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  • [pib] NISHTHA Programme

    The first on-line NISHTHA programme for 1200 Key Resources Persons in Andhra Pradesh was launched by Union HRD Ministry.

    There are various web/portals/apps with peculiar names such as YUKTI, DISHA, SWAYAM etc. Their core purpose is similar with slight differences. Pen them down on a separate sheet under the title various digital HRD initiatives.

     

    Add one more to this list.

    NISHTHA Programme

    • NISHTHA is an acronym for National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement.
    • It is the largest teachers’ training programme of its kind in the world.
    • The basic objective of this massive training programme ‘NISHTHA’ is to motivate and equip teachers to encourage and foster critical thinking in students.
    • The initiative is first of its kind wherein standardized training modules are developed at national level for all States and UTs.
    • The States and UTs can also contextualize the training modules and use their own material and resource persons also, keeping in view the core topics and expected outcomes of NISHTHA.

    Progress till date

    • Around 23,000 Key Resource Persons and 17.5 lakh teachers and school heads have been covered under this NISHTHA face to face mode till date.
    • It has been customized for online mode to be conducted through DIKSHA and NISHTHA portals by the NCERT.

  • Species in news: Pied Cuckoo

    A new project by a number of agencies is using advancements in nanotechnology to study migratory patterns of the Pied Cuckoo.

    This specie carries an unusual importance compared to other IUCN species. Go through this newscard to read more about it.

    Pied Cuckoo

    • There are basically three subspecies of the Pied Cuckoo of which one is resident in Africa while another is resident in South.
    • The third is a migrant moving between India and Africa.
    • The Pied Cuckoo is famous in North Indian folklore as ‘chatak’, a bird that quenches its thirst only with raindrops.
    • From Southern Africa, it comes to the Himalayan foothills stretching from Jammu to Assam to breed every year. The birds come to the same localities every year.
    • It is also a brood parasite in that it does not make its own nest and instead lays its egg in the nest of other birds, particularly the Jungle Babbler.

    About the Study

    • The project is a joint effort by the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun and the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), which comes under the Indian Space Research Organisation or ISRO.
    • The Pied Cuckoo migration study is part of a larger project — Indian Bioresource Information portal (IBIN) funded by the Department of Biotechnology under the Union Ministry of Science and Technology.
    • It aims to deliver relevant bioresources (plant, animal and other biological organisms) information of India through a web portal.
    • The project aims to assess the likely impacts of projected climate change on the potential distribution of Pied Cuckoo in the altered climate change scenarios.

    Why study Pied Cuckoo?

    • It is closely linked with the arrival of the south-west monsoon in India.
    • It moves to India during the summer.
    • Being a small, terrestrial bird, a sea crossing holds a lot of risk for this cuckoo.
    • Before it migrates back to its home in the southern African region, by flying over the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean, it must be stopping somewhere.
    • It is these stopovers that researchers want to find out about.

  • 17th July 2020| Daily Answer Writing Enhancement

    Important Announcement:  Topics to be covered on 20th July-

    GS-1 Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone, etc

    GS-4  Case Studies

    Question 1) 

    Examine the factors responsible for large production of corn and wheat in the North America and compare it with suitable states of India. 10 marks

    Question 2)

    There have been instances of the toppling of state governments by the mass resignation of elected MLAs. In light of this, examine the issues in the Anti-defection law and suggest the measures to prevent the toppling of the state governments with the mass resignation of MLAs. 10 marks

     

    Question 3)

    Despite the various support measures by the government, DISCOMs continue to suffer from several woes. Analyse the reasons for DISCOM’s financial woes and suggest measures to deal with the problems. 10 marks

    Question 4)  

    “Recently announced ‘Janata curfew’ to combat the COVID-19 pandemic sets as a classical example of social influence and persuasion as imperative measures to ensure behavioural change through public policy”. Elucidate. 10 marks

     

     

    Reviews will be provided in a week. (In the order of submission- First come first serve basis). In case the answer is submitted late the review period may get extended to two weeks.

    *In case your answer is not reviewed in a week, reply to your answer saying *NOT CHECKED*. If Parth Sir’s tag is available then tag him.

    For the philosophy of AWE and payment, check  here: Click2Join

  • 16th July 2020 | Prelims Daily with Previous Year Questions

    [WpProQuiz 483]

    [WpProQuiz_toplist 482]

  • Private trains on Indian Railways network and its implications

    The article analyses the implications and issues with the Indian Railways recent move to allow the private investors to operate the passenger trains on selected routes.

