17 Jan 2023

#GS3: – 01. Road Safety

There is need to emphasize the four crucial‘ E’s of road safety : engineering, education, enforcement and emergency medical services.

This gives me a feeling that basically the engineers are responsible for road accidents. So, the main problem is road engineering and defective planning, and defective DPRs.

16% of road accident victims are aged18-35, and while national and state highways comprise only 5.5% of India’s road network, they account for 36% of road accident deaths.With road safety a top priority, the government aims to reduce accidents by 50% by 2030.

– MoRTH Nitin Gadkari
Key Terms/Issues : DPRs

#GS3: –  02. Export duty

Government has imposed a 50% export duty on molasses, a by-product of sugarcane after erratic monsoon rains caused a shortage of sugarcane supplies.

India is the world’s largest molasses exporter and contributes about 25% to global trade. Key buyers include the Netherlands, Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea and Italy, with major exporting states being Maharashtra,GujaratandKarnataka.

The export duty is a strategic measure to regulate the supply and demand of commodities, ensuring domestic availability.
-Commentary in News

Key Terms/Issues : Export Duty, Molasses, EBP

#GS3: – 03. Grain Storage

At present,India has a grain storage capacity of about 145 million tonnes,with annual food grain output over300million tonnes.Every year, the country loses 74 million tonnes of foodgrains, or 22% of its grain output, due to inadequate storage.
Over the next five years, India is expected to expand storage capacity to 215 million tonnes.
– Commentary in News

#GS3: –  04. Human-animal conflict in India

Human-animal conflict is a reality in India. Wild animals, including leopards,tigers and elephants, have attacked humans. Stray dogs and snakes, too. In some cases, humans have retaliated.

A research paper on leopard-human conflict shows that in Himachal Pradesh’s Hamirpur district, there were 74 instances of attacks on humans between 2004 and 2015.

Many large carnivores live on the edges of many cities in India and elsewhere—Bengaluru,Bhopal, Jaipur,Mysuru, Delhi, Nairobi and Windhoek among others.

Natural habitats are critical for the survival of wild animals and human-animal co-existence. Habitat loss and people encroaching territory meant for animals have led to attacks. People in India have shown the willingness and ability to accommodate wildlife, experts say. The state and people have a responsibility to sustain the country’s biodiversity.
-Commentary in News

#GS2: –  05. Poverty Metrics Debate

Going by Niti Aayog’s latest assessment, India has made substantial gains in its fight against deprivation. Nearly 250 million people are found to have escaped multiple-count poverty in the nine years starting 2013-14.

Its multidimensional poverty index(MPI) showing a projected drop from 29.2% of our population that year to11.3% in 2022-23,with data taken from National Family Health Surveys for its calculations. By Niti Aayog estimates,this ratio was 55.3%in2005-06,but is now expected to go below10% in 2024.

In the past, India’s poverty measurement relied on consumption patterns, but that method was abruptly dropped some years ago after leaked national survey data pointed to a worsening.That weakly explained move exposed official data to charges of serving optical ends.To be sure,measuring poverty is a complex task and various statistical lenses are valid for what they aim to reveal.A multi-count index clearly captures a broader snapshot of how our have-nots live than, say, the World Bank’s global poverty-line mark,by which anyone living on less than $2.15 daily counts as poor. As this is barely ₹180, its bar seems too low to reveal Indian indigence. Yet, a sharp cut-off of a single count can offer clarity on the most basic aspect of subsistence. According to World Bank data,India’s poverty ratio fell from about 19% in 2015 to 11.9% in 2021. Since this tells us something vital about the means people have under their own agency,as distinct from state provisions, it makes sense forIndia to use both kinds of poverty trackers in conjunction.
–Commentary in News

#GS3: – 06. Solow’s Growth Model

Solow’s work has had a profound impact on global policy making, especially on East Asia’s so-called ‘tiger’ economies during their take-off. As the Nobel Committee noted, Solow’s growth model, which he developed in the 1950s, illustrated how “continuous technological progress” could increase economic output, encouraging governments around the world to invest in research and development (R&D).
-Former CEA Kaushik Basu

Key Terms/Issues : Solow’s Growth Model