National Education Policy 2020 is a well drafted document with a clear focus and vision. It is a compact document running into 65 pages unlike previous policies which ran into hundreds of pages. The aim is to develop a conscious citizenry which is not just in tune with modern times, technological developments, a globally competitive environment, timeless values but also make students aware of India’s rich cultural traditions, timeless heritage, civilizational achievements, inventions and long tradition of knowledge seeking and creation.
The policy touches almost every part of education that it is difficult to find gaps in but like all the good policies with rich vision, huge challenges will lie in implementing it in manner true to its vision. It will need a solid foundation structure, a committed cadre of people and deep thinking to start with in terms of seeding and developing institutional structures and processes. Apart from pedagogical perspective, deep and widespread use of technology will be critical to its roll out.
Raising public investments to 6% of budget may not just be challenging but possibly inadequate hence it will be very important to define a model to attract financial resources in education sector or for philanthropic investments into school and higher education sectors. This needs more detailing than current reference in policy. A key challenge will be budgetary planning and roadmap for providing effective and sufficient physical and digital infrastructure in schools for increasing and maintaining gross enrolment ratio.
A big challenge will be to establish, reinforce and evolve many new institutional structures with right leaderships, frameworks and processes. Leadership play a significant role in important institutions as it is said that Institutions are lengthened shadows of men. These include National Educational Technology Forum, National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development), National Research Foundation, National Mission for Mentoring in higher education, National Committee for Integration of Vocational Education, State School Standards Authority and SCERT, National Councils for Higher Educational Regulations, Accreditation, Higher Education Grants, General Education among others. This also includes National Curriculum Frameworks for Teacher Education, Adult Education, Pedagogical Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education, National Higher Education Qualification etc. Framework, Guidelines will have to be made for Board of Governors for Higher Education Institutions, school complexes and peer tutoring and many other institution and frameworks.
Certain areas in which technology could be intensively leveraged include assessment methods to be transformed to be regular and formative and driving key goals by using technology judiciously including AI and data architectures as this could have enormous lasting significance. It also includes mechanisms to track learning progress and keep records for maintaining gross enrolment ratio and bringing deviations back on track. Apart from touring schools across India to further Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat, adequate focus needs to be given to encourage and nurture digitally networked communities of school students for exchange of ideas and best practices among others.
Addressing digital divide will be a key factor to access education with affordable devices and internet connectivity needing far deeper thought. It needs greater focus than mentioned in policy document including inter-ministerial coordination. A key emphasis needs to be on Bharatnet project which has expanded to 2.5 lacs gram panchayats but has not been able to make desired effect on ground. On 15th August, Prime Minister announced expansion of Bharatnet project to 6 Lac Gram Panchayats over 1000 days but the current design, program structure, engineering methods, last mile connectivity and services model will have to be intensely and immediately reviewed to make it effective. Bharatnet project if effectively executed, has great potential to transform the digital connectivity landscape of rural and semi-rural India.
Digital contents will have to be planned not just as e-versions as referred in policy and lacking standardization but shall be fully leveraging digital content management principles. The proliferation of digital content will need to be regulated. Other usage of technology shall include teacher requirements planning forecasting exercise, school administration thru ICT including for School Complexes and usage in general administration across multiple functions and institutions defined in policy.
There are some areas in the National Education Policy which deserve greater focus during implementation to complement lesser reference in policy document. These include Implementation of more effective tracking mechanism for government school teachers’ performance, absenteeism etc in government schools which is one of the big challenges today. This is one of the reasons for even poor and middle-class citizens enrolling their children in private schools of even questionable quality by paying more fees than govt school fees. The recent trend of shift of enrolment to government schools is more driven by severe financial constraints due to Covid 19 rather than a voluntary response. Teachers in government schools are paid substantial and secure salaries compared to rather poor salaries of teachers in most private schools including schools sincerely imparting education. This definitely merits focus if not in policy but certainly in implementation plans.
