{"id":18433,"date":"2018-04-10T13:04:47","date_gmt":"2018-04-10T07:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=18433"},"modified":"2018-04-10T11:05:40","modified_gmt":"2018-04-10T05:35:40","slug":"answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-april-9-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-april-9-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 April 9, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/mains-marathon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Archives<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.1) In the light of recent Sharada Prasad Committee\u2019s report, discuss the paradigm shift that needs to be taken for a successful Skill India Mission. (GS \u2013 3)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Introduction:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2016, a review committee, <\/span><b>Sharada Prasad Committee, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for Rationalization and Optimization of the Functioning of the Sector Skill Councils (SSC) was constituted.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2017, Sharada Prasad Committee submitted its <\/span><b>two fold overview the recommendations:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vocational education\/training (VET) is not just for underprivileged communities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is should not be confirmed to those who cannot make it through formal education.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2018,<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">after an year of Sharada Prasad Committee\u2019s report on Skill India, it is important to look at the reforms it suggested and action taken in the (VET) system.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Core recommendations made by Sharada Prasad Committee and actions to be taken for its implementation are:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Changing the dynamics of VET:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Separate stream for vocational education (in secondary education), creating vocational schools and vocational colleges for upward mobility, and having a Central university to award degrees and diplomas.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Please note: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vocational education\/training (VET):<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Must be for a minimum of a year,<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Must includes internship (without which certification is not possible), and<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Short-term training should be confined to recognising prior learning of informally trained workers who are already working.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Action to be taken: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">industry-employer engagement with each pillar of the VET ecosystem:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">secondary schools;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ITIs, public and private;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">National Skill Development Corporation \u00a0(NSDC-funded) VTPs;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ministries that train, and<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Firms that conduct enterprise-based training.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Realization of human potential:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aligning the courses to international requirements, ensuring a basic foundation in the 3Rs, and life-long learning.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Actions to be taken: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The focus should be in strengthening:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reading,<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Writing and<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Arithmetic skills.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Keeping a check on Sector Skill Councils (SSCs):<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The number of Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) should correspond to the National Industrial (Activity) Classification.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Please note:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Sector Skill Council are:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Autonomous,<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Industry-led,<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sector-specific skill builders, and<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ensure that skills training meet employer needs.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Action to be taken:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Credible assessment board to keep a check on ethics and accountability issue when there are too many sector skill councils.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Other actions to be taken:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Engaging SSCs with each pillar of the VET eco-system, and not just NSDC-funded VTPs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Enhance employer ownership and responsibility.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More reflection from stakeholders on the actual value addition done by the skilling initiative.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Note: The NSDC receives 99% of its funding from government, but its flagship scheme has a less than 12% record of placement for trainees.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Conclusion:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thus, with appropriate measures and guidelines, the reforms suggested by the Sharada Prasad Committee can be a good starting point to restore India\u2019s demographic dividend.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.2) As recently confirmed there has been a significant growth in Central compensatory afforestation fund (CAF). This growth indicates an escalating threat for India\u2019s forests and its underpinnings. Elaborate. (GS \u2013 3 )<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Introduction:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recently, Ministry of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change has collected over Rs. 50,000 core in a Central compensatory afforestation fund (CAF).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This money is to be used though the <\/span><b>Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) Act, 2016 or CAF.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The recent raise in fund measures the <\/span><b>forest destruction<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> under way in India.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It also indicates a potent <\/span><b>scale of resource appropriation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from some of India\u2019s <\/span><b>most marginalized citizens<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> living in and around forests.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Challenges of Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 are:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Forest bureaucracy:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No safeguards against the forest bureaucracy implementing compensatory-plantations on already dense forests.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Availability of non-forest land for Afforestation:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Difficulty is faced especially in smaller states and heavily forested states like Chhattisgarh to find non-forest lands for afforestation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Diversion of Fund:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The diversion of funds for other activities would take away the focus from the prime objective of compensating for the forest cover lost to developmental or industrial development.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Provisions of Forest Rights Act, 2006 being ignored:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Consultations, an important guideline to be followed, are not stipulated for all afforestation projects nor involve the affected gram sabhas.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Against democratic devolution:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Provisions of the act are against the principles of democratic devolution as laid down in the 73<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rd<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and 74<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> constitutional amendments.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Way ahead:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Enable independent audit of all connected programmes.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Implementation of the projects should be through the Compensatory Afforestation Fund to ensure effective and proper utilization of funds.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Address concerns over its discordances with Forest Rights Act (FRA), lack of livelihood generation and eviction and poor participation of local communities.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.3) Write short notes on:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>a) \u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Scramble Competition\u2019 in Environment (GS \u2013 3)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b>Introduction:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2018Scramble Competition\u2019 refers to a form of ecological competition.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A number of species compete for a resource that is limited in supply. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Impact: <\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lowers the survival chances of all the competing species.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since there is no limit placed on the exploitation of the resource, it may be used up aggressively by all the species that have free access to it.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Might cause most, or even all, species in need of the resource to go without enough of it to sustain themselves.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Can lead to mass extinction even when the competition for a resource is limited exclusively to the members of only a particular species.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>b) \u00a0\u00a0 Bitcoin-mining in Economics (GS \u2013 3)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b>Introduction:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bitcoin mining is the process by which transactions are verified and added to the public ledger, known as the block chain, and also the means through which new bitcoin are released. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Eligibility: <\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Anyone with access to the internet and suitable hardware can participate in mining. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Mining process:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The mining process involves compiling recent transactions into blocks and trying to solve a computationally difficult puzzle. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The participant who first solves the puzzle gets to place the next block on the block chain and claim the rewards. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The rewards, which incentivize mining, are both the transaction fees associated with the transactions compiled in the block as well as newly released bitcoin.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Archives Q.1) In the light of recent Sharada Prasad Committee\u2019s report, discuss the paradigm shift that needs to be taken for a successful Skill India Mission. (GS \u2013 3) Introduction: In 2016, a review committee, Sharada Prasad Committee, for Rationalization and Optimization of the Functioning of the Sector Skill Councils (SSC) was constituted. In 2017,&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-april-9-2018\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 April 9, 2018<\/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-18433","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":1704788000},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18433","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=18433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18433\/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=18433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}