Important Essay topics for

IBPS PO 2019

Infinitesimal
 Topics Covered

1. Single use plastic ban.

2. Plastics : threat to marine species
3. Randomized controlled trials.
4. Terrorism in India
5. Reviving Indian Economy
6. Quantum Supremacy
7. Human trafficking
8. India and the ease of doing business.
9. Poverty to vulnerability : Rethinking social protection
10. Impact of climate change globally
11. Frequent flood and role of prolonged monsoon
12. RCEP and India
13. Indian lungs under extreme stress
 Single use plastic ban.
Single use plastics or disposable plastic are generally used only once before they are thrown away
or recycled. Single-use plastic items including plastic bags, spoons, cups, straws and bottles will be
banned with effect from October 2, 2019, on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth
anniversary. The Narendra Modi-led Union Government aims to completely eliminate the use of
single-use plastic by 2022.
India generates about 9.4 million tonnes of plastic waste each year and with no effective disposal
method, the plastic waste ends up the roadsides, in landfills and water bodies. Plastic waste
management is a global concern. Globally, around 90 percent of the plastic produced is discarded
as waste. So far, more than 60 countries have banned single-use plastic or curbed its use.
Single-use plastic alternatives
The Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had earlier asked Pepsi, Coco Cola
and other packaged drinks manufacturers to come up with an alternative packaging solution. The
Minister had convened a meeting with bottled water manufacturers and various government
departments to find a suitable alternative to single-use plastic bottles for selling drinking water to
prepare ahead for the single-use plastic ban.

The industry is aiming to produce packaging material that is recyclable with the use of high viscosity
polymer. For the packaging of milk, the industry is looking to manufacture milk pouches from
polyester filament yarn (PFY). The yarn is recyclable and can be used 45-50 times. The pouches and
bags could be sent back by the customers to their milk suppliers.

The government will be introducing penalties for violation of the single-use plastic ban. Some states
in India have already introduced a ban on sale, storage and use of single-use plastic items such as
Sikkim , Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Nagaland and Jharkhand .

Conclusion:

Since here is no viable alternative as of now for single-use plastic items and recycling of plastic is
not a permanent solution, manufacturers of single-use plastic must to look for other alternatives
that are biodegradable and thereby reducing the threat posed by Single use plastic
 Plastic: a Threat to Marine Life
Since the last few decades, plastic has become an essential part of our daily life. The reasons for
plastic being so vital include its easy availability and cheapness. But this vital ingredient of our life is
posing a threat to us in many ways. One of the reasons of plastic being a problem is - it is non-
biodegradable. Once the plastic is produced, it lingers in the environment for hundreds of years.
Without having a sustainable system for handling plastic it is thrown roadside, on landfills and on
water bodies.
Every year 13 million tonnes of plastic reaches to oceans. Every marine organism, no matter of what
size, directly or indirectly gets affected by this plastic. Many fishes and marine organisms are either
entangled or get suffocated by plastic and ultimately get drowned and subsequently die. Some of the
plastic gets converted into microparticles and gets ingested by small fishes which causes many
diseases to them. Reports suggest nearly half of the marine animals have ingested some form of
plastic in their life. Plastic in the ocean causes over 1 lakh marine animals to die every year. Many
marine animals are on the verge of extinction due to marine plastic pollution. This eventually affects
the food chain in a negative way and causes several other problems to emerge. Plastic on oceans
ultimately affects humans through seafood. When humans eat these plastic-ingested marine animals,
they are likely to get many severe diseases like cancer, infertility etc.
Conclusion:
Plastic-pollution is a human-made problem and only humans can eradicate it. We need to find a
sustainable alternative of plastic as soon as possible so that we can reduce our dependence on
plastic. More and more plastic should be recycled to reduce the production of new plastic. People
should be made aware of the harmful effects of plastic so that this pressing need to reduce plastic
pollution is addressed urgently.
Randomized control Trial [RCT]
A randomised controlled trial is an experiment that is designed to isolate the influence that a
certain intervention or variable has on an outcome or event. A social science researcher who
wants to find the effect that employing more teachers in schools has on children’s learning
outcomes, for instance, can conduct a randomised controlled trial to find the answer.
The use of randomised controlled trials as a research tool was largely limited to fields such as
biomedical sciences where the effectiveness of various drugs was gauged using this technique.
Mr. Banerjee, Ms. Duflo and Mr. Kremer, however, applied RCT to the field of economics beginning
in the 1990s. Mr. Kremer first used the technique to study the impact that free meals and books
had on learning in Kenyan schools. Mr. Banerjee and Ms. Duflo later conducted similar
experiments in India and popularised RCTs further.
RCTs allow economists and other social science researchers to isolate the individual impact that
a certain factor alone has on the overall event. For instance, to measure the impact that hiring
more teachers can have on children’s learning, researchers must control for the effect that
other factors such as intelligence, nutrition, climate, economic and social status etc., which may
also influence learning outcomes to various degrees, have on the final event.
Randomised controlled trials promise to overcome this problem through the use of randomly
picked samples. Supporters of RCTs believe that since all random samples are subject to the
same array of "confounding" factors, they are essentially identical to one another. Using these
random samples, they believe, researchers can then conduct experiments by carefully varying
appropriate variables to find out the impact of these individual variables on the final event.
Criticisms of randomised controlled trials
Choosing samples for an RCT experiment in a random manner does not really make these samples
identical in their many characteristics. Hence their outcomes will always be in question. Also it
doesn’t provide any alternative solution to particular problems.
Conclusion:
Though RCTs provide a good way to assess projects like mid-day meals and similar other, but its
usefulness being all-round is still in question.
 Terrorism in India
Terrorist groups aim to create panic amid people. They intend to see people living in constant fear and for this purpose
they carry out various big and small terrorist activities from time to time. There are around 100 terrorist cells
operating in India and they have succeeded in creating an atmosphere of tension in the country. Numerous terrorist
activities have been carried out by these terrorist groups. India has also been hit by terrorist acts done by its
neighbouring countries mainly Pakistan.
CAUSES OF TERRORISM IN INDIA
There are a number of causes of the wide spread terrorism in India. There are mainly four types of terrorism in India.
This includes Religious Terrorism, Narco- Terrorism, Left Wing Terrorism and Ethno-Nationalist Terrorism. While
terrorists belonging to different terrorist cells may have come together for different causes, the main aim of all the
terrorist cells running under them are same and that is to ensure widespread fear and panic among the general public.
EFFECTS OF TERRORISM
Terrorism has caused a widespread impact on the country.
 Every now and then there is a blast, firing or some other sort of terrorist activity in the country. Due to this,
several people die untimely and many others are left handicapped for the rest of their lives.
 People fear visiting the places that are prone to terrorist attacks. The tourism industry in India has suffered a
great deal owing to the terrorist activities carried out by different terrorist groups within the country as well as
those outside that threaten the peace of the country.
 Foreign investors think twice before investing in India and other nations prone to terrorism. This is because the
risk involved is quite high. They look for safer alternatives. Indian businesses have suffered a great deal owing to
this.
 Terrorism has had an adverse effect on India’s economy. Many Indian cities have been hit by major terrorist
attacks that have led to a loss of property and businesses. The resurrection cost involved is quite high in such
cases.
Conclusion
India has adversely been affected by terrorism. It is sad to see thousands of innocent lives gone because of terrorist
attacks. Despite the formation of anti-terrorist agencies and their high end strategies, the terrorist groups still
succeed in carrying out terrorist activities.
The Indian government’s response to terrorist attacks has never been as stern as it should be. It lacks proper
strategic response to the terrorist activities and this encourages the terrorist cells to carry out such activities
fearlessly.
 Reviving Indian Economy
India is known as world's largest growing economy. But now the economic condition of India is
stumbling. The Gross domestic product (GDP) projection by various domestic and foreign agencies
are continuously decreasing and is expected to grow around 6 percent, in the previous quarter it
grew at a mere 5 percent which was the lowest in past seven years . This economic slowdown has
its deepened its roots due to alarming unemployment, disruption of automobile sectors, NBFC crisis,
US china trade war etc.

