Daily News Simplified - DNS

05 JULY 21
Notes
SL. THE HINDU
TOPICS
NO. PAGE NO.

How Chhattisgarh has stalled a historic 06

1
judgment
2 Literacy, numeracy mission deadline 10
pushed to 2027
Around 50% of the municipal schools not 03
3
following the RTE Act mandate
Date: 05-July-21 DNS Notes - Revision

1. UPSC Current Affairs: How Chhattisgarh has stalled a historic judgment | Page – 06

UPSC Syllabus: GS Paper III: Internal Security I Naxalism

Sub Theme: Salwa Judum | UPSC

Context: Despite 2011 Supreme court judgement, Salwa Judum is still practised in many other ways,
and this has actually caused more problems than solutions.

Part of Syllabus: GS paper 3 on National security and insurgency.

Background of Salwa Judum: it started as a vigilante movement of Chhattisgarh government in

2005. Since June 2005, the Government of Chhattisgarh, with the support of the Home Ministry has
been waging a counter-insurgency operation against the Naxalites in the guise of a ‘spontaneous’,
‘self-initiated’,’ peaceful’, ‘people’s movement’ named the Salwa Judum in Dantewada district of
Chhattisgarh. Far from being a peaceful campaign, Salwa Judum ‘activists’ are armed with guns,
lathis, axes, bows and arrows. Up to January 2007, 4048 “Special Police Officers” (SPOs) had been
appointed by the Government under the Chhattisgarh Police Regulations. They actively participate in
the Salwa Judum and are given military and weapons training by the security forces as part of an
official plan to create a civil vigilante structure parallel to that of the Naxalites.

In 2011 supreme court ruled that the use of surrendered Maoists and untrained villagers in frontline
counter-insurgency operations as Special Police Officers (SPOs) was unconstitutional. It directed that
the existing SPOs be redeployed in traffic management or other such safe duties.

Pending issues:
1. Supreme court’s 2011 ruling remained largely on papers.
2. Government of Chhattisgarh has just changed the name of the force from special police officer
to District Reserve Guard.
3. Training to these personnel is even less than 1 month, they commit the most excesses against
their former fellow villagers, suffer the most casualties in any operation, and are paid much
less than the regular constabulary.
4. They even forced villagers into government camps.
5. Cases of villages being burnt when people refused Salwa Judum orders.
6. Sangham members — active but unarmed Maoist sympathisers — were either jailed or
compelled to join the security forces as SPOs.
7. Today, the Judum camps are virtually empty with only the former SPOs and their families
remaining, in now permanent houses.
8. Cases of extra-judicial killings of innocent villagers.
9. No protection is being provided to the journalists too.

What needs to be done?

1. Implement the Supreme court order in letter and spirit.
2. Only those personnel should be selected to fight to Maoist who are willing to join and have
bare minimum tactical training.
3. Age, working conditions, salary payment and living conditions should be improved equivalent
to what state police officers are getting.
4. More roles should be given to recruit local youth in paramilitary forces with latest technology.
Date: 05-July-21 DNS Notes - Revision

5. Illegal encounters and extra-judicial killings and cases related to them should be undertaken by
a separate commission or court.
6. Time bound compensation is required to the innocent victims.
7. Lastly, development work including social and physical infrastructure should be put in place
meeting the local needs.

2. UPSC Current Affairs: Literacy, numeracy mission deadline pushed to 2027 | Page – 06

UPSC Syllabus: GS Paper II- Issues related to Health and education

Sub Theme: Nipun Bharat | UPSC

Thus Ministry of Education is launching National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with
Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat) today i.e 5th July, 2021 as a part of the National
Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy.

The mission aims to ensure that every Class 3 child has foundational literacy and numeracy within
five years.

National Education Policy 2020 had included a 2025 deadline to achieve the goal, the Centre has
pushed back the target date to 2026-27, given that COVID 19 has already disrupted two academic
years.

The launch of NIPUN Bharat marks an important step undertaken by the Department of School
Education and Literacy, among a series of measures taken for implementation of the National
Education Policy 2020.

• The vision of NIPUN Bharat Mission is to create an enabling environment to ensure universal
acquisition of foundational literacy and numeracy, so that every child achieves the desired
learning competencies in reading, writing and numeracy by the end of Grade 3, by 2026-
27.

