General Studies Paper 2

Context

• Recently India Prime minister had official visit to USA and during the visit new pacts were signed that shows the strengthen relation between both the countries.
• As, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the US Congress a second time, and talking to the Indian diaspora represent that US-India relations are deepening and widening.

Factors which shape the relations of both the nations

• China factor: China factor may be the most important one for the current affability.
• China’s meteoric rise on the economic front over the last four and half decades, with accompanying military power, is being seen as a threat to global security by many nations.
• And the QUAD comprising Australia, Japan, India, and the US is one such forum for the process. The current US-India friendship is only an extension of that at a bilateral level.
• This makes one thing clear: As nations become rich, they need to be responsible towards global peace and welfare.
• The growing economy of India:
• There is no doubt that the US has been a superpower both in economic terms as well as in its military might for quite some time.
• As per the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the US economy in April 2023 stood at $26.6 trillion with a per capita GDP of $80,000 at current prices. In comparison to that, India is way behind with an overall GDP of $3.74 trillion and a per capita GDP of just $2,600
• In PPP terms, however, India’s GDP improved to $13 trillion and its per capita GDP to about $9,000.
• Thus, the dollar-to-PPP conversion factor is roughly 3.5, which in simple terms means that a dollar in India can buy roughly 3.5 times more goods and services than in the US.
• Therefore, the difference between the US and Indian economies and the welfare of their people narrows when we look at these indicators in PPP terms rather than current US dollars.

A healthy trilateral relation is good for world peace and prosperity

• For world peace and prosperity, it would be best if the three countries can work together. But the foundation of any friendship and working together is trust, which requires transparency in behaviour and actions as per the agreed rules of the game.
• And it is here that the political system of democracy wins over authoritarian regimes. Not that democracy is without its flaws, be it in the US or India, but it is certainly better than military or authoritarian regimes.

Balancing the relation between Russia and USA

• After the Ukraine-Russia conflict, global powers are realigning into new groupings.
• India has a tough task of walking a very tightrope between Russia and the US. One can only hope that Prime Minister Modi can calibrate this balancing act and bring dialogue and diplomacy to resolve strong differences, and not be part of the ever-widening chasm which can be suicidal to the existence of humanity on this planet.

India-US has wide areas of cooperation

• Both the nations have cooperation in defence, space and high-tech chip-making may just be the beginning. The potential in many other sectors is enormous.
• India’s pitch for inclusive and sustainable growth has to be seen in that context. As India’s voice for the growth that has to be pro-people and pro-planet is clear and commendable. Therefore, it includes the African Union in the G-20 grouping.
• In defence and technology
• Recently, India and US signde $3 billion deal for 31 High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) UAVs
• Another major announcement that came was an MoU signed between GE and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to jointly produce fighter jet engines for the Indian Air Force.
• Climate change and food security:
• Along with it, for the eight billion people on this planet, food and nutritional security is of equal importance, if not more. This is being threatened by climate change with increasing temperatures.
• India is given its large population of 1.4 billion. The US is at the forefront of technologies not just in defence, space, and semiconductors but also in agriculture.
• One may recall that in the 1960s when India was struggling to feed its fast-growing population, several state agricultural universities were opened with the support and mentoring of their counterparts in the US.
• These universities were instrumental in shaping India’s Green Revolution, although the initial seeds of high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice came from outside
• Both the nations can further rejuvenate agricultural universities with cutting-edge technologies and policies to cope with climate change and produce more nutritious food with less land, less water, and less GHG emissions

Way forward

• US-India collaboration, there will be a special attempt to include food and agriculture as one of the core areas of cooperation. It has the potential to do good to the maximum number of people in the developing world, be it in Asia or Africa.
• Therefore, India-USA stand at a new dawn of relationship that will not only shape the destiny of two nations but also that of the world.

General Studies Paper 2

Context

• In an important discussion in The Hindu, the scholars argued that what distinguishes the south from the north politically is its language of politics, its regional parties and their demand for more power to the States, its multiple languages and cultures, its countercultures built through various anti-caste, anti-Brahmin and rationalist movements, its higher economic status and its investment in education, modern institutions, industrial infrastructure, etc. while the north lagged in most of these aspects.

