Delhi University has commenced the classes for first-year undergraduate students. The classes are being conducted in the virtual mode (Online) for the students due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The new academic session for the freshers began after a delay of close to four months due to the colleges and universities being shut since March 2020.
The university conducted the admissions for the students in the online mode for roughly 68,000 of the total 70,000 undergraduate seats offered across the colleges affiliated to the university with five cutoffs which were released.
Admissions conducted online
The admission process including the document verification process was conducted online in view of the pandemic and lockdown situation. With respect to the remaining seats, the university was supposed to release a special cut-off list however the admission process has been deferred due to some of the university officials testing positive for the virus.
Freshers have shared a completely different experience of the first day of college amidst the current situation. The students have stated that usually, the students receive a grand welcome on their first day but now the situation has changed and the whole event has been conducted online.
Online orientation
Some of the colleges conducted an online orientation session for the students which was live-streamed. Students have shared their different experiences of beginning the session online although some pointed out missing the excitement of the first day of college. The colleges which conducted the orientation session online include Miranda House, Hindu College, St. Stephens College, Shri Ram College of Commerce, Ramjas College, and many more.
While conducting the online orientation, the colleges laid emphasis on the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of the students. The first-year students were also introduced to the college counselors lining up online sessions with them for the students.
The Delhi University Students Union which earlier conducted a welcome drive for the freshers has also planned an online interactive session and events for the academic year.
Akshit Dahiya, President DUSU, while speaking about the orientation stated that since the students cannot come to college the students union will reach out to them. Unlike the previous years, the students will be welcomed by the union with online events wherein the students can also participate.
Bihar NEET Counselling Merit List 2020: As per the latest update, the BCECEB has officially released the Bihar UGMAC Merit List 2020 today. Medical aspirants seeking admission to MBBS and BDS courses can now check their merit position for state-quota of NEET 2020 counselling online by visiting website bceceboard.bihar.gov.in. As an alternative to the long route of checking merit list via the official website, candidates can also click on the direct link placed below, which will take them directly to the PDF file containing the Bihar UGMAC 2020 Merit List
Click on the link below to check the list:
As per the latest update, ICAI has released an official notification about change of exam centres for the CA November 2020 exams. Candidates who are due to appear for the entrance exam are advised to go through the official notice which is available on website i.e. icai.org. Candidates can also click on the link provided below, which will take them to the official notice from where they can get the necessary updates about the exam.
Click On the Link to Get Full Details:- https://resource.cdn.icai.org/61862exam171120.pdf
Address to 30 Exam Centres Changed
As per the official notice released on 17th November, the institute has confirmed that it has changed address of over 30 exam centres to a new venue. In line with the information provided in the notice, the institute has changed the address for a few exam centres completely while for few other exam centres the exam centre addresses have undergone minor changes. The detailed notice linked above provides the complete detail about the same.
Admit Cards to remain Valid
While the addresses for over 30 exam centres have been changed by the ICAI, the institute has also announced that the exam hall tickets issued by it earlier for the November 2020 exam will remain valid for the same without any changes. Apart from the change in the address for few exam centres, all the other details provided in the CA November 2020 exam admit card will remain unchanged. As per the official schedule released earlier, the CA November 2020 exam is scheduled to be held from 21st November to 14th December 2020.
The ICAI CA Foundation, Intermediate and Final Examinations will be conducted as per schedule. The institution wrote on Twitter to make the clarification after reports if the examinations were making the rounds on social. Media. In its official statement, the ICAI has stated that examinations scheduled to begin from November 21, 2020, will be conducted as per schedule. The institute in its statement has also asked the candidates to concentrate on the examinations and not be misled by any kind of false information which are being provided. The institute has also retained the students to refer to the official website only for information regarding the examinations and other announcements.
The ICAI CA Foundation, Intermediate and Final exams are scheduled to be conducted from November 21 to December 15, 2020. The examination will be conducted by following all the instructions and guidelines since the exams are being conducted amidst the pandemic. The institute has assured the safety of the students and staff at the exam centres during the exam centres along with taking all the necessary precautionary measures keeping in mind the COVID-19 pandemic.
ICAI CA Admit Card
ICAI has also released the CA Foundation, Intermediate and Final Examination admit card on the official website. Students appearing for the examinations are advised to visit the official website to download the admit card of the examinations, the ICAI CA examination admit card will include details such as the name and roll number of the students, the name of the examination, examination centre name and address, reporting time to the CA examinations, examination duration and the instructions to be followed by the students.
Candidates appearing for the exams are advised to read through the instructions provided for appearing for the exams.
