya Sabha. It is a statutory post defined in the Salaries and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977.

Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) is a farming practice that believes in natural growth of crops without adding any synthetic fertilizers and
pesticides or any other foreign elements. The word ‘Zero Budget’ refers to the zero-input cost for all crops (inter crops, border crops, multi
crops) and can be achieved through locally available inputs like cow dung as fertiliser and cow urine as pesticides or to increase soil fertility.

Currency Manipulation:- US Treasury department defines currency manipulation as when countries deliberately influence the exchange rate
between their currency and the US dollar to gain “unfair competitive advantage in international trade”.

Tax Terrorism:- It essentially means undue exercise of power by tax authorities to levy taxes using legal or extra-legal means. The Vodafone
case is a classic example, when despite a SC order ruling in favor of the company, tax laws were amended, retrospectively, in a manner that
Vodafone was made liable for a tax on past transactions.

Cross-Border Terrorism is a form in which soil of one country is used to create terror in bordering countries. As a grey zone conflict, it is an
undeclared war and considered to be highest form of strategy to bleed a nation for prolonged period by small efforts.

Budget 1)Budget is an annual financial statement containing estimated revenues and expenditures for the next financial year. Budget is the
primary tool used by Govt to implement its fiscal policy. 2) The word Budget comes from a French word ‘Bougette’ which means a Leather bag.
Finance Minister would keep the documents in it to present them to the parliament. The term “Budget” is not given in the constitution. But
finance minister has to present following documents 1) Annual Financial Statement 2) Finance Bill for collecting taxes 3) Appropriation bill for
spending money---[Art 110,112,265,266]

Fiscal Policy means the Govt. decisions regarding Government’s taxation, expenditure, subsidies and other financial operations. Using fiscal
policy, Govt influences the savings, investment and consumption in an economy to accomplish certain national goals such as income
redistribution, socio-economic welfare, inclusive growth etc. Annual Budget is the primary tool of fiscal policy

UN Habitat defines Structural transformation as the transition of an economy from low productivity and labour intensive economic activities to
higher productivity and skill intensive activities

Sustainable agriculture is that form of agriculture which attempts to produce sufficient food to meet the needs of the present-day population
without exhausting soil fertility and irreversibly damaging the environment
Integrated Farming means to integrate crop production with livestock management which in a way complement each other with a nice
symbiotic relationship which at the time is economically viable and profitable, environmentally suitable.

Youth Bulge(=Demographic Bulge) is a common phenomenon in many developing countries, and in particular, in the least developed countries.
It is often due to a stage of development where a country achieves success in reducing infant mortality but mothers still have a high fertility
rate. The result is that a large share of the population is comprised of children and young adults, and today’s children are tomorrow’s young
adults

National Emergency, as per Article 352, can be declared in India, on the basis of external aggression or armed rebellion in the whole of India or
a part of its territory. Such an emergency was declared in India in 1962 (China war), 1971 (Pakistan war), and 1975 (declared by Indira Gandhi).
A national emergency modifies the federal system of government to a unitary one by granting Parliament the power to make laws on subjects
of the State List.

Self Help Groups are groups of 10-20 people in a locality formed for any social or economic purpose. Most of the SHGs are formed for the
purpose of better financial security among its members. SHGs can exist with or without registration.

Civil Society refers to 1)all voluntarily constituted social relations, institutions, and organizations that are not reducible to the administrative
grasp of the state. 2) an intermediate realm situated between state and household, populated by organized groups or associations, which are
separate from the state, enjoy some autonomy in relations with the state, and are formed voluntarily by members of society to protect or
extend their interests, values or identities

NGOs are organizations within the civil society that work on the “not-for-profit” approach in the space which exists between the family
(household), market and state. They have emerged as important players in the development arena. NGOs or voluntary sector is also known as
the third sector.

Social Capital refers to the networks of relationships among people who live and work in a particular society, enabling that society to function
effectively. It also seen as a form of capital that produces public goods for a common good.[Hospital; Public Park; School]

Economic Growth: Increase in production capacity of economy

Development can be defined as a process of enlarging the range of people's choices which enable them to live a better life and enjoy economic
and political freedom

Developmental Projects generally consist of large scale infrastructural or industrial projects. They are accompanied/followed by
urbanization, industrialization and transformation of people’s lives and their surroundings. The contribute to nations wealth and spur
development but at the same time, if not properly managed, may lead to distress for local populace. Critics accuse them of
transferring of resources from the weaker sections of society to more privileged ones.

Human Rights are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the world, from birth until death.

Human trafficking involves recruitment, harbouring or transporting people into a profession of exploitation through the use of deception,
violence or coercion and forced to work against their will

eNAM is pan-India electronic trading portal for farm produce which aims to create unified national market for agricultural commodities by
integrating existing Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) markets

Lynching:- Lynching is a premeditated extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob
in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate a group. It is an extreme form of informal group social control and often conducted
with the display of a public spectacle for maximum intimidation.

Judicial Activism refers to the interference of the judiciary in the legislative and executive fields. The decision taken is based on
the judges personal wisdom that do not go rigidly within the text of the statutory passed by the legislature. It mainly occurs due
to the non-activity of the other organs of the government. Judicial activism is a way through which relief is provided to the
disadvantaged and aggrieved citizens

Demonetization:- It is an act of stripping a currency unit of its status as legal tender. Demonetization is mandatory whenever
there is a change of national currency. In this process, the new currency unit replaces the old unit of currency which is retired
Demographic Dividend implies a greater proportion of working age population population (15-60 years age) as compared to
the sum of shares of children(0-14) and senile population(60+)

Smart City is a designation given to a city that incorporates information and communication technologies (ICT) to enhance the
quality and performance of urban services such as energy, transportation and utilities in order to reduce resource consumption,
wastage and overall costs.

GST is a destination based indirect tax on consumption of Goods & Services. It was implemented in India under 101
constitutional amendment 2016

Monetary Policy is a macroeconomic policy, designed by the central bank of a country, to manage money supply & interest
rates. It helps shaping variables such as inflation, consumption, savings, investment, and capital. Monetary policy plays an
important role in price stability [inflation control], economic growth, job creation and social justice in any economy

Cashless economy is an economy where financial transactions are not conducted with money in the form of physical banknotes
or coins, but rather through electronic methods such as _ _ _ <insert examples>

Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) is the fee that a merchant must pay to a bank for every credit / debit card transaction. MDR
hurts merchants’ profit margin, discourages them from adopting PoS terminals, digital payment system.

E-commerce means buying and selling of goods and services over digital & electronic network. Two subtypes (1) Inventory
based model of e-commerce: Company sells the inventory of goods and services is owned by them to consumers directly. E.g.
primeabgb.com (A computer hardware site). FDI is not permitted here. (2)Marketplace based model of e-commerce: Company
merely provides a webportal/app to act as a facilitator between buyer and sellers. E.g. Amazon, Flipkart. 100% FDI allowed here

Geographical Indication Tag is a sign used on products with specific geographical origin and unique qualities due to that origin. E.g. Darjeeling
tea from W.Bengal

Agriculture Extension Services: Extension service is an informal education process to offer advice, information and training, usually meant for
farmers, villagers and women to change their outlook towards their agricultural / economic / health problems

Agriculture is a primary economic activity that includes growing crops, fruits, vegetables, flowers and rearing of livestock.

Irrigation:-The supply of water to crops at different intervals is called irrigation. While India accounts for more than 2.5% of world population
but we have barely 4% of world's water resources.

Manure / Compost is a natural substance from decomposition of organic waste. Whereas, Fertilizer is an artificial chemical prepared in
factories to boost nutrients in the soil.

Pesticides and weedicides are chemicals which are used for killing / controlling pests and weeds respectively. 25% crop loss on account of
pests, weed, diseases but India’s per hectare pesticide consumption is far less than first world. We should encourage organic pesticides and
biocontrol agents. We should adopt Integrated Pest Management approach i.e. rather than eradicating pest population to 100%, just try to
keep crop damage to economically tolerable level. Because even pests are important for biodiversity protection and food chain balance.

Organic farming is a type of agriculture that avoids the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and other chemical inputs. It relies on crop
rotation, crop residues, manures, biofertilizers, biopesticides etc

Farm Mechanization It means the higher usage of combine harvesters, land levelers, cultivators, tractors, reapers, threshers, trolleys and
mechanical pickers etc.

Economic Planning: It is the process through which Govt. prepares a list of socio-economic problems e.g. mass poverty, inequality, low
productivity in agriculture, lack of industrial and infrastructural development etc.; and then Govt. sets goals / targets / plans to fix these
problems.

Inflation is the rise in general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time

Defflation is the fall in general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time
Infrastructure is the set of basic facilities that help an economy to function & grow such as energy, irrigation, roads, railway &
telecommunication.

Smart City It is a city with smart physical, civic and economic infrastructure. It provide smart technology, utility & mobility to its residents
through 0% bureaucratic hassles & 100% use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). Although ICT/computerization itself is not
the ‘end goal’ of a smart City. The end goal is to improve quality of life, ease of living, economic growth and sustainable development

Public Private Partnership is a long-term contract between a public sector organization (Union/State/Local Body/PSU) and a private sector
company (1)to build a public infrastructure (highway, ports etc.) (2) to provide a public utility service (electricity, gas, water, transport, health
etc.).

Education is the process of imparting knowledge in a systematic manner, usually at a school or university.

Skill is the special ability to perform a task in a proficient manner. Vocational training is the method to improve a person’s skill for a given trade
e.g. Auto repair, Plumbing, carpentry or welding

Demographic dividend is economic growth potential when the share of working-age population becomes larger than the dependent population
(below 15 years & above 65). India >65% population is below 35 age.

Poverty is the lack of sufficient money to meet the minimum standard of living- including food, clothing, shelter, health and education. By
World bank definition, if a person is spending $1.91 per day, he is NOT Poor.

Universal Basic Income (UBI) means government depositing a specific sum of money in a beneficiary’s bank account each year to augment
his/her purchasing power in the open market. The term ‘universal’ is ‘de-jure’, in reality, UBI is not meant for rich & middle class families, they’ll
be excluded

Globalization:- Globalization is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide.
Globalization has grown due to advances in transportation and communication technology. It has lead increased global interactions in terms of
free flow of capital, technology, people, ideas and culture. Free flow of ideas and information has lead creation of a broad global culture(or
economy). The world has become a integrated whole where change/experience in one part creates reverberation throughout the globe.

Overcrowding/Urbanization of an urban area refers to a condition where physical infrastructure of that city is not sufficient to support the
population residing in the city at that point of time. UN Habitat estimates that by 2030 India will have 14 major clusters of cities accounting for
40% of its GDP. At present nearly 30% of population of India stays in urban areas which are projected to increase to 50% by 2050 according to
UN’s report.

Total Fertility Rate: The average number of children that a woman is expected to bear in her lifetime, provided she lives through the child
bearing age, is called the total fertility rate (TFR). A TFR of about 2.1 is considered as replacement-level fertility – if achieved, it will lead the
population to stabilise in the long run

Secularism as defined by our founding fathers, is equal respect towards all faiths and equal promotion of all faith. Indian Secularism is
established on the premise that the state must be kept away from any one religion because all religions are valid. It is based on the philosophy
of “Sarva Dhrama Sama Bhava” which means that destination of the paths followed by all religions is the same, though the paths themselves
may be different. Hence Indian secularism closer to the idea of pluralism than to the idea of “separation of church & state”.
Population:-According to United Nation’s Department on Economic & Social Affairs India will take over China in 2027 to become world’s most
populous nation

Diversity in Higher Judiciary/Judicial Reform:-Since independence, only 4 Dalits have become Supreme Court judges, including one Chief
Justice of India. Less than 4% of judges in the higher judiciary are from Dalit and tribal communities, and less than 3% are women

Appointment to Higher Judiciary:-The judges of the SC and HC in India are appointed by President as per Article 124(2) and 217 of the
constitution. In such appointment, the President is required to hold consultation with such of the Judges of the Supreme Court and of the High
Courts in the States as he may deem necessary for the purpose

Parallel Governemnt:- Madras High Court has ruled that the Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) of Puducherry could not interfere with the day-to-day
administration of the Union Territory when an elected government was in place. The court said incessant interference from the L-G would
amount to running a “parallel government.”

Women Empowerment:-India has 120 million adolescent girls, out of which 3 million out are of-school girls. 39.4% girls in the 15−18 age group
drop out of schools and colleges. Female Labor Force Participation Ratio(LFPR) 50% lower than male LFPR. 95% of working women are in the
unorganized sector

Demographic Dividend:-As per ES2018-19 the demographic advantage in India is available for five decades from 2005-06 to 2055-56, longer
than any other country in the world. This demographic advantage can be reaped only if education, skilling and employment opportunities are
provided to the young population.

MSME:- About 55-60 lakh jobs will have to be created annually over the next decade. To achieve this, it is essential that the potential of MSMEs
is harnessed by making suitable changes. If MSMEs are unshackled so as to make them grow, they will not only create greater profits for their
promoters but also contribute to job creation and productivity in the economy.

Social Media Polarization:- India today has more than 200 million users on social media, which became a handy tool to disseminate hate
speeches, fake news and hence the communal propaganda

Urban Poverty:- Urban poverty is a complex phenomenon, unlike rural poverty, it is not just inadequacy in income to buy requisite amount of
calories, it reflects deficits in education, sanitation, housing, water supply and health care services of urban delivery system. Earlier, poverty
was only looked upon as a rural phenomenon. However, India faces problem of both rural poverty as well as urban poverty. This was one of the
grounds on which Rangarajan Committee reported on urban poverty and rural poverty separately and did not construct a same basket like the
Tendulkar Committee. As stated by the World Bank, in India condition of poor is more vulnerable in urban areas than in rural areas. Of total
population only 30% of people are urbanized of which approximately 15% are still poor.

Sugar Industry:- India is the world’s largest producer of sugarcane and cane sugar and contributes about 8% of the total sugar production in the
world. At present, this is the second largest agro-based industry of India after cotton textile industry.

Bamboo:-India along with China accounts for more than 50% of world’s bamboo. They are a fast-growing species that can grow in wide variety
of climatic and edaphic conditions. As per State of Forest Report, 2017, total bamboo area in India is 15.69 million hectares, which is an increase
over previous estimates. The eastern, and northeastern India accounts for more than 50% of the bamboo areas.

AIJS: The vision document titled ‘Strategy for New India @ 75’, released by the NITI Aayog in 2018, amongst other things, proposes a spate of
judicial reforms. The think-tank has come out batting for the creation of an All India Judicial Service(AIJS), akin to the other central services like
the IAS and the IPS.

