Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FDI and FPI
Mains level: Paper 3- Investment in India
While emerging economies have been facing the crunch of foreign capital due to the pandemic, India is witnessing the surge of FPI: a sign of investors confidence in the economy.
Surge in FDI: Sign of trust India has built
- In the September quarter, FDI doubled year-on-year to $28.1 billion dollars.
- While foreign portfolio investor (FPI) inflows across emerging economies witnessed a decline due to the pandemic, India recorded a surge to $13.5 billion – a testimony to investor confidence in India’s growth story.
- This surge in foreign funds amid the pandemic has been possible because of the continuous effort of the government, businesses, and agencies to make India a sought-after destination.
Strategies used by the government
Various steps described below signalled the government’s intention to open up the economy to investments.
Such steps include the following:-
- Allowing NRI’s to acquire up to 100% stake in Air India.
- 26% FDI in the digital sector.
- Permitting 100% FDI through automatic route in the coal mining sector.
- 100% FDI for insurance intermediaries.
- The National Infrastructure Pipeline, a ₹13 trillion project to open up avenues for infrastructure investment for global investors.
- Apart from these steps, the more recent Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme worth an estimated ₹1.5 lakh crore is also a testimony to the government’s intention to encourage entrepreneurship and investment in the country.
- Steps to skill-train 3 lakh migrant workers the country to realign the rural youth towards industry-relevant jobs is also a step in the right direction.
Reducing dependency
- The urgency the Indian government has shown to reduce dependency on China as a hub of the global supply chain.
- Also, providing an enabling alternative environment has struck the right chord with the world as we see global biggies contemplating a move to India.
Consider the question “India witnessed a steady flow of foreign capital while the world was battling pandemic. What are the factors responsible for this? What are the risks associated with such capital in the economy?”
Conclusion
While persisting with its efforts to attract the capital, the government also needs to focus on improving the productivity and export competitiveness of the economy.
Back2basics: Difference between FDI and FII
- FDI is an investment that a parent company makes in a foreign country.
- On the contrary, FII is an investment made by an investor in the markets of a foreign nation.
- While FIIs are short-term investments, the FDI’s are long term investment.
- FII can enter the stock market easily and also withdraw from it easily. But FDI cannot enter and exit that easily.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Geopolitics of climate change and India's role in it
With the victory of Joe Biden in the U.S. Presidential election geopolitics of the climate change is headed for a new reset. The article examines the role India could play in the changing geopolitical realities and also spells out the challenge for India.
India’s role in geopolitics of climate change
- India is probably better prepared than in the past when India was widely seen as part of the problem on climate issues.
- But the urgency of addressing climate change is likely to intensify for two reasons:
- 1) The election of Biden as US President.
- 2) The prospect of cooperation on climate change between Washington and Beijing.
- India’s ability to influence the new geopolitics of climate change will depend a lot on its domestic political resilience in adapting to the new imperatives.
- While a democratic India struggles to deal with the new internal conflicts centred on climate, China has crafted a new template of “coercive environmentalism”.
- The Chinese model of coercive environmentalism is finding an echo among some Western environmentalists.
- Whatever the merits of authoritarian environmentalism, it has little political chance of being replicated in democracies.
Cooperation on climate change between the US and China
- Modernising liberal environmentalism is the essence of president-elect Biden’s commitment to integrating the climate question with the domestic policy agenda.
- “Climate justice” is another important objective of Biden’s domestic environmental policy.
- It is based on the recognition that pollution and other ecological problems have a greater impact on the poor and minorities.
- Although coercive and liberal approaches to managing climate change are different, the US and China share some important objectives.
- Both China and the US (along with the West) recognise the urgency of the challenge.
- Beijing and Washington are also racing to develop new technologies that will constitute the foundations of the green economic future.
- Both have zeroed in on industrial policy to achieve their climate objectives.
- For Xi and Biden, gaining the leadership of the global movement for mitigating climate change is a strategic mission.
- Washington and Beijing understand that climate politics is in the end about rearranging the global order.
- Consequently, the new direction of Chinese and US policies (in partnership with Europe and Japan) will inevitably put pressure on other states for climate actions.
