Women and Children

Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology (WEST) 4

Gender Pay Parity 5

Abortion Law In India 5

Surrogacy (Regulation) Rules, 2022 6

Adoption in India 7

Marital Rape 8

Dowry System In India 9

Protection Of Children From Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, 2012 10

Child Marriage 11

Other Initiatives 11

Thiruvananthapuram Declaration 12

Guiding Principles for Children on the Move in the Context of Climate Change 12

Atal New India Challenge (ANIC) 12

Organizations related to Women and Children 12

Manual Scavengers

Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Rehabilitation Act, 2013 14

National Action for Mechanized Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) 15

Transgenders

Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 15

Persons With Disabilities (PWDS)

Draft National policy on PwD 16

First Global Report On Assistive Technology (GREAT) 17

Tribals

Denotified Tribes 18

Going Online as Leaders (GOAL) Programme phase II 19

1
National Tribal Research Institute (NTRI) 19

Supreme Court (SC) Recognizes Sex Work as Profession 20

Urban Poverty 20

Education

New Initiatives launched under National Education Policy, 2020 20

National Credit Framework (NCrF) 21

Promotion Of Higher Education in Regional Languages 22

National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage 23

Learning Poverty 24

Surveys and Reports related to Education 24

Mother Tongue Survey of India (MTSI) 24

Department of School Education and Literacy (Ministry of Education) released 25

Unified District Information System for Education Plus report 2020-21 and
Performance Grading Index (PGI) for States/UTs for 2020-21

National Achievement Survey (NAS) 26

QS World University Rankings 2023 26

Artificial Intelligence In Education (AIED) 27

Foundational Learning Study (FLS) 27

NIPUN Bharat 28

PARAKH 28

PM eVIDYA 29

UGC e-samadhan Portal 29

Two Full-time Academic Programs Simultaneously 29

Collaboration with foreign higher education Institutions (FHEI) 29

Health

Anganwadi system 30

Civil Registration System (CRS) 31

‘Sample Registration System (SRS) Statistical Report 2020’. 32

2
National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS) Report 33

National Health Account (NHA) Estimates, 2018-19 34

Drugs Regulation Ecosystem In India 34

Mental Health 36

Drug Trafficking in India 37

Global Status Report on Physical Activity 2022 38

World Mental Health Report 38

Notified Disease 38

Paalan 1000 38

ABHA for newborns 39

Global Hunger Index 39

The State Of Food Security And Nutrition In The World (SOFI) Report, 2022 40

Hunger Hotspots Report 40

PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana 41

National Food Security Act, 2013 42

Swachh Survekshan (SS) 2023 43

Progress on WASH in Health care Facilities, 2000–2021 Report 44

Miscellaneous

Universal Social Security 45

World Population Growth 45

Habitus 46

Other Initiatives 46

Crime in India Report 2021 47

Report Compilation 48

Security related issues 51

3
Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology (WEST)

STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

What is WEST?

WEST is a new I-STEM (Indian Science Technology and Engineering facilities Map: Linking
Researchers and Resources) initiative.

What WEST does?

● provide a separate platform to women researchers, scientists, and technologists for
pursuing research in science and engineering.
● provide skill development programs, access to R&D facilities and R&D software
platforms.

What is I-STEM?

● It is a national web portal for sharing research equipment/facilities and for promoting
collaborations in R&D and technological innovation in academia and industry.
● I-STEM is an initiative of PSA under the Prime Minister's Science, Technology, and
Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) mission.

Vigyan Jyoti Department create a level-playing field for the

of Science & meritorious girls in high school to
Technology pursue STEM.

Knowledge Involvement Department encourages women scientists in the

Research Advancement of Science & field of S&T.
through Nurturing (KIRAN) Technology

Consolidation of University Department provides support to women universities

Research for Innovation and of Science & in improving their R&D facilities.
Excellence (CURIE) Technology

Gender Advancement for Department bring institutional reforms to

Transforming Institutions of Science & facilitate women in STEM and medicine
(GATI) Technology disciplines at all levels.

Biotechnology Career Department Career Development of employed/

Advancement and of unemployed women Scientists upto 45
Re-orientation Programme Biotechnolog years of age for whom it is the first
y (DBT)
(BioCARe) extramural research grant.

4
All schemes under DST or DBT. Keep an eye on the options luring you to mark MoWCD.

Gender Pay Parity

Recently, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced a “pay equity policy” for its
contracted women cricketers in the country.

Gender Pay Gap in India

● India ranked 135 among a total of 146 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index 2022
(by World Economic Forum).
● Men in India capture 82% of labour income, while women earn just 18%, according to
World Inequality Report 2022 (By World Inequality Lab).

Abortion Law In India

Recently, the Supreme Court (SC) extended the right to safe and legal abortion up to 24 weeks
of pregnancy to all women in the country, regardless of marital status.

Laws related to Abortion

● Abortion is Illegal under Section 312 and 313 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), unless it
is performed in the manner prescribed under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy
(MTP) Act, 1971.

5
 ● The Act was amended in 2021 to make the MTP more accessible to women.
● Acknowledges marital rape : forcible sex\
○ Women can go for abortion without anyone else’s consent
● Expanded definition of ‘women’
● Privacy of minors : abort without disclosing identity under POCSO.

Surrogacy (Regulation) Rules, 2022

The government has issued Surrogacy (Regulation) Rules, 2022 under Surrogacy (Regulation)
Act, 2021.

Key Highlights of Surrogacy (Regulation) Rules, 2022:

1. Surrogate Mother
● Number of attempts of any surrogacy procedure on a surrogate mother is limited
to 3 times only.
● She may be allowed for abortion under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy
Act, 1971.
● She has to give her consent through an agreement for giving up all her rights
over the child and shall hand over the child/children to the intending couple.

6
 ● Intending couples: Purchase a general health insurance cover in favour of the
surrogate mother (for a period of 36 months) to cover all expenses for all the
complications arising out of pregnancy and postpartum delivery complications.

2. Punishment for commercial surrogacy: Imprisonment which may extend to five years
and with fine which may extend to five lakh rupees.

3. National Assisted Reproductive Technology and Surrogacy Board (NARTSB):

● Chairperson: Minister of Health and Family Welfare

● Functions:
○ Advise the Central Government
○ Review and monitor implementation
○ Lay down the code of conduct to be for persons working at surrogacy
clinics
○ Set the minimum standards of physical infrastructure, laboratory and
diagnostic equipment and expert manpower
○ To supervise the functioning of State Assisted Reproductive
Technology and Surrogacy Boards (SARTSB)

4. NART and Surrogacy Registry: An online public record system of ART Clinics/Banks
and Surrogacy Clinics in India.

Adoption in India

Definition: The process through which the adopted child is permanently separated from his
biological parents and becomes the lawful child of his adoptive parents with all the rights,
privileges and responsibilities that are attached to a biological child.

Legislation governing Adoption

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 ● The Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 (HAMA): Governs case where a
Hindu parent or guardian can give a child in adoption to another Hindu parent. Children
adopted under HAMA are not required to register with CARA.

● The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act (JJ Act), 2015 including
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Model Rules, 2016 and
Adoption Regulations, 2017: Governs Inter and Intra country adoption of orphaned,
abandoned or surrendered children and children of relatives.

Institutional Structure:

● Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA): Statutory body acting as the nodal
body governing all aspects of inter and intra country adoption under JJ Act.
● State Adoption resource Agency (SARA): Nodal body within the State to promote and
monitor adoption and non-institutional care in coordination with CARA.
● District Child Welfare Committee: Mandatorily constituted by States for each district
for dealing with children in need of care and protection and declaring them legally free
for adoption.
● District Child Protection Unit (DCPU): identifies orphan, abandoned and surrendered
children in the district, places them in Child Care Institutions (CCIs).
● Specialized Adoption Agency (SAA): Recognized body for the purpose of lacing
children in adoption.
● Authorized Foreign Adoption Agency (AFAA): Recognized foreign social or child
welfare agency coordinating all matters relating to adoption of an indian child by citizen
of that country
● All adoptions shall be registered on Child Adoption Resource Information and
Guidance System (CARINGS) and the confidentiality of the same shall be maintained
by the Authority.

In News: Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public

Grievances, Law and Justice, presented the 118th Report on the Subject ‘Review of
Guardianship and Adoption Laws'.

Marital Rape

● Recently, a two-judge Bench of the Delhi High Court delivered a split verdict in a batch of
petitions challenging the exception provided to marital rape in the Section 375 of Indian
Penal Code (IPC).

● In India, There is no legal provision that define Martial Rape. However, It is mentioned
under Section 375 of IPC.

8
Dowry System In India

● Recently, the deaths of three young brides in alleged dowry related cases in Kerala has
brought attention back to this social evil.

Dowry
● Dowry is defined in the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961: The legal definition does not
include the dower or mahr in the case of persons to whom the Muslim Personal Law
(Shariat) applies. Also, parents of the girl can give gifts on her marriage, as Stridhana,
to enable her to meet her financial needs in case of an emergency.
● The opposite custom is called dower or bride-price in which payment in cash or kind is
paid from the bridegroom's side to the bride's parents. In some tribal communities in
India like Yanadis of Andhra and Baria, Pagi, Damor of Gujarat.

Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961

● Dowry is considered a cognizable offense for the purpose of investigation.

● Every offense under this Act is non- bailable and non-compoundable.
● Burden of proof is on the accused.
● Makes the agreement for giving or taking dowry void.
● Dowry Prohibition Officers could be established by the State Government.
● Punishment with imprisonment of fine or both for:
○ Giving or taking or abetting the giving or taking of dowry
○ Demanding dowry
○ Advertisement related to dowry

9
Protection Of Children From Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, 2012
● Recently, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) requested the Parliament to examine the age of
consent issue under the POCSO Act, 2012.

Section 354 IPC POCSO, 2012

Age Punishment for the offence For the protection of children only.
irrespective of the age of the
victim.

Gender of the victim Female Gender neutral

Definition of sexual Generic definition The Act for the first time, defines
assault "penetrative sexual assault",
"sexual assault" and "sexual
harassment".

Burden of proof Lies on the prosecution. The Lies on the accused. The accused is
accused is 'deemed to be 'deemed to be guilty until proven
innocent until proven guilty'. innocent'

Punishment 1-5 years+ fine 3-5 years+ fine

10
Child Marriage

Context: As per National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5), An overall declining trend of early
marriage in both the sexes has been observed.

Initiatives to end child marriage:

● Prohibition of Child Marriage Act of 2006: Act is to prohibit solemnization of child
marriage, by providing age of marriage for boys at 21, and for girls at 18.
● Recently, the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amend- ment) Bill, 2021 was introduced
to raise age of marriage for girls to 21.
● Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme ( Ministry of Women and Child
Development).
● Child Helpline 1098: 24X7 telephone emergency outreach service for children,
including for prevention of child marriages in coordination with police and
District Child Protection Units.
● National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR): undertakes various
activities and programmes from time to time on the issue of child marriages and related
matters.

Other Initiatives

National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR)

E-Baal Nidan Portal E-Baal Nidan is a Complaint Management System of NCPCR to

allow any individual or organization to file a complaint online
relating to the violation of child rights.
It has recently been revamped to include some new features.

‘Children in Street It is an application under Baal Swaraj portal to help in

Situations rehabilitation process of Children in the street.

Baal Swaraj It is a portal for online tracking and digital real-time monitoring
mechanism of children in need of care and protection.

11
 The portal has two functions- COVID care and CiSS.
The initiative is taken under direction of the Supreme Court.

Digital Shakti 4.0 It is a pan-India project for making 10 lakh women digitally skilled
and aware to stand up against any illegal/inappropriate activity
National Commission online.
for Women, CyberPeace
Foundation and Meta

“Operation Against circulation and sharing of child sexual abuse material

Megh-Chakra” online. CBI has International Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE)
image and video database allows investigators from member
CBI countries to share data on cases of child sexual abuse. Similar :
operation ‘Carbon’

Thiruvananthapuram Declaration
● The ‘First National Women Legislators’ Conference in Kerala held in 2022 with
adoption of Thiruvananthapuram Declaration.
● Thiruvananthapuram Declaration laments the long-pending Women’s Reservation Bill
(since 1996) for 33% reservation for women in Lok Sabha and State Legislatures.

Guiding Principles for Children on the Move in the Context of Climate Change

● Released by: United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the International

Organisation of Migration (IOM) among others
● Provides a set of 9 principles that address the unique and layered vulnerabilities of
children on the move both internally and across borders as a result of the adverse
impacts of climate change.
● The principles are derived from the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and do not
create new international legal obligations.

Atal New India Challenge (ANIC)

● Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) has launched women centric challenges under its ANIC
program to address the major issues faced by women from all spheres of life.
● ANIC is a flagship program of AIM, NITI Aayog.
● It aims to seek, select, support and nurture technology-based innovations that solve
sectoral challenges of national importance and societal relevance.
● It provides funds up to ₹1 crore through a grant-based mechanism and open for:
○ Any Indian Company incorporated under the Companies Act,
○ Any company registered as a Start-up, recognized by the Department for
Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.

12
Organizations related to Women and Children

Manual Scavengers

13
14
National Action for Mechanized Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE)

● It is a Central Sector Scheme launched to promote 100% mechanization, specially

cleaning of sewers, septic tanks, desilting of drains, garbage lifting, sludge handling,
solid and medical waste disposal etc.
● It is a joint collaboration between the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
(MoSJE) and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MHoUA).
● Implementing agency: National Safai Karamchari Financial Development Corporation
(NSKFDC)
● Implementation: NAMASTE Management Units will be set up at the National, State and
City level to facilitate proper coordination for the scheme.
○ Identifying the Sewer/Septic Tank Workers (SSWs) with a focus on informal
workforce.
○ The identified SSWs and their families will be covered under the Ayushyaman
Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) and will also be
provided livelihood assistance including capital subsidy and interest subvention.
○ They will be extended benefits of all the social security schemes being
implemented by various departments like PM Suraksha Bima Yojana, Atal
Pension Yojana, etc.
● Five hundred cities, converging with AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban
Transformation) cities, will be taken up under this phase of NAMASTE.

Transgenders

Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019

Context: Recently, Karnataka has become the first state in the country to provide 1% horizontal
reservation for transgender people in all government services.

Provisions:

● It defines a Transgender person as one whose gender does not match the gender
assigned at birth.It includes trans-men and trans-women, persons with intersex
variations, gender-queers, and persons with socio-cultural identities, such as kinnar and
hijra.
● Prohibits discrimination against Transgender: In employment, education, housing,
healthcare and other services.
● Allows self-perception of gender identity: However, each person would have to be
recognised as 'transgender on the basis of a certificate of identity issued by a district
magistrate.

15
 ● Grievance redressal mechanism: Mandates every establishment shall designate a
person to be a complaint officer to deal with the complaints relating to violation of the
provisions of this Act.
● Right of residence: No child shall be separated from parents or immediate family on the
ground of being a transgender, except on an order of a competent court, in the interest
of such child.
● Obligation of educational institutions: Every educational institution funded or
recognised by the appropriate Government shall provide inclusive education and
opportunities for sports, recreation and leisure activities to transgender persons without
discrimination on an equal basis with others.
● National Council for Transgender Persons: To advise the Central Government on
the formulation of policies, programmes, legislation and projects with respect to
transgender persons.

Judicial pronouncements:

● NALSA vs Union of India(2014): SC ruled that rights and freedoms of transgender

people in India were protected under the Constitution
● Navtej Singh Johar vs Union Of India (2018): SC decriminalized adult consensual
same-sex relationships in the Section 377 (of IPC).

Persons With Disabilities (PWDS)

Draft National policy on PwD

Context: Recently, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has released the draft of
the national policy for persons with disabilities for public comments.

Features:

● It seeks to replace the National Policy on Disability, 2006.

● Draft policy is needed due to multiple factors

including:
○ Signing of United Nations Convention on
Rights of Person with Disabilities
(UNCRPD) by India in 2007.
○ Enactment of Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016 which
increased the number of disabilities from
seven conditions to 21.
○ India is a party to the ‘Incheon Strategy for
Asia Pacific Decade for PwDs, 2013-2022’ prepared under the aegis of United
Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP).

16
First Global Report On Assistive Technology (GREAT)

● The World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF) have jointly launched the first Global Report on Assistive Technology
(GReAT).
● The GReAT report was developed in response to the World Health Assembly
resolution (WHA 71.8) on improving access to assistive technology adopted in May
2018.
● The report aims to present a comprehensive dataset and analysis of current global
access to Assistive technology.

17
 ● WHO defines assistive technology is the application of organized knowledge and skills
related to assistive products, including systems and services. Assistive technology is a
subset of health technology that includes GPS, power chairs, walkers, etc.

Initiatives for development of assistive technology in India

● Centre for Assistive Technology and Innovation (CATI) was established in 2015 at
the National Institute of Speech & Hearing (NISH), Kerala.
● Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO): Miniratna Category
CPSE, functioning under the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment (MoSJE).
(100% ownership)
● Seamless Affordable Assistive Technology for Health (SAATH): It is a resource
center by the National Trust and is a Joint venture between India (IIT Kanpur and IISc
Bangalore) and Sweden (KTH Sweden and Gavle University) working for assistive
devices for PwD in India.
● Scheme of Assistance to Disabled Persons for Purchase/Fitting of Aids and
Appliances (ADIP Scheme) by the MoSJE
● Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan or Accessible India campaign (AIC): launched in 2015 to
provide equal opportunities to PwDs to participate in all the aspects of life and live
independently with help of assistive devices.

Tribals

Denotified Tribes

● DNTs are a heterogeneous group engaged in various

occupations such as transport, key-making, salt
trading, entertaining acrobats, snake charmers,
jugglers and pastoralists.

Evolution:
● DNTs were 'notified' as being 'born criminals' during
the British regime under Criminal Tribes Act, 1871.
● Criminal Tribes Act, 1871 was repealed by Habitual
Offenders Act, 1952.
● Several DNTs were included in Scheduled Tribe
(ST), Scheduled Caste (SC) and Other Backward
Caste (OBC) lists.

Current status:
● As per Renke Commission, 2008, there are nearly
1,500 nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes and 198
Denotified tribes, comprising 15 crore Indians.

