[Mission 2023] INSIGHTS DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS +

PIB SUMMARY 10 September 2022

insightsonindia.com/2022/09/10/mission-2023-insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-10-september-2022/

Insights Editor September 10, 2022

InstaLinks :  help you think beyond the issue but relevant to the issue from UPSC
prelims and Mains exam point of view. These linkages provided in this ‘hint’ format
help you frame possible questions in your mind that might arise(or an examiner
might imagine) from each current event. InstaLinks also connect every issue to their
static or theoretical background. This helps you study a topic holistically and add
new dimensions to every current event to help you think analytically

Table of Contents:

GS Paper2:

1. Basic skills poor in Hindi, but poorer in regional languages

GS Paper 3:

2. Betting on green hydrogen to fulfil energy needs ‘risky’

Content for Mains Enrichment (Essay/Ethics)

1. Cultural Infrastructure

2. Expanding green cover

Facts for Prelims:

1. Dara Shikoh

2. Rules relaxed for IAS, IPS officers to serve in J&K

3. Campaign to expand SHG footprint

4. Relook at fee for 50% seats in private medical colleges

5. EC’s move to weed out shady political parties

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6. The Gender Snapshot 2022 Report

7. India-Japan 2+2 Ministerial dialogue

8. SETU

9. FM tasks RBI to ‘whitelist’ legal loan apps to protect borrowers

10. Kirit Parikh Committee

11. Tipping Points

12. Swachh Vayu Diwas

Basic skills are poor in Hindi, but poorer in regional languages

GS paper 2

Syllabus: Issues related to the development of the social sector involving education etc

Source: The Hindu, The Hindu

Direction: There are too many data and points. No need to remember those. Just
understand the crux of the issues.

Context:

Foundational learning of students in Hindi is poor but their

performance in regional languages in some States was even worse,
according to a survey by the Union Ministry of Education and the
National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

Key Highlights:

National Report on Benchmarking of Oral Reading Fluency

Aim: It aims to assess the foundational learning of children at the
end of class 3.
Hindi: Around 53% of class 3 students in 18 States surveyed either
lacked or had limited knowledge and skills in reading and
comprehending the Hindi language.

Proficiency in regional language:

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 Kannada: Analyzed in the States of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka and Kerala-59% of students either lacked or displayed limited
skills.
Assamese: 67% of students couldn’t perform well in Assam and
Meghalaya.
Malayalam: 56% of students couldn’t read or comprehend Malayalam
properly
Khasi: 61% of students couldn’t perform well
Urdu: Assessed in 13 States, 65% of learners couldn’t perform well.
Skills in math: The study found that the most basic knowledge and
skills in numeracy were either lacking or limited in 48% of Class 3
students.
Worst performers: Among the States, Tamil Nadu was the worst
performer, followed by Nagaland and Jammu & Kashmir.
Limited skills with numbers: In all, there were 11 States with more
than 50% of students who either lacked or had limited skills with
numbers.

Knowledge and skills: The survey divides learners on the basis of their knowledge and
skills into four categories:

Those who lack them

Have limited proficiency
Sufficient competency
Those who are superior

The sample included:

State government schools
Government-aided schools
Private recognised
Central government schools.

National Education Policy 2022:

Three-language formula: It advocates for a three-language formula

where two of the languages are native to India
Mother tongue as a medium: It says that the medium of instruction till
at least class 5 or preferably till class 8 should be in the mother
tongue, after which it can be taught as a language.
Foundational learning: It also emphasizes the importance of
foundational learning.

NIPUN Scheme:

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 It is a national mission to enable all children at the end of class 3 to
attain foundational skills by the year 2026-2027.
It aims to cover the learning needs of children in the age group of 3 to 9
years.

Importance of Multilingualism:

Equal status: It gives equal status to all languages and there’s enough
work, history and research on this.
First-generation learners: Children come from different backgrounds,
and in some cases, they are first-generation learners with not much
support at home.
Democratic: It accepts that the teacher is not coming from a place of
authority and is only correcting spellings and pronunciations.

Insta Links:

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NEP 2020

Mains Link:

Q. National Education Policy 2020 is in line with Sustainable Development Goals-4

(2030). It intended to restructure and re-orient the education system in India.
Critically examine the statement(UPSC 2020)

Prelims links:

With reference to National Education Policy(NEP) 2020, consider the following

statements:

1.
1. The NEP proposes the extension of the Right to Education (RTE) to all
children up to the age of 18.
2. The policy recognises the primacy of the formative years from ages 3 to 6 in
shaping the child’s future.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

a. 1 only

b. 2 only

c. Both 1 and 2

d. Neither 1 nor 2

Ans: (a)

Justification:

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Betting on green hydrogen to fulfil energy needs is‘ risky’

GS Paper 3

Syllabus: Science and Technology and Environmental Conservation

Source: D2E

Direction: Have basic notes on ‘Green Hydrogen’ esp. those giving Mains this time

Context: As per the study published in the journal Nature Energy, Green hydrogen would
likely supply less than 1 per cent of final energy globally by 2035.

What is green hydrogen?

Hydrogen when produced by electrolysis using renewable energy is known as Green

Hydrogen which has no carbon footprint.

Challenges for green hydrogen:

Low investment
Low stage of technology for sustainable production
The challenges in ramping up the supply of electrolysers — a
device in which green hydrogen is produced
Electrolysis capacity is still tiny compared to where we need to
be in 2050 for Net Zero emissions scenarios

Recommendations:

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 Implementing strong policies could reverse the setbacks
Fostering green hydrogen growth will therefore require strong
dedication, coordination and funding along the entire value chain,
Carbon pricing should always form the basis of climate policy
Carbon pricing is a policy tool that puts a tax on producers of
greenhouse gas emissions
Accelerating the roll-out of crucial zero-carbon technologies like
electric mobility and heat pumps.
These technologies make more efficient use of scarce renewable
electricity

Significance for Green hydrogen:

India, being a tropical country, has a significant edge in green

hydrogen production due to its favourable geographical conditions and abundant
natural resources.

Producing hydrogen from renewables in India is likely to be cheaper

than producing it from natural gas.

Efforts in this regard:

1.
1.
1. National Hydrogen Mission (increase production to 5 million metric
tonnes (MMT) by 2030 to meet about 40 per cent of domestic
requirements)
2. Green hydrogen and green ammonia policy that offers 25 years of
free power transmission for any new renewable energy plants set up for
green hydrogen production before July 2025.
3. EU set a target of achieving 10 million tonnes of domestic renewable
hydrogen production

Intra Links:

Green Hydrogen

Prelims Links

Hydrogen is an invisible gas. But, then how are they named green, pink and so on?
Read here.

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 1.
1.
1. About Green Hydrogen.
2. How is it produced?
3. Applications.
4. Benefits.
5. About the Hydrogen Energy Mission.

Mains Link:

Q. Discuss the benefits of Green Hydrogen.

Content for Mains Enrichment (Ethics/Essay)

Cultural Infrastructure

Source: Indian Express

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that along with social and digital infrastructure, India is
also working on cultural infrastructure. He also said that in the form of Kartavya Path, the
country is getting one more excellent example of cultural infrastructure.

Cultural Infrastructure means the buildings, structures and places where culture is

consumed: Places where culture is experienced, participated in, showcased,
exhibited or sold.

For example, museums, galleries, theatres, cinemas, libraries, music venues and historic
cultural sites.

Importance of Cultural Infrastructure:

To have a sense of unity among people

Protecting historical and cultural structures
Increasing tourism – thus boosting economy.

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Expanding green cover

Source: Indian Express

Fazilka district of Punjab has become a trendsetter in expanding forest cover. As of

2021, according to data from the Forest Research Institute, the district had just 1.34 per
cent forest cover, one of the lowest in the state.

They launched a pilot project called “My village, My Forest”. The idea was to target an
unused one-acre plot of land in Kuharianwali village and develop a “forest” by applying
the so-called Miyawaki method. In less than a year, the efforts have borne fruit with the
area now full of firm plants such as kachnar, neem, Arjun, Ashok, Jamun, guava and
others.

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Benefits of this project:

The forests give residents of the villages a sense of belonging. As

these forests are being raised by our villagers, it gives us a sense of
belonging, a desire to protect and conserve them
The workforce required for making lakhs of saplings is coming from
Mgnrega

Miyawaki method:

The Miyawaki method, which was devised by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki in the
1980s, is a technique to create micro forests over small plots of land. Achieving this
goal requires planting a wide variety of plants in a fairly dense manner so that the
plot of land has different layers of a forest such as shrubs and canopies and not just
trees.

Facts for Prelims

Dara Shikoh

Source: ThePrint

10/22
Context: On the occasion of releasing the Arabic Version of “Majma Ul-Bahrain” of
Dara Shikoh Vice President said that India has a glorious heritage of not only
‘tolerance’ for others’ views, but a unique culture of ‘engagement’ with all views – a
culture of pluralism and syncretism.

Majma-ul-Bahrain (which means ‘Confluence of Two Oceans’) throws invaluable light on

the similarities between religions and helped bring stronger unity among the
people of India.

In this book ‘Majma-ul-Bahrain’, Dara Shikoh listed one by one, all the commonalities
between Hinduism (Vedanta) and Islam (Sufism) and came to the conclusion that the
difference between Islam and Hinduism is only verbal.

About Dara Shikoh:

Eldest son of Shah Jahan, he is described as a “liberal Muslim”who

tried to find commonalities between Hindu and Islamic traditions.
Known as a pioneer of the academic movement for interfaith
understanding in India.
In 1655, his father declared him the Crown Prince but was defeated by
Aurangzeb, his younger brother.

Works:

His most important works, Majma-ul-Bahrain (Mingling of Two

Oceans) and Sirr-i-Akbar (Great Mystery) are devoted to the cause of
establishing connections between Hinduism and Islam
Proficiency in Sanskrit and Persian, enabled him to play a key role in
popularising Indian culture.
He translated the Upanishadsand other important sources of Hindu
religion and spirituality from Sanskrit to Persian.

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Rules relaxed for IAS, and IPS officers to serve in J&K

Source: The Hindu

Context:

The Center has relaxed the norms to encourage the All India Services
and other Central Services officers to get posted in Jammu and
Kashmir.

Key Highlights:

Requirements that have been waved off:

Cooling off period
Stringent norms for inter-cadre deputation
Inter-cadre deputation is only given under compelling circumstances,
one being marriage.
Due to this relaxation, 22 officers belonging to various services and
different cadres have been posted in Jammu & Kashmir at various
levels.

All India Services (AIS):

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 Indian Administrative Service (IAS)
Indian Police Service (IPS)
Indian Forest Service (IFoS)

Deputation of AIS Officer:

Offer list: The Center asks for an “offer list” of officers of the All India
Services willing to go on central deputation, after which it selects officers
from that list.
No objection clearance: Officers have to get a no-objection clearance
from the State government for Central deputation.
Deputation by states: States have to depute the All India Services
(AIS) officers, to the Central government offices and at any point
It cannot be more than 40% of the total cadre strength.

Campaign to expand SHG footprint

Source: The Hindu

Context:

The Ministry of Rural Development announced a nationwide campaign

for the inclusion of women who are left out of the umbrella of SHGs
under the Deen Dayal Upadhyay National Rural Livelihood Mission.

Self-Help Groups (SHGs):

It can be defined as a self-governed, peer-controlled information

group of people with similar socio-economic backgrounds and having a
desire to collectively perform a common purpose.
They are informal associations of people who choose to come
together to find ways to improve their living conditions.
India has over 74 lakhSHGs under DAY-NRLM

Functions:

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Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM):

●        It is a centrally sponsored programme, launched by the Ministry of Rural

Development in June 2011.

●        Aim: To eliminate rural poverty through:

○        Promotion of multiple livelihoods

○        Improved access to financial services for the rural poor households across the
country.

●        To reach out to all rural poor households and impact their livelihoods.

Relook at the fee for 50% seats in private medical colleges

Source: The Hindu

Context:

The Madras High Court directed the National Medical Commission

(NMC) to reconsider an office memorandum issued by HC.
HC insisted that the fee for 50% of the seats at deemed-to-be
universities and self-financing medical colleges be on a par with the
fee collected by government medical colleges.

Key Highlights:

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 Issues with NMC Memorandum: The judges said it has failed to
consider the possibility of the poor students, who could not gain a seat
on merit for lack of coaching.
Section 10 (1)(i) of the NMC Act: The Chief Justice upheld the
constitutional validity of this provision.
It empowers the NMC to frame guidelines for the determination of
fees and other charges in respect of 50% of the seats in private
medical institutions and deemed-to-be universities.
Regulation of fee structure: The Chief Justice said the fee structure at
the deemed universities should also be regulated to avoid the
exploitation of students.

National Medical Commission:

The Center notified the 33-member NMC by the National Medical

Commission Act.
Members:
Chairman
10 ex-officio members
22 part-time members appointed by the Central government.

Functions of NMC:

Policies: Laying down policies for regulating medical institutions and

medical professionals.
Requirements: Assessing the requirements of human resources and
infrastructure in healthcare.
Compliance: Ensuring compliance by the State Medical Councils with
the regulations made under the Bill.
Guidelines: Framing guidelines for determination of fees for up to 50%
of the seats in the private medical institutions.

EC’s move to weed out shady political parties

Source: Times of India

Context:

Income Tax officials carried out pan-India raids on registered

unrecognized political parties (RUPPs).

Key Highlights:

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 EC data showed there were 2,796 RUPPs a year ago, a 300% increase
over two decades.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, only 30% of RUPPs conteste
RUPPs are entitled to 100% income tax exemption provided they meet
conditions pertaining to furnishing tax returns.

Registered Unrecognized Political Parties:

Either newly registered parties or those which have not secured

enough percentage of votes in the assembly or general elections to
become a state party.

OR

Those which have never contested elections since being registered are
considered unrecognized parties.
They do not enjoy all the benefits extended to the recognised parties.

The Gender Snapshot 2022 Report

Source: UN Women

Direction: While one cannot remember all the reports by all the bodies. Do keep
watching important ones. As for this report, just go through this.

Context: UNDESA and UN Women released this report.

Key findings:

At the current rate, it will take 286 years to achieve full gender equality
More women and girls live in extreme poverty than men and boys
Extreme poverty is living on less than the US $1.9 a day
Women hold only 2 out of 10 jobs in Science and Technology

Recommendations: Cooperation on gender equality agenda, investment in gender

needs, removal of structural barriers and reform gender biased laws.

India-Japan 2+2 Ministerial dialogue

Source: Business-Standards

Direction: India has a 2+2 dialogue format with only a few countries. Do know the names
of them.

Context: 2nd Indo-Japan ministerial dialogue will be held in Tokyo.

Foreign and Defence ministers of India and its ally (2+2)  meet regularly to understand
each other’s strategic concerns and build stronger ties.

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 India has 2+2 dialogues with four key strategic partners: the US,
Australia, Japan, and Russia.

India-Japan collaboration:

Principles involved: Promote rules-based order, Respect for

International law and norms, open navigation in common waters, and
safeguarding global commons.
Development collaboration: Quad, Supply Chain Resilience Initiatives,
Asia-Africa Growth Corridors, Mutual Logistics and supply agreement
(MLSA)
Exercises: Fighter Exercises (Air force); Dharma Guardian(Joint
Military Exercise); JIMEX (Navy) and Malabar (India-US-Japan-Australia
maritime exercise)

SETU

Source: Business-Standards

Context: Supporting Entrepreneurs in Transformation and Upskilling  (SETU) will connect

start-ups in India with US-based investors, mentors and leaders.

Interactions can be done using the mentorship portal under the Startup
India initiative MAARG (Mentorship, Advisory, Assistance, Resilience
and Growth) Programme.
MAARG is a single-stop solutions finder for startups in India.

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 Ministry: Commerce and Industry

India ranks globally 3rd in the startup ecosystem and also in terms of the number of
Unicorns. As per the latest data, there are currently 105 unicorns.

FM tasks RBI to ‘whitelist’ legal loan apps to protect borrowers

Source: Live Mint

Context: Government has asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to prepare a so-called
approved ‘white list’ of digital lending apps to stamp out those using unethical means
to exploit vulnerable customers.

The ministry of electronics and information technology will ensure that

only apps on the approved list are hosted on app stores
RBI last month issued guidelines for digital lending platforms to protect
borrowers

Concerns:

Increasing instances of illegal loan apps offering loans/micro credits, at

exorbitantly high-interest rates and processing/hidden charges, and
predatory recovery practices.
Possibility of money laundering, tax evasion, breach of data privacy and
misuse of unregulated payment aggregators, shell companies, and
defunct non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) for perpetrating such
actions.

Kirit Parikh Committee

Source: Economic Times

Context: The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has set up a committee under noted
energy expert Kirit Parikh to review the current gas pricing formula.

Consumption of LPG in the country – mainly used as cooking fuel – rose 3.75% in
January to a record high of 2.569 million tonnes in January.

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 The flagship scheme of the government Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
(PMUY) has made a significant contribution to enhancing the penetration
of LPG, especially in rural areas.
The renewed targets under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)
aim to provide LPG connections to 10 crore households before
January 31, 2022.

The panel has been asked to recommend a fair price to end consumers and also
suggest a “market-oriented, transparent and reliable pricing regime for India’s long-
term vision for ensuring a gas-based economy”.

Tipping Points

Source: D2E

Direction: Have basic knowledge about major ecological terms such as ‘Carrying
capacity’, ‘Tipping Point’, etc.

Context: Scientists sound alarm as the number of climate tipping elements rises.

“Climate tipping points” are levels of ecological changes, if crossed, could spark a
significant change in the way the Earth’s systems operate, affecting oceans, weather
and chemical processes, which could be “irreversible” and self continuing even if there is
no further warming.

The six tipping points “likely” to be crossed are:

Greenland Ice Sheet collapse

West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse
Collapse of ocean circulation in the polar region of the North Atlantic
Coral reefs die off in the low latitudes
Sudden thawing of permafrost in the Northern regions
Abrupt sea ice loss in the Barents Sea.

19/22
Swachh Vayu Diwas

Source: WHO

Direction: Have a note prepared for NCAP and WHO air quality guidelines (asked last
year in Mains)

Context: In order to raise awareness of pollution, the 3rd International Day of Clean Air
for Blue Skies (“Swachh Vayu Neel Gagan”) or “Swachh Vayu Diwas” was organized
under NCAP (National Clean Air programme).

NCAP (launched in 2019) aims to bring a 20-30% reduction in pollution

levels from PM2.5 and PM10 particles by 2024 from 2017 levels as a
base.
Implementation by CPCB in over 132 most polluted cities.
WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines: For 6 pollutants: PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀,
ozone (O₃), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and carbon
monoxide (CO).
Recommendations are not legally binding

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Mapping

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