The National Statistical Office (NSO) recently released its provisional estimates of national income for the financial year 2019-20. The release also detailed the estimates of the Gross Value Added (GVA).
Try this question from CSP 2011:
Q. In the context of Indian economy, consider the following statements
1. The growth rate of GDP has steadily increased in the last five years.
2. The growth rate in per capita income has steadily increased in the last five years.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a.) 1 only
(b.) 2 only
(c.) Both 1 and 2
(d.) Neither 1 nor 2
The GVA method
In 2015, in the wake of a comprehensive review of its approach to GDP measurement, India opted to make major changes to its compilation of national accounts.
It aims to bring the whole process into conformity with the UN System of National Accounts (SNA) of 2008.
What is GVA?
As per the SNA, GVA is defined as the value of output minus the value of intermediate consumption.
GVA is a measure of the contribution to GDP made by an individual producer, industry or sector.
At its simplest, it gives the rupee value of goods and services produced in the economy after deducting the cost of inputs and raw materials used.
It can be described as the main entry on the income side of the nation’s accounting balance sheet, and from economics, perspective represents the supply side.
How it has changed income calculation?
While India had been measuring GVA earlier, it had done so using ‘factor cost’.
GDP at ‘factor cost’ was the main parameter for measuring the country’s overall economic output until the new methodology was adopted.
GVA at basic prices became the primary measure of output across the economy’s various sectors and when added to net taxes on products amounts to the GDP.
In the new series, the base year was shifted to 2011-12 from the earlier 2004-05.
GVA estimates by NSO
As part of the data on GVA, the NSO provides both quarterly and annual estimates of output — measured by the gross value added — by economic activity.
The sectoral classification provides data on eight broad categories that span the gamut of goods produced and services provided in the economy.
These are: 1) Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing; 2) Mining and Quarrying; 3) Manufacturing; 4) Electricity, Gas, Water Supply and other Utility Services; 5) Construction; 6) Trade, Hotels, Transport, Communication and Services related to Broadcasting; 7) Financial, Real Estate and Professional Services; 8) Public Administration, Defence and other Services.
How relevant is the GVA data given that headline growth always refers to GDP?
The GVA data is crucial to understand how the various sectors of the real economy are performing.
The output or domestic product is essentially a measure of GVA combined with net taxes.
However, GDP can be and is also computed as the sum total of the various expenditures incurred in the economy.
It includes private consumption spending, government consumption spending and gross fixed capital formation or investment spending; these reflect essentially on the demand conditions in the economy.
Significance of GVA
From a policymaker’s perspective, it is vital to have the GVA data to be able to make policy interventions, where needed.
Also, from global data standards and uniformity perspective, GVA is an integral and necessary parameter in measuring a nation’s economic performance.
Issues with GVA
As with all economic statistics, the accuracy of GVA as a measure of overall national output is heavily dependent on the sourcing of data and the fidelity of the various data sources.
To that extent, GVA is as susceptible to vulnerabilities from the use of inappropriate or flawed methodologies as any other measure.
Economists argue that India’s switch of its base year to 2011-12 had led to a significant overestimation of growth.
They argued that the value-based approach instead of the earlier volume-based tack in GVA estimation had affected the measurement of the formal manufacturing sector and thus distorted the outcome.
Senior lawmakers from eight democracies including the US have united to counter Communist China. They have launched the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC).
Points to ponder:
The world is growing conscious against China after its coronavirus adventure. IPAC is the first step towards the institutionalization of the Anti-China consciousness!
What should be India’s stance here?
IPAC
IPAC is a new cross-parliamentary alliance to help counter what the threat posed by China’s growing influence on global trade, security and human rights.
The participating nations include the US, Germany, UK, Japan, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Norway, as well as members of the European parliament.
It is an international cross-party group of legislators working towards reform on how democratic countries approach China.
Comprised of legislators from eight democracies it will be led by a group of co-chairs who are senior politicians drawn from a representative cross-section of the world’s major political parties.
The group aims to “construct appropriate and coordinated responses, and to help craft a proactive and strategic approach on issues related to China.”
agriculture plays an important role in decreasing rural poverty in developing countries. Improved irrigation methods, seeds, and fertilizers have led to increased agricultural production in rural areas. The ECA is an act which was established to ensure the delivery of certain commodities or products, the supply of which if obstructed owing to hoarding or black-marketing would affect the normal life of the people. The ECA was enacted in 1955. This includes foodstuff, drugs, fuel (petroleum products) etc
India has secured 168 ranks in the 12th edition of the biennial Environment Performance Index (EPI Index 2020).
