DEFINITIONS

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 DEFINITIONS

ECONOMY
1. Gig Economy: It is an economic model wherein the firms hire workers on a part-time
flexible basis rather than as full time employees. The workers work as freelancers and
generally have flexible and adaptable working hours based on individual preferences.
2. Informal Economy: It represents enterprises that are not registered, where employers do not
provide social security to employees.
3. E-Agriculture: It refers to designing, developing and applying innovative ways to ICT with
focus on agriculture and food including fisheries, forestry and livestock.
4. Monetization of deficit: It refers to monetary support by RBI extending to centre as part of
government’s borrowing programme i.e. central bank directly purchasing government bonds
in primary market providing the government with money which will then fund the deficit.
5. Social mobility: It refers to transition of people, including families and other social units,
between the socio-economic strata within their lifetime.
6. Public finance: Public finance is the management of a country's revenue, expenditures, and
debt through various Government, quasi-government institutions, policies, and tools.
7. GM Crops: Plants in which DNA is modified using genetic engineering methods. Currently,
Bt cotton is the only GM crop legally permissible to be grown in India.
8. Bilateral netting: Bilateral netting is the process of consolidating all swap agreements
between two parties into one single, or master, agreement.
9. Social stock exchange: It is a platform that helps organizations working for social welfare to
raise capital via debt, equity and mutual funds. The idea of SSE was mooted in the Union
Budget 2019-20.
10. Contract Farming: Agreement between farmers and processing/marketing firms for
production and supply of agricultural products under forward agreements, frequently at
predetermined prices.
Priority sector lending (PSL): Priority Sector refers to those sectors which are consider as
important for the development of the basic needs of the country and they may not get timely
and adequate credit and priority lending to those sectors is called PSL.
11. Global Value chain: It is the international production sharing, where production is broken
into functional activities carried out in different countries.
12. Financial Inclusion: It means that individuals and businesses have access to useful and
affordable financial products and services that meet their needs – transactions, payments,
savings, credit and insurance – delivered in a responsible and sustainable way.
13. Inclusive Growth: As per OECD, inclusive growth is economic growth that is distributed
fairly across society and creates opportunities for all. It includes providing equality of
opportunity, empowering people through education and skill development.

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 DEFINITIONS

14. Irrigation: It is the artificial process of applying controlled amounts of water to land to assist
in production of crops.
15. Agriculture Subsidies: It is an incentive paid to agribusinesses and farms to supplement their
income and influence cost and supply of such commodities.
16. Public Distribution System: PDS evolved as a system of management of scarcity through
distribution of foodgrains at affordable prices. It is the public rationing system of India which
is administered by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution.
17. Agricultural Marketing: It comprises all operations involved in the movement of farm
produce from the producer to the ultimate consumer. It includes operations such as collecting,
grading, processing, preserving, transportation and financing.
18. Food Processing: It is mainly defined as a process of value addition to the agricultural or
horticultural produce by various methods such as grading, sorting and packaging.
19. Organic Farming: It is a system of farm design and management to create an ecosystem of
agriculture production without the use of synthetic external inputs such as chemical fertilisers,
pesticides and synthetic hormones or genetically modified organisms.
20. Minimum Support Price: It is the rate at which the government purchases crops from farmers,
and is based on a calculation of at least one-and-a-half times the cost of production incurred
by the farmers.
21. Buffer Stock: Buffer stocks refer to a pool of certain commodities like Rice, Wheat, etc which
are maintained to provide food security and tackle unforeseen emergencies like drought,
famine, wars, etc.
22. Gender Budgeting: It means preparing budgets from gender perspective. It aims at dealing
with budgetary gender issues including gender hierarchies and gender pay gap.
23. Disinvestment: The process of dilution of a government’s stake in a Public Sector
Undertaking is disinvestment. It allows the transferring of the government’s enormous public
debt of PSU to the private sector.
24. Universal Basic Income: UBI is a sum of money provided by the State to all citizens to take
care of the bare necessities of life. This provides a “safety net preventing any citizen” from
sinking below a basic minimum standard of living
25. Corporate Social Responsibility: It is referred as a corporate initiative to assess and take
responsibility for the company's effects on the environment and impact on social welfare and
to promote positive social and environmental change.
26. Demographic Dividend: Demographic dividend means, the economic growth potential that
can result from shifts in a population’s age structure. India has one of the youngest populations
(62.5% of its population in the age group 15-59) in an aging world.
27. Digital Divide: It is the gap that exists between individuals who have access to modern ICT
and those who lack access. It also means discrepancy between those who have the skills,
knowledge and abilities to use the technologies and those who do not.

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 DEFINITIONS

28. Globalisation: Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people,
companies, and governments of different nations, driven by international trade and investment
and aided by information technology.

29. Zero Based Budgeting: It refers to planning and preparing the Budget right from the basic (zero
base). The process involves review of the expenditures incurred by every department each year.
It considers current expectations. On the basis of this, expenditures are allocated and revenues are
estimated for the next period.

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30. Capitalism: A system of generalized commodity production in which wealth is owned
privately and economic life is organized according to market principles.