Linguistic movements

• To understand that, we must look at the most important historical factor that distinguishes the two regions: the linguistic nationality movements, which imagined India as a federation of nationalities.
• While the north imagined India as a homogenous nation that resonates with the Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan slogan, the south aspired to build India as a federation of nationalities.
• The print and publishing culture led to the formation of distinct linguistic public spheres in the south, which were further consolidated by cinema.
• By the early 20th century, different linguistic communities in the south began to claim nationality status for themselves.
• The leaders were inspired by the political developments in Europe where, in the aftermath of major revolutions, new nations were founded based on linguistic identity with the political objective of achieving ‘popular sovereignty.’
• Linguistic identity had proven to be secular, flexible and more inclusive than religious or racial identities, so the then Madras Presidency leaders consciously tried to cultivate it.
• The middle-class intelligentsia from the south recognised the crucial connection between language and liberal democracy.

Language being not a barrier

• For a democracy to function, it is essential to employ the language of the common people in the domains of education, administration and judiciary, without which equality and justice cannot be realised.
• Also, to perform this new role, people’s languages needed to be modernised adequately. However, all these, it was believed, would be possible only when India was created as a federation of nationalities.
• These languages would perish if India were forced into a single homogenous nation.
• Even a cursory look at the condition of the languages of the south today makes it clear that such fears are vindicated.

The need for a strong bond

• India is not a nation but a subcontinent of multiple nationalities (similar to the European Union), and a unitary India would be unsuitable for democracy, which required the sovereign-citizens to participate in the decision-making processes of the nation-state actively.
• They argued that no single language could facilitate such a process for the entire subcontinent.
• Moreover, a strong nation needs strong bonding among its people. But the population of the Indian subcontinent spoke multiple languages, so no single language could bind them all as a national community.
• The idea that Hindi could keep India together, a fallacy that continues even today, emanates from the gross misunderstanding that it could bind people who do not speak it.
• We know that the French language could unite the people who spoke it. Or Tamil could unite the people who used it in their everyday life.
• However, to believe that Hindi could unite people from Kerala and Punjab or West Bengal who do not speak that language is to believe in the impossible.

Conclusion

• After independence, the Congress made peace with the south through a compromise formula of agreeing to create linguistic States with limited powers granted by the Constitution.
• The right-wing Hindu groups vehemently opposed the idea of the federation and continue to do so as it would undermine their dream of creating a homogenous Hindu nation.
• In the end, while the Indian state has triumphed over the nationalities of the south, the ghosts of the latter continue to haunt the champions of the former, at least during elections.

General Studies Paper 2

Context

• Recently, India-US bilateral relations reach to new height with the incredibly ambitious agenda for technology cooperation, ranging from artificial intelligence to outer space and quantum computing to telecommunications.

About the recent visit of Indian Prime minister to USA that provides new insight

• In a joint statement issued after the talks at the White House, the two leaders committed their governments to “facilitate greater technology sharing, co-development, and co-production opportunities between U.S. and Indian industry, government, and academic institutions.”
• They also directed the two bureaucracies to make “regular efforts to address export controls” and “enhance high technology commerce” between the two nations.

Historical past of technological relation of both countries

• There was a brief flowering of India-US technology cooperation. US assisted India’s nuclear and space programmes in the 1950s and 1960s.
• India’s first nuclear power plant at Tarapur was built by General Electric and its first satellite by Ford Aerospace. The US also contributed to India’s Green Revolution.
• But As anti-Americanism gripped the Indian political class from the late 1960s, there was a deliberate attempt to snuff out academic and research links to the United States
• The US on its part, began to actively restrict technology cooperation with India as America’s post-war scientific internationalism was replaced by the non-proliferation theology.
• Although Indira and Rajiv Gandhi sought to restore India-US technology cooperation in the Cold War, it was hard to get going.
• Later It was the historic civil nuclear initiative unveiled by George W Bush and Manmohan Singh that broke through the paradigm of non-proliferation

Technology sharing is vital link of both nation

• To be sure, technology formed a running theme in the evolution of India-US ties since Independence. But it was a boutique element.
• At the best of times, technology cooperation showcased the Indian elite’s ambitions at the highest level however in bad times, it became a bone of political contention.
• As, India is eager to rescue Indian science and technology from excessive statism and bring the industry, especially the private sector, and the innovation communities into play.
• And US has sought to cut through a welter of regulations limiting US technology cooperation with India. If their plans unfold according to ambition, one will see the technology interface between the two countries rapidly broaden and thicken.
• As new productive forces unleashed by new technologies create possibilities to reboot the Indian and American economies, enhance their national security, and rearrange the global economic order.
• Therefore, India-US technological cooperation also opens the door for addressing global challenges such as climate change.

