Economic and Political Weekly: Table of Contents
Vol. 52, Issue No. 22, 03 Jun, 2017
Monday, June 05, 2017
Tata Institute of Social Sciences prepares cadre of 39 master trainers on ICT in education in Assam
Guwahati, June 1, 2017: The Tata Institute of Social Sciences today felicitated and issued certificates to 39 government school teachers and DIET faculty in Assam for completing the one-of-a-kind ICT and Education course. Completion rate of teachers was 93 percent. As a part of the Integrated Approach to Technology in Education (ITE) initiative by Tata Trusts, the course provides hands on experience of designing lessons integrating Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in curriculum and pedagogy. The certificate recipients, now called ‘master trainers’, have shown great commitment and already trained other 740 teachers in ITE, as part of the course assignment. The course was of four months duration during which the teachers participated in F2F workshop, trained other teachers at district, practiced exemplary ITE lesson plans in their classroom, took two online tests, and continuously reflected on chat forums, moodle and made an electronic portfolio consolidating their learning.
The ceremony was attended by, Prof S Parasuraman, Director, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, R C Jain, Commissioner & Secretary, Govt. of Assam, Secondary Education Department, Prof DK Srivastava Deputy Director TISS, and Ms Krishna Baruah, OSD RMSA, Assam and Amina Charania, ITE-Lead, Tata Trusts and Course faculty and Associate Professor, CEI&AR, TISS.
The convocation ceremony celebrated the certificate recipients’ program completion, with six awards given for outstanding performance, best trainer and mentor, and most active online participant. NGO, volunteers, who completed the course, were also felicitated. The courses seeks to develop a deeper understanding of the role of technology in teaching and learning while critically evaluating value of ICT applications and programs in schools. Designed for in-service teachers in upper primary, and secondary government school teachers.
S Parasuraman, Director, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, said, “When the certificate course was presented to the academic council, the academic council for the first time felt this is an amazing experiment. An experiment whereby we are reaching the teachers who are the most critical and are the backbone of our schooling system and if they are empowered, trained and motivated then their teaching children will become far easier and enjoyable. Today, I have seen the output of this initiative, where we have already reached four districts in the state of Assam and from now other parts of the North East. The certificate course was developed to support integrating teaching under ITE and that is what is being done. The Government of Assam is fully committed to make school education a grand success and we are joining them to make this possible. “
Speaking at the event, Amina Charania, ITE-Lead, Tata Trusts and Course faculty and Associate Professor, CEI&AR, TISS said, “This is unique certification course of TISS under Tata Trusts’ Integrated Approach to Technology in Education initiative where the completion rate is 93%. The course has become a scaling mantra. We have been able to scale up in Assam from 50 schools to 200 and then 600. Teachers have been very participative. Through this, they got the opportunity to update their knowledge on contemporary concepts in ICT in education. The kind of commitment and rigour they have shown is commendable. Giving them an opportunity which is also blended in nature has really empowered government teachers to engage at their own space. What was really amazing was these 39 teachers within the course has trained 740 more teachers.”
Speaking at the event, Amina Charania, ITE-Lead, Tata Trusts and Course faculty and Associate Professor, CEI&AR, TISS said, “This is unique certification course of TISS under Tata Trusts’ Integrated Approach to Technology in Education initiative where the completion rate is 93%. The course has become a scaling mantra. We have been able to scale up in Assam from 50 schools to 200 and then 600. Teachers have been very participative. Through this, they got the opportunity to update their knowledge on contemporary concepts in ICT in education. The kind of commitment and rigour they have shown is commendable. Giving them an opportunity which is also blended in nature has really empowered government teachers to engage at their own space. What was really amazing was these 39 teachers within the course has trained 740 more teachers.”
R C Jain, Commissioner & Secretary, Government of Assam, Secondary Education Department, said, “The concept of model school was started by the Government of India and that concept was brought to Assam and was re-designed in a different way with the help of Tata Trusts. The aim and objective of the program is to create good faculty and through them expand to more and more schools. For this, the teachers’ role is much more. We are providing them with a teaching system and a methodology that did not exist before. ICT based education is the only module that can make classrooms attractive.”
He also said, “TISS will provide in-service training to teachers in Assam especially on ITE and education and extend the service on the new campus in order to become a teacher training hub for Assam Government school teachers. He added, this course can be added to the Diploma in elementary education course.” Prof. S Parasuraman said, “We will give full support and will join hands with the Education Department in scaling up the program.”
