Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
This is our 10th edition of Yojana Gist and the 1st edition of Kurukshetra Gist,
released for the month of January, 2016. Both the magazines are increasingly
finding a place in the questions of both UPSC Prelims and Mains and therefore,
weve come up with this initiative to equip you with knowledge thatll help you
in your preparation for the CSE.
Every Issue deals with a single topic comprehensively sharing views from a
wide spectrum ranging from academicians to policy makers to scholars. The
magazine is essential to build an in-depth understanding of various socioeconomic issues.
From the exam point of view, however, not all articles are important. Some go
into scholarly depths and others discuss agendas that are not relevant for your
preparation. Added to this is the difficulty of going through a large volume of
information, facts and analysis to finally extract their essence that may be
useful for the exam.
We are not discouraging from reading the magazine itself. So, do not take this
as a document which you take read, remember and reproduce in the
examination. Its only purpose is to equip you with the right understanding.
But, if you do not have enough time to go through the magazines, you can rely
on the content provided here for it sums up the most essential points from all
the articles.
You need not put hours and hours in reading and making its notes in pages. We
believe, a smart study, rather than hard study, can improve your preparation
levels.
Think, learn, practice and keep improving! That is the key to success
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
Non-Discrimination
Inter-personal and inter-group dynamics prevalent in the community is
reflected in schools and therefore, it is important that the teachers and
headmasters do not discriminate on the basis of caste, religion, gender, ability
or economic status.
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
Foregrounding gender:Most of the time, its the textbook that reinforce gender inequalities and social
hierarchies by illustrating traditional notions of masculinity/femininity & caste
specific occupations on its pages. This leads to a certain kind of an imageformation in the minds of the students
Rural-urban, tribal & non-tribal stereotypes are promoted
Notion that heroes /leaders are men and caregivers/homemakers are
women
Therefore, theres a need to
Adopt a substantive and corrective approach to equality
Question the divide between what is masculine and what is feminine
Curriculum & text-books should transmit egalitarian values and respect
for diversity and difference and guard against discrimination
Component Industry
Component industry is very weak in India- Weak product designing &
local marketing
Most of the components are often imported.
Price of components depends on volume. Unless the production takes
place in high volumes, the component prices will be high.
Manufacturing has also helped some component industry in India to
strengthen itself.
Conclusion
R&D, Design and Product Development, IPR creation and preservation,
in addition to manufacturing will add significantly to Make in India.
This will enable to achieve its twin objectives
a) To employ a large number of people
b) To reduce the import bill
Improving the quality of education needs to be strengthened to achieve
these objectives.
What should be done Government has laid great emphasis on provision of skills training &
assessment & certification. It is necessary to consider the demand also
Availability of more and more skilled personnel needs to be
accompanied by creation of increased demand for their services
It depends on the growth of the economy and thus, economic and
financial policies must move towards growth & development, leading to
creation of jobs and absorption of people graduating from various
courses
Policy/Academia/Regulation all must work together with the industry to
ensure the supply and demand for skills are always matched
Any education or skilling system must provide trainees with these skills
a) Communication
b) Collaboration
c) Creativity
d) Critical Thinking
With these skills they will be able to handle the demands of future,
w.r.t.-to-be-announced jobs
Conclusion
India is set to contribute heavily to the global workforce in the years to
come and therefore it is necessary to start young.
Vocationalisation of schools & orientation of youth towards future
employability and skills associated with future jobs Convergence of
education and skills
Way Ahead
School should become a place for joyful and inclusive learning
experience.
This will facilitate children from these groups to move onto higher levels
of education and will ensure their absorption into educated labour
market.
This will also alter the occupational and economic structures of Indian
society increase skilled and educated human resources which will
contribute to overall development of the country.
Special efforts are required to include and make schooling accessible to
a large number of girls.
Conclusion
School must be liberator from their deprivations.
School and society need to more inclusive, just and fair to children from
these communities
and only then the Indian society can claim itself to be a democratic
society.
POCSO ACT
What are events that led to the enactment of Protection of Children against
Sexual Offences Act 2012 (POCSO Act). Evaluate the efficacy of the Act.
Incidents that prompted to enact POCSO Act 2012:
Repeated string of sexual abuse, rape of children and absence of law
that exclusively dealt with crimes committed against children below 18
years of age prompted the government to pass POCSO Act.
