DU plans entrance test for all college admissions in 2019

From the coming academic year (2019-20), Class XII marks may not be enough to land you a seat in a Delhi University college. The university plans to introduce entrance exam-based admissions for all its undergraduate courses while also giving fixed weightage to Class XII scores. While the details of the entrance-based system are yet to be ironed out, the varsity is hoping to introduce it in the 2019 admission season. “The admission committee is going to take up the matter of entrance exams with regard to the admission process of 2019-20. The committee is an independent panel that has education experts, college principals and faculty as members,” DU vice-chancellor Yogesh Tyagi told TOI. The DU admission committee had discussed the issue last year as well but could not reach a consensus. While problems relating to holding of entrance exams was one of the reasons for deferring the plan, it had also met with resistance from faculty members in the admission committee. The panel this year intends to determine whether the entrance exam can be outsourced to the National Testing Agency (NTA), which has recently taken up the responsibility of holding national exams like NET and JEE from CBSE. Asked if the university would consider a role for the NTA, Tyagi said the admission committee would consider that possibility. DU currently conducts computer-based entrance tests for nine undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, while admissions to a majority of undergraduate courses are determined through the aspirant’s scores in his/her best four subjects in the Class XII exams for the arts and commerce streams, and best three subjects for the sciences. In 2017, DU had tentatively reached out to students, especially those in Class XII, for feedback on the proposed switch to an entrance-based admission policy.

Source: Times of India, 20/12/2018 

What is 'overperception bias' in Psychology?

Also known as the sexual overperception bias, this refers to the tendency among people to overestimate the level of sexual interest that others have in them. It is believed that men are more likely to overestimate the interest level of women. On the other hand, women are said to underestimate men’s interest level. This is attributed to the fact that the evolutionary cost of underestimation is relatively high for men when compared to women. The overperception bias is considered to be a corollary of the sexual underperception bias which refers to the tendency among people, mostly women, to underestimate the interest level of people of the opposite sex.

Source: The Hindu, 19/12/2018

India must climate-proof its rural and urban infrastructure

We must take action to reduce its vulnerability to weather extremes using latest climate science and modelling simulations.

The Paris Rulebook adopted at the climate negotiations (COP24) in Katowice on Sunday is an opportunity for India to set its house in order. The Rulebook states that under Article 7 of the Paris Agreement, all signatories have to submit and update an adaptation communication periodically to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Adaptation essentially means anticipating the impact of climate change and making cities and villages resilient in the face of a 1.5 degree rise in global warming over pre-industrial levels by the early 2030s. The warming can be as high as 2 degrees for many parts of Asia, including India. India must use this opportunity to climate-proof its rural and urban infrastructure by adopting strategies that reduce the impact of droughts through forestry; use crop diversification with a focus on resilient varieties; promote and deliver agriculture and climate insurance: and adopt flood- and heat stress control in cities. India has already proposed using the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to conduct drought-proofing and afforestation activities and the move has been applauded by climate scientists as it is expected to reach the most vulnerable populations across the country.

The Rulebook has also established a system to ensure developed nations deliver climate finance to developing countries. At COP24, parties agreed that new finance targets will be established from 2025, over the current target of mobilising $100 billion per year by 2020 to support developing countries. Developed countries have the choice to include all kinds of financial instruments— loans, grants, aids from public and private sources — to ensure the flow of funds, which has so far been slow and unpredictable. According to a report of the UNFCCC standing committee on finance, the total climate specific finance flows from developed countries in 2016 was $38 billion — less than 40% of the target. Money apart, countries such as India need to draft a strategy to use funds effectively to minimise the impact of climate change; In India, the Kerala floods of 2018, and the 2013 flash floods in Uttarakhand were both extreme weather events caused by climate change .

The India Meteorological Department recently acknowledged that the country is facing climate change-led aberrations in long-term meteorological trends, with a sharp rise in ‘extremely heavy rainfall’ events and the number of ‘dry days’ in the past few decades. Instead of wearing blinkers like the oil-rich nations that include Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Russia and the US did at COP24, India must take action to reduce its vulnerability to weather extremes using latest climate science and modelling simulations.

Source: Hindustan Times, 19/12/2018

We must give our girls the chance to dream big

Good steps are being taken, but in pockets. The situation calls for a concerted national campaign, like Swachh Bharat. It is time we all got involved: parents, schools, media, and donors.