    Let’s understand the structure of IR’s passenger business

    • It operated a daily average of 13,523 passenger trains in 2018-19.
    • It includes 3,695 inter-city mail and express services.
    • 3,947 ordinary short-distance-stopping “regional” trains.
    • 5,881 electrical multiple units operated on suburban sections for intra-city passengers.
    • The regional/sectional trains, with multiple stops, cater to short-distance journeys (an average of 111 km in 2018-19) and contribute maximum loss in passenger business.
    • The inter-city mail and express services constitute IR’s core passenger business.
    • It needs to be duly nurtured and developed.
    • Within this category, only the upper-class portion will be of interest to private operators, due to flexibility in fixing fares.

    Now, let’s analyse the implications of privatisation decision

    The stated objectives are-

    • 1) Reducing the supply-demand deficit.
    • 2) Encouraging modal shift from air to rail.
    • 3) Significantly reducing transit time.

    Let’s analyse the issues with the objectives

    1) Reducing the supply-demand deficit

    • Passenger ridership on railways has almost been stagnant at 8,354 million in 2018-19.
    • The Railways’s endemic capacity constraint has kept its share in the nation’s transport market steadily decreasing.
    • Despite the demand for more trains, its seven high-density corridors stretched over 10,500 km remain clogged.
    • Its stations and maintenance wherewithal are over-stretched.
    • Speeds remain low and services far less than satisfactory.
    • Rail travel demand far outstrips supply and remains set to further grow substantially.
    • The steadily growing services sector continues to trigger high mobility and demand for passenger travel, generally in the upper classes.

    2) Modal shift from air to rail

    • Transfer of traffic to rail will depend on-
    • 1) reduced journey time
    • 2) the frequency of rail services
    • 3) offering accommodation on demand.
    •  Rail travel needs to appropriately match air and road services in terms of pre-board and onboard convenience, reliability, and speed.
    • As it faces competition from budget airlines, high-capacity buses, and personal cars, IR needs to craft a concerted strategy to expand, accelerate and modernise its inter-city passenger services.

    3) Reducing transit time

    •  Freight, as well as passenger trains across the network, have remained stuck in slow tracks over decades.
    • The “pilot project” of IRCTC-operated upscale “Tejas” train-sets clock virtually the same travel time as the older Shatabdis on these routes.
    • On completion of the two ongoing DFCs by December 2021, and the contemplated up-gradation of existing Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata rail routes will see trains running at 160 km/h.
    • Most other paths with mixed freight and passenger trains jostling for space and constrained by speed limits.
    • This will lead to the new train-sets to be substantially under-utilised in terms of their potential, and at far below expectations of customers for faster and frequent services.

    Issues

    1) Absence of regulator

    • An autonomous regulator, vital for the equitable and effective functioning of the private operators.
    • It is not without a challenge that the private train operators will strive to provide value for money to passengers and ensure their profitability in an environment of a price war.
    • So, the absence of an autonomous regulator is essential.
    • Experience of the licensed container train operators with the Railways alone driving policy and settling disputes has not been encouraging.

    2) Concessions issue

    • A 35-year concession in an age of rapidly evolving technologies impacting design contours of train-sets as much as customer expectations raise plausible questions.
    • Taking a plunge in 100 paths without first testing the waters on few selected sections is could also give rise to issues.

    Suggestions

    •  Some structural shifts in IR’s business management are now a clear imperative:
    • 1) Segregating its passenger and freight businesses for focussed attention.
    • 2) Restructuring the tariffs rationally and urgently.
    • 3) Developing terminal infrastructure.
    • 4) Leapfrogging the conversion of the existing dual-use high demand trunk routes into semi high-speed corridors.

    Consider the question “What are the objectives of the recent move of the India Railways to invite the private investors to operate some passenger trains on selected routes? What are the issues railway’s passenger service faces? Suggest the measures to deal with the issues.

    Conclusion

    The result of the move would suggest the future path for the operation for railways. But it must ensure the level playing field to the private players to test the efficacy of the move.

    Source:

    https://www.financialexpress.com/infrastructure/railways/private-trains-on-indian-railways-network-why-one-cant-ignore-several-red-flags/2025432/

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  • U.S.-Asia coordination to preserve global order

    The focus of this article is on the U.S. policy in the Indo-Pacific and its relations with its allies there in countering China.