Recruitment to Higher Judiciary: (1)Favor SC: Article-124 of the constitution deals with the appointment of judges in higher judiciary. With the
99th constitutional amendment act and NJAC Bill 2014, National judicial appointment commission was established by the union government to
bring transparency and accountability in appointment of judges. However, the Supreme Court struck down the amendment citing it as a threat
to judicial independence, an integral part of Basic Structure Doctrine. (2)Favor Govt: The change in resolution by SC stopped the elevation of
Justice Pradeep Nandrajog, Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court, and Justice Rajendra Menon, Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, who had been
recommended for the Supreme Court by the Collegium on December 12. The Supreme Court, which has a new Collegium that held its first
meeting on January 10, decided instead to elevate Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court, and Justice Sanjeev
Khanna, a judge of Delhi High Court. No criteria have been set out by the collegium as to why Khanna and Maheshwari have been elevated,
apart from a bland statement that alludes to their “merit.” No reasons are given for rejecting Menon and Nandrajog. The lack of clarity again
shines a spotlight on the opaque collegium system of appointments in the higher judiciary.
Reservation representation vs. poverty alleviation: The President of India has given his assent to the bill providing 10% reservation in jobs and
educational institutions to the economically weaker sections in the general category. The legislation will be known as the Constitution (103
Amendment) Act, 2019 and it shall come into force on such date as the Centre notifies.

Problem with Higher Judiciary: The office of Chief Justice of India heaved a sigh of relief after Justice S.A. Bobde in-house committee had found
“no substance” in the sexual harassment allegations levelled by a former Supreme Court staff member against Chief Justice of India Ranjan
Gogoi. The Committee has given a clean chit to CJI Gogoi and concluded that there is no substance in the allegations of the complainant.
Two Child Policy
A nominated MP has introduced a private member’s Bill- Population Regulation Bill, 2019- in the Rajya Sabha, seeking to enforce a two-child
norm by giving incentives for those adopting the small family practice and penalties for those contravening it.

Defecton
The Anti-Defection Law was passed in 1985 through the 52nd Constitutional Amendment(CA), which added the Tenth Schedule to the Indian
Constitution. The main intent of the law was to combat “the evil of political defections”. It was further strengthened 91st CA.

Women Empowerment(or any Women Issue)

The position & status of women was very low in 18 and 19th centuries. It has started rising from the 20th century. Women are entering in
almost every field after the post 1991 period. they constitute half of world‘s population but they still remain world‘s most underutilized
resources. We need to involve them in decision making at all levels for their empowerment. It should start from the family, individual level.

In house Procedure-Judiciary
1)Since there was no other procedure against a judge of a Supreme Court or High Court, an in-house procedure was laid down. This was done at
Chief Justices’ Conference held in December 1999. The ‘In-House Procedure’ is specifically designed to deal with charges of misconduct against
sitting judges of the court.
2)The Chief Justice of India (CJI) is the head of the judiciary of India and the Supreme Court of India. The recent allegation of sexual harassment
against the Chief Justice of India (CJI), is now turning into a crisis of credibility, not just for the CJI but the judiciary and our constitutional
scheme of government as a whole.

Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was the most important of the peace treaties that brought World War I to an end. The Treaty ended the state of war
between Germany and the Allied Power. The other Central Powers on the German side signed separate treaties

Bloody Sunday
“Bloody Sunday” was a major event that took place on 22nd January 1905 as a part of series of history of Russian Revolution. In this event,
when the striking workers went on a procession toTsar’s palace to present petition to redress their grievances, the palace guards fired on
unarmed crowd.

Policy of Appeasement
Appeasement: It is the process of pacifying or (making someone less angry or hostile) by acceding to their demands. Policy of Appeasement:
After the World War 1, an economic and politically vulnerable Britain followed this policy to avoid any kind confrontation from aggressive
powers of Germany,Italy and Japan by ceding to the demands of these countries which it deemed reasonable. This policy was later taken up by
France also.

Kerala Floods
Kerala faced the brunt of an unprecedented flood, which has almost brought the state to a standstill. This is the worst flood Kerala has
witnessed in nearly a century. There were several natural causes behind this calamity but it turned into man-made disasters because of under-
preparedness of state

Tax Terrorism
Tax Terrorism’ essentially means undue exercise of power by tax authorities to levy taxes using legal or extra-legal means. The Vodafone case is
a classic example, when despite a SC order ruling in favor of the company, tax laws were amended, retrospectively, in a manner that Vodafone
was made liable for a tax on past transactions. Essentially, tax terrorism is an outcome of the existing tax framework.[CCD founder was the
recent victim of tax terrorism]

LPG Reforms
By the end of 1990, India was in a serious economic crisis, and its foreign exchange reserves by June 1991 were barely sufficient for essential
imports for two weeks. The economy was only weeks away from defaulting on its external debt payment obligations. It was at this time that P.
V. Narsimha Rao became prime minister in June; the PM would then name Manmohan Singh as finance minister. The immediate response was
to secure an emergency loan of $2.2 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by pledging 67 tonnes of India's gold reserves as
collateral. A series of large-scale reforms then began under the IMF's structural adjustment programme (SAP).

Direct Benefit Transfer

Direct Benefit Transfer or DBT is an attempt to change the mechanism of transferring subsidies launched by Government of India on 1 January
2013. This program aims to transfer subsidies directly to the people through their bank accounts.

LGBTQ
Historically, gay rights existed in India. E.g. Homosexual poses at Khajuraho temple, important positions assigned to Homosexual during Mughal
period. Homo sexuality was criminalized only during British period under penal code. (1)First petition against section 377 in 1980s was inspired
by stonewall inn incident in U.S. U.S supreme court judgment in Obergefell vs. Hodges in 2015, which legalized same sex marriages,
strengthened similar demands in India. (2) Delhi High Court in Naz Foundation case, 2009 held that Section 377 was unconstitutional. In 2013,
Supreme Court(SC) declared criminalization LGBT again by two judge bench. In the review petition, Navtej Singh Johar vs. Union of India(2018)
SC unanimously ruled that Section 377 was unconstitutional.
Coalition Government
Coalition Government:-It is the competency of the government and not whether it is a coalition or an individual
party that plays an important role in impacting the welfare of the people. Whether the right decisions come from a
coalition or an individual ruling party, they will always be appreciated and rewarded by the public.

Leader of Opposition
Under India’s almost unique system of government, the Leader of an Opposition has a very special responsibility
towards the Parliament and to the nation. While he remains a critic he must in a sense be, a partner and even a
buttress of the Government to which he is opposed. This dual responsibility he must discharge with
fidelity.[Buttress- a source of defence or support]

Women Empowerment(or any women related issue)

However, there is still huge potential for progress. Education of girl child is still neglected, we have cases of female
foeticide, women are discouraged from entering workplace, sexual harassment of women is a concern. These
issues need to be addressed for realising the full potential of Indian women

Governor/Lt Governor
Although the existence of a Governor was debated in the Constituent Assembly and critics exist for his role but, the
Governor and Lt Governor play a pivotal role in running the constitutional machinery of states and Union
Territories especially during a crisis situation. The Central government as well as the Administrator should be true
to the concept of democratic principles. Otherwise, the constitutional scheme of the country of being democratic
and republic would be defeated

Natural Disasters
With the global warming, the intensity of the flood is going to increase in the coastal regions. Therefore, the
development should be eco-centric and not against the ecological balance of the nature. Further there is a need of
‘flood code’ having ready-to-use contingency plans to cope with inundation, proper coordination among the states,
reliable weather- and flood-forecasting systems to forewarn civic administrations of impending disasters for timely
relief and action. Unceasing and tireless collective efforts as underlined by Sendai framework is the key to address
manage and neutralize the increasing risks posed by disasters

Zero Budget Natural Farming

ZNBF is suited to socio economic conditions of Indian farmers and coincides with traditional farming practices. It
helps in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). ZBNF is environment friendly(SDG 12), ensures food
security(SDG 2), helps fighting drought & climate change(SDG 13), ensures chemicals free food availability(SDG 3)
and is economically viable for small & marginal farmers(SDG 8).

Any Social Movement

(1)One of the great strengths of the women's movement has been its central chord of optimism that the world can
be different, that change can happen, and that women can and will take responsibility for bringing that change into
being. We should be asking ourselves what role we can all play to help realize the enduring promise of true
egalitarian world. (2) As Amartya Sen points out, investing in health, education, reducing poverty and other factors
of development is essential to transform a nation thus preparing a ground for long-term economic growth
benefitting each section of society

Any Diversity related issue(personal law; Article 371; Federalism; Religious liblerty etc)
The linguistic states underlined the acceptance of the principle of diversity. It was a choice in favor of recognizing
and accepting the existence of differences which could at times be oppositional. Indeed it can be said with the
benefit of hindsight that language, rather than being a force for division has proved a cementing and integrating
influence.
Any Economy Related Issue
(1)The fundamental issues of inequality, lack of social progress and inability of the economy to generate jobs
require a strategic response if the process of reforms and growth has to continue. It is time for the next generation
of reforms where India needs to carry out a judicious blend of tax, governance, electoral and technological reforms
as part of the globalisation effort to alleviate poverty and to bring about social change.
(2)As Amartya Sen points out, investing in health, education, reducing poverty and other factors of development is
essential to transform a nation thus preparing a ground for long-term economic growth benefitting each section of
society (3)Hence, development should be inclusive and participatory, integrating all stakeholders, at the same time
balancing ecological needs while equitably distributing the wealth thus created, making it ever lasting.

Legal Reforms
A culture of Rule of Law must pervade as all of the governance and cannot be improved in silos. Given the
potential economic and social multipliers of a well-functioning legal system, reforming it should be given top
priority by policy-makers
th
Infrastructure/4 Industrial Revolution:- In a fast-moving world to maintain growth momentum, India has to
develop its industry and infrastructure to experience the potential of the perfect blend of Industry 4.0 and next
generation infrastructure. Industry 4.0 encompasses automation in industrial sectors whereas next generation
infrastructure brings physical infrastructure and technology like internet of things, automation together to
maximize the efficiency of physical infrastructure.

Inclusive Growth/Social Infrastructure

India's development trajectory is critically intertwined with the investments in social infrastructure. Scaling up
development programmes for improving connectivity, providing housing, and bridging gender gaps in
socio-economic indicators is of paramount importance for sustainable development. India's march towards
achieving SDGs is firmly anchored in investing in human capital and inclusive growth.

Minimum Wage
An effective minimum wage policy is a potential tool not only for the protection of low- paid workers but is also an
inclusive mechanism for more resilient and sustainable economic development.

Behavioral Economics
Behavioural economics is, however, not a panacea to policymaking; its potential needs to be understood and put
in perspective. Nudge policies cannot and should not supplant every incentive-based and mandate based policy. In
fact, many incentive and mandate- based policies may be clubbed with a nudge effect to increase their efficacy.

Smart Cities
Smart cities are incubators of the New urban India, they would aid to achieve sustainable growth, make cities more
livable & safer with clean air, adequate infrastructure, reliable utilities & opportunities for learning

MSMEs
The development of MSMEs is crucial on many counts for Indian economy and society. Apart from proper
implementation of these UK Sinha committee’s recommendations, a cue could be taken from the global best
practices such as the Competition by cooperation concept in Italy, Contract Financing in Mexico and success stories
of Shenzhen as a technology hub in China

GST
(1)(if asked to examine critically the challenges or obstacles in GST) Any new change is accompanied by difficulties
and problems at first. A tax reform as comprehensive as GST is bound to pose certain challenges not only for the
government but also for business community, tax authorities and even common. But ultimately, <write any of
above benefits> (2) With the aforementioned features / benefits, GST will help India progress towards “ONE
NATION, ONE TAX, ONE MARKET” (3) Indeed, the introduction of GST is truly a game changer for Indian economy
as it has replaced multi-layered, complex indirect tax structure with a simple, transparent and technology–driven
tax regime (4) Thus, GST eliminates cascading of taxes and reduces transactional and operational costs, thereby
enhancing the ease of doing business and catalaysing “Make in India” campaign.
th
15 Finance Commission
(1) SDG#10 reduce inequality within and among the countries. SDG#16 requires nations to build effective,
accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. An equitable distribution of revenue tied with performance
incentives will help greatly in this regard. Therefore, we should wait till 15th FC’s final report is released, before
judging its adverse impact on states. (2) States have limited avenues for collecting direct and indirect taxes. Hence,
they are more dependent on the union devolution, and apprehensive of any reduction due to TOR. Union finance
minister and 15th FC Chairman have already tried to allay states’ fears through letters and meetings. Picture will
become clear when final report is submitted latest by 30th October 2019. (3) Economic Survey 2016-17 had
observed ‘aid-curse’ in context of Redistributive Resource transfer (RRT) i.e. over the years, Special Category States
received large amount of funds via Planning Commission and Finance Commissions yet couldn’t perform well in
poverty removal or economic growth due to lack of accountability and poor governance. The 15th FC TOR aims to
link the fund transfers with performance and accountability parameters. While states are apprehensive, but such
measures are the bitter pills that we’ll have to swallow eventually to improve India’s human development and
economic growth.

Less Cash Economy

Digital payment is not a panacea, nor is cash all bad. For a developing country like India, “Less cash” economy
better than “Cashless” economy.

PM-JAY
(1)Sustainable Development Goal SDG#3 Ensure healthy lives and well-beings at all ages. PM-JAY is a right step in
this regard, provided aforementioned challenges are addressed. (2)- Disease burden robs a poor person of his
wages and savings. If aforementioned challenges are addressed, PM-JAY can greatly help in poverty removal and
human development in India. (3) If above challenges are addressed, PM-JAY can improve health outcomes,
productivity and efficiency of Indian population, thus leading to improvement GDP and in quality of life.

Conclusion for SEZ related question

Government of India has set a target of creating 100 million jobs and achieving 25% of GDP from the
manufacturing sector by 2022, as part of its flagship ‘Make in India’, so above reforms / recommendations will help
achieving these targets

Electronics / IT Technology
It permeates all sectors of economy. It plays vital role in economic growth, employment generation and strategic
security of nation. R&D, IPR and Training are the critical components for the success of an Electronics / IT
Technology company. Aforementioned policy, initiative, scheme will play a significant role in this regard

Startups
Startups have always been the engine of progress. The mega corporations of today were startups of yesterday.
Startups can be effective instruments for reaping India’s demographic dividend, catalyze employment generation
and augment its economic growth. The aforementioned policies/ schemes are significant in this regard

IPR
Innovations / Startup can turn Indian youths from job seekers into job creators. They encourage entrepreneurship,
innovation and creation of revolutionary new products that can be used by people around the world. Hence
startups are important / protecting their IPR is important.

