Current Affairs – August 15-16, 2024

{GS2 – Governance – Civil Services} The seductive trap of the civil services

• Context (TH): Recent headlines from Maharashtra and Delhi highlight critical issues with the civil services aspirants.

Issues Associated with Civil Service Pursuit

• High Pressure and Stress: Aspirants face extreme competition and mental strain throughout the rigorous civil services selection process.
  • A 2023 study found over 30% of candidates report severe stress; recent Delhi tragedies highlighted the risks (Indian Psychiatry Society Report).
• Exploitation by Coaching Centers: The coaching industry profits from aspirants’ desperation, often delivering poor success rates despite high costs.
  • The coaching industry is worth ₹20,000 crore with a success rate under 1% (NSSO, 2022).
• Cycle of Repeated Failures: Many candidates make multiple attempts with little success, leading to financial and emotional strain.
  • In 2023, 60% of those passing the prelims had attempted the exam atleast thrice (UPSC).
• Bureaucratic Inefficiencies: Ineffective regulation and systemic bureaucracy failures exacerbate aspirants’ challenges.
  • CAG audits reveal lapses in regulatory adherence for coaching institutes (2023).
• Unrealistic Career Expectations: The myth that civil services are the only prestigious career option drives many to pursue it despite misaligning their true interests.
  • A 2023 survey showed 50% of young professionals view civil services as the top career choice.
• Burnout Among Successful Candidates: Prolonged efforts to succeed can lead to burnout and reduced motivation once the aspirants enter the civil services.
  • A 2023 study found that 40% of new IAS officers experienced burnout within their first year(Indian Journal of Public Administration).

Recommendations

• Limit Attempt Numbers: Prevent prolonged failure cycles. UPSC allows up to six attempts, contributing to endless retries without significant success increases.
• Promote Other Careers: Highlighting technology, education, or healthcare careers can diversify options. Countries like Germany with diverse career paths show balanced career development.
• Support for Failed Candidates: Offering career counseling and job placements can redirect efforts. The UK’s Career Transition Partnership helps individuals find new career paths.
• Regulate Coaching Industry: Enforcing transparency and quality standards in coaching centers can reduce exploitation. South Korea’s regulation improves quality and prevents exploitation.
• Simplify Exam Structure: Making exams more straightforward and more accessible, such as through online formats, can ease the process. Online testing, like the SAT in the US, improves accessibility.
• Lower Age Limits: Helps candidates start careers sooner.

{GS3 – Envi – CC Impacts} Great Barrier Reef Warming and Coral Bleaching

• Context (TH): Water temperatures in and around the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, is the warmest in the past 400 years (Nature Journal).

• Researchers found stable temperatures before 1900 and warming post-1900 was human-induced.
• Record-high temperatures had created mass coral bleaching in 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022 and 2024.
• It projects a loss of 70%-90% coral reefs even with the signing of Paris Agreement and future coral reefs might be different with less diversity in coral species.

Great Barrier Reef

• It is the world’s largest collection of coral reefs & comprises of some 2,500 individual reefs and 900 islands. It is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1981.
• Located in the Coral Sea, off the northeastern coast of Australia, it extends in a north-south direction, roughly parallel to the mainland and south of the Torres Strait.

Read More > Causes of coral bleaching

{GS3 – Envi – Wetlands} New Ramsar sites of India

• Context (TH): Nanjarayan and Kazhuveli bird sanctuaries in Tamil Nadu and the Tawa reservoir in Madhya Pradesh had been designated as new ramsar sites bringing the tally to 85.

Nanjarayan Tank Bird Sanctuary

• It hosts nearly 191 bird species apart from several species of reptiles, fishes, amphibians and plant species.
• It is an important place for wintering grounds and breeding grounds for migratory birds.
• The lake derived its name from King Nanjarayan who repaired and restored the lake during his reign.
• Native species: Spot-billed Pelican, Painted Stork, Grey Heron, Purple Heron, Little Cormorant, Indian Cormorant, Great Cormorant, Little Egret, Great Egret, Spot-billed Duck, Common Coot and Little Grebe.

Kazhuveli Bird Sanctuary

• It is a brackish shallow lake located on the Coromandel Coast, which is connected to the Bay of Bengal by the brackish Uppukalli creek and the Edayanthittu Estuary.
• It lies in the Central Asian Flyway and is an important stopover site for about 40000 migratory bird species.
• The Grey-tailed Tattler, a rare migratory wader had only been recorded here and in Pulicat across the country. Other migrants include Black-tailed Godwits, Eurasian Curlew, White Stork, Ruff and Dunlin.
• It is one of the largest waterfowl congregation sites in Tamil Nadu and harbours Tropical Dry Evergreen Forests and has highly degraded mangrove patches containing Avicennia species.

Tawa reservoir

• It is a reservoir at the confluence of the Tawa and Denwa rivers in central India and forms the western boundary of Satpura National Park and Bori Wildlife Sanctuary.

Read more > Ramsar convention, Ramsar sites in India

{Prelims – Awards} Gallantry Awards

• Context (TH): President Droupadi Murmu approved four Kirti Chakras and 18 Shaurya Chakras to the armed forces and Central Armed Police Forces personnel among the 103 gallantry awards.

• Kirti Chakra Awardees: Major Malla Rama Gopal Naidu (Maratha Light Infantry,56 Rashtriya Rifles (RR)), Colonel Manpreet Singh (posthumous) (Sikh Light Infantry , 19 RR), Ravi Kumar (J&K Light Infantry, 63 RR), Humayun Muzammil Bhat, DySP, J&K Police, 19 RR).

Kirti Chakra (“Wheel of Glory”)

Credit: Indian Air Force

• It is an Indian military decoration awarded for valour, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the field of battle and may be awarded to civilians as well.
• It is the peacetime equivalent of the Maha Vir Chakra and is second in order of precedence of peacetime gallantry awards, after Ashoka Chakra and before Shaurya Chakra.

Shaurya Chakra (“Wheel of Gallantry”)

Credit: Indian Air Force

• It is awarded for generally awarded for Counter-Insurgency operations and actions against the enemy during peace-time, sometimes posthumously and may be awarded to civilians also.
• It is the peacetime equivalent of the Vir Chakra and is third in order of precedence of peacetime gallantry awards and comes after the Ashoka Chakra and the Kirti Chakra. It precedes the Yudh Seva Medal.

Read More> Gallantry Awards