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31. Free trade: Free trade occurs when goods and services can be bought and sold between
countries or sub-national regions without tariffs, quotas or other restrictions being applied.

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32. Deflation: A reduction in the general level of prices, linked to a reduction in the level of

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economic activity in the economy. Deflation slows down economic growth. It normally takes
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place during times of economic uncertainty when the demand for goods and services is lower,
along with higher levels of unemployment.
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33. Devaluation: A reduction in the value of a currency relative to other currencies.
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34. Information society: A society in which the crucial resource is knowledge/information, its
primary dynamic force being the process of technological development and diffusion.
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35. Resource curse/Paradox of Plenty: It is the phenomenon of countries with an abundance of

natural resources having less economic growth, less democracy, or worse development
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outcomes than countries with fewer natural resources.

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36. Microfinance: It is a form of financial service which provides small loans and other financial
services to poor and low-income households. In India, all loans that are below Rs. 1 lakh
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can be considered as microloans.

37. Protectionism: The use of tariffs, quotas and other measures to restrict imports, supposedly
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to protect domestic industries.

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38. Balance of payments: It is a systematic record of economic transactions made by residents of

a country with other country in a specific time frame. Its objective is to assess international
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economic position of a country to help government make decisions on monetary and fiscal
policies on one hand, and trade policies on the other.

39. Non-tariff barriers: Rules, regulations or practices that hinder imports through, for instance,
the procurement policies of governments, systematic border delays, or complex health and
national standards.

40. Most favoured nation (MFN): It is a treatment accorded to a trade partner to ensure non-
discriminatory trade between two countries vis-a-vis other trade partners. Under WTO rules,
if a country grants someone a special favour such as lower customs duty rate for one of their
products, it must do the same for all other WTO members.

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 DEFINITIONS
41. Trickle down: The theory that the introduction of free-market policies will, in time, benefit the poor
and not only the rich through an increase in economic growth and a general rise in living standards.
42. Import substitution: It is a strategy under trade policy that abolishes the import of foreign
products and encourages production in the domestic market. Its purpose is to change the
economic structure of the country by replacing foreign goods with domestic goods.
43. Debt crisis: A situation in which a country is unable to service its debts because economic
surpluses are insufficient to meet interest repayments.
44. Fair trade: Trade that satisfies moral, and not merely economic, criteria, related to alleviating
poverty and respecting the interests of sellers and producers in poorer areas.
45. Corruption: A failure to carry out ‘proper’ or public responsibilities because of the pursuit of
private gain, usually involving bribery or misappropriation.
46. Free trade agreement: It is an agreement between two or more countries to lower import and export
tariffs. It allows products and services to be bought and sold across international borders with little
or no restrictions from the government in the form of taxes, subsidies, quotas, or prohibitions.
47. Customs union: An arrangement whereby a number of states establish a common external
tariff against the rest of the world, usually whilst abolishing internal tariffs.
48. Common market: An area, comprising a number of states, within which there is a free
movement of labour and capital, and a high level of economic harmonization; sometimes called
a single market.
49. Spillover: A process through which the creation and deepening of integration in one economic area
creates pressure for further economic integration, and, potentially, for political integration.
50. NPA: NPA means interest or principal is not repaid by the borrower during a specified time
period (‘overdue’ for a period of 90 days).
51. Restructured loans: Assets which got an extended repayment period, reduced interest rate,
converting a part of the loan into equity, providing additional financing, or some combination
of these measures.
52. Non-Personal Data: Any set of data which does not contain personally identifiable
information, in essence means that no individual or living person can be identified by looking
at such data.
53. Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT): These are reciprocal agreements between two countries
to promote and protect foreign private investments in each other's territories. They encourage
foreign investors to invest in a State and there by contributing towards overall developments
and advancements of the economy.
54. Soft power: The ability to influence other actors by persuading them to follow or agree to
norms and aspirations that produce the desired behaviour.
55. Diplomacy: A process of negotiation and communication between states that seeks to resolve
conflict without recourse to war; an instrument of foreign policy.

