Average household spending rose 3.5% through Aug. 2023-July 2024, shows government survey

India's average household consumption spends on a per capita basis rose about 3.5% in real terms through August 2023 to July 2024 from a year ago, as per the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey, and the Centre said this signals a decline in consumption inequality and a narrowing gap between urban and rural spends. The initial HCES findings, which are used to assess trends in economic well-being, estimate poverty levels and update the basket and weightages of consumer goods and services used to formulate the Consumer Price Index (CPI) that measures retail inflation, were released by the Union Statistics Ministry on Friday. 

Letter and spirit

Among the key school education reforms instituted by the UPA government as part of the Right to Education were Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) and a 'no detention' policy up to Class 8. Both sought to create a benign environment in school so that there was no pressure of final examinations and "standards" on the child. Whether those reforms contributed to the current situation or not, the reality is that a significant number of students passing out of primary school do not have foundational numeracy and literacy. And they do not seem to catch up by the time they leave middle school. Recognising the gap in achieving learning outcomes, the NDA government sought to do away with the no detention policy, in 2019, leaving it to the appropriate State governments. The CCE was given up too. But the COVID-19 pandemic intruded and made it impossible for schools to even consider detaining students. 

Marginalised by caste, marginalised in education

The struggles that Dalit students face echo the challenges of pre-Independence India when they were barred from enrolling in educational institutions because of their caste. While these historical restrictions were overt, the situation now is more insidious. In response to the criticism regarding the fee increase, the committee set up by the government asserted that students from marginalised communities would benefit from the Vidyalakshmi scheme, which offers interest-free scholarships. However, while this initiative aims to provide support, it remains insufficient to fully address the financial challenges faced by these students, especially as fees continue to rise. The frequent hikes in fees have made it increasingly difficult for students from the marginalised communities to afford higher education or even pursue studies through loans.

In 2021, data showed that over the past seven years, 122 students from the IITS and the IIMs had ended their lives, many due to the financial strain of rising fees and the anxiety of securing employment. 

Rules that still manacle the captive elephant

The Kerala High Court recently likened the lives of these captive animals to an "eternal Treblinka", drawing a poignant comparison to the infamous Nazi extermination camps. Elephants used for religious purposes, entertainment and tourism are subjected to much cruelty and forced to behave in unnatural ways. Although elephants have the highest protection under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, they have been at the forefront of practices that seek to capture them from the wild for a life in captivity.

In its intent to regulate potential misuse of captive elephants in private custody and curb illegal captures from the wild, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) published the Captive Elephant (Transfer or Transport) Rules in March 2024. 

'22% rise in enrolment after smart classroom initiative'

Introduction of smart classrooms under the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) has led to a 22% increase in overall enrolment as per data reported by 19 cities between 2015-16 and 2023-24, says a study by the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. The national-level study said that 71 cities have developed 9,433 smart classrooms in 2,398 government schools. The highest number of smart classroom projects are in Karnataka (80), followed by Rajasthan (53). Tamil Nadu has 23 and Delhi 12. West Bengal, with just two, is among the States at the bottom of the table. According to the report, teachers generally agree with the idea that the smart classroom initiative is improving learning experiences and attendance of students across select smart cities of the country. Special training provided to teachers improved their comfort and preference for using smart classroom facilities, with senior secondary teachers showing the highest comfort levels, as compared with others. 

IIT-Bombay team makes needle-free 'shock syringe' for painless injections

The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, has developed a needle-free "shock syringe". The study, led by Professor Viren Menezes from the Department of Aerospace Engineering, was published in the Journal of Biomedical Materials and Devices. The researchers tested the effectiveness of drug delivery by a shock syringe on laboratory rats. "Unlike syringes with needles, the shock syringe does not rely on piercing the skin with a sharp tip. Instead, it uses high-energy pressure waves (shock waves) that can travel faster than the speed of sound to pierce the skin. These waves, when generated, compress the surrounding medium, such as air or liquid, through which they travel.