UPSC Key- December 26, 2022: Why you should read ‘Explosive Cyclogenesis’ or ‘Petroglyphs’ or ‘Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism’ for UPSC CSE

• Personality in News-Abdulla Yameen

• Map Work-Maldives

• Is Maldives in Indian Ocean or Arabian Sea?

• Which water channel separates Maldives and Lakshadweep?

• India and Maldives Bilateral Relations-Know the Historical Background

• How are things between India and the Maldives now?

• Why Maldives is Geo-Strategically Important to India?

• India and Maldives-What are the Major issues in Bilateral Relations?

• Why is Abdullah Yameen so hostile to India?

• Have you heard of the Maldives’ “India Out” campaign?

• What was ‘India Out’ Campaign?

• Why anti-India sentiments are rising in Maldives?

• Political developments in the Maldives in the last few years-Know in detail

• ‘The String of Pearls’, Maldives and India-Connect the dots

• What Steps India has taken in the recent years to ensure friendly relations with Maldives?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍Explained: What’s behind the new anti-India campaign in the Maldives?

📍Explained: Why political parties in Maldives are pushing back against ‘India Out’ protests

US: 24 dies in massive storm amid cancelled flights, power outages

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

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

• What’s the ongoing story- Tens of millions of Americans endured bone-chilling temperatures, blizzard conditions, power outages and cancelled holiday gatherings Friday from a winter storm that forecasters said was nearly unprecedented in its scope, exposing about 60 percent of the US population to some sort of winter weather advisory or warning.

• Do You Know-The storm pummelling large swaths of the United States and Canada is what forecasters call a “bomb cyclone.” While this kind of storm is not exceedingly rare, this one is very strong, with high winds that are bringing heavy snow or rain to many areas.

• What is a ‘Bomb Cyclone’?

• For Your Information-A bomb cyclone, also known as explosive cyclogenesis, is the rapid deepening of an extratropical cyclonic low-pressure area. The change in pressure needed to classify something as explosive cyclogenesis is latitude-dependent. This process is the extratropical equivalent of tropical rapid deepening. Even though only a minority of the bombs have become so strong, some weaker ones have also caused significant damage.

• What are Air Masses and Fronts? How they associated with the formation of ‘Bomb Cyclone’?

• What is a blizzard?

• What type of weather is blizzard?

• What are characteristics of a blizzard?

• What are the main effects of blizzards?

• How common are blizzards in the US?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍What is a ‘bomb cyclone’?

FRONT PAGE

Ready to work with India for ‘steady, sound growth’ of bilateral ties: China

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

• What’s the ongoing story-In his first comments after the latest round of talks between Indian and Chinese military commanders, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday that China is ready to work with India for the “steady and sound growth” of bilateral ties and the two countries are committed to upholding stability at the border areas.

• Quick Recall-Less than two weeks after Indian and Chinese troops clashed in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh on December 9, military commanders from the two sides held a fresh round of high-level talks on December 20 to try and resolve the remaining issues along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh. A joint statement said the talks were “frank and in-depth” and “in line with the guidance provided by the leaders of the two countries to work for the resolution of the remaining issues at the earliest”.

• What kind of “clash” was this on the LAC?

• Why did the Chinese soldiers cross over to the Indian side?

• Is there a larger context to the border clash?

• Where exactly did the India-China clash take place, and how did it begin?

• Map Work- Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh

• Do You Know-Soldiers of the two sides clashed in an area called Yangtse, in the upper reaches of Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh. Tawang, indeed nearly all of Arunachal, is claimed by China. It is one of the more serious dispute points between India and China in the overall border question. Tawang is the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama and an important pilgrimage centre for Tibetan Buddhists. The 14th Dalai Lama took refuge in Tawang after he crossed over from Tibet to India in 1959, spending some days in the monastery there before proceeding further.

• How are relations between China and India currently?

• ‘China-India relations have been worse over recent months. Along their contentious border in the Himalayan area, the two nations are at odds with one another’-Discuss

• “Yangtse is one of the 25 contested areas along the 3488-km Line of Actual Control between the two countries, stretching from the Western Sector to Middle Sector to Eastern Sector”-Know more in detail

• “Each time, however, and despite the great fount of expertise on China within its four walls, the Indian government has refused to publicly connect the dots between these transgressions and to educate and inform the Indian public about China”-Analyse

• “The 2005 Agreement on the Political Parameters and Guiding Principles between the two countries was a landmark treaty on the boundary dispute, which seemed to set explicit bookends and benchmarks for the eventual resolution of the boundary dispute”-What is that ‘2005 Agreement’?

• For Your Information-India and China have held 17 rounds of talks so far to resolve the standoff. A joint statement issued last Thursday after the 17th round, said the talks were “frank and in-depth” and “in line with the guidance provided by the leaders of the two countries to work for the resolution of the remaining issues at the earliest”.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍Why PLA targets Yangtse, one of 25 contested areas

📍The new LAC crisis: Where, why, and what now

📍Connect the dots

Window for FTAs shrinks as India braces for set of non-tariff barriers

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Main Examination: General Studies II: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s Interest

• What’s the ongoing story-As India pushes the pedal on free trade agreements (FTAs), non-tariff issues such as carbon emission norms, climate action, labour and gender balance standards, that comprise an increasingly substantive part of these new pacts, are weighing on these ongoing negotiations.

• What is Free Trade Agreement (FTA)?

• Know about other types of trade agreements like Bilateral investment treaty (BIT), Preferential Trade Area, Single market, Customs Union etc.