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 DEFINITIONS

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

1. Gene Editing: It is a type of genetic engineering in which DNA is inserted, deleted, modified
or replaced in the genome of a living organism. CRISPR is widely considered the most precise,
most cost-effective and quickest way to edit genes.
2. Biopiracy: Biopiracy happens when researchers or research organisations take biological
resources without official sanction, largely from less affluent countries or marginalised people.
3. Genome Sequencing: The process of determining the genetic information that is carried in a
particular DNA segment.
4. Bioremediation: It is the use of microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) to degrade the
environmental contaminants into less toxic forms.
5. Gene Therapy: Gene therapy is a technique that uses a gene(s) to treat, prevent or cure a
disease or medical disorder.
6. Stem Cell Therapy: A medical process which utilizes the stem cells for preventing or treating
a disease.
7. Traditional Medicine: The WHO describes traditional medicine as the total sum of the
“knowledge, skills and practices indigenous and different cultures have used over time to
maintain health and prevent, diagnose and treat physical and mental illness”.
8. Biofortification: The technique of improving nutritional content of crops using modern
biotechnology or conventional agronomic practices.
9. Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART): A technology to address infertility and assist the
couple to conceive using techniques like vitro fertilization- embryo transfer (IVF - ET), gamete
intra-fallopian transfer (GIFT), etc.
10. Internet of Things (IoT): IoT is the interlinking of digital devices, people, machines,
appliances, and other objects with one another through wireless networks. It allows machines
and people to be connected to each other and communicate as well.
11. Transfats: Trans fatty acids (TFAs) are unsaturated type of fats which have adverse effects
on our body. These fats are largely produced artificially but a small amount also occurs
naturally.
12. Antimicrobial Resistance: It occurs when a microorganism changes over time and no longer
responds to medicines making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease
spread, severe illness and death.
13. Genetically Modified Crops: The crop plants in which genetic material (DNA) has been
altered using modern biotechnology to insert non-naturally occurring traits in plants like
disease resistance, stress tolerance, insect resistance, etc.
14. Nanotechnology: A technology that involves the manipulation of matter on atomic, molecular
and supramolecular scales. This includes particles of a scale of 1 to 100 nanometers.

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 DEFINITIONS
15. Edge Computing: A technique where data is processed by the device itself or by a local
server rather than being transmitted to a centralized data processing warehouse.
16. Deep Web: Part of the internet that is unidentified or that cannot be readily accessed
through conventional search engines.
17. Big Data: Big data is a term for data sets that are so large or complex that traditional data
processing application software is inadequate to deal with them. It refers to the use of
predictive analytics, user behaviour analytics, or certain other advanced data analytics methods

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that extract value from data.
18. Quantum Supremacy: It describes the point where quantum computers can do things that
classical computers cannot. Superposition and entanglement are what give quantum computers

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the ability to process so much more information so much faster.

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19. Intellectual Property Rights: IPR is the right given to persons over the creations of their
minds: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names and images used in

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commerce. They usually give the creator an exclusive right over the use of his/her creation for
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20. Cyber-Physical System (CPS): An interdisciplinary system that deals with the use of
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computer-based systems that do things in the physical world.
o Ex: Smart Grid, Robotic Systems, Medical Monitoring, Industrial Control Systems,etc.
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21. Hypersonic Technology: Technology used in aircrafts, missiles, rockets and spacecraftsthat
aids them to reach a very high speed (nearly 4000 miles per hour).
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o Ex: Computational Fluid Dynamics, Using high temperature structures and materials.
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22. Dark Web: The concealed portion of deep web that is often linked to criminal or illegal
content. Example: trading sites where users can purchase illicit or banned good and services.
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23. Patent Pool: Two or more patent holders transfer their intellectual property into a joint venture
known as patent pool for the purpose of cross-licensing.
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24. Biotechnology: Biotechnology is technology that utilizes biological systems, living organisms
or parts of this to develop or create different products.
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25. Herd immunity: Resistance to the spread of an infectious disease within a population that is
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based on pre-existing immunity of a high proportion of individuals as a result of previous

infection or vaccination.
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26. Rare Diseases: Rare diseases, also called “Orphan” diseases, are broadly defined as diseases
that infrequently occur in a population. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines a rare
disease as having a frequency of less than 6.5-10 per 10,000 people.
27. Artificial intelligence: AI refers to the ability of machines to perform cognitive tasks like
thinking, perceiving, learning, problem solving and decision making. It includes technologies
like machine learning, pattern recognition, big data, neural networks, self-algorithms etc.
28. Blockchain technology: Blockchain technology is a decentralized, distributed ledger that
stores the record of ownership of digital assets. Any data stored on blockchain is unable to be
modified, making the technology a legitimate disruptor for industries like payments,
cybersecurity and healthcare.

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 DEFINITIONS

ENVIRONMENT
1. Climate Change: ‘Climate change’ represents a change in the long-term weather patterns. The
World Economic Forum ranked climate change as the biggest risk to the economy and society.

2. Global Warming: Global Warming is a gradual heating of the earth’s surface, oceans and
atmosphere. The increase in temperature is often a result of the Greenhouse Effect caused by
increased levels of gases like Carbon Dioxide, CFCs and other pollutants.

3. Cryosphere: Frozen waters (snow and ice cover over land and sea, glaciers and ice caps,
permafrost and seasonally frozen ground and solid water precipitation) are together termed as
cryosphere.

4. Energy Security: The International Energy Agency defines energy security as the
uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an affordable price.

5. Environmental Migration: Environmental migrants are people who are forced to migrate
their home/region/country due to sudden environmental disasters like earthquakes, floods,
droughts, etc.

6. Carbon price: It is a cost applied to carbon pollution to encourage polluters to reducethe

amount of greenhouse gases they emit into the atmosphere.

7. Carbon finance: Carbon financing is an innovative funding tool that places a financial value
on carbon emissions and allows companies wishing to offset their own emissions to buy carbon
credits earned from sustainable projects.

