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Quality Education for Weaker Section and Disadvantaged Groups

Introduction:

• The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, entitled every child of age 6 to 14 years to a right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school till completion of elementary education. Section 8(c) of the RTE Act, 2009 provides that the appropriate government would ensure that the child belonging to weaker section and belonging to disadvantaged group are not discriminated against and prevented from pursuing and completing elementary education on any grounds.
• Further, Section 12(1)(c) of RTE Act, 2009 provides that all specified category schools and unaided schools shall admit at least 25% children belonging to weaker section and disadvantaged group in the neighbourhood in class I and provide free and compulsory elementary education till its completion.

Steps Taken to Ensure Education of Children with Disability:

• Samagra Shiksha, an overarching programme for the tire school education sector extending from pre-school to class XII, aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education.
• It envisages the ‘school's continuum from pre-school, primary, upper primary, secondary to senior secondary levels. Bridging gender and social category gaps at all levels of school education is one of the major objectives of the scheme. The scheme reaches out to girls, Children with Special Needs (CWSN) and children belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), minority communities and transgenders. Tire focus of major interventions under the Scheme includes provision of RTE.
• Entitlements include free uniforms, text books, special training of out of-school children etc., provision for inclusive education of Children with Special Needs (CWSN) and vocational education among others.
• The ‘Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat' (PBBB) is a sub-programme of erstwhile Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) which is continued under the new integrated scheme Samagra Shiksha to ensure quality at the foundational years of schooling. The objectives of the programme are to promote early reading and writing with comprehension skills in children, and also basic numeracy skills. States/UTs are implementing PBBB in their respective States/UTs using multiple strategies and approaches.
• These include adoption of NCERT model of early reading, provision of supplementary reading material, and development of State specific models for early Maths and early reading.
• The Navodaya Vidyalaya Scheme provides for the opening of one JNV in each district of the country to bring out the best of rural talent. Its significance lies in the selection of talented rural children as the target group and the aim to provide them quality education comparable to the best in a residential school system.

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Promoting Vocational Education in Backward Regions:

• The government has recognised the requirement for spreading vocational education throughout the country including backward regions.
• Presently, there are 188 Community Colleges, 289 Institutes and 68 DDU Kaushal Kendras functioning under University Grants Commission (UGC) and operating vocational education in various sectors. State governments can offer vocational education through their institutional network as per UGC guidelines.
• There are various steps already been taken by the government to promote vocational education throughout the country, including backward regions.
• Developing internship/apprenticeship based degree courses in sectors like Retail, Logistics, Media and Entertainment, etc.
• Increasing number of institutions offering B.VoC courses in the country.
• Aligning the content of existing skill courses with National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF).
• The Draft National Education Policy 2019 is presently under consideration. The revision of curriculum, syllabi and textbooks for school education would depend on the finalisation and approval of the New Education Policy.

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Innovation in Higher Educational Institutions

Introduction:

• The Innovation centres in institutions fosters team spirit and the ability to work beyond classroom lectures. They prepare the students to take collective ownership of outcomes and work on multigenerational products. Centre for Innovation (CFI) is one such platform for students in Madras which is encouraging them to generate ideas to innovate and invent.
• With a vision to produce leaders, such institutes are undergoing paradigm shifts. In this article, an attempt is made to trace this transformation at institutes like where transformative start-ups were initiated from solutions developed through research and student projects.

Innovation as a Catalyst:

• These innovation centres also fosters team spirit and the ability to work beyond classroom lectures. It prepares the students to take collective ownership of outcomes and work on multi-generational products. While individual merit brought them to these institutes, working on innovation and bringing complete products to life prepares these students for the real world. Innovation comes to life when their inventions are developed further in the context of the societal needs and wants. Similarly, higher educational institutes such as the IITs are also gradually transforming themselves in to research and development powerhouses catering to the needs of the country.
• The quantum of students pursuing post baccalaureate degrees are now more than those entering at the undergraduate level. Further, many centres of excellence in various domains of national importance have been set up at these institutes.
• The National Centre for Combustion Research and Development (NCCRD) originally set up with interdisciplinary faculty to promote advanced research in the domain of combustion has already started producing niche startups in areas like micro-gas turbine, emission sensors, electric planes etc.
• With over 24 centres of excellence in various domains serving as a fertile ground for idea generations in IITM at alone various and similar institutes such of grouping national importance across the country, these higher education institutes are bursting at seams with solutions waiting from problems.

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Where are the Problems?

The innovation ecosystem can be divided into four buckets:

• Ideate,
• Pre-incubate
• Incubate, and
• Support.

Role of Pre-incubation:

• Set-up in the year 2015 to help student teams from CFI, Nirmaan now works with students across the campus to help in their entrepreneurial experience.
• The Nirmaan 4-stage process helps with problem identification, validation through primary market research, development of minimum viable product/solution and finally to launch the start-up. It is only at the last stage that the students are encouraged to register their company and take the plunge. Till that time, the pre-incubation facility serves as a sandbox for the teams to try out various approaches to unearth suitable problems that their solutions could solve. Teams are accepted in a cohort mode, which enables peer learning and are further paired up with experienced mentors from our distinguished alumni base.
• However, out of many potential ideas from the CFI and other research labs, only a few are considered for the possibility of a start-up. This is primarily due to the fear of the unknown and the uncertainty surrounding the process.

