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19th March 2022 | Prelims Daily with Previous Year Questions
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Free Live Webinar Today @ 7PM, Registrations Closing Soon|| Ask Me Anything Session on UPSC Interview Round & DAF Analysis with Serving IRPS Officer, IIT Alumni & Civilsdaily Mentor Virendra Pratap Singh|| LINK INSIDE to Register For The Free Live Webinar
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.
Free, Open to All Q & A session on UPSC Interview Round by Virendra Pratap Sir
Candidates must ensure they research the relevant questions well enough. They must be able to interlink the questions in DAF to burning issues to national and international importance.
That’s why we have organised this free live webinar where UPSC Mains qualified aspirants can get their doubts cleared and prepare a solid DAF for the interview panel.
We make sure that no area of the DAF has been left untouched. This DAF-based questionnaire is an important tool which if used properly in your preparation may allow you to steer your interview in a particular direction.
Below are some of the pictures and sample of the questions that you are going to get.
Questions based on Graduation subject
Questions based on Date of birth
Questions based on optional subject
Questions based on Hobbies
What Will You Learn About UPSC Interview in this Free Live Q&A Webinar with Virendra Pratap Sir?
1. Sir will answer doubts on how to fill out personal information/details in the DAF.
2. Doubts regarding service and cadre preferences will be addressed.
3. Clarification of doubts about hobbies and extracurricular activities.
4. Sir will talk about the areas of your DAF-II from where the board will ask many questions?
5. Sir will answer doubts regarding the DAF keywords.
6. Sir will talk about the trend analysis based on last 6 years’ transcripts.
7. Sir will talk about certain interview mistakes by other aspirants in the interview which costed them a rank in the final list.
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Your marks in the personality round will definitely be a dominant deciding factor on whether you will get the service or cadre of your choice. So start practising for it and attend this free Q&A session with Virendra sir to clear your doubts!
Date: 21st March, 2022 (Monday)
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About Virendra Pratap Sir
Virendra Pratap Singh is an IRPS officer of 2009 batch. He has completed B.Tech from IIT Kharagpur. Before joining Civil Services, he worked in different private sector organisations such as Tata Steel, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.
He is associated with CivilsDaily in student mentoring program for UPSC interview since it’s inception.
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What is Reasonable Accommodation Principle?
The Karnataka High Court decision effectively upheld the denial of entry to students wearing the hijab. The court rejected an argument in support of permitting Muslim girls wearing head-scarves that was based on the principle of ‘reasonable accommodation’.
What is Reasonable Accommodation?
- ‘Reasonable accommodation’ is a principle that promotes equality, enables the grant of positive rights and prevents discrimination based on disability, health condition or personal belief.
- Its use is primarily in the disability rights sector.
- The provision plays a major role in addressing these barriers and thus contributes to greater workplace equality, diversity and inclusion.
Article 2 of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD) defines:
- Reasonable accommodation is “necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments not imposing a disproportionate or undue burden, where needed in a particular case, to ensure to persons with disabilities the enjoyment or exercise on an equal basis with others of all human rights and fundamental freedoms”.
International Labour Organization (ILO), in its recommendation on HIV/AIDS and the world of work, defines:
- It is “any modification or adjustment to a job or to the workplace that is reasonably practicable and enables a person living with HIV or AIDS to have access to, or participate or advance in, employment”.
How does the principle work?
- The general principle is that reasonable accommodation should be provided, unless some undue hardship is caused by such accommodation.
- A modified working environment, shortened or staggered working hours, additional support from supervisory staff and reduced work commitments are ways in which accommodation can be made.
- Suitable changes in recruitment processes — allowing scribes during written tests or sign language interpreters during interviews — will also be a form of accommodation.
What is the legal position on this in India?
- In India, the Rights of People with Disabilities Act, 2016, defines ‘reasonable accommodation’ as “necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments, without imposing a disproportionate or undue burden in a particular case, to ensure to PwD the enjoyment or exercise of rights equally with others”.
- The definition of ‘discrimination’ in Section 2(h) includes ‘denial of reasonable accommodation’.
- In Section 3, which deals with equality and non-discrimination, sub-section (5) says: “The appropriate Government shall take necessary steps to ensure reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities.”
Judicial interpretation of Reasonable Accommodation
- In Jeeja Ghosh and Another v. Union of India and Others (2016), the Supreme Court, awarded a compensation of ₹10 lakh to a passenger with cerebral palsy who was evicted from a flight after boarding.
- It said: “Equality not only implies preventing discrimination …, but goes beyond in remedying discrimination against groups suffering systematic discrimination in society.
