IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

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Pre-school children should learn in mother tongue: NCERT curriculum

News

• Children between the ages of three and six years should begin their educational journey in their own mother tongues, learn through play and not be subjected to tests of any kind, says the NCERT’s first-ever preschool curriculum.

Mother tongues

• Teaching through a child’s mother tongue or home language is internationally recognised as most appropriate in the early years, the NCERT guidelines also acknowledge the challenge of language diversity in India.
• In case there are more than one language as mother tongue, teachers may allow as many languages as are in the classroom to be used for expression with gradually exposing the child to school language.Children need a bilingual or multilingual environment for smooth transition.
• The guidelines emphasise that pre-schools defined as all schools which teach children between the ages of three and six must avoid early formal instruction.
• Rote-based, teacher-directed learning, which is devoid of meaningful context with undue pressure on the child to perform is harmful.
• It stipulates that children should be assessed individually through informal and systematic observations of their play and activities.
• On no account, should children be made to take any form of test or examination either oral or written. The purpose of evaluation at the pre-school stage is not to label a child as ‘pass’ or ‘fail.
• Instead, assessment should provide direction for learning new skills and focus on the child’s strengths rather than deficits.

Section 144 imposed in Ayodhya till December 10

News

• Restrictions under Section 144 of the CrPc have been imposed in Ayodhya till December 10 in anticipation of the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi case verdict in the Supreme Court and in view of the upcoming religious festivals.

Restrictions

• The restrictions came into force from October 12.
• As per the two-page official order, flying of drones and unmanned aerial vehicles has been banned within Ayodhya without the permission of the concerned authority.
• There is also a ban on overloading of boats within the boundary of Ayodhya. The manufacture and sale of firecrackers on Deepavali would be allowed only after prior permission from the concerned magistrate.
• December 6 is also the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition.

Bring Hafiz Saeed to book, U.S. tells Pakistan

News

• Pakistan must prevent militant groups from operating on its soil and prosecute top Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives along with its leader Hafiz Saeed, the United States has said ahead of the Financial Action Task Force’s crucial decision on whether to blacklist the country.

Prevent militant groups

• Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies arrested the “top four leaders” of the banned LeT/JuD on charges of terrorism financing.
• The top four arrested terrorists have been identified as Professor Zafar Iqbal, Yahya Aziz, Muhammad Ashraf and Abdul Salam.
• Pakistan has a long history of catching and releasing terrorists operating from its soil.
• Remarks came as the FATF is set to give its decision on the country’s ‘grey list’ status.
• Pakistan was placed on the grey list by the Paris-based watchdog in June last year and was given a plan of action to complete it by October 2019, or face the risk of being placed on the black list with Iran and North Korea.
• The ongoing review of Pakistan’s performance will determine if it stays on the grey list or moved on the black list or given a clean chit.
• Indo-Pak tensions have spiked since India abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August.
• India’s decision evoked strong reactions from Pakistan, which downgraded diplomatic ties and expelled the Indian ambassador.
• Pakistan has been trying to internationalise the Kashmir issue after India withdrew the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, but New Delhi has asserted the abrogation of Article 370 was its “internal matter”.
• The U.S. Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. The US, since 2012, has been offering a $10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice.
• Saeed-led JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.

Education for mothers directly linked to better nutrition for children: survey

News

• A first-of-its kind pan-India survey conducted by the Health and Family Welfare Ministry on nutrition levels among children shows a direct correlation between mothers’ education and the well-being of children.

Direct correlation

• The Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNSS) studied 1.2 lakh children between 2016 and 2018 and measured food consumption, anthropometric data, micronutrients, anaemia, iron deficiency and markers of non-communicable diseases.
• These were compared with different population characteristics such as religion, caste, place of residence and the mothers’ level of schooling.
• The data recorded show 31% of mothers of children aged up to four years, 42% of women having children aged five to nine and 53% of mothers of adolescents aged 10-19 never attended school. Only 20% of mothers of pre-schoolers, 12% of those of schoolchildren, and 7% of those of adolescents had completed 12 or more years of schooling.