Ease of Doing Business

World bank research indicates that countries that improve 10 points on the Ease of Doing business score create an
additional 60 new businesses per 1 lakh population. Those new businesses create further job opportunities, which
help reduce poverty & inequality in a country. Thus, ease of doing business for ‘corporates’ results into the ease of
living for poor people. The aforementioned scheme / policies / act / initiatives / challenges will play pivotal role in
that regard / must be addressed on priority basis.

Textile / Leather industry

Textile / Leather industry has great potential to generate new jobs especially for Indian women, & augment our
income from exports. These industries can greatly help achieving SDG Goal #1: End poverty, Goal #5: Gender
Empowerment, Goal #8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, Goal #10: Reduce
inequality within India. Aforementioned policy / scheme / initiative / challenges are crucial in that regard / must be
addressed on priority basis

MSME
MSMEs produce over 30% of India’s GDP, contribute to over 45% India’s total exports and provide employment &
entrepreneurship opportunities to weaker sections of the society. Thus they play a pivotal role for both industrial
development and human development of India. These industries can greatly help achieving SDG Goal #1: End
poverty, Goal #5: Gender Empowerment, Goal #8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth,
Goal #10: Reduce inequality within India. Aforementioned policy / scheme / initiative / challenges are crucial in
that regard / must be addressed on priority. Aforementioned Policy / Scheme / Act / Bill is important to catalyse
that role played by MSMEs.

GM Crop
(1)Conclude in Favor: India needs self-sufficiency in agriculture because of 1) SDG goal of ZERO HUNGER 2)
Economic goal of low food inflation. GM-crop can help in this regard, so a positive consideration should be given
GM adoption in India. (2) Conclude Against: India is a signatory to Cartagena protocol to protect biodiversity. SDG
Goal (#2.5) also requires all nations to protect the genetic diversity of plants and animals. Given the
aforementioned concerns, GM crops should not be introduced in India without due diligence.

Loan Waiver
From the aforementioned analysis, it’s evident that farm debt waiver will have negative macroeconomic
consequences for India. Debt waiver is neither feasible nor sustainable solution against agrarian distress, we
should work on more efficient and targeted ways to help farmers.

Agri Exports
Thus, this policy will help integrating Indian agricultural products with the global value chains and help doubling
farmers’ income by 2022.

PM Kisan
Successive economic surveys have noted that farming is not a profitable enterprise in India. This scheme can
greatly help achieving SDG Goal #1: End poverty 2, Goal#2: Zero Hunger and PM Modi’s target of doubling farmer’s
income by 2022. However, an Indian farmer is often at the mercy of the monsoon & the APMC-merchants. PM
KISAN income support scheme is a notable initiative to empower him.

Price stabilization of Vegetable & Pulses

Vegetables and pulses are rich source of vitamins and nutrients. They’re part of large varieties of Indian and
international cuisines. Therefore, food Inflation is a matter of concern for (1) nutritional security in India and (2)
India’s export competitiveness. Hence aforementioned factors need to be addressed on priority basis

Agriculture/Doubling Farmer’s Income

Agriculture is the largest sector of Indian economy in terms of number of people employed. For their income
security, as well as entire India’s food & nutritional security, we’ve to focus on improving soil, irrigation, seed,
fertilizers, market reforms etc. <insert name of x y z> scheme is important in that regard. And / or to double the
farmers income, we’ve to focus on horticulture / floriculture / fisheries / animal husbandry / poultry / food
processing / extension services and therefore addressing aforementioned <insert name of > challenges is need of
the hour
NITI Aayog vs Planning Commission
From above points, it is evident that NITI’s approach is more modernised, forward-looking, less bureaucratic and
less status-quo oriented than the erstwhile Planning Commission. With such initiatives, NITI Ayog is playing a
pivotal role for economic growth, human development and good governance in India.

NITI’s Strategy for New India @ 75

Higher economic growth can help increasing employment avenues for citizens & tax revenues for the
Governments. Collectively, this results in improved living standards through higher expenditure on health &
education by both the citizens and the State. Therefore, we must leave no stone unturned to accomplish above
targets / address above challenges on priority basis.

Energy
(1)Access to clean, reliable and affordable energy increases the ease of living, improves education and human
development. Aforementioned schemes / initiatives / challenges are important in that regard / need to be
addressed on priority basis (2) Energy is the prerequisite for development of any society. Energy improves the
access to healthcare, education and overall wellbeing. SDG Goal#7 requires India to provide affordable, reliable
and modern energy services to all by 2030. Aforementioned Scheme/Policy/Challenge…..…..

Water
Water is a scarce natural resource. Water is fundamental to life, livelihood, food security and sustainable
development. SDG Goal#6 requires India to provide Universal access to safe and affordable drinking water for all.
Aforementioned policy / scheme / challenges are significant in this regard / need to be addressed on priority basis

Transport/Communication
Good connectivity is a fundamental requirement equitable industrial growth in all regions. SDG Goal #9 requires
India to build resilient infrastructure including all weather roads connecting all villages. Aforementioned scheme /
policy / challenges….

Housing
A homeless family is more vulnerable to crime, disease & disasters. SDG Goal #11 requires India to provide safe
and affordable housing to all by 2030. Aforementioned scheme / policy / challenges…..

Sustainable Cities/Urbanization
India is a fast urbanizing country and is witnessing a steady increase in migration from rural areas to urban centers.
This poses stress on the already overburdened infrastructure of the cities. SDG Goal 11 requires India to work
towards Sustainable cities and communities. Aforementioned scheme / policy / challenges…...

Rural Infrastructure Development

SDG Goal #8 requires India to provide decent work and economic growth opportunities to all. Since majority of
Indians reside in rural areas, the rural infrastructure development is the lynchpin factor in this regard.
Aforementioned scheme / policy /…

Digital
SDG Goal #9 (infrastructure) requires India to provide Universal telephone and internet connectivity to all. Above
scheme / policy helps in digital access, digital inclusion, digital empowerment and bridging the digital divide. Thus,
it’ll play an important role in transforming India into a knowledge-based economy and digitally empowered
society.

Infrastructure
Infrastructure is a critical determinant of economic growth. It has a direct bearing on investment, manufacturing
sector, logistics and productivity. Infrastructure is equally important for social sectors - be it education or health.
- Therefore SDG Goal #9 focuses on building resilient & sustainable infrastructure. In India, infrastructure gaps
exists in most of the sectors- posing a serious threat to our economic growth and sustainable development.
Therefore, (1) Aforementioned scheme / policy / initiative is important in that regard (2) Aforementioned
challenges need to be addressed on priority basis. (3) While the aforementioned XYZ PPP-investment model may
not be the panacea in every case but it can surely help improving our infrastructure

Education
India can’t achieve SDG Goal 1 (Poverty removal) or SDG Goal 5 (Gender Equality) without achieving SDG Goal 4
(education). Without education, a person can’t lead productive life in a globalising world. Education improves a
society’s health and nutritional status, economic growth, population control, empowerment of the weaker
sections. Aforementioned schemes / initiatives / challenges are important in that regard / need to be addressed on
priority basis.

Skill
(1)According to India Skill report 2019 more than 50% of youth with college degrees are unemployable. To reap
the demographic dividend of India, it is therefore necessary to focus on the vocational training and skill
development. (2) SDG Goal 8 requires India to provide full, productive & decent work/employment for all. A
person without skill remains either unemployed, disguisedly unemployed or underemployed. Aforementioned
schemes / initiatives / challenges are important in that regard / need to be addressed on priority basis.

UBI
(1)UBI-Favour: UBI can play a pivotal role in eliminating poverty and providing safety net against deprivation and
destitution. However, UBI should be designed & implemented in a manner that minimizes leakage & doesn't put
heavy burden on fiscal resources. (2) Conclusion-UBI-Anti: While UBI can play a pivotal role in eliminating poverty
and providing safety net against deprivation and destitution, but in the light of the aforementioned challenges, the
conditions are not yet ripe for its introduction in India

Poverty
While India’s GDP and national income is rising every year, not everyone has benefited equally from this
prosperity, as evident from <insert xyz report data>. - Poverty acts as a barrier against gender development &
human development. Therefore, SDG Goal 1 aims to end poverty in all its forms everywhere. Aforementioned
schemes / initiatives / challenges are important in that regard / need to be addressed on priority basis.

Health
People can lead socially and economically productive life only when they have a good health. Preventable illness /
death of a father / mother may push a family into poverty, students into child labourers, adolescents into juvenile
delinquents. Universal health coverage is therefore a prerequisite for human development. Else, India's economic
growth will neither be sustained or secured for long term. Aforementioned schemes / initiatives / challenges are
important in that regard / need to be addressed on priority basis.

Hunger
Hunger elimination / Nutritional security is fundamental to ensure human development. Malnutrition among
women increases the vulnerability to IMR & MMR. A malnourished person cannot absorb quality education,
pursue economic opportunities or have a long life expectancy. Therefore, SDG Goal #2 requires India to end all
forms of hunger & malnutrition by 2030. Aforementioned schemes / initiatives / challenges are important in that
regard / need to be addressed on priority basis.

Women
(1)Sustainable Development Goal SDG# 5 requires India to achieve gender equality and empower all women and
girls. Both human and economic development of India, it’s imperative that we address the rampant gender
inequality in India on war-footing. (1) While initiatives such as Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and Sukanya Samridhi
Yojana are important steps in gender empowerment, yet, India’s poor ranking in the global report indicates that
Govt schemes alone can’t reduce the gender inequality until the collective will and mindset of Indian society is
changed.

Human Development
Human development is fundamentally about giving more opportunities and freedom to people.
- Gandhi-ji noted, “A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members. Every human being
counts, and every human life is equally valuable.” - This universalism is also at the core of our Constitution. While
India has done well in terms of economic growth but aforementioned report(s) / index indicate(s) that more needs
to be done to ensure our economic growth translates into human development for all.

SDG
SDG goals recognize that (1) ending poverty requires economic growth (2) while ending socio-economic disparities
requires economic development (3) But neither the economic growth nor the economic development should come
at the cost of harming future generations.

LGBTQ
Supreme Court restores the equality before the law of all sexual orientation & identities. LGBT Community will be
able to love the life with dignity. Though globalization may have played an role in accelerating the Rights of LGBT
community, it was Indian society which secured rights for its marginalized section. Even after Supreme Court has
decriminalized the Section 377 but it's a long way to go before LGBTQ get complete social acceptance.

Communal Harmony
(1)India is nursery of many blended cultures, it is hope of all exploited races on Earth, therefore it is high time to
bring Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2011, back to table so that
responsibility could be fixed for any untoward incident and communal harmony could be secured. (2)Though the
remnant of communalism belong to colonial times and they can be traces out in contemporary time but such
incidents could not disturb the harmony of India .This is due to the VALUES, MORALITIES & TOLERANCE which is in
inbuilt character of India.

Any Social Institution under stress

Today traditional indicators of society: marriage, family and motherhood are changing fast; hence massive
makeover in our social and legal institutions is needed to cope up with emerging challenges to safeguard both
individual liberty and social good.

Poverty
Poverty reduction was chosen as the first of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It became
the overriding mission of the World Bank. Poverty reduction was declared the key objective of the national
development strategies of India. Thus Robust Implementation of Government Schemes are required like: RURBAN
mission, AMRUT Yojana, Start-up India and Skill India with focus on MSME, Land and Agriculture reform,
Inclusiveness aspect in Smart city Mission.

Health
Out of 17 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS and 169 targets, 10 goals are directly or indirectly related to health,
which shows the seriousness of national and international governments. Also the preparedness for disease with
antidotes will help to reach the target.

SHGs
The success of SHGs (is determined by the extent they/is because of the fact that they) adjust, absorb and
transform structural inequalities inherent to the rural landscape. This process gradually balances the
power-relations enabling the disempowered to have greater control, choices and opportunities.[ urban
poor/tribal]
Women Entrepreneurship
The business of entrepreneurship promotion is not the same as livelihoods promotion, as it requires treating
women as entrepreneurs and not just workers. Realizing that is key to achieving the twin goals of rural growth and
promotion of women entrepreneurship[economic growth]

Cooperative Societies
A salient feature of Indian Co-operative movement is that it has not only numerically expanded but has
continuously diversified its activities over the years. It has left almost no sector of economy untouched.

