National Education Policy (NEP) 2020

• The National Policy on Education was framed in 1986 and modified in 1992.
• Since then several changes have taken place that calls for a revision of the
Policy.
• The NEP 2020 is the first education policy of the 21st century and replaces the
thirty-four-year-old National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986.
• Built on the foundational pillars of Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability
and Accountability, this policy is aligned to the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development and aims to transform India into a vibrant
knowledge society and global knowledge superpower by making both
school and college education more holistic, flexible, multidisciplinary,
suited to 21st century needs and aimed at bringing out the unique
capabilities of each student.
 Salient features of the NEP 2020
• School Education
• Ensuring Universal Access at all levels of school education
• NEP 2020 emphasizes on ensuring universal access to school education at all levels-
pre school to secondary.
• Infrastructure support, innovative education centres to bring back dropouts into the
mainstream, tracking of students and their learning levels, facilitating multiple
pathways to learning involving both formal and non-formal education modes,
association of counselors or well-trained social workers with schools, open learning for
classes3,5 and 8 through NIOS and State Open Schools, secondary education programs
equivalent to Grades 10 and 12, vocational courses, adult literacy and life-enrichment
programs are some of the proposed ways for achieving this.
• About 2 crore out of school children will be brought back into main stream under
NEP 2020.
 Early Childhood Care & Education with new
Curricular and Pedagogical Structure
• With an emphasis on Early Childhood Care and Education, the 10+2
structure of school curricula is to be replaced by a 5+3+3+4 curricular
structure corresponding to ages 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years,
respectively.
• This will bring the hitherto uncovered age group of 3-6 years under the
school curriculum, which has been recognised globally as the crucial
stage for the development of the mental faculties of a child.
• The new system will have 12 years of schooling with three years of
Anganwadi/pre-schooling.
•Attaining Foundational Literacy and Numeracy
• Recognizing Foundational Literacy and Numeracy as an urgent and
necessary prerequisite to learning, NEP 2020 calls for a National Mission
on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy by MHRD.
• States will prepare an implementation plan for attaining universal
foundational literacy and numeracy in all primary schools for all
learners by grade 3 by 2025.
• Multilingualism and the power of language
• The policy has emphasised mother tongue/local language/regional
language as the medium of instruction until Grade 5, but preferably
till Grade 8 and beyond.
• Sanskrit to be offered at all levels of school and higher education as
an option for students, including in the three-language formula.
• Other classical languages and literature of India are also to be
available as options.
• No language will be imposed on any student.
• Equitable and Inclusive Education
• NEP 2020 aims to ensure that no child loses any opportunity to learn and
excel because of the circumstances of birth or background.
• Special emphasis will be given to Socially and Economically
Disadvantaged Groups(SDGs), which include gender, sociocultural,
and geographical identities and disabilities.
• This includes setting up a Gender Inclusion Fund and Special Education
Zones for disadvantaged regions and groups.
• Children with disabilities will be enabled to fully participate in the regular
schooling process from the foundational stage to higher education, with the
support of educators with cross-disability training, resource centres,
accommodations, assistive devices, appropriate technology-based tools
and other support mechanisms tailored to suit their needs.
• Every state/district will be encouraged to establish “Bal Bhavans” as a
special daytime boarding school to participate in art-related,
career-related, and play-related activities.
• Free school infrastructure can be used as Samajik Chetna Kendras.
• Standard-setting and Accreditation for School Education
• NEP 2020 envisages transparent, separate systems for policymaking,
regulation, operations and academic matters.
• States/UTs will set up independent State School Standards Authority
(SSSA).
• Transparent public self-disclosure of all the basic regulatory information, as
laid down by the SSSA, will be used extensively for public oversight and
accountability.
• The SCERT will develop a School Quality Assessment and Accreditation
Framework (SQAAF) through consultations with all stakeholders.
•
• Higher Education
• Increase GER to 50 % by 2035
• NEP 2020 aims to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher
education including vocational education from 26.3% (2018) to 50%
by 2035.
• 3.5 Crore new seats will be added to Higher education
institutions.
• Holistic Multidisciplinary Education
• The policy envisages broad-based, multi-disciplinary, holistic Undergraduate
education with flexible curricula, creative combinations of subjects, integration of
vocational education and multiple entry and exit points with appropriate
certification.
• UG education can be 3 or 4 years with multiple exit options and appropriate
certification within this period.
• For example, Certificate after one year, Advanced Diploma after 2 years,
Bachelor’s Degree after 3 years and Bachelor’s with Research after 4 years.
• Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERUs), at par with
IITs and IIMs, to be set up as models of best multidisciplinary education of global
standards in the country.
• The National Research Foundation will be created as an apex body to
foster a strong research culture and build research capacity across
higher education.