A decarbonisation pathway for industries can fulfil the twin objectives of sustained, inclusive economic growth while mitigating climate change
The global energy system has been undergoing a transition that is unprecedented in pace and scale. However, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, what was to be a crucial year in the global climate discourse has now become one of many socially-distant events and webinars. In a bold move, China’s President Xi Jinping announced his commitment to enhance the country’s nationally-determined contribution (NDC) and lower peak CO2 emissions before 2030, as well as the plan to reach carbon neutrality before 2060. Early estimates by the Climate Action Tracker suggest that if China were to submit a carbon neutrality pledge, it would lower warming projections by around 0.2-0.3°C. This announcement clearly signals that climate action is a strong national agenda for Beijing. With both China and the European Union shifting towards a zero-carbon narrative, India is in the spotlight now as one of the largest emitters in the world. The nation is currently on track to significantly overachieve its NDC targets, both on emissions’ intensity (a 30-35 per cent reduction by 2030 on the 2005 levels) and on non-fossil fuel electricity generation (40 per cent non-fossil fuel generating capacity by 2030).
While India is already considered a climate leader in the area of renewable energy growth and electricity sector decarbonisation, the country must turn its attention to industrial decarbonisation. A strong argument can be made that this would be crucial to not only achieving the Paris Agreement goals but also for Indian businesses to remain globally competitive. India and Sweden led the transition track at the UN Climate Action Summit in September 2019 and were entrusted with creating stronger commitments from the industry to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Recently, industries comprising “hard to abate” sectors, like aluminium and cement, mentioned that they have already initiated action towards enhancing energy efficiency and increasing the share of renewable power in their overall mix. They are also undertaking carbon sequestration, maximising energy efficiency, adopting renewable technologies across the supply chain and embracing best practices of resource-efficiency and circular economy. However, these advancements are likely to face significant constraints in the form of technological capacity, governmental support and investment hurdles in taking up a decarbonisation pathway. Nonetheless, such initiatives can go a long way in boosting confidence of the sector and are crucial for helping India fulfil its climate action goals.
The global climate change and development narrative has highlighted the need to have development pathways that are resilient, green and sustainable. A decarbonisation pathway for industries can fulfil the twin objectives of sustained, inclusive economic growth while mitigating climate change. Decarbonisation as an industry-led approach within the sector would have co-benefits in the form of bringing India closer to fulfilling Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as on Industries (SDG 9), Decent Growth (SDG 8), Energy (SDG 7) and Climate Action (SDG 13). By upscaling their “green” ambitions in the value chains, processes, infrastructure and partnerships, industries would contribute to the growth of decarbonised backward and forward linkages, enhance their sustainable development capacities and create a green growth paradigm for India. An integrated strategy encapsulating environmental, social and economic necessities would require collaboration between policy-makers and industries, with the former supporting and encouraging businesses through stable and green financing incentives and the latter contributing to nationwide growth through innovation and enhanced technical knowledge. The long-term impact of this kind of an informed industry-led approach, covering climate action and sustainable development, would lead to a positive ripple effect in multiple sectors. It would enable India to undergo a large-scale, comprehensive upgradation on poverty (SDG 1), sanitation (SDG 6), resource management and conservation (SDG 6, 12), skill-building (SDG 4) and amplify technical and financial efficacies through capacity-building (SDG 17). While the world is grappling with a pandemic, it has become quite clear that there is a need to sustain global momentum on climate action.
At the 75th Session of the UNGA, India highlighted the need for reforms at the UN for responding to challenges of the 21st century. Climate change and the subsequent shift towards a greener, circular economy are of utmost relevance here and require multilateral agencies to support developing countries in addressing these challenges through inclusive participation, coordination and support. Climate change puts the responsibility for a collated response on all the stakeholders, cross-cutting various sectors. Industries, catering to a diverse pool of economic activities, will have a pioneering role here. The UNGA and the New York Climate Week discourses have demonstrated a strong willingness by industries to act on addressing climate change. This momentum towards decarbonisation must be enforced and harboured through partnerships and support.