India's economic growth majorly depend on domestic consumption from primary sector [agriculture
and rural economy]. There is a great need to focus on this sectors as it is facing the heat of slowdown
due to natural factors like erratic rainfall and climate change, and the road for revival should start
from these sectors only as they are the spinal cord of the Indian economy with around 65 percent
of the country’s population resides in rural area and is engaged in agriculture so any reform here
will result in a rapid and massive change in the economy .
On the industrial front, to improve economic growth government are taking many steps like
corporate tax cut, removal of angel tax, allowing FDI limit to 100%,merger of public sector bank,
transferring surplus amount from RBI to government. But this steps take time to show growth. So
now for further growth some new reforms should be required for economic growth it is required to
grow agricultural sector. Agriculture sector is potential enabler and employer for more than 50%
of population Government also targeted to double the farmers income by 2022 which is a good step
can be achieved by major reforms in agricultural sector.
Deindustrialization is another reason for economic slowdown.so there is immense need to promote
occupation which are less vulnerable by slowdown.
Conclusion:
At a time when India is aiming for $5 trillion economy-20% of which comes from agriculture, reforms
in the agriculture sector will prove vital.
 Quantum Supremacy
The phrase ‘quantum supremacy’ was coined in the year 2011 by John Preskill. Quantum
supremacy refers to a problem-solving process by the quantum computer that cannot be
solved by a classical computer in its normal lifetime.
The concept is related to the speed at which a quantum computer performs. Quantum
computers are different from binary digital electronic computers that are based on
transistors (a semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electronic signals and
electrical power). The common digital computing requires the data to be encoded into
binary digits (bits), each of which is always in one of two definite states (0 or 1). Quantum
computation uses quantum bits (qubits).
They operate according to two key principles of quantum physics: superposition and
entanglement
Using these two principles, qubits can act as more sophisticated switches, enabling
quantum computers to function in ways that allow them to solve difficult problems that
are unmanageable using today’s computers. According to research, the quantum
processor took 200 seconds to perform a calculation that would have been accomplished
in 10,000 years by the world’s fastest supercomputer ‘Summit’.
But while a conventional computer outputs the same answer to a problem every time you
run a calculation, the outputs of a quantum computer are probabilistic. That means it
does not always produce the same answer. So to use a quantum computer, you have to
run a calculation through the system thousands or even millions of times, and the array
of outputs converge around the answer that is most likely to be correct.
 India & ease of doing business
The World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 study, released by the World Bank last week, showed that India
improved 14 places from 77 to 63 out of 190 countries in the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) rankings. Prime
Minister Narendra Modi had set a target for India to make it into the top 50 list by 2020.
The Ease of Doing Business Rank (EODB) is a measure of an economy’s position to the best regulatory
practices. Though World Bank used to publish the ‘Doing Business’ reports from 2003, the ranking of
economies started only from 2006. The EODB study tries to capture the experience of small and mid-sized
companies in a country with their regulators, by measuring the time, costs and red tape they deal with.
The goal of the World Bank is to provide an objective basis for understanding and improving the regulatory
environment for business around the world. The Ease of Doing Business Rank is based on 10 parameters
relating to starting and doing business in a country.
Improvements that India brought in various parameters:
1. Starting a Business: India has made starting a business faster by merging the applications for the
Permanent Account Number (PAN) and the Tax Account Number (TAN), and by improving the online
application system. Mumbai also made starting a business faster by merging the applications for the
value-added tax and the profession tax.
2. Dealing with Construction Permits
3. Protecting Minority Investors
4. Making tax paying easier
5. Promoting trading across Borders
6. Enforcing Contracts by introducing the National Judicial Data Grid, which makes it possible to
generate case measurement reports on local courts.
7. Resolving Insolvency and Labor Market Regulation
Though the report acts as an indicator to understand the ease of doing business with respect to companies
in major cities, it has many shortcomings.

1. The Ease of Business Report in India does not cover Proprietary and Partnership Firms – Despite the fact
that proprietorship and partnership firms dominate the small business space, the EODB rank does not
include these types of firms – it covers only companies.

