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Note4Students

One of the most important topics both from the point of view of prelims and mains.

India envisages A Three Stage Programme based on the optimum utilisation of the indigenous limited uranium and abundant thorium resources.  It was formulated by Dr. Homi Bhabha in the 1950s to secure the country’s long term energy independence.

STAGE 1 » Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor

STAGE 2 » Fast Breeder Reactor

STAGE 3 » Breeder Reactor

Why the 3 stages?

Although we have around 25% of the world’s thorium reserves, it itself is not a fissile material. It needs to undergo transmutation to U-233 in a reactor fuelled by other fissile material.

The sequential 3-stage programme is based on a closed fuel cycle, where the spent fuel of one stage is reprocessed to produce fuel for the next stage.

The diagram below should explain that.

 

STAGE 1: PRESSURIZED HEAVY WATER REACTORS(PHWR)

• Natural Uranium is used as a fuel and heavy water as a coolant and moderator
• The 0.7% U-235 undergoes fission to release energy. As the remaining 99% U-238 is not fissionable, it undergoes transmutation and forms Plutonium-239(Pu-239).

Working of the reactor –

• The heat is removed from the reactor by water flowing in a closed pressurised loop
• The heat is transferred to a second water loop through a heat exchanger.
• The second loop is kept at a low pressure allowing the water to boil and create steam, that is used to turn the turbine-generator
• Then the steam is condensed into water and returned to the heat exchanger

VVER – Reactors 

Two Russian-built VVER-1000 reactors have been in commercial operation in Kudankulam, southern India, since 2014 and 2017 respectively.

 

STAGE 2: FAST BREEDER REACTORS(FBR)

• The reactor is fuelled by a mixed oxide of U-238 and Pu-239 which have been recovered by reprocessing the spent fuel in the first stage
• Pu-239 undergoes fission producing energy and more Pu-239 through the transmutation of U-238.

Working of the reactor – 

• Why fast? The neutrons are not slowed down. There is no need of a moderator
• Why breeder? More fissionable material(Plutonium) will be present after the reaction than what was present before the reaction. It breeds fissile material.
• In FBR, the fission chain reaction is sustained by fast moving neutrons.
• India and Russia are the only two countries that are constructing commercial scale breeder reactors.
• Solves 5 problems — safety, competitiveness, shortage of fuel, reprocessing and refabricating the used nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. Enforcing non-proliferation of fission materials and weapon technologies

MBIR Project

The multipurpose fast reactor project, known by the Russian acronym MBIR, is coming up at the International Research Centre in Dimitrovgrad located in the Ulyanovsk region in Russia.
It is a fast reactor project follows the closed fuel cycle.
Transitioning to closed fuel cycle which is based on fast neutron reactors can solve five essential problems:
safety, competitiveness, shortage of fuel, reprocessing and refabricating the used nuclear fuel and radioactive waste.
It also addresses the non-proliferation of fission materials and weapon technologies.

The main purpose of the MBIR is to conduct large no. of reactor studies of Generation-4 nuclear systems.
MBIR’s design includes three independent loops that can be used to test different coolants like gas, lead, molten salt and others.

 

STAGE 3: THORIUM BASED REACTORS

• It is based on the Thorium Uranium-233 Cycle.
• Naturally occurring Thorium-232 is not a fissile material. It needs to be converted to a fissile material, U-233, by transmutation in a FBR
• In the second stage, once sufficient Pu-239 is built up, Thorium-232 is introduced as a blanket material to be converted to Uranium-233.

KAMINI (Kalpakkam Mini reactor) in Kalpakkam is the world’s only thorium-based experimental reactor.  It achieved criticality on 1996. Designed and built jointly by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), it produces 30 KW[3] of thermal energy at full power.

 

Sites with Nuclear Power Plants

 

• As of 2017, India has 22 nuclear reactors in operation in 7 nuclear power plants with an installed capacity of 6780 MWe.
• With a total capacity of 1400 MWe, Tarapur is the largest nuclear power station in India
• Kundankulam Nuclear Power Station started its commercial operation in March 2017

 

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Department of Atomic Energy(DAE) 

• It is under the direct charge of the Prime Minister.
• Engaged in the development of nuclear power technology and applications of radiation technology.