Bamboo
Government support is crucial as this industry has huge employment potential. Thus, steps such as
mandatory 10% procurement of bamboo furniture by all departments, curbing imports of incense sticks
from Vietnam and China, generating awareness about its environment friendly nature, setting up a
Bamboo development authority to coordinate its promotion etc. should be taken by the government

All India Judicial Services

The problems of the Indian judiciary at all levels have reached catastrophic levels. The public is losing confidence in
the judiciary despite the latter’s assertions. Data show that they are acting on this belief by filing fewer cases year
on year. It is likely to be a combination of delays, cost, uncertainty, inefficiency and corruption. Not one of these
problems is solved to any degree by centralizing the manner of recruitment of judges. On the contrary, this
endless, stagnant debate on the AIJS only takes up time and energy instead of focusing attention on implementing
more direct solutions to address the problems of the Indian judiciary

Appointment to Higher Judiciary

The appointment of judges to higher judiciary is shrouded with opacity and delays. This has in turn lead to delayed
justice, huge pendency of cases, nepotism which can malign the judiciary organ of our democracy. There is an
urgent need to take up the reforms and induce the transparency and uphold the sanctity of Judiciary.
Non-Partisanship & Impartiality:-However, it’s a bitter truth that non-partisanship and impartiality is
seldom achieved in public service. In a diverse country like ours it is important that civil servants uphold
these values and become a true democratic interface

Significance of Ethics in the International Relations:-Ethics helps to avoid undue wars, conflicts and
provide an ecosystem where there is mutual trust, goodwill, and confidence among all the Countries
and helps to foster International Relations
Women Empowerment/Gender Bias

Miscellaneous:- UN declared 1975 as the International Women’s Year | Towards Equality Report (1974) |Mathura rape case [Custodial rape] |
Shrine Entry: Shani Shignapur temple, Haji Ali Dargah, Sabrimala | Dowry Prohibition Act(1961), IPC Section 498A-dowry, IPC Section 497-
Adultery | Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 |Self-Employed Women’s Association
(SEWA)-Ahmedabad-1972 | Joint land titles-women avail farmer welfare schemes | Less than 3% judges in higher judiciary are women |The 1st
Lok Sabha had only 5% women representatives, while the 17th(current) LS has 14.4%[highest since independence]. This is still a low number
given that it is not near proportional representation. The U.S. has 32% lawmakers, while neighbouring Bangladesh has 21%; Over 600 women
have been legislators since 1962. Of the 543 constituencies, about half (48.4%) have never voted a woman MP since 1962; |

Problems Faced(India Specific):- 1)The obstacles to political empowerment are mainly in 3 areas : a)Registration as voter. Gender ratio on the
electoral rolls: 800 (almost) b)Actual participation in voting c) Contesting as candidate 2)Index a) Gender Equality Index: 127th rank b) Gender
Development Index: 132ndrank c)WEF Gender Gap Index: India rank 108[139 in 2015] d) SDG Gender Index: India-rank 95 3) Nirbhaya Fund is
lying unused

Problems Faced(Globally):- 1)More than 33% of women have experienced sexual violence 2)Women make 80% of all refugees and displaced
people. Rape and genocide are often directed towards female. 3)Women are seldom included as stakeholders in peace processes 4)

Govt Initiatives 1) World Bank, UN Women and the SIDBI have recently launched a women’s livelihood bond that will help individual women
entrepreneurs to take loans between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh at interest rates of about 13% in order to set up or scale-up their own
enterprises 2) Since its launch in 2011, the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) has mobilized 50 million poor rural women into SHGs and
their higher-level federations. These groups have leveraged nearly $30 billion from commercial banks. 3) Coastal Disaster Risk Reduction
Project where local women, mostly widows and single women who form the Seaweed Squads along the coast of Tamil Nadu, are being trained
in modern seaweed cultivation [breaks waves; sell sea weed for living] 4)Companies Act 2013- mandatory to have one woman director on each
board[nearly 25% of the women appointees on boards are family members of the owners]; SEBI appointed Uday Kotak panel suggested that
this mandatory women seat should be filled by an independent women director 5) NARI Portal: The NARI portal will provide information to
women on issues affecting their lives. 6) e-Samvad Portal: The MWCD also launched the portal to provide platform for NGOs and Civil Societies
to interact with the ministry 7) “heforshe” campaign 8) beti bachao beti padhao to badlav

Major breakthroughs:-1) The enactment of the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution in 1992-33% women reservation 2) Union
cabinet,in 2009, approved an increase in reservation for women from 33 to 50%in Panchayati raj institutions. Following states implemented it
Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tripura and Uttarakhand 2) Gross enrolment ratio
(GER) of girls in elementary education has improved dramatically, from 66% in 1991 to 97% in 2014 3) GER of girls has also improved in higher
education, from 7.5% in 2002–03 to close to 20% in 2012–13 (just a shade behind boys at 22%) 4) Women permanent commission in armed
forces/navy/air force and SC decision in this favour.

Anecdotes 1) Till a few years ago Sudha Devi’s family was dependent on her husband’s apprenticeship job at a sweet shop in Patna, Bihar.
Starting from small incremental loans of Rs. 2500 to Rs. 20,000, Sudha and her husband Sakhinder built up a successful local business which
now has an annual turnover of Rs. 40 lakh. 2) When a male vendor sells golgappas or samosas or other snacks, he is able to do so because his
wife wakes up early in the morning and spends six hours rolling out the golgappas or samosas and frying them or making all the other
ingredients that get loaded onto the cart that the vendor takes to different localities to sell. The value of the golgappas or samosas gets
counted in the GDP. This value includes the labour contributed by both husband and wife. However, the problem is that while he gets counted
as a worker, his wife does not. The tragedy is that neither she herself, nor her husband, see her as a worker or consider her contribution as
valuable. 3) All women crewed Indian navy ship to circumnavigate world in 2017

Rhetoric/subheadings:- 1)Women empowerment is not possible without involving them in decision-making at all levels

Stat:- 1)World Bank: a) Women make up 48% of the Indian population. b) Female child mortality- over 239,000 girls under the age of 5 dying
each year. c) Female Infant mortality rate is 32[behind 148 countries; behind Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan & Bangladesh] d) Female
enrollment rate: 93 girls/100 boys [jump from 90girls/100 boys in 2001] 2) Census 2011: a) India’s female labor force participation rate(LFPR) is
25.2% [World bank amongst the lowest in the world]. It has stagnated at 25% since 2001. It is 50% lower than male LFPR b) Literacy rate:
Female-65%[male 82%] 3)Child Sex ratio-919[down from 927 in 2001] 3) ILO’s Global Wage Report 2018 a) Gender wage gap highest in India,
women are paid 34% less than men [highest among 73 countries studied in the report] b) Global average-16% c)Sri Lanka has a wage gap of
10.2% d)In Bangladesh women are paid 5.5% higher than men - -[hourly wages] 4) Grand Thronton’s Women in Business Report: Women in
top leadership roles in corporate a)India ranks 5th from the bottom w/ 20% women representation b)India’s rank improved in 2018 after being
3rd from bottom since 2015 5)Catalyst.org(a Global non profit): Nearly 50% of Indian women drop out of the corporate employment pipeline
between junior and mid-levels, compared to 29% across Asia 6)Bank of America Merrill Lynch: In India women directors constitute only 12% of
corporate boards [Global average 15%] 6)Deloitte: a)India has 120 million adolescent girls, out of which 3 million out are of-school girls b)39.4%
girls in the 15−18 age group drop out of schools and colleges. c) 95% of working women are in the unorganized sector. 7) UN report ” Cyber
violence against women and girls” – 73% women reported facing violence online 8)ES 2018-19 self-employed male workers earned 2 times
more than the earnings of self-employed female workers in urban areas

Qutoes:- 1) Yatra Naryastu Poojyante, Ramante Tatra Devatah (Wherever ladies are worshipped, there dances goddesses) –Bhagavad Geeta 2)
Women must not accept, she must challenge –Margaret Sanger 3) Country can never be developed without the contribution of other half. –
Mahatma Gandhi 4) Women alone can emancipate themselves, not men. – Mahatma Gandhi 5) Educate one man, you educate one person, but
educate a woman and you educate a whole civilisation. – Mahatma Gandhi 6) “Countries and Nations which do not respect women have never
become great nor will ever be in future”-- Swami Vivekananda 7) I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which
women have achieved- B. R. Ambedkar 8) To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it is man’s injustice to woman. If by strength is meant brute
strength, then, indeed, is woman less brute than man. If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man’s superior. –
Gandhi

What is needed? 1)Private Sector a)Need to create more female role models in corporate b)Flexibility like work from home, flexi hours,
sabbaticals etc. c)Increasing openness of organizations to extend paid maternity leave beyond the leave mandated by law

Swacch Bharat Mission

Introduction:- In 1986 that the Indian government launched the Central Rural Sanitation Programme—the first nationwide
sanitation programme. Several other sanitation programmes were launched in the next 28 years, like the Nirmal Bharat
Abhiyan in rural India and Basic Services for Urban Poor in urban India. But none of them come close to the success achieved by
Swacch Bharat Mission(SBM).

http://www.ias4sure.com/wikiias/gs2/swachh-bharat-mission-analysis/

Terms:- India Sanitation Conference(INDOSAN) (1)Assessing progress under the mission, deliberating on related issues and
renewing the commitment (2)recognize individuals and organisations who have made significant contribution for generating
awareness about sanitation and motivating people | Swacch Bharat Cess | From Swachh Bharat to Sundar Bharat |

Before the launch of SBM in 2014:-(1)Only 42 per cent of households in the country had access to sanitation facilities (2)Only
30 per cent of the wastewater and sewage generated in urban India was treated before being let into rivers and streams. (4)
Only 47,000 villages were ‘Open Defecation Free’(ODF) (5)Every year, an estimated 0.4 million children died of water-borne
diseases such as cholera, dysentery and many more suffered from stunted growth & wasting

SBM has turned out to be an overwhelming success:- (1)National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS), and found that
93.4% people who had toilets, used them regularly. NARSS also re- confirmed the ODF status of 95.6% of the villages that had
been verified ODF by the state governments (2)457,000 villages—around 76 per cent of India’s villages—have been declared
ODF. (3)Around 83.8 million toilets have been built so far under the scheme (4)Toilet coverage in the country has reached
almost 92 per cent

Steps that contributed to success of SBM:- (1) Swachh Bharat Kosh to encourage Corporate Social Responsibility and accept
contributions from private organizations, individuals and philanthropists. (2)Symbolism/Behavioral Economics (a) The campaign
was launched on 2nd October, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi and aims to eliminate open defecation by 2019, as fitting
tribute to the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi . It symbolises the values propagated by him and thereby
create a mass movement on the lines of ‘satyagraha’ for a cleaner India. (c)More than 5 lakh swachhagrahis (similar to
satyagrahis), foot soldiers of the SBM, were recruited to reinforce the message of toilet usage. The foot-soldiers have helped in
geo-tagging toilets, verifying household behaviour, converting old toilets and retrofitting(=addition of new technology or
features to older systems )them, engaging in other forms of cleanliness. (d) Participatory Rural Appraisal and Community-led
Total Sanitation induced people to come together, appraise their community’s open defecation situation. (3) Star Rating of
Garbage Free Cities:- (a) City will be given rating of 3 star or above only after it is declared ODF (b) Cities would self declare their
rd
star ratin which would be subject to 3 party evaluation (4)Swachh Swasth Sarvatra: (a) Aim: strengthen community health
centres in blocks across the country to enable them to achieve higher levels of cleanliness and hygiene (b)Kayakalp(Mo H&FW)
+ SMB (5)Swachh Iconic Places: (a) Aim: improve sanitation of iconic places to benefit & inspire tourists. (b) MoDS, Mo Tourism,
Mo HUA, Mo Culture (6) Swachhta Hi Seva campaign

Challenges to SBM :- (1)Maintaining the ODF status (a)In water scarce districts toilets are used only during monsoon and post
monsoon period when there is availability of water. Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation(MDWS) calls them “apparitional
districts” (b)Many toilets have became dysfunctional (2)Proper solid/liquid waste management (3) Fudging of data. CAG report
of 2018 found discrepancy in the numbers reported by state governments.

Government Initiatives/plans to address the challenges:- (1)MDWS is working with NITI Aayog to increase usage by ensuring
sustainable water supply in apparitional districts (2)Regular surveys like Swachh Survekshan to assess the functioning of SBM
(3)Monitoring through online monitoring system of Swachhata Samiksha (4)Making sanitation a new arena of competitive
federalism at all 3 levels of government and among different ministries and departments of government with initiatives like
Swachh Survekshan Grameen Awards and Swachch Bharat Grand Challenge Awards (5)Engaging wider community with
initiatives like Swachhata Hi Seva' movement

Conclusion:- Universal toilet coverage is only the first step towards attaining ODF status. A long and persistent effort is needed
to achieve the Gandhiji’s dream of Swachh Hindustan.

Agriculture

Miscellanious: India is home to 30% of the total organic producers in the world, but accounts for just 2.59% (1.5 million hectares) of
the total organic cultivation area of 57.8 million hectares, according to the World of Organic Agriculture 2018 report | ZNBF |
Agriculture Export Policy 2018 1) Double agricultural exports from present US$ 30+ Billion to US$ 60+ Billion by 2022 and reach
US$ 100 Billion in next few years 2) Diversify India’s export basket, destinations and also boost high value and value added
agricultural exports including perishables |Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) for specified agriculture products that will
provide assistance for the international component of freight and marketing of agricultural produce. |Agriculture Census (2015-16):
1) the number of operational holdings (land put to agricultural use), has increased to 14.6 crore (2015-16) from 13.8 crore (2010-11)
2)86% land holdings= < 2hectare w/ 68.5% being<1 hectare | ES 2018-19 recommends1) redefining land use categories to include
fisheries and aquaculture as components of agriculture 2) With fragmentation of agricultural holdings and depletion of water
resources, the adoption of a resource-efficient, ICT based climate-smart agriculture can enhance agricultural productivity and
sustainability. 3) The agriculture landscape has to undergo tremendous transformation and shift from the philosophy of ‘green
revolution led’ productivity to ‘green methods’ led sustainability in agriculture in order to achieve a safe and food secure future 4)
GVA in Agriculture: The Gross Value Added (GVA) in agriculture improved from a negative 0.2% in 2014-15 to to 2.9%in 2018-19 5)
Almost 89 per cent of groundwater in India is extracted for irrigation. By 2050, India will be in the global hot spot for ‘water insecurity
6) The cropping pattern in India is highly skewed towards crops that are water intensive. This is due to incentive structures like MSP,
heavily subsidized electricity, water and fertilizers. The water guzzlers, paddy and sugarcane, consume more than 60% of irrigation
water available in the country, thereby reducing water availability for other crops 7) Focus in agriculture should shift from ‘land
productivity’ to ‘irrigation water productivity’. 8) Regional distribution of agricultural credit is highly skewed. Distribution of agricultural
credit is low in North Eastern, Hilly and Eastern States. | eNAM | M.S. Swaminathan Commission (Agriculture) | Evergreen
Revolution | Aquaponic method combines aquaculture — cultivating fish and other aquatic animals in tanks — with hydroponics,
where plants are cultivated in water. Hydroponics can save up to 90% water than conventional agriculture |Millets |

Govt Initiatives: Kisan Credit Card Scheme; Agri-Market Infrastructure Fund; National Agricultural Higher Education Project
(NAHEP); Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana; Online Portal “ENSURE”; Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan (PM-
AASHA; 3 type-procurement); KALIA(Odisha); PM KISAN; PM KUSUM; |

