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THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 5 September 2018 (Addressing soil loss)

Addressing soil loss

Mains Paper: 3 | Environment
Prelims level: Weathered soil
Mains level: Explain the impact of soil loss on environment.

Context

Rains abate in Kerala and parts of Kodagu district in Karnataka, the loss of lives and the devastation of infrastructure and crops is apparent.
However, as rebuilding is planned, what is often ignored is the soil that has been washed away.
While roads and houses will be rebuilt, and crop losses compensated partially through insurance, the gradual loss of soil productivity can have a lasting impact on the local economy.

Impacts of soil degradation

Soil degradation due to flooding is a serious concern.
A 2014 review of soil degradation in India by multiple institutions shows that an estimated 14 million hectares suffer soil degradation due to flooding annually.
Researchers from the National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBSS&LUP) and other institutes estimate that 13 flood hit districts lost 287 million tonnes of top soil and soil nutrients across 10.75 million hectares of farmland.
The replacement of nutrients such as nitrates, phosphates and iron would have cost ₹1,625 crore, while another ₹853 crore would have been spent on replenishing organic material lost.

Wayout

To recover and replace would take a “considerable” amount of time, and a steadfast programme of recovery.
There is no comprehensive scheme for recovery, and the effect of the floods is still visible on the ground.
A soil profile of a few affected districts, done under the State’s integrated watershed scheme.
It shows large swathes of these areas having “shallow or very shallow” soil depth, organic carbon deficiency, and low productivity of land.

Conclusion

Not all floods are bad for the soil, as seen in the oft occurring floods along the banks of the Ganga, Kosi, Brahmaputra and other rivers taking birth in the Himalayas.
There, the gushing river emanating from the mountains carries with it loosened alluvial soil, and not only washes over farmlands, but also replenishes flood plains with fertile soil.
However, in south and central India, floods wash away rich, weathered soil, which are deposited in reservoirs or as sand bars along the river bed or in the sea.
Any rehabilitation programme must consider this lost soil.

UPSC Prelims Questions:

Q.1) Deforestation may reduce the chances of:
A.   Rain fall
B.   Frequent cyclones
C.   Erosion of surface soil
D.   Frequent landslides
Answer: Option A

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1) Explain the impact of soil loss on environment.

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

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THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 5 September 2018 (Mission Vidya:teachers-as-missionaries)

Mission Vidya: teachers as missionaries

Mains Paper: 2|Education
Prelims level: Mission Vidya
Mains level: Need to train the teachers to improve the education system of India.

Introduction

Research shows that lower primary levels, especially Class IV and below, are critical in laying a foundation for learning and ensuring a liking for school.
The recently concluded ‘Mission Vidya’ in Gujarat once again draws attention to the intractable problem of low learning levels among government school children.
The month long remedial teaching programme targeted more than 200,000 Class VI VIII children with poor achievements in reading, writing and mathematics.

Concerns for governments.

The government is evaluating the programme and one hopes, at least for the children’s sake, that the results are positive.
First, why does the need for such a heroic measure arise when we have well established schools? The most popular answer is student absenteeism.
The children belong to socio economically disadvantaged groups and are under many compulsions that make them miss school regularly.
A mission can address the resulting learning deficit.
But surely short missions cannot overcome the alienation from school that underpins such irregularity.
Schools should understand how their own practices and environment contribute to this alienation, which unfortunately begins much earlier in the student life cycle.

So, is the Class VI VIII stage too late?

Research has shown that lower primary levels, especially Class IV and below, are critical in laying a foundation for learning and ensuring a liking for school.
It is by this stage that children should be transitioning from “learning to read and write” to “reading and writing to learn”—but our biggest failure is here.
So, while attending to struggling Class VI VIII children is morally defensible, the focus should be on the earlier stages.

Changing the current approach of teaching?

Research has shown that remedial teaching needs a lot of customization.
It is, to use an unfortunate analogy, giving the right medicine for the correctly identified disease.
For this, a strong IT based plan is needed. Our experience in dealing online with thousands of teachers shows that this can be done with a little effort.
It is possible to build a system that provides diagnostic data, advises on the strategies to overcome the learning problems identified, and supports regular assessment.
This is equally important, the field level control of mentoring and monitoring such programmes.
It has to pass to those teachers who have performed in the system, and not to high level bureaucrats.
The first line of support for the teachers of the lower primary stage in a block or district has to comprise teachers who are respected in that area for their performance.
There are cluster resource centre coordinators who cover a cluster of schools, but they are identified with the regular administrative hierarchy.

Way forward

Governments must believe that there are good and motivated teachers, perhaps a minority, in their own ranks.
They must be ready to empower such teachers and trust them to deliver.
Flattening hierarchies and decentralizing authority will be resisted, but today we have no option. Is it difficult to find such teachers?
The spearhead teams should have about 25 to 30 members in a district or a set of blocks.
Finding this small number should not be a problem.
Our work with innovative teachers shows that today it is easier to organize such a team since we have a better sense of who the performers are.
These teams must be allowed to mentor and monitor the teachers of whom they are in charge with the help of the diagnostic and assessment data, and to develop locally contextualized teaching and assessment strategies.
The government schools are increasingly catering to the socio economically marginalized sections of our society and that improving learning levels is a matter of social justice and inclusion,
The better it will be for our society.

