Daily News Simplified -

DNS
23 0 07 21
Notes
SL. THE HINDU
TOPICS
NO. PAGE NO.
National Curriculum Framework & Early Childhood Care &
1 06
Education (ECCE)

2 Limits of Cooperation (SC on Constitution 97th Amendment) 06

3 Concerns on New E-Commerce Draft Rules 07

4 Analysis by NGO reveals microplastics in Ganga 08

1. UPSC Current Affairs: National Curriculum Framework & Early Childhood Care & Education

(ECCE)| Page 6

UPSC Syllabus: Mains: GS Paper II – Social Issues

Sub Theme: Education | Higher education | UPSC

Importance of National Curriculum Framework (NCF)

National Curriculum Framework is the core of school education. All the activities in school revolves around
its curriculum. It encompasses syllabus, textbooks, teaching-learning processes, sports, games, physical
education,
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dance, music, assessment and examination activities, etc. which lead to learning outcomes of children in
school. In view of providing directions to school curriculum, National Curriculum Framework is prepared
at the National level which draws its insights and perspectives from the National Education Policies.
National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE)
The formulation of a new and comprehensive National Curricular Framework for School Education, NCFSE
2020-21, will be undertaken by the NCERT by 2021 - based on the principles of this National Education
Policy 2020, frontline curriculum needs, and after discussions with all stakeholders including State
Governments, Ministries, relevant Departments of the Central Government, and other expert bodies, and
will be made available in all regional languages. The NCFSE document shall henceforth be revisited and
updated once every 5-10 years, taking into account frontline curriculum.
Four State Curriculum Frameworks to be made
As per the recommendations of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, NCERT has tasked the State
Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs) to develop four State Curriculum Frameworks
(SCFs). They pertain to:
1. School Education
2. Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)
3. Teacher Education (TE) and
4. Adult Education (AE)

Support provided by NCERT

 The NCERT will provide support to the SCERTs in terms of guidance, training of personnel, and
technology platforms to develop these documents.
 NCERT will also provide e-templates for each of these tasks which will be filled-up by the
States/Union Territories. Similarly, survey questionnaires/multiple choice questions, or MCQs, will
also be provided to conduct surveys among various stakeholders. 
 Such surveys are generally designed to take on board views from all sections of the population
including important stakeholders.

Challenge & Concerns (Author)

 Kinds of Questionnaires and template prepared will determine the kind of response from
public. This might give weightage to certain kinds of opinion while muting some others (based on
questions asked).
 Questionnaires Reflects Majority Opinion – which may not be in the interests of children. For
example, English should not be the medium of instruction in every school at primary level across
rural and urban India but this could be the most likely outcome of survey.
 Running of ECCE & Classes by Separate Institutions - NEP 2020 puts Early Childhood Care and
Education (ECCE) and Classes 1 and 2 (first five years of education, for the age group three 3 to 8
years) as one stage. But the ECCE and Classes 1 and 2 will be run in separate institutions by
different teachers having different skill sets. Teachers’ qualifications, salaries, and training are
supposed to be different, their curriculum frameworks are supposed to be different and ECCE &
Classes should not be clubbed together.