CSP 2019 has been a year with two questions based on rankings and indices viz. the EoDB index and Global Competitiveness Index. Note all such indices and their publishing agencies here at [Prelims Spotlight] Important reports and indexes
About EPI
The EPI measures the environmental performance of 180 countries.
It is biennially released by the Yale University.
It considers 32 indicators of environmental performance, giving a snapshot of the 10-year trends in environmental performance at the national and global levels.
The performance on climate change was assessed based on the following indicators —
Adjusted emission growth rates;
Composed of growth rates of four greenhouse gases and one pollutant;
Growth rate in carbon dioxide emissions from land cover;
Greenhouse gas intensity growth rate; and
Greenhouse gas emissions per capita.
Performance of the South Asian Region
The 11 countries lagging behind India were — Burundi, Haiti, Chad, Solomon Islands, Madagascar, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Liberia.
All South Asian countries, except Afghanistan, were ahead of India in the ranking.
India’s performance
A ten-year comparison progress report in the index showed that India slipped on climate-related parameters.
India scored below the regional average score on all five key parameters on environmental health, including air quality, sanitation and drinking water, heavy metals and waste management.
It has also scored below the regional average on parameters related to biodiversity and ecosystem services too.
Among South Asian countries, India was at the second position (rank 106) after Pakistan on ‘climate change’. Pakistan’s score (50.6) was the highest under the category.
Remarks for India
The report indicated that black carbon, carbon dioxide emissions and greenhouse emissions per capita increased in 10 years.
India needs to re-double national sustainability efforts on all fronts, according to the index.
It needs to focus on a wide spectrum of sustainability issues, with a high-priority to critical issues such as air and water quality, biodiversity and climate change.
Indian researchers have found that the effect of anthropogenic aerosols is much higher over the high altitudes of western trans-Himalayas.
Try this question from CSP 2019:
Q. In the context of which of the following do some scientists suggest the use of cirrus cloud thinning technique and the injection of sulphate aerosol into the stratosphere?
(a) Creating the artificial rains in some regions
(b) Reducing the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones
(c) Reducing the adverse effects of solar wind on the Earth
(d) Reducing the global warming
What are Aerosols?
An aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in air or another gas.
They can be natural or anthropogenic.
Examples of natural aerosols are fog, mist, dust, forest exudates and geyser steam. Examples of anthropogenic aerosols are particulate air pollutants and smoke.
The liquid or solid particles have diameters typically less than 1 μm; larger particles with a significant settling speed make the mixture a suspension, but the distinction is not clear-cut.
Technological applications of aerosols include dispersal of pesticides, medical treatment of respiratory illnesses, and combustion technology.
Heat pump over the Himalayas
The transport of light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosols and dust from the polluted Indo-Gangetic Plain and desert areas over the Himalayas constitutes a major climatic issue due to severe impacts on atmospheric warming and glacier retreat.
This heating over the Himalayas facilitates the “elevated-hat pump” that strengthens the temperature gradient between land and ocean and modifies the atmospheric circulation and the monsoon rainfall.
Findings of the research
The monthly-mean atmospheric radiative forcing of aerosols leads to heating rates of 0.04 to 0.13 C per day.
Further, the temperature over the Ladakh region is increasing 0.3 to 0.4 degrees Celsius per decades from the last 3 decades.
How are aerosols fuelling the heat?
The atmospheric aerosols play a key role in the regional/global climate system through scattering and absorption of incoming solar radiation and by modifying the cloud microphysics.
Assessing the Aerosol potential
Despite the large progress in quantifying the impact of different aerosols on radiative forcing, it still remains one of the major uncertainties in the climate change assessment.
Precise measurements of aerosol properties are required to reduce the uncertainties, especially over the oceans and high altitude remote location in the Himalayas where they are scarce.
Researchers have analysed the variability of aerosol optical, physical and radiative properties and the role of fine and coarse particles in aerosol radiative forcing (ARF) assessment.
ARF is the effect of anthropogenic aerosols on the radiative fluxes at the top of the atmosphere and at the surface and on the absorption of radiation within the atmosphere.
Significance of ARF study
A scientific study of aerosol generation, transport, and its properties has important implications in our understanding and mitigation of climate change via atmospheric warming.
Aerosols impact the snow and glacier dynamics over the trans-Himalayan region.
The results from the study can help better understanding of aerosol effects in view of aerosol-climate implications.
Indian scientists have developed a rare-earth-based magnetocaloric material that can be effectively used for cancer treatment.
Magnetocaloric Effect does have other applications like in the field of medical implants but for use in energy field, it is still in nascent stage.
