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Critical Topics and Their Significance for the UPSC CSE Examination on September 18, 2024
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Power asymmetry between China and Russia
For Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance
For Mains Examination: GS II - International relations
Context:
As supplies from Moscow’s traditional partners have dried up under sanctions and Russia’s domestic capacity remains stretched, China has stepped up to help its friend. Compared to 2021, when high-priority goods from China accounted for 32% of Russia’s import needs, China’s share soared to 89% in 2023
Read about:
China and Russia's Alliance
Russia-Ukraine war through the prism of China
Key takeaways:
- Both Russia and China share discontent with the dominance of the U.S. dollar and the SWIFT messaging system, which underpin the current global financial framework. Their ongoing friction with the U.S.-led geopolitical order has intensified, especially following recent events.
- In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. and its allies froze approximately $300 billion of Russia’s foreign reserves held abroad. China, with nearly $770 billion of its $3 trillion reserves held in U.S. treasuries, fears facing similar actions in the event of a conflict with the West.
- Additionally, in 2024, the West imposed a SWIFT ban on Russian financial entities involved in dual-use goods or weapons trades, and the U.S. threatened sanctions on third-party financial institutions engaging with these entities.
- This led Chinese financial institutions to pause transactions worth billions of yuan with Russia due to fear of secondary sanctions.
- As a result, both nations are keen to reform or overturn the existing financial and economic systems. They have promoted de-dollarization and alternative payment systems, though progress has been slow.
- While over 90% of their bilateral trade was settled in local currencies by 2023, this represented less than 1% of global transactions. Renminbi-based transactions in global trade still account for just about 6%, with the dollar, euro, pound, and yen dominating.
- China’s domestic payment system, the Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), is still far from rivaling SWIFT, limiting its broader impact.
- Russia’s isolation from the Western financial system makes it more desperate for alternatives, but China, though also frustrated, remains deeply integrated into the current system.
- This dynamic places Russia in a weaker position, increasingly reliant on China to drive any meaningful change. Moreover, China has the resources and diplomatic influence needed to challenge the Western financial order, while Russia, facing sanctions and financial constraints, depends heavily on China for support.
- At first glance, trade between China and Russia may seem balanced, with Russia maintaining a slight surplus. However, this symmetry disappears when viewed in the context of their broader trade relationships.
- In 2023, exports to China made up about 30.4% of Russia’s total exports, but Russia accounted for only 3% of China’s exports. Similarly, while 36% of Russia’s imports came from China, only 5% of China’s imports came from Russia.
- Additionally, over 70% of Russia’s exports to China in 2022 were fossil fuels, whereas China’s exports to Russia were much more diverse. This reliance on energy exports makes Russia vulnerable to economic shocks.
- Furthermore, a significant portion of Russia’s energy exports is concentrated in China, and energy revenues have made up between 30-50% of Russia’s annual federal budget over the last decade, contributing around 20% of its GDP.
- This dependence extends to critical supplies as well. Russia now relies heavily on China for high-priority goods, such as the "50 dual-use products" needed for manufacturing military equipment.
- With sanctions limiting supplies from traditional partners and Russia’s domestic production capacities stretched, China has stepped in to fill the gap. By 2023, China accounted for nearly 89% of Russia’s import needs for such goods, up from 32% in 2021.
- Over the last few years, China has overtaken the EU as Russia’s leading trade partner, offsetting Russia’s losses from reduced EU trade. This has allowed Russia to maintain stable trade figures despite Western sanctions, making China Russia’s most critical economic partner.
- Despite the strong historical ties between India and Russia, the Kremlin’s strategic interests now align more closely with Beijing than with New Delhi. Trade between India and Russia remains a small fraction compared to the expanding China-Russia trade relationship.
- Given the deep strategic and economic bond between Moscow and Beijing, Russia may struggle to assert independence when navigating its relationships with China and India. The concern is no longer just about Russia’s willingness to resist Chinese pressure but also about its capacity to do so
Follow Up Question
1.The deepening Sino-Russian partnership, in the aftermath of the 2022 Ukraine conflict, has raised concerns about Russia’s autonomy in its foreign relations, particularly in balancing ties between Beijing and New Delhi. Critically analyze the impact of this evolving relationship on India's strategic and security interests
The continuing distribution of the death penalty
For Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance
For Mains Examination: GS II - Indian Polity & Governance
Context:
The life of the death sentence in India has been unending, and like a phoenix revives itself in different forms every now and then. The latest addition to this is the Aparajita Woman and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, 2024, adopted by the West Bengal government, the reason being the brutal rape and murder of a doctor at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Read about:
What is Death Sentence?