School education policy emphasizes on holistic development of learners and away from rote learning, inspiring students for participating in Ek Bharat Shresth Bharat mission, formation of topic and project based clubs and circles etc. This will require large scale transformation in teachers’ approach, worldview and attitude in a certain timeframe. Teachers are identified as fulcrum to national education policy but an effective intervention towards this transformation will need to be implemented during execution.
Greater focus on subjects like Artificial Intelligence, Design Thinking, Global Citizenship education needs to be made at earlier levels and certainly not later than 6th grade. This should be done by using effective alliances with large private organizations and digital learning companies etc rather than current internal mechanisms. School complexes should not just include government schools but also small private schools too which are in substantial numbers in small cities and small towns.
Greater emphasis is needed on holistic development of school principals or head of institution which require a different approach in terms of training, skills development and motivation. Leadership quality of principal in a school has very high influence on success of that school. Teacher is not the only key fulcrum as referred in policy but school principal too has critical impact requiring inspiring leadership mindset and endeavour to develop a structured high growth cadre.
There is substantial emphasis in NEP to develop multi-disciplinary educational institutions. However, there is a conscious and nuanced effort globally by institutions to build deep excellence in certain disciplines which also helps institutes develop unique identities. A quantitative and qualitative drive for expanding Phd programs is also needed during implementation. Greater drive is required to develop external, global and outside in perspective in higher education institutions which is key to gaining excellence over time.
The target of 50% of learners in school and higher education to be exposed to vocational education by 2025 is highly ambitious and will require intensely focused institutional efforts.
NEP 2020 is a structured and compact policy document which shall shape Indian education for decades so greater emphasis on institutional development, developing cadre and leadership at multiple levels, a holistic approach for excellence, cohesion with large private schools network and greater use of technology and digital among other factors will play a great role to ensure success of policy.
(Author hails from Uttarakhand and is currently based in Mumbai. He is a former member of National Committee of Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council, advises on Technology policies and has led pioneering efforts in digital education.)
The Monsson session of Parliament will begin from Monday. The fourth session of 17th Lok Sabha and 252nd Session of Rajya Sabha is scheduledto be held on Monday, 14th September and subject to exigencies of Government Business, may conclude on Thursday, 1st October, 2020.
The Session will provide a total of 18 sittings spread over a period of 18 days (all the days including Saturdays and Sundays of the ensuing session will be working days) and a total of 47 items have been identified for being taken up during the Monsoon Session.
The total eleven Bills replacing the ordinance namely: The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Prices Assurance and Farm Services Bill, The Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Bill, The Indian Medicine Central Council (Amendment) Bill, The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, The Insolvency & Bankruptcy (Second) Amendment Bill, The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, The Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Bill, The Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Bill, The Salary and Allowances of Ministers (Amendment) Bill, The Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Bill are required to be passed during the ensuing Monsoon Session.
Further, some important pending legislations in the Houses required to be considered and passed during the Session.
Some other new bills likely to be introduced, considered and passed during this session are: The Bilateral Netting of Financial Contracts Bill, The Factoring Regulation (Amendment) Bill, The Pension Fund Regulatory And Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Bill, The Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, The Foreign Contribution (Regulation)Amendment Bill, The Representation of People (Amendment) Bill, The Prohibition of Employment as manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill, The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, The Multi State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, The Jammu and Kashmir Official Language, Bill.
There are few bills for withdrawal during the session namely: The Allied and Healthcare Professions Bill, 2018, The Mines (Amendment) Bill, 2011, The Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill, 2011, The Building and Other Construction Workers Related Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2013, The Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Amendment Bill, 2013.
This will be the first Parliament session being held amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore all safety measures have been taken to conduct the session as per guidelines issued for Covid-19.
