SYNOPSIS: IASbaba’s TLP 2016 [4th Oct] - UPSC Mains GS Questions [HOT]

Your conclusion should stress that making of a Prosperous nation depends upon its healthy population. Hidden hunger can have serious ramifications and it should be tackled effectively.

Best Answer1: Yogesh bhatt

Hidden hunger is deficiency of essential micro nutrients, minerals, and vitamins in the body because no or poor diet. It is different from hunger because food availability is not a challenge but issue is with nutrient uptake by body. It is important because even micro nutrients, minerals, and vitamins are required in very little amount but it is important for regular functioning of body. It can affect any section of population who do not take quality food in diet but more prone are-

1- Malnourished population especially children and adolescents are susceptible to it.

2- Pregnant women, tribal community, and disable people

3- People affected by migration, disaster, and unsettled by different reasons.

Cause of hidden hunger

1- Poor PDS service and limited food access through it.

2- Limited food habit in recent time and little diversity

3- Promotion of fast food culture.

4- Economic poor so not able to afford quality food like vegetables and fruits

5- Social reason as girls do not treated same as boy so limited access of quality food.

6- State social welfare have limited access to poor and needy people

7- Supplementary medicines are limited available in PHCs at affordable cost.

8- Agriculture policy so farmers promote more grain crops and limited focus on oil crops, pulses, and vegetables.

To address it, NFSA act and mid-day meal scheme can be a game changer. Here focus need to shift from food access to quality and quantity of food. Similar at PHC level need to make affordable access of important nutrients for lactic mothers and adolescents

Best Answer 2: SherniZaad

Human body needs nutritious and balanced diet encompassing vitamins and minerals for achieving an optimal level of health and growth. However, when the diet lacks these nutrients it can cause the body suffer from a ‘weird’ kind of hunger known as “Hidden Hunger “. This is because most of the people suffering from it don’t exhibit typical symptoms associated with hunger and malnutrition like stunting and wasting.

The sections of population most prone to it are women, children and especially if they belong to the low income group families which is caused due to following reasons: –

1)Poverty – attacks the purchasing power capacity and curtails food choices.

2) Culture- in many tribal communities , consumption of starchy food items cooked from rice, corn etc only satisfy the hunger pangs and not provide nutrients.

3) Patriarchal society – where women and girls eat the left overs( mainly carbohydrates ) after men and boys are done with their food.

4) Westernization of diet- especially among the children of richer section which is unhealthy and lack nutrients like pizza and burger.

5) Gaps in State’s initiatives – ineffective implementation of schemes like distribution of zinc and folic tablets.

Hidden Hunger has serious ramifications in the long run because it has the potential to cripple the physical and mental abilities of the affected ones. India must take comprehensive measures like proper implementation of schemes like MID DAY MEAL, SABLA backed with awareness campaigns.

Best Answer3: Simplex

2. Higher education in India is faced with challenges that range from lack of institutional autonomy to heavy bureaucratization of policy making. In light of the given statement and the recent ‘Occupy UGC’ protest, examine the need of having a national education policy. Also suggest the broad framework which should be adhered to by the policy.

Introduction:

In introduction, provide the challenges faced by Higher education and its present status or performance. You can also state some reports or rankings.

In next para’, one need to discuss only 2-3 sentences the recent ‘Occupy UGC’ protest –

UGC announcing that it would be discontinuing the “non-NET fellowship for M.Phil/PhD” scheme from the next academic year, on the grounds that there were complaints of its misuse and of non-transparency in implementation.
UGC’s decision to terminate financial support for thousands of post-graduate students across the country.
UGC’s recent circular asking distance education institutes not to set up centres outside their home state has been opposed by both education experts as well as activists.

On basis of these controversies and protest, now explain why there is need for a NEP.

Students allege that the UGC’s decision reflects a hidden agenda of the government. There were questions regarding the relevance of NAAC, UGC to regulate higher education was also questioned. (Provide 2-3 points)

Therefore, there is a need for NEP which serves as a comprehensive framework to guide the development of education in the country.
There is a need to review the regulatory framework and make it more relevant to current and future needs of the higher education system. Several challenges relating to the regulatory regime in higher education need to be tackled carefully. It is necessary to bring about a healthy balance between autonomy and accountability with a NEP.
To address poor enrollment ratios, quality-related deficiencies, Higher education governance and management, Budgetary constraints.
To ensure equitable, inclusive and quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all.
To meet the changing dynamics of the population’s requirement with regards to quality education, innovation and research, aiming to make India a knowledge superpower by equipping its students with the necessary skills and knowledge and to eliminate the shortage of manpower in science, technology, academics and industry.

