21st September - AAJ KA QUALITY ENRICHMENT

KEYWORDS

• Meaning: It means establishing a degree of flexibility, space, or freedom within a strategic plan, decision-making process, or situation. It involves deliberately carving out room to maneuver, adapt, or make choices based on changing circumstances or opportunities.
• Usage: It can be used in questions related to - International relations – Maintaining strategic and independent foreign policy, Balancing bilateral relationship between India-Russia/China and India-USA, Pushing India’s role in global world order, North-South connect Etc.

• Meaning: It is used to describe a situation where having too many choices, options, or resources can lead to difficulties, challenges, or even negative consequences. 
• Usage: It can be used in questions related to – complex, fragmented and numerous numbers of laws, regulations and bureaucratic hurdles, large population in India, producing water extensive crops in excess, mass migration to urban areas Etc.

• Meaning: It highlights deficiency of micro-nutrients that occurs when individuals do not get an adequate supply of essential vitamins and minerals (micronutrients) in their diets, even though they may consume enough calories to meet their energy needs. 
• Usage: It can be used in questions related to – Health and nutrition, Child stunting and wasting, double burden of malnutrition, NHP - 2017, Universal healthcare, PMJAY Etc.

• Meaning: It describes the representatives of people or institutions that are entrusted with the responsibility of safeguarding, advocating for, and working toward the fulfillment of the hopes, desires, and goals of a community or a larger population.
• Usage: It can be used in questions related to - Executive, legislative and judiciary, Civil servants and bureaucrats, Police reforms, Institutions like – NHRC, Courts, Tribunals, Etc.

CASE STUDIES/ EXAMPLES

• Step taken: IIT Madras (IIT-M) will collaborate with the Tanzanian authorities in setting up the campus, which is expected to open in October, 2023. 
• Meeting the National Education Policy, 2020: This step is in line with NEP which stated that “high performing Indian universities will be encouraged to set up campuses in other countries.

KEY FACTS

• The Inter-Parliamentary Union ranks India at No. 141 out of 185 countries with 15.2% women’s representation. 
• World level: Rwanda tops the list with 61% women in Parliament, followed by Cuba with 55%. 
• State level: At the state level in India, only 8% of legislators are women.

• Unemployment: The overall unemployment rate reduced to 6.6% in 2021-22 from 8.7% in 2017-18.

• According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey 2021-22, the unemployment rate in India stood at 4.1% for that period.

• Women’s participation in the workforce: After the coronavirus pandemic, 60 per cent of women were self-employed as compared to 50 per cent before the pandemic.
• Unemployability based on education: Over 42% of graduates under 25 are unemployed whereas the figure stands at about 21% for those who have completed higher secondary education in the same age group. 

PM/VP/PRESIDENT SPEECHES

• On India’s space sector: India’s achievements in the space sector have “catapulted the nation onto the global centre-stage”.

• India has shown that the sky is not the limit; it's just the beginning.

JUDGEMENTS/ COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

• It calls for more research to close crucial scientific and governance gaps before any deliberations on the implementation of solar radiation management (SRM)-like technologies. However, it also argues for retaining SRM in the mix of potential climate mitigation solutions. 
• Criticism of the recommendation: This is a precarious suggestion because even less controversial, but nonetheless problematic, mitigation technologies such as carbon capture take resources, focus, and political will away from the most effective strategy — cutting emissions — and increase emissions limits.

DEFINITION

• Definition: Climate disasters, also known as climate-related disasters or climate-driven disasters, are extreme environmental events or natural disasters that are intensified, exacerbated, or directly caused by climate change and the alterations in long-term weather patterns. For example – extreme weather events, floods, wildfires etc.

• Definition: Solar radiation management or solar geoengineering is a large category of diverse climate engineering approaches that mitigate or reverse global Warming by reflecting sunlight into space before it is absorbed by the environment and converted into heat.

QUOTES

• Meaning: The quote emphasizes the interconnected nature of gender equality and the broader concept of individual independence and freedom. 

• It suggests that individuals or societal forces that hinder the progress of women in achieving freedom and independence also hinder men in attaining these same qualities.