Note: Check out quick solutions of CSAT 2023 questions here on my YouTube channel!

🚨 30 January 2024 | Tuesday 🚨

Mains Keyword ✍️🏼

1. Friendshoring

• Manufacturing/sourcing from geopolitical allies


Pre Related 📄

1. UNRWA

• UN Relief & Works Agency for Palestinians Refugees in Near East
• Founded in 1949 after 1948 Arab-Israeli War
• Operates in Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan
• Funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions by donor states like US
• Context: Accused by Israel of involvement in Oct’23 Hamas attack, hence suspension of funds by nations

2. Islamic Resistance of Iraq

• Umbrella term for all Iran-backed militias in Iraq
• Including strikes into Syria during Israel-Hamas Oct'23 conflict
• Context: Claimed responsibility for attack killing US soldiers in Jordan

3. Humboldt's enigma

• Many areas outside tropics (believed to have greater primary productivity due to more insolation) are highly biodiverse, like mountains


Reading Recommendations 🗞

IE
1. The new public-private partnership to grow seafood outside sea (GS3, S&T)

TH
1. Populism does not help public health (GS2, Health)
2. Early nutrition impacts cognitive development (GS2, Health)
3. Pros & cons of simultaneous elections (GS2, Polity)
4. What is Humboldt's enigma and what does it mean for India? (GS3, Environment)


PS: Hit ❤️ to appreciate my efforts!

In election year, release of Economic Survey is unlikely.

Therefore, a review of Indian Economy is released.

Will share summary in coming week :)

Note: Learn 100+ articles of Indian Constitution here

🚨 31 January 2024 | Wednesday 🚨

Mains Keyword ✍️🏼

1. Maternal filicide

• Child murder by mothers


Pre Related 📄

1. Stingless Bees

• Pollinator native to Amazon
• Their honey used by Indigenous Peruvians as natural medicine
• Context: Under threat due to pesticides & climate change

2. Fentanyl

• A powerful synthetic opioid that is similar to morphine but is 50 to 100 times more potent
• A prescription drug that is also made and used illegally
• Context: US, China joint talks a/g fentanyl trafficking

3. Snow Leopard Population Assessment in India (SPAI)

• 1st of its kind, 4-year long exercise's results published
• Total estimated in India: 718
• Highest no in Ladakh, followed by Uttarakhand, HP, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and J&K
• IUCN: Vulnerable

4. Maratha Military Landscapes

• Developed b/w 17th & 19th centuries
• Network of 12 forts in Maharashtra & Tamil Nadu
• Distributed across diverse geographical & physiographic regions
• Context: Nominated by India for UNESCO World Heritage Site


Reading Recommendations 🗞

IE
1. Delhi in Davos (GS3, Economy)
2. Stay calm, build on strengths (GS3, Economy)
3. Issues with EVs, and possible hybrid solution (GS3, Environment)

TH
1. A dark message to Delhi from Kangla fort (GS3, Internal Security)
2. A blurred mapping of internal female migration (GS1, Society)
3. Pakistan and Iran: calm after the storm (GS2, IR)
4. Rain: how vapour becomes water (GS3, Science)


PS: Hit ❤️ if you’re reading newspaper daily!

Note: Read Budget 2024 Summary with graphics here!

🚨 1 February 2024 | Thursday 🚨

Mains Keyword ✍️🏼

1. Broken Window Fallacy

• Natural & man-made calamities doesn't give economic boost (as believed due to post-calamity reconstruction)
• And cause net loss to society


Pre Related 📄

1. Neuralink

• Computer-brain interface company
• Has designed coin-sized device to be implanted in skull
• Potential application: treating brain disorders, brain injuries etc

2. Computing

a) Neuromorphic Computing: Practice of modelling computers after human brain

b) Biocomputing: Uses biological components to perform computational processes

3. La Baells Reservoir

• North of Barcelona, Spain
• Context: Drying due to drought, affecting Catalonia region

4. Antarctic Penguins

• 7 penguin species that reside in Antarctic region
• Under threat due to climate change, pollution, commercial fishing etc
• Context: Highly lethal bird flu has been detected for the first time
• Read more here

5. Turtles

• Sex of hatchlings determined by surrounding temperature
• 93% of turtles expected to be females by 2100 due to global warming


Reading Recommendations 🗞

IE
1. What to watch in Budget (GS3, Economy)
2. Mind & Matter (GS3, S&T)
3. Anatomy of a Flare-up (GS2, IR)
4. Caste, a western construct (Read as per discretion & prep level)

TH
1. What makes India-France 'strategic partnership' tick (GS2, IR)
2. Finding light in Myanmar's darkness (GS2, IR)
3. Rising tensions in Korean peninsula (GS2, IR)


