Contents

1. STARS Project
2. The Bare Necessities Index (BNI)
3. IN FAC T-81
4. Key Highlights of Economic Survey 2020-21
5. India’s Traditional Knowledge Digital Library
6. V-Shaped Recovery

STARS Project

Focus: GS 2;Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Why in News?

Agreement for financial support to STARS project signed between DEA and World Bank

About Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States (STARS) Project

• STARS project would be implemented as a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme under Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), MOE. Earlier Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of STARS project on 14th Oct 2020.
• The project covers 6 States viz Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha.
• The identified States will be supported for various interventions for improving the quality of education.
• Agreement for the financial support of the implementation of Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States (STARS) project of Ministry of Education was signed between Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) and World Bank along with Ministry of Education.
• The total project cost of STARS project is Rs 5718 crore with the financial support of World Bank amounting to US $ 500 million (approximately Rs. 3700 crore) and rest coming as State share from the participating States, over a period of 5 years.
• The Program envisions improving the overall monitoring and measurement activities in the Indian school education system through interventions in selected states.
• STARS will draw on existing structure under Samagra Shiksha with the DoSEL, MoE as the main implementing agency at the national level.
• At the State level, the project will be implemented through the integrated State Implementation Society (SIS) for Samagra Shiksha.
• The proposed World Bank support under STARS is primarily in the form of a results-based financing instrument called Program for Results (PforR).
• This will ensure major reforms at the State level through a set of disbursement-linked indicators (DLIs).
• A State Incentive Grant (SIG) will be used to encourage States to meet desired project outcomes.
• The SIG matrix has been aligned with the intermediate outcome indicators as per the requirement of PforR instrument.
• An independent Verification agency (IVA) will verify each result before disbursement of funds.
• STARS project will be instrumental in the implementation of various recommendations of National Education Policy 2020 i.e. Strengthening Early Childhood Education and Foundational Learning, Improving Learning Assessment System, ICT-enabled approaches in education, Teachers Development and Vocational education etc.

THE BARE NECCESSITIES INDEX (BNI) 

Focus: GS 3;Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.

Why in News?

Access to “The Bare Necessities” Such as Housing, Water, Sanitation, Electricity and Clean Cooking Fuel are a Sine Qua Non to live a Decent Life: Economic Survey. Economic Survey Examines the Progress Made in Providing Access to the “Bare Necessities” by Constructing a Bare Necessities Index (BNI)

The Bare Necessities Index (BNI)

• Economic Survey 2020-21 constructs a Bare Necessities Index (BNI) at the rural, urban and all India level.
• To assess equity, Economic Survey introduces a bare necessities index
• Inequalities in access to bare necessities like drinking water, sanitation, hygiene and housing conditions continue to exist between urban and rural India despite “widespread” improvements in each of these aspects, the Economic Survey for 2020-21 has shown, using a newly constructed “Bare Necessities Index” (BNI).
• The BNI builds on the idea of Thalinomics in the Economic Survey for 2019-20, through which it had sought to examine the access to food in the country.
• The BNI summarizes 26 indicators on five dimensions water, sanitation, housing, micro-environment, and other facilities and has been created for all states for 2012 and 2018 using NSO data.
• The index classifies areas on three levels of access high, medium, low to bare necessities.
• The BNI has been created for all States for 2012 and 2018 using data from two NSO rounds i.e., 69th and 76th on Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Condition in India.
• In most of the States the access to the Bare Necessities for the household in 2018 is significantly better compared to 2012.
• Access to drinking water to households in most of the States has improved in 2018 compared to 2012 in rural as well as urban areas.
• Regional disparity in access to sanitation has declined as the States having low access to sanitation in 2012 have gained more.
• Survey observes improvement in Housing Index also indicating improvement in access to housing and reduction in inter-States disparities with disproportionate benefits for the lowest income group in 2018 vis-à-vis 2012.
• The economic Survey also notes improvement in micro environment for all States in 2018 except for Assam in rural and Odisha and Assam in urban areas as compared to 2012.
• Survey also points to a positive correlation between access to bare necessities and better health and education outcome.
• It observes improvement in child survival, decline in still births, malnutrition, and infant mortality with improved access to sanitation and clean drinking water.

IN FACT T-81  

Focus: GS 3;Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.

Why in News?