18
 ● 31 August is celebrated as Vimukta Jatis day in India by the DNTS communities.

Steps taken by Government for Denotified Tribes

● National Commission for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes

(NCDNT): It was constituted by the Government of India to prepare a state-wise list of
castes belonging to NCDNT.It was headed by Balkrishna Sidram Renke.
● Dr. Ambedkar Pre-Matric and Post-Matric Scholarship for DNTs Boys and Girls: It
is a Centrally sponsored scheme to improve the educational empowerment of the DNTs
who are not covered under SC/ST/OBC category. Funding pattern of State and Centre
would be in a ratio of 25:75.
● Nanaji Deshmukh Scheme of construction of Hostels for DNTs Boys and Girls:
Centrally sponsored scheme run through State Governments/UT Administrations.
● Scheme for Economic Empowerment of DNT Communities (SEED): Launched by
the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment to provide free competitive exam
coaching to DNTS students, provide health insurance to families, etc.
● Development and Welfare Board for Do-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic
communities has been constituted in 2019.

Going Online as Leaders (GOAL) Programme phase II

● Launched by: The Ministry of Tribal Affairs with Facebook India to digitally upskill 10
lakh youth from tribal communities and open up opportunities for them using digital
technology.
● It will create a platform for Self-Help Groups and families associated with TRIFED
(Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India) to take their products
global.

National Tribal Research Institute (NTRI)

● It will work as a premier national level institute.

● It will provide policy inputs to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and State Welfare
Departments with studies and programs to showcase tribal cultural heritage under one
umbrella.
● It will collaborate and network with other institutions and monitor projects of Tribal
Research Institutes (TRIs), Centres of Excellence (CoEs), etc.

Supreme Court (SC) Recognizes Sex Work as Profession

19
 ● SC has issued directions under Article 142 of the Constitution to make conditions
conducive for sex workers to live with dignity as per Article 21.
○ No police interference or criminal action against adult and consenting sex
workers,
○ No separation of child from mother merely on the ground that she is in sex trade,
○ Media should not publish their pictures or reveal their identity while reporting
rescue operations.
○ Centre and States must involve sex workers or their representatives to reform
laws.
○ UIDAI to provide Aadhaar cards to sex workers even if they are unable to furnish
residence proof. It is issued on the basis of proforma certificates issued by a
gazzeted officer at National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) or the State
Health Department.

Legal Position of Sex Work in India: Under IPC, Voluntary sex work or prostitution is not
considered illegal but pimping, owning and running a brothel is unlawful under the Immoral
Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956

Urban Poverty

● Urban poverty is a form of poverty that is particularly visible in megacities, characterized

by poor living circumstances and income, as well as a lack of essential utilities for a
decent standard of life.
● According to a UN habitat report, poverty and inequality are increasingly spreading in
cities globally.

Education

New Initiatives launched under National Education Policy, 2020

Initiative Purpose

National innovation and To foster the culture of Ideation, Innovation, and

entrepreneurship policy Entrepreneurship (IIE) in schools.

Skill India Partnership For the three-year degree programme and Skill Hubs ✓
with IGNOU under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana.

Creation of Labs 750 virtual labs in science and mathematics, and 75

skilling e-labs for simulated learning environments,
will be set-up in 2022-23.

20
 NSQF Qualifications 100+ National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF)
aligned future skill qualifications to be developed under
various areas.

NISHTHA ECCE To prepare an initial cadre of high-quality early childhood ✓

care and education (ECCE) Teachers in Anganwadis.

Introduce 75 Bharateeya Each month, a seasonally appropriate Bharateeya game

games in schools will be introduced in schools through the PT teachers.

IKS-MIC Virtual hub of Joint program of the Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) ✓
Innovation Division and the Ministry of Education Innovation Cell
to Promote the development of products, processes
inspired from the Indian’s traditional knowledge systems.

Focus on the ones with ✓ marks. Read rest superficially.

National Credit Framework (NCrF)

● NCrF, proposed as part of NEP 2020, is an umbrella framework for skilling, re-skilling,
up-skilling, accreditation and evaluation in educational and skilling institutions and
workforce.
● Developed by: Jointly developed by a High-Level Committee with members from UGC,
AICTE, CBSE, NCERT, etc.
Key Features:
● Aim : Seeks to integrate credits earned through school, higher, vocational and skill
education to ensure flexibility. These will become the guiding principles to be followed by
school, colleges and universities in adopting the credit system.

21
 ● NCrF will enable learners to earn credits not just through classroom learning but through
co-curriculars, extracurriculars, recognition of prior learning etc.
● Framework enables seamless integration and coordination across regulators and
institutions to enable broad based, multi-disciplinary, holistic education.
● NCrF would be only one credit framework for higher education, school education and
skill education and shall encompass the qualification frameworks for:
○ Higher Education i.e., National Higher Education Qualification Framework
(NHEQF),
○ Vocational & skill education i.e., National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF),
○ School Education i.e., National School Education Qualification Framework
(NSEQF) also known as National Curricular Framework (NCF)
● Current System :
● School education : no system of credits, but NIOS follows it.
● Higher education :
○ Choice based credit system : requirements for awarding a degree is prescribed in
terms of number of credits
○ Skill assessment matrix for vocational advancement of youth (SAMVAY) : credit
framework for vocational courses by Ministry of Education.
○ UGC guidelines for skill based education under National Skill Qualifications
Framework.

Promotion Of Higher Education in Regional Languages

Context: Recently, Union Minister of Home

Affairs launched the Hindi version of
MBBS course books in Madhya Pradesh.

Colonial Debate
● Anglicists-Orientalist Controversy
● Macaulay’s minute of 1835
● Wood's Despatch (1854)
Read these in detail in Modern History.

Post Independence Government

Committees

Radhakrishnan Committee English to be replaced by an Indian language as the medium

(1948-49) of instruction for higher education.

Official Language Progressive use of the Hindi language for all official purposes
Commission (1956) of the Union.

22
Later, the Emotional Integration Committee (1962), National Education Policies (1968,
1986) also discussed the medium of instruction in higher education.

National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage

● NCF Development: As per the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, following
four NCFs will be developed
○ National Curriculum Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education
(NCFECCE)
○ National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE)
○ National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (NCFTE)
○ National Curriculum Framework for Adult Education (NCFAE)

● Integrated Framework: NCF, under NCF-ECCE, for foundational stage is the first ever
integrated Curriculum Framework for children between ages 3-8 in India.This is the
first Stage in the 5+3+3+4 Curricular and Pedagogical restructuring of School Education
covering education for children up to the age of 18. It will be the basis for all pedagogy
adopted by schools, pre-schools and anganwadis for children studying between nursery
and Class 2.

● Features:
○ Importance to mother tongue: Students should be taught exclusively in their
mother tongue until the age of eight.
○ Less burden on children: For ages three to six, there should not be any
prescribed textbooks for the children, instead NCF recommended simple
worksheets for curricular goals and pedagogical needs.
○ Panchakosha system for education: The Panchakosha description is in the
Taittiriya Upanishad. It comprises Physical development (sharirik vikas),
Development of life energy (pranik vikas), Emotional and mental development
(manasik vikas), Intellectual development (bauddhik vikas), Spiritual development
(chaitsik vikas).
○ Others: Other areas include ethics, learning through play, gender balance,
avoiding stereotypes in textbooks and better learning environment.

● Initiatives for foundational learning :

○ Foundational learning study 2022 : Ministry of Education and NCERT
○ NEP, 2020 : focus on FLN among children by 2025
○ NIPUN Bharat : mission for FLN.

23
Learning Poverty

● Learning Poverty means being unable to read and understand a short, age-appropriate
text by age 10.

● Literacy Rate: Total percentage of the population of an area at a particular time aged
seven years or above who can read and write with understanding.

● Learning Loss : general loss of knowledge and skills or reversal in academic progress,
most commonly due to gaps in education.

● A person can be called functionally literate when he or she is able to write his or her
own name, to count and read and write. It also refers to the capacity of a person to
engage in all those activities in
which literacy is required for
effective function of his or her
group and community.
○ Mandla district, a tribal
dominated region in
Madhya Pradesh has
been reported as a fully
'functionally literate'
district.

Mains Relevant:
● According to a simulation data
by World Bank, Before the
pandemic about 53% of
children were not able to read a
simple text by the age of 10, but with the pandemic this has shot up to 70%.
● The shocks to education systems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is aggravating the
global learning crisis and impacting education in unprecedented ways.

Surveys and Reports related to Education

Mother Tongue Survey of India (MTSI)

● Conducted by: Ministry of Home Affairs
● MTSI surveys the mother tongues, which are returned consistently across two and more
Census decades and analyzes their linguistic features.
● As per analysis of 2011 linguistic census data:
● More than 19,500 languages or dialects are spoken in India as mother
tongues.
● Hindi is the mother tongue of 43.6% of the population.

24
Department of School Education and Literacy (Ministry of Education) released Unified
District Information System for Education Plus report 2020-21 and Performance Grading
Index (PGI) for States/UTs for 2020-21

Unified District Information System for

Education Plus report 2020-21
● It has a mandate of collecting
information from all recognized
and unrecognized schools
imparting formal education from
Pre-primary to XII.
● Collection Process: Through an
online Data Collection Form.
● The schools which get onboarded
successfully on the platform are
provided a UDISE Code, which
acts as a national level unique
identifier.
● UDISE+ has the school as the unit
of data collection and the district
as the unit of data distribution.