Conclusion
India’s real test on climate change is on building a new domestic consensus that can address the economic and political costs associated with an internal adjustment to the prospect of a great global reset.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Coding in school curriculum
Various edutech startups have been in the news for the past several months over the debate on the right age for children to start learning to code.
Q.The National Education Policy, 2020 proposal for “coding activities” reads like Macaulay’s minute for English education in the early 19th century. Examine.
What is Coding?
- Computers have their own language called programming language which tells them what to do.
- Coding is the process of using a programming language to get a computer to behave how you want it to.
- In a broader sense, it is the process of designing and building an executable computer program to accomplish a specific computing result or to perform a specific task.
In today’s digital age, most toddlers in their diapers, learn to swipe and click before they can speak apparently or walk. What an irony!
Coding for children
- In the age of digital revolution, India was able to produce a huge army of coders and programmers —essentially people who could create computer software.
- As computing devices have taken over every aspect of life, the need for good programmers and coders has been increasing relentlessly.
- This led to a trend to teach coding and programming to young students since their school ages.
- In recent years, platforms and companies have started to claim that kids as young as those in elementary school must begin to learn to code.
Proponents for coding
- Leaders of technology companies around the world have pushed for coding to be included as a subject in middle or higher secondary school for students who may be interested to learn.
- In 2018, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates wrote in a blog post that everyone could benefit from learning the basics of computer science.
- The idea was to make coding as simple and accessible as the new age “mother tongue” for young children.
Why should children learn to code?
- Coding is a basic literacy in the digital age, and it is important for kids to understand and be able to work with and understand the technology around them.
- It fosters creativity. By experimenting, children learn and strengthen their creativity. It enhances their problem-solving capability.
- It helps children to be able to visualize abstract concepts, lets them apply math to real-world situations, and makes math fun and creative. Coding is present in many of today’s STEM programs.
- Children who learn to code understand how to plan and organize thoughts. This can lead to better writing skills that can be built upon as coding skills develop over time.
Criticisms of early age coding
- A metaphor that is often used is that children are being made to ride a bicycle before they have even learnt to walk.
- There’s a reason why in mathematics addition is taught first, then subtraction, then multiplication, and then division.
- It is necessary to learn several elements of mathematics and logical thinking before one can code.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI)
Mains level: India's committment for climate action
India ranked high along with the European Union and the United Kingdom in the latest edition of the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2020 released by non-profit Germanwatch.
It’s a very rare feat that India has performed so better in any climate-related index. We can use this data to highlight India’s dedicated efforts for Paris Agreement.
Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI)
- The CCPI is an independent monitoring tool for tracking countries’ climate protection performance. It has been published annually since 2005.
- It evaluates 57 countries and the European Union, which together generate 90%+ of global greenhouse gas emissions.
- Using standardised criteria, the CCPI looks at four categories, with 14 indicators: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (40% of the overall score), Renewable Energy (20%), Energy Use (20%), and Climate Policy (20%).
- The CCPI’s unique climate policy section evaluates countries’ progress in implementing policies working towards achieving the Paris Agreement goals.
Global scenario
- No country was doing enough to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement, according to the index.
- Six G20 countries were ranked among very low performers. The United States, with a rank of 61, was the worst performer.
India’s performance
- India, for the second time in a row, continued to remain in the top 10. The country scored 63.98 points out of 100.
- It received high ratings on all CCPI indicators except ‘renewable energy’, where it was categorised as having a ‘medium’ performance.
- Last year, India had been ranked at the ninth position, with an overall score of 66.02.
- India needed to focus more on renewable energy, both, as a mitigation strategy and for its post-novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) green recovery, the report said.
Renewable energy
- No country was rated very high on indicators defining the ‘renewable energy’ category.
- India has been ranked at 27th out of 57 countries under the category this time. Last year, it was ranked at 26th.
- India’s performance has been rated as ‘medium’ for its current share of renewable energy. Its performance for the development of renewable energy supply during the last year was rated as ‘high’.
A positive sign for India
- India’s improved policy framework has been responsible for the country’s good performance in this global index. However, the report underlined the need for long-term planning.
