1) Nai Talim and Gandhiji:-
News:- President’s address at Gujrat Vidyapith.
- Nai Talim is a spiritual principle which states that knowledge and work are not separate. Mahatma Gandhi promoted an educational curriculum with the same name based on this pedagogical principle.
- It can be translated with the phrase ‘Basic Education for all’.However, the concept has several layers of meaning. It developed out of Gandhi’s experience with the English educational system and with colonialism in general. In that system, he saw that Indian children would be alienated and ‘career-based thinking’ would become dominant. In addition, it embodied a series of negative outcomes: the disdain for manual work, the development of a new elite class, and the increasing problems of industrialization and urbanization.
- The three pillars of Gandhi’s pedagogy were its focus on the lifelong character of education, its social character and its form as a holistic process. For Gandhi, education is ‘the moral development of the person’, a process that is by definition ‘lifelong’.
- The constituents of Nai Talim are the 3-H: heart, hand and head. To put this philosophy into practice, Gandhiji promoted an academic curriculum of ‘basic education for all’. With ashram shalas and buniyadi schools operating in the remote areas, Gujarat is perhaps the only state where Nai Talim exists in an institutional form. Nai Talim infers charitra nirman or character building, whose relevance is increasing by the day. Learning with value-orientation must guide our approach in education.
- The motto of Gujarat Vidyapith is “Sa Vidya Ya Vimuktaye”, or “Education that Liberates”.
2)National Capital Goods Policy (Draft) :-
- A draft base paper on National Policy on Capital Goods was prepared by the Department of Heavy Industry (DHI)- Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Joint Task Force on Capital Goods and Engineering.
- What is Capital Goods:-
- Goods that are used in producing other goods, rather than being bought by consumers.They are used to produce consumable goods.
- “Capital Goods” sector comprises of plant and machinery, equipment / accessories required for manufacture / production, either directly or indirectly, of goods or for rendering services, including those required for replacement, modernization, technological upgradation and expansion.
- The Policy:-
- In a challenging global environment, India has earned the distinction of being one of the fastest growing economies in the world over the last decade. During this period manufacturing sector has exhibited a growth rate of ~7%, and has been a strong contributor to overall GDP growth
- However GDP contribution of manufacturing at ~18% is still low when compared to other developing countries (25-35%). This promises a significant upside for manufacturing in the coming decades, provided the fundamental enablers to create a vibrant manufacturing ecosystem are in place.
- Capital goods sector is extremely crucial for the development of the country’s economy for the following two important reasons:-
- Capital Goods is considered as a strategic sector and development of domestic capabilities is essential from a national self-reliance and security perspective
- Capital Goods sector has multiplier effect and has a bearing on the growth of user industries as it provides critical inputs, i.e., machinery and equipment to the remaining sectors covered under the manufacturing activity
- The capital goods sector contributes 12% to the total manufacturing activity (which is about 15% of the GDP).The sector has grown at the rate of 15% per annum over the last decade.
- Concerns:-
- The capital goods component in industrial production has lagged in recent years due to slow pace of domestic demand leading to growing dependence on imports and following slow growth in the world economy.Further, in the globalized world and as trade barriers in the form of tariffs are reduced, not all capital goods manufacturers have been able to tap the global opportunity.
- Vision and Mission:-
- To increase the share of capital goods contribution from present 12% to 20% of total manufacturing activity by 2025.Become one amongst top 10 capital goods producing nations of the world.
- To determine enablers and set mission for each enabler, complementing vision. For example enablers such as availability of Finance, Raw Material, Innovation and Technology (R&D), Skills Development, Productivity, Quality & Environment Friendly Manufacturing Practices (No Defect, No Effect), Exports (Share in the Global Markets), Domestic Demand, etc.
- Creating an Eco-system for globally competitive Capital Goods Sector
- Creation and Expansion of Market for Capital Goods Sector
- Promotion of Exports
- Human Resource Development development in this sector
- Technology & IPR utilization and realizing the best of technology
- Introduction of Mandatory Standards to safeguard the sector
- Focus on SME Development which can empower and employ many
3)VIP Security:-
- At present there are 257 protectees in the Central List under different categories. There is no fixed number of persons, other than VVIPs, Cabinet and other Ministers, to whom security is provided.
- Types of Security :-
- Security is provided on the basis of threat assessment of individuals and the category of security (Z+, Z, Y & X) is decided on the basis of nature and gravity of the threat. Threat assessment is done by the security agencies to determine the nature and gravity of threat faced by an individual.
- Security arrangements for the Central Protectees was last reviewed in the meeting held on 10.09.2015. At present, there are a total of 257 central protectees under various categories (Z+ = 34, Z=66, Y=109 & X=48).
4)SAADMEx-2015:-
- South Asian Annual Disaster Management Exercise-2015
- The few important objectives of the SAADMEx-2015 are as under:-
- Strengthen the effective utilization and quick deployment of Search and Rescue (SAR) Teams for Disaster Relief and Emergency Response.
- Effective activation of national process for regional response and operationalization of regional mechanism for collective response to disaster in the region.
- Management of mass casualties which, among others, would involve Communication breakdown and engineering difficulties.
- Effective and timely utilization of aid/humanitarian assistance.
- Coordination and information sharing with foreign embassies in disaster affected country.
- Media coordination and control of information flow.
- Special needs of vulnerable population.
- Addressing strategic issues related to existing national and regional procedures and coordination mechanisms for large-scale disaster management
- The Exercise had three components:-
- Table Top Exercise (TTx)
- Field Training Exercise (FTx)
- After Action Review (AAR)
5) IMF names yuan global reserve currency:-
- The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund on Monday decided to include the Chinese currency, the renminbi (yuan), into its basket of currencies that make up the IMF’s Special Drawing Right (SDR). The decision was taken during the IMF’s five-yearly review of the basket of currencies.
