Daily Prelims Notes 30 January 2023
- January 30, 2023
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN
Daily Prelims Notes
30 January 2023
Table Of Contents
- Sponge city
- How do cows and sheep contribute to climate change?
- Polar Vortex
- Situational awareness in aviation
- Budget may see higher allocation for repayment of G-Secs, oil bonds
- Mahatma Gandhi Death Anniversary
- Banks reviewing Adani exposure, SBI says no devolvement worry
- Dementia
- Command postings for women officers in the Army
- Urgently address gaps in leprosy services and accelerate efforts towards zero leprosy infection and disease: WHO
- The Justice G. Rohini led commission for the subcategorization of other backward classes (OBCs) has been given yet another extension in its tenure by the President
- Project 39 A
- Student enrolments in higher studies rose by 7.5% in 202021: AISHE data
Subject: Environment
Section: Msc
Context: Recent Auckland floods demonstrated that even storm water reform won’t be enough – we need a ‘sponge city’ to avoid future disasters.
Sponge City:
- In the early 2000s, Chinese architect Kongjian Yu created the concept of the “sponge city”. It’s a relatively simple idea, but a big departure from the way we typically build infrastructure.
- The concept incorporates green roofs, rain gardens and permeable pavements to absorb and filter water.
- Better catch systems hold rainwater where possible and reuse it. More green space and trees are also incorporated into street and neighbourhood designs.
- Within the sponge city concept is a way to mitigate flooding using “water sensitive urban design”. With this approach, we create spaces that better manage flooding through systems that mimic the natural water cycle.
- This can also include floodable infrastructure and parks to take the pressure off more vulnerable parts of the city.
- This allows for the extraction of water from the ground through urban or peri-urban wells. This water can be treated easily and used for the city water supply.
- These can all be delivered effectively through an urban mission along the lines of the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) and Smart Cities Mission.
- There are three main facets to developing such systems: protecting the original urban ecosystem, ecological restoration, and low-impact development.
- Protection focuses on the city’s original ecologically sensitive areas, such as rivers, lakes, and ditches. Natural vegetation, soil, and microorganisms are used to gradually treat the aquatic environment and restore the damaged urban ecosystem.
- Restoration measures include identifying ecological patches, constructing ecological corridors, strengthening the connections between the patches, forming a network, and delineating the blue and green lines to restore the aquatic ecological environment.
- Mandatory measures apply to urban roads, urban green spaces, urban water systems, residential areas, and specific buildings to protect ecological patches, maintain their storage capacity, strengthen source control, and form ecological sponges of different scales.
2. How do cows and sheep contribute to climate change?
Subject: Environment
Section: Climate change
Context: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has invested in an Australian climate technology start-up that aims to curtail the methane emissions of cow burps, according to a report in the BBC.
More on the News:
- The start-up, Rumin8, has received funding worth $12 million from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which Gates created in 2015.
- Rumin8 is developing a variety of dietary supplements to feed to cows in a bid to reduce the amount of methane they emit into the atmosphere. The supplement includes red seaweed, which is believed to drastically cut methane output in cows.
How do cows and other animals produce methane?
- Ruminant species are hooved grazing or browsing herbivores that chew cud. Ruminants such as cows, sheep, goats, and buffaloes have a special type of digestive system that allows them to break down and digest food that non-ruminant species would be unable to digest.
- Stomachs of ruminant animals have four compartments, one of which, the rumen, helps them to store partially digested food and let it ferment.
- This partially digested and fermented food is regurgitated by the animals who chew through it again and finish the digestive process.
- However, as grass and other vegetation ferments in the rumen, it generates methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Ruminant animals such as cows and sheep release this methane mainly through burping.
- Given the very large numbers of cattle and sheep on farms in dairy-producing countries, these emissions add up to a significant volume. It is estimated that the ruminant digestive system is responsible for 27 per cent of all methane emissions from human activity.
And why is methane such a big problem?
