DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS IAS | UPSC Prelims and Mains Exam – 1st February 2025

Syllabus:

• Prelims & Mains – ECONOMY

Context: The Economic Survey for 2024-25 was tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Friday. 

Background: –

• The Survey is a report of the state of the Indian economy in the financial year that is coming to a close. It is prepared by the Department of Economic Affairs in the Union Finance Ministry, under the guidance of the Chief Economic Advisor (CEA).

Key takeaways from Economic Survey

• Real Gross Domestic Product, which maps economic activity from the demand side of the economy, in the current financial year (FY25) is pegged at 6.4%; in the coming year (FY26), the Survey expects it to lie between 6.3% and 6.8%.
• The goal of a ‘Viksit Bharat’ in the 100th year of Independence, the Survey’s authors emphasised, will require about 8% growth for at least a decade — with the investment rate rising from the current rate of 31% of GDP to 35% of GDP.
• The survey noted that while the labour share of GVA (gross value added) shows a slight uptick, the disproportionate rise in corporate profits — predominantly among large firms — raises concern about income inequality. A higher profit share and stagnant wage growth risk are slowing the economy by curbing demand.
• The Economic Survey warns that excessive financialisation, driven by rising household savings in the stock market and increased retail investor participation, could harm the economy, especially in a low-middle-income country like India. 
• It highlights the risk of financial markets dominating policy decisions, making economic growth overly dependent on asset price inflation and leverage, which could widen inequality and unduly influence regulatory policies.
• India’s equity market has rapidly grown particularly after the pandemic, but its debt market remains undercapitalised, according to the Economic Survey.
• Corporate bond issuances in India for the period April to December 2024 rose to 7.3 lakh crore rupees. Still, the size of India’s corporate bond market stands at just 18% of the country’s total GDP as against 80% in Korea and 36% in China, the Survey noted. A majority of these funds were gathered by firms through private placements, thus deterring the participation of retail investors.
• India will need to focus on indigenisation of technology and raw materials as an “urgent task” to achieve the transition to electric mobility, even as the global automobile industry looks to reduce its dependence on China, the Economic Survey said.
• Pointing towards a decrease in regular jobs, the Survey found that the proportion of self-employed workers in the workforce has risen from 52.2% in 2017-18 to 58.4% in 2023-24. This shift reflects growing entrepreneurial activity and a preference for flexible work arrangements, the Survey claimed.
• It added that the agriculture sector still remains dominant in employment, with its share rising from 44.1% in 2017-18 to 46.1% in 2023-24. The share of workers (male and female) in regular or salaried jobs decreased from 22.8% to 21.7% during the same period. The decline in casual workers, from 24.9% to 19.8%, also indicates a shift toward more structured forms of self-employment.
• Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs) that employ 23.24 crore people in the country continue to face challenges in the regulatory environment, the Survey noted. Regulatory compliance burden holds back formalisation and labour productivity, limits employment growth, chokes innovation and depresses growth, it said.
• There is an observed tendency for MSMEs in India to remain small. So, they lose access to capital, talent, and technology infusion and often operate outside the formal supply chains. This creates a parallel, informal economy, the Survey noted. The logic for staying small often is to remain under the regulatory radar and steer clear of the rules and labour and safety laws.
• Overexposure to social media, lack of exercise, not spending enough time with one’s family and overwork (hours exceeding 55-60 per week) have all worsened mental well-being among Indians, said the Economic Survey 2024-25.
• Establishing a link between good mental health and clean eating habits, the Survey noted that individuals who rarely consume ultra-processed or packaged junk food have better mental well-being than those who regularly do so.

Source: The Hindu

Syllabus:

• Prelims – HISTORY

Context: On January 30, 1948, at exactly 5.17 pm, Nathuram Godse fired three shots at Mahatma Gandhi from his Beretta M1934. The Mahatma died on the spot.

Background: –

• During his trial, Godse tried to take sole responsibility for the crime. But his arguments were rejected.

Key takeaways

• A Bench of the Punjab High Court in Shimla in 1949 upheld the convictions and sentences of five people for the larger conspiracy: Godse, his younger brother Gopal, Narayan Apte, Vishnu Karkare, and Madanlal Pahwa.
• Apart from these five convicts, the other accused were Savarkar, Shankar Kistayya, and Dattatraya Parchure. Digambar Badge confessed to his role in the conspiracy and became an approver in return for a pardon.

The conspiracy

• Godse and Apte conceived of the plan to kill Gandhi in December 1947. The duo left Poona for Bombay on January 13. The same day, Badge, accompanied by his servant, Shankar Kistayya, also left for Bombay with a bag containing two gun-cotton slabs and four hand-grenades.
• Godse, Apte, and Badge were joined in Bombay by Pahwa and Karkare at the Hindu Mahasabha office, where the plan was chalked out. After some money was raised for the project — ostensibly to help Hindus in Hyderabad — Godse and Apte travelled to Delhi by plane. They stayed at the Marina hotel till January 20. The rest of the conspirators too arrived in Delhi by January 19.
• In the morning of January 20, Apte, Karkare, Badge and Shankar reconnoitered Birla House, where Gandhi was staying. The first attempt to kill Gandhi was made on January 20. The plan was to throw a grenade to disperse the crowd — and then throw another at Gandhi. However, Badge lost his courage and the second grenade was never thrown. Pahwa was arrested and interrogated by the police. The plan had failed.
• Subsequently, Godse decided to kill Gandhi himself. On January 30, as the Mahatma was on his way to give his evening sermon, Nathuram walked up to him and shot him dead. Apte was by his side. Godse was apprehended immediately, while Apte would be picked up from Bombay a few weeks later.
• Both Godse and Apte were hanged in 1949. The rest of the conspirators were handed prison sentences of varying lengths.

Source: Indian Express

Syllabus:

• Prelims & Mains – SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Context: The Indian government is set to issue a notice to procure more graphics processing units (GPUs) under the IndiaAI Mission. 

Background:

• As of now, the government has procured nearly 19,000 GPUs under the IndiaAI Mission, and intends to make them available for startups and researchers on a portal at subsidised rates.

Key takeaways

What is a GPU?

• A Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. 
• GPUs are highly efficient at handling multiple tasks simultaneously, making them ideal for rendering graphics, video processing, and, more recently, accelerating computational tasks in fields like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and scientific computing.

What is a CPU?

• A Central Processing Unit (CPU), often referred to as the “brain” of the computer, is a general-purpose processor designed to handle a wide variety of tasks. CPUs are optimized for sequential processing. They are responsible for managing the overall operation of a computer, including running the operating system, applications, and other system functions.

Differences Between GPUs and CPUs

• Architecture:
  • CPU: CPUs have a few cores (e.g., 4, 8, 16) optimized for sequential serial processing. Each core is designed to handle complex tasks with high efficiency.
  • GPU: GPUs have thousands of smaller cores designed for parallel processing. These cores are optimized for handling multiple tasks simultaneously, making GPUs highly efficient for tasks that can be broken down into smaller, parallelizable operations.
• Use Cases:
  • CPU: General-purpose computing, running operating systems, applications, and tasks that require complex decision-making and low latency.
  • GPU: Graphics rendering, video processing, scientific simulations, and, importantly, AI and machine learning tasks that involve large-scale matrix operations and parallel processing.

Why GPUs are Important for AI

• Parallel Processing: AI and machine learning algorithms, particularly those involving deep learning, require the processing of vast amounts of data. These algorithms often involve matrix multiplications and other operations that can be parallelized. GPUs, with their thousands of cores, can perform these operations much faster than CPUs.
• Handling Large Datasets: AI models often require large datasets for training. GPUs can process and manipulate these large datasets more efficiently than CPUs, enabling faster data preprocessing, augmentation, and feeding into the model.
• Real-Time Inference: In applications like autonomous driving, real-time object detection, and natural language processing, GPUs enable real-time inference by quickly processing input data through trained models. This is crucial for applications where latency is a critical factor.
• Scalability: Modern AI workloads often require scalable solutions. GPUs can be used in clusters (e.g., in data centers) to provide the necessary computational power for large-scale AI training and inference tasks.
• Specialized Libraries and Frameworks: Many AI frameworks and libraries, such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, and CUDA, are optimized to take advantage of GPU acceleration. These tools provide APIs that allow developers to easily offload computations to the GPU, making it easier to develop and deploy AI models.

Source: Moneycontrol

Syllabus:

• Prelims – GEOGRAPHY

Context: Two young women officers of the Indian Navy recently crossed the Point Nemo, as a part of their efforts to circumnavigate the globe in a sailboat.

Background: –

• A Spanish research vessel Hespérides in 1999 had become the first ship to sail to Point Nemo, but not many vessels passed through the point since then. The INSV Tarini passed through the point purely on sails.

Key takeaways

• Point Nemo is the most remote location in the world’s oceans, also called the Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility.
• It is situated in the South Pacific Ocean, 2,688 km (1,450 nautical miles) from the nearest land.
• Closest Humans: Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS), orbiting at ~400 km above Earth, are often the closest humans to Point Nemo.
• Spacecraft Cemetery:
  • Used as a dumping ground for decommissioned spacecraft, including Russian, American, and European satellites.
  • The Mir Space Station and parts of the International Space Station are planned to be deorbited here.
• Extreme Isolation:
  • It lies within the South Pacific Gyre, a vast ocean current that blocks nutrient-rich waters.
  • As a result, marine life is scarce, and it is one of the least biologically active regions of the ocean.

Source: Deccan Herald

Syllabus:

• Prelims – GEOGRAPHY

Context: Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian bombers flew over international waters around the country.

Background: –

• Russia’s Defense Ministry said that two long-range bombers flew over international waters in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk.

Key takeaways

• The Sea of Okhotsk is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, located between Russia and Japan.
• It is bordered by:
  • The Kamchatka Peninsula to the east
  • The Kuril Islands to the southeast
  • The Sakhalin Island to the west
  • The Siberian coast to the northwest
  • The Hokkaido Island (Japan) to the south
• The sea remains frozen for nearly six months a year, from November to May, due to extreme cold in Siberia.
• It is one of the world’s iciest seas, significantly affecting navigation and fishing activities.
• Rich in Marine Resources: Supports fishing industries of Russia and Japan, with abundant salmon, herring, and crab.
• Energy Reserves: Contains oil and natural gas fields.
• Disputes exist between Russia and Japan over the Kuril Islands, which affect territorial claims in the Sea of Okhotsk.

Source: The Hindu

Q1.) Which of the following statements about Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) is correct?

(a) GPUs are primarily designed for general-purpose computing rather than parallel processing.

(b) GPUs have limited applications beyond gaming and graphic rendering.

(c) GPUs are increasingly used in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and high-performance computing.

(d) GPUs operate independently of the Central Processing Unit (CPU) in computing devices.

Q2.) The Sea of Okhotsk is an important water body located in which of the following regions?

(a) Between Japan and the Philippines

(b) Between Russia and Alaska

(c) Between Russia and Japan

(d) Between China and North Korea

Q3.) Point Nemo, often referred to as the “oceanic pole of inaccessibility,” is known for:

(a) Being the deepest point in the Pacific Ocean

(b) Its proximity to space debris re-entry zones

(c) Being the closest landmass to Antarctica

(d) Hosting the world’s largest underwater volcanic chain

Comment the answers to the above questions in the comment section below!!

ANSWERS FOR ’  Today’s – Daily Practice MCQs’ will be updated along with tomorrow’s Daily Current Affairs

Q.1) – b

Q.2) – b

Q.3) – b