Impact of COVID-19 on adolescent girls and Education

Prelims Pointers: Education is in the Concurrent List. It was put into the Concurrent list (List III under Article 246) after the 42^nd Constitution Amendment Act, 1976.

• Like the rest of the population, as many as 120 million adolescent girls (data for Mains) — roughly one-tenth of the nation — are experiencing a never-before situation. However, the disruption they are facing is likely to push back the gains made in the previous decades.
• Adolescent girls’ welfare and entitlements are linked to a host of development indicators, including women’s workforce participation, morbidity rates and maternal mortality among others.
• This is a generation that was — until the pandemic struck — breaking a millennium of stereotypes and deprivation.

Pre-COVID Situation of Adolescent girls

• Born just as the new century began, adolescent girls in India were seeing never-before school-going rates (10.3% out-of-schoolgirls in 2006 to 4.1% in 2019, according to the 2019 ASER report).
• They were pushing the boundaries of academic achievement with a 92.15% pass percentage in class XII versus 86.19 % for boys in the 2020 CBSE board exams).
• They were marrying later; the rate of child marriage was 50% in 2000 as against 27% today (UNICEF report on Ending Child Marriage).
• Fewer women were dying in childbirth, thanks to work done by the Government, health and education systems, NGOs, communities, and families.
• Large-scale change makers including the Government were recognizing that working with this age group could potentially nip a host of life-long deprivations like income poverty, food insecurity and preventable morbidities in the bud.
• And, then, the pandemic struck. Girls in schools, working towards their first professional degrees or gaining new exposure and perspectives from the world suddenly found themselves confined to the home.

COVID-19 Impact on Adolescent girls

The impact of such a phenomenon on day-to-day lives needs to be taken into account, says a recent survey among 7,200 teens from Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha.

• Instead of going to school, girls reported spending more time cleaning the household (61%), cooking (59%), washing clothes (44%), washing utensils (41%), and taking care of siblings (23%).
• Boys, on the other hand, said they spent most of their time watching TV and farming, among others.
• Nor did girls have optimal access to the Internet. Among girls, just 22% knew how to use online learning platforms. Just 12% had access to mobile phones against 35% for boys.
• More than half the girls surveyed said they did not have essential textbooks.
• Not surprisingly, more girls than boys felt they were likely to drop out of school.
• Further, a high number of adolescent girls reported that they felt vulnerable to domestic violence and sexual harassment during the lockdown.
• Curbs on their mobility also increased; only 39% of girls said they were allowed to go out alone compared to 62% of boys of the same age.
• The closure of schools has also led to a lack of a safe space for girls.
• All this underscores what practitioners have highlighted: without formal school and Internet access, practices such as domestic work, child labour, and early marriage become the only available coping strategies for families, often enforced through patriarchal norms.

Government Efforts

• The Government of India’s ambitious Rashtriya Kishore Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) and School Health and Wellness programmes, for instance, take a community and school-based approach towards health, nutrition, gender equity, injuries and violence, non-communicable diseases, mental health, and substance misuse.
• Another specific and scalable example is the Kerala State Education Department’s ‘First Bell’ initiative, launched on June 1, 2020. Over 600 classes are now running via the ‘KITE Victers’ television channel, making lessons accessible to students without smartphone and internet access.
• While the Government of India has programmes such as Beti Bachao Beti Padao, Skill India Mission and Digital India Mission, a localised approach needs to be worked out, considering the diversity of the country.
• Coordinated action to end the pandemic-induced crisis for adolescent girls calls for reinforcing programming strategies.
• Addressing health, empowerment, and education needs this early in life will not only help overturn the disruptions of 2020 but also help go a long way towards achieving the Sustainable Goals for Development.

Status of Education in India during COVID-19

• On January 24, we celebrated the third edition of the International Day of Education, a day proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly to honour education and its value to humanity and sustainable development.
• Our theme for 2021, ‘Recover and Revitalize Education for the COVID-19 Generation’, places an emphasis on the way the pandemic has negatively affected learning outcomes for students globally and how we should innovate and combine resources to invest more in education.
• About 1.6 billion students from some 190 countries were affected by the shutdown of schools caused by COVID-19, reversing years of progress in education.
• In India, more than 1.5 million school closures affected about 286 million schoolchildren. This added to the six million girls and boys who were already out of school prior to the crisis.
• According to UNESCO estimates, schools worldwide were closed for an average of three and a half months since the onset of the pandemic. This figure rises to more than five months when localised school closures are taken into account.