- Methane is one of the main drivers of climate change, responsible for 30 per cent of the warming since preindustrial times, second only to carbon dioxide.
- Over a 20-year period, methane is 80 times more potent at warming than carbon dioxide, according to a report by the United Nations Environment Programme.
- It’s also the primary contributor to the formation of ground-level ozone, a colourless and highly irritating gas that forms just above the Earth’s surface.
- Several studies have shown that in recent years, the amount of methane in the atmosphere has dramatically shot up. In 2022, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said that the atmospheric levels of methane jumped 17 parts per billion in 2021, beating the previous record set in 2020.
- While carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for much longer than methane, methane is roughly 25 times more powerful at trapping heat in the atmosphere, and has an important short-term influence on the rate of climate change.
How are researchers trying to mitigate methane emissions?
- Scientists have been working on it for quite some time now, as they are looking to make these animals more sustainable and less gassy.
- A 2021 study, published in the journal PLUS ONE, found that adding seaweed to cow feed can reduce methane formation in their guts by more than 80 per cent.
- Apart from this, researchers are also trying to find gene-modifying techniques to curtail methane emissions in these animals.
- Last year, scientists in New Zealand announced they had started the world’s first genetic programme to address the challenge of climate change by breeding sheep that emit lower amounts of methane.
- New Zealand is also one of the first nations to come up with policy-related solutions to this problem.
Subject: Geography
Section: Climatology
Context: Chilly weather in Asia is due to the same phenomenon that brought extreme cold to the US last month.
More on the News:
- It has been a cold January in Asia—from China, Japan, and the Korean Peninsula where heavy snow and blizzards temporarily shut down highways, to unusually chilly weather across South Asia, including many parts of India.
- Scientists say Asia’s extreme cold is largely the result of the so-called ‘polar vortex’, the same weather phenomenon that brought exceptionally cold weather to the United States last month.
Polar vortex:
- The term refers to an expanse of cold air that generally circles the Arctic but occasionally Shifts south from the North Pole. The phenomenon itself has always been present, even if the expression polar vortex has become popular only in recent years.
- The polar vortex is held in place by the Earth’s rotation and temperature differences between the Arctic and mid latitudes.
- When those variations in temperatures grow, the polar vortex can shift south.
- This month, the polar vortex brought Arctic air to Central Asia before slowly Moving eastward.
- Its southward bulge is accompanied by a shift in the jet stream, a ring of strong wind that blows from west to east along the vortex’s edges
Polar Vortex and Climate change:
- Scientists think that as the planet warms, shifts in the polar vortex are likely to become more frequent and pronounced. But there is no consensus on whether the number of extreme freezes will increase as warming continues.
- It’s likely that recent droughts in Asia made the region even more susceptible to temperature extremes.
- There has been a general decrease in the frequency and intensity of cold extremes across much of the world since the 1950s, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change noted in a report last year.
4. Situational awareness in aviation
Subject : Science and technology
Section: Msc
Concept :
- A Court of Inquiry will examine the reasons for the crash of IAF Sukhoi-30 and Mirage-2000 that has led to the loss of two IAF jets and a fighter pilot’s life.
Situational awareness in aviation
- Situational awareness (SA) means appreciating all you need to know about what is going on when flying, controlling or maintaining an aircraft – is taken into account.
- SA is concerned with the person’s knowledge of particular task-related events and phenomena.
- For example, for a fighter pilot SA means knowing about the threats and intentions of enemy forces as well as the status of his/her own aircraft.
- For an air traffic controller, SA means (at least partly) knowing about current aircraft positions and flight plans and predicting future states so as to detect possible conflicts.
- Therefore, in operational terms, SA means having an understanding of the current state and dynamics of a system and being able to anticipate future change and developments.
Significance
For a pilot:
- situational awareness means having a mental picture of the existing inter-relationship of location, flight conditions, configuration and energy state of your aircraft as well as any other factors that could be about to affect its safety such as proximate terrain, obstructions, airspace reservations and weather systems.
