Daily Prelims Notes 30 July 2020

July 30, 2020
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

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Table Of Contents

1. Rafale

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

India has inducted five French Rafale aircraft which will be a game changer in many ways in Indian Air force.

Concept:

The delivery is part of the India-France deal for 36 fighter jets that was signed in September 2016 for around Rs 58,000 crore
The aircraft are capable of carrying a range of potent weapons. European missile maker MBDA’s Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile, SCALP cruise missiles and MICA weapons system will be the mainstay of the weapons package of the Rafale jets.
Meteor is the next generation of BVR air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) designed to revolutionise air-to-air combat. The Meteor missile can target enemy aircraft from 150 km away. It can destroy enemy aircraft before they actually even get close to the Indian aircraft.
The Indian Air Force is also procuring new generation medium-range modular air-to-ground weapon system Hammer to integrate with the Rafale jets.

2. National Education Policy 2020

Subject: Government policy

Context:

The Union Cabinet has approved the New Education Policy

Concept:

The new policy aims to pave way for transformational reforms in school and higher education systems in the country.
This policy will replace the 34 your old National Policy on Education (NPE),1986.

Highlights:

New Policy aims for universalization of education from pre-school to secondary level with 100 % Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in school education by 2030.
NEP 2020 will bring 2 crore out of school children back into the main stream through open schooling system.
The current 10+2 system to be replaced by a new 5+3+3+4 curricular structurecorresponding to ages 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years respectively.
Emphasis on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, no rigid separation between academic streams, extracurricular, vocational streams in schools ; Vocational Education to start from Class 6 with Internships
Teaching up to at least Grade 5 to be in mother tongue/ regional language. No language will be imposed on any student.
Assessment reforms with 360 degree Holistic Progress Card, tracking Student Progress for achieving Learning Outcomes
A new and comprehensive National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education, NCFTE 2021, will be formulated by the NCTE in consultation with NCERT. By 2030, the minimum degree qualification for teaching will be a 4-year integrated B.Ed. degree .

Higher Education

Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education to be raised to 50 % by 2035 ; 3.5 crore seats to be added in higher education.
The policy envisages broad based, multi-disciplinary, holistic Under Graduate education with flexible curricula, creative combinations of subjects, integration of vocational education and multiple entry and exit points with appropriate certification. UG education can be of 3 or 4 years with multiple exit options and appropriate certification within this period.
Academic Bank of Credits to be established to facilitate Transfer of Credits
Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERUs), at par with IITs, IIMs, to be set up as models of best multidisciplinary education of global standards in the country.
The National Research Foundation will be created as an apex body for fostering a strong research culture and building research capacity across higher education.
Higher Education Commission of India(HECI) will be set up as a single overarching umbrella body the for entire higher education, excluding medical and legal education.
HECI to have four independent verticals – National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC) for regulation, General Education Council (GEC ) for standard setting, Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC) for funding, and National Accreditation Council( NAC) for accreditation.
Public and private higher education institutions will be governed by the same set of norms for regulation, accreditation and academic standards.
Affiliation of colleges is to be phased out in 15 years and a stage-wise mechanism is to be established for granting graded autonomy to colleges. Over a period of time, it is envisaged that every college would develop into either an Autonomous degree-granting College, or a constituent college of a university.

Others

An autonomous body, the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF),will be created to provide a platform for the free exchange of ideas on the use of technology to enhance learning, assessment, planning, administration.
NEP 2020 emphasizes setting up of Gender Inclusion Fund, Special Education Zones for disadvantaged regions and groups
New Policy promotes Multilingualism in both schools and higher education. National Institute for Pali, Persian and Prakrit, Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation to be set up
The Centre and the States will work together to increase the public investment in Education sector to reach 6% of GDP at the earliest.

Source: Times of India

Evolution of education policy

University Education Commissioin (1948-49)
Secondary Education Commission (1952-53)
Education Commissiion (1964-66) under Dr. D. S. Kothari
National Policy on Education, 1968
42nd Constitutional Amendment, 1976- Education in Concurrent list
National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986
NPE 1986 Modified in 1992 (Programme of Action, 1992)
S.R. Subramaniam Committee Report (May 27, 2016)
K. Kasturirangan Committee Report (May 31, 2019)

3. UDAN

Subject: Economy

Context:

Pawan Hans Limited launched the helicopter service on the new routeDehradun-New Tehri-Srinagar-Gauchar under the Central government’s regional connectivity scheme UDAN (UdeDeshkaAamNaagrik)

Concept:

UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) is the Government’s initiative to make air travel to India’s tier II and tier III cities affordable to Common man.
The idea is to put smaller cities and remote regions on the aviation map, by getting domestic airlines to ply more regional routes.
Under the scheme, the Government offers incentives to airlines to flag off new flights to neglected smaller cities and towns by providing Viability Gap Funding to make these operations profitable.
Airlines are required to bid for exclusive rights to fly on the regional routes opened up under the scheme.

4. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

Subject: History

Context:

Senior IPS officer has made an allegation that Indian history had been distorted under education ministers including MaulanaAbulKalam Azad

Concept:

He born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in 1888, his family relocated to Calcutta (now Kolkata) two years after his birth.
He studied a variety of languages such as Persian, Urdu and Arabic, and subjects such as history, philosophy and geometry.