Way forward:

• It is heartening to see the rapid pace of the deep tech innovation ecosystem in India. Institutes of higher education, such as the IITs, are adapting to the evolving trend of rapid experimentation and development of technology for the society where it is embedded in. For these institutions, it is no longer sufficient to train and produce good employees.
• It will be the mandate of these institutions to produce good employers in large numbers that will cater to the aspirations of the next generation India. Our institutions will have to imbibe the spirit of entrepreneurial thinking, which includes rapid adaptation to the societal needs, developing and scaling in resource constrained environments and serving as local points or nodes of innovation and entrepreneurship, to reach our national goal of a $5 trillion economy.

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Virus marches on: On the rapid spread of COVID-19 (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Health
Prelims level: SARS-CoV-2
Mains level: Impact of spreading COVID-19 diseases worldwide

Context:

• The spread of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19 disease remains unchecked in a few countries.

Highlights about the epidemic cases:

• The number of countries/regions that have so far reported at least one confirmed case has also gone up in the past week — 3,346 cases from 49 countries as on February 27.
• This does not include the 705 confirmed cases on a cruise ship in Japanese waters. Till some time back, the cases on board the vessel were the highest outside China.
• But that changed on February 24 when the total number of cases reported from South Korea stood at 763, overshooting the number of cases on the ship.
• With 1,766 cases and 13 deaths, South Korea has the most number of infections outside China as on February 27.
• Beyond the high number of cases reported from South Korea, what is indeed alarming is the rate of viral spread.
• From just 51 cases and no deaths on February 20, the number of cases has grown rapidly each day during the last seven days. Many of the cases in the country are linked to a religious cult group.
• At their services in the south-eastern city of Daegu, the virus spread to many in the group, who in turn fanned out around the country, aiding viral transmission.
• As on February 23, the number of cases traced to the Daegu church is more than half the nation’s total of infected people.
• South Korea in containing the spread is the difficulty in tracing the contacts of cult members as they prefer not to disclose their affiliation to the church.

Affected in the other countries:

• The spread has been equally alarming in Iran though the numbers are far fewer compared with South Korea. From just two cases on February 20, the numbers in Iran increased to 245 on February 27.
• There have been 26 deaths too, the highest outside China. And from three countries in the WHO East Mediterranean region on February 21, it has increased to nine now.
• For the first time, one case each has been reported from South America (Brazil) and WHO African Region (Algeria).
• With 528 confirmed cases on Thursday, the number of those infected in Italy is more than double that of Iran; there have been 14 deaths as well.

Way forward:

• In contrast, cases have been increasing only slowly in Hong Kong; Singapore has almost cut the transmission cycle.
• It becomes apparent that mass gatherings in enclosed spaces are an ideal ground for the virus to spread.
• This raises the question whether shutting down Wuhan and other cities in China, thus locking both healthy and infected people together, had provided a fertile ground for the virus to spread.

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A browning east: On climate change and the Eastern Ghats (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3: Environment
Prelims level: Eastern Ghats
Mains level: Impact of climate change on the Eastern Ghats region

Context:

• In Eastern Ghats mountains exist a reservoir of about 3,000 flowering plant species, nearly 100 of them endemic, occurring in the dry deciduous, moist deciduous and semi-evergreen landscapes.
• Many animals, including tigers and elephants, and some 400 bird species are found in these discontinuous forests that receive an annual average rainfall of 1,200 mm to 1,500 mm.
• Crucially, many parts, primarily in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, provide forest produce and ecosystem services to millions.

Key functions of the land:

• The key functions that the lands perform, in modulating climate, fostering biodiversity and providing sustenance, new research findings arguing that the Ghats face a serious threat from climate change, and temperature variations are a cause for worry.
• It is noteworthy that a disruption of the annual average temperature and diminished rainfall would rob the productivity of these forests, in terms of their ability to store carbon, and provide subsistence material.
• Existing data point to the impoverishment of areas experiencing rainfall reduction in the driest quarter of the year and a rise in seasonal temperature, through reduced plant species diversity and a dominant role for herbs over trees.
• Protecting the Eastern Ghats, which are separated by powerful rivers — the Godavari and Krishna, to name just two — is an ecological imperative.
• India is committed, under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes through enhanced forest and tree cover.

Failure of the forest protection policies:

• By some estimates, the Ghats have shrunk by 16% over the past century, and just one region, Papikonda National Park, lost about 650 sq. km. in two decades from 1991.
• Relieving the pressure on forests can be done through policies that reduce extraction of scarce resources and incentivise settled agriculture.

Way ahead:

• Schemes for restoration of forest peripheries through indigenous plant and tree species, matching national commitments, could qualify for international climate finance, and must be pursued.
• At a broader level, the response to the warnings issued by researchers from IIT Kharagpur, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics and the University of Hyderabad in a recent publication on changes to temperature and rainfall calls for decisive steps to mitigate carbon emissions.

Conclusion:

• Improving tree cover nationally is certain to confer multiple benefits, including modulation of the monsoon, improved air quality and wider spaces for biodiversity to persist.

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Aadhaar, no standout performer in welfare delivery (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Governance
Prelims level: Randomised control trials
Mains level: Role of Aadhaar to curb PDS leakages

Context:

• Aadhaar has curtailed leakages of government subsidies... Through Aadhaar, savings worth ₹90,000 crore have accrued to the government, said in UIDAI’s 2017-18 annual report.

