Category: Ranker Webinars

Topics for Today’s questions:

GS-1         Urbanization, their problems and remedies

GS-2         Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting  India’s interests.

GS-3        Indian Economy

GS-4      Contribution of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and the world.

Question 1)

Q.1 Giving an account of the initiatives taken by the government for urban development in recent years, explain how they seek to solve some of the major problems of urbanization faced in India.

Question 2)

Q.2 Countries which share common values and interests must work together with resolve to shape our economic and strategic environment so that it continues to support our collective security and prosperity. Examine how India-Australia relations are based on that conviction. (10 Marks)

Question 3)

Q.3 How the central bank influences inflation expectations? Why communication between the Monetary Policy Committee and the RBI is important?

Question 4)  

Q.4 The core of Gandhiji’s philosophy lies in internal moral power. Discuss. (10 Marks)

HOW TO ATTEMPT ANSWERS IN DAILY ANSWER WRITING ENHANCEMENT(AWE)?

1. Daily 4 questions from General studies 1, 2, 3, and 4 will be provided to you.

2. A Mentor’s Comment will be available for all answers. This can be used as a guidance tool but we encourage you to write original answers.

3. You can write your answer on an A4 sheet and scan/click pictures of the same.

4.  Upload the scanned answer in the comment section of the same question.

5. Along with the scanned answer, please share your Razor payment ID, so that paid members are given priority.

6. If you upload the answer on the same day like the answer of 11th  February is uploaded on 11th February then your answer will be checked within 72 hours. Also, reviews will be in the order of submission- First come first serve basis

7. If you are writing answers late, for example, 11th February is uploaded on 13th February , then these answers will be evaluated as per the mentor’s schedule.

8. We encourage you to write answers on the same day. However, if you are uploading an answer late then tag the mentor like @Staff so that the mentor is notified about your answer.

*In case your answer is not reviewed, reply to your answer saying *NOT CHECKED*. 

1. For the philosophy of AWE and payment: 

UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

Context

• In this article, we will examine India’s ties with Myanmar which has been in turmoil since February, 2021.
• The military had seized control of the country in a coup and detained Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of her Parliament.

Myanmar: A backgrounder

• Myanmar, also known as Burma, is in South East Asia and neighbours Thailand, Laos, Bangladesh, China and India.
• The biggest city is Yangon (Rangoon) but the capital is Nay Pyi Taw.
• The main religion is Buddhism. There are many ethnic groups in the country, including Rohingya Muslims.
• The country gained independence from Britain in 1948. It was ruled by the armed forces from 1962 until 2011, when a new government began ushering in a return to civilian rule.

Myanmar under Suu Kyi

• Aung San Suu Kyi became world-famous in the 1990s for campaigning to restore democracy.
• She spent nearly 15 years in detention between 1989 and 2010 after organising rallies calling for democratic reform and free elections.
• She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while under house arrest in 1991.
• In 2015, she led the NLD to victory in Myanmar’s first openly contested election in 25 years.

Myanmar in recent timeline:

(1) Crackdown on Rohingyas

• Suu Kyi’s international reputation has suffered greatly as a result of Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya minority.
• Myanmar considers them illegal immigrants and denies them citizenship. Over decades, many have fled the country to escape persecution.
• Thousands of Rohingya were killed and more than 700,000 fled to Bangladesh following an army crackdown in 2017.

(2) Military Coup

• The military is now backing in charge and has declared a year-long state of emergency.
• It seized control following a general election which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party won by a landslide.
• The armed forces had backed the opposition, who were demanding a rerun of the vote, claiming widespread fraud.
• The election commission said there was no evidence to support these claims.
• Suu Kyi is thought to be under house arrest. Several charges have been filed against her, including breaching import and export laws and possession of unlawful communication devices.

How does the world see Myanmar today?