The course draws on contemporary concepts, models and standards in the area of teaching and learning with technology, with the objective of making the learning authentic for students by weaving it into their curriculum. It also encourages teachers to continue using technology in their practices by using virtual and blended platforms, thereby enabling their continued professional development.
ITE has reached 120 government schools/model schools intensively and 600 government schools as outreach schools in Assam. In close coordination by RMSA each master trainer will continue to handhold a group of 15 teachers whom they have trained in the course. Next six months’ program will be prepared by ITE-TISS to be implemented in local school clusters. Also, an ITE mentorship program will be launched for 10 master trainers to strengthen the capacity and leadership ability in ICT and Education. This plan is in sync to scale up and mainstream ITE within the system and develop new leadership in the area.
About Tata Trusts
Celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, Tata Trusts is amongst India’s oldest, non-sectarian philanthropic organisations that work in several areas of community development. Since its inception, Tata Trusts has been a pioneer in transforming traditional ideas of philanthropy to make impactful sustainable change in the lives of the communities served. Through direct implementation, co-partnership strategies and grant making, the Trusts support and drive innovation in the areas of education; healthcare and nutrition; rural livelihoods; natural resources management; enhancing civil society and governance; and media, arts, crafts and culture. Tata Trusts continue to be guided by the principles of its Founder, Jamsetji Tata and through his vision of proactive philanthropy, the Trusts catalyse societal development while ensuring that initiatives and interventions have a contemporary relevance to the nation.
Source: Indiaeducationdiary, 2-06-2017
What is ‘Hysteresis’ in Economics?
Hysteresis occurs when unemployed persons are unwilling to accept lower wage rates as a means of returning to work. Wage stickiness implied by hysteresis can produce an increase in the “normal” unemployment rate, also known as the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU), which defies the notion of cyclical, or self-adjusting, unemployment. If, for example, jobs are outsourced to lower-wage economies, workers of the home economy may over time become unqualified to take on those jobs should they return or become dependent on government welfare benefits.
Source: The Hindu, 5-06-2017
Gross misuse: on States using 'Goondas Act'
The Supreme Court’s caution against use of ‘Goondas Act’ for arbitrary detention is timely
Preventive detention laws in the country have come to be associated with frequent misuse. Such laws confer extraordinary discretionary powers on the executive to detain persons without bail for a period that may extend to one year and courts tend to review them on the touchstone of strict adherence to the prescribed procedure. Sometimes they question the invocation of the draconian power when sufficient provisions are available in the ordinary laws of the land. Several States have a law popularly known as the ‘Goondas Act’ aimed at preventing the dangerous activities of specified kinds of offenders. In a recent order, the Supreme Court has questioned the use of words such as “goonda” and “prejudicial to the maintenance of public order” as a “rhetorical incantation” solely to justify an arbitrary detention order. It struck down the detention of a man who had allegedly sold spurious chilli seeds in Telangana, holding that the grounds of detention were extraneous to the Act. This detention order has captured what is wrong with the frequent resort to preventive detention laws. It stated that recourse to normal legal procedure would be time-consuming and would not be an effective deterrent against the sale of spurious seeds. Therefore, it claimed, there was no option but to invoke the preventive detention law to insulate society from the person’s evil deeds. The court rightly termed this as a gross abuse of statutory powers.
The Goondas Act is meant to be invoked against habitual offenders, but in practice it is often used for a host of extraneous reasons. The police tend to use it to buy themselves more time to investigate offences and file a charge sheet. At times, it is used merely to send out a “tough message”. For instance, four persons seen in video footage of women being molested in Rampur in Uttar Pradesh were detained under the Act even though it was not clear if they were habitual offenders. And there are times when preventive detention is overtly political. The recent detention of four political activists in Chennai under the Goondas Act is a direct result of a pathological tendency in Tamil Nadu to crack down on any kind of political activity even remotely linked to the Sri Lankan Tamils issue. The detention of Thirumurugan Gandhi, leader of the ‘May 17 Movement’, a pro-Tamil Eelam group, and three of his associates under the Goondas Act is a brazen violation of their fundamental rights and another instance of abuse of the law. The case involved nothing more than violation of prohibitory orders to hold a candle-light vigil in memory of Sri Lankan Tamils who died in the last phase of the civil war in 2009. Those who authorise such preventive detention for flimsy reasons should understand that prevention of crime needs an efficient system of investigation and trial, and not draconian laws.