Atomic Energy Commission(AEC)

• It is the governing body of the DAE.
• It organises and promotes atomic research and train atomic researcher in the country.
• It is the main policy making body.

International News

International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor(ITER)

• It is an international nuclear fusion research and engineering mega project which will be the world’s largest magnetic confinement plasma physics experiment
• What is Plasma Physics? It is the study of charged particles and fluids with interacting with self-consistent electric and magnetic fields
• It is being built next to the Cadarache facility in Southern France
• India is a part of ITER.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jMGpio5d7E

International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA)

• It seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and inhibit its use for any nuclear purpose, including nuclear weapons.
• HQ located in Vienna, Austria.
• India is a member of the IAEA.

Convention on Supplementary Compensation(CSC)

• It seeks to establish a uniform global regime for compensation to victims in the unlikely event of a nuclear accident.
• India has ratified the convention.

 

Background

1. Aadhaar is a 12 digit number issued by the UIDAI to the residents of India
2. It does not confer the right of citizenship or domicile to the holder.
3. Aadhaar is proof of identity, residence and financial address for its residents.
4. Aadhaar has been making inroads in all spheres of life and almost all government and private services require Aadhaar linking. In this situation, there are arguments going on about whether to make Aadhaar mandatory or not

Arguments for mandatory Aadhaar

1. As social security number is for US citizens, Aadhaar is to Indian residents. The former was successful in providing services and improved lives of Americans. Aadhaar also has the potential to do the same.
2. Aadhaar replaces the multitude of ID proofs and documents and becomes a sole identity proof. Thus reducing delays in governance.
3. Aadhaar also helping employers reducing the hiring process and time. Thus saving a lot of time and money.
4. Government is planning to link Aadhaar to financial market transactions to curb practices such as the conversion of black money into white through the stock market.
5. It will save the government hefty amount of subsidies as it is easy to identify the fake beneficiaries, better targeting and reduce leakages in the distribution.
6. Aadhaar also acts as the financial address which enables easy remittance of benefits to intended beneficiaries (Direct benefit transfer).
7. It enables monitoring of attendance of government employees = better governance and efficiency.
8. Can erase the possibility of using fake IDs by terrorists.
9. Aadhaar makes various processes easier and faster such as e-filing of income tax returns, getting passports, opening bank accounts, getting pension money, provident fund disbursement, LPG and other subsidies.
10. Linking Aadhaar with voter card will eliminate bogus voters thus electing the right government and improve democracy.

Arguments against mandatory Aadhaar

1. Making Aadhaar mandatory may lead to misuse of personal information and surveillance by the state thus taking away privacy.
2. It has the potential to profile individuals such as determining the behavioural pattern of a person using big data analytics.
3. Aadhaar law does not restrict the government to impose identification in any other context not mentioned in the law.
4. A person whose information got breached has no remedy at his/her disposal since no court shall take cognizance of any offence except on a complaint made by the UIDAI.
5. There is no independent oversight mechanism or limitations of surveillance.
6. Due to connectivity and other issues, the failure rate of Aadhaar authentication stands at 30% which is quite a huge number, considering the population of the country. This leads to exclusion from availing benefits.
7. Data is considered as new oil by companies and they want to cash in on the business and get profits.
8. Students in government-funded schools without Aadhaar are increasingly being denied their rightful meal under Mid-day meal scheme.
9. The supreme court directed UIDAI in 2015 that Aadhaar cannot be used anywhere except PDS and LPG distribution, NREGA, social security pension, provident fund and Jan Dhan Yojana and that too voluntary in nature.

Way forward

1. In its enthusiasm to aggregate data in electronic form and target subsidies better, the government cannot reject its responsibility to protect citizens from the cyber threats.
2. It is imperative for the Union Government to enact a privacy legislation that clearly defines the rights of citizens and it should be consistent with the provision of the Constitution.
3. The government should consider the privacy risks and include procedures and systems to protect citizen information in any system of data collection.
4. Our national cyber cell should be made well capable of promptly dealing with any cyber-attack.
5. We need to awareness among people on the risks involved and highlight examples of ID thefts and fraud.
6. Aadhaar is making inroads in all walks of life. Rather than just arguing whether it should be mandatory or not, we should give it an opportunity to improve the governance and service delivery of the government. However, there should be effective safeguards as well for protecting the privacy of the people enrolled in Aadhaar

Basic Terms (not asked directly in exam but its good to have some level of basic understanding about these )

1. Atom:

• It is the fundamental constituent of matter.
• It is made up of three tiny subatomic particles: protons, neutrons, and electrons.
• The protons(positively charged) and the neutrons(no charge) make up the center of the atom called the nucleus and the electrons(negatively charged) fly around above the nucleus in a small cloud.

2. Isotopes:

• Atoms of the same element that have a different number of neutrons
• Unstable nuclei give off radiation so as to become stable. Isotopes of such atoms are called radioactive isotopes

3. Radioactive Decay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYDil96NR5Q

• It is the process by which an unstable nucleus emits elementary particles(alpha, beta, gamma rays) in the form of radiation.
• The instability is caused by either an excess of protons or an excess of neutrons. As the atom attempts to become stable, it releases energy and matter in the form of radiation
• Half-life refers to the time for half the radioactive nuclei in any atom to undergo radioactive decay.

 

4. Types of Nuclear Reactions

4a. Nuclear Fission:

• A heavy nucleus splits into 2 smaller nuclei.
• How does it happen? The stability of the nucleus is maintained by the balance between the repulsive forces of the protons and the nuclear attractive/binding force. During fission, the repulsive forces become dominant over the binding force in the unstable nucleus.

4b. Nuclear Fusion

• Two light nuclei combine to form a single heavier nucleus
• The sum of the masses of the product nuclei is less than the sum of the masses of the initial fusing nuclei. Therefore, a large amount of energy is released

 

Types of Nuclear Materials

 

S NO.	MATERIAL	DESCRIPTION
1	Deuterium	Stable, naturally occurring isotope of hydrogen Consists of one proton and one neutron Also called Heavy Hydrogen
2	Tritium	Not found naturally. Produced in fission reactors by bombarding lithium with high energy neutrons Rare form of hydrogen isotope. Consists of one proton and two neutrons
3	Plutonium	Not naturally occurring. Produced through the absorption of neutrons by Uranium-238 in a nuclear reactor. A reprocessing plant is needed to bring plutonium into a usable form
4	Uranium	Naturally occurring deposit that contains 99.28% Uranium-238, 0.72% Uranium-235 and 0.0057% Uranium-234 SInce it is radioactive, it constantly emits particles and changes into other elements

 

5. Uranium Enrichment

• Natural uranium consists of nearly 99% U-238 and only around 0.7% of U-235
• U-235 is a fissile material that can sustain a chain reaction in a nuclear reactor.

Therefore, we need more U-235

• Enrichment process increases the proportion of U-235 through the process of isotope separation(U-238 is separated from U-235). Isotope separation is possible due to the mass difference between U-238 and U-235
• For nuclear weapons, enrichment is required upto 90% or more which is known as Highly Enriched Uranium/weapons-grade uranium
• For nuclear reactors, enrichment is required upto 3-4% which is known as Low Enriched Uranium/reactor-grade uranium

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl_E3aIL7G0

6. Methods of Uranium Enrichment

a) Gaseous Diffusion

• Pump UF6 through pipelines
• Force the gas through a porous filter or membrane
• Repeat the diffusion process until enough U-235 is collected
• Once the gas is enriched, UF6 is condensed into a liquid and stored in containers, where it cools and solidifies into fuel pellets

b) Gas Centrifuge Process

• Assemble a number of high speed rotating cylinders
• Pipe the UF6 gas into the centrifuge
• As the centrifuge rotates, the centrifugal force sends the heavier U-238 to the cylinder wall and lighter U-235 to the centre
• Extract the separated gases and reprocess the gases in separate centrifuges

c) Aerodynamic Separation Process

• Build a series of stationary narrow cylinders
• A mixture of gaseous UF6 and helium(H2) is compressed and directed along a curved wall at high velocity
• The heavier U-238 molecules move out to the wall relative to the U-235 molecules
• At the end of the deflection, the gas jet is split by a knife edge into a light fraction and a heavy fraction