UPSC Prelims Questions:

Q.1).The policy recommended by the Kothari Commission vis à vis language is
(A) Three language formula
(B) Two language formula
(C) Hindi
(D) Mother Tongue

Answer: A

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1) Why it is important to improve the RTE policy taken by government a decade ago?

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General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

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THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 5 September 2018 (Routes to Afghanistan: on 2+2 talks)

Routes to Afghanistan: on 2+2 talks

Mains Paper: 2 | International Relations
Prelims level: 2+2 talks
Mains level: The 2+2 talks must take into account U.S. policy as well as India’s own role in the region

Introduction

U.S. President Donald Trump announced his “South Asia policy” for Afghanistan, senior American officials will be in the region for talks this week.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary James Mattis visit Delhi for the first 2+2 talks on Thursday with their Indian counterparts, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Mr. Mattis is expected to come via Kabul, while Mr. Pompeo and U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, will swing by Islamabad.

From the perspective of Afghanistan

Afghanistan today is by no means how Mr. Trump had envisioned it in terms of the security situation, regional solutions for the peace process as well as economic development.
The past few weeks have seen a spike in violence, with the Taliban carrying out a set of coordinated assaults around Afghanistan, rejecting an offer of a three-month ceasefire by President Ashraf Ghani and laying siege to Ghazni city.
Before U.S. Special Forces and the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces were able to clear them out, the Taliban had shown up the fragile hold Kabul has on this provincial capital less than 150 km away.
The fight against the Taliban took massive U.S. air fire power as well to finally secure Ghazni, with the once bustling city now war-torn.
While the Taliban suffered heavy casualties, so did the Afghan Army.
The impact of the Taliban assault in Ghazni and other cities in August, including the deadly bombing of a Kabul school, was three-fold.
The violence this year has also put 2018 on course to be the deadliest year for Afghan civilians, with an average of nine people killed every day, according to UN data.
Kabul’s security structure has seen a dramatic series of sackings and resignations in the aftermath.
National Security Adviser Hanif Atmar has been replaced by Afghanistan’s Ambassador to the U.S., Hamdullah Mohib.
The developments, along with the faltering peace process, will make the task of holding parliamentary elections due in October, as well as presidential elections in April 2019, much more challenging.

From the perspective of Iran

The Trump administration’s collision course with Iran is another hurdle to realising its South Asia policy.
Iran is a neighbour to both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and any action against Tehran will have consequences on the region.
The new American push to sanction and isolate Iran by November will undoubtedly shift the focus from the task of resolving the situation in Afghanistan.
This mirrors earlier U.S. offensive actions — in Iraq in 2003, Libya in 2011, Syria in 2014 — each of which took its eye off the ball in Afghanistan.
Iran is also an alternative route for landlocked Afghanistan’s trade routes to the sea, which ties in with India’s desire to circumvent Pakistan by developing the Chabahar port.
It may have benefited from access to the alternative supply lines to U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
Insisting instead on India cutting off ties with Iran, as successive U.S. delegations have done in the past few months, will only jeopardise this route, and affect Iran’s desire to assist with the access.

From the perspective of India

India must focus on assisting Afghanistan in every manner possible to ensure that the country’s elections are as peaceful and participative as possible.
India’s development assistance has been the source of its considerable influence and goodwill among Afghan citizens, and this is not the time to make cuts.
The outlay for 2017-18 at ₹365.96 crore was far lower than its commitment in 2015-2016 at ₹880.44 crore, according to figures tabled in Parliament.
The major projects, such as the Salma Dam and Parliament building in Kabul, that began in 2008-09, have now been completed.
But this begs the question, why are more ambitious projects not being planned?

Look at the double-quick

India must move quickly to provide helicopters as well as engineering/tech support for Afghan hardware.
India’s plans at Chabahar are equally important to its efforts at keeping its lines to Afghanistan independent of other considerations.
Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale’s visit to Kabul next week for a trilateral India-Afghanistan-Iran meeting will be important to take them forward.

Way forward

The government must realise that its consistent undermining of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) because of problems with Pakistan.
It is also weakening Afghanistan’s engagement with the subcontinent, which India had worked hard to foster.
The conversations at the 2+2 meet on Thursday must take into account not just India’s role in Mr. Trump’s South Asia policy but its own role in its neighbourhood.

UPSC Prelims Questions:

Q.1) 1. Consider the following statements
1.   It is a diplomatic arrangement between India and U.S.
2.   It is going to be held in July in which Indian External Affairs and Defence Ministry will held meeting with their U.S counterparts.
3.   It is expected to further cement the India-U.S. engagements.
4.   It key focus areas will be concluding COMCASA and BECA pacts.
Choose the correct statement(s) from the above
A.   1 only
B.   2 and 4only
C.   2 and 3 only
D.   All of the above

Answer: D