In conclusion, provide some suggestions how the NEP can mandate the functions and role of UGC in regard to higher education. (Provide any 3-4 points from below)

Maintaining the standard of research, teaching and examination in the universities.
Promoting university education
Making regulations to maintain the minimum standard of education in the country
The Governmental control in the Universities must be reduced, so that the University autonomy and accountability are strengthened and academic decisions are taken on merit.
New methods and procedures of financial regulations should be devised and direct interference of the finance department in the financial management of Universities, which is counter productive should be stopped.
As the Colleges are the feeding sources of the Universities, a better coordination in their working and activities is very much required. The participation of the teaching faculty in through a democratic process should be ensured.
Complete transparency should be maintained in the working of Executive/ Academic Bodies and other Governing Councils of the Universities.
There is an urgency to review the University Acts in different States and revise the same in the light of the new requirements and the challenges being faced by the Universities.. New technologies of information and communication should be utilized for obtaining administrative efficiency.
Students involvement in the area of University/College governance should be encouraged.
Political interference in the appointment of University teachers and administrators should be totally stopped.
A liberal milieu in the Indian Universities must be reconstructed. Diversity of opinion and critique of society and its processes need to be encouraged.
The appointment of bureaucrats, police officers/generals as Vice Chancellors and Registrars must be avoided as far as possible.

Best answer:

(No best answer, we suggest you to rewrite this answer going through the synopsis.)

Some answers comparatively fair from others –

Simplex

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https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/902fdd99c9ae68060f288595ff1af9b25d94574f2f7f6e9e2398271c97ece52e.jpg

3. There is an urgent need of launching a comprehensive universal national health assurance scheme. Do you agree? Substantiate in light of the ‘public versus private’ debate in the area of healthcare of services.

Health is a human right. It’s accessibility and afford ability has to be ensured. The escalating cost of medical treatment is beyond the reach of common man. While well to do segment of the population both in Rural and Urban areas have accessibility and affordability towards medical care, the same cannot be said about the people who belong to the poor segment of the society.

Health care has always been a problem area for India, a nation with a large population and larger percentage of this population living in urban slums and in rural area, below the poverty line.

As compared to the population, the health sector of India is highly underfunded. The infrastructure is in shabby condition, and people are compelled to move towards private sector which is usually out of pocket of a common man. Because of the unavailability of health facilities, there is no culture of timely check up in India, and people avoid general medical anomalies till they become hard to cure diseases.

In order to develop, a country needs a healthy population. Then only the demographic dividend will be useful for India, otherwise, it will become a demographic burden.

Indian health financing scene raises number of challenges, which are:

Increase in health care costs
High financial burden on poor eroding their incomes
Need for long term and nursing care for senior citizens because of increasing nuclear family system
Increasing burden of new diseases and health risks
Due to under funding of government health care, preventive and primary care and public health functions have been neglected
Extremely poor infrastructure in government hospitals, especially in rural clinics and Primary Health Centers.

Considering the above issues, there is an urgent need of launching a comprehensive universal national health assurance scheme.

Universal Health Assurance means equitable accessibility to health facilities for everyone.

The ability to deliver quality health services that does not impoverish populations has meant balancing the demands of complex health systems with the ability to fund a progressive range of services. In addition to shielding populations from spiraling healthcare and medicine costs UHC is also seen as route to building build robust, responsive and efficient health systems capable of addressing growing inequalities in healthcare demands and access. UHC has become a critical indicator for human equity, security and dignity.

With limited resources, it will be difficult for the government alone to provide Universal Health Assurance. For this to be achieved, a help from private sector can be taken to provide health insurances as well as health facilities in collaboration with the government (with PPP model etc.)

(This synopsis is written so that you can have more points. This is not an ideal answer.)

Best Answer: Abhi_971

Private Health care system is the main service provider in heath system in India. According to National Family Health Survey-3 70% people in urban areas and 63% in rural areas rely primarily on private sector for health care.The cost of medical treatment in private sector is one of the main reason for driving people in poverty. According to a study 35% of Indian household incur Catastrophic Health Expenditure highlighting the sorry state of our health care system.