History of the death penalty in India
Key takeaways:
The death penalty in India has been a persistent issue, repeatedly resurfacing in various forms. The latest development is the Aparajita Woman and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, 2024, introduced by the West Bengal government following the brutal rape and murder of a doctor at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital. The bill aims to amend the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, specifically for West Bengal, and includes the introduction of the death penalty for rape.
Although passed unanimously by the Bengal Assembly, the State Governor raised concerns and referred it to the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, for consideration. In August 2024 alone, there were several similar cases across different states, predominantly involving Dalit and Adivasi women and children. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 2022 saw 31,516 rapes in India—an average of four every hour—and 248 cases of murder linked to rape or gang rape. Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh led the statistics with the highest number of rape cases.
Global Context
- As per Amnesty International's 2023 report, nearly three-quarters of the world’s countries have either abolished the death penalty in law or practice. Specifically, 112 nations have fully abolished it for all crimes, while 144 countries have moved away from its use in some capacity.
- However, 55 countries, including India, continue to retain the death penalty. In South Asia, Bhutan and Nepal have abolished it, while the Maldives and Sri Lanka have stopped using it in practice.
- India, along with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, still retains it. In 2023 alone, India recorded 120 death sentences, though no executions took place, down from 167 death sentences in 2022. By the end of 2023, 561 individuals were on death row in India, marking a steady rise from 2019’s count of 378, and the highest in two decades.
- Many prisoners on death row languish for years, some being exonerated later. Their time on death row often leads to severe physical and psychological suffering, with no state compensation.
- This suggests serious procedural flaws and systemic biases related to caste, class, and religion in the criminal justice system. Some prisoners even resort to suicide due to the inhumane prison conditions they endure, including overcrowding.
- Most of these undertrials are from marginalized communities, comprising the majority of India's incarcerated population.
On Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC)
- While the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (replacing the Indian Penal Code) introduced some positive changes, it also expanded the list of crimes punishable by death from 12 to 18.
- This shift towards a harsher punishment regime for sexual offenses has not resulted in a significant improvement in women’s safety. In 2023, most death sentences handed out by sessions courts involved murder linked to sexual violence.
- Public outrage over sexual violence, especially when victims are killed, often leads to demands for the death penalty, with perpetrators being dehumanized and referred to as “monsters” or “beasts.”
- This rhetoric creates a narrative that distances the perpetrators from society, justifying their execution as a form of vengeance. Such responses often invoke concepts of family, community, and national honor, sidelining the victim’s agency and preferences.
- Meanwhile, everyday violence against women—whether public or domestic—continues to be normalized and tolerated, and disturbingly, searches for videos of such crimes often trend online.
- The Justice Verma Committee argued that the death penalty does not serve as a deterrent for crimes like sexual assault, but the Union Cabinet disregarded these recommendations.
- If the death penalty fails to meet its intended goal, the focus should shift from punitive measures to dismantling the carceral approach to sexual violence through abolitionist feminism.
- There is a need to foster a human rights-based discourse, particularly in a society where public opinion on the death penalty is influenced by cultural and religious beliefs.
- An abolitionist feminist movement should reject both the death penalty and life imprisonment without parole as solutions to sexual violence, and instead address the social and cultural causes that lead to violence against women and children.
- Additionally, structural reforms are necessary, including redistributing land and wealth to marginalized communities and increasing their representation in public and private institutions.
- A focus on improving public education and healthcare is also critical. Governments and society must offer targeted support to rape survivors and their families, ensuring access to education, employment, healthcare, and resources for siblings of survivors.
Addressing Complex Issues
- To combat sexual violence effectively, procedural and institutional reforms must center on the needs of victims. Policies like "educate the son, protect the daughter" should be implemented to dismantle patriarchal notions of honor tied to women's bodies.
- Ignoring these deeper issues will make abolitionist movements seem out of touch and imposed from above.
- The death penalty often serves as a convenient escape from state accountability, as it allows governments to avoid addressing the systemic issues within the police, judiciary, and support systems for survivors. Research into whether the socio-religious background of judges influences their decisions to impose the death penalty is also needed.
- India is once again striving for social change through legal reforms aimed at protecting rape survivors and holding the state accountable.
