9 PM Daily Brief – November 2,2020

Good evening dear reader.

Here is our 9pm current affairs brief for you today

GS 2

Shifting trajectory Indian foreign policy

Repopulation of prisons during pandemic is dangerous.

Examining Examinations

GS 3

Air India Strategic Sale

Platform workers and their issues

9 PM for Preliminary examination

FACTLY

1: Shifting trajectory Indian foreign policy

Source- The Hindu

Syllabus- GS 2 – Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests

Context- The significance of 3^rd India-USA 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue and the shifting trajectory of India foreign policy.

What are the key highlights of 3^rd India-US 2+2 dialogue?

1)The USA reiterated its support to India in defending its territorial sovereignty in the background of the ongoing stand-off between India-China.

It also referred to the greater threats posed by China in the Indo-Pacific region and by the Covid-19 pandemic in general.

2)Signing of the BECA– India signed the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) for Geo-Spatial Cooperation, which marked India’s entry as a full member into the select category of nations entitled to receive highly classified U.S. defence and intelligence information.

BECA is one of the four foundational military communication agreements between the two countries. The other three are:

• GSOMIA- General Security of Military Information Agreement.
• LEMOA- Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement.
• COMCASA- Communications and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement.

Other Steps Taken:

• Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Technical Cooperation in Earth Observations and Earth Sciences.
• Agreement to extend the duration of the MoU on the Global Center for Nuclear Energy Partnership.
• Agreement on the electronic exchange of customs data.
• Letter of intent regarding cooperation in traditional Indian medicines.
• Discussions on the status of Afghanistan and support for its peace process.

What are the issues related with signing of BECA agreement?

1)Compromising strategic autonomy– India prides itself on maintaining strategic autonomy, by synchronizing its systems with those of the US, it will enable the US to enter its decision-making loop.

2)India’s Aversion to Alliance System– From the perspective of the US, in order to counter China, it would want India to be getting close to an alliance system. By appending its signature India has signed on to becoming part of the wider anti-China ‘coalition of the willing’.

3)Impact on China-India relations– India’s willingness to sign foundational military agreements with the U.S., would suggest that India has made its choice, which can only exacerbate already deteriorating China-India relations.

4)India has effectively lefts its previous policy of neutrality, and of maintaining its equidistant from power blocs.

What are the challenges for India with recent foreign policy shift?

1)India and the Taliban challenges– The challenge would be for India to stay relevant in Afghanistan, with the recent developments in Taliban issue. India must decide how a shift in policy at this time would serve India’s objectives in Afghanistan, considering the tremendous investment it has made in recent decades to shore up democracy in that country.

2)India’s balancing with SCO– India has to act as a willing partner of regional cooperation that is led by China and Russia while assuring that India doesn’t reflect its increasing strategic convergence with the USA.

3)India-Russia relations– It is the combination of a changing regional order, closer Russia-China ties and India’s alignment with the United States and other like-minded countries to manage Beijing’s rise that has the potential to create hurdles for India-Russia cooperation in the Asia.

4)India needs to devote greater attention to try and restore India-Iran ties which have definitely frayed in recent years.

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Way forward-

India-Russia ties– This is one relationship which India will need to handle with skill and dexterity, as it would be a tragedy if India-Russia relations were to deteriorate at a time when the world is in a state of disorder.

2. Repopulation of prisons during pandemic is dangerous.

Source: Indian Express

Gs2: issues in functioning of the Criminal Justice system

Context: Recently, the Delhi’s high-powered committee (HPC) for the decongestion of prisons directed that the undertrials and convicts  must return to prisons from early December.

Background of the issue

• Given the contagious nature of COVID-19 and overcrowding in prisons, the court ordered for depopulation of prisons.
• The court ordered state governments to form HPCs to determine the criteria for release.
• Following the Supreme Court order, in March 2020, India’s prisons released convicts on emergency parole, and undertrials on interim bail.

Why have prison populations increased during a pandemic which necessitated decongestion?

• High number of lockdown-related arrests reveals that policing priorities have been misplaced and a public health crisis has been treated more as a law and order issue.
• For example, arrests made during the first three phases of the lockdown, unusual number of arrests under Excise Act (15.8 per cent) and the Public Gambling Act.
• Reduced court capacities due to the pandemic, have impaired the access to bail for arrested persons.
• The adoption of a virtual court system also aggravated judicial delays.
• Failure of the criminal justice system (Police, courts and prisons) to work in an integrated manner towards the decongestion even during this pandemic.

What are the causes for the historically burdened prison system?

• The problem of over-arrests and inherent problems of policing have never been addressed.
• Reforms to reduce the undertrial prison population have not been implemented effectively.
• High representation of undertrials in the total prison population (55-90 per cent) is a major cause of concern.

With Global health experts not signalling an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, the call for the inmates to safely return to prisons is entirely misplaced and dangerous.