• Many western liberal democracies have condemned the military takeover.
• UN Secretary-General António Guterres said it was a “serious blow to democratic reforms”.
• US President Joe Biden has threatened to reinstate sanctions.
• However, the issue has now faded from the geopolitical discourse.

Chinese pleasure over Myanmar Coup

China neither condemned nor expressed any concern. It just said that reconciliation is needed between the civilian set-up and Myanmar military or Tatmadaw.

• China blocked a UN Security Council statement condemning the coup.
• The country, which has previously opposed international intervention in Myanmar, urged all sides to “resolve differences”.
• Its Xinhua news agency described the changes as a “cabinet reshuffle”.
• Neighbours including Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines, have said it is an “internal matter”.

An analysis: India-Myanmar Relations

• India-Myanmar relations are rooted in shared historical, ethnic, cultural and religious ties.
• As the land of Lord Buddha, India is a country of pilgrimage for the people of Myanmar.
• The geographical proximity of the two countries has helped develop and sustain cordial relations and facilitated people-to- people contact.
• Both share a long land border of over 1600 km (approx.) and a maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal.

A large population of Indian origin (according to some estimates about 2.5 million) lives in Myanmar. India and Myanmar signed a Treaty of Friendship in 1951.

India’s interests

• India needs a good working relationship with the Myanmar government for its diplomatic and strategic initiatives.
• This is especially due to China’s nefarious designs in Myanmar, which wants to develop it as a geopolitical base against India.
• Despite Myanmar being ruled by military junta over the years, India has developed close ties and shares a good relationship with Tatmadaw.

(a) Strategic relations

• The geographically strategic location of Myanmar makes it a bridge between South Asia and Southeast Asia.
• Last year, despite facing shortage of its own, India handed over INS Sindhuvir, a submarine, to the Myanmar Navy.
• Tatmadaw responded well to Indian overtures and even allowed India to conduct counter-interagency operations against Indian insurgents groups in Myanmar border areas.
• Both nations seek to cooperate to counteract drug trafficking and insurgent groups operating in the border areas.

(b) Economic Relations

• India and Myanmar are leading members of BIMSTEC, SAARC and the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation, along with Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, helping India develop its influence and ties amongst Southeast Asian nations.
• Some of the sanctioned projects include:
• India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral highway
• Kaladan Multi-modal transit transport network
• Planned Special Economic Zone at the Sittwe deep-water port
• Also, the Myanmar government recently hinted at delaying and cancelling BRI projects and developing some big ticket projects with India.

(c) Humanitarian Assistance

• India responded promptly and effectively in rendering assistance after natural disaster in Myanmar such as the earthquake in Shan state (2010) Cyclone Mora (2017), and Komen (2015).
• India offered to help in capacity building in disaster risk mitigation as well as strengthening Myanmar’s National Disaster Response Mechanism.

What defines China-Myanmar relations?

China has its own designs and wants to use Myanmar as another base in its ‘string of pearl’ strategy against India. Through the string of pearls approach, China intends to encircle India by developing military bases in India’s neighbouring countries and Myanmar has long been on China’s radar.

(a) Debt trap diplomacy

• Burdening Myanmar under Chinese debt trap is the first step of the plan.
• Under China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China is funding and developing many big projects in Myanmar that can be used as military bases in future.
• These infrastructure projects have put Myanmar in massive Chinese debt trap, and accounts for over 40 per cent of the current $10 billion national debt.

(b) Political interference

• The second Chinese step was to control the political machinery.
• Like in Nepal, where China maneuvered to install a pro-Beijing and anti-India group government, Myanmar is expected to witness the same thing with military coup.
• Geostrategic experts say China instigated Nepal to start the border dispute with India.

(c) Trade dependence

• With this second step done, the third step comes into play: making a country your economically held scapegoat.
• When it comes to bilateral trade with India, it stood at just $1.5 billion dollars in 2019-20, nowhere near that of China.  With China, the bilateral trade is worth $12 billion dollars.
• But if we go by an official Chinese report quoting the Ministry of Commerce of China, export and import between China and Myanmar was worth $168 billion dollars in 2019.
• That is huge for a small country like Myanmar.