8. Climate Finance: Climate finance refers to local, national or transnational financing—drawn

from public, private and alternative sources of financing—that seeks to support mitigation and
adaptation actions that will address climate change.

9. Air pollution: It refers to contamination of air by harmful gases, dust and smoke which affects
the environment and ecosystem in negative way.

10. Marine Plastic pollution: It is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles in the Marine
environment that adversely affects aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem.

11. Water pollution: It is the contamination of water bodies by the pollutants that are harmful to
the health of humans and other living beings.

12. Groundwater pollution: Groundwater Pollution occurs when man-made products such as
gasoline, oil, road salts and chemicals get into the groundwater and cause it to become unsafe
and unfit for human use.

13. E-waste pollution: Electronic pollution is the form of pollution caused by the discarded
electrical or electronic devices.

14. Plastic pollution: Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles in the
Earth's environment that adversely affects wildlife, wildlife habitat, and humans.

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 DEFINITIONS
15. Decarbonization: Decarbonisation is the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions through the use of
low carbon power sources, achieving a lower output of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.
16. Biodiversity Hotspots: Biodiversity hotspots are defined as regions “where exceptional
concentrations of endemic species are undergoing an exceptional loss of habitat”. These are
regions with high species richness and a high degree of endemism.
17. Invasive Species: Invasive species are species that are not local or native to a specific area but
keep spreading quickly in an aggressive manner in the new habitat they arrive in. They are
harmful and can cause huge economic and environmental harm to the new area.
18. Environment Impact Assessment (EIA): It is the assessment of the environmental and social
outcomes of a plan or program prior to the decision to start implementation and development
of the project. Its objective is to promote environmentally sound and sustainable development
through identification of appropriate alternatives and mitigation measures.
19. Sustainable development: Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of
the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
20. Desertification: Desertification is a form of land degradation by which fertile land becomes
desert. It leads to the advancement of sand from the desert to the adjoining regions.
21. Carbon Capture, Utilization and storage (CCUS): It is a process that captures carbon
dioxide emissions from sources like coal-fired power plants and either reuses or stores it so it
will not enter the atmosphere.
22. Virtual Water Trade: It is the hidden flow of water if food or other commodities are traded
from one place to another.
23. Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR): Extended Producer Responsibility or EPR is the
commitment made by a producer to facilitate a reverse collection mechanism and recycling of
end of life, post-consumer waste. The objective is to circle it back into the system to recover
resources embedded in the waste.
24. Carrying capacity: The carrying capacity of an environment is the maximum population size
of a biological species that can be sustained by that specific environment, given the food,
habitat, water, and other resources available.
25. Acid rain: Rain that is contaminated by Sulphur, nitric and other acids that are released into
the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels.
26. Ozone depletion: A decline in the total amount of ozone in the Earth’s stratosphere,
particularly the development of a so-called ‘ozone hole’ over the Antarctic.
27. Global warming: Global warming is the long-term heating of Earth's atmosphere gradually
due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases that disturb the Earth's heat budget.
28. Green taxes: Taxes that penalize individuals or businesses for, for instance, the waste they generate,
the pollution they cause, the emissions they generate or the finite resources they consume.
29. Ecological footprint: A measure of ecological capacity based on the hectares of biologically
productive land that are needed to supply a given person’s consumption of natural resources
and absorb their waste.

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 DEFINITIONS
30. Biocentric equality: The principle that all organisms and entities in the ecosphere are ofequal
moral worth, each being part of an interrelated whole.

31. Emissions trading: A mechanism that allows parties to the Kyoto Protocol to buy or sell
emissions from or to other parties, while keeping within overall emissions targets.

32. Mitigation: Moderating or reducing the impact of something; in particular, reducing

greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit climate change.

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33. Adaptation: Changing in the light of new circumstances; in particular, learning to live with
climate change.

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34. Indoor air pollution: refers to the degradation in physical, chemical, and biological
characteristics of air in the indoor environment within a home, building, or an institution or

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commercial facility.

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35. Fly ash: Fly ash is a fine grey powder consisting mostly of spherical, glassy particles that are
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produced as a by-product in coal-fired power stations. It is a by-product from burning
pulverized coal in electric power generating plants.
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36. Land Degradation Neutrality: A state whereby the amount and quality of land resources,
necessary to support ecosystem functions and services and enhance food security, remains
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stable or increases within specified temporal and spatial scales and ecosystems.
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37. Eco Sensitive Zones: ESZs are ecologically important areas notified under the Environment
Protection Act to be protected from industrial pollution and unregulated development.
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38. Epidemic: It is the rapid spread of a disease within a community over a given area.
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39. Pandemic: An epidemic disease that has spread over multiple countries and continents.
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40. Contagious Disease: A disease that is transmitted from person to person either through
physical contact or through exchange of bodily secretions
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41. Hazard: It is a threat (natural or human) that has the potential to cause loss of life, injury,
property damage, socio-economic disruption or environmental degradation
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 DEFINITIONS

SECURITY
1. Cyber security: Cyber security is the practice of defending computers, servers, mobile
devices, electronic systems, networks and data from malicious attacks. It is also known as
information technology security or electronic information security.

