🚨 17 February 2024 | Saturday 🚨

Mains Keywords ✍️🏼

1. Xiaokang (Defence villages)

• Constructed by China along India's border with Tibet
• Including Ladakh & Arunachal Pradesh borders
• Understood to be dual-use infra, for civil & military purposes

2. Democracy Deficit

• when democratic institutions fail to fulfill democracy's principles in their operations/practices

3. People centrism

• Governance model with people as direct stakeholders


Pre-related 📄

1. Sora

• OpenAI's new generative AI model
• Can convert a text prompt into video (upto 1 min long)
• Other examples: Google's Lumiere, Runway & Pika

2. Broom Grass

• Perennial, high value, non-perishable, nontimber forest product (NTFP)
• Grows abundantly in degraded, steep or marginal land
• India's largest producer: Assam

Note: Download CSEWhy compilation of all species in Prelims PYQs from here


Reading Recommendations 🗞

IE

1. China's 'defence villages' along LAC, which it is populating (GS2, IR)
2. What Swaminathan panel said (GS3, Agri)
3. OpenAI's breakthrough Sora (GS3, S&T)
4. Facing the people (Focus on Keywords mentioned from PM Modi's speech)
5. Copper is key to energy transition (Pg21)

TH

1. Brave new world (GS2, Health)


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

🚨 18 February 2024 | Sunday 🚨

Pre-related 📄

1. Coffee

• Word comes from Ethiopia, where it's called qahve
• Coffee plantations introduced by Arabs in South India & Sri Lanka
• Babu Budan, a Sufi, grew it around Chikamagaluru, Karnataka
(Locate Babu Budan Hills on map!)
• 2 coffee plants grown by British in India:
a) Coffee Arabica (high alt)
b) Coffee Robusta (lower alt)
• Chicory: Variety grown in Far Eastern states (India 3rd largest producer)
• Araku Valley, Andhra Pradesh also famous for its pure Arabica

2. Place in News: Avdiivka

• In industrial Donbas region
• North of Russian-occupied city of Donetsk
• Context: Ukraine troops have withdrawn from here

3. Macrophages

• Virus-eating immune cells produced in body
• Go into lungs during flu infections


Reading Recommendations 🗞

• Notes on 8 key policies of Modi Govt challenged in SC

TH

1. Nearly 50% of pregnancies in India are high-risk (GS2, Health)
2. Is Russia testing a new anti-satellite weapon? (GS3, Defence)
3. Can rheumatoid arthritis be prevented? (GS2, Health)


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

🚨 19 February 2024 | Monday 🚨

Pre-related 📄

1. Bubonic Plague

• Caused by zoonotic bacteria Yersinia pestis
• Inculdes cases where bacteria gets into lymph nodes
• Symptoms: Fever, headache, weakness etc
• Septicemic plague: when bacteria enters bloodstream
• Pneumonic plague: when bacteria enters lung (almost always fatal)
• Black Death: Most deadly outbreak till Great Influenza pandemic of 1918-20

2. Ultradian Rhythms

• Physiological patterns all living beings adopt to function properly
• Recur frequently in 24 hours
• Govern processes like heartbeat, breathing, hormonal release etc
• Eg: Sleep cycle - rapid eye movement (dream) & non-REM sleep


3. Place in News: Kinmen & Matsu Islands

• Taiwanese-controlled islands off China coast
• Context: Tensions w/ China rise as Chinese fishermen die

4. M23 Rebels

• DR Congo's rebel group with backers in Rwanda
• Context: Growing violence in eastern DR Congo (Sake)

Note: Learn about Rebel Groups & Conflicted Regions for Pre2024 here


Quote 💭

• India is a country which is non-West (not anti-West) with extremely strong relations with Western countries ~ S Jaishankar

• Quiet diplomacy is far more effective than public posturing ~ Atal Bihari Vajpayee


Reading Recommendations 🗞

IE
1. ISRO latest launch
(GS3, Space & Prelims: Read for names & features of India's launch vehicles)