d) Liquid Thermal Diffusion Process

• Liquify UF6 gas under pressure
• Construct a pair of concentric pipes
• Surround the pipes with a jacket of liquid water. This will cool the outer pipe
• Pump UF6 between the pipes
• Heat the inner pipe with steam. This will create a convection current in the UF6 that will push heavier U-238 isotope towards the colder outer pipe and draw the lighter U-235 isotope towards the hotter inner pipe

e) Electromagnetic Isotope Separation

• Ionize the UF6 gas i.e. give the atoms of UF6 an electric charge
• Pass the gas through a strong magnetic field
• The U-238 atoms are less deflected relative to the U-235 atoms.
• This results in two streams that could be collected by different receivers

f) Molecular Laser Isotope Separation

• UF6 gas is excited by an infrared laser system that selectively excites only those UF6 molecules that contain U-235. The other UF6 molecules that contain U-238 are untouched
• In the second stage, photons from a second laser system dissociate excited UF6 molecules to form Uranium Pentafluoride(UF5) that contain U-235 and free fluorine atoms

6. Components of Nuclear Reactor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U6Nzcv9Vws

No.	Component	Description
1	Fuel	Pellets of Uranium Oxide(UO2) arranged in tubes to form fuel rods
2	Moderator	Slows down the neutrons released from fission reaction so that they cause more fission. Usually liquid water, heavy water or graphite
3	Control Rods	Made up of neutron-absorbing materials such as Boron or Cadmium. They are inserted or withdrawn from the core to control or halt the rate of reaction
4	Coolant	A liquid or a gas that cools the reactor core or transfers heat from the core to the heat exchanger
5	Heat Exchanger	Uses the heat from the reactor to convert water into steam
6	Containment System	To protect the pressure vessel from outside intrusion and also to protect those outside from any radiations Usually thick concrete or steel is used

 

Critical Mass: The smallest amount of fissile material needed to sustain a nuclear chain reaction.Criticality: It refers to the balance of neutrons in the system

1. Sub-critical: The number of neutrons produced as a result of the fission reaction is less than the number of neutrons lost in the reaction
2. Supercritical: The number of neutrons produced is greater than the number of neutrons lost
3. Critical: The number of neutrons produced is equal to the number of neutrons lost. A balance is maintained.

 

7. Applications of Nuclear technology

• Radioactive Dating: The technique of comparing the abundance ratio of a radioactive isotope to a reference isotope to determine the age of a material

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phZeE7Att_s

• Nuclear Medicine: Radiation is used to provide information about the functioning of a person’s specific organs or to treat diseases
• Nuclear Agriculture: Radiation is used for crop improvement food preservation by irradiation, to develop new plant types etc.
• Gamma Ray Techniques: Scattering of gamma rays can be used to determine the concentration of an element in minerals such as ash content in coal
• Water Management: Activities such as artificial recharge of groundwater system, flow measurements in rivers etc. can be undertaken

 

 

1. Missiles and Missile Defence Systems

There are 2 kinds of Missiles, Ballistic and Cruise.

Ballistic Missiles	Cruise Missiles
It follows a ballistic trajectory with the objective of delivering one or more warheads to a predetermined target.	It is a guided missile that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed.
Target is predetermined. Fit for large targets.	Target can be mobile. More appropriate for small mobile targets.
Guided only during relatively brief periods of flight and the rest of its trajectory is unpowered and governed by gravity.	Are self-navigating
High altitude. Easy to track	Able to fly in extremely low-altitude trajectory. Makes it difficult to track

 

The speed of Missiles are measured in Mach Number.

Mach Number = Object Speed/Speed of Sound.

 

The following is a very comprehensive chart describing the various kinds of classifications that exist of missiles.

 

 

Integrated Guided Missile Development Program(IGMDP)

Timeline of India’s Missile Development Program

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/timeline-of-indias-missile-development-programme/article18708216.ece

 

Ballistic Missile Defence

A 2-tier system, being developed by DRDO, that provides a multi-layered shield against ballistic missile attacks.

 

Surveillance Technologies 

NETRA – It is a first indigenously developed airborne early warning and control system (AEW&C), mounted on a Brazilian Embraer-145, developed by Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO).

