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  • UPI123Pay: Payment solution for feature phone users

    The Reserve Bank of India has launched a new Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments solution for feature phone users dubbed ‘UPI123Pay’.

    What is UPI?

    • UPI is an instant real-time payment system developed by NPCI facilitating inter-bank transactions.
    • The interface is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India and works by instantly transferring funds between two bank accounts on a mobile platform.

    What is UPI123Pay?

    • UPI ‘123PAY’ is a three-step method to initiate and execute services for users which will work on simple phones.
    • It will allow customers to use feature phones for almost all transactions except scan and pay.
    • It doesn’t need an internet connection for transactions. Customers have to link their bank account with feature phones to use this facility.
    • Feature phone users will now be able to undertake a host of transactions based on four technology alternatives.
    • They include calling an IVR (interactive voice response) number, app functionality in feature phones, missed call-based approach and also proximity sound-based payments, the RBI said.
    • Such users can initiate payments to friends and family, pay utility bills, recharge the FAST Tags of their vehicles, pay mobile bills and also allow users to check account balances.
    • Customers will also be able to link bank accounts, set or change UPI PINs.

    Others: ‘Digisaathi’

    • A 24×7 helpline for digital payments has also been set up by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
    • The helpline christened ‘Digisaathi’ will assist the callers/users with all their queries on digital payments via website and chatbot.
    • Users can visit www.digisaathi.info or call on 14431 and 1800 891 3333 from their phones for their queries on digital payments and grievances.

    Why UPI123Pay was created?

    • UPI, which was introduced in 2016, has become one of the most used digital payments platforms in the country.
    • The volume of UPI transactions has already reached ₹76 lakh crore in the current year, compared to ₹41 lakh crore in FY21.
    • However, at present, efficient access to UPI is available largely via smartphones.

    How will users make payments without internet?

    The new UPI payments system offers users four options to make payments without internet connectivity:

    1. Interactive Voice Response (IVR): Users would be required to initiate a secured call from their feature phones to a predetermined IVR number and complete UPI on-boarding formalities to be able to start making financial transactions like money transfer, mobile recharge, EMI repayment, balance check, among others.
    2. App-based functionality: One could also install an app on feature phone through which several UPI functions, available on smartphones, will be available on their feature phone, except scan and pay feature which is currently not available.
    3. Missed call facility: The missed call facility will allow users to access their bank account and perform routine transactions such as receiving, transferring funds, regular purchases, bill payments, etc., by giving a missed call on the number displayed at the merchant outlet. The customer will receive an incoming call to authenticate the transaction by entering UPI PIN.
    4. Proximity sound-based payments: One could utilise the proximity sound-based payments option, which uses sound waves to enable contactless, offline, and proximity data communication on any device.

    How do UPI payments through sound work?

    • UPI payments using sound isn’t new. When Google Pay was first launched in 2017 as Tez, the app had a sound-based system of payments built in.
    • Google called this ‘Cash Mode’ in which phones would emit ultrasonic sounds that could be used by other Tez users to accept and receive money.
    • It’s somewhat like Bluetooth but instead of using radio waves, it uses sound waves to transfer data from one device to the next.
    • A company called ToneTag also produces audio-based point-of-sale machines.

    Is payment through sound secure?

    • Sound wave-based payments are meant to be contactless, but occur within a certain proximity only.
    • Ultrasonic waves are outside the usual human hearing range, but such payment systems can also use audible sounds, something that US-based startup Chirp showcased back in 2011.
    • Devices using such systems are encrypted, and only the devices involved can recognize the emitted waves.
    • The sound waves being emitted are encrypted, meaning the receiving device will need to have decryption codes to complete the transaction.

     

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  • [pib] National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC)

    The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of a new government-owned firm National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC) for pooling and monetizing sovereign and public sector land assets.

    What is NLMC?

    • The National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC) is being formed with an initial authorised share capital of ₹5,000 crore and paid-up capital of ₹150 crore.
    • The government will appoint a chairman to head the NLMC through a “merit-based selection process” and hire private sector professionals with expertise.
    • The NLMC will undertake monetization of surplus land and building assets of Central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) as well as government agencies.

    How will it function?