 Environmental Policy in India
• CONSTITUTION
• The Constitution of India provides a number of Directive Principles of State Policy.
Until 1976 environment protection did not appear anywhere in the Constitution.
• However, in the 42nd amendment of the Constitution in 1976, certain
environmental provisions were introduced.
• Article 48A was added to the Directive Principles of State Policy and stated, “The
state shall endeavour to protect and improve the natural environment and
safeguard the forests and wildlife in the country.”
• Article 51 A (g) of Fundamental Duties states, “It shall be the duty of every citizen
in India to protect and improve the natural environment including forests,
lakes rivers and wildlife and to have a compassion for living creatures”.
• With this, ‘Forests’ and ‘Wildlife’ were dropped from the State list in
order to incorporate them into the Concurrent (Centre) list.
• The National Council for Environmental Planning and Policy was set up in
1972, which was later evolved into the Ministry of Environment and Forest
in 1985.
• (A) Pre-independence period (1853 to 1947):
• i. Shore Nuisance (Bombay and Kolaba) Act, 1853
• ii. The Elephant’s Preservation Act, 1879
• iii. The Fisheries Act, 1897
• iv. The Factories Act, 1897
• v. The Bengal Smoke Nuisance Act, 1905
• vi. The Bombay Smoke Nuisance Act, 1912
• vii. Wild Birds and Animals Protection Act, 1912
Independence to the Stockholm Conference From 1947 – 1972
• During this period, legislation existed to control the felling of trees,
destruction of forests, unplanned town growth, etc.
• Following Acts were in place:
• a. The Factories Act, 1948
• The Factories Act of 1948 provides that the liquid effluents, gases and
fumes generated during a manufacturing process should be treated
before their final disposal to minimise the adverse effects.
• During this period, stress on economic development was greater, and
environmental considerations took a back seat in policy making.
• b. The Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act, 1957
• Post Stockholm Conference to Bhopal disaster (1972-1984):
• The Stockholm Conference on Environment and Development had largely influenced
on environmental policy making, leading to an amendment of the Constitution,
followed by important legislations such as the Water (Prevention and Control of
Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981
and creation of institutions such as Central and State Pollution Control Boards for
implementing the provisions of the Acts.
• Following legislations were enacted during this period.
• i. The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
• This Act was enacted under the provisions of Article 252 to prevent the decline of
wild animals and birds. The Act prohibits the poaching of certain animals except for
the purpose of education or scientific research. Under this Act a state government
may declare any area to be a sanctuary or as a national park if it considers that such
area is of adequate ecological, faunal, floral, geomorphological, natural or zoological
• significance for protecting, propagating or developing wild life or its
environment.
• ii.Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974
• This Act paved the way for the creation of Central Pollution Control Board
(CPCB) and State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) in order to promote
cleanliness of streams and wells in different areas of the states.
• iii. Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981
• This Act defines air pollutant as ‘any solid, liquid or gaseous substance
(including noise) present in the atmosphere in such concentration as may be
or tend to be injurious to human beings or other living creatures or plants or
property or environment’. The CPCB and the SPCBs created under the
Water Act 1974 are entrusted with the implementation of the provisions of
the Act.
• iv. The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980
• This Act prevents deforestation, which results in ecological imbalance
and environmental deterioration. The Act prohibits even the state
governments and any other authority to de-reserve a forest which is
already reserved. It prohibits forestland to be used for non-forest
purposes, except with the prior approval of the central government.
• Bhopal Tragedy to 2006 (1984-2006):
• The Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984 had a deep impact in the minds of policy
makers to deliver comprehensive environment legislation in 1986.
• (i) Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (EPA) The Environment (Protection)
Act, 1986 extends to the whole of India and it came into force on November 19,
1986.
• After the enactment of Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974
and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, it was decided that
there should be a general legislation for environmental protection as well as for
coordinating the activities of various regulatory agencies. Need was also felt to
create authority with adequate power for environment protection, regulation of
discharge, handling of hazardous substances, speedy response to accidents
threatening environment and deterrent punishment to those who endanger
human environment, safety and health.
• (ii) The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
• (iii) The National Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997.
• (iv) National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995.
• The new economic policy initiated in 1991 led Constitutional
amendments in 1994 to facilitate decentralisation of powers and
resources to local bodies. This period also witnessed:
The Policy Statement for Abatement of Pollution and the National
• a.
Conservation Strategy and Policy Statement on Environment and
Development were brought out by the Ministry of Environment and
Forests (MoEF) in 1992.
• b.The Environmental Action Programme (EAP) was formulated in 1993
with the objective of improving environmental services and integrating
environmental considerations into development programmes.
• A GLIMPSE OF NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY (NEP)
• Background of ‘The National Environment Policy, 2006’:
• a. The first initiative is to formulate a comprehensive strategy for environmental
protection.
