A policy with many a right intention Jandhyala B.G.

Tilak
Thirty-four years after the last National Policy on Education was introduced, in 1986, the
National Education Policy, 2020 has been announced. It has been approved by the Union
Cabinet, and will hopefully be approved by Parliament soon. It has several innovative ideas and
daring proposals, but also makes a few problematic assumptions.

A majority of the path-breaking proposals submitted by the Dr. K. Kasturirangan

Committee, in the 2019 draft National Education Policy, seem to have been approved. Those
proposals saw extensive debates and discussions in the country and generated a lot of
feedback. Very few important proposals that figured in the draft have been ignored in the final
policy. There are a couple of major new proposals in the 2020 policy which were not proposed
in the draft or which have been marginally modified from the draft policy. While I welcome the
policy as it promises a large set of transformative reforms of the entire education system, I
refer to some proposals and issues here.

Bold moves
It is heartening that there are statements in the policy such as “education is a public
good” and “the public education system is the foundation of a vibrant democratic society”. I
wish these statements forcefully guide the formulation of the policy in all aspects. The
recognition of education as a public good has important implications for public policy in
planning, providing, and financing education. It also has important implications for the state’s
approach towards private education. In fact, benevolent private players and private
philanthropists draw inspiration from the nature of education as a public good. It is public
education that contributes to the building of nations, their growth — socially, economically,
politically, culturally, and technologically — and the building of a humane society. There are
many more statements in the policy that may be welcomed. For instance, the policy promotes a
holistic education as well as “each student’s holistic development in both academic and non-
academic spheres”, emphasises extra-curricular activities, emphasises research, speaks of
“substantial investment in a strong, vibrant public education system”, and so on.

The major recommendations of the Committee that have been approved include a
5+3+3+4 system in school education that incorporates early childhood care and education;
universal education that includes the secondary level; adoption of school complexes; breakfast
in the school meal programme; and introduction of vocational education at the upper primary
level. A series of reforms have been proposed in higher education too. These include a
multidisciplinary system offering choices to students from among a variety of subjects from
different disciplines; integrated (undergraduate, postgraduate and research levels) education; a
four-year undergraduate programme; and overhauling of the governance structure in higher
education. There will be just one regulatory body for the entire sector in the Higher Education
Commission of India. The policy also places emphasis on the liberal arts, humanities, and Indian
heritage and languages; facilitates selective entry of high-quality foreign universities; aims to
increase public investment in education to 6% of the GDP; promises to provide higher
education free to about 50% of the students (with scholarships and fee waivers); and aims to
increase the gross enrolment ratio in higher education to 50% by 2035. Some of these
proposals were suggested by earlier committees such as the Yashpal Committee and C.N.R. Rao
Committee, and several experts. As they have immense scope in revitalising the system, we
may applaud many of these moves.

Some policy decisions are bold. For instance, the policy says, “Wherever possible, the
medium of instruction until at least Grade 5... will be the home language/mother tongue/local
language/regional language.” It also says the three-language formula will be implemented. The
first proposal, which should apply to all schools including private schools, will reduce elitism
and dualism in schools to a great extent, though one might expect a bolder move like a
common school system, which would be a greater equaliser. The three-language formula will
promote national integration. Reforms like revamping the University Grants Commission and
abolishing the affiliating system were only dreamt of earlier by many experts. Of course,
implementation of these audacious reforms is still a major challenge.

