News: Article highlights the finer details of the voting system followed at the UN and various other organs like UN Security Council. Nature of Voting in UN System The UN General Assembly: The member country has various options for voting like ‘Yes’, ‘No’, ‘Abstention’, ‘present and not participating’ or ‘absent at the time of the… Continue reading United Nations votes are not black and white
Tag: gs paper 2
Looming fertilizer shortage
News: The Ukraine war has disrupted the supplies of fertilisers in the international market. It could impact India too, as it depends heavily on imports for meeting their burgeoning requirement of fertilizers, For example, India’s import dependence is about 25% for urea, nearly 90% for phosphates, and 100% for potash. Contents1 Why the supplies… Continue reading Looming fertilizer shortage
Why next FATF review is critical for India?
News: The evaluation of India by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) could start by the September-October year, followed by an on-site visit in February 2023. Contents1 What is FATF and what is its objective?2 What are the FATF recommendations?3 What is FATF’s grey list?4 Why should India be concerned this time?5 How are the… Continue reading Why next FATF review is critical for India?
Our weak educational outcomes have a wide set of societal causes
Context: There are various societal reasons due to which children are not achieving appropriate learning outcomes in schools. This article describes the societal reasons. Overall governance and administrative culture Low prioritization of education – as manifested in budget allocation and human resources. Failure to recognize that education is a matter of deep expertise: Key decisions… Continue reading Our weak educational outcomes have a wide set of societal causes
Towards inclusive education
News: Recently, the draft accessibility guidelines and standards for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and Universities were released by the Universities Grants Commission (UGC). How can the guidelines be further improved Correction of Procedural flaw: The public notice preceding the guidelines was inaccessible to persons with visual disabilities. The document was poorly scanned, instead a digital… Continue reading Towards inclusive education
Fixing Indian Higher Education is the ideal way to rescue students
Context: Ukraine Crisis has brought the issues faced by Indian students going abroad for education Contents1 Problems faced by Foreign University Studying Students?2 Status of Indian Students Studying Abroad3 What is lost in case of Indian students studying abroad ?4 What measures should be taken to arrest this drain of wealth and human resources?5 Conclusion… Continue reading Fixing Indian Higher Education is the ideal way to rescue students
A MISFIRING AND ITS TRAIL OF POOR STRATEGIC STABILITY
News: Accidental misfiring of Indian missile and the analysis of mechanisms available to avert such type of crisis. The accidental misfiring of an Indian missile to Pakistan highlights the sorry state of bilateral mechanisms for crisis management between two nuclear adversaries. Such accidents are known as “broken arrows” (accidents that involve nuclear weapons or nuclear… Continue reading A MISFIRING AND ITS TRAIL OF POOR STRATEGIC STABILITY
THE ECLIPSE OF SOVEREIGN EQUALITY
The Ukraine crisis has shown the weakness of International law and especially given a blow to ‘Principle of sovereign equality’. Contents1 What is principle of sovereign equality under international law?2 What is an act of aggression under international law?3 Provisions regarding aggression in the UN Charter:4 Challenges in the UN system: What is principle of… Continue reading THE ECLIPSE OF SOVEREIGN EQUALITY
Data lessons from two years of the covid-19 pandemic
Context: After declaration of the covid as a global pandemic by WHO, various countries set up web-based dashboards for providing covid related data and information to their citizens. However, it was not set-up in India. India did not set up any web-based data portal. The Union Ministry of Health used to provide daily infection and… Continue reading Data lessons from two years of the covid-19 pandemic
Fragmenting world order, untied nations
News: The Russian war on Ukraine is going on and it has become three weeks long conflict. Therefore, it is going to have various consequences: Consequences of Russia Ukraine war The global order has broken down: The Ukraine crisis is a bigger blow to the post-World War order than any other conflict such as the… Continue reading Fragmenting world order, untied nations