    • NLMC will own, hold, manage and monetise surplus land and building assets of CPSEs under closure and surplus non-core land assets of Government-owned CPSEs under strategic disinvestment.
    • This will speed up the closure process of CPSEs and smoothen the strategic disinvestment process of Government-owned CPSEs, the statement said.
    • NLMC will undertake surplus land asset monetisation as an agency function, and assist and provide technical advice to the Centre in this regard.
    • The NLMC board will comprise senior Government officers and eminent experts, while its chairman and non-Government directors will be appointed through a merit-based selection process, the statement said.
    • The Corporation will have minimal full-time staff, hired directly from the market on a contract basis.

    Stipulated tasks

    • CPSEs have referred around 3,400 acres of land and other non-core assets to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) for monetisation.
    • Monetisation of non-core assets of MTNL, BSNL, BPCL, BEML, HMT, is currently at various stages of the transaction, as per latest data in the Economic Survey 2021-22.

    Significance of NLMC

    • The government would be able to generate substantial revenues by monetizing unused and under-used assets.
    • The new corporation will also help carry out monetization of assets belonging to public sector firms that have closed or are lined up for a strategic sale.

     

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  • [Yojana Archives] National Education Policy 2020

    February 2022

    Context

    • The New Education Policy 2020 aims to mark a revolution in the entire process of teaching and learning.
    • Incorporation of quality in education is a requirement of essence not just in terms of estimation of efficiency but certainly a valuable dimension to reform the system creating new opportunities.
    National Education Policy 2020: Highlights


    The fundamental principles guiding both the education system, as well as the individual institutions within it are:
    ·         Recognizing, identifying and fostering the unique capabilities of each student, in both academic and non-academic spheres.
    ·         Achieving Foundational Literacy and Numeracy by Grade 3.
    ·         Flexibility to choose learning trajectories and own paths of life, as per talents and interests.
    ·         Elimination of hierarchies and silos by ending the separation between curricular and extra-curricular activities, vocational and academic streams etc.
    ·         Multidisciplinary and holistic education across sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities and sports.
    ·         Conceptual understanding instead of rote learning.
    ·         Promoting creativity and critical thinking to encourage logical decision making and innovation.
    ·         Instilling ethics, and human and Constitutional values like empathy, cleanliness, spirit of democracy, equality and justice. Promoting multilingualism.
    ·         Life skills like communication, cooperation and teamwork.
    ·         Regular assessments instead of summative assessment, to end the ‘coaching culture’. Use of technology for increasing access, removing language barriers etc.
    ·         Respect for diversity and local context.
    ·         Equity and inclusion.
    ·         Synergy in curriculum from preschool to higher education.
    ·         Capacity Building and providing a positive working environment to teachers and faculty.
    ·         ‘Light but tight’ regulatory framework through good governance and empowerment.
    ·         Focus on research. Continuous review of progress.
    ·         Pride in Indian culture and knowledge systems.
    ·         Education as a public service and right of every child.
    ·         Investment in education.

    Backgrounder: Education Policies in India

    1. National Education Policy 1968: This was the first policy laying the pathway for further spread of education in the country. It called for increasing the expenditure on education to 6%. It also called for free and compulsory education to everyone, along with development of regional languages and equalization of opportunity for all.
    2. New Education Policy 1986: It was released by the Rajiv Gandhi government. The main features of the policy included inclusion of early childhood care in the ambit of education, emphasis on the education of vulnerable sections like SC, ST, women etc., and providing avenues for inclusive education like distance education and open universities.
    3. National Education Policy 2020: The current policy has been designed keeping in mind the requirements of 21st century and the rapid growth of technology in the world.

    Inspiration for NEP 2020

    The policy derives its inspiration from the below goals:

    • SDG-4: NEP 2020 has been formulated keeping in mind India’s commitments to Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG 4, i.e. ‘to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’.
    • Right to Education: It was enacted by the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act in the year 2009 and was enforced in 2010. It introduced a new Article 21A into the Constitution. The act provides for free and compulsory education for children in the age group of 6-14 years.

    Components of NEP 2020

    • The National Education Policy 2020 is divided into four parts:
    1. Part I: School Education
    2. Part II: Higher Education
    3. Part III: Other Key Areas of Focus
    4. Part IV: Making it Happen

    Objectives of the NEP 2020

    • Roadmap for becoming global knowledge superpower: The Policy aims to transform India into a global knowledge superpower.
    • Making of a responsible citizen: The policy seeks to build an informed citizenry, which is aware of its rights and upholds national integrity and sovereignty in high esteem.
    • Legacy pride: The focus is on making people aware of their rich heritage and culture, and take pride in being a national of a country having a great historical legacy, spanning over multiple millennia.
    • Sustainable development: NEP 2020 has an inherent focus on making the children of today, responsible citizens of tomorrow, who understand the importance of sustainable consumption of natural resources.
    • Time-bound development: The policy has a deadline of the year 2040 to implement the provisions mentioned in the policy.

    Various policy initiatives

    • Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan: The central and the state governments have taken active steps through exemplary schemes like the SSA, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan and Teacher Education to promote quality education and access in the disadvantaged and weaker sections of the society.
    • The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009: Under this Act, good quality elementary education is mandated to adhere to the standards and provisions of the Act.  
    • NISHTHA (National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement): It is a unique programme under Samagra Shiksha by which the government is trying to revamp the teacher training process with the help of important academic bodies.
    • PM E-Vidya: It is noteworthy to mention and it aims to provide access to a variety of e-resources in 33 languages that involve Indian Sign Language, DIKSHA (one digital platform), Swayam Prabha and Podcast – Shiksha Vani.
    • PM POSHAN Shakti Nirman: It is a centrally sponsored scheme under the National Food Security Act that comprises children of Balvatika to class VIII in government and government-aided schools to be supplied nutritious food to the school-going children.
    • SAFAL Assessment: A competency-based assessment will be introduced through Structured Assessment for Analyzing Learning Level (SAFAL) for grades 3, 5 and 8 in accordance with the NEP.
    • Accreditation initiatives: The School Quality Assessment and Accreditation has been considered as the Standards Setting Authority for Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas, Private Independent Schools and Government schools affiliated to the Board.
    • Performance Grading Index: It is an index released by the Ministry of Education for measuring performance of states in school education.

    Challenges

    • Gaps in Learning Outcomes: The education system in India suffers from promotion of rote-learning and emphasis on bookish knowledge. This promotes a lack of understanding among the pupils.  
    • Lack of Parental Literacy: Due to the low literacy levels in the previous generation, there is a clear lack of understanding among parents and teachers about pedagogy.  
    • Lack of Motivation: At the same time, students complain of learning being a mechanical process, with teachers scrambling for course completion within the assigned time.
    • Workload on teachers: On the other hand, teachers complain about the overload of work due to additional responsibilities like census duty, preparing mid-day meals, awareness generation programmes and election duties, which are given to them by the government.
    • Ineffective School Leadership: Teachers complain about a lack of effective guidance and leadership from the higher management of the schools.    
    • Lack of Focus on Soft skills: The focus of school education is on rote learning. This diverts attention from the overall development of the child as the children are unable to learn basic life skills like communication and socialization.  

    Way forward

    • Curriculum Revamp: The general perception regarding updates in curriculum is conservative in India. This needs to change as many subjects like IT show a rapid evolution in a short period of time and outdated learning in such subjects may lead to more harm than good.
    • Linkages across School Levels: Again, there is a need to incorporate incremental learning across different levels of schools to make children grasp the concepts in an efficient manner.  
    • Synergy with the World: Care needs to be taken in designing the course material in such a way that the subjects are informative and aligned with the real world.
    • Holistic planning: It is imperative to engage the subject experts who have an idea of latest updates in the field. Therefore, a committee comprising subject experts, teachers, as well as parents, should be formed to look into better designing of the materials.
    • Innovation in Pedagogy: It is well-established that all children have their own speed of learning and understanding a subject. Therefore, the teachers need to be encouraged to improvise teaching methods and engage all students in an inclusive manner.  
    • Proper assessment mechanism: It should be done in a manner which does not create fear of exams in the children. Therefore, there is a need for comprehensive evaluation of children, to be ensured continuously throughout the year.
    • Capacity Building: There is a need to make the teachers stakeholders in the education system, so that they understand their responsibility towards future development of the nation.  

    Conclusion

    • India still suffers from a lack of basic numeracy and foundational literacy as manifested in the ASER report released by the NGO Pratham.
    • In such a context, NEP 2020 has come at the right time and is expected to boost India’s literacy and skill levels across the levels of education.
    • The need is to implement the well-intentioned provisions in the policy in a time-bound manner.
    • This will create hope for a better future for many of the poverty-afflicted households of the country and enhance the standing of the country at the international level and will create livelihoods.