The findings:

• Professor Muralidharan and the rest of the team tell us that Aadhaar by itself has no impact in reducing leakages significantly.
• • They conducted a scientifically designed study of the PDS system in Jharkhand covering 15 million beneficiaries using the technique of randomised control trials (RCT).
• • The study was set up in a manner where one set of beneficiaries went through the Aadhaar-based biometric authentication while the other group used the old system of procuring their ration.
• The results were then compared to see if Aadhaar-based biometric authentication had any impact in reducing leakages.
• The study concluded that Aadhaar-based biometric authentication had no measurable benefit. Aadhaar-based biometric authentication did not reduce leakages due to elimination of ghosts and duplicates, as widely perceived.
• On the other hand, they found that Aadhaar-based biometric authentication increased transaction costs for beneficiaries.
• That is, to claim ration worth ₹40, beneficiaries in the Aadhaar system incurred an additional ₹7 of costs than those in the old system, because of multiple trips to authenticate themselves and the opportunity cost of time spent.
• This is a whopping 17% extra cost burden of the value of the benefit they were entitled to receive.
• To make matters worse, Aadhaar-based biometric authentication also introduced what empirical scientists call Type I error of exclusion.
• In simple terms, Aadhaar authentication falsely rejected genuine PDS beneficiaries who were then denied their ration supplies.
• The study finds that nearly 10% of legitimate beneficiaries were denied their ration either because they did not have their Aadhaar linked to their ration card or due to an exclusion error.
• The study states that there was no direct impact of Aadhaar in reducing leakages but it denied ration to 10% of genuine beneficiaries and increased costs by 17% to those that were forced to get their ration using Aadhaar.
• They conclude that Aadhaar authentication for PDS in Jharkhand caused “some pain with no gain”. Put simply, Mr. Pandey’s boast of ₹90,000 crore savings solely due to Aadhaar is hollow.

No testing

• There was widespread belief among the policy elite that ghosts and duplicates were the scourge of India’s welfare delivery and that Aadhaar would eliminate this. But this belief was never empirically tested.
• It was deemed to be true simply because the intellectual elite said so.
• Based on this belief, an entire story was concocted about improving welfare efficiency through eliminating ghosts and duplicates with Aadhaar and a whole new law was enacted to this effect.
• Many studies now establish that ghosts and duplicates are not the significant cause of leakages.

GST parallel:

• This is much like the boisterous claim of policy economists for over a decade that a multitude of State taxes are a drag on inter-State commerce and hence a nationwide Goods and Services Tax (GST) by stripping States of their fiscal autonomy is badly needed.
• There was no empirical evidence to back this claim.
• Three years after GST, the promise of vastly improved inter-State trade and a two percentage point boost to GDP seem distant while States are hurting badly with sole dependence on the Centre for their taxes.

Measuring policy outcome:

• The other fault line in policy making that this new study exposes is the engineer’s way of measuring policy outcomes only through the prism of numerical efficiency. In an engineer’s world, if say, nine people are denied welfare due to a system error while nine million are benefited through greater efficiency, then it is considered a net benefit for society and the policy is given a thumbs up.
• But in a sociologist’s world and in a liberal society, a policy that could run the risk of denying welfare to just a few people, putting their lives at risk, is not worth implementing regardless of how many millions it benefits. Aadhaar was held hostage to the engineer’s worldview of policy efficacy.

Conclusion:

• These findings are sure to shock many who genuinely believed Aadhaar could be the ‘game changer’ in welfare delivery.
• The study was undertaken by eminent scholars using scientific techniques and published in a respected academic journal. So, there is no need to doubt its veracity or intent.
• The findings of Professor Muralidharan and the rest of the team also expose many larger fault lines in India’s approach to policy making.

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Govt to establish Central Consumer Protection Authority; what is it? (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: Governance
Prelims level: Central Consumer Protection Authority
Mains level: Role of the establishment of Central Consumer Protection Authority

Context:

• Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution announced that a Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) will be established soon.

Under which Act, the CCPA will be constituted?

• The CCPA is being constituted under Section 10(1) of The Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
• The new Act replaced The Consumer Protection Act, 1986, and seeks to widen its scope in addressing consumer concerns.
• It recognises offences such as providing false information regarding the quality or quantity of a good or service, and misleading advertisements.
• It also specifies action to be taken if goods and services are found “dangerous, hazardous or unsafe”.

Function of the CCPA:

• It aims to protect the rights of the consumer by cracking down on unfair trade practices, and false and misleading ads that are detrimental to the interests of the public and consumers.
• It will have the powers to inquire or investigate into matters relating to violations of consumer rights or unfair trade practices
• Suo motu, or on a complaint received, or
• On a direction from the central government.
• It will ensure that all standards on packaged food items set by regulators such as the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) are being followed.

What can the possible structure of CCPA be?

• The proposed authority will have a Chief Commissioner as head, and only two other commissioners as members.
• One of the members will deal with matters relating to goods while the other will look into cases relating to services.
• It will be headquartered in the National Capital Region of Delhi but the central government may set up regional offices in other regions.
• The CCPA will have an Investigation Wing that will be headed by a Director General.
• District Collectors will have the power to investigate complaints of violations of consumer rights, unfair trade practices, and false or misleading ads.

What will the CCPA do if goods or services are not of standard?

• The proposed authority will have powers to recall goods or withdrawal of services that are “dangerous, hazardous or unsafe”.
• It can pass an order for refund the prices of goods or services so recalled to purchasers of such goods or services.
• It can also pass an order on discontinuation of practices which are unfair and prejudicial to consumer’s interest.
• For manufacture, selling, storage, distribution, or import of adulterated products, the penalties will be given if the consumer is injured or died.