• b. It considers the factors responsible for land degradation and suggests remedial
measures required.
• Factors including fiscal, tariffs and sectoral policies for their unintentional impacts
on land degradation.
• c. The remedial measures offered to tackle the problem comprise traditional
land-use practices in combination with science-based techniques like pilot-scale
demonstrations, large-scale dissemination, adoption of multi-stakeholder
partnerships, promotion of agro-forestry, organic farming, environmentally
sustainable cropping patterns and adoption of efficient irrigation techniques.
• d. Mandatory EIA and environment management plan, details of the public
hearing and a project report to the impact assessment agency for clearance and further
review by a committee of experts in certain cases and public hearings.
• The current national policy can be put into two categories from the standpoint of
• A) overall environmental management which includes:
• i.National Forest Policy,1988,
• ii.National Conservation Strategy and Policy Statement on Environment and Development, 1992, and
• iii.Policy Statement on Abatement of Pollution, 1992.
• B) Sector-based policies include
• i) National Agriculture Policy, 2000
• ii) National Population Policy, 2000, and
• iii) National Water Policy, 2002 has equally contributed to managing the environment.
• The common focus of all these policies is on the need for sustainable development in their specific
contexts. The National Environment Policy seeks to extend the coverage and fill in gaps that still exist in
light of present knowledge and accumulated experience (NEP, 2006).
 Social Security and welfare
• Definition of Social security under Social Security Code.
• “Social security" means the measures of protection afforded to employees,
unorganised workers, gig workers and platform workers to ensure access
to health care and to provide income security, particularly in cases of old
age, unemployment, sickness, invalidity, work injury, maternity or loss of
a breadwinner by means of rights conferred on them and schemes framed,
under this Code.
• "Unorganised Sector" means an enterprise owned by individuals or
self-employed workers and engaged in the production or sale of goods or
providing service of any kind whatsoever, and where the enterprise employs
workers, the number of such workers is less than ten;
• • "Unorganised Worker" means a home-based worker, self-employed worker
or a wage worker in the unorganised sector.
• India’s social security system comprises several schemes and programs
spread throughout various laws and regulations.
• The social security system in India includes not just insurance premium
payments into government funds (like in China) but also lump sum employer
obligations.
• Employee Provident Fund (EPF)
• The employer contributes 12 per cent of the basic salary against EPF.
• It is a statutory obligation on the part of the employer.
• The employee benefits from a PF deduction (12% of basic) on their part.
• Contributions to the EPF scheme are obligatory for both the employer and the
employee when the employee earns up to INR 15,000 per month and
voluntary when the employee earns more than this amount.
• Contribution options:
• Contribute INR 1,800 per month: A fixed contribution irrespective of the
basic salary.
• Contribute 12 percent of basic salary: Ideal for higher salary earners
aiming to maximize contributions.
• Tax benefits: Contributions are eligible for tax deductions under Section
80C of the Income-tax Act, 1961. Further, a company can voluntarily apply
for the PF scheme at any juncture, eliminating the need for a mandatory
20-employee threshold.
 Employees' State Insurance Scheme
• The Employees' State Insurance Scheme protects employees, defined in the
Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948, against sickness, maternity,
disablement, and death due to employment injury.
• The scheme is administered by the Employees' State Insurance Corporation
(ESIC), an autonomous corporation under the Ministry of Labour and
Employment, Government of India.
• It provides comprehensive medical care and cash benefits for contingencies
such as sickness, maternity leave, disablement, death due to on-duty injury,
and loss of jobs for beneficiaries from the organised sector working class.
• The scheme aims to provide holistic health and income protections to formal
sector workers and their families.
• The scheme has also been extended to private educational and medical institutions that
have employed 10 or more employees.
• The ESI scheme offers benefits to both the workers and their dependents in case of any
unfortunate eventualities at work.
• Employees or workers employed in the above-mentioned categories earning wages up to INR
21,000 per month (up to INR 25,000 per month in case of a person with a disability) are
entitled to this social security scheme.
• Eligible workers contribute 0.75 per cent of their salary towards the ESI, while the
employer pays 3.25 per cent – making a total contribution of 4.5 per cent.
• The company or establishment can apply for an ESI registration within 15 days from the time
the ESI Act becomes applicable to that entity.
• Further, daily wage earners earning an average wage of up to INR 137 are exempted from
contribution payment.
• Employers, however, are mandated to contribute their own share in respect of these
employees.
• Benefits that are offered with ESI are:
• Medical benefits;
• Maternity benefits;
• Unemployment allowance;
• Confinement expenses;
• Funeral expenses;
• Physical rehabilitation;
• Vocational training;
• Disability benefit
• The Employer has to pay compensation to employees or their families for
employment-related injuries resulting in death or disability.
• Workers employed in certain occupations are exposed to the risk of
contracting certain diseases peculiar and inherent to those occupations.