Performance Grading Index (PGI) for

States/UTs for 2020-21

● It is a tool to provide insights on the status of school education in States and UTs.
● So far, 3 PGI reports were released, starting 2017-18.
● PGI evaluation classifies States and UTs into grade/ levels, as opposed to ranking.
● It comprises a total weightage of 1000 points across 70 indicators.
● 2 categories of indicators : Outcomes and Governance & management

Highlights of PGI

Level 1 (Points above 950). No states

Level-2 7 states (None in 2017-18 and

2018-19 )

Level VII (points below 650) No states

25
National Achievement Survey (NAS)

● Released by: Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education

● Conducted by: CBSE was the conducting organisation and NCERT designed its
framework and tools.
● It assesses the health of the school education system in the country by conducting a
comprehensive evaluation survey of children’s learning competencies at classes III, V,
VIII and X with a cycle period of three years.
● The last NAS was held in 2017.
● It covered Government Schools (Central Government and State Government);
Government Aided Schools; and Private Unaided Schools. Only the schools
selected in the sample can participate.
● NAS provides system-level feedback by administering standardized surveys to
students. NAS is not a school-based examination.
● Subject Matter: Subjects covered are Language, Mathematics & EVS for class 3 & 5;
Language, Mathematics, Science & Social Science for class 8 and Language,
Mathematics, Science, Social Science and English for class 10.
● About NAS
○ It collects information on relevant background variables like school environment,
teaching processes etc.
○ It is not a school based examination
○ It provides a summary of performance at the district, state and national levels.

QS World University Rankings 2023 by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS)

● Annual publication of university rankings which comprises the global overall and subject
rankings. It is measured on the basis of academic reputation, employer reputation,
faculty/ student ratio, citations per faculty and international student/ faculty ratio.
● Key findings: Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru (155th spot), Indian Institute
of Technology (IIT) Bombay (172) and IIT Delhi (174) have improved their rank from
previous year.

Artificial Intelligence In Education (AIED)

Recently, The State of Education Report for India, 2022: Artificial Intelligence in Education’ was
released by UNESCO.

Key highlights of the report

26
 ● India’s current status in AI: India has the highest relative AI skill penetration rate (3.09
times the global average).
○ AI in Education systems have contributed ed to reach US$7.8 billion by 2025 at a
rate of 20.2% CAGR.

● AI & Women
○ India leads the world by far in terms of women with AI skills.
○ Women account for a third of AI-related scientific publications in India.
○ In 2018, India had the world’s second-largest AI talent pool, of which 22%
comprised women.

Responsible AI for Youth Ministry of Electronics & IT in

collaboration with Intel India and the
support of the Ministry of Education.

Open to school students studying in classes 8-12 across India to foster a deeper
understanding of AI-tech and encourage youngsters to become human-centric designers.

National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Mission Prime Minister's Science, Technology, and
Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC).

works with extensive academia-industry interactions on developing core research capability at

the national level including international collaborations.

US-India Artificial Intelligence Initiative To foster AI innovation by sharing ideas and

experiences, identifying new opportunities in
research and development, and bilateral
collaboration.

Initiatives taken by India to Promote research in AI

Foundational Learning Study (FLS)

● Study titled “Foundational Learning Study 2022” was jointly conducted by the Union
Ministry of Education and National Council of Educational Research and Training
(NCERT).

● It is a one-of-a-kind study to arrive at the benchmarks in Foundational Literacy and

Numeracy (FLN) under the FLS 2022.
○ FLN is the ability to read with meaning and perform basic math calculations by
the end of Class 3.
● It is also the largest study that assessed the learning levels of approx 86,000 grade 3
students from 10,000 schools across India.
● It is the only study that has been conducted in 20 different languages.
● Based on their performance, students were categorised into 4 groups.

27
NIPUN Bharat or National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and
Numeracy

● NIPUN Bharat has been launched under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Samagra
Shiksha’ to create an enabling environment to ensure the universal acquisition of
foundational literacy and numeracy by 2026-27.
● Implementing agency: Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of
Education.
● Beneficiaries: Children (3 to 9 years) including preschool to grade 3 & children who are
in class 4 and 5 and have not attained the foundational skills.
● Implementation strategy: A five-tier Implementation mechanism will be set up at
National-State-District-Block-School level.

PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic

Development)
● It was introduced under National Education Policy 2020 by the Ministry of Education
for all AICTE (All India Council of Technical Education) approved institutes.
● It is a national assessment centre.
● PARAKH survey released to help colleges to identify learning gaps so that students can
be industry ready and improve higher order thinking skills among students.

PM eVIDYA
● PM eVIDYA (by Ministry of Education) unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air
education to enable multimode access for imparting education by using technology to
minimise learning losses. It has been initiated as part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan.
● Use of ICT under PM eVIDYA, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, has won
UNESCO’s recognition (UNESCO’s King Hamad Bin Isa AlKhalifa Prize).

28
UGC e-samadhan Portal
● It is a single window portal for submitting grievances by merging the different portals and
helplines that exist currently by UGC.
● It aims to fast-track resolution of complaints and monitor institutes that are slow in
responding to them. Portal will be available 24x7 and also specific timelines have been
laid down for addressing the grievances registered at the portal.

Two Full-time Academic Programs Simultaneously

● Guidelines were released by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in pursuance
of National Education Policy 2020.
● Allows students to pursue two full-time academic programs in physical mode.
● Students can either choose a combination of
○ a diploma program and an undergraduate degree
○ two bachelor's programs
○ two master’s programs
● The adoption of these guidelines is optional for universities.

Collaboration with foreign higher education Institutions (FHEI)

● The University Grants Commission (UGC) has approved collaboration for Indian and
FHEIs can offer three kinds of programmes —twinning, joint degrees and dual degrees
(refer to the infographics).
● Indian institutions with a NAAC score of 3.01/ top 100 in the varsity category of NIRF, top
1000 in the Times Higher Education (THE) or QS ranking are eligible. Foreign
institutions among 1000 of THE or QS ranking are eligible. It curbs the regulator's
supervisory role in facilitating such collaborations.

Health
Anganwadi system
● The Anganwadi system, launched under the Anganwadi Services Scheme (now
renamed as Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0), is an integral part of the
Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) scheme.
● The Anganwadi Services Scheme is a
Centrally Sponsored Scheme under
MoWCD.

29
 ● It represents one of the world’s largest and unique programmes for early childhood care
and development.
● Aim: The scheme aims to improve the nutritional and health status of children (0-6
years), pregnant women and lactating mothers, and reduce the incidences of
mortality, morbidity and malnutrition.
● Integrated Child Development Scheme :
○ Supplementary nutrition
○ Pre School Education
○ Health and Nutrition education
○ Immunization
○ Health Checkups
○ Referral Services
■ One village / area is managed by a single anganwadi worker who is
chosen from the community and trained in health, nutrition and childcare.

Digital Interventions
● e ‘Poshan Tracker’ is a job-aid to the AWWs for efficient delivery of services along with
reflection of their efforts. This mobile based application is being leveraged for dynamic
identification of stunting, wasting, under-weight prevalence among children and last mile
tracking of nutrition service delivery.
● ICDS-Common Application Software (CAS) facilitates the capture of data by frontline
functionaries. It’s a six-tier dashboard that replaces registers with smartphones

National Nutrition Mission (NNM) or POSHAN

Abhiyan
● It was launched in 2017 to monitor,
supervise, fix targets and guide the nutrition
related interventions across the Ministries.
● Objective of Abhiyaan is to reduce stunting
in identified Districts of India with the highest
malnutrition burden by improving utilization
of key Anganwadi Services.
● Its aim is to ensure holistic development and
adequate nutrition for pregnant women,
mothers and children.

30
Honorarium
● AWW are paid fixed honorarium per month.
● They are also given incentives for using ICDS - CAS.
● Certain additional benefits are also given / additional honorarium is paid by the states.

Key Terms
● Stunting : Low height for age
● Wasting : Low weight for height
● Underweight : Low weight for age

Civil Registration System (CRS)

Context:
● Government is planning to revamp the Civil Registration System (CRS) through an IT
enabled system to ensure the registration of birth and death in real-time with minimum
human interface.
● The Registrar General of India (RGI) has also proposed to “maintain the database of
registered birth and deaths at the national level.” (under Ministry of Home Affairs)

Civil Registration System (CRS): It is the unified process of continuous, permanent,

compulsory and universal recording of the vital events (births, deaths, still births) and
characteristics thereof.

History of CRS:
● In 1886 a Central Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act was promulgated to
provide for voluntary registration throughout British India.
● Post-independence, the Registration of Births and Death Act (RBD Act) was enacted in
1969 to promote uniformity and comparability in the registration of Births and Deaths
across the country and compilation of vital statistics based thereon.

