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🔆 India’s Gender Parity, Transport, Trade & Governance – Key Updates (2025)
📍 1. Gender Parity in India: Mixed Progress
✅ India ranked 131/148 in Global Gender Gap Report 2025 (Score: 64.1%).
✅ Education: High parity at 97.1%.
✅ Political Empowerment dropped:
• Women in Parliament: 14.7% → 13.8%
• Ministerial roles: 6.5% → 5.6%
✅ Global concern: Despite 41.2% workforce share, women hold only 28.8% top leadership roles.
📍 2. Gender Gaps in South Asia
✅ South Asia’s Political Empowerment Score: 26.8%
✅ Only Bangladesh achieved head-of-state parity.
✅ Economic participation improving, but estimated income parity fell by 7.8%.
📍 3. Central Schemes Under ‘Effectiveness’ Lens
✅ All centrally funded schemes to show positive outcomes to continue beyond 2026.
✅ Sunset clause and 3rd-party evaluations introduced.
✅ MGNREGS: Outlay now tied to beneficiary count; upward revisions need Finance Dept. nod.
📍 4. Urban Transport & Mobility Shift
✅ PM E-Bus Sewa, PM e-Drive launched; target: 10,000+ e-buses.
✅ Trams offer 45% profitability over 7 decades; e-buses show 82% net loss.
✅ Budget promotes metro networks, but India still lacks mass transit coverage (only 37% urban access).
📍 5. U.S.–India Trade Relations & Tariffs
✅ India has a $35–40B surplus, yet U.S. cites $44B trade deficit using selective data.
✅ India insists on WTO-based, mutually agreed solutions.
✅ Any deal must protect digital services, remittances, and Indian exporters.
📍 6. Sustainability in Transit Planning
✅ India urged to invest in cost-effective, long-term tram systems.
✅ Move seen as a smart & timely shift towards climate-aligned, financially viable urban mobility.
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🔆 Education Stats
📍 Literacy Rates
✅ Overall: 77%, Male: 84%, Female: 70%, Urban: 88%, Rural: 74% (NSO)
📍 Government Spending
✅ Education: 3.5% of GDP (Ministry of Education)
📍 Enrolment Ratios
✅ Primary: 98%, Secondary: 80%, Senior Secondary: 58% (ASER report)
📍 Government Schools
✅ Enrolment: 73% in 2022 (up from 65% in 2018) (ASER report)
📍 Reading Ability
✅ Class 2 Text: 42% of children could read (down from 50% in 2018) (ASER report)
📍 School Infrastructure
✅ 88.65% of schools have electricity & drinking water
✅ 47.50% schools have computers (SDG India Index 2024)
📍 Higher Education
✅ Gross Enrolment: 28% (51% male, 49% female) (AISHE, Ministry of Education)
✅ Public vs Private: 60% public, 40% private universities (AISHE)
📍 Engineering Students
✅ 39 lakh students (29% women) in 2021-22 (AISHE)
#Data #GS2 #GS3 #GS1 #essay #social_issue #mains
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Every year, 100 million hectares of healthy land are degraded due to drought and desertification, largely driven by climate change and poor land management.
Healthy land is crucial for life, providing food, shelter, jobs, regulating climate, and supporting biodiversity.
Up to 40% of the world’s land is degraded, affecting 3.2 billion people.
Desertification and droughts are worsening, contributing to forced migration. By 2050, 216 million people will be displaced by climate change, with droughts increasing by 29% since 2000.
Desertification affects 3.2 billion people and leads to $11 trillion in losses. Immediate action is required to restore 1.5 billion hectares of land by 2030.
#GS3 #GS1
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In 2024, the travel and tourism sector in India contributed around 9.1% to the total GDP of the country. This amounted to over $11.10 trillion.
#GS3
🔆 India’s Health Indicators
📍 Key Health Statistics
✅ Life Expectancy at Birth ~ 70 years (62 years in 2000, 67 years in 2010)
✅ Infant Mortality Rate = 28/1000
✅ Neonatal Mortality Rate = 20/1000 (SDG target 12)
✅ Under 5 Mortality Rate = 32/1000 (SDG target 25)
✅ Maternal Mortality Rate = 97/1000 (SDG target 70)
✅ Sex Ratio at Birth = 1020/1000 (was 943 in 2011)
📍 Health Expenditure
✅ Health Expenditure = ~ 3.8% of GDP (40% public, 60% private)
✅ Out of Pocket Expenditure (OOP) = 1.5% GDP, 13% monthly per capita
✅ Doctor-Population Ratio = 1:834 (better than WHO’s 1:1000)
✅ Health Workers per 10,000 Population = 49
📍 Health Delivery & Immunization
✅ Institutional Deliveries = 97.18%
✅ Children Aged 9-11 Months Fully Immunised = 93.23%
📍 Health Challenges
✅ Deaths from Non-Communicable Diseases = Over 60% of total deaths in India
✅ TB Burden = Highest in the world (28%) and highest number of Multi-drug resistant TB cases
✅ Tuberculosis Cases Notified = 87.13% against the target
📍 Progress in Tuberculosis (TB) Control
✅ TB Decline = 18% dip in TB cases over the past 10 years, more than double the global rate; 24% reduction in deaths, higher than the global average of 23%
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🔆 Hunger & Nutrition – Key Data (2024)
📍 Undernutrition & Ranking
✅ India ranked 105/127 in Global Hunger Index 2024
✅ Over 225 million undernourished people in India
📍 Women’s Health Indicators
✅ 57% of women (aged 15–49) are anaemic
✅ 18.7% women (aged 15–49) have BMI below 18.5
✅ 6.4% women and 4.0% men (aged 15–49) are obese
✅ 23% women and 22.1% men (aged 15–49) are overweight
📍 Child Nutrition Stats
✅ Stunting (under 5 years) = 35% (global avg = 23%)
✅ Underweight children = 30% (global avg = 13%)
✅ Wasted children = 19%
📍 Food & Welfare Coverage
✅ Food wastage in India ≈ 50 kg per person per year
✅ 99.01% beneficiaries covered under National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 in 2023–24
#GS2 #GS3 #GS1 #Ethics #essay #social_issue #mains
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🔆 Local Self Government – Key Facts
✅ The total revenue of all ULBs in India is only 1% of GDP, low compared to Brazil (7%) & South Africa (6%)
✅ PRI funds composition – Central Govt Grants (80%), State Govt Grants (15%), Own revenue (5%)
✅ Own revenues make up just ~ 5% PRI funds (Non-tax revenue 3.3% and Tax revenue 1.1%), low compared to Brazil (40%) etc.
✅ The share of property tax in India is only 0.14% of GDP as against 2% in OECD countries
✅ Property tax constitutes more than 16% of revenue receipts of municipal corporations, and more than 60% of their own tax revenue
✅ Municipal Corporation revenue receipts were just 0.6% of GDP in 2023-24, whereas those of Central Govt and State Govts was 9.2% and 14.6% of GDP respectively
✅ The revenue receipts of Municipal Corporations exhibit concentration, with the top 10 MCs accounting for over 58% of total municipal revenue receipts
✅ About 23% of total municipal revenue remains unspent, indicating a surplus in the municipal system that is not being effectively utilised.
#GS2 #GS4 #Ethics #essay #governance #mains
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🔆 Multidimensional Poverty in India
📍 Key Statistics
✅ 14.96% headcount ratio of Multidimensional Poverty in 2019-21 (down from 24.85% in 2015-16), enroute to achieving target 1.2 of halving Multidimensional Poverty much before 2030
✅ 13.5 crore people lifted out of multidimensional poverty between 2015-16 and 2019-21, and 41.5 crore people lifted out between 2005-06 and 2019-21
✅ The intensity of poverty (average deprivation among multidimensionally poor) improved from about 47% in 2015-16 to 44% in 2019-21
📍 Rural and Urban Trends
✅ Fastest decline in percentage of multidimensional poor in rural areas: from 32.59% in 2015-16 to 19.28% in 2019-21
✅ Reduction in incidence of poverty in urban areas: from 8.65% in 2015-16 to 5.27% in 2019-21
📍 Vulnerable Groups and Regional Data
✅ India has the largest number of children living in multidimensional poverty — 1 in every 5 children is poor
✅ States of UP, Bihar, MP, Odisha, and Rajasthan recorded steepest decline in number of MPI poor
✅ Globally, 85% of multidimensionally poor people live in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia
✅ 63 million Indians pushed into poverty yearly due to healthcare costs — almost two people every second
✅ Poverty levels among social groups:
• STs = 50.6%
• SCs = 33.3%
• OBCs = 27.2%
(5 out of every 6 people living in multidimensional poverty in India belong to disadvantaged tribes and castes)
#GS1 #GS3
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Mobile and Internet Usage:
✅ 85.7% respondents recently used mobile phones.
✅ 79.9% own smartphones.
✅ Internet usage rose sharply:
🔸 Rural females: 42.6% → 57.6%
🔸 Rural males: 59.5% → 72.1%
India’s space economy targets:
Current space economy: $8.4 billion (2022).
Target for 2033: $44 billion, with $11 billion from exports
Agri-export trends:
✅FY25 agri-exports: $52 billion (marking an increase of 6.3% from $48.9 billion in FY24).
✅2030 target: $100 billion - this means that current growth is inadequate.
✅Comparative growth:
🔸FY05–FY14: 20% annual growth.
🔸FY15–FY25: Slowed to 2.3% per annum.
✅Agri-trade surplus: Shrunk from $27.7 billion (FY14) to $13.8 billion (FY25).
Hindi
India’s Elderly Population:
In India, persons aged 60 and above are considered elderly as per government schemes and census classifications.
As per 2020 Population Projections Report, India had 103.8 million elderly in 2011, expected to reach 193.4 million by 2031.
By 2050, India’s senior citizen population may cross 300 million, driven by declining fertility and increased life expectancy
🔆 Multidimensional Poverty in India
📍 Key Statistics
✅ 14.96% headcount ratio of Multidimensional Poverty in 2019-21 (down from 24.85% in 2015-16), enroute to achieving target 1.2 of halving Multidimensional Poverty much before 2030
✅ 13.5 crore people lifted out of multidimensional poverty between 2015-16 and 2019-21, and 41.5 crore people lifted out between 2005-06 and 2019-21
✅ The intensity of poverty (average deprivation among multidimensionally poor) improved from about 47% in 2015-16 to 44% in 2019-21
📍 Rural and Urban Trends
✅ Fastest decline in percentage of multidimensional poor in rural areas: from 32.59% in 2015-16 to 19.28% in 2019-21
✅ Reduction in incidence of poverty in urban areas: from 8.65% in 2015-16 to 5.27% in 2019-21
📍 Vulnerable Groups and Regional Data
✅ India has the largest number of children living in multidimensional poverty — 1 in every 5 children is poor
✅ States of UP, Bihar, MP, Odisha, and Rajasthan recorded steepest decline in number of MPI poor
✅ Globally, 85% of multidimensionally poor people live in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia
✅ 63 million Indians pushed into poverty yearly due to healthcare costs — almost two people every second
✅ Poverty levels among social groups:
• STs = 50.6%
• SCs = 33.3%
• OBCs = 27.2%
(5 out of every 6 people living in multidimensional poverty in India belong to disadvantaged tribes and castes)
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🔆 Education Stats
📍 Literacy Rates
✅ Overall: 77%, Male: 84%, Female: 70%, Urban: 88%, Rural: 74% (NSO)
📍 Government Spending
✅ Education: 3.5% of GDP (Ministry of Education)
📍 Enrolment Ratios
✅ Primary: 98%, Secondary: 80%, Senior Secondary: 58% (ASER report)
📍 Government Schools
✅ Enrolment: 73% in 2022 (up from 65% in 2018) (ASER report)
📍 Reading Ability
✅ Class 2 Text: 42% of children could read (down from 50% in 2018) (ASER report)
📍 School Infrastructure
✅ 88.65% of schools have electricity & drinking water
✅ 47.50% schools have computers (SDG India Index 2024)
📍 Higher Education
✅ Gross Enrolment: 28% (51% male, 49% female) (AISHE, Ministry of Education)
✅ Public vs Private: 60% public, 40% private universities (AISHE)
📍 Engineering Students
✅ 39 lakh students (29% women) in 2021-22 (AISHE)
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Around 70% of India's rural households depend on agriculture. Agritech startups and government apps like Karnataka's e-Sahamathi provide solutions such as soil testing, microfinance, and weather updates. These platforms enable farmers to share crop information and directly sell to retailers, allowing them to negotiate fair prices for their produce.
#agriculture
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Ground water use
🔆 India’s Groundwater Crisis: A Growing Concern
📍 Overuse of Resources
✅ India uses 60.5% of extractable groundwater
✅ Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan report usage over 100%
📍 Alarming Ground Reality
✅ 25% of groundwater assessment units are at risk
✅ 60% of irrigation & 85% of drinking water come from groundwater
📍 Water Quality & Security
✅ Groundwater quality is declining
✅ Water security is under serious threat due to unsustainable usage
🔆 Indian Biodiversity
✅ Four global biodiversity hotspots are located in India, making it one of the most biodiverse regions in the world.
✅ As of 2020-21, there are 981 protected areas, including 566 wildlife sanctuaries and 104 national parks.
📍Wildlife
✅ There are 3,167 tigers in India.
✅ From 2019 to 2020, environmental crimes increased by 78%. (Source: Environment of India, State of 2022)
📍Forest Conservation
✅ 30% of Indian districts are susceptible to severe forest fires (CEEW).
✅ 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from deforestation.
📍Water Resources
✅ 75% of families lack access to clean drinking water on their property. (Source: Aayog NITI)
✅ By 2030, water stress is expected to affect 70% of India’s thermal power plants.
📍 Water Pollution
✅ 8 states comprise the majority of contaminated river segments, including Maharashtra, Assam, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, West Bengal, and Karnataka.
✅ 70% of surface water in India is unsafe for human consumption. (Source: WEF)
📍Climate Change
✅ 40% of Indian districts are experiencing flooding and droughts interchangeably.
✅ India has committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2070 at the 26th COP in 2021.
#mains #environment #GS3
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🔆 Judiciary Data
📍 Total Pending Cases in Supreme Court
✅ 83,000 (34% cases less than 1 year old)
📍 Case Disposal Rate of Supreme Court
✅ 92.6%
📍 Total Pending Cases in High Courts
✅ ~ 60 lakh (75% cases more than 1 year old)
📍 High Courts Sanctioned Strength
✅ 1114, current = 968, vacancies ~ 150
📍 Total Pending Cases in District & Lower Judiciary
✅ ~ 4.5 crore (65% cases more than 1 year old)
📍 Judges to Population Ratio in India
✅ 21/million (120th Law Commission recommended 50/million)
📍 Vacancies in Judiciary as of November 2024
✅ More than 5,600 vacancies (2 in SC, 364 in HCs, 5245 in lower courts)
📍 PILs Filed Before the SC
✅ Consistently increased from 2014 (~30,000 PILs) to 2021 (~1,14,000 PILs)
#GS2 #GS4 #Ethics #essay #governance #mains
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🔆Legislature Insights/Facts
✅ 52% of newly elected MPs in 18th Lok Sabha are first timers
✅ The average age of 18th Lok Sabha is 56 years (lower than 59 of the previous Lok Sabha), 11% MPs are 40 years or younger
✅ 74 MPs (14%) elected to the 18th Lok Sabha are women (marginally lower than 2019), lower than countries like South Africa (46%), UK (35%), USA (29%)
✅ 78% of the MPs of the 18th Lok Sabha have completed at least undergraduate education
✅ 46% MPs have pending criminal cases, 31% have serious pending cases, 93% are worth over Rs 1 crore
✅ The 17th Lok Sabha (2019-24) had fewest sittings amongst all full-term Lok Sabhas till date
✅ About 31% time (17th LS) and 32% the (RS) was spent on discussions other than legislation and budgets
✅ During the 17th Lok Sabha, a total of 179 bills were passed, 58% of which were passed within two weeks on introduction, 35% of them were passed with less than an hour of discussion
✅ 729 Private member bills were introduced in the 17th LS, out of which only 2 were discussed
✅ Only 16% of bills were referred to Parliamentary Committees for detailed scrutiny during the 17th Lok Sabha
✅ 40 countries globally have laws similar to Anti Defection law wrt membership of political parties, but only 6 countries (India, Pakistan, B’desh, Guyana, Sierra Leone & Zimbabwe) have laws mandating legislators to vote according to party directions
✅ The overall success rate of defectors has declined from over 25% before 2004 to around 15% since 2009. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, 38 out of 264 defectors (14.4%) won. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, only 35 out of 205 defectors (17%) won their seats.
#IndianPolitics #LokSabha #WomenInPolitics #Legislation
🔆 India Population Facts
📍 Population Overview
✅ Total population of India ~ 1.42 billion, overtook China in 2023 to become the most populous country
✅ Composition of population:
• 0 to 14 years = 25%
• 15 to 64 years = 68%
• Above 65 = 7%
📍 Demographic Indicators
✅ Total Fertility Rate = 2 (used to be 5.7 in 1950s)
✅ Crude Death Rate = 7.4 (used to be 22 in 1950s)
✅ Average age in India = 28 (China = 38, USA = 38, Japan = 48)
📍 Youth Concentration & Migration
✅ States of Bihar, UP, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan projected to have > 50% of the country’s youth
✅ Total migrant population in India:
• 2001 = 300 million
• 2011 = 450 million
• 2021 = 600 million (estimated)
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🔆 Women & Gender Data Highlights
✅ Overall sex ratio = 1020 women for every 1000 men, sex ratios at birth abnormally low = 929/1000
✅ Increase in share of gender budget in total union budget to 6.5% in 2024
✅ Female Labour Force Participation Rate - 2023 = 37% (2018 = 23%), global average = 65%
✅ PMJDY - 55% account holders are women
✅ India ranked 129/146 in Global Gender Gap Index 2024, ranked behind neighbours like B’desh (99), China (106), Nepal (117), Sri Lanka (122), Bhutan (124)
✅ Women in India on average earn 70% of what men earn for the same job (globally = 80%)
✅ Women in Indian Parliament = 14.7% (lower than global avg of 27%)
✅ Literacy rate of women in India is 65% while that of men is 82%
✅ Women make up > 40% of STEM graduates but constitue < 15% of STEM professionals employed in R&D institutions
✅ More than 90% of women are involved in unpaid domestic services for household members (men = 27%)
✅ 57% of the women aged 15-49 are anaemic
✅ 74.10% of married women have their demand for family planning met by any modern method
✅ 210 among every 1,000 persons in managerial positions are women
✅ 55.63% Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan accounts held by women
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India has experienced a widening power deficit from 0.69% in FY20 to approximately 5% in FY24, despite significant growth in electricity generation and recent additions of renewable energy.
The UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All) scheme, launched a decade ago, has successfully reduced LED bulb prices from ₹500 to ₹70, making them widely accessible for household use.
Agri-Imports - Rising Concerns:
FY25 data:
✅Total agri-imports: $38.2 billion (an increase of 16.5% from $32.8 billion in FY24).
✅Edible oils: $17.3 billion (16.4 MMT) primarily palm oil, followed by soybean and sunflower, constituting 45.4% of agri-imports, which is excessive and unsustainable
13 out of the Top 25 in UPSC CSE 2024 are repeaters, having featured in the final recommended lists in at least one of the previous four years (2020–2023)
UPSC‑CSE 2024 Repeaters – Quick Highlights
📊 283 candidates in the 2024 final list had already cracked CSE earlier (2020‑23) – that’s ≈28 % of this year’s merit list.
🔄 166 repeaters are fresh from the 2023 batch, showing the “upgrade‑service” trend.
📅 Smaller numbers returned from 2022 (116), 2021 (35) and 2020 (24) – most officers settle once training starts.
🏆 34 repeaters landed in the Top 100 ranks this year; experience clearly boosts scores.
🕒 82 % of repeaters had just one previous appearance; only 52 showed up for the 3rd/4th time.
📈 Median rank of repeaters is 455, but they’re spread right up to Rank 3 – perseverance can pay big.
💡 Take‑away: re‑attempts are common for IAS/IFS dreams or home‑cadre goals – newcomers compete with seasoned officers, so strategy + practice matter!
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Healthy land is crucial for life, providing food, shelter, jobs, regulating climate, and supporting biodiversity.
Up to 40% of the world’s land is degraded, affecting 3.2 billion people.
Desertification and droughts are worsening, contributing to forced migration. By 2050, 216 million people will be displaced by climate change, with droughts increasing by 29% since 2000.
Desertification affects 3.2 billion people and leads to $11 trillion in losses. Immediate action is required to restore 1.5 billion hectares of land by 2030.