• AEW&C is also called eye-in-the-sky which is capable of long-range surveillance and a force multiplier.
• India is only 4th such nation after United States, Russia and Israel that have such technology on their own.

Important features of NETRA are:
• Range of 200 kms (Capability to detect aerial threats from incoming aircraft and missiles).
• 240 degrees coverage (simultaneously scan the area on both sides of aircraft)
• State of the art active electronically scanned radar and Secondary surveillance radar.
• Electronic and communication counter measures.
• Line of sight and beyond line of sight data link.
• Voice communication system and self-protection suit.

 

Rustom-2 – Rustom-2 is medium-altitude long-endurance drone (MALE) designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) of the DRDO, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Bharat Electronics.

• It can fly up to an altitude of 22,000 feet and has endurance of over 20 hours.

• It can carry variety of payloads like Electronic Intelligence (ELINT), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), Communication Intelligence (COMINT) and Situational Awareness Payloads (SAP) for performing missions even during the night.

• It will be used by all three services of Indian armed forces, primarily for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operations.

• Rustom 2 can fly missions on manual as well as autonomous modes.

 

2. NAVY SHIPS 

Submarines 

 

Very good article on how ships are named

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/indian-navy-ships-submarine-names-ins-chennai-4618680/

 

3. Aeronautical Mechanisms

 

4. Armaments

 

 

INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

Ministry of Defence

The primary responsibility is to counter insurgency and ensure external security of India.

• It comprises of 4 departments:
  • Dept. of Defence: It deals with the three services(Army, Air Force, Navy & Coast Guard) and various Inter-Service Organisations
  • Dept. of Defence Production: It deals with framing of policy directions on defence and security related matters and communicating them for implementation to Service Headquarters and other organisations
  • Dept. of Defence Research and Development: It advises the Govt. on scientific aspects of military equipment and logistics
  • Dept. of Ex-Servicemen Welfare: It deals with resettlement, welfare and pensionary matters of Ex-Servicemen

 

Defence Research and Development Organisation(DRDO)

• Design, develop and lead to production of state-of-the-art sensors, weapon systems, platforms and allied equipment for our Defence Services.
• Provide technological solutions to the Services to optimise combat effectiveness and to promote well-being of the troops.
• Develop infrastructure and committed quality manpower and build strong indigenous technology base.
• It works under the Dept. of Defence Research and Development

 

Defence Production

1. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited(HAL)

• It is engaged in the design, development, manufacture, repair and overhaul of aircrafts, helicopters engines and their accessories
• It is responsible for the development of Dhruv, an Advanced Light Helicopter(ALH)

2. Bharat Electronics Limited(BEL)

• It is engaged in the design, development and manufacture of state-of-the-art electronics equipment components for the use of Defence Services

3. Mazagon Dock Limited(MDL)

• It is the premier defence shipyard in the country located in Mumbai.
• It is engaged in the production of warships, submarines, missile boats, destroyers etc.
• Scorpene-class Submarines are being developed here under the Project 75I. Other defence production units include Bharat Earth Movers Ltd., Goa Shipyard Ltd., Bharat Dynamics Ltd. etc.

Why in news?

Lok Sabha has passed The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Second Amendment) Bill, 2017 to abolish the ‘no detention policy’ in schools.

Key Features of Bill

• The Bill amends provision related to no detention policy in the parent Act to empower central or state government to allow schools to hold back child in class 5, class 8, or in both classes.
• It mandates conducting, regular examination in class 5 and class 8 at end of every academic year.
• In case, the child fails class 5, class 8 examinations, he will be given additional instruction and opportunity for a re-examination (within two months from the declaration of the result). If the child fails again in re-examination, he may be held back in class 5, class 8, or in both classes.
• The Bill empowers Union and State governments to decide whether to not hold back the child in any class till completion of elementary education. Further, Union or State governments will decide manner and conditions subject to which child may be held back.

What is ‘No-Detention’ policy?

• As per the No-Detention Policy under the Right to Education Act, no student can be failed or expelled from school till the completion of elementary education covering classes 1 to 8. All the students up till Class 8 will automatically be promoted to the next class.
• The essence of the policy is that children should not be ‘failed’ and detained up to Class 8. There are no “examinations” in the narrow traditional sense of the word up to Class 8. Instead, the Act mandates a process of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) to assess and evaluate the student’s learning.