The ambit of definition of sexual crime was limited to only penetrative
sex and thus, was very narrow and not well defined. However after
passing of the law the ambit was increased to:
Penetrative and aggravated penetrative sexual assault,
Sexual and aggravated sexual assault,
Sexual harassment (Voyeurism, stalking), and
Using a child for pornographic purposes
Objectives of the Act:
Relief and rehabilitation immediately for kids who are affected by child
abuse
Lays down guidelines for central and state government to publicise
through media and impart periodic training to all the stake holders (Civil
society, parents, teachers etc) on the matters relating to implementation
of provisions of the law
Implementation:
Enjoins National Commission and State Commission for protection of
child rights constituted under the commission for Protection of Child
Rights Act, 2005, for effective implementation of the Act
Limitations:
However the Act is relatively unknown as most people are unaware and
most of the child sex offences are not booked under POCSO act. Even
after the directions given by the Supreme Court, the constitution of
regulatory and monitory bodies is either non-existent or poorly
functional.
In 2013, the High Court in its landmark judgment has further directed Mandatory registration of all the child homes,
Constitution of child courts, and
Appointment of special public prosecutor
besides constituting a proper selection committee to make further
selection of various committees to be set up for child welfare
It is thus, clear from the Act that it is filled with good intentions however
effective implementation is the key that needs to be made functional to
unlock the evils done to the children of our country.
Suggestions:
Awareness campaigns: A multipronged effort by active involvement of
Panchayati Raj, involvement of local social, religious, political leaders,
media and entertainment industry, medical professionals and medical
associations is needed to create awareness among masses.
Education: According to survey conducted by USAID in 2008, it is
inferred that higher level of education among girls leads to lesser
preference for son. So high impetus needs to be given for girls
education, introduction of gender based quotas in colleges, and other
incentives for parents who participate in this process.
Increase in female workforce: In India, only 30 percent of women are in
workforce compared to 80 percent in Nepal, 71 percent in China, 67
percent in Bhutan. Involving more females in labour workforce and
making them financially independent will make it easier for the woman
to provide shelter and support to elderly parents.
Offering old age pensions: The government may assure the elderly by
offering old age pension covering not only the food and living but also
accident and medical purposes. This financial independence of elderly
may succeed in lowering the preference for male child.
Incentivising female work force: Income tax exemptions for women
who work for public and private sectors. As the income earned by
women will be spent on family, the net loss of income tax can be
compensated by increase in indirect taxes that women spend on family.
Allowances: To discourage female infanticide the government could
consider a mothering allowance to the mother for first six years after the
birth of girl child. Here, medical associations should ensure that doctors
play a responsible role.
PULSES
The prices of pulses have increased in the recent past surpassing the past
records. Last year, the production of pulses was a decreased number (17.5
million tonnes) when compared with the production a year ago (19.5 million
tonnes). This shortfall of 2 million tonnes is causing distress.
1. On an average the requirement in the country is 22 million tonnes of
pulses. Due to drought in the present year, yield is lower. Hence there is
a Demand-Supply mismatch
2. As soon as the IMD forecasted rainfall shortage, the pulses prices shot
up within short period of time. This shows that hoarding and
speculation is on the rise.
3. Pulses are generally grown in non-irrigated and rain-fed areas. Hence,
there is a lot of uncertainty in production.
Reasons for the slow growth pattern in the production of pulses
i.
ii.
iii.
Hindrance:
Almost 1/4th of pulses requirement is met through imports. Govt. allows
private sector to import pulses freely i.e. zero duty on imports. It usually
doesnt intervene in the market of pulses..
This year, the places from where India imports pulses also, have shortfall
in production, like in Myanmar, Australia, and Canada etc. Hence,
import prices have increased.
Besides these, there are internal problems like logistics and distribution
bottlenecks.
Storage houses are not available everywhere, railway lines are loaded
causing delays in transportation etc.
Short-term Strategies:
Augment supplies through imports and distribute them through the
public distribution system (PDS) to the poor and through open market
sale to contain the rise in market prices
Formulate a Contingency Plans for the persistent deficiencies
Pulses Villages:
The previous Govt. has come up with a program called Pulses Villages
under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana.
Some 5000-odd villages are adopted and intensive cultivation of pulses
was practised with the right mixture of bio-fertilizers alongside the
training and awareness to farmers.