• What is Definition of trade given by WTO?

• What is Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement?

• Know about other types of trade agreements like Bilateral investment treaty (BIT), Preferential Trade Area, Single market, Customs Union etc.

• What is Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)?

• Trade Relations and Balance of Power theory

• Why have these issues raised concerns among policymakers in New Delhi?

• “In much of the negotiations currently under discussion, climate action, carbon emissions and labour issues are taking precedence over pure trade issues”-Why so?

• “There are significant differences between the old (FTAs negotiated prior to 2015) and the new FTAs under discussion currently”-What are those differences?

• What is Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)?

• “The European Union has also proposed a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to tax carbon-intensive products, such as iron and steel, cement, fertiliser, aluminium and electricity generation, from 2026”-How this move will impact India?

• Do You Know-Under the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) system, EU importers will buy carbon certificates corresponding to the carbon price that would have been paid, had the goods been produced under the EU’s carbon pricing rules. Many developing countries including India are expected to challenge this levy.

• What is the free trade agreement between Australia and India?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍Concerns of Indian players should be taken care of while crafting FTAs

Citing damage to ancient rock carvings, experts red-flag mega oil refinery project

Preliminary Examination: History of India

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

• What’s the ongoing story- The site proposed for a mega oil refinery in Barsu village of Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district is at the centre of a row over whether it might damage ancient rock carvings found in the area.

• Ratnagiri oil refinery and petrochemical complex-Know in brief

• What are petroglyphs?

• What is the difference between hieroglyphics and petroglyphs?

• Petroglyphs-Know its significance

• Konkan petroglyphs-Know in detail

• For Your Information-Ratnagiri district is believed to have more than 1,500 petroglyphs spread across over 70 sites. The carvings are in the shape of human figures, birds, animals and geometric forms, though they vary in shape and size from site to site. The petroglyphs in Ratnagiri region are also known as katal shilpa and believed to be nearly 20,000 years old. The Tentative List in UNESCO mentions seven sites with petroglyphs in Ratnagiri district — Ukshi, Jambharun, Kasheli, Rundhe Tali, Devihsol, Barsu and Devache Gothane, one in Sindhudurg district –Kudopi village, and nine sites at Pansaimol in Goa.

• What is so special about the Konkan petroglyphs?

• What are the solutions to situations where development and cultural heritage are in conflict?

• Do You Know-The Petroglyphs of Konkan region, spread across Maharashtra and Goa, are among the three Indian attractions that have been added to the Tentative List of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) World Heritage Sites. The other two Indian sites are Jingkieng Jri, the living root bridge in Meghalaya, and Sri Veerabhadra Temple in Andhra Pradesh’s Lepakshi.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍Petroglyph found in Konkan added in UNESCO heritage sites tentative list

THE IDEAS PAGE

An engine for growth

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.

• What’s the ongoing story-Ashok Gulati , Purvi Thangaraj Writes: India needs not only technological development and brilliance in various sectors ranging from defence to agriculture to manufacturing, but it desperately needs innovations that can safeguard its basic environment — land, water, and air.

• “The real Vishwaguru today is the US, which has retained its global leadership for almost a century since World War I. It is not just its military might but its technological superiority in various fields that has made the US the largest and most competitive open economy”- How did the US achieve all this?

• “Innovation is rightly recognised as an engine for economic growth”-Discuss

• “Jai jawan, jai kisan, jai vigyan, to include jai anusandhan”-Analyse the phrase in the context of research and development

• Where does India stand in terms of spending on research and development (R&D)?

• What do you understand by Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D (GERD)?

• Reasons for low R&D spending in India

• What is the difference between Self-Reliant Economy and Self-Sufficient Economy?

• For Your Information-According to UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics (UIS) latest report, the G20 nations accounted for 90.6 percent of global GERD (current, PPP$) in 2018. Global R&D expenditure has reached a record high of about 2.2 trillion current PPP$ (2018), while Research Intensity (R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP) has gradually increased from 1.43 per cent in 1998 to 1.72 per cent in 2018.

• “The innovation system in Israel is a fundamental driver of its economic growth and competitiveness. The government has played an important role in financing innovation, particularly in SMEs, and in providing well-functioning frameworks for innovation, such as venture capital (VC), incubators, strong science-industry links, and high-quality university education”-why government intervention is must in R&D?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍The key driver of self-reliance

EXPLAINED

In inversion of US treasury yields, a recession is foretold

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Mains Examination: 

• General Studies II: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.

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

• What’s the ongoing story-As the new year approaches, there are fears of recession in many of the world’s top economies, including the United States, the biggest and most consequential of all. The US does look headed for a recession — a key pointer is the inversion of US treasury yields.

• What is a recession, to begin with?

• What is Recession?

• What is the ‘V shape recession’?

• What is Stagflation?

• What comes first stagflation or recession?

• What is worse stagflation or recession?

• Why is Stagflation so unpopular vis a vis recession?

• Know the Types of Inflation like Moderate Inflation, Galloping Inflation, Hyper-Inflation, Stagflation, Deflation, Core Inflation etc.

• What are US treasuries?

• And what is the yield of a treasury?

• What is the yield curve?

• What is yield inversion?

• Is all of this unexpected?

• Why does this matter to India?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:  
📍Inflation vs. Stagflation: What’s the Difference?

📍ExplainSpeaking | How inflation beat the RBI: A recent history

📍Explained: Fed Reserve rate hike, US recession and impact on India

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