Govt. budgetary allocation is to health is around 1.1% of GDP which is quite low as compared to China (5.6%) and OECD countries (9%). Such low expenditure coupled reflects in the near absence of Govt. in secondary and tertiary sector, poor health indicators and diseases such as dengue, malaria etc. causes crisis time and again in National capital. Health has to be primary responsiblity of state, it is time govt. play a dominating role by increasing its budgetory allocation to health to atleast 2.5% as the Draft National Policy2015 says.

Universal National Health Assurance scheme has become the need of time to revive the health care system.It provides good health facilities both preventive and promotive health care by state governments, free drugs, a dozen of free diagnosis and health insurance for all (free for poor and low cost for the rest).

4. The regulatory regime for the advertisement of consumer products leaves a lot to be desired in terms of legal and moral framework. The troika of manufacturer, licensing authority and advertisement agency should be held accountable for the false or unverified claims being made by celebrities for endorsing a product. Do you agree? Also, does in your opinion any accountability be imposed on the celebrities who endorse such products? Critically examine.

Note: The below excerpt is analysis of the above topic. It should not be treated as model answer. The below content act as a raw material to develop your answer.

Central Consumer Protection Council (CCPC), the apex body for consumer protection in India, has now decided to hold actors accountable in cases of false claims made in advertisements for products which they endorse. This means that a consumer can now claim compensation for false claims, made in respect of a product, not only from the advertiser but also from the celebrities associated with the brand.

At the outset, a notice to film stars for faulty products might look like a big joke, but misrepresentation of products, especially in the food sector, is a serious issue, and not as silly as many would like to believe.

The rationale behind this decision of the CPCC was that celebrities had considerable influence over consumer choice, and that there must me some form of liability for the endorsements being made.

50% of advertisements in India are celebrity endorsements. For a country which reveres and adores its film stars and popular personalities, celebrity endorsements could entirely change the consumer’s likes and dislikes.

In India, laws like the Consumer Protection Act and Food Safety and Standards Act protect consumers against false claims and advertisements, and celebrities could be held liable under these laws. There has been considerable debate in India in the recent years over endorsement of beauty products and fairness creams. But the misrepresentation of food products using celebrities has been spoken about less.

Yes! They can be made liable

No doubt can be posed to the fact that advertisements have a strong impact on the society and celebrities become a part of customer preferences. Celebrities are celebrities because people and their fans made them so. They make huge profits in their profession because their fans spend money to watch their movies and other stuffs.

So, if they take so much from the society then, don’t they owe just this much to the society that they must not endorse the products without looking into their quality just for the sake of making huge monetary profits. In this modern world where the law has evolved to such an extent that even a corporation or a company being an artificial person has a corporate social responsibility, then why should the highly privileged citizens of the country not be made liable for endorsing the low quality products or for being so highly irresponsible towards the countrymen who have given them the status they are enjoying. Such kind of false and misleading endorsement is nothing but the exploitation of the fan following by celebrities and the big brands. With great power, comes the greater responsibility! It seriously needs to be realized by our influential and rich celebrities.

Also, it is worth noticing that endorsement has become quite competitive and it is common that celebrities to remain ahead of another chose to endorse certain production without checking their quality.

An advertisement related to the health of consumers can not be treated at par with a fictitious TV series or a bollywood film. They have to be beholden towards society morally as well as legally. So, it is the legal as well as social duty of celebrities to draw a line between the products they should endorse and which not.

Recent example of this can be of Kangana Ranaut who refused to endorse a fairness cream because according to her being dark complexioned is not a social stigma and must not be considered inferior. She does not want to send a message to the society that is against her ideology.

Another example is of Sachin Tendulkar when he refused to endorse a liquor brand because that is hazardous to health or as like P. Gopichand refused to endorse cigarettes. This means that celebrities themselves confess that they send a message to the society through such advertisements and Amitabh Bachan himself said so after he stopped working for pepsi that we would not endorse anything that is misleading. This clearly means that they actually know what their responsibility is but, are ignorant. Ignorance of law is no defense.

Advertisement is no fiction or a source of entertainment; it is a piece of information that cannot be misleading. Actors have ignored the law on their own peril, so they have to face the consequences too.

