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Tuesday, December 14, 2021

THE HINDU NEWSPAPER IMPORTANT ARTICLES 14.12.2021

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THE HINDU NEWSPAPER IMPORTANT ARTICLES 13.12.2021

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Saturday, December 11, 2021

The HINDU Notes – 11th December 2021

16:02

 


📰 Central Government looking to use stubble as biofuel: Environment Minister

Stubble burning is often cited as a source of pollution in northern India

•The Union government was working on a plan to use stubble as a biofuel and manure as a part of an effort to deal with stubble burning that was often cited as a source of pollution in northern India, Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav told the Lok Sabha on Friday.

•The Minister, who is yet to make a detailed reply to a discussion on climate change, stated that the Centre had completely “decriminalised” stubble burning in the Air Quality Commission Act.

•Mr. Yadav was responding to Shiromani Akali Dal member Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who alleged that farmers from Punjab and Haryana were being “defamed” by the Delhi government for causing air pollution and criminal cases filed against them.

•Making a short intervention during a discussion on climate change in the Lower House, the Minister said the National Thermal Power Corporation had procured 3,000 tonnes of stubble to be used as bio-fuel and would study the results. A sum of Rs. 700 crore had been allocated get rid of stubble and about one lakh acres in Punjab and Haryana have used manure/compost from stubble, while Uttar Pradesh used six lakh acres.

•Taking a dig at Aam Admi Party government, Mr. Yadav claimed that Delhi used only 4,000 acres but put out big advertisements on utilising stubble as manure.

•The discussion, which was started on Wednesday and continued on Friday, also saw Opposition members questioning Prime Minister Narednra Modi’s announcement of a ‘Net Zero’ target of 2070 at the climate summit in Glasgow.

•Trinamool member Saugata Roy said, “Even a week before the COP 26, the Government of India did not show any inclination to announce ‘Net Zero’ target. Actually, the Environment Secretary had ruled it out in the media. What prompted and under what pressure the Prime Minister did a volte-face in Glasgow and announced ‘Net Zero’ target in 2070?”

Charge against developed nations

•N.K. Premachandran of the Revolutionary Socialist Party accused the developed nations of diluting their climate commitments over the past three decades. Referring to the concept first accepted at the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, he said, “The principle of equity has been diluted and lost over the last 30 years. ‘Common but differentiated responsibility’ has become an insignificant part of the Glasgow declaration”. Even the concept of developed and developing countries had been changed at the COP 26. He accused the rich countries of hiding behind poor countries in tackling the challenges posed by climate change.

•National People’s Party MP from Meghalaya Agatha Sangma urged the Centre to reconsider the palm oil mission and go into a proper consultation before implementing it in the northeast and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. She said the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education had recommended that introducing palm oil should be avoided in areas that were rich in biodiversity and must be done after proper consultation.


•Tapir Gao of the BJP noted that there was need to bring in environment awareness from the school level.

•Ramesh Bidhuri, also of the BJP, lauded the Prime Minister's initiatives to popularise the use of energy-efficient LED bulbs as an alternative to traditional lighting solutions and offer LPG subsidies to reduce the dependence on firewood for cooking.

•National Conference member Hasnain Masoodi stressed that there was need to shift towards sustainable development so that nature was protected.

•Benny Behanan of the Congress observed that the attitude of both the States and the Centre was negative on climate change and now was the time to act to protect the environment.

📰 Democracies should shape social media, cryptocurrencies, says PM Modi
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VISION IAS Mains 2021 Science & Technology Printed Notes in Hindi PDF

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SHANKAR IAS MAINSTORMING INTERNAL SECURITY 2021 PDF

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 SHANKAR IAS MAINSTORMING INTERNAL SECURITY 2021 PDF

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Insights IAS Main 2021 Exclusive Environment PDF

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THE HINDU NEWSPAPER IMPORTANT ARTICLES 11.12.2021

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Daily Current Affairs, 10th December 2021

08:18

 


1)  DRDO test-fired air version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile

•India successfully test-fired the air version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from the integrated test range of Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha. The air version of the missile was test-fired from supersonic fighter aircraft Sukhoi 30 MK-I. BrahMos is a joint venture between DRDO (India) and NPO Mashinostroyeniya (Russia) for the development, production, and marketing of the supersonic cruise missile which has been inducted into the Indian Armed Forces. The missile derives its name from the rivers of Brahmaputra in India and Moskva in Russia.