IN FAC T-81 decommissioned

About IN FAC T-81

• Indian Naval Fast Attack Craft (IN FAC) T-81 of the Super Dvora MK II class, was decommissioned on 28 Jan 21 at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai after having served the nation successfully for more than 20 years. 
• The 25 meters long vessel with 60 tonnes displacement was built at Goa Shipyard Ltd.
• She was commissioned into the Navy on 05 Jun 1999 by the then Governor of Goa, Lt Gen JFR Jacob (Retd).
• The ship, specially designed for shallow waters, could achieve speeds up to 45 knots and had the capability of day/night surveillance and reconnaissance, Search & Rescue, beach insertion, extraction of Marine Commandoes and high speed interception of intruder craft.

KEY HIGHLIGHT’S OF ECONOMIC SURVEY 2020-21

Focus: GS 3;Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.

Why in News?

Key Highlights of Economic Survey 2020-21

About Key Highlight’s of Economic Survey 2020-21

• The Economic Survey 2020–21 was tabled during the Budget Session of the Parliament on 29 January 2021 by Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance.
• The survey was prepared under Krishnamurthy Subramanian, the Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) to the Government of India.
• The CEA also presents the survey during a press meet after it is tabled in Parliament.
• The 2020-21 survey has been conducted in the background of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in India.
• A foundational theme of a survey as a result of the pandemic has been “Saving Lives and Livelihoods”.
• The survey goes on to outline epidemiological and economic research related to lockdowns and minimizing losses when uncertainty is very high, in this case the loss being the loss of human life.
• The survey also notes how a “healthcare crisis can get transformed into an economic and social crisis”.
• Some of the key points of the Economic Survey 2020–21 are as follows:-

1. The survey launches a ‘Bare Necessities Index’.
2. India is witnessing a V-shaped economic recovery.
3. The survey covers over-regulation in the Indian economy.
4. The example of the time taken to close a company in India, about 1600 days, was given.
5. The survey dedicates a chapter to discuss India’s sovereign credit rating.
6. India needs to increase spending on research and development.

• India ranks 48th among 131 countries in the Global Innovation Index, however India is underperforming in innovation in terms of its GDP.
• India’s Gross Expenditure on Research and Development (GERD) is suitable according to GDP but lacks behind a number of countries.
• India can successfully convert investment into innovation better than most countries.
• Ayushman Bharat Yojana has had positive impact in healthcare.
• The survey has quotes and explanatory anecdotes from Mahabharata, Rabindranath Thakur, Raghuvansham, A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, Mohandas K. Gandhi, The Jungle Book (look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities), a recent India versus Australia cricket match, Tirukkuṟaḷ, 3 Idiots, Malgudi Days and Martin Luther King Jr.

INDIA’S TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE DIGITAL LIBRARAY   

Focus: GS 2;Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.

Why in News?

CSIR celebrates 20 years of India’s Traditional Knowledge Digital Library, the first of its kind globally

About India’s Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL)

• The Traditional Knowledge Digital Library is an Indian digital knowledge repository of the traditional knowledge, especially about medicinal plants and formulations used in Indian systems of medicine.
• Set up in 2001, as a collaboration between the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Ministry Of AYUSH.
• objective of the library is to protect the ancient and traditional knowledge of the country from exploitation through biopiracy and unethical patents, by documenting it electronically and classifying it as per international patent classification systems.
• Apart from that, the non-patent database serves to foster modern research based on traditional knowledge, as it simplifies access to this vast knowledge of remedies or practices.
• The TKDL contains documentation of publicly available traditional knowledge (TK) contains as follows;-
  1. It relates to Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Yoga
  2. It is in digitized format
  3. It is available in five languages English, German, French, Japanese and Spanish.

Advantages of TKDL

• seeks to prevent the granting of patents for products developed utilizing TK where there has been little, if any, inventive step
• intends to act as a bridge between information recorded in ancient Sanskrit and patent examiners (with its database containing information in a language and format understandable to patent examiners)
• facilitates access to information not easily available to patent examiners, thereby minimizing the possibility that patents could be granted for “inventions” involving only minor or insignificant modifications.

V-SHAPED RECOVERY   

Focus: GS 3;Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.

Why in News?

A Strong V-Shaped Recovery of Economic Activity. National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) for the FY 2020-2025 to facilitate world class infrastructure projects to be implemented

About V-Shaped Recovery

• V-shaped recovery is a type of economic recession and recovery that resembles a “V” shape in charting.
• Specifically, a V-shaped recovery represents the shape of a chart of economic measures economists create when examining recessions and recoveries.
• A V-shaped recovery involves a sharp rise back to a previous peak after a sharp decline in these metrics.
• It is the next-best scenario after Z-shaped recovery in which the economy quickly recoups lost ground and gets back to the normal growth trend-line.
• In this, incomes and jobs are not permanently lost, and the economic growth recovers sharply and returns to the path it was following before the disruption.