02 Nov 2023: PIB Summary for UPSC

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. India-France Letter of Intent
2. ECI signs MoU with the Ministry of Education

1. India-France Letter of Intent

Syllabus: GS-2, International Relations

Prelims: India – France Letter of Intent

Context:

India-France Letter of Intent in Public Administration and Administrative Reforms signed.

Details:

• The Letter of Intent was signed between the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India and M/o Public Sector Transformation & the Civil Service of France.
• The Letter of Intent aims to boost the bilateral partnership between India and France through exchange visits focused on administrative reforms, good governance webinars, research publications, institutional exchanges, capacity-building programs and replication of good governance practices. 
• A Joint Working Group will be set up under the aegis of the Letter of Intent that will chart out the roadmap for fulfilling the mandate of the Letter of Intent.

Also read: India – France relations

2. ECI signs MoU with the Ministry of Education

Syllabus: GS-2, Polity & Governance, Education

Prelims: Election Commission of India (ECI)

Context:

ECI signs MoU with the Ministry of Education to bring electoral literacy to classrooms.

Details:

• • The MoU emphasises the development of an institutional framework to incorporate electoral literacy formally into the school and college education system.
  • It extends the ECI’s flagship Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) in schools and colleges.
  • The MoU tries to address the issue of apathy towards the electoral process among urban and young people and aims to encourage them to vote and participate in the democratic process in future elections.
  • The voting percentage was 67.4% in the 2019 general elections. The ECI seeks to improve this figure.
  • Salient features of the MoU:
    • Systematically integrating voter education and electoral literacy into the curriculum, starting from classes 6 to 12 in all schools, and then at the university level also.
    • Textbooks will update and include material on electoral literacy.
    • Training of teachers in this regard.
    • Establishing Electoral Literacy Clubs (ELCs) in schools and colleges.
    • Encourages various activities to promote voter awareness among students.
    • Seeks to evolve a robust mechanism to fulfil the aspirational goal of ECI to hand over the voter ID card to every student immediately after their attaining the age of 18 years.
    • Include electoral literacy in adult literacy programmes.
    • Designate one room in every senior secondary school as the ‘Democracy Room’ for the regular display of voter education materials and the conduct of Continuous Electoral and Democracy Education (CEDE) activities throughout the year. 
    • Developing critical thinking, communication, and leadership skills amongst university students to actively participate in university-level politics, including engaging in informed debates and discussions.
    • Devise a system of credits for students taking part in CEDE to pursue higher studies.

Read the previous PIB articles here.