How will it deal with false or misleading advertisements?

• Section 21 of the new Act defines the powers given to the CCPA to crack down on false or misleading ads.
• The CCPA may issue directions to the trader, manufacturer, endorser, advertiser, or publisher to discontinue a misleading advertisement, or modify it in a manner specified by the authority, within a given time.
• It may also impose a penalty on the manufacturer or endorser of false and misleading advertisements.
• CCPA may ban the endorser of a false or misleading advertisement from making endorsement of any products or services in the future, for a period that may extend to one year.
• Ban may extend up to 3 years in every subsequent violation of the Act.

Other powers of the CCPA:

• While conducting an investigation after preliminary inquiry, officers of the CCPA’s Investigation Wing will have the powers to enter any premise and search for any document or article, and to seize these.
• For search and seizure, the CCPA will have similar powers given under the provisions of The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
• The CCPA can file complaints of violation of consumer rights or unfair trade practices before the Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission established at the district, state and national levels.
• It will issue safety notices to alert consumers against dangerous or hazardous or unsafe goods or services.

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Why aren’t inflation indices in sync? (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3: Economy
Prelims level: Inflation
Mains level: Uses of the Consumer Price Index-Industrial Workers for measuring inflation
Context:

• The Consumer Price Index-Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) has been compiled, maintained and disseminated by the Labour Bureau since its inception in October 1946, and is the oldest CPI available in the country.

Uses of the Consumer Price Index-Industrial Workers:

• Traditionally, the index has been used to measure the impact of the price rise on the cost of living for the common man.
• In particular, the dearness allowance paid to government/public sector employees and pensioners is adjusted by using the CPI-IW even today.
• The industrial and service sector workers, targeted in estimating the CPI-IW, are more likely to reside in urban areas than in rural areas.
• Thus, inflation based on the CPI-IW is expected to correlate strongly to the more recent CPI and CPI-Urban Consumers (CPI-U) measures disseminated by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
• This has been the case since the release of the CPI/CPI-U in January 2011, but not during last the 1.5 years.

Difference in numbers

• The CPI-IW inflation for December 2019 rose to 9.63 per cent as against 8.61 per cent in November 2019. The CPI-IW inflation has consistently been above 5 per cent since July 2018, only briefly slipping to 4.86 per cent in November 2018.
• The CPI-IW inflation reached its highest value this month since November 2013. At the same time, the CPI and CPI-U inflation numbers had been consistently below 4 per cent and 4.5 per cent, respectively, till September 2019. In January 2019, the CPI inflation was recorded at 1.97 per cent, while the CPI-U inflation was 2.91 per cent.
• The CPI inflation breached the RBI’s inflation target of 4 per cent in October 2019, with the latest numbers for December 2019 indicating CPI inflation at 7.35 per cent and CPI-U inflation at 7.46 per cent. These facts indicate a divergence between the CPI-U and CPI-IW inflation measures.
• The overall correlation between the two inflation measures since January 2014 is 0.64. If we split the period into sub-periods by imposing a break in March 2018, we find that the correlation between the two measures before March 2018 was 0.79, while since April 2018, this correlation turned negative before moving back to 0.46.

What caused this divergence post April 2018?

• Much has been written about the divergence between the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and CPI inflation in the past. This is understandable, since these two indices differ substantially in their methodology, composition and target groups.
• A higher CPI coupled with a lower WPI, as seen in the last few months, may occur due to significant food inflation, which forms a large part of the CPI calculation.
• It may point to the weaker pricing power of industrial companies, resulting from structural weaknesses or inefficiencies in the supply chain.
• The recent sharp decline in the RBI’s forward-looking survey on capacity utilisation rates points to such structural issues.
• At the same time, it is difficult to imagine the CPI-IW and CPI-U divergence arising due to any such matters. In terms of basket composition and target population, they are quite similar.

What could be the reason for this sharp divergence?

• Both CPI-IW and CPI-U inflation are calculated from price data collected from various centres by the Labour Bureau and the MoSPI, respectively.
• Neither captures subjective or survey-based data, where individual differences in the perception of inflation could have created differences in the calculated numbers.
• A closer look at major sub-components used for both measures points to divergence in the clothing and housing components as drivers.
• The inflation in housing was above 26 per cent as per the CPI-IW from July 2018 to June 2019, easing to 12.14 per cent since July 2019.
• During the same period, housing inflation under the CPI-U saw a high of 8.3 per cent and has eased down to 4.3 per cent by December 2019.
• It seems the price adjustment since July 2017 for the house rent allowance, after the 7th Pay Commission’s recommendations, in the housing component of the CPI-U and CPI-IW has been quite uneven.
• Further, while inflation in clothing declined to a low of 1.8 per cent in July 2019 under the CPI-IW, it has declined at a much slower rate as per the the CPI-U, touching a low of 2.63 per cent in November 2019.
• Further, while the Labour Bureau uses data from 78 centres for measuring CPI-IW inflation, the CPI-U data has a much higher coverage of 1,114 markets from 310 towns across India. The base years for the CPI-IW (2001) and the CPI-U (2012) are also different.

Way forward:

• Thus, methodological differences may be driving the negative correlation between the two inflation numbers.
• The exact reasons for this divergence, it would not be appropriate to imply that the inflation dynamics for industrial workers are inherently different from those for other households in urban areas.
• This could imply that one of the indices is either inappropriate or not capturing what it should. This points to problems with the credibility of the numbers themselves.