There will be a four-hour session for each House each day (9 am to 1 pm for Rajya Sabha and 3 pm to 7 pm for Lok Sabha. But on the first day only i.e. on 14th September of the Lok Sabha will meet in the morning session. The session will see other measures like seating MPs in a staggered way in chambers of both Houses, as well as galleries to maintain physical distancing norms, introduction of mobile app for registering of MPs’ attendance and seats separated with poly-carbon sheets in the House.
The Zero Hour will be there and the un-starred questionswill be laid on the table.
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region, MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) Mussorie had started conducting “Combined” Foundation Course by enlarging the spectrum of this course, which earlier included only IAS and a few other Services. For the first time, the Academy was conducting a “Combined” Foundation Course by including over 20 different Services from the government sector.
He said, in future, an attempt will be made to further enlarge the spectrum of Foundation Course by including other Services also. This is in keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to come out of a state of silos and, instead, develop a common perspective and a common vision for all functionaries, across the services.
Addressing the 61st Foundation Day celebration of the Academy Through video conferencing, Dr Jitendra Singh said, that the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration is one of the premier institutes not only in the Indian subcontinent, but in the entire world. He said that an era spanning six decades is a significant time in the history of an Institution and the way Academy has evolved over the years bears ample testimony to the sweat, toil and vision of those who have nurtured it.
Extending his felicitations to the entire fraternity of the Academy under the leadership of Dr Sanjeev Chopra, an erudite scholar and administrator, he congratulated the Academy for delivering out of box solutions much ahead of deadlines, for designing all-inclusive training and pedagogical techniques, for embracing state of the art Technology, for making a social and ecological impact while leaving behind a set of best practices in every domain. He expressed satisfaction that the Academy is continuously training the Pioneers to fight the future challenges.
The Minister also referred to Prime Minister’s two-day visit to LBSNAA in 2017, where he had extensively interacted with Officer Trainees of 92nd Foundation Course and gave them the mantra of coming out of silos and focussing on the theme of constant learning. He said, to fulfil this novel thought, the Union Cabinet recently passed Mission Karmayogi-a National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB), which he said will go a long way in creating a new future ready civil service for a New India. He said, it is an endeavour to incarnate civil services into a real Karmayogi who is Creative, Constructive, Proactive and Technically Empowered to face the future challenges. The Union Cabinet also passed NRA recently for ease of aspiring candidates, but Mission Karmayogi harps on constant learning after one has joined the services, he added.
Dr. Jitendra Singh released a Publication- a compilation of articles on lesser known Heroes of Freedom Movement on the occasion.
Union Health Ministry has noted that in some States, symptomatic negative cases tested by Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) are not being followed up by RT-PCT testing.
The Guidelines of ICMR as well as the Union Health Ministry clearly state that the following two specific categories of persons must necessarily be retested through RT-PCR tests:
All symptomatic (fever or cough or breathlessness) negative cases of Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT). Asymptomatic negative cases of RAT that develop symptoms within 2 to 3 days of being tested negative.
In this background, the Union Health Ministry and ICMR have jointly written to all the States/UTs and urged them to ensure that the all symptomatic negative cases of RAT are mandatorily retested using the RT-PCR test. This is necessary to ensure that such symptomatic negative cases do not remain untested and do not spread the disease among their contacts. This will also ensure early detection and isolation/hospitalization of such false negatives. It has also been reiterated in the joint letter that while the RAT is being used to increase access and availability of testing in the field, RT-PCR remains the gold standard of COVID tests.
The Union Health Ministry has also urged the States/UTs to urgently establish a monitoring mechanism in every district (a designated officer or a team) and at the State level to follow up such cases. These teams shall analyse details of RAT conducted on a daily basis in the Districts and State and ensure that there are no delays in retesting of all symptomatic negative cases. The aim of States/UTs should be to ensure that no potentially positive case is missed out. They have also been advised to undertake an analysis on a regular basis to monitor the incidence of positives during the RT-PCR tests conducted as a follow up.
The Indian Army extended a helping hand to three Chinese citizens who lost their way in Plateau area of North Sikkim at an altitude of 17,500 feet.