PS: Need any help wrt UPSC prep? Talk to me directly at whycse@gmail.com

Note: Learn 100+ Articles of Indian Constitution here

🚨 2 February 2024 | Friday 🚨

Mains Keyword ✍️🏼

1. Reshoring

• Returning the production and manufacturing of goods back to the company's original country


Pre Related 📄

1. World Wetlands Day

• Celebrated on annually on 2nd February
• Marks adoption of the Convention on Wetlands in Ramsar, Iran (1971)
• India has 80 Ramsar sites

2. Offshore Wind Projects

• Wind turbines located in middle of sea, rather than at coastline
• Higher conversion rate due to greater wind speeds & lack of obstruction
• But higher construction & maintenance costs
• India has none, potential sites identified off Gujarat & TN's coastline

3. Viability Gap Funding

• Financial incentive to lower entry barriers & make project more attractive for investors


Reading Recommendations 🗞

TH
1. On Israel's obligation to prevent genocide (GS2, IR)
2. A touch of sun: the impact of heat events on children (GS3, Environment)


PS: Hit ❤️ if you’re reading newspaper daily!

Note: Watch this video to sort out your Pre2024 Resources!

🚨 3 February 2024 | Saturday 🚨

Mains Keyword ✍️🏼

1. Original Sin Problem

• Inability of emerging economies to borrow internationally in their own currencies


Pre-related 📄

1. Surajkund Fair

• International Handicraft Fair (in 37th year)
• Inaugurated in Faridabad, Haryana by Prez
• Tanzania: Partner country for this year's fair
• Gujarat: Partner state for this year's fair
• Surajkund: Shaped like rising sun, built by King Surajpal of Tomar Dynasty, in Roman style


Reading Recommendations 🗞

IE
1. Multidimensional poverty: meaning, numbers (GS3, Economy & Prelims)
2. Pirates of the Arabian Sea, their crime, and how maritime forces respond to it (GS2, IR)
3. Language & learning (GS2, Education)
4. Framing India in the world (GS2, Diplomacy)
5. The future of water (GS3, Environment)

TH
1. Exposing India's financial markets to the vultures (GS3, Economy)
2. Two States (GS2, IR)
3. A rising tide lifts all boats (GS2, Health)


PS: Hit ❤️ to appreciate my consistent efforts!

Note: Read about Cervical Cancer for Pre2024 here!

🚨 4 February 2024 | Sunday 🚨

Mains Keyword ✍️🏼

1. Doom Spending

• Act of spending money to cope with stress about economy or foreign affairs
• Becoming a trend as buying house/retirement savings difficult due to higher living cost & labour market shifts


Pre-related 📄

1. Apollo Butterflies
(11 recorded from HP)

a) Dusted Apollo
• A rare high-altitude butterfly
• Spotted 1st time in Chamba, HP
• Distribution range: Ladakh to west Nepal

b) Regal Apollo
• Another rare species
• Protected u/ WPA1972
• Found at Manimahesh Lake, Chamba

2. Typbar

• A conjugate typhoid (caused by Salmonella Typhi bacteria) toxoid vaccine
• Developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech
• Received WHO pre-qualification in 2017
• Phase 3 trial done in Malawi, Africa (efficacy: 4 years)
• Conjugate Vaccine:
- combines weak antigen with a strong antigen
- for stronger immune system response to weak antigen

3. Interoception

• Perception of sensations from inside the body
• Ex: Arterial pressure pulses link heartbeat & brain rhythmicity

4. Jezero Crater

• Formed by an ancient meteor impact just north of Marian equator
• NASA's Mars Perseverance confirms it once harboured a vast lake & river delta

5. Murmuration

• A swirling, undulating cloud formed by 1000s of Starlings swarming together
• Starling: Passerine (perching) birds
(See TH for pictures)

6. INS Sandhayak

• 1st of 4 survey vessel large ships being built
• Commissioned, will carry out hydrographic surveys

7. Anthropogenic Ammonia Emissions

• ~ 51-60% can be traced to crop cultivation
• Half of these: Rice, wheat & maize

8. Martial Arts Form

• Kalaripayattu: Kerala
• Thang-ta: Manipur

9. World Cancer Day

• 4th February, every year
• 2024 Theme: 'Close the care gap'
(3 year camapign 2022-2024)


Reading Recommendations 🗞

TH
1. Why is fiscal consolidation so important? (GS3, Economy)
2. Why are nations revising rules for foreign students? (GS2, IR)
3. The dispute over Varanasi, Mathura mosques (GS2, Policy)


PS: Hit ❤️ if you’re reading newspaper on Sunday!