2. The Ease of Business Report in India covers only Mumbai and Delhi – The report does not take into account
the red-tapism experienced by the business firms located in tier 2 or tier 3 towns. Delhi and Mumbai cannot
be taken as an exact sample of India. Actually, it is the single-window clearance for securing building permits
in Delhi and a new online system in Mumbai brought about this quantum change in India’s rankings recently.
 Human trafficking
Human trafficking involves recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of
persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, for the purpose of
exploitation. Human Trafficking has emerged as a significant problem all across the world. The World
Day against Trafficking in Persons is observed every year on 30th July. In 2010, the UN General
Assembly adopted the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons to encourage the
international community to take action against this heinous crime.
Human trafficking is prohibited in India under Article 23 (1) of the Constitution and the Immoral Traffic
(Prevention) Act 1956 is the premier legislation to deal with this issue. The government is now
planning to reintroduce a comprehensive bill to check human trafficking. The Trafficking in Persons
(Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018 was passed by the Lok Sabha in 2018 but lapsed
after dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha. The most affected state presently is West Bengal followed by
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Assam. The trafficking of children for forced labour, for all kinds of
domestic work and trafficking of women for sexual exploitation is the heaviest in these areas.
Relevant Laws in India
Article 23 and 24 of the Constitution of India.
25 sections in IPC such as 366A, 366B, 370 and 374.
Section 370 and 370A of Indian Penal Code (IPC) provide for comprehensive measures to counter
the menace of human trafficking including trafficking of children for exploitation in any form
including physical exploitation or any form of sexual exploitation, slavery, servitude, or the forced
removal of organs.
The Juvenile Justice Act and the Information Technology (IT) Act and also the Immoral Traffic Act,
Prevention of Child Labour Act, the Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act, among others.
The menace of human trafficking is huge, and there is a need to not just prevent such crimes but also
ensure that the relief and rehabilitation process takes place in a smooth manner. Policies further
need to be improvised and appropriate actions should be taken by various agencies and stakeholders.
The right to be protected against human trafficking is a constitutional right. This right needs to be
protected to provide a dignified life to every child, every man and every woman in the country.
 Poverty to vulnerability : Rethinking social protection
After independence, Now India has come out of a prolonged period of poor. But there is a need for
social protection that could prevent from Poverty. In India, Half of the Majority is vulnerable. For
Vulnerable section of the country, there is a need to prevent from going to touch the Poverty line.
"Poverty to vulnerability" implies that a vulnerable section which is close to the Poverty line and
remains vulnerable to slipping back. A safe and well-paid job is the best protection against economic
hurdles. But when this ideal situation is not possible, social protection Programs help people become
more flexible to risk. There are diverse ideas regarding Social protection. Typically, a pervasive
social protection system requires three types of instruments to work together.
First, "Promotional Instruments", enhance the ability of families by investing to develop productivity,
access to job opportunity and incomes through human capital infrastructure, wage legislation, labor
policies, skill training and livelihood interventions(to improve economic and psychosocial well-being).
Second, "Preventive instruments" aim to reduce the impacts of jerks. In this, households use their
savings from a good time to tackle losses in a tough time. This is mainly done through social
programs. Third, "Protective instruments" mitigate the impacts of flicks by compensating by non-
poor to poor whether in kind or cash.
In low-income states, anti-poverty programs such as PDS or MGNREGS, if implemented well, can
serve twin goals of protection and prevention by ensuring India’s vulnerable don’t become poor, and
that the poor live with dignity during times of drought or food price inflation. Recent policies have
taken steps in the right direction. The boost in crop insurance, new pension plans for the elderly, the
rise in contributory pensions for those who have the wherewithal to save, and larger coverage of
health insurance programs will help India re-balance its social protection architecture to match the
needs of the rising numbers of its vulnerable people.
 Impact of climate change globally
“We have to wake up to the fierce urgency of the now” -Jim Yong Kim, president of World
bank

Climate change is the biggest threat in this era that we face and it is a global challenge that
has no borders.
Many people do not know what it really amounts to, either due to unreliable sources or
deliberate misinformation, which has led to a series of myths about climate change. First,we
need to clarify two concepts that are global warming and climate change. The difference
between them is global warming is cause and climate change is effect. The main cause of
climate change is global warming which is caused by green-house gas effect by which the
atmosphere retains some of the sun’s heat without green-house gas the earth’s temperature
would be -20 degree. The main problem here is human activities maximize the greenhouse
gases and make the earth warmer. Except greenhouse gases deforestation, population
increase, decrease of marine eco systems also cause global warming.
When we are going to think about impact the recent accident of amazon rainforest burning
knocks us.
The worst climate change impacts include the melting of the ice mass at the poles, which in
turn causes rising sea level, producing flooding and threatening coastal environments
through which small island states risk disappearing entirely. It also increases drought, fire,
death of animals, floods and destructs the food chain and economic resources. The most
observed and expected impacts of climate change are desertification, melting of the poles
and rising of sea level, acidification of the ocean, extinction of species, coral reef bleeching
,devastation of mangroves and massive migrations. we should think about the Number 13 goal
of SDG that is climate action and we have to mitigate the greenhouse gases emissions in
order to contribute the progress of society and bring the ecosystem as earlier.
If a mentally depressed girl can protest against it then we, the normal human being should
raise our hand and have to do whatever is good to allay the earth from becoming warmer.
Frequent flood and role of prolonged monsoon
Monsoon season gives relief to people from chilling heat. It is a season when the sight around us is filled
with greeneries, which provides a scenic experience to our eyes. That is the reason why people await it
for months. Monsoon in India ranges from the month of June to the month of September. But when it
elongates further, it creates chaos and subsequently causes irreparable damage to human livelihood.