- In concrete terms, it means embracing the notion of positive rights, affirmative action and reasonable accommodation.
- The Supreme Court elaborated on the concept in Vikash Kumar v. UPSC (2021).
- This was a case in which the court allowed the use of a scribe in the Union Public Service Commission examination for a candidate with dysgraphia, or writer’s cramp.
- It said failure to provide reasonable accommodation amounts to discrimination.
Context to the recent K’taka verdict
- In the recent Karnataka verdict on wearing the hijab, the High Court did not accept the argument for allowing minor variations to the uniform to accommodate personal religious belief.
- The HC meant that the court did not favour making any change or adjustment to the rule that could have enabled the students to maintain their belief or practice even while adhering to the uniform rule.
- The appeal against the verdict in the Supreme Court provides an opportunity to see if the concept can be used in the realm of belief and conscience too.
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What is the NPPA’s role in fixing drug prices?
Consumers may have to pay more for medicines and medical devices if the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) allows a price hike of over 10% in the drugs and devices listed under the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), this coming month.
Who regulates Drugs prices?
- The NPPA was set up in 1997 to fix/revise prices of controlled bulk drugs and formulations and to enforce price and availability of the medicines in the country, under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 1995-2013.
- Its mandate is:
- To implement and enforce the provisions of the DPCO in accordance with the powers delegated to it
- To deal with all legal matters arising out of the decisions of the NPPA
- To monitor the availability of drugs, identify shortages and to take remedial steps
- The NPPA is also mandated to collect/maintain data on production, exports and imports, market share of individual companies, profitability of companies etc., for bulk drugs and formulations and undertake and/ or sponsor relevant studies in respect of pricing of drugs/ pharmaceuticals.
How does the pricing mechanism work?
- Prices of Scheduled Drugs are allowed an increase each year by the drug regulator in line with the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and the annual change is controlled and rarely crosses 5%.
- But the pharmaceutical players pointed out that over the past few years, input costs have flared up.
- The hike has been a long-standing demand by the pharma industry lobby.
- All medicines under the NLEM are under price regulation.
Do you know?
As per the Drugs (Prices) Control Order 2013, scheduled drugs, about 15% of the pharma market, are allowed an increase by the government as per the WPI while the rest 85% are allowed an automatic increase of 10% every year.
How are the prices determined?
- The ceiling price of a scheduled drug is determined by first working out the simple average of price to retailer in respect of all branded and generic versions of that particular drug formulation.
- It should have a market share of more than or equal to 1%, and then adding a notional retailer margin of 16% to it.
- The ceiling price fixed/revised by the NPPA is notified in the Gazette of India (Extraordinary) from time to time.
When are the prices revised?
- Prices are revised when there is a rise in the price of bulk drugs, raw materials, cost of transport, freight rates, utilities like fuel, power, diesel, and changes in taxes and duties.
- The cost rises for imported medicines with escalation in insurance and freight prices, and depreciation of the rupee.
- The annual hike in the prices of drugs listed in the NLEM is based on the WPI.
- The NLEM lists drugs used to treat fever, infection, heart disease, hypertension, anaemia etc and includes commonly used medicines like paracetamol, azithromycin etc.
Why are inputs costs high?
- One of the challenges is that 60%-70% of the country’s medicine needs are dependent on China.
- WPI is dependent on price rise in a basket of a range of goods that are not directly linked with the items that go into the cost of medicines.
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Prelims Spotlight: Important Governor Generals and Viceroys
Dear Aspirants,
This Spotlight is a part of our Mission Nikaalo Prelims-2022.
You can check the broad timetable of Nikaalo Prelims here
Session Details
Morning 12 PM – Prelims Spotlight Session
Evening 06:30 PM – TIKDAM/MCQs Session
Evening 08 PM – Tests on Alternate Days
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21st Mar 2022
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With almost absolute power the Governor-General and viceroy played a significant role in the shaping history of the country. Following are some of these important figures and significant events and major reforms carried out by them.
Governor Generals of Bengal/India (Period)
Important events/Reforms Warren Hastings
(1773-1785)
- Regulating Act of 1773.
- First Governor-General of Bengal.
- End of the dual system of administration (1765-1772).
- Supreme Court at Calcutta.
- Wrote Introduction to the first English translation of Gita.
- Founded Madarasa Aliya at Calcutta.
Lord Cornwallis
(1786-1793)
- Separation of three branches of service: commercial, judicial and revenue.
- Permanent Land Revenue Settlement of Bengal-1793.
- Reformed, modernised and rationalised the civil service.
- Introduced the Cornwallis Code.
- Sanskrit College, Varanasi.