Areas of intervention (1) Strategies for Accelerated Growth (2) Agri-Logistics (Backbone of the System) (3) Agricultural
Marketing (Brain of the System) (4) Sustainability Concerns in Agriculture (6) Input Management – Resource Use Efficiency (a)
Water (b) Soils and Fertilizers (c) Pest Management (Non-vertebrates) (d) Pest Management (Vertebrates) (e) Seeds (7) Labour -
Farm Mechanisation (8) Credit (9) Production Enhancement through Productivity Gains (a) Cereals: staple crops – rice, wheat &
maize (b) Nutri-rich Cereals (c) Pulses (d) Oilseeds (e) Commercial Crops (Cotton and Sugarcane) (f) Model Cropping Patterns /
Cropping Systems (g) Horticulture (h) Sericulture (g) Dairy and Livestock[dairy & meat] (h) Small Ruminants and Poultry (i) Fisheries
(j) Bee-keeping (h) Mushroom cultivation (i) Lac cultivation (j) Agro-forestry & Bamboo (9) Farm Linked Activities and Secondary
Agriculture (a) Compost making and Vermi-culture (b) Agri-tourism (10) Skilling (11) Risk Management in Agriculture (12)
Empowering the Farmers through Extension & Knowledge Diffusion (13) Science for Doubling Farmers’ Income (a) Research &
Development in Agriculture (b) Digital Technology in Agriculture – Information Technology (IT), Space Technology & Geo-spatial
Technology (14) Structural Reforms and Governance Framework
Farm Distress:(1) Decreasing size of land holdings[86%,68%] –no money for mechanization; rising cost of input; lowering of water
table-deep boring; not viable means of livelihood; only 33..33% area under irrigation cover (2)MSP benefits large trader and not
farmers: procurement agencies in city; farmers get as less as 25% of MRP; small traders refrain from buying small produce[Wheat &
rice that are procured by govt] (3) Cartelization of APMCs: Licensed traders formed cartels; fix low prices, delay payments, extract
huge commissions[ crops are sold through auction but cartels fix low purchase price(low floor price); other cereal and non cereal
crops; ES 2016-17 highlighted in efficiency of APMCs] (4)Natural risks: Pests; Drought or delayed monsoon(lowers productivity) ;
Plant diseases; floods; price instability (a) low yield-low total earning (b)high yield-deflation ; (5) growth rate of input cost more than
growth rate of farmer income (6) About 52% of agricultural households are estimated to be in debt, and the average size of
household debt is Rs47k; predominance of informal sources of credit. (7)Crisis areas- Maharastra, TN, Andhra (8)Economic &
Political Weekly: strong correlation b/w crop failure & farmer suicide (9) Apathy of urban elites/civil society| | Information
Asymmetry 1)Land Records: Due to improper information of land records-either due to negligence of land owner or govt
official(patwari)- farmers face difficulty in getting credit and availing government schemes 2) Seeds and Fertilizers-farmers depend
on info provided by seller and many times their interests don’t coincide 3)Irrigation: Large farmers deplete ground water while small
farmers runs out of methods to utilize traditional irrigation methods and becomes helpless due to lack of information about proper
rainwater harvesting or any other modern irrigation methods 4)Credit: Agri Financing is most vulnerable to information asymmetry in
Indian agriculture. Minimal awareness or nil awareness of a farmer about how to benefit from a government scheme is a problem
that persisted from a very long time. Credit reform is the primary pathway to enhancing small farm productivity. There is also a need
to improve efficiency in the financial delivery system by controlling both transactions and risk costs.5) Marketing:- Middlemen exploit
this information asymmetry to get crops at low rates | The current crisis can be summed up as diminishing soil fertility, sinking water
table, increasing costs (all effects of the Green Revolution) and poor returns to farmers, periodic unaffordable spikes in key
commodities, and periodic excess production

Possible Interventions: (1) Strategies for Accelerated Growth (2) Agri-Logistics (Backbone of the System) (3) Agricultural
Marketing (Brain of the System) (4) Sustainability Concerns in Agriculture (6) Input Management – Resource Use Efficiency (a)
Water (b) Soils and Fertilizers (c) Pest Management (Non-vertebrates) (d) Pest Management (Vertebrates) (e) Seeds (7) Labour -
Farm Mechanisation (8) Credit (9) Production Enhancement through Productivity Gains (a) Cereals: staple crops – rice, wheat &
maize (b) Nutri-rich Cereals (c) Pulses (d) Oilseeds (e) Commercial Crops (Cotton and Sugarcane) (f) Model Cropping Patterns /
Cropping Systems (g) Horticulture (h) Sericulture (g) Dairy and Livestock[dairy & meat] (h) Small Ruminants and Poultry (i) Fisheries
(j) Bee-keeping (h) Mushroom cultivation (i) Lac cultivation (j) Agro-forestry & Bamboo (9) Farm Linked Activities and Secondary
Agriculture (a) Compost making and Vermi-culture (b) Agri-tourism (10) Skilling (11) Risk Management in Agriculture (12)
Empowering the Farmers through Extension & Knowledge Diffusion (13) Science for Doubling Farmers’ Income (a) Research &
Development in Agriculture (b) Digital Technology in Agriculture – Information Technology (IT), Space Technology & Geo-spatial
Technology (14) Structural Reforms and Governance Framework | ES 2018-19 recommends1) redefining land use categories to
include fisheries and aquaculture as components of agriculture 2) With fragmentation of agricultural holdings and depletion of water
resources, the adoption of a resource-efficient, ICT based climate-smart agriculture can enhance agricultural productivity and
sustainability. 3) The agriculture landscape has to undergo tremendous transformation and shift from the philosophy of ‘green
revolution led’ productivity to ‘green methods’ led sustainability in agriculture in order to achieve a safe and food secure future (4)
Regional distribution of agricultural credit is highly skewed. Distribution of agricultural credit is low in North Eastern, Hilly and
Eastern States | Diversification of agricultural produce- small farmers can’t compete with large farmers on conventional crops, hence
should be motivated towards (a) High value crops and offset high input costs by subsidy, concessional & easy credit especially to
thin file clients; leasing machinery; create market and value chain by Farm to Fork approach (b) Low input & region specific crops
like millets; market should be created by Fork to Farm approach, GI Tags (c) Land Pooling | Target tiller and not owner as
beneficiary of govt schemes and design schemes accordingly.

Environment:ES2018-19 (1)Almost 89% of groundwater in India is extracted for irrigation. By 2050, India will be in the global hot
spot for ‘water insecurity (2) The cropping pattern in India is highly skewed towards crops that are water intensive. This is due to
incentive structures like MSP, heavily subsidized electricity, water and fertilizers. The water guzzlers, paddy and sugarcane,
consume more than 60% of irrigation water available in the country, thereby reducing water availability for other crops (3) Focus in
agriculture should shift from ‘land productivity’ to ‘irrigation water productivity’. (4) Aquaponic method combines aquaculture —
cultivating fish and other aquatic animals in tanks — with hydroponics, where plants are cultivated in water. Hydroponics can save
up to 90% water than conventional agriculture. | ZNBF | Organic Farming

Govt Initiatives:- Agriculture Export Policy 2018 1) Double agricultural exports from present US$ 30+ Billion to US$ 60+ Billion by
2022 and reach US$ 100 Billion in next few years 2) Diversify India’s export basket, destinations and also boost high value and
value added agricultural exports including perishables |Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) for specified agriculture products
that will provide assistance for the international component of freight and marketing of agricultural produce | Kisan Credit Card
Scheme; Agri-Market Infrastructure Fund; National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP); Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima
Yojana; Online Portal “ENSURE”; Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA; 3 type-procurement);
KALIA(Odisha); PM KISAN; PM KUSUM; | Doubling Farmers Income-Areas of intervention | Move to LEISA organic agriculture |
Create niche market for ZNBF products
Events: (1)In June, 2017, farmers in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, for better crop prices (2)In June 2018, farmers went on an10-day
‘strike’, federation of 130 farmer bodies tried to stop supplies of vegetables and dairy produce to major cities and hold a dharna on
30 national highways, without blocking vehicular passage.

Stat:-(1)NABARD’s All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey 2016-17: 52% of rural household in debt, w/ avg debt of >1 lack (2)
land to man ratio 0.2 hectares (3)14% of GDP & 48% of employment

Secularism

Miscellaneous :India today has more than 200 million users on social media, which became a handy tool to disseminate hate speeches, fake
news and hence the communal propaganda | Secularism as defined by our founding fathers, is equal respect towards all faiths and equal
promotion of all faith. Indian Secularism is established on the premise that the state must be kept away from any one religion because all
religions are valid. It is based on the philosophy of “Sarva Dhrama Sama Bhava” and aims to prevent inter- religious domination. Hence Indian
secularism closer to the idea of pluralism than to the idea of “separation of church & state” | Failure of government in creating just economic
order: poverty, ignorance, illiteracy, population explosion, environmental pollution, jobs are alarming issues which builds sense of injustice | At
executive level: States should tackle riots with promptness, grit and determination. Adequate manpower deployment, detailed standard
operating procedures (SOPs), contingency plans should be kept ready in sensitive/hypersensitive areas.; At societal level: (1)UN has declared
1st week of February as “World Interfaith Harmony Week”, it should be celebrated at all social meets. (2)The age old tradition of “shashtrartha”
i.e. theological discussions, should be revived to prevent reactionary element from selective presentation and misinterpretation of scriptures.
(3)Issues such as processions, use of loudspeakers, interfaith marriages should dealt with mature mindset under guidance of laws.; At individual
level: We should abide by Article 51A of our constitution which states it is a fundamental duty of every citizen to promote harmony among
people transcending religious diversities. We should not pay heed to hate speeches online, people should be sensitized to differentiate
between free speech and hate speech; At policy making level: (1)Economic disparities can be reduced by dedicated efforts in job creation for
youth. (2)Legislature should strengthen hands of election commission to bar parties and individuals making religious appeals to voters even
during non-election period. | Revival of National Integration Council (NIC 1960) and National Foundation for communal harmony (NFCH
1992),and their regular meets is the need of the hour. | Inter-religious education at school level with emphasis on sacrifices and hardships of all
religious communities and their contribution towards freedom and development of the country need to be focused in the books of the history |
Justice delayed is justice denied; judicial remedies should be prompt and effective so as to instill confidence. The criminal justice system in the
country is should be made free of politicization and graft. | Media is one of main stakeholder in ensuring peace, curb on dissemination of
hateful material on social media such as Facebook, Whatsapp and mainstream media. Editors’ guild should make self-regulations in this regard
both for unbiased coverage and on the provocative headlines and non-factual reporting. | Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and
Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2011 | Emperor Ashoka was the first great emperor to announce, as early as third century B.C. that, the state
would not prosecute any religious sect. In his 12th Rock Edict, Ashoka made an appeal not only for the toleration of all religion sects but also to
develop a spirit of great respect toward them

Education
School Learning : (1)Early Childhood Care and Education: The Foundation of Learning:- Every child in the age range of 3-6 years has access to
free, safe, high quality, developmentally appropriate care and education. The learning process for a child commences immediately at birth.
Evidence from neuroscience shows that over 85% of a child’s cumulative brain development occurs prior to the age of 6, indicating the critical
importance of developmentally appropriate care and stimulation of the brain in a child’s early years to promote sustained and healthy brain
development and growth. (2) Foundational Literacy and Numeracy: The ability to read and write, and to perform basic operations with
numbers, is a necessary foundation and indispensable prerequisite for all future school and lifelong learning. However, various governmental as
well as non-governmental surveys clearly indicate that, at the current time, we are in a severe learning crisis with respect to these most basic
skills: a large proportion of students currently in elementary school - perhaps over 5 crore in number - have not attained foundational literacy
and numeracy, i.e., the ability to read and comprehend basic text and the ability to carry out basic addition and subtraction with Indian
numerals. Numerous studies show that once students fall behind on foundational literacy and numeracy, they tend to maintain flat learning
curves for years, perpetually unable to catch up. Schooling in the early years also lays too little curricular emphasis on foundational literacy and
numeracy. The curriculum in early grades moves very quickly towards rote learning and more mechanical academic skills while not giving
foundational material its proper due. The principle must be that: if students are given a solid foundation in reading, writing, speaking, counting,
arithmetic, mathematical and logical thinking, problem-solving, and in being creative, then all other future lifelong learning will become that
much easier, faster, more enjoyable, and more individualized. (3) Reintegrating Dropouts & Ensuring Universal Access to Education: The GER
for Grades 6-8 was 90.7%, while for Grades 9-10 and 11-12 it was only 79.3% and 51.3%, respectively - indicating that a significant proportion of
enrolled students begin to drop out after Grade 5 and especially after Grade 8. What causes such large numbers of students to drop out? (a) so
many students find themselves falling increasingly behind in school as time passes by – many not even attaining foundational literacy and
numeracy by Grade 5 or even by Grade 8 - that it becomes a waste of their time to attend school. (b) The problem of access to schools also
remains a major concern. While the problem of access has been largely solved for primary and even upper primary schools - the vast majority
of children in 2016-17 had a primary and upper primary school within close proximity - access to secondary schools and upper secondary
schools remains a very serious issue. In 2016-17, for every 100 primary schools/sections in India, there were about 50 upper primary schools/
sections, 20 secondary schools/sections, and only about 9 higher secondary schools/sections. For many children, this means that the closest
secondary and higher secondary schools are at prohibitively large distances - too far to walk, with no safe and practical conveyances available
to reach school. (c) Socio-cultural and economic issues: early or child marriage, perceived roles of gender or caste, or child labour and pressure
on children/adolescents to work and earn. (d) Many children, especially girls, drop out due to lack of working toilet facilities; others -
particularly girls and children from various other Underrepresented Groups (URGs) - drop out due to problems with harassment and safety.(e)
do not find school interesting or useful (f) Mid day meal stops after class 8 (4) Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools :A new curricular and
pedagogical structure for school education: One of the most well-known legacies of the National Policy on Education 1968 is the “10+2”
structure of the school education system - an extremely important and influential recommendation for the time which helped to standardise
and uniformise the structure of school education across the country. While it has served the country well, with modern times modern times
and needs with respect to employment and beyond, together with advances and discoveries in cognitive science demand a new policy. Within
this new policy that deals with school-age range of 3 to 18 years, there must be periodic changes in curricular and pedagogical delivery and
styles, designed to be in sync with a child’s natural cognitive, emotional, and physical development. Cognitive science demonstrate that
children prior to the age of 8 learn best through play-based, activity-based, and discovery-based multilevel flexible styles of learning and
interaction, whereas around the age of 8 children naturally begin to adapt to a more prescripted style of learning, indicating that teaching-
learning processes in Grade 3 may also begin to transition to a more formal style of learning, e.g. by incorporating some basic textbooks, while
still maintaining a strong play- and discovery-based approach. Meanwhile, by the age of 11, children begin to develop the capacity for
abstraction. At this stage, i.e., around Grade 6, it therefore becomes beneficial for students to begin to have specialised subject teachers in the
classroom, where students’ discussion of higher-level concepts within each subject area becomes possible and indeed desirable. By the age of
14, i.e., Grade 9, adolescents begin to think about their life plans; schooling at this stage must therefore build on the styles of previous stages,
while also incorporating preparation for university, for the world of work, and for life. Students at this stage must have flexibility of subject
options for their differing talents, interests, goals, and ambitions, including access to vocational and arts courses. A semester-based system,
which allows exposure to a multitude of subjects at differing levels, can be of great benefit to students at this stage. Thus the new on 5 + 3 + 3 +
4 system prescribes (a) To move the education system towards real understanding and learning how to learn - and away from the culture of
rote learning present today. The goal will be to create holistic and complete individuals equipped with key 21st century skills[fro ex digital
literacy, critical thinking etc].(b) Reduce curriculum content to enhance essential learning and critical thinking (c) Empower students through
flexibility in course choices (d) Education in the local language/mother tongue; multilingualism and the power of language : Language as a
mediator has greatly influences knowledge acquisition and production. The science of child development and language acquisition suggests
that young children become literate in (as a language) and learn best through (as a medium of instruction) their “local language” i.e. the
language spoken at home. Children between the ages of 2 and 8 also have an extremely flexible capacity to learn multiple languages, which is a
crucial social capacity that must be harnessed, in addition to the well-established cognitive benefits of multilingualism. A multilingual India is
better educated and also better nationally integrated. (e) Curricular integration of essential subjects and skills: While students must have a
large amount of flexibility in choosing their individual curricula, at the same time this Policy envisions that certain subjects and skills should be
learned by all students (f) All textbooks shall aim to contain the essential core material deemed important on a national level, but at the same
time contain any desired nuances and supplementary material in accordance with local contexts and needs (g) Transforming assessment for
student development: The very aim of assessment in the culture of our schooling system must shift from one that primarily tests rote
memorisation skills to testing only the understanding of core concepts and knowledge, along with higherorder capacities such as critical
thinking, analysis, and application (g) The current curricular transaction arrangements involve a “One-size-fits-all” approach. Every student has
innate talents, which must be discovered, nurtured, fostered, and developed. These talents may express themselves in the form of varying
interests, dispositions, and capacities. Those that show particularly strong interests and capacities in a given realm must be encouraged to
pursue that realm beyond the general school curriculum. Some approaches to supporting students who exhibit singular interests and or talents
will include: making individual interests and talents an important consideration in instructional approaches; designing a variety of learning
experiences and academic support strategies, such as themes or topic-centered learning activities. In mathematics, the idea of a “Mathematics
Circle” has been a highly successful
method (in Bulgaria, Russia, and more recently the United States) of enriching the mathematical horizons of young students who exhibit
unusual inclinations and talents in mathematics | Equitable and Inclusive Education: (1)Upliftment of underrepresented groups in education[SC,
ST, OBC, Minorities, Urban Poor, transgender children, children with special needs ] (2) Education of girls as a cross-cutting theme | Efficient
Resourcing and Effective Governance through School Complexes [centralized approach] | Regulation and Accreditation of School Education