2. Money laundering: Money laundering is concealing or disguising the identity of illegally

obtained proceeds so that they appear to have originated from legitimate sources (INTERPOL).

3. Left Wing Extremism: Left Wing Extremism is the official name for the insurrection in
Indian states. It is also popularly called as Naxalism or Maoism. Former PM Manmohan Singh
described the problem as the single biggest internal security challenge of the country.

4. Over Ground Workers: Over ground workers are people who help militants or terrorists with
logistical support, cash, shelter and other infrastructure with which armed groups and
insurgency movements such as can operate.

5. Organized Crime: Organized crime is a continuing criminal enterprise that rationally works
to profit from illicit activities that are often in great public demand.

6. Hybrid Warfare: Hybrid warfare is an emerging, but ill-defined notion in conflict studies. It
refers to the use of unconventional methods as part of a multi-domain warfighting approach.

7. Bioterrorism: Biological weapons are microorganisms like virus, bacteria, fungi or other
toxins that are produced and released deliberately to cause disease and death in humans,
animals or plants (WHO).

8. Integrated Theatre command: It is a unified command under which all the resources of the
Army, Navy and Air Force are pooled, depending on the threat perception.

9. Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD): A condition in which a nuclear attack by either state
would only ensure its own destruction, as both possess an invulnerable second- strike capacity.

10. Ethnic cleansing: A euphemism that refers to the forcible expulsion of an ethnic group or
groups in the cause of racial purity, often involving genocidal violence.

11. Peace dividend: The opportunity afforded by the end of superpower rivalry to reduce military
spending and increase economic and social expenditure, often described as turning ‘guns’ into
‘butter’.

12. Terrorism: Terrorism, in its broadest sense, refers to attempts to further political ends by using
violence to create a climate of fear, apprehension and uncertainty.

13. National interest: Foreign policy goals, objectives or policy preferences that supposedly
benefit a society as a whole (the foreign policy equivalent of the ‘public interest’)

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 DEFINITIONS

POLITY
1. Delegated Legislation: The Delegated legislation refers to the executive government
assuming vast legislative powers through a wide legislation and framing rules which endow it
with wide powers.

2. Pressure Groups: Pressure groups are forms of organisations, which exert pressure on the
political or administrative system of a country to extract benefits out of it and to advance
their own interests.

3. Domestic Violence: It is violence and abuse within the household often in a marital
relationship. It can also be non-physical and includes attempts to gain power over
wife/husband.

4. Inner Line Permit: A document required for purposes of visit and staying in areas
declared under the Inner line permit owing to its unique demography or security situation

5. Cooperative Federalism: Cooperative federalism implies the centre and states share a
horizontal relationship, where they “cooperate” in larger public interest.

6. Competitive Federalism: It refers to promoting healthy competition between the states to

keep them motivated in pursuit of economic development.

7. Asymmetric Federation: In this federation, Centre and the States do not have matching
powers in all matters, there are some differences in the way some States and other constituent
units of the Indian Union relate to the Centre.

8. Multinational federations: A multinational state is a sovereign state that comprises two or

more nations or states.

9. Doctrine Proportionality: Proportionality means that the administrative action should not be
more drastic than it ought to be for obtaining the desired result. In India, the doctrine of
proportionality was adopted by the Supreme Court in Om Kumar v. Union of India.

10. Constitutional Morality: Constitutional morality means adherence to the core principles of
the constitutional democracy. It means an effective coordination between conflicting interests
of different people and the administrative cooperation to resolve the issues without any
confrontation amongst the various groups.

11. Doctrine of Essentiality: It the judicial doctrine where a practice or process within religion is
justified to be essential and thus judicial pronouncement asking for its removal is tantamount
to violation of the religion itself

12. Judicial Overreach: It is the extreme form of judicial activism which involves frequent and
unnecessary judicial interventions in legislation as well and executive functions of the government

13. Consequential Seniority: If a reserved category candidate is promoted before a general

category candidate because of reservation in promotion, then for subsequent promotion the
reserved candidate retains seniority.

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 DEFINITIONS
14. Financial Prudence: The careful and economic management of financial resources for
effective and productive use
15. Political Morality: The use of moral and ethical judgements in making political decisions
and general polity
16. Political Victimization: Treating political opponents poorly and unfairly and made to feel as
if he/she is in a bad position.

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17. Principle of Natural Justice: They are those rules laid down by the Courts as being the
minimum protection of the rights of the individual against the arbitrary procedure.

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18. Tribunals: A judicial or quasi-judicial institution which deals with more specialisedmatters
and are less formal than courts.

