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Subject: Governance

Important aspects of Society

  • Economics of education

    The article delineates the challenges academic institutions in India faces in the wake of Covid disruption and suggests some measures to deal with the challenges.

    Context

    Disruption in the wake of pandemic raised the spectre of educational institutions shuttering their doors completely or taking unprecedented steps that have invariably affected jobs and livelihoods.

    Economics of the academics

    • Economics has always been a part of academics; it is only in the present circumstances that it has become all the more apparent.
    • Management in private institutions, is going to meet demands on the one hand and availability of resources on the other.
    • One may call this new phenomenon “acadonomics”.
    • “Acadonomics” would imply a careful allocation of resources keeping in mind the transient nature of the issue of how long it is going to take to come back to the steady state of affairs that it once was.
    • ‘Acadonomics’ will also involve seeing the economics of moving on to an online mode of the teaching-learning process.

    Comparison with the West

    • The academic choices are not the same for all countries across the world.
    • In the United States the elite private and state subsidised universities have endowments that can be used for a range of academic activities.
    • Top 10 of the U.S. have a cushion of anywhere between $10 billion to $40 billion.
    • By contrast, private academic institutions in India do not have any such buffers.
    • None of the institutions in India possesses big corpuses from alumni or industry.
    • Their survival, for the most part, is on the annual income that comes from tuition and the assortment of other fees collected.

    Private education in India

    • Private institutions in India are hardly in a position to meet an eventuality such as COVID-19.
    •  In an educational set-up in India, nothing can be reduced — the norms cannot be lowered nor can the infrastructure be dismantled.
    •  For the most part, the fixed and operational costs remain the same, and infrastructure once created cannot be shrunk.
    • The downside to self-financed institutions is that in the time of the pandemic and loss of jobs, students plead inability to pay the requisite fee.
    • Which places additional burden on the management which feels already stretched because of existing commitments.

    Dual mode of learning and issues

    • 1) Cost for persisting with a dual mode of the teaching-learning process is going to be quite prohibitive for the next few years.
    • The scaling of operations that would include the dual modes of online and offline is going to be expensive.
    • 2) The online teaching mode brings with it increased costs of IT infrastructure such as network bandwidth, servers, cloud resources and software licensing fees.
    • 3) Online teaching means new hiring in the IT sector and increased costs due to engagements with Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs, and other online platforms.
    • 4) Online teaching means setting up multiple studios and educational technology centres which translate into investments in high technology.
    • 5) Creation of virtual laboratories across all domains of studies and examination centres, etc. would add to the woes in terms of already depleted finances.
    • 6) Additional funds have to be allocated to train faculty for online teaching.

    Way forward

    • The Centre and State governments should provide soft loans to students to stay with the educational course.
    • Students looking at online instruction would be disinclined to pay the same fee charged for offline instruction.
    • It would seem prudent for the government and regulatory bodies to not interfere in the fee structure, and, for the future, even consider a measure of higher degree of financial autonomy.
    • It is high time institutions in India are allowed to create coffers or corpuses for a rainy day.
    • Educational institutions could come to be treated like any other corporate body, with an allowable small margin of profit.

    Consider the question “What are the challenges faced by the education system in the aftermath of the pandemic. Suggest ways to mitigate the impact.”

    Conclusion

    ‘Acadonomics’ of the future will not only decide the fate of the academic sector in India but also its quality, ranking, research, innovation potential and its collective impact on our country’s economy.

  • UN’s guidelines on Access to Social Justice for People with Disabilities

    The United Nations has released it’s first-ever guidelines on access to social justice for people with disabilities to make it easier for them to access justice systems around the world.

    Note: These guidelines can be used in mains answer while substantiating their rights.

    Defining a person with a disability

    • The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was adopted in 2007 as the first major instrument of human rights in the 21st century.
    • It defines persons with disabilities as those “who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others”.