Judiciary
AIJS:-The argument that the creation of the AIJS and a centralised recruitment process will help the lower judicial services is based on the
assumption that the current federal structure, that vests the recruitment and appointment for the lower judiciary in the hands of State
Governors, High Courts and State Public Service Commissions, is broken and inefficient. On facts, however, this assumption does not hold up.
[NP] Going by the latest figures published by the Supreme Court in its publication Court News (December 2017 and the last available figures),
many States are doing a very efficient job when it comes to recruiting lower court judges. In Maharashtra, of the 2,280 sanctioned posts, only
64 were vacant. In West Bengal, of the 1,013 sanctioned posts, only 80 were vacant. Those are perfectly acceptable numbers. [NP] However,
there are States such as UP where the situation is shocking. Of the 3,204 sanctioned posts, 1,348 are vacant, i.e. 42% vacancies. These numbers
show that the problem of vacancies is not uniform across different States. The solution is to pressure poorly performing States into performing
more efficiently. [NP] Further, the argument that the centralisation of recruitment processes through the UPSC automatically leads to a more
efficient recruitment process is flawed and not a guarantee of a solution. For example, the Indian Administrative Service — its recruitments are
through the UPSC — reportedly has a vacancy rate of 22%, while the Indian Army’s officer cadre, also under a centralised recruitment
mechanism, is short of nearly 7,298 officers. [NP] Will the creation of an AIJS lead to more representation from marginalised communities and
women? The second argument in support of the AIJS is that its creation, along with provisions of reservations for the marginalised communities
and women, will lead to a better represented lower judiciary. The fact is that several States already provide for reservations in their lower
judicial service. [NP] States are best suited to assess the level of intersectional disadvantage of various communities residing in the State.
Example: Karnataka also recognises two additional categories of reservation within caste-based reservation — for those from a rural
background and those from Kannada medium backgrounds; U.P., Karnataka, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh provide women with special
reservations.[unlike Centre which almost never provides reservation to women in AIS]. [NP] On the issue of caste, an AIJS may provide for
SC/ST reservation along with reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) but it should be noted that a recent Supreme Court ruling has
held that SC/STs can avail the benefit of reservation in State government jobs only in their home States and not when they have migrated. The
same principle is usually followed even for OBC reservations. Thus, instituting an AIJS would mean that nationally dominant SC, ST and OBC
groups would be at an advantage as they can compete for posts across the country, which they would otherwise be disqualified from because
of the domicile requirement. Thus an AIJS will have consequences for State-level politics. [NP] As originally enacted, Articles 233 and 234 of the
Constitution vested all powers of recruitment and appointment with the State Public Service Commission and High Courts. During the
Emergency, Parliament amended Article 312 of the Constitution to allow for the Rajya Sabha to pass a resolution, by two-thirds majority, in
order to kick-start the process of creating an all India judicial service for the posts of district judge. Once the resolution is passed, Parliament
can amend Articles 233 and 234 through a simple law (passed by a simple majority), which law will strip States of their appointment powers.
This is unlike a constitutional amendment under Article 368 that would have required ratification by State legislatures. In other words, if
Parliament decides to go ahead with the creation of the AIJS, State legislatures can do nothing to stop the process. It could adversely affect
federal structure of the the country, particularly the North East. [NP] The first objection to this idea is that it does not adequately diagnose the
problem. What exactly is holding back the smartest and the best from the judiciary? The answer lies in the fact that the Bar Council of India has
mismanaged legal education. Barring a few islands of excellence, almost no effort has gone into improving the standard of legal education
across the country. The best law schools in India are the few set up and funded by the State governments, barring a few exceptions. Within this
incredibly small talent pool, the judiciary competes by offering very unremunerative pay and limited avenues for career advancement. A civil
judge (junior division), and the lowest entry level post, can expect a basic pay of ₹27,700 per month. Top graduates can expect to earn at least
three times as much in Indian law firms in equivalent entry level positions. [NP] An AIJS addresses neither the problem of disproportionately
low pay nor the lack of career advancement. While the former is in the hands of the State governments concerned, the latter is in the hands of
the judiciary itself, but no changes have been made to ensure better district judge representation in the High Courts. [NP] If the answer is to fill
up vacancies faster, compare the vacancy position in the AIS and the subordinate judiciary. The total number of positions in the subordinate
judiciary as of October 2016 was 21,374 while the total number of sanctioned posts for the three AIS was 14,355. Of these, 22.67% of posts
were vacant in the subordinate judiciary while it was 20.47% of posts in the AIS. Data from December 2011 show that 24.91% of AIS vacancies
were unfilled, while the figure for the subordinate judiciary was 20.45%. Therefore, both the decentralised approach of each High Court
conducting its own appointment and a centralised one seem to have roughly the same efficacy in filling up the vacancy.

Appointment to Higher Judiciary: Current Process:- Article-124 of the constitution deals with the appointment of judges in higher judiciary.
With the 99th constitutional amendment act and NJAC Bill 2014, National judicial appointment commission was established by the union
government to bring transparency and accountability in appointment of judges. However, the Supreme Court struck down the amendment
citing it as a threat to judicial independence, an integral part of Basic Structure Doctrine. | In the First Judges case (1981), the Court held that
consultation does not mean concurrence and it only implies exchange of views | In the Second Judges case (1993), the Court reversed its earlier
ruling and changed the meaning of the word consultation to concurrence. Hence, it ruled that the advice tendered by the Chief Justice of India
is binding on the President in the matters of appointment of the judges of the Supreme Court. But, the Chief Justice would tender his advice on
the matter after consulting two of his senior most colleagues | In the third judges case (1998), the Court opined that the consultation process
to be adopted by the Chief justice of India requires 'consultation of plurality judges’. The sole opinion of the chief justice of India does not
constitute the consultation process. He should consult a collegium of four seniormost judges of the Supreme Court and even if two judges give
an adverse opinion, he should not send the recommendation to the government. The court held that the recommendation made by the chief
justice of India without complying with the norms and requirements of the consultation process are not binding on the government. | Short
comings:- (1)Controversial appointments: There is a failure to make an assessment of the personality of the contemnor at the time of
recommending his name for elevation. Example: The controversy over the proposed elevation of Justice P.D. Dinakaran of the Karnataka High
Court to the Supreme Court by the collegium of the Chief Justice and four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court was criticised for
overlooking apparently suitable judges by the collegiums (2)The executive has little or no role in the appointment of judges as a result.[Goes
against constitutional scheme] (3) Supreme court is overburdened: (a) The Supreme Court did not realise the burden it was imposing on the
collegium of selecting judges for the Supreme Court and High Courts and transferring them from one High Court to another. (b) An
administrative task of this magnitude must necessarily detract the judges of the collegium from their principal judicial work of hearing and
deciding cases. (c) Lacking this infrastructural backup the collegium resorts to ad hoc informal consultations with other judges in the Supreme
Court who are expected to know the merits of a proposed appointee from a High Court or occasionally by sounding a member of the Bar. (d)
These methods are poor substitutes for a full time intensive collection of data about an incumbent, his work, standing, merit, integrity and
potential which requires to be made considerably in advance for filing in the vacancy. (e) This system overlooks several talented junior judges
and advocates. The collegium has generally appoints the senior-most judges from the High Court for the appointments to the Supreme Court,
overlooking the several talented junior judges in the High Courts or members of the bar. (4) Besides, the collegium’s deliberations are secret,
the system is opaque and the choice of a judge is only known when his name is forwarded to the Government for formal appointment. (5)
Skewed representation of socio economic backward classes like women, scheduled castes and tribes in the Supreme Court. | Possible Reforms:
(1)The need of the hour is to revisit the existing system through a transparent and participatory procedure, preferably by an independent
broad-based constitutional body guaranteeing judicial primacy but not judicial exclusivity. (2) The new system should ensure independence,
reflect diversity, demonstrate professional competence and integrity. (3) The system needs to establish a body which is independent and
objective in the selection process. In several countries of the Commonwealth, National Judicial Appointment Commissions have been
established to select judges. Such judicial commissions have worked with success in the U.K., South Africa and Canada. (4) Setting up a
constitutional body accommodating the federal concept of diversity and independence of judiciary for appointment of judges to the higher
judiciary can also be thought of as an alternate measure. (5) There should be a Fixed time limit for approval of recommendations. (6) As of now,
instead of selecting the number of judges required against a certain number of vacancies, the collegium must provide a panel of possible names
to the President for appointment in order of preference and other valid criteria | Anecdote: The change in resolution by SC stopped the
elevation of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog, Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court, and Justice Rajendra Menon, Chief Justice of Delhi High Court,
who had been recommended for the Supreme Court by the Collegium on December 12. The Supreme Court, which has a new Collegium that
held its first meeting on January 10, decided instead to elevate Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court, and Justice
Sanjeev Khanna, a judge of Delhi High Court. No criteria have been set out by the collegium as to why Khanna and Maheshwari have been
elevated, apart from a bland statement that alludes to their “merit.” No reasons are given for rejecting Menon and Nandrajog. The lack of
clarity again shines a spotlight on the opaque collegium system of appointments in the higher judiciary.
Stat

World Population Prospects 2019 has been released by the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. As per
the report, India is projected to become the most populous country by 2027 surpassing China, and host 1.64 billion people by 2050. In China,
the largest of these 55 countries, the population is projected to shrink by as much as 2.2% by 2050.[India reap demographic divident]. Overall,
the world’s population is ageing, with the age group of 65 and above growing at such a fast rate that by 2050, one in six people in the world will
be part of it as compared to one in 11 in 2019.[less working population-more tax; India-less tax, cheap labor-hence attract investment]

ES2018-29 (1)Projected values for 2021-41 suggest that TFR at the national level will continue to decline rapidly and will lie below replacement
level fertility (2.1) at 1.8 as early as 2021 and would stabilize around 1.7 thereafter. By 2031, all states would see below replacement level
fertility.(2) The average value of sex ratio at birth is around 1.05, i.e. 105 boys born per every 100 girls. Thus, there are more men than women
in the population when compared to the natural level. This implies that the required replacement level fertility at the national and state level is
higher than the usual benchmark of 2.1, i.e., due to the skewed sex ratio, a woman would have to give birth to more than 2.1 children in order
for the population to replace itself. (3)The effective replacement level fertility considering the skewed sex ratio could be of around 2.15-2.2 for
India with a sex ratio of 1.11[Census 2001 and Census 2011 from 927 in 2001 Child Sex ratio declined to 919 in 2011]

The National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4; 2013-15) shows that 1)Compared to 49% women wanting a second child 10 years ago, 27% want
one now 2)54% of women have two children or fewer. The average number of children born to women, the total fertility rate, is 2.2 in India: 1.8
in urban and 2.4 in rural areas [down from 2.68 in 2003-05; Desired TFR 2.1; India’s TFR is declining quickly]. 20 states/UTs have achieved the
replacement-level TFR of 2.1—[ The NFHS-4 is based on data from the 2011 census]

Crisil Report: Companies have spent more than Rs 50k Crore on CSR activities in FY2018-19.[ India is the first country in the world to make
corporate social responsibility (CSR) mandatory-2013; 2% of average net profits last 3 years]

Since independence, only 4 Dalits have become Supreme Court judges, including one Chief Justice of India. Less than 4% of judges in the higher
judiciary are from Dalit and tribal communities, and less than 3% are women

The 1st Lok Sabha had only 5% women representatives, while the 17th(current) LS has 14.4%[highest since independence]

ILO’s Global Wage Report 2018 1)Gender wage gap highest in India, women are paid 34% less than men[highest among 73 countries studied in
the report] 2)global average-16% 3)Sri Lanka has a wage gap of 10.2% 4)In Bangladesh women are paid 5.5% higher than men ---[hourly wages]

Grand Thronton’s Women in Business Report: Women in top leadership roles in corporate 1)India ranks 5th from the bottom w/ 20% women
representation 2)India’s rank improved in 2018 after being 3rd from bottom since 2015 | Catalyst.org(a Global non profit): Nearly 50% of Indian
women drop out of the corporate employment pipeline between junior and mid-levels, compared to 29% across Asia | Bank of America Merrill
Lynch: In India women directors constitute only 12% of corporate boards [Global average 15%]

As per the report of R. K. Srivastava panel every year, an estimated 0.4 million children died of water-borne diseases such as cholera, dysentery
and many more suffered from stunted growth

201st Law Commission of India in a report noted that over 50% of road accident deaths can be averted with timely medical care within the first
1 hour

As per figures from the ministry of road transport and highways, the number of people killed in road crashes in India in 2017 was 147,913 or
405 deaths every day.