- The potential consequences of inadequate situational awareness include CFIT, loss of control, airspace infringement, loss of separation, or an encounter with wake vortex turbulence, severe air turbulence, heavy icing or unexpectedly strong head winds.
- Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) -CFIT means that the pilot is in full control of the aircraft but due to faulty situational awareness, the aircraft strikes the terrain.
- For a controller:
- situational awareness means acquiring and maintaining a mental picture of the traffic situation being managed and maintaining an appreciation of the potential for unexpected progressions or changes in this scenario.
5. Budget may see higher allocation for repayment of G-Secs, oil bonds
Subject : Economy
Section: Fiscal policy
Concept :
- Union Budget for FY24 will see the beginning of the requirement for a higher amount towards repayment of government securities till FY32.
- Still, the expectation is that the gross borrowing might not see a very high increase and could be around ₹16 lakh crore as against an estimated ₹14.21 lakh crore during FY23.
- One reason for not very high borrowing is expected good tax collection
- Government data shows, G-Sec alone worth over ₹4.48 lakh crore maturing in FY24, which will come down a bit to ₹4.10 lakh crore in FY25 but will rise to over ₹5.50 lakh crore and ₹6.76 lakh crore in FY26 and FY27, respectively.
Government Security (G-Sec):
- It is a tradeable instrument issued by the Central Government or the State Governments.
- It acknowledges the Government’s debt obligation.
- Such securities are short term -usually called treasury bills, with original maturities of less than one year or long term-usually called Government bonds or dated securities with original maturity of one year or more).
- In India, the Central Government issues both, treasury bills and bonds or dated securities while the State Governments issue only bonds or dated securities, which are called the State Development Loans (SDLs).
- G-Secs carry practically no risk of default and, hence, are called risk-free gilt-edged instruments.
- The Public Debt Office (PDO) of the Reserve Bank of India acts as the registry / depository of G-Secs and deals with the issue, interest payment and repayment of principal at maturity.
- Besides banks, insurance companies and other large investors, smaller investors like Co-operative banks, Regional Rural Banks, Provident Funds are also required to statutory hold G-Secs.
Oil bonds:
Previously, Petrol and diesel prices were fixed by the government to cushion consumers from price shocks and if crude oil prices were high, oil refining and marketing companies would technically sell petrol and diesel at retail outlets at a loss. The government, however, compensated oil companies by issuing long-term bonds that they could redeem later. Thus, these bonds are, in essence, promissory notes of deferred payment of subsidies that the government owes to OMCs.
An oil bond is an IOU, or a promissory note issued by the government to the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), in lieu of cash the government would have given them so that these companies don’t charge the public the full price of fuel.
There are two components of oil bonds that need to be paid off:
- the annual interest payment, and
- the final payment at the end of the bond’s tenure.
By issuing such bonds, a government can defer the full payment by 5 or 10 or 20 years, and in the interim just pay the interest costs.
For example- An oil bond says the government will pay the oil marketing company the sum of, say, Rs 1,000 crore in 10 years. And to compensate the OMC for not having this money straight away, the government will pay it, say, 8% (or Rs 80 crore) each year until the bond matures.
Purpose:
Thus, by issuing such oil bonds, the government of the day is able to protect/ subsidise the consumers without either ruining the profitability of the OMC or running a huge budget deficit itself.
Conclusion:
Issuing bonds pushes the liability on the future generation. But to a great extent, most of the government’s borrowing is in the form of bonds. However some measures should be taken while issuing bonds:
- The fiscal deficit (which is essentially the level of government’s borrowing from the market) should be keenly tracked
- The main wisdom while issuing bonds is for a government to employ this tool towards increasing the productive capacity of the economy.
6. Mahatma Gandhi Death Anniversary
Subject : History
Section :Personality
Concept :
- At the age of 78, Mahatma Gandhi was killed on January 30, 1948, in the grounds of Birla House, a sizable palace in the heart of New Delhi that is today known as Gandhi Smriti.
