Survey details catastrophic effect of school disclosure
- The prolonged closure of primary and upper primary schools since the onset of the pandemic has led to “catastrophic consequences” for school students, particularly in rural India, says an emergency report.
- Based on the School Children’s Online and Offline Learning (SCHOOL) survey conducted by researchers, who worked in coordination with eminent economist Jean Dreze, the ‘Emergency Report on School Education’ says that only 8% of school students in rural India have been able to access online education, while at least 37% have stopped studying altogether.
- the proportion of schoolchildren who were studying online “regularly” was just 24% and 8% in urban and rural areas respectively.
- In addition to education, the closure affected the level of nutrition among the children in rural schools where the midday meals have been stopped
THE HINDU
Economic reform- Technical vs systemic
- Economic reforms which were launched in a major way in 1991 and from time to time, subsequent interjections for liberalisation of economy and trade have enabled some credible gains for the country.
- The economic reforms, so far, have been more focussed on the technical nature of the economy than the system, process and people.
- As a result, quite a few primary drivers of the economy human capital, technology readiness, labour productivity, disposable income, capital expenditure, process innovation in setting up businesses, and institutional capacity have not got enough recognition
- The human resource capital (HRC) formation, a good determinant of labour productivity, has been found wanting over the entire period of reforms.
- The lack of quality education, low skilled manpower and inadequacies in basic health care have resulted in low HRC.
- The HRC rank for India stands at 103;
- Low research and development expenditure at 0.8% of GDP, vis-àvis higher value for other fast emerging economies such as South Korea (4.5%), China (2.1%) and Taiwan (3.3%), is resulting in lower capacity for innovation in technologies and reduced ‘technology readiness’, especially for manufacturing.
- The lack of HRC and low technology readiness have impacted labour productivity adversely.
- In India, labour productivity in manufacturing is less than 10% of the advanced economies.
- In addition, due to a lack of capital expenditure and institutional capacity, and inefficiency in business service processes, there are difficulties in acquiring land for businesses, in efficient utilisation of economic infrastructure, and in providing business services, leading to a long time and more cost in setting up enterprises, resulting in a loss of creative energy of entrepreneurs
Steps needed
- The new reforms will require a distinct departure. The approach should be systemic and address structural issues — HRC, skills, research and development (R&D), land management and institutional capacity.
- The focus should be on quality of business services, technology readiness, labour productivity and per capita income
- to attract large investment in manufacturing and advanced services, at a basic level, investment in human capital and technology is a prerequisite.
- Raising HRC by way of enhanced public sector outlay to 8% of GDP, from current about 5%, for education, skill development (including for advanced technologies) and public health
- There is a need to work on strategies to enhance per capita income by more wages for workers through higher skills and enhancing minimum wages, besides improving the social security net
- it is necessary to build the capacity of public institutions to create a good environment for business and industry.
- The process of reforms is as important as the content. Policy reforms should lay an emphasis on process innovation and promote a business-centric approach
THE HINDU
Nipah virus
- There are now established protocols at the national level for the three key aspects of a potential pandemic infection control, treatment and vaccination.
- When a contagion hits, the world now understands what can and cannot be controlled within each geographic region’s context.
- It is these lessons from the coronavirus pandemic that must inform future outbreaks
- India must be heartened that the potential of an outbreak evokes national concern and an anticipatory response unlike the earlier and purely reactive approach.
- A standardised treatment for Nipah continues to be elusive and a spike in cases could spell disaster given the high mortality rate.
- However, some studies suggest that vaccines developed for the coronavirus, if adequately tweaked, may prove effective against the Nipah virus too.
- Another potential candidate vaccine is in early human trials. Because vaccination continues to be the best bet against the disease, the very fact that global attention and capital no longer need to be coaxed to developing vaccines for tropical infections is itself a key difference in how the world approaches outbreaks in the coronavirus era.
THE HINDU
Potential pandemic
- There are now established protocols — at the national level — for the three key aspects of a potential pandemic: infection control, treatment and vaccination.
- When a contagion hits, the world now understands what can and cannot be controlled within each geographic region context.
- It is these lessons from the coronavirus pandemic that must inform future outbreaks
- India must be heartened that the potential of an outbreak evokes national concern and an anticipatory response unlike the earlier and purely reactive approach.
- A standardised treatment for Nipah continues to be elusive and a spike in cases could spell disaster given the high mortality rate.
- However, some studies suggest that vaccines developed for the coronavirus, if adequately tweaked, may prove effective against the Nipah virus too.
- Another potential candidate vaccine is in early human trials. Because vaccination continues to be the best bet against the disease, the very fact that global attention and capital no longer need to be coaxed to developing vaccines for tropical infections is itself a key difference in how the world approaches outbreaks in the coronavirus era.
THE HINDU
Antigoogle law
- South Korea’s newest legislation, dubbed the ‘antiGoogle’ law, is something that Indian lawmakers should consider emulating.
- Last week, its Parliament passed an amendment to its Telecommunications Business Act with the aim of preventing app store operators, such as Google and Apple, from forcing app developers to use their in-store payment systems, for which they charge exorbitantly.
- The new law is also a check on the unfair use of market position. With digital commerce becoming ubiquitous, and with the Google and the Apple controlling this experience through their platforms, it has become imperative for government laws to regulate them.
- South Korea happens to be the first off the block.
- In the U.S., last month, three Senators brought in a Bill much along the same lines.
- According to a report, Apple is facing an antitrust challenge in India from a Rajasthan-based non-profit called ‘Together We Fight Society’ on this issue. It remains to be seen if the regulator, the Competition Commission of India, orders an investigation
THE HINDU
PPP VS asset monetisation
- Public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure development of the mid-2000s.
- That programme was about attracting private parties to build, operate and then transfer ‘greenfield’ or new infrastructure projects under build-operate-transfer (BOT) concession agreements.
- These enjoined the winning private bidder to take not only the operating risk, but also the development and construction risk of the project, such as a toll road, from scratch.
- This was a complex and messy process. It involved the acquisition of land
- In contrast, the NMP is about leasing out ‘brownfield’ infrastructure assets (such as an already operating inter-State toll highway) under a toll-operate-transfer (TOT) concession agreement. In such an arrangement no acquisition of land is involved.
- Nor does the concessionaire need to take any of the construction risk.
- The process promises to be much simpler and cleaner than what was required in the PPP programme.
- It is also certain to attract a different class of private capital.
- for success under the bidding process of the NMP, what will be required is operational experience in running a particular class of infrastructure assets and a strong understanding of the potential cash flows generated over the life of the concession
- There is a tendency for government departments to inject opacity into the implementation of concession agreements so that they have more power over the concessionaire.
- To avoid this, it would be useful if the responsibility for administering the concession agreements did not lie directly with the line ministries and/or their agencies.
- It is vital to put in place a robust dispute resolution mechanism.
- For all these reasons there is a strong case to set up a centralised institution with the skills and responsibility to oversee contract design, bidding and implementation, separate from, but with appropriate assistance of, the concerned line ministries.
- An institution such as ‘3 PPP India’, first mooted in the 2014 Budget, is needed. It would also be advisable to set up an Infrastructure PPP Adjudication Tribunal
THE HINDU