{"id":15458,"date":"2018-02-08T12:45:28","date_gmt":"2018-02-08T07:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=15458"},"modified":"2018-02-06T16:46:16","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T11:16:16","slug":"answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-february-7-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-february-7-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 February 7, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/mains-marathon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Archives<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.1) Stunting among children is common in developing countries with poor sanitation. In this context discuss how poor sanitation leads to stunting in India. Suggest some measures to tackle the menace of stunting in India.(GS-1)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India has the highest number of stunted children worldwide. Stunting is a serious form of malnutrition or chronic undernutrition during the most critical periods of growth and development of children. It is characterised by low height for age and is caused mainly due to insufficient nutritional intake often triggered by recurrent infections such as diarrhoea.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stunting among children or low height for age, is common in developing countries with poor sanitation, as per the recent research finding by the <\/span><b>Lancet Global Health research findings.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The link between poor sanitation and stunting<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Poor sanitation, lack of availability of clean water and hygiene practices is one of the major reasons for stunting in India.<\/b><\/li>\n<li>Household water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH)<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> practices play a huge role in stunting in India. <\/span><\/li>\n<li>Open defecation<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is an important factor influencing stunting among children in different districts, preceding factors such as maternal education, calorie intake, socio-economic status, etc. More than 650 million people in this nation practice <\/span>open defecation.<\/li>\n<li>Poor nutrition and exposure to faecal contamination<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are associated with diarrhoea and growth faltering, both of which have long-term consequences for child health.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Poor quality and availability of water can have a significant impact on sanitation and hygiene behaviour in populations, affecting handwashing practices and toilet use.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although the coverage of safe drinking water has increased according to government figures, only 43.5 percent of this is tap water of which only 32 percent is treated, according to the Census 2011 figures.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>India is the worst performer in terms of sanitation coverage<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as compared to other countries with almost half of the households in the country not having access to toilets.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>At 49.8 percent, India has the highest number of people practising open defecation in the world according to Census 2011 figures.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In sanitation, <\/span>India lags behind South Asian countries<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> like Bangladesh and Pakistan, which have not progressed as much in economic terms.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Poor sanitation leading to open defecation practices in <\/span>increasing the risk of frequent infections and poor growth among children in low-income settings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Measures:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">WASH interventions may need to be very widespread to make a difference.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is need to look beyond toilet numbers to deal with stunting<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not just toilet numbers but poor toilet use and hygiene behaviour too need urgent redressal at the policy level to reduce stunting.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Improved conditions of sanitation and hygiene such as access to toilets and hygiene behaviour such as handwashing practices after defecation will help in reduction of stunting among children in India.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Conclusion:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India has identified sanitation as one of its important priorities in recent years. The Swachh Bharat Mission is a good step in this direction. However putting all the responsibility for poor sanitation on people\u2019s behaviour will not help unless broader poverty and infrastructure-related issues like access to water, poor sewage disposal mechanisms, and availability of user-friendly and appropriate technologies are dealt with while addressing poor sanitation outcomes in the country.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.2) A crime in the name of \u2018honour\u2019 is one of a range of violent or abusive acts. In this context discuss the factors that are responsible for honour killings in India. Suggest some measures to curb the menace. (GS-1)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India registered <\/span><b>251 honour killings in 2015,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> recording a big spike in murders carried out by people professing to be acting in defence of their family\u2019s reputation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recently in its verdict against honour killings in India, the Supreme Court said that \u201cTwo adults are free to marry and \u201cno third party\u201d has a right to harass or cause harm to them\u201d. The apex court highlighted that \u201cwhen two people get into wedlock, no one should interfere. Neither parents, society, khap or panchayat&#8230; no one at all,\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Honour killing:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Honour killing is defined as the <\/span><b>killing of a relative, especially a girl or woman,<\/b> <b>who is perceived to have brought dishonour on the family.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Honour killings have been reported in <\/span><b>northern regions of India<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, mainly in the Indian states of Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh as a result of people marrying without their family\u2019s acceptance, and sometimes for marrying outside their caste or religion.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Honour killings are <\/span><b>also<\/b> <b>widespread in South India<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the western Indian states of Maharashtra and Gujarat.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Factors responsible for honour killing in India:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Continued rigidity of the caste system:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Hence in the fear of losing the caste status, which they gain many benefits, makes them commit this heinous crime.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Same gotra or outside marriages: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The mentality of the people till now such that they will not be ready to accept the marriages which have taken place in the same gotra or outside. The society still negatives the right of choice in marriage.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Lack of formal governance:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The root of the cause for the increase of it is because the formal governance has not been able to reach the rural areas.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Khap Panchayat: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The absence of the formal institutions as panchayat Smiti or a constitution gathering leads to the brutal governance of the illegal and extra-constitutionalized panchayat.