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A high-level committee set up by the National Council of Educational Research and Training to revise the social sciences curriculum has recommended that the name of the country be changed from “India” to “Bharat” in school textbooks.
With Opposition parties protesting, the NCERT on Wednesday clarified that the proposal had not been approved yet, and it was “too premature” to comment on the issue.
C.I. Issac, panel chair, told presspersons that the panel had proposed the name change in textbooks from the primary to the high school level.
“On the news in media being flashed about changing the name of India into Bharat in all NCERT textbooks, NCERT states that since the development of new syllabus and textbooks is in the process and for that purpose various Curricular Area Groups of domain experts are being notified by the NCERT. So, it is too premature to comment on the news being flashed in the media on the concerned issue,” the NCERT said on X.
The Opposition parties, including the Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), criticised the recommendation. The BJP leaders welcomed it.
Editorial
Women, marriage and labour market participation (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 1, Social Issues)
Women’s labour market participation is often concomitant with enhanced economic prospects and better household decision-making power.
From a macroeconomic standpoint, a diminished level of women’s labour force participation rate (LFPR) has significant consequences for women’s intra and inter-household bargaining power, as well as the overall economic progress of the nation.
“There are still large differences between women and men in terms of what they do, how they’re remunerated and so on,” said Claudia Goldin, who was awarded this year’s Economics Nobel “for having advanced our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes”.
Goldin’s comprehensive analysis of the economic history of women has presented new insights into the many aspects of gender disparities in the labour market.
Additionally, her research has shown the underlying factors that have contributed to these gaps throughout history, and the persisting inequalities that exist in contemporary times.
Globally, however, the level of female labour force participation remains relatively low. World Bank estimates (2022) show that the worldwide LFPR for women was 47.3% in 2022.
Despite the remarkable advancements observed in the global economies, there has been a persistent decline in the labour force participation rate (LFPR) of women in developing nations.
The estimations also indicate that female labour force participation in India between 1990 and 2022 has decreased from 28% to 24%.
This fall has impeded their growth and hindered their ability to achieve their maximum capabilities. A significant disparity in labour market participation based on gender continues to persist worldwide.
Unhealthy urban India must get into street fight mode (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 1, Social Issues)
India’s urban population is estimated to reach 675 million in 2035, the second highest in the world. Although there is widespread recognition that cities have been fuelling India’s rapid rise to economic superpower status, almost all are failing their inhabitants in terms of delivering on health, environmental and equity targets.
India’s urban inhabitants experience multi-scalar health risks including the world’s highest levels of air and noise pollution, limited greenery, lack of access to sidewalks and parks that limit active lifestyles, archaic modes of transport that contribute to air pollution, pernicious access to nutritionally dense unhealthy foods and unprecedented exposure to toxic chemicals and heavy metals.
This concatenation of exposures dramatically magnifies health risks for heart disease and diabetes, referred to as cardiometabolic disease, especially when combined with a lack of physical activity.
Of all behaviours well known to mitigate the development of cardiometabolic disease, physical activity is by far the most effective deterrent. Not surprisingly, the cities of India are amidst an epidemic of historic proportions in these disorders.
Opinion
The legality of using white phosphorus (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Human Rights Watch recently accused Israel of using white phosphorus munitions in Gaza, and said that such weapons put civilians at risk of serious and long-term injury. In the 2008-2009 Gaza War too, there were allegations that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck the Gaza Strip with sub-munitions containing white phosphorus.
The Israeli government, which initially denied this, later acknowledged that it did use white phosphorus in 2009, but only in uninhabitable areas, for the purpose of signalling and marking.
In the summary of the report of the United Nations Headquarters Board of Inquiry into certain incidents in the Gaza Strip between December 27, 2008 and January 19, 2009, the then UN Secretary General said that the IDF had targeted certain UN facilities and asserted that “any precautions that were taken by the IDF were clearly inadequate in view of the firing of high-explosive shells into the compound.
Text & Context
How big is the gender gap in earnings? (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 1, Social Issues)
The Periodic Labour Force Surveys (PLFS) have been monitoring the gender earnings gap across various forms of employment from April-June 2019 to 2023.
This latest round has introduced a crucial focus on weekly hours worked, revealing that the inequality in total earnings might not capture the full picture.
Women, on average, work fewer hours than men, attributed to a combination of social pressures and personal choices, highlighting the complex interplay between societal norms and individual decisions in shaping gender disparities in the workforce.
The Nobel prize-winning work of Claudia Goldin focused on the technological, social and institutional factors determining inequalities between men and women in America.
Such work has resonance for India as well, where there exists a vast literature by Indian scholars examining the many disparities in work participation and wages affecting working women.
Earnings for all types of workers are converted to weekly figures. Table 1 shows the ratio of weekly earnings for men and woman at the all-India level – aggregating across rural and urban sectors – from the quarter April-June 2019 to April-June 2023.
A figure above 1 indicates greater men’s earnings relative to women: a figure of 1.24, for instance, indicates that men’s earnings are 24% greater than that of women.
News
ISA to compile first global solar stock-take report, to release it in November (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
The International Solar Alliance (ISA), a gathering of 116 member countries formed to accelerate the global adoption of solar technology, will for the first time compile and release a ‘global solar stocktake report’.
This is inspired by the first ever ‘Global Stocktake’ of the United Nations Conference of Parties, scheduled to be held in Dubai later this year.
Here countries are expected to give an account of the actions taken until now to transition their economies away from fossil fuel and lay out plans to course correct, if their commitments are insufficient to prevent runaway global warming.