Through the prism of Coup

(a) Impact on India

While the coup invited international condemnation, not much has changed for India as it has built ties with the Tatmadaw over the years.

• The handing over late last year of INS Sindhuvir, a kilo-class submarine of the Indian Navy, to the Myanmar Navy, was the most recent sign of the deepening ties between New Delhi and the Tatmadaw.
• India and China have been competing for influence in Myanmar.
• If India hadn’t agreed to help Myanmar meet its naval requirements, it would have meant a greater Chinese presence in the Bay of Bengal.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing (behind this coup) has made multiple visits to India over the last few years, most recently in 2019, when he met our PM.

(b) Impact on China

• India was the largest supplier of weapons and other military equipment to Myanmar in 2019, the last year for which records are available in the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database.
• Tatmadaw exported military hardware worth $100 million from India that year while it spent only $47 million on Chinese military equipment the same year.
• This is significant because China has been the largest supplier of weapons to the Southeast Asian country over the decades.
• The General has also been critical of China, accusing Beijing of providing support to certain insurgent groups in the country, including the Arakan Army in Rakhine state, which the Tatmadaw has been fighting.

Many rebel groups in Myanmar have been using Chinese-made weapons against the military. This, experts say, rules out a tight embrace of China in the near term.

Repercussions of the Coup

• Diplomatic isolation: And with over 50 years of military rule and an isolated status in the world, it seems that most of the relations are held by China alone.
• Sanctions and embargoes: If the US goes ahead with its threat of sanctions because of the coup, Myanmar will have to turn to Beijing as a shield.
• New puppet of China: In a nutshell, Myanmar’s economy is largely dependent on China, and with a pro-Beijing government in place, Myanmar may well fall finally into Chinese debt trap by allowing China funded BRI projects.
• Hostility in India’s neighbourhood: If that happens, Myanmar will be reducing to a mere economic scapegoat of its largest trading partner China, and a hostile neighbour for India’s geopolitical interests.
• Deterrence in Indo-Pacific: This in turn will emerge as a deterrent in the global vision of Indo-Pacific.

It may be often tempting to describe India’s Myanmar policy as suffering from a dilemma between values and interest.

Wait….. India never acts blindfolded

India’s interest in Myanmar has always been guided strategically by the centrality of democracy to ensure deeper ties.

India has also learned to accept that “the liberal democratic paradigm will not automatically come about” in Myanmar, nor in any other part of India’s politically volatile neighbourhood.

So while Indian policymakers have always been clear about their democratic endgame in Myanmar, they also recognise that pragmatic adjustments are sometimes necessary to engage with the military, which remains the ultimate guarantor of internal stability and order.

Since Nehruvian times….

60 years ago, the Burmese armed forces, the Tatmadaw, first took over power to end a decade of democratic reforms in the 1950s.

• The coup of March 1962 was a severe setback for India’s investment in a federal, democratic Burma under the leadership of Nehru’s great friend U Nu.
• However, with the democratic regime in deep crisis, it made sense to engage General Ne Win to protect Indian interests, including cross-border insurgencies, China’s influence and the safety of the larger Indian diaspora.
• Despite his personal distress at the imprisonment of his friend and the end of democracy, Nehru gave the green light for India to become one of the first countries to recognise the military regime, even before China.
• For the time being, India will push for democracy in public domain but in private it will pivot to engage with Myanmar’s new military regime.

The road to democracy in Myanmar lies through its military

• Sixty years later, the situation is strikingly similar.
• This marks a return to India’s dual policy of the 2000s, when it built a relationship of high-level trust with the Myanmar military while also nudging and supporting the Generals to embrace democratic reforms.
• This approach was first crafted in the late 1990s by Shyam Saran, then India’s ambassador in Yangon, and executed in 2000 with a rare display of successful defence diplomacy led by Army chief VP Malik.
• This was no easy task. Western analysts criticised India for blindly engaging Myanmar.
• At the UN India came under attack for not supporting sanctions and condemnatory resolutions, especially during the failed 2007 democratic uprising.