- To know all about reserve currency read from the below link :-
- http://upsctree.com/2015/11/10/10-nov-2015/
Questions of the Day
MCQS:-
1)Which among them is not a reserve currency ?
- Euro
- Yuan
- Franc
- Rupee
2)Which is not among them is not 3-H of Nai Talim of Gandhiji :-
- heart
- hand
- head
- human
3)Which among them is not the 3 components of SAADMex-2015:-
- Table Top Exercise (TTx)
- Field Training Exercise (FTx)
- After Action Review (AAR)
- Human Resourcs Executive (HRx)
4)Which among them is not the component of National Capital Goods Policy (Draft) ?
- Creating an Eco-system for globally competitive Capital Goods Sector
- Focus on SME Development
- Introduction of Mandatory Standards
- Creating National Integrated Capital goods market
Questions to be answered in 150-200 words:-
- India has failed to add value based education in to formal education. In light of this , Gandhiji’s Nail Talim way of education seems more relevant now which can not only help a youth be educated but also will make him/her more ethical . Discuss.
- Enhancing the capital goods industry will ultimately result in empowerment of rural poor. Comment.
- The recent launch of gold monetization scheme by Government of India will not be a major success – simply because gold is largely attached to people’s emotion . Critically Analyse.
- About Gold monetization scheme :- http://upsctree.com/2015/11/06/06-nov-2015/
P.S. – The question on gold scheme was asked in an interview.
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Steve Ovett, the famous British middle-distance athlete, won the 800-metres gold medal at the Moscow Olympics of 1980. Just a few days later, he was about to win a 5,000-metres race at London’s Crystal Palace. Known for his burst of acceleration on the home stretch, he had supreme confidence in his ability to out-sprint rivals. With the final 100 metres remaining,
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]Ovett waved to the crowd and raised a hand in triumph. But he had celebrated a bit too early. At the finishing line, Ireland’s John Treacy edged past Ovett. For those few moments, Ovett had lost his sense of reality and ignored the possibility of a negative event.
This analogy works well for the India story and our policy failures , including during the ongoing covid pandemic. While we have never been as well prepared or had significant successes in terms of growth stability as Ovett did in his illustrious running career, we tend to celebrate too early. Indeed, we have done so many times before.
It is as if we’re convinced that India is destined for greater heights, come what may, and so we never run through the finish line. Do we and our policymakers suffer from a collective optimism bias, which, as the Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman once wrote, “may well be the most significant of the cognitive biases”? The optimism bias arises from mistaken beliefs which form expectations that are better than the reality. It makes us underestimate chances of a negative outcome and ignore warnings repeatedly.
The Indian economy had a dream run for five years from 2003-04 to 2007-08, with an average annual growth rate of around 9%. Many believed that India was on its way to clocking consistent double-digit growth and comparisons with China were rife. It was conveniently overlooked that this output expansion had come mainly came from a few sectors: automobiles, telecom and business services.
Indians were made to believe that we could sprint without high-quality education, healthcare, infrastructure or banking sectors, which form the backbone of any stable economy. The plan was to build them as we went along, but then in the euphoria of short-term success, it got lost.
India’s exports of goods grew from $20 billion in 1990-91 to over $310 billion in 2019-20. Looking at these absolute figures it would seem as if India has arrived on the world stage. However, India’s share of global trade has moved up only marginally. Even now, the country accounts for less than 2% of the world’s goods exports.
More importantly, hidden behind this performance was the role played by one sector that should have never made it to India’s list of exports—refined petroleum. The share of refined petroleum exports in India’s goods exports increased from 1.4% in 1996-97 to over 18% in 2011-12.
An import-intensive sector with low labour intensity, exports of refined petroleum zoomed because of the then policy regime of a retail price ceiling on petroleum products in the domestic market. While we have done well in the export of services, our share is still less than 4% of world exports.
India seemed to emerge from the 2008 global financial crisis relatively unscathed. But, a temporary demand push had played a role in the revival—the incomes of many households, both rural and urban, had shot up. Fiscal stimulus to the rural economy and implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission scales had led to the salaries of around 20% of organized-sector employees jumping up. We celebrated, but once again, neither did we resolve the crisis brewing elsewhere in India’s banking sector, nor did we improve our capacity for healthcare or quality education.
Employment saw little economy-wide growth in our boom years. Manufacturing jobs, if anything, shrank. But we continued to celebrate. Youth flocked to low-productivity service-sector jobs, such as those in hotels and restaurants, security and other services. The dependence on such jobs on one hand and high-skilled services on the other was bound to make Indian society more unequal.
And then, there is agriculture, an elephant in the room. If and when farm-sector reforms get implemented, celebrations would once again be premature. The vast majority of India’s farmers have small plots of land, and though these farms are at least as productive as larger ones, net absolute incomes from small plots can only be meagre.
A further rise in farm productivity and consequent increase in supply, if not matched by a demand rise, especially with access to export markets, would result in downward pressure on market prices for farm produce and a further decline in the net incomes of small farmers.
We should learn from what John Treacy did right. He didn’t give up, and pushed for the finish line like it was his only chance at winning. Treacy had years of long-distance practice. The same goes for our economy. A long grind is required to build up its base before we can win and celebrate. And Ovett did not blame anyone for his loss. We play the blame game. Everyone else, right from China and the US to ‘greedy corporates’, seems to be responsible for our failures.
We have lowered absolute poverty levels and had technology-based successes like Aadhaar and digital access to public services. But there are no short cuts to good quality and adequate healthcare and education services. We must remain optimistic but stay firmly away from the optimism bias.
In the end, it is not about how we start, but how we finish. The disastrous second wave of covid and our inability to manage it is a ghastly reminder of this fact.