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To betrayals from outside and within (Mint)

Mains Paper 1: Society
Prelims level : Islamic State
Mains level : Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism and secularism.

The National Defence University takes off (Mint)

Mains Paper 3: Defense and Security
Prelims level: National Defence University
Mains level: Reforms in military education system

A multilateral alternative, by Asia (Mint)

Mains Paper 2: International Relations
Prelims level : Belt and Road Initiative
Mains level : Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving

More psychological than an empowering voter option (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Polity
Prelims level: NOTA System
Mains level: Highlights the NOTA system in India

Context:

• The 2020 Delhi Assembly elections were the 45th Assembly polls since the inception of the NOTA option in 2013.
• But, the meagre share of NOTA votes, and NOTA in its current form, are pointers to it being a toothless option.

What does some data reveal?

• Delhi has now provided data from five elections with the NOTA option; no other state has yielded such a preference for yet.
• But, Delhi’s preference to NOTA is less than the national average.
• The percentage of NOTA votes has increased in 71% constituencies in 2019 than in 2015.
• Roughly one in 200 voters of Delhi opted for NOTA in the last 6 to 7 years, with relatively larger support for NOTA in reserved constituencies.
• In the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly election, NOTA became a runner-up in two constituencies.

NOTA system of India:

• In 2013, India became the 14th country to institute negative voting through NOTA. However, it is not a “right to reject”.
• Even if there are 99 NOTA votes out of a total of 100, and candidate X gets just one vote, X is the winner, having obtained the only valid vote.
• The rest of the NOTA votes will be treated as invalid or ‘no votes’.
• NOTA enfeeble the electorate as it does not empower to “select” either.
• It provides democratic means to express resentment anonymously rather than boycotting the polls outright.

The scope of NOTA:

• A former Chief Election Commissioner recommended holding elections again in those constituencies where the victory margin is less than the total numbers of NOTA.
• A PIL has been filed in Madras High Court seeking the full right to reject in place of NOTA.
• In 2018, the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) issued an order that if NOTA has received the highest number of valid votes, a fresh election shall be held for such a post.
• The SEC of Haryana issued an order that if NOTA gets maximum vote, none of the “real” candidates will be declared elected.
• The re-elections will be held afresh and the candidates securing votes less than NOTA would be barred from contesting in that re-election.

Can NOTA bring any significant change?

• While introducing NOTA, the Supreme Court anticipated that there will be a systemic change.
• It also predicted that the political parties will be forced to accept the will of the people and field candidates who are known for their integrity.
• NOTA percentage should either increase to enforce the political parties to field candidates with “integrity”.
• Or NOTA percentage should consistently decrease if the electorates feel that the system has achieved the desired level of cleansing.
• In contrast, the share of NOTA votes in India remained around a meagre level of 1% on an average; 1.11% in the 2014 Lok Sabha, and 1.08% in 2019, if we consider constituency-wise averages.
• This perhaps represents a confused state of mind of the electorate.

Way ahead:

• The ECI may state that the candidates securing lesser votes than NOTA are barred from contesting in the next election from that constituency.
• An experiment can be conducted by using NOTB (‘none of the below’) instead of NOTA, after changing the rule suitably, can be attempted.
• This may help us whether such an option as the first on the electronic voting machine might produce a significantly different outcome or not.

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Prelims Questions:

Q1. With reference to the Force majeure, consider the following statements:
1. It refers to an extraordinary events and circumstances beyond human control.
2. It encompasses only natural reasons or an act of God.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: A
Mains Questions:
Q1. What is the NOTA system of India? What are the pleas to extend the scope of NOTA? Will NOTA bring any significant change? Comment.

(The Gist of Science Reporter) VivaLNK’s Tiny Reusable and Wearable Sensor

 [FEBRUARY-2020]

VivaLNK’s Tiny Reusable and Wearable Sensor

• VivaLNK has developed the VivaLNK multi-vital medical wearable sensor with a software development kit.
• The reusable device sticks to the patient’s chest and can record various parameters including ECG waveforms, respiratory rate, heart rate, RR interval, and movement based on a three-axis accelerometer.
• It weighs only 7.5 grams and can have a significant impact in helping the diagnosis of difficult to detect cardiac arrhythmias like atrial fibrillation (AFib).

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(The Gist of Science Reporter) Danakil Depression Uniquely Extreme Region

 [FEBRUARY-2020]

Danakil Depression Uniquely Extreme Region

• The Danakil Depression or geological depression is the outcome of continental rifting of the Afar triangle junction.
• The longest erupted volcano named Erta Ale, also lies in the region of the Afar triangle.
• The average annual temperature of Danakil Depression is 94 degree Fahrenheit or 24.4 degree Celsius.
• In the overall area of the Danakil Depression there are thousands of sulphuric acid pools which are a direct indication of titanic stirrings and volcanic activities.
• Volcanic lava oozes out in different combinations of colours like blue, green, yellow and red.
• Mounds of salt push the lava to flow up to a height of 100 metres.\
• The depression is one of the most geologically active places as well as molten, acidic and bubbling expanse of land.
• The Danakil Depression is a combination of many minerals, salts, sulphur and dissolved iron.
• Pools of Daniel boast a pH level below one.
• Danakil is considered to be one of the most barren ecosystems in the world.
• Danakil Depression surrounding land was once part of the red sea.