- Nathuram Vinayak Godse, a right-wing Hindu paramilitary group and member of the Hindu Mahasabha, was his assassin.
- Nathuram Godse was a Chitpavan Brahmin from Pune, Maharashtra, and a Hindu nationalist.
- Nathuram Godse believed that during the partition of India the year before, Mahatma Gandhi had been too accommodative to Pakistan.
- Martyr’s Day is observed on 30th January every year in the memory of Mahatma Gandhi and his contributions to the nation.
Mahatma Gandhi Assassination
- According to witnesses, Mahatma Gandhi had arrived at the top of the stairs leading to the elevated lawn outside Birla House, where he had been holding multifaith prayer gatherings every evening, sometime after 5 o’clock.
- Nathuram Godse emerged from the group of people flanking Gandhi’s path as he started to go toward the dais and fired three bullets at point-blank range into Gandhi’s chest and belly.
- Gandhi collapsed on the floor. Mahatma Gandhi was taken back to his room at Birla House, where a representative later appeared to make the announcement of his passing.
Mahatma Gandhi Assassination Trial
- Nathuram Godse was apprehended by crowd participants and turned over to the police.
- The Mahatma Gandhi murder trial began in May 1948 in Delhi’s famed Red Fort, with Godse as the lead defendant and his accomplice Narayan Apte, as well as six additional people, being considered co-defendants.
- The trial was completed quickly; this hurry was reportedly caused by Vallabhbhai Patel, the home minister, who wanted “to evade scrutiny for the inability to prevent the assassination.”
- On November 8, 1949, Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte received a death penalty
- Despite Manilal Gandhi and Ramdas Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s two sons, pleading for commutation, they were rejected by Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, the deputy prime minister, and Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, the governor-general of India.
- On November 15, 1949, Nathuram Godse and Apte were executed at the Ambala prison.
7. Banks reviewing Adani exposure, SBI says no devolvement worry
Subject : Economy
Section: Money market
Concept :
- According to a report by investment firm CLSA, the top-five Adani Group companies – Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, Adani Power, Adani Green and Adani Transmission – have a consolidated debt of Rs 2.1 lakh crore.
- According to the State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, as the bank’s exposure to the Adani Group is well below the Large Exposure Framework (LEF) of the RBI and is secured by cash generating assets with adequate TRA (trust and retention account)/ escrow mechanism in place, debt service will not be a challenge.
- SBI said that there is no concern or likelihood of any devolvement at this juncture.
Devolvement
- Devolvement refers to a situation when a security or debt issue is undersubscribed, forcing an underwriting investment bank to purchase unsold shares during the offering.
- In the underwriting process, an investment bank will help to raise capital for the issuing companies. The bank may include making a commitment to the company to sell all shares of the issue.
- Devolvement may happen in the issue or selling of company debt and also through selling an initial public offering (IPO).
- Devolvement may indicate that the market sentiment toward the issuing company is negative.
- Many times, the bank will experience a financial loss if they are unable to sell all the securities available and devolvement occurs.
- For this reason, investment banks may attempt to mitigate their exposure by including clauses in their contracts with issuing companies that eliminate or limit their devolvement risk.
Subject : Science and technology
Section :Health
Concept :
About Dementia
- It is a syndrome – usually of a chronic or progressive nature – that leads to deterioration in cognitive function (i.e. the ability to process thought) beyond what might be expected from the usual consequences of biological ageing.
- Although dementia mainly affects older people, it is not an inevitable consequence of ageing.
- Currently, more than 55 million people live with dementia worldwide, and there are nearly 10 million new cases every year.
- Dementia results from a variety of diseases and injuries that primarily or secondarily affect the brain.
- When brain cells are damaged then dementia may occur. It can be caused by a head injury, a stroke, a brain tumour or due to HIV infection.
- Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia and may contribute to 60-70% of cases.
- It affects memory, thinking, orientation, comprehension, calculation, learning capacity, language, and judgement.