    Highlights of the Guidelines

    The guidelines outline a set of 10 principles and detail the steps for implementation. The 10 principles are:

    • Principle 1: All persons with disabilities have the legal capacity and, therefore, no one shall be denied access to justice on the basis of disability.
    • Principle 2: Facilities and services must be universally accessible to ensure equal access to justice without discrimination of persons with disabilities.
    • Principle 3: PWDS including children with disabilities, have the right to appropriate procedural accommodations.
    • Principle 4: PWDS have the right to access legal notices and information in a timely and accessible manner on an equal basis with others.
    • Principle 5: PWDS are entitled to all substantive and procedural safeguards recognized in international law on an equal basis with others, and States must provide the necessary accommodations to guarantee due process.
    • Principle 6: PWDS have the right to free or affordable legal assistance.
    • Principle 7: PWDS have the right to participate in the administration of justice on an equal basis with others.
    • Principle 8: PWDS have the rights to report complaints and initiate legal proceedings concerning human rights violations and crimes, have their complaints investigated and be afforded effective remedies.
    • Principle 9: Effective and robust monitoring mechanisms play a critical role in supporting access to justice for persons with disabilities.
    • Principle 10: All those working in the justice system must be provided with awareness-raising and training programmes addressing the rights of persons with disabilities, in particular in the context of access to justice.

    Significance for India

    • As per statistics maintained by the UN, in India 2.4 per cent of males are disabled and two per cent of females from all age groups are disabled.
    • Disabilities include psychological impairment, intellectual impairment, speaking, multiple impairments, hearing, seeing among others.
    • In comparison, the disability prevalence in the US is 12.9 per cent among females and 12.7 per cent among males.
    • Disability prevalence in the UK is at 22.7 per cent among females and 18.7 per cent among males.

  • Changing India’s health delivery landscape through NDHM

    The National Digital Health Mission promises to transform the Indian healthcare system with the aid of technology. The article highlights the key aspects of the mission.

    Building integrated digital health infrastructure through NDHM

    • NDHM is based on the principles of health for all, inclusivity, accessibility, affordability, education, empowerment, wellness, portability, privacy and security by design.
    • NDHM will build the backbone necessary to create an integrated digital health infrastructure.
    • With its key building blocks HealthID, DigiDoctor, Health Facility Registry, Personal Health Records, Telemedicine, and e-Pharmacy, the mission will bring together disparate stakeholders and radically strengthen and, thus change India’s healthcare delivery landscape.
    • NDHM is also a purposeful step towards the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal of Universal Health Coverage.

    Importance of digital intervention in health service

    • Digital interventions significantly enhance the outcomes of every health service delivery programme.
    • Importance of digital intervention is demonstrated in the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana scheme.
    • Under PM-JAY, 1.2 crore cashless secondary and tertiary care treatments have been provided using an indigenously developed state-of-the-art IT platform.
    • The Arogya Setu mobile app deploys ICT innovations for contract tracing.

    Principal highlight of NDHM

    1) Voluntary in nature

    • HealthID is entirely voluntary for citizens.
    • Its absence will not mean denial of healthcare to a citizen.
    • They can choose to generate their Health Account or ID using their Aadhaar card or digitally authenticable mobile number and by using their basic address-related details and email ID.
    • The use of Aadhaar, therefore, is not mandatory.

    2) Data sharing based on consent

    • Providing access to and sharing of personal health records is a prerogative of the HealthID holder.
    • The consent of the health data owner is required to access this information or a part of it.The consent can be withdrawn anytime.
    • The personal health record will enable citizens to store and access their health data, provide them with more comprehensive information and empower them with control over their private health records.

    3) Compliance with laws and fundamental rights

    • NDHM has been built within a universe of fundamental rights and legislation such as the Aadhaar Act and the IT Act 2008 as well as the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019.
    • This project is also informed by the entire gamut of Supreme Court judgments and core democratic principles of cooperative federalism.
    • The Mission gets its strategic and technical foundation from the National Digital Health Blueprint, the architectural framework of which keeps the overall vision of NHP 2017 at its core and ensures security and privacy by design.

    4) Reaching out to the unconnected population

    •  NHDM is a digital mission led by technology powered by the internet.
    • So, to reach out to and empower the large number of “unconnected” masses specialised systems are being built and off-line modules that will be designed to reach out to the “unconnected”.

    5) Partnership with all key stakeholders

    • The design of NDHM has been built on the principle of partnership with all key stakeholders — doctors, health service providers, technology solution providers and above all citizens.
    • Without their belief, trust, adoption, and stewardship, this mission will not achieve its desired result.