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(The Gist of PIB) Ease of Living Index

Ease of Living Index

• Two Assessment Frameworks, viz. Ease of LivingIndex (EoLI) and Municipal Performance Index (MPI) 2019 have been launched by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs to assess quality of life of citizens in 100 Smart Cities and 14 other Million Plus Cities.

Municipal Performance Index 2019:

• Using it, the Ministry will assess the performance of municipalities based on 5 enablers namely Service, Finance, Planning, Technology and Governance.
• These 5 enablers have been further divided into 20 sectors which will be evaluated across 100 indicators.

Ease of Living Index 2019:

• EoLI 2019 will facilitate the assessment of ease of living of citizens across three pillars: Quality of Life, Economic Ability and Sustainability which are further divided into 14 categories across 50 indicators.
• For the first time, as part of the Ease of Living Index Assessment, a Citizen Perception Survey is being conducted on behalf of the Ministry (which carries 30% of the marks of the Ease of Living Index).

Study Material for UPSC General Studies Pre Cum Mains

(The Gist of PIB) DefExpo 2020

DefExpo 2020

• Over 200 partnerships involving Signing of MoUs, Transfer of Technology (ToTs) , Product launches were concluded on the third day of DefExpo 2020, at ceremony tilted “Bandhan.”

Light Utility Helicopter (LUH):

• The indigenous Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) being developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) crossed a milestone as it received the initial operational clearance (IOC) at the ongoing Defexpo.
• LUH is a new generation helicopter in the 3-Ton class with glass cockpit for reconnaissance and surveillance roles.
• LUH is designed and developed as a replacement for Cheetah & Chetak helicopters which are currently being operated by Indian Armed forces.

Amogha-3:

• Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) launched Amogha-3, the anti-Tank Guided Missile. It is a man portable fire and forget missile.

Varunastra:

• BDL also launched Varunastra – the anti-submarine torpedo, manufactured under the technological guidance of DRDO.

Study Material for UPSC General Studies Pre Cum Mains

Skill development in India: Thoughts and Ideas

Introduction:

• Skill development leads to improved productivity,employment,self-employment, economic growth and consequently poverty reduction. Skill development, especially in a country like India with its large young population, which is estimated to be 34.33 per cent of total population in 2020, assumes greater importance to effectively reap the demographic dividend.
• Skilling the growing workforce would improve their productivity and employability which, in turn, will improve incomes and the quality of life.

Skilling to be Made Aspirational:

• To build a sustainable skilling ecosystem, skilling along with vocational education needs to be made aspirational and sought after. Today vocational courses have low acceptability due to several reasons including lack of well-defined career progression and low awareness among the stakeholders.
• It is perceived as a preferred option for those who have not succeeded in the formal education system or have opted out of it. Information, Education and Communication (IEC) efforts to sensitize all the stakeholders would go a long way in making skilling and vocational education aspirational.
• These skilling competitions should be encouraged at all levels and performances should be showcased to create more world champions in order to make skilling acceptable and aspirational.

Strengthen skilling ecosystem:

• To strengthen the skilling ecosystem, we also need to understand youth preferences and gauge their aptitude and interest. Mapping aspirations of the youth is important for sustainable skill development and making the skilling ecosystem more demand driven.
• The use of psychometric tests along with personal counseling, career guidance and awareness drives in rural areas could help assess and shape youth aspirations. At the same time, regular skill gap studies and assessment of industry demand would go a long way in matching demand with supply and shaping policies.

Reskilling and Upskilling:

• Along with fresh skilling, India requires a sustainable reskilling and up-skilling ecosystem, which besides making the workforce present and future ready, would also address the concerns of women who for several reasons including family commitments, take a break from work and then want to rejoin.
• The skilling ecosystem also needs to address the requirements of persons retiring early and those seeking career progressions.

Online Skilling to be encouraged:

• Complementing the existing skilling ecosystem with increased use of Online Skilling which, in a technologically-driven environment, appears to be a viable, cost effective solution that would enable a person to select a trade of his/her choice, with flexible time and pace of learning and not be bound by courses offered by training centres in his/her vicinity should be encouraged.
• Online skilling would increase the span of both horizontal as well as vertical reach of youth to skill courses. This also implies that online skilling would improve the reach of rural youth to formal training systems as they would be able to access these training courses online.
• In rural areas where personal internet connectivity may not be fully established, an integrated On-Premises Training Module can be used at the existing Skill Centres, Common Service Centres (CSCs) or other E-kiosks.
• The role of private sector, industry, industry associations and SSCs would assume great significance in designing the courses and curriculum for online skilling and continuously updating it to keep it relevant and future ready.
• Government would have to take a lead in promoting this online skilling platform and preparing the courses and curriculums. Private sector partnership in the same should also be encouraged.

Private Sector Participation:

• Private sector and industry participation should be leveraged in strengthening the skilling ecosystem. Enhanced industry linkages could lead to more employment opportunities for skilled candidates as they would be industry ready.
• Industry associations and local industry chambers could also be engaged for providing entrepreneurial mentorship and hand-holding for the candidates who, after skilling, would like to start their own venture and become job creators rather than job seekers.

