Educating india

·         Who is a literate?

o   As per census, any person abv 7 years who can read and write in any language is a literate

THE CENSUS FACTS

·         Literacy rate has gone up by 9% over last decade

·         Increase in literacy among women ahs been higher than that of men

·         In 1901 literacy rate was 5% while in 1951 it was 16% and now it is 74%

·         The highest growth in literacy over a decade was in 1991-2001 when  litrcy rate went up by 11%

DRAW BACKS

·         The census faisl to verify if a person has

o   Received formal education

o   Attained minimal education stadard

·         Ideally a person can be called a literate when s/he has received 10 years of formal education

Bangldeash : crisis of grameen bank

there is lots of politics in this article. Putting that aside, important points are

1.      The story of grameen bank

·         Started in 1983 by an ordnance  of government

·         Bangladesh government has 25% stake in it

·         Mohd yunus has been bank MD since its inception

·         Grameen bank and Yunus won nobel peace prize in 2006

THE PROBLEM NOW

·         As per bangladesh alw, retirement age is 65.

·         Hence government has dismissed yunus as MD on grounds of his age(hez 70 now)

US STAND

·         Many US bussinessmen have invested in grameen

·         Recently grameen america has also been launched

·         They have invested mainly due to their trust in mohd yunus

·         Hence US is hell bent in ensuring that Yunus stays on

·         Therefore this has become a US vs Bangladesh tussle

CURRENT SCENARIO

·         Yunus went to high court which upheld government decision to dismiss him

Now the case will be heard in supreme court

inflation poses new challenges

 

·         Food inflation remaind most of time abv 10% last year

·         Poor spend 67% household income on food.

·         Hence the poor and vulnerable are going to be impacted by high inflation more than other sections of society

·         Although percapita income has grown by 7%, it has not improved much for the lower quintile

CAUSES FOR INFLATION ACC TO ECO SURVEY

·         Prosperous people

o   With increased per capita income, people can now afford to shift their diet from cheaper coarse cereals to protein rich diet of milk, eggs etc

·         Financial inclusion

o   The earlier idle money stored in house alimirahs is now being brought into banks

o   These banks inturn lend to market, leadning to more liquidity and hence stoking inflation

·         PPP correction

o   When a nation is poor, its Purchasing power parity is low. Hence people in country like zimbabwe can buy more with 100 US $ than a person in US or India

o   In same way as India pushes itself up the development ladder, its PPP is going to decrease and hence increasing cost of goods

WAY AHEAD

·         ECO survey estimates an average inflation of 5% over next decade

·         A high growth India will have to live with high inflation

·         Only way to reduce the discomfort  for poor is to ensure growth is more inclusive

·         We need better social safety nets for the poor

An exciting discovery

This article is of use for anthropology and also for ancient history


 

·         Attirapakkam is near chennai in kortallayar river basin

·         This site was 1^st identified by robert bruce foote in 1863

·         Quartzite tools of acheulian period were found here

WHATS NEW?

·         So far it was believed that human existence in India began .5 to .6 mn yrs ago

·         The new discoveries of acheulian tools dates back to 1-1.5 mn yrs ago

DATING TECHNIQUES

·         Palaeomagnetism

·         Aluminium beryllium isotope techniques

vigilantism over higher education

·         It seeks to set up tribunals at state and national elvel to resolve disputes between various stake holders in higher education system(teachers, students, universities etc)

·         Composition and powers

·         Atleast 1/3 members in tribunal must be women

·         Age : 55 to 70 years

POWERS

·         It has the power of civil court

·         Appeals can be filed only at national tribunal(in case of a state tribunal judgement) or supreme court

·         Failure to comply with its order may lead to

o   Penality of upto 1o lakh rupees or/and

o   Jail term upto 3 years

ISSUES:

·         Education is a subject under state and concurrent list

·         Especially setting up and winding up of universities comes under state

·         Regulation of universities is under exclusive domain of state

CONSEQUENCES

·         Autonomy of insititutions In decision making on issues like curriculum, academic schedule will be reduced

·         The tribunal system is arbitrary, quick and unconsitutional

·         Currently many institutions have their own internal dispute settlement mechanism to resolve disputes amicably

·         This move is solely to advantage of private players and bureacrats