Current Affairs 20 September 2022 – IAS Current Affairs
Current Affairs 20 September 2022 focuses on Prelims-Mains perspective. Major events are :
NAAC Assessing System
Source: Indian Express
GS II: Policies and Developmental Studies
What is discussed under NAAC Assessing System?
- What is NAAC?
- Accreditation Eligibility and Process
- The NAAC Accredited Institutions in India
- Challenges
Why in News?
- The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), has sparked controversy by changing the grades of Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda from A to A+.
- NAAC carries out quality checks or assessments of Indian Higher-level Educational Institutions (HEIs).
What is NAAC?
- As part of accreditation, the NAAC, an autonomous agency within the University Grants Commission (UGC), analyses and certifies HEIs with gradings.
- A higher education institution learns if it fulfils the evaluator’s quality requirements in terms of curriculum, faculty, facilities, research, and other factors through a multi-layered procedure.
- Institutional grades range from A++ to C.
Accreditation Eligibility and Process
- Only higher education institutions that are at least six years old or have graduated at least two batches of students are eligible to apply.
Photo by Ivan Aleksic on Unsplash - The accreditation is valid for a period of five years.
- Aspiring institutes must be UGC-approved and have regular students engaged in full-time teaching and research programmes.
- NAAC mainly depends on applicant institutions’ self-assessment reports.
- The first phase requires an applicant institution to submit a self-study report with quantitative and qualitative indicators.
- NAAC expert teams then evaluate the data, followed by peer team visits to the universities.
The NAAC Accredited Institutions in India
- The All India Survey on Higher Education webpage lists 1,043 universities and 42,343 institutions.
- According to the most recent data from June 21, there were 406 NAAC-accredited institutions and 8,686 colleges.
- Maharashtra has the most authorised institutions among the states, with 1,869 – more than twice as many as Karnataka, which has 914.
- With 43 accredited universities, Tamil Nadu has the most.
Challenges
- The fear of receiving a low grade or receiving no accreditation at all prevents higher education schools from freely requesting the review.
- This is despite the fact that the UGC (Mandatory Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2012 made accreditation mandatory.
- NAAC investigated the feasibility of a new system of Provisional Accreditation for Colleges (PAC) earlier this year, under which even one-year-old colleges might seek for accreditation.
- It advised that the provisional credentials be valid for two years.
- However, the group that drafted the white paper, which also went through numerous rounds of changes, recognised that such a system can lead to quality compromise.
- The PAC plan suggests decreasing requirements in order to allow more universities to get Provisional Accreditation.
- Instead, NAAC would be better to assist institutions in improving the quality of education they deliver, so that they can satisfy the requirements required for NAAC certification.
Scandinavian Social Democracy
Source: Hindu
GS II: Constitution of India and Indian polity
What is discussed under Scandinavian Social Democracy?
- What is the Nordic Model of Democracy?
- Reasons for Thriving Social Democratic Model
Why in News?
The formation of a new right-wing administration in Sweden challenges the Nordic (or Scandinavian) Model of Social Democracy.
Key Facts
- While the Social Democrats returned as the single largest party in Sweden’s recent elections, a split mandate left them with just 30.33% of the vote share.
- The Social Democrats’ alliance, which also included the Centre Party, the Left Party, and the Green Party, had 173 seats, while the right-wing coalition led by the Moderate Party had 176.
- The Moderate Party received 68 seats, two fewer than its previous result in 2018.
- However, the far-right Sweden Democrats received 73 seats and 20.54% of the vote.
What is the Nordic Model of Democracy?
- There are three Scandinavian nations geographically (Denmark, Sweden, and Norway).
Image by WikiImages from Pixabay - Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland, and the Faroe Islands are the six Scandinavian nations in terms of culture.
- Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland are all part of the Nordic Region, as are the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and land.
- The Nordic model, often known as the Scandinavian model, is the combination of Nordic nations’ social welfare and economic systems (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland).
- It mixes capitalist aspects such as a market economy with social advantages such as state pensions and income distribution.
- The systems in Scandinavian nations are more akin to traditional social democrats.
- All of these nations likewise follow a capitalist growth paradigm.
Advantages of the Nordic Model
- The Nordic model promotes social mobility and equality.
- Everyone gets free access to quality public services, including some of the world’s top education and healthcare, and people are content to pay their taxes to ensure that this continues.
- These common advantages are combined with entrepreneurship, resulting in an effective mix of capitalism and socialism—or “cuddly capitalism,” as some put it.
Criticism of the Nordic Model
- High taxes, a high level of government intervention, and relatively low GDP and productivity are factors limiting economic progress.
- The nordic model redistributes assets, restricts the amount of money available for personal spending and consumption, and promotes dependency on government-subsidized programmes.
- The Challenges faced by the Nordic model are the ageing population and influx of immigrants
Reasons for Thriving Social Democratic Model
- The Nordic nations’ smaller and more homogeneous populations allow for more concentrated government.
- The corporatist paradigm, which involves both capital and labour interests and is mediated by the government, has allowed for a more seamless transition from rural to industrial to post-industrial economies.
- They emphasised social policies that encourage the spread of modern manufacturing, resulting in more and better-paying employment.
- These nations’ Social Democratic Parties cemented democracy, resulting in equal citizenship rights and pragmatic class concessions.
Market-Based Economic Dispatch of Electricity
Source: Indian Express
GS II: Policies and Developmental Studies
What is discussed under Market-Based Economic Dispatch of Electricity?
- What is Market-Based Economic Dispatch of Electricity (MBED)?
- Concerns Associated with the Centralised Model of MBED
Why in News?