(Sastry and Raj are Research Associates, TERI)
Use it to produce fuel, textiles, electricity, raw materials and have more natural end-products with a significantly smaller environmental impact
An average of 50 million tonnes of agro-biomass such as rice straw are set on fire every year in Uttar Pradesh (UP), Punjab and Haryana, contributing significantly to the air pollution woes of these States as well as the national Capital. Data released by the Central Government revealed that in September, the concentration of poisonous PM2. 5 particles in a cubic metre of air averaged at 47.64 micrograms, 17 per cent higher from the same month last year. In places like Haryana and Faridabad, the average Air Quality Index (AQI) ranged from 203 to 245 and the AQI of Delhi ranged from 234 to 269, which is “poor.” Frighteningly, this is almost twice the “safe” level prescribed by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Much has been debated about this pollution problem and some solutions have been proffered. A very practical remedy that can not only do away with the practice of crop-burning but improve the livelihoods of farmers is using agricultural waste to produce valuable products and growing alternate crops that provide both ample food and substantial biomass.
Why agricultural waste isn’t really waste? Agro-residues and woody biomass can be used to manufacture high-value products that can replace fossil-based and other environmentally detrimental raw materials. Biomass is fractionated in refineries to its main components — lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose, with high yields and purity. These fractions can be used to replace fossil-derived raw materials in many industrial and consumer sectors. Hemicellulose, for instance, can be used in the manufacture of food ingredients, while lignin finds applications in construction materials. Cellulose, meanwhile, has many uses in the textiles industry. All these facts, especially the last one, are highly significant as they give farmers an additional avenue for income generation while also meeting a national need.
Instead of burning straw and other agricultural waste on their fields, farmers can sell them as raw material for producing textile fibres.The production of cotton usually requires huge amounts of water and pesticides. If, however, a cotton field was replaced with wheat, and 30 per cent of the resultant wheat straw was used for manufacturing textile fibre, we would get the same amount of fibre as from the cotton crop but with substantially less water usage. At the same time, the wheat produced in the field would help in meeting the food requirement of the region.
Raw material for sustainable clothing and sustainable fashion: Agricultural waste can be used to produce highly sustainable textile fibre, as was demonstrated at the Textile Exchange Sustainability Conference in Vancouver in October 2019, where the world’s first clothing made from wheat straw was introduced. Encouragingly, there is a growing demand for sustainable textiles around the world as well as in India. Apparel stores and even fashion shows have begun hosting events with sustainability as one of the themes. This is just as well for studies suggest that it takes up to 2,700 litres of water to produce the amount of cotton needed to make a single T-shirt.
In view of the water crisis that looms on the horizon of most countries of the world, sustainable apparel made out of biomass must be viewed not as a passing fad but as a future necessity. India has an abundant labour supply, a strong domestic market, and well-established capacities for spinning, weaving and apparel-making. Simply by growing the right crops and by using biomass “waste” as raw material for its textiles, the country can reduce imports significantly and play a dominant role in the global market for apparel and fashion.
An environment-friendly source of fuel and power in the future: Rice, as the staple food in many parts of India, is one of the most widely-grown crops in the country. However, after the rice grains have been separated from the stalks, the rest of the plant — a sizeable part — is usually discarded. This “waste” can instead be used to produce biofuels. There is also potential for making ethanol from rice straw. Ethanol-blended petrol can reduce emissions from sectors such as heavy-duty vehicles, aviation and shipping. The National Policy on Biofuels has, in fact, set a target of 10 per cent ethanol blending with vehicle fuel by the year 2022 and 20 per cent by 2030. Bamboo is yet another crop that can provide ample biomass while, at the same time, improve rural livelihoods. Like in the biorefinery in Assam, bamboo can be used to produce bioethanol, biochemicals and even excess electricity. The idea is to use biomass to produce fuel, textiles, electricity, raw materials for industries and have more natural end-products with less resource usage and significantly smaller environmental impact. With a bit of foresight and the willingness to work towards sustainability for all, we could see significantly higher usage of biomass in the years ahead. It will play an important part in our journey towards achieving carbon neutrality and reducing the use of non-renewable resources.
(The writer heads a clean energy company)
Limiting learning to theory and skipping practical applications hinder the learning process of students. A hybrid template is needed
Every year, there are nearly 37.4 million enrolments in higher educational institutions in the country. This reflects the student density in India and also the expanding horizons of the education sector, which has been growing at a rapid pace every year. However, the sudden “Covid shock” created a tremendous negative impact. As a result of the outbreak and the danger it posed to human lives, universities and colleges had to be shut down and their syllabus curtailed. That was until the sector decided to initiate a revolution instead. Making a conscious choice to grow even in the time of crisis, it reinvented its approach and pedagogy and decided to digitise several fundamental processes, which were core to its functioning. The education process reforms seen in India and globally, too, in the COVID-19 era are a perfect example of how necessity is indeed the mother of invention. However, getting back to “normal” is a long way off and in the current scenario, higher education institutions in India are facing two major challenges.
