General Studies- I
Topic– Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues.
Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore was born in Calcutta on May 7, 1861.
- He was also referred to as ‘Gurudev’, ‘Kabiguru’, and ‘Biswakabi’.
- He is regarded as the outstanding creative artist of modern India and hailed by W.B Yeats, Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali poet, novelist, and painter, who was highly influential in introducing Indian culture to the west.
- In 1913 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his work on
- He was the first non-European to receive the Nobel Prize.
- In 1915 Tagore was awarded knighthood by the British King George V.
- In 1919, following the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre he renounced his Knighthood.
- In 1921 he established the Vishwa-Bharati University, a university that challenged conventional education.
- He not only gave the national anthems for two countries, India and Bangladesh, but also inspired a Ceylonese student of his, to pen and compose the national anthem of Sri Lanka.
General Studies- II
Topic- Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
3rd Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM3)
Context:
India participated in the 3rd Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM3) – the global platform for discussing research and cooperation in the Arctic region.
Background:
While the reasons for the changes in climate largely stem from activities outside of the Arctic, the Arctic is warming at a rate of nearly double the global average.
- It is necessary to strengthen scientific cooperation and collaboration among both Arctic and non-Arctic States in order to develop our understanding of the rapid changes impacting the Arctic.
- Considering the need for climate change mitigation, adaptation, and repair measures, the relevance of an international Arctic Science Ministerial has never been greater.
- Since the last Arctic Science Ministerial in 2018, changes in the Arctic ecosystem and the resulting impacts locally and globally have been severely felt.
Arctic Science Ministerial:
- The First Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM1) was hosted by the United States in 2016.
- Two years later in 2018, the Second Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM2) was co-hosted by Germany, Finland, and the European Commission.
- The Third Arctic Science Ministerial will be co-hosted by Iceland and Japan and take place on the 8th and 9th of May 2021 in Tokyo, Japan.
About ASM3:
ASM3, is the first Ministerial meeting being held in Asia.
ASM3 will focus on four priorities:
- Observe – Observing networks; Data sharing –towards implementation;
- Understand – Enhance understanding and prediction capability on Arctic environmental and social systems and its global impact;
- Respond – Sustainable development; Evaluation of vulnerability and resilience; Application of knowledge;
- Strengthen – Capacity building; Education; Networking; Resilience –prepare the next generation.
Need for:
- Arctic warming and its ice melt are global concerns as they play a pivotal role in regulating climate, sea levels, and maintaining biodiversity.
- Moreover, there is growing evidence of connection between the Arctic and the Indian Ocean (which modulates the Indian monsoon).
- Hence, improving the understanding of physical processes and quantifying the impact of Arctic ice melt on the Indian summer monsoon is very important.
The Arctic Council:
The Arctic Council is the leading intergovernmental forum promoting cooperation, coordination and interaction among the Arctic States, Arctic Indigenous peoples and other Arctic inhabitants on common Arctic issues, in particular on issues of sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic.
- It was formally established by the Ottawa Declaration in 1996
- The Council is made up of member and observer states, Indigenous “permanent participants”, and observer organizations
The eight countries with sovereignty over the lands within the Arctic Circle constitute the members of the council:
- Canada
- The Kingdom of Denmark
- Finland
- Iceland
- Norway
- The Russian Federation
- Sweden
- The United States
ASM and India:
Since 2013, India enjoys ‘Observer’ status in the Arctic Council with twelve other countries (Japan, China, France, Germany, UK, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Spain, Netherlands, Singapore, and South Korea).
- As part of the Arctic Council, India contributes to the international deliberations to develop effective cooperative partnerships towards a safe, stable, and secure Arctic.
- India’s engagement with the Arctic dates back to 1920 with the signing of the Svalbard Treaty in Paris.
- Since July 2008, India has a permanent research station in the Arctic called Himadari at NyAlesund, Svalbard Area in Norway.
- It has also deployed a multi-sensor moored observatory called IndARC in the Kongsfjorden fjord since July 2014.
General Studies- II
Topic- Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
STEM Learning
Context:
Vice President Calls for bridging gender divide in STEM-related employment.
Background
- While India produces the highest percentage of women STEM graduates in the world (about 40 percent), their share in STEM jobs in India is very low at 14 per cent.
- The under-representation in post-graduate and doctoral studies too needs to be rectified expeditiously.
What is STEM Education?
STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — in an interdisciplinary and applied approach.
- Rather than teach the four disciplines as separate and discrete subjects, STEM integrates them into a cohesive learning paradigm based on real-world applications.
Features of STEM education
- Integrating STEM in the education sector results in developing curiosity, inquisitiveness, critical-thinking, problem-solving capacities, imagination, questioning and exploration skills among learners.
- This leads to innovation, designing and making, testing and modifying solutions of complex problems.
STEM education in India
In India, though nascent, there is a lot of innovation which is taking place with regard to STEM:
- The education sector is looking beyond smart classrooms towards hands-on learning and STEM enhancement on their current information and communications technology and smart class platforms.
- Many STEM companies are working with schools to help them set up STEM centres, tinkering labs with upcoming technologies like Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality.
- The government is looking to help educational institutions to upgrade their library infrastructures with more engaging learning assets and management tools, and implementing Learning Management Systems, assessment systems, language labs, library management system, gamification, etc.
- New ‘entry level’ coding devices are coming to market that provide schools with the ability to teach simple coding and bring STEM to life in the classroom.
Challenges in the implementation of STEM education
- One of the biggest challenges involved in the implementation of STEM education is to design infrastructure, curriculum and to equip children with the best guidance and support.
- Another challenge could be funding.
- Investing in educating the ecosystem about the need for such programmes is one of the ways of overcoming these limitations.
- Many of the educators still think that by introducing STEM, students will get diverted from their studies and they would not be able to complete their defined curriculum in that stipulated amount of time.
- The only way to address this is by making them aware and changing their beliefs by showing them the positive results of introducing their kids to STEM learning methodology.
STEM education around the world
Countries around the world are adopting this methodology by introducing national curricula that set frameworks and projects which apply the STEM methodology.
- The U.K. rolled out the micro:bit project to one million children in 2016 and several other countries have followed including Singapore and Iceland.
- Several countries, upon realising the potential of a STEM-incorporated programme, have risen to the occasion and persuaded their respective governments, districts and schools to make the transition.
- Japan, for example, has already taken the first steps towards this methodology by introducing national STEM frameworks for 2020 and others are quickly joining as well.
Way forward
Being the second most populated country with unmatched talent and culture, India needs a combined support from government and other education societies to avail the opportunity and benefits of STEM education.
Chrome facts for Prelims
Kabasura Kudineer
The Ministry of Ayush has launched a massive nationwide campaign to distribute its proven poly herbal Ayurvedic drug AYUSH 64 and Siddha drug Kabasura Kudineer for the benefit of the vast majority of out of hospital COVID patients.
- Kabasura Kudineer is a traditional formulation used by Siddha practitioners for managing common respiratory health.
- It is a herbal concoction, comprising dry ingredients of ginger, pippali, clove, cirukancori root, mulli root, kadukkai, ajwain and many other herbs.
- The ingredients are powdered and mixed with water, then boiled to make a decoction of one-fourth of its initial volume.