    Instances of China’s aggression

    • Galwan Valley is not an exception in Beijing’s recent behaviour in Asia.
    • China has also engaged in a tense geopolitical confrontation with its other neighbours.
    • Stand-offs with Vietnam and Malaysia in the South China Sea and threatening Australia with boycotts are a few examples.

    Response to China

    • Beijing’s aggressiveness is fueling debates about the underlying costs of reliance on China.
    • China’s aggression is also increasing support for closer coordination between other Indo-Pacific partners.
    • Indian, Japan, Malaysia, and Australia have all taken concrete steps to reduce their economic exposure to Beijing.
    •  India and Australia recently inked a new military logistics agreement in the “virtual summit”.
    • A similar agreement between Delhi and Tokyo may follow.
    • The Quadrilateral Dialogue between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States is growing stronger and even expanding.
    • And recently Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) issued one of their strongest statements to date on the South China Sea.
    • The ASEAN statement insisted that maritime disputes must be resolved in accordance with the UN Law of the Sea treaty.

    Asian multilateralism: Born out of crises

    • Recently the “Milk Tea Alliance”, reaction of people, born to forge solidarity between Taiwanese, Hong Kongers, and Southeast Asians online to deal with Chinese cyberbullying.
    • The Chiang Mai Initiative — a financial swap mechanism between China, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia — emerged in the aftermath of the late 1990s financial crisis.
    • ASEAN, created in 1967, did not convene its first heads of state meeting until fall of Saigon in 1976 in the Vietnam War.

    Role of the U.S.

    • The COVID-19 crisis is remaking the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific.
    • The ongoing crisis has made countries aware of seriousness of Chinese dominance.
    • This situation has given the U.S. opportunity it has long sought: 1) More credible multilateral coordination among allies, 2) Pushback against online disinformation. 3) The desire to better integrate like-minded economies and supply chains.
    • But the crisis is also raising renewed questions about the American leadership.
    • The question now facing the U.S. is whether or not it can harness this new regional momentum.

    Alienating allies

    • U.S. continues to make unforced errors that create distance with U.S. allies and partners.
    • For example, its focus on cutting support for the WHO and asserting that COVID-19 originated in a Wuhan lab alienated Canberra.
    • Similarly, the administration’s suspension of various worker visas will almost certainly have serious repercussions in India.

    What should be the U.S. approach to Asia?

    • The U.S. needs to make two major shifts.
    • First, U.S. policy needs to start supporting, rather than attempting to commandeer, regional efforts to build a less China-centric future for the Indo-Pacific.
    • While Chinese aggression provides powerful motivation for coordination, U.S. partners are seeking an agenda that is framed in broader terms than simply rallying to counter Beijing.
    • If the U.S. wants to reduce reliance on Beijing and “re-couple” investments and supply chains among allied nations, it is going to have to make compromises.
    • U.S. should work with Indo-Pacific partners on the issues that they prioritise and provided them with space for independent action.
    • Second, Washington should avoid repeating Beijing’s mistakes of bullying.
    • U.S. should offer a clear alternative in word and deed to China’s “Wolf Warrior” diplomacy.
    • Moves such as demanding that a G-7 communiqué refer to COVID-19 as the “Wuhan virus” and blocking mask shipments to close allies are the kind of counterproductive bullying.

    Options for Asian countries

    • Beijing’s recent aggression is not an aberration but part of a growing pattern.
    • As Beijing’s confidence in its growing material and military power solidifies, its neighbours will need to think carefully about the long-term decisions necessary to preserve an open regional order.
    • Facing the unprecedented health and economic crises spawned by COVID-19, the U.S. and Asian partners will need to coordinate more closely.
    • Asian countries should strengthen their own regional networks.
    • This Asian network will challenge the views of those in both Washington and Beijing who would see the region only as a sparring ground.

    Conclusion

    For American and Asian leaders, the choice is stark: encourage and foster this trend, recognising that stronger regional coordination will require more compromises as well as tougher choices, or resist it and risk being left behind.

  • India should believe in the EU

    India and the EU have many things in common. And there are many areas in which both can expand the cooperation. This article explores commonalities and the areas which offer the scope for enhancing the cooperation. 

    Common interests

    • Both aim to enhance strategic autonomy and their global standing.
    • Diversifying strategic value chains is also a common interest.
    • Both seek to address the issue of climate change on an urgent basis.

