16-11-2012, 02:13 PM
CAREER LAUNCHER
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Introduction
The history of education in India is as old as India itself. We have a rich heritage of the Gurukul
system of education for the elementary level and outstanding ancient universities like Takshshila,
and Nalanda. The educational system in India has kept pace with all the changes happening
around like invasions, the advent of the Mughals etc. But the biggest turn around came when the
British came to India. They believed that India was a barbaric country and that exposure to their
religion, language and literature would make us civilized. In 1835, Lord Macaulay proposed
minutes on education and that led to the change of the medium of instruction to English. The
basic system of education started by him is still very much intact in essence. After independence
the system accommodated many changes under the leadership of Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan.
In modern times, Indian educational institutions (such as the IITs, IISc, IIMs, NITs, AIIMS, ISI, JU,
BITS, and ISB) are well known in the world. The broader pattern of education in India as under:
Arguments in against the topic
• The biggest criticism that has come up is that our education system honours only merit.
An intelligent student, merely on the basis of his academics, cracks the top most exams
like IITJEE, CAT etc. to get the best of education and then also cracks the civil services
exam to get a top administrative job. This is a serious issue for the HRD ministry because
you can not honour only intelligence. Other factors which are equally important are
normally ignored.
• The Indian education system also faces the problem of how to create quality manpower for
the future demands of the Indian industry. Many surveys clearly show that we will have
huge numbers of educated manpower in the next 10 years, but still we will have an
enormous short fall of quality manpower. Our education system needs to address this
issue.
• Modern education in India is often criticized for being based on rote learning. Emphasis is
laid on passing examinations with a high percentage. Very few institutes give importance
to developing personality and creativity among students. Recently, the country has seen a
rise in instances of student suicides due to low marks and failures, especially in
metropolitan cities, even though such cases are very rare. The boards are recently trying
to improve quality of education by increasing percentage of practical and project marks.
Arguments in favour of the topic
• The government has already taken many measures to revamp the education system in
India. The “Sarva-Shiksha Abihyan” is doing very well. And we are close to achieving the
same across India as we have done in Kerala.
• Many rational changes have been made by CBSE in its curriculum. Now there is no failure
(read as exams) up to class 5th and hence students are free from all pressures.
• Many new updated courses have been introduced in senior classes which is directly in line
with the updated requirements of the industry. Subjects like financial planning; computer
programming, business studies, etc. have already been introduced.
• Many high level international schools have started imparting education of new standards.
• Many NGO’s with the support of the government are doing great work for providing quality
education to kids as well as adult slum dwellers for example “Teach India Campaign” by
Times of India etc.
Arguments against the topic
• Despite the best of the technical efforts the per unit energy produced by nuclear resources
continues to be the costliest at close to Rs. 3.35 per unit energy compared to its other
counter parts such as coal and hydro forms which cost us close to Rs.1.25 and Rs.2.5 per
unit energy respectively. So, as of now, the nuclear deal is not something to go “high”
about.
• The nuclear deal does not pave off instant development because even if the deal is okayed
it will take nearly 8 years to get implemented and that’s an official verdict. Looking at the
Indian scenario it might very well take a decade.
• The nuclear deal has been signed under the 123 agreement which clearly states as per
the official norms that any “party” (word used with reference to the country) signing the
deal cannot use the nuclear resources for defence purposes either directly or indirectly,
which means that India cannot do any more nuclear tests.
• Even if the ‘by product’ of the deal (official word used for nuclear resources by the United
States in the 123 agreement) gets available to us cheaply the biggest hurdle would be to
get rid of the radioactive waste which would be left after the utilization of nuclear
resources, unfortunately few have got the infrastructure to get rid of it.
• Looking at the current security status of our country “the biggest challenge would be to
make sure the nuclear resources do not get into the wrong hands” which might not only
prove to be the biggest security threat for our country but for the whole world as well.
Arguments in favour of the topic
• Looking at the way the population is increasing along with the effort of the Indian
government to push the “LPG” reforms post 1991, the concerns of energy security cannot
be neglected. The best way to secure the massive needs of infrastructure development is
to shift to the next level of energy sufficiency, and nuclear energy is surely the way ahead.
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• The ever expanding energy demand is expected to increase by 7 folds in the coming 15
years if we want to achieve the target set by the planning commission in the form of “vision
2025” it is a must to get rid of the dependence on non-renewable source of energy such as
coal, and the “deal” surely will help us reach that higher level of self dependence.
• India has always advocated the fact that it firmly stands by its commitment of “nonproliferation”
of nuclear arms and armaments, so the “deal” will send a positive signal to
the international community which will further help us to increase international cooperation
along the lines to international trade and hence developing the economy.
• The biggest competitor that India has faced in the race of development comes in the form
of the neighbouring country, China, nuclear energy will surely help us compete neck-toneck
with China, and the stiff rivalries will indirectly benefit the consumers counting on the
development of our economy as a whole.