Symptoms:
- Memory loss, Difficulties with thinking, Visual perception, Self-management, Problem solving or language and the ability to focus and pay attention.
- Personality changes, like depression, agitation, paranoia, and mood swings.
- Consciousness is not affected.
Impacts:
- It has significant social and economic implications in terms of direct medical and social care costs, and the costs of informal care.
- There is often a lack of awareness and understanding of dementia, resulting in stigmatization and barriers to diagnosis and care.
Treatment and care:
- There is currently no treatment available to cure dementia.
- Anti-dementia medicines and disease-modifying therapies developed to date have limited efficacy and are primarily labelled for Alzheimer’s disease, though numerous new treatments are being investigated in various stages of clinical trials.
Global response:
- WHO recognizes dementia as a public health priority.
- In May 2017, the World Health Assembly endorsed the Global action plan on the public health response to dementia 2017-2025.
- Global Dementia Observatory:
- It is an international surveillance platform to facilitate monitoring and sharing of information on dementia policies, service delivery, epidemiology and research.
9. Command postings for women officers in the Army
Subject: Governance
Concept:
- The Army has stated that the process for selection of women officers to command assignments in the rank of Colonel.
- This follows the Supreme Court judgement of 2020 upholding an earlier judgement granting permanent commission (PC) as well as command postings to women officers in all arms and services other than combat.
- As many as 108 women officers in the Army were cleared for the rank of Colonel (selection grade) till January 22,2023 by a special selection board, which made them eligible to command units and troops in their respective arms and services for the first time.
- A total of 244 women officers are being considered for promotion against the vacancies from the batch of 1992 to 2006 in arms and services including Engineers, Signals, Army Air Defence, Intelligence Corps, Army Service Corps, Army Ordnance Corps and Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.
- Additionally, Army Chief General Manoj Pande announced that women officers would soon be inducted into the Corps of Artillery as well.
- Women are being inducted in the ranks of sailors by the Navy under the Agnipath scheme and will soon be deployed onboard warships while the Army has inducted women as soldiers in the Corps of Military Police.
Significance of Command Postings
- A Commanding Officer (CO) is a very coveted position in the Army. Its opening to women is a significant move.
- All major countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, and Israel, allow women in command positions of their national armed forces.
- Since 2008 the Army has granted PC for women officers in the Education Corps and Judge Advocate General (JAG) branches along with medical and dental streams.
- In contrast to the regular arms and services, where colonels command officers and troops and lead them from the front, they are primarily administrative positions.
- In the past, women could only be selected on short-term contracts, which required them to leave the service after just 14 years of service—much less time than the 20 years required for pension eligibility.
- The Supreme Court in the BabitaPuniya case in February 2020,directed that women officers in the Army be granted PC as well as command postings in all services other than combat.
- Further, on March 25, 2021 the Supreme Court in Lt. Col. Nitisha versus Union of India held that the Army’s selective evaluation process discriminated against and disproportionately affected women officers seeking PC.
- An officer now becomes a Colonel after roughly 16–18 years of service due to the drop in the average age of COs over time.
- All women officers who were granted PC are undergoing special training courses and assignments to empower them for higher leadership roles.
Subject : Science and Technology
Section: Health
Details:
The World Health Organization today called on countries in the South-East Asia Region and globally to urgently address gaps in leprosy services disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and to accelerate efforts towards zero leprosy infection and disease, zero leprosy disability, and zero leprosy stigma and discrimination -the vision of the WHO Global Leprosy Strategy 2021-2030. Leprosy is 100 percent curable when detected early, yet today in addition to COVID-19 related challenges, stigma and discrimination- both institutionalized and informal, continue to impede prompt diagnosis and treatment and facilitate onward spread.
In 2021, 140 000 new leprosy cases were reported, with 95 percent of new cases coming from the 23 global priority countries. Of these, 6% were diagnosed with visible deformities or grade-2 disabilities (G2D). Over 6% of new cases were children under the age of 15, with 368 being diagnosed with grade-2 disabilities.
Despite a 10% increase in new case reporting from 2020 to 2021, reported cases were 30% lower in 2021 than in 2019. This is not due to a decrease in transmission, but cases remaining undetected due to COVID-19-related disruptions.
Act Now. End Leprosy is this year’s theme for World Leprosy Day.
Leprosy:
- Leprosy is also known as Hansen’s Disease.
- It is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium Leprae. It is a disease that leaves a terrifying image in its wake of mutilation, rejection, and exclusion from society.
- Genetic evidence supports the existence of Leprosy infections in hundred-thousand-year-old remains.
- Symptoms: Red patches on the skin, skin lesion, and numbness in arms, hands, and legs, ulcers on the soles of feet, muscle Weakness and excessive weight loss.
- It usually takes about 3-5 years for symptoms to appear after coming into contact with Leprosy causing bacteria. The long incubation period makes it difficult for doctors to determine when and where the person got infected.
- Infected areas: Skin, Peripheral nerves, Upper respiratory tract and Lining of the nose.
- It is transmitted mainly by breathing airborne droplets from the affected individuals. It can be contacted at any age.
- If not treated on time, Leprosy can lead to significant disability, disfigurement, permanent nerve damage in arms and legs and even loss of sensation in the body.
- Leprosy is curable with the combination of drugs known as Multi-Drug Therapy (MDT).
Steps Taken to Eliminate Leprosy:
- World Health Organisation’s Global Leprosy Strategy (2016).
- National Leprosy Control Programme (NLCP) was launched by the Govt. of India in 1954- 55.
- Multi Drug Therapy (MDT) came into wide use from 1982, and the National Leprosy Eradication Programme was introduced in 1983.
- India achieved the goal set by the National Health Policy, 2002 of elimination of leprosy as a public health problem, defined as less than 1 case per 10,000 population, at the National level in December 2005.
- In 2016, the draconian colonial era’s Lepers Act was repealed.
- In 2017, the SPARSH Leprosy Awareness Campaign was launched to promote awareness and address the issues of stigma and discrimination.
- In 2019, Lok Sabha passed a Bill seeking to remove Leprosy as a ground for divorce.
Subject :Polity
Section: Constitution
The commission, formed in October 2017, was initially given 12 weeks to finish the task of subcategorising the nearly 3,000 castes within the OBC umbrella and recommend division of the 27% OBC quota among them equitably. Initially, the government cited more time required by the panel to gather information and data and then it cited the pandemic.
As part of its work, the commission had identified dominant caste groups among all OBC communities in the Central list, finding that a small group of dominant OBC communities were crowding out a
large number of communities from the 27% quota
What is sub-categorization of OBCs?
- The idea is to create sub-categories within the larger group of OBCs for the purpose of reservation. OBCs are granted 27% reservation in jobs and education under the central government.
- For OBCs, the debate arises out of the perception that only a few affluent communities among the over 2,600 included in the Central List of OBCs have secured a major part of the 27% reservation. The argument for creating sub-categories within OBCs is that it would ensure “equitable distribution” of representation among all OBC communities.
Terms of reference given to the Commission:
- To examine the extent of inequitable distribution of benefits of reservation among the castes or communities included in the broad category of OBCs with reference to such classes included in the Central List.
- To work out the mechanism, criteria, norms and parameters in a scientific approach for sub-categorisation within such OBCs.
- To take up the exercise of identifying the respective castes or communities or sub-castes or synonyms in the Central List of OBCs and classifying them into their respective sub-categories. A fourth term of reference was added on January 22, 2020.
- To study the various entries in the Central List of OBCs and recommend correction of any repetitions, ambiguities, inconsistencies and errors of spelling or transcription.
Relevant article of Constitution
- Article 340
(1) The President may by order appoint a Commission consisting of such persons as he thinks fit to investigate the conditions of socially and educationally backward classes within the territory of India and the difficulties under which they labour and to make recommendations as to the steps that should be taken by the Union or any State to remove such difficulties and to improve their condition and as to the grants that should be made for the purpose by the Union or any State and the conditions subject to which such grants should be made, and the order appointing such Commission shall define the procedure to be followed by the Commission.