Despite such pressure, India stood firm and also paid a price for it. PM Manmohan Singh, for example, declined two invitations and only visited Myanmar in 2012, after the democratic opening.  

Way forward

• The carefully calibrated policy of the 2000s will serve India well today, where circumstances are even more favourable.
• Thanks to the rise of China, the US and the EU are now more wary of isolating Myanmar.
• And the Tatmadaw is now also less enamored of China and keen to deepen relations with India.
• But New Delhi will still have to work hard to pursue its democratic realist policy in Myanmar.

For India to play a role

(a) Domestically

• The first challenge will be to preserve trust with the Generals even while keeping up the pressure to restore a democratic order.
• Delhi will have to keep the relationship going at the highest level to ensure that the Generals respect India’s core concerns.
• This includes the Naga peace process, keeping an eye on China’s activities, and cross-border connectivity initiatives.

(b) Internationally

• The second challenge will be for India to coordinate its position internationally and buy itself manoeuvering space to engage Myanmar.
• The US and the EU are still likely to be less understanding of India’s position than the Association of South-East Asian Nations and Japan.
• Especially at the UN Security Council, India could play an important role to bridge differences and develop a common platform to nudge Myanmar back on to the democratic track.

UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

Topics for Today’s questions:

GS-1        Population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues

GS-2         Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting  India’s interests.

GS-3        Indian Economy

GS-4      Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and application in administration and governance.

Question 1)

Q.1 Discuss the role played by SHGs in rural development in India. Also, mention various measures which have been taken by the government to promote SHGs in India. (15 Marks)

Question 2)

Q.2 What is the significance of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) for the Indo-Pacific region? What are the challenges it may face? (10 Marks)

Question 3)

Q.3 How does the dominant role of agriculture and the exchange rate make the Indian economy different from the OECD countries’ economies? What are the implications of this for use of monetary policy to control inflation in India? (15 Marks)

Question 4)  

Q.4 Emotional intelligence is about being aware of how emotions affect your communication and even leveraging human emotions to make yourself more persuasive. Explain. (10 Marks)

HOW TO ATTEMPT ANSWERS IN DAILY ANSWER WRITING ENHANCEMENT(AWE)?

1. Daily 4 questions from General studies 1, 2, 3, and 4 will be provided to you.

2. A Mentor’s Comment will be available for all answers. This can be used as a guidance tool but we encourage you to write original answers.

3. You can write your answer on an A4 sheet and scan/click pictures of the same.

4.  Upload the scanned answer in the comment section of the same question.

5. Along with the scanned answer, please share your Razor payment ID, so that paid members are given priority.

6. If you upload the answer on the same day like the answer of 11th  February is uploaded on 11th February then your answer will be checked within 72 hours. Also, reviews will be in the order of submission- First come first serve basis

7. If you are writing answers late, for example, 11th February is uploaded on 13th February , then these answers will be evaluated as per the mentor’s schedule.

8. We encourage you to write answers on the same day. However, if you are uploading an answer late then tag the mentor like @Staff so that the mentor is notified about your answer.

*In case your answer is not reviewed, reply to your answer saying *NOT CHECKED*. 

1. For the philosophy of AWE and payment: 

UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

Context

• The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the principal forum for setting the rules of international trade.
• For the past two and a half decades, it has helped reduce barriers to trade in both goods and services and created a dispute resolution system that supporters say reduced the threat of trade wars.
• However, with negotiations on a comprehensive development agenda due to disagreements, the WTO is under considerable pressure to achieve meaningful results.

Why in news?

• Recently, member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) wrapped up the Ministerial Conference’s twelfth outing (MC12).