Linking Skill to Entrepreneurship:

• To ensure employability, employment, entrepreneurship and self-employment amongst skilled youth the skilling curriculum should have a fair dose of entrepreneurship and know-how to start one’s own enterprise. Skilling should create not only job seekers but also job creators and job givers.
• Self Help Groups (SHGs), their federations, NGOs, besides Industry associations. Chambers of Commerce, Sector Skill Councils, etc., should also be roped into provide entrepreneurial handholding especially in rural areas, where we need to create more diverse employment opportunities.
• Necessary credit support along with market linkages also needs to be provided. Setting up of incubation centres and cluster-based approach would give great impetus to this.
• Soft-skills training is also an indispensable part of skilling for both employment as well as entrepreneurship.

Role of Apprenticeship in Skilling:

• The need to strengthen and popularize apprenticeships in India is immense and immediate as it is one of the best ways of on-the-job skilling and increasing the employability of a person manifold.
• It is a win-win situation as the industry also gets a ready pool of trained, industry ready workforce. Apprenticeships need to be popularised and incentivised with measures like preference in recruitment, higher stipends for female apprentices and assistance to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) engaging apprentices. Besides increasing apprenticeships, this would also lead to increased female labour force participation.

Integrated Portal of Job Seekers and Job Givers:

• There is also a need to have a single integrated portal wherein all data of job seekers as well as job givers is available and regularly updated which will go a long way in augmenting matchmaking and placement of trained youth.
• It would also help industry get trained workforce of their choice and job seekers to search employment in location of their choice as this portal would become the go-to choice for both job seekers and job givers.

Skilling for Future Jobs:

• In the age of rapid technological advancements, it is also immensely important to prepare the country’s workforce for future jobs by constant up-skilling and reskilling efforts. Many emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Robotics, 3D Printing, Internet of Things (IoT) and Blockchain are shaping innovations in business models and processes.
• Thus, there is an imperative need to introduce new skill courses and training, including reskilling and up-skilling, to prepare Indian youth and workers for these emerging job roles and to be future ready both for domestic and international opportunities. Private sector and industry have a great role to play in devising a skilling curriculum for making the workforce future ready.

Skilling for Global Markets:

• India should leverage its demographic dividend by skilling labour force for global markets which would support the vision of making India the ‘Skill Capital’ of the world.
• As Indian labour would become equipped with international industry standards and processes, an increased number of Multinational Companies and overseas producers would be encouraged to set up their manufacturing units in the country which would in-turn support the ‘Make in India’ campaign of the government.
• Skilling for global markets can be facilitated by setting up specialized market research cells which would conduct demand-supply gap analysis in major employing sectors in different economies, thereby identifying opportunities for the Indian labour force and also the skill sets required to equip them for these opportunities.
• The use of our diplomatic missions abroad should also be strengthened for necessary market information and connecting with the governments and companies in need of trained workforce situated there, and also for projecting future requirements.
• To train youth with skills specific to international market demands, specialized skill hubs could be set up which would impart training as per technical and non-technical skill requirements.
• Industry help would be required to set up these training hubs for which private sector participation should be encouraged. Encouraging government to government tie ups could ensure better protection of workers’ rights. Work in this direction is ongoing and needs to be strengthened and scaled up.

Conclusion:

• India has made huge progress in the field of skilling, but keeping in mind its huge potential and large number of people to be skilled, sustained and innovative efforts in right earnest involving all stakeholders is the need of the hour.
• For India to become the skill capital of the world, skilling of rural India assumes great importance as it would also enhance employability, employment and entrepreneurial activity in rural areas, where the majority of the population still resides.

Study Material for UPSC General Studies Pre Cum Mains

Initiatives to promote skill development and entrepreneurship

Introduction:

• On July 15, 2015 Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi etched out his vision of skill India, a movement to take India on the fast track to economic growth and progress.
• As the nodal ministry charged with fulfilling this grand vision, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has been responsible for all skill development efforts across the country, from building the vocational and technical training framework to skill up-gradation, building new skills not only for existing jobs but also for new job roles that have arisen with Industry 4.0.

Key objectives:

• Our vision statement is "to create an ecosystem of empowerment by skilling on a large scale at speed with high standards and to promote a culture of innovation based entrepreneurship which can generate wealth and employment so as to ensure sustainable livelihood for all citizens in the country".
• With this in sight, the Ministry laid special emphasis in 2019 on convergence, increasing scale, meeting aspirations of the youth and improving the quality of skilling.
• This has led to enhanced skilling opportunities and the creation of a trained workforce in the country, besides inculcating the entrepreneurial spirit among the public at large.

Background:

• Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched the Skill India campaign in July 2015, with an aim to train India’s youth in market-relevant skills empowering them for the New India and the global market requirements. The programme has been able to instill a sense of self confidence in the youth of the country and have provided them with a platform to support themselves with the skill training of their choice.
• According to a 2015-16 report released by MSDE, less than 5 per cent of India’s workforce is formally skilled. Compare this to South Korea (96 per cent), Japan (80 percent), Germany (75 per cent), the United Kingdom (68 per cent) and the United States (52 per cent), and we have a lot of ground to cover. Our aim is to increase these numbers, adopt successful models from these nations and empower many more of the country’s youth.
• Driving convergence across various schemes of vocational training, National Skill Development Mission formulated in 2014, gave a fillip to the skill development and entrepreneurship efforts in the country.
• As a result of the tenacious efforts under NSDM, more than one crore youth are being imparted with skills training every year under various programmes of the Central Government.