Registration of Births and Death Act (RBD Act)

● With the enactment of the Act, registration of births, deaths and stillbirths became
mandatory in India.
● The Registrar General of India (RGI) at the Central Government level coordinates and
unifies the activities of registration throughout the country. However, implementation of
the statute is vested with the State Governments.
● The Act mandates the use of uniform birth and death reporting forms and certificates
throughout the country.
● The scheme of Medical Certification of Cause of Death (MCCD) under RBD Act,
provides for causes of death, a prerequisite to monitoring health trends of the population.

‘Sample Registration System (SRS) Statistical Report 2020’.

● Released by Office of Registrar General & Census Commissioner

31
 ● Under MHA.
● Established by Census act, 1949.
● Conducts the decadal census, birth and death registration act.

It is the only source of various demographic indicators except the census.

National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS) Report

● It was released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

● The Scope of NFHS-5 is expanded by adding new dimensions such as death
registration, pre-school education, expanded domains of child immunization, menstrual
hygiene etc.

32
National Health Account (NHA) Estimates, 2018-19

● NHA estimates 2018-19 is the 6th consecutive NHA estimates report prepared by
National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC),

33
 ● NHSRC was designated as NHA Technical Secretariat (NHATS) in 2014 by the
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW).
● It is based on the framework of System of Health Accounts, 2011, developed by
WHO.
● These estimates enable the policymakers to monitor the progress in different health
financing indicators of the country.

Drugs Regulation Ecosystem In India

Context:
● After a World Health Organization (WHO) alert on four India-made cough and cold
syrups, the Drug Regulation Ecosystem in India has been under scrutiny.
● These syrups have been ‘potentially linked with acute kidney injuries and over 66
deaths among children’ in Gambia.

34
 ● The preliminary enquiry from Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO)
has revealed that the manufacturer is licensed by the State Drug Controller for the
products under reference.
● The tentative results on syrups have shown presence of Diethylene Glycol (DEG)/
Ethylene Glycol. Present as impurities in propylene glycol, they are toxic in nature.
● In India also, at least five cases of DEG poisoning have happened since 1972 including
the 2020 incident in Jammu leading to the death of 17 children.

About India’s Drug Regulation Ecosystem

● Act: The Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 regulates the import, manufacture, distribution
and sale of drugs and cosmetics. The 1940 act and its corresponding rules allow the
Centre and State to regulate different aspects of the drugs ecosystem (see image on
India’s regulatory environment).
● Committees to strengthen Drug Regulation Ecosystem: Mashelkar Committee
(2003), Ranjit Roy Chaudhury Committee (2014)

35
Good manufacturing practice (GMP) is a system to ensure that products are consistently
produced and controlled as per quality standards.
It helps in ensuring therapeutic effect and boost pharmaceutical export opportunities through
international organization. Currently, around 2,000 manufacturing units in India are GMP
certified.

Mental Health

Tele Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States (Tele-MANAS) initiative
● It is an initiative under the National Tele Mental Health Programme (NTMHP)
(announced in the Union Budget 2022-23) aimed to provide free tele-mental health
services all over the country.
● Working Structure: At least one Tele-MANAS Cell in each State/UT. National Institute
of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) is the nodal centre.
● Technical Support: International Institute of Information Technology-Bengaluru
(IIITB), IIT-Bengaluru and National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHRSC). A
toll-free, 24/7 helpline number has been set up with the language of choice for availing
services.
● Integration: with other services like National tele-consultation service, eSanjeevani,
Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, mental health professionals, Ayushman Bharat health
and wellness centres and emergency psychiatric facilities.
● Tele manas helpline : 1800914416

Unique Friendship Benches Initiative

● It was recently inaugurated by WHO to
promote mental health.
● Under the initiative, 32 friendship benches
were installed in prominent locations in Doha
representing the 32 countries participating in
the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar.
● Part of the Sport for Health partnership,
led by the World Health Organization and
Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health.
● Its goal is to demonstrate the importance of
mental health and offer advice on ways to
promote mental wellbeing, through the
importance of physical activity and sport.

National Suicide Prevention Strategy

● Launched by: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in line with WHO’s South
East-Asia Region Strategy for suicide prevention, strategy.

36
Drug Trafficking In India
Context: UNODC recently released the World Drug Report 2022.

About the World Drug Report

● Around 284 million people aged 15-64 used drugs worldwide in 2020, a 26% increase
over the previous decade.
● Though women are in minority in terms of global drug use, the rate of increase in drug
consumption is more rapid in women than men.
● Continued growth in drug production and trafficking.
● As per the report, India is one of the world’s single-largest opiate markets in terms of
users.

37
 ● India is one of the countries with highest illicit cultivation and production of cannabis.
● Worst affected regions : North east, Punjab, now Haryana too.
● Many precursor drugs and synthetic chemicals are smuggled out of the country.

Global Status Report on Physical Activity 2022

● Released by: The World Health Organization (WHO)
● Measures the extent to which governments are implementing recommendations to
increase physical activity across all ages and abilities.
● Key Findings
○ Less than 50% of countries have a national physical activity policy, of which less
than 40% are operational
○ only just over 40% of countries have road design standards that make walking
and cycling safer.

World Mental Health Report

● Released by: The WHO
● Key findings
● Almost a billion people, 14% of whom were adolescents, were living with some
form of mental health issues in 2019.
● Globally, 71% of psychosis patients don’t receive treatment.
● Progress towards Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan (CMHAP)
2013–2030 has been slow.
● CMHAP is adopted by all the 194 members of WHO and aims to promote mental
well-being, prevent mental disorders, etc.

Notified Disease
● Context: In its 139th report, the Parliamentary standing committee on health and family
welfare suggested that Cancer be classified a notifiable disease to tackle its
under-reporting.
● A notifiable disease is any disease that is required by law to be reported to government
authorities.
● It becomes legally binding (failure amount to a criminal offense) for a medical
practitioner or its institutes to report cases of the disease to the government.
● Examples of notified diseases: Cholera, diphtheria, encephalitis, leprosy, meningitis,
pertussis, plague, tuberculosis, AIDS, malaria, dengue, etc.

Paalan 1000

● Government launches Paalan 1000 campaign and parenting app to focus on child
health.
● The app will provide caregiver with practical advice on what they can do in their
everyday routine.

38
 ● The 'Paalan 1000 - Journey of the First 1000 Days', focuses on the cognitive
developments of children in the first 2 years of its life.
● The first 1000 days establish a solid platform for a child’s physical, mental, emotional,
cognitive and social health.

ABHA for newborns

● National Health Authority is developing a mechanism under which parents can
generate Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) numbers, known as health IDs,
for their new-borns and young children.
● Currently, only individuals above 18 years of age are entitled to enroll for ABHA cards
(under Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission).
● ABHA number will enable parents to upload all personal health records from birth, as
well as all healthcare benefits availed, ranging from public health programmes to
insurance schemes. This will allow parents to track their children’s health records.

Global Hunger Index

● Annually published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.
● It was first introduced in 2006. The 2022 edition marks the 17th edition of the GHI.
● India : slipped to 107th position from 101st in 2021
● Government response : methodology is unscientific as it relies on telephonically
conducted opinion polls.

Status of Nutritional Security in India

● Index Score: With a score of 29.1, the GHI finds the level of hunger in India “serious’’.
India’s GHI score has decreased from alarming (in 2000) to serious (in 2022).
● India’s neighbours such as Nepal (81), Bangladesh (84), Pakistan (99) and Sri Lanka
(64) have got higher rankings in GHI.
● Child wasting: The index says child wasting
indicating undernourishment in the country is 19.3%,
the highest in the world.
● Undernourishment: India’s proportion of
undernourished in the population is considered to be
at a medium level, and its under-five child mortality
rate is considered low.
● Child stunting: There has been a “significant
decrease” from 54.2% in 1998-1999 to 35.5% in
2019-2021, although it is still “considered very
high”.

Status of Nutritional Security in the world

● Stagnation in hunger reduction: The 2022 GHI score (18.2) down slightly from the
2014 score of 19.1.
● Violent conflict: was the main driver of acute food insecurity in 2021.

39
 ● Africa South of the Sahara and South Asia are the regions with the highest hunger
levels.
● The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the situation.
● Climate change is increasingly impeding efforts to meet human needs.

The State Of Food Security And Nutrition In The World (SOFI) Report, 2022

● It is a joint publication by the Food and Agriculture Organization, International Fund

for Agricultural Development, UNICEF, UN World Food Programme and WHO.

India Related Findings

Undernourishment in Total Population 16.3%

Wasting in children (under 5 years of age) 17.3%

Stunting in children (under 5 years of age) 30.9%

Exclusively breastfeeding among infants 58%

Hunger Hotspots Report

● Released by: Food and Agriculture Organization and World Food Programme.
● Key highlights:
○ Key hunger hotspots include, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan,
Somalia, Yemen, countries in Horn of Africa etc.

40
 ○ 345 million people in 82 countries/territories are facing Acute Food Insecurity.
○ Key Drivers and Aggravating Factors: Conflict/insecurity, Displacement, Dry
Conditions, Economic Shocks, Flood, Political Instability/unrest and Tropical
cyclone.

PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana

● The Centre has launched ‘PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY)’ to provide free of
cost food grains for a year under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013.
● Under the newly launched PMGKAY, rice, wheat and coarse grains shall be provided
free of cost for all eligible households (both Primary HouseHolds and Antodaya Anna
Yojana) under section 3 of the NFSA from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023.
○ Earlier beneficiaries were paying the subsidised price called Central Issue Price
(CIP) worth Rs.1, Rs.2 and
Rs.3 for Coarse-grains, wheat
and rice respectively.
○ The subsidised prices are
specified in Schedule-1 of the
NFSA 2013, which the
government can change by
executive order.

● The PMGKAY is subsuming two

subsidy schemes
○ Food Subsidy to Food Corporation of India (FCI).
○ Food Subsidy for Decentralized Procurement (DCP).
● However, there will be no changes in the issue prices of food grains supplied to States
for other welfare programmes like mid-day meals (MDMs).
● It should also be noted that this newly launched PMGKAY is different form the PMGKAY
that was launched in 2020 as a pandemic relief measure.
● In 2020, additional 5kg of free foodgrains were supplied to NFSA beneficiaries in
addition to monthly entitlement. This has now been discontinued

41
National Food Security Act, 2013

42
Swachh Survekshan (SS) 2023

● Recently, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has launched the 8th
edition of SS survey 2023 with the theme of ‘Waste to Wealth’.

● SS, introduced by MoHUA in 2016, is the world’s largest annual survey of

cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in villages, cities and towns across India.
● Components:
○ Service Level Progress -covers Segregated collection, Processing, and
disposal, Used water management, and Safaimitra Suraksha.
○ Certification - for Garbage Free City star rating and ODF/ODF+/ODF++/water +
certification.
○ Citizens’ voice -through feedback, grievance redressal, engagement, etc.
● Additional weightage has been given to source segregation of waste, enhancement of
waste processing capacity of cities and reduction of waste going to dumpsites.
● Ranking of Wards within cities is being promoted through SS 2023.
● Assessment of cities will be on dedicated indicators on issues of ‘open urination’
(Yellow Spots) and ‘open spitting’ (Red Spots), being faced by cities.
● SBM-U 2.0, launched in 2021, focus on source segregation of solid waste, ensures grey
and black water (used water) management in all cities other than those covered under
AMRUT.

43
Progress on WASH in Health care Facilities, 2000–2021 Report
● Released by: WHO and UNICEF
● It focuses on WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) and infection prevention and
control (IPC).

Key Findings:
● Half of the world's healthcare facilities lack basic hygiene services, nearly 4 billion
people at risk.
● Lack of potential infection prevention in health facilities impacts pregnant mothers,
newborns and children's health.
● Unhygienic health care facilities influence disease transmission and emergence of
antibiotic resistance.

Initiatives by the Ministry of Jal Shakti

Swachh Ranks the States and Districts on the basis of their performance attained
Survekshan on key quantitative and qualitative Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen).
Grameen (SSG)

Swachh Toolkit comprises information on various stages of assessment, baseline

Survekshan rankings of the Panchayats and Districts based on their ODF Plus
Grameen (SSG) progress.
toolkit for SSG
2023

Retrofit to Twin Promotes twin pit toilets in households towards improved faecal sludge
Pit Abhiyan" management.

‘Swachh Jal Se Creates awareness on the importance of clean and safe drinking water.
Suraksha’

44
 Miscellaneous

Universal Social Security

Recently, the government panel has recommended a Universal Pension Scheme for gig workers
and the self employed citing concerns on sustainability of the Employees’ Pension Scheme
(1995).
Social Security in India
● Part of Directive Principles of the State Policy such as
○ Article 41 (Right to Work),
○ Article 42(Provisions for Just and Humane work and maternity relief)
○ Article 47 (Duty of the state to raise the level of nutrition).
● Centre and State’s Responsibility: Since the subject of Labour falls under the
concurrent list, the extension of Social Security and Social Assistance benefits to citizens
is from the centre as well as from state governments.

Recent Government Initiatives:

● Code on Social Security, 2020: It consolidates nine central labor legislations on social
security to extend social security to all employees and workers (including the new forms
of jobs that are emerging).
● The subsumed laws include Employees’ Compensation Act, 1923, The Employees’
State Insurance Act, 1948, The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, The Payment of
Gratuity Act, 1972 etc.
● New Social Protection Schemes such as
○ Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan (PM-SYM), a voluntary and
contributory pension scheme to ensure old age protection for Unorganised
Workers.
○ National Pension Scheme for Traders, Shopkeepers and Self-Employed
Persons, a voluntary and contributory pension scheme for traders, shopkeepers.
● e-SHRAM Portal: To create a national database of Unorganized Workers, including
migrant workers, to facilitate delivery of social security schemes to the workers.

World Population Growth

Context : As per UN population fund, world population has reached 8 billion.
Trends in world population growth
● Temporal disparity
● Spatial Disparity : rise is more acute in low income countries
● Life expectancy : from 34 in 1913 to 72 in 2022
● Slow Growth rate : slowest since 1950 (<1%)

45
Habitus

● The term was popularized by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu in his book Outline of
a Theory of Practice (1977).
● Habitus refers to a collective entity by and into which dominant social and cultural
conditions of a society are established and reproduced. It explains how inequality is
reproduced through the dominant social and cultural conditions that an individual is
accustomed to, which then determines their position in society.
● What one considers, 'natural', 'taboo', 'neutral' and 'good' or 'bad' is constructed by
one's habitus. It helps instill a sense of the world in individuals by attributing cultural
value to material or immaterial objects.

Other Initiatives

Action Agenda on Internal Displacement United Nation (UN) Secretary-General

● Action Agenda sets out commitments by the UN system to better resolve, prevent and
address internal displacement crises.
● Action Agenda sets out UN’s commitments to realize three goals:
○ Help IDPs find a durable solution to their displacement.
○ Better prevent new displacement crises from emerging.
○ Ensure those facing displacement receive effective protection and assistance.

National Air Sports Policy (NASP) 2022 The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MCA)

● Vision: To include India among the top air sporting nations by 2030.
● Covers 11 different air sports and provides a four-tier governance structure.
● Air Sports Federation of India an autonomous body under MCA will be the apex
governing body.
● It represents India at Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), headquartered in
Lausanne, Switzerland and other global platforms related to air sports.
● FAI is world governing body for air sports.

Advanced Knowledge and Rural Technology Bhabha Atomic Research Centre

Implementation (AKRUTI) Programme (BARC)

● Promotes youth entrepreneurship in and around Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project

(KKNPP).
● Services offered Technologies/ Consultancy in fields of Biodegradable Waste
Processing, Water, Food, and Agriculture.
● Awareness about services under AKRUT through Rural Technology Implementation
Kendras (KRUTIK).

e-Detailed Action Report (e-DAR) Portal Ministry of Roads, Transport and

Highways (MoRTH)

● The portal will bring relief to victims’ families, check fake claims etc. through

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 Digitalised Detailed Accident Reports (DAR).
● It will be linked with Vahaan and the Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD)- to act
as an e-version of IRAD.
● Also, it will alert PWD/Local Body to examine and record details, helping in identifying
the accident hotspots for necessary solutions to avoid future accidents.

Crime In India Report 2021

Recently, the Crime in India, 2021, annual report of NCRB was released.

Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India NCRB

47
Report 2021

● Provides age-group-wise and sex-wise details of accidental deaths, traffic accidents

and suicides including farmer’s suicides which is a crucial matter in India.

Crime In India Report 2021 NCRB

State of World Population 2022 United Nations Population Fund

● Key findings:
○ Over 60% of unintended pregnancies end in abortion and 45% of abortions are
unsafe, causing 5% to 13% of maternal deaths.
○ 13% of women in developing countries begin childbearing before they turn 18

Progress on the Sustainable Development UN Women and UNDESA

Goals: The Gender Snapshot 2022

● In India, in a quarter of rural households’ women and girls devote more than 50
minutes per day to collecting water.

Cities Alive: Designing Cities that Work United Nations Development Programme
for Women’ Report

● Report stresses the need to directly engage women in decision-making processes,

across all aspects of urban planning and development.

Global Gender Gap (GGG) Report, 2022 World Economic Forum (PYQ)

● The GGG index benchmarks the current state and

evolution of gender parity across four key
dimensions
● Rank of India: 135/146
● India was the worst performer in the world in the
“health and survival” sub-index, where it is ranked
146.
● Neighbours: Bangladesh (71), Nepal (96), Sri
Lanka (110), Maldives (117) and Bhutan (126).

Global Estimates of Modern Slavery, 2021 International Labour Organisation

Report

Global Trends: Forced Displacement in United Nations High Commissioner for

2021 Refugees

● Finding: Nearly 5 million people in India were internally displaced due to climate
change and disasters

Migration in India 2020-2021’ Report Ministry of Statistics and Programme

Implementation

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Key findings
● All-India migration rate was 28.9%, with 26.5% and 34.9% migration rate in rural and
urban areas respectively.
● Females recorded a higher share of migration rate as compared to males.
● Among females, the highest level of migration rate was seen at 86.8% for marriage.
● Reverse migration during the pandemic led to higher rates of unemployment
agglomeration in rural areas, which caused rural distress.

The State of Inequality in India Report Released by: The Economic Advisory
Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM).
Prepared by: Institute for Competitiveness.