About World Trade Organization (WTO)

• The WTO is an intergovernmental organization that is concerned with the regulation of international trade between nations.
• The WTO officially commenced on 1 January 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, signed by 123 nations on 15 April 1994.
• It replaced the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948.
• It is the largest international economic organization in the world.

Functions of WTO

• The WTO deals with the regulation of trade in goods, services and intellectual property between participating countries.
• It provides a framework for negotiating trade agreements and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants’ adherence to WTO agreements, which are signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their parliaments.

Working Principles of the WTO

The WTO establishes a framework for trade policies; it does not define or specify outcomes. That is, it is concerned with setting the rules of “trade policy.” Five principles are of particular importance in understanding both the pre-1994 GATT and the WTO:

1. Non-discrimination: It has two major components: the most favored nation (MFN) rule and the national treatment policy. The MFN rule requires that a WTO member must apply the same conditions on all trade with other WTO members. National treatment means that imported goods should be treated no less favorably than domestically produced goods.
2. Reciprocity: It reflects both a desire to limit the scope of free-riding that may arise because of the MFN rule and a desire to obtain better access to foreign markets.  
3. Binding and enforceable commitments: The tariff commitments made by WTO members in multilateral trade negotiation and on accession are enumerated in a schedule (list) of concessions. These schedules establish “ceiling bindings”: a country can change its bindings, but only after negotiating with its trading partners.
4. Transparency: The WTO members are required to publish their trade regulations, to maintain institutions allowing for the review of administrative decisions affecting trade, to respond to requests for information by other members, and to notify changes in trade policies to the WTO.
5. Safety values: In specific circumstances, governments are able to restrict trade. The WTO’s agreements permit members to take measures to protect not only the environment but also public health, animal health and plant health

What is the WTO’s Ministerial Conference?

• The MC is at the very top of WTO’s organizational chart.
• It meets once every two years and can take decisions on all matters under any multilateral trade agreement.
• Unlike other organizations, such as the International Monetary Fund or World Bank, WTO does not delegate power to a board of directors or an organizational chief.
• All decisions at the WTO are made collectively and through consensus among member countries at varied councils and committees.
• This year’s conference took place in Geneva, Switzerland.

Key outcomes of MC12: “Geneva Package”

• The conference has secured key agreements on

1. Relaxing patent regulations to achieve global vaccine equity
2. Ensuring food security
3. According subsidies to the fisheries sector
4. Continuing moratoriums relevant to e-commerce

• Together they constitute what WTO Director-General is referred to as the “Geneva Package.”
• India saw some successes at the MC12 with respect to the above-mentioned sectors.

Major debates at the MC12

(1) Agriculture

• India is a significant contributor to the World Food Programme (WFP).
• India had earlier stated that it had never imposed export restrictions for procurement under the programme.
• It put forth that a blanket exemption could constrain its work in ensuring food security back home.
• In such a situation, it would have to keep its WFP commitments irrespective of its domestic needs.
• Negotiators could not reach agreements on issues such as permissible public stockholding threshold for domestic food security, domestic support to agriculture, cotton, and market access.

(2) Fisheries

• India successfully managed to carve out an agreement on ELIMINATING subsidies to those engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
• The only exception for continuing subsidies for the overfished stock is when they are deemed essential to rebuild them to a biologically sustainable level.
• Overfishing refers to exploiting fishes at a pace faster than they could replenish themselves — currently standing at 34% as per the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
• Declining fish stocks threaten to worsen poverty and endanger communities that rely on aquatic creatures for their livelihood and food security.
• Further, the agreements hold that there would be no limitation on subsidies by developing or least-developed countries for fishing within their exclusive economic zones (EEZ).

(3) Patent relaxations

• Member countries agreed on authorizing the use of a patent for producing COVID-19 vaccines by a member country, without the consent of the rights holder.
• Further, it asks member countries to waive requirements, including export restrictions, set forth by WTO regulations to supply domestic markets and member countries with any number of vaccines.
• The agreement, however, comes too little, too late for economically poorer countries.

