Forwarded from UPSC - International relations by Vikas Kanukollu
#IR
✅Gs-2 : IR- Afghan crisis
🅾️What is the relationship that Afghanistan shares with Pakistan?- How does it impact India's foreign policy?
🔰Things to read to appreciate how this whole theme of India-Afghan relations evolved: Click here
🔰India's Afghanistan strategy is dictated by three core geopolitical considerations:
⚜️1. Countering Pakistan’s Influence-India sees an opportunity to break Islamabad’s monopoly over Taliban relations by engaging directly with the regime.
⚜️2. Preventing a China-Taliban economic axis-The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) could make Afghanistan an economic satellite of Beijing.
⚜️3.Securing Indian investments in Afghanistan-India has invested over $3 billion in Afghan infrastructure
⚠️ The Risks of Engaging with the Taliban : It presents long-term security and reputational risks-India cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of past Afghan interventions.
⚠️Gs2-IR/PSIR channel link : https://www.tg-me.com/UPSC_PSIR_IR
🎖Please Subscribe : Youtube.com/vikaskanukollu
✅Gs-2 : IR- Afghan crisis
🅾️What is the relationship that Afghanistan shares with Pakistan?- How does it impact India's foreign policy?
🔰Things to read to appreciate how this whole theme of India-Afghan relations evolved: Click here
🔰India's Afghanistan strategy is dictated by three core geopolitical considerations:
⚜️1. Countering Pakistan’s Influence-India sees an opportunity to break Islamabad’s monopoly over Taliban relations by engaging directly with the regime.
⚜️2. Preventing a China-Taliban economic axis-The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) could make Afghanistan an economic satellite of Beijing.
⚜️3.Securing Indian investments in Afghanistan-India has invested over $3 billion in Afghan infrastructure
⚠️ The Risks of Engaging with the Taliban : It presents long-term security and reputational risks-India cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of past Afghan interventions.
⚠️Gs2-IR/PSIR channel link : https://www.tg-me.com/UPSC_PSIR_IR
🎖Please Subscribe : Youtube.com/vikaskanukollu
✅Gs-1 : Indian Society- Regionalism
✅Gs-2 : Education- NEP
✅Gs-2 : Federalism- centre - state relations
🅾️Language is more than just a means of communication; it is an expression of identity, culture, and political assertion->The Munshi-Ayyangar Formula (1949) led to Hindi being recognized as the official language under Article 343 of the Indian Constitution. However, India does not have a “national language”, ensuring no linguistic imposition on any region.
🔰How to understand this topic?
⚜️1. What Does the Constitution Say About Language?- Art 29, 30, Art 19
⚜️2. Supreme Court’s 2014 Judgment: Organic Growth of Language and Law- U.P. Hindi Sahitya Sammelan v. State of U.P. (2014)
⚜️3. Other cases : State of Bombay v. Narasu Appa Mali (1952), S.P. Mittal v. Union of India (1983), T.M.A. Pai Foundation v. State of Karnataka (2002)-> Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1924) – U.S. Supreme Court
⚠️Youtube : Click here and join the VK IAS youtube channel
✅Gs-2 : Education- NEP
✅Gs-2 : Federalism- centre - state relations
🅾️Language is more than just a means of communication; it is an expression of identity, culture, and political assertion->The Munshi-Ayyangar Formula (1949) led to Hindi being recognized as the official language under Article 343 of the Indian Constitution. However, India does not have a “national language”, ensuring no linguistic imposition on any region.
🔰How to understand this topic?
⚜️1. What Does the Constitution Say About Language?- Art 29, 30, Art 19
⚜️2. Supreme Court’s 2014 Judgment: Organic Growth of Language and Law- U.P. Hindi Sahitya Sammelan v. State of U.P. (2014)
⚜️3. Other cases : State of Bombay v. Narasu Appa Mali (1952), S.P. Mittal v. Union of India (1983), T.M.A. Pai Foundation v. State of Karnataka (2002)-> Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1924) – U.S. Supreme Court
⚠️Youtube : Click here and join the VK IAS youtube channel
✅GS-3 : Climate change and its impact on Agriculture and Economy- Click here
🅾️Context : How climate change is affecting India’s wheat production cycle
⚜️India recorded its warmest February in 124 years (IMD).