Lord Wellesley
(1797-1805)
- Introduction of Subsidiary Alliance System.
- Fourth Anglo-Mysore war.
- Fort William College, Calcutta.
Lord Hastings
(1813-1823)
- Anglo-Nepal War (1814-16)
- Third Anglo-Maratha War-(1817-19) and dissolution of Maratha confederacy.
- Introduction of Ryotwari System of Thomas Munro, Governor of Madras-1820.
Lord William Bentinck
(1828-1835)
- Charter Act of 1833.
- Abolition of Sati-1829.
- Resolution of 1835 and Education reforms and introduction of English as the official language.
- The annexation of Mysore-1831, Coorg, and Central Cachar-1831.
Lord Dalhousie
(1848-1856)
- Introduction of the Doctrine of Lapse and annexations of Satara-1848, Jaitpur and Sambhalpur-1849, Udaipur-1852, Jhansi-1853, Nagpur-1854 and Awadh-1856.
- Wood’s Dispatch of 1854.
- Railway Minute of 1853.
- Telegraph and Postal reforms.
- Widow Remarriage Act-1856.
Lord Canning
(1856-1857)
- Establishment of universities at Bombay, Madras and Calcutta.
- Mutiny of 1857.
Governor-General and Viceroy of India (Period) Important events/Reforms Lord Canning (1858-1862)
- First Voiceroy of India.
- Transfer of control from East India Company to the Crown by the Government of India Act 1858
- Indian Councils Act-1861
Lord Mayo
(1869-1872)
- Opening of Rajkot College in Kathiawad and Mayo College at Ajmer for political training of Indian Princes.
- Statistical Survey of India was established.
- Department of Agriculture and Commerce was established.
- Introduction of state railways.
Lord Lytton
(1876-1880)
- The Great Famine of 1876 affecting Bombay, Madras, Mysore, Hyderabad, Central India and Punjab.
- Appointment of Famine Commission under the presidency of Richard Strachey.
- Vernacular Press Act was passed- 1878.
- The Arms Act-1878.
Lord Ripon
(1880-1884)
- Education Commission 1882 under William Hunter-1882.
- Ilbert Bill controversy.
- Repeal of Vernacular Press Act in 1882.
- The First Factory Act in 1881 to improve labour conditions.
- Government resolution on local self government-1882.
Lord Dufferin
(1884-1888)
- Establishment of Indian National Congress.
Lord Lansdowne
(1888-1894)
- The categorisation of civil services into imperial, provincial and subordinate.
- Indian Councils Act-1892
- Durand Commission (1893) was set up to define the Durand Line between India and Afghanistan.
Lord Curzon
(1899-1905)
- Police Commission (1902) was appointed under Sir Andrew Frazer.
- University Commission (1902) was appointed and Universities Act (1904) was passed.
- Department of Commerce and Industry was established.
- Calcutta Corporation Act-1899
- Partition of Bengal (1905).
Lord Minto-II
(1905-1910)
- Popularisation of anti-partition and Swadeshi Movements.
- Split in Indian National Congress at Surat in 1907.
- Indian Muslim League was established by Aga Khan (1907)
- Morley-Minto reforms or Indian Councils Act 1909.
Lord Hardinge-II
(1910-1916)
- Transfer of capital from Calcutta to Delhi (1911).
- Establishment of Hindu Mahasabha (1915) by Madan Mohan Malviya.
Lord Chelmsford (1916-1921)
- Home Rule League was formed by Annie Besant and Tilak (1916)
- Lucknow session of Congress (1916).
- Lucknow Pact between Congress and Muslim League (1916).
- Champaran Satyagraha (1918), and Satyagraha at Ahmadabad (1918).
- Montague’s August Declaration.
- Government of Indian Act- 1919
- Jallianwalla Bagh massacre (1919).
- Non-Cooperation and Khilafat Movements were launched.
- Foundation of Women’s University at Poona (1916) and Saddler’s Commission was appointed for reforms in educational policy.
- Appointment of S. P. Sinha as governor of Bihar first Indian to do so.
Lord Reading
(1921-1926)
- The Chaura-Chauri Incident-Feb5, 1922 and withdrawal of Non-Cooperation movement.
- Moplah rebellion in Kerala (1921).
- Repeal of the Press Act of 1910 and Rowlatt Act of 1919.
- Kakori train robbery (1925)
- Establishment of Swaraj Party (1922).
- The decision to hold a simultaneous examination for ICS in Delhi and London with effect from 1923.
Lord Irwin
(1926-1931)
- Simon Commission-1928
- Appointment of the Harcourt Butler Indian States Commission (1927)
- Murder of Saunders and Bomb blast in the Assembly Hall of Delhi-1929
- Lahore session of Congress 1929 and Purna Swaraj Resolution.
