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Friday, July 31, 2020

Daily Current Affairs, 31st July 2020

18:52





1) DIAT develops ‘Aashray’ to combat COVID-19
•Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT) has developed ‘Aashray’, a medical bed isolation system to combat COVID-19 by preventing or minimising the spread of the virus.

2) ICRA appoints N. Sivaraman as MD and Group CEO
•The domestic rating agency, ICRA has appointed N Sivaraman as its new managing director and group chief executive officer for three years. He succeeds former MD and Group CEO Naresh Takkar. The post has been left vacant for one year after the termination of Naresh Takar in August 2019.

 •Sivaraman will drive ICRA Group’s business strategy and innovation, build organisational capabilities, nurture a strong culture of analytical excellence, strengthen the independence and objectivity of ratings and enhance the company’s thought leadership.

3) Hardik Satishchandra Shah becomes new Private Secretary to PM Modi
•2010-batch IAS officer, Hardik Satishchandra Shah has been appointed the Private Secretary (PS) to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on co-terminus basis. He is is currently serving as a Deputy Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Before moving to the PMO last year, he worked as the PS to Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar.




4) Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur tops Niti’s aspirational districts ranking
•Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh has topped the list of aspirational districts in Overall Delta Ranking by government think-tank Niti Aayog for the February-June 2020 period. Ri-Bhoi (Meghalaya) and Bahraich (Uttar Pradesh) have been placed at the second and third positions.

 •The delta rankings took into account incremental progress made by over 112 aspirational districts across six developmental areas during February-June this year. Health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion, skill development and basic infrastructure were the development areas that were taken into consideration for the ranking.

5) MobiKwik launches personal UPI payment link mpay.me
•Digital wallet company, MobiKwik has launched “mpay.me” UPI link service that allows users to send and receive money from any UPI payment app. This single link created using mpay.me can be shared anywhere to send and receive money and will work seamlessly on mobile as well as desktop.

 •Through mpay.me, users will now be able to generate their own mini personal payment gateways using their phone numbers. Users can share it with anyone over chat, SMS, email, etc to collect payments. All MobiKwik UPI users that have their personal payment link already can use this service. Payments can be made using this link through any UPI app: MobiKwik, GooglePay, PhonePe, Paytm etc.

6) Harikrishna finishes 2nd at Biel Chess Festival
•Indian Grandmaster, P Harikrishna has finished second in the rapid section of the 53rd Biel International Chess Festival in Switzerland. The World No. 26 scored 10 points, two less than Radoslaw Wojtaszek of Poland, who finished on top. Earlier, the Indian GM had finished on top in the ACCENTUS Chess960 tournament, with 5.5 points.
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Vision IAS PT 365 Updated Current Affairs March to May 2020 Hindi PDF

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Vision IAS PT 365 Supplementary Material 2020 Hindi PDF

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The HINDU Notes – 31st July 2020

11:31




📰 A long road

The Centre will have to convince States that the National Education Policy benefits all

•The National Education Policy 2020 announced by the Ministry of Human Resource Development sets for itself the goal of transforming the system to meet the needs of 21st Century India. In a federal system, any educational reform can be implemented only with support from the States, and the Centre has the giant task of building a consensus on the many ambitious plans. The policy, inter alia, aims to eliminate problems of pedagogy, structural inequities, access asymmetries and rampant commercialisation. The NEP 2020 is the first omnibus policy after the one issued in 1986, and it has to contend with multiple crises in the system. It is no secret that primary schools record shockingly poor literacy and numeracy outcomes, dropout levels in middle and secondary schools are significant, and the higher education system has generally failed to meet the aspirations for multi-disciplinary programmes. In structural terms, the NEP’s measures to introduce early childhood education from age 3, offer school board examinations twice a year to help improve performance, move away from rote learning, raise mathematical skills for everyone, shift to a four-year undergraduate college degree system, and create a Higher Education Commission of India represent major changes. Progress on these crucially depends on the will to spend the promised 6% of GDP as public expenditure on education. The policy also says that wherever possible, the medium of instruction in schools until at least Class 5, but preferably until Class 8 and beyond, will be the home language or mother tongue or regional language. This is a long-held view, and has its merits, although in a large and diverse country where mobility is high, the student should have the option to study in the language that enables a transfer nationally. English has performed that role due to historical factors.

•There are some good elements to the NEP 2020 that will generate little friction, and need only adequate resourcing. Provision of an energy-filled breakfast, in addition to the nutritious mid-day meal, to help children achieve better learning outcomes, is one. Creation of ‘inclusion funds’ to help socially and educationally disadvantaged children pursue education is another. Where the policy fails to show rigour, however, is on universalisation of access, both in schools and higher education; the Right to Education needs specific measures to succeed. Moreover, fee regulations exist in some States even now, but the regulatory process is unable to rein in profiteering in the form of unaccounted donations. The idea of a National Higher Education Regulatory Council as an apex control organisation is bound to be resented by States. Similarly, a national body for aptitude tests would have to convince the States of its merits. Among the many imperatives, the deadline to achieve universal literacy and numeracy by 2025 should be a top priority as a goal that will crucially determine progress at higher levels.