● Findings:
○ An Indian earning a monthly wage of ₹25,000 is among top 10% of earners in
the country.
○ Top 1% accounts for 6-7% of total incomes earned while top 10% accounts for
one-third of all incomes earned.
○ Failure of trickle-down approach as incomes of the top 1% earners grew 15%
during 2017-18 to 2019-2020 while that of the bottom 10% declined 1%.

Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC, Global Network Against Food Crises
2022) (GNAFC)

Global Food Policy Report 2022 on International Food Policy Research

climate change and food system Institute

● Finding: By 2030, India’s food production could drop 16% and the number of those at
risk for hunger could increase 23%.

Global Report On Assistive Technology World Health Organisation (WHO) and

(GREAT) United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

● The report aims to present a comprehensive dataset and analysis of current

global access to Assistive technology.

Progress on WASH in Health care WHO and UNICEF

Facilities, 2000–2021 Report

● Key Findings:
○ Half of the world's healthcare facilities lack basic hygiene services, nearly 4
billion people at risk.
○ Lack of potential infection prevention in health facility impacts pregnant
mothers, newborns and children's health.
○ Unhygienic health care facilities influence disease transmission and
emergence of antibiotic resistance.

Education Related Reports

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Unified District Information System for Department of School Education and
Education Plus (UDISE+) Report Literacy

Performance Grading Index Department of School Education and

Literacy

National Achievement Survey Released by: Department of School

Education and Literacy
Prepared by: CBSE+ NCERT

The State of Education Report for India, UNESCO

2022: Artificial Intelligence in Education

Mother Tongue Survey of India Ministry of Home Affairs

Health

Grassroot Soldiers: Role of ASHAs in the MoH&FW, National Health Systems

COVID-19 Pandemic Management in India" Resource Center, and Institute for
Report Report Competitiveness

National Family and Health Survey-5 MoHFW

Sample Registration System Statistical Office of Registrar and Census

Report Commissioner

World Mental Health Report World Health Organisation

World Drug Report United Nations Office on Drug and Crime

Global Status Report on Physical Activity WHO

Hunger Hotspots Report FAO and WFP

Global Hunger Index Concern Worldwide and Welthungelife

The State Of Food Security And Nutrition Food and Agriculture Organization,
In The World (SOFI) Report, 2022 International Fund for Agricultural
Development, UNICEF, UN World Food
Programme and WHO.

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 Table of Contents : Security

Weapons Of Mass Destruction (WMD) 52

Terms and Concepts (Requiring mere understanding) 54

Conventions and Organisations 55

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) 57

International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) 57

Mission Defspace 58

FATF 59

Draft Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy (DPEPP) 2020 59

Defence Acquisition Procedure, 2020 60

Integrated Battle Groups 61

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Weapons Of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Context: Recently, Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of
Unlawful Activities) Amendment Act, 2022 to ban funding of weapons of mass destruction was
enacted.

Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful

Activities) Act, 2005.
● Objective: To provide an integrated and overarching legislation on prohibiting unlawful
activities in relation to all three types of WMD (i.e., Nuclear, Chemical and Biological),
their delivery systems and related materials, equipment and technologies.
● Penalties imposed: imprisonment for a term not less than five years (extendable for
life) as well as fines.
● The Act was passed to meet an international obligation enforced by the UN Security
Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1540 of 2004.
● UNSCR 1540 established binding obligations on all UN member states to take and
enforce effective measures against proliferation of WMD, their means of delivery
and related materials to non-state actors.

Key provisions of the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems
(Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Act, 2022:
● The 2005 Act prohibits unlawful activities (such as manufacturing, transport, or transfer)
related to weapons of mass destruction, and their means of delivery. The recent
amendment extends the scope of banned activities to include financing of already
prohibited activities.
● It bars persons from financing any prohibited activity related to WMD and their delivery
systems directly or indirectly.
● It empowers the central government to freeze, seize or attach financial assets and
economic resources of people engaged in such activities.

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

● There is no single, authoritative definition of a WMD in international law and the
expression is usually understood to cover nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC)
weapons.

Definitions of WMDs as per India's WMD Act, 2005

● Nuclear weapons: Those which are categorized as having nuclear capabilities and
recognized by the Government of India. In general, these machinery and weapons use
the process of nuclear fission in order to facilitate an explosion. Eg: Little Boy and Fat
Man
● Chemical weapons: Toxic chemicals and their precursors (except where used for
peaceful purposes); munitions and devices specifically designed to cause death or other
harm through the toxic properties of those toxic chemicals; and any equipment

52
 specifically designed for use in connection with the employment of these munitions and
devices.Eg: Nerve gas, tear gas and pepper spray
● Biological Weapons: Microbial or other biological agents, or toxins of types and in
quantities that have no justification for prophylactic, protective or other peaceful
purposes; and weapons, equipment or delivery systems specially designed to use such
agents or toxins for hostile purposes or in armed conflict. Eg: Anthrax via mail attacks
in the US (2001).

Treaties/Conven Purpose Has India

tions/Codes signed and
ratified it?

Biological and ● It supplements the 1925 Geneva Protocol, which had Yes
Toxic Weapons prohibited only the use of biological weapons.
Convention ● Prohibits the development, production, acquisition,
(BWC), 1972 transfer, stockpiling and use of biological and toxin
weapons.

Chemical ● It led to the establishment of Organisation for the Yes

Weapons Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
Convention headquartered at Hague, Netherlands.
(CWC), 1992

Comprehensive ● It bans all nuclear explosion tests on Earth. It also No.

Nuclear-Test Ban established a CTBT Organization (CTBTO), located in
Treaty, 1996 Vienna, to ensure the implementation of its provisions.
● It is yet to enter into force.
● India opposes CTBT and supports universal ban of
nuclear weapons

Hague Code of ● It was formerly known as “The International Code of Yes

Conduct (HCOC) Conduct” (ICOC), 2002
● To regulate access to ballistic missiles which can
potentially deliver weapons of mass destruction.

Multilateral Export ● Voluntary and non-binding agreements created by the India is a

Control Regimes major supplier countries to co-operate in their effort to member of
(MECR) prevent transfer of certain military and dual use three of the
technology that support proliferation of Weapons of four MECRs,
Mass Destruction (WMD). except the
Nuclear
Supplier
Group.

Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for the control of nuclear No

related technology. (Opposition
from China)

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 Australia Group (AG) for control of chemical and biological Yes
technology that could be weaponized.

Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) for the control of Yes

rockets and other aerial vehicles capable of delivering weapons
of mass destruction.

Wassenaar Arrangement for Conventional Arms and Yes

Dual-Use Goods and Technologies.

Treaty on the ● Prohibits participating in any nuclear weapon activities. No.

Prohibition of These include undertakings not to develop, test,
nuclear weapons produce, acquire,possess, stockpile, use or threaten to
(TPNW),2017 use nuclear weapons and also to provide assistance to
any State in the conduct of prohibited activities.
● India believes that thisTreaty does not constitute or
contribute to the development of customary international
law; nor does it set any new standards or norms.

Terms and Concepts (Requiring mere understanding)

War Crimes ● According to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
(ICC), war crimes refer to serious violations of humanitarian laws
during a domestic conflict or a war between two states.
● Genocide and crimes against humanity can happen in peacetime or
during the unilateral aggression of a military towards a group of
unarmed people.
● This definition is derived from the 1949 Geneva Conventions
(regulates the conduct of armed conflict and seeks to limit its effects)
● It is based on the idea that individuals can be held liable for the
actions of a state or its military.

Scorched Earth ● Scorched earth tactics form part of a military strategy which seeks to
Tactics destroy anything that could be of use to the enemy, including
energy supplies, bridges, agricultural fields, road and railway links, etc.
(being used by Russia against Ukraine)
● Harming civilians as part of this strategy has been banned under the
1977 Geneva Convention.
● In India, armies of Chhatrapati Shivaji were known for their scorched
earth tactics.

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‘Dirty bomb’ ● Russia has claimed that Ukraine is planning to use a dirty bomb.
● Dirty Bomb is a bomb that contains radioactive material, such as
uranium, which is scattered through the air when its conventional
explosive detonates.
● It doesn't need to contain highly refined radioactive material, as is
used in a nuclear bomb.
● Instead, it uses radioactive materials from hospitals, nuclear power
stations or research laboratories. This makes them much cheaper
and quicker to make than nuclear weapons.

Data Free Flow ● The G20 Bali Declaration, 2022 is pushing the commitment of all G20
with Trust members to continue the discussion on Data Free Flow with Trust
(DFFT) (DFFT).

DFFT
● It aims to eliminate restrictions on cross-border transfer of
information by electronic means, including personal information,
and storing data in foreign servers, for productivity, innovation, and
sustainable development.
● It was first proposed by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,
as a basic principle for rulemaking in the field of cross-border data
transfers. After its debut in Davos, DFFT was endorsed in 2019 by
members of the G20 group of nations under the Osaka Track.
● Osaka Track is a process that aims to intensify efforts on international
rulemaking on digital economy, especially on data flows and
e-commerce, while promoting enhanced protections for intellectual
property, personal information, and cybersecurity.