Conclusion

• This significant technology bridge which has been empowered by the Modi-Biden plan, is all set to play a crucial role in reshaping the relations between the two countries.

General Studies Paper 2

Context

• Recently Indian Prime minister Modi addressed the United States Congress on his official visit to USA. During the address, he highlighted certain areas of similarity and cooperation between both the nations.

Democracy is soul of both the nations

• Democracy is one of sacred and shared values of both the nations. It has evolved over a long time, and taken various forms and systems.
• Throughout history, Democracy is the spirit that supports equality and dignity. It the idea that welcomes debate and discourse.
• Democracy is the culture that gives wings to thought and expression. India is blessed to have such values from times immemorial. Millennia ago, our oldest scriptures said, “the truth is one but the wise express it in different ways”.
• The US is the oldest and India the largest democracy. Therebefore partnership of both the nations is augurs well for the future of democracy.
• Together, Both the nations shall give a better future to the world, and a better world to the future.

India represents Unity in diversity: A message to the world for peaceful coexistence

• Last year, India celebrated 75 years of its independence. I was a remarkable journey of over 75 years of freedom, after a thousand years of foreign rule in one form or another.
• This was not just a celebration of democracy, but also of diversity. Not just of the Constitution, but also of its spirit of social empowerment. Not just of our competitive and cooperative federalism, but also of our essential unity and integrity.
• India has over 2,500 political parties and about 20 different parties govern various states of India that shows political diversity and its recognition.
• We have 22 official languages and thousands of dialects, and yet, we speak in one voice. Every hundred miles, our cuisine changes.
• India is home to all faiths in the world and celebrates all of them. Therefore, diversity is a natural way of life.

Women role in India’s progress and development from historical to modern scenario:

• Women sages composed many verses in the Vedas. And today, women are leading us to a better future.
• India’s vision is not just of development which benefits women. It is of women-led development.
• A woman has risen from a humble tribal background, to be our head of state. Nearly 1.5 million elected women lead us at various levels.
• Today, women serve our country in the Army, Navy and Air Force. India also has the highest percentage of women airline pilots in the world. I believe that investing in a girl child lifts up the entire family. Empowering women transforms the nation.
• India is known for its traditions. But the younger generation is also making it a hub of technology. In India, technology is not only about innovation but also about inclusion.
• Today, digital platforms are empowering the rights and dignity of people, while protecting privacy. Last year, out of every 100 real-time digital payments in the world, 46 happened in India.

India’s vision for fight against climate change: A message to World

• India became the only G20 country to meet its Paris commitment.
• At the Glasgow Summit, India proposed Mission LiFE — Lifestyle for Environment.
• This is a way to make sustainability a true people’s movement. The same spirit is also seen in the theme when we chair the G20 — “One Earth, One Family, One Future”.

India and USA relation:  Multiple areas of cooperation

• US occupies a special place in the vision of India’s approach to the world.
• As When defence and aerospace in India grow, industries in the states of Washington, Arizona, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania thrive. When American companies grow, their research and development centres in India thrive.
• When India and the US work together on semi-conductors and critical minerals, it helps the world in making supply chains more diverse, resilient and reliable. Indeed, we were strangers in defence cooperation at the turn of the century. Now, the US has become one of our most important defence partners.
• Cooperation in the critical technology:
• One consequence of globalisation has been the over-concentration of supply chains. Both the nations have work together to diversify, decentralise, and democratise supply chains.
• Technology will determine security, prosperity and leadership in the 21st century and both countries established a new initiative for Critical and Emerging Technologies.
• It will serve humanity and seek solutions to the global challenges of climate change, hunger and health.

India’s message to World: Today is not era of war

• With the Ukraine conflict, war has returned to Europe. Since it involves major powers, the outcomes are severe. Countries of the Global South have been particularly affected.
• India has highlighted that , this is not an era of war. But it is one of dialogue and diplomacy. And, we all must do what we can to stop the bloodshed and human suffering.