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19. Public Service: It is a service provided by the government to people living within its

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jurisdiction, either directly (through the public sector) or by financing provision of services.
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20. Public Authority: It is any authority or body or institution of self-government establishedor
constituted by or under the Constitution; or by any other law.
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21. Custodial Violence: It refers to violence in police custody and judicial custody. Besides death,
rape and torture are two other forms of custodial violence.
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22. Capital Punishment: It is a legal penalty ordered by the Court against the person who has
committed a certain crime that is prohibited by the law. In India, it is only given in the rarest
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of the rare cases as per the Indian Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure.
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23. Uniform Civil Code: It provides for one law for the entire country, applicable to all religious
communities in their personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance etc.
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24. Public Interest Litigation: Public Interest Litigation (PIL) means a legal tool to protect the
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interest of the general public. It is the use of the law to promote human rights and equality,
and to raise matters of widespread public concern.
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25. Judicial Activism: It is an approach to the exercise of judicial review, or a description of a

particular judicial decision, in which a judge is generally considered more willing to decide
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constitutional issues and to invalidate legislative or executive actions.

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26. Criminalization of Politics: It means there is increase in criminals entering the politics and
contesting elections and get elected to the Parliament and state legislature.
27. Self Help Groups: Self-help groups are informal groups of people who come together to
address their common problems, usually financial.
28. Governance: Governance is commonly defined as the exercise of power or authority by
political leaders for the well-being of their country’s citizens or subjects.
29. Good Governance: Good Governance is the process of providing services to the citizen by
inducting their participation, to meet their aspiration, to resolve their conflict and hold
government accountable.

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 DEFINITIONS
30. E-Governance: E-Governance is the delivery of service through ICT (WAN, Mobile
Computing, Internet) in an E3 (Equitable, Efficient and Effective) manner
31. Citizen Charter: A citizen charter is basically a set of commitments made by an organisation
regarding the standards and service which it delivers. It’s objective is to inform citizens about
the standard of services which the government is going to provide and hold the government
accountable
32. Social democracy: A moderate or reformist brand of socialism that favours a balance between
the market and the state, rather than the abolition of capitalism.
33. Communitarianism: The belief that the self or person is constituted through the community,
in the sense that individuals are shaped by the communities to which they belongand thus owe
them a debt or respect and consideration
34. Rule of law : The principle that law should ‘rule’ in the sense that it establishes a framework
within which all conduct and behaviour takes place.
35. Procedure Established by Law: The “Procedure Established by Law” means that a law is
duly enacted by the legislature or the concerned body is valid only if the correct procedure has
been followed to the letter.
36. Due process of Law: “Due Process of Law” is a doctrine that not only checks if there isa law
to deprive the life and personal liberty of a person but also ensures that the law is made fair
and just.
37. Sovereignty: The principle of absolute and unlimited power; the absence of a higher authority
in either domestic or external affairs
38. Secularism: Secularism is an ideology, which implies that the public sphere should remain
free from religious influence. Though it does not bar individual from its individual sphere.
39. Decentralization: The expansion of local autonomy through the transfer of powers and
responsibilities away from national bodies.
40. Devolution: The transfer of power from central government to subordinate regional or
provincial institutions that have no share in sovereignty; their responsibilities and powers being
derived entirely from the centre.
41. Custodial violence: Custodial violence is the violence which takes place in the judicial and
police custody where an individual who has done a crime is tortured mentally as well as
physically.
42. Social Audit: It is a process in which citizens assess and monitor government operations on
the ground, then utilize the findings to demand accountability from the government via a public
hearing system.
43. M-governance: M-Governance is the use of mobile or wireless to improve Governance
service and information "anytime, anywhere". It takes electronic services and makes them
available via mobile technologies using devices such as mobile phones.

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 DEFINITIONS

SOCIAL ISSUES
1. Health: According to World Health Organization (WHO), Health is a state of complete
physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or
[Link], mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or
infirmity.

2. Gender Budgeting: Gender budgeting is a strategy to achieve equality between women and
men by focusing on how public resources are collected and spent to address gender inequality.

3. Income Inequality: Income inequality is how unevenly income is distributed throughout a

population. The less equal the distribution, the higher income inequality is. Income inequality
is often accompanied by wealth inequality, which is the uneven distribution if wealth.

4. Malnutrition: Malnutrition refers to deficiencies or excesses in nutrient intake, imbalance of

essential nutrients or impaired nutrient utilization.

5. Learning Poverty: It is defined as the percentage of 10-year olds who cannot read and
understand a simple story- World Bank.

6. Surrogacy: Surrogacy is an arrangement in which a woman carries and delivers a child for
another couple or person.

7. Altruistic surrogacy: It generally refers only to those arrangements in which the surrogate
does not receive compensation for her services beyond reimbursement for medical costs and
other reasonable expenses.

8. Digital Literacy: Digital literacy are the individual’s capabilities to be able to effectively and
responsibly function and perform work in a digital society.

9. Social capital: Social capital is a set of shared values or resources that allows individuals to
work together in a group to effectively achieve a common purpose.

10. Social reflexivity: The tendency of individuals and other social actors to reflect, more or less
continuously, on the conditions of their own actions, implying higher levels of self- awareness,
self-knowledge and contemplation.

11. Informal economy: The informal economy is the diversified set of economic activities,
enterprises, jobs, and workers that are not regulated or protected by the state.

12. Social Exclusion: Social Exclusion is the process through which individuals or groups are
excluded from facilities, benefits and opportunities that the others(their “betters”) enjoy.