Reasons why ‘no-detention policy’ is criticized

• Negative impact on the standard of education: Most of the schools in interior places are running without any teachers. Hence, if the ‘no-detention policy’ continues, it will leave a negative impact on the standard of education in India and force the children to face more harsh future.
• No reward for hard work: This policy has led to students developing a lackadaisical attitude, with there being no risk of failing. It also makes no distinction between good and bad students, and between those who work hard and those who don’t. Thus, it makes no effective way to implement a good level of teaching and learning.
• Apathy from teachers: With the policy in place, the Education Department does not take steps to revamp itself and the teachers do not take the pain to ensure a good education for the children.
• Dark future of students: Students coming from poor economic background face problem in their coming life because of no good education in the schools.
• Will affect the women empowerment programs: The girls especially will face a major problem if not getting a proper education in the schools.
• Zero academic outcomes: If no merit is checked while giving promotion to another class, the children will never learn the importance of studying and acquiring knowledge. It will lead to a poor academic outcome in classes.

Reasons why ‘no-detention policy’ is supported

• Detention policy doesn’t guarantee improvement in quality of education as long as exams can be passed by mugging the content. Exams should assess the overall development of students.
• Will increase drop-out ratio: Detention policy will increase the number of drop outs. Drop outs percentage was 10% in 2005-06 academic year, whereas it was 4% in 2015-16 academic year. The major reason for this success can be attributed to no-detention policy.
• No-detention policy is not the only villain: The reason for the lack of quality education in India is not just no-detention policy, many schools in India do not have qualified teachers, basic facilities and infrastructure. Teachers retraining at regular intervals is not followed at all. All these things results in the decreasing quality of education. Punishing children for this by not promoting them to the next class will be our society’s failure.
• Detention policy will create stress in students: Many private schools put too much pressure on students to get good grades so that they can market their schools by showing off their ranks and marks. We are witnessing student suicides as a result of this pressure. Children of primary schools will also have to undergo this stress due to detention policy.

Will scrapping the no-detention policy solve all problems?

• Flawed teachers’ training (the eye of many scams), social indifference to the plight of school teachers, rampant use of ad hoc teachers in small towns and villages, etc. have all substantively contributed to a failing school system. Only scrapping the policy is not going to drastically improve the standard of education in the country.
• According to some educationists, the policy was wrongly interpreted to create an environment in which the significance of evaluating a school-goer’s learning outcome was undermined.
• Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE), that aimed to assess the child’s understanding of what was being taught in class at periodic intervals, proved to be a non-starter in many schools. The policy alone cannot be blamed for poor results.
• The teachers were not given adequate training to undertake this reform. They had no idea of what was to be evaluated, and how. In several schools, CCE was reduced to “project work”, which parents resented. The RTE’s provisions regarding the upgrading of school infrastructure and an increase in the teacher-student ratio — that would have created an enabling environment for the policy — were given a short shrift. Hence, the poor performance can be linked to a variety of other factors rather than just the no detention policy.

Way ahead

The phenomenon of poor learning outcomes is the product of many factors which influence learning and should not be conveniently pinned to the door of the no-detention policy. The steps that can be taken to improve learning outcomes can be:

• measuring learning level outcomes of all children on a regular basis,
• catalysing a “performance-driven culture” and rewarding high performers at every level,
• changing stakeholders’ mindset and preparing them for new provisions, in which parents were made responsible or accountable for full attendance of their children.
• The policy should be implemented in a phased manner and a scale-up to all classes should be undertaken only after the critical infrastructural, teacher strength and teachers’ skill-set requirements were fully met.

Conclusion

• Rather than addressing the core issues that affect the quality of education in the country, the entire focus seems to be shifting to bring back the pass/fail model.
• A greater level of seriousness on all sides is the need of the hour. It is high time steps are taken to remove the other flaws that exist.
• Hence, the policy should either be renovated with adequate changes to neutralize the ill effects or replaced with a new policy that would take a balanced approach. The prime objective should be to effect an all-round development of children and equipping them with life skills.