India’s vision for free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific:

• AS the dark clouds of coercion and confrontation are casting their shadow in the Indo-Pacific. The stability of the region has become one of the central concerns of India-US partnership.
• Both the nations share a vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific, connected by secure seas, defined by international law, free from domination, and anchored in ASEAN centrality.
• A region where all nations, small and large, are free and fearless in their choices, where progress is not suffocated by impossible burdens of debt, where connectivity is not leveraged for strategic purposes
• For this purpose, India and USA work through regional institutions and with our partners from within the region and beyond. Of this, the Quad has emerged as a major force of good for the region.

Reforms that need to be made

• As the world emerges out of the pandemic, we must give shape to a new world order. Consideration, care and concern are the need of the hour. Giving a voice to the Global South is the way forward. That is why African Union should be given full membership of G20.
• There is need to revive multilateralism and reform multilateral institutions, with better resources and representation. That applies to all our global institutions of governance, especially the UN. When the world has changed, our institutions too must change.

Conclusion

• Today, India-USA stand at a new dawn of relationship that will not only shape the destiny of two nations, but also that of the world. And together both the nations demonstrate that democracies matter and democracies deliver.

General Studies Paper 2

Context

• Cord blood banking is not a ‘biological insurance’ and its role in regenerative medicine is hypothetical. It is recommended only if there is a family member (siblings or biological parents only), currently suffering from diseases approved to be benefitted by allogenic stem cell transplantation.

Cord Blood

• The blood from the newborn that is still present in the placenta and umbilical cord after birth is known as cord blood.
• Umbilical cord blood is a rich source of stem cells; i.e., Hematopoietic stem cells, which are unique cells and can be employed to cure certain disorders.
• In the body, hematopoietic stem cells can develop into many types of blood cells.
• Worldwide, cord blood banking is advised as a source of hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation for haematological malignancies and illnesses where its usage is advised (derived from bone marrow, peripheral blood, or umbilical cord blood).

Cord Blood Banking

• A System that preserves umbilical cord blood for use in the future is known as a Cord Blood Bank.
• Private and public cord blood banks have emerged in response to the prospect of using cord blood to treat immunological and blood-related illnesses.
• Public cord blood banks operate similarly to public blood banks in that they accept donations to be utilised for anybody in need. Historically, the medical establishment has been more open to the idea of public cord blood banking. Private cord blood banks only keep cord blood for the donor or the donor’s family to potentially use.
• However, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) asserts that there is no scientific support for cord blood storage for future self-use, posing moral and social concerns.
• The ICMR does not advocate using stem cells for commercial purposes and Commercial cord blood banking also.

Collection and Cryopreservation of Cord Blood

• After the umbilical cord has been severed, cord blood is collected from the foetal end of the cord.
• The placenta may be used to obtain more stem cells. The placenta is transported to the stem cell lab, where it is processed for extra stem cells after the healthcare professional takes cord blood from the placental end of the umbilical cord. In order to guarantee that there will be enough cells for a transplant, sufficient cord blood collection requires at least 75mL.
• Before the cord blood is kept for future use, it is tested for viruses, such as HIV and Hepatitis B and C, and tissue typing is done to ascertain the kind of human leukocyte antigen.
• Additionally, it will be checked for bacterial and fungal growth as well as nucleated cell count, cell viability, blood group antigen ABO & Rh blood group system, molecular cluster, and blood group antigen.
• The cord blood unit is collected, sent to the lab for processing, and then frozen.
• For the cord blood to survive the cryogenic process, a cryopreserved is added regardless of how the unit is processed. The cord blood unit can be placed in a liquid nitrogen tank to maintain freezing at 196 °C after being gradually cooled to 90 °C.

Uses of Cord Blood

• Despite primarily coming from donors, cord blood stem cells are now being used to treat a number of deadly diseases, most notably malignancies, blood disorders, and genetic diseases of the blood and immune system.
• Recent research has revealed that cord blood transplants have special benefits over conventional bone marrow transplants, especially for children.
• In rare circumstances where a suitable bone marrow donor cannot be found, cord blood transplants can even save a patient’s life.
• There is a 25% probability that siblings will match, and there is a 50% chance that grandparents and parents will match using cord blood.