India and WTO

Ever since the inception of this organization, India has been an active participant in its affairs and policies and played a crucial role in raising the concerns and demands of developing countries.

• Reforms Agent: India always worked towards a multilateral trading system that offers a fair, open, transparent and balanced level playing field in the interests of the developing and least developing countries.
• Leadership: India’s role right from the inception of the institution has always been that of a leader of the South, trying to ensure that fair play is brought into a rule-based system of global trade. It has retained this role till now, given that many smaller developing countries rely on it.

Issues with WTO

(1) Persistent North-South divisions

• WTO talks are mainly seen as a showdown between the North and the South.
• This is particularly so with the growth in strength of the developing countries and their regional and continental groupings.

(2) Farm Subsidies

• The tussle between developed and developing economies over farm subsidies also continues, with rich countries reserving the right to spend billions of dollars on supporting their farmers.
• The livelihood issues raised by India, on the other hand, are considered only grudgingly, while the “peace” clause, allowing a 10 percent subsidy on public stockholding of foodgrains, was extracted after many negotiations.

 (3) Developed vs. Developing Countries

• Since the WTO allows countries to unilaterally classify themselves as “developing”, many countries have been happy to make use of this freedom. 
• So, as many as two-thirds of the 164 members of the WTO have classified themselves as developing countries.

(4) Decision-making process

• In WTO decision-making is through consensus. This has translated into making the WTO decision-making long and subject to external manipulation.
• Most of the time political and ideological differences come in a way of reaching a consensus.

(5) Implementation problem

• This relates basically to the difficulties that mainly developing countries face in meeting their obligations under the WTO agreements.
• The two main areas that have affected implementation by developing countries have been the TRIPS and the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures agreements.

(6) Not all countries joined

• With an increasingly global trading system, member countries do not operate in isolation and trade with WTO member countries only.
• Not all world countries have joined it makes it a less effective organization.  Countries such as Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Uzbekistan has not joined WTO yet.

(7) Strong influence of Corporate

• The WTO essentially protects multinational corporations based in the North.
• It is often accused to be acted as a tool of rich and powerful countries – notably the US, the EU, Japan, and Canada.

(8) Protectionism Vs Free Trade

• There is a trade war between US and China despite both being a member of WTO.
• This negates the core non-discriminatory principle of the WTO

(9) Dispute settlement mechanism

• While WTO’s dispute settling mechanism allows aggrieved parties to file cases against member-states, some of the cases and issues have remained unresolved for a long time
• The U.S. has systematically blocked the appointment of new Appellate Body members (“judges”) and de facto impeded the work of the WTO appeal mechanism.
• Further, the dispute resolution mechanism of the WTO, which can pass judgments on disputes, lacks the powers to enforce them as the enforcement of decisions is left to individual member states.

Criticisms of WTO

Although tariffs and other trade barriers have been significantly reduced thanks to GATT and WTO, the promise that free trade will accelerate economic growth, reduce poverty, and increase people’s incomes has been questioned by many critics.

• Pro-rich: New countries actively reduce trade barriers only after becoming significantly rich. Each of the 164 members has their own protectionist agendas.
• Western-Hijack: The general perception is that dominant economic powers like the United States and Europe have hijacked the system. 
• Failure in poverty alleviation: Trade liberalization does not guarantee economic growth and certainly not poverty alleviation.
• No mutual benefits: Critics also put forward the view that the benefits derived from WTO facilitated free trade are not shared equally.
• Rich-poor countries rift: The gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen, especially in China and India, where economic inequality is growing even though economic growth is very high.
• Competition: Trade liberalization that is too early without any prominent domestic barriers is feared to trap the developing economies in the primary sector, which often does not require skilled labor.