Realising danger to the lives of the Chinese citizens which included two men and one woman in sub zero temperatures, the soldiers of Indian Army immediately reached out and provided medical assistance including oxygen, food and warm clothes to protect them from the vagaries of extreme altitude and harsh climatic conditions.
The Indian troops also gave them appropriate guidance to reach their destination after which they moved back. The Chinese citizens expressed their gratitude to India and the Indian Army for their prompt assistance.
As a landmark achievement in Space missions, Indian Astronomers have discovered one of the farthest Star galaxies in the universe.
Speaking about the achievement, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said, it is a matter of pride that India’s first Multi-Wavelength Space Observatory “AstroSat” has detected extreme-UV light from a galaxy located 9.3 billion light-years away from Earth. The galaxy called AUDFs01 was discovered by a team of Astronomers led by Dr Kanak Saha from the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics(IUCAA) Pune.
The importance and uniqueness of this original discovery can be made out from the fact that it has been reported in the leading international journal “Nature Astronomy” published from Britain. India’s AstroSat/UVIT was able to achieve this unique feat because the background noise in the UVIT detector is much less than one on the Hubble Space Telescope of US based NASA.
Dr Jitendra Singh has congratulated India’s Space Scientists for once again proving to the world that India’s capability in Space technology has risen to a distinguished level from where our scientists are now offering cues and giving leads to the Space scientists in other parts of the world. According to Professor ShyamTandon, the excellent spatial resolution and high sensitivity is a tribute to the hard work of the UVIT core team of scientists for over a decade.
According to Director of Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) Dr Somak Ray Chaudhury, this discovery is a very important clue to how the dark ages of the Universe ended and there was light in the Universe. We need to know when this started, but it has been very hard to find the earliest sources of light, he said.
Pertinent to mention that India’s first Space Observatory AstroSat, which has made this discovery, was launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on September 28, 2015 during the first term of the Modi Government. It was developed by a team led by ShyamTandon, Ex Emeritus Professor, IUCAA with the full support of ISRO.
The Union Cabinet condoled the sad demise of Pranab Mukherjee, former President of India. Cabinet also observed silence for two minutes in the memory of PranabMukherjee.
The Cabinet today passed the following resolution:
“The Cabinet expresses profound sorrow at the sad demise of Shri Pranab Mukherjee, former President of India.
In his passing away, the country has lost a distinguished leader and an outstanding parliamentarian.
Shri Pranab Mukherjee, 13th President of India was a man of unparalleled experience in governance who served as Union Foreign, Defence, Commerce and Finance Minister.
Born on December 11, 1935 in the small village of Mirati in Birbhum District of West Bengal, Shri Mukherjee acquired a Master’s degree in History and Political Science as well as a degree in Law from the University of Kolkata. He then embarked on his professional life as a college teacher and journalist. Inspired by his father’s contribution to the national movement, Shri Mukherjee started his full time public life following his election to Rajya Sabha in 1969.
Shri Mukherjee served as Deputy Minister, Industry; Shipping and Transport, Steel and Industry and Minister of State for Finance during 1973-75. He assumed office as Finance Minister of India for the first time in 1982 and was Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha from 1980 to 1985. He became Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission from 1991 to 1996; concurrently Minister for Commerce from 1993 to 1995 and Minister of External Affairs from 1995 to 1996; Minister of Defence from 2004 to 2006. He again served as Minister of External Affairs from 2006 to 2009 and Minister of Finance from 2009 to 2012. He was Leader of House in Lok Sabha from 2004 to 2012.
Shri Pranab Mukherjee assumed office of the President of India on July 25, 2012 and served his full term of five years. As President, Shri Mukherjee lent dignity to the high office and brought to bear his scholarly and humanitarian outlook on national and international affairs.
