Context:

• The Amazon rainforest is reeling from an intense drought. As a result, there is no water, food, or medicine in villages of Indigenous communities living in the area.

Amazon rainforest

• The Amazon rainforest is a wet broadleaf forest that takes up the majority of South America’s Amazon basin. 
• It flourished during the Eocene era allowing different species to evolve and survive. The vast forest plays a critical role in keeping the local and regional climate in check. 
• The Amazon rainforest spreads across nine countries namely Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, Suriname, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Guyana, and French Guiana. 

News Source: Indian Express 

DOWNLOAD PDF

Context:

• The Delhi High Court has found “large-scale infringement” in the reproduction on of copyrighted works of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
• The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust publishes books and commentaries on Indian religious philosophy and spiritualism, especially classic Vaishnava texts.

Insights into Copyright Law in India: What Delhi High Court Said

• The trust has been allowed to contact tech giants Google and Meta to request the removal of copyrighted content related to the Srimad Bhagavad Gita.

Copyright law in India

• Indian copyright law Copyright Act, 1957 protects “original work” — a creative and independently created expression fixed in a tangible medium. 
• The law grants the creator/ author of the work the exclusive right to “use, reproduce, distribute, perform, and display their work”.
• Unlike the case with patents, copyright protects the expressions and not the ideas. There is no copyright in an idea.
• The law also protects transformative work which is a creative/ artistic work that takes existing material (text, music, art) and significantly modifies, reinterprets, or builds upon it to create something new and distinct. 

Are religious texts protected  under copyright law in India?

• Religious texts, in general, are considered part of the public domain thus, they are not subject to copyright protection in India. 
• However, modern translations of the Bible represent new and creative works developed by the translators. Hence, they are covered by copyright law in India.
• While the Ramayana and Mahabharata are not protected by copyright, the television series Ramayana created by Ramanand Sagar or B R Chopra’s Mahabharata are “transformative works” that are be protected.

News Source: Indian Express 

DOWNLOAD PDF

Context:

• Recently, the United States Ambassador to India expressed that the United States and India both share a common goal of working together to eliminate TB  by 2025.
• India has set the target to “eliminate TB by 2025”. To fulfil this goal, the Health Ministry rolled out the National Strategic Plan (NSP) 2017-2025 .

National Strategic Plan (NSP) 2017-2025: To Eliminate TB by 2025

• The plan sets the target of India reporting no more than 44 new TB cases or 65 total cases per lakh population by 2025. 
  • The estimated TB incidence for the year 2021 stood at 210 per lakh population.
• The programme also aims to reduce the mortality to 3 deaths per lakh population by 2025. 
  • The estimated TB mortality for the year 2020 stood at 37 per lakh population.

What is tuberculosis?

• Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infection caused by a bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis spread through inhaling tiny droplets from the coughs or sneezes of an infected person.
• TB mainly affects the lungs. However, it can affect any part of the body, including the glands, bones and nervous system.
• Mantoux test is carried to test TB.

Treatment for TB

• It can be cured with a course of antibiotics usually for six months.
• Currently, BCG vaccinations are providing for the treatment of TB.

Latent TB vs Active TB

• Latent occurs if people have TB bacteria within their body, but it is inactive. Latent TB does not cause symptoms and cannot pass on to other people. 
• However, latent TB can become active TB if the immune system weakens. Active TB causes symptoms and is contagious.

News Source:  Economic Times

DOWNLOAD PDF

Context:

• Microalgae, which form the base of the food chain in the ocean and capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, appear to rely on a unique strategy to cope with global warming, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Microbiology.

How does microalgae fight climate change?

• As climate change reduces the availability of nutrients in the sea, marine microalgae or eukaryotic phytoplankton fire up a protein called rhodopsin. 

What is rhodopsin?

• It is a light-responsive protein that helps the microalgae flourish with the help of sunlight in place of traditional chlorophyll. 
• They could absorb a comparable amount of light to chlorophyll-based photosynthesis, which is responsible for harnessing light for energy and food production in marine organisms. 

