Tuesday, December 29, 2020

The government has proposed to set up a “first of its kind” university covering the entire gamut of disability studies and rehabilitation sciences in an accessible environment.

In a public notice issued on December 24, the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, has invited comments from stakeholders on a draft bill to set up the university.

In this regard, the DEPwD said, a draft bill namely the University of Disability Studies and Rehabilitation Sciences Bill, 2021 for establishing the proposed university has been prepared.

The DEPwD said it intends to set up a University of Disability Studies and Rehabilitation Sciences, Kamrup district, Assam through a separate act of Parliament.

“The proposed university, the first of its kind, will be a unique multidisciplinary academic institution conducting research, programmes and courses from bachelor’s level onwards to cater to various disciplines covering the entire gamut of disability studies and rehabilitation sciences in an accessible environment,” the DEPwD said.

The proposed university will have eight departments viz. disability studies; rehabilitation sciences; audiology and speech language pathology; special education; psychology; nursing; orthotics and prosthetics and assistive technology; and inclusive and universal design.

“The proposed university’s programmes will adopt a credit and grading system. The proposed university will offer affiliation to other institutions in disabilities and rehabilitation sciences in the country,” it said.The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities hereby invites comments from the public on the draft University of Disability Studies and Rehabilitation Sciences Bill, 2021 by January 3, 2021.

Prominent disabled rights body National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled, however, called it another “ill-conceived idea”, which denied adequate time or space for stakeholders to respond.

“In this case, a mere nine days have been given to elicit a response to a 131-page document,” NPRD said in a statement.“All the more unacceptable is the fact that this university would be ‘self-sustaining’, in tune with the thrust of the New Education Policy 2020. With finances being generated from tuition fees, affiliation fees etc. students from the marginalised sections will stand deprived,” it said.

“Rather than wasting huge amounts of money on self-sustaining segregated centres of learning, it would do auger well if the government adheres to the guiding principles of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act of equality and non-discrimination and adopts and promotes an inclusive, multidisciplinary approach,” the NPRD said.

Source: Indian Express, 27/12/20

We must realise global health requires a coordinated effort

To reap the benefits of globalisation, to ensure an equal world, global health must be central to international collaboration. It determines social and economic development for all. And peace is the logical result.

The ongoing pandemic, with over 79 million people infected and 1.7 million lives lost, has become the most destructive infectious disease outbreak in recent human history with unprecedented human, social and economic costs. Countries are struggling to respond to new infections and virus mutations through a mix of containment measures- periodic lockdowns, domestic and international border-sealing and available, limited medical solutions.

International trade and domestic economies were the first to take a hit. By the end of the second quarter, international trade was almost one-fifth less compared to second quarter of 2019. As 2020 closes out and vaccines are getting emergency use approvals, the Covid-19 shock is expected to cause a seven to nine per cent fall in global trade.

Countries that were growing economically pre-pandemic, are now witnessing worrying trends. For instance, pre-Covid, unemployment in the United States (US) was at a half-century low but by the second quarter of 2020, its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) plunged by nearly 31.4% - a record held previously only by the Great Depression. In the United Kingdom (UK), unemployment hit a three-year high and over 800,000 people lost their jobs. Emerging and fledgling economies like India and South Africa are also experiencing historic contractions.

But the impact of Covid-19 isn’t limited to economics and trade. It has magnified fault-lines, exacerbated inequities and inequalities and resulted in shadow pandemics such as mental health crises, violence against women, and disruptions in critical health services, possibly reversing recent improvements. It has forced hundreds of thousands of skilled and unskilled workers out of jobs and is expected to push an estimated 88-115 million into extreme poverty. Countries, rich and poor, have been affected by an economic emergency. Several low- and middle-income countries, battling existing political instability and conflict, coupled with weak health systems infrastructure have borne the worst of this impact. The pandemic has underscored that the world needs to rethink policies and programmes to bring back some semblance of equality and stability in societies. It needs to view global health as a security issue.

For too long, the concept of security has assumed an anthropomorphised ‘other’ - an ‘us’ seeking existential security from another state or organisation. Here, state security is threatened in physical or cyber battle by potentially rational or irrational actors, who driven by distrust or ambition or power dynamics, launch threats to a state’s security. While these can be checked with negotiation, mediation and arbitration, or destruction, i.e. war; in case of disease, such an understanding is limited. Disease, and resulting hunger and poverty can cause destabilisation, political unrest, civil disorder, and international conflict– all of which threaten international peace and security. Covid-19 has also shattered the illusion of international collaboration. In the last two decades, these have emphasised good health and well-being, especially through the Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals. But in the wake of Covid-19, countries that could launch a coordinated effort to check the impact of the pandemic have resorted to inward-looking policies. Ending the pandemic must be a global goal and a critical determinant of foreign policy, trade, and economic co-operation.