Conventions and Organisations

National ● NATGRID is an attached office of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Intelligence ● It is the integrated intelligence grid which connects databases of core
Grid (NATGRID) security agencies.
● It was proposed after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
● It will assist intelligence and law enforcement agencies in ensuring
national and internal security, with the ultimate aim to counter terror.
● NATGRID will link 10 user agencies with certain databases that would
be procured from 21 organizations. Database involves data related to
credit and debit cards, tax, telecom, immigration, airlines and railway
tickets, passports, driving licenses.
● NATGRID also has access to the Crime and Criminal Tracking
Network and Systems (CCTNS) database under National Crime
Records Bureau (NCRB).
● All State police are mandated to file First Information Reports (FIR)
in the CCTNS.

Macolin ● The 12th meeting of Interpol’s Match-Fixing Task Force (IMFTF)

Convention called for harmonized global efforts to curb competition manipulation
and establishment of national platforms, as outlined by Macolin
Convention.

55
 ● It was the 1st major event under the newly created Financial Crime and
Anti-corruption Centre (IFCACC) from Interpol.
● From India, CBI participated in it.
● The Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports
Competitions, known as the Macolin Convention, is a multilateral
treaty aimed at checking match-fixing.

Open Skies ● Russia pulled out of the Open Skies Treaty (OST) citing earlier
Treaty (OST) withdrawal of the USA from the treaty.
● OST is an agreement that permits each state-party to conduct
short-notice, unarmed, reconnaissance flights over the other’s
territories to collect data on military forces and activities.
● OST was signed in 1992 and came into effect in 2002.
● Currently 32 states are party to the treaty.
● India and China are not members of the treaty.
● Open Skies Consultative Commission (OSCC), composed of
representatives of all states parties, is responsible for implementation
of OST.
● It is different from the Open Sky Agreements which are bilateral
agreements that the two countries negotiate to provide rights for
airlines to offer international passenger and cargo services. Recently,
the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has expressed interest to have an
Open Sky Agreement with India.

Delhi ● UN Security Council (UNSC) Counter Terrorism Committee’s (CTC)

declaration by special meeting held in India ended with the adoption of Delhi
UN Security declaration, which called for:
Council (UNSC) ○ Issuing a new set of non binding guiding principles in
Counter countering digital terrorism threat.
Terrorism ○ Counter terrorist exploitation of Information and
Committee Communications Technology (like payment technologies and
(CTC) misuse of drones etc).
○ Countering use of technologies for terrorist purposes, while
respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms.
○ Deepen engagement with civil society, including women's
organizations, private-sector entities etc.

World’s ● Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor (NWBM) was established as a research

stockpile of programme in 2018, produced and published by Norwegian People's
nuclear Aid (NPA), a partner organization of International Campaign to
weapons
Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) (a coalition of NGOs).
increasing:
Report by ● It evaluates nuclear-weapons-related policies and practices of each of
Nuclear the 197 states that are party/not party to global treaties on nuclear
Weapons Ban weapon reduction.
Monitor (NWBM)

56
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

Context: Recently, NPT's five-year review meeting took place. Also, NPT completed 50 years in
2020.

NPT is an international agreement established in 1968 aimed at preventing the spread of

nuclear weapons and promoting disarmament.

Establishment: In 1968

Members: All countries of the world except South Sudan, India, Pakistan, Israel and North
Korea.

Other key information:

● Nuclear weapon states (NWS): Those that have built and tested a nuclear explosive
These are the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China

● Zangger Committee was formed following the coming into force of NPT. It maintains a
Trigger List (triggering safeguards as a condition of supply) of nuclear-related strategic
goods

● The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) verifies Non-NWS (NNWS)

compliance with commitments under the NPT not to acquire nuclear weapons.

India's stand on NPT India has not signed or joined the NPT.
● India supports the commencement of negotiations on a comprehensive Nuclear
● Weapons Convention in the Conference on Disarmament, which is the world's single
multilateral disarmament negotiating forum working on the basis of consensus.
● India supports the proposed Fissile material cut off treaty under it that would prohibit the
production of two main components of nuclear weapons: highly enriched uranium (HEU)
and plutonium.

Treaties and initiatives establishing nuclear-weapon-free zones in Asia and the Pacific

● Treaty of Rarotonga (South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty, 1986)

● Bangkok Treaty (Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone Treaty, 1995)
● Central Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free-Zone (2006)
● Mongolia declared itself the first single-State nuclear weapon free zone (SS-NWFZ)
in 1992, which was later recognized by P5 (five nuclear weapon states) as well. This has
set a precedent for other states to follow in declaring themselves SS NWFZs.

International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL)

Interpol is an intergovernmental organization which helps the police in all member countries to
work together to make the world a safer place.

Objective: To strengthen ties among the member states, coordinate their policies, and promote
their common interests.

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Headquarter: Lyon, France; Est.1923

Members: 195 countries (India is a member)

Other key functions:

● Three crime programmes - counter
terrorism, cybercrime and
organized and emerging crime.
● Global policing Goals (launched in
2018), focus on collective efforts of
the international law enforcement
community to create a safer and
more sustainable world.
● ID-ART: a mobile app, launched by
Interpol, to identify stolen cultural property, reduce smuggling, and recover stolen
works and artefacts.
● INTERPOL Notices: International requests for cooperation or alerts allowing police in
member countries to share critical crime-related information. It is issued by the General
Secretariat at the request of a member country's
Interpol NCB.

Mission Defspace

● Mission DefSpace was launched at the annual Defense

Expo held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
● It has been to develop innovative solutions for the
Armed Forces in the space domain through industry and
start-ups at DefExpo 2022. Under Mission DefSpace, 75
such challenges (launch systems, satellites, etc) are
identified to get innovative solutions for armed forces.

● Other Countries: US (Space force) and China (PLA

Strategic Support Force) are also pursuing dedicated
military space institutions.

58
India’s space diplomacy:
● India launched the South Asia satellite to boost regional communication and
improve disaster links among its six neighbours.
● In 2019, India conducted Mission Shakti, an anti-satellite missile test.
● Also, in 2019, India operationalised Defence Space Agency (DSA) for operating in
the domain of space warfare.

Draft Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy (DPEPP) 2020

● The Ministry of Defence proposed Draft Defence Production and Export Policy 2020
with an aim to double India's defence production in five years.
● The policy is envisaged as a guiding document to overcome aforesaid challenges by
providing a focused, structured and significant thrust to defence production capabilities
of the country for self-reliance and exports.
● It aims to achieve a turnover of Rs 1,75,000 Crores Including export of Rs 35,000

59
 Crore in Aerospace and Defence goods and services by 2025.

Defence Acquisition Procedure, 2020

Context: Government gave in-principle approval to indigenous defence projects light tanks,
airborne stand-off jammers, communication equipment and simulators under Defence
Acquisition Procedure(DAP), 2020.

Salient features of Policy

● The Defence Ministry had constituted a Committee under Apurva Chandra for
preparation of DAP-2020.
● DAP will ensure timely acquisition of military equipment, systems and platforms as
required by the Armed Forces in terms of performance, capabilities and quality
standards, through optimum utilization of allocated budgetary resources.
● It has come into effect from October 1, 2020 and will supersede the Defence
Procurement Procedure (DPP) of 2016.
● DAP will cover all Capital Acquisitions other than Works and Land undertaken by
the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Service Headquarters (SHQ) both from
indigenous sources and ex-import, except for medical equipment.

Key points in policy

● Offset policy revised.
● Notify a List of Weapons/Platforms for Ban on Import
● For Indigenisation of Imported Spares:
○ New Category of Buy (Global – Manufacture in India)
○ Request For Information (RFI) to confirm that the equipment has been
indigenously designed and developed.
○ Reservation in Categories for Indian Vendors
○ Other proposed measures: These include making after-sales support part of
capital acquisition contract, higher indigenous content in acquisitions and
incentives for local material and software and emphasis on product export under
offsets.

● Leasing: It has been introduced as a new category for acquisition in addition to the
existing ‘Buy’ and ‘Make’ categories to substitute huge initial capital outlays with
periodical rental payments.

● Strategic Partnership Model (SPM): Strategic Partnerships will seek to enhance

indigenous defence manufacturing capabilities through the private sector over
and above the existing production
base.

What is offset?
● Under the offset policy, the foreign
defense entities were mandated to
spend at least 30% of the total
contract value in India through
procurement of components, transfer of
technologies or setting up of research
and development facilities.
● This condition was for all contracts worth more than Rs 2,000 crore.

60
 ● It was meant to improve domestic defense manufacturing.

Associated terms:
● Make-I: refers to government-funded projects
● Make-II: covers industry-funded programmes.

Integrated Battle Groups

● IBGs are brigade-sized, agile, self-sufficient combat formations, which can swiftly launch
strikes against adversary in case of hostilities. They will be able to mobilize within 12-48
hours based on the location.
● The integrated units for the border will be all-encompassing, with artillery, armoured,
combat engineers and signal units.
● The IBGs are to perform both offensive roles, involving cross-border operations, and
defensive roles to withstand an enemy attack.
● Each IBG would be tailor-made based on Threat, Terrain and Task
● Each IBG will be headed by a Major General and comprise around 5,000 troops. •
● It will help in effectively implementing the Cold Start doctrine. Cold Start’ doctrine of
the Indian Armed Forces envisages swift deployment of troops on the western border
within days if a situation of a full-blown war arises.

61