• A worker contracting an occupational disease is deemed to have suffered an
accident out of and during employment, and the employer is liable to pay
compensation for the same.
• Maternity Benefit
• Women in the organized sector get paid maternity leave of 26 weeks, up
from 12 weeks, for the first two children.
• For the third child, the maternity leave entitled will be 12 weeks.
• India now has the third most maternity leave in the world, following Canada
(50 weeks) and Norway (44 weeks).
• An establishment with over 50 employees must provide crèche facilities
within easy distance, which the mother can visit up to four times daily.
• Every woman is entitled to, and her employer is liable for, the payment of
maternity benefits at the average daily wage rate for the period of the
employee’s actual absence from work.
• Gratuity
• Establishments with 10 or more employees must pay 15 days of additional
wages for each year of service to employees who have worked at a
company for five years or more.
• Gratuity is provided as a lump sum payout by a company.
• In the event of the death or disablement of the employee, the gratuity must
still be paid to the nominee or the heir of the employee.
• The employer can, however, reject the payment of gratuity to an employee
if the employee has been terminated from the job due to misconduct.
• In such a case of forfeiture, a termination order must contain the charges
and the employee’s misconduct.
• Gratuity calculation formula
• Gratuity = Last Drawn Salary × 15/26 × Tenure of Service, where:
• The ratio 15/26 represents 15 out of 26 working days a month.
• Last Drawn Salary = Basic Salary + Dearness Allowance.
• Tenure of Service is rounded up or down to the nearest full year. For example,
if the employee has a total service of 10 years, 10 months, and 25 days, 11
years will be factored into the calculation.
• Gratuity is exempt from taxation provided that the amount does not exceed 15
days’ salary for every completed year of service calculated on the last drawn
salary (subject to a maximum of INR 2 million).
• An employer can choose to pay more gratuity to an employee, which is known
as ex-gratia and is a voluntary contribution. Ex-gratia is subject to tax.
The Ayushman Bharat Scheme
• The Ayushman Bharat Scheme, launched in 2018, is a national health
protection scheme by the Government of India.
• It's a flagship program addressing health issues at primary, secondary,
and tertiary levels.
• Recommended by the National Health Policy 2017, it aims to overcome
gaps in previous schemes like Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana.
• The Ayushman Bharat Scheme was introduced, targeting health concerns at
all three levels.
• Two initiatives under this program are Health and Wellness Centres and
Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.
• Key Components of the Ayushman Bharat Scheme
• Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs)
• Under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme scheme, the existing network of
primary health centres and sub-centres are upgraded to Health and Wellness
Centres (HWCs).
• This component of the scheme was announced by the Government of India
in February 2018. Over the next few years, around 1,50,000 HWCs will be
established in the country.
• Comprehensive primary health care (CPHC), which covers maternal and
child health services and non-communicable diseases, is delivered at these
centres.
• Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY)
• Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) is the second component of the
Ayushman Bharat Scheme, which was launched by the Hon’ble Prime
Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, on 23rd September 2018.
• The government aims to bring demand-led reforms in the healthcare sector
in order to facilitate the immediate hospitalization needs of vulnerable
families and thereby protect them from catastrophic financial shocks.
• Although several health insurance schemes are under operation in various
states, most are confined to particular states and operated independently.
• Different databases were opted by different states to identify the beneficiaries
of such schemes.
• Thus, with the aim of ensuring comprehensive coverage for catastrophic
illness and convergent various health insurance schemes across the states,
Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) was launched.
• Ayushman Bharat Scheme Features and Benefits
• The Ayushman Bharat PMJAY scheme has several significant features and benefits:
• With a vast scope, the Ayushman Bharat PMJAY is considered the largest health
assurance/insurance scheme in the world.
• The scheme is funded completely by the Government and it provides financial protection to
several secondary and tertiary care hospitalisations.
• The scheme provides Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year to all the poor and vulnerable families,
to meet their secondary and tertiary care hospitalization needs.
• These beneficiaries are chosen from the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) of 2011.
Nearly 10.74 crore families (40% of the bottom population of the country) are covered
under this healthcare scheme.
• Out of that, around 8 crore families are from the rural areas and the remaining from
the urban areas.
• The beneficiaries of this scheme are entitled to receive cashless access to the health care
services across the various public as well as private hospitals in India which are empanelled
under the scheme. The benefits can be availed across the country.
• Primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare services are provided to the
scheme beneficiaries.
• The scheme covers the medical expenses up to 3 days of pre-hospitalization
and 15 days of post-hospitalization. Pre-existing health conditions are also
covered under the insurance scheme.
• Around 1,393 procedures are included under the scheme. The beneficiaries
can avail of these treatments, including medicines, physician’s fees, room
and ICU charges, etc, free of cost.