Table of Contents
The classroom as the instructor’s castle(महल)
The autonomy of the teacher has been cramped(तंग), and it reflects in the state of higher education.
Steve Wozniak, a co founder of Apple Computer, Indians are unlikely to create world leading IT companies because they lack the creativity to do so and argued that this has to do with the education system.
A people are truly creative when they are able to collectively surmount(बढ़ना) the challenges that their country faces
Crisis in higher education
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen had spoken of a „crisis in Indian education‟ pointing to how India‟s educational policy had been shaped by the aspiration of its middle class.
While there is more than one regulator for the higher education sector in India
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There must be a drastic reduction in the number of hours faculty
have to teach
Political pressure combined with regulatory
Miles to go
New bankruptcy code yields its first success, but many wrinkles remain
News has finally started to roll out of the refurbished bankruptcy courts.
Tata Steel acquired 73% stake in the bankrupt firm Bhushan Steel for about
₹3•,000 crore last week, making it the first major resolution of a bankruptcy case under the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
Bhushan Steel was one among the 12 major accounts referred to the National
Company Law Tribunal at the behest of the Reserve Bank of India last year to ease the burden of bad loans on banks.
In fact, between April 2014 and September 2017, the bad loan recovery rate of
public sector banks was as low as 11%.
Finance Ministry now expects banks to recover more than ₹1•lakh crore
Valuable assets to be used for wealth-creation.
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IBC is an area that has drawn much attention, and it merits further review
in order to balance the twin objectives of
1)- Speedy resolution and
2)- Maximising recovery
Going forward, amendments to the bankruptcy code should primarily be driven by the goal of maximizing the sale price of stressed assets.
This requires a robust market for stressed assets that is free from all kinds of entry barriers.
What‟s in an election?
The significance of democracy does not lie just in the act of voting somebody to
power, but in the way that power is exercised by those elected.
What do elections have to do with democracy? There seems to be a strong belief that a democratic society is defined by its elections.
The principle of one person, one vote (with some conditions) is seen as a defining principle of democracy.
This principle has become so dominant that it has successfully reduced the idea of democracy to a ritual of casting votes.
By reducing democracy to this singular act, we have managed to build a society that is fundamentally undemocratic in character.
All the political parties are dominated by families or friends or, as is often the case now, business partners.
Nepotism and exclusion are the basic working principles of our political parties.
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The latest drama in Karnataka manifests well all the problems of our democracy.
Significance of voting
Today when voting has become a business
Elections are only a means
Public park is public only because park is „owned‟ by all of us in equal measure.
I am only echoing here what the common people have understood so well about elections today — that they really have very little to do with the ideal of democracy!
The Meghalaya example
As the first State to pass a social audit law
In April 2017, Meghalaya became the first State in the country to pass a social audit
legislation, the Meghalaya Community Participation and Public Services Social
Audit Act.
This Act mandated social audits across 21 schemes and 11 departments.
When the distribution register of food grains under the National Food Security Act was
read out, there was an uneasy silence.
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By passing and rolling out a social audit law, Meghalaya has made a breakthrough in
the framework of accountability to the people.
Social audit is much more than just a tool of “good governance”.
Knowing the reluctance of most government establishments to share power or become
accountable,initiative is unlikely to spread or become robust, unless driven by citizens groups
Civil society needs to shape the social audit campaign, be a watchdog, and staunchly protect
the independence of the process.
Social audits must become part of the demand for effective legislation for the whole country.
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
Page-1-Final Congress-JD(S) deal to be hammered out today
Kumaraswamy invites Rahul, Sonia to swearing-in scheduled for tomorrow
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
Page-1-Had „extremely productive‟ talks with Putin, says Modi
PM flags special strategic partnership at informal summit
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
Page-1-Kerala may seek WHO help to battle Nipah virus infection
At least four people died of the zoonotic disease since May 5 in Kerala‟s Kozhikode district
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
Page-1-Around the world in 254 days
India‟s first all-woman crew to circumnavigate the world returns home
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
Camera traps record rare black panther in Odisha
Footage got from Garjanpahad Reserve Forest
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
„India will welcome any peace move‟
India will take any statement from Pakistan towards peace between
two countries seriously, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday.
She also stated that the security forces will “fully honour” the ceasefire announced by the
government.
Maduro wins amid opposition boycott
Venezuela‟s election
The U.S. threatened new sanctions against the Venezuelan regime
China asks mosques to raise national flag
„This is to promote a spirit of patriotism‟
Map Practice
Last Day- Q‟s- Answers…
Census take place after every 10 years.
Before independence
1st time complete Census was done on 1881 .
It was done during the period of Viceroy Lord Mayo.
AFTER Independence
In 1951, the 1st time Census was conducted in independent India.
Next Census will be done in 2021.
UNIFORM CIVIL CODE
Comes under Article 44 of DPSP .
Idea of uniform civil code was given by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.