• Because of dire fiscal challenges and the overwhelming need to prioritise public health and social safety spending, global education financing has been significantly reduced.
• UNESCO estimates that of the $11.8 trillion global COVID-19 fiscal response, a mere 0.78% (or $91 billion) was allocated to education, with $73 billion spent in high-income countries.
• Yet, the governments of South Asia have made some real progress towards protecting education funding.
• On average, it is estimated that South Asia allocated 0.85% of its fiscal package to education, compared to 0.73% for Europe and North America and 0.69% for Latin America and the Caribbean.
• These shifts in public expenditures were mainly driven by Information and Communication Technology measures to support the delivery of education through a mix of radio, television, and mobile technology, as well as the home delivery of printed learning materials for the most vulnerable students who are excluded from technology.
• In India, inspired by the release of the National Education Policy (NEP), the Education Ministry has made significant efforts to develop courses to reach all learners via the Internet and airwaves. The introduction of the NEP and the counter-effects of the pandemic have in fact provided a groundswell of change on which true reform is riding.
• Still, much more needs to be done as remote learning remains out of reach for more than 500 million students globally.
• As we continue to struggle through this volatile situation, it is more than ever our duty to ensure that learning never stops.
• To highlight the remaining challenges, UNESCO is releasing new global figures now, one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, which show that over 800 million students, or more than half the world’s student population, still face significant disruptions to their education, ranging from full school closures to reduced or part-time academic schedules.

Way Forward

• The learning crisis brought about by the pandemic, therefore, represents a clarion call to governments, development partners and businesses to increase funding and make education systems more resilient, inclusive, flexible, and sustainable.

Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFC)

1. NBFCs are Companies registered under the Companies Act, 1956 engaged in giving loans; acquisition of shares, stocks, bonds, debentures & securities issued by Govt or local authorities; leasing higher purchase insurance, chit fund business..
2. It does not include any institution whose principle business is Agriculture, Industry, buying or selling of goods other than security or providing any services and sale and purchase constitution of immovable properties.
3. Both NBFC and Banks can issue Demand Draft and has Deposit insurance. NBFCs can’t issue Cheque book.
4. RBI recently strengthened its hold over NBFCs mainly those engaged in infrastructure, deposit, lending and housing sector.
5. After IL&FS case, Forensic auditing is now mandatory. As per RBI, service providers need to maintain the same high standard of care in performing services as it is expected by RBI. These NBFCs can also maintain SLR.
6. Chit Funds: They are regulated under Chit Funds Act, 1982. They regulated by RBI as they come under NBFC.

Non-Banking Financial Companies

• Companies registered under the Companies Act, 1956 engaged in
  1. Giving loans;
  2. Acquisition of shares, stocks, bonds, debentures & securities issued by Govt or local authorities;
  3. Leasing higher purchase insurance, chit fund business.
• It holds 12.3% assets in Financial systems
• It does not include any institution whose principle business is Agri, Industry, buying or selling of goods other than security or providing any services and sale and purchase constitution of immovable properties.
• NBFC cannot accept Demand deposits.
• They are not a part of the Payment and Settlement System. Hence cannot issue cheques drawn on itself.
• Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) deposit insurance not available.
• A Non banking institution which is a Company and can receive deposit in any scheme also comes under NBFCs (Deposit taking NBFCs) aka Residuary Non-Banking Company. SLR is applicable to them.
• NBFC with the paid up capital of 500 crore has to set aside Capital Adequacy Ratio.
• Chit Funds: regulated by RBI under Chit Funds Act, 1982. They are NBFCs.
• RBI prohibited NBFCs from outsourcing key functions like
  1. Internal audit,
  2. Investment portfolio and
  3. KYC compliance.
• Forensic auditing is now mandatory.

The different types of NBFCs:

The NBFCs can be categorised under two broad heads:

On the nature of their activity:

• Asset Finance Company
• Loan Company
• Mortgage Guarantee Company
• Investment Company
• Core Investment Company
• Infrastructure Finance Company
• Micro Finance Company
• Housing Finance Company

On the basis of deposits:

• Deposit accepting Non-Banking Financial Corporations
• Non-deposit accepting Non-Banking Financial Corporations