  • Tobacco and related issues in India

    Context

    Tobacco is a silent killer in our midst that kills an estimated 1.35 million Indians every year.

    The harm caused by tobacco

    • It is the use of tobacco as a result of which more than 3,500 Indians die every single day, as estimated by scientific studies.
    • It also comes at a heavy cost: an annual economic burden of ₹1,77,340 crore to the country or more than 1% of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    How price and taxation of tobacco matters

    •  Research from many countries around the world including India shows that a price increase induces people to quit or reduce tobacco use as well as discourages non-users from getting into the habit of tobacco use.
    • There is overwhelming consensus within the research community that taxation is one of the most cost-effective measures to reduce demand for tobacco products.
    • There has been no significant tax increase on any tobacco product for four years in a row.
    • This is quite unlike the pre-GST years where the Union government and many State governments used to effect regular tax increases on tobacco products.
    • As peer-reviewed studies show, the lack of tax increase over these years has made all tobacco products increasingly more affordable.
    •  The absence of a tax increase on tobacco has the potential to reverse the reduction in tobacco use prevalence that India saw during the last decade and now push more people into harm’s way.
    •  It would also mean foregone tax revenues for the Government.

    Way forward

    • The Union Budget exercise is not the only opportunity to initiate a tax increase on tobacco products.
    • The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council could well raise either the GST rate or the compensation cess levied on tobacco products especially when the Government is looking to rationalise GST rates and increase them for certain items.
    • For example, there is absolutely no public health rationale why a very harmful product such as the bidi does not have a cess levied on it under the GST while all other tobacco products attract a cess.
    • GST Council meetings must strive to keep public health ahead of the interests of the tobacco industry and significantly increase either the GST rates or the GST compensation cess rates applied on all tobacco products.

    Conclusion

    The aim should be to arrest the increasing affordability of tobacco products in India and also rationalise tobacco taxation under the GST.

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  • Centre and RBI must rely on unconventional policies to manage finances better

    Context

    Amid Ukraine crisis and high oil prices, the larger concern is how the government and the RBI will navigate this period at a time of record government borrowings, and prevent domestic interest rates from hardening.

    The Triffin paradox in current context

    • It is ironic that even as emerging economies running current account deficits are getting punished by a depreciating currency and a hardening of interest rates, we are witnessing the US dollar appreciating and US treasuries strengthening.
    • The most common argument for such a macroeconomic paradox is named after the economist Robert Triffin (the Triffin Paradox).
    •  It postulates that the US current account deficit is purely a reflection of the US supplying large amounts of dollars to fulfil the world’s demand.
    • In other words, central banks across the world must build up claims on the US to back their domestic money growth.

    Dollar’s dominance

    • Former US Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke even extended this argument in 2005 to the “saving glut” proposition by espousing that emerging economies were accumulating foreign exchange reserves in dollars, and diverting domestic savings to buy US treasuries.
    • There are several counter arguments to this view that effectively state that the dominance of the US dollar is inevitable in the global financial architecture, and it is purely a fault of emerging market economies.

    Need for the unconventional tools to avoid the disruption by government borrowing

    This can be done in the following ways

    1] Spread the borrowing over four quarters after taking real-time view of disruption

    • Every year, the government front-loads its large borrowing programme by completing 60 per cent of the borrowings in the first half of the year.
    • This time, the RBI and the government may take a real-time view of disruptions and spread the borrowings over four quarters, keeping the initial two quarters light.
    • The borrowing programme can also be announced as per a quarterly schedule and there could be even two auctions during the week.
    • These steps could smoothen out the non-disruptive elements in government borrowings.

    2] Reconfigure the borrowing program

    • For example, as rates move up, banks tend to prefer short-term investments while insurance companies, provident funds and others prefer longer-term investments.
    • Given this, the borrowing schedule can be reconfigured with a higher proportion of short-and medium-tenor securities being offered in the initial months, while pushing back the longer tenor securities to the second half of the year.

    3] Push Small Savings Schemes

    • Third, small savings collections have significantly exceeded budget estimates.
    • The government could think of giving a push to small savings schemes such as the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY).
    • The SSY has witnessed the registration of 2.82 crore girl children in the seven years since its inception in 2015, leaving enough room for further mop-up.
    • The newly opened accounts may even be given an enhanced savings limit in the first year to catch up for the years lost for these new additions.