Significance

• Capturing light: According to the study, microbial rhodopsins play a significant role in capturing light in the ocean. 
  • The discovery holds particular significance for the Southern Ocean which is the largest iron limited aquatic ecosystem.
  • The region is inhabited by significant consumer populations like krill, fish, penguins, and whales, all reliant on primary producers like microalgae.
• Tackling ocean warming and declining crop productivity: The finding could mitigate these adverse impacts of changing environmental factors.
• Enhancing activity of microbes: The mechanism might be applied to enhance the activity of light-independent microbes like yeast. 
  • Scientists could modify these microbes to utilize light for growth including the production of insulin, antibiotics, enzymes, antivirals, and  biofuels.

News Source: DTE

DOWNLOAD PDF

Context:

• This article is based on the news “India’s war on informal labour is turning out bad for workers” which was published in the Mint. According to the annual Periodic Labour Force Survey Report (PLFS) 2022-23, 74% of non-farm workers are in proprietorships and partnerships, officially classified as informal sector enterprises. 

India’s Informal Economy Dominance: Over 90% Workforce, Half of GDP

• While the informal sector produces almost half of the country’s GDP, more than 90% of the overall workforce is employed in the informal economy.
• According to e-Shram portal, over 94% of the informal sector workers enrolled on the e-Shram platform earn less than Rs 10,000 per month. 
  • Agriculture ranks first, accounting for 52.11% of all enrolments, followed by domestic and household employees and construction workers.
• The social-security benefits remain available to only around half of people working for a salary. 

What is Informal Economy?

• Definition of Informal worker: According to OECD employees are considered to have informal jobs if their employment relationship is, in law or in practice, not subject to national labour legislation, income taxation, social protection or entitlement to certain employment benefits (advance notice of dismissal, severance pay, paid annual or sick leave, etc.)

Over 90% of workers in India are informal and out of these, those engaged in rural areas (dominated by farm and agriculture activities) are significantly more than those of urban areas.Informal employment lacks a written contract, paid leave, and may not pay minimum wages or pay attention to working conditions. 

• Informal businesses includes: Street vending, artisanal production, home-based businesses, local transport workers, shop workers, domestic servants, community services like street cleaning and garbage collection, small workshops like shoe makers, garment makers, and embroiderers etc.

Also read: Nobel Prize 2023: Insights on Indian Women at Workforce

What are the challenges associated with the formalisation of the Indian informal economy?

• Goods And Services Tax (GST) and Associated Complications:  It is assumed that the higher revenue collections mean a more formal economy and vice versa. However, in trying to maximize GST collection, policymakers have made the GST extremely complicated.
  • For instance, the productivity gains from the GST unifying the country into a single market have gone almost entirely to large businesses and digital startups whereas the compliance burden has put smaller firms at a disadvantage. 
• Lack of Yields from Industrial Policy: A five-year package of $24 billion in production-linked incentives is provided to those who are willing put up factories. 
  • However, By September 2022, the program had managed to create fewer than 200,000 jobs.
• High Uncertainty Regarding Job Security: The high insecurity due to a high degree of economic informality is making even some PhDs and engineers graduates to compete for a government office for stability of tenure and retirement benefits.
• Aging Population: By 2050, India’s elderly population would more than double to 350 million. This low-productivity work offers less chance to save for old age or medical emergencies. 
• Social Challenge: Social norms and safety concerns curbs physical mobility of women who make up the majority of informal participants, yet they face lower salary, income volatility, and a lack of a strong social safety net. 
  • Meanwhile, Dalits, the caste groups at the bottom of a repressive, hierarchical ladder, are stuck in casual, daily-wage work.
• Manufacturing and Service Sector: A significant proportion of the manufacturing sector is fragmented and carried out mostly by small and micro enterprises, which do not possess the competitive efficiency to grow and create formal jobs.
• Access to Financing: The domestic credit-to-GDP ratio compares credit to people and businesses to the economy.
  • The World Bank reports that India’s private sector domestic credit at 55% of GDP in 2020 is well below the global average (148%) and below China (182%), South Korea (165%), and Vietnam (148%).Way Forward:Formalizing Informal Sector: Bringing informal workers and economic units under the coverage of formal arrangements. 
  • For example, Material Recovery and Segregation Facility (MRF) in North Delhi provides formal employment to waste workers.
• Creation of Database: There are no official statistics available that reflect the true state of the informal economy making it sector with “invisible workforce”. 
  • As part of the National Data System, a comprehensive statistical base on many elements of the informal economy is required to enable policymakers to make informed decisions. 
• Equal Wages and Salaries: Equal compensation for equal effort is a directive principle of state policy (Article 39(d)), but women farm laborers typically earn less than their male colleagues. 
  • Through appropriate legislative support and its proper implementation, the government should enhance and enforce this DPSP
• Rationalising Regulations: There is a need to relax restrictions for formal business conduct in order to pull informal work into the fold of formality. 
• Collective Working: There is a need for workers to collaborate with others with complementary skills so that they can collectively perform and benefit from complex and high value-added tasks that none of them could do on their own. 