Protectionism, isolationism, as seen through vaccine nationalism has reversed the efforts of international bodies and platforms to place health at the centre of the global development agenda. Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; and the World Health Organization are working with governments and vaccine manufacturers to expedite vaccine research and ensure that the vaccine, when available, is accessible to all. But to ensure success wealthier countries must join hands and lend their support so that all countries can roll-out the vaccine, almost in parallel.

As we see the light at the end of the tunnel, as vaccines get rolled out across the world, we need to collectively recognise that global health determines economic trajectories and requires a coordinated, concerted effort. To reap the benefits of globalisation, to ensure an equal world, global health must be central to international collaboration. It determines social and economic development for all. And peace is the logical result.

Anjali Nayyar is executive vice-president, Global Health Strategies

Source: Hindustan Times, 29/12/20

Thursday, December 24, 2020

Quote of the Day December 24, 2020

“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.”
Rabindranath Tagore

“सिर्फ खड़े होकर पानी को ताक कर आप समुद्र नहीं पार कर सकते।”
रबिन्द्रनाथ टैगोर

Current Affairs – December 24, 2020

India

MRSAM Test successful

The Medium Range Surface to Air Missile for the Indian Army was successfully tested on December 23, 2020. It is jointly developed by DRDO and the Israel Aircraft Industries.

International Science Literature Festival

The CSIR, Ministry of Earth Science and Vijnana Bharati jointly organised the inaugural session of Vigyanika International Science Literature festival. The festival was launched to mark the birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan on December 22, 2020.

ISRO to set up Regional Academic Centre for Space in IIT Varanasi

The ISRO will establish a regional academic centre for space at IIT Varanasi to facilitate short- and long-term projects in the institute.

National Farmers Day celebrated on December 23

The National Farmers Day was celebrated on December 23 all over the country. The day is celebrated to honour the fifth Prime Minister of India Choudhary Charan Singh.

All Film Media Units are to be merged

The Government of India recently approved to merge all the Film Media unites operating under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Contest to strengthen Digital Network Platform for Vaccine

On December 23, 2020, the Government of India launched a technology contest to invite solutions from IT companies and startups to strengthen digital platform CoWIN. The GoI is also enhancing eVIN, Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network.

Sugathakumari, Malayalam poet-activist died

The Malayalam poet, women activist, Sugathakumari died of COVID-19 on December 24, 2020.

Changes to Post Matric Scholarship announced

The Government of India has announced transformatory changes to post matric scholarship for students from Scheduled Castes. The share pattern between the centre and state is to be 60:40. Under the scheme, the GoI provides financial assistance to students from Scheduled Caste and also to students from households whole annual income is less than Rs 2.5 lakhs.

Economy and Corporate

100% FDI in DTH service approved

On December 23, 2020, the Union Cabinet approved 100% FDI in direct-to-home service. The license fee was reduced and extended from ten years to twenty years.

RBI cautions against unauthorised Digital lending applications

On December 23, 2020, the Reserve Bank of India has issued note of caution to the public against the use of unauthorised lending applications. The apex bank has cited recent media reports on unethical collection practices and arbitrary interest rates that are charged by some of these applications.

President Trump confers Legion of Merit to PM Modi

On December 21, 2020, President Trump conferred the Legion of Merit to PM Modi for his role in bringing India as a global power.

S Jaishankar holds virtual meeting with his Spanish counterpart

On December 23, 2020, the external affairs minister S Jaishankar held virtual meeting with his Spanish counter part. The leaders exchanged notes about the pandemic situation.

“Republic Bharat” fined by UK regulator

The Hindi News Channel “Republic Bharat”, an arm of the Republic TV was fined by the UK Communications regulator Office of Communications for broadcasting content that involved hate speech. The fine was levied with reference to the daily current affairs discussion programme Poochta Hai Bharat presented by Arnab Goswami.

Israel to hold snap polls

Knesset, the Israel Parliament, was dissolved after two main parties failed to meet a deadline in passing the budget.

Sports

8 Khelo India Centres of Excellence inaugurated across India

On December 22, 2020, the Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju inaugurated eight Khelo India Centres of Excellence across India. The centres are located in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Telangana, Kerala, Nagaland, Odisha and Karnataka.