Advantages of Cord Blood Banking

• Compared to bone marrow, more people can obtain stem cells from cord blood. This is due to the fact that, unlike a bone marrow transplant, cord blood does not need to closely match the recipient’s own blood.
• The probability that a person’s body will reject stem cells from cord blood is lower than that of bone marrow.
• During cancer therapies, cord blood stem cells may help the immune system. This is not a method of using bone marrow stem cells.
• Compared to collecting bone marrow, collecting cord blood is less difficult, uncomfortable, and dangerous for the donor.
• The newborn or the person giving birth is not in danger from the cord blood harvest.

Concerns Related to Cord Blood Banking

• It may not be wise or effective to use one’s own cord blood cells, particularly in situations of leukaemia and cancer in children. Because the blood also carries the same genetic abnormality, children who develop immunological disorders frequently cannot receive a transplant using their own cord blood.
• Additional problems include the potential for the cord blood unit to be contaminated with same cancer that was discovered later in life.

Conclusion

• Commercial cord blood banking involves storing a newborn’s umbilical cord blood stem cells for potential future medical use.
• The decision to bank cord blood is personal and should be based on individual circumstances and considerations such as the family history of genetic disorders and the likelihood of using the stored cells.
• It is important to carefully research and compare different cord blood banking options and consider the cost, storage options, and reputation of the facility before making a decision.

Context

• There needs to be an inspiring alternative agenda that enthuses India and which can move the silent majority away from the climate of hate

Background

• The communal disturbances in Maharashtra, the performative religiosity in the new Parliament’s inauguration and The Kerala Story are all intrinsic to the vitiating mass consciousness
• Such issues typically pit Hindus against Muslims, elite establishmentarians against grounded ‘nationalists’ and constitutional values against ‘traditional’ values.
• Despite this war’s profound impact on India’s social fabric, little attention has been devoted to analysing why atavistic tendencies acquire a social base. If most Indians live by the Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb, nothing could make them communal, xenophobic, casteist, patriarchal or racist.
• Yet, studies show that India has become radicalised and socially conservative. To reverse the flames engulfing India dissecting the black box of hate is critical.

The anatomy of organised hate

• There are broadly three types of hatred today — organised, inherited and absorbed hate.
• The first is invariably for partisan ends. Inherited hate is generationally passed down (usually caste, communal and gender prejudices), which is fertile soil for the champions of organised hate. Finally, absorbed hate is a disease afflicting the silent majority.
• Progressive forces invariably counter the visible champions of organised hate, including party spokespersons, aligned influencers and organisations, as well as troll armies. They also resort to debunking misinformation or cornering regressive stances/action.
• Furthermore, their propaganda is complemented by a vast network of socio-cultural and religious organisations that subterranean spearhead ideological projects.

Structurally combating hate

• Whole communities have shrivelled in the face of the hatred engulfing India. Given this, there are both moral and pragmatic considerations to frontally tackle the fear that breeds regressive attitudes.
• First, we progressives need to acknowledge pre-existing societal fears of losing out on economic and political opportunities, and redress them. Given this, progressives need to carefully assuage such fears. A first step could be posing an inspiring alternative agenda that enthuses India. Only then can we wean away the silent majority from the claws of hatred.
• Secondly, progressive parties also need to put boots on the ground. In that spirit, they must actively collaborate with civil society, which transcends electoral exigencies. Serving as a complementary system, this could become both a response mechanism to conflagrations, and a network of progressive ideological projects. This would facilitate the forging of fresh relationships with new constituencies.
• Furthermore, progressive parties can substantively constrict regressive activities when in office, as the recently elected Karnataka government is doing. Just to cite some obvious examples, organisations frequently showcase movies to vitiate public discourse, conduct processions and sansads to disrupt the peace. While states can ban such organisations, this is only a stopgap since they invariably remerge in a new avatar.
• Fourth, progressives also need to check benefactors of regressive causes. A conflagration is sometimes a smokescreen to promote narrow economic interests.
• Similarly, select diaspora groups support regressive projects for preferential treatment in commercial ventures in India. Mapping this financial infrastructure of hate would enable targeted counters using state instruments.

Conclusion

• Today, more than ever, India needs an organised, programmatic and political counter to hate. We do not have the luxury to wait for an organic mass psychological realignment.

General Studies Paper 3

Introduction

• Karl Alexander (Alex) Müller (1927–2023) was a Swiss physicist and Nobel Prize laureate. He was widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of superconductivity, and his discovery of high-temperature superconductors has had a profound impact on the field of solid-state physics and beyond.

