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

Civilsdaily

Login

Subject: Indian Society

  • [pib] YuWaah Platform

    Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports and United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) are set to establish YuWaah, Generation Unlimited (GenU), a global multi-stakeholder platform in India.

     YuWaah Platform

    As per the Statement of Intent, the objectives of this project are:

    • Support young people by providing entrepreneurship classes (online and offline) with successful entrepreneurs and experts, towards establishing an entrepreneurial mindset among young people.
    • Upskilling of young people on 21st-century skills, life skills, digital skills through online and offline channels and support them through self-learning, for their productive lives and the future of work.
    • Create linkages with aspirational economic opportunities to connect young people with employment opportunities, including building pathways to connect them with jobs or self-employment.
    • Providing career guidance support to young people through career portal as well as through job-readiness and self-exploration sessions to make young people career-ready.

  • Examining the legislative error of disentitling daughters

    The article highlights the importance of the latest Supreme Court Judgement making daughter coparcener in own right by birth removing the conditions laid down in the previous judgement.

    Background

    • In Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma (2020), the Supreme Court held that a coparcener’s daughter would become a coparcener in her own right by birth.

    Amendment in 2005 and related SC judgement

    • There is a difference between rights conferred by the Hindu Succession Act of 1956 and the amendment to that act in 2005.
    • In 1956 Act, equal right of succession at par with a son was given to a daughter, but only after the demise of the father or mother.
    • The 2005 amendment gave the right to property to a daughter in a joint Hindu family during the lifetime of the father.
    • In Prakash v. Phulavati 2005, the Supreme Court decided on the prospectivity or retrospectivity of the law creating coparcenary rights in favour of daughters.
    • It created a condition that the rights under the amendment are applicable only to living daughters of living coparceners as on September 9, 2005; however, it gave no reason as to why this was chosen as a condition.
    • The status of a daughter to be subject to her father being alive is apparently a mistake.
    • The death of an individual should not determine the rights of their heirs.
    • If any right had accrued in the daughter’s favour by a legislation, the same can’t be disturbed by death of her father.

    What the SC said in latest judgement

    • In the present judgment, Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma , the court rightly held that as laid down in Section 6 (1) (a), daughter is to be a coparcener by birth; so there is no question of being prospective or retrospective.
    • It is the physical status that matters and should not be linked to a date.
    • Even in the case of unregistered partition deeds executed before December 20, 2004, the court has opened a new window for daughters.
    • Daughters can claim a right even in an unregistered partition deed which has not been proved conclusively.

    Conclusion

    There is a need to examine all the existing laws and wherever discriminatory practices exist, they need to be amended appropriately.

  • 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.

  • [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.

  • Namath Basai Programme

    Namath Basai, the State government’s unique programme of teaching tribal children in their mother tongue, has become a runaway hit in Kerala’s tribal districts.

    Try this MCQ:

    Q. The Namath Basai Programme recently seen in news is related to:

    Tribal Education/ Women SHGs/ Forest Produce/ Tribal Health

    Namath Basai Programme

    • The NBP is implemented by the Samagra Shiksha Kerala (SSK).
    • It has succeeded in retaining hundreds of tribal children in their online classes by making them feel at home with the language of instruction.
    • The SSK has distributed some 50 laptops exclusively for Namath Basai. Pre-recorded classes are offered through a YouTube channel.

  • Issues with the graded autonomy

    The article analyses the issues the graded with the graded autonomy to the Higher Education Institutes.

    Background

    • NEP 2020 provided for phasing out of the system of affiliated colleges and the grant of greater autonomy in academic, administrative and financial matters to premium colleges.

    Concerns with the autonomy

    • The move has raised concerns about the politico-bureaucratic interference in the internal functioning of universities.
    • It has also raised concerns about the substantial burden on universities which have to regulate admissions, set curricula and conduct examinations for a large number of undergraduate colleges.
    • Concerns have long existed about over-centralisation, due to constraints imposed on the potential for premium affiliated colleges to innovate and evolve.
    • These apprehensions about the autonomy came to be used by successive governments to build a case for the model of graded autonomy.