📰 An education policy that is sweeping in its vision
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New National Education policy(Hindi) 2020 PDF Download

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THE HINDU NEWSPAPER IMPORTANT ARTICLES 31.07.2020

07:42
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Daily Current Affairs, 30th July 2020

07:25





1) World Day Against Trafficking in Persons: 30th July
•United Nations observes 30 July every year as World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. In 2013, the General Assembly designated July 30 as the World Day against Trafficking in Persons to raise awareness of the situation of victims of human trafficking and for the promotion and protection of their rights.

 •The 2020 theme for the World Day Against Trafficking: “Committed to the Cause – Working on the Frontline to End Human Trafficking”. The theme will focus on the first responders to human trafficking. These are the people who work in different sectors – identifying, supporting, counselling and seeking justice for victims of trafficking, and challenging the impunity of the traffickers.

2) International Day of Friendship: 30th July
•International Day of Friendship is observed globally on 30th July. This day is celebrated to mark the importance of friends and friendship in life. The day also advocates the role that friendship plays in promoting peace in several cultures across the world.

3) HRD Ministry to be renamed as Ministry of Education
•Ministry of Human Resource Development has been renamed as Ministry of Education. The Union Cabinet has approved the change in the name of the ministry. The HRD Ministry is currently headed by Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.




 •The name change was a key recommendation of the draft New Education Policy. The HRD ministry name was adopted in 1985, during the tenure of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, as it was changed from the Ministry of Education. The changes in the name of the ministry have been proposed in order to focus on education and learning. The new National Education Policy (NEP) will replace the existing National Policy on Education which was first formulated in 1986 and last modified in 1992.

4) ADB approves USD 3 million grant to India to combat COVID-19
•Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved USD 3 million (about Rs 22 crore) grant to India from its Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund to further support the government”s emergency response to COVID-19 pandemic.

 •The grant, which is financed by the Japanese government, will be used to procure thermal scanners and essential commodities to strengthen India’s COVID-19 response. This support will enhance disease surveillance and help in early detection, contact tracing, and treatment.

5) PFC signs agreement with IIT-Kanpur in smart grid technology
•Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has signed an agreement with the Indian Institute of Technology- Kanpur for Training, Research, and Entrepreneurship Development in Smart Grid Technology. The agreement was on a virtual platform. The objective of the pact is to provide support to IIT-Kanpur in developing infrastructure for research and development on smart grid technology.

 •Under the agreement, PFC will provide financial assistance of worth Rs 2,38,97000 to IIT-Kanpur. As part of the project, IIT-K will also provide training on smart grid technology to 90 participants and provide fellowship to 9 selected candidates. The fellows will be assisted by Start-up Innovation and Incubation Centre of IIT-Kanpur and encouraged to take up entrepreneurial activities.

6) Sunil ydv SS honoured with Karamveer Chakra Award from UN and ICONGO
•The founder of SS Motivation, Sunil ydv SS was honoured with “Karamveer Chakra Award” by Global Fellowship Award instituted by United Nations and International Confederation of NGO (iCONGO) at the ReX ConcLIVE hosted in IIT Delhi. He received the award for his relentless contribution to society through his Telegram channel “SS Motivation.” He addresses social issues and motivates people every day through his channel. The awards he won last year include Rastra Prerna, Iconic Personality of India, Incredible Indian Icon and Humanitarian Excellence.

7) Paytm Money appoints Varun Sridhar as CEO
•The investment & wealth management subsidiary of Paytm, Paytm Money has appointed Varun Sridhar as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company. He will replace former MD and CEO Pravin Jadhav who resigned from the startup due to differences with the management of Paytm.

 •Sridhar will be reporting to Amit Nayyar, the President at Paytm. Sridhar will lead the launch and development of equity brokerage services for the firm, and grow existing products around mutual funds, national pension system and gold services, which the company offers.
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Thursday, July 30, 2020

The HINDU Notes – 30th July 2020

22:02




📰 COVID-19 and a country club India must leave

Instead, an opportunity awaits the nation to join other states that recognise the value of a just public health-care system

•As a billion Indians watch with horror as the pandemic sweeps the land, many look with envy to countries to the east of us where the virus originated, and to the west of us in Europe which were devastated just a few months ago but appear to have beaten the bug and are starting to repair their societies. We can only draw some consolation from the fact that, thankfully, we are not alone in our spectacular failure to contain the pandemic: we have Trump’s U.S. and Bolsonaro’s Brazil to give us company.