2)  Bala Krishna Madhur’s autobiography titled ‘At Home In The Universe’ released

•An autobiography titled ‘At Home In The Universe’ by Bala Krishna Madhur was released by R.C. Sinha, IAS (Rtd), advisor to the Ministry of Road Development in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The book is the autobiography of B K Madhur, a former Chief Executive Officer at DHFL Property Services Ltd, and one of the key personalities in establishing Dewan Housing. The book offers an inside view into the policy environment in the 1980s and 1990s in the Housing Finance Sector. The book consists of early life hardships, experiences and life lessons of the author.


3)  Indian origin Anil Menon is SpaceX’s first flight surgeon

•Nasa-turned-SpaceX flight surgeon, Anil Menon is among the 10 latest trainee astronauts who will join the 2021 class of the American space agency as it plans for the first human missions to the moon in more than 50 years. He is born to Indian and Ukrainian parents and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Menon is a lieutenant colonel in the US air force. He was SpaceX’s first flight surgeon, helping to launch the company’s first humans to space during NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission and building a medical organisation to support the human system during future missions.


4)  Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to jail

•Myanmar’s ousted civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to four years imprisonment after being found guilty on two charges, the first verdicts in a raft of criminal cases that the country’s military has brought against her since seizing power 10 months ago. Ms Suu Kyi was convicted of charges of incitement and violating pandemic rules. The 76-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate is facing a total of 11 charges which can bring in a maximum imprisonment of 102 years.


5)  Bhasha Sangam mobile app launched with 22 languages

•Union Minister of State for Education, Dr Subhas Sarkar has informed that the government is all set to launch Bhasha Sangam mobile app. The mobile app is developed to give users familiarity with common expressions of daily conversation in scheduled Indian languages. The app has 100+ sentences, designed on different themes that allow people to learn basic conversation in 22 Indian languages, test themselves and generate online certificates. The app aims to foster the spirit of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat by enabling people across India to learn the different languages of different states of India and come closer to their culture.


6)  UP cabinet approves Atma Nirbhar Krishak development scheme

•Uttar Pradesh Cabinet has approved the Atma Nirbhar Krishak development scheme for boosting the agriculture sector. Atma Nirbhar Krishak development scheme will be implemented from the current financial year. Under this scheme, 1,475 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) will be formed in the next three years in each development block.


7)  Ministry of Power kickstarts celebration of Energy Conservation Week

•Ministry of Power is celebrating the Energy Conservation Week from 8th to 14th December 2021 under “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav”. Celebration by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency will include three major activities i.e. National Painting Competition for school children, National Energy Conservation Awards (NECA) for Industries and establishments and National Energy Efficiency Innovation Awards (NEEIA) to recognize innovative energy efficiency technologies.


•The Bureau of Energy Efficiency has been organising National Level Painting Competitions on Energy Conservation for school children studying in 4th to 10th standard. This year, the themes for the competition are “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav: Energy Efficient India” and “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav: Cleaner Planet”.
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Daily Current Affairs, 09th December 2021

08:11

 


1)  World Inequality Report 2022 announced

•France-based World Inequality Lab published its report titled “World Inequality Report 2022”. This report was authored by Lucas Chancel, who is the co-director of World Inequality Lab. It was coordinated by famed French economist Thomas Piketty. In 2021 the top 10 percent and top 1 percent of the Indian population hold 57 percent and 22 percent of total national income respectively, whereas the share of the bottom 50 percent has gone down to 13 percent.