When a celebrity is endorsing a product, common man believes their words more than any other person. So, in that sense, there exists a fiduciary duty on the part of endorser towards the consumers. It is all about trust common man poses in a celebrity when he/she endorses a product. In that case, any misuse of their position causing harm to common man should constitute as criminal breach of trust.

No! they cannot be made liable

In this era, where advertisements by celebrities have become a part and parcel of our life, even a customer below the level of reasonable prudence is aware of the fact that such endorsements are just to lure the customer and nothing else. The celebrities have nothing to do with the manufacturing of the product, they just represent the product say, like an agent or however they are directed to. No doubt, they must ensure about the quality and standard of the product but, at last, they are not scientists or experts in the manufacturing of that product. They would obviously believe what the company tells them.

How can you expect Madhuri Dixit to go to the laboratory for checking the samples of our national food? She will anyway have to believe what the experts of Nestle say like recently she admitted that she met the experts and was reassured about the high quality of the product. What else is she supposed to do? Also, celebrities do not enforce any personal insistence upon anybody to buy the product they are endorsing then, how can they be held liable for misrepresentation. Why don’t we question the food safety board for letting the products hazardous to health enter Indian market?

Celebrities in our country are being held liable for misleading through endorsements, accepted! Is there anybody to question the misleading advertisements by politicians in their manifesto during elections? Are they all fulfilled? The answer is obviously in negative. The problem with countrymen is that they forget to question what they should actually question.

The irony is that none of us would sue the politicians or government for misleading public but, would over hype an issue which certainly does not demand that much attention and can be tackled without so much hustle and bustle.

Conclusion

No doubt, the celebrities would be liable under FSSAI provisions but at the same time, it is definitely against the Food Standard Authorities that certain product has entered into the Indian market and has not been checked upon.

Prevention is much better than cure, so, any product must not be even allowed to enter the market which does not abide by the safety and health standards of the people of country.

Such costly endorsements by celebrities are bad for the society itself no matter the product is useful or not. It is nothing but, just wastage of money by the company which they can use for a social cause or for the welfare of the society. A law must come up that limits the amount charged by celebrities for endorsements or say, as costly the advertisement gets, more the company must be abided by law to contribute in charity or for society. The idea behind this is that it is consumers who buy the product and help in elevating the company, then, why should their money go to that portion of society which already has a lot. Such costly advertisements also tend to increase the price of the product which again is gross violation of rights of consumers and thus, needs to be curbed.

Best answer: vengeancee

Recent proposed amendments to Consumer Protection Act brought into light the accountability and verification of false claims during advertisements into question. Troika of manufacturer, licensing authority, advertisement agency should be held accountable for false claims because:

1) False information dissemination: This is misguiding & can be termed as cheating, and illegitimate.

2) Moral, Ethical responsibility: to educate masses on products when high cases of illiteracy, poverty exist in India.

3) Private gains at expense of public interest: amount to unjustified, and misuse of power of authority.

However, it is wrong to blame them because:

1) Self-responsibility: is the key, as in such challenging times, relying on a guide to walk you through is unrealistic.

2) Competitive world: with cut-throat war for profit needs little exaggeration of products.

3) Awareness among masses: who have requisite knowledge to vote & decide who will lead this country, also have wisdom to decide what is logically correct or not.

In my view, holding them responsible is justified but only to a limited extent, and not for every minute technicality. Ex: if among lacks of Frooty packets, there is found 1 minor insect, it is pardonable, but if Constituents of Frooty mentioned are misguiding, then offense is unpardonable.

Holding celebrities responsible is right as:

1) Public figures: like them hold responsibility of their actions due to idolizing nature of Indian masses.

2) Promotion of rationality: is integral part of 21st century, and disseminating irrational, illogical thought is uncalled for.

3) Basic verification of claims isn’t tedious: but will lead to self-realization of promoting rightful products.

However, other side says:

1) Money making exercise: as many stars don’t take money for working in films, and rely on advertisements for income.

2) Time constraints: to go into legality of products this will be approved by various authorities in future.

3) Technical know-how missing: amongst them which prevents them having close scrutiny of products endorsing.

Holding celebrities responsible is also justified but only upto a limit. They should clarify & raise queries on basic attributes of products, but not for every little damages, and technicalities in future proceedings.

5. While India strives to better it’s record on the front of indigenization of technology, the domestic ecosystem is not conducive for measures like joint development and transfer of technology. Critically comment.