A prolific reader, Shri Mukherjee has authored several books on the Indian Economy and on Nation Building. The many awards and honours conferred on him include the Best Parliamentarian Award in 1997, Padma Vibhusan in 2008 and India’s highest civilian award Bharat Ratna in 2019.
Shri Mukherjee has left his imprint on our national life. In his death the country has lost a distinguished national leader, accomplished Parliamentarian and a tall statesman.
The Cabinet records its deep appreciation of the services of Shri Pranab Mukherjee to the nation and extends its heartfelt condolences to the members of his bereaved family on behalf of the Government and the entire nation.”
B S Yediyurappa, Chief Minister of Karnataka and Shri Suresh C. Angadi, Minister of State of Railways today flagged off first ever Roll On Roll Off (RORO) service of South Western Railway from Nelamangla (near Bengaluru) to Bale (near Solapur).
Speaking on the occasion, Shri B S Yediyurappa, Chief Minister of Karnataka said, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is emphasizing on Multimodal connectivity. APMC Markets in the region offer tremendous scope for RORO. He congratulated Suresh C. Angadi, Minister of State of Railways for taking lead in the initiative and assured full cooperation from State Government.
Speaking on the occasion, Suresh C. Angadi, Minister of State of Railways said, Multimodal connectivity is dream of Prime Minister. Thousands of trucks plying between Bengaluru and Solapur. With RORO travel time will be just 17 hours. This is trial run that got delayed due to COVID. Kisan Rail started to help farmers-agricultural produce can be transported across the country. The RORO service will bring faster development in the region.
RORO is a concept of carrying road vehicles loaded with various commodities, on open flat railway wagons. PM ,in his recent Independence day speech ,has envisaged multimodal connectivity to take India to next level of development. RORO services are combination of best features of road and rail transports in the sense that they offer door to door service with minimal handling transported by fat and direct rail link . Road transport has advantage of door to door delivery of goods. However, increasing traffic on roads is leading to congestion and delays to passenger vehicles. This will cause unsafe travel conditions. Also, delays at interstate check posts due to inspection of various documents, etc. contribute to increased travel time.
On the other hand, Railways provide hassle free and environmentally friendly transport to medium to large quantum of freight. Rail transport is most fuel efficient of all means of transport and is much safer than road. RORO is a multimodal delivery model with many advantages. Faster movement of goods and essentials, reducing Time taken by trucks to reach destinations due to traffic congestion in between cities. Reduces congestion on the roads. Saves precious fuel. Reduces carbon footprint. Relief to crew of truck as it avoids long distance driving. No hassles of check posts/toll gates etc. Seamless Inter-operability between roadways & railways-Inter-modal transport on existing track. Ensuring uninterrupted supply of essential commodities.
Free time for loading/ unloading is 3 hours Ro-RO will be reckoning force in “vocal for local” –Will boost our local MSME units by encouraging piecemeal /decentralized loading through trucks. RO-RO will help government initiatives like “operation green” to stabalize prices of TOP(tomato,potato and Onion). Provides link between agriculture producing regions and agro consumption centres. Ensures farmers get the right market and right price for their produce. Connects and Balances the commodity deficient and surplus markets. RO-ROtrain services were first introduced in Indian Railways on Konkan Railways in 1999, and are running successfully since then.
Punjab National Bank Ltd. (PNB) has informed the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) which spearheaded the corporate governance litigation in a foreign jurisdictional Court, that it has received $ 3.25 million (equivalent of Rs. 24.33 crore) as the first tranche of recoveries. Upon liquidation of the debtors’ assets by the US Chapter 11 Trustee, a sum of $ 11.04 million (equivalent of Rs. 82.66 crore) is available for distribution to unsecured creditors including PNB. Further recovery therefrom is subject to other expenses and settlement of claims of other claimants.
The maiden repatriation of $ 3.25 million is an unprecedented achievement of the Government of India, Ministry of Corporate Affairs in its fight against corporate fraud in overseas territory. The Ministry also has initiated proceedings for disgorgement of monies from the perpetrators, i.e., the entities promoted or controlled by Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi.