Recent news for NBFCs

• RBI to create a Specialised Supervisory and Regulatory cadre for Commercial Banks, Urban Cooperative Banks and NBFCs. RBI is also internally setting up a Research and Analysis wing within the department of supervision which will collate and correlate all the data, see the inter-connectedness and will comprehensively look at the banking structure.
• RBI directs NBFCs with asset size > 5000 crore to appoint Chief Risk Officer. To be functioned independently.
• Budget 2019-20 widens RBI autonomy:
  1. Housing Finance Companies to be treated as NBFCs. To be regulated by RBI now.
  2. RBI can supersede the board of NBFCs in the public interest. RBI can also remove auditors, and call for an audit of any group company of an NBFC.
• RBI raises the cap on the Bank’s exposure to a single NBFC to 20% of Tier I capital from 15%. On lending to the Agri sector 10 lakh, and 20 lakh to MSME and Housing will be treated as Priority Sector Lending. Mutual Funds and Insurance Companies are creditors to NBFCs. Hence Insurance companies are now part of Inter Creditor Agreement.
• RBI has decided to merge 3 categories of NBFCs into a single category to provide greater operational flexibility to non-banking lenders. NBFCs categorized as Asset Finance Companies (AFC), Loan Companies (LCs) and Investment Companies (ICs), will be merged into a new category called NBFC - Investment and Credit Company (NBFC-ICC).
• RBI intro Liquidity Management Framework for NBFCs
  1. All non-deposit taking NBFCs with asset size of >= 10000 crores and all deposit-taking NBFCs have to maintain a liquidity buffer in terms of Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR)
  2. From 1 Dec 2020 with the minimum High-Quality Liquid Assets (HQLAs) to be held being 50% of the LCR, progressively reaching up to the level of 100% by 1st December 2024.
  3. Assets to be included as HQLA include cash, government securities and marketable securities issued or guaranteed by foreign sovereigns. These assets should be free of any financial liability.
• ECB Reforms: Relaxed norms for the end use of funds via ECB
  1. ECBs are done by Companies and NBFCs. Regulated by RBI. Now it is a bidder under IBA.
  2. Relaxation was for 3 things: Working capital requirements, General Corporate purposes and Repayment of Rupee loans.
  3. Borrowers can raise ECB for 10 years of Working capital and General corporate purposes requirements.
  4. For repayment of rupee loans and for on-lending by NBFC = 7 years.
• Partial Credit Guarantee Facility for PSBs (Public Sector Banks)
  • It would enable the PSBs to purchase the high-rated pooled assets of financially sound NBFCs and housing finance companies (HFCs) worth rs 1 lakh crore. For a period of 6 months.
  • It is expected that this measure would provide liquidity to the NBFC Sector.
  • To address temporary asset-liability mismatches of otherwise solvent NBFCs/HFCs without having to resort to distress sale of their assets for meeting their commitments.
• RBI moots lighter norms for CICs (Core Investment Companies)
  1. CICs are specialized NBFCs. It has an asset size of Rs. 100 crore.
  2. The main business is the Acquisition of shares and securities with certain conditions These should not hold < 90% of its net assets in the form of investment in equity shares, preference shares, bonds, debentures, debt or loans in a group company.
  3. CIC should have a 2 Tier structure and stronger boards with at least 50% independent directors.
  4. Step down CICs will not be permitted to invest in any other CICs, but can 'freely' invest in other group companies.
• Peer to Peer (P2P) Lending
  • P2P lending is a form of crowdfunding used to raise unsecured loans which are repaid with interest. It serves as a link between borrowers & lenders. It refers to the financing of projects with small amounts of money raised from large number of people, with a portal serving as an intermediary.
  • The borrowing could be an individual or a legal person (such as company). Minimum Net worth of P2P lending is Rs. 2 crore. RBI in 2017 enabled P2P entities as NBFC. However, an existing NBFC will not be able to operate as NBFC P2P.
• Ombudsman Scheme for NBFCs, 2018
  • It covered all deposits accepting NBFCs. Now it is extended to all eligible non-deposit-taking NBFCs having an asset size of >= Rs 100 crore with customer interface.
  • There is also an appellate mechanism against the decision of Ombudsman.
  • It still excludes various NBFC groups such as
    1. Infrastructure Finance Companies (NBFC-IFC),
    2. Core Investment Company (CIC),
    3. Infrastructure Debt Fund-Non-Banking Financial Company (IDF-NBFC) and
    4. also NBFCs under liquidation.
• RBI changes the definition of "Relative" under the Companies Act, 2013: To check outward remittances. Now only to immediate relatives like parents, spouses, children and their spouses.

