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GS Paper: GS2

  • [pib] Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN)

    The eVIN has reached 32 States and Union Territories (UTs) and will soon be rolled out in the remaining States and UTs of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Ladakh and Sikkim.

    Try this question from CSP 2016:

    Q.‘Mission Indradhanush’ launched by the Government of India pertains to:

    (a) Immunization of children and pregnant women

    (b) Construction of smart cities across the country

    (c) India’s own search for the Earth-like planets in outer space

    (d) New Educational Policy

    About eVIN

    • The eVIN is an innovative technological solution aimed at strengthening immunization supply chain systems across the country.
    • This is being implemented under the National Health Mission (NHM) by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
    • It aims to provide real-time information on vaccine stocks and flows, and storage temperatures across all cold chain points in the country.
    • This system has been used during the COVID pandemic for ensuring the continuation of the essential immunization services and protecting our children and pregnant mothers against vaccine-preventable diseases.

    Components of eVIN

    • eVIN combines state-of-the-art technology, a strong IT infrastructure and trained human resource to enable real-time monitoring of stock and storage temperature of the vaccines kept in multiple locations across the country.
    • At present, 23,507 cold chain points across 585 districts of 22 States and 2 UTs routinely use the eVIN technology for efficient vaccine logistics management.

    Benefits of eVIN

    • It has helped create a big data architecture that generates actionable analytics encouraging data-driven decision-making and consumption-based planning.
    • It helps in maintaining optimum stocks of vaccines leading to cost savings. Vaccine availability at all times has increased to 99% in most health centres in India.
    • While instances of stock-outs have reduced by 80%, the time taken to replenish stocks has also decreased by more than half, on an average.
    • This has ensured that every child who reaches the immunization session site is immunized, and not turned back due to unavailability of vaccines.

  • Explained: What is Contempt of Court?

    Contempt of court, as a concept is back in the news after the proceeding by the Supreme Court of India, on its own motion, against a senior Delhi-based advocate-activist.

    Try this question for mains:

    Q.What is Contempt of Court? Discuss, how free speech can lead to the contempt of courts?

    What is Contempt of Court?

    • It seeks to protect judicial institutions from motivated attacks and unwarranted criticism, and as a legal mechanism to punish those who lower its authority.

    How did the concept of contempt come into being?

    • The concept of contempt of court is several centuries old.
    • In England, it is a common law principle that seeks to protect the judicial power of the king, initially exercised by him, and later by a panel of judges who acted in his name.
    • Violation of the judges’ orders was considered an affront to the king himself.
    • Over time, any kind of disobedience to judges, or obstruction of the implementation of their directives, or comments and actions that showed disrespect towards them came to be punishable.

    What is the statutory basis for contempt of court?

    • There were pre-Independence laws of contempt in India. Besides the early High Courts, the courts of some princely states also had such laws.
    • When the Constitution was adopted, contempt of court was made one of the restrictions on freedom of speech and expression.
    • Separately, Article 129 of the Constitution conferred on the Supreme Court the power to punish contempt of itself.
    • Article 215 conferred a corresponding power on the High Courts.
    • The Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, gives statutory backing to the idea.

    What are the kinds of contempt of court?

    The law codifying contempt classifies it as civil and criminal.

    • Civil contempt is fairly simple. It is committed when someone willfully disobeys a court order or wilfully breaches an undertaking given to the court. However, Criminal contempt is more complex.
    • It consists of three forms: (a) words, written or spoken, signs and actions that “scandalise” or “tend to scandalise” or “lower” or “tends to lower” the authority of any court (b) prejudices or interferes with any judicial proceeding and (c) interferes with or obstructs the administration of justice.
    • The rationale for this provision is that courts must be protected from tendentious attacks that lower its authority, defame its public image and make the public lose faith in its impartiality.
    • The punishment for contempt of court is simple imprisonment for a term up to six months and/or a fine of up to ₹. 2,000.

    What does not account to contempt?

    • Fair and accurate reporting of judicial proceedings will not amount to contempt of court.
    • Nor is any fair criticism on the merits of a judicial order after a case is heard and disposed of.

    Is truth a defence against a contempt charge?

    • For many years, the truth was seldom considered a defence against a charge of contempt.
    • There was an impression that the judiciary tended to hide any misconduct among its individual members in the name of protecting the image of the institution.
    • The Act was amended in 2006 to introduce truth as a valid defence if it was in the public interest and was invoked in a bonafide

  • Understanding text and context of National Education Policy

    The article critically examines the various aspects of the National Education Policy 2020 and the issue of flexibility and exams has been analysed closely.

    Context of scepticism

    • The New Education Policy is a forward-looking framework for transforming Indian education.
    • But the past record on implementation of polity raises the concern that the New Education Policy should not turn out to be just “another document”.
    • Also, the emphasis in the document on critical thinking and free inquiry is entirely well placed.
    • But universities are being intimidated into political and cultural conformity.
    • The document lays down objectives; the strategy has yet to come.

    Walking the tightrope

    • On the language issue it prefers the long-standing recommendation of primary education in the mother tongue.
    • But does not categorically recommend curb English.
    • On the basic architecture of delivery, policy does not show an inclination towards public or private education both in school and higher education.

    School education: Most promising part

    • The policy focus on early child development, learning outcomes, different forms of assessment, holistic education, and,  recognises the centrality of teacher and teacher education.
    • The document recognises that “the very highest priority of the education system will be to achieve universal foundational numeracy and literacy.”
    • The suggestions for school education are ambitious, centred on the students, cater to their pedagogical diversity, and take on board the world of knowledge as it is now emerging.

    Multidisciplinary education

    • The document mentions the word multidisciplinary a bit too much, without explicating what it means.
    • One way of thinking about this is not in terms of multiple subjects.
    • It is reorienting education from disciplinary content to modes of inquiry that allow students to access a wide variety of disciplines.

    Two concerns

    1) Flexibility issue

    • Under the policy, students might need different exit options.
    • But it is unclear if the diploma or early exit options all be made available within a single institution, or different institutions.
    • If it is within single institutions, this will be a disaster.
    • Because structuring a curriculum for a classroom that has both one-year diploma and four-year degree students takes away from the identity of the institution.
    • There is also a risk that without adequate financial support, the exercising of exit options will be determined by the financial circumstances of the student.
    • The flexibility offered through multidisciplinary education is against the principle that different institutions have a different characters and strengths.
    • A healthy education system will comprise of a diversity of institutions, not a forced multi-disciplinarity.

    2) Issue of exams conundrum

    • The document rightly emphasises that focus needs to shift from exams to learning. But it contradicts itself.
    • Exams are burdon because of competition and cost in terms of opportunities.
    • So the answer to the exam conundrum lies in the structure of opportunity.
    • This will require a less unequal society both in terms of access to quality institutions.
    • Exams are also necessary because in a low trust system people want objective measures of commensuration.
    • So the policy reintroduces exams back into the picture by recommending a national aptitude test.
    • But the idea that this will reduce coaching is wishful thinking, as all the evidence from the US and China is showing.

    Consider the question “The National Education Policy 2020 moves away from rigidity and offers flexibility in many ways. In light of this examine the flexible dimensions offered in the policy and issues with it.”

    Conclusion

    The policy is commendable for focussing on the right questions. But the hope is that with this our education policy can be transformed into a treat, not another trick.

  • Issues metropolitan cities face

    Metropolitan cities of India suffers from various issues. This article analyses such issues and suggests some steps to deal with them.

    Inadequate public health infrastructure

    • India’s public health expenditure in 2018 was a mere 1.28% of GDP.
    • According to the World Bank, India’s out-of-pocket health expenditure was 62.4% in 2017, against the world average of 18.2%.
    • Manpower in the health sector is low with India’s doctor-population ratio being 1:1,457  against WHO norm of 1:1,000.

    Governance issues

    • Factors underlying city governance include spatial planning, municipal capacities, empowered mayors and councils and inter-agency coordination, and ward-level citizen participation.
    • Twenty-seven after the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, these reform agendas continue to be slow in implementation.
    • India’s metropolitan cities have weak capacities in finance and staffing.
    • Bengaluru’s average percentage of own revenue to total expenditure is 47.9%, Chennai 30.5%, Mumbai 36.1% and Kolkata at 48.4%.
    • According to ASICS 2017, Mumbai has the highest number of officers per lakh population at 938 in the country.
    • Yet it is abysmally low compared to global cities such as Johannesburg with 2,922 and New York with 5,446 officers per lakh population

    Limited powers of mayors

    • The leaders steering India’s metropolitan cities are toothless.
    • No big metropolitan cities with 10 million-plus population has a directly-elected Mayor.
    • Mumbai’s Mayor has a tenure of 2.5 years, Delhi and Bengaluru, a mere one year.
    • Mayors do not have full decision-making authority over critical functions of planning, housing, water, environment, fire and emergency services in most cases.
    • Our metropolitan cities are far from being local self-governments.
    • Parastatal agencies for planning, water and public transport report directly to State governments.
    • The State government also largely controls public works and police.
    • Globally, metropolitan cities are steered by a directly-elected leader.
    • Evolved examples include the Tokyo metropolitan government and recent experimental models such as combined authorities in the United Kingdom and Australia.

    Suggestions

    • India needs home-grown solutions suited to its context and political realities while imbibing lessons on institutional design from global examples.
    • It is time the Central and State governments lead efforts towards a metropolitan governance paradigm.
    • The first steps should include empowered Mayors with five-year tenure, decentralised ward level governance, and inter-agency coordination anchored by the city government.

    Lack of transparency, accountability and citizen participation

    • Transparent cities with institutional platforms encouraging citizen participation improve urban democracy.
    • No metropolitan has functional ward committees and area sabhas.
    • An absence of citizen participation is worsened by poor transparency in finance and operations.
    • As per ASICS 2017, India’s big metropolitan cities on average score 3.04/10 in transparency, accountability and participation.

    Significance of smaller cities

    • A World Bank report notes that despite the emergence of smaller towns, the underlying character of India’s urbanisation is “metropolitan”.
    • Under this metropolitan character, new towns emerge around existing large cities.
    • According to a McKinsey report, in 2012, 54 metropolitan cities and their hinterlands accounted for 40% of India’s GDP.
    • The report also estimates that by 2025, 69 metropolitan cities, combined with their hinterlands, will generate over half of India’s incremental GDP between 2012 and 2025.
    • Despite this, India is yet to begin an active discourse on cohesive metropolitan governance frameworks.
    •  Studies by the Centre for Policy Research point that India’s spatial feature exhibits the growth of small towns beyond the economics of large agglomerations.
    • This indicates that while India’s urban vision should focus on its metropolitan cities to reap the benefit of scale, it shouldn’t ignore smaller cities.

    Consider the question “Examine the issues in the governance of metropolitan cities. To what extent the limited power of mayors contributes to the issues of the metropolitan cities in India?”

    Conclusion

    India should use the current pandemic as an opportunity to introspect and reform the way its metropolises are governed.

    Back2Basics: ASICS 2017

    • The Annual Survey of India’s City-Systems (ASICS) 2017 evaluates quality of governance in cities, covering 23 major cities in India across 20 states based on 89 questions.
    • Indian cities scored between 3.0 and 5.1 on 10, with Pune topping the charts for the first time.
    • Other cities that came in the top five include Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhubaneswar and Surat, with scores in the range of 4.6 to 4.5.

  • Merger of political parties under Tenth schedule

    A political party is trying to win back its defected MLAs in Rajasthan. This has raised a new question- “Does the anti-defection law apply here?”

    Try this question for mains:

    Q.“Time and again, the courts have spoken out against the Governor acting in the capacity of an all-pervading super-constitutional authority.” Analyse.

    What does “merger” mean a/c to Tenth Schedule?

    • The Tenth Schedule of the Constitution prohibits defection to protect the stability of governments but does not prohibit mergers.
    • Paragraph 4(2) of the Tenth Schedule, dealing with mergers, says that only when two-thirds of the members agree to “merge” the party would they be exempt from disqualification.
    • The “merger” referred to in Paragraph 4(2) is seen as a legal fiction, where members are deemed to have merged for the purposes of being exempt from disqualification, rather than a merger in the true sense.

    The ‘merger’ Politics

    • The political party is arguing that a state unit of a national party cannot be merged without the party being merged at the national level.
    • However, the Tenth Schedule identifies this dichotomy between state units and national units.
    • As per Paragraph 4(2), “merger” of a party means merger of a legislative party of that House.
    • In this case, it would be the Rajasthan Legislative unit of the BSP and not the BSP at the national level.
    • Paragraph 1 of the Tenth Schedule which defines terms specified in the context of the anti-defection law states this clearly.
    • “Legislature Party” for the purposes of Paragraph 4 (which deals with mergers) means the group consisting of all the members of that House for the time being belonging to that political party in accordance with the said provisions.

    Role of Whip

    • Every legislative party identifies the party’s whip at the beginning of the Assembly’s term and conveys this to the Speaker.
    • A national leader’s direction cannot be considered a whip in the context of the anti-defection law.

    On what grounds is the case-based?

    • The contention is that the merger is illegal and unconstitutional because, for a national party, such merger has to take place at the national level.
    • Supporting this argument, there are two decisions of the Supreme Court: the 2006 Jagjit Singh v State of Haryana, and the 2007 ruling in Rajendra Singh Rana and Ors vs Swami Prasad Maurya.
    • In these cases, the SC ruled that the split cannot be recognised primarily because not all these MLAs split at once.
    • The key aspect is that these cases deal with splits where when one-third of the members of a legislative party split; they could not attract disqualification as per Paragraph 3 of the Tenth Schedule.

    Row over one-third

    • In 2003, through the 91st Constitutional Amendment, Paragraph 3 was deleted from the Tenth Schedule.
    • The amendment was made as the one-third split rule was grossly misused by parties to engineer divisions and indulge in horse-trading.
    • One-third was regarded as an easy target to achieve and the law now exempts defection only when it is at two-thirds (in a merger).

    Are there any such precedents?

    • In July 2019, 10 of the 15 one party’s MLAs in Goa joined the other taking the ruling party’s tally to 27 in the 40 member House.
    • Since they formed two-thirds of the strength of the legislative party unit, they are exempt from disqualification.
    • However, the Speaker’s decision not to disqualify them is under challenge before the Supreme Court.
    • Similarly in Telangana in 2016, two years after the 12 out of 15 of MLAs joined the ruling party.
    • The Speaker recognised the defection as a merger since more than two-thirds had moved.

  • Technical Platform on the Measurement and Reduction of Food Loss and Waste

    The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has unveiled a new platform to help accelerate the global reduction in food loss and waste.

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2016:

    Q. The FAO accords the status of ‘Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS)’ to traditional agricultural systems. What is the overall goal of this initiative?

    1. To provide modern technology, training in modern farming methods and financial support to local communities of identified GIAHS so as to greatly enhance their agricultural productivity.
    2. To identify and safeguard eco-friendly traditional farm practices and their associated landscapers, agricultural biodiversity and knowledge systems of the local communities.
    3. To provide Geographical Indication status to all the varieties of agricultural produce in such identified GIAHS.

    Select the correct answer using the code given below.

    (a) 1 and 3 only
    (b) 2 only
    (c) 2 and 3 only
    (d) 1, 2 and 3

    About the Platform

    • The Technical Platform on the Measurement and Reduction of Food Loss and Waste brings together information on measurement, reduction, policies, alliances, actions and examples of successful models applied to reduce food loss and waste across the globe.
    • The platform will contain information on measurement, reduction policies, alliances, actions and examples of successful models applied to reduce food loss and waste.
    • The platform will be officially launched on the first International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste on 29 September 2020.

    How will it work?

    • The platform is as a gateway to information on food loss and waste from various resources, including the largest online collection of data on what food is lost and wasted.
    • Links to related portals from development partners are also provided.

    Why need such a portal?

    • Food loss and waste is a sign of food systems in distress. Nutritious foods are the most perishable, and hence, the most vulnerable to lose.
    • Not only food is being lost, but food safety and nutrition are being compromised as well.
    • At least 14 per cent of food is lost (food wastage and food loss together), valued at $400 billion annually.
    • In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, the food that is lost is associated with around 1.5 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
    • Major losses are seen in roots tubers and oil-bearing crops (25 per cent), fruits and vegetables (22 per cent), and meat and animal products (12 per cent).
    • Reducing food loss and waste can bring about many benefits: more food available for the most vulnerable; a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions; less pressure on land and water resources; and increased productivity and economic growth.

    Food loss vs food wastage

    • There is a difference between food wastage and food losses.
    • Food is wasted when it is discarded by consumers or is disposed of in retail due to its inability to meet quality standards.
    • Food loss, on the other hand, occurs when it is spoilt or spilt before reaching the final product or retail stage.
    • For example, dairy, meat, and fish can go bad in transit because of inadequate refrigerated transport and cold storage facilities.

    Back2Basics: Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)

    Objective: Lead international efforts to defeat hunger

    Members: FAO has 194 Member Nations, two associate members and one member organization, the European Union

    Headquarters: Rome, Italy

    Year Founded: Established in 1945

  • National Education Policy needs scrutiny

    National Education Policy, while comprehensive in its approach misses out on some crucial issues. These issues are discussed here.

    Following are the issues with the National Education Policy-

    1) Implications for SEDGs

    •  Implications of the policy for SEDGs-Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Groups-needs to be considered.
    • The term “caste” is absent from the document apart from a fleeting reference to Scheduled Castes.
    • Also absent is any mention of reservation in academic institutions, whether for students, teachers, or other employees.
    • Reservation is the bare minimum required in terms of affirmative action in the highly differentiated socio-economic milieu in which we exist.

    2) Education in tribal areas

    • There is the passing reference to educational institutions in tribal areas, designated as ashramshalas.
    • While there are sections of the document that describe ways in which SEDGs are supposed to gain access to higher education institutions, there is no time-frame that is specified.
    • In a situation of growing privatisation how these policies will be implemented is a matter of concern.

    3) Multi-disciplinarity misses some disciplines

    • Multi-disciplinarity is an attractive and flexible proposition, allowing learners to experiment with a variety of options.
    • While the list of the disciplines in which multi-disciplinary approach is allowed is unexceptionable, it is worth flagging what is missed out.
    • Fields of studies such as Women’s Studies or Gender Studies, Cultural Studies, Media Studies, Dalit Studies, Studies of Discrimination and Exclusion, Environmental Studies and Development Studies are missing.
    • Many of these have engaged with multi-disciplinarity/inter-disciplinarity in exciting and disturbing ways, bringing to the fore issues of diversity, difference and identity.

    4) Problem of autonomy

    • While the documents mention autonomy and choice in the document, but there are limits.
    • For instance, the selection of vocational subjects in middle school is described as a fun choice.
    • At the same time, it is to be exercised “as decided by States and local communities and as mapped by local skilling needs”.
    • National Testing Agency, will be a centralised agency to conduct exams will be against the autonomy proposed in the policy.
    • HEIs will now be run by a Board of Governors backed by legislative changes where required.
    •  Further centralisation is envisaged through the setting up of “the National Higher Education Regulatory Authority (NHERA).

    5) Depriving the HEI democratic functioning

    • Several universities and HEIs have evolved and sustained democratic mechanisms, including academic and executive councils.
    • What has made them vibrant institutions is the presence of faculty and students, elected, as well as on the basis of seniority and rotation.
    • Abandoning them will deprive members of HEIs of an opportunity to engage with the challenges of democratic functioning.

    6) No mention of Fundamental Rights

    • Several values are identified as constitutional and there is an occasional mention of fundamental duties.
    • But there is no mention of fundamental rights.

    Consider the question “Examine the provision for governance of education in the National Education Policy. Also, examine the issues with the policy.”

    Conclusion

    The Education Policy has many novel ideas with the potential to transform the education system in the country, however, the issues discussed here highlights the need to revisit it, before it is actually implemented.

  • Overview of National Education Policy

    The Education Policy 2020 comes with many changes in education in the country. Key aspects of the policy are discussed in the article.

    Context

    •  National Education Policy 2020 is the fourth major policy initiative in education since Independence.
    • The last one was undertaken a good 34 years ago and modified in 1992.
    • NEP 2020 seeks to address the entire gamut of education from preschool to doctoral studies.

    Challenges India faces in education

    • Lack of resources and capacity.
    • Dozens of mother tongues, a link language that despite being the global language of choice is alien to most.
    • A persistent mismatch between the knowledge and skills imparted and the jobs available.

    Follwing are the key aspects of the policy-

    1) 5+3+3+4 Model

    • A 5+3+3+4 model recognises the primacy of the formative years from ages 3 to 8 in shaping the child’s future.
    • It also recognises the importance of learning in the child’s mother tongue till at least Class 5.
    • As picking up languages is easy between ages 3 and 8, children will learn English and mother tongue together.
    • Multilingual felicity could become the USP of the educated Indian.
    • The policy envisages 100% Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in school education by 2030.

    2) Flexibility in choosing subjects and vocational education

    • Another key aspect of new policy is the breaking of the compartments of arts, commerce and science streams in high school.
    • Policy also aims at introducing vocational courses with internship.
    • The ‘blue-collarisation’ of vocations in our society is also a hurdle to be overcome.
    • NEP 2020 proposes a multi-disciplinary higher education framework with portable credits.
    • An ambitious GER of 50% in higher education is envisaged by 2035.
    • At the apex will be Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities, where research will be supported by a new National Research Foundation.

    3) Question of regualtion

    • NEP 2020 aims to free our schools, colleges and universities from periodic “inspections” and place them on the path of self-assessment and voluntary declaration.
    • Transparency, maintaining quality standards and a favourable public perception will become a goal for the institutions.
    • This will lead to all-round improvement in their standard.
    • A single, lean body with four verticals for standards-setting, funding, accreditation and regulation is proposed to provide “light but tight” oversight.

    4) Addressing deprivation

    • Inequality and challenges faced by the disadvantaged and disabled have been considered in NEP.
    • The NEP lays particular emphasis on providing adequate support to ensure that no child is deprived of education, and every challenged child is provided the special support she needs.

    5) Ancient knowledge

    • The long-neglected ancient Indian languages and Indic knowledge systems are also identified for immediate attention.

    Resource challenge

    •  An ambitious target of public spending on education at 6% of GDP has been set.
    • This is certainly a tall order, given the current tax-to-GDP ratio and competing claims on the national exchequer by other key sectors.
    •  If public and political will can be mustered, resources will find their way from both public and private sources.

    Consider the question “What are the measures proposed in the Education Policy 2020 for higher education.”

    Conclusion

    Resources are never the main roadblock to success in education. NEP 2020 provides the ingredients and the right recipe. What we make of it depends entirely on us.

  • [pib] Highlights of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020

    The Union Cabinet has approved the National Education Policy 2020, making way for large scale, transformational reforms in both school and higher education sectors.

    Practice question for mains:

    Q.What are the key features of the National Education Policy, 2020? Discuss how it will facilitate the universalization of education in India.

    School Education   

    • New Policy aims for universalization of education from pre-school to secondary level with 100 % Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in school education by 2030.
    • NEP 2020 will bring 2 crores out of school children back into the mainstream through the open schooling system.
    • The current 10+2 system to be replaced by a new 5+3+3+4 curricular structure corresponding to ages 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years respectively.
    • This will bring the hitherto uncovered age group of 3-6 years under the school curriculum, which has been recognized globally as the crucial stage for the development of mental faculties of a child.
    • The new system will have 12 years of schooling with three years of Anganwadi/ pre-schooling.
    • Emphasis on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, no rigid separation between academic streams, extracurricular, vocational streams in schools; Vocational Education to start  from Class 6 with Internships
    • Teaching up to at least Grade 5 to be in mother tongue/ regional language. No language will be imposed on any student.
    • Assessment reforms with 360-degree Holistic Progress Card, tracking Student Progress for achieving Learning Outcomes
    • A new and comprehensive National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education, NCFTE 2021, will be formulated by the NCTE in consultation with NCERT.
    • By 2030, the minimum degree qualification for teaching will be a 4-year integrated B.Ed. degree.

    Higher Education

    • Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education to be raised to 50 % by 2035;  3.5 crore seats to be added in higher education.
    • The policy envisages broad-based, multi-disciplinary, holistic Under Graduate Program with flexible curricula, creative combinations of subjects, integration of vocational education and multiple entries and exit points with appropriate certification.
    • Academic Bank of Credits to be established to facilitate  Transfer of Credits
    • Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERUs), at par with IITs, IIMs, to be set up as models of best multidisciplinary education of global standards in the country.
    • The National Research Foundation will be created as an apex body for fostering a strong research culture and building research capacity across higher education.
    • Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) will be set up as a single overarching umbrella body for entire higher education, excluding medical and legal education. HECI to have four independent verticals  – National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC) for regulation, General Education Council (GEC ) for standard-setting, Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC) for funding,  and National Accreditation Council( NAC) for accreditation.
    • Public and private higher education institutions will be governed by the same set of norms for regulation, accreditation and academic standards.
    • Affiliation of colleges is to be phased out in 15 years and a stage-wise mechanism is to be established for granting graded autonomy to colleges.
    • Over a period of time, it is envisaged that every college would develop into either an Autonomous degree-granting College or a constituent college of a university.

    Others

    • An autonomous body, the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF), will be created to provide a platform for the free exchange of ideas on the use of technology to enhance learning, assessment, planning, administration.
    • NEP 2020 emphasizes setting up of Gender Inclusion Fund, Special Education Zones for disadvantaged regions and groups
    • New Policy promotes Multilingualism in both schools and higher education. National Institute for Pali, Persian and Prakrit, Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation to be set up
    • The Centre and the States will work together to increase the public investment in the Education sector to reach 6% of GDP at the earliest.

  • Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance: A strong EC Act is still needed

    As the Union government announced massive reforms as a response to the coronavirus pandemic.  All attention went to three agriculture sector ordinances related to farmers’ trade, contract farming and amendments in the Essential Commodities Act.

    Try this question for mains:

    Q.Discuss how Essential Commodities Act works to maintain fair prices of commodities for consumers.

    Recent amendment to the EC Act

    • Recently, the Centre notified an Amendment Ordinance to the EC Act.
    • A new sub-section 1A in Section 3 of the act stipulated control orders — with respect to the supply of certain foodstuffs was added.
    • It would be issued only under extraordinary circumstances that may include war, famine, extraordinary price rise and natural calamity of grave nature.

