General Comprehension (UPSC) (Part-VII)

Our cities are extremely vulnerable to climate change because of large concentrations of populations and poor infrastructure. Moreover, population densities are increasing in them but we have not yet developed the systems to address climate change impacts.

Our cities contribute 65 per cent of the GDP, but there are not enough facilities to cater to the needs of the people- It is important to address the issues of air quality, transport, etc., that are vital to identifying sustainable solutions. We need to involve citizens in city planning and create an ecosystem that meets the needs of the people.

1. Too much globalization is not in the best interests of any country.

2. Modern technologies are increasingly blurring the economic borders.

3. Innovation and capital have impinged or the domain of the State.

4. Public policy of every country should focus on developing its own supply chains.

5. Geopolitics will have to reconcile to many ambiguities and uncertainties.

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In the immediate future, we will see the increasing commodification of many new technologies artificial intelligence and robotics: 3D manufacturing, custom made biological and pharmaceutical products, lethal autonomous weapons and driverless cars. This will pose conundrums.

The moral question of how a driverless car will decide between hitting a jaywalker and swerving and damaging the cat has often been debated. The answer is both simple Save the human life and complex. At which angle should the car swerve - just enough to save the jaywalker or more than enough? if the driverless car is in Dublin, who would take the decision?

The Irish Government, or the car's original code writer in California, or a software Programmer in Hyderabad to whom maintenance is outsourced ? If different national jurisdictions have different fine print on prioritising a human life, how will it affect insurance and investment decisions, including transnational ones?

The resolution of bankruptcy cases of Indian banks under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code should help bring non-performing assets (NPA) situation under some control. Despite the slow pace of resolutions by the National Company Law Tribunal, the Code can be helpful in cleaning up bank books in future credit cycles. The recapitalization of public sector banks too can help increase the capital cushion of banks and induce them to lend more and boost economic activity.

But bad debt resolution and recapitalization are only a part of the solution as they, by themselves, can do very little to rein in reckless lending that has pushed the Indian banking system to its current sorry state. Unless there are systemic reforms that address the problem of unsustainable lending, future credit cycles will continue to stress the banking system.

In India, the objective of macroeconomic policy is to enhance the economic welfare of the people, and any one wing of such macro policy, monetary or fiscal, cannot independently work without active support of another.

1. Heavy dependence on fossil fuels

2. Limited availability of resources

3. Expansion of recycling

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The main threat to maintaining progress in human development comes from the increasingly evident unsustainability of production and consumption patterns. Current production models rely heavily on fossil fuels.

We now know that this is unsustainable because the resources are finite. The close link between economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions needs to be severed for human development to become truly sustainable: Some developed countries have begun to alleviate the worst effects by expanding recycling and investing in public transport and infrastructure.

But most developing countries are hampered by the high costs and low availability of clean energy sources. Developed countries need to support developing countries' transition to sustainable human development.

Developed countries can support developing countries' transition to sustainable human development by :

1. making clean energy sources available at low cost.

2. providing loans for improving their public transport at nominal interest rates.

3. encouraging them to change their production and consumption patterns.

Which of the 'statements given above is/are correct?

The main threat to maintaining progress in human development comes from the increasingly evident unsustainability of production and consumption patterns. Current production models rely heavily on fossil fuels.

We now know that this is unsustainable because the resources are finite. The close link between economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions needs to be severed for human development to become truly sustainable: Some developed countries have begun to alleviate the worst effects by expanding recycling and investing in public transport and infrastructure.

But most developing countries are hampered by the high costs and low availability of clean energy sources. Developed countries need to support developing countries' transition to sustainable human development.

1. Depletion of soil resource

2. Shortage of land for the common man

3. Lack of water for cultivation

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

Unless the forces and tendencies which are responsible for destroying the country's environment are checked in the near future and afforestation of denuded areas is taken up on a massive scale, the harshness of the climatic conditions and soil erosion by wind and water will increase to such an extent that agriculture, which is the mainstay of our people, will gradually become impossible.

The desert countries of the world and our own desert area in Rajasthan are a grim reminder of the consequences of large-scale deforestation. Pockets of desert-like landscape are now appearing in other parts of the country including the Sutlej-Ganga Plains and the Deccan Plateau, where only a few decades back there used to be lush green forests with perennial streams and springs, there is only brown earth, bare of vegetation, without any water in the streams and springs except in the rainy season.

"In simple matters like shoe-making, we think" only a specially trained person will serve our purpose, but in politics, we presume that everyone who knows how to get votes knows how to administer a State.

When we are ill we call for a trained physician, whose degree is a guarantee of specific preparation and technical competence we do not ask for the handsomest physician, or the most eloquent. one well then, when the whole State is ill should we not look for the service and guidance of the wisest and the best?"

The poverty line is quite unsatisfactory when it comes to grasping the extent of poverty in India. It is not only because of its extremely narrow definition of 'who is poor' and the debatable methodology used to count the poor, but also because of a more fundamental assumption underlying it.

It exclusively relies on the notion of poverty as insufficient income or insufficient purchasing power. One can better categorize it by calling it income poverty. If poverty is ultimately about deprivations affecting human well-being, then income poverty is only one aspect of it.

Poverty of a life, in our view, lies not merely in the impoverished state in which the person actually lives, but also in the lack of real opportunity given by social constraints as well as personal circumstances-to choose other types of living.

Even the relevance of low incomes, meagre possessions, and other aspects of what are standardly seen as economic poverty relate ultimately to their role in curtailing capabilities, i.e., their role in severely restricting the choices people have to lead variable and valued lives.

The poverty line is quite unsatisfactory when it comes to grasping the extent of poverty in India. It is not only because of its extremely narrow definition of 'who is poor' and the debatable methodology used to count the poor, but also because of a more fundamental assumption underlying it.

It exclusively relies on the notion of poverty as insufficient income or insufficient purchasing power. One can better categorize it by calling it income poverty. If poverty is ultimately about deprivations affecting human well-being, then income poverty is only one aspect of it.

Poverty of a life, in our view, lies not merely in the impoverished state in which the person actually lives, but also in the lack of real opportunity given by social constraints as well as personal circumstances-to choose other types of living.

Even the relevance of low incomes, meagre possessions, and other aspects of what are standardly seen as economic poverty relate ultimately to their role in curtailing capabilities, i.e., their role in severely restricting the choices people have to lead variable and valued lives.