A matter of perception

• The developing countries do not believe that the WTO works for their benefit.
• The WTO activities seem like wastage of taxpayer’s money. They only hold expensive conferences at exotic locations each year.  There is no outcome from these conferences.
• It is often accused that the WTO is turning into an inefficient and useless international bureaucracy.
• Governments use it as a forum to bestow economic benefits on their allies and penalties on their political rivals.

The success of the WTO

• The WTO is the world’s only international organization that supervises 95% of the world’s global trade.
• The WTO has not only enhanced the value and quantity of trade but has also helped in eradicating trade and non-trade barriers.
• WTO has also broadened the trade governance scope to trade in investment, services and intellectual property.
• It has expanded the agenda by including developmental policies which further helped in the settlement of disputes and improved monitoring by introducing the Trade Policy Review and the World Trade Report.
• WTO also encouraged sustainable trade developments. As trade expands in volume, in the numbers of products traded, and in the numbers of countries and companies trading, there is a greater chance that disputes will arise.  
• The fact that there is a single set of rules applying to all members greatly simplifies the entire trade regime. The WTO cannot claim to make all countries equal. But it does reduce some inequalities, giving smaller countries more voice.
• The WTO is still the single most effective international agency after the United Nation.

Way forward

• Currently, the WTO trumps all other international agreements. To sum it up, there is no real consensus on the success or failure of WTO.
• However, there is a need for structural reform in the WTO functioning as a multilateral trading system. They can be summed up as:
• Decision-making within the organization based on rational and non-partisan principles
• Streamline reforms related to its dispute settlement system.
• Implement development-oriented policies in an effective manner.
• Facilitate global trade liberalization in agriculture and textiles.
• Encourage NGOs to become an important part of world trade governance.
• Devise ways to increase staff and resources to ensure effective regulation.
• Despite WTO being a democratic organization, there is a need to make it more effective in protecting the interests of small nations against stronger countries.
• WTO needs to strengthen the dispute settlement mechanism as there are issues in the appointment of judges in the new appellate body
• Lastly, WTO needs to enhance the discussion mechanism by introducing wider consultations.

Topics for Today’s questions:

GS-1        Population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues

GS-2         Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting  India’s interests.

GS-3        Indian Economy, Buffer stocks and food security

GS-4      Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and application in administration and governance.

Question 1)

Q.1 Enumerate the measures taken for population control in India. Also, discuss whether there is a need for a new population policy in India. (15 Marks)

Question 2)

Q.2 Despite challenges, geopolitical logic underpinning India-Iran ties remains unchanged. Comment. (10 Marks)

Question 3)

Q.3 India’s excessive dependence on import for edible oil could impact India in several ways. Is oil palm a solution to this problem? What are its benefits and challenges? (10 Marks)

Question 4)  

Q.4 “Emotional Intelligence is the ability to make your emotions work for you instead of against you”. Do you agree with this view? Discuss. (10 Marks)

HOW TO ATTEMPT ANSWERS IN DAILY ANSWER WRITING ENHANCEMENT(AWE)?

1. Daily 4 questions from General studies 1, 2, 3, and 4 will be provided to you.

2. A Mentor’s Comment will be available for all answers. This can be used as a guidance tool but we encourage you to write original answers.

3. You can write your answer on an A4 sheet and scan/click pictures of the same.

4.  Upload the scanned answer in the comment section of the same question.

5. Along with the scanned answer, please share your Razor payment ID, so that paid members are given priority.

6. If you upload the answer on the same day like the answer of 11th  February is uploaded on 11th February then your answer will be checked within 72 hours. Also, reviews will be in the order of submission- First come first serve basis

7. If you are writing answers late, for example, 11th February is uploaded on 13th February , then these answers will be evaluated as per the mentor’s schedule.

8. We encourage you to write answers on the same day. However, if you are uploading an answer late then tag the mentor like @Staff so that the mentor is notified about your answer.

*In case your answer is not reviewed, reply to your answer saying *NOT CHECKED*. 

1. For the philosophy of AWE and payment: