GENERAL STUDIES– IV
ECONOMY AND PLANNING, ECONOMICS OF DEVELOPMENT AND AGRICULTURE, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
Standard: Degree.
Total Marks: 150
Nature of Paper: Objective Type. Duration: 2 Hours
Note:
1) The Nature and standard of questions in the paper will be such that a well educated person will be able to answer without any specialised study and its intention is to test candidate’s general awareness of a variety of subjects.
2) It is expected from candidates to study the latest and recent developments and happenings pertaining to topics/sub topics mentioned below.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
1. ECONOMY AND PLANNING
1.1 Indian Economy – Challenges in Indian Economy – Poverty, Unemployment and Regional Imbalances. Planning: Process – Types – Review of India’s First to Tenth Five year Plans. Evaluation. Social and Economic Indicators of Development. State and Local Level Planning. Decentralisation -73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments.
1.2 Urban and Rural Infrastructure Development: Need and Significance. Growth and Development of Social and economic infrastructure such as Energy, Water supply and sanitation, Housing, Transport (Road, Ports etc.), Communications (Post and Telegraphs, Telecommunication), Network of Radio, TV, Internet. Crises, problems related to Infrastructure in India. Policy alternatives- Public-Private Sector Partnership (PPP). FDI and Infrastructure Development– Privatisation of infrastructure development. Centre and State Government Policies for Infrastructure Development. Transport and Housing (Urban and Rural). Problems – Centre and State Government initiatives and programmes. BOLT and BOT schemes.
1.3 Industry: Need – importance and role of industries in economic and social development, Growth Pattern, Structure of Large-scale Industries in India with special reference to Maharashtra. Small scale,Cottage and Village industries, their problems and prospects. Impact of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation on SSIs. Maharashtra’s Policy, measures and programmes for development, promotion and monitoring of SSIs. Export Potential of Small scale and cottage industries. SEZs, SPVs.
1.4 Co-operation: Concept, Meaning, Objectives, Old and new principles of co-operation. Growth and diversification of co-operative movement in India. Co-operative institution in Maharashtra – types, role, importance and diversification. State policy and Co-operative sector – Legislation, Supervision, Audit and Aid. Problems of Co-operatives in Maharashtra. Prospects of Cooperatives in the era of global competition. Review, reforms and prospects of cooperative movement in Maharashtra – Alternative policy initiatives in agricultural marketing- Employment Guarantee Scheme.
1.5 Economic reforms: Background, Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation – (concept, meaning, scope and limitations). Economic Reforms at Centre and State Level. WTO Regime – Provisions and its implications and impact on Indian Economy, issues and problems.
1.6 International Trade and International Capital Movements: Emerging Trends in era of globalisation. Growth, Composition and Direction of India’s Foreign Trade. Foreign trade policy of India – Export Promotion. WTO and International Trade. Foreign Capital Inflows – Composition and Growth – FDI. e- Commerce. Role of Multinationals – International Financing Agencies – (IMF, World Bank and IDA). International Credit Ratings.
1.7 Measurement and estimate of poverty – Poverty line: concept and facts, BPL, poverty eradication measures – fertility, nuptiality, mortality and morbidity in India – gender empowerment policies.
1.8 Factors determining employment – measures of unemployment – relation between income, poverty and employment – issues of distributional and social justice.
1.9 Economy of Maharashtra: salient features of agriculture, industry and service sectors – drought management in Maharashtra – FDI in Maharashtra.
2. ECONOMICS OF DEVELOPMENT AND AGRICULTURE
2.1 Macro Economics: Methods of national income accounting. Functions of money – base money -high- power money – quantity theory of money – money multiplier. Monetary and non-monetary theories of inflation – control of inflation: monetary, fiscal and direct measures.
2.2 Public Finance and Financial Institutions: Role of public finance in market economy – Criteria for public investment. Merit goods and public goods- sources of revenue and expenditure (Centre and State) -forms of taxes and subsidies and their incidence and effects.- tax, non-tax and public debt of Centre and States in India. Public Expenditure (Centre and States) – Growth and causes. Public Expenditure Reform – Performance Based Budgeting and Zero Based Budgeting. Zero-base budgeting – types of budget deficits – internal and external borrowings. Review of Tax Reforms at national and State level. VAT. Public debt – Growth, Composition and Burden. Problem of States’ Indebtedness to Centre. Fiscal Deficits – Concepts, Control of Deficits – Centre, State and RBI Initiatives. Fiscal Reforms in India – Review at Centre and State Level. Financial sector reforms – new trends in banking – real and nominal interest rates – repo and reverse repo transactions.
2.3 Growth, Development and International Economics:
(1) Indicators of development- sustainable development- development and environment – Green GDP.
(2) Factors of economic development: natural resource, population, human capital, infrastructure – theory of demographic transition- Human development index – human poverty index – gender empowerment measure
(3) Role of foreign capital and technology in growth – multi-national corporations.
(4) International trade as an engine of growth – theories of international trade
(5) IMF-IBRD-WTO – Regional Trade Agreements – SAARC – ASEAN.
2.4 Indian Agriculture, Rural Development and Cooperation:
(1) Role of agriculture in economic development – interrelationship between agriculture, industry and services sectors – contract farming – precision farming – corporate farming – organic farming.
(2) Size of land holding and productivity – Green Revolution and technological change – agricultural prices and terms of trade – farm subsidies–Public Distribution System – food security.
(3) Regional disparities in agricultural growth in India–agri-business and global marketing – agricultural credit in India.
(4) Sources of irrigation and water management – live-stock resource and their productivity – White Revolution, fisheries, poultry, forestry, horticulture and floriculture development in India and Maharashtra.
(5) Strategies of rural development during the plan period-rural infrastructure (social and economic)
(6) W.T.O. and agriculture – Farmer’s and Breeder’s Rights – biodiversity – GM technology. Implications of GATT (WTO) agreement in agricultural marketing.
(7) Marketing and pricing of agricultural inputs and outputs, price fluctuations and their cost, role of co-operatives in agricultural economy.
2.5 Agriculture:
(1) Importance of Agriculture in National Economy – Causes of low productivity – Government policies, schemes and programmes for agriculture production and developments such as land reforms and land utilisation, soil and water conservation, rainfed farming, Irrigation and its methods, Mechanization of Agriculture. Role of ICAR, MCAER.
(2) Problem of rural indebtedness, Agriculture credit- need, importance and Financial Institutions involved therein. NABARD and Bhu-Vikas Bank. Agriculture pricing- components, factors affecting prices of various Agriculture produces – Govt. support prices of various agriculture produces, Subsidies. Agriculture Marketing – present status, Value added products. Role of Govt and its institutes in agriculture marketing. (APC, APMC, etc.)
2.6 Food and Nutrition: Trends in Food production and consumption in India, First and ensuing second Green Revolutions, Self-sufficiency in food, Problem of food security, Problems and issues of storage, procurement, distribution, import and export of food. Calorific value of foods and its measurement, Energy and nutrient needs of human body for better health and balanced diet – common nutritional problems in India and its causes and effects, Govt. Policies, schemes, programs such as PDS, Food for work, Mid- day Meal Scheme and other nutritional programs. Proposed Food Security Act.
2.7 Indian Industry, Infrastructure and Services Sector:
(1) Trends, composition and growth of industries, infrastructure and services sector in India – role of public, private and cooperative sectors in India – small and cottage industries. BPO.
(2) Liberalisation and its effects on Indian industries – industrial sickness.
3. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS
3.1 Energy: Conventional and non-conventional energy sources – Potential of Solar, Wind, Biogas, Biomass, Geothermal and other renewable energy sources. Introduction to solar gadgets viz solar cooker, water heater etc. Biogas- principle, and process. Problems of Energy Crises, Govt. Policies and programs for power generation. Nuclear Power Program, Thermal Power Program, Hydroelectric Power program, Power distribution and National Grid. Agencies and Institutions engaged in Energy security, Research and development.
3.2 Computer and Information Technology: Role of computer in modern society, its applications in various spheres of life such as data communication, networking and web technologies, Cyber crime and its prevention. Use of I.T. in various services, Govt. programs such as Media Lab Asia, Vidya Vahini, Gyan Vahini, Community Information Centre etc. Major issues in IT industry – its prospects.
3.3 Space Technology: Indian space programmes, Indian Artificial satellites for telecommunication, television, education, broadcasting, weather forecasting, GPS, disaster warning. Indian missile program etc., Remote sensing, GIS and its application in weather forecasting, Disaster warning, water, soil, mineral resources development, agriculture and fisheries development, urban planning, ecological studies, GS and GIS.
3.4 Biotechnology: Its potential to improve human life and national economy through agricultural, industrial development and employment generation. Biotechnology as an essential and important tool of natural resource development. Areas of application – Agriculture, Animal breeding and Veterinary health-care, Pharmaceutics, Human healthcare, Food technology, energy generation, environment protection etc. Role and efforts of government in promoting, regulating and developing biotechnology in country. Ethical, Social, Legal issues related to biotechnological development, possible adverse effects of biotechnological development. Seed technology, its importance. Quality of seed. Different kinds of seeds and their seed production and processing techniques. BT cotton, BT brinjal, etc.
3.5 Nuclear Policy of India: Salient features. Nuclear Power as source of energy and its significance as clean energy. Problems of nuclear waste. Nuclear thermal power generation in India, its contribution to total power generation. Determinants of Nuclear Tests: Pokhran I (1974) and Pokhran II (1998). Recent Trends in Nuclear Policy such as NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) and CTBT (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty). INDO-US Nuclear Treaty of 2009.
3.6 Disaster Management: Definition, nature, types and classification of disasters, Natural Hazards: Causative factors and mitigation measures. Floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, etc., Factors affecting mitigation measures- Case studies of major earthquakes and tsunamis such as Killari (1993), Bhuj (2001), Sikkim-Nepal (2011) earthquakes, Banda Ache (2004) (Sumatra), Fukushima (2011) (Japan) earthquakes and Tsunami. Maharashtra: Mumbai floods of 2005. December 1993, June 2006, November 2009, July 2011 bomb blasts and terrorist attacks, their impact.