    Economic ties with the EU

    • The EU is India’s largest trading partner accounting for €80 billion worth of trade in goods in 2019.
    • This is equal to 11.1% of total Indian trade.
    • The EU is also the biggest foreign investor, with €67.7 billion worth of investments made in 2018.
    • Which is equal to 22% of total FDI inflows.

    Scope for improving the economic ties

    • The EU’s investments in China amounted to €175.3 billion (2018).
    • So, India could succeed in attracting EU investment that might be moving out of China.
    • To attract this outflowing investment, India must address the mutual trust deficit.
    • Enhanced business cooperation can help both the EU and India diversify their strategic value chains.
    • Increasing people’s mobility and connectivity is another area that can create opportunities for innovation and growth.

    Talks on FTA

    • Both sides need to move further on the Free Trade Agreement.
    • A new study from the European Parliament estimates the impact of an EU-India trade agreement between €8 billion and €8.5 billion.
    • The study also mentions additional potential gains from enhanced coordination on the provision of global public goods, such as environmental standards.

    Cooperation on climate change

    • Under the new industrial strategy, the Green Deal, the EU has set an ambitious target to be carbon-emission neutral by 2050.
    • If the EU and India succeed in transforming into carbon-neutral economies by 2050, we all would gain from the investment.

    Strategic partnership with EU

    • The Indo-Pacific region is becoming contentious, so India should capitalise on its geopolitical leverage there.
    • Cooperation with like-minded, democratic powers can support this effort, especially towards assertive competitors like China.
    • The EU as a whole offers more to India than the strongest bilateral relations with individual EU member state.
    • New Delhi must learn how to maximise benefits from this strategic partnership.
    • The disruption caused by COVID-19 has been the occasion for the EU to prove its worth.
    • “Next-generation EU proposal” submitted by the European Commission has economic as well as geopolitical implications.
    • The proposal shows that the ties that bind the EU extend well beyond treaties and individual members’ self-interest.
    • The EU champions the rules-based international order, so the EU and India must act to promote sustainable reform of multilateral institutions starting from the WTO.

    Consider the question “India-EU ties with many common interests assume significance as rule-based order is being challenged by the rise of exceptionalism. Comment.”

    Conclusion

    A strong partnership would help both the EU and India become global decision-makers and tackle the challenges caused by the disruption of global order collectively.

  • Skill India For Atmanirbhar Bharat

    As India embarks on the path of self-reliance through Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, it has to nurture the skilled workforce. This article highlights the need to upgrade the skills or upskill the youth to meet the employment needs of technology-driven 21st century.

    Context

    • The effects of the pandemic are expected to have a lasting impact on every sphere of activity.
    • Considering this impact, India announced the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan to propel the country on the path of self-sustenance.

    Objectives

    • Atmanirbhar Bharat has twin objectives- short term and long term.
    • 1) Reviving different spheres of the economy in the short term.
    • 2) Insulating India from any future global economic downturn, by making it robust in the long run.
    • The Abhiyan seeks to build capacities across sectors and promote local products.
    • Further, it would focus on scaling up manufacturing, accelerating infrastructure development, attracting investments and promoting a consumption-led growth.

    Youth: Strength of India

    • About 65 per cent of India’s population is below 35 years and 50 per cent is below 25 years.
    • With a huge, educated young population, India is uniquely poised to realise its demographic potential.
    • The fact that Indians are heading several MNCs shows that there is no dearth of knowledge and talent in the country.
    • However, we need to upgrade the skills or upskill the youth to meet the employment needs of technology-driven 21st century.

    Opportunities and challenges

    • Pandemic and is being seen by many as an opportunity to upgrade their knowledge and acquire new skills.
    • The fourth industrial revolution has triggered a paradigm change in which digital technology drives the job market.
    • Remote working with increasing adoption of digital technology might continue to be dominant mode of working for the near future.
    • It is estimated that nearly 70 per cent of the world’s learners are affected by school closures due to pandemic across education levels.
    • Artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, cloud computing and Internet of Things will be area of interest for companies.
    • With people opting to online buying, companies will seek to adopt new online marketing strategies.
    • Another important issue that needs to be addressed is ensuring equitable employment through higher participation of women in the workforce.