Importance of ECCE
 ECCE ideally consists of flexible, multi-faceted, multi-level, play-based, activity based, and
discovery-based learning about, e.g., alphabets, languages, numbers, counting, colours, shapes,
indoor and outdoor play, puzzles and logical thinking, problem-solving, drawing, painting and
other visual art, craft, drama and puppetry, music and movement. It also includes a focus on
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developing social capacities, sensitivity, good behaviour, courtesy, ethics, personal and public
cleanliness, teamwork and cooperation.
 The overall aim of ECCE will be to attain optimal outcomes in the domains of physical and motor
development, cognitive development, socio-emotional-ethical development, cultural/artistic
development, and the development of communication and early language, literacy, and numeracy.
 The overarching goal will be to ensure universal access to high-quality early childhood care and
education across the country in a phased manner. Special attention and priority will be given to
districts and locations that are particularly socio-economically disadvantaged.
 ECCE shall be delivered through a significantly expanded and strengthened system of early
childhood educational institutions consisting of
(a) stand-alone Anganwadis;
(b) Anganwadis co-located with primary schools;
(c) pre-primary schools/sections covering at least age 5 to 6 years co-located with existing
primary schools; and
(d) stand-alone preschools –
all of which would employ workers/teachers specially trained in the curriculum and pedagogy of
ECCE.
 For universal access to Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), the Anganwadi Centres will be
strengthened with high quality infrastructure, play equipment and well trained Anganwadi
workers/teachers. Every Anganwadi must have a well-ventilated, well designed, child-friendly and
well-constructed building with an enriched learning environment. Funds for this programme will
be provided by the Central and State governments.

Suggestions for NCFSE

 Flexibility in secondary education, examination reform, more exposure to Indian languages, and
taking on board Indian knowledge systems can make our education system better.
 Secondary Education Commission Report (SECR) and Zakir Hussain’s Basic National
Education (BNE) Report can be used as data collected by these reports was analysed and
organised in the light of the vision of the individual, society, and education inherent in the
democratic ideal. 
 Both the Report – SECR & BNE - placed the values and principles of democracy and a morally,
aesthetically and intellectually rich individual life at the starting point and tried to resolve current
economic problems in alignment with them. 
 Approach of SECR & BNE Report can be borrowed - The current NEP, 2020 reverses the order
and has revolved the education policy around the economic problems faced in the present age.
 Democratic Ideals should be at the Centre of our Education Policy - as the source of a
framework of values and principles to judge and justify all other aspects.
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2. UPSC Current Affairs: Limits of Cooperation (SC on Constitution 97th Amendment) | Page – 06

UPSC Syllabus: Prelims & Mains: GS Paper II – Polity & Governance

Sub Theme: Cooperatives | Constitution | UPSC

97th Constitution Amendment

 The cooperative movement certainly needs reform and revitalisation. Beset by political
interference, many cooperative societies do not hold elections regularly, while some are
superseded frequently.
 The 97th Constitution Amendment, which came into effect in 2012, was a major step towards
infusing autonomy, democratic functioning and professional management.
 The recent Supreme Court verdict holding the amendment unconstitutional to the extent it
applied to cooperative societies under the control of the States is a reminder that even well-
intentioned efforts towards reforms cannot be at the cost of the quasi-federal principles
underlying the Constitution.
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 The amendment added Part IXB to the Constitution, concerning cooperative societies. Part IXB
delineated the contours of what State legislation on cooperative societies ought to contain,
including provisions on the maximum number of directors in each society, reservation for seats
for SCs, or STs, and women, besides the duration of the terms of elected members, among others.
 The question before the Court was whether the 97th Amendment impacted the legislative domain
of the State Legislatures and, therefore, required ratification by half the legislatures, in addition to
the required two-thirds majority in Parliament.
 The Gujarat High Court had found the amendment invalid for want of such ratification
under Article 368.
 The Supreme Court, by a 2:1 majority, upheld the judgment holding the amendment invalid, but
only in relation to cooperatives under the States. The elaborate amendment would hold good for
multi-State cooperative societies, on which Parliament was competent to enact laws.