The poison of inequalities

•Others have also noticed the curious composition of this country club, perhaps the only one in the world which no one wants to be a member of, and have begun to wonder what features these three countries might have in common, apart from the fact that they are all populous, federal, diverse and democratic. No prizes for guessing which is the most common theory which crops up in the fertile imaginations of perceptive observers. But that is not the theory which I believe tells the whole story. My proposal is that what these three countries share is the toxic levels of historic inequalities which affect every structure of society including, most importantly, the health-care system.

•The value of investing in a just public health-care system has never been as starkly obvious, for never before have entire countries been brought to their knees by one disease. To be sure, there have been far deadlier epidemics which continue to kill many more people than COVID-19 but they, like HIV, diarrhoeal diseases and tuberculosis, have mostly killed the poor and the marginalised, outside the conscious radar of those in power. More to the point, no previous epidemic brought the engines of the economy to a standstill. If some poor chaps died of a horrible disease in some godforsaken slum, C-grade town or village in the back of beyond, the stock market could not care less. However, on this occasion, for the first time, the wealthy and the powerful in their urban palaces have found themselves marooned. And their high-tech doctors and “super-specialist” hospitals can do little to rescue them.

On universal coverage

•What differentiates countries which have been able to pick themselves up and start walking within a few months after their first case was detected from those, like ours, which remain mired in the muck, is the commitment by both the state and civil society to the principles of universal health coverage. To be fair, if universal health coverage was conflated with the simple existence of a publicly financed health-care system, then India, like the United States and Brazil, can already boast to have met this goal. However, this is not what universal health coverage means in spirit: only a system which all people, rich and poor, those in power and those who are powerless, can rely on to be given care with the same quality regardless of their station in society, can be truly considered “universal”.

A question of quality

•Such a universal health coverage system does not exist in India, or the U.S. or Brazil, where more than half the population, concentrated in the upper income groups, seeks health care in the fee-for-service private sector. The private sector in India provides almost 80% of outpatient and 60% of inpatient care, as a result of which falling ill is one of the most important contributors to indebtedness in the country. While the government’s much heralded insurance scheme does buffer a segment of our population, the very poor, from impoverishment due to hospital admissions, outpatient care which comprises the bulk of health-care expenditure remains untouched. Whereas universal health coverage is recognised by many countries as a strategy to empower people to lift themselves out of poverty and as a foundation of sustainable development, health care in India has become a leading cause of poverty. The fact that, despite this knowledge, the majority of our people prefer private care, is a damning testimonial to their experiences of the public health-care system.

•I have often heard the titans of corporate medicine in India justify their costs by arguing that these are much cheaper than in the U.S. or Europe; such comparisons are ridiculous as they are oblivious of the fact that India’s per capita income places us as one of the poorest countries in the world. But beyond the clearly visible ills of the wholesale commercialisation of health care, there are a host of other challenges to realising universal health coverage, from the standards of our infrastructure to the honesty and competency of health-care workers which contribute to the abysmal quality of care, in both the private and public sectors.

•The pandemic has brought the scandalous quality of our health-care system into sharper relief as our daily diet of front-page headlines alternates between the numbers of dead on the one hand with stories of pigs roaming freely and the absence of doctors in public hospitals to shameless profiteering and refusal to care by private hospitals on the other. The proclivity of doctors to irrational medical procedures and drug prescriptions, the lack of dignity with which the poor are cared for, and the legendary levels of corrupt practices across the health-care system are well documented.

•At the heart of this pathetic state of affairs is the complete lack of accountability of either the private or public sector, and the absence of the stewardship role of the state in ensuring justice and quality of health care for all its citizens. It comes as no surprise that there is a fundamental breakdown of trust between civil society and the health-care system, exemplified at its most extreme by violence against health-care providers. Fixing the rot will need structural reforms far beyond the top-down “missions” and knee-jerk punitive actions which have dominated our policy-making for over 70 years. But for this to happen, we will need a broad coalition across the political establishment and civil society, in particular the wealthy and ruling classes, to demand change.

A historic opportunity

•For the first time, I see the possibility of this happening, as economists, business leaders and politicians who were wont to view the public health-care system as a charitable cause to address disease and death of the poor, to be attended to as a footnote to the task of building our economy, can finally witness as clear as daylight how a dysfunctional, fragmented and unaccountable health-care system will ultimately destroy the economy itself. Even if the pandemic has hit the poor the hardest, it has also crippled the nation. But we need more than just new money for while health care is the wisest investment for the economy, such an investment must be accompanied by a social compact that the same system caters to all. This philosophy of universal health coverage is already practised in diverse ways, including engagement of the private sector, by scores of countries. I cannot imagine a more historic opportunity for India to join that illustrious club.

📰 Shaping the digital world
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National Education Policy 2020: All You Need to Know

21:01
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the New Education Policy (NEP). One of the major decision, the Cabinet has renamed the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) as the Ministry of Education.
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