84% of the people recently surveyed by SaveLIFE Foundation across 11 cities in India were unaware of the Good Samaritan Law[An example of
how people are unaware of govt policies and legislations-even the ones in which the onus of action is on public]. Even law keepers and public
servants are unaware of the SC guidelines. The study also revealed that most of the health professionals and police personnel interviewed had
not received any priming on implementing the Good Samaritan Law.

At about 1.3% of the national income, India’s public healthcare spending between 2008 and 2015, has virtually remained stagnant. This is way
less than the global average of 6%.

WHO reports the doctor-density ratio in India at 8 per 10,000 people as against one doctor for a population of 1000. India falls woefully short of
number of hospital beds compared to WHO standards

India ranks as low as 145th among 195 countries in healthcare quality and accessibility, behind even Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Over 70% of the total healthcare expenditure is accounted for by the private sector. Most patients are forced to go to private clinics and
hospitals. Health care bills are the single biggest cause of debt in India, with 39 million people being pushed to poverty every year.

As per National Mental Health Survey of India 2015–2016, anxiety disorders in India amount to 3.1% of the population.

About half of the sample of 383 prisoners spoke about lack of access to lawyers. (Death Penalty Project Report, 2016). Death Penalty Project
Report also revealed that about 76% of death row prisoners were from backward classes and religious minorities. 262nd Law Commission
Report has recommended universal abolition of the death penalty, except in terror cases. Justice Verma committee decided against
recommending the death penalty for rape.

Floods: Since the 2013 Uttarakhand flooding, such extreme rainfall events have led to one disaster-like situation in India every year

Swacch Bharat Misson.

 Before the launch of SBM in 2014

o Only 42% of households in the country had access to sanitation facilities

o Only 30% of the wastewater and sewage generated in urban India was treated before being let into rivers and streams.

o Only 47,000 villages were ‘Open Defecation Free’(ODF)

o As per the report of R. K. Srivastava panel every year, an estimated 0.4 million children died of water-borne diseases
such as cholera, dysentery and many more suffered from stunted growth

 SBM has turned out to be an overwhelming success

o National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS), and found that 93.4% people who had toilets, used them regularly.
NARSS also re- confirmed the ODF status of 95.6% of the villages that had been verified ODF by the state governments

o 457,000 villages—around 76% of India’s villages—have been declared ODF.

o Over 84 million toilets have been built so far under the scheme

o Toilet coverage in the country has reached almost 92%

o A cadre of 500,000 swachhagrahis has been created who have triggered lakhs of villages to become ODF

Global MPI 2019 Report [UNDP and Oxford Poverty and Human Development]:- Incidence of multidimensional poverty almost halved between
2005-06 and 2015-16, climbing down to 27.5%, indicating that the number of poor people in India fell by more than 271 million within ten
years. The positive trend of pro-poor poverty reduction was seen also across religions and caste groups. In both cases, the poorest groups
(Muslims and Scheduled Tribes) reduced poverty the most over the ten years from 2005-06 to 2015-16

Household Air Pollution(HAP) 1)Mo H&FW-2nd leading factor-India’s disease burden 2)WHO a)13% of all mortality and morbidity in India
(measured as Disability-Adjusted Life Years) b)40% of all pulmonary disorders c)30% of cataract incidences d)20% each of ischemic heart
disease, lung cancer and lower respiratory infection | 94% households now have access to cooking gas.
3.6 crore students- Indian HEIs | More than 163 million Indians do not have access to safe drinking water. There are nearly 14 crore
households where clean drinking water is yet to reach.

Country Report on Terrorism released by the US State Department, India witnessed 3rd highest number of terrorist attacks in 2016, more than
Pakistan. More than half of the terrorist attacks in India in 2016 took place in four states: Jammu and Kashmir (19%), Chhattisgarh (18%),
Manipur (12%) and Jharkhand (10%)

Economic Survey 2017-18-Panchayats received 95% of their revenues from the devolved funds from the centre/state, while generating only 5 per
cent from own resources

NABARD Survey:- 1)The average landholding size of an household has shrunk marginally to 1.1 hectare (ha) in 2015-16 from 1.16 ha three years
ago 2)Nearly 67% of farmers have land parcels smaller than 1 ha a)While 37% of farm households owned land parcels of smaller than 0.4 ha
b)30% had holdings which fall between 0.41 and 1.0 ha 3)Only 13% agricultural households owned landholdings bigger than 2 ha 4) 5.2 % of
agricultural households in the country owned a tractor and 1.8% a power tiller 5) drip irrigation and sprinkler was limited to 1.6% and 0.8%
families respectively

Economic Survey 2018-19 Amazingly, the tax-GDP ratio(~10.9%) has remained almost constant even after 3 decades of spectacular growth and
wealth creation in which the GDP increased by around 8 times. The average tax to GDP ratio for emerging market economies is 21% and
the OECD average is 34%.

Economic Survey 2017-18 1)Top 1% exporting firms account for 38% of exports as opposed to 72%, 68%,67% in US, Germany, Brazil
respectively 2) The top 5% exporting firms accounted for 59% of exports in India 91%, 86%, 91%, as opposed to in US, Germany, Brazil
respectively 3) But not having export superstars may not be a bad thing Exports superstars are dynamic and their expansion can have spillover
effects on other firms, argued the survey, but did not rule out its disadvantages, including impeding competition

Economic Survey 2017-18 1)While dwarf firms account for 50% all the firms in organized manufacturing by number, their share in employment
is only 14.1%, it added. 2)The biggest contributors to employment and productivity are firms that are able to grow over time to become large.
a) The large firms account for only 5.5 % of firms by number but contribute 21.2 % of the employment and 37.2 % of the NVA. b) The large, but
old, firms (firms that have more than 100 employees and are more than 10 years old) account for only 10.2 % of firms by number but
contribute 50% of the employment and the NVA 3)Firms less than 10 years of age account for about 30% of employment and about half the Net
Value Added (NVA) i.e. young firms that disproportionately account for share of employment and productivity. 4) An average 40- year old firm
in the U.S. generates 500% as much more employment than the average 40-year old Indian firm. 5) An average 40- year old firm in the U.S. is
250% more productive than the average 40-year old Indian firm.

World Bank: 1) Women make up 48% of the Indian population. 2) Female child mortality- over 239,000 girls under the age of 5 dying each year.
3)Female Infant mortality rate is 32[behind 148 countries; behind Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan & Bangladesh] 4)Female enrollment rate:
93 girls/100 boys [jump from 90girls/100 boys in 2001]
Census 2011: 1) India’s female labor force participation of 25.2% is amongst the lowest in the world. It has stagnated at 25% since 2001. 2)
Literacy rate: Female-65%[male 82%] 3)Child Sex ratio-919[down from 927 in 2001]

GST Compensation Cess(on Demerit Goods):- 1)FY2017-18: 62k Crore 2)FY2018-1990k Crore 3)FY2019-20: estimated 1L Crore- - -[increasing
materialism and attraction toward sinful goods;health;pigovian tax etc]

World Bank: In India condition of poor is more vulnerable in urban areas than in rural areas. Of total population only 30% of people are
urbanized of which approximately 15%(15% of urban population) are still poor | Wage slavery – Wage employment among urban poor is
limited to just about 20 % compared to an All-India average of about 40 %. It is this fact that imparts a high degree of instability to the income
profile of the urban poor. | 2001 Census puts the slum population at 42.6 million which forms 15% of the country’s total urban population

The destruction of Kerala’s ecology due to development over the past 60 years has been unprecedented. Kerala has lost over 0.4 million
hectares of natural forests and it has lost 0.25 million hectares of wetlands to agriculture, plantations and infrastructure development. Land
used for non-agricultural purposes has more than doubled in the last 50 years. These drastic changes in land use have destroyed the watershed;
impeded the flow of rainwater; and, reduced the ability of the land to soak water.

Vacancy In Judiciary vs AIS [AIJS Issue]

The total number of positions in the subordinate judiciary as of October 2016 was 21,374 while the total number of sanctioned posts for the
three AIS was 14,355. Of these, 22.67% of posts were vacant in the subordinate judiciary while it was 20.47% of posts in the AIS. Data from
December 2011 show that 24.91% of AIS vacancies were unfilled, while the figure for the subordinate judiciary was 20.45%. Therefore, both the
decentralised approach of each High Court conducting its own appointment and a centralised one seem to have roughly the same efficacy in
filling up the vacancy. | Indian Administrative Service — its recruitments are through the UPSC — reportedly has a vacancy rate of 22%, while
the Indian Army’s officer cadre, also under a centralised recruitment mechanism, is short of nearly 7,298 officers. | Going by the latest figures
published by the Supreme Court in its publication Court News (December 2017 and the last available figures), many States are doing a very
efficient job when it comes to recruiting lower court judges. In Maharashtra, of the 2,280 sanctioned posts, only 64 were vacant. In West
Bengal, of the 1,013 sanctioned posts, only 80 were vacant. Those are perfectly acceptable numbers. However, there are States such as UP
where the situation is shocking. Of the 3,204 sanctioned posts, 1,348 are vacant, i.e. 42% vacancies. These numbers show that the problem of
vacancies is not uniform across different States. The solution is to pressure poorly performing States into performing more efficiently.

Central recruitment vs State recruitment

Supreme Court ruling has held that SC/STs can avail the benefit of reservation in State government jobs only in their home States and not when
they have migrated. The same principle is usually followed even for OBC reservations. Thus, central recruitment would mean that nationally
dominant SC, ST and OBC groups would be at an advantage as they can compete for posts across the country, which they would otherwise be
disqualified from because of the domicile requirement. States are best suited to assess the level of intersectional disadvantage of various
communities residing in the State. For Example: Karnataka also recognises two additional categories of reservation within caste-based
reservation — for those from a rural background and those from Kannada medium backgrounds; U.P., Karnataka, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh
provide women with special reservations

4 Judges Case/AIJS
Article-124 of the constitution deals with the appointment of judges in higher judiciary. With the 99th constitutional amendment act and NJAC
Bill 2014, National judicial appointment commission was established by the union government to bring transparency and accountability in
appointment of judges. However, the Supreme Court struck down the amendment citing it as a threat to judicial independence, an integral part
of Basic Structure Doctrine. | In the First Judges case (1981), the Court held that consultation does not mean concurrence and it only implies
exchange of views | In the Second Judges case (1993), the Court reversed its earlier ruling and changed the meaning of the word consultation
to concurrence. Hence, it ruled that the advice tendered by the Chief Justice of India is binding on the President in the matters of appointment
of the judges of the Supreme Court. But, the Chief Justice would tender his advice on the matter after consulting two of his senior most
colleagues | In the third judges case (1998), the Court opined that the consultation process to be adopted by the Chief justice of India requires
'consultation of plurality judges’. The sole opinion of the chief justice of India does not constitute the consultation process. He should consult a
collegium of four seniormost judges of the Supreme Court and even if two judges give an adverse opinion, he should not send the
recommendation to the government. The court held that the recommendation made by the chief justice of India without complying with the
norms and requirements of the consultation process are not binding on the government.

Problem POCSO death penalty: Instead of “innocent until proven guilty”, the court assumes that the accused is guilty once the prosecution lays
the foundation of the case. The Act also presumes that the accused person had a sexual intent when touching the child (Section 30). |
Burden of proof: (1)Usually, in criminal cases, the burden of proof lies on the prosecution, and the guilt must be proved beyond reasonable
doubt. (2)Under POCSO, however, there is a presumption that a person who is prosecuted for an offence has actually committed the offence,
unless the contrary is proved (Section 29). (3) Thus, POCSO is already a stringent act. The amendments don’t try to make any changes in above
sections. | Affects Right to Life: (1) Under Article 21 of the Constitution, a person can only be deprived of their life or liberty in accordance with
the procedure established by law. This procedure must be just, fair and reasonable. (2) Imposing death penalty in an offence with a
presumption of guilt cannot be a just or fair procedure. (3) Without quality legal representation, it is virtually impossible for an accused to
overcome the presumption of guilt.

Educational Qualification for PRIs: Rajasthan government has approved to do away with the minimum education qualification required to
contest panchayat and urban bodies’ elections. The criteria was (1) To contest the municipal, zila parishad or panchayat samiti polls, a
contestant must have a minimum qualification of secondary education (Class X). (2) To contest the sarpanch elections, an aspirant from the
general category must have passed Class VIII and a SC/ST aspirant must have passed Class V | Rationale behind Minimum Education Criteria:
(1)The Minimum Education Criteria was introduced in Haryana too in 2015. (2)The constitutional validity of decision was subsequently upheld
by Supreme Court in Rajbala vs. State of Haryana. The SC had ruled that “it is the education which gives a human being the power to
discriminate between right and wrong, good and bad”. (4) There are other criteria like two-child policy too present in states. About 12 states
currently have the policy, Assam being the latest entrant into the list. | Cons of Minimum Education Criteria: (1) The criteria penalises the
people for failure to meet certain social indicators.g.:India which is home for 35% of World’s illiterate population will be at disadvantage. (2)
The already marginalised sections like Dalits, women will be excluded. g.: The literacy rate (Census 2011) for women in Rajasthan is 52% and
most of the literate women are in urban areas. (3) The criteria discriminates on the lines of religion, caste and sex, because mostly those who
are deprived of education are the SC’s, ST’s and women. (4) The Right to Education became a fundamental right as recent as 2002, thereby
putting many at disadvantage prior to it.

Cognizable Offence: Cognizable offence means an offence for which a police officer may, in accordance with the First Schedule or under any
other law for the time being in force, arrest without a warrant. Cognizable offences are those offences which are serious in nature. Example-
Murder, Rape, Dowry Death, Kidnapping, theft, Criminal Breach of Trust, Unnatural Offences. Section 154 of CrPc provides that under a
Cognizable offence or case, the Police Officer has to receive the First Information Report (FIR) relating to the cognizable offence, which can be
obtained without the Magistrate’s permission and enter it in the General Diary to immediately start the investigation. An FIR sets the criminal
law in motion. If a Cognizable offence has been committed, a Police Officer can investigate without the Magistrate’s permission.
Cognizable offences are those in which the police can arrest without any warrant. These are more serious in nature. Non-cognizable offences
on the other hand are those for which a police officer has no authority to arrest, unless with a warrant.

