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Personalized DAF questionnaire we prepared for AIR 16 and 17 UPSC 2020 (inside), get yours now!| Schedule your FREE Mock + DAF questionnaire | Limited seats
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Detailed Application Form (DAF) is one of the most important documents that you might have filled for UPSC interviews. A major part of the interview will revolve around the information and details provided in the DAF. It is more than your CV.

Your ability to defend your DAF before the panel is going to decide your success. Anticipating and preparing for the questions based on your DAF is an essential part of the interview preparation.

check out how we did daf analysis for upsc 2020 air 16 topper, arth jain

CHECK OUT HOW WE DID DAF ANALYSIS FOR UPSC 2020 AIR 17 TOPPER, sarthak agrawal

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As a part of Transcend Interview Guidance Program for UPSC 2021 we’ve prepared and compiled a high-quality comprehensive questionnaire.

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Upcoming Mock interview and session

This week’s mock interview dates have been fixed.
- Mock interview this week 12th April onwards – (Book your slot)
- Time: 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
- Mode: Online/Offline
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Interview slots will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Panelists for Mock Interviews:
1. Shri Shankar Aggarwal, IAS (retd.)
2. Dr. Noor Mohammad, IAS (retd.)
3. Dr. P.K. Agrawal, IAS (Retd.)
4. Shri T. N. Thakur, IAAS (retd.)
5. Shri V. P. Singh, IRPS
6. Mrs.Aditi Gupta, Corporate Leadership Specialist
7. Prof. U.M. Amin, Jamia Milia University
8. Mr. S. D. Singh, IFoS (Retd.)
9. Mr. Kunal Aggarwal, IRS
10. Mr. Debraj Das, IPS
Tentative: Shri Harsh V. Pant (Observer Research Foundation), Shri SN Tripathi, IAS (Director IIPA), Shri Yogesh Narain (Retd. Defence Secretary), Shri Dipankar Gupta (Indian Sociologist), and others.

Transcend Interview Guidance 2021: Program inclusion
1. Mock interview and detailed analysis + feedback
2. Most important issues coverage – current and structural
3. DAF 2 curation
4. Personalized mentorship
5. DAF analysis and one-on-one sessions with mentors
6. DAF based personalized questionnaire
7. Situational and Roleplay questionnaire
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April 11, 2022
WHAT IS KARISHMA’s (AIR 14 UPSC 2020) SECRET TO SUCCESS?

It is always a proud moment for us when our students succeed, and we feel humbled when they thank us for our guidance. Karishma Nair (AIR 14, 2020) wrote a personal note to Sajal sir and Civilsdaily after securing AIR 14 and in the letter she explained how our mentorship helped her succeed!

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Under the guidance of Sajal sir, Karishma Nair received regular detailed feedback. Each and every answer was analysed and every mistake removed. She says in the letter that the feedback helped her improve every day.

Not only that, her mentor was always available to guide her. She received a structured approach to the UPSC syllabus and answer-writing along with help and motivation throughout her preparation. With time, she was able to improve her performance and was able to secure AIR 14 in UPSC 2020. You can read her letter below:

Civilsdaily’s personal guidance and mentorship program helped 80 aspirants like Karishma crack UPSC exam. You could be next! Just fill the form below to speak personally with Karishma’s mentor, now!

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April 11, 2022
Care economy
Context

The importance of care work is now widely acknowledged and covered in various international commitments such as the SDGs. However, the investment in the care economy has not matched the pace.