Many aspirants are facing issues in downloading HPSC Admit card

A message like this is appearing

If you have any solution to this, pls email to whycse@gmail.com to help 10s of aspirants (who reached out to me seeking help)

Note: Get 3 imp non-fiction book recommendations

🚨 5 February 2024 | Monday 🚨

Pre-related 📄

1. Black Holes

a) Event Horizon
• A sphere around singularity
• Anything can't escape unless it travels faster than light (that's impossible)

b) Ergosphere
• Unique feature of rotating black holes (aka Kerr black holes)
• A region outside their outer event horizon
• Objects can enter & leave if it's moving fast enough (still less than light speed)
• Possible to extract matter & energy from here

2. Places in News: Vina del Mar, Chile

• Densely populated area of central Chile
• Intense forest fire


Reading Recommendations 🗞

IE

1. Crown jewel that was (GS2, IR)
2. How to manage political risk (GS2, IR)
3. Dealing with govt debt (GS2, Policy)


TH
1. Micro-credentials, the next chapter in higher education (GS2, Education)
2. Holding Israel accountable (GS2, IR)
3. On Uttarakhand's uniform civil code (GS2, Policy)
4. The importance of keeping personally identifiable information safe (GS3, S&T)


PS: Hit ❤️ if you’re reading newspaper daily!

Note: Learn 100+ Articles of Indian Constitution here

🚨 6 February 2024 | Tuesday 🚨

Mains Keyword ✍️🏼

1. Dependency Burden

• No of 15-59 aged people supporting children <15 & elderly >60 years


Pre-related 📄

1. Buffalo & Bulbuli Fighting

• Part of Assamese folk culture
• During Magh Bihu (winter harvest festival, January)
• Buffalo fights: locally called moh juj, Ahatguri biggest centre
• Bulbuli fights: Mainly at Hayagriv Madhab Mandir, Hajo
• Origin haven't been traced, but held by Ahom rulers
• Govt Guidelines:
- Permitted only in places where being conducted for >25 years
- Only b/w 15 & 25 Jan
- w/o deliberate animal torture/cruelty

2. RISC-V

• An instruction set architecture, a computer language
• used to design anything from smartphones chips to advanced processors for AI
• Free to use, energy-efficient chips due to simple outline, framework can be built upon by users
• Context: Being used by China over US & UK controlled Arm & x86 (closed architecture, complex outline)


Reading Recommendations 🗞

IE

1. What's in Bill to stop cheating in job exams (GS2, Policy)
2. Snow leopard count (GS3,Environment)
3. 5 key takeaways from 2021-22 higher education survey (GS2, Education)
4. Demography & destiny (GS1, Society)


TH
1. A critical view of 'sanitation miracle' in rural India (GS2, Health)
2. An Uttar Pradesh model to tackle malnutrition (GS2, Health)
3. The road to a healthy democracy (GS2, Health)
4. Myanmar's civil war & India's interests (GS2, IR)



PS: Hit ❤️ to appreciate my consistent efforts!

Friends, I have created 50 videos solving every Maths & Reasoning Questions of CSAT 2023

Learn how to solve CSAT 2023 type questions with ease!

Watch entire playlist at your comfort Question by Question here 👇🏼

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnwddqxjRXfjkL6mMM9CYogffEIEX-Jrd&si=mzdbUf91xcCPuOMY

This playlist solves EVERY Question of Maths & Reasoning in Just 1 minutes

It will show you how all maths/reasoning in CSAT 2023 could be solved in JUST 60-80 seconds.

Every question held separately. Kaafi kaam aaegi ye aapke! Free time me 1-1 question dekhte jao :)

Note: 50+ Questions of CSAT 2023 solved in 50 videos here

🚨 7 February 2024 | Wednesday 🚨

Mains Keyword ✍🏼

1. Zodiacal light

• Sunlight scattered by interplanetary dust
• Source of dust is under research


Pre related📄

1. Atmospheric River

• Large, narrow section of atmosphere
• Carries moisture from equator to the poles
• 4-5 such rivers active at any given time
• On reaching land, they release moisture producing heavy snow & rain
• Risk: Grasses & bushes grow potentially leading to fuel fires in future

2. Ishikawa city of Japan's Noto saw 7.5 earthquake

Reading Recommendations🗞

IE

1. Uttarakhand Civil Code: How needle has moved (explained page)
2. Policy must address growth gap

TH

1. Union govt reins on financial transfers to states


PS: Nothing significant in newspaper today. Revise CA of January on my blog.CSEWhy.com

Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code is 192 page doc

I read this draft and made notes so that you don't have to!

1. Find my summarized notes here

2. Click here to read the whole draft

Note: Read summary of Uttarakhand UCC to save your time here!