Core indicators

• Diet diversity, meal frequency and minimum acceptable diet are the three core indicators of nutrition deficiency among infant and young children.
• The study found 3.9% of children whose mothers had zero schooling got minimum acceptable diets, whereas this was at 9.6% for children whose mothers finished schooling. Moreover, 7.2% of children in the former category consumed iron rich food, whereas this was at 10.3% for children in the latter category.
• The proportion of children aged two to four consuming dairy products, eggs and other fruits and vegetables the previous day increased with the mothers’ education level and household wealth status.
• Levels of stunting, wasting and low weight were higher in children whose mothers received no schooling as opposed to those who studied till Class XII. Stunting among children aged up to four was nearly three times for the former category (19.3% versus 5.9%), and the number of underweight children was nearly double among them (14.8% versus 5.1%) as compared to the latter category.
• Anaemia saw a much higher prevalence of 44.1% among children up to four years old with mothers who never went to school, versus 34.6% among those who completed their schooling.

Flip side

• On the flip side, a higher level of education among mothers meant that their children received meals less frequently, perhaps because their chances of being employed and travelling long distances to work went up 50.4% of children in the age group of 6-23 months born to illiterate mothers versus 36.2% among those who had finished schooling.
• Such children were also at higher risk of diabetes and high cholesterol as relative prosperity could lead to higher consumption of sugary drinks and foods high in cholesterol.
• Children in the age group of 10-19 showed a higher prevalence of pre-diabetes if their mother had finished schooling (15.1% versus 9.6%). The prevalence of high cholesterol levels was at 6.2% in these children as opposed to 4.8% among those whose mothers never attended school.

Nepal, China ink road connectivity deal

News

• China and Nepal concluded agreements for all-weather connectivity between Kathmandu and the Tibet Autonomous Region.

All-weather connectivity

• The infrastructure-building agreements were part of the 20 documents that were signed after delegation-level talks held by visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and Nepalese Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli.
• An agreement for upgraded all-weather road connection that includes building of Himalayan tunnels was reached between the Ministry of Finance of Nepal and the China International Development Cooperation Agency.
• The joint statement declared that both sides will intensify cooperation to realise “trans-Himalayan multidimensional connectivity network”.
• The tunnel network will connect Tokha and Chhahare within Nepal that will ultimately reduce the road distance between Nepal and China.
• The current road network is unsafe as it is prone to disruption due to landslips and poor maintenance.
• Both sides also gave the green signal for a feasibility study of the trans-Himalayan rail connectivity aimed at connecting the Nepal capital with major commercial centres of the Tibetan Autonomous Region and beyond in China.
• Nepal agreed to allow Chinese banks to open branches and other financial services in Nepal and increase imports from China.
• Nepal also signed a treaty with China on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters which will allow China to investigate cases of crime that might target Nepal.
• Nepal reiterated its “firm commitment” to the One China policy.
• As per agreements, China will offer 100 training opportunities to the Nepalese law enforcement officers each year, increase exchange of visits of security personnel, joint exercises and training of personnel for disaster relief and prevention.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Retail inflation rises to 3.99% in September due to costlier food items

News

• Retail inflation spiked to 3.99% in September mainly due to higher prices of food items, government data showed.

Retail inflation

• The consumer price index (CPI) based inflation was registered at 3.28% in August. On year-on-year basis, the inflation was 3.70% in September 2018.
• The price rise in the food basket was recorded at 5.11%, as against 2.99% in the preceding month, data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed.
• The inflation print for vegetables shot up to 15.40% during the month.
• The headline inflation still remained within the comfort zone of the Reserve Bank, which mainly factors in CPI while arriving at its bi-monthly monetary policy.

WPI inflation eases to 0.33%

• Wholesale prices based inflation eased to 0.33% in September, as against 1.08 per cent in August due to fall in prices of non-food articles.
• The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly wholesale price index (WPI), was at 5.22 per cent in September 2018.
• The rate of price rise for the food articles was at 7.47 per cent during the month, while that for non-food articles stood at 2.18 per cent, showed the data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Delhi’s air quality slips to ‘very poor’ category

News

• Delhi average AQI based on 36 monitoring stations was measured at 270 which was in the “poor” category.

Air quality-very poor

• Ghaziabad, Greater Noida and Noida were in the “very poor” category with an AQI of 320, 301 and 310 respectively, according to Central Pollution Control Board data.
• An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.
• The Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research said smoke from stubble burning will make up 6% of Delhi’s pollution by October 15, when the GRAP comes into force in Delhi-NCR.
• Despite a ban on stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana, farmers continue to defy it and pollution monitoring bodies have shown that Punjab has reported a 45% increase in crop residue cases till October 11 while Haryana has shown a slight decrease.