2. 7 cheetahs born in Kuno
(GS3, Biodiversity: quick read to understand challenges)

3. A variable geometry
(GS2, IR: Throws light on India's foreign policy)

4. Income, not MSP
(GS3, Agri: Read for details of non-MSP crops & legalising MSP implications)

5. Abu Dhabi has a message for Delhi
(GS2, IR: Read to understand changing dynamics in UAE & Saudi Arabia & impact on India)

6. AI in the year of elections (Read to understand challenges posed by AI's use in elections)

TH

1. Ties across the sea
(GS2, IR: India-UAE relations)

2. Recalibrating merit in the age of AI
(GS3, Tech & Sociology: Good pointers on impact of AI on meritocracy)

3. What are IPCC's assessment reports?
(GS3, Environment: Read to know aim & findings of these reports & global stocktake)


PS: Hit ❤️ to appreciate my efforts!

🚨 20 February 2024 | Tuesday 🚨

Mains Keywords ✍️🏼

1. Intelligence Diplomacy

• About sharing information with allied govts & their security agencies
• Example: "Five Eyes" ; gathering of top intelligence officials on margins of Raisina Dialogue


Mains Key 🗝
(Use as examples in Mains answers)

• iOncology AI: Supercomputer + AI being used to identify best cancer therapy for patients in AIIMS Delhi
(GS2, Health; GS3, Tech)


Pre-related 📄

1. Raisina Dialogue

• Hosted by ORF & Ministry of External Affairs annually since 2016
• Brings together ministers, officials, policy researchers across world
• to promote India-centred global agenda

2. Mimas

• Among Saturn's major moons
• Smallest of "big 7"/"inner moons"
• Nicknamed "Death Star"
• Context: NASA's Cassini spacecraft's data suggest it may have ocean under its crust

3. Planck's law

• All hot objects emit radiation in a range of frequencies

4. Milan

• Biennial Multilateral Naval Exercise
• Hosted by India in Bay of Bengal

5. Aspides

• EU's naval mission to protect Red Sea shipping from Houthis


Quote 💭

• "Red tape culture" should be replaced with "rep carpet culture" for investors


PS: Hit ❤️ to appreciate my efforts!

Reading Recommendations 🗞

IE

1. How MSP
(GS3, Agri: Read to understand price volatility & adv. of PDP as sol)

2. The next step for farmers
(GS3, Agri: Suggestions for boosting horticulture)

3. A wider viewfinder
(GS2, IR: Read to understand widening aspects of Diplomacy)

4. Centre's MSP proposal: Situation in pulses, cotton
(GS3, Agri: Focus on trends of crop prod & need for crop diversification)

5. La Nina-air quality links in new study
(GS3, Environment: Read to understand how La Nina could have caused reversal of wind direction, impacting air quality)


TH

1. Greece's gateway to Aisa, India's gateway to Europe
(GS2, IR: India- Greece Relations)

2. Why are human-wildlife conflicts escalating in Kerala?
(GS3, Biodiversity: Scale, reasons & solutions for human-wildlife conflicts)

3. Hundred years ago, Satyendra Nath Bose changed physics forever
(GS3, S&T: Read to know his journey & contribution)

🚨 21 February 2024 | Wednesday 🚨

Pre-related 📄

1. Global Initiative on Digital Health

• A platform for sharing knowledge & digital products among countries
• Launched by WHO, agreed upon in India's G20 Presidency
• Will be network of networks with 4 main components:
a) country needs tracker
b) country resource portal
c) transformation toolbox ('ll share quality-assured digital tools)
d) knowledge exchange

2. Elihu Yale

• Yale University named after him
• 1672: Arrived in Madras as junior employee of EIC
• 1684-85 & 1687-92: Became Governor-president of Madras
• Involved in trade of spices, textiles & slaves
• Context: Yale varsity has apologised for slavery links

3. Iddat

• A period, usually of 3 months
• A Muslim woman must observe after death of her husband or divorce before remarriage
• Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986: Guarantees maintenance to divorced woman only during iddat
• After its completion, maintenance can be claimed u/ Sec125 of CrPC before remarriage

4. Raman Scattering

• When light of certain frequency is beamed at a group of atoms/molecules,
• latter absorb some of energy in beam & scatter it to different direction

5. International Mother Language Day

• Celebrated on 21 February
• Theme 2024: "Multilingual education is a pillar of intergenerational learning”


Stats 📈

• 17% Indian urban households live in slums (Census 2011)


Quotes 💭

• Lokneeti is about Loksangrah not Lobhsangrah (Policy-making has to be about people's welfare, not self-interest)

• Democratic power is a "trust held upon conditions" to secure inherent rights of the people ~ Harold Laski

• The cacophony of dissent & disagreement is the symphony of a democracy at work


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

Reading Recommendations 🗞

• Read all about Cervical Cancer from UPSC pov here

IE

1. Art 142, why SC quashed Chandigarh Mayor election, why it matters
(GS3, Polity: Read to know the entire case & SC's involvement)

2. Defining forests, saving them
(GS3, Environment: Read to know recent SC direction on definition of forests & arguments involved)

3. Why are we falling ill so often?
(GS2, Health: Read to know types, causes, symptoms, diagnosis, steps takes & needed of seasonal influenza)

4. Loss of a guiding light
(PM Modi's article on contribution of Jain seer Acharya Vidhyasagar)


TH

1. Having panchayats as self-governing institutions
(GS2, PRIs: Read to know the status, causes & potential of own source of revenue of panchayats)

2. Why are farmers protesting again?
(GS3, Agri: Read to know primary demands & govt stance)

Friends, if you’re yet to fill the UPSC 2024 form, do watch this video before you sign up.

Entire notification discussed in detail to clear all doubts

https://youtu.be/M8Y1QioTVgI

🚨 22 February 2024 | Thursday 🚨

Pre-related 📄

1. Sandeshkhali

• Among 100s of islands in Sunderban delta
• Where Ganga- Meghna- Brahmaputra system falls into Bay of Bengal
• Surrounded by web of tidal waterways, rivers, canals, creeks, mangrove patches
• Nutrient rich water ecosystem, ideal for fish farming
• Was heartland of Tebhaga movement
• Context: Site of recent conflict b/w TMC & BJP

2. CE20 Cryogenic Engine

• Powers cryogenic stage of LVM3 launch vehicle for Gaganyaan Missions
• Context: It's now human-rated
• Read about Gaganyaan Mission here

3. Unbundling

• Dividing product/service into multiple components
• And selling each component at different price

4. Samakka Saralamma Jatra

• Annual tribal festival in Telangana
• Considered 1 of the biggest ones in India

5. Skywalker Hoolock Gibbon

• Discovered in 2017 in China
• Myanmar has the largest population in a single location

Note: Download notes on 35+ species asked in last 15 years in Prelims here


Stats 📈

• Women Labour Force Participation: 19.9% (PLFS Oct-Dec 2023)

• Contri of Digital Public Infrastructure (Aadhaar, UPI, FASTag etc) to GDP (2022) : 0.9% (Nasscom)


Quote 💭

• Governor is a "short-hand expression for state government" ~ SC (AG Perarivalan vs State 2022)


PS: Hit ❤️ to appreciate my efforts!