Contribution to freedom struggle

In 1912, Azad started publishing a weekly called Al-Hilalwhich he used as a weapon to attack and question British policies. The publication gained immense popularity among the masses, so much so that the British finally banned it in 1914.
Azad soon started another weekly, Al-Balagh, which ran until he was externed under Defence of India Regulations in 1916. The governments of Bombay, Punjab, Delhi, and United Provinces had banned his entry and he was deported to Bihar until 1920.
After his release, Azad, already inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of non-cooperation to fight the British, started leading the Khilafat Movement, launched by Indian Muslims to demand that the British preserve the authority of the ‘Ottoman Sultan as Caliph of Islam after World War I’.
He became the youngest party leader in 1923.
In 1942, he along with the rest of the leadership was arrested and put in jail for four years for participating in the Quit India movement.

Free India

Azad was a strong believer in the co-existence of all religious communities. He was deeply affected by the violence witnessed during India’s Partition. Azad travelled through the violence-affected regions of Bengal, Assam and Punjab and contributed in establishing the refugee camps and ensured supply of food and other basic resources.
The 7th schedule of the Constitution lists subjects on which the central and state governments can enact legislation. Under British India, education had been listed as a subject, for which only provinces could enact legislation. Maulana Azad was strongly against leaving education to the states.
As first education minister of the country from 1947 to 1958, he advocated for free and compulsory primary education for all children up to the age of 14 as he believed it was the right of all citizens.
Later, he went on to establish the Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi and contributed to the setting up of the IITs.
He was also one of the the brains behind the University Grants Commission, India’s higher education regulator, and played a key role in the establishment of other educational institutions.
His birthday, 11 November, is celebrated as National Education Day.

5. National clinical Registry

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is working on to bring out a new database of COVID-19 patients who are admitted across the county.

Concept:

The database is known as a national clinical registry for COVID-19 patients which will allow the health officials in the country to conduct clinical trials and study the effectiveness of new therapies that are being introduced for treating the deadly infection.
Around 15 institutions are expected to help create this network and get hospitals and medical colleges on board as part of the exercise, which is awaiting clearances from a common ethics committee of the ICMR.
ICMR, along with the Ministry of Health, currently possess the data of COVID-19 testing but they would also like to have patient data as well that will inform the health bodies regarding the patient case and progress.
The purpose of the database is to help understand the disease and the factors that cause adverse outcomes. It is also to understand how the same determinants may affect people based on other factors.

6. Upper Tier Bond

Subject: Economy

Context:

Interest amounting to ₹6.15 crore on Basel II Upper Tier II bonds was not paid by the Yes bank as the capital adequacy ratio of the bank was lower than the minimum required.

Concept:

Under Basel III, a bank’s tier 1 and tier 2 assets must be at least 10.5% of its risk-weighted assets.
Tier 1 capital is the primary funding source of the bank and consists of shareholders’ equity and retained earnings.
Tier 2 capital includes revaluation reserves, hybrid capital instruments and subordinated term debt, general loan-loss reserves, and undisclosed reserves.
Tier 2 capital is considered less reliable than Tier 1 capital because it is more difficult to accurately calculate and more difficult to liquidate.

7. Perseverance Mission

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is going to be launched

Concept:

Perseverance will carry a unique instrument, MOXIE or Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment: which for the first time will manufacture molecular oxygen on Mars using carbon dioxide from the carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere.
It will carry Ingenuity, the first ever helicopter to fly on Mars. This is the first time NASA will fly a helicopter on another planet or satellite. Like a drone on Earth, a Mars helicopter can help in rover drive planning and in fetching samples from locations that the rover cannot safely driveto.
It is the planned first step to bring back rock samples from Mars for analysis in sophisticated laboratories on Earth with the goal of looking for bio signatures: or signatures of present or past life. The analysis of Martian rocks on Earth will likely provide a reliable indication of whether life on Mars is feasible in the past or at present.

8. GST compensation fund

Subject: Economy

Context:

States have raised concerns about the delayed compensation payments under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime by the Centre for this fiscal, citing the need for expenditure in their respective states.

Concept:

Compensation cess was introduced as relief for States for the loss of revenues arising from the implementation of GST.
States, in lieu of giving up their powers to collect taxes on goods and services after local levies were subsumed under the GST, were guaranteed a 14 per cent tax revenue growth in the first five years after GST implementation by the Central government.
States’ tax revenue as of FY16 is considered as the base year for the calculation of this 14 per cent growth.
Any shortfall against it is supposed to be compensated by the Centre using the funds specifically collected as compensation cess.
Compensation cess is levied on five products considered to be ‘sin’ or luxury goods like SUV, pan masala, cigrattes.
The collected compensation cess flows into the Consolidated Fund of India, and then transferred to the Public Account of India, where a GST compensation cess account has been created.
States are compensated bi-monthly from the accumulated funds in this account.

9. Loan restructuring

Subject: Economy

Context:

With banks pushing for a one-time restructuring of loans, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may provide this opportunity for select stressed sectors.

Concept:

Restructuring is a practice that allows banks to modify the terms of the loan when the borrower is facing financial stress.
Banks do that to avoid the borrower being declared a defaulter and the loan having to be classified as a non-performing asset.
It could be through a change in the repayment period / repayable amount / number of installments / rate of interest/ additional loans.