Daily UPSC Mains Question – July 10/2020

GS – 2

The truncations suggested by CBSE violate the holistic nature of the planned curriculum. Analyse the statement in relation to the current context. 150 Words

In the News:

• The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced a reduction in the curriculum for the year 2020-2021 for Classes IX to XII.
• This is a measure they have adopted in view of the reduced number of class hours available this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Basic topics removed:

• Many basic topics have been removed; more advanced topics have been retained. Teachers will have to teach the deleted portions anyway, in order to build the next level of concepts.
• Reduced syllabus will not be part of the topics for internal assessment and year-end board exams. The resultant syllabus is twice damaging — first, the deletion being only nominal adds an invisible burden on teachers, and second, that it is not going to be used to examine the students may just encourage rote learning.
•  In basic science topics, it is much better to retain the fundamentals and, if need be, remove the higher application levels.

Tragic and ironic:

• It is not just that various topics connect the student to real-life situations; it is ironic that such a deletion should happen at the time of the pandemic. The point has been noted by the group, Indian Society of Evolutionary Biologists (ISEB), which has released a note addressing these deletions.
• According to the observations of ISEB, The pandemic has tragically highlighted the consequences of our neglect of evolution and ecology in school and higher education in India. Understanding practically every aspect of a zoonotic pandemic requires a thorough grounding in diverse areas of ecology and evolution, including species interactions, population dynamics, co evolutionary dynamics, evolution of host range expansions, and the transmission dynamics of pathogens.
•  A direct consequence of our neglect of ecology and evolution is the relative paucity of epidemiologists in India.

MGNREGS is important in the rescue of the poor during a time of distress. Explain in detail the about the rural jobs scheme. 250 Words

In the News:

• The finding that 8.4 lakh poor households have completed at least 80 days of the 100-day limit for work under the MGNREGS and 1.4 lakh among those have completed the full quota, should come as no surprise.
• While these numbers are a fraction of the 4.6 crore households which have benefited from MGNREGS this year, the fact that many poor households have nearly completed their full quota of employment under the scheme in just the last two months (May-June 2020) is a reflection of the distress that has driven them to take recourse to it.

In times of distress:

• With the economy reeling after extended lockdowns following the COVID-19 pandemic and migrant labourers losing jobs in urban areas and returning to their rural homes to avoid destitution, the scheme has come as a huge relief to poor families.
• The government’s decision to extend it into the monsoon season has also benefited households. Data from this year show that in nearly two-thirds of the States, demand for MGNREGS work has doubled or even tripled in a number of districts compared to the previous year.
• Only in States where kharif crop was sown, the demand was relatively lower. But with some States resorting to their own shutdowns to curtail the spread of COVID-19, the prospects of a robust economic recovery that would benefit those engaged in casual labour and daily wage-labour remain dim.
• The swell in agrarian employment in the monsoon season notwithstanding, the excess supply of labour owing to reverse migration from the cities could depress wages. This makes an extension of the limit of work days under the MGNREGS even more imperative.

The first step:

• The scheme has acted as insurance for rural dwellers during crop failures and agrarian crisis. But the Centre’s outlook towards it continues to limit it only as a “fall-back” option for the poor.
•  Even before the COVID-19-induced crisis, a lack of demand and falling consumption among the poor were constraining the economy. The lessons from its successes and failures could be used for a more comprehensive job guarantee plan that covers urban India too. Besides alleviating distress, this could also boost consumption and aid economic recovery.
• An extension of the 100-day limit and comprehensive implementation of the scheme in rural areas can be the first step.