HRD ministry forms panel to draft 3rd National Education Policy

The ministry of human resource development (HRD) has set up a committee that will draft country’s third National Education Policy (NEP) since Independence.

The panel will be headed by former bureaucrat TSR Subramanian and will have four other retired bureaucrats as its members including Shailaja Chandra, former chief secretary of Delhi, and Sudhir Mankad, former chief secretary of Gujarat.

According to a senior HRD ministry official, the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), will act as its secretariat.

The committee is expected to submit the draft by the end of December. The committee will review the earlier education policies and the recommendations received from various quarters.

“Along with the draft education policy, the committee will also submit a framework for action,” said a senior government official.

The consultation process for the policy has been going on for quite some time and online talks were also held with leading subject experts. “In addition, several organisations and individuals have sent in their views, suggestions and inputs through post and email which have been collated,” added the official.

The first education policy was introduced way back in 1968 under the Indira Gandhi government following recommendations of the Kothari Commission.

Source: Hindustan Times, 2-11-2015

Nutrition, effective cash transfers: How to ensure social protection

Small and marginal farmers comprise 85% of the land holdings in India. Social protection is a survival tool for the rural poor, who have no easy access to wage labour. India recognised the need for social protection early on and introduced a slew of social protection programmes like the National Rural Livelihoods Mission. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) provides 100 days of assured labour wages to every rural poor household. The minimum support price serves as a social protection instrument for farmers. But are these schemes reaching their target audience?

That’s where the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) is currently assisting the government on plugging leaks in the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). “Biometric identification of beneficiaries in Kerala and Odisha has already eliminated families who should not fall under the programme. This alone could yield savings running into millions of dollars,” says Hameed Nuru, the WFP’s country director. Under the mid-day meal scheme, the WFP is also assisting Odisha in overcoming the nutrition deficit through iron fortification of rice.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), which is working among the rural poor with the Madhya Pradesh government, finds that addressing hunger nutrition is often overlooked. It feels that communities should be made aware of the nutritive value of food available in their natural habitat. “Promoting nutrition-sensitive agriculture through revival of highly nutritive traditional crops such as kodo kutki and other millets can be a good strategy,” says Meera Mishra, country coordinator, IFAD.

Growing local and procuring local eliminate the need to transport food and its carbon footprint. In this context the Madhya Pradesh government’s Samagra database and model of cash transfers deserve special mention. The model is now being used by almost all the departments of the state for various programmes, including a pilot on cash transfers for the PDS to implement the National Food Security Act. Coupled with good governance, cash transfers can eliminate pilferage, which eats into benefits meant for the poor.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO’s) work shows that besides plugging leakages, cash transfers have a multiplier effect on farm outputs and initiating microenterprises. In Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, cash transfers have improved access to health, education services and reduced child labour. Social protection is particularly helpful for households as women take charge of food and nutrition, children’s education and wellbeing.

“Programmes like the MGNREGA can transform India’s rural economy through creation of public and private goods such as terracing, irrigation and other infrastructures, besides injecting income into the local economy,” says Shyam Khadka, the FAO’s India representative. Brazil’s Bolsa Familia programme is a shining example of how about 50 million people are assisted. Since its introduction 12 years ago, 36 million Brazilians were lifted out of poverty. For every Brazilian Real spent, the economy at large gains an estimated 1.87 Brazilian Reals. Brazil has shown how rather than just giving handouts, social protection should focus on sustainable pathways out of poverty and food insecurity.

Ashim Choudhury is communications consultant, Food and Agriculture Organization

Source: Hindustan Times, 2-`11-2015

TISS beef docu runs into ABVP on JNU campus

Sadaf Modak TWEETS @sadafm_MIRROR





Caste On The Menu Card screened after standoff with ABVP

Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) documentary Caste On The Menu Card ran into further trouble after the Films Division of India blocked its screening at a private film festival, with the Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University’s administration banning it on campus as well.The documentary was finally screened on campus at 9.30 pm on Sunday after the standoff with BJP's youth wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) was resolved Permission for a public screening of the documentary on campus had been sought by the Birsa Ambedkar Phule Student Association (BAPSA), a student organisation at JNU, from the Dean of Student Welfare.
When this was denied, BAPSA sought permission to screen the documentary in the JNU hostel. “The hostel warden had allowed the screening, but permission was withdrawn after pressure from some groups. We will ensure the screening happens at any cost,” a BAPSA member said.
ABVP representatives said they came to know of the screening through posters announcing it.
“The JNU administration told us that permission had not been granted for screening Caste On The Menu Card.
We realised that some students were planning to go ahead nonetheless and appealed for action to stop it,” Ravi Ranjan Choudhary, ABVP president at JNU, told Mumbai Mirror.
Saurabh Sharma, ABVP joint secretary at JNU, added, “Security is in place at the screening venue, and Delhi police has been deployed at the gates.” H e s a i d t h e I n f o r m a t i o n & Broadcasting ministry has directed that films on beef not be screened publicly, given the current tension in the country over its sale and consumption.
Meanwhile, Caste on the Menu Card received two awards at the 12th Jeevika Asia Livelihood Documentary Film Festival, where its screening had first been banned by Films Division of India. The 21-minute film on beef politics on campuses and issues of livelihood and caste surrounding beef won the Best Student Documentary and the Jeevika Freedom Award.
Festival director Manoj Matthews told Mumbai Mirror the jury had decided much before the controversy.
“The film was chosen for its content on how policy issues on meat hamper the livelihood of those in the leather and meat industry,” he added.
Other institutions including FTII and Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics in Pune, too have invited the film for a public screening.