National Consumer Rights Day: December 24

Every year, the National Consumer Rights Day is celebrated on December 24 in India. The World Consumer Rights Day is celebrated on March 15.

The National Consumer Day is celebrated through out India to protect the interests of the consumers. This year, the National Consumer Rights Day is celebrated under the following theme

Theme: The Sustainable Consumer

Why on December 24?

The National Consumer Rights Day is celebrated on December 24 as the Consumer Protection Act was enacted on this day in 1986.

Consumer Protection Act

The act recognises six rights of the consumers. They are Right of Choice, Right of Redressal, Right of Hearing, Right of Education, Right to Protection and Right of Information.

The right to Protection is the right to be protected against marketing of goods and services that are hazardous to life and property.
The Right to Information is being informed about quality, quantity, potency, purity, price of goods and standard.
Right of Hearing is that the consumer should be heard and assured that consumer interests shall receive due consideration at appropriate terms.
The Right of Redressal is seeking redressal against unfair trade practices and exploitation. According to the act, speedy and simple redressal to consumers is to be set up at district, state and central level.
Right to Information is the right to learn about competitive prices of goods and services.

Central Consumer Protection Authority

The Central Consumer Protection Authority was established under the Consumer Protection Act. It was established under Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

The authority is empowered to investigate on matters that are related to violations of consumer rights. It will mainly ensure if the goods and services being offered are in accordance to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India.It has powers to withdraw services that are unsafe, dangerous and hazardous to consumer, pass an order to refund prices of goods or services and discontinuation of practices that are unfair.

GATE 2021: These 7 preparation strategies will help you score more

GATE 2021 preparation tips: The time left before the GATE exam can be effectively used to revise core engineering concepts and important formulas to save the marks lost in silly mistakes

GATE 2021 preparation tips: The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE 2021) is undeniably the most sought after PG engineering entrance exam in the country. It serves as a gateway to admission in Master’s programmes. In addition, many PSUs conduct recruitment of graduate engineers on the basis of GATE score. IIT Bombay has already announced the branch-wise exam dates of GATE and the examination is scheduled to be held in less than two months’ time, that is, in February. It is high time that GATE aspirants utilise the available time to secure their best score which brings us to pen down some important last month preparation strategies in this read.

As the conducting institute of the 2021 exam, IIT Bombay will release the GATE admit card on January 8 at gate.iitb.ac.in. The examination is scheduled to be held from February 5 to 7 and 12 to 14. Although the GATE 2021 syllabus has changed from the last time, the common section of General Aptitude is still there for all papers in addition to the subject wise syllabus corresponding to different subjects. A simple yet effective revision strategy is solving workbooks for both GA and subject-specific questions. A significant portion of marks is given away in silly mistakes. Candidates must take care of this through extensive practice in these last few days before the exam.

Blindly solving mock tests and doing workbook exercises would not however help much, if a candidate has confusion in the understanding of basic concepts. This is particularly relevant for the subject-specific questions that are related to core engineering concepts and theories. We recommend candidates revisit core theories and concepts from the engineering subjects at least once. A useful shortcut is to refer to short-notes if the candidate has already prepared them earlier. In other cases, ready to use notes for GATE can always be found over the internet.

Candidates who took the GATE exam earlier are of the opinion that the aptitude and mathematics part pose a tremendous opportunity to push the score toward the top of the GATE result. However, one must be fluent with the techniques implemented to solve typical aptitude questions as well as the mathematical functions, equations, relations and formula to solve quantitative aptitude questions. In order to remain competitive, candidates have to therefore be able to swiftly recall such formulas or methods for typical problem-solving. If needed, make a chart of important formulas, equations and relations and refer to these in-between study hours For those who are appearing in the GATE exam for the first time, it might be confusing as to what exact type of questions is asked in the exam. For instance, questions with confusing alternatives such as “not true” or “not false” are often encountered in such exams. The way out is to refer to the previous years’ papers of the exam. The correct answers are always available in the GATE answer keys so use the papers and the keys conjointly and get acquainted with the paper even before appearing in the exam.

Lastly, we have an important trick that is bound to be helpful for aspirants this year. Refer to previous papers and the syllabus of the GATE exam. Identify at least 20-25 topics that have been common in the question papers of the last five years’ GATE exam. Note these down and highlight these topics in the syllabus, short notes, practice books, mock tests and every other learning material handy. Study these topics extensively and there is a good chance to get a fair share of the common questions in GATE.

Source: Indian Express, 23/12/20

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