Missing in the final policy

What are the proposals or statements that were emphatically made in the draft but are
missing in the policy? One important statement that was repeatedly made in the draft policy,
that all commercially oriented private institutions will be closed, is missing in the final policy —
though the 2020 policy promises closure of substandard teacher education institutions only.
Now the policy simply states, “The matter of commercialization of education has been dealt
with by the Policy through multiple relevant fronts, including: the ‘light but tight’ regulatory
approach that mandates full public self-disclosure of finances”, though almost every
policymaker and administrator in education recognises that there is a serious problem with the
private education sector in India. Second, the draft policy promised doubling public expenditure
on education to 20% of the total government expenditure, from 10%. The 2020 policy simply
reaffirms the commitment to allocation of 6% of GDP.
A few other recommendations of the Committee did not find a place in the final policy.
They include setting up of a National Education Commission at the national level and a similar
one at the State level. There is no mention of State School Education Regulatory Authorities in
the 2020 policy. At the State level, the Department of School Education is regarded as the apex
body. There is also no promise of ‘full’ recruitment of teachers at all levels, though the policy
promises robust recruitment mechanisms to be put in place.
Among the few new proposals, the establishment of a model Multi-Disciplinary Education and
Research University in every district is one. In school education, a National Assessment Centre
has been promised to make assessment and evaluation more holistic. The policy, unlike the
draft, rightly recognises the need to strengthen the Central Advisory Board of Education.
Apart from a few controversial proposals, a few untenable basic beliefs and assumptions
of the Committee prevail. The Committee seems to have great faith in “light but tight”
regulation, confidence in the private sector in making honest self-disclosures of all aspects of
their operations, and faith in the adequacy of common norms for public and private
institutions. It also seems to have faith in the government’s ability to implement many reforms
— for example, in doing away with the affiliating system and making all colleges autonomous
degree-awarding colleges of high quality, ensuring institutional and faculty autonomy, and in
the autonomous functioning of institutions of governance with no external interference.
Policymakers and administrators have been struggling unsuccessfully with some of these issues
for years. A major challenge policymakers will continue to face is how to differentiate the
benevolent philanthropic private sector from undesirable but powerful market forces in the
education sector and regulate the entry and growth of the latter.

Rebuild India’s confidence, revive the economy

These are extraordinarily difficult times for our nation and the world. People are gripped
with the fear of disease and death from COVID-19. This fear is ubiquitous and transcends
geography, religion and class. The inability of nations to control the spread of the novel
coronavirus and the lack of a confirmed cure for the disease have exacerbated people’s
concerns. Such a heightened sense of anxiety among people can cause tremendous upheavals
in the functioning of societies. Consequently, disruption of the normal social order will
inevitably impact livelihoods and the larger economy.

The economic impact of COVID-19 has been much discussed. There is unanimity among
economists that the global economy will experience one of its worst years in history. India is no
exception and cannot buck the trend. While estimates vary, it is clear that, for the first time in
many decades, India’s economy will contract significantly.

An event with deep impact

Economic contraction is not merely a GDP number for economists to analyse and
debate. It means a reversal of many years of progress. A significant number among the weaker
sections of our society may slip back into poverty, a rare occurrence for a developing nation.
Many enterprises may shut down. An entire generation may be lost due to severe
unemployment. A contracting economy can adversely impact our ability to feed and educate
our children owing to a shortage of financial resources. The deleterious impact of an economic
contraction is long and deep, especially on the poor.

It is thus imperative to act with utmost urgency to nurse the economy back to good
health. The slowdown in economic activity is both a function of external factors such as the
lockdown and behavioural changes of people and enterprises, driven by fear. The foundation
for reviving our economy is to inject confidence back in the entire ecosystem. People must feel
confident about their lives and livelihoods. Entrepreneurs must feel confident of reopening and
making investments. Bankers must feel confident about providing capital. Multilateral
organisations must feel confident enough to provide funding to India. Sovereign ratings
agencies must feel confident about India’s ability to fulfil its financial obligations and restore
economic growth.

On NREGA and cash support

There is extreme duress among India’s poor. At a time when agriculture activity has
been robust, data show that just in the month of June, 62 million people demanded work under
the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) programme at
minimum wages. This is thrice the usual number and 10 times more than the total number
employed by the entire listed corporate sector. It is evident that most of them are displaced
non-agricultural workers, struggling to make ends meet. Such is the scale and enormity of
despair in our labour force. Fortuitously, the MGNREGA programme has proved to be a bedrock
of support in such times but it is not enough.

A meaningful cash transfer can restore confidence in these families. Money in the hands
of people can provide an immediate sense of security and confidence, which is the cornerstone
to restoring economic normalcy. India is perhaps the only large democracy that has not
provided direct cash assistance of a significant amount during the COVID-19 crisis. There seems
to be a misplaced sense of apprehension that providing large cash assistance may deter people
from returning to the workforce when needed and starve industry of labour. Such fears are
stale and unfounded. In the United States, as per reports, nearly three-quarters of unemployed
workers received higher pay and benefits under their government’s COVID-19 assistance than
from their employers. But this has not prevented American industry from reopening. While it is
inordinately late, it is still prudent to provide a significant sum as direct cash assistance to the
poor which can inject confidence in them to weather this COVID-19 storm.

Look at the financial system

There is also a dire need to restore confidence in the financial system which acts as the
vital lubricant for the economy. COVID-19 assistance measures undertaken by the Reserve Bank
of India (RBI) and the government such as interest rate reductions, credit guarantee and
liquidity enhancement schemes are welcome steps, but they have largely failed since banks are
not confident of lending. Reviving the health of the banking sector is not merely about capital
infusion or disinvestment of public sector banks. Allowing institutions such as the RBI, public
sector banks, bankruptcy boards, securities and insurance regulators to function freely and
professionally is the foundational step to restoring confidence in the financial system. It is
critical to allow processes such as the insolvency process to function smoothly without
intervention. If there is confidence among people to spend and among bankers to lend, then
the private sector will spontaneously derive the confidence to reopen and invest. When firms
feel confident of availability of capital and consumers, they do not need much else to kick-start
production and investment. Corporate tax cuts, such as the one announced last year, are
misguided luxuries that will neither boost private investment nor are fiscally affordable. Knee-
jerk reaction such as protection of Indian industry through trade restrictions cannot catalyse
economic activity immediately but instead, is a dangerous reversal of established industrial
policy that has generated enormous economic gains over the last three decades.
 A large direct cash assistance to people, improving capital adequacy of banks and
providing credit guarantee schemes for corporates require significant financial resources.
Government finances are already stretched with a major shortfall in revenues. New avenues for
tax revenues are not feasible in the short term. Higher borrowing by the government is
inevitable. India cannot afford to be too fiscally restrained in these distressing times.

Government needs to borrow

India must make full use of loan programmes of international institutions such as the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Our long track record as an impeccable
borrower with no default, timely repayments and full transparency make us an ideal borrower
for these institutions. However, these will not suffice, and the government needs to borrow
more.

Some have opined that India should hark back to the old ways of deficit monetisation by
the RBI, also known as printing money. This is understandable given the current unforeseen
circumstances. But we must be cognisant of the unhealthy impulses that seemingly free money
creates for governments. Deficit monetisation imposes high intangible and institutional costs,
as we have experienced in the past. It is perhaps prudent to adopt deficit monetisation as the
last resort when all other options are exhausted.
India is confronted with a dangerous trinity of military, health and economic threats.
Diverting people’s attention from these threats through choreographed events and headlines
will not make them disappear. India entered the COVID-19 crisis in a precarious position, with
slowing growth, rising unemployment and a choked financial system. The epidemic has
manifestly made it more painful.

Setting things right

It is important to enlarge one’s diagnosis of India’s economic woes from mere GDP
numbers to the underlying sentiments of fear, uncertainty and insecurity prevalent in people,
firms and institutions. Restoring confidence in people through direct cash assistance and other
welfare programmes can help them live their lives and spend. Restoring confidence among
bankers through autonomy of institutions and processes will help them lend. Restoring
confidence among businesses with greater access to capital will help them invest and create
jobs. Restoring confidence among international organisations by re-establishing the credibility
of our institutions will help get funding assistance and objective sovereign ratings.
Without being lured into complacency over illusionary recovery of headline numbers, the path
to India’s sustained economic revival is through the philosophical pursuits of improving
confidence and sentiments of all in our society, using the economic tools of fiscal and monetary
policies.
 Large Population and Assets to be Affected by Sea Level Rise
Recently, a study in journal Scientific reports made predictions that a large population and
assets will be globally affected as a consequence of Sea Level Rise (SLR).

