đŸ’„Join UPSC 2027,2028 Mentorship (July Batch) + XFactor Notes & Microthemes PDF
Talk to Mentor

Civilsdaily

Login

Subject: Indian Society

  • [pib] NIPUN Bharat Programme

    Union Minister for Education has launched a National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat).

    NIPUN Bharat

    • This scheme aims for ensuring that every child in the country necessarily attains foundational literacy.
    • It has been launched under the aegis of the centrally sponsored scheme of Samagra Shiksha.
    • It would cover the learning needs of children in the age group of 3 to 9 years.
    • The unique feature is that the goals of the Mission are set in the form of Lakshya Soochi or Targets for Foundational Literacy and Numeracy.
    • The Lakshyas are based on the learning outcomes developed by the NCERT and international research and ORF studies.

    Envisaged outcomes

    • Foundational skills enable to keep children in class thereby reducing the dropouts and improve transition rate from primary to upper primary and secondary stages.
    • Activity-based learning and a conducive learning environment will improve the quality of education.
    • Innovative pedagogies such as toy-based and experiential learning will be used in classroom transactions thereby making learning a joyful and engaging activity.
    • Intensive capacity building of teachers
    • Since almost every child attends early grades, therefore, focus at that stage will also benefit the socio-economic disadvantageous group thus ensuring access to equitable and inclusive quality education.

  • [pib] United District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) 2019-20

    The Union Education Minister has released the Report on United Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) 2019-20 for School Education in India.

    What is UDISE+?

    • UDISE+ is one of the largest Management Information Systems on school education.
    • It covers more than 1.5 million schools, 8.5 million teachers and 250 million children.
    • Launched in 2018-2019, UDISE+ was introduced to speed up data entry, reduce errors, improve data quality and ease its verification.
    • It is an updated and improved version of UDISE, which was initiated in 2012-13 by the Ministry of Education under the UPA govt by integrating DISE for elementary education and SEMIS for secondary education.

    Why is it important?

    • As per the UDISE+ website, “Timely and accurate data is the basis of sound and effective planning and decision-making.
    • Towards this end, the establishment of a well-functioning and Sustainable Educational Management Information System is of utmost importance today.”
    • In short, the UDISE+ helps measure the education parameters from classes 1 to 12 in government and private schools across India.

    What does the 2019-20 report say?

    • The total enrolment in 2019-20 from primary to higher secondary levels of school education was a little over 25.09 crore.
    • Enrolment for boys was 13.01 crore and that of the girls was 12.08 crore.
    • This was an increase by more than 26 lakh over the previous year 2018-19.

    (1) Pupil-teacher ratio improves

    • The Pupil-Teacher Ratio — the average number of pupils (at a specific level of education) per teacher (teaching at that level of education) in a given school year — showed an improvement all levels of school education in 2019-2020 over 2012-2013.

    (2) GER improves

    • The gross enrolment ratio (GER), which compares the enrolment in a specific level of education to the population of the age group which is age-appropriate for that level of education has improved at all levels in 2019-2020 compared to 2018-2019.
    • The GER increased to 89.7 percent (from 87.7 percent) at Upper Primary level, 97.8 percent (from 96.1 percent) at Elementary Level, 77.9 percent (from 76.9 percent) at Secondary Level and 51.4 percent (from 50.1 percent) at Higher Secondary Level in 2019-20 compared to 2018-19.
    • GER for girls at secondary level has gone up by 9.6 percent to reach 77.8 percent in 2019-20 compared to 68.2 percent in 2012-13.

    (3) Phyical infrastructure improves, but computers and internet access remain lacking

    • The report stated that just 38.5 percent of schools across the country had computers, while only 22.3 percent had an internet connection in 2019-20.
    • This is an improvement over 2018-2019 when 34.5 percent of schools had computers and a mere 18.7 percent of schools had internet access.