    4] Listing of LIC

    • LIC currently holds around Rs 23.5 trillion worth of government bonds, higher than even than the RBI.
    • LIC’s G-sec holding is around 19 per cent, while in comparison the banking system’s ownership stands at around 38 per cent.
    • Thus LIC’s listing should augur well for the bond market as the insurance behemoth may have to deploy a greater share of inflows in safer avenues domestically.
    • This is a plausible option as banks may have to readjust their deposits into credit as the economic recovery gains momentum.

    Conclusion

    Rising oil prices have placed policymakers in an unenviable position. If higher oil prices are fully passed through, it will result in higher inflation and hence higher rates as a consequence.  In such a scenario it is best to follow the first option by using unconventional policy measures.

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  • Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA) of the BBIN

    With Bhutan continuing to sit out the Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA) of the sub-regional Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) grouping, a meeting of the other three countries was held to discuss the next steps in operationalizing the agreement for the free flow of goods and people between them.

    What is Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA)?

    • India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh signed a Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA) for the Regulation of Passenger, Personal and Cargo Vehicular Traffic among the four South Asian neighbours.
    • It was signed on 15 June 2015 at the BBIN transport ministers meeting in Thimpu, Bhutan.
    • The act will facilitate a way for a seamless movement of people and goods across their borders for the benefit and integration of the region and its economic development.

    Key terms of the Agreement

    • Trans-shipment of goods: Cargo vehicles will be able to enter any of the four nations without the need for trans-shipment of goods from one country’s truck to another’s at the border.
    • Free transport: The agreement would permit the member states to ply their vehicles in each other’s territory for transportation of cargo and passengers, including third-country transport and personal vehicles.
    • Electronic permit: As per the agreement each vehicle would require an electronic permit to enter another country’s territory, and border security arrangements between nations’ borders will also remain.
    • Ultra-security: Vehicles are fitted with an electronic seal that alerts regulators every time the container door is opened.

    Implementation status of the agreement

    • The agreement will enter into force after it is ratified by all four member nations.
    • The agreement has been ratified by Bangladesh, India and Nepal.
    • The lower house of the Bhutanese parliament approved the agreement in early 2016, but it was rejected by the upper house in November 2016.
    • Bhutan has requested for a cap to be fixed on the number of vehicles entering its territory

    What next?

    • India remains “hopeful” that Bhutan could change its position on the project, it was decided at a meeting in November 2021 to go ahead for now, given that there are no new signals from Thimphu on the project.
    • Progress on the seven-year-old project has been slow, despite several trial runs being held along the Bangladesh-India-Nepal road route for passenger buses and cargo trucks.
    • There are still some agreements holding up the final protocols.

    Back2Basics: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal (BBIN)

    • BBIN Initiative is a sub-regional architecture of countries in Eastern South Asia, a sub-region of South Asia.
    • The group meets through the official representation of member states to formulate, implement and review quadrilateral agreements across areas such as water resources management, connectivity of power, transport, and infrastructure.

     

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  • What is the Temporary Protection Directive of the EU?

    Responding to the crisis, EU Member States made the unprecedented decision to activate a major European Union’s Council Directive, known as the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD).

    What is Temporary Protection?

    • The EU Commission describes “temporary protection” under the TPD as an “exceptional measure to provide immediate and temporary protection to displaced persons from non-EU countries and those unable to return to their country of origin”.
    • The directive applies when there is a risk that the standard asylum system is struggling to cope with demand stemming from a mass influx risking a negative impact on the processing of claims.

    Objectives of this protection

    1. To both establish minimum standards for giving temporary protection to displaced persons
    2. To promote a balance of effort between Member States in receiving and bearing the consequences of receiving such persons

    Why establish standards?

    The Commission gives two reasons for doing so:

    • It reduces disparities between the policies of EU States on the reception and treatment of displaced persons in a situation of mass influx.
    • It promotes solidarity and burden-sharing among EU States with respect to receiving large numbers of potential refugees at one time.”

    What obligations does the TPD place upon EU states?

    According to the European Commission, the TPD “foresees harmonised rights for the beneficiaries of temporary protection”, which include:

    • Residence permit for the duration of the protection (which can last from 1-3 years),
    • Appropriate information on temporary protection,
    • Access to employment,
    • Access to accommodation or housing,
    • Access to social welfare or means of subsistence,
    • Access to medical treatment,
    • Access to education for minors,
    • Opportunities for families to reunite in certain circumstances, and
    • Guarantees for access to the normal asylum procedure

    The TPD also contains provisions for the return of displaced persons to their country of origin, unless they have committed serious crimes or they “pose a threat to security from the benefit of temporary protection”.