Significance of those programmes:

• Among the various initiatives and programmes under the umbrella of Skill India, much-needed reforms have been introduced to apprenticeship training. This has been instrumental in catering to the needs of both a burgeoning talent pool and the industry that seeks trained youth.
• The Guru Shishya Parampara has been the essence of the Indian education system dating back to ancient times when students learnt from textbooks and through experiences, helping reality mirror thought.
• It is an acknowledgement of this tradition that the Government introduced comprehensive reforms in Apprenticeship Act, 1961.
• To recognise and celebrate the contributions of the trainers and gurus towards Skill India, we also organised the first-ever Kaushalacharya Awards to felicitate trainers from different sectors for their exceptional contribution towards creating a future-ready skilled workforce.
• These trainers have helped thousands of youth and have inspired many more technically-equipped and experienced people to join the Skill India Mission.
• Industrial giants Germany and Japan, where the working age population is a fraction of that of India’s, have three million and 10 million apprentices, respectively. China has 20 million. India has just 0.4 million, which amounts to less than 0.1 per cent of the employed workforce.

Advantages for India:

• This highlights the potential that the demographic advantage of a ‘young’ nation like ours has. It is estimated that Indian industry can absorb 10 million apprentices annually, proving that there is huge capability, potential and scope for an apprenticeship-based approach. The country’s youth will trigger this burst to the creation of a modern industrial ecosystem.
• The New India’s dream is also attuned towards skill training with demands of Industry 4.0. The new Industrial Age is boosted by unprecedented technological advancements in Artificial Intelligence, automation, machine learning, robotics and blockchain.
• It calls for an urgent need of trained professionals in varied fields where skills are based on the demands of the present economy. Our visionary programmes like Make in India, Start-up India and Skill India are identifying the talent pool for positioning the country as the next big global destination for investors.
• India is soon expected to rank among the world’s top three growing economies and the top three manufacturing destinations.

National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme:

• The MSDE is also working closely with Central Public Service Units for their support, particularly in bolstering the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS), so we can stay ahead of the curve if we are to scale the peak of growth.

• Started in August 2016, NAPS acts as a guide of basic training and on-the-job practical experience at workplace with various industries.

• The main objective of the scheme is to promote apprenticeship training and to increase the engagement of apprentices.

• This has been one of the most sustainable models of skill development with great outcomes worldwide.

Key contributions:

• A number of exemplary contributions have additionally made it possible to achieve such success. Aimed at training farmers with small landholdings, the Maharashtra State Skill Development Society (MSSDS) RPL Project registered around 95,032 certifications under the job role of Group Farming Practitioner. The Gram Tarang Employability Training Services envisioned towards creation of a Business Development Service (BDS) network for small and marginal farmers recorded 27,063 candidates eligible for certification.
• The RPL project with the Ministry of Power (SAUBHAGYA) aimed at achieving universal household electrification registered over 22,215 candidate certifications under Lineman Distribution and Technical Helper Distribution job roles. The RPL project with CREDAI, an initiative to fulfil the gap and upgrade skills of the construction workers listed over 14,135 certifications of candidates under Assistant Bar Bender and Steel Fixer, Assistant Shuttering Carpenter and Assistant Mason. Over 2.81 million candidates have been enrolled under the project so far.
• The marker of the RPL programme success is not numbers alone, it is the tireless efforts of the implementing agencies and the partner organisations that has brought such good results.
• Global investors are viewing India as a business destination. Strong fundamentals have given our economy the right push to create a stable business environment; and market-oriented reforms and initiatives like Make in India, Digital India, Mudra Yojana, Atal Innovation Mission, 59-minute loan, Stand-up India and Start-Up India are encouraging entrepreneurship among Indians. Bilateral meetings have been organised at regular intervals between officials of MSDE and their counterparts in countries like Singapore, the UAE, Japan, Canada and Australia to boost capacity for skilled workforce in the country.
• MSDE and National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) also launched India’s first National Skills Competition- IndiaSkills, a biennial competition.
• This year, IndiaSkills 2020 will provide a platform for skilled and talented Indian youth to showcase their abilities at regional and national level competitions in over 50 skills. Regional legs of the competitions are organized across four zones, culminating at the national competition in Delhi.
• Winners of India Skills will then get a chance to represent the country at the WorldSkills International Competition to be held in China in 2021.
• WorldSkills International Kazan was held in 2019 and the 22 winners of India Skills 2018 and their experts had represented the country with their outstanding performance at this global platform also known as the Olympics of skills.
• India won one gold, one silver, two bronze and 15 Medallions of Excellence. India was ranked 13th among 63 countries that participated in the competition, making it the best finish for the country in the coveted skill championship. They were felicitated with certificates and cash prizes for their remarkable performance.

Way forward:

• Comprehensive reforms have come into play to build awareness around skilling and we are witnessing a mind shift onwards vocational training. It is my faith that as facilitators , we will be able to bring together the industry and youth to assure them with a future led by a robust skilling framework.
• The roadmap to making India the ‘Skill Capital of the World’ is fast becoming fruition reality. We have pledged to provide constant support to the youth of our nation who are joining the movement for building a “Kushal Bharat, Kaushal Bharat”.

Study Material for UPSC General Studies Pre Cum Mains

Without conviction (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 3: Defense and Security
Prelims level: Jamaat-ud Dawa
Mains level: Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (mint)

Mains Paper 3: Environment
Prelims level: United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
Mains level: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation,

A year after Balakot (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: International Relations
Prelims level: Balakot operation
Mains level: Effects of Balakot operation in Indian subcontinent