⚜️Early heatwaves pose a major threat to wheat yield, impacting food security.
⚜️Delayed monsoon withdrawal is affecting Rabi sowing timelines.
🔥Heat Stress & Its Impact :
⚜️Unseasonal temperature rise → Early flowering & forced ripening → Poor grain quality & reduced yield.
⚜️Excess heat in terminal stages (above 30°C) → Reduces grain filling, leading to lower wheat weight & protein content.
⚜️Disrupts physiological processes (enzymes, hormone levels, and carbon fixation).
🛑 Policy & Adaptation Strategies- Nothing new- Discussed multiple times- Click here
⚠️Youtube : Click here and join the VK IAS youtube channel
🅾️Context : How climate change is affecting India’s wheat production cycle
⚜️India recorded its warmest February in 124 years (IMD).
⚜️Early heatwaves pose a major threat to wheat yield, impacting food security.
⚜️Delayed monsoon withdrawal is affecting Rabi sowing timelines.
🔥Heat Stress & Its Impact :
⚜️Unseasonal temperature rise → Early flowering & forced ripening → Poor grain quality & reduced yield.
⚜️Excess heat in terminal stages (above 30°C) → Reduces grain filling, leading to lower wheat weight & protein content.
⚜️Disrupts physiological processes (enzymes, hormone levels, and carbon fixation).
🛑 Policy & Adaptation Strategies- Nothing new- Discussed multiple times- Click here
⚠️Youtube : Click here and join the VK IAS youtube channel
Do this in last 70 days to beat procrastination for UPSC Prelims prep!
https://youtube.com/shorts/Fwbz35rxLjc?feature=share
https://youtube.com/shorts/Fwbz35rxLjc?feature=share
YouTube
Do this in last 70 days to beat procrastination for UPSC Prelims prep!
Are you procrastinating in your preparation? Try this technique!
✅Gs- 2-Vulnerable sections- Criminal justice system Prison reforms and other reforms
📍Background - UN Convention against Torture (UNCAT)- Click here
🅾️Countries like the UK and the US are reluctant to extradite fugitives due to India’s poor human rights record in custodial conditions.This undermines India’s ability to bring back economic offenders, terrorists, and fugitives, affecting domestic criminal justice.
🅾️Good quote from the article : It is time for a nation wedded to democracy and seeking a role as the world’s moral arbiter to recognise that aflailing democracy is antithetical to a resurgent Bharat and that torture in any form is “... a wound in the soul so intangible that there is no way to heal it…
⚠️Youtube : Click here and join the VK IAS youtube channel
📍Background - UN Convention against Torture (UNCAT)- Click here
🅾️Countries like the UK and the US are reluctant to extradite fugitives due to India’s poor human rights record in custodial conditions.This undermines India’s ability to bring back economic offenders, terrorists, and fugitives, affecting domestic criminal justice.
🅾️Good quote from the article : It is time for a nation wedded to democracy and seeking a role as the world’s moral arbiter to recognise that a
⚠️Youtube : Click here and join the VK IAS youtube channel
Forwarded from VK IAS_ Official
IR-2.pdf
10.2 MB
✅This is part 2 of our Series on IR- Mapping places in news- Video link - https://youtu.be/1P0Fmh9HXv4
Part 1 notes and video link- Click here
https://www.tg-me.com/VKIAS_com
Part 1 notes and video link- Click here
https://www.tg-me.com/VKIAS_com
UPSC Prelims 2025 | Species in News | The Hindu & Indian Express | Part 5
https://youtu.be/P5-hI-lsWZs
https://youtu.be/P5-hI-lsWZs
YouTube
UPSC Prelims 2025 | Species in News | The Hindu & Indian Express | Part 5
✅UPSC theme-
🎇CHHAAVA and fascinating origin of the word Maharashtra!
https://youtube.com/shorts/Q3i6yKQk2E8?feature=share
🎇CHHAAVA and fascinating origin of the word Maharashtra!