     

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  • In news: Pal-Dadhvav Massacre

    The Gujarat government has marked 100 years of the Pal-Dadhvav killings, calling it a massacre “bigger than the Jallianwala Bagh”.

    Pal-Dadhvav Massacre

    • The massacre took place on March 7, 1922, in the Pal-Chitariya and Dadhvaav villages of Sabarkantha district, then part of Idar state.
    • The day was Amalki Ekadashi, which falls just before Holi, a major festival for tribals.
    • Villagers from Pal, Dadhvav, and Chitariya had gathered on the banks of river Heir as part of the ‘Eki movement’, led by one Motilal Tejawat.
    • The movement was to protest against the land revenue tax (lagaan) imposed on the peasants by the British and feudal lords.
    • Tejawat, who belonged to Koliyari village in the Mewad region of Rajasthan, had also mobilised Bhils from Kotda Chhavni, Sirohi, and Danta to participate.

    The fateful day

    • Tejawat had been outlawed by the Udaipur state, which had announced a Rs-500 reward on his head.
    • The Mewad Bhil Corps (MBC), a paramilitary force raised by the British that was on the lookout for Tejawat, heard of this gathering and reached the spot.
    • On a command from Tejawat, nearly 2000 Bhils raised their bows and arrows and shouted in unison- ‘We will not pay the tax’.
    • The MBC commanding officer, HG Sutton, ordered his men to fire upon them creating a huge stampede.
    • Nearly 1,000 tribals (Bhils) fell to bullets. While the British claimed some 22 people were killed, the Bhils believe 1,200-1,500 of them died.

    Must read:

    Important Rebellions and Peasant Movements

     

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  • [pib] Petascale Supercomputer “PARAM Ganga” established at IIT Roorkee

    The National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) has now deployed “PARAM Ganga”, a supercomputer at IIT Roorkee, with a supercomputing capacity of 1.66 Petaflops.

    What is a Supercomputer?

    • A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer.
    • The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instructions per second (MIPS).
    • Since 2017, there are supercomputers which can perform over a hundred quadrillion FLOPS (peta FLOPS).
    • Since November 2017, all of the world’s fastest 500 supercomputers run Linux-based operating systems.

    PARAM Ganga

    • PARAM Ganga is designed and commissioned by C-DAC under Phase 2 of the build approach of the NSM.
    • It is based on a heterogeneous and hybrid configuration of Intel Xeon Cascade lake processors, and NVIDIA Tesla V100.
    • There are 312 (CPU+GPU+HM) nodes with a total peak computing capacity of 1.67 (CPU+GPU+HM) PFLOPS performance.
    • The cluster consists of compute nodes connected with the Mellanox (HDR) InfiniBand interconnect network.
    • The system uses the Lustre parallel file system and operating system is CentOS 7.x.

    Back2Basics: National Supercomputing Mission (NSM)

    • NSM is a proposed plan by GoI to create a cluster of seventy supercomputers connecting various academic and research institutions across India.
    • In April 2015 the government approved the NSM with a total outlay of Rs.4500 crore for a period of 7 years.
    • The mission was set up to provide the country with supercomputing infrastructure to meet the increasing computational demands of academia, researchers, MSMEs, and startups by creating the capability design, manufacturing, of supercomputers indigenously in India.
    • Currently there are four supercomputers from India in Top 500 list of supercomputers in the world.

    Aims and objectives

    • The target of the mission was set to establish a network of supercomputers ranging from a few Tera Flops (TF) to Hundreds of Tera Flops (TF) and three systems with greater than or equal to 3 Peta Flops (PF) in academic and research institutions of National importance across the country by 2022.
    • This network of Supercomputers envisaging a total of 15-20 PF was approved in 2015 and was later revised to a total of 45 PF (45000 TFs), a jump of 6 times more compute power within the same cost and capable of solving large and complex computational problems.

    When did India initiate its efforts to build supercomputers?