    Consider the question “Examine the key aspects of the National Digital Heath Mission and how it could help transform the Indian healthcare landscape?”

    Conclusion

    NDHM is a mission whose time has come because health is the first step towards self-reliance and only a healthy nation can become Atma Nirbhar.

  • [pib] Eklavya Model Residential Schools

    An Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) teacher was selected for National Award to Teachers 2020.

    Note the specific features of EMRS. Each year in the CSP, there is a question related to tribes/tribal development.

    Eklavya Model Residential Schools

    • EMRS started in the year 1997-98 to impart quality education to ST children in remote areas in order to enable them to avail of opportunities in high and professional education courses and get employment in various sectors.
    • Across the country, as per census 2011 figures, there are 564 such sub-districts out of which there is an EMRS in 102 sub-districts.
    • As per revised 2018 scheme, every block with more than 50% ST population and at least 20,000 tribal persons, will have an EMRS by the year 2022.
    • These schools will be on par with Navodaya Vidyalayas and will have special facilities for preserving local art and culture besides providing training in sports and skill development.

    Features of EMRS

    • Admission to these schools will be through selection/competition with suitable provision for preference to children belonging to Primitive Tribal Groups, first-generation students, etc.
    • Sufficient land would be given by the State Government for the school, playgrounds, hostels, residential quarters, etc., free of cost.
    • The number of seats for boys and girls will be equal.
    • In these schools, education will be entirely free.

  • National Recruitment Agency: Taking jobs closer to people

    Recruitment reform in the form of National Recruitment Agency will resolve many issues faced by the youth appearing for the multiple government exam.

    Context

    • On average, 2.5-3 crore candidates appear for about 1.25 lakh vacancies in the central government every year.
    • But from next year, the NRA will conduct the CET and based on the score, one can apply for a vacancy with the respective agency.

    NRA: Composition and functioning

    • The NRA will have representatives from the Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Finance/Department of Financial Services, Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) and Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS).
    • A multi-agency body, the NRA will conduct a Common Eligibility Test (CET) to screen/shortlist candidates for the Group B and C (non-technical) posts.
    • The NRA shall conduct a separate CET each for the three levels of graduate, higher secondary (12th pass) and the matriculate (10th pass) candidates for those non-technical posts to which recruitment is presently carried out by the SSC, RRBs and IBPS.

    How it will benefit youth

    • It will eliminate multiple tests and save time as well as resources.
    • It will give a big boost to transparency.
    • The multiple recruitment examinations are a burden on the candidates, as also on the respective recruitment agencies, involving avoidable/repetitive expenditure, law and order/security-related issues and venue-related problems.
    • The NRA is a combination of convenience and cost-effectiveness for candidates.
    • Examination centres in every district would greatly enhance access to the candidates located in far-flung areas, with a special focus on creating examination infrastructure in the 117 Aspirational Districts.
    • This will prove a great boon to crores of aspirants residing in hilly, rural and remote areas and most importantly, for female candidates.
    • Taking job opportunities closer to the people is a radical step that would greatly enhance ease of living for the youth.

    Consider the question “Recruitment reform in the form of National Recruitment Agency is a radical step that would greatly enhance ease of living for the youth.”

    Conclusion

    Taking job opportunities closer to the people is a radical step that would greatly enhance ease of living for the youth.

  • How marriage age and women’s health are linked?

    PM had announced a panel to fight malnutrition in young women and ensure they get married at the right age. Take a look at how the two are linked:

    How prevalent is underage marriage?

    • Data show that the majority of women in India marry after the age of 21.
    • Chart 1 shows the mean age of women at marriage is 22.1 years, and more than 21 in all states. This does not mean that child marriages have disappeared.
    • The latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) found that about 26.8% of women aged 20-24 (Chart 2) were married before adulthood (age 18).

    Try this question for mains:

    Q. Discuss how marriage age and women’s health are linked with each other?

    How does the age of marriage correlate with health?

    • Preventing early marriage can reduce the maternal mortality ratio and infant mortality ratio.
    • At present, the maternal mortality ratio — the number of maternal deaths for every 100,000 children born — is 145.
    • India’s IMR shows that 30 of every 1,000 children born in a year die before the age of one.
    • Young mothers are more susceptible to anaemia. More than half the women of reproductive age (15-49 years) in India are anaemic.