- Dandi March (12 March, 1929) and launch of Civil Disobedience Movement.
Lord Willingdon
(1931-1936)
- Second Round Table Conference and failure of the conference, resumption of the Civil Disobedience Movement.
- Announcement of the Communal Award (1932).
- Poona Pact (1932)
- Third Round Table Conference 1932.
- The Government of India Act, 1935.
- Establishment of All India Kisan Sabha 1936.
- Establishment of Congress Socialist Party by Acharya Narendra Dev and Jayaprakash Narayan (1934)
Lord Linlithgow
(1936-1944)
- First general elections were held and Congress attained absolute majority (1936-1937).
- Congress ministers resigned (1937) after the outbreak of WW-II
- Subhash Chandra Bose elected as the president of Congress-1938.
- Lahore Resolution by Muslim League for the demand of separate state for Muslims.
- August Offer by the viceroy-1940.
- Cripp’s Mission to India
- Passing of the Quit India Resolution by Congress-1942
Lord Wavell
(1944-1947)
- C Rajgopalachari’s CR Formula (1944) and Gandhi-Jinnah Talks failed.
- Wavell Plan and the Shimla Conference (1942)
- Cabinet Mission and Congress accepted its plan 1946
- Observance of the ‘Direct Action Day’ (16 August 1946) by the Muslim League.
- Elections to the Constituent Assembly and formation of Interim Government by the Congress (September 1946).
- Announcement of the end of British rule in India by Clement Attlee on February 20, 1946
Lord Mountbatten
(1947-48)
- June Third Plan (June 3, 1947) announced.
- Introduction of Indian Independence Bill in the House of Commons.
- Appointment of two boundary commissions under Sir Cyril Radcliff for the partition of Bengal and Punjab.
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Re-introducing African Cheetahs to India
The cheetah, which became extinct in India after Independence, is all set to return with the Union Government launching an action plan in Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.
According to the plan, about 50 of these big cats will be introduced in the next five years, from the Africa savannas, home to cheetahs, an endangered species.
Distribution of cheetahs in India
- Historically, Asiatic cheetahs had a very wide distribution in India.
- There are authentic reports of their occurrence from as far north as Punjab to Tirunelveli district in southern Tamil Nadu, from Gujarat and Rajasthan in the west to Bengal in the east.
- Most of the records are from a belt extending from Gujarat passing through Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha.
- There is also a cluster of reports from southern Maharashtra extending to parts of Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
- The distribution range of the cheetah was wide and spread all over the subcontinent. They occurred in substantial numbers.
- The cheetah’s habitat was also diverse, favouring the more open habitats: scrub forests, dry grasslands, savannahs and other arid and semi-arid open habitats.
What caused the extinction of cheetahs in India?
- The major reasons for the extinction of the Asiatic cheetah in India:
- Reduced fecundity and high infant mortality in the wild
- Inability to breed in captivity
- Sport hunting and
- Bounty killings
- It is reported that the Mughal Emperor Akbar had kept 1,000 cheetahs in his menagerie and collected as many as 9,000 cats during his half century reign from 1556 to 1605.
- The cheetah numbers were fast depleting by the end of the 18th century even though their prey base and habitat survived till much later.
- It is recorded that the last cheetahs were shot in India in 1947, but there are credible reports of sightings of the cat till about 1967.
Conservation objectives for their re-introduction
- Based on the available evidence it is difficult to conclude that the decision to introduce the African cheetah in India is based on science.
- Science is being used as a legitimising tool for what seems to be a politically influenced conservation goal.
- This also in turn sidelines conservation priorities, an order of the Supreme Court, socio-economic constraints and academic rigour.
- The issue calls for an open and informed debate.
What is the officially stated goal?
- To establish viable cheetah meta-population in India that allows the cheetah to perform its functional role as a top predator
- To provide space for the expansion of the cheetah within its historical range thereby contributing to its global conservation efforts
Issues in re-introduction
- Experts find it difficult whether the African cheetahs would find the sanctuary a favorable climate as far as the abundance of prey is concerned.
- The habitat of cheetahs needed to support a genetically viable population.
Back2Basics: Asiatic Cheetah
- Cheetah, the world’s fastest land animal was declared extinct in India in 1952.
- The Asiatic cheetah is classified as a “critically endangered” species by the IUCN Red List, and is believed to survive only in Iran.
- It was expected to be re-introduced into the country after the Supreme Court lifted curbs for its re-introduction.
- From 400 in the 1990s, their numbers are estimated to have reached to 50-70 today, because of poaching, hunting of their main prey (gazelles) and encroachment on their habitat.