Operational challenges: Maintenance of staff, faculty and infrastructure is becoming difficult as fee payments have been pushed ahead. Expensive infrastructure and expert faculty members make up a substantial part of the expenses for most higher education institutions. Due to the impact of late payments and the unexpected changes in schedules, universities are struggling to cover costs. Across the nation, institutions are facing issues with cash flow as are families, faced with major salary cuts or job losses in a crumbling economy.
Another challenge comes from the parents and students, who are unable to accept the ways and tools of online classes and find it difficult to adjust to the new methods of pedagogy. Besides, the fear surrounding classes in brick and mortar classrooms, even with social distancing norms in place, is widely prevalent and does not seem to be a viable solution for the moment.
Poor network in far-flung areas: Geography, too, becomes another hurdle as far as acceptance of the “new normal” is concerned. Numerous students residing in remote areas do not have a proper mobile network or alternative means for having a seamless digital experience. For example, a student who lives with his family near the suburbs of Kolkata faces regular network problems due to which his classes get disrupted and his learning gets compromised. Similarly, there is a lack of cyber connectivity even in cities like Jaipur. Students from tier-II and tier-III cities have to struggle a lot due to connectivity issues and often use dongles to be able to study online. That has its own challenges.
Earlier, students had to attend five or six classes a day but now this has been curtailed due to online education. Plus, given the lack of blackboards at home, which are used by most teachers to demonstrate practical models of application, the faculty finds it difficult to explain problems and share solutions. And even if teachers research and share findings with the students online, they cannot be assured of student participation as they cannot monitor them remotely.
Absence of peer to peer learning: Learning goes far beyond classroom education and also involves inter-personal engagement with fellow students. Extra-curricular learning has been known to provide a significant impetus to overall personality development. Peer to peer learning, which is a major source of new skills and knowledge in higher institutions, has been majorly compromised by distancing norms. Apart from this, there are tremendous problems being faced by design and engineering students as they can learn through simulations but are now sadly devoid of real experiences.
Limiting learning to theory and skipping practical applications hinder the learning process of students. The psychological and mental challenges that will result from prolonged isolation and lack of interaction for many students is another factor that needs to be addressed. Many institutions will need to create in-house expertise for the same.
The way forward: What is the solution to the challenges that the education sector is facing? While institutes struggle to provide an integrated and holistic learning experience to students, they need a blueprint to bring back a certain level of “normalcy” in the sector.
There is a need for Government intervention at this point. Even though it is doing its best to bring the outbreak under control, it will be a while before the pandemic goes away. Even then, fear and doubts will exist for a long time to come. Which is why there is an urgent need to create a plan for students and higher education institutions in order to sustain and increase the pace of growth of the sector in the coming days. Additionally, the nature of teaching should be such that it does not compromise on learning outcomes, particularly in courses which require laboratory practicals, case studies or group activity. These, too, merit some portions of the courses to be conducted in normal ways as opposed to online.
(The writer is Vice-Chancellor, JK Lakshmipat University, Jaipur)
Enacting laws sans assessment only leads to diverting attention from long-term comprehensive solutions to short-term myopic interventions
A legislation on air quality management in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) is perhaps an idea whose time has come. With the Supreme Court hot on its heels on the issue of air pollution, the Central Government has taken a holistic view of the matter. A new law will seek to put a permanent statutory body in place with participants from the affected States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (UP) and, of course, Delhi to reduce air pollution in contiguous areas. Delhi’s air quality has been in the “very poor” category and is predicted to remain so till the end of winter. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s satellite imagery also showed a very dense cluster of fires in Punjab, Haryana and nearby regions. Air pollution in urban areas arises from multiple sources, which may vary with location and developmental activities. Anthropogenic activities, such as rampant industrialisation, exploitation and overconsumption of natural resources and the ever-growing population size, are major contributors to air pollution.
The Delhi-NCR region bears the brunt of farmland fires that contribute heavily to the annual air pollution crisis. Dense smoke billows from smouldering paddy fields, which are set on fire to prepare the ground for sowing the next crop. The smoke rises and settles over vast swathes of north and north-west India. Coupled with local emissions and dust, it has in recent years turned cities into what the apex court once described as “gas chambers.”
According to data compiled by the Union Agriculture Ministry, Punjab accounted for 82 per cent of the stubble burning cases, besides Haryana and UP, between October 1and 23. This contributed heavily to the foul air choking Delhi-NCR.