2)  Ram Nath Kovind Presented ‘President’s Standard’ to Indian Navy Squadron

•President of India, Ram Nath Kovind has presented the ‘President’s Standard’ to the 22nd Missile Vessel Squadron of the Indian Navy, which is also known as the Killer Squadron at the ceremonial parade held at the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai, Maharashtra. To mark this occasion, the postal department has released a special day cover and a commemorative stamp. The year 2021 also marks the 50 years of inception of the Missile Vessel Squadron, also known as Killers.


3)  Asia Power Index 2021: India Ranked as Fourth

•According to Lowy Institute Asia Power Index 2021, India has ranked 4th most powerful country in the Asia-Pacific region for comprehensive power out of 26 countries, with an overall score of 37.7 out of 100. India’s overall score declined by 2 points compared to 2020. India again falls short of the major power threshold in 2021. India is one of 18 countries in Asia to trend downward in its overall score in 2021.


4)  NITI Aayog launches ‘e-Sawaari India e-bus Coalition’

•The National Institution of Transforming India (NITI) Aayog launched the ‘e-Sawaari India Electric Bus Coalition’ in partnership with Convergence Energy Service Ltd (CESL) and World Resources Institute, India (WRI India) and with the support from Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI). The objective of the initiative is to share knowledge of various stakeholders – Central & State Govt. agencies, transit service providers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), on accelerating the process towards seamless adoption of e-bus services in India.


•Through, e-Sawaari India Electric Bus Coalition, the central-, state-, and city-level government agencies, transit service providers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), financing institutions, and ancillary service providers will be able to share knowledge and their learnings on e-bus adoption in India.


5)  Olaf Scholz is sworn in as new German chancellor

•German lawmakers officially elected Social Democrat, Olaf Scholz as the new chancellor, putting an end to 16 years of conservative rule under Angela Merkel. He will lead a government composed of his Social Democrat Party, the business-friendly Free Democrats and the Greens, a coalition of parties never tried before at the federal level in Germany.


•The 63-year-old, Scholz previously served as vice-chancellor and finance minister during the Merkel administration, was then sworn in as Germany’s next chancellor. Olaf Scholz has achieved the necessary majority of at least 369 votes. Based on article 63, paragraph 2 of the German Constitution he is elected chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.


6)  SAARC Charter Day 2021: 8th December

•The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Charter Day is observed annually on 8th December to commemorate the adoption of the SAARC Charter. This year marks the 37th anniversary of the regional group. The charter was signed by the Leaders of SAARC Countries Heads of State or Government of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the First SAARC Summit held in Dhaka, Bangladesh.


7)  Canada, Australia and UK join US boycott of Beijing Olympic

•Canada will join the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics over human rights concerns. The announcement came after the White House, the Australian government and the UK government confirmed diplomatic boycotts of the Winter Games in February to protest Chinese human rights abuses. China has vowed to react with “firm countermeasures.” The diplomatic moves by Canada, the U.S., Britain and Australia do not affect their athletes’ ability to compete in the games.
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The HINDU Notes – 10th December 2021

01:38

 


📰 ‘Imports made up 86% of 2016-20 India gold supply’

Inbound shipments likely to be stronger in 2022: WGC

•Imports made up 86% of India’s gold supply between 2016-2020, and inbound shipments continue to grow despite high import duty, as per a report by the World Gold Council (WGC).

•Since the first duty hike in 2012, India has imported some 6,581 tonnes of gold, averaging 730 tonnes per annum, as per WGC’s ‘Bullion Trade in India’ report.

•In 2020, India imported 377 tonnes of gold bars and dore from over 30 countries, of which 55% came from just two countries — Switzerland (44%) and the UAE (11%).

•One important change that has taken place in India’s gold market is the growth in gold dore imports. The increase reflects the government’s accommodative stance towards gold refining, the report said.

•In the last five years, gold dore imports made up 30% of the total official imports of the yellow metal.

•Duty benefits led to a massive expansion of refining capacity in the country as the number of refineries grew from three in 2012 to 32 in 2020. With lower duty on gold dore, its share of gold imports has increased from 11% in 2014 to 29% in 2020.

•“As the second largest global market, Indian gold demand is heavily dependent on bullion and dore imports. Looking at current market trends, we expect gold imports to be stronger in 2022, as compared to this year.

•“Bullion industry has developed over the last three decades in India with a significant addition to organised refining capacity and an LBMA-accredited refinery,” WGC regional CEO, India, Somasundaram P R said.

📰 A tragic loss: On the death of Gen Bipin Rawat

India must realise Gen. Rawat’s plans for genuine tri-service operational capabilities

•India has lost a capable and experienced military leader in the tragic death of the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Bipin Rawat, in a helicopter crash near Coonoor in the Nilgiris on Wednesday. His wife, Madhulika, and 11 others also perished when the Indian Air Force’s Mi-17V5 helicopter came down in a heavily wooded area. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has announced in Parliament that a tri-service inquiry, headed by Air Marshal Manvendra Singh, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Training Command, of the IAF, will take place into the incident. The IAF chief, Air Chief Marshal V.R. Chaudhari, has already visited the crash site; the cockpit voice and flight data recorders have been recovered, which would give investigators insights into how the crash occurred. It is imperative that the inquiry be done both thoroughly and speedily. Without speculating on the cause, it needs to be stressed that speedy course corrections in training or hardware are imperative given that these Mi-17VF choppers are being used to ferry top military leaders across the length and breadth of the country.

•Gen. Rawat had not even completed two years as CDS when the Coonoor tragedy happened. After completing his tenure as Army Chief on December 31, 2019, he slipped into his new role as CDS the very next day. Many of his plans to give India genuine tri-service operational capabilities are still to be realised. In such a situation, the Government should not lose time in appointing his successor to ensure that the plans on the drawing board do not suffer. An aggressive China and a still belligerent Pakistan define India’s security challenges. The situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) continues to be tense with Indian and Chinese troops staring down each other. Gen. Rawat, known to have been proximate to the ruling establishment, had never minced words while speaking about the challenges facing the country and had waded into political controversies. Though the concept of having a CDS was recommended by a Group of Ministers in 2000 after the Kargil war, it took another 20 years for one to be appointed. The CDS, who functions as Principal Military Adviser to the Defence Minister, is expected to work in tandem with the three service chiefs who continue to operate in their respective domains — a role and function that is still in the making. To ensure that the new CDS and the service chiefs function as a team, the Government would do well to keep in mind the principle of seniority while choosing Gen. Rawat’s successor.

📰 Children and schooling in the post-COVID-19 era

India will have to confront bitter facts if it wants to prepare a recovery plan of any credible and practical value

•When someone in the family falls sick, all normal routines and arrangements are affected. And then, the deeper problems that lay hidden under the momentum of routine lie exposed and revealed. The same applies to an epidemic. The term currently used is ‘pandemic’ because it covers the whole world, but one cannot forget that even a universal illness manifests itself in regionally specific, local ways, exposing the problems to which societies had become accustomed. In our case, the pandemic has revealed the limits of our wherewithal to look after the collective needs of children during a calamity. A child in the family has a radically different status from that accorded to children as a collective entity in our country. The pandemic has revealed that society and state institutions prefer to ignore the conditions under which the family copes with the demands of childhood.

Peripheral concern

•Children’s education and health are two major domains in which welfare policies of the modern state are expected to support and enhance the family’s role. In both these domains, the policy framework reflects a minimalist stance, both in terms of financial investment and institutional strength. In policies as well as in their execution, there is considerable diversity and disparity among the States. The overall picture suggests that childhood is of peripheral concern. Gains made in this context have proved difficult to sustain.

The pandemic’s deep effect

•When the Right to Education (RTE) Act was promulgated over a decade ago, it seemed like a breakthrough. This perception was grounded in the structures and procedures created under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan during the decade preceding the RTE. These structures were not perfect, but they marked a new beginning in the direction of local autonomy and devolution of power. These fragile structures required nurturing on a long-term basis. Neglect and decay set in quite soon in regions where the system was weak to begin with, and then came COVID-19. Several recent surveys show that the pandemic has left the entire system ravaged. Even something as basic as a meal for the youngest age group ceased. Teaching switched wholesale to the online mode, leaving it to the family to cope with the demands hidden in this medium. A flat discourse pervaded the ethos, offering few choices or clues to enhance them.