Limitation of Parliament
 A significant limitation on Parliament’s amending power is the requirement that certain kinds of
amendments to the Constitution must be ratified by 50% of the State legislatures.
 The Union government believed that as the subject of ‘cooperative societies’ in the State List was
not altered in any way by the 97th Amendment, and that it only outlined guidelines on any law on
cooperatives that the Assemblies may enact, the ratification was not necessary.
 A key principle from the judgment is that the ratification requirement will apply if there is any
attempt to fetter the State legislatures in any way while enacting a law in their own domain, even if
there is no attempt to alter the distribution of legislative powers between the Union and States.
 Thus, in the absence of ratification by the States, the amendment that sought to prescribe the
outlines of State laws on a State subject did not pass constitutional muster.
 The judgment may mean that the concern expressed by some about the adverse implications of
the formation of a new Ministry of Cooperation on federal principles could be true.
 However, there is no denying that the scope for democratising the functioning of cooperative
societies and enhancing their autonomy remains unchanged.
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3. UPSC Current Affairs: Concerns on New E-Commerce Draft Rules| Page 7

UPSC Syllabus: Mains: GS Paper III – Economy

Sub Theme: E - Commerce | UPSC

CONCERNS

Encompasses all E-Commerce activities - The rules are applicable to all goods and services
bought or sold over a digital or electronic network – any kind of e-commerce including food
delivery apps, hotel booking websites, etc.

Overlapping Jurisdiction – Adverse Impact on Competition – to be dealt by Competition

Commission, Data Privacy aspects which should be dealt under Data Protection laws.

Appointment of Nodal Officer - Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) (Amendment) Rules, 2021

provides every e-commerce entity to appoint a Nodal Officer or an Alternate Senior Designated
Functionary who is resident in India, to ensure compliance with the provisions of Consumer
Protection Act or the rules made thereunder. This may lead to excessive bureaucracy.

Push for sale of domestic products – E-commerce entities are asked to provide a domestic
alternative against a foreign product which may disturb the level playing field. This also favours
protectionism.

Ban on flash Sales will not impact the big entities much – as they will figure a way out to sell the
products on their platform through exclusive tie-ups and other deals. However, it will be difficult for
the smaller sellers and e-commerce platforms as they will not be able to navigate through these
laws and it will be difficult for them to enter into exclusive tie-ups or negotiations to sell products.
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Draft Silent on Deep Discount

Rules does harm to Make in India in the long term – Considering the overall policy approach
taken by the government over the last few years, it wants to encourage ‘Make in India’ because
that’s one of its flagship schemes. However, they are trying to push this through draft e-commerce
rules without realising the kind of harm they can do in the long run, even for the domestic Indian
firms.

Draft Rules solely target e-commerce entities without going after brick and mortar shops.

4. UPSC Current Affairs: Analysis by NGO reveals microplastics in Ganga| Page 8

UPSC Syllabus: Prelims : Environment

Sub Theme : Micro-plastics | UPSC

Context: An analysis of the stretches of the river Ganga by a Delhi-based environment NGO, Toxics Link,
has revealed pollution by microplastics, defined as synthetic solid particles sized ranging from 1
micrometre to 5 millimetre (mm), which are insoluble in water.
Microplastics Findings
 Microplastics are tiny plastic particles up to 5mm in diameter and are recognised as a major
source of marine pollution.
 Untreated sewage from many cities along the river’s course, industrial waste and religious
offerings wrapped in non-degradable plastics pile pollutants into the river as it flows through
several densely populated cities.
 The plastic products and waste materials released or dumped in the river break down and are
eventually broken down into microparticles. The river finally transports significantly large
quantities downstream into the ocean, which is the ultimate sink of all plastics being used by
humans.
 Essentially, all along microplastics are flowing into the river system. It does reflect or suggest a
direct linkage between the poor state of both solid and liquid waste management; hence it is
critically important to initiate steps to remediate it.
 The highest concentration of such plastic was found at Varanasi, comprising single-use and
secondary plastic products. The water testing was carried out in collaboration with the National
Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in Goa. The samples were tested to identify the exact type or resin
core and the results show the presence of at least 40 different kinds of polymers as microplastics.
 The shapes and nature of the observed resins ranged from fibres to fragments, films and beads.
Fragments were the predominant shape in all locations, followed by film and fibre.
 Microbeads were observed in Varanasi and Kanpur, while no beads were found in Haridwar. 
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