This has contributed to increase in production of pulses in the country.
However, demand also has increased in parallel.
Long-term Strategies:
MSP & Procurement:
Govt. has also increased the MSP for pulses and gave bonuses over and above
MSP. Hence, net sown area under pulses increased compared to the past. But
it has to be implemented through Active procurement as in in the absence of
the procurement support; the acreage under pulses could not be augmented
significantly.
CACP: Farmers need a backup plan in the form of reasonably strong
procurement machinery to be put in place, to fall back upon when the prices
fall below MSP
Small crop-size: Not enough bargaining power to demand better prices
Focused PDS:
In view of the shortages and volatile prices, a more focussed PDS System with a
widespread network of procurement and a steady supply through marked
distributive arrangements is necessary.
Incentivising Cultivation:
Govt. has been extending large subsidies and export incentives to the
sugarcane cultivators. A similar step is expected out of Govt. to encourage
cultivation of pulses. There is a need for raising the production levels and
exploiting the advantages:
Development of HYVs:
Need to employ advances of biotechnology (multiple resistant varieties)
Need to promote Research and Development to create seeds that are:
Drought tolerant
Input-responsive
Pest and disease resistant to increase the yields and output of pulses
Better Practices:
Pulses-based cropping systems like ricepulses instead of ricewheat to
augment soil nutrients and reduce input costs
Cultivation of short duration pulses like urad and moong as catch crops
in rice fallows
Positive externalities of cultivating pulses such as the soil nutrient
enhancing capabilities of pulses through nitrogen fixation and the
minimal water requirements at critical growth stages of pulses
compared to other crops.
Distribution of good quality seeds for free.
Facilitating inoculation of seeds with soil bacteria (rhizobium) before
sowing to increase yield and reduce the requirement for fertilisers
Usage of Technology-based inputs & reduction in foot-prints of cropdestructive animal (Nilgai)
Pulses are poor mans diet for nutrient requirements. The recent spike in their
prices calls for immediate measures to increase domestic supply in the shortterm, as well as measures to increase the supply of pulses for the long-term,
breaking the cycles of low and unstable yields.
Prelims oriented
National Digital Library (NDL)
Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) initiated National Digital
Library (NDL) pilot project under National Mission on Education through
Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT) to address the
following issues
Absence of a one-stop destination: Users still have to visit individual
websites to access e-resources
Lack of vernacular access and limited content
Limited integration of learner-learner, teacher-teacher and teacherlearner communication
NDL will not be a new library but will be a deftly crafted umbrella over the
existing ones
Developed at IIT Kharagpur Creation of an infrastructure with a single
window search facility that comprises hardware systems, networks, software
tools and applications
IMPRINT India
A Pan-IIT and IISc joint initiative to develop a roadmap for research to solve
major engineering and technology challenges in ten technology domains
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
j)
Health Care
Computer Science and ICT
Advance Materials
Water Resources and River systems
Sustainable Urban Design
Defence
Manufacturing
Nano-Technology Hardware
Environmental Science and Climate Change
Energy Security
Objectives
SARANSH
An online platform for a comprehensive self-review and analysis of
students performance and progress
A digital interface portal offering a one-to-one interaction platform
between teachers and the students parents
Launched by Ministry of HRD, as an initiative under Digital India to
promote ICT in CBSE affiliated schools
Promote and bring transparency in the existing educational system in
India
Early childhood education for 3-6 age group children under the
programme of universalization of elementary education
Central adoption research agency
Beti-bachao-Beti Padhao
Aims to curtail female foeticide and infanticide
Initial funding of 100 crores
It is coordinated by Ministry of Women and Child Development
1 only
2 and 3 only
1 and 3 only
All the above
1,2,3 only
2,3,5 only
4,5 only
1,3,5
b) 2 only
c) Both
d) None
Q.4) Consider the following statements with respect to Child sex ratio.
1. It is measured as number of females per 1000 males in the 0-6 years of
age.
2. Haryana has the least Child sex ratio next to Punjab.
3. Kerala has the highest child sex ratio next to Arunachal Pradesh.
Select the correct answer using the codes given below.
a)
b)
c)
d)
2 only
2 and 3 only
1 and 3 only
1 only.
Solutions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
C
C
A
D