From exam perspective, do understand what principles lies behind this effect.
What is Magnetocaloric Effect?
Magnetocaloric effect (MCE) is a phenomenon where the application and removal of a magnetic field cause certain materials to get warmer and cooler, respectively.
This effect normally occurs near its Curie temperature where the application of the field makes the material to warm up and cools up when the field is removed.
Issue of hyperthermia in cancer treatment
Advancements in magnetic materials led to the development of magnetic hyperthermia to try to address the issues of side effects of cancer treatment like chemotherapy.
In magnetic hyperthermia, magnetic nanoparticles are subjected to alternating magnetic fields of few Gauss, which produce heat due to magnetic relaxation losses.
Usually, the temperature required to kill the tumour cells is between 40 and 45°C.
However, the drawback in magnetic hyperthermia is the lack of control of temperature, which may damage the healthy cells in the body and also have side effects like increased BP, hair losses etc.
Here comes in, Magnetocaloric materials
This hypothermia can be avoided by using magnetocaloric materials, as it can provide controlled heating.
The advantage of magnetocaloric materials which heat up or cool down with the application and removal of the magnetic field, respectively is that as soon as the magnetic field is removed, the cooling effect is generated.
The team at ARCI chose rare-earth-based alloy for studies as some of the rare earth materials are human body compatible.
The heating capacity would increase with the increase in the magnetic field.
The Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has launched the “Healthy and Energy Efficient Buildings” initiative that will pioneer ways to make workplaces healthier and greener.
Possible prelims question:
Q. The MAITREE programme recently seen in news is related to: Trade/Energy Efficiency/Climate Change/ Strategic Relations
About the Initiative
The initiative has been launched by EESL in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) MAITREE program.
As part of this initiative, EESL has taken the leadership by being the first to implement this framework in its own offices.
This initiative addresses the challenges of retrofitting existing buildings and air conditioning systems so that they are both healthy and energy-efficient.
It will pave the way for other buildings to take appropriate steps to be healthy and energy-efficient.
What is the MAITREE program,?
The Market Integration and Transformation Program for Energy Efficiency (MAITREE) is a part of the US-India bilateral Partnership between the Ministry of Power and USAID.
It is aimed at accelerating the adoption of cost-effective energy efficiency as a standard practice within buildings and specifically focuses on cooling.
Significance of the initiative
Poor air quality has been a concern in India for quite some time and has become more important in light of the COVID pandemic.
As people return to their offices and public spaces, maintaining good indoor air quality is essential for occupant comfort, well-being, productivity and the overall public health.
Most buildings in India are not equipped to establish and maintain healthy indoor air quality and need to be upgraded.
The EESL office pilot will address this problem by developing specifications for future use in other buildings throughout the country.
It will aid in evaluating the effectiveness and cost benefits of various technologies and their short and long-term impacts on air quality, comfort, and energy use.
Back2Basics: EESL
Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), under the administration of Ministry of Power, is working towards mainstreaming energy efficiency.
It is implementing the world’s largest energy efficiency portfolio in the country.
EESL aims to create market access for efficient and future-ready transformative solutions that create a win-win situation for every stakeholder.
About USAID: USAID is the world’s premier international development agency and a catalytic actor driving development results.
Scientists have attempted to answer an important scientific question of how and why locusts collect together by the thousands in order to make a swarm.
When lone locusts happen to come near each other (looking for food) and happen to touch each other, this tactile stimulation, even just in a little area of the back limbs, causes their behaviour to change.
This mechanical stimulation affects a couple of nerves in the animal’s body, their behaviour changes, leading to their coming together.
The central nervous system of the locust, the most important among them being serotonin which regulates mood and social behaviour is the mystery behind swarms.
Their coming together triggers a mechanical (touch) and neurochemical (serotonin) stimulations to make crowding occur.
What is Serotonin?
It is a monoamine neurotransmitter.
It has a popular image as a contributor to feelings of well-being and happiness.
Its actual biological function is complex and multifaceted, modulating cognition, reward, learning, memory, and numerous physiological processes such as vomiting and vasoconstriction.
As part of Mission SAGAR, INS Kesari has entered Port Victoria, Seychelles to providing assistance in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Try this question from CSP 2017:
Q. Which of the following is geographically closest to Great Nicobar?
(a) Sumatra
(b) Borneo
(c) Java
(d) Sri Lanka
Mission SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region)
SAGAR is a term coined by PM Modi in 2015 during his Mauritius visit with a focus on the blue economy.
It is a maritime initiative which gives priority to the Indian Ocean region for ensuring peace, stability and prosperity of India in the Indian Ocean region.
