Daily UPSC Mains Question – July 11/2020

GS – 2

Despite the renewed policy focus on cities, the pandemic has exposed the weaknesses in handling a public emergency. Critically analyse the statement. 150 Words

In the News:

• The novel coronavirus pandemic has largely been an urban crisis so far, with megacities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai accounting for most of the COVID-19 positive cases. Indian cities are not only facing a public health crisis but also a larger emergency of economic issues and livelihoods.
•  A high percentage of urban residents have lost employment during the lockdown and continue to face an uncertain future.

Still an urban dream:

• Over the last decade-and-a-half, cities have started receiving more policy attention from the government, with dedicated national-level programmes on urban development.
• The ‘Smart Cities Mission’, a flagship programme of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, completed five years, in June 2020. The Mission had sought to make 100 selected cities “smart”, primarily through an “Area-Based Development” model under which a small portion of the city would be upgraded by retrofitting or redevelopment.
• According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, of the 5,151 smart city projects across the 100 cities, while around 4,700 projects have been tendered, only 1,638 projects have been completed. In terms of expenditure, of the total investment of 2, 05,018 crore, only projects worth 26,700 crore have been completed.
• Hence, the idea of completely transforming India’s derelict cities into “smart cities” within five years now seems a pipe dream.

Strengthening local capacities:

• The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the weaknesses in the institutional and human capacity of Indian cities to handle a public health emergency.
•  The relative success of Kerala in containing the pandemic has shown how a decentralised political and administrative system with strong local governments and high investment in local public health care can be effective.
•  In the absence of such participative local government institutions, authorities in some cities have roped in resident welfare associations to monitor COVID-19 cases.
• In this process, resident welfare associations have become emboldened and are often imposing draconian rules as they exercise a form of private authoritarianism in their neighbourhoods.
•  To tackle the COVID-19 crisis, it is important to strengthen local government capacities, invest heavily in urban public health systems, and promote programmes that improve the livelihoods of urban vulnerable communities.

The proposed move of rationalising the syllabus strikes at the target of training good citizens. Explain. 250 Words

In the News:

• The list of jettisoned subjects is comprehensive; the apprehension that it is purposeful is unavoidable; the conclusion that a ‘happening’ has been converted into a ‘penalty goal’ is inescapable.
•  In the recent decision by MoHRD, it was decided to exclude certain subjects from the list of topics of study in the social science curriculum for Classes 9 to 12 with the objective of reducing by 30% the “load” while retaining “core concepts”.

Being politically conscious:

• The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on its website indicates nine salient features of the senior secondary school curriculum for Classes 11 and 12 for the years 2020-2021. It mentions that the curriculum strives to “provide ample scope for physical, intellectual and social development of students”.
• The curriculum also strives to uphold Constitutional values. Our system of democratic governance is based on the Constitution that prescribes universal adult suffrage with the voting age now being 18, after the 61st Amendment of 1988.
• It was then argued formally in Parliament that “the present-day youth are literate and enlightened and the lowering of the voting age would provide to the unrepresented youth of the country an opportunity to give vent to their feelings and help them become a part of the political process.
• The present-day youth are very much politically conscious. It is, therefore, proposed to reduce the voting age from 21 years to 18 years.’
• It is useful to examine the relevant portions of the Draft National Education Policy 2019 with a Message from the Minister of Human Resource Development. It has on page 96 a section on ‘Development of Constitutional Values’.

Focus on the next generation:

• In several places the objective of good governance and of putting in places for it “a framework of governance which will yield rich dividends over the next generation”. This focus on the next generation requires good citizens who in turn need to be educated in good governance.
• This is precisely what the objective of the jettisoned items of the curriculum was intended to be. The proposed move of load-shedding goes counter to this and strikes at the target of training good citizens and teaching them civility.