🚨 8 February 2024 | Thursday 🚨

Mains Keywords ✍️🏼

1. Deep Tech

• Advanced & disruptive technologies
• Many still u/ development
• Includes nanotech, biotech, AI etc
• Potential to trigger transformative change & provide solutions
• to complex global challenges like climate change, hunger, mobility etc

2. Right to disconnect

• Workers' right to ignore call/messages from bosses,
• Outside of work hours, without any penalty
• Context: u/consideration in Australia


Pre-related 📄

1. Moore's Law

• Computing power constantly increases at lower cost


Reading Recommendations 🗞

IE

1. Why Budget plans for deep tech & research funding matter (GS3, S&T)
2. Picking Election Commissioners (GS2, Polity)
3. Taking cancer on (GS2, Health)
4. Measuring Vikas (read for awareness)


TH
1. Road map for fiscal consolidation (GS3, Economy)


PS: Watch this video to understand Northern Ireland conflict!

Aaj bhai over time karke quality content laaya hai seedha Parliament se :))

Notes for you on White Paper from UPSC pov.

All pointers covered here👇🏼

https://blog.csewhy.com/p/224-white-paper-on-indian-economy

Note: Read detailed post on White Paper on Indian economy from UPSC perspective here

🚨 9 February 2024 | Friday 🚨

Mains Keyword ✍️🏼

1. Goldilocks Phase

• Ideal state of economy
• With steady growth, full employment & moderate inflation

2. Techno nationalist model

• Focused on building interconnectedness among universities, research institutes, companies & governments
• Adopted by Japan, South Korea


Mains Key 🗝
(Use as examples in Mains answers)

1. Ex-PM Manmohan Singh despite his ill health, came to cast his vote as MP, even on a wheelchair (GS4, Ethics)


Pre-related 📄

1. Kyasanur Forest Disease

• Also called Monkey Fever, as monkeys also get infected
• Viral infection named after Kysanur Forest, Shivamogga, Karnataka, where it was 1st noticed
• Caused by bite of an infective tick
• Peaks b/w Dec & March
• No specific treatment

2. Stockholm Syndrome

• Condition in which victim empathizes with their captor/ abuser


Reading Recommendations 🗞

IE

1. A Goldilocks phase (GS3, Economy)
2. An ethical minefield (GS3, S&T; GS4, Ethics)
3. How ride hailing cabs charge you, what Karnataka order can change (read for awareness)
4. Court reserves verdict: debate around subcategorisation within SC quota (GS2, Polity)


TH
1. R&D spend - golden intervention or smoke and mirrors (GS3, Economy)
2. Towards uniformity (GS2, Polity & Policy)
3. The Paytm Payments Bank debacle (GS3, Economy)
4. Charting a path for population committee (GS1, Population)


PS: Hit ❤️ if you’re reading newspaper daily!

Bharat Ratna for Dr Swaminathan

Shared his story wrt green revolution in September 2023

Learn here 👇🏼

https://blog.csewhy.com/p/167-ms-swaminathan-gs3-snt-indians

Note: Read this to understand US, Russia & Europe from Putin's pov

🚨 10 February 2024 | Saturday 🚨

Pre-related 📄

1. High Altitude Pseudo Satellite

• Solar powered UAV
• Can fly 18-20 kms high, remain in air for months
• Context: Successful completion of first test by National Aerospace Lab, Bengaluru

2. Indian Ocean Conference

• Organised annually by India Foundation
• 7th edition held in Australia for 1st time
• Theme: “Towards a Stable and Sustainable Indian Ocean”

3. Sada Tanseeq

• Maiden India-Saudi Arabia joint military exercise
• concluded in Jaipur


Quote 💭

• Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly ~ Martin Luther King Jr


Reading Recommendations 🗞

IE

1. BITs in Pieces (GS3, Economy)
2. He who rules the sea (GS2, IR)
3. If the sun doesn't shine (GS3, Environment)
4. Polygamy in India (GS1, Society)

TH
1. Mandal, Mandir and now market


PS: Hit ❤️ if you’re reading newspaper daily!

Friends, it took a while to come up with the newspaper today

I went through it in the morning and realized there's not much significant there

About UCC of UK, I have already curated blog here and it is updated already based on The Hindu article

Rest other pointers will be covered in the coming week! :)

Don't let negativity impact you for next ~100 days to Prelims 2024

Read this whenever you are down :)

बिखरे है, बनेंगे।
फिर आकर तनेंगे
अभी तो जवानी भारी है
अभी कहाँ जवानी हारी है?

हम फिर ख़ुद को ख़ुद ही उठाएँगे
हम फिर ख़ुद को ख़ुद ही बनाएँगे।

अंधेरे कमरों से,
किताबों से, काग़ज़ों से
फिर उजाले लाएँगे
हम फिर आएँगे
हम फिर आएँगे