Significance of care work
- Care work encompasses direct activities such as feeding a baby or nursing an ill partner, and indirect care activities such as cooking and cleaning’.
- Whether paid or unpaid, direct or indirect, care work is vital for human well-being and economies.
- Unpaid care work is linked to labour market inequalities, yet it has yet to receive adequate attention in policy formulation.
- Paid care workers, such as domestic workers and anganwadis in India, also struggle to access rights and entitlements as workers.
- Greater investment in care services can create an additional 300 million jobs globally, many of which will be for women.
- In turn this will help increase female labour force participation and advance Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8.
- This year, to commemorate International Women’s Day, the ILO brought out its new report titled, ‘Care at work: Investing in care leave and services for a more gender-equal world of work’.
- The report highlights the importance of maternity, paternity, and special care leave, which help balance women’s and men’s work and family responsibilities throughout their lives.
Gaps in the current policies
- Bridging the gaps in current policies and service provisions to nurture childcare and elderly care services will deliver the benefits of child development, aging in dignity and independent living as the population grows older and also generate more and better employment opportunities, especially for women.
- Maternity leave: Maternity leave is a universal human and labour right.
- Yet, it remains unfulfilled across countries, leaving millions of workers with family responsibilities without adequate protection and support. India fares better than its peers in offering 26 weeks of maternity leave, against the ILO’s standard mandate of 14 weeks that exists in 120 countries.
- However, this coverage extends to only a tiny proportion of women workers in formal employment in India, where 89% of employed women are in informal employment (as given by ILOSTAT, or the ILO’s central portal to labour statistics).
- While paternity leave is recognised as an enabler for both mothers and fathers to better balance work and family responsibilities, it is not provided in many countries, including India.
- Access to quality and affordable care services such as childcare, elderly care and care for people with disabilities is a challenge workers with family responsibilities face globally.
- Limited implementation: While India has a long history of mandating the provision of crèches in factories and establishments, there is limited information on its actual implementation.
- Domestic workers, on whom Indian households are heavily reliant, also face challenges in accessing decent work.
- According to the Government’s 2019 estimates, 26 lakh of the 39 lakh domestic workers in India are female.
- Ensure decent work for domestic workers: While important developments have extended formal coverage to domestic workers in India, such as the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act and the minimum wage schedule in many States, more efforts are required to ensure decent work for them.
Way forward
- Increase spending: India spends less than 1% of its GDP on the care economy; increasing this percentage would unfurl a plethora of benefits for workers and the overall economy.
- Strategy: In consultation with employers’ and workers’ organisations and the relevant stakeholders, the Government needs to conceptualise a strategy and action plan for improved care policies, care service provisions and decent working conditions for care workers.
- 5R Framework: The ILO proposes a 5R framework for decent care work centred around achieving gender equality. The framework urges the Recognition, Reduction, and Redistribution of unpaid care work, promotes Rewarding care workers with more and decent work, and enables their Representation in social dialogue and collective bargaining.
Conclusion

A human-centred and inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic that benefits workers, employers, and the government, requires a more significant investment in and commitment to supporting the care economy, which cares for the society at large.

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April 11, 2022
Tackle communally charged questions in UPSC Interviews: Watch how Ravi Kumar answered | Schedule your Mock + DAF questionnaire | Limited seats
Book your slot for UPSC Mock interviews (paneled by ex UPSC members) and get a dedicated mentor, on-call DAF analysis, DAF-based personalized questionnaire, and Situational questionnaire (FREE)

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UPSC panelists are going to ask unsettling communal/community-based questions. You need to be prepared for such questions. How Ravi Kumar, AIR 84, UPSC 2020 tackled a bouncer of a question, watch the video.

As a part of Transcend Interview Guidance Program for UPSC 2021 we’ve prepared and compiled a high-quality comprehensive questionnaire.

Download situational questionnaire here

Upcoming Mock interview and session

This week’s mock interview dates have been fixed.
- Mock interview this week 12th April onwards – (Book your slot)
- Time: 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
- Mode: Online/Offline
Do You Know That Civilsdaily Has a 75% Success Rate In UPSC Interview?

(click) Register for Mocks and Get your (FREE) Situational Questionnaire, DAF analysis and more for UPSC Interviews 2021

Interview slots will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Panelists for Mock Interviews:
1. Shri Shankar Aggarwal, IAS (retd.)
2. Dr. Noor Mohammad, IAS (retd.)
3. Dr. P.K. Agrawal, IAS (Retd.)
4. Shri T. N. Thakur, IAAS (retd.)
5. Shri V. P. Singh, IRPS
6. Mrs.Aditi Gupta, Corporate Leadership Specialist
7. Prof. U.M. Amin, Jamia Milia University
8. Mr. S. D. Singh, IFoS (Retd.)
9. Mr. Kunal Aggarwal, IRS
10. Mr. Debraj Das, IPS
Tentative: Shri Harsh V. Pant (Observer Research Foundation), Shri SN Tripathi, IAS (Director IIPA), Shri Yogesh Narain (Retd. Defence Secretary), Shri Dipankar Gupta (Indian Sociologist), and others.