13. Bonded Labor: A practice in which employers give high-interest loans to workers whose
entire families then labor at low wages to pay off the debt

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 DEFINITIONS
14. Child Labour: Work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity,
and that is harmful to physical and mental development

15. Family planning: It is a program to regulate number, timing, and spacing of children in family
through contraception or other birth control methods

16. Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients: The API is the substance or substances that are
biologically active within the drug and is the specific component responsible for the desired

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effect it has on the individual taking it.

17. ASHAs: They are community health workers and also activists instituted by government as

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part of National Rural Health Mission to look into basic health issues and to create awareness
on health

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18. Anganwadi Workers: Anganwadi is a government sponsored child-care and mother- care

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center in India.
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19. Digital Health: Digital health refers to the use of information technology/electronic
communication tools, services and processes to deliver health care services or to facilitate
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better health.

20. Vaccine Hesitancy: Refers to delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines despite availability
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of vaccine services due to lack of confidence and complacency and convenience

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21. Gender Discrimination: Gender discrimination means discrimination based on a person's

gender or sex, which more often affects girls and women.
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22. Hidden Hunger: Deficiencies in essential micronutrients (vitamins & minerals) in individuals
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or populations which negatively impact on health, cognition, function, survival, and economic
development.
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23. Gender Divide: The disparity between different genders in society in the fields of social,
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politics and economics.

24. SDGS: They are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure all
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people enjoy peace and prosperity.

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25. Poverty: Social definition -Poverty is a state of deprivation where a person is not able to
get two complete square meals in a day.

26. Economic definition – Poverty is the state where a person is not able to earn $1.90 a day.

27. Absolute poverty: A standard of poverty that is based on an income level or access to
resources, especially food, clothing and shelter, which are insufficient to ‘keep body and soul
together’.

28. Relative poverty: A standard of poverty in which people are deprived of the living conditions
and amenities which are customary in the society to which they belong.

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 DEFINITIONS
29. Poverty cycle: A set of circumstances that tend to make poverty self-perpetuating through its
wider impact on health, civic order, political and economic performance and so on.

30. Food Security: Food Security means access to food by every strata of society socially,
physically, and economically. Means it should be in a physical reach, affordable and without
any discrimination.

31. Welfare state: A state that takes prime responsibility for the social welfare of its citizens,
discharged through a range of social security, health, education and other services

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 DEFINITIONS

GEOGRAPHY
1. Waves: Waves are a disturbance on the surface of the sea or ocean, in the upside down
form.

2. Tides: The periodical rise and fall of the sea level mainly due to the attraction of the sun
and the moon is called a tide

3. Currents: Ocean currents are like river flow in oceans which represents a regular volume
of water in a definite path and direction.

4. Volcano: A volcano is an opening in Earth's crust that allows molten rock from beneath
thecrust to reach the surface.

5. Volcanism: It is the phenomenon of eruption of molten rock (magma) onto the surface of
the Earth.

6. Soil: The unconsolidated mineral or organic material on the surface of the Earth that serves
as a natural medium for the growth of land plants.

7. Tropical cyclones: Tropical cyclones are intense water-rotating systems formed by strong
winds around low-pressure areas.

8. Polar vortex: It is a large area of low pressure and cold air surrounding the Earth’s North
and South Pole.

9. El Nino/La Nina: El Nino is the abnormal warming of sea surface temperature (SST) of
the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Peru in South America, while La Nina is the opposite, an
abnormal cooling of SST.

10. Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD): It is a condition when the Sea Surface Temperature of the
western region of Indian Ocean alternately becomes abnormally colder and then
abnormally hotter than the eastern region.

11. Indo- Pacific: he Indo-Pacific is a geopolitical construct which represents an integrated

theatre that combines the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, and the land masses that
surround them.

12. Permafrost: Permafrost is a ground that remains completely frozen at 0°C or below for at
least two years. It is composed of rock, soil and sediments held together by ice and are
believed to have formed during glacial periods dating several millennia.

13. Zero Budget Natural Farming: It is a natural farming technique in which farming is done
without use of chemicals and without using any credits or spending any money on
purchased inputs.

14. Heat Budget of Earth: Heat Budget of the Earth is the balance between incoming solar
insolation and outgoing terrestrial radiation.

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 DEFINITIONS
15. Cryosphere: The cryosphere is the part of the Earth's climate system that includes solid
precipitation, snow, sea ice, lake and river ice, icebergs, glaciers and ice caps, ice sheets,
ice shelves, permafrost, and seasonally frozen ground.

16. Ocean Currents: Ocean Current is a horizontal movements of seawater that is produced
by gravity, wind and water density.

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 DEFINITIONS

WORLD HISTORY
1. Colonization: Colonialism is the establishment, exploitation, maintenance, acquisition and
expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another country. It is a set of unequal
relationships between colonial power and colony.

2. Industrial revolution: It was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Europe and
United States in the period between 1760 to 1820 and 1840. This transition included going
from hand production methods to machines and iron production processes.