    Key takeaways

    • While physical infrastructure is steadily improving, the digital infrastructure for schools has a long way to go.
    • With the overwhelming majority of schools have neither computers (61 percent) nor internet access (78 percent), achieving the Centre’s ‘Digital India’ vision when it comes to online education is still some ways off.
    • The vast increase in hand wash facilities is a big step towards the fulfilment of the Modi government’s ‘Swachh Bharat’ push.
    • The Gross Enrolment Ratio improving at all levels of school education in 2019-20 compared to 2018-19 is a plus.
    • While 93 lakh more boys enrolled in education than girls, when it comes to GER, the girls pulled ahead.

  • Gender self-identification and related issues

    The Spanish government has approved the first draft of a bill that would allow anyone over the age of 14 to legally change gender without a medical diagnosis or hormone therapy.

    What is gender self-identification?

    • Self-identification, or ‘self-id’, is the concept that a person should be allowed to legally identify with the gender of their choice by simply declaring so, and without facing any medical tests.
    • This has been a long-held demand of trans-right groups around the world, including in India, as prejudice against trans people remains rampant.

    European scenario

    • In Europe, this issue has remained divisive not only on liberal-conservative lines but also within the LGBT community.
    • The current processes for declaring one’s desired gender are lengthy, expensive and degrading.

    Related issues

    • Some feminist and gay-rights groups insist that such a law could endanger women and cause more gay teenagers to be told that they might be trans and thus encouraged towards hormones and surgery.
    • Feminist forums believe that sex is not something that can be chosen.
    • They insist that allowing self-identification could put at risk all laws that specifically prevent discrimination against women.
    • They have instead asked lawmakers to look at concerns that they say are more pressing, such as the gender pay gap.

    What is the process for declaring one’s desired sex in India?

    • In India, the rights of transgender persons are governed by the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 and the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020.
    • Under the Rules, an application to declare gender is to be made to the District Magistrate.
    • Parents can also make an application on behalf of their child.
    • A much-criticized previous draft of regulations required transgender persons to go through a medical examination for declaring their desired sex.
    • This requirement was omitted in the Final Rules.
    • As per the Rules, state governments have also been directed to constitute welfare boards for transgender persons to protect their rights and interests, and facilitate access to schemes and welfare measures framed by the Centre.

  • One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC)

    The Supreme Court directed all states and UTs to implement the One Nation, One Ration Card (ONORC) system, which allows for inter-and intra-state portability, by July 31.

    ONORC Scheme

    • The ONORC scheme is aimed at enabling migrant workers and their family members to buy subsidized ration from any fair price shop anywhere in the country under the National Food Security Act, 2013.
    • For instance, a migrant worker from will be able to access PDS benefits elsewhere in India, where he or she may have gone in search of work.
    • While the person can buy food grains as per his or her entitlement under the NFSA at the place where he or she is based, members of his or her family can still go to their ration dealer back home.
    • To promote this reform in the archaic Public Distribution System (PDS), the government has provided incentives to states.

    How does ONORC work?

    • ONORC is based on technology that involves details of beneficiaries’ ration card, Aadhaar number, and electronic Points of Sale (ePoS).
    • The system identifies a beneficiary through biometric authentication on ePoS devices at fair price shops.
    • The system runs with the support of two portals —Integrated Management of Public Distribution System (IM-PDS) (impds.nic.in) and Annavitran (annavitran.nic.in), which host all the relevant data.
    • When a ration card holder goes to a fair price shop, he or she identifies himself or herself through biometric authentication on ePoS, which is matched real time with details on the Annavitaran portal.
    • Once the ration card details are verified, the dealer hands out the beneficiary’s entitlements.
    • While the Annavitaran portal maintains a record of intra-state transactions — inter-district and intra-district — the IM-PDS portal records the inter-state transactions.

    How many people will it benefit?

    • Under the National Food Security Act, 2013, about 81 crore people are entitled to buy subsidised foodgrains — rice at Rs 3/kg, wheat at Rs 2/kg, and coarse grains at Re 1/kg – from designated fair price shops.
    • As on 28 June 2021, there are about 5.46 lakh fair price shops and 23.63 crore ration cardholders across the country.
    • Each NFSA ration cardholder is assigned to a fair price shop near the place where his ration card is registered.

    What factors led to the launch of ONORC?