Conclusion:

India’s informal economy, comprising over 90% of the workforce, faces challenges such as tax evasion, limited social security, and hindrances to formalization; addressing these issues requires comprehensive measures, including database creation, equal wage enforcement, and rationalizing regulations to uplift the vast “invisible workforce” and integrate them into formal arrangements.

DOWNLOAD PDF

Context:

• This article is based on the news “APAAR: All you need to know about this ‘One Nation, One ID’ to be rolled out for students” which was published in the Times of India. The Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR)– under the new ‘One Nation, One Student ID was recently launched by the government.

Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR)

• APAAR is part of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. 
• The APAAR ID unique to each student, will track the educational progress, achievements, and other particulars about specific students. 
• It will be linked to the student’s Aadhaar ID but will not replace it.

What is Edtech, or education technology?

• EdTech (a combination of “education” and “technology”) is the practice of introducing information and communication technology tools into the classroom to create more engaging, inclusive, and individualized learning experiences.
• The Indian EdTech industry was valued at US$ 750 million in 2020 and is expected to reach US$ 4 billion by 2025 at a CAGR of 39.77%. 

What are the initiatives of the government for education technology (edtech)?

• National Educational Technology Forum (NETF): NEP, 2020 envisions creating an autonomous body, the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF), which will be the vehicle for integrating technology into different aspects of school education and higher education.
• National Digital Education Architecture: It aims to energize and catalyze the digital education ecosystem. 
• DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing) platform: It is envisaged as a ‘One Nation, One Digital Platform’ for school education.
• • This platform offers teachers, students, parents, and the community engaging learning activities/courses (with credentials) relevant to the prescribed school curriculum.
• SWAYAM Portal: SWAYAM seeks to bridge the digital divide for students who have hitherto remained untouched by the digital revolution and have not been able to join the mainstream of the knowledge economy.
• National Digital Library of India (NDLI):  It is sponsored and mentored by the Ministry of Education and acts as a virtual repository of learning resources by  providing user group-specific services such as Examination Preparatory for School and College students and job aspirants. 
• PM eVIDYA Programme: The government introduced the PM eVIDYA programme in May 2020 to make e-learning more accessible for Indian students and teachers and promote & strengthen digital education in India. 

How can disruptive technology such as AI and Machine learning help to address challenges in the education sector?

• Disruptive technologies have paved the way for innovative teaching and learning methods that challenge conventional norms.
  •  Among these advancements is the integration of cutting-edge digital learning platforms through a combined approach of flipped classrooms and blended learning.
• Scaling Geographic Boundaries: Academic materials, lesson blueprints, assessments, and performance metrics are readily accessible, enabling knowledge-sharing across international borders. 
  • The scalability granted by these groundbreaking technologies shatters conventional geographic confines, nurturing collaborative and interconnected learning ecosystems.
• Provide a self-learning platform:  AI can increase the engagement and interest of the student; in their studies and the learning process by acquainting them accurately with their learning parameters.
• Enhancing Education with Augmented Reality: Augmented Reality Services in education and training enables users to interact with virtual and real-time applications that explain and demonstrate concepts through multimedia, computer-based simulations, animations, and statistical software. 