Exoplanets, and ‘dark’ matter

Exoplanets

• The word planet is a general term that describes any celestial body that moves around a star. Well, there are also “rogue” planets that do not orbit stars.
• An exoplanet is a planet outside our solar system. It is an extrasolar planet.
• 51 Pegasi b was the first exoplanet to be discovered by Mayor and Queloz in December, 1995. The delay was due to the lack of good telescopes or a suitable method

51 Pegasi b

• The constellation Pegasus has a star 51 Pegasi which is some 50 light years away from earth. On October 6, 1995, the prize-winning duo discovered a planet orbiting it.
• It was named 51 Pegasi b, as per astronomical conventions. It is a gas giant, about half the size of Jupiter, which is why it was given the name Dimidium, meaning one-half. It orbits its star in just four days. It is unlikely that we can survive that.

Exoplanets discovered

• According to the NASA exoplanet archive, as of October 10, 2019, there are 4,073 confirmed exoplanets. 

Dark energy

• In 1998, it was discovered that the universe is expanding and that this expansion was gaining speed or accelerating.
• There had to be an “invisible” energy that was driving this. Calculations showed that this dark energy so called because it did not interact with the observed mass makes up about 70% of the universe.

Army EME Corps gears up for automation

News

• The Army’s Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) has launched a major initiative under Project Beehive for automation of the entire Corps to enable real-time monitoring and response of its 2,000 workshops across the country.
• The Corps observes October 15 as its Raising Day.

Automation

• The Corps is segregated into eight modules at different levels, of which one module is done and the second is under way.
• The 2,000 workshops across India will be connected into the beehive and each of them will be able to track their equipment and readiness in real time.
• For instance, on a click, all critical readiness states is displayed. The equipment, how much mileage was done, when is the next service due and so on. It also allows easy forecast of requirements.
• The Army is collaborating with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on this and EME officers were part of the product development. Officers were part of the development process so that “at no step we are found wanting.”
• The Army had earlier automated its workshops under WASP (Workshop Honey bees) which is now being upgraded to be on same level with Beehive.
• Giving a glimpse of the magnitude of the task and the workforce that needs to be integrated,there are over 2000 equipment types in the Army of different magnitudes and vehicles alone constitute about 80 types. The entire depth of equipment is 30 lakh.
• The Corps has a wide ranging mandate from refit, inspections, trials, recovery and refurbishing of the Army’s weapons, equipment and systems in addition to design and development of weapon systems in collaboration with development agencies.
• With the level of automation progressively going up, the Corps of EME is “preparing for a leaner workforce.”

Bangladesh, Nepal to grow faster than India: World Bank report

News

• Bangladesh and Nepal are estimated to grow faster than India in 2019, according to the World Bank, which said that overall growth in South Asia is projected to slow down this fiscal in line with a global downward trend.

Grow faster than India

• Pakistan’s growth rate is projected to deteriorate further to a mere 2.4% this fiscal year, as monetary policy remains tight, and the planned fiscal consolidation will compress domestic demand.
• Imports have declined severely across South Asia, contracting between 15 and 20% in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
• In India, domestic demand has slipped, with private consumption growing 3.1% in the last quarter from 7.3% a year ago, while manufacturing growth plummeted to below 1% in the second quarter of 2019 compared to over 10 per cent a year ago.
• The report noted that South Asia’s current economic slowdown echoes the decelerating growth and trade slumps of 2008 and 2012.
• South Asian countries have made decentralisation a priority to improve the delivery of public services.
• In India, growth is projected to fall to 6.0% this fiscal year. Growth is then expected to gradually recover to 6.9% in fiscal year 2021 and to 7.2 per cent in the following year.
• In Bangladesh, the real GDP growth is estimated at 8.1% in 2019, up from 7.9% in 2018, the country’s growth is projected at 7.2% in 2020 and 7.3% in 2021.
• In Nepal, GDP growth is projected to average 6.5 per cent over this and next fiscal year, backed by strong services and construction activity due to rising tourist arrivals and higher public spending.
• In Afghanistan, with improved farming conditions and assuming political stability after the elections, growth is expected to recover and reach 3% in 2020 and 3.5% in 2021. In Bhutan, GDP growth is expected to jump to 7.4 % this fiscal year. In Maldives, growth is expected to reach 5.2% in 2019.
• In Sri Lanka, growth is expected to soften to 2.7% in 2019.
• Pakistan’s economy is slowing as the country passes through yet another macroeconomic crisis with high twin deficits and low international reserves. With an IMF Extended Fund Facility supported stabilization program in place, growth is expected to remain low in the near-term.

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