Defining Superconductors

• A superconductor is a material that attains superconductivity, a state of matter with no electrical resistance. In a superconductor, an electric current can persist indefinitely.
• Superconductors are different from ordinary conductors, such as copper.
• Unlike regular conductors whose resistance gradually reduces, the superconductor’s resistance drops to zero below a fixed temperature, which is the critical temperature.
• At this temperature, a superconductor can conduct electricity with no resistance, which means no heat, sound, or other forms of energy would be discharged from the material when it reaches the “critical temperature” (Tc).
• To become superconductive, most materials must be in an incredibly low energy state (very cold). Presently, excessive energy must be used in the cooling process, making superconductors uneconomical and inefficient.
• Some of the popular examples of superconductors are aluminium, magnesium diboride, niobium, copper oxide, yttrium barium and iron pnictides.

Superconductor Types

Superconductors come in two distinct types: type I and type II.

• Type I Superconductors

A type I superconductor consists of fundamental conductive elements that are used in everything from electrical wiring to computer microchips.

• Type II Superconductors

A type II superconductor comprises metallic compounds such as lead or copper. They achieve a superconductive state at much higher temperatures compared to type I superconductors. Type II superconductors can be penetrated by a magnetic field, whereas type I cannot.

Superconductivity Applications

• MRI machines:Superconducting magnets are an essential component of MRI machines, which use strong magnetic fields and radio waves to produce detailed images of the inside of the human body.
• Particle Accelerators:Superconducting magnets are also used in particle accelerators, which are used to study the behaviour of subatomic particles.
• Power Transmission Cables: Superconducting materials can be used to create power transmission cables that have almost no electrical resistance.
• Electric Motors and Generators:Superconducting materials can be used to create more efficient electric motors and generators, which are essential components of many machines and devices.
• Superconducting Quantum Computers: Superconducting materials are also being used to develop quantum computers, which have the potential to revolutionize computing by performing complex calculations much faster than traditional computers.
• Fusion Energy:Superconductors are being investigated as a potential solution for producing sustainable fusion energy, which involves merging atomic nuclei to release energy.
• High-Speed Transportation Systems:Superconductors are being explored as a potential solution for creating high-speed transportation systems, such as Maglev trains. Maglev trains use superconducting magnets to levitate and propel the train, resulting in faster and more efficient transportation.
• Improved Energy Efficiency: Superconductivity can be used to create more efficient power transmission cables, motors, and generators, resulting in less energy loss and lower operating costs.
• Faster Computing:Superconducting materials are being used to develop quantum computers that can perform complex calculations much faster than traditional computers.
• Sustainable Energy: Superconductors are being investigated as a potential solution for producing sustainable fusion energy, which involves merging atomic nuclei to release energy.

Superconductivity-Indian Scenario

• India has a long history of research in superconductivity, with notable contributions from institutions such as the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay.
• The National Superconductivity Mission (NSM)is an initiative launched by the Government of India in 2017 to promote research and development in the field of superconductivity.
• The mission aims to develop indigenous technology for superconductors and their applications in various industries, including healthcare, energy, and transportation.

Conclusion

• Superconductivity offers exciting opportunities for various fields, but there are still challenges that need to be overcome before it can be widely adopted. With ongoing research and development, it is possible that many of these challenges will be overcome, and superconductivity will become an essential component of modern technology.

General Studies Paper 3

Introduction

• The recently-concluded Bonn climate conference in Germany, expected to outline the political agenda for the crucial end-of-year Conference of Parties-28 (COP28) in Dubai, was critical for reviewing and reforming the climate finance architecture. The conference has exposed a gaping hole in the funding needed to pay for climate action.  This comes from a long-standing impasse between developed and developing countries, over where money for climate change policies should come from and in what form.

Defining New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG)

• A commitment of ‘$100 billion per year till 2020’ to developing nations from developed countries was a target set at the Conference of Parties (COP) in 2009.
• But estimates since then show addressing climate change may cost billions, and even, trillions of dollars. Therefore, the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement agreed on setting a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCGQ) for climate financing prior to 2025
• The NCGQ is thus, termed the “most important climate goal”. It pulls up the ceiling on commitment from developed countries, is supposed to anchor the evolving needs and priorities of developing countries based on scientific evidence.