Source: The Hindu, 3-06-2017
Crimes against women: A disturbing kind of violence is on the rise
Gang rapes, hackings and disrespecting the dignity of the dead were not what the people of this country were known for
The incidents of the last few days have shaken the country’s sensitive people to the core. Out of habit, we can choose to blame the rulers for this. But this will be running away from reality. The primary responsibility of preventing such incidents also rests with our society.
The first incident is from Pataudi in Haryana. A woman and her grieving daughter were returning from a hospital with the body of her deceased husband. On the way home two tyres of the ambulance got punctured. As soon as the vehicle stopped, goons emerged from the fields nearby. On gunpoint, they demanded that the mother and the daughter part with all their money and jewellery. The mother and her daughter kept pleading with them to let them go, but the goons didn’t relent. The police’s preliminary probe revealed that the goons themselves had littered the road with iron nails to puncture the tyres of vehicles passing through that deserted stretch.
This is a country where people used to stop in their tracks when they saw a funeral procession. Leave aside crossing the path of the procession, they began praying for the departed souls and their loved ones. I’ve seen a number of friends do this in my childhood. These included Hindus, Muslims and Christians. Today, if those who rob people taking their loved ones on their final journey call themselves Indians, we should feel like getting angry with ourselves rather than take umbrage over their misdemeanours.
Similarly, a video that recently went viral compelled me to gnash my teeth in anger. A few louts had surrounded two young women in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur district. One of them was filming them and the others were harassing the girls. Didn’t they have mothers and sisters at home, the agonised girls were asking these louts. We had witnessed such scenes only in Bollywood movies, but it was real and scary. Ironically, a campaign was launched on social media saying that all the perpetrators belonged to a particular religion. Since when did criminals become religious? Did they also conduct a caste and religion postmortem of those convicted for the December 16 gang rape in Delhi?
A day before the video went viral, the news about the Jevar incident near Greater Noida was making newspaper headlines. Even that is heart-rending. A few people from Jevar were compelled to venture out late at night since they were tending to a lady relative who had been hospitalised. On the way, goons robbed them and dragged the women from the family into the fields and gang raped them. A male relative who resisted was shot dead. A similar incident had taken place in Uttar Pradesh a few months ago. At that time, there were attempts to politicise the incident. Similar attempts are again being made. The truth is that in times when a father watches his daughter being raped, a daughter sees it happening with her mother with the son’s body lying next to them, only blaming governments won’t suffice. The monsters who carry out such crimes are all around us. We have to identify these monsters. The more you ignore them, the more emboldened will they get.
Here we should examine another point. At a time when there is talk about building a world-class highway, there is no attempt to ensure adequate security. Although ensuring law and order is the government’s job, why can’t those who revel in the spike in property prices after the construction of national highways come to the police’s assistance? Why do they remain helpless bystanders?
It isn’t that the malaise is limited to the Hindi heartland. You may recall that two years ago, people attacked a prison in Nagaland’s Dimapur to kill a rape accused. Similarly, S Swathi, a Chennai-based technocrat, was hacked to death in a public place. Clearly, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, Kamakhya to Dwarka, there is a rise in such shameful acts of violence.
If we look at it, since Independence, we have discarded the model of village security. We may want to revisit our administrative history and social values. During the British Raj, a watchman was enough to keep all mischief at bay. Today we have home guards and watchmen apart from the police, along with the Department of Civil Defence. But these are misused to further selfish agendas and political gains.
I would urge those shedding tears on social media or at street-side tea stalls to discard their hollow, outspoken ways and roll up their sleeves, because the victims of such unfortunate incidents are people like us.
Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief Hindustan
Source: Hindustan Times, 4-06-2017
Fetch Your Breath Up
SENSEI SANDEEP DESAI
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Men of wisdom fetch their breath up from deep inside and below while others breathe with their voice box alone.Great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela often relied on mind-cleansing meditation combined with deep breathing to restore their flagging energy and create inner peace whenever stress built up in their lives.Normally , we tend to breathe with just the top half of our lungs, leaving the bottom half unused and full of stale, impure air, preventing the fullest absorption of oxygen. The stale air resulting from the poor use of lung capacity virtually affects every organ in the body . We take tens of thousands of breaths per day; yet, it is quite possible that we may spend our whole lifetime without ever pondering about whether we can improve the quality of breathing. Considering our breathing becomes more and more shallow and ineffective from birth onwards, this is a matter of utmost concern.