    The push towards graded autonomy

    • Successive governments have pushed through measures that have largely allowed for greater penetration of private capital in higher education.
    • Recommendations of recent education commissions have promoted the unequal structure of funding for higher education.
    • Under this, hierarchy in higher education was created: Central government-funded universities, provincial Central government-funded universities, regional universities and colleges funded by State governments, etc.
    • The National Knowledge Commission (2005) stated that good undergraduate colleges are constrained by their affiliated status… the problem is particularly acute for undergraduate colleges which are subjected to the ‘convoy problem’ as they are forced to move at the speed of the slowest.
    • In turn, the dominant policy discourse vocally propagates “graded autonomy” for better performing Higher Educational Institutions.
    • Under which academic excellence can be supported through a grant of special funds and allowing greater power to such institutions.
    • This basis has been gradually enforced with the UGC in 2018 granting public-funded universities the right to apply for autonomy based on whether they are ranked among top 500 of reputed world rankings or have National Assessment and Accreditation (NAAC) scores above 3.26.

    NEP 2020: Centralisation and autonomy

    • NEP 2020  is a combination of enhanced centralising features and specific features of autonomy.
    • Deeper centralisation is indicative in the constitution of the government nominated umbrella institution, Higher Education Council of India (HECI); Board of Governors, the National Education Commission etc.

    Concerns

    • The model of graded autonomy will encourage hierarchy that exists between different colleges within a public-funded university, and between different universities across the country.
    • While the best colleges gain the autonomy to bring in their own rules and regulations, affiliated colleges with lower rankings and less than 3,000 students face the threat of mergers and even closure.
    • A shrinking of the number of public-funded colleges will only further push out marginalised sections.
    • Autonomy could lead to more inaccessibility as the independent rules and regulations of autonomous colleges and universities shall curtail transparent admission procedures.
    • Graded autonomy can be expected to trigger a massive spurt in expensive self-financed courses as premium colleges, which will lead to exclusion.

    Conclusion “Examine the issues with the autonomy of Higher Education Institutes in the NEP 2020.”

    Conclusion

    More than deliverance, autonomy represents the via media for greater privatisation and enhanced hierarchization in higher education.

    Sources: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/privatisation-via-graded-autonomy/article32396753.ece

  • [pib] Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) 2020

    The Vice-President has released the Atal ranking ‘ARIIA 2020’.

    Note the indicators on which the ARIIA ranking is based.  Also try this PYQ:

    Q. Which one of the following is not a sub-index of the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business Index’? (CSP 2019)

    (a) Maintenance of law and order

    (b) Paying taxes

    (c) Registering property

    (d) Dealing with construction permits

    Highlights of the ARIIA 2020

    • The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has topped the ARIIA 2020 under the ‘Best Centrally Funded Institution’ category.
    • Last year too, the institute emerged as the top innovative institution in the country.
    • IIT Bombay and Delhi have secured the second and third spots, respectively.

    About ARIIA

    • ARIIA is an initiative of erstwhile Ministry of HRD, implemented by AICTE and Ministry’s Innovation Cell.
    • It systematically ranks all major higher educational institutions and universities in India on indicators related to “Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development” amongst students and faculties.
    • ARIIA 2020 will have six categories which also includes special category for women only higher educational institutions to encourage women and bringing gender parity in the areas of innovation and entrepreneurship.
    • The other five categories are 1) Centrally Funded Institutions 2) State-funded universities 3) State-funded autonomous institutions 4) Private/Deemed Universities and 5) Private Institutions.

    Major Indicators for consideration

    • Budget & Funding Support.
    • Infrastructure & Facilities.
    • Awareness, Promotions & support for Idea Generation & Innovation.
    • Promotion & Support for Entrepreneurship Development.
    • Innovative Learning Methods & Courses.
    • Intellectual Property Generation, Technology Transfer & Commercialization.
    • Innovation in Governance of the Institution.

  • Census 2021 and the long-pending reforms

    • In all likelihood, the February 2021 Census will have to be rescheduled to ensure comparability with earlier censuses.
    • This will also affect the National Sample Surveys and others that use the census as the sampling frame.
    • The delay can, however, be used to introduce much-needed reforms to this gigantic exercise whose roots go back to the late 19th century.