    • Earlier, NFSA beneficiaries were not able to access their PDS benefits outside the jurisdiction of the specific fair price shop to which they have been assigned.
    • The government envisioned the ONORC to give them access to benefits from any fair price shop.
    • The idea was to reform the PDS, which has been historically marred by inefficiency and leakages.
    • ONORC was initially launched as an inter-state pilot.
    • When the Covid-19 pandemic forced thousands of migrant workers to return to their villages last year, a need was felt to expedite the rollout.

    What has been the coverage so far?

    • Till date, 32 states and Union Territories have joined the ONORC, covering about 69 crore NFSA beneficiaries.
    • About 1.35 crore portability transactions every month are being recorded under ONORC on an average.
    • While inter-state ration card portability is available in 32 states, the number of such transactions is much lower than that of intra-district and inter-district transactions.

    States not joining

    • Four states are yet to join the scheme — Assam, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and West Bengal. There are various reasons.
    • For instance, Delhi is yet to start the use of ePoS in fair price shops, which is a prerequisite for the implementation of ONORC.
    • In the case of West Bengal, the state government has demanded that the non-NFSA ration cardholders — ration cards issued by the state government — should also be covered under the ONORC.

  • Tackling vaccine hesitancy challenge in rural India

    In rural India, concerns about COVID-19 vaccines are now increasingly commonplace.

    Vaccination dilemma these days

    • People voice their concern about what will happen to them if they get vaccinated and have doubts that the government is sending inferior quality vaccines to them.
    • Vaccination sessions in local health centers often see very few or no takers.
    • In contrast, urban vaccination sites face increased demand, especially in the 18-45 age group, and vaccine shortage is a major issue.
    • From a public health and equity perspective, this is a cause for worry.

    Why this failure?

    • The fear of vaccines and rural communities not only resisting but also outright rejecting vaccination is a reality.
    • Efforts by local health authorities to create awareness and convince people are of little avail.
    • There are contrasting dimensions to the COVID-19 vaccine rollout: one where people are enthusiastically accepting it and the other of resistance.
    • There are many diverse factors at play in this, which may go beyond the health concerns and have more to do with socio-anthropological aspects of health-seeking behavior.

    Vaccine hesitancy

    • Vaccine hesitancy refers to delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines despite the availability of vaccine services.
    • It is complex and context-specific varying across time, place, and vaccines.
    • It is influenced by factors such as complacency, convenience, and confidence.

    Its scope

    • Vaccine hesitancy is not a recent phenomenon. It is neither limited to a particular community or country nor have we seen it only in the context of COVID-19.
    • We have also seen vaccine hesitancy among the urban and the more educated or ‘aware’ populations, with pockets of populations of socio-economically well-off communities refusing to get their kids vaccinated.
    • While vaccine hesitancy can lead to a firm rejection of vaccines, there’s also a possibility of people changing their perceptions over time.

    Socio-cultural context behind

    • Most of our fears and apprehensions stem from a deep impact of something adverse or unfavorable that we have personally experienced or our social circles have experienced.
    • Over time these become our beliefs, our innate guards.
    • In the context of the concerns described at the beginning of this article, we must look at vaccine hesitancy from a distinct lens of fear and not necessarily skepticism for new vaccines.
    • Rather, they seem to indicate deep-seated fears and belief in conspiracies, the fear of perhaps being discriminated and deceived, and of being omitted (from societal benefits).

    Building trust

    • Communities might not see the impact of a vaccine instantly, as it’s usually preventive in nature rather than curative.
    • People are used to taking medications or intravenous fluids when they are unwell or in pain, and they may feel better almost immediately, but that’s not the case with vaccines.
    • On the contrary, vaccines administered to a healthy person may lead to occasional side effects like fever, body aches, etc.
    • Add to those rumors about deaths post-vaccination, and it may not be so easy for people to get convinced about the vaccines.

    Way ahead

    • Addressing vaccine hesitancy in rural India would first of all require health systems to be honest and transparent.
    • Create awareness, let people know how vaccines work, how they help prevent disease, what are the probable side effects and how they can be managed.
    • Health authorities need to be comfortable about people raising questions while providing the answers as best as possible.
    • Being cognizant of local cultural sensitivities and working with trusted intermediaries is important in this effort.
    • Sustained and meaningful efforts need to be made to build trust, gain the confidence of communities and meet their expectations.
    • Even more crucial is to engage communities in planning, execution, and monitoring of health care services at all levels.