https://youtube.com/shorts/Q3i6yKQk2E8?feature=share
Forwarded from VK IAS_ Official
IR-I Mapping_places_in_news.pdf
59.7 MB
✅Watch part 1 of this IR mapping series on our free CA module for Prelims 2025- Click here
✅Part 2- click here
✅Part 2- click here
Forwarded from UPSC - International relations by Vikas Kanukollu
image_2025-03-24_18-05-01.png
3.9 MB
✅Gs-2 : IR- Kurdistan issue
🅾️Background : Kurdish people's long-standing struggle to establish a nation-state of Kurdistan, a homeland for Kurds spread across Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Armenia( 5 Countries)
🅾️Why didn’t it happen?=Western betrayal: After WWI, Western powers promised a homeland (Treaty of Sèvres, 1920), but later backed off (Treaty of Lausanne, 1923), prioritizing other geopolitical interests.
📍 Places in News (Important for UPSC Prelims)
⚜️1. Zagros Range- Geographical heartland of Kurdish-populated areas.
⚜️2. Mosul & Kirkuk-Oil-rich contested areas in Iraq significant to Kurds.
⚜️3. Mount Ararat- Symbolic mountain near Armenian-Turkish border, Kurdish aspiration.
⚜️4. Rojava- Kurdish autonomous region in Syria governed by PYD/YPG.
⚠️Gs2-IR/PSIR channel link : https://www.tg-me.com/UPSC_PSIR_IR
🎖Please Subscribe : Youtube.com/vikaskanukollu
⚠️Gs2-IR/PSIR channel link : https://www.tg-me.com/UPSC_PSIR_IR
🎖Please Subscribe : Youtube.com/vikaskanukollu
🅾️Background : Kurdish people's long-standing struggle to establish a nation-state of Kurdistan, a homeland for Kurds spread across Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Armenia( 5 Countries)
🅾️Why didn’t it happen?=Western betrayal: After WWI, Western powers promised a homeland (Treaty of Sèvres, 1920), but later backed off (Treaty of Lausanne, 1923), prioritizing other geopolitical interests.
📍 Places in News (Important for UPSC Prelims)
⚜️1. Zagros Range- Geographical heartland of Kurdish-populated areas.
⚜️2. Mosul & Kirkuk-Oil-rich contested areas in Iraq significant to Kurds.
⚜️3. Mount Ararat- Symbolic mountain near Armenian-Turkish border, Kurdish aspiration.
⚜️4. Rojava- Kurdish autonomous region in Syria governed by PYD/YPG.
⚠️Gs2-IR/PSIR channel link : https://www.tg-me.com/UPSC_PSIR_IR
🎖Please Subscribe : Youtube.com/vikaskanukollu
⚠️Gs2-IR/PSIR channel link : https://www.tg-me.com/UPSC_PSIR_IR
🎖Please Subscribe : Youtube.com/vikaskanukollu
✅Gs-1 : Indian Society- Urbanization- Trajectory of Indian Urbanization we already discussed that here multiple times-Click here
🅾️More or less the same issues are discussed again here in this article
🅾️Cities are spatially diverse and demographically unique-so Centrally planned schemes often ignore regional and intra-city spatial diversity.Hence we need Localised master plans based on micro-geographies (e.g., ward-level planning units) that integrate mobility, housing, livelihoods, and disaster resilience.
🅾️Urban development is a state subject under the Constitution.Despite this, the Centre dominates through missions like JNNURM, AMRUT, and PMAY, which are heavily top-down.
⚜️Policy Principle: Subsidiarity – decision-making should lie with the smallest, lowest, or least centralized competent authority.Greater autonomy should be given to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs)
🔰Join - VK IAS subject wise channels - Click here
⚠️Youtube : Click here and join the VK IAS channel
🅾️More or less the same issues are discussed again here in this article
🅾️Cities are spatially diverse and demographically unique-so Centrally planned schemes often ignore regional and intra-city spatial diversity.Hence we need Localised master plans based on micro-geographies (e.g., ward-level planning units) that integrate mobility, housing, livelihoods, and disaster resilience.