In a recent order, the top court had ordered the deployment of the National Cadet Corps, National Service Scheme and Bharat Scouts and Guides for assisting in the monitoring of crop residue burning in the fields of Punjab, Haryana, UP and Delhi-NCR, saying all it wants is that the “people can breathe fresh air without any pollution.”
The law intends to address the issue of multiplicity of authorities that hampers coordinated action, though it has to address State jurisdictions involved in implementing steps. There are enough laws to deal with the situation, experts feel, saying multiplicity of institutions and overlapping laws may end up creating even more confusion and friction.
Both the Centre and the States have enough powers under the existing laws and more than any new legislation, there has to be actual action on pollution sources while implementing existing rules and regulations effectively, say experts.
As of now, the Central Government has been using its powers under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 in order to issue directions to control pollution. Both the State and Centre have enough powers under existing laws — the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 — to take preventive and remedial measures to deal with air pollution. In case the Centre intends to enact a law regulating farming practice, it will have to ensure that it does not encroach upon the domain reserved for the State. Agriculture is a State subject while the environment is in the Concurrent List. In case it directly impacts agricultural practices, it is likely to face both social opposition as well as legal challenges, say environmental experts, who rue that the Supreme Court, Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA), the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) may not be that clear as to what needs to be done. They say that if the Government is keen on resolving the issue, it must undertake a thorough review of the various laws and institutions in order to look at their efficacy and utility.
Enacting laws or issuing directions without any assessment and consultation only ends up as a way to divert attention from long-term comprehensive solutions to short-term myopic interventions.
“The problem lies in the fact that political will is missing when it comes to implementation. Having said that, it will be a welcome step if there is a specific provision to deal with crop residue burning at the national level. It should not be left alone as a problem in Punjab and Haryana only. Satellite images from central and southern India show the extent of crop waste burning in these parts as well, which have an impact on local climate resilience,” says Polash Mukerjee, Air Quality Researcher.
There is no dearth of power under the law, the question is of adherence, says Anumita Roy Chowdhury, Executive Director, Centre for Science and Environment.
The moot question, according to former counsel for the CPCB in the Supreme Court Vijay Panjwani, is what action the Centre can take if the State fails to follow the directions?
A report by Beijing-based policy think tank, Bluetech Clean Air Alliance (BCAA), released in June 2019, had said that China faced a similar problem and the Chinese Government started to show strong political commitment in tackling the issue from the highest levels, which is widely considered to be a key factor for the success of such measures. “Political commitments from the State Governments are also required to ensure they are transformed into solid actions. Effective air quality management requires science-based policy-making, analysing scientific assessments, data monitoring, emissions inventory, air quality modelling, source apportionment studies and transport planning. China’s lessons showed that significant investments and efforts that have no foundation in science are made in vain, with no impact on air quality improvement,” says the report.
Despite US President Donald Trump’s jibe about India’s “filthy air”, Delhi did record a drop of 25 per cent in PM-10 levels and a 19 per cent fall in PM-2.5 in 2019, as compared with 2016. But neither the pace of decline of these two key air pollutants, nor the existing target under the National Clean Air Programme are likely to be enough to make the city breathe easily even by 2024, going by the national ambient air quality standards. Air quality management is the need of the hour and must be undertaken at all cost.
(The writer is Technical Associate, Forest Survey of India, Dehradun)
Ganga Utsav 2020 to be celebrated virtually from 2nd November – 4th November 2020 on Namami Gange’s youtube channel and other platforms
26th October 2020, New Delhi: On the occasion of the 12th anniversary of the declaration of Ganga as a national river, Namami Gange mission, Jal Shakti Ministry will be organising Ganga Utsav 2020.
Ganga Utsav 2020 will be a three days cultural and educational festival, to celebrate the glory of holy river Ganga. The aim is to connect masses to the cause of river rejuvenation and sensitize them about ecological issues through conversations and entertainment. For the first time, it will be happening online on Namami Gange’s youtube, other social media handles and www.gangautsav.in. This has given us an opportunity to take Ganga Utsav 2020 to entire country. Strengthening people river connect is an important priority of Namami Gange Mission and several initiatives are undertaken for the same.
Followed by pre-events on 2nd Nov 2020, the festival will be inaugurated by Hon’ble MoS, Sh. Rattan Lal Kataria, Ministry of Jal Shakti on 3rd Nov 2020. Shri Ganjendra Singh Shekhawat, Jal Shakti Minister will be addressing audience through virtual conference. Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev will be giving a special message on spiritual significance of rivers. The event will conclude on 4th Nov 2020 with a panel discussion with Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Jal Shakti Minister and other senior officials from Jal Shakti Ministry and Namami Gange Program.
