Education in Mother Tongue Section 29(f) of Chapter V under Right to Education Act, 2009 clearly states that, “medium of instructions shall, as far as practicable, be in child’s mother tongue.” Education is in the concurrent list of the Constitution and majority of the schools are under the domain of the States/UTs. As envisaged in para 4.11 of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, wherever possible, the medium of instruction until at least Grade 5, but preferably till Grade 8 and beyond, is to be the home language/mother tongue/local language/regional language. Thereafter, the home/local language shall continue to be taught as a language wherever possible. The NIPUN Bharat Mission of the Government of India through its Mission Implementation Guidelines suggests that teaching learning process and development of teaching learning material should be done in mother tongue. Similarly, Vidya Pravesh- a three-month play-based school preparation programme for Grade-I and NISHTHA FLN (Foundational literacy and Numeracy) have also re-emphasised the same. As per Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) 2020-21, there are 28 languagesin which teaching learning is going on in grades (1-5). The languages are as follows: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, English, Bodo, Khasi, Garo, Mizo, French, Hmar, Karbi, Santhali, Bhodi, Purgi.
School Innovation Council
School Innovation Council (SIC), an initiative taken by the Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell (MIC) was launched on 1 July 2022 and has been introduced to all schools of all the states including Rajasthan. It is a council of teachers, students, and experts from industry and academia to conduct round the year activities for students and teachers on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, monitored through the SIC portal of the MIC, to record the influence at the ground level. SIC will enable mindset change, awareness, and training onIdeation, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, design thinking, Intellectual Property Rights, start-up finance, and HR among teachers and students. It will also enable the ranking system for schools on the level of innovation-oriented activities. NEP 2020 envisages the education system to include a ‘light but tight’ regulatory framework to ensure integrity, transparency, and resource efficiency of the educational system through audit and public disclosure while encouraging innovation and out-of-the-box ideas through autonomy, good governance, and empowerment. Besides, NEP has a provision for School Complex Management Committees for more robust and improved governance, monitoring, oversight, innovations and initiatives by local stakeholders. In order to strengthen the mentoring capacity of teachers for cultivating and handholding innovative and ingenious ideas from students, the School Innovation Ambassador Training program (SIATP) was launched through online Mode. Under SIATP, teachers undergo 72 hours of training, and those who qualify all the five modules i.e. 1. Design Thinking & Innovation; 2. Idea generation & Idea hand-holding; 3. Finance/Sales/HR; 4.Intellectual Property Rights(IPR); 5.Entrepreneurship and Prototype/ Product Development; with a minimum 50% as passing marks are recognized as “Innovation Ambassadors” which makes them competent to nurture the young school students on Ideation, IPR, product development, design thinking, problem-solving, critical thinking and skills of entrepreneurship.
31 AUGUST 2022 – DAILY MAINS QUESTIONS & SYNOPSIS:
Q1. Write a short note on Biosafety, its associated concerns and solutions. (250 words) Paper & Topic: GS III – Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life; Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology. Model Answer: Introduction: Biosecurity is described as “institutional and personal security measures meant to prevent the loss, theft, misuse, diversion, or purposeful release of viruses and toxins,” according to the World Health Organization. Biosecurity, according to the FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization), is a “strategic and integrated approach” that encompasses policies and regulations that address food safety, animal and plant life, and their health, as well as associated environmental concerns. “ The containment concepts, technologies, and procedures that are employed to prevent unintentional exposure to diseases and poisons, or their accidental discharge,” according to the WHO. Body: India’s State of Preparedness: In India, the ministries of health and family welfare, science and technology, and the environment ministry are the primary ministries dealing with biosecurity. ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research), CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), and DRDO (Department of Research and Development) are in charge of various areas of biosecurity in India (Defence Research and Development Organization). In India, biosecurity is regarded as a health and agriculture issue, hence it is mostly handled by the states. The central government offers rules that the states adapt to their specific needs. A National Agricultural Biosecurity Program was recommended by the National Farmers Commission, led by M S Swaminathan, in 2004. The Agricultural Biosecurity Bill, introduced in 2013, seeks to establish a ‘Agricultural Biosecurity Authority,’ a high-powered authority that would oversee four areas: animal health, plant health, marine creatures, and agriculturally vital bacteria. This, however, is currently awaiting approval. The customs agency regulates the import of exotic pests and weeds. Plants were classified as restricted, forbidden, or prohibited in India under the Plant Quarantine Order of 2003. The CITES classification is also used to limit the entry of new species. In India, the ICMR oversees a number of bio-safety level (BSL) labs. There are 30 BSL-3 and BSL-2+ labs that are currently operational. There are two BSL-4 (highest safety level) labs, one in Pune (National Institute of Virology) and the other in Bhopal (National Institute of Virology) (National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases). India is a member to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), which was the first international convention to prohibit the use of an entire class of weapons in 1972. The treaty has also been ratified. The convention employs ‘confidence-building mechanisms,’ such as inter-party meetings, UNSC complaints, victim aid, and so on. Associated Concerns: Biosecurity measures are not implemented uniformly in India because they are at the control of local states. Given India’s vulnerability to pest incursions, even detecting an act of agro-terrorism (bioterrorism directed at the agricultural sector) let alone establishing its source will be challenging. Customs officials, who have been chastised for a lack of training in this area, will halt the import of potentially invasive pests and biological agents. For example, identifying the seed of a potentially invasive species among incoming travellers’ luggage. Because the Destructive Insects and Pests Act of 1914 and the Livestock Importation Act of 1898 are just subsidiaries of the Customs Act of 1962, quarantine officers are effectively powerless. One of the things the 2013 Biosecurity Bill aimed to change was this. Since 2014, India’s biosecurity bill has been awaiting approval. Also, zoonoses (such as Coronaviruses) are not taken into account. Unlike many other types of national security concerns, emerging biological agents like SARS CoV 2 are impossible to predict. There is also a large time lapse between discovering a viable treatment/vaccine, making the situation much more perilous. Biological agents, such as viruses, have a higher rate of mutations, as well as a latency period, which makes disease identification and control more difficult. Such biological attacks (intentional, unintentional, or natural) put the country’s defence forces in jeopardy in two ways: The armed forces may be harmed and weakened by the biological agent, and their capacity to deal with conventional threats such as terrorist attacks and WMDs is diluted as resources are diverted for the domestic response, posing a security risk. In light of the debate and accusations surrounding Wuhan Institute of Virology’s role in the COVID-19 incident, the challenge of distinguishing between offensive (or aggressive) and defensive (or peaceful) goals of biological agents has emerged. Even mismanagement of a biosecurity issue on a local level has the potential to spread and have an international impact. This necessitates international cooperation marked by transparency, credibility, and prompt action. The BTWC lacks a verification regime. Any country with a sufficiently established pharmaceutical sector has the potential to build a biological WMD, making the formulation of a verification framework challenging. The capacity to detect and resolve such non-compliances is influenced by the speed with which an international investigation team is formed (since fresh forensic evidence is critical) and the investigative team’s access to the impacted area. For example, examinations into the United States’ accusation of the Soviet Union’s use of mycotoxins in 1981 proved inconclusive. Conclusion: The COVID-19 dilemma has impacted not just India and other countries across the world, but also the country of origin. It has been demonstrated that in the event of a biological war, every country would be a victim—there would be no winners. The situation should serve as a stark reminder of the value of the universal biodeterrence doctrine. For its part, India should improve its biosecurity system while also mobilising international collaboration to improve global biosecurity. Q2. Write a short note on the use of disruptive technology in the healthcare sector. (250 words) Paper & Topic: GS III – Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life; Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology. Model Answer: Introduction: Involvement of humans in the diagnosis, treatment, and hospitalisation of infected patients
CA Daily Quiz 31 Aug 2022
31 Aug 2022
. No. Topic Name Prelims/Mains 1. Details of the Abortion Laws Prelims & Mains 2. Details of Naxalism Prelims & Mains 3. About the India’s First Space Mission Prelims & Mains 4. Details of the the LoC Prelims Specific Topic 1 – Details of the Abortion Laws:GS II Topic à Government Policies and Interventions · India has had abortion restrictions since: · As the frequency of induced abortions rose in the 1960s, the Union government established the Shantilal Shah Committee to investigate the viability of making abortion legal in the country. · The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act was enacted in 1971 to decrease maternal mortality brought on by unsafe abortions. · The circumstances under which a medical abortion may be performed are laid out in this law. Sections 312 and 313 of the Indian Penal Code do not apply to it (IPC). · Unless they behaved in good faith in an effort to preserve the pregnant woman’s life, anybody who “voluntarily induces a woman with child to miscarry” faces a maximum three-year prison sentence, a fine, or both. · This clause essentially outlaws all abortion in India. · Regardless of how far along in her pregnancy the woman is, anyone who induces a miscarriage without the pregnant woman’s agreement is subject to punishment under Section 313 of the IPC, which carries fines, life in prison, or a maximum 10-year sentence. · Evolution of MTP from 1971 to 2021: · The MTP Act underwent its most recent amendment in 2021. · In the years before that, new regulations were implemented in 2003 to permit the use of misoprostol, a freshly discovered abortion drug, to end a pregnancy up to seven weeks into it. · The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act of 2021 lays forth the conditions in which an abortion on a physician’s advice is legal. · By virtue of the 2021 Act, the maximum gestational period at which a woman may undergo a medical abortion was raised from 20 weeks to 24 weeks. · This updated upper limit is only applicable in certain circumstances. · Up to 20 weeks of gestation, MTP may now be prescribed based on the recommendation of a single licenced medical provider. · Two licenced medical specialists’ opinions are needed between 20 and 24 weeks. · A medical abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy required the approval of one registered doctor under the previous version of the Act, while abortions up to 20 weeks required the consent of two doctors. · Furthermore, a pregnancy may only be terminated after 24 weeks of gestation on the grounds of foetal abnormalities by a four-member Medical Board established in each State in line with the Act. · Despite any of the aforementioned restrictions, the legislation also provides that an abortion may be performed whenever necessary by a single licenced medical professional in order to preserve the pregnant woman’s life. · Due to the 2021 Act’s lack of a spousal consent requirement, unmarried women may also have an abortion given the aforementioned conditions. If the lady is a minor, parental permission is necessary. · Court interventions in abortion-related cases: · The decision to continue or end a pregnancy is a part of a pregnant person’s right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution, as well as their right to life and personal liberty, the Supreme Court ruled in the landmark Right to Privacy decision in the 2017 case Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India and others. A 37-year-old woman’s request for a medical abortion at 34 weeks of pregnancy was granted by the Calcutta High Court despite the fact that the country’s current laws do not permit unconditional abortions. Given that the fetus’s spine deformity was confirmed to be incurable, this was done. · After the State Medical Board denied the woman’s application for MTP, the Court granted this. · Due to this decision, abortions were permitted in the nation up to the point of delivery. · The anti-abortion statute has the following justifications: · According to a 2018 study published in the Lancet, as of 2015, India had 15.6 million abortions annually. · The mother performed 27% of abortions, per the most recent National Family Health Survey 2019–2021, at home. · According to the State of the World Population Report 2022 by the United Nations Population Fund, unsafe abortions cause over 8 women to perish every day in India (UNFPA). · According to the MTP Act, only gynaecologists or obstetricians are permitted to perform abortions. · However, the 2019–20 Rural Health Statistics report from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare shows that there is a 70% lack of obstetrician–gynecologists in rural India. · Critics claim that because the law outlaws abortions at any time, it forces women to have dangerous, unauthorised abortions. · According to statistics, India performs 80,000 unsafe and illegal abortions per year, many of which result in maternal death. · Because the term “woman” is employed in the law, pregnant transgender and non-binary people who are medically capable of having children are excluded. · They are pressured to embrace a gender-binary identity in place of their original gender identification. · Affordability and societal stigma that encourage unsafe abortions are other important factors. · Only those with sufficient financial means have access to the pricy private medical facilities that perform abortions. · Conclusion: · India’s scenario is far from ideal, thus it’s critical to consider and implement cutting-edge global practises. · Diversity, complete bodily autonomy, and reproductive fairness should be our goals. · We shouldn’t start managing the nation by gauging our progress against the rate of retreat. · Legal, medical, and social considerations must be made while evaluating bodily autonomy and reproductive rights. · It is impossible to say that India is paving the way for the West until women and non-binary pregnant people have full control over their own bodies in accordance with these values. Source à The Indian Express 2