- Unlike the other two ‘BASIC’ countries of China and South Africa, India is yet to announce its mitigation strategy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Right to Education Act, Skill India Mission
Mains level: Paper 2- Skill development of youth in India
Significant progress has been made in India on the skill development front. However, there are many challenges that are needed to be tackled through policy measures and their effective implementation. The article deals with the issue.
Progress in skill development in India
- Evidence shows that many people develop 21st-century skills on the job, or from courses that focus on practical application of skills, rather than in schools.
- India has laid the foundation for delivering on the vision of making quality skills development programmes available to the youth.
- Vocational education can be a route for many to gain specific skillsets, such education formats are referred to as Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).
- The National Skill Development Policy was launched in 2009 and revamped in 2015, recognising the challenge of skilling with speed and high standards.
- The Skill India Mission was launched soon after, with the vision for making India the “skill capital” of the world.
Key finding and recommendations of the UNESCO’s State of the Education Report for India
- The report focuses on vocational education and training and showcases the growth of the skills development sector.
- It also provides practical recommendations to ensure that policy is effectively implemented.
- One of the biggest challenges for expanding the reach of TVET-related courses has been the lack of aspiration and stigma attached to jobs such as carpentry and tailoring.
- Considerable effort, including information campaigns involving youth role models, would help in improving the image of vocational education.
- At the same time, common myths around TVET need to be debunked.
- Research is now proving that TVET graduates for entry level jobs can get paid as much as university graduates.
- Moreover, students from vocational streams typically take less time to find jobs as compared to university graduates.
- The report emphasises the need for expanding evidence-based research.
- High-quality research based on careful data-gathering and analytics can add value to all aspects of TVET planning and delivery.
Emphasis on vocational education in NEP
- The new National Education Policy (NEP) aims to provide vocational education to 50% of all learners by 2025.
- Schools are encouraged to provide students access to vocational education from Grade 6 onwards and to offer courses that are aligned to the local economies and can benefit local communities.
- For the vision of the NEP to be fulfilled, a robust coordination mechanism for inter-ministerial cooperation is necessary for bringing the skills development and vocational education systems together.
Conclusion
Effective implementation of the policies for skill development is essential for capitalising on the country’s demographic dividend.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Eco-bridges
Mains level: Road accidents and wildlife
Ramnagar Forest Division in Nainital district, Uttarakhand, recently built its first eco-bridge for reptiles and smaller mammals.
Q.Discuss how Eco-ducts or eco-bridges provide the best alternative for wildlife connectivity which is disrupted because of manmade highways. Also, discuss various challenges in building such bridges.
What are Eco-bridges?
- Eco-ducts or eco-bridges aim to enhance wildlife connectivity that can be disrupted because of highways or logging.
- These include canopy bridges (usually for monkeys, squirrels and other arboreal species); concrete underpasses or overpass tunnels or viaducts (usually for larger animals); and amphibian tunnels or culverts.
- Usually, these bridges are overlaid with planting from the area to give it a contiguous look with the landscape.
Why need such bridges?
- There are many roadkills on this route, especially of reptiles such as the monitor lizard.
- The bridge is an awareness-building mechanism for this very congested tourist route.
- These bridges are a way to see how we can preserve the ecosystem necessary for reptiles that feed on insects, for snakes that feed on reptiles, and for eagles that feed on snakes.
Need of the hour
- A 2020 study by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) noted that nearly 50,000 km of road projects have been identified for construction over the next five to six years.
- Many highways are being upgraded to four lanes.
- The National Tiger Conservation Authority had identified three major sites that were cutting across animal corridors.
- These including National Highway 37 through the Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong landscape in Assam, and State Highway 33 through the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve in Karnataka.
Some considerations
- The span and distribution of eco-bridges should depend on animal movement patterns.
- The bigger bridges will see sambar, spotted deer, nilgai, wild pig using them, while for tigers or leopards if the bridge is 5m or 500 m, it doesn’t bother them.
- But some animals like the deers, which prefer closed habitats, need smaller bridges.
Some successes
- The observation on NH 44, which intersects Kanha-Pench and Pench-Navegaon-Nagzira corridors in various sections, is a success.
- With five animal underpasses and four minor bridges on the 6.6-km road within the forests, it’s one of India’s success stories.