Major Attractions of Ganga Utsav 2020
- Shri Rajiv Khandelwal, actor will be in conversation with Richa Anirudhh sharing his experience while shooting for Rag Rag Mein Ganga.
- Shri Rajiv Malhotra, researcher & author and Shri Satyanarayan Dasa, scholar & author will be in conversation. The discussion will be about importance of rivers especially Ganga and India civilisation.
- Padam Bhushan Anil Prakash Joshi, Enviornmentalist and Shri Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga will be in conversation.
- Neelesh Mishra ki Kahaaniya by Neelesh Mishra on river rejuvenation
- Puranic Stories on Ganga by Anand Neelkantan
- Stories and a special puppet show by Your Story Bag
- Live Music Concert by Kailash Kher
- Live Music Concert by Kabir Café
- Kathak Dance Performance by Vasvati Mishra
- Performance by Revati Sakalkar, Indian Semi Classical Vocalist
Award winning films like Kali Bein (The Black River) and Ganga - The Ribbon of Life amongst others will be screened during the film festival. This film festival will be hosted in association with Centre for Media Studies (CMS) is a multi-disciplinary, not for profit, think tank engaged in developing and discussing policy alternatives on a wide-range of issues of local and global significance.
Ganga Quest is a national digital program to improve people-river connect particularly for youth and children organized by National Mission for Clean Ganga and TREE Craze Foundation (TCF). It was held earlier this year which received massive million plus participation. Mini Ganga quest will be conducted throughout the Ganga Utsav 2020.
Ganga Utsav 2020 is expected play an important role in role in attracting public attention to the Ganga rejuvenation. This will also reflect the efforts being made by Namami Gange towards rejuvenation of Ganga and its tributaries. 'Ganga Utsav' is an initiative to revive a sacred culture while embodying new expectations towards rivers of this nation. Above all Ganga Utsav will be an event of celebration and learning at the same time.
Links to join the festival
https://www.youtube.com/namamigange
https://www.facebook.com/cleanganganmcg
https://twitter.com/cleanganganmcg
Click to download: Ganga Utsav 2020 Schedule
Research has confirmed our worst fears, polluted air not only exacerbates COVID symptoms, it traps the virus around us
The time for knee-jerk reactions is over and we better commit ourselves to cleaning up the air around us for good — through combined political will, implementable policies, lifestyle adjustments and sustainable practices — or else risk death. So latest scientific studies have confirmed what common sense has been telling us for some time, the higher the concentration of solid particles suspended in the air that lies heavy and low around us, the greater the chances of the COVID-19 virus getting trapped in them, making us more vulnerable to contracting it. And given that high air pollution levels damage the lungs, inducing or aggravating health conditions such as asthma, obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, the disease burden could turn COVID-19 fatal. Imagine the fallout on Delhiites, whose disease resistance has already been compromised battling winter haze every year. The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has warned that Delhi could report around 15,000 cases daily this winter due to the prevalence of respiratory illnesses that can worsen the symptoms of the disease. A Harvard University study has proved that an increase of only one microgram per cubic metre in a particulate matter or PM 2.5 is associated with an eight per cent increase in the COVID death rate. So, the surge of PM 2.5 levels in Delhi could result in a spike in caseload besides exacerbating the severity of symptoms of those infected. Yet another study by the University of Cambridge in April established a link between patients living in a highly polluted area of England and the severity of COVID-19. Many parts of north India, especially Delhi, are already wrapped in a blanket of hazardous smoke. According to the 2019 World Air Quality Report, India has 21 of the 30 most polluted cities in the world, where air quality can be as much as 10 times over the safe limits recommended by WHO. Over the past few weeks, PM 2.5 levels in Delhi have averaged around 180-340 µg/m?3; and on an extended basis, such saturation weakens the lungs and the body’s ability to fend off infections. Additionally, they can even act as a medium for the transmission of the virus as studies from Italy have recorded traces of SARS-CoV-2 RNA on pollutants. Stubble burning, festive fireworks and low wind speed conditions along with vehicular and industrial pollution have already worsened matters.