Key Findings

 SLR is a consequence of climate change, which is predicted to increase coastal flooding by 2100.
 The global population potentially exposed to episodic coastal flooding will increase from 128-
171 million to 176-287 million by 2100.
 0.5-0.7% of the world’s land area is at a risk of episodic coastal flooding by 2100, impacting 2.5-
4.1% of the population.
 The value of global assets exposed to coastal flooding is projected to be between 6,000-$9,000
billion USD, or 12-20% of the global GDP.
 Globally, of the 68% area that is prone to coastal flooding, over 32% can be attributed to
regional SLR.
 For most of the world, flooding incidents that are typically associated with a 1 in a 100-year
event could occur as frequently as 1 in 10 years, primarily as a result of SLR.

Sea Level Rise

 SLR is an increase in the level of the world’s oceans due to the effects of climate change,
especially global warming, induced by three primary factors:
 Thermal Expansion: When water heats up, it expands. About half of the sea-level rise over the
past 25 years is attributable to warmer oceans simply occupying more space.
 Melting Glaciers: Higher temperatures caused by global warming have led to greater-than-
average summer melting of large ice formations like mountain glaciers as well as diminished
snowfall due to later winters and earlier springs. That creates an imbalance between runoff and
ocean evaporation, causing sea levels to rise.
 Loss of Greenland and Antarctica’s ice sheets: As with mountain glaciers, increased heat is
causing the massive ice sheets that cover Greenland and Antarctica to melt more quickly, and
also move more quickly into the sea.
 Global sea level has been rising over the past century, and the rate has accelerated in recent
decades. The average global sea level has risen 8.9 inches between 1880 and 2015. That’s much faster
than in the previous 2,700 years.
 Regional SLR: SLR is not uniform across the world. Regional SLR may be higher or lower than
Global SLR due to subsidence, upstream flood control, erosion, regional ocean currents, variations in
land height, and compressive weight of Ice Age glaciers.
 Sea level is primarily measured using tide stations and satellite laser altimeters.
 Earlier, IPCC released ‘The Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate’
which underlined the dire changes taking place in oceans, glaciers, and ice-deposits on land and sea.
 The report expects oceans to rise between 10 and 30 inches by 2100 with temperatures
warming 1.5 °C.
 Impacts of SLR
 Coastal Flooding: Globally, eight of the world's 10 largest cities are near a coast, which are
threatened by coastal flooding. Jakarta (Indonesia) is being known as the world's fastest-sinking
 city, by about 25 cm into the ground every year. Other cities that regularly feature in the lists
endangered by climate change include Guangzhou, Jakarta, Miami, Mumbai and Manila.
 Destruction of Coastal Biodiversity: SLR can cause destructive erosion, wetland flooding,
aquifer and agricultural soil contamination with salt, and lost habitat for biodiversity.
 Dangerous Storm Surges: Higher sea levels are coinciding with more dangerous hurricanes and
typhoons leading to loss of life and property.
 Lateral and Inland Migration: Flooding in low-lying coastal areas is forcing people to migrate to
higher ground causing displacement and dispossession and in turn a refugee crisis worldwide.
 Effect on Communications Infrastructure: The prospect of higher coastal water levels threatens
basic services such as internet access.
 Threat to Inland Life: Rising seas can contaminate soil and groundwater with salt threatening
life farther away from coasts.
 Tourism and Military Preparedness: Tourism to coastal areas and military preparedness will
also be negatively affected with increase in SLR.
 Adaptation Strategies to the threat of SLR:
 Relocation: Many coastal cities have planned to adopt relocation as mitigation strategy. For
example, Kiribati Island has planned to shift to Fiji, while the Capital of Indonesia is being
relocated from Jakarta to Borneo.
 Building Sea wall: Indonesia’s government launched a coastal development project called a
Giant Sea Wall or "Giant Garuda" in 2014 meant to protect the city from floods.
 Building Enclosures: Researchers have proposed Northern European Enclosure Dam (NEED),
enclosing all of the North Sea to protect 15 Northern European countries from rising seas. The
Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Irish Sea, and the Red Sea were also
identified as areas that could benefit from similar mega enclosures.
 Architecture to Steer Flow of Water: Dutch City Rotterdam built barriers, drainage, and
innovative architectural features such as a "water square" with temporary ponds.