Source: Mumbai Mirror, 2-11-2015

GLOBAL CITIZEN - Erasmus+: A New Chapter in EU-India Educational Ties

Ishani Duttagupta





The Erasmus Mundus programme has provided a pathway for Indian students to study in European Union countries, and gain mobility across universities there. India was at the forefront of the programme with around 3,000 Indian students and scholars having studied and researched in European universities in the past decade. Around 50 Indian universities have also been involved in these partnerships.Since 2008, EU and India have been engaged in jointly promoting higher education. The partnership started as a mutually beneficial mechanism for the exchange of information and experiences, of best practices, as well as a process of peer learning between administrations.
From 2014, with the launch of the new Erasmus Plus programme (2014-2020), the European Union is looking at a new chapter in educational ties with India to increase the visibility and popularity of the region as a popular higher educational destination for Indian students. Currently, there are around 50,000 Indian students enrolled in higher education institutions across EU.
“In the past, India has been the No.1 destination for Erasmus students and we are looking at attracting the same kind of interest for the new programme too,“ said Brian Toll, senior policy adviser, international cooperation in education and youth, European Commission, Brussels He said Erasmus+ provides new opportunities for cooperation between Indian and EU universities, including joint degrees, and also mobility for Indian students to study in the EU.
“With increasing globalisation of education, Indian students will benefit in a big way from the EU-funded Erasmus programme. An exposure to higher education in the best of universities in Europe often paves the way for jobs across the world. The universities covered by the Erasmus programme are recognised as among the best globally ,“ said Toll.
Despite a great deal of interest in higher education in Europe in the past, European Commission authorities are concerned over the slow pickup in enthusiasm for Erasmus+ which was launched last year despite substantial scholarships to cover travel, living expenses and tuition for diverse courses across Europe.
“The policy-level partnership be tween India and EU has only deepened through Erasmus+ with India having been signed up as a strategic partner. Besides students, Erasmus+ also provides an opportunity for the university authorities, faculty members and administrative staff in India to get involved in the projects and increase their understanding about the European educational system,“ Toll said.
The programme now covers shortterm mobility and exchanges both ways; joint degrees and institutional capacity-building.
While in the short-term students from India can visit universities in Europe to study and earn credits from there, and fi nally get an Indian degree. In the long term they can en roll for joint mas ter's programmes in one or more European univer sities and earn joint master's de grees with Indian universities. “The funding for such programmes is substantial and covers board, lodging, tuition and airfare when in Europe. It works out to around 25,000 per year per student on an average for master's degrees,“ Toll said.
The overall funding for Erasmus+ till 2020 is 14.7 billion covering institutions and students. Further, 1.68 billion is available for international cooperation with countries outside Europe.
Erasmus+ programmes cover a range of subjects including engineering, technology , maths, science and liberal arts. “The STEM courses have been very popular among Indian students in the past. Many of them have stayed back in Europe for their student projects and internships, which is the first step towards global job opportunities,“ Toll said.

Source: Economic Times, 2-11-2015

Miracles in Daily Life

TG LIYER





People become enlightened in three main ways: through suffering, outcome and purpose.Sudama's life is an example of enlightenment through suffering. Living in poverty , he could enjoy bliss remembering the Lord. When he returned from Dwarka, seeing the prosperity showered on him, he lamented, “Oh Lord! You think that you can imprison me with this material prosperity , but you forget that you are imprisoned in my heart till eternity .“Enlightenment through outcome arises out of setting goals and ambitions. We're all taught to mask our true feelings.We are afraid of the unknown, our feelings, our intuitions, because the outcome is unknowable. When we hold back our genuine feelings, we become frustrated and lose confidence in ourselves. But when we follow our intuition and the outcome is right, we get that special experience called enlightenment. The intuition comes from the unconscious mind.
The third way of enlightenment is through purpose.Abraham Lincoln and Mahatma Gandhi lived deliberately to achieve something noble and lofty . In the later years of his presidency , Lincoln had ceased to blame anger and had developed a brilliant, philosophical sense of humour. Gandhi experimented with nonviolence and in his later years did penance and self-purification by going on fast for a cause.
Miracle is not materialising something from nowhere; it is living a fulfilled life everyday .The Dhammapada says that it is everyone's duty to get free of hate, disease and restlessness.

