20 Aug 2021: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

August 20th, 2021, CNA:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. GS 1 Related
B. GS 2 Related
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. U.S. not interested in trade pact: Goyal
VULNERABLE SECTIONS
1. Activists flay exemption to disability quota rule
C. GS 3 Related
ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY
1. CM to inaugurate city’s first smog tower
ECONOMY
1. Record sugar exports help reduce cane dues
D. GS 4 Related
E. Editorials
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. The Abraham Accords as India’s West Asia bridge
SOCIAL ISSUES
1. Arms and the women
EDUCATION
1. Back to basics
F. Prelims Facts
1. Rajnath opens Defence Startup Challenge 5.0
2. DRDO’s chaff technology to safeguard jets
G. Tidbits
1. Ind-Ra raises growth forecast to 9.4%, flags rising inequality
2. ‘Terror groups continue to work with impunity’
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

Category: VULNERABLE SECTIONS

1. Activists flay exemption to disability quota rule

Context:

• Social Justice Ministry’s recent notification.

Details:

• The notification states that Section 34 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, which provides for 4% reservation in jobs for persons with disabilities (PwD) in government establishments, would not apply to all categories of posts of IPS, the Indian Railway Protection Force Service and the police forces of Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep and Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
• Another notification from the Ministry has also exempted all combat posts in the Border Security Force, the Central Reserve Police Force, the Central Industrial Security Force, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the Sashastra Seema Bal and the Assam Rifles from the reservation provisions of the RPD Act.

Concerns:

• Various rights groups have argued that the notification in question goes against the spirit of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, which calls for non–discrimination against the PwD and the safeguarding of their rights and their empowerment.
• Their line of argument has been that exemptions should be granted only in cases of combat roles and have called for a withdrawal of the notification regarding the police forces.

C. GS 3 Related

Category: ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. CM to inaugurate city’s first smog tower

Context:

• Delhi will soon inaugurate its first smog tower.

Smog Tower:

• A smog tower is a structure designed to work as a large-scale air purifier, fitted with multiple layers of filters which trap fine dust particles suspended in the air as it passes through them.
• Smog towers have been experimented with in recent years in cities in the Netherlands, China, South Korea and Poland.

Details:

• The smog tower is being built as a pilot study following Supreme Court orders.

Functioning:

• The fans at the bottom of the tower will suck in polluted air from the top and it will pass through 5,000 filters installed at the bottom and finally release purified air near the ground.

Image Courtesy: The Hindu

• The filters contain electrostatically charged filter media and can capture particles as small as 0.3-10 microns in size.
  • An electrostatic air filter uses static electricity to give particles a positive charge as they enter the filter. This charge is released as the air continues through subsequent layers of the filter, and results in the particle ultimately getting trapped.
• 1000 cubic metre of air per second could be purified by the tower.
• The smog tower is expected to influence the air quality of more than 1 km in the downwind direction.

Significance:

• The smog tower by helping purify polluted air will help control air pollution in Delhi.
  • Air pollution in the national capital has been an issue of concern of late. Pollution levels in Delhi increase dramatically during winter posing a serious risk to vulnerable and also healthy populations.
  • Construction work, industrial and vehicular pollution are the major sources of air pollution. The smoke from stubble-burning in neighbouring states, coupled with unfavourable meteorological conditions, such as calm winds and low temperatures only further aggravate the air pollution in Delhi.

Category: ECONOMY

1. Record sugar exports help reduce cane dues

Context:

• The article analyzes the impact of allowing sugar exports from India.

Governmental measures to enhance sugar exports:

• The Union government had set an export target of 60 lakh tonnes of sugar for the current year.
• The Union government also provides assistance to the tune of ₹6,000 per tonne to facilitate sugar exports.

Record sugar exports from India:

• Sugar mills have surpassed their 60 lakh tonne export target.
• Sugar exports have increased more than 10 times compared to 2017-18.
• Forward contracts of about 70 lakh tonnes have been signed for sugar exports.

Positive impact of high volume of sugar exports:

• The allowing of exports has let the sugar mills realize better price discovery in the international markets. The export revenue has allowed mills to partially pay off their dues to cane farmers and reduce arrears to less than Rs. 9,000 crore.
  • Given the sugar surplus status of India, the sugar mills experience very low prices in the domestic markets. This in turn has an adverse impact on their revenues and their ability to pay the sugarcane farmers.
  • Pending payments to sugarcane farmers from sugarcane mills remain a thorny issue in several States, provoking protests in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Maharashtra – the major sugarcane growing states in India.

Additional information:

• Along with encouraging exports, the government has also been encouraging the diversion of sugarcane for ethanol production, which the government sees as a more permanent solution to the problem of surplus stocks in India.

Category: SOCIAL ISSUES

1. Arms and the women

The article talks about gender parity in Army.

Supreme Court Judgement on Ensuring Gender Parity in the Indian Army:

• In a landmark judgment in February 2020, the Supreme Court asked the Government to abide by its own policy and
  • Grant permanent commission to women in the Short Service Commission and
  • Give them command postings in all services other than combat.
• In the Secretary, Ministry of Defence vs Babita Puniya & Others, the SC pointed out that women had played a significant role in the army since their induction in 1992 and extending permanent commission to women SSC officers is a step forward in recognising and realising the right of women to equality of opportunity in the Army.
• When the Court was told that it was a policy decision not to allow women to take the NDA exam, the SC Bench directed the Centre and the Army to take a constructive view.
  • The writ petition had argued that Articles 14, 15, 16 and 19 of the Constitution, which uphold the values of equality and allow equal, non-discriminatory opportunities at work, were being violated by denying eligible women the opportunity.
  • The Bench pointed out that closing a route of entry for women to join the Army was discriminatory.
• The Court has now passed an interim order allowing women to appear for the National Defence Academy entrance exam.
  • So far, women could join the Army through the Indian Military Academy and the Officers Training Academy.
  • The directive allows girls who clear the exam to study at the NDA and then at the IMA or the naval and air force academies and become commissioned officers.
  • This is another step towards ensuring that women get an equal opportunity, as laid down by the Constitution.