• NIPUN Bharat will be implemented by the Department of School Education and Literacy and
a five-tier implementation mechanism will be set up at the National- State- District- Block-
School level in all States and UTs, under the aegis of the centrally sponsored scheme of
Samagra Shiksha.

• NIPUN Bharat is likely to emphasise goal setting and accountability for State governments,
and provide guidelines for teacher training, assessment and the creation of printed resources,
according to people who helped develop the mission.

• It will be funded through Samagra Shiksha itself. There is no additional allocation being made.

• “Samagra Shiksha is an umbrella scheme, and this year it has been revised. According to that
revision, a provision has been kept for FLN (foundational literacy and numeracy).
Date: 05-July-21 DNS Notes - Revision

• This mission specifies stagewise learning goals to ensure that students are acquiring the
necessary building blocks.

3. UPSC Current Affairs: Around 50% of the municipal schools not following the RTE Act mandate|

Page – 03

UPSC Syllabus: GS Paper III- Issues related to Education

Sub Theme: RTE Act issues | UPSC

Q. A decade and more into being, discuss how far has Right to education Act
(2009) been able to fulfill its mandate. (15 marks, 250 words)

Salient features:
• Free and Compulsory education
Every child in the age group of 6-14 has the right to free and compulsory
education in a neighbourhood school, till the completion of elementary education
• No screening Procedure
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The act prohibits donation, capitation fee, screening test/interview of child or

parents for admissions
• Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE)
The Act mandates a process of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation
(CCE) to assess and evaluate the student’s learning instead of conventional
examinations
• Infrastructure and Teacher norms
The Act lays down the norms and standards of Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTR is 30),
buildings and infrastructure
• 25% Quota for poor
RTE Act mandates unaided and non-minority private schools to keep aside 25%
seats for underprivileged children of society through a random selection process
• Role of Parents and Community
The act insists upon schools to constitute School Management Committees
(SMCs) comprising local authority officials, parents, guardians and teachers. The
SMCs shall form School Development Plans and monitor the utilization of
government grants and the whole school environment
Mechanism available if RTE is violated?
The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights(NCPCR) shall review the
safeguards for rights provided under this Act, investigate complaints and have the
powers of a civil court in trying cases

Achievements:
• Improvement in GER
The GER increased to 89.7 percent at Upper Primary level, 97.8 percent at
Elementary Level
• Improved Infrastructure and Teacher ratio
Pupil-Teacher Ratio improved at all levels of School Education
- PTR for Primary became 26.5
- PTR for Upper Primary became 18.5
• Improved facilities like toilets has reduced drop out rates of Girls and reduced
the Gender gap in the attendance
• Decreased Child Labour
Child labour in 2011 has decreased by around 20 percent from 2001 census
figures
• Compulsory education till 14 years of age has reduced the incidents of Child
Marriages in India
NHFS data revealed a significant decline in the prevalence of child marriage
from 2005-06 to 2015-16 (47%to 27%)
However, there were many shortcomings in the Implementation of RTE
Shortcomings:
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• Learning Outcomes: Though RTE improved the GER, the learning outcomes of
children remained poor.
ASER survey found out that nearly 50% of the 5th standard children are
unable to read and write basic text and cannot solve basic arithmetic
• Amendment to No detention Policy
The policy of holding back children who obtained poor marks was a major reason
for Dropout rate. So, RTE strictly prohibited this detention policy.
However, the recent amendment to RTE in 2018 revocated this
policy citing the poor learning outcomes as a reason for it. But the poor learning
outcomes are due to failure in implementation of Continuous and comprehensive
evaluation (CCE)
• Issues with 25% quota
ü Most of the states did not achieve the 25% quota for disadvantaged
sections in private schools
ü Delay in reimbursement of fee by the government
ü discriminatory behaviour towards these children and difficulties
experienced by students to blend in with a different socio-cultural
environment
Way forward
• The focus of the RTE Act must shift from enrolment to attendance and quality.
There is no database on attendance of students. So, the local authority must
maintain a database of student attendance within its jurisdiction
• Time to move from Right to education to Right to Quality education
ü Ensuring teachers to complete their basic teacher training
ü Using digital Technologies in teaching
• Expanding the ambit of the Act to all children between the ages of three to 18
years, thus including early childhood education and secondary school education.
• Change the curriculum framework: The current structure of school education
to be restructured based on the development needs of students
The new Education Policy 2020 has made many changes in this direction. Hope this
policy will bring quality and inclusive education to Children of India
Date: 05-July-21 DNS Notes - Revision