Need of a new finance goal

• Out of the promised $100 billion per year, developed countries provided $83.3 billion in 2020, as per a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
• These figures may be misleading and inflated by as much as 225%.
• Moreover, the $100 billion target set in 2009 was seen more as a political goal, since there was no effort to clarify the definition or source of ‘climate finance’.
• The economic growth of developed countries has come at the cost of high carbon emissions, and thus they are obligated to shoulder greater responsibility.
• While funds available for climate finance have quantitatively increased, they are inaccessible, privately sourced, delayed and not reaching countries in need.
• Countries most in need of finances have to wait years to access money and pay interest high rates, thus increasing their debt burden.

Developed countries stand-

• Wealthy nations want to expand the donor base with NCQG. This would facilitate global contributions.
• The European Union is calling for global efforts instead of contributions merely coming from developed countries.
• The Environmental Integrity Group (EIG),a negotiation group comprising six nations including Switzerland, said other elements framed as “technical” by developing countries are highly political.

Developing countries stand-

• Negotiators from Antigua and Barbuda said that technical negotiators don’t have the mandate to “expand donor base”.
• Alliance of Small Island States, an intergovernmental organisation of low-lying coastal and small island countries, said broadening the donor base is a political topic.
• South Africa, on behalf of the African Group of Negotiators also opposed the expansion of the donor base.

Conclusion

• Countries are on a tight deadline to agree upon the NCQG ahead of 2024.
• There’s no official number yet, but a global transition to a low-carbon economy requires investments of at least $4 trillion to $6 trillion a year, as per last year’s Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan.
• Some argue that instead of identifying a single aggregate figure, the NCQG could also set separate targets (or sub-goals) for focus areas such as mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage.
• The aim is to focus on scaling up concessional financing, stopping debt creation and allowing NCQG to be more of a “process” rather than a goal towards equitable and people-led transition.

General Studies Paper 2

Context

• Anxiety disorders are among the most frequently occurring mental health problems in the community today. They often go unrecognised in primary care settings due tolack of awareness and available human resources.

Introduction

• Anxiety, as an emotion, is experienced by many in day-to-day life. In some, it can become persistent and disabling.
• Fear is an emotional response to perceived imminent threat or danger associated with urges to flee or fight.
• This ‘fight-or-flight response’ is characterised by a startled response and physiological changes.
• In contrast, anxiety is the apprehensive anticipation of future danger or misfortune accompanied by a feeling of worry, distress, and/or bodily symptoms of tension.

Historical context

• Until the last part of the 19th century, anxiety disorders were not classified separately from other mood disorders, such as depression.
• In 1895, Sigmund Freud first suggested that people with mainly anxiety symptoms should be differentiated from depression. He gave the name “anxiety neurosis” to this entity.
• Freud’s original anxiety neurosis included people with phobias and panic attacks. He subsequently divided them into two groups – anxiety neurosis and anxiety hysteria.
• The first group included people with mainly psychological symptoms of anxiety, while the second group had people with phobias and physical symptoms of anxiety.

Prevalence and onset of anxiety

• India’s National Mental Health Survey (NMHS) of 2015-2016 found the prevalence of neurosis and stress-related disorders to be 3.5%.
• These disorders were twice as common in women as compared to men.
• There is evidence that the developmental period of childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood are periods of high risk for the onset of anxiety disorders.

Clinical features of anxiety

• Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) is characterised by excessive worrying (which lasts more than six months) and is not restricted to particular circumstances — for example, only when attending a social event.
• Common features include apprehension, tension, difficulty concentrating, and autonomic symptoms such as dry mouth or abdominal discomfort.
• Panic disorder is characterised by recurrent unexpected surges of severe anxiety (also known as panic attacks), which typically peak within 10 minutes and last around 30-45 minutes.
• They are characterised by a sudden onset of palpitations, choking sensation, chest pain, dizziness, depersonalisation (patients feel that they have changed and feel divorced from their own self), derealisation (patients feel that the world has become unreal, distorted or falsified), and fear of dying or losing control.
• Social anxiety disorder is characterised by the intense, persistent fear of being scrutinised or evaluated negatively by others.
• Patients anticipate ridicule or humiliation, and avoid many social situations or endure them with great distress.
• Shyness is a core symptom of social phobia
• Separation anxiety disorder is characterised by fear or anxiety concerning separation from those to whom an individual is attached.
• Common features include excessive distress when experiencing or anticipating separation from home, and persistent excessive worries about potential harms to attachment figures or untoward events that might result in separation.
• Specific (simple) phobia is characterised by the fear of particular objects, animals or situations. Common specific phobias include fears of animals, blood, injection, flying, heights, lifts, enclosed spaces, dental treatment, and choking.