Hence we need to permanently solve the problem of pollution and that means going beyond tokenism. For starters, we need to stop stubble burning on an emergency basis across States, in mission mode to be precise. We must use the green cess collected so far to subsidise shredding equipment and maximise alternative uses of crop waste. We need a three-level combat strategy at the level of policy-making, economy and community. Both the Centre and State Governments have already rolled out various policies to address air pollution, one of the most recent ones being the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP). It calls on 122 cities across India to develop city-level clean-up plans to implement mitigation strategies for ambient PM concentrations. However, it has failed to enforce its targets and has remained ineffective. That’s because in the absence of a legal mandate, the NCAP is toothless. Besides, ensuring compliance means appropriate monitoring and inspection and it lacks trained personnel for these tasks. Also, its budgetary allocation is just not enough. Delhi has 38 real-time air quality monitoring stations while Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have 25 and 22 each, and Tamil Nadu has only five. This in turn causes data-related implementation hurdles, including poor data captured due to substandard monitoring stations and lack of appropriate methodology to leverage real-time data for reporting trends. In terms of policy, the Government needs to put a blanket ban on firecrackers. We must realise that life needs to be celebrated more than festivals at the moment. We also need to create a financial architecture where the private sector can help with cutting-edge innovations and unique technology solutions along with financing them. Having an investment fund with a dedicated green focus could catalyse the growth of such green industries along with addressing the problems of air pollution and climate change. Businesses should now disclose the air pollution footprint of their products and implement a cap on emissions. This can help the consumers make an eco-friendly choice. The number of premature deaths due to outdoor air pollution is predicted to increase from three million people in 2010 to six to nine million people globally in 2060. A study shows that approximately 2.2 million schoolchildren in Delhi are growing up with irreversible lung damage. There are various community-based solutions that can help the vulnerable sections. Researchers from Banaras Hindu University (BHU) have determined which trees are capable to put up with the assault of particulate matter gaseous pollutants (nitrous oxide, sulphur dioxide, ozone) in the city’s urban pockets. Such information can be used by urban planners in managing urban forests. Thus, the academic community can help find innovative solutions while communities in rural areas are made aware of the harmful effects of using traditional cooking stove. People need to follow small initiatives like “Red Light On, Gaadi Off” at signals, a message that has caught on a bit. In the end, this pandemic is just the immediate threat and irreversible climate change may bring about far more infectious diseases that we can barely fathom now. The brown haze has just made us sick. Unattended, it may soon choke us to death.
Without increasing public investment, neither the infrastructure, nor the standards required for the New Education Policy 2020 can be achieved
There have been plenty of debates and discourses about the New Education Policy 2020 (NEP) but not many focussed on its implementation. No doubt, the NEP is the most progressive and futuristic document and if implemented with sincerity in letter and spirit, it has a tectonic potential to transform India from an educationally laggard nation into a knowledge superpower. Indeed we have never had any education system, only a system of examinations and that, too, an inefficient one, based on rote learning that kills all creativity and innovation. The NEP aspires to transform this moribund system by aiming to produce “good, thoughtful, well-rounded, and creative individuals,” who are needed to transform the 21st century India. But it has failed to provide a specific implementation roadmap, except specifying some broad targets.
Neither has it prescribed any accountability mechanism for its implementation. But most importantly, any great idea like this needs great finances. Education being a concurrent subject, both the Centre and the States need to share the responsibility for its implementation as well as finances. But the NEP has almost skirted the issue altogether.
The higher education in the country has seen phenomenal growth during the last two decades. The number of colleges, universities and students has quadrupled since 2001, and the private sector has grown much faster than the public institutions. Today, we have 993 universities, about 40,000 colleges and 10,000 standalone institutions, and nearly four crore students. But unfortunately, most of these institutions produce unemployable graduates and postgraduates annually, with very little knowledge and skill.
If we can forget for a moment our current military standoff with China, a comparison with that country might be instructive in many respects. In India Unlimited: Reclaiming the Lost Glory, Arvind Panagariya has provided some tale-tell statistics about China and India. Based on the Scopus database of articles published and cited in international journals, the National Science Foundation of US brings out annual rankings of different countries. In 1996, in almost all subject areas, China and India were ranked more or less evenly. In fact, India was a tad better. In terms of the total citations, India was ranked 19th amongst all countries, while China was ranked 21st. In social sciences, India was ranked 21st against China’s 24th, in chemistry and molecular sciences, India was ranked 11th and in physics 17th against China’s 13th in both. But by 2017, China moved far ahead of us in all subjects — third in terms of total citations against India’s 14th. In social sciences, chemistry and physics, China ranked fifth, first and second while India lagged way behind with 14th, fifth and eighth ranks respectively in these subjects. In the Times Higher Education Ranking 2020, China has three universities among the top 100 of the world, four in the next 100 and altogether 72 among the top 1,000. India has none among the first 200 and 36 among the top 1,000, half of China’s 72.