- However, it is essential to examine how laws related to contracts, family, labor, and property disproportionately affect women and children from oppressed castes and marginalized communities. These laws often exacerbate inequalities in wealth, knowledge, and power.
- Abolishing the death penalty and creating a safer environment for women and children are complex, intertwined goals. These issues require critical engagement with the law and an open discussion about caste, religion, and gender-based violence.
- Public and judicial awareness campaigns are needed to dispel the myth that the death penalty reduces violence against women and children. Instead of focusing on punitive measures, efforts should prioritize bringing gender equity from the private sphere into the public domain
The upcoming five years are pivotal for India's climate initiatives, especially in meeting its 2030 goals. Despite progress in solar and renewable energy, India’s dependence on coal remains problematic, with clean energy making up just 22% of its electricity mix. Key environmental priorities include addressing heat stress, improving air quality, managing waste, and boosting energy efficiency. Comprehensive policies are needed to balance rising energy demands with these challenges. Encouraging businesses to view climate action as an opportunity is essential, as is the swift implementation of India's carbon market.
Addressing pollutants:
India is particularly susceptible to extreme heat and may soon experience heat waves beyond human survivability. Reducing both CO2 emissions and short-lived pollutants like methane, black carbon, and hydrofluorocarbons is critical.- Methane, a potent contributor to global warming, traps much more heat than CO2 over short periods. Tackling these pollutants can reduce near-term warming more effectively than focusing on CO2 alone.
- By breaking down climate challenges by pollutants or sectors, solutions can be more targeted and efficient. Tailored treaties, balancing the needs of both developed and developing nations, could be incorporated into the Paris Agreement.
- The Montreal Protocol, through the Kigali Amendment’s phase-out of F-gases, offers a successful model, expected to avoid 0.5°C of warming by century’s end.
- Targeting methane next could prevent nearly 0.3°C of warming by the 2040s. International cooperation, led by major players like the U.S., EU, and China, could enforce corporate commitments to reduce methane emissions by 2030.
- Capturing methane through gas capture and biogas projects can reduce one of the most dangerous greenhouse gases while enhancing urban sanitation.
- Reducing pollutants like black carbon and strengthening the National Clean Air Programme would significantly improve air quality and public health. However, society must treat air pollution as a year-round concern, requiring ongoing intervention.
- Achieving clean air requires five key actions: shared responsibility, investment in clean air measures, integration of sustainable development, data-driven solutions, and recognizing clean air as an economic driver.
- Effective interventions demand coordination, improved monitoring, and regulatory reforms, underscoring the wide-ranging benefits of clean air.
- Furthermore, decarbonization and faster adoption of refrigerants with low global warming potential, as mandated by the Kigali Amendment, are essential to cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Role of carbon markets:
Carbon markets are key to incentivizing the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through financial rewards. With a target of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5-2°C, emissions must be cut by at least 43%.- India’s forthcoming ‘India Carbon Market’ in 2026 could help achieve its climate commitments and may become the largest emissions trading system by 2030. A well-functioning carbon market in India could potentially save $35 trillion in climate-related costs over the next 50 years.
- Encouraging swift climate action with financial incentives and refining carbon trading mechanisms is crucial. Existing metrics that convert all pollutants into CO2 equivalents can mask the different impacts of pollutants.
- A more refined system would account separately for long-lived pollutants like CO2 and short-lived ones like methane, leading to better-targeted solutions.
- For such efforts to succeed, India needs a coordinated approach with a dedicated authority empowered to enforce timely, preemptive action across government tiers. Accountability and collaboration at all levels are critical for meaningful progress.
Missed opportunities in climate policy:
- The 2024 Lok Sabha election largely overlooked the growing climate crisis, despite voter demands. Political promises on climate were inadequate, despite soaring national temperatures.
- Issues like unemployment, farming crises, and rising living costs preoccupied voters, diverting focus from environmental concerns. Without a dedicated 'green party,' sustainability remains disconnected from the everyday realities of most Indians.
- For real progress, climate leadership in India must move beyond symbolic gestures and place climate action at the heart of political agendas
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Answer (2)
Global warming is primarily attributed to the presence of greenhouse gases like Methane (A), Surface Ozone (C), and Carbon dioxide (E). These gases trap heat in the atmosphere, contributing to the greenhouse effect. While Sulphur dioxide (B) and Nitrogen dioxide (D) are pollutants that can cause environmental issues such as acid rain and air quality deterioration, they are not major contributors to global warming compared to greenhouse gases like methane, surface ozone, and carbon dioxide
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For Preliminary Examination: Space technology, Hubble telescope
A telescope is an optical instrument designed to observe distant objects by collecting and magnifying light or other forms of electromagnetic radiation. It is primarily used in astronomy to study celestial bodies like stars, planets, and galaxies, but it can also be used for terrestrial observations.