Reading Recommendations 🗞

IE

1. Fali in court: 9 notable cases
(GS2, Polity: Important Cases)


TH

1. Electoral season & restructuring the health system
(GS2, Health: Read to know status, challenges & suggestions for India's health system)

2. Beyond shelter, dweller needs within the four walls
(GS3, Environment: Read to understand why & how 'housing for all' must be aligned with envtal goals)

3. An undeclared war with nature
(GS3, Biodiversity: Read to know the causes of human-wildlife conflict in Kerala & suggestions for the same)

4. On financial devolution among states
(GS2, Polity: Detailed article on role of FC, basis of allocation, issues, way forward)

5. Astronomers find the small, hot helium stars they were looking for
(GS3, S&T: Read to understand why sun doesn't collpase & about binary systems of stars)

Revise all Bhakti Saints at once with mnemonics & mapping

Watch at 2x 👇🏼


https://youtu.be/opgCEKJwwVE

🚨 23 February 2024 | Friday 🚨

Pre related 📄

1. Kala Azar

• Cause: Leishmania genus; India- Leishmania donovani
• Diagnosis: Direct Agglutination Test (DAT), ELISA and rk39 dipstick, Aldehyde test
• No vaccine
• Revise more here
• Context: In 2023, India hit target towards eliminating Kala Azar, first time

2. Positronium

• Fundamental atomic system
• Comprise a bound electron ( e- ) and positron ( e+ )
• Mass: twice the electron's
• Half life: 142 nano sec
• Context: CERN scientists carry out laser cooling of Positronium for 1st time

3. Purple Frog

• A 'living fossil'
• Similar to Sooglossidae family of frogs in Seychelles
• Found in Western Ghats (Tamil Nadu)
• Believed to have coexisted with dinosaurs
• Context: A special fund for their conservation being set up

4. Places in News: Albania

• Northern neighbor of Greece; between EU & East
• Context: India to open diplomatic mission in Albanian capital, Tirana

5. Dracunculiasis (aka Guinea worm disease)

• A parasitic infection
• Onset: One year after exposure
• Painful blister that a long white string-like worm slowly crawls out of
• No medication, prevention through basic health principles (esp clean water)
• India eliminated in 1990s

6. Blue corner notice aka ‘enquiry notice’

• 1 of INTERPOL's 7 notices
• Allows police forces in member states to share critical crime related information


Stats 📈

• 12 MPs re-elected from 2004-2019 have criminal cases (Report by ADR & National Election Watch)


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

Reading Recommendations 🗞

IE

1. How to make MSP work
(GS 3, Agri: Agri Pricing, Govt policies & interventions, suggestions)

2. The situation of farmers
(GS 3, Agri: Read to know the status & composition of farmers & agri in Indian economy)

TH

1.  In a tough world, the beacon of U.K.-India strategic ties
(GS2, IR: India-UK relations)

2. Should India have regional benches of the Supreme Court?
(GS2, Judiciary: Read for arguments for & a/g setting up regional benches)

3. The women of ASHA: overworked, underpaid and on the edge of breakdown
(GS 2, Health: Read to know the challenges faced by ASHA workers)

🚨 24 February 2024 | Friday 🚨

Pre related 📄

1. Donkey

• Equus africanus
• Ethiopia- largest donkey population
• Millions coveted for medicine, cosmetics and sweets in China
• Ejiao-key ingredient in traditional Chinese remedies; aka- Donkey hide glue


2. Odysseus - 1st US Moon landing in 50 years

• By Texas based Intuitive machines
• Landed on South Pole of Moon near Crater Malapet

3. PAPA

• Plasma Analyser Package
• ISRO's Aditya L1's payload
• energy and mass analyser for in situ measurements of solar wind electrons and ions in low energy range
• Read more about Aditya L1 here


PS: Revise 20+ Bhakti Saints in under 20 minutes for UPSC Prelims 2024!

Reading Recommendations 🗞

IE

1. Small Poll, Large Lesson (GS 2- Mayor Elections, Primacy of due process)

2. Design of subsidy (GS 3 - Subsidy, welfare schemes, energy transition)

3. Donor gametes are allowed: What a new rule on Surrogacy says
(GS 1 - Society - Surrogacy)

TH

1.  X factor (GS 2 - Article 19(1)(a) )

2. Changing the growth paradigm (GS 3 - Economy - Policy making)

3. The NB8 visit to India focuses on cooperation and trust (GS 2- IR- Nordic-Baltic cooperation)