  • Blended mode of teaching

    Blended mode of teaching and its advantages

    • A recent circular by the University Grants Commission (UGC) proposes that all higher educational institutions (HEI) teach 40% of any course online and the rest 60% offline termed as blended learning (BL).
    • The UGC argues that this “blended mode of teaching” and learning paves the way for:
    • 1) Increased student engagement in learning.
    • 2) Enhanced student-teacher interactions.
    • 3) Improved student learning outcomes.
    • 4) More flexible teaching and learning environments, among other things.
    • 5) Other key benefits such as the increased opportunity for institutional collaborations at a distance and enhanced self-learning accruing from blended learning (BL).
    • 6) BL benefits the teachers as well. It shifts the role of the teacher from being a “knowledge provider to a coach and mentor”.
    • 7)  The note adds that BL introduces flexibility in assessment and evaluation patterns as well.

    Challenges

    • All India Survey on Higher Education (2019-20) report shows that 60.56% of the 42,343 colleges in India are located in rural areas and 78.6% are privately managed.
    • Only big corporates are better placed to invest in technology and provide such learning.
    • Second, according to datareportal statistics, Internet penetration in India is only 45% as of January 2021.
    • This policy will only exacerbate the existing geographical and digital divide.
    • Third, BL leaves little room for all-round formation of the student that includes the development of their intelligent quotient, emotional quotient, social quotient, physical quotient and spiritual quotient.
    • The listening part and subsequent interactions with the teacher may get minimised.
    • Also, the concept note assumes that all students have similar learning styles and have a certain amount of digital literacy to cope with the suggested learning strategies of BL.
    • This is far from true. Education in India is driven by a teacher-centred approach.

    Suggestions

    • The government should ensure equity in access to technology and bandwidth for all HEIs across the country free of cost.
    • Massive digital training programmes must be arranged for teachers.
    • Even the teacher-student ratio needs to be readjusted to implement BL effectively.
    • This may require the appointment of a greater number of teachers.
    • The design of the curriculum should be decentralised and based on a bottom-up approach.
    • More power in such education-related policymaking should be vested with the State governments.
    • Switching over from a teacher-centric mode of learning at schools to the BL mode at the tertiary level will be difficult for learners.
    • Hence, the government must think of overhauling the curriculum at the school level as well.
    • Finally, periodical discussions, feedback mechanisms and support services at all levels would revitalise the implementation of the learning programme of the National Education Policy 2020, BL.
    • It will also lead to the actualisation of the three cardinal principles of education policy: access, equity and quality.

    Conclusion

    Government must take steps to address the concerns with blended learning before implementing it.

  • What is Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS)?

    The Centre has informed the Supreme Court regarding the purchase of grains by the States and the UTs under the Open Market Sales Scheme (OMSS) in 2021-2022 while debunking apprehensions that those without ration cards may be left to die.

    Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS)

    • OMSS refers to the selling of food grains by the government/government agencies at predetermined prices in the open market from time to time.
    • This scheme aims to enhance the supply of grains especially during the lean season and thereby to moderate the general open market prices, especially in the deficit regions.
    • The Food Corporation of India (FCI) on the instructions from the Government, sells wheat and rice in the open market from time to time.
    • This enhances the supply of wheat and rice especially during the lean season and moderates the open market prices, especially in the deficit regions.

    Components of the scheme

    The present form of OMSS comprises 3 schemes as under:

    1. Sale of wheat to bulk consumers/private traders through e-auction.
    2. Sale of wheat to bulk consumers/private traders through e-auction by dedicated movement.
    3. Sale of Raw Rice Grade ‘A’ to bulk consumers/private traders through e-auction.