    An order for regulating stock limit of any agricultural produce may be issued only if there is:

    • A full increase in the retail price of horticultural produce, or
    • A 50 per cent increase in the retail price of non-perishable agricultural food items over the price prevailing immediately preceding a year or the average retail price in the past five years, whichever is lower

    The Essential Commodities Act

    • The EC Act, 1955 was enacted at a time when the country faced an acute shortage of several commodities, especially food items.
    • Under the act, an ‘essential commodity’ is a commodity specified under the schedule of the Act.
    • The Union government is empowered to amend the schedule to add or remove a commodity to said schedule in the public interest and in consultation with state governments.
    • The schedule was amended recently in March 2020, when the Centre declared face masks and hand sanitisers as essential commodities and fixed their prices.

    Issues over the amendment ordinance:

    1. Ordinance route and federalism

    • Though agriculture is a state subject, the concurrent list empowers the Centre to legislate on production and trade and supply of foodstuffs.
    • By taking the ordinance route, a clear attempt was made to bypass the parliamentary process.
    • When a proposed amendment is introduced in Parliament, it is open to debate, scrutiny, comments and valuable inputs from stakeholders before being passed.

    2. Surpassing concerns

    • Critical legislation like this should certainly have been put before Parliament.
    • The Sarkaria Commission report on Centre-state relations pointed out that the Centre disproportionately empower itself in the sphere of agriculture.
    • The power of the Centre in agriculture management has certainly increased through this ordinance.
    • States like Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have repeatedly called for transfer such entities from the Concurrent to the State list.

    3. Constitutional validity and Ninth Schedule

    • The constitutional validity of price fixation under the act was in question before the Supreme Court in the Prag Ice and Oil Mills case, 1978.
    • It was observed that the dominant purpose of price fixation was to ensure availability of essential commodities to consumers at a fair price.
    • It was also held that availability of an essential commodity to the common man, at a fair price, must rank higher than any other consideration.
    • The Essential Commodities Act is enlisted under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. This does not, however, mean it is outside the scope of judicial review.

    4. EC Act is no exception

    • The Ninth Schedule came under scrutiny after the landmark IR Coelho, 2007 judgement.
    • The Supreme Court said the laws inserted in it after April 24, 1973 — the day the Kesavananda Bharti verdict was pronounced — are also open to judicial review if they are violative of the basic structure of the Constitution.
    • Farmers may approach the Supreme Court if they feel laws such as the Essential Commodities Act violate their fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19, 21 or 32.

    5. Questions over the amendment

    • The ordinance does not expressly define ‘extraordinary circumstances’, which ‘may’ include war, famine, extraordinary price rise and natural calamities of a grave nature.
    • Even in extraordinary circumstances, the government only ‘may’ choose to exercise regulation.
    • Such legislative ambiguity makes one question the entire exercise of introducing this particular provision.

    6. Farmers stake are still at risk

    • Drastic changes such as the removal of stock limits and exemption to exporters, traders and value chain participants may not help farmers directly.
    • Big corporates and MNC may prefer to stock up their quota at the time of harvest when prices are low and, thus, would not need to buy from farmers when prices rise.
    • If farmers decide to retain produce for later, prices may not go up or the private sector may not enter the market to purchase.

    Conclusion

    • India no longer faces food shortage problems, according to the Economic Survey, 2020.
    • What is seemingly ignored, however, is the population of India increased to 1.3 billion in 2020 from 360 million in 1951.
    • There are more mouths to feed and the responsibility of ensuring food security to the masses cannot be shunned.
    • Sights of migrants scraping for morsels of food during the COVID-19 crisis continue to haunt.
    • Our policies, thus, must ensure sustainable farm growth taking into consideration factors like climate change, land holdings, consumer capacity and farmers’ interests.

    Original article:

    https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/governance/essential-commodities-amendment-ordinance-a-strong-ec-act-is-still-needed-72540