UPSC Exam: Comprehensive News Analysis - January 15

A. GS1 Related
B. GS2 Related
POLITY
1. Marital rape: Survey takes lid off sexual violence by husbands
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS/BILATERAL RELATIONS
1. Benjamin Netanyahu begins landmark tour, calls India a global power
2. WTO: Support grows for India in solar tiff with US
C. GS3 Related
ECONOMY
1. WEF ranks India 30th on global manufacturing index, Japan tops
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
1. Farthest known galaxy in the universe discovered: Nasa
D. GS4 Related
E. Prelims Fact
F. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
G. UPSC Mains Practice Questions 

A. GS1 Related

B. GS2 Related

 Highlights of National Family Health Survey:

• It is released by the Union health ministry.
• Marital rape is the most common form of sexual violence reported by married women in India.
• Ironically, sexual intercourse forced by the husband is yet to be declared a criminal offence in the country. India is one of 36 countries where marital rape is still not a criminal offence. Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) considers forced sex in marriage as a crime only when the wife is below age 15.

Key facts:

• Among married women (15-49 age) who were victims of sexual violence, over 83% reported their current husband and 9% report a former husband as the perpetrators.
• With sexual rights being a serious concern for Indian women, 6% of women reported having experienced sexual violence in their lifetime.
• Sexual violence is most often committed by individuals with whom women have an intimate relationship.
• Physical violence and sexual violence may not occur in isolation; rather, women may experience a combination of different types of violence.

 Context:

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visit to India.

In news:

• More emphasis will be on forging technology and innovation partnerships to elevate ties as the two countries mark 25 years of diplomatic relations.

Brief history:

• New Delhi announced the opening of diplomatic ties with Israel in January 1992 after Israeli and Palestinian delegations began peace talks that culminated in an accord between the two in 1993.
• India-Israel ties have soared since then with defence, agriculture, water conservation, high technology and innovation being the focus areas for cooperation.

 In news:

• The European Union, Canada, Brazil, China, and Japan supported India in the solar panel dispute with the US at the World Trade Organization (WTO.
• According to these countries, Washington’s demand for trade retaliatory measures against India is unjustified.

Issue:

• At a meeting of the WTO’s dispute settlement body (DSB), the US and India clashed over Washington’s decision to seek trade retaliatory measures without establishing that New Delhi failed to remove local content requirements for manufacturing solar cells and solar modules by the 14 December deadline.
• India, which lost the dispute in 2016, had agreed to remove all the inconsistent measures for implementing the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, under which government imposed local content requirements for manufacturing solar modules and solar cells.
• On 19 December, the US sought permission from the WTO for imposing trade retaliatory measures against India because of New Delhi’s failure to comply with the DSB’s recommendations in the dispute.
• The US did not provide any evidence to prove its claim that India failed to implement the trade body’s recommendations.

C. GS3 Related

 Key Fact:

• The World Economic Forum (WEF) has ranked India at 30th position on a global manufacturing index—below China’s 5th place but above other BRICS peers, Brazil, Russia and South Africa.
• ‘Readiness for the future of production report’: analyses development of modern industrial strategies and urges collaborative action, has categorised 100 countries into four groups –
• Leading (strong current base, high level of readiness for future);
• High Potential (limited current base, high potential for future);
• Legacy (strong current base, at risk for future); or
• Nascent (limited current base, low level of readiness for future).
• India has been placed in the ‘Legacy’ group along with Hungary, Mexico, Philippines, Russia, Thailand and Turkey, among others.
• China figures among ‘leading countries’, while Brazil and South Africa are in ‘nascent’ ones.
• Challenges for India: human capital and sustainable resources.
• What should be done?
• The country needs to continue to raise the capabilities of its relatively young and fast-growing labour force.
• Focus area: upgrading education curricula, revamping vocational training programmes and improving digital skills
• India should continue to diversify its energy sources and reduce emissions as its manufacturing sector continues to expand.

Section wise Ranking:

• Scale of production: India has been ranked 9^th
• Market size: India is ranked 3^rd
• Female participation in labour force, trade tariffs, regulatory efficiency and sustainable resources: very low ranking(90^th or even more lower rankings).

Comparison with the neighbors: India is ranked better than its neighbours- Sri Lanka (66th), Pakistan (74th) and Bangladesh (80th).

Fourth industrial revolution rankings:

• A separate list of the country’s best positioned to capitalise on the fourth industrial revolution to transform production systems have been published.
• The US has been ranked on the top, followed by Singapore, Switzerland, the UK and the Netherlands in the top five.
• India has been ranked 44th on this list, while China is at 25th place and Russia at 43rd. However, India is ranked better than Brazil (47th) and South Africa (49th).

 New discovery by NASA scientist:

• Scientists have spotted the farthest known galaxy (SPT0615-JD) in the universe, a primitive cluster of stars just 500 million years old.
• The gravitational field of a massive foreground galaxy cluster not only amplified the light from the background galaxy but also smeared the image of it into an arc.
• First predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago, the warping of space by the gravity of a massive foreground object can brighten and distort the images of far more distant background objects.
• The object is considered prototypical of young galaxies that emerged during the epoch shortly after the Big Bang.
• The discovery galaxy offers unique opportunity for resolving stellar populations in the very early universe.

D. GS4 Related

E. Prelims Fact

F. Practice Questions for UPSC Prelims Exam

Question 1. The recent edition of Global Manufacturing index published by World Economic 
Forum, ranks India at which position?

Question 2. The Global competitiveness report is a yearly report published by

Question 3. As per the recent edition of Global Manufacturing index published by World 
Economic Forum, India has been placed under which category?

Question 4. The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is an intergovernmental organisation 
consisting of which of these countries?

Question 5. What is FarmerZone, that was recently seen in news?

G. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

GS Paper II

GS Paper IV

Also, check previous Daily News Analysis