The goal is to seek a climate of trust and transparency; respect for international maritime rules and norms by all countries; sensitivity to each other`s interests; peaceful resolution of maritime issues; and increase in maritime cooperation.
It is in line with the principles of the Indian Ocean Rim Association.
Back2Basics: IORA (Indian Ocean Rim Association)
Established in 1997 in Ebene Cyber City, Mauritius.
First established as Indian Ocean Rim Initiative in Mauritius on March 1995 and formally launched in 1997 by the conclusion of a multilateral treaty known as the Charter of the IORA for Regional Cooperation.
It is based on the principles of Open Regionalism for strengthening Economic Cooperation particularly on Trade Facilitation and Investment, Promotion as well as Social Development of the region.
We’re overjoyed to announce the launch of Samachar Manthan for IAS 2021 – our flagship program for Current Affairs.
Absolutely no part of the IAS exam syllabus gets the level (even similar) of attention or emphasis as is received by Current Affairs. It is as ubiquitous as Oxygen on Earth, and for the exam, it’s importance is of similar magnitude.
In this informative article, we’ll discuss what makes Current Affairs indispensable for every stage of the IAS exam, and how to cover them and utilise them. (Check out the questions and links provided below)
As a would-be administrator, UPSC expects you to be fully aware of happenings in the local, national and international level. You must be aware of the current and future potential/problem/challenges faced by the society, economy, polity, governance structure, etc.. It’s not just about information and knowledge, you must have a sound understanding of the interconnectedness of various issues and topics.
UPSC questions are interesting and at the same time challenging. Most of the times, UPSC uses current issues and links it with basic fundamental concepts in questions, which becomes tricky to answer. Take this question.
Q) “The Central Administration Tribunal which was established for redressal of grievances and complaints by or against central government employees nowadays is exercising its powers as an independent judicial authority.” Explain. (UPSC 2019 Mains, GS Paper 2)
Here you’ll be using static part i.e. CAT and its powers ( most probably from Laxminkant for Polity), but Current Affairs will come in explaining the latter part, i.e. how CAT is using its mandate to act as an independent judicial authority.
Using Current Affairs will also give a context to this question and will bring relevance to your answer. Without interlinking it with Current Affairs your answer will be incomplete.
Current Affairs in Prelims
Pick up the UPSC prelims syllabus and guess what is mentioned in the first sentence. Yes, Current Affairs.
2016 onwards UPSC Prelims exam has been dominated by Current Affairs. Questions are being compiled directly from newspapers. Even the static part asked in Pre is asked because it was related to some current event in one way or the other.
Number of questions (out of 100) in UPSC prelims directly from Current Affairs.
Importance of CA in mains
Have a look at UPSC previous years mains question papers and you’ll be amazed to know the number of questions asked that are directly influenced by Current Affairs.
Number of Questions (out of 20) asked directly from Current Affairs in UPSC Mains.
Even for GS Paper1 which is considered to be dominated by static part of the syllabus from History, Culture, Geography, etc., this holds true. Look at the questions from GS Paper 1 here and observe the Current Affairs orientation.
Q1.) What are the challenges to our cultural practices in the name of secularism? (UPSC 2019)
Q2.) Are we losing our local identity for the global identity? Discuss. (UPSC 2019)
Q3.) Safeguarding the Indian art heritage is the need of the moment. Discuss. (UPSC 2018)
Q4.) Throw light on the significance of the thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi in the present times. (UPSC 2018)
Q5.) Discuss the factors for localization of agro-based food processing industries of North-West India. (UPSC 2019)
Similarly, in GS Paper 2, the questions have to be interlinked with Current Affairs but a majority of them are directly from the CA. These are some of the previous year questions.
Q1.) ‘Too little cash, too much politics, leaves UNESCO fighting for life.’ Discuss the statement in the light of US’ withdrawal and its accusation of the cultural body as being ‘anti-Israel bias’.( UPSC 2019)
Q2.) In the light of recent controversy regarding the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), what are the challenges before the Election Commission of India to ensure the trustworthiness of elections in India? (UPSC 2018)
Q3.) Whether the Supreme Court Judgement (July 2018) can settle the political tussle between the Lt. Governor and elected government of Delhi? Examine. (UPSC 2018)
In GS Paper 3, as you can see from the above table, almost 95% of the questions are from Current Affairs. (Pick up the last year’s paper)
Importance in Essays
Topics curated in the Essay exam may seem random and abstract but all of them are highly relevant in the context of Current Affairs. They are there because the central idea of the topic was in the news.