•India was unique in the fact that even the very youngest age group was covered by online teaching. With the reopening of schools, the outcomes of prolonged exposure to digital devices in confined spaces have started to be revealed and documented. The vast majority of children from lower socio-economic backgrounds could not access online teaching for reasons totally beyond their control. And among those who did have access to online lessons, rates of comprehension and progress were quite low.

•Studies show that academic losses are compounded by emotional problems. A survey carried out by the Vipla Foundation has traced the kinds of stress children experienced at home. Exposure to domestic violence, prolonged hours in front of TV, especially among boys, and addiction to digital sources of entertainment are among the various outcomes of COVID-19 confinement.

A recovery plan

•Systemic recovery will undoubtedly prove arduous. The time required for recovery will depend on imagination and resources. A significant beginning has been made in Tamil Nadu. A committee chaired by Professor R. Ramanujam has been asked to prepare a three-year recovery plan and a new curriculum. A major problem this committee will need to address is the addictive effect of prolonged online teaching. Devices such as the smartphone induce small children into a seductive bond that may not be easy to shake off. Restoring children’s innate desire to relate to the world physically and socially surrounding them will constitute a major step towards educational recovery. This will demand de-addiction from digital instruments.

•The COVID experiment of exclusive dependence on digital machinery has resulted in a radical expansion of its market. It has also permitted digital activism to mutate into an ideological doctrine of progress. The Ramanujam committee may not find it easy to deal with this doctrine. Its believers and new recruits must be persuaded to listen to child psychologists and teachers of young children. Their voices, feeble though they are at present, offer the best promise of healing our injured system.

•It was not a strong and resilient system to begin with. Its key functionaries — the teachers — had little say in decisions and no autonomy to do their best. Distrust in the teacher cuts across the deep divisions that characterise the system. On one side of the divide are government schools of various types, with differential levels of funding but common norms of governance. On the other side are private schools ranging from shoestring budget schools to the well-endowed, elite institutions. What sustains this straggling order of institutional outfits is the grand national fantasy that even an inadequate system such as India’s can generate a sufficient number of good doctors, judges, teachers, engineers, civil servants and so on.

Shifting of children

•No description can capture the differential realities of experience that COVID-19 imposed on this vast range of institutions. Nor is there a comprehensive study to tell us how parents belonging to different socio-economic classes coped with their anxieties. We now know that financial constraints have forced a considerable proportion of children studying in private schools to shift to government schools. What this shift implies for the children and for the schools they will now attend needs more than speculation. Indeed, the shift itself remains a raw reality. In a recent webinar, Professor Shantha Sinha, former head of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, spoke about the astonishing demand faced by parents who wanted to transfer their children from a private to a government school. As many private schools run entirely on the strength of the fees they collect, they had to close down during COVID-19. The digital record of children’s enrolment maintained in some States continues to show their names in a private school. Seeking a transfer requires deletion from this record. Prof. Sinha said that many private schools in her region demand recovery of the COVID-19 period fee for granting deletion of the child’s name. This is just one instance of the hundreds of bitter experiential facts we will need to gather from every part of the country in order to prepare a post-COVID-19 recovery plan of any credible and practical value.

Insightful report

•For now, the best we can do is to browse through a new United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report titled “No Teacher, No Class” (https://bit.ly/31HJFKi), and heed its sane recommendations. Prepared by a team of scholars at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, this report tells us that India is facing a shortfall of at least one million school teachers. The report makes several key recommendations. The first is: “Improve the terms of employment of teachers in both public and private schools.” Some of the other recommendations are: value the professional autonomy of teachers, build career pathways, and, above all, recruit more teachers. If sound, research-based advice is what we need for rebuilding the system, it is available in this excellent report.
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