Treating anxiety

• The need for treatment is determined by ascertaining the severity and persistence of symptoms, their impact on everyday life, the co-occurrence of depressive symptoms, and previous response to medication or psychotherapy.
• The choice of treatment is influenced by clinical characteristics, patient and doctor preferences, and the local availability of potential interventions.
• There is much overlap across anxiety disorders for evidence-based effective therapies, such as the prescription of a selective serotonin re uptake inhibitor (SSRI) or a course of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), but there are differences in treatment response between disorders.

Conclusion

• Anxiety disorders are among the most frequently occurring mental health problems in the community today. They often go unrecognised in primary care settings due to stigma, lack of awareness, and lack of locally available human resources. Therefore it is vital to increase public awareness of anxiety disorders and the fact that they are treatable with effective interventions.

General Studies Paper 3

Context

• The Arctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer by the 2030s, even if we do a good job of reducing emissions between now and then. That’s the worrying conclusion of a new study in Nature Communications.

The background

• Predictions of an ice-free Arctic Ocean have a long and complicated history, and the 2030s is sooner than most scientists had thought possible.
• The Arctic has been experiencing climate heating faster than any other part of the planet.
• As it is at the frontline of climate change, the eyes of many scientists and local indigenous people have been on the sea ice that covers much of the Arctic Ocean in winter.
• This thin film of frozen seawater expands and contracts with the seasons, reaching a minimum area in September each year.
• The ice which remains at the end of summer is called multiyear sea ice and is considerably thicker than its seasonal counterpart. It acts as barrier to the transfer of both moisture and heat between the ocean and atmosphere.
• Over the past 40 years this multiyear sea ice has shrunk from around 7 million sq. km to 4 million.
• That is a loss equivalent to roughly the size of India or 12 UKs. In other words, it’s a big signal, one of the most stark and dramatic signs of fundamental change to the climate system anywhere in the world.

Blue Ocean Event (BOE)

• A Blue Ocean Event (BOE) is probably something you’ve never heard of, but in just a few years it will be the biggest story that everyone is talking about.
• A BOE is when the Arctic Ocean changes from being covered in ice year-round and reflecting most of the sunlight that impacts it back into space to being mostly ice-free blue water for a period of time during the warm season (May through October), which will cause it to absorb most of the sunlight that impacts it.
• Once a BOE occurs during a warm season, the Arctic Ocean water will refreeze during the following cold season.
• However, since the water will be slightly warmer each year, longer Blue Ocean Events are expected with each passing warm season, causing extensive impacts to the global climate and human habitat.
• Blue water, which is dark, absorbs more sunlight than white ice, due to the fact that darker colors naturally absorb more sunlight than lighter colors, a phenomenon known as the “albedo effect.”
• One problem with predicting when this might occur is that sea ice is notoriously difficult to model because it is influenced by both atmospheric and oceanic circulation as well as the flow of heat between these two parts of the climate system.

The Consequences

• There is still plenty of uncertainty around the exact date – about 20 years or so– because of natural chaotic fluctuations in the climate system. But compared to previous research, the new study still brings forward the most likely timing of a blue ocean event by about a decade.
• Arctic sea ice is an important component of the climate system. As it dramatically reduces the amount of sunlight absorbed by the ocean, removing this ice is predicted to further accelerate warming, through a process known as a positive feedback.
• This, in turn, will make the Greenland ice sheet melt faster, which is already a major contributor to-sea level rise.
• The loss of sea ice in summer would also mean changes in atmospheric circulation and storm tracks, and fundamental shifts in ocean biological activity.

Way forward

• In conclusion, temperatures could rise strongly by 2026, resulting in humans going extinct, making it in many respects rather futile to speculate about what will happen beyond 2026.
• On the other hand, the right thing to do is to help avoid the worst things from happening, through comprehensive and effective action through a Climate Plan.