How could China race so much ahead of us in just two decades? Actually, it had started its economic liberalisation in 1976, a good 15 years ahead of us. But it started reforming the education system in 1995, 25 years ahead of us. It realised that to become a great power and a great nation, the primary need is to have a good system of education.
What is a good system of education? If we take the US as the model, we would appreciate that a good system of education needs basically two things: adequate funding and decentralised governance with a very high degree of autonomy to the institutions. The US universities have complete autonomy in deciding admission, courses and faculty and they compete amongst themselves to attract the best faculty, students and research endowment funds. They function independent of federal and State Government regulations with practically no interference by the State.
We had inherited a colonial legacy of higher education where universities were primarily tasked with granting degrees with very little focus on research, and by and large, we still remain the same. China has modelled its system of education in the Soviet-style after 1949 but Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution nearly did it in. Then in 1995, as Panagariya informs, it launched the so-called Project 211 with the slogan: “For the 21st century, manage the top 100 universities successfully.” In 1998, it passed the Higher Education Law, which liberalised and decentralised its higher education just like the US, with academic and administrative freedom given to higher educational institutions (HEIs). That law recognised the need for ensuring adequate funding and allowed tuition fees to be hiked by the universities, with State subsidies for those who couldn’t afford it. So the tuition fees rose steeply from ¥600 in 1992 to ¥10,000 by mid-2010. The Project 211 funded $4.6 billion (30 per cent on infrastructure) to 107 universities between 1995 and 2005. In 1998, China launched another project — Project 985 — to create world-class universities out of the 107 universities selected for Project 211. Under this, the top two universities (Peking and Tsinghua) received $240 million for three years. By 2007, the project had covered 39 universities. Of these, 27 are now ranked within the top 600 universities of the world.
The NEP has correctly identified many of the problems that beset our higher education system — like a severely fragmented ecosystem characterised by a rigid separation of disciplines with little emphasis on cognitive skills, learning outcomes or quality research, limited institutional autonomy, poor leadership and ineffective regulatory and governance systems. The result is that the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education is a paltry 26 per cent compared to 58 per cent in Senior Secondary and 79 per cent in Secondary schooling. The NEP promises to correct this by focussing on multi-disciplinarity, flexibility, emphasis on skill acquisition and quality research. To fix the problems, it prescribes that there would no more be any rigid separation between arts and sciences, curricular and extra-curricular activities, or vocational and academic streams. Students will select subjects of their choosing across all streams to excel wherever they can and discover their aptitude and potential. For this, it prescribes a roadmap of credit-based undergraduate degree courses with multiple exit options.
It has also suggested a new institutional framework comprising a new overarching body — the Higher Education Commission of India — with four verticals for regulation, accreditation, funding and learning outcomes, which will end the multiple conflicts of interest that bedevil our current regulatory system. Research gets the maximum emphasis with a National Research Foundation to “seed, grow and facilitate research” in academic institutions. Most importantly, the NEP recognises that the HEIs need to be depoliticised and educationists appointed on their Board of Governance instead of bureaucrats. But given the present stranglehold of retired bureaucrats and politicians over the HEIs and their stubborn objections to any reform, it would be difficult to end their dominance over our higher education anytime soon.
The most revolutionary part of the NEP is perhaps its single-minded focus on multi-disciplinarity by creating large universities and HEI clusters and ending the present system of affiliated colleges. But such a major shift would also need enormous resources, and it is here that the NEP disappoints. The total combined public expenditure on education by the Centre and the States, currently at only about four per cent of GDP, falls way behind the target of six per cent envisaged in all our previous education policies. Consequently, our expenditure on research remains a pathetic 0.69 per cent of GDP. Without investment, neither the infrastructure nor the standards required for the NEP would be achieved.
The NEP only paid some lip-service to this crucial element — by hoping that the Centre and the States will work together to raise expenditure to six per cent of GDP which it recognises as essential for “progress and growth.” But it stops short of recommending that a law should be enacted to enforce the same. Thus, there is neither any commitment nor an accountability structure built into the NEP to ensure implementation. Maybe the committee had felt restrained by pandemic-related budgetary stress. This would be over some day but the future will not wait.
Meanwhile, universities can think of going beyond operating from their individual silos. They can form provincial and regional consortiums for better synergy. By mapping their educational resources and sharing these among themselves, they can together provide students access to the best facilities. Each institution can expand capacity in its strength area to optimise investment and specialisation and share this through a network of institutions. The mantra should be to give access to quality learning to all who desire to learn.
(The writer is former Director-General from the Office of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India and an academic)
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