3.Examining Examinations

Source: The Hindu

Syllabus: GS-2- Education

Context: Need of an education system that encourages children to question and learn.

What are the problems with our current examination system?

• The cut-throat nature of our examination system celebrates the success of a few and creates unhealthy competition.
• This leads to an excessive amount of stress in children who are physiologically, psychologically and emotionally not ready to handle it.
• There is a wealth of information and insight about a student’s potential and ability that cannot be captured in a report card.
• Exams in India focus on grades rather than on what is learnt. This is also why students choose careers in domains where they have scored well in, rather than fields that they are interested in.

Read also :- Current affairs

How will NEP 2020 help in holistic learning?

• The New Education Policy 2020 places emphasis on holistic and collective learning rather than having one main exam determines a student’s fate.
• Students are to be evaluated based on their performance in different classes, the first two years of primary school are to be test-free from 2021.
• Report cards will no longer include the class and level rankings at both primary and secondary levels.
• Board exams will cover a range of subjects and test only core concepts. Students can take exams on two occasions during an academic year.
• In order to track students’ progress throughout their school years, exams will be conducted in classes III, V, and VIII and a common national exam will be introduced for students applying to the 60-odd universities in the country.
• This will regulate how universities are run and will also “set higher standards and build rigour into the education system”.
• Such changes will help create a holistic learning environment that is safe, supportive, and provide opportunities to learn and excel in non-academic as well as academic domains.

What are the requirements for successful implementation of NEP?

• Extraordinary efforts in the training and professional development of teachers.
• The implementation of technology-based solutions and processes that can supplement teacher training and bring in scalable, sustainable and measurable change.

Way forward

• The primary motive of school education should be to impart knowledge, values, and skills that will help develop necessary life skills to be successful.
• With successful private and public collaboration, the NEP’s visions for early childhood to higher education, professional education to vocational education, and teacher training to professional education can be realised.

3.Air India Strategic Sale

Source: Indian Express

GS3: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc

Context: Recently, the Government of India announced few changes to facilitate the sale of Air India.

Background

• As part of the strategic disinvestment, the government initiated for the complete disinvestment process of debt burdened Air India.
• Before the start of the current financial year, Air India had more than Rs 60,000 crore as debt and with the coming of the pandemic, debt burden is getting accumulated.
• Due to increasing debt burden, the Government has been pushing for the strategic sale of Air India.
• Following the failure to receive a single bid in the first attempt the government has initiated the disinvestment process of Air India for the second time.

What are the new changes?

• Earlier, the government had mandated a fixed level of debt i.e. 23,286.50 crore to be taken by buyers along with the sale.
• The government, through its recent announcement will now allow the prospective bidders the flexibility to decide the level of debt they wish to take on while buying the airline.
• Second, the winning bidder will have to deposit at least 15 per cent of the bid amount in cash with the government ahead of the share transfer.
• Also, the government has extended the deadline from October 30 to December 14 to allow potential bidders to carefully evaluate the new terms and conditions.

Whether the latest changes would be enough to attract the buyers?

• Lack of buyers: Most best bidders who are affected by the pandemic are now struggling to survive themselves.
• Unattractive Aviation sector: Estimates suggest that most airlines will struggle to be financially viable even in 2021 fearing the second wave of COVID infections.

4. Platform workers and their issues

Source- The Hindu

Syllabus- GS 3 – Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment

Context- The new labour codes passed by Parliament recently acknowledge platform and gig workers as new occupational categories in the making.

What are the provisions for platform worker in the labour code and issues with them?

Definition of Platform work according to new law–

• “Platform work” has been defined as a work arrangement outside of a traditional employer employee relationship in which organisations or individuals use an online platform to access other organisations or individuals to solve specific problems or to provide specific services or any such other activities which may be notified by the Central Government, in exchange for payment.
• Platform worker has been defined as a person engaged in or undertaking Platform Work.

What are the issues with new labour code ?

1)There are no guarantees for better and more stable days for platform workers, even though they are meant to be ‘the future of work’.

2)The Code has drawn criticism from platform workers’ associations for failing to delineate it from gig work and unorganized work.

3)The code does not state which stakeholder is responsible for delivering what quantum of welfare.

4)The terms ‘gig worker’, ‘platform worker’ and ‘gig economy’ not defined with in connection with their wages.

Discuss the role of platform worker amidst the pandemic.

• platform workers were responsible for delivery of essential services during the pandemic at great personal risk to themselves.
• They have also been responsible for keeping platform companies afloat despite the pandemic-induced financial crisis.

Way Forward

• A tripartite effort by the State, companies, and workers to identify where workers fall on the spectrum of flexibility and dependence on platform companies is critical.
• The Way forward for platform workers is through a socio-legal acknowledgement of the heterogeneity of work in the gig economy, and the ascription of joint accountability to the State and platform companies for the delivery of social services.

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9 PM for Preliminary examination

Click on “Factly articles for November 2,2020”

https://factly.forumias.com/factly-articles-for-november-22020/