(2) A Commission so appointed shall investigate the matters referred to them and present to the President a report setting out the facts as found by them and making such recommendations as they think proper.
(3) The President shall cause a copy of the report so presented together with a memorandum explaining the action taken thereon to be laid before each House of Parliament.
Subject :Polity
Section: Constitution
According to the Annual Death Penalty Report, 2022 by Project 39A, a criminal reforms advocacy group with the National Law University, Delhi. trial courts awarded 165 death sentences in 2022, the highest in over two decades.
Details:
In September last year, a three-judge bench headed by then Chief Justice of India U U Lalit, in a suo motu case, had referred the issue of reconsidering death penalty sentencing to a five-judge bench. The court had said that a “uniform approach” is needed on “granting real and meaningful opportunity” to convicts on death row.
In May last year, another three-judge bench led by Justice Lalit had mandated trial courts to collect psychiatric and psychological evaluation of the convict before holding that there is no possibility of reform and awarding death sentence.
Project 39A
It is inspired by Article 39-A of the Indian Constitution, a provision that furthers the intertwined values of equal justice and equal opportunity by removing economic and social barriers. These are constitutional values of immense importance given the manner in which multiple disparities intersect to exclude vast sections of our society from effectively accessing justice. Using empirical research to re-examine practices and policies in the criminal justice system, Project 39A aims to trigger new conversations on legal aid, torture, forensics, mental health in prisons, and the death penalty.
Article 39 a
- The State shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice, on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall, in particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities.
- The article was inserted by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976
13. Student enrolments in higher studies rose by 7.5% in 202021: AISHE data
Subject: Scheme
Section: Education
The Union Education Ministry on Sunday released data from the All India Sur vey on Higher Education (AISHE), 20202021, which showed a 7.5% increase in student enrolments across the country from the 201920 figures, with the total enrolments reaching 4.13 crore.
The survey revealed that in 202021, when the COVID19 pandemic began, there was a 7% rise in enrolments in distance education programmes. The data showed two lakhs more Scheduled Caste students, about three lakhs more Scheduled Tribe students and six lakhs more
National Education Policy 2020
National Education Policy 2020 was launched by the Prime Minister in July 2020. In the year following that, a number of initiatives have been taken by the DoHE-
- For integration of Vocational education into the higher education system (a) UGC(Institutions Deemed to be University) Regulation 2019 has been amended; and (b) guidelines have been Issued by UGC and AICTE to enable Higher Education Institutions( HEIs) offer Apprenticeship/Internship embedded degree programme.
- National Apprenticeship Training Scheme has been extended for the next five years with an outlay of Rs. 3054 crore which will make, through apprenticeship, around 9 lakh students employable. Under the scheme students will be given apprenticeship in the emerging and frontier technology such as Artificial Intelligence, drone technology, new evolving and emergent areas including expertise required for Production Linked Incentive Scheme, and PM Gati Shakti Programme of the Government.
- Apprenticeship Scheme and Internship Embedded course will create a sustainable skilling eco-system. The scope of the National Apprenticeship Training Scheme has been broadened to give apprentices to students from humanities, commerce and science besides engineering stream.
- In order to enable students avail internship, an Internship Portal has been launched by the AICTE. The portal currently has 12.35 lakh internships, 73 lakh students and 38,650 employers registered on it.
- Graduate-level, master’s and doctoral education in large multidisciplinary universities, while providing rigorous research-based specialization, would also provide opportunities for multidisciplinary work, including in academia, government, and industry. Accordingly, the Academic Bank of Credit was launched on 29.07.2021 by Prime Minister. This academic bank would digitally store the academic credits earned from various recognized HEIs so that the degrees from an HEI can be awarded taking into account credits earned. The UGC has provided necessary enabling mechanism to the HEIs by way of regulations.