3. Neo-colonialism: It is the policy whereby industrialized country dominates the policies of

underdeveloped nation with purpose of economic profiteering in disregard to the economic
and social interests of under-developed country.

4. Communism: It is a political and economic doctrine that aims to replace private property
and a profit-based economy with public ownership and communal control on the means of
production.

5. Socialism: A system of social organization that advocates the ownership and control of the
means of production by the community as a whole.

6. Imperialism: It is the practice of extending power and dominion, especially by direct

territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas.

7. Glocalisation: It is intermixing of both globalization and localization tendencies in

contemporary social, political, and economic systems.

8. Renaissance: From the French, literally meaning ‘rebirth’; a cultural movement inspired
by revived interest in classical Greece and Rome that saw major developments in learning
and the arts.

9. Enlightenment: An intellectual movement that challenged traditional beliefs in religion,

politics and learning in general in the name of reason and progress.

10. De-Colonization: Decolonization is undoing of colonialism. In aftermath of second

world war, the imperial nations began transferring power to indigenous people in their
respective colonies. This process is termed as Decolonization.

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 DEFINITIONS

ETHICS
1. Ethics: Ethics is a set of standards that a society places on itself, which helps to guide
behavior, choices and actions. It allows an individual to differentiate between right and
wrong action and to choose the path of dharma in every condition.

2. Values: Values are basic and fundamental beliefs that guide or motivate attitudes or
actions. They help us to determine what is important to us. They help guide judgement and
behavior of a person or a group and help one decide what is right and wrong.

3. Morality: Morality is set of standards that an individual considers to be right and which
are shaped by his own belief system. It deals with individuals’ values, preferences which
they considered as right or wrong.

4. Integrity: It means the ability of an individual to remain consistent and committed to

his/her personal and professional values. It is the quality of being honest and having strong
moral principles.

5. Responsibility: Moral obligation of an individual to behave with essence of commitment

and duty. It comes from within.

6. Accountability: It is a formal responsibility based on possession, power, hierarchy, laws,

specially applied in context of government and administration

7. Probity: Means being upright, active, disciplined, vision in adherence civil service values.
It encompasses integrity and honesty

8. Aptitude: Related to future potential of a person. It deals with ability, capability of a person
which is inborn, innate based on nature not nurture.

9. Attitude: Its about orientation, feeling, pre-disposition of a person towards all those objects
living/non-living which he/she faces and reacts. It is about reaction in favour or against
objects we face.

10. Impartiality: It is the principle of justice holding that decision should be based on
objective criteria rather than on the basis of bias or prejudice.

11. Non-partisanship: Non-partisanship means non-disposition towards any political party,

i.e., to exhibit political neutrality. It is the process of not being involved in any political
party even if the person has strong faith in any political thought.

12. Emotional Intelligence: Emotional Intelligence is the ability to sense, understand and
effectively apply the power and acumen of emotions as a source of human energy,
information, connection and influence.

13. Character: Character is quality of human values which is cultivated through its life
experiences. When values are practiced, they build character.

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 DEFINITIONS
14. Behavior: Outer refection of human character and conduct may also be influenced by many
other factors such as situation, consequence, uncertainty etc. Therefore, behavior may not
always reflection of true character and conduct.
15. Cognition: Cognition means knowledge. Knowledge about objects helps in formation of
attitude.
16. Socialization: Socialization is a process of learning human behavior from social
institutions both formally and informally.

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17. Leadership: Act of influence i.e. when a person influences behavior of other person
through which personality, views, values, its is an act of leadership.

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18. Empathy: Empathy is the ability to place oneself in another position and understand their

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feelings and experience their emotions.

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19. Tolerance: It is having permissive attitude/considerate attitude towards others’ feeling,
views, values, culture, tradition etc. called tolerance
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20. Objectivity: It is the quality of being truthful, unbiased, impartial and sticking to the facts
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beyond the influence of one’s feelings and prejudices.
21. Social Influence: Social influence occurs when emotions, opinions or behavior of a person
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are affected by others in the society.

22. Persuasion: Persuasion is a form of social influence. It refers to process of changing the
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attitudes and beliefs of target group in the intended direction. The process involves use of
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different methods of a verbal and non-verbal communication to convey information.

23. Conflict of interest: It involves a conflict between the public duty and private interests of
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a public official, in which the public official has private-capacity interests which could
improperly influence the performance of their official duties and responsibilities.
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24. Ethical Dilemma: A situation before decision that a person faces and there may or may
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not be extreme level of guilt feeling because dilemma may be moderate, general and
extreme level.
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25. Moral realism: It follows philosophy that power alone can establish peace and harmony
in the world
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26. Moral idealism: Value should dominate rather money in relations

27. Transparency: When citizens have accessibility to decisions of government that how, for
what and why decision have been made and what is the outcome of decision, then it result
into transparency.
28. Responsibility: Responsibility is the quality of an individual to satisfactorily perform
his/her own duty as a part of particular group or organization.
29. Courage of Conviction: The state or quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face
danger or fear with self-possession, confidence and resolution.

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