The Global Stocktake follows from the Paris Agreement signed in 2015 and is expected to be held once in five years.
The ‘solar stocktake’ would be released in mid-November, said Ajay Mathur, Director-General, ISA. It would take stock of the progress made by countries.
“In 2020, nearly $300 billion of investment in solar has taken place and around $380 billion in 2022. However, manufacturing is uneven with most of it concentrated in China. The stocktake will look at ways to broaden this,” Mr. Mathur said.
The ISA, which is steered by India and France, is scheduled to hold its sixth annual meeting in Delhi later this month. A key focus area for the organisation is expanding solar installations in Africa and to that end the organisation has set up the Global Solar Facility.
The aim is to boost the scale of solar investment there and following that expand to West Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
Simultaneous polls: Law Commission shares strategy (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Constitution)
The Law Commission suggested a road map, which includes proposed changes to the Constitution for holding simultaneous elections, before a high-level committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind.
The panel has been officially renamed the High Level Committee on One Nation, One Election, a Law Ministry release said.
The statement also said the HLC had “noted” the resignation of Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from membership of the committee.
Sources indicated that it would be invited again as some aspects are yet to be examined.
Army installs Vertical Wind Tunnel to boost training of forces (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
To augment the training infrastructure of special forces and combat free-fallers, the Army has installed its first vertical wind tunnel (VWT) at the Special Forces Training School (SFTS) at Bakloh in Himachal Pradesh. Army chief General Manoj Pande virtually inaugurated the facility on Wednesday.
“The state-of-the-art wind tunnel is set to refine the combat free fall (CFF) skills of armed forces personnel,” the Army said in a statement. “Functioning as a freefall simulator, the VWT creates a column of air at specific velocities, orchestrating different CFF conditions. The system offers a controlled environment, enabling trainees to enhance their skills by simulating real-life freefall conditions.”
Stating that the VWT’s integration into the training curriculum at the SFTS would bring forth numerous pay-offs, the Army said the system simulated varied free-fall scenarios which are crucial in assessing individual reactions to situations in an airborne-operating environment.
“It reduces potential instability in the air and during parachute deployment thereby assisting trainees to get used to free-fall conditions. The VWT is not only beneficial for beginners but also an exceptional resource for delivering advanced training to seasoned free-fallers and CFF instructors,” it said.
World
‘Hong Kong will have own national security law in 2024’ (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Hong Kong leader John Lee said the semi-autonomous city would create its own national security law in 2024, four years after Beijing imposed sweeping legislation aimed at silencing dissent.
In a three-hour-plus policy address, the Beijing-anointed leader unveiled measures aimed at revitalising Hong Kong’s COVID-ravaged economy and flagging population growth, while asserting the need to protect the Chinese city from “external forces”.
“Some countries are undermining China and the implementation of ‘one country, two systems’ in Hong Kong for their own benefits,” he said, referring to the governance model agreed by Britain and China under which the city would keep some autonomy and freedoms following the 1997 handover.
“We must guard against those seeking to provoke conflict... and remain alert to acts of ‘soft resistance’ in different forms,” Mr. Lee said, using a phrase that China and Hong Kong officials have started deploying in speeches to denote anti-government actions.
Business
‘Pulses to buck rise in kharif output’ (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Output of pulses, some coarse cereals and groundnut could hit a three-year low this kharif season, as per initial independent estimates for crop output, even as overall foodgrains production is likely to rise thanks to higher rice and cereals output.
Though this monsoon season yielded 6% below normal rainfall, kharif crop sowing inched up by a marginal 0.2% at the end of September. However, jute (-5.6%), pulses (-4.2%) and cotton (-3%) witnessed declines in sowing along with oilseeds, which fell 1.6%.
Economists expect retail inflation for pulses and cereals to stay elevated amid the bleaker outlook for production. In September, cereal prices for consumers rose 11%, while pulses inflation accelerated to 16.4% from August’s 13%. At the wholesale level, pulses prices surged 17.7%.
Pulses output is expected to drop to a range of 6.9-7.3 million tonnes, compared with 8.24 million tonnes in 2021-22 and 7.62 million tonnes last year, as per a Bank of Baroda projection for the kharif crop released.
Within pulses, output of arhar, whose sowing dropped almost 5%, is expected to slip only slightly from last year’s 3.31 million tonnes to a range of 3.22-3.27 million tonnes. Urad and moong output may, however, see sharper drops.
Science
Deep under Antarctic ice, an ancient landscape (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Antarctica has not always been a desolate land of ice and snow. The earth’s southernmost continent once was home to rivers and forests teeming with life.
Using satellite observations and ice-penetrating radar, scientists are now getting a glimpse of Antarctica’s lost world. Researchers said on October 24 that they had detected buried under the continent’s ice sheet a vast ancient landscape, replete with valleys and ridges, apparently shaped by rivers before being engulfed by glaciation long ago.
This landscape, located in East Antarctica’s Wilkes Land region bordering the Indian Ocean, covers an area roughly the size of Belgium. The researchers said the landscape appears to date to at least 14 million years ago and perhaps beyond 34 million years ago, when Antarctica entered its deep freeze.
“The landscape is like a snapshot of the past,” said Stewart Jamieson, a professor of glaciology at Durham University in England and co-leader of the study published in the journal Nature Communications.
“It is difficult to know what this lost world might have looked like before the ice came along, but it was certainly warmer back then.
Depending how far back in time you go, you might have had climates that ranged anywhere from the climate of present-day Patagonia through to something more approaching tropical. Ancient palm tree pollen has been discovered from Antarctica, not far around the coast from our study site.