General Studies Paper 2 Context: As India gets ready for the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP28), it is important to examine how climate change affects the country’s health. Climate change and health systems in India India’s inadequate health systems make our population particularly vulnerable to the impact of climate risks on health. Climate change affects health directly, causing more sickness and death. In more indirect ways, it affects nutrition, reduces working hours, and increases climate induced stress. All nations during the Paris Agreement agreed to cap the rise in....Read More

General Studies Paper 2 Context A recent study by IIM Ahmedabad’s Right to Education Resource Center confirmed that parents lack trust in government schools due to poor quality of education and prefer to admit their children into private schools even if that means spending significantly more on tuition and other fees. Case study However, the Odisha government’s revolutionary reforms in the State’s public education sector through the Odisha Adarsha Vidyalayas (OAV), the ‘Mo School’ Abhiyan, and the 5T High School Transformation Programme are on their way to making government schools better than private schools in all parameters — infrastructure, affordability....Read More

General Studies Paper 2 Context Abolition of death penalty should form the core of any reform in justice system. Abolition of death penalty It is disappointing that the parliamentary committee that examined the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the proposed criminal statute likely to replace the IPC, has not made a recommendation to abolish the death penalty. Instead, the standing committee on Home Affairs, despite submissions from experts and jurists on abolition, chose to make a bland recommendation that the matter may be left for the government to consider. Its observation is limited to a remark that it has understood that....Read More

General Studies Paper 2 Context Amid the cooler headline inflation, food price pressures pose a risk. The rise in prices In October, India’s consumer price inflation eased to a four-month low of 4.87%, while wholesale prices declined year-on-year for the seventh successive month by a minor 0.5%. Although only marginally lower than the 5% retail inflation in September, October’s price rise pace — which is exactly the same as that in June — surely represents some relief for the third successive month from July’s 15-month high pace of over 7.4%. Rural consumers still face a higher inflation of 5.1%, though.....Read More

General Studies Paper 2 Context: It may not be possible to make India ‘diabetes free’, but a ‘diabetes complications free India’ is within reach. Introduction The concept of a reversal of diabetes has become very popular recently. Several commercial organisations have jumped on the bandwagon of a ‘reversal of diabetes’ and are making tall claims. Therefore, it is important to consider the pros and cons of a reversal of diabetes. Diabetes Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Insulin is....Read More

General Studies Paper 2 Context: A menstrual hygiene policy should provide a range of services Introduction Only in an ‘unseeing’ world would the judiciary need to set the government a deadline to do the obvious. The Supreme Court of India gave the Centre four weeks to finalise an optimum menstrual hygiene policy with focus on the distribution of sanitary napkins. Directions by the Chief Justice of India The Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud, further directed the government to set down a national model for the number of girls toilets per female population across government-aided and residential schools in the....Read More

General Studies Paper 2 Introduction The dengue virus and its equally infamous cousin, the Zika virus, together infect up to around 400 million people every year. The Zika virus and genomic studies of it have opened fascinating windows into our knowledge of the infectious disease and its relevance in the context of emerging outbreaks. The Zika virus The Zika virus is a mosquito-borne flavivirus. Most infections in humans are asymptomatic or with mild symptoms, including fever, rash, and joint pain. The outbreak was characterised by an alarming increase in the number of microcephaly cases in newborns, prompting the World Health....Read More

General Studies Paper 2 Introduction The Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) are globally recognised as the crown jewels in India’s higher education system. Indeed, they are often the only Indian higher education institutions known internationally at all. They have produced leaders in high tech and related fields in India and abroad. The IITs may be the most difficult higher education institutions to gain entry in the world. Yet, the IIT system is in serious trouble at the same time that some of them are building campuses abroad as part of India’s soft power efforts. It is worth taking a careful....Read More

General Studies Paper 2 Context There is a great deal of attention paid to the recipient of a organ transplant, and rightly so, but the backbone of live kidney transplantation for transplant surgeons is also to make sure that donors do not face the same problem in the future. Before the donation Before donating the donor is fully evaluated to make sure the person is completely normal. Age-matched kidneys may be ideal but usually 18 to 60 years is accepted. Between 60- 70 years, an exceptional kidney function and health may permit donation. Blood group matching is usually required but....Read More

General Studies Paper 2 Context On October 16, in X vs Union of India, the Supreme Court of India declined permission to a woman who was seeking to terminate a 26 week-long pregnancy. About A Bench presided over by the Chief Justice of India (CJI), D.Y. Chandrachud, held that the woman’s case fell outside the scope of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971. The Court said the statute permitted the termination of pregnancy beyond 24 weeks only in cases where the foetus exhibited substantial abnormality, or where the woman’s life was under direct threat. Viable foetus versus woman’s....Read More