The physical and emotional well-being of India’s adolescents (10-19 years) needs urgent attention. India has 243 million adolescents, which is 21% of the entire population. There are only 920 girls for every 1,000 boys and these 8% of ‘missing’ girls are emblematic of the bias against the girl child that prevails in many parts of India. Nationally, more than 50% of women are anaemic, and 23% have low body mass index, issues that have their roots in adolescence. All data cited is from recent government sources, unless specified. Lack of knowledge about menstrual hygiene also contributes to adolescent health problems.

Younger teenage girls I meet through my work with the Antara Foundation in the villages of Rajasthan, speak animatedly of stepping out from the village, going to college, becoming teachers or joining government services. However, these girls also deal with pressures at home. They must balance school work with household chores; care for younger siblings; deal with parents who want them to drop out of school and get married. They have few opportunities to cultivate friendships. With these kinds of pressures, life can be intolerable, and suicide emerges as the leading cause of death among adolescents (The Lancet).

There is no reason why this tragedy should happen. The most obvious remedy is to delay the age of marriage. Almost 27% of girls in India are married before they turn 18, and that figure is as high as 35-40% in states like Bihar, Rajasthan and West Bengal. India has the maximum number of adolescent pregnancies in the world, resulting in malnourishment of both mother and child. A married child also faces more marital violence. State governments can do a lot, and West Bengal’s Kanyashree Prakalpa, to prevent early marriage, is a good example. Through it, there are awareness programmes in school, and parents get a financial incentive for delaying their child’s marriage by a few years.

The second step is keeping girls in school. School education broadens horizons, inculcates health-seeking behaviour, and provides opportunities for peer interaction. In India, 32% of adolescent girls do not attend secondary school (ASER). Long distances and lack of safe transport are key reasons. Bihar came up with a popular and effective solution — giving away cycles to young girls. There was an increase in the enrolment of girl students in class nine, from 1.5 lakh to over eight lakh. Improved education levels result in increase in the age of marriage — and there is no better example than Kerala, with a women’s literacy rate of 97.9% and early marriage prevalence at 7.6%

The onset of menstruation with puberty is a major reason why adolescent girls miss school days. Those five days of each month become an ordeal because girls have no ready access to sanitary napkins. States such as Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have introduced wonderful programmes to provide sanitary napkins in government schools, as one step towards keeping girls in school. The Hindi movie Padman (2018) contributed in its own way to normalising safe menstrual hygiene. In some schools, boys are being educated about menstruation, developing a heathy respect for women at an early age.

There is also a near term solution: involve girls in community activities. Some states have introduced sports programmes for girls, to provide a boost to self-esteem and assuage feelings of loneliness. In Rajasthan, my foundation is involving adolescent girls as health mobilisers in their local mohallas. Adolescent girls’ involvement in community kitchens in Peru has been instrumental in combatting malnutrition, and empowering women.

National programmes directed at the well-being of the adolescent are essential. The Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) is a great example, with innovative elements such as peer educators, dedicated adolescent health days and sex education. The Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFS) introduced in 2012, provides iron and folic acid supplements to over 100 million adolescent girls and boys, through schools and Anganwadi centres. Such programmes and many more are required to assist the adolescent girls of India through their transitional period with care so that they have a happy and healthy future.

Good steps are being taken, but in pockets. The situation calls for a concerted national campaign, like Swachh Bharat. It is time we all got involved: parents, schools, media, and donors. Give our girls the chance to dream!

Ashok Alexander is founder-director of the Antara Foundation, and author of ‘A Stranger Truth: Lessons in Love, leadership and Courage from India’s Sex Workers’ (Juggernaut 2018)The views expressed are personal

