{"id":18703,"date":"2018-04-19T13:00:30","date_gmt":"2018-04-19T07:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=18703"},"modified":"2018-04-13T23:19:07","modified_gmt":"2018-04-13T17:49:07","slug":"answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-april-18-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-april-18-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 April 18, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/mains-marathon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Archives<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.1) Highlight the provisions of the new Draft National Forest policy, 2018. Does the new policy solve the lacunae of the former ones? Examine critically. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Introduction:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has released a draft National Forest Policy, 2018.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once finalized, the policy will guide the forest management of the country for the next 25-30 years.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Provisions of the National Forest Policy (NFP), 2018 are:<\/b><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Target of 33% of India\u2019s geographical area under forest and tree cover and in the hills and mountainous regions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maintain two-thirds of the area under forest and tree cover.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Restrict schemes and projects which interfere with forests,<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stabilize ecologically sensitive catchment areas with suitable soil and water conservation measures, and also by planting suitable trees and grass like bamboo.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Compensatory Afforestation Fund will be a major source of funds for taking up afforestation and rehabilitation works.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Funds from other national sectors like rural development, tribal affairs, national highways, railways, coal, mines, power, etc., will be taken for appropriate implementation of linking greening with infrastructure and other development activities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Setting up of two national-level bodies, National Community Forest Management (CFM) Mission and National Board of Forestry (NBF)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is to be headed by the central minister in charge of forests.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Establish State boards of forestry for ensuring inter-sectoral convergence, simplification of procedures, conflict resolution, among other things<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is to be headed by state ministers in charge of forests.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Threats to Forests due to encroachments, illegal tree fellings, forests fires, invasive weeds, grazing, etc. will be addressed within the framework of the approved Working Plan\/Management Plan and also by ensuring community participation in forest management.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Development of Public-private participation models for undertaking afforestation and reforestation activities in degraded forest areas and forest areas available with forest development corporations and outside forests.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Achieve harmonization between policies and laws like Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Establish National Community Forest Management (CFM) Mission.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This mission will have a legal basis and an enabling operational framework.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The national, state and local level development programmes shall be converged.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All efforts to ensure synergy between gram sabha &amp; JFMC (Joint Forest Management Committee) will be taken for ensuring successful community participation in forest management.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Promotion of trees outside forests and urban greens taken up in \u201cmission mode\u201d.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Safeguard ecosystems from forest fires, map the vulnerable areas and develop and strengthen early warning systems and methods to control fire, based on remote sensing technology and community participation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Climate change concerns will be factored in all the forest and wildlife areas working\/management plans and Community Ecosystem Management Plans.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identify and protection of wildlife rich areas and corridors outside protected areas for ensuring ecological and genetic continuity.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Short-term and long-term actions to tackle rising human-wildlife conflict.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b>Short-term actions:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Quick response, dedicated teams of well equipped and trained personnel, mobility, strong interface with health and veterinary services, rescue centres, objective and speedy assessment of damage and quick payment of relief to the victims.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Long term actions:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Monitoring and management of population of wildlife.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Concerns raised against the provisions of Draft National Forest Policy (NFP), 2018 are as follows:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identifies threats to forests but does not provide systems for community involvement.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Talks about increasing forests, including for commercial purposes, through public-private partnerships, it does not create a mechanism for including those who live around forests.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Also fragmentation of forests due to the ill-planned intrusion of developmental projects is being left unattended.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People\u2019s Biodiversity Registers (PBRs) and Biodiversity Management Committees are not integrated which in turn will fail in setting up a system of efficient natural area monitoring.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the context of ground-truth, an area that looks green, such as tea estates and commercial plantations, have been counted as forests.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even if forest cover is being increased, it is also simultaneously being lost, and new forest may also be subsequently lost.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Conclusion:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thus, even though the new forest policy has some loopholes, it does proves to be promising enough to keep a check on climate change mitigation through sustainable forest management. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.2) \u201cAchieving equality for women is not restricted to a laudable goal or a human right it is also good economics.\u201d Elaborate. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Introduction:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indian women\u2019s labour force participation, at just 27 per cent, is ranked 170 out of the world\u2019s 188 economies.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not only is Indian women\u2019s labour-force participation among the lowest in the world, research suggests it may be declining.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is despite rising education levels and declining fertility.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Women cannot contribute to India\u2019s economic growth if they are not fully participating in the workforce.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The reason for low women\u2019s labour force participation is gender inequality in India.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Measures to be taken to improve gender inequality are:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Need for policy initiatives to empower women as gender disparities in India persist even against the backdrop of economic growth.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Improvements in labour market prospects also have the potential to empower women. This will also lead to increase in marriage age and school enrolment of younger girls.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Feminism could be a powerful tool that lets children shed stereotypes that they may hold and question those of others.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A world free of prejudice and generalisation would be amenable to progress in the truest sense.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The need of the hour is to introduce feminism in schools, both in terms of curriculum and practice.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sessions on principles of mutual respect and equality must be made a regular affair in schools.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inculcating gender equality in children could go a long way towards ridding society of regressive mindsets, attitudes, and behaviours.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Educating Indian children from an early age about the importance of gender equality could be a meaningful start in that direction.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Conclusion:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thus it is rightly said that achieving equality for women is not restricted to a laudable goal or a human right it is also good economics. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.3) Write short notes on:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a) Monetary neutrality in economics (GS &#8211; 3)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">b) Galaxy Cluster in Science and Technology (GS &#8211; 3)\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>a) Monetary neutrality in economics (GS &#8211; 3)<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Monetary neutrality is a theory which states that money has no real effect on how resources are allocated in an economy. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, for instance, a doubling of the stock of money supply caused by central bank policy should have no other effect on the economy except the doubling of the nominal prices of all goods. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The concept of monetary neutrality has been criticised for assuming that when the supply of money is increased, the new money percolates into the economy and affects prices evenly.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Others have argued that the new money enters the economy at different points and affects prices unevenly, thus distorting resource allocation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>b) Galaxy Cluster in Science and Technology (GS &#8211; 3) <\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Galaxies are like the building blocks of the universe, they contain a huge number of stars, something like 100 billion at a count. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Galaxy groups can have three to 20 galaxies, the richest systems are called clusters (like the Virgo cluster) which can have several hundred galaxies.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Superclusters are clusters of clusters. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They can have as few as two clusters, and superclusters with two to four clusters are common. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Within superclusters, clusters are connected by filaments and sheets of dark matter with galaxies embedded in them.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is supposed that the galaxies are born in the filaments and then migrate towards the intersection of the filaments where they are assimilated into clusters.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Archives Q.1) Highlight the provisions of the new Draft National Forest policy, 2018. Does the new policy solve the lacunae of the former ones? Examine critically. Introduction: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has released a draft National Forest Policy, 2018. Once finalized, the policy will guide the forest management of the country for&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-april-18-2018\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 April 18, 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-18703","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":1704818657},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18703","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=18703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18703\/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=18703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}