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Difference in \u00a0Sex ratio:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The increase in the difference in sex ratio is reason to it. Honour killing are happening in the area where the sex ratio is low and girls are being bought for marriages. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Illiteracy and unawareness about the rights: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Large section of the society<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">unknown about the \u00a0rights which are made to protect them in our constitution incapacity due to lack in education. The honour crime violates <\/span><b>Article 14, 15 (1) &amp; (3) 19, 21 and 39 (f) of the Constitution of India.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Danger of losing Prestige and Status in society:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> A person\u2019s ascribed status is more important than the achieved status.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another characteristic of honour killings is that the <\/span><b>perpetrators often do not face negative stigma within their communities<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> because their behaviour is seen as justified.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Measures:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Media play a more crucial role in \u00a0expressing their views in the front of whole of society, without any fear, even there is a right of freedom to express is also given in our Constitution.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is necessary to improve sex ratio in the areas where females low in number and still practicing the female foeticide like Haryana, UP, and Punjab.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Literacy is used as arm that has a potential to curb this menace.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The laws should be clear and issues related to the validity of the Khap Panchayat should be clear to people.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There should be a provision of one or two women sitting in the Khap Panchayats so that equality right also follows.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is imperative for the state to focus on such programmes and projects which help in gender equity.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Conclusion:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A woman can never be considered as property of man or family in a civilized society and has free will to choose her life the way she wants to live. Human dignity and autonomy are absolute values and shall never be violated at any cost. It is context it is expected from the government \u00a0to focus on such programmes and projects which help in gender equity.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Q.3) Write a short note on any two of the following :<\/p>\n<p>a) Outward Direct Investment (ODI) policy (GS-3)<\/p>\n<p>b) Long-term capital gains(LTCG)(GS-3):<\/p>\n<p>c) \u00a0KUSUM scheme(GS-3)<\/p>\n<p><b>Outward Direct Investment (ODI) policy<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the recent Budget 2018-19 the government proposed Outward Direct Investment (ODI) policy may contain provisions to make it easy for many Indian firms, envisioning ambitious plans to transform themselves into multi-national companies (MNC), to go global and expand.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ODI policy also expected to tighten regulations to prevent round-tripping structures.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Top ten ODI destination<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Top ten ODI destination countries in FY\u201915, FY\u201916 and FY\u201917 included Mauritius, Singapore, the U.S., the UAE, the Netherlands, the U.K, Switzerland, Russia, Jersey and British Virgin Islands.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cumulatively, these nations were the beneficiaries of 84% or more of India\u2019s ODI during each of those financial years.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What is LTCG?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LTCG or long-term capital gains refer to the gains made on any class of asset held for a particular period of time.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In case of equity shares, it refers to the gains made on stocks held for more than one year.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In other words, if the shares are bought and held for more than a year before selling, then the gains, if any, on the said sale are referred to as long term capital gains or LTCG.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Why is LTCG tax in the news?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is in the news as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley re-introduced LTCG tax on equity shares.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Investors have to pay 10% LTCG tax on gains exceeding <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u20b9<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">one lakh on the sale of shares or equity mutual funds held for more than one year without the benefit of indexation (adjusting the profit against inflation to compute the real taxable gains).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Previously, short-term capital gains (STCG) tax of 15% was levied.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahaabhiyan or KUSUM scheme<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>The components of the scheme include<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Building 10,000 MW solar plants on barren lands<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Providing sops to DISCOMS to purchase the electricity produced<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Solarising\u2019 existing pumps of 7250 MW as well as government tube wells with a capacity of 8250 MW<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Distributing 17.5 lakh solar pumps<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Share of subsidy<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 60% <\/span><b>subsidy on the solar pumps<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> provided to farmers will be <\/span><b>shared between the Centre and the State<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">30% would be provided through <\/span><b>bank loan<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">10% will be borne by the <\/span><b>farmers<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Expected benefits<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scheme would <\/span><b>provide extra income to farmers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, by giving them an option to sell additional power to the grid through solar power projects set up on their barren lands<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Help in <\/span><b>de-dieselising<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the sector as also the DISCOMS<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Promotion of decentralised solar power production<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reduction of transmission losses<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Providing support to the financial health of DISCOMs by reducing the subsidy burden to the agriculture sector<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The scheme would also promote <\/span><b>energy efficiency<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and water conservation and provide water security to farmers<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Archives\u00a0 Q.1) Stunting among children is common in developing countries with poor sanitation. In this context discuss how poor sanitation leads to stunting in India. Suggest some measures to tackle the menace of stunting in India.(GS-1) India has the highest number of stunted children worldwide. Stunting is a serious form of malnutrition or chronic undernutrition&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-february-7-2018\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 February 7, 2018<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":2292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mains-marathon-answers","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/pen-paper-laptop.jpg?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704679811},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}