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The nation’s media, present in full force at the annual conference of the World Economic Forum (WEF), dutifully relayed back to India sound bytes uttered by the allies of the world’s giant corporations.
Among these was the laudatory statement by the WEF’s President that India was a $10 trillion economy in the making. This is only the most recent of a spate of predictions on the future size of India’s economy.
At least it can be said for them that it is India’s own leaders who were the first to make these. Thus, in 2019, upon returning to office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India aimed to become a $5 trillion economy by 2024, which would have been the end of his current term.
That this has not materialised as yet has not deterred other political leaders from making predictions of, or expressing an aspiration for, a $1 trillion economy for their States.
This includes the Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Though these leaders represent political parties with widely differing social agendas and ideologies, they seem united in their economic goals.
From Davos to Lucknow and Chennai, never before has growth dominated the economic agenda in democracies. This bears mentioning, as a democracy is also meant to deliver other things.
Opinion
Early nutrition impacts cognitive development (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
Stunting irreversibly affects not just the height, but also the cognitive development of a child. While the long-term impact of early childhood stunting on educational levels is recognised, the processes by which it results in lower educational achievements, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, are not well understood.
A deeper insight into the underlying mechanisms is crucial for formulating effective policies to enhance educational outcomes in these contexts.
A significant challenge in research on the effects of early human capital investments, such as nutrition, on cognitive development is their focus on specific cognitive-achievement test scores in areas such as math, reading, and vocabulary.
Moreover, achievement tests, which assess knowledge acquired through schooling, may not fully reflect inherent cognitive skills. This is because they depend on both cognitive abilities and access to education.
Text & Context
Improving battery technologies for speedy EV adoption (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Last year was a good year for Electric Vehicles (EV) in India with sales recording a 50% growth compared to 2022. While actual volumes remain small (6% of vehicles registered in 2023), the industry is poised for phenomenal growth with the Indian EV market expected to reach $100 billion by 2030.
The heart of an EV is its battery — with the battery system accounting for 40% of the vehicle cost. The projected growth of the EV market is dependent on advances in battery technology translating to better economics and enhanced user experience (longer range, faster charging and improved safety).
Almost all EVs on the road today are powered by lithium-ion batteries. It consists of two electrodes (an anode and a cathode) separated by a liquid electrolyte. Lithium atoms in the anode give up electrons which travel to the cathode through an external wire — this stream of electrons provide the current which powers the motor of the vehicle. Simultaneously, lithium ions (now positively charged from loss of an electron) travel through the electrolyte to reach the cathode.
During charging, the process is reversed with lithium ions being forced to travel back through the electrolyte to the anode.
News
Centre extends ban on SIMI for 5 years for fomenting terrorism (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Internal Security)
The Union Home Ministry has extended the ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) for five years.
The organisation was declared an “unlawful association” under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for the first time in 2001.
The Ministry, in a post on X, said, “SIMI has been found involved in fomenting terrorism, disturbing peace and communal harmony to threaten the sovereignty, security and integrity of Bharat.”
It said that 17 cases had been registered against former SIMI cadres in the past five years and in 11 instances, SIMI members had been convicted by courts of law for various crimes committed between 2006 and 2014.
The fresh cases include two first information reports (FIR) registered at the Gangapur police station in Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan on August 25, 2019 for “throwing stones from the top of Jama Masjid on the rally of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)” on the VHP’s Foundation Day.
World
Maldives main Opposition party mulls impeachment against President Muizzu (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the country’s main Opposition party holding a parliamentary majority, is preparing to submit an impeachment motion against President Mohamed Muizzu in Parliament, stepping up its challenge to the Executive in the legislature.
The development coincides with a showdown between Male and New Delhi, in the wake of controversial remarks made by Maldivian Ministers, and a shrill “Boycott Maldives” call on Indian social media, and President Muizzu issuing a March 15 deadline to New Delhi, for the removal of Indian troops.
On what prompted the move for an impeachment motion, less than three months after President Muizzu was sworn in, the Opposition politician pointed to “two primary reasons”.
Is Biden’s policy towards the Israel-Hamas war working? (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The drone attack by Iran-backed Shia militias on a U.S. military logistics hub in Jordan, along the border with Syria, in which three American service persons were killed and dozens more injured, is the deadliest assault on U.S. forces in West Asia since the Hamas-Israel war broke out on October 7.
When Israel launched an all-out attack on Gaza, after Hamas’s cross-border raid killing at least 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, the Joe Biden administration adopted a two-fold approach —to let Israel continue its war with America’s military assistance and diplomatic protection while simultaneously working to prevent the crisis from escalating into a regional conflict. Three and a half months later, Israel’s war is far from over, while the crisis has already spread across the region.
Even when casualties rose in Gaza and international pressure mounted on Israel to halt the attacks, the Biden administration continued to back Israel’s war.
It vetoed a UN Security Council Resolution that called for a humanitarian ceasefire and voted against back-to-back resolutions in the UN General Assembly that were critical of Israel’s war and occupation.
Israel’s war has killed over 26,000 Palestinians (mostly women and children), wounded more than 60,000 and displaced roughly 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million population.
The International Court of Justice, the UN’s top court, last week ordered Israel to take measures to prevent genocidal acts by its forces in Gaza. Yet, the Biden administration hasn’t even called for a ceasefire.
Business
FinMin says economy likely to grow closer to 7% in 2024-25 (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Ahead of the Interim Union Budget, the Finance Ministry in a report pegged India’s real GDP growth at closer to 7% in 2024-25 with ‘considerable scope’ to outpace 7% by 2030, adding that the economy will hit $5 trillion in the next three years, making it the third largest in the world.
Prefacing a picture-perfect review of the economy’s “journey in the last ten years”, Chief Economic Advisor V. Anantha Nageswaran stressed “not all growth is equal” and the marginal utility of 7% growth when the world is struggling to grow 2% is “much higher” than 8-9% growth achieved with the global economy rising 4%.
One unit of growth in the latter circumstance is qualitatively superior to the former,” the CEA wrote in a report titled ‘The Indian Economy: A Review’ released by the Department of Economic Affairs, which also offered a “brief sketch of the outlook for the economy in the coming years”.
The prognosis of 7% growth in the coming year, if actualised, would mean 7% or higher growth for four years in a row. Mr. Nageswaran emphasised that this review was not ‘the Economic Survey of India which will come before the full Budget and after the general elections’.
Science
What is Humboldt’s enigma and what does it mean for India? (Page no. 20)
(GS Paper 1, Geography)
Explorers and naturalists have been asking this question for centuries. Many have also been curious why some areas are more biodiverse than others.
One of them was Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) – a polymath who recorded observations on various natural phenomena across the fields known today as geography, geology, meteorology, and biology.
Once, when exploring South America, he recorded the distribution of plants on a mountain. He also noted how climates were similar across various mountains in different parts of the world – but where specific features occurred on a mountain varied with elevation.
From his various studies, Humboldt suggested there was a relationship between temperature, altitude, and humidity on one hand and the occurrence patterns of species – or their biodiversity – on the other. His example of choice was the Chimborazo mountain in Ecuador, which has today become an important illustration of mountain diversity.