Introduction:

Your introduction should mention the present status of indigenization of technology.

Also mention why it is important for a nation like India i.e. Economic, Strategic, Technological etc.

Body:

You should mention the impediments in joint development and transfer of Technology in India

Bureaucratic Hurdles
Weak manufacturing
Lesser investment in R & D
No political will
Corruption – links with foreign manufactures
No proper policy
Bad performance in Ease of doing business.

You should also mention the steps taken by The govt. of India to facilitate the

Privatization, liberalization
IPR policy
FDI liberalization – increasing investment through various route
Ease of doing business – Make in India
Collaboration with various governments
Incentives and priority to such companies

(You can add more points)

Conclusion:

You should conclude that India as an emerging power should become self-reliant. For achieving this it should focus more on Make in India, Made for India.

Best Answer1: Mani

Best Answer 2: ManojTanajiMane

In the face of climate change commitments for newer technologies, huge outlay of foreign exchange in defense imports and massive need for technologies catering to local issues, it becomes necessary for indigenizing the technology. The schemes like Make in India, TADP, Defense Procurement Policy, Green Fund have all focused on this however there is lacking loopholes in policy, administration and overall ecosystem like:

Bureaucratic presence:
– prevalence of hidden license raj, inspection schemes, red Tapism, bureaucratic hurdles, slow pace of clearance that has deterred investment in this sector.
2. Policy:
– IPR policy was not formalized until recently.
– The ecosystem is not encouraging for new participants in the field of R and D.
– There is no startup policy for electronic products which requires larger initial investment.
– Lack of backbone infrastructure like power supply, extraction of raw materials, connectivity, etc.
3. Economy
– There is shortage of well-equipped researchers, although the pool of engineers is on the rise, but researchers are short.
– Ease of Doing business – corruption and a general apathy of investors due to the hidden risks like law and order, etc.

In particular, for defence, the policy was historically skewed in Tahir of outright purchase rather than joint development. This was also followed by other nations because it was economically beneficial to them, and also because there have been apprehensions in signing defense deals with India as it is non signatory to several treaties.

However, with Make in India, electropreneurship scheme of Deity, startup India, action plan and FAME along with international collaboration in Joint military trainings, Joint development schemes like that with US, things are improving, yet a strong political will is required to break the shackles.

Best Answer 3: Deepshikha

Development of indigenous technology is pertinent for the attainment of self-reliance, comparative advantage and to avoid over-dependency upon external help and support.
During the Kargil War, India’s regular requests for GPS support received cold responses from U.S.A. Thus in case of urgency and vulnerability we can mostly rely upon indigenous technology.

India has come up with its own set of endogenously developed technologies such as NAVIC, Astrosat, EVM machines, ROV, GM Mustard, etc.

Factors affecting domestic ecosystem includes

Administrative fall outs – land allotment policies often find themselves in dilemma, Nano and land allotment in Singur met with the same fate also MOU with POSCO and Odisha met with popular rage, anti-FDI protests, GMO jingoism.

Make in India v/s WTO policies – India lost its case of indigenous solar cells development against USA. Hence many development policies fail to parallel with Global trade norms.
Over protectionism and environment related causes becomes a barrier in developmental projects.
Transfer of technology often acts like an exercise in secrecy and ambiguity. Cases of Nepotism, Corruption, ‘ under-selling of assets ‘ are visibly seen on a regular basis.

Lack of initiation at the state level – West Bengal often rejects projects backing its Anti-capitalist stand. Further dedicated departments for research, development and collaborations are also lacking.

Parties in power often come up with altogether different alliances, Indo-Israel relations have evolved very differently with time. Further we tend to lose out on many of our former allies. Stressed financial and infrastructural resources which are diverted towards meeting many other socio-economic challenges like Poverty, Illiteracy etc.

Thus We need to comprehensively meet these challenges to ensure more equitable, inclusive and sustainable development of India.

Current Affairs 2016, domestic ecosystem, hidden hunger, IASbaba's Think Learn Perform (TLP), national education policy, UPSC Mains Answer Writing 2016, UPSC Mains Question 2016

SYNOPSIS: IASbaba’s TLP 2016 [4th Oct] – UPSC Mains GS Questions [HOT]

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SYNOPSIS- IASbaba’s TLP 2016 [4th Oct] – UPSC Mains GS Questions [HOT]

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