    Selling through a transparent process

    • For transparency in operations, the Corporation has switched over to e-auction for sale under Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic).
    • The FCI conducts a weekly auction to conduct this scheme in the open market using the platform of commodity exchange NCDEX (National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Limited).
    • The State Governments/ Union Territory Administrations are also allowed to participate in the e-auction if they require wheat and rice outside TPDS & OWS.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.The economic cost of food grains to the Food Corporation of India is Minimum Support Price and bonus (if any) paid to the farmers plus:

    (a) Transportation cost only

    (b) Interest cost only

    (c) Procurement incidentals and distribution cost

    (d) Procurement incidentals and charges for godowns

  • [pib] All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2019-20

    Union Education Minister has announced the release of the report of All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2019-20.

    This newscard provides useful data about the state of higher education in India on various parameters. Such data should not be missed while substantiating any point in answer writing.

    About AISHE

    • AISHE was established by the Ministry of HRD for conducting an annual web-based survey, thereby portraying the status of higher education in the country.
    • The survey is conducted for all educational institutions in India on many categories like teachers, student enrolment, programs, examination results, education finance, and infrastructure.
    • This survey is used to make informed policy decisions and research for the development of the education sector.
    • This Report provides key performance indicators on the current status of Higher education in the country.

    Highlights of the 2019-20 Report

    (1) Total Enrolment

    (2) Gross Enrolment Ratio

    (3) Gender Parity Index (GPI)

    • GPI in Higher Education in 2019-20 is 1.01 against 1.00 in 2018-19 indicating an improvement in the relative access to higher education for females of eligible age group compared to males.

    (4) Pupil-Teacher Ratio

     

    • TPR in Higher Education in 2019-20 is 26. In 2019-20: Universities: 1,043(2%); Colleges: 42,343(77%) and stand-alone institutions: 11,779(21%).

    (5) Enrolment in higher education

    • 38 crore Students enrolled in programs at under-graduate and post-graduate levels.
    • Out of these, nearly 85% of the students (2.85 crore) were enrolled in the six major disciplines such as Humanities, Science, Commerce, Engineering & Technology, Medical Science and IT & Computer.

    (6) Doctorate pursuance

    • The number of students pursuing PhD in 2019-20 is 2.03 lakh against 1.17 lakh in 2014-15.

    (7) Total number of teachers

    • The Total Number of Teachers stands at 15,03,156 comprising of 57.5% male and 42.5% female.

  • [pib] QS World University Rankings 2022

    The Prime Minister has congratulated IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi and  IISc Bengaluru for top-200 positions in QS World University Rankings 2022.

    QS World University Rankings

    • QS World University Rankings is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).
    • It comprises the global overall and subject rankings (which name the world’s top universities for the study of 51 different subjects and five composite faculty areas).
    • It announces ranking for five independent regional tables (Asia, Latin America, Emerging Europe and Central Asia, the Arab Region, and BRICS).

    Highlights of the 2022 Report

    • IIT Bombay ranks joint-177 in the world, having fallen five places over the past year.
    • IIT Delhi has become India’s second-best university, having risen from 193 ranks in last year’s ranking to 185 in the latest ranking. It has overtaken IISc Bangalore, which ranks joint-186.
    • The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, has been ranked the “world’s top research university.
    • The top three institutions globally are — Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Oxford, and Stanford University ranked at number one, two, and three respectively.

  • Adoption of COVID-19-orphaned children

    The Supreme Court has directed the States and Union Territories (UTs) to take stringent action against private individuals and NGOs who invite people to illegally adopt children orphaned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Also read

    Legal issues involved in adoption pleas for Covid-19 orphans

    SC ruling against illegal adoption

    • The court ordered the government to step in and prevent private entities from revealing the identities of COVID-19 affected children, usually on social media and inviting people to adopt them.
    • No adoption of affected children should be permitted contrary to the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 the court-ordered.
    • It was illegal to invite strangers to adopt children, already traumatized by their personal losses, without the involvement of the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA).

    About CARA

    • Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) is an autonomous and statutory body of the Ministry of Women and Child Development. It was set up in 1990.
    • It functions as the nodal body for the adoption of Indian children and is mandated to monitor and regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions.
    • CARA is designated as the Central Authority to deal with inter-country adoptions in accordance with the provisions of the 1993 Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, ratified India in 2003.
    • It primarily deals with the adoption of orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children through its associated and recognized adoption agencies.
    • In 2018, CARA has allowed individuals in a live-in relationship to adopt children from and within India.