- The Market-Based Economic Dispatch (MBED) mechanism envisions centralised dispatching for the whole yearly power usage of around 1,400 billion units.
What is Market-Based Economic Dispatch of Electricity (MBED)?
- For dispatching India’s total annual energy demand of 1,400 billion units, the MBED suggests a centralised scheduling scheme.
- This is consistent with the ‘One Nation, One Grid, One Frequency, One Price’ formula proposed by the Centre.
- Given that power is a concurrent topic, with the right to legislation shared by both the Centre and the states, they remain irreconcilable.
- For many years, power distribution has been based on a decentralised model, which has been reinforced by the Electricity Act of 2003 and subsequent changes.
- The planned MBED successfully undermines state legislative authorities.
- The proposed market design is expected to have the following impact on the power sector:
- Lower electricity purchase expenses: With a centralised pool of generating and demand options, gencos will be driven to become more cost-effective or close down, cutting India’s overall variable cost of electricity.
- Increased use of renewable energy: Renewable energy is likely to be curtailed at a lower rate when electricity is planned and dispatched over a greater balancing zone.
Concerns Associated with the Centralised Model of MBED
- Violated existing acts:
Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash - The mechanism’s centralised character violates the restrictions of the Electricity Act of 2003 and the Indian Contract Act of 1872.
- Validity of the scheme:
- More clarity is also required on the validity of the scheme’s planned Bilateral Contract Settlement (BCS) mechanism for refunding the difference between the Market Clearing Price and the contract price in order to maintain the PPA rates.
- Impact on the relative autonomy of states:
- The MBED model is believed to have an adverse impact on the relative autonomy of states in managing their energy sector, including their own producing stations, and to make the discoms completely reliant on the centralised mandated market pool requirements.
- There are concerns that this may lose states of their ability to determine their own power needs while regulating seasonal and local demand fluctuations.
- Contradicts growing market trends:
- The technique is projected to reduce market competition, inhibiting efficiency and innovation.
- This also contradicts growing market trends, such as the rising penetration of renewable energy and electric cars, which will necessitate decentralised markets and voluntary pools for successful operation.
- Pan-India visibility:
- The electricity market in India is diverse, including long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs), cross-border PPAs, short and medium-term bilaterals, day-ahead power exchange, and a real-time online market.
- Approximately 87% of installed electricity is locked up in long-term PPAs, with the remainder traded in power markets.
- At the moment, each control area or state uses merit-order dispatch (the cheapest electricity is dispatched first) from a basket of intra-state and inter-state resources and buys or sells on the day-ahead power market.
- Schedules in long-term PPAs can be changed.
- However, the MBED model would not provide pan-India visibility of available marketable power on a daily basis on the power exchange.
- Impact on the power supply in key cities:
- Some power stations, such as Trombay TPS in Mumbai or the Dadri TPS in the NCR region, are crucial for the security of supply to key cities like Mumbai and Delhi, as well as for islanding operations in the case of a grid breakdown.
- Given the mandated pooling clause, the vital status of these power plants may be called into doubt.
Way Ahead
- Instead of pursuing total centralization, initiatives to strengthen the existing voluntary pool-based marketplaces should be examined.
- A suitable regulatory framework for discoms and gencos to schedule transactions through the market might be developed.
- States can be encouraged to provide their electricity in the open market on a ‘voluntary’ basis, providing more capacity and liquidity to the markets. This will assist India in transitioning away from long-term PPAs, deepening electricity markets, and improving efficiency/flexibility.
Healthy Child Award
Source : PIB
GS II : Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources
What is discussed under Healthy Child Award?
- What are the Objectives?
- How to Identifying a healthy child?
Why in News ?
A total of 306 children of 33 Districts of 14 Lok Sabha Constituencies in Assam have been awarded healthy child award.
Key Facts
- At the State level, the Healthy Child Award was given away to 10 children on 1st September 2022, on the inaugural function of 5th Rastriya POSHAN MAAH by the Chief Minister of Assam and Minister for Women and Child Development.
- Malnutrition among under-five is an important concern all over India. Considering the initiative towards building a healthy nation, Assam shared the goal of “Malnutrition free Assam”.
- 20 healthy children from Anganwadi Centres were to be awarded as “Healthy Child” prize at the level of Lok Sabha Constituency.
- Growth monitoring was done all over the State for the measurement of weight and height of children to identify healthy children in age group of 6 months -3 years and 3-5 years and to generate awareness and conduct campaigns for growth measurement of children held from 21st March- 27th March, of POSHAN Pakhwada-2022.
- Twenty healthy children were identified from each Lok Sabha Constituency covering all the ICDS project from respective district during POSHAN Pakhwada.
- It is an imperative intervention taken by Chief Minister of Assam aimed to improve nutrition through enhanced social awareness.
What are the Objectives?
- To identify healthy children in age group of 6m-3 years and 3-5 years and to generate awareness and conduct campaigns for
Source: PIB growth measurement of children.
- To promote a sense of constructive competition among parents for their child’s health and well being, to encourage the parents of healthy children.
- To sensitize the community on children health and to improve the nutrition of infants/children through increased social awareness such as importance of diet diversity and age appropriate feeding.
- To mobilize community participation for health and nutritional wellness in the State.
How to Identifying a healthy child?
- Measuring weight and height/length of children in the target group with weighing scale and stadiometer or infantometer by Anganwadi Worker (AWW)/Helper (AWH).
- After measuring the weight of the children, healthy children were identified by plotting appropriately in the WHO growth chart.
- The concerned supervisors/block POSHAN team guided the AWW/AWH in the entire process.
- The identified healthy children were listed along with their details in the prescribed format.
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