Way Forward

 Reducing future greenhouse gas emissions is the long-term goal we should all focus on to keep
SLR in check. The Paris Agreement provides a clear vision on limiting global warming and thus, SLR.
 Some of the steps in this direction would include:
 Switching from fossil fuels to clean alternatives like solar and wind energy.
 Instituting carbon taxes on industries and subsidies for reducing carbon footprint.
 Carbon sequestration by geoengineering and natural methods like restoring peatland and
wetland areas to capture existing greenhouses gases.
 Afforestation and reducing deforestation.
 Subsidizing research on climate change.
 Draft Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy (2020)
Recently, the Ministry of Defence has formulated a draft Defence Production and Export
Promotion Policy 2020 (DPEPP 2020).

 The DPEPP 2020 is envisaged as an overarching guiding document to provide a focused,

structured and significant thrust to defence production capabilities of the country for self-reliance and
exports.

Key Points

 Goals and Objectives:

 To achieve a turnover of Rs. 1,75,000 crore including export of Rs. 35,000 crore in Aerospace
and Defence goods and services by 2025.
 To develop a dynamic, robust and competitive Defence industry, including Aerospace and
Naval Shipbuilding industry to cater to the needs of Armed forces with quality products.
 To reduce dependence on imports and take forward "Make in India" initiatives through
domestic design and development.
 To promote the export of defence products and become part of the global defence value
chains.
 To create an environment that encourages research and development (R&D), rewards
innovation, create Indian Intellectual Property (IP) ownership and promotes a robust and self-
reliant defence industry.
 Outlined Strategies:
 Procurement Reforms:
o A Project Management Unit (PMU) will be set up for the development and production
of technologies involved, life cycle costs and maintenance requirements of platforms,
equipment and weapon systems.
o It also aims to move away from licensed production to design, develop and produce
indigenously.
o It also aims to own the design rights and IP of the systems projected in the Long Term
Integrated Perspective Plan (LTIPP) and a Technology Assessment Cell (TAC) would be
created.
o The TAC would also assess the industrial capability for design, development and
production, including re-engineering for production of major systems such as armoured
vehicles, submarines, fighter aircraft, helicopters and radars with the major industries in
the country.
 Indigenisation And Support to MSMEs/Startups:
o The indigenisation policy aims to create an industry ecosystem to indigenise the
imported components (including alloys and special materials) and sub-assemblies for
defence equipment and platforms manufactured in India. 5,000 such items are
proposed to be indigenised by 2025.
o More than 50 startups are currently developing new ‘fit-for-military-use’
technologies/products.
 Optimise Resource Allocation:
o The share of domestic procurement in overall Defence procurement is about 60%.
 o To enhance procurement from domestic industry, the procurement needs to be
doubled from the current Rs. 70,000 crore to Rs. 1,40,000 crore by 2025.
 Investment Promotion and Ease of Doing Business:
o India is already a large aerospace market with rising passenger traffic and increasing
military expenditure, as a result of which the demand for aircraft (fixed and rotary
wings) is rising.
o The opportunities in the aerospace industry have been identified in the following
segments - aircraft build work, aircraft Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO),
helicopters, engine manufacturing and MRO work, line replaceable units, Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and upgrades and retrofits.
o The improvement in market size, demographic dividend and availability of diverse skill
sets are evident from India's ranking in the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’
(EoDB) report.
o The investments in the defence sector need to regularly sustain the steady supply of
orders.
 Innovation and R&D:
o Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) has been operationalised to provide
necessary incubation and infrastructure support to the startups in the defence area.
o iDEX would be further scaled up to engage with 300 more startups and develop 60 new
technologies/products during the next five years.
o Mission Raksha Gyan Shakti was launched to promote a greater culture of innovation
and technology development and file a higher number of patents in Defence Public
Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), Ordnance Factory Board (OFB). It would be scaled up for
promoting the creation of Intellectual Property in the sector and its commercial
utilisation.

Way Forward

 Self-reliance in defence manufacturing is a crucial component of effective defence capability and

to maintain national sovereignty and achieve military superiority.
 The attainment of this will ensure strategic independence, cost-effective defence equipment
and may lead to saving on defence import bill, which can subsequently finance the physical and social
infrastructure.