🅾️Urban development is a state subject under the Constitution.Despite this, the Centre dominates through missions like JNNURM, AMRUT, and PMAY, which are heavily top-down.
⚜️Policy Principle: Subsidiarity – decision-making should lie with the smallest, lowest, or least centralized competent authority.Greater autonomy should be given to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs)
🔰Join - VK IAS subject wise channels - Click here
⚠️Youtube : Click here and join the VK IAS channel
✅Gs-2 : IR- India- US trade relations
⚠️Context : US Agricultural Push into Indian Market – Soybean, Corn & Cotton
🅾️Demand Side – What India Needs-protein-rich feed inputs (soybean meal and corn)- As protein consumption rises, so does the dependence on indirect demand for US grains. Because India’s per capita meat, egg, and milk consumption is rising- poultry needs feed- which US wants to tap into.
🅾️Supply Side – What the US Has in Surplus-US needs to offload its surplus to high-demand economies like India- US is a top global producer of: Soybean (meal and oil), Corn (for both ethanol and feed), Cotton (was world's top exporter)- India is no longer a consistent net exporter, as domestic textile use rises.
🚫Strategic Risk for India-Overdependence on US agri-exports = vulnerability to external price shocks
🔰Join - VK IAS subject wise channels - Click here
⚠️Youtube : Click here and join the VK IAS channel
⚠️Context : US Agricultural Push into Indian Market – Soybean, Corn & Cotton
🅾️Demand Side – What India Needs-protein-rich feed inputs (soybean meal and corn)- As protein consumption rises, so does the dependence on indirect demand for US grains. Because India’s per capita meat, egg, and milk consumption is rising- poultry needs feed- which US wants to tap into.
🅾️Supply Side – What the US Has in Surplus-US needs to offload its surplus to high-demand economies like India- US is a top global producer of: Soybean (meal and oil), Corn (for both ethanol and feed), Cotton (was world's top exporter)- India is no longer a consistent net exporter, as domestic textile use rises.
🚫Strategic Risk for India-Overdependence on US agri-exports = vulnerability to external price shocks
🔰Join - VK IAS subject wise channels - Click here
⚠️Youtube : Click here and join the VK IAS channel
✅Gs-3 : Mobilization of resources- Taxation - Global Minimum corporate taxation
🅾️Problem in the Old Regime-Income Tax Act, 1961 (Pre-2016)-Tax loophole: No office in India = No income tax, despite revenue from Indian users.Digital MNCs (like Google, Amazon) with no physical presence in India could earn revenue here but not pay tax.
🅾️So, to plug tax base erosion from the digital economy-Equalisation Levy was imposed- 6% On revenue paid to non-residents (e.g., Google), 2% on On gross sales of E-commerce to Indian users (e.g., Amazon)
⚠️Note : this is a tax on Revenue, not Profit.
🅾️Global Tax Reform – OECD’s Two-Pillar Framework- Explained here already- In return for new taxing rights under Pillar One, India agreed to remove Equalisation Levy- 2% levy on e-commerce already abolished (2024)=> Considering to abolish 6% levy on online ads from April 1, 2025
🎖VK IAS subject wise channels - Click here
⚠️Youtube : Click here and join the VK IAS channel
🅾️Problem in the Old Regime-Income Tax Act, 1961 (Pre-2016)-Tax loophole: No office in India = No income tax, despite revenue from Indian users.Digital MNCs (like Google, Amazon) with no physical presence in India could earn revenue here but not pay tax.
🅾️So, to plug tax base erosion from the digital economy-Equalisation Levy was imposed- 6% On revenue paid to non-residents (e.g., Google), 2% on On gross sales of E-commerce to Indian users (e.g., Amazon)
⚠️Note : this is a tax on Revenue, not Profit.
🅾️Global Tax Reform – OECD’s Two-Pillar Framework- Explained here already- In return for new taxing rights under Pillar One, India agreed to remove Equalisation Levy- 2% levy on e-commerce already abolished (2024)=> Considering to abolish 6% levy on online ads from April 1, 2025
🎖VK IAS subject wise channels - Click here
⚠️Youtube : Click here and join the VK IAS channel