Sexual Harassment Incident with CJI: If an average employee in a government department is accused of sexual harassment at the workplace. If
at the outset reasonable material is found in favour of the complaint, the accused is suspended from employment pending an inquiry. Usually,
an independent inquiry will follow which will give both parties an opportunity to present evidence and arguments and to examine and
cross-examine witnesses. This is considered necessary in administrative law to ensure that the accused does not tamper with evidence or
intimidate or influence witnesses. | Flaws in the current method of handling the case: The CJI himself constituted an extraordinary hearing in
the Supreme Court, along with two other judges, on a non-working day in a case titled “Matter of great public importance touching upon the
independence of the judiciary”. The constitution of the “in-house” panel was not in compliance with the provisions of the Sexual Harassment of
Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, a special legislation to curb harassment. It did not seem to be of
concern that to ensure independence of the inquiry and check for bias, members other than judges should have constituted the committee.
Nor was not in accordance with any requirements under the existing framework of law. Thereafter, the complainant was forced to abstain from
the panel, citing various reasons such as the refusal of the panel to allow the presence of her lawyer, refusal to record the proceedings or to
inform her of the procedure followed and prohibition on conveying the details of the proceedings to anybody else, including her lawyer. The
panel continued the proceedings in her absence and then met the CJI. The finding of the panel that the allegations are baseless is the final blow
in a process that has violated all principles of fairness, due process and impartiality. The panel’s report is not available to the public on reasons
of confidentiality. The public have been kept in the dark, having no access to and no knowledge of what transpired in the proceedings. This has
happened at a time when the Right to Information Act, 2005 has revolutionised access to information by the public.
Quotes

Sardar Patel gave us Ek Bharat. It is now the solemn duty of 125 crore Indians to collectively make Shreshta Bharat— PM Modi

Unless… philosophers become kings in the cities… there can be no cessation of evils… for cities nor, I think, for the human race.
— Plato, The Republic

My feeling is that every man is intelligent enough to understand exactly what he wants. Literacy has not much bearing on this
point; a man may be illiterate, none the less he may be very intelligent.—B.R Ambedkar

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety—Benjamin
Franklin

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.—MK Gandhi

“A man is seated on top of a tree in the midst of a burning forest. He sees all living beings perish. But he doesn’t realize that the
same fate is soon to overtake him also. That man is fool.”—Mahavira

Without knowledge action is useless and knowledge without action is futile.—Hazrat Abu Bakr(AS)

Knowledge is the life of the mind. —Hazrat Abu Bakr(AS)

Run away from greatness and greatness will follow you. —Hazrat Abu Bakr(AS)

If you expect the blessings of God, be kind to His people. —Hazrat Abu Bakr(AS)

‘data has become the new oil’-ES 2018-19

There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound
in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our
ventures –Shakespeare

The caste system is opposed to the religion of the Vedanta. Caste is a social custom, and all our great preachers have tried to
break it down. – Swami Vivekananda

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace. – William Gladstone

The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so much dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.
– Montesquieu [Democracy]

The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. – Plato [Democracy]

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. – Martin Luther King

Science without Religion is lame and Religion without Science is blind. – Einstein

Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world. – Nelson Mandela

In ancient India, good governance was conceptualized as Ram Rajya. The cardinal maxim of be good and do good was applied to
all the realms, whether personal or professional; and the governmental system was no exception. Kautilya in his magnum opus
(Arthashastra) exhorted the rulers to be compassionate to their subjects— Not a quote but works just as well

Guru Nanak says whenever we prepare to do an act we must ask ourselves “will I be able to place it in front of the God. Will it
withstand His scrutiny?” Only if our act can pass this litmus test shall we do it— Not a quote but works just as well
“Communal harmony could not be permanently established in our country so long as highly distorted version of history was
taught in her schools and colleges, through the history textbook”.— Mahatma Gandhi
The purpose of a government is to make it easy for people to do good and difficult to do evil – Sir
Gladstone

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both – Eisenhower

When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad, and that is my religion – Abraham Lincoln

Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one’s values – Ayn
Rand

The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of
their chosen field of endeavor. — Vince Lombardi

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or
Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the
hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.—
Martin Luther King

“Act only on the maxim which you can at the same time will to be universal law”— Immanuel Kant

Our thoughts are causes

You sow a thought, you reap an action
You sow an action, you reap a habit.
You sow a habit, you reap a character.
You sow a character, you reap a destiny.
It all starts with a thought.
- Charles Reade

We are totally free. We are not determined by heredity or environment- Sartre

Man is nothing else than his plan; he exists only to the extent that he fulfils himself; he is, therefore,
nothing else than the ensemble of his acts, nothing else than his life. – Sartre

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.—MK Gandhi

Without knowledge action is useless and knowledge without action is futile.— Islamic Teaching

Knowledge is the life of the mind. —Islamic teaching

Run away from greatness and greatness will follow you. — Islamic teaching

I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it. – Voltaire

Dharma is the foundation stone of good governance – Budhha [corruption]

Peace and Justice are two sides of the same coin. – Eisenhower
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”—Mahatma Gandhi

I understand democracy as something that gives the weak the same chance as the strong. – Mahatma
Gandhi [Democracy]

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place. – Mahatma Gandhi [Peer Pressure]

The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. – Plato

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. –
Martin Luther King

To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society. – Theodore Roosevelt

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. – Aristotle

"I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved" — B.
R. AMBEDKAR

“Law should be so succinct that it can be carried in the pocket of the coat and it should be so simple that
it can be understood by a peasant”— Napoleon

"Anybody can become angry, that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree,
and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way, that is not within everybody’s
power that is not easy." —Aristotle

“Do not do unto others as would not be done by”- Mahabharata

In ancient India, good governance was conceptualized as Ram Rajya. The cardinal maxim of be good and
do good was applied to all the realms, whether personal or professional; and the governmental system
was no exception. Kautilya in his magnum opus (Arthashastra) exhorted the rulers to be compassionate
to their subjects— Not a quote but works just as well

Guru Nanak says whenever we prepare to do an act we must ask ourselves “will I be able to place it in
front of the God. Will it withstand His scrutiny?” Only if our act can pass this litmus test shall we do it—
Not a quote but works just as well
Armstrong Pame One of the most popular names, also fondly known as ‘Miracle Man’, IAS Armstrong Pame,
is known for getting a 100 km stretch of road constructed, in Manipur, without any government aid. He
portrays the values of Love & compassion, which makes him of the most celebrated Administrative officers in
our country. [Ethics in Public Administration]

OP Chaudhary A 2005 batch IAS officer. During his duty as a collector, district of Dantewada (Chhattisgarh)
changed from being an underdeveloped area to a progressive district. His values of dedication and
determination led to the huge success of his initiatives like Choolo Aasman, Tamannah, that were path-
breaking and non-traditional [Ethics in Public Administration]

Ethical concerns and dilemmas in government and private institutions: (1)Administrative discretion: Within
the rules and regulations laid down by legislation and within the prescribed procedures, there is ample
opportunity for the public official to use his discretion. Even if all the prescribed rules, regulations and
procedures are adhered to, the discretionary choice may still be viewed as unethical or even corrupt. (2)
Corruption: A former officer in your showed favoritism towards a contractor while giving tenders, owing to
his political or other reasons. The contractor has performed his job well and the project is half completed.
Should you blow the whistle that the principle of impartiality was not involved and thus cancel the project
which would lead to loss of public money spent on it, or would you allow the project to continue?.[Middle
path] (3)Administrative Secrecy: would you value administrative secrecy over revealing some malpractice
done?[Transparency] (4) Nepotism: Your senior is known to show favoritism in matters of appraisal and all
your colleagues are indulge him would you go along and sacrifice your professionalism or would you not
indulge the officer thus leaving the appraisal depend just on your merits.[Conscience Quote-Gandi ] (5)
Information Leaks: You’ve tender information about a project will you give it to the firm who you know
provides best quality of work thus ignoring impartiality or would you leave it for the lowest bidder to get the
tender who work, though cheaper, may not be par with the aforementioned firm (6) Since public officials are
the implementers of public policies, they ought to be accountable for their official actions to their superiors,
the courts and the public. It is nevertheless, possible for them to hide behind prescribed procedures, the
cloak of professionalism and even political office bearers. [Vikram Sarabhai] (7) Policy Dilemmas: Policy
makers have loyalties to their superiors(political executive), but also to society. Would you implement a
discriminatory policy of a minister thus sacrificing public interest or would you use your own discretion to
protect public interest thus departing from non partisanship[the dilemma of a Nazi concentration camp
gurad]
Kinds of Whips:

 A one-line whip, underlined once, is usually issued to inform party members of a vote, and allows them to abstain in case
they decide not to follow the party line. A two-line whip directs them to be present during the vote. A three-line whip is
the strongest, employed on important occasions such as the second reading of a Bill or a no-confidence motion, and places
an obligation on members to toe the party line. In India, rebelling against a three-line whip can put a lawmaker’s
membership of the House at risk

The speaker of the Lok Sabha/legislative assembly vacates the office immediately before the first meeting of the newly elected
house. Hence President/governor appoints the pro-tem speaker(PS) to preside over the sittings of the house[Article 180(1)].
When the house elects the new speaker the office of the pro-tem speaker ceases to exist. Functions 1) administer the oath to
the newly elected members 2) enables the house to elect the new speaker. Surendra Vassant Sirsat case-Bombay HC-PS has all
power, previleges and immunities of speaker.

Leader of Opposition 1)statutory post-Salaries and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977 2) ‘shadow
Prime Minister’ 3) expected to be ready to take over if the government falls 4)Ensure Bipartisanship & neutrality in
appointment - CVC, CBI, CIC, Lokpal etc.

Motion of Thanks
The President makes an address to a joint sitting of Parliament at the start of the Budget session, which is prepared by the
government and lists its achievements. It is essentially a statement of the legislative and policy achievements of the
government during the preceding year and gives a broad indication of the agenda for the year ahead.
The address is followed by a motion of thanks moved in each House by ruling party MPs. During the session, political parties
discuss the motion of thanks also suggesting amendments.
Notices of amendments to Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address can be tabled after the President has delivered his
Address. Amendments may refer to matters contained in the Address as well as to matters, in the opinion of the member, the
Address has failed to mention. Amendments can be moved to the Motion of Thanks in such form as may be considered
appropriate by the Speaker.

The only limitations are that members cannot refer to matters which are not the direct responsibility of the Central
Government and that the name of the President cannot be brought in during the debate since the Government and not the
President is responsible for the contents of the Address.

Members of Parliament vote on this motion of thanks. This motion must be passed in both of the houses.
A failure to get motion of thanks passed amounts to defeat of government and leads to collapse of government. This is why,
the Motion of Thanks is deemed to be a no-confidence motion.

Inquiry under the In-House Procedure:

The ‘In-House Procedure’ is specifically designed to deal with charges of misconduct against sitting
judges of the court. Since there was no other procedure against a judge of a Supreme Court or High
Court, an in-house procedure was laid down. This was done at Chief Justices’ Conference held in
December 1999. A Code of Conduct was laid down which contained 16 clauses in addition to the
declaration of assets by the judges. The in-house procedure was suggested in the event of any complaint
against any judge. The 2003 judgment states that the in-house procedure has been adopted for inquiry
to be made by the peers of judges in case of a complaint against the Chief Justices or Judges of the High
Court in order to find out truth of the imputation made in the complaint. That in-house inquiry is for the
purpose of his (CJI’s) own information and satisfaction. It requires the Chief Justice of India to constitute
a three-member panel of Supreme Court judges to enquire into a complaint of misconduct received by
the CJI against a sitting judge. The CJI is further tasked with supervising and enforcing the outcome of
this inquiry. The procedure, however, does not expressly provide for a mechanism to constitute a
committee when the complaint is against the CJI himself. PROS:-1)When the allegations are examined
by the judge’s peers, outside agencies are kept out, and the independence of the judiciary is maintained.
2)Awareness about the existence of a mechanism to examine such complaints will preserve the faith of
the people in the impartiality and independence of the judicial process. 3)The in-house procedure
envisages that false and frivolous allegations can be rejected at an early stage and only those that are
not baseless, and may require a deeper probe, are taken up for inquiry. 4)It helps in judge’s
accountability and will serve as a safeguard for the members. Cons:- 1)The procedure, however, does
not expressly provide for a mechanism to constitute a committee when the complaint is against the CJI
himself. 2)Lack of accountability breeds corruption. Judicial Corruption exists because public trials are
almost never heard by the public. 3)All that the CJI does in case of an in-house procedure is to get
information from peer judges of those who are accused and the report made to the Chief Justice of India
is wholly confidential. 4)The said report is only for the purpose of satisfaction of the Chief Justice of
India. 5)It is purely preliminary in nature, ad hoc and not final. 6)The Committee does not provide any
justification for not supplying a copy of the same to the Complainant, which is a basic tenet of natural
justice.

Government of Union Territories Act, 1963 1)Legislative Assembly of Pondicherry, with a Council of
Ministers to govern the UT. 2)The same Act says that the UT will be administered by the President of
India through an Administrator (LG). 3)Council of Ministers headed by a Chief Minister will “aid and
advise the Administrator in the exercise of his functions in relation to matters with respect to which the
Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory has power to make laws”. 4)The same clause also allows the
LG to “act in his discretion” in the matter of lawmaking, even though the Council of Ministers has the
task of aiding and advising him.4) In case of a difference of opinion between the LG and his Ministers on
any matter, the Administrator is bound to refer it to the President for a decision and act according to the
decision given by the President. 5)However, the Administrator can also claim that the matter is urgent,
and take immediate action as he deems necessary.

LG of Delhi 1)also guided by the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991,
and the Transaction of Business of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Rules,
1993. • Articles 239 and 239AA of the Constitution, as well as the Government of National
Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991, clearly underline that Delhi is a UT, where the Centre, whose
eyes and ears are the LG, has a much more prominent role than in Puducherry. Under the
constitutional scheme, the Delhi Assembly has the power to legislate on all subjects except law
and order and land. However, the Puducherry Assembly can legislate on any issue under the
Concurrent and State Lists.
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