Issue:

• In India, women have been struggling for equal opportunities in the Army.
• Despite the stringent verdict, systemic issues remain in the Army, and women have gone back to court to sort out the issues.
• Continued instances of women being denied equality of opportunity in the Indian Army is glaring.

Way Forward:

• At present, women in the Army are an integral part of the organisation and are doing an outstanding job, but there are many hurdles to achieving gender integration.
• The token inclusion of women in various arms will not automatically result in gender equality. There is a need to focus on systems and policies that give rise to disadvantages by treating gender as the reason for various exclusions.
• The attention must be shifted to gender mainstreaming in the Army.
• Though the legal route has helped overcome some of the hurdles, many more concrete steps are needed to ensure that gender parity is fully achieved in the Army.
• The Prime Minister’s Independence Day announcement that girls will be granted admission in the Sainik Schools is a welcome move towards preparing them for an equal role and life in the military.

Category: EDUCATION

1. Back to basics

The article suggests that India must take steps to strengthen the foundational education for children.

Issue:

• According to various estimates, the pandemic and lockdowns have led to an alarming drop-out rate from schools, migration of children from private to government schools due to inability to pay fees, increased abuse at home, inadequate nutrition, etc.
• Experts claim that for adults to unlearn and relearn is a very expensive and time-consuming process. Thus, if the foundation of education is weak, any effort at a later stage to strengthen it will only yield sub-optimal results.

Read more on a related issue covered in  Aug 13th, 2021 CNA.

What are the major factors that need to be addressed at the foundational level? 

• UNICEF has raised the issue of nutrition stating that children, depending on their age group and gender, need to consume 1,000-3,200 calories per day.
  • Through the mid-day meal scheme, India should try to address the nutritional needs of children.
• Ensuring that the students have acquired foundational skills before being promoted to the next grade is imperative.
  • The issue with India’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is that it proposes pedagogical freedom to the teacher.
  • The content-heavy curriculum forces instructionist rather than constructivist engagements. As a result, students simply consume what they are taught.
  • The focus should be on supporting slower foundational development that allows deeper and more meaningful learning.
• There is a need for skilled teachers.
• The status of the teacher reflects the socio-cultural ethos of the society; it is said that “no people can rise above the level of its teachers”.
  • NEP 2020 has entrusted the intellectual development of kindergarten children from underprivileged sections to matriculation-pass Anganwadi teachers and helpers.
  • Anganwadi teachers will not be able to fulfil the task of developing underprivileged kindergarten students into creators simply because they lack the expertise to do so.
  • The proposal to upgrade their skills using online methods is grossly inadequate.
  • More steps are needed to skill the teachers to equip them to encourage and foster critical thinking in students.
• Ensuring the reach of quality education to rural areas.
  • To fulfil the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal for Education, India needs to undertake efficient interventions and work on a war footing.
  • It must be acknowledged that EdTech is a resource of the privileged and learning higher-order cognitive skills calls for personal support.
  • Students in higher education could be mandated to contribute three to six months in government-sponsored programmes by working in the most remote and underdeveloped areas to educate children and teachers.
  • Private companies could also sponsor mentorship programmes where employees spend about a month on the field.
  • This will have a transformative effect.

The ability to successfully achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 will depend on the priority afforded to school education, primarily by strengthening foundational education.

2. DRDO’s chaff technology to safeguard jets

Chaff technology:

• Chaff are strips of metal foil released in the air.
• A chaff is primarily an electronic counter-measure technology used by militaries worldwide to protect high-value targets such as fighter jets or naval ships from radars and radio frequency (RF) guiding mechanisms of the enemy missiles.
• The chaff deployed in the air reflects as multiple targets for the missile guidance systems, thus misleading the enemy radars or deflecting adversary missiles.
• Chaff is a critical defence technology and its importance lies in the fact that very less quantity of chaff material deployed in the air acts as a decoy to deflect enemy’s missiles for ensuring the safety of the fighter aircraft.

Context:

• Development of the chaff technology by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

2. ‘Terror groups continue to work with impunity’

• The Indian External Affairs Minister while chairing a high-level United Nations Security Council meeting on ‘Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts’, has expressed concerns over the terror groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed operating with impunity and receiving support from countries like Pakistan.
• The minister has also warned of the events unfolding in Afghanistan having implications for both regional and international security.

Q1. Which of the following statements is/are correct?

Q2. Which of the following is/are the schemes launched under National Mission for Enhanced 
Energy Efficiency (NMEEE)?

Q3. The Indian Navy undertook bilateral exercise ‘Zayed Talwar 2021’ with  

Q4. This port is strategically located on South Eastern coastline of Oman. It straddles along 
critical sea lanes in Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden. In 2018, India secured access to this 
Port for military use and logistical support. 

Q5. Which of the following is/are famous for Sun temples?

Read the previous CNA here.

August 20th, 2021, CNA:- Download PDF Here