(click) Register for Mocks and Get your (FREE) Situational Questionnaire for UPSC Interviews 2021

Transcend Interview Guidance 2021: Program inclusion
1. Mock interview and detailed analysis + feedback
2. Most important issues coverage – current and structural
3. DAF 2 curation
4. Personalized mentorship
5. DAF analysis and one-on-one sessions with mentors
6. DAF based personalized questionnaire
7. Situational and Roleplay questionnaire
Do You Know That Civilsdaily Has a 75% Success Rate In UPSC Interview?

(click) Register for Mocks and Get your (FREE) Situational Questionnaire, DAF analysis and more for UPSC Interviews 2021

Download situational questionnaire here
April 11, 2022
Fake news in social media
Context

Social media platforms have adopted design choices that have led to a proliferation and mainstreaming of misinformation while allowing themselves to be weaponised by powerful vested interests for political and commercial benefit.

Problems created by social media and issues with response to it
- The consequent free flow of disinformation, hate and targeted intimidation has led to real-world harm and degradation of democracy in India: Mainstreamed anti-minority hate, polarised communities and sowed confusion have made it difficult to establish a shared foundation of truth.
- Political agenda: Organised misinformation (disinformation) has a political and/or commercial agenda.
- Apolitical and episodic discourse in India: The discourse in India has remained apolitical and episodic — focused on individual pieces of content and events, and generalised outrage against big tech instead of locating it in the larger political context or structural design issues.
- Problematic global discourse: The evolution of the global discourse on misinformation too has allowed itself to get mired in the details of content standards, enforcement, fact-checking, takedowns, de-platforming, etc.
- Moderating misinformation vs. safeguarding freedom of expression: Such framework lends itself to bitter partisan contest over individual pieces of content while allowing platforms to disingenuously conflate the discourse on moderating misinformation with safeguards for freedom of expression.
- The current system of content moderation is more a public relations exercise for platforms than being geared to stop the spread of disinformation.
Framework to combat disinformation
- Consider it as a political problem: The issue is as much about bad actors as individual pieces of content.
- Content distribution and moderation are interventions in the political process.
- Comprehensive transparency law: There is thus a need for a comprehensive transparency law to enforce relevant disclosures by social media platforms.
- Bipartisan political process for content moderation: Content moderation and allied functions such as standard setting, fact-checking and de-platforming must be embedded in the sovereign bipartisan political process if they are to have democratic legitimacy.
- Regulatory body should be grounded in democratic principles: Any regulatory body must be grounded in democratic principles — its own and of platforms.
- Three approaches to distribution that can be adopted by platforms: 1) Constrain distribution to organic reach (chronological feed);
- 2) take editorial responsibility for amplified content;
- 3) amplify only credible sources (irrespective of ideological affiliation).
- Review of content creator: The current approach to misinformation that relies on fact-checking a small subset of content in a vast ocean of unreviewed content is inadequate for the task and needs to be supplemented by a review of content creators itself.
Conclusion

Social media cannot be wished away. But its structure and manner of use are choices we must make as a polity after deliberation instead of accepting as them fait accompli or simply being overtaken by developments along the way.

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April 11, 2022
Why central services cannot be exempted from reservation for disabled
Context

In a case that the SC is currently hearing, the petitioner has challenged a notification issued by the Department of Empowerment for Persons with Disabilities (Department).

About the notification
- The impugned notification exempts all categories of posts in the Indian Police Service, the Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli Police Service, as well as the Indian Railway Protection Force Service from the mandated 4 per cent reservation for persons with disabilities under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 [RPwD Act].
Issues with the notification

1] Against combat and non-combat classification
- On the same day as the issuing of the impugned notification, the Department also issued another notification exempting from the purview of reservation under the RPwD Act posts only of “combatant” nature in the paramilitary police.
- This classification between combat and non-combat posts was premised on a clear recognition of the fact that persons with disabilities are capable of occupying non-combat posts in the central forces.
- The Department has offered no justification as to why this classification would not hold good as regards the services covered in the impugned notification.
2] Against the identification of posts suitable for reservation for the disabled
- The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment had identified a range of ministerial/civilian posts as being suitable for reservation for the disabled.
- The impugned notification goes against this identification exercise, by virtue of its blanket character.
- Further, on November 22, 2021, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs released Draft Accessibility Standards/Guidelines for built infrastructure under its purview (police stations, prisons and disaster mitigation centres) and services associated with them.
- These Draft Standards state that the police staff on civil duty could be persons with disabilities.
3] Exercise of power
- As per the RPwD Act, the grant of any exemption has to be preceded by consultation with the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities.
- However, the office of the chief commissioner has been lying vacant for many years, with the secretary in the Department officiating in that role.
Conclusion

This case presents the SC with the opportunity to rule that the disabled are not a monolithic entity. Every disabled person is different, and it is unfair to paint all disabled people with the same broad brush, based on a stereotypical understanding of what they can do.