    What delayed marriage can alter?

    • Poverty, limited access to education and economic prospects, and security concerns are the known reasons for early marriage.
    • If the main causes of early marriage are not addressed, a law will not be enough to delay marriage among girls.

    What do the data show?

    • Women in the poorest 20% of the population married much younger than their peers from the wealthiest 20% (Chart 5).
    • The average age at marriage of women with no schooling was 17.6, considerably lower than that for women educated beyond class 12 (Chart 6).
    • Almost 40% of girls aged 15-18 do not attend school, as per a report of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
    • Nearly 65% of these girls are engaged in non-remunerative work.
    • That is why many believe that merely tweaking the official age of marriage may discriminate against the poorer, less-educated and marginalised women.

  • Reversing health sector neglect with a reform agenda

    The article analyses the issues India could face in implementing the universal health coverage.

    Context

    • Both India and the U.S. leads the Covid cases in the world and also lack effective universal health coverage (UHC).

    What explains the lack of UHC in both the countries

    • The lack of UHC is due to multiple long-standing factors and historical reasons that have put a damper on the UHC agenda.
    • This long legacy has two important and inter-related implications when it comes to health-care reform.
    • 1) Certain foundational aspects of these health systems that have been adopted over decades tend to dictate the terms of further evolution and lead to a number of compromises.
    • 2) The long legacy itself comprises a path-dependent trajectory that precludes far-reaching health-care reform.
    • This applies both to AB-PM-JAY and NDHM.

    India’s attempt at UHC: Ayushman Bharat–Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana

    • The government has looked poised to employ Ayushman Bharat–Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PM-JAY) health insurance as the tool for achieving UHC.
    • Taking the health insurance route to UHC driven by private players, rather than strengthening the public provisioning of health care, is reflective of the non-negotiability of private health care in India.
    • Covering the remaining population under the AB-PM-JAY presents massive fiscal and design challenges.
    • Turning it into a contributory scheme based on premium collections would be a costly and daunting undertaking, given the huge informal sector and possible adverse selection problems.
    • Distributing benefits among various beneficiary groups, and a formalisation and consolidation of practices in a likely situation of covering outpatient care, are formidable additional challenges.
    • One possible advantage for India over the U.S. could be a relative ease of integrating fragmented schemes into a unified system. The AB-PM-JAY has this ability.

    Issues with AB-PM-JAY

    1) Universal insurance will not be universal access

    • In India, almost two-third corporate hospital are located in cities.
    • So, such maldistribution of health-care facilities and low budgetary appropriations for insurance could mean that universal insurance does not translate to universal access to services.
    • So far, insurance-based incentives to drive private players into the rural countryside have been largely unsuccessful.

    2) Lack of regulatory robustness

    • AB-PM-JAY is without enough regulatory robustness to handle everything from malpractices to monopolistic tendencies.
    • This could have major cost, equity, and quality implications.

    National Digital Health Mission (NDHM)

    • Integration and improved management of patient and health facility information are sought through NDHM.
    • But in the absence of robust ground-level documentation practices and its prerequisites, it would do little more than helping some private players and adding to administrative complexity and costs.

    Consider the question “What are the challenges India faces in the implementation of universal health coverage? Suggest the measures to achieve it.”

    Conclusion

    Upheavals offer a window for reforms. We cannot afford to be complacent and think that the pandemic will automatically change the Indian health-care landscape. It will require mobilising concerted action from all quarters.

  • Tribes in news: Bondas

    The COVID-19 pandemic has reached the Bondas, a PVTGs community residing in the hill ranges of Malkangiri district in Odisha.

    Try this PYQ:

    Consider the following statements about Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in India:

    1. PVTGs reside in 18 States and one Union Territory.
    2. A stagnant or declining population is one of the criteria for determining PVTG status.
    3. There are 95 PVTGs officially notified in the country so far.
    4. Irular and Konda Reddi tribes are included in the list of PVTGs.