There are several types of telescopes:
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Optical Telescopes: These use lenses (refracting telescopes) or mirrors (reflecting telescopes) to gather and focus visible light.
- Refracting Telescope: Uses lenses to bend and focus light.
- Reflecting Telescope: Uses mirrors to reflect and focus light.
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Radio Telescopes: Detect radio waves from astronomical objects.
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Infrared, X-ray, and Gamma-ray Telescopes: Designed to detect non-visible wavelengths of light.
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Space Telescopes: Located in space to avoid Earth's atmospheric interference, like the Hubble Space Telescope
The primary function of a telescope is to collect and magnify light (or other electromagnetic radiation) from distant objects, making them appear closer and clearer for observation. This enables astronomers and scientists to study celestial bodies and distant objects in greater detail than is possible with the naked eye.
Key aspects of the primary function include:
- Light Collection: Telescopes gather more light than the human eye can, allowing faint and distant objects to become visible.
- Magnification: Telescopes enlarge the image of distant objects, making their details more observable.
- Resolution: Telescopes improve the clarity and sharpness of images by reducing blurring from the atmosphere or imperfections in the instrument.
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Less Atmospheric Distortion: At higher altitudes, there is less atmosphere above the telescope, which means less atmospheric turbulence (also known as "seeing"). This improves the clarity and sharpness of the images by reducing the distortion caused by the air.
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Reduced Light Pollution: Mountainous regions are usually far from cities and other sources of artificial light, reducing light pollution. This makes it easier to observe faint celestial objects without interference from human-made lights.
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Clearer Air: The air at higher altitudes is generally thinner and drier, which means fewer water vapor particles and other atmospheric particles that could scatter or absorb light. This enhances visibility, particularly for infrared observations.
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Better Weather Conditions: Many observatories are located on mountains with favorable, consistent weather conditions, which allow for more clear nights throughout the year.
- Inflation measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) decreased to a four-month low of 1.31% in August, down from 2.04% in July. This reduction was due to a slight easing in the rate of price increases for food items and manufactured goods, alongside a drop in fuel and power costs into deflation of 0.7%, compared to a 1.7% increase previously
- Food inflation fell to a ten-month low of 3.3% in August, largely driven by a year-over-year decrease in the prices of vegetables, eggs, meat, and fish, which fell by 10% and 0.7%, respectively.
- The moderation in inflation was influenced by base effects, as vegetable prices had surged by 48.4% in the previous August. Inflation for primary food items was 3.1%, a decrease from the previous year's 11.4%, though some items experienced significant price hikes despite the high base from last year.
- Inflation for cereals remained high at 8.44%, with paddy prices rising by 9.1% and wheat inflation increasing to 7.3% from 7% in July. Pulses inflation was notably high at 18.6%, and potato inflation surged to 78%
The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) is an economic indicator that measures the average change in prices of goods sold in bulk and traded between wholesalers, rather than directly to consumers. It reflects the price changes from the perspective of producers and is used to gauge inflation at the wholesale level.
Key points about WPI:
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Coverage: WPI typically includes categories like primary articles (e.g., agricultural products, minerals), fuel and power, and manufactured products.
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Purpose: It helps monitor inflationary trends in the economy, as changes in wholesale prices can signal shifts in production costs and can eventually impact consumer prices.
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Calculation: The index is calculated based on a weighted average of prices for a basket of goods. The weights are determined based on the share of each item in total wholesale transactions.
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Usage: Economists, policymakers, and businesses use WPI to make economic decisions and forecasts. It can influence monetary policy and economic strategies.
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Difference from CPI: Unlike the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures price changes from the perspective of consumers, WPI measures price changes from the perspective of producers and wholesaler
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Answer (B)
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| Subject | Topic | Description |
| History | Modern Indian History | Company rule and Crown rule 1773 - 1947 |
| History | Modern Indian History | Fall of Mughals |
| History | Modern Indian History | Establishment of British rule in India |
| History | Modern Indian History | Economic Policies of the British |
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