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April 11, 2022
11th April 2022 | Prelims Daily with Previous Year Questions

[WpProQuiz 965]

[WpProQuiz_toplist 965]

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April 11, 2022
Designation of Terrorists in India
The Union Home Ministry has designated Hafiz Talha Saeed, son of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, chief of the Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), as a terrorist under the Unlawful (Activities) Prevention Act (UAPA).

About Unlawful (Activities) Prevention Act (UAPA)
- The UAPA is aimed at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
- Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India
- It is an upgrade on the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act TADA, which was allowed to lapse in 1995 and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) was repealed in 2004.
- It was originally passed in 1967 under the then Congress government led by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
- Till 2004, “unlawful” activities referred to actions related to secession and cession of territory. Following the 2004 amendment, “terrorist act” was added to the list of offences.
Designation of Terrorists
- The Centre had amended UAPA, 1967, in August 2019 to include the provision of designating an individual as a terrorist.
- Before this amendment, only organisations could be designated as terrorist outfits.
- Section 15 of the UAPA defines a “terrorist act” as any act committed with intent to threaten or likely to threaten the unity, integrity, security, economic security, or sovereignty of India or with intent to strike terror or likely to strike terror in the people or any section of the people in India or in any foreign country.
- The original Act dealt with “unlawful” acts related to secession; anti-terror provisions were introduced in 2004.
Who makes such designation?
- The UAPA (after 2019 amendment)seeks to empower the central government to designate an individual a “terrorist” if they are found committing, preparing for, promoting, or involved in an act of terror.
- A similar provision already exists in Part 4 and 6 of the legislation for organizations that can be designated as a “terrorist organisations”.
How individuals are declared terrorists?
- The central government may designate an individual as a terrorist through a notification in the official gazette, and add his name to the schedule supplemented to the UAPA Bill.
- The government is not required to give an individual an opportunity to be heard before such a designation.
- At present, in line with the legal presumption of an individual being innocent until proven guilty, an individual who is convicted in a terror case is legally referred to as a terrorist.
- While those suspected of being involved in terrorist activities are referred to as terror accused.
What happens when an individual is declared a terrorist?
- The designation of an individual as a global terrorist by the United Nations is associated with sanctions including travel bans, freezing of assets and an embargo against procuring arms.
- The UAPA, however, does not provide any such detail.
- It also does not require the filing of cases or arresting individuals while designating them as terrorists.
Removing the terrorist tag
- The UAPA gives the central government the power to remove a name from the schedule when an individual makes an application.
- The procedure for such an application and the process of decision-making will is decided by the central government.
- If an application filed by an individual declared a terrorist is rejected by the government, the UAPA gives him the right to seek a review within one month after the application is rejected.
- The central government will set up the review committee consisting of a chairperson (a retired or sitting judge of a High Court) and three other members.
- The review committee is empowered to order the government to delete the name of the individual from the schedule that lists “terrorists”, if it considers the order to be flawed.
- Apart from these two avenues, the individual can also move the courts challenging the government’s order.
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April 11, 2022
RBI proposes ATM cash withdrawals using UPI
The RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has proposed to make cardless cash withdrawal facility available at all ATMs, irrespective of banks, through the Unified Payment Interface (UPI).