Punjab National Bank Ltd.in 2018 informed the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India that three companies promoted by Nirav Modi, namely M/s. Firestar Diamond, Inc., M/s. A. Jaffee, Inc. and M/s. Fantasy, Inc., had filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection in the Southern District of New York, United States of America. PNB requested the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to support and join the bankruptcy proceedings in New York, USA in order to help PNB realize its claims in the debtors’ assets.
The US Bankruptcy Court of Southern District of New York, by its Order dated July 26, 2018 recognized the claims of PNB in the proceeds of sale of assets of the properties of the debtor companies. It also authorized PNB to issue subpoenas to compel the examination of Nirav Modi, Mihir Bhansali and Rakhi Bhansali under oath.
Subsequently, on August 24, 2018, the Examiner appointed by the New York Bankruptcy Court submitted his report. The Report explains the modus operandi of the fraud, and the manner in which the US-based employees of the debtors participated in the fraud. One prominent feature of the fraud was the apparent façade of independent companies, which were, in reality, entities promoted and/or controlled by Nirav Modi, that engaged in ‘round-tripping’ of the diamonds amongst themselves.
Coordinated, graded and pro-active management of COVID-19 by the Union and State/UT governments has ensured the national Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is on the slide. It currently stands at 2.04%.
As part of the continuous process of review and handholding of States/UTs for collaborative management of COVID-19, two high level virtual meetings were chaired by Rajesh Bhushan, Health Secretary on 7th and 8th August to engage with the States reporting with high case load and higher CFR than the national average, in order to advise and support them on efforts to prevent and reduce mortality due to COVID-19.
Meeting focused on 13 districts concentrated in eight States/UT. These are Kamrup Metro in Assam, Patna in Bihar, Ranchi in Jharkhand, Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, Ganjam in Odisha, Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, 24 Paraganas North, Hooghly, Howrah, Kolkata and Maldah in West Bengal and Delhi. These districts account for nearly 9% of India’s active cases and about 14% of COVID deaths.
They also report low tests per million and high confirmation percentage. A surge has been observed in the daily new cases in four districts viz. Kamrup Metro in Assam, Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha in Kerala. Principal Secretary (Health) and MD (NHM) from the eight States along with district surveillance officers, district collectors, commissioners of the municipal corporation, Chief Medical Officers, and Medical Superintendent of Medical Colleges participated in the virtual meeting.
Several issues critical to reducing case fatality rate were discussed during the meeting. The States were advised to address the issues of low lab utilisation i.e. less than 100 tests per day for RT-PCR and 10 for others; low tests per million population; decrease in absolute tests from last week; delay in test results; and high confirmation percentage among the health care workers. They were advised to ensure timely referral and hospitalization in view of reports from some districts of patients dying within 48 hrs of admission.
States were directed to ensure unavailability of ambulances with zero tolerance for refusal. The need to ensure monitoring asymptomatic cases under home isolation with special focus on physical visits/phone consultation on daily basis was underscored. States were asked to ensure a timely assessment and make advance preparedness for infrastructure viz. ICU beds, oxygen supply etc., based on the prevailing case load and the estimated growth rate.
It was reiterated that AIIMS, New Delhi is holding virtual sessions twice very week on Tuesdays and Fridays where a specialist team of doctors provides guidance on effective clinical management of COVID-19 patients in the ICUs of different State hospitals through tele/video consultation, to reduce the case fatality rate. The State authorities were advised to ensure that State Centers of Excellence other hospitals participate in these VCs regularly to improve clinical practices.
The States were advised to follow all Ministry protocols for effective management of containment and buffer zones along with seamless patient and clinical management of patients with special focus on critical cases. Another major area highlighted was that of preventable deaths by strict surveillance among high-risk population like people with co-morbidities, pregnant women, the elderly and children.