    Which of the statements given above are correct?(CSP 2019)

    (a) 1, 2 and 3

    (b) 2, 3 and 4

    (c) 1, 2 and 4

    (d) 1, 3 and 4

    Who are the Bondas?

    • The Bondas are Munda ethnic group who live in the isolated hill regions of the Malkangiri district of southwestern Odisha near the junction of the three states of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Andhra Pradesh.
    • They are a scheduled tribe of India and are also known as the Remo (meaning “people” in the Bonda language).
    • The tribe is one of the oldest and most primitive in mainland India; their culture has changed little for more than a thousand years.
    • Their isolation and known aggressiveness continue to preserve their culture despite the pressures of an expanding Indian population.

    Back2Basics: Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)

    • There are certain tribal communities who have declining or stagnant population, low level of literacy, pre-agricultural level of technology and are economically backward.
    • They generally inhabit remote localities having poor infrastructure and administrative support.
    • These groups are among the most vulnerable section of our society as they are few in numbers, have not attained any significant level of social and economic development.
    • 75 such groups have been identified and categorized as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).

  • Increasing the age of marriage for girls and related issues

    The article analyses the issues with objectives of increasing the age of marriage for girls.

    Poverty of mother: Important factor

    • Raising the age of marriage is the could be the way to improve the health and nutritional status of mothers and their infants.
    • An article published in the journal The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health analyses data on stunting in children and thinness in mothers in the latest round of the National Family Health Survey 4 (2015-16).
    •  The authors examine the strength of the association between many different causal factors.
    •  As it turns out, the poverty of the mother plays the greatest role of all by far.
    • Instead of early pregnancy causing malnourishment, they may both be the consequences of poverty.
    • The best way to go about breaking such a cycle would be to pick the factors perpetuating it, it would be the poverty of the mother in this case.

    Declining fertility rate in India

    • India’s fertility rates have been declining to well below replacement levels in many States, including those with higher levels of child marriage.
    • This could be the reason for the shift from fuelling fears about booming populations to expressing concern for the undernourishment of children.
    • So, the problem of “populations explosion” is not the real problem as the demographic data suggests.

    Concern

    • The change in the marriage age will leave the vast majority of Indian women who marry before they are 21 without the legal protections.

    Conclusion

    The proposal and the objective to be achieved through raising the age of marriage needs reconsideration for the reasons cited above.

  • [pib] Highlights of the Swachh Survekshan 2020

    Image Source: TH

    Indore was declared the cleanest city in India for the fourth consecutive time in the Swachh Survekshan, 2020 — India’s annual survey on cleanliness.

    Note the following things about Swachh Survekshan:

    1) Nodal Ministry (It is Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs)

    2) Authority carrying out the survey

    3) Various parameters of the survey

    Swachh Survekshan

    • It is an annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in cities and towns across India.
    • It ranks India’s cities, towns and states based on sanitation, waste management and overall cleanliness.
    • It was launched as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, which aimed to make India clean and free of open defecation by 2 October 2019.
    • The first survey was undertaken in 2016 and covered 73 cities; by 2019 the survey had grown to cover 4237 cities and was said to be the largest cleanliness survey in the world.

    Survey methodology

    • The surveys are carried out by the Quality Council of India. The criteria and weightage for different components of sanitation-related aspects used for the survey were:

    a) Municipal documentation (solid waste management including door-to-door collection, processing, and disposal, and open defecation free status. These carried 45 per cent of the total 2,000 marks.

    b) Citizen feedback – 30 per cent (450 + 150 marks)

    c) Independent observation – 25 per cent (500 marks)

    Highlights of the 2020 Rankings

    • Surat in Gujarat and Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra bagged the second and third spot respectively among the cleanest cities with more than a million populations.
    • Maharashtra’s Karad, Saswad and Lonavala bagged the first three positions for cities having a population less than one lakh.
    • Among the cities with a population between one and 10 lakh, Chhattisgarh’s Ambikapur was declared the cleanest, followed by Mysore in Karnataka.
    • In fact, Chhattisgarh has ranked the cleanest state in the category of states having more than 100 Urban Local Bodies (ULB). It was followed by Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
    • In 2019, Chhattisgarh was in the third position in the category. The survey found that Chhattisgarh is the first and only state where every city achieved Open Defecation Free (ODF)++ status.