    Way forward for Atmanirbhar Bharat

    1) Local to glocal

    • There have been some reassuring developments with an accent on “local to glocal”
    • The production of several lakh PPE kits, a collaboration of automobile industries to produce ventilators, manufacture of more than 70 Made in India products by the DRDO are just a few examples of the capability of Indian scientists, IT professionals and technocrats.

    2) Reducing import

    • We must aim to gradually reduce imports in every sector from crude oil to heavy machinery.
    • This reduction should be based on the locally available resources, talent, and skills of the human capital.

    3) Globally competitive product

    • While remaining vocal about local, we must aim at making Indian products to be globally competitive. 
    • We should try to stay ahead in the innovation-led knowledge economy.
    • PSUs and the private sector should not only complement but collaborate wherever feasible.
    • The private sector must massively step up investments R&D. PSUs too need to modernise in terms of technology.

    Consider the question “Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan has the aim of reviving the Indian economy. Examine its objective and how it seeks to revive the economy”

    Conclusion

    To remain globally competitive with a well-assured future, we need to focus on “skills, scale and speed”. India has the potential to emerge as the global hub for providing skilled manpower to other nations.

  • What is Non-Personal Data?

    A government committee headed by Infosys co-founder has suggested that non-personal data generated in the country be allowed to be harnessed by various domestic companies and entities.

    Practice question for mains:

    Q.What is Non-Personal Data? Discuss its utility and various privacy concerns associated with it.

    What is non-personal data?

    • In its most basic form, non-personal data is any set of data which does not contain personally identifiable information.
    • This, in essence, means that no individual or living person can be identified by looking at such data.
    • For example, while order details collected by a food delivery service will become non-personal data if the identifiers such as name and contact information are taken out.
    • The government committee, which submitted its report, has classified non-personal data into three main categories, namely public non-personal data, community non-personal data and private non-personal data.

    Types of non-personal data

    Depending on the source of the data and whether it is anonymised in a way that no individual can be re-identified from the data set, the three categories have been divided:

    1) Public

    All the data collected by government and its agencies such as census, data collected by municipal corporations on the total tax receipts in a particular period or any information collected during execution of all publicly funded works have been kept under the umbrella of public non-personal data.

    2) Community

    Any data identifiers about a set of people who have the same geographic location, religion, job, or other common social interests will form the community non-personal data. For example, the metadata collected by ride-hailing apps, telecom companies, electricity distribution companies among others have been put under the community non-personal data category by the committee.

    3) Private

    Private non-personal data can be defined as those which are produced by individuals which can be derived from the application of proprietary software or knowledge.

    How sensitive can non-personal data be?

    • Unlike personal data, which contains explicit information about a person’s name, age, gender, sexual orientation, biometrics and other genetic details, non-personal data is more likely to be in an anonymised form.
    • However, in certain categories such as data related to national security or strategic interests such as locations of government laboratories or research facilities, even if provided in anonymised form can be dangerous.
    • Similarly, even if the data is about the health of a community or a group of communities, though it may be in anonymised form, it can still be dangerous, the committee opined.
    • Possibilities of such harm are obviously much higher if the original personal data is of a sensitive nature.
    • Therefore, the non-personal data arising from such sensitive personal data may be considered as sensitive non-personal data.

    What are the global standards on non-personal data?

    • In May 2019, the EU came out with a regulatory framework for the free flow of non-personal data.
    • It suggested that member states of the union would cooperate with each other when it came to data sharing.
    • Such data, the EU had then ruled would be shared by member states without any hindrances.
    • The authorities must inform the commission of any draft act which introduces a new data localisation requirement or makes changes to an existing data localisation requirement.
    • The regulation, however, had not defined what non-personal data constituted of and had simply said all data which is not personal would be under its category.

    What areas does India’s non-personal data draft miss?

    • Though the non-personal data draft is a pioneer in identifying the power, role, and usage of anonymised data, there are certain aspects such as community non-personal data, where the draft could have been clearer.
    • Non-personal data often constitute protected trade secrets and often raises significant privacy concerns.
    • The paper proposes the nebulous concept of community data while failing to adequately provide for community rights.
    • Other experts also believe that the final draft of the non-personal data governance framework must clearly define the roles for all participants, such as the data principal, the data custodian, and data trustees.

    Conclusion

    • Regulation must be clear, and concise to provide certainty to its market participants, and must demarcate the roles and responsibilities of participants in the regulatory framework.
    • The report is unclear on these counts and requires public consultation and more deliberation.

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