    • India’s supercomputer program was initiated in the late 1980s, when the United States ceased the export of a Cray Supercomputer due to technology embargos.
    • This resulted in India setting up C-DAC in 1988, which in 1991, unveiled the prototype of PARAM 800, benchmarked at 5 Gflops. This supercomputer was the second-fastest in the world at that time.
    • Since June 2018, the USA’s Summit is the fastest supercomputer in the world, taking away this position from China.
    • As of January 2018, Pratyush and Mihir are the fastest supercomputers in India with a maximum speed of Peta Flops.

    What are the phases of the National Supercomputing Mission?

    Phase I:

    • In the first phase of the NSM, parts of the supercomputers are imported and assembled in India.
    • A total of 6 supercomputers are to be installed in this phase.
    • The first supercomputer that was assembled indigenously is called Param Shivay. It was installed in IIT (BHU) located in Varanasi.
    • Similar systems, Param Shakti (IIT Kharagpur) and Param Brahma (IISER, Pune) were also later installed within the country.
    • The rest will be installed at IIT Kanpur, IIT Hyderabad and Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Advanced Studies (JNIAS).

    Phase II:

    • The supercomputers that are installed so far are about 60% indigenous.
    • The 11 systems that are going to be installed in the next phase will have processors designed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and will have a cumulative capacity of 10 petaflops.
    • These new systems are to be constructed more cost-effectively than the previous ones.
    • One of the 11 proposed supercomputers will be installed
    • at C-DAC exclusively for small and medium enterprises so that they can train employees as well as work on supercomputers at a very low cost.

    Phase III:

    • The third phase aims to build fully indigenous supercomputers.
    • The government had also approved a project to develop a cryogenic cooling system that rapidly dispels the heat generated by a computing chip. This will be jointly built together by IIT-Bombay and C-DAC.

     

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  • Women and Politics

    Context

    For a proper appraisal of the relations between gender and democracy, we ought to examine the links between violence, representation, and the political participation of women.

    Role of women in South Asian democracy

    • Historically, one of the peculiar paradoxes of South Asian democracy has been the continued presence of strong women leaders at the executive centre coupled with a generally appalling condition of women in society at large.
    • South Asia has had the largest number of women heads of state — including Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Chandrika Kumaratunga, Indira Gandhi, Khaleda Zia, Sheikh Hasina, and Benazir Bhutto — of any region in the world till recently.
    • Under-represented: While women have played very visible and important roles at the higher echelons of power and at the grassroots level in social movements, they have been under-represented in political parties as officials and as members of key decision-making bodies.

    Electoral representation of women in India

    • In India, women currently make up 14.6 per cent of MPs (78 MPs) in the Lok Sabha, which is a historic high.
    • Although the percentage is modest, it is remarkable because women barely made up 9 per cent of the overall candidates in 2019.
    • In electoral representation, has fallen several places in the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s global ranking of women’s parliamentary presence, from 117 after the 2014 election to 143 as of January 2020. 
    • In terms of electoral quotas, there were two outstanding exceptions in the 2019 general elections.
    • Voluntary parliamentary quota: West Bengal under Mamata Banerjee and Odisha under Naveen Patnaik opted for voluntary parliamentary quotas, fielding 40 per cent and 33 per cent women candidates, respectively.

    Growing turnout of women voters and its implications

    • Assertion of citizenship rights: In 1962, the male voter turnout in India was 16 percentage points higher than for women. Six decades later, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, women’s participation exceeded that of men for the first time.
    • This suggests an increasing assertion of citizenship rights among women.
    • The growing turnout of women voters could influence political parties’ programmatic priorities and improve their responsiveness to women voters’ interests, preferences, and concerns, including sexual harassment and gender-based violence.
    • Women-centric schemes: The state government in Bengal ran and highlighted many women-centric schemes that potentially played a central role in their victory.
    • The central government must be commended for its achievements in two areas in particular: Its DBT schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana and the Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan.
    • As a result, maternal mortality rate has reduced from 167 (2011-13) to 113 (2016-18).
    • The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2017 is another landmark achievement that extended the paid maternal leave to 26 weeks from the existing 12 weeks.

    Way forward

    • Government must use its parliamentary majority to finally pass the Women’s Reservation Bill, as was promised in their 2014 election manifesto.
    • Until that happens, the initiative taken by the governments of Banerjee and Patnaik to increase women’s parliamentary presence must serve as an inspiration to other Indian states.

    Conclusion

    The extent to which parties represent women and take up their interests is closely tied to the health and vitality of democratic processes.

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