Also read: Aligning Higher Education in India with the UN SDGs

What are the benefits of technology in education?

• Accessibility: Technology can provide educators with new ways to reach students who may not have access to traditional classroom settings. 
  • For example, online learning platforms can make education more accessible for students who live in rural or remote areas. 
• Engaging: Technology can help make learning more engaging and interactive. 
  • For example, games and simulations can immerse students in real-world scenarios, while social media platforms can facilitate student collaboration.
• Enhancing Personalized Education: Technology provides educators with new ways to tailor instruction to meet the needs of individual students. 
  • For example, adaptive learning software can adjust the difficulty of content based on a student’s progress, while data analytics tools can help identify students who may need extra support.
• Bridging the digital divide: Indian edtech firms are providing access to education to marginalized communities nationally with support from the public sector. 
• Fufilling Reskilling needs: According to a report by McKinsey, by 2030, around 40% of India’s workforce (approximately 370 million workers) will require reskilling to meet the demands of the changing economy.

What are the challenges of educational technology (edtech)?

• Digital Education Transition Challenges in India: In India,  switching over to digital modes of education is a humongous task, as well as full of challenges  in terms of availability of resources (ICT infrastructure, electricity, budget, skilled human resource)
  • In its poll, the National Family Health Survey found that 72.5 percent of urban males and 51.8 percent of urban females have used the internet at some time in their life; these criteria are met by only 48.7 percent of rural males and 24.6 percent of rural females.
• Student engagement: edtech may also pose challenges to student engagement. 
  • For example, confusing or hard-to-use programs can cause students to become overwhelmed and give up on assignments, especially without the normal social support from their peers.
• Lack of Legal Framework: There is no consolidated law for Ed-tech companies in India. These are fragmented into sections like the Patent Act, Copyright Act, Consumer Protection Act, and Data Protection Act, etc.  
• Parental bias toward traditional means: Despite a rise in modernization and the acceptance of educational technologies in Indian society, parents still prefer to provide their children with education through more conventional means, such as coaching sessions and books. 
• Widening Gender Inequality: Online education may lead to a wider gender gap.
  • For Example: In a recent survey of 733 students studying in government schools in Bihar, only 28% of the girls had smartphones in their homes, in contrast to 36% of the boys.
• Business Malpractice: With the growing market for digital education, Edtech companies often engage in various forms of business malpractice to attract consumers.

Way Forward

•  Sharing of best practices: States/UTs and Autonomous bodies of the center are urged to share their best practices in the implementation of ICT for education and school management, with each other at every opportunity of correspondence or interaction for continuously learning from one another.
  • In Uttar Pradesh, the Basic Education department is using its existing network of more than 1,000 WhatsApp groups with Basic Shiksha Adhikaris (BSAs), Block Education Officers (BEOs) and Head Teachers, and more than 9,000 groups with teachers to enable the reach of educational content to all teachers, who can then forward it to students’ groups. 
• Promote research, evaluation, and experimentation: Using ICT tools and ICT-enabled practices, research, evaluation, and experimentation will be promoted, in order to inform, guide, and utilize the potential of ICT in school and teacher education.
• Public-Private partnerships (PPPs): Forge public-private partnerships (PPPs) and collaboration with tertiary institutions to bring in additional technical and management expertise, as well as financial resources. 
• Capacity building, a necessity: Capacity building is crucial, involving training for both professors and students in using online education tools and resources effectively. 
• Hybrid mode of learning: It is super adaptive and useful for people from every class and background. It can be customized according to the students’ caliber without even hampering the whole classroom structure. Future plans should incorporate a mandatory one-third online syllabus to facilitate a seamless shift from traditional to online teaching models in colleges.

Conclusion:

In the digital age, technology has transformed education, but finding the right balance between its benefits and challenges while fostering critical thinking and addressing the digital divide is essential for a holistic learning experience.

DOWNLOAD PDF