Those engaged in teaching disciplines such as singing, playing a wind instrument, athletics, yoga and martial arts are required first to become attuned with their breathing to mark growth in their chosen fields. In order to record progress in any type of spiritual discipline, it is immensely important that all parts of the body receive sufficient oxygen, especially the brain. The natural motions resulting from deep breathing help to open up the chakras through which chi -alternatively called prana or ki -enters the body .
Those engaged in teaching disciplines such as singing, playing a wind instrument, athletics, yoga and martial arts are required first to become attuned with their breathing to mark growth in their chosen fields. In order to record progress in any type of spiritual discipline, it is immensely important that all parts of the body receive sufficient oxygen, especially the brain. The natural motions resulting from deep breathing help to open up the chakras through which chi -alternatively called prana or ki -enters the body .
India to Ratify 2 ILO Conventions on Child Labour
The conventions set minimum age for work and specify action to end worst forms of child labour
The labour ministry is likely to soon ratify two key international conventions on child labour, marking an important step towards total eradication of child labour from the country. The move follows amendment to the Child Labour Act, which now completely prohibits children below 14 years of age from any kind of work.A senior labour ministry official told ET that the ministry will shortly take up the pending child labour related conventions to the International Labour Organization (ILO) for ratification after getting it approved at the upcoming 48th Indian Labour Conference.
“The ratification of conventions 138 and 182 will make it legally binding to comply with the provisions of the conventions,“ the official said, requesting not to be identified.
According to the 2001 census, there were 12.6 million child workers between the ages of five and 14 in India. In 2011, this number fell to 4.35 million. The National Sample Survey Office's survey of 2009-10 put the number at 4.98 million.
The Union cabinet has already approved ratification of the two conventions to address concerns related to child labour. While Convention No. 138 sets minimum age for admission to employment, the Worst Form of Child Labour Convention (No. 182) concerns prohibition and stipulates immediate action for elimination of the worst form of child labour.
So far, Convention 138 has been ratified by 169 countries and Convention 182 has been ratified by 180 countries. Hence, by ratifying these two core conventions, India will join majority of the countries that have adopted the legislation to prohibit and place severe restrictions on the employment and work of children.
India has so far ratified 45 conventions of the ILO, of which 42 are in force. Out of these four are fundamental or core conventions. Complete elimination of all forms of child labour is also crucial for the attainment of United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
The government has taken up a multi-pronged strategy, including both stringent legislative and project-based approach, to address the concerns related to child labour.
The amendment to the Child Labour Act proposes complete prohibition of employment of children up to the age of 14 years while banning employment of children between 15-18 years in hazardous works, in sync with the Right to Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.
Besides, the amended law provides for a fine of `60,000 to an employer who hires children below the age of 14 years or an imprisonment of up to two years. Even the parents are liable to be fined `5,000 and imprisonment of six months to one year if they force children below 14 years into labour for the second time after they are rescued.
“The ratification of conventions 138 and 182 will make it legally binding to comply with the provisions of the conventions,“ the official said, requesting not to be identified.
According to the 2001 census, there were 12.6 million child workers between the ages of five and 14 in India. In 2011, this number fell to 4.35 million. The National Sample Survey Office's survey of 2009-10 put the number at 4.98 million.
The Union cabinet has already approved ratification of the two conventions to address concerns related to child labour. While Convention No. 138 sets minimum age for admission to employment, the Worst Form of Child Labour Convention (No. 182) concerns prohibition and stipulates immediate action for elimination of the worst form of child labour.
So far, Convention 138 has been ratified by 169 countries and Convention 182 has been ratified by 180 countries. Hence, by ratifying these two core conventions, India will join majority of the countries that have adopted the legislation to prohibit and place severe restrictions on the employment and work of children.
India has so far ratified 45 conventions of the ILO, of which 42 are in force. Out of these four are fundamental or core conventions. Complete elimination of all forms of child labour is also crucial for the attainment of United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
The government has taken up a multi-pronged strategy, including both stringent legislative and project-based approach, to address the concerns related to child labour.
The amendment to the Child Labour Act proposes complete prohibition of employment of children up to the age of 14 years while banning employment of children between 15-18 years in hazardous works, in sync with the Right to Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.
Besides, the amended law provides for a fine of `60,000 to an employer who hires children below the age of 14 years or an imprisonment of up to two years. Even the parents are liable to be fined `5,000 and imprisonment of six months to one year if they force children below 14 years into labour for the second time after they are rescued.
Source: Economic Times, 5-06-20167
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