Title: Left Behind
(The right to free and compulsory education must be extended to the 14-18 age group)
• Guaranteed inclusion will empower those in the 14-18 age group who have not enrolled anywhere, and help them acquire finishing education that is so vital to their participation in the workforce.
• 14% of this age group — a total of 125 million young Indians in this category — are not enrolled
• Only 5% of the respondents in the survey, which was aided by the NGO Pratham, reported doing any kind of vocational course,(non-academic) and even among this small minority a third were enrolled for three months or less.
• Shockingly low: only 43% of the youth could solve an arithmetic problem involving division of a three-digit number by a single digit.
• It is not surprising, therefore, that a significant section of secondary level students find it difficult to read standard texts meant for junior classes or locate their own State on the map.
• Digital Divide (Percentage of non-users)
• Internet = 61%
• Computer = 56%
• Mobile technology = 73%
• Conclusion
• What is needed is a vision that will translate the objectives of the RTE(Right to Education) Act into a comprehensive guarantee, expanding its scope to cover all levels of education. This will remove the lacuna in policy that awaits remedy seven decades after Independence
• Title: The price prescription
(Post-GST, we need a more targeted taxation and retail policy on tobacco products)
India is the second largest consumer and producer of tobacco-based products — categorised as sin goods or demerit goods.
• Governments policies:- awareness campaigns
• The Supreme Court recently stayed a Karnataka High Court order setting aside the 2014 amendment rules to the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003.
• The High Court order that viewed the 2014 rules violating constitutional norms as being an “unreasonable restriction” on the right to do business and earn a livelihood.
• No connection between the images and the warnings.
• A skewed pattern
• The World Health Organisation’s Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS 2016-17) highlights India’s distinct pattern of tobacco consumption in multiple forms.
• After GST
• The nationwide implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) has not improved the situation either. All tobacco-related products have been placed in the 28% tax slab. Additionally, a National Calamity Contingent Duty (NCCD) and a cess charge have been imposed on cigarettes and smokeless tobacco.
• CONCLUSION
• Raising taxes/duties on bidis and smokeless tobacco by a significantly higher level to narrow the gap between the price of bidis and smokeless tobacco vis-à-vis cigarettes keeping in mind the increased probability of health-related issues among low-income poor households and the health-care burden.
• Title: Left behind & The price prescription
Vocabulary words:
Confine = keep or restrict someone or something within
certain limits of (सीमित)
Vital = Absolutely necessary (महत्वपूर्ण)
Equip = Provide, furnish (सज्जित करना)
Insights = An accurate and deep understanding (अंतर्दृष्टि)
Miserable = Uncomfortable, sorrowful (दुखी)
Discrete = Individually separate or distinct (अलग)
Lacuna = An unfilled space or gap (अभाव)
Vocabulary words:
Resorted = To adopt so as to resolve a difficult
situation (सहारा)
Set aside = Preventing (एक ओर रखना, दरकिनार)
Primacy = Most important (प्रधानता)
Skewed = To deviate, drop behind (विषम)
Postulate = Suggest the existence (दावा करना)
• Guaranteed inclusion will empower those in the 14-18 age group who have not enrolled anywhere, and help them acquire finishing education that is so vital to their participation in the workforce.
• 14% of this age group — a total of 125 million young Indians in this category — are not enrolled
• Only 5% of the respondents in the survey, which was aided by the NGO Pratham, reported doing any kind of vocational course,(non-academic) and even among this small minority a third were enrolled for three months or less.
• Shockingly low: only 43% of the youth could solve an arithmetic problem involving division of a three-digit number by a single digit.
• It is not surprising, therefore, that a significant section of secondary level students find it difficult to read standard texts meant for junior classes or locate their own State on the map.
• Digital Divide (Percentage of non-users)
• Internet = 61%
• Computer = 56%
• Mobile technology = 73%
• Conclusion
• What is needed is a vision that will translate the objectives of the RTE(Right to Education) Act into a comprehensive guarantee, expanding its scope to cover all levels of education. This will remove the lacuna in policy that awaits remedy seven decades after Independence
• Title: The price prescription
(Post-GST, we need a more targeted taxation and retail policy on tobacco products)
India is the second largest consumer and producer of tobacco-based products — categorised as sin goods or demerit goods.
• Governments policies:- awareness campaigns
• The Supreme Court recently stayed a Karnataka High Court order setting aside the 2014 amendment rules to the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003.
• The High Court order that viewed the 2014 rules violating constitutional norms as being an “unreasonable restriction” on the right to do business and earn a livelihood.
• No connection between the images and the warnings.
• A skewed pattern
• The World Health Organisation’s Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS 2016-17) highlights India’s distinct pattern of tobacco consumption in multiple forms.
• After GST
• The nationwide implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) has not improved the situation either. All tobacco-related products have been placed in the 28% tax slab. Additionally, a National Calamity Contingent Duty (NCCD) and a cess charge have been imposed on cigarettes and smokeless tobacco.
• CONCLUSION
• Raising taxes/duties on bidis and smokeless tobacco by a significantly higher level to narrow the gap between the price of bidis and smokeless tobacco vis-à-vis cigarettes keeping in mind the increased probability of health-related issues among low-income poor households and the health-care burden.
• Title: Left behind & The price prescription
Vocabulary words:
Confine = keep or restrict someone or something within
certain limits of (सीमित)
Vital = Absolutely necessary (महत्वपूर्ण)
Equip = Provide, furnish (सज्जित करना)
Insights = An accurate and deep understanding (अंतर्दृष्टि)
Miserable = Uncomfortable, sorrowful (दुखी)
Discrete = Individually separate or distinct (अलग)
Lacuna = An unfilled space or gap (अभाव)
Vocabulary words:
Resorted = To adopt so as to resolve a difficult
situation (सहारा)
Set aside = Preventing (एक ओर रखना, दरकिनार)
Primacy = Most important (प्रधानता)
Skewed = To deviate, drop behind (विषम)
Postulate = Suggest the existence (दावा करना)
Exemptions = Immunity (छूट)
