The Hindu Editorial Analysis | 22nd February ’21

Table of Contents

Australia
54000
Hyderabad
Shreedharan
Tamilisai Soundararajan

Q.) Recently, Nirmala Sitharaman said that ________ is a vexatious ( खिजाऊ / अफ़सोसनाक ) issue

GST Compensation
High rate of unemployment
Farm Laws
Rising Fuel Prices

Q.) In LOW-INCOME countries, only Guinea and _____ have started Covid vaccine drive?

Sudan
Burkina Faso
Rwanda
Tanzania

Q.) Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison said that the company has “tentatively friended us again,”. Which company he is referring to in this statement?

Ali Baba
Adani
Google
Facebook

Q.) Pamela Goswami is associated with which political party?

BJP
Congress
Trinamool Congress
CPI (M)

Q.) India’s youngest pilot who acquired her student flying licence at the age of 16

Gunjan Saxena
Avani Chaturvedi
Ayesha Aziz
Sarla Thakral

Time and perseverance

Scientific community – current thinking is that life may have existed on the earth’s ruddy planetary neighbour a long time ago
Understanding this will enrich our studies of evolution and nurture of life outside the earth.

The recent NASA mission, Mars 2020, that was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on June 30, 2020, landed on the Jezero Crater in Mars on February 18, to much celebration.
Of special magnificence was the entry, descent and landing of the mission’s Perseverance rover, described as the ‘shortest and most intense part’.
Entering the Martian atmosphere at about 20,000 km per hour, the mission had to bring the Perseverance rover to a halt on the surface in just seven minutes.
Also, since it takes 11 minutes for a radio signal to reach the earth from Mars, the mission control could not really guide the landing, and the rover had to complete this process by itself.
Perseverance will take the inquiry made by Curiosity to the next level and search for signs of past life by studying the Jezero Crater.
The rover also carries a helicopter named Ingenuity that is specially designed to fly in Mars’s thin atmosphere; its sole purpose would be to demonstrate flight on Mars.

Navigating the storm

Fifteenth Finance Commission’s report for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26
The Centre has accepted much of the Commission’s broad recommendations
1. Giving states a 41% share of the divisible pool of taxes
2. Giving revenue deficit grants of nearly ₹2.95-lakh crore for 17 States over the next five years
It has also acceded to the Commission’s suggestion to make grants towards urban and rural local bodies conditional upon States setting up their own finance commissions and publishing online the accounts of local bodies.
And 60% of these grants will be further linked to these bodies’ providing sanitation and water services.
There is an ‘in-principle’ nod to the panel’s suggestion to set up a non-lapsable dedicated fund to support defence and internal security modernisation
It is up to the Centre now to ensure that States do not feel short-changed from the new fiscal framework
Centre’s penchant to raise more cesses and surcharges that do not have to be shared
Virtual zero-visibility zone due to pandemic

The blank pages in India’s online learning experience

COVID-19 has affected all sectors – social, economic and political
Education, especially education of the girl child
Around 300 million children across all age groups are reported to be out of school in India
Realistic assessment is key
This is crucial as studies conducted on government-run schools in various States indicate poor performance — a majority of children, especially girl students, have missed out much
Apart from poor access to digital data, the children were burdened with household/farm work
Girl students in particular were apprehensive of being given away in marriage
The basic strategy was to give a push to the digital distance learning method.
The focus was on the use of text/video/audio content through SMS, WhatsApp, radio and TV programmes to reach out to students and engage them.
The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development in March 2020 started sharing free e-learning platforms
Diksha portal which has e-learning content aligned to the curriculum
e-Pathshala, an app by NCERT
SWAYAM hosts 1,900 complete courses including teaching videos, computer weekly assignments, examinations and credit transfers, aimed both at school (Classes 1 to 12) and higher education
SWAYAM Prabha is a group of 32 direct to home channels devoted to the telecasting of educational programmes
The initiative failed to take into account existing divides — spatial, digital, gender and class
A recent UNICEF report points out that the massive school closures exposed the uneven distribution of technology that is needed to facilitate remote learning.
The chances for an education-enabled social and economic mobility appear to be grim in the country.
One should remember that attending schools is not about learning alone.
The long closure of schools has also meant the disruption of a range of activities such as the mid-day meal scheme, the school health programme and pre-metric scholarships to girl children.
Many States lacked adequate digital infrastructure and even teachers were poorly equipped to teach.
Once schools reopen finally, the authorities should establish the re-enrolment of children as mandated by the National Education Policy 2020.
Mass outreach programmes should be developed with civil society to encourage re-enrolment.
Remedial tuitions and counselling are advisable, along with scholarships, targeted cash transfers and other entitlements to retain the poorest at school.
It is also apt to consider making secondary education for girls free.

Uneven road | Mil. Post

This will be the first time in the banking history of India, when the Government will sell its stake or privatize four state-owned banks.
As of March 2017, there were 27 state-run banks in the country, whose number reduced to 12 in April 2020.
Now, the Government wants to sell its stake in four public sector banks viz. Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Central Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank.
These banks employ 1,22,000 employees and have a total of 15,732 branches.
The Government wants to meet revenue shortfall through disinvestment
The target of disinvestment has been reduced to Rs 32,000 crore in FY 2021
For FY 2022, the Government has set a target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore for revenue from disinvestment, out of which one lakh crore is proposed to be raised by selling government’s stake in public sector banks and other financial institutions.
The Government holds 95.8 per cent stake in Indian Overseas Bank, 92.5 per cent in Bank of Maharashtra, 92.4 per cent in Central Bank of India and 89.1 per cent in Bank of India.
If the Government reduces its stake to 51 per cent in Bank of Maharashtra and Central Bank of India, it will get Rs 6,400 crore.
Similarly, if the Government sells its entire stake in Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank, it will get around Rs 28,600 crore.
Indian Overseas Bank holds the highest equity capital, while Bank of India shares have a higher market-value than other state-owned banks.
If the Government keeps the management of both banks in its hands and sells its stake at 51 per cent to the current price, it will get around Rs 12,800 crore.
However, the value of the shares will be based on the performance of the banks.
The privatization of the four public sector banks will increase the chances of dismissal of the employees who are working there.
The service fee of these banks will increase and they will avoid serving in rural areas
They will also not take interest in implementing Government-sponsored schemes.
Further, these banks will don’t do works related to various non-remuneration services like pension disbursement, Atal Pension Yojana and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana.
The level of credibility in the minds of customers towards these banks may be diminished after privatization, as Yes Bank and Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC) had recently been in financial trouble.
Disinvestment of public sector banks may fetch crores, but the Government will also need to assess how much it will be benefited from this.
It is not necessarily the advantage in cash.
The question is also about generation of employment and increasing work pressure on the employees of remaining public sector banks.

NEWS

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Rajnath Singh inaugurates 26th edition of ‘Hunar Haat’; says, it gives emphasis on Vocal for Local
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Paddy procurement registers jump of 15.91 per cent against corresponding period last year
PM Modi to inaugurate Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Institute of Medical Sciences & Research at IIT Kharagpur on Tuesday
India sends COVID-19 vaccine to Mongolia
India signs 50 million dollar Defence line of Credit agreement with Maldives
Argentina health minister resigns amid COVID-19 vaccine scandal
Novak Djokovic wins his 9th Australian Open title.