Decide for yourself, these are the topics from Section B in UPSC 2019 Essay paper:
South Asian societies are woven not around the state, but around their plural cultures and plural identities
Neglect of primary health care and education in India are reasons for its backwardness
Biased media is a real threat to Indian democracy
Rise of Artificial Intelligence: the threat of jobless future or better job opportunities through reskilling and upskilling
Importance in interview
In Personality Tests often your opinions are asked on various issues and even from information provided in your DAF. Current Affairs make you aware of the surrounding and allow you to give practical answers to the problems faced by the country. Even till the last minute interview candidates can be seen with newspapers in their hands.
Other than all these stages Currents Affairs important for many of the Optional papers also.
Understanding and realising the importance of current affairs is just one part of the puzzle. You might be struggling with hundreds of other questions like- What all to read? From where to cover CA? What is important for Pre and what’s for Mains? How to make use of CA? (Yup, difficult questions)
Samachar Manthan’s philosophy (It should be yours too!)
1. Diversified and comprehensive coverage
Your coverage should be extensive if not exhaustive. Various sources must be referred to, which include newspapers (The Hindu, The Indian Express, LiveMint, etc.), magazines (Yojana, Kurukshetra, EPW, Down to Earth), important websites (PIB, PRS, govt ministries, IDSA, etc.).
At Civilsdaily it’s done by a team under Sajal Sir, that goes through six national newspapers and four magazines, daily.
They research them thoroughly, go in and out of every news and find information relevant for UPSC. Carefully selected relevant news is analyzed and delivered in a weekly lecture spanning over 3 hours. Click to know more.
2. Segregating important from unimportant.
It includes two components: News you must cover and the one you can ignore. And from the important news, Prelims and Mains worthy information is extracted.
Important news
One should be able to anticipate what news could form a basis for UPSC mains question. Almost all aspirants struggle to segregate important news from the junk.
The following are the previous year questions that are directly based on the news pieces from popular publications like Down to Earth, LivemMint, Scroll, The Wire. The link of the sources has been given with the questions.
Q1.) If an amendment bill to the Whistleblowers Act, 2011 tabled in the Parliament is passed, there may be no one left to protect.” Critically evaluate. (Source: Scroll.in)
Q2.) What can France learn from the Indian Constitution’s approach to secularism? (Source: The Wire)
Q3.) How can the mountain ecosystem be restored from the negative impact of development initiatives and tourism? (Source: Down To Earth)
Q4.) The public expenditure management is a challenge to the government of India in the context of budget-making during the post-liberalization period. Clarify it. (Source: Livemint)
What to ignore?
While your coverage should be comprehensive, there is news which you should ignore else you’re duplicating your efforts or wastingyour time or doing both, and hence, bringing inefficiency to your preparation.
Examples: Op-ed with repeated themes on COVID and Fiscal stimulus.
Then there are news items like these, as given below. Have a look at them. Ignore them.
3. Extracting UPSC relevant information from the news
Now, this is the Holy Grail. If you fail to extract UPSC relevant information from the important current affairs, all your effort will go in vain. It is the most important skill and takes time to perfect it. Even students with multiple UPSC interview experiences struggle at this stage.
On how to do it, take the example of this news regarding Reverse Repo Rate.
News: How the reverse repo rate became the benchmark interest rate in the Indian economy?
The following are the mains and prelims worth topics that can be extracted from this single news item.
Mains relevant: Critically examine the efficacy of reverse repo rate as the benchmark interest rate in the Indian economy. “
Rather than just learning and mugging up the information, the focus should be on understanding various dimensions, interlinkages, related issues, and conceptual clarity w.r.t. static parts as well.
5. Utilising information from Current Affairs.
It’s the ultimate purpose of doing Current Affairs. And being able to do this, you must be very regular with CA-based Mains answer writing, solving prelims questions and identifying errors and making required changes.
(Current Affairs based Mains answer writing is an important component of Samachar Manthan 2021)
Answer writing must become second nature of an IAS aspirant. “Rome wasn’t built in a day, but they were laying bricks every hour.“
6. Evaluation and active learning
Getting your views (in the form of answers) evaluated is an important step. You’ll not only know what mistakes you are committing but you’ll also learn important answer writing skills. Answer enhancement must be the focus (it’s in Samachar Manthan 2021).
(Through our platform Habitat and Civilsdaily’s Handholding, we’ll ensure that you are right on track.)
There is no doubt that Current Affairs is an important part of IAS exam preparation. But it should be done in a planned and strategic manner where every action of yours is objectively defined and results, measurable.
Should you have any doubt or query reach out to us at hello@civilsdaily.com or call us at +91 8929987787.