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Defining who is ‘Assamese’: Attempts, Challenges
Last week, the Assam government informed the Assembly that nearly 1.44 lakh illegal foreigners had been identified in the state this year based on the 1985 Assam Accord, and around 30,000 of them had been deported to their country of origin.
Who is a foreigner under the Assam Accord?
- The Assam Accord was signed in 1985 by the Centre and the Assam government with the All Assam Student Union (AASU) and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad.
- This movement had spearheaded the 1979-85 Assam Movement against migration from Bangladesh.
- It was against all migrants from Bangladesh, irrespective of religion.
- The Accord set March 24, 1971 as a cut-off. (The Assam Movement had demanded 1951 as the cut-off.)
- Anyone who had come to Assam before midnight on that date would be an Indian citizen, while those who had come after would be dealt with as foreigners.
- The same cut-off was used in updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
What are the expressions for which the definitions have not been determined? Why are they important?
- The definitions of phrases mentioned in the Accord such as ‘Axomiya janagan’ (Assamese people), ‘khilonjia’ (indigenous) and ‘adi basinda’ (original inhabitants) were yet to be determined.
- The context is Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, which promises “constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people”.
- However, it doesn’t provide clear cut definitions to identify who would be the “Assamese people”.
- Clause 6 is important because many felt the 1971 cut-off was inadequate.
Issues with the cut-off date
- The cut-off for the rest of India is 1948, many noted that the Assam Accord would grant citizenship to a section of migrants who would be counted as foreigners elsewhere in the country.
- Clause 6 was, therefore, seen as a protective provision which would guarantee certain benefits to the Assamese people, while excluding some sections among those granted citizenship on the basis of the 1971 cut-off.
Why is the ‘Assamese’ definition difficult?
- Because Assam’s demography has been shaped by decades of migration.
- Many of the migrants had settled here during the colonial era.
- While they might not be native speakers of an indigenous language, such as Assamese or Bodo or Karbi, the question was whether the definition of “Assamese” could exclude someone, for example, whose family might have lived in Assam for 100 years.
Have any definitions been proposed?
- A key committee came in 2019, when Assam was rocked by protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which proposes to grant citizenship to various categories of foreigners including Hindus from Bangladesh.
- The government set up the committee as a means to quell the protests.
This committee recommended following persons as Assamese:
- All citizens who are part of the Assamese community
- Any person of indigenous tribal community of Assam
- Any other indigenous community of Assam
- Any other citizens of India residing in the territory or Assam on or before January 1, 1951 and
- Descendants of these categories
- In essence, this definition includes not only the indigenous people but also all other Indian citizens, irrespective of mother tongue, as long as their ancestors were staying in Assam before 1951.
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Par Tapi Narmada River-Linking Project
The tribals in Gujarat held a public meeting in Kaprada in Valsad district to protest against the Centre’s Par Tapi Narmada (PTN) river-linking project.
Par Tapi Narmada river-linking project
- The PTN link project was envisioned under the 1980 National Perspective Plan under the former Union Ministry of Irrigation and the Central Water Commission (CWC).
- The project proposes to transfer river water from the surplus regions of the Western Ghats to the deficit regions of Saurashtra and Kutch.
- It proposes to link three rivers — Par, originating from Nashik in Maharashtra and flowing through Valsad, Tapi from Saputara that flows through Maharashtra and Surat in Gujarat, and Narmada originating in Madhya Pradesh and flowing through Maharashtra and Bharuch and Narmada districts in Gujarat.
Components of the project
- The link mainly includes the construction of seven dams (Jheri, Mohankavchali, Paikhed, Chasmandva, Chikkar, Dabdar and Kelwan), three diversion weirs and two tunnels.
- Of these, the Jheri dam falls in Nashik, while the remaining dams are in Valsad and Dang districts of South Gujarat.
Centre’s role
- A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Gujarat, Maharashtra and the central government on May 3, 2010.
- It envisaged that Gujarat would get the benefit of the Par Tapi Narmada link project through en-route irrigation from the link canal and in the drought-prone Saurashtra Kutch region by way of substitution.
Issues with the Project
- About 6065 hectares of land area will be submerged due to the proposed reservoirs.
- A total of 61 villages will be affected, of which one will be fully submerged and the remaining 60 partly.
- The total number of affected families would be 2,509 of which 98 families would be affected due to the creation of the Jheri reservoir, the only one in Maharashtra, spread over six villages.
- The affected families may lose their lands or houses or both in the submergence when the reservoirs are created.
- The districts where the project will be implemented are largely dominated, by tribals who fear displacement.
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