{"id":13642,"date":"2017-12-26T12:59:12","date_gmt":"2017-12-26T07:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=13642"},"modified":"2017-12-23T16:00:19","modified_gmt":"2017-12-23T10:30:19","slug":"answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-december-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-december-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 December 25"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/mains-marathon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Archives<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.1) Highlight the key areas that require attention in order to accelerate the success rate of Swachh Bharat Mission. \u00a0(GS-1)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Introduction:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Government of India has launched \u201cSwachh Bharat Mission\u201d on 2nd October, 2014 and \u00a0targets to achieve Swachh Bharat by 2019.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It aims to accelerate the efforts to achieve universal sanitation coverage and to put focus on sanitation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Key areas that require attention:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Swachh Bharat Mission needs to <\/span><b>increase both the coverage and use of toilets, as well as improved hygienic practices.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Political will and commitment<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is required urgently to tackle the crisis of sanitation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unless <\/span><b>faecal waste is treated properly and disposed of safely<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, it will find its way back into our bodies.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Urban local bodies and State governments could ensure that the larger containment systems such as <\/span><b>community toilets and public toilets<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are properly constructed and managed.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Permission could be granted to new buildings, especially large apartment complexes <\/span><b>only when the applicants show proper septage construction designs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The safety of sanitary workers who clean tanks and pits must be ensured by <\/span><b>enforcing occupational safety precautions.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is to ensure inclusion, recognising the importance of safe and accessible toilets specific to <\/span><b>the needs of the differently-abled, the elderly, the poorest, as well as women and adolescent girls<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Various <\/span><b>awareness campaigns<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> should be initiated at all levels to create awareness and people\u2019s participation in the Mission.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> also play a strategic role in creating awareness and imparting hygiene education among the local population.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Conclusion:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cleanliness begins at home, thus as the citizens of India, each one of us needs to observe cleanliness at our grass root levels.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.2) \u201cWhen women are the backbone of the development of rural and national economies, the existence of embedded gender discrimination in the Indian farming sector is a curse.\u201d Elaborate. (GS-1)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Introduction:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In rural India, the percentage of women who depend on agriculture for their livelihood is as high as 84%.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What is the alarming gender discrimination in Indian agricultural system about?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Firstly, while men get a lot of share in governmental publicity material and within the banking sectors, millions of women farmers <\/span><b>have no spokesperson from their ranks<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Secondly, women <\/span><b>remain outside the formal definition of \u201cworker\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> because they are usually <\/span><b>not listed as primary earners and owners of land assets within their families.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thus, there exists <\/span><b>embedded gender discrimination<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the Indian farming sector.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Gender based problems faced by women farmers in India:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In India, the typical work of the female agricultural laborer or cultivator is <\/span><b>limited to less skilled jobs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, such as sowing, transplanting, weeding and harvesting, that often fit well within the framework of domestic life and child-rearing<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In all agricultural activities there is an average <\/span><b>gender wage disparity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, with women <\/span><b>earning only 70 percent of men\u2019s wage.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additionally many women also participate in agricultural work as <\/span><b>unpaid subsistence labor<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unlike male farmers and cultivators, their female counterparts remained <\/span><b>doubly burdened as their reproductive role is seen as fundamental to their gender<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Women <\/span><b>seldom enjoy<\/b> <b>property ownership rights <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">directly in their names and also they have little control over decisions made in reference to land.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even with land in their names, they <\/span><b>may not have actual decision-making power<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in terms of cropping patterns, sale, mortgage and the purchase of land.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For women, <\/span><b>access to credit is difficult,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> since they <\/span><b>lack many of the prerequisites for lending<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> such as assets or ownership of property.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Conclusion:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When women are empowered and can claim their rights and access to land, leadership, opportunities and choices, <\/span><b>economies grow, food security is enhanced and prospects are improved for current and future generations<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.3) What reasons are being assigned to the recent decision of scrapping the no-detention policy from the Right to Education Act. Explain critically. (GS-1)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Introduction:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since the introduction of the RTE, the <\/span><b>learning outcomes of children have come down dramatically.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As per the latest Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), in 2010, <\/span><b>53.7 percent of standard V students in rural India could read standard II level text<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and by 2016, this had fallen to <\/span><b>47.8 percent<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The fall was <\/span><b>greater in case of government schools<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> where in 2010, it had stood at <\/span><b>50.7 percent and by 2016 this had fallen to 41.6 percent.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Supporters of No Detention Policy claim that:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Supporters of the No Detention Policy are of the opinion that <\/span><b>a child need not be failed just because of non-performance on a narrowly defined and rigid set of indicators.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The objective of the policy was to <\/span><b>keep students in school and prevent dropouts<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and in that, it has succeeded.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is <\/span><b>no research evidence <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to suggest that the repeating a year helps children perform better rather <\/span><b>it leads to more dropouts from the system<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Also, repeating has <\/span><b>adverse academic and social effects<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on the child.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is a common misconception that <\/span><b>no-detention means no assessment<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Argument in favour of scrapping the no-detention policy:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Right to Education\u2019s biggest drawback is its <\/span><b>heavy focus on inputs while effectively ignoring outputs.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NDP has <\/span><b>erased the fear of studying<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> well absolutely from the minds of students as they may take promotion for granted.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">RTE activists believe <\/span><b>the system has failed in championing equal education<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The implementation seems to be focused only on Section 19, which mandates free and fair education up to class 8, and <\/span><b>ignores other important sections dealing with provisions that schools need to have.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the education department prides itself on this number, it shows <\/span><b>the inefficiency of government schools, which has resulted in parents depending on admission to private schools.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Conclusion:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To deliver better learning outcomes what is needed is a <\/span><b>radical reorientation of the way things are taught in schools across this country<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Archives\u00a0 Q.1) Highlight the key areas that require attention in order to accelerate the success rate of Swachh Bharat Mission. \u00a0(GS-1) Introduction: The Government of India has launched \u201cSwachh Bharat Mission\u201d on 2nd October, 2014 and \u00a0targets to achieve Swachh Bharat by 2019. It aims to accelerate the efforts to achieve universal sanitation coverage and&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-december-25\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 December 25<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":2292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mains-marathon-answers","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/pen-paper-laptop.jpg?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704749095},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}