    Try this question for mains:

    Q.The Census of India needs a basic overhaul beyond its procedural digitization. Critically analyse.

    Background: Census of India

    • The decennial Census of India has been conducted 15 times, as of 2011.
    • While it has been undertaken every 10 years, beginning in 1872 under British Viceroy Lord Mayo, the first complete census was taken in 1881.
    • Post-1949, it has been conducted by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
    • All the censuses since 1951 were conducted under the 1948 Census of India Act.
    • The last census was held in 2011, whilst the next will be held in 2021.

    Census 2021

    • The Census 2021 will be conducted in 18 languages out of the 22 scheduled languages (under 8th schedule) and English, while Census 2011 was in 16 of the 22 scheduled languages declared at that time.
    • It also will introduce a code directory to streamline the process
    • The option of “Other” under the gender category will be changed to “Third Gender”.
    • There were roughly 5 lakh people under “other” category in 2011.
    • For the first time in the 140 year history of the census in India, data is proposed to be collected through a mobile app by enumerators and they will receive an additional payment as an incentive.
    • The Census data would be available by the year 2024-25 as the entire process would be conducted digitally and data crunching would be quicker.

    Issues with the Census

    (1) Data quality issues

    • The past four decades have seen a decline in the quality of data and growing delays in its release despite technological innovations.
    • The use of census data in delimitation and federal redistribution has been questioned on grounds of poor quality, while the Covid-19 pandemic revealed the obsolete and poor quality of data on internal migration.

    (2) No major reforms

    • The legal foundation of the census has remained largely unchanged since newly independent India enacted permanent census legislation in 1948.
    • Despite sustained problems, the census has not seen any major reform after 1994 when both the Census Act, 1948 and Census Rules, 1990 were amended.

    (3) Old methods and questionnaire

    • The methodological core – extended de facto (synchronous) canvasser-based enumeration – too has remained intact even though the length and layout of schedules changed quite a bit.
    • The Household Schedule, for instance, grew with the footprint of the state, from 14 questions in 1951 to 29 questions in 2011.

    (4) Workforce issues

    • Data collection has not kept pace with improvements in data processing technology due to the lack of motivated and adequately trained enumerators.
    • Given the high salaries of school teachers, the modest honorarium paid for census work does not cover the opportunity cost of conducting the door-to-door enumeration.

    Understand the ‘purpose’ of the census

    Reforms should begin with the design of schedules based on a clear understanding of two essential functions of the census:

    (a) Resource allocations

    • First, census facilitates the rule-based distribution of power and resources through constitutionally mandated redistribution of taxes, delimitation of electoral constituencies and affirmative action policies.
    • It is also used in routine policy-making across tiers of government.

    (b) Population projections

    • Second, census serves as the sampling frame for surveys and is also the basis of population projections.
    • Other routine policies require distribution of the headcount by households, marital status, age, sex, literacy, migrant status, and mother tongue.
    • Put together, these variables are sufficient for choosing representative samples for surveys.

    What can be done?

    1.Cut the questions

    • Nearly half of the ‘Houselisting and Housing Schedule’ of the census is devoted to questions on household amenities and assets.
    • These questions can be dropped because the information can be more appropriately collected through sample surveys and administrative statistics.

    Why put fewer questions?

    • Cutting down the length of unwieldy schedules has several advantages.
    • First, it will improve data quality by reducing the workload of enumerators.
    • Second, it will also free up senior census officials and help revive the earlier tradition of producing detailed administrative and other reports crucial for understanding the context of data.
    • Third, shorter schedules will seem less invasive and assure respondents uncomfortable with sharing too many details.
    • Fourth, it will cut down processing time and help in reducing delays in the release of data.

    2.Dealing with data manipulation

    • There is poor accounting of migrants that distorts estimates of urbanisation as well as the inter-state distribution of the population.
    • There exists grassroots manipulation of data-driven by political and economic considerations.
    • There is a need to demystify census operations and build trust in the impartiality of the exercise, better scrutiny of electoral records and welfare schemes to weed out bogus beneficiaries.

    Conclusion

    • These reforms are essential to ensure that the census exercise is able to fulfil its constitutional, policy and statistical obligations and also clear the ground for debates on the future of census in the digital era.