Surging India world's 7th top nation brand: Study

PTI





India has moved up one po sition to become the world's seventh most valued `nation brand', with an increase of 32% in its brand value to $2.1 billion.The US remains on top with a valuation of $19.7 billion, followed by China and Germany at the second and the third positions respectively, as per the annual report on the world's most valuable nation brands compiled by Brand Finance.
The UK is ranked fourth, Japan is at fifth position and France is sixth on the list.While India and France have moved up one position each since last year, all the top five countries have retained their respective places.
However, a surge of 32% in India's `nation brand value' is the highest among the top 20 countries on the list.
China retained its second position despite a 1% decline in brand value to $6.3 billion.
Brand Finance said it measures the strength and value of the nation brands of 100 leading countries using a method based on the royalty relief mechanism employed to value the world's largest companies. The report also said the `Incredible India' slogan has worked well, while Germany suffered due to the Volkswagen crisis. The nation brand valuation is based on five year forecasts of sales of all brands in each nation and follows a complex process. The gross domestic product (GDP) is used as a proxy for total revenues.
About the US, the report said it remains a powerful brand with an inviting business climate. “However its value comes in large part from the country's sheer economic scale... The US' world-leading higher education system and the soft power arising from its dominance of the music and entertainment industries are significant contributors too.
“This soft power will help the US to retain the most valuable nation brand for some time after China's seemingly imminent rise to become the world's biggest economy,“ it added.
The study further said that China's recent stock market turbulence and slowing growth will also extend the US' tenure of the top spot.
Among Brics nations, India is the only country to have witnessed an increase in its brand value with all others -Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa -seeing a dip in their respective brand valuations.
India is the second most valued among these emerging economies after China, followed by Brazil, Russia and South Africa.

Source: Times of India, 2-11-2015

That volcano within

What does one do with anger? How does one subdue, express and deflect it?

On a delayed train, passengers were talking to one another about their lives and problems. “There have been at least four people in my life whom I’d like to have shot but didn’t,” said a government officer who was being harassed by a local mafia in a small town. The rest of us stared nervously at him. Had we been so tested?

Who among us has not felt rage burning through the scalp and exploding into words? Quite often it is impossible to stop the hot words that rise to our lips. That’s just it. At some point we cannot control anger. It controls us. When face to face with planned dishonesty, blatant injustice or repeated meanness it makes us long to respond violently. The moral compass deep within us will not let us rest.

Fear and fury

“Put that down now or I’ll hit you!” That is a different kind of fury isn’t it? Fear plumes into hysterical anger in a parent instructing a child who innocently picks up something dangerous. One of the instincts that causes this fountain of anger is surely a feeling of helplessness and the need for urgent action. As reactions spin out of control all the primal instincts come rushing out and disturb our carefully arranged social faces.

Well — it is normal to feel angry. No human, be she a saint or he a rishi, can avoid the rise of anger in the mind. However, unless one’s life is in danger or the environment is one of war, it is abnormal to act violently. The point is what one does with that anger — how does one subdue, express, deflect it, for the good of others and oneself? Most of us also know that anything that is long suppressed has a tendency to either burst forth or dig into us like an acid, causing ill-health and loss of stability. Listen to what William Blake said 200 years ago:

I was angry with my friend;

I told my wrath, my wrath did end.

I was angry with my foe:

I told it not, my wrath did grow.

Yes. Anger has to be tackled either by tackling the person or situation which is causing it or by sorting it out within yourself because you see that there is no shortcut solution. It is an emotion no one can afford to give in to because it clouds judgment and quickly builds roads to mistakes from which we may never recover.

Unless we learn to recognise the forces that lead to conflict both within and without, and hit the brakes on them before they grow into uncontrollable monsters, they will simply take over. Remember this … angry people forget themselves, parents injure children, cars and bikes on the road run amuck and a helpless colleague might lose his or her job if a superior who has the power to use it, misuses the same in a fit of anger. The Bhagavad Gita links kama (desire) and krodha (anger) and condemns these in the strongest terms — a madness which leads on to self-destruction but not before you’ve destroyed others. In the end the damage is permanent. One of my favourite sayings is, “The boneless tongue is sharper than a knife.”

Kinds of anger

All right. Let us widen this circle of thought to include another type of anger. It is impersonal. It concerns what happens to others. It comes from a sense of outrage. It is the anger when one’s bus or train is late; when a stranger is needlessly and cruelly rude in a queue or makes obscene gestures at your friend or sister. Can you, as you go about your day, think about three kinds of anger listed below?

Anger against authorities — thoughtless or outdated rules

Anger against an equal at work, or fellow student — someone who seems to enjoy putting another in a difficult position

Anger against a member of family — someone who is continuously critical of you or your parents.

Anger is a reaction to a situation but when it is expressed as action, it becomes the cause for something else. Anger-driven action, if emotional and impulsive, can be very harmful (to all concerned). Anger tempered by thought and a sense of fairness should also be carefully considered because cold preparation could lack compassion.

If something unethical or annoying makes you furious, the action arising out of that feeling still needs to be ethical and based on a moral decision and not thoughtless explosions.

A question to ask yourself 

Are there some people who cannot afford to display their anger no matter how enraged they might be? Who are they?

Suggested reading

What can you do about negative emotions within and around you?

by Mariamne Paulus (available on the Internet)

Email: minioup@gmail.com

Keywords: Ethics and you, anger management

Source: The Hindu, 30-10-2015