- For enabling multiple entry and exit points, thus, removing currently prevalent rigid boundaries and creating new possibilities for life-long learning, guidelines on Multiple Entry /Exit in Academic Programme in Higher Education Institutions have been issued by the UGC.
- To enhance Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), online teaching and learning is one of the options. Accordingly, UGC has notified Open Distance Learning (ODL) and Online Programmes Regulations, 2020 ; and UGC (Credit Framework for online Course through SWAYAM) Regulation 2021 which has broad-based the eligibility of HEIs to offer Online Courses, as well as enhanced the percentage of courses permitted towards credit from 20 % to 40% by using MOOCs SWAYAM.
- To enable Institute of Eminence (IOEs) offer offshore courses (for globalization of education), UGC has amended UGC (Institution of Eminence Deemed to be Universities) Regulation.
- For promotion of Indian Knowledge System, arts and culture a knowledge Cell has been set up in the Ministry of Education and in All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
- To achieve the goal of using the mother tongue/local language as a medium of instruction, and/or offer programmes bilingually, in order to increase access and GER and also to promote the strength, usage, and vibrancy of all Indian languages, JEE (Main) and NEET (UG), the all India exams for entry in Engineering and Medical colleges, have been conducted in 12 languages in addition to English. Furthermore, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has given approval to nineteen engineering colleges to impart engineering courses in six Indian languages across ten states from the Academic year 2021-22.
- AICTE has also developed a tool called “AICTE Translation Automation Al Tool” with a vision to translate English language online courses into eleven different Indian languages for access to a more significant number of students in the rural areas.
SWAYAM
- One hundred and fifty-four (154) Universities have come on board for accepting credit transfer for courses offered through SWAYAM platform till now.
- From the academic year 2022-23 onwards the first year courses in Arts, Commerce, and Science & Engineering are planned to be made available on SWAYAM platform in 12 languages in addition to English to help students from vernacular medium to study well and excel. Al and ML shall be used for this purpose.
e-PGPathshala: Online Gateway of PG Courses
- The National Mission on Education through information Communication Technology (NME-ICT) is envisaged as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme to leverage the potential of ICT, in teaching and learning process for the benefit of all the learners in Higher Education institutions at any-time anywhere mode.
- It is one of the largest OER repositories in India having content of PG courses.
- It provides high quality e-content for PG programmes for the benefit of the teachers and students.
- It also Address disparities of various kinds such as rich/poor, urban/rural, cast and religion-based disparities, geographical disparities, regional disparities etc.
- 778 papers, with 23000 plus e- modules in 67 Subjects have been developed, out of 23 subjects covers the entire syllabus/curriculum.
- About 1.3 crore plus visitors including international visitors have visited the e-PG Pathshala site. The details of international visitors are: USA :- 11843, UK : – 7190, Australia:- 8615, Russia : – 13579, Pakistan : – 7215, UAE : -3924, China :- 28745, New Zealand:- 366, Japan :- 6722, Germany : 23592.
- Total YouTube subscriber on Vidya-Mitra Channel is 5,57,000 with a 63,864,531 video views.
- e-PGPathshala content is being used by universities for blended learning.
- Content of the e-PG Pathshala has been distributed through I-LMS to several universities for their learning Management System.
- Two by-products viz. e-Pathya (Offline Access to all e-PG Videos) and e-Adhyayan (e-Books): has been developed.
- Recently, due to COVID-19 Lockdown the ePGPathshala website has been used widely across all Universities and several Universities have used ePGPathshala content as a flip class room.
- UGC constituted an appraisal/outcome review Committee for review of e-PG Pathshala Project in 2020. And The Committee felt that e-PG Pathshala, has proved to be very useful to faculty as well as the students as an open education resource and strongly recommended to continue this scheme and recommended that Efforts should be made to translate the courses uploaded on e-PG Pathshala Portal initially in eight regional languages viz. Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Bangla, and Gujarati.