Source: Hindustan Times, 19/12/2018

Walk the Lonely Path

To reach the innermost depth of understanding and tranquillity, each one of us, as a free thinker, has to walk the lonely path to self-discovery through the noisy mind. Life in its essence does not change; it flows, as ever, with all its ups and downs. The question is: can we flow along with it in a naturally abundant, joyous, balanced state of being? From the chaotic state of mind, we first travel the difficult distance to the state of loneliness, which for some may even be an anxiety-ridden experience. But in itself, it is the first and most promising milestone towards Self-realisation. From there begins the journey towards aloneness. Loneliness is the mirror carved out of our introspection — it reflects where we are in our journey towards the ultimate. At the take-off stage, we are nothing more than lost particles in the vast universe, and yet, not quite so…for we are determined to find out who we are. Aloneness is that next step towards Self-realisation and then with consistent, aware evolution comes the finer state of aloneness; it keeps getting better till finally one arrives. In aloneness, we begin to cherish our own company and in the same measure as that of the stars, the trees and the breeze. Then you want nothing, crave for nothing, desire nothing because you have everything. You have you with you and that you is life in totality itself: the ultimate. The moment of Self-realisation can happen any time. It depends upon your readiness to receive it, upon the purity of your being in everything you do.

Source: Economic Times, 19/12/2018

What is 'selfish brain theory' in Biology?

This refers to a scientific hypothesis which states that the brain prioritises its own relatively high energy needs over those of the rest of the body. This hypothesis overturned the earlier belief among scientists that the energy needs of various organs of the body are met equally without any kind of internal discrimination within the body. The selfish brain theory was developed by German brain researcher Achim Peters to explain the prevalence of obesity as the result of an imbalance in the energy supplied to the brain and the metabolic system. Some believe that the selfish brain may be the consequence of evolutionary forces favouring an alert brain over an agile body.

Source: The Hindu, 18/12/2018

Making every citizen an auditor

Various steps need to be taken to strengthen social audits

“A good auditor is a good listener” said President Ram Nath Kovind during his recent speech at the 29th Accountants General Conference. “You will not only see the accounts in their books, but also listen to their accounts,” he said. It is only when this conception is accepted that audits will return to their democratic roots, and social audits in India will get the space and attention they deserve in becoming an integral and robust part of the formal audit process.

Social audits show how people’s participation in the planning, execution and monitoring of public programmes leads to better outcomes. They have strengthened the role of the gram sabha. Social audits were first mandated by law in 2005 under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Subsequently, Parliament, the Supreme Court and many Central ministries mandated them in other areas as well. As efforts are being made to extend social audits to new areas, it is important to look at how well they are actually implemented based on parameters specified in the auditing standards jointly pioneered by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and the Ministry of Rural Development. The National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj recently conducted a study comparing ground realities with the specified standards, and identified key issues that need to be addressed.

Many shortcomings

There can be no effective audits if the auditing agency is not independent. Following a sustained push from the Rural Development Ministry, the CAG and civil society organisations, social audit units (SAUs) have been established in 26 States (Rajasthan, Haryana and Goa are yet to establish them). More than 5,000 full-time staff have been appointed. A 30-day rigorous training programme has been designed, and more than 4,200 people have been trained. However, the study identified certain shortcomings. The governing bodies of most SAUs are not independent. Some SAUs have to obtain sanction from the implementation agency before spending funds. More than half the States have not followed the open process specified in the standards for the appointment of the SAU’s director. Some States have conducted very few audits and a few have not conducted any. Several do not have adequate staff to cover all the panchayats even once a year.

For the period 2016-17 and 2017-18 (till November), only 13 SAUs registered grievances and/or detected irregularities. These have identified a significant misappropriation amount of Rs. 281 crore. However, the action taken by the State governments in response to the social audit findings has been extremely poor: only 7% of the money has been recovered and only 14% of the grievances have been redressed. Adequate disciplinary action against people responsible for the irregularities has also not been taken.

The way forward

In 2017, the Supreme Court mandated social audits under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) to be conducted using the machinery that facilitates the social audits of MGNREGA. Social audits of the NFSA have failed to take off due to lack of funds. Like the Rural Development Ministry, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution should give funds to the SAUs and ask them to facilitate the social audits of the NFSA.

Social audit units should have an independent governing body and adequate staff. Rules must be framed so that implementation agencies are mandated to play a supportive role in the social audit process and take prompt action on the findings. Also, a real time management information system should track the calendar, the social audit findings and the action taken, and reports on these should be made publicly available.

Social audit processes need mentoring and support as they expand into newer programmes. As the President said in his speech: “The social audit to account whether the money was spent properly, and made the intended difference, is mostly conducted by the scheme beneficiaries. Here the CAG as an institution could partner with local citizens and state audit societies to train them, build capacities and issue advisories on framing of guidelines, developing criteria, methodology and reporting for audit.”

Source: The Hindu, 18/12/2018