What is UPI?
- UPI is an instant real-time payment system developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) facilitating inter-bank transactions.
- The interface is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India and works by instantly transferring funds between two bank accounts on a mobile platform.
How will cash withdrawals via UPI work?
- While the RBI did not disclose specific details on how the process will work, a person having knowledge about the matter said ATMs soon will show an option to withdraw cash using UPI.
- Upon selecting that option, a user would have to add the amount they wish to withdraw following which a QR code would be generated on the ATM machine.
- The user would then have to scan that code on their UPI app and enter their pin following which the ATM will dispense cash.
Why such move?
- Allowing cash withdrawals through UPI would increase the security of such transactions.
- The absence of the need for physical cards for such transactions would help prevent frauds such as card skimming and card cloning, among others.
What are the current ways of cardless cash withdrawals at ATMs?
- At the moment, a few banks such as ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI, allow their users to withdraw cash from their ATMs without a card.
- This was a feature introduced in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- However, it is a long-drawn process.
- Users have to install apps of their respective banks and first select the option of cardless cash withdrawal on the app, followed by adding beneficiary details and the withdrawal amount.
- After confirming the mobile number of a user, the bank will send an OTP and a nine-digit order ID to the beneficiary’s phone.
- Post that, the beneficiary would have to visit an ATM and key-in the OTP, order ID, amount for transaction and mobile number to get the cash.
Could this impact debit card usage?
- Debit cards are currently the most popular way of cash withdrawals at ATMs.
- As of now, there are more than 900 million debit cards in the country, and experts have cautioned that allowing cash withdrawals through UPI could negatively impact debit card usage.
- There could be a potential first-order impact on debit cards as this step would reduce the need to carry debit cards.
What’s next in the UPI pipeline?
- It is projected that in the next 3-5 years, UPI would be processing a billion transactions a day, and to enable that, a number of initiatives have been introduced.
- Chief among these is UPI’s AutoPay feature, which has already seen increased adoption owing to RBI’s disruptive guidelines on recurring mandates.
- According to industry experts, the AutoPay feature will be crucial to increasing daily transactions on the platform.
- The RBI has also announced UPI123 on feature phones without an Internet connection, which is expected to open up the payments system to more than 40 crore individuals who use such devices.
- This will expand digital financial inclusion and add to the number of transactions made on the platform.
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April 11, 2022
GSLV-F10
The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) with improvements added to its cryogenic upper stage (CUS) is expected to be ready in the second half of this year.

What is GSLV?
- GSLV is an expendable space launch vehicle designed, developed, and operated by the ISRO to launch satellites and other space objects into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbits.
- GSLV is 49.13 m tall and tallest among all other vehicles of ISRO.
- It is a three-stage vehicle with a lift-off mass of 420 tonnes.
- ISRO first launched GSLV on April 18, 2001 and has made 13 launches since then.
Stages in GSLV
- The first stage comprises S139 solid booster with 138-tonne propellant and four liquid strap-on motors, with 40-tonne propellant.
- The second stage is a liquid engine carrying 40-tonne of liquid propellant.
- The third stage is the indigenously built Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) carrying 15-tonne of cryogenic propellants.
Variants in GSLV
- GSLV rockets using the Russian Cryogenic Stage (CS) are designated as the GSLV Mk I while versions using the indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) are designated the GSLV Mk II.
- All GSLV launches have been conducted from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Difference between PSLV and GSLV
- GSLV has the capability to put a heavier payload in the orbit than the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
- PSLV can carry satellites up to a total weight of 2000 kg into space and reach up to an altitude of 600-900 km.
- GSLV can carry weight up to 5,000 kg and reach up to 36,000 km.
- PSLV is designed mainly to deliver earth observation or remote sensing satellites, whereas, GSLV has been designed for launching communication satellites.
- GSLV delivers satellites into a higher elliptical orbit, Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO).
Back2Basics: ISRO’s transportation modules

(1) SLV
- In the space transportation domain, the commissioning of the Satellite Launch Vehicle-3 (SLV-3) project in the early 1970s was the first indigenous experimental satellite launch vehicle.
- As a four stage, all solid, launch vehicle, SLV-3 had its successful launch in July 1980, thrusting India into the select league of six countries with the capability to launch satellites on their own.
- The ASLV- Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle project, in the early 1980s, was the next step of evolution in launch vehicle technology.
(2) PSLV
- In mid 80s came the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) project. PSLV was successfully launched in 1994.
- The vehicle has proven to be a workhorse of ISRO, logging over 50 successful missions, launching national as well as foreign satellites.
- On 15 February 2017, PSLV created a world record by successfully placing 104 satellites.
- The nation embarked upon a highly challenging quest to master the complex cryogenic technology.
(3) GSLV

Discussed above.

(4) SSLV
- The Small Satellites Launching Vehicles (SSLVs) used for commercial launching of small satellites is under incubation.
- It is a small-lift launch vehicle being developed by the ISRO with payload capacity to deliver:
1. 600 kg to Low Earth Orbit (500 km) or
2. 300 kg to Sun-synchronous Orbit (500 km)
- It would help launching small satellites, with the capability to support multiple orbital drop-offs.
- In future a dedicated launch pad in Sriharikota called Small Satellite Launch Complex (SSLC) will be set up.
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April 11, 2022

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