Analysis of NBFCs

• The RBI has proposed a significant shift in its regulatory approach towards India’s non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), from a general approach of light touch regulation to one that monitors larger players almost as closely as it does banks.
• If implemented, this could be the biggest overhaul of the regulatory framework for such finance companies (or shadow banks) in over two decades.
• After multitudes of investors were left high and dry as CRB group firms reneged on high-interest fixed deposits in 1997, Parliament bestowed greater powers over such firms to the central bank to fix the mess.
• The trigger now is similar though the scale of the problem has changed.
• The size of NBFC balance sheets is now more than a quarter of that of banks’ balance sheets, from just about 12% in 2010.
• In absolute terms, their balance sheets have more than doubled, from ?20.7-lakh crore in 2015 to ?49.2-lakh crore in 2020. While this growth is a reflection of how lighter regulations have given them the flexibility to meet a range of financing needs, from home loans to micro-finance and large infrastructure projects, it also manifested into a systemic risk.
• And that risk was apparent when one of the largest infrastructure investment-focused NBFC players, IL&FS, unravelled in 2018, with its payment defaults catalysing a crisis for the entire sector.
• The collateral damage meant NBFCs could not raise funds easily, and faced liquidity pressures that escalated to solvency concerns in some instances.
• The descent of one such player, Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL), began around the same time — its creditors approved a resolution plan for the firm last week.
• The RBI’s proposed regulatory reaction to such large NBFC failures that have had a systemic impact on the sector, could not have come sooner. It has sought to strike a balance between the need to be nimble and mitigate systemic risks, with a four-tiered regulatory structure.
• This entails a largely laissez-faire approach for smaller NBFCs, plugging some of the arbitrages available to mid-sized NBFCs vis-à-vis banks, and imposing tougher ‘bank-like’ capitalisation, governance and monitoring norms for the largest players and those which could pose a systemic risk due to the nature of their operations.
• A top tier has been envisaged with even more scrutiny, but the RBI wants to ideally use this approach only when a certain large player poses ‘extreme risks’. Given the banking sector’s own woes over the past two years (PMC Bank, Yes Bank, Lakshmi Vilas Bank), a holistic reboot of the oversight mechanism for NBFCs and banks is critical to retain confidence and maintain financial stability which central bank Governor Shaktikanta Das has termed a ‘public good’.
• It is hoped that the blueprint for the regulation of NBFCs which can lend for activities banks often do not support, be it micro-loans or infrastructure projects, is formalised soon.
• This would ensure the fledgling economic recovery is not hampered by funding constraints.

SpaceX creates a new world record after launching 143 satellites on a single rocket

SpaceX, an aerospace company, has beaten the record of the Indian Space Research Organisation- ISRO where it deployed 104 satellites in February 2017 in a single launch. The reusable rocket launched 143 satellites to space which are part of the SmallSat Rideshare program of SpaceX from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Padma Awards 2021

On the evening of 72^nd Republic Day, India honoured 119 people from the diverse fields with the Padma Awards.

Highlights

• These awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions at Rashtrapati Bhawan..
• It also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners or NRI or PIO or OCI,16 Posthumous awardees and 1 transgender awardee.
• Shri Ram Vilas Paswan has conferred the award (Posthumous) in Public Affairs Bihar category.

Padma Awards

• It is one of the highest civilian Awards of the country.
• This award is given in three categories namely, the Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.
• It is given in various disciplines and fields of activities including art, public affairs, social work, Trade and industry, science and engineering, medicine, literature, education, sports and civil service.

Padma Vibhushan

• It is the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India.
• The award was Instituted on January 2, 1954.
• This award is given for “exceptional and distinguished service”.
• It does not differentiate between race, occupation, position, or sex.
• The award is given for exceptional and distinguished service.
• Satyendra Nath Bose, Zakir Hussain, Balasaheb Gangadhar Kher, and Nand Lal Bose were among the first recipient of the award in 1954.
• In the year 2021, this award was given to:

1. Shri Shinzo Abe – Public Affairs – Japan
2. Shri S P Balasubramaniam (Posthumous) – Art – Tamil Nadu
3. Shri Sudarshan Sahoo – Art – Odisha
4. Belle Monappa Hegde – Medicine – Karnataka
5. Shri B. B. Lal Others – Archaeology – Delhi
6. Shri Narinder Singh Kapany (Posthumous) – Science and Engineering – United States of America
7. Maulana Wahiduddin Khan – Others – Spiritualism – Delhi

Padma Bhushan

• It is the third-highest civilian award in India.
• The award is preceded by the Bharat Ratna & Padma Vibhushan while followed by the Padma Shri.

Padma Shri

• It is the fourth-highest civilian award in India after Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan.