In this section, we are presenting our readers/aspirants compilation of selected editorials of national daily viz. The Hindu, The live mint,The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Economic Times, PIB etc. This section caters the requirement of Civil Services Mains (GS + Essay) , PCS, HAS Mains (GS + Essay) & others essay writing competition.
1. Beyond postponing class 12 examinations
The decision to postpone the Class 12 board examination conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and to cancel the Class 10 board examination is the right one, in the given circumstance. It would minimise the disruption for students. Postponing the school-leaving examination — a decision will be taken in June by which time experts expect the current wave to have peaked — will mean that students do not lose out on an academic year. While Class 10 students will have the option of a physical examination if they are not satisfied with the evaluation results. The decision is the best option available given the rise in Covid-19 cases. But it does once again expose the lack of planning by state governments to put in place a system that can address the concerns that have arisen due to the pandemic.
School education is a state subject, and over the year, state governments should have, in partnership with the ministry of education and CBSE, put in place alternative systems for students to continue their education and be evaluated. Minimising disruption for students is critical. Demands to cancel exams or keeps schools shut reflect expedience rather than necessity. With the pressure of school-leaving examinations out of the way, administrations must focus on delivering lessons and evaluating student performance remotely.
Use funds from the Universal Service Obligation Fund to strengthen 4G connectivity in those parts where the signal is still bad. Make use of satellite broadband for remote areas. Devise open-book exam modules that cheat would-be cheaters. Let teachers and school staff be next in line for vaccines, so that schools can be reopened relatively early. Let not a virus hold the education of an entire generation hostage.
2. Wave II calls for stimulus part II
If you put two and two together, no one should be surprised if a four emerges. Fresh curbs on normal life, announced to contain the second wave of the pandemic, will take its toll on the economy, already staggering, going by the second month of the decline of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) in February (over the like period last year), on the trot. The government will have to respond with additional relief measures for migrant workers who once again flee closed cities for the social security of their native villages. At the same time, the government and RBI will have to come up with additional support for the pandemic-struck industry, in particular the small and medium sector and the construction industry.
True, the IHS Markit Services Business Activity Index, while declining from the 12-month high of 55.3 in February to 54.6, marks the sixth month of expansion. However, night and weekend curfews would put paid to any sustained services recovery. Careful and swift implementation of the capital expenditure schemes announced in the budget would buoy demand for a variety of services, whose performance must be managed with careful coordination of personnel, all of whom observe Covid-appropriate behaviour.
The budget had rightly identified infrastructure as a priority investment area. Now, policy and funds must be marshalled to turn proposals into poured concrete and demand for steel, cement, labour, transport, nuts, bolts, wire, screws, paint and labour. Project management must improve. New institutional structures must be created. Further, market design for an active corporate bond market brooks no delay. Note that the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) proposes to raise funds from the debt market. Institutional investors are allowed to invest in infrastructure bonds with at least AA rating. But most ongoing infrastructure projects here are rarely rated above BBB. Hence the pressing need for a credit enhancement fund. Policymakers cannot complain of lack of work.
3. Students, interrupted: Systemic failure to stop Covid resurgence has darkened the cloud on educational outcomes
Centre’s decision to postpone Class 12 CBSE exams and cancel Class 10 boards casts the spotlight on the difficult situation students are facing for the second year running. With the second Covid wave lashing at least 10 states very badly, conducting the exams in a ‘normal’ way could have proved disastrous. But concurrently, anxiety levels are running high in the student community over their higher education future, including admissions to foreign universities. They know that depending on the path of the pandemic further unpleasant surprises could be around the corner, and a sense of radical uncertainty overhangs all.
As a national board CBSE also confronts the possibility that another set of states could witness a late surge when the next window for scheduling exams opens. States can speak for local students and must be consulted. They must take quick decisions on state board exams too. While several states have cancelled these, others like UP, Bengal and Karnataka have delayed decisions despite their burgeoning Covid case count. Keeping students on tenterhooks makes a bad situation worse. Some uniformity also needs to be worked on to give a level playing ground to meritorious students across the country.
Last year’s approach of relying on internal assessments to grade students gets a lot more complicated this time because of inadequate physical classroom time. The sharp digital divides at play have anyway made online education an uneven experience. Importance of Class 12 boards also varies across the education spectrum. Most state universities rely on these results for admissions but there are also institutions that have shifted to online entrance exams, even online interviews, with Class 12 results just a formality.
In all likelihood, universities and colleges will have a delayed start to their academic calendars this year too. Education mobility will remain affected as fewer students venture out of their hometowns amid the pandemic’s uncertainties. Economic pressures, besides academic anxieties, are also building up as families suffer financial setbacks. Budget private schools that were fancied over decrepit government schools have suddenly taken a severe beating, with many teachers losing jobs as students drop out. Huge damage has been inflicted on our educational edifice. India must take Covid containment more seriously. Students have shown incredible resilience over the past year. But don’t take them for granted. Prioritise pandemic control above all else, to facilitate safe return of students to classrooms.
President Biden will host a virtual Leaders Summit on Climate on April 22 and 23. His administration has reversed his predecessor’s denialist approach to climate issues and the US is expected to back this through new targets. This shift is welcome because it reflects science-based understanding and also the need for collective action. However, as environment minister Prakash Javadekar’s recent public statements indicate, India shouldn’t be pressured to commit to targets over and above those already set under the Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change.
There are two problems with pressure on India to commit to a shift by 2050 to net-zero emissions, a phase when man-made emissions of greenhouse gases are offset by specific actions to remove them over a specified period. The effort to get climate change commitments has so far not been backed by either adequate finance to meet the transition costs or mechanisms to facilitate quicker technology transfers. Second, a fallout of the pandemic has been massive economic disruption. As the global economic system readjusts, it will be self-defeating for an emerging economy like India to take on the burden of a net-zero emission goal prematurely.
India has been very sincere in meeting its Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement. On two key parameters, targets are within reach. Emission intensity of GDP has declined by 24% between 2005 and 2016 against a target of 33-35% reduction by 2030. Also, share of non-fossil fuel based capacity in total installed electricity generation capacity is 38.53%. As India’s economy grows, incremental growth generates lower levels of emission. This trend will intensify with easier availability of clean technologies. Getting this mechanism to work better must be the goal of climate summits
4. First things first: Climate summits should focus on mechanisms for easier transfer of technology
President Biden will host a virtual Leaders Summit on Climate on April 22 and 23. His administration has reversed his predecessor’s denialist approach to climate issues and the US is expected to back this through new targets. This shift is welcome because it reflects science-based understanding and also the need for collective action. However, as environment minister Prakash Javadekar’s recent public statements indicate, India shouldn’t be pressured to commit to targets over and above those already set under the Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change.
There are two problems with pressure on India to commit to a shift by 2050 to net-zero emissions, a phase when man-made emissions of greenhouse gases are offset by specific actions to remove them over a specified period. The effort to get climate change commitments has so far not been backed by either adequate finance to meet the transition costs or mechanisms to facilitate quicker technology transfers. Second, a fallout of the pandemic has been massive economic disruption. As the global economic system readjusts, it will be self-defeating for an emerging economy like India to take on the burden of a net-zero emission goal prematurely.
India has been very sincere in meeting its Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement. On two key parameters, targets are within reach. Emission intensity of GDP has declined by 24% between 2005 and 2016 against a target of 33-35% reduction by 2030. Also, share of non-fossil fuel based capacity in total installed electricity generation capacity is 38.53%. As India’s economy grows, incremental growth generates lower levels of emission. This trend will intensify with easier availability of clean technologies. Getting this mechanism to work better must be the goal of climate summits.
5. First things first: Climate summits should focus on mechanisms for easier transfer of technology
President Biden will host a virtual Leaders Summit on Climate on April 22 and 23. His administration has reversed his predecessor’s denialist approach to climate issues and the US is expected to back this through new targets. This shift is welcome because it reflects science-based understanding and also the need for collective action. However, as environment minister Prakash Javadekar’s recent public statements indicate, India shouldn’t be pressured to commit to targets over and above those already set under the Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change.
There are two problems with pressure on India to commit to a shift by 2050 to net-zero emissions, a phase when man-made emissions of greenhouse gases are offset by specific actions to remove them over a specified period. The effort to get climate change commitments has so far not been backed by either adequate finance to meet the transition costs or mechanisms to facilitate quicker technology transfers. Second, a fallout of the pandemic has been massive economic disruption. As the global economic system readjusts, it will be self-defeating for an emerging economy like India to take on the burden of a net-zero emission goal prematurely.
India has been very sincere in meeting its Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement. On two key parameters, targets are within reach. Emission intensity of GDP has declined by 24% between 2005 and 2016 against a target of 33-35% reduction by 2030. Also, share of non-fossil fuel based capacity in total installed electricity generation capacity is 38.53%. As India’s economy grows, incremental growth generates lower levels of emission. This trend will intensify with easier availability of clean technologies. Getting this mechanism to work better must be the goal of climate summits.