The year 2019 witnessed the same incident. This year average rainfall recorded during monsoon was
37% higher than usual. It was the heaviest monsoon recorded in the last 25 years. More than 1600 people
died due to heavy rainfall and floods followed by it. When there is prolonged monsoon, water reservoirs
are proved to be incapable of handling that much of water and subsequently the excess water is trapped
into residential areas and farms. Choked drainage system furthers adds to the problem and condition
becomes more severe. This water when reaches households, affects the livelihood of people. Many people
are forced to evacuate their house. This raises a question on their survival.
The damage that floods cause to public and private properties is another loss. Crops also get destroyed
by these floods and subsequently the price of many food items increases, which causes another financial
loss.
Floods caused by heavy monsoon is partially a man-made problem. If we want not to witness such natural
catastrophe frequently, we need to take a few measures. More and more trees should be planted so that
they can control the flow of water, catch and store it under the ground. Drainage system should be
revitalised well before the rainy season. Although natural catastrophe, like floods, can not be forestalled,
our preparedness can reduce the loss caused by it to a significant level.
 RCEP and India
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA)
between the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
(Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam)
and its five (formerly six) FTA partners (China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand).
India, the sixth FTA partner recently decided to opt out of the pact.
Reasons for backing out:
 The strength of the Chinese economy in the RCEP grouping and its desperate need to find newer
markets for its products in the backdrop of its trade dispute with the U.S raised fears of it
dumping its products into India. This could be devastating for the local producers.
 India runs a massive bilateral trade deficit of $53 billion with China and the fact that China has
not taken satisfactory efforts to whittle down the deficit.
 India’s experience with countries with which it has signed free trade agreements till now has
not been beneficial for India. Though trade has increased post-FTA with South Korea, ASEAN
and Japan, imports have risen faster than exports from India.
 According to a paper published by NITI Aayog, India has a bilateral trade deficit with most of
the member countries of RCEP. More importantly, while exports to RCEP countries account for
just 15% of India’s total exports, imports from RCEP countries make up 35% of the country’s
total imports. Being a part of RCEP would lead to an adverse current account deficit. The
country had more to lose than gain from joining RCEP.

India cannot miss out on being a part of global supply chains, recognizing the need for sustainable
growth. Globalization seems a good path to take and for this tariff barriers are to be reduced. The
best way to balance the effect of rising imports is by promoting exports. Instituting structural
reforms at home and empowering the domestic manufacturers can help them compete with the other
RCEP members should India decide on joining RCEP in the future.

There is a need to initiate reforms on the export front, bring down logistic costs in the economy and,
simultaneously, increase efficiencies to decrease the cost of production to make Indian products
competitive in the international markets.
Indian lungs under extreme stress
National Health Profile 2019 has been released by the ministry of health and family welfare. It is the
14th edition of the National Health Profile.

The National Health Profile-2019 points out that Acute respiratory infections (ARI) accounted for
69.47% of morbidity in 2018, which was the highest in the communicable disease category, leading
to 27.21% mortality. Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West
Bengal reported a large number of patients and fatalities due to ARI.

Concerns:

 According to the World Health Organization, ARI is a serious ailment that prevents normal
breathing function and kills an estimated 2.6 million children annually every year worldwide.
 Indians face the double burden of heavy air pollution in addition to the high rate of ARI which
hits children the hardest.
 When polluted air is inhaled, particles and pollutants penetrate and inflame the linings of your
bronchial tubes and lungs leading to respiratory illness such as chronic bronchitis,
emphysema, heart disease, asthma, wheezing, coughing and difficulty in breathing.
 When pregnant women are exposed to polluted air, it increases the risk of pre-term delivery
and low birth weight, factors that can lead to developmental disabilities later on.
 Children are particularly susceptible as they breathe through their mouths, bypassing the
filtering effects of the nasal passages and allowing pollutants to travel deeper into the lungs.

ARI has came out as a major threat to health and thereby reducing mortality rate. The
government must roll out initiatives to ban various factors promoting ARI.
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