Such bridges in news
- One of the largest underpasses – 1.4km – for animal conservation in India is being built along the Madhya Pradesh-Maharashtra border.
- Other proposals include the Chennai-Bangalore National Highway, in the Hosur-Krishnagiri segment, near reserve forests for elephant crossings, and in the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in Chandrapur, Maharashtra.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Tharu tribals
Mains level: Tourism development in tribal circuits
The Uttar Pradesh government has recently embarked upon a scheme to take the unique culture of its ethnic Tharu tribe across the world.
The Terai or Tarai is a lowland region in northern India and southern Nepal that lies south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivalik Hills, and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. This lowland belt is characterized by tall grasslands, scrub savannah, sal forests and clay rich swamps.
Tharu Tribals
- The community belongs to the Terai lowlands, amid the Shivaliks of lower Himalayas. Most of them are forest dwellers and some practised agriculture.
- The word Tharu is believed to be derived from their, meaning followers of Theravada Buddhism.
- The Tharus live in both India and Nepal. In the Indian Terai, they live mostly in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.
- According to the 2011 census, the Scheduled Tribe population in Uttar Pradesh was more than 11 lakh; this number is estimated to have crossed 20 lakh now.
- The biggest chunk of this tribal population is made up of Tharus.
- Members of the tribe survive on wheat, corn and vegetables are grown close to their homes. A majority still lives off the forest.
Tharu language, food, and culture
- They speak various dialects of Tharu, a language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup, and variants of Hindi, Urdu, and Awadhi.
- In central Nepal, they speak a variant of Bhojpuri, while in eastern Nepal, they speak a variant of Maithili.
- Tharus worship Lord Shiva as Mahadev and call their supreme being “Narayan”, who they believe is the provider of sunshine, rain, and harvests.
- Tharu women have stronger property rights than is allowed to women in mainstream North Indian Hindu custom.
- Standard items on the Tharu plate are bagiya or dhikri – which is a steamed dish of rice flour that is eaten with chutney or curry – and ghonghi, an edible snail that is cooked in a curry made of coriander, chili, garlic, and onion.
What is this scheme about?
- The UP government is working to connect Tharu villages in the districts of Balrampur, Bahraich, Lakhimpur and Pilibhit bordering Nepal, with the homestay scheme of the UP Forest Department.
- The idea is to offer tourists an experience of living in the natural Tharu habitat, in traditional huts made of grass collected mainly from the forests.
- Tharu homeowners will be able to charge tourists directly for the accommodation and home-cooked meals.
- The government expects both domestic and international tourists to avail of the opportunity to obtain a taste of the special Tharu culture by staying with them, observing their lifestyle, food habits, and attire.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Havana syndrome
Mains level: Threats of microwave warfare
Nearly four years after a mysterious neurological illness started to affect American diplomats in Cuba, China, and other countries, a report has found “directed” microwave radiation to be its “plausible” cause.
Q.Microwave warfare is the new nuke. Discuss.
The ‘Havana syndrome’
- In late 2016, US diplomats in Havana reported feeling ill after hearing strange sounds and experiencing odd physical sensations in their hotel rooms or homes.
- The symptoms included nausea, severe headaches, fatigue, dizziness, sleep problems, and hearing loss, which have since come to be known as “Havana Syndrome”.
- Cuba had denied any knowledge of the illnesses even though the US had accused it of carrying out “sonic attacks”, leading to an increase in tensions.
Possible factor: Microwave Weapons
- “Microwave weapons” are supposed to be a type of direct energy weapons, which aim highly focused energy in the form of sonic, laser, or microwaves, at a target.
- People exposed to high-intensity microwave pulses have reported a clicking or buzzing sound as if seeming to be coming from within your head.
- It can have both acute and long-term effects — without leaving signs of physical damage.
- These weapons are considered to be the cause of the “syndrome” whose symptoms include nausea, dizziness, fatigue, and cognitive difficulties.
How did researchers deduce that?
- The researchers have examined four possibilities to explain the symptoms — infection, chemicals, psychological factors and microwave energy.
- The experts examined the symptoms of about 40 government employees.
- The report concluded that directed pulsed RF (radio frequency) energy appears to be the most plausible mechanism in explaining these cases among those that the committee considered.
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