08 May 2023

DAILY QUESTIONS & MODEL ANSWERS

Q1. Phygital education – a hybrid of physical and digital education systems is a good way forward to improve learning outcomes in the country but enabling infrastructure needs to be put in place for it be a success. Discuss. (250 words)

Paper & Topic: GS II – Social Issues

Model Answer:

Introduction:

• Covid-19 pandemic made us look into the new way of imparting education that is through “blended learning”. Phygital Education or Blended learning in simple words is the amalgamation of physical learning and digital learning.

Body:

Why physical education could be a good way forward?

• Phygital education has been most sought out in the recent times as there is a considerable drop seen students’ interest in learning new things dwindling more than ever.
• This is seconded with insanely high amount of dropout rates being witnessed by educational institutions worldwide.
• The world is evolving today at a breakneck pace and so are the demands to survive in it.
• Phygital education is a kind of learning that not only helps students upskill their soft skills but also explore different career paths to be prepared for tomorrow.
• Phygital learning has the capability to ditch the monotony of regular schooling by reforming education.
• It has the opportunity to foster a lucrative environment that inspires each student to take strides of innovation by upskilling and birthing the much-needed inquisitiveness in them towards everyday learning.
• Gamification of learning a much optimistic way of making students master difficult to grasp concepts has been possible because of phygital education. This approach is especially helpful for young learners who have a shorter attention span and have a natural love for gaming.
• It provides a new edge to the tedious everyday wearisome learning by motivating students as it uses video game design and game elements in traditional learning environments.
• The outcome- maximized enjoyment and engagement in capturing the interest of learners and inspiration added in them to continue learning.

Challenges in Phygital education:

• Majority colleges in rural areas: The latest All India Survey on Higher Education (2019-20) report shows that 56% of the 42,343 colleges in India are located in rural areasand 78.6% are privately managed.
• Poor internet penetration:Internet penetration in India is only 45% as of January 2021. This policy will only worsen the existing geographical and digital divide resulting in the exclusion of a large number of rural students.
• All-round development hampered: Phygital learning leaves little room for the all-round formation of the student that includes the development of their intelligent quotient, emotional quotient, social quotient, physical quotient and spiritual quotient.
• Dropout rates might increase: Blended learning mode assumes that all students who enter the arena of higher education have similar learning styles and have a certain amount of digital literacy to cope with the suggested learning strategies of BL. This is far from true.
• Education in India is driven by a teacher-centred approach. Expecting these students to switch over quickly to collaborative and technology-enabled learning will be stressful for them. It may increase the existing dropout rate in higher education.

Way forward:

• Equity in access: The government should ensure equity in access to technology and bandwidth for all HEIs across the country free of cost.
• Hassle-free access to students: building their digital literacy through simple, concise learning modules on how to operate a device and engage with a digital platform. Providing on-call support with minimum wait time via call centres, chatbots, etc, will help them overcome teething issues.
• Digital training for teachers: Massive digital training programmes must be arranged for teachers.
• Appointment of new teachers: Even the teacher-student ratio needs to be readjusted to implement BL effectively. This may require the appointment of a greater number of teachers.
• Curriculum design: The design of the curriculum should be decentralized and based on a bottom-up approach.  Curriculum frameworks need to be developed that encourage the creation of competency-based micro modular courses.
• Also, switching over from a teacher-centric mode of learning at schools to the BL mode at the tertiary level will be difficult for learners. Hence, the government must think of overhauling the curriculum at the school level as well.
• More power with state governments: More power in such education-related policymaking should be vested with the State governments.
• Periodic feedback and discussion: Finally, periodical discussions, feedback mechanisms and support services at all levels would revitalize the implementation of the learning programme of the National Education Policy 2020 and BL. It’ll lead to the realization of three fundamental principles of education policy: access, equity and quality.
• The government of our country actively endorsing and initiating steps in the field of Phygital learning makes us believe more in the fact that it is here to stay in India and is the future of learning.
• The government’s vision of a digital university to reach all students across the country, with its promise of personalized teaching at the doorstep, should be considered a landmark step in Indian education.

Conclusion:

• Phygital education has the potential to transform education in India. It is the future because it contextualizes and reimagines education. Blended education opens up immense opportunities for capacity building among frontline workers. It holds high empowerment potential because it can enable adults, especially women, resume education. Phygital education can serve as an engine of economic growth and a transformative force that empowers every Indian.

Q2. Analyse the potential of hydroelectric power in meeting India’s energy security targets? What are the associated risks which affect hydro power generation? (250 words)

Paper & Topic: GS III – Renewable Energy related issues

Model Answer:

Introduction:

• Hydroelectric power projects basically generate electricity from flowing water.  Pumped storage hydro (PSH) plants are storage systems based on hydropower operations between two or more reservoirs (upper and lower) with an elevation difference. PSH plants are highly useful options for the integration of Renewable Energy power with the power system. India is blessed with immense amount of hydro-electric potential and ranks 5th in terms of exploitable hydro-potential on global scenario.

Body:

India’s Energy Scenario:

• As of December 2021, the installed generation capacity of the country stood at 393GW.
• It comprises 235GW of thermal, 151GW of renewable (wind, solar, hydro and biomass) and 78GW of nuclear.
• India saw its peak electricity demand surpass 200GW in 2021.
• India is the third largest producer and consumer of electricity globally, with annual electricity production of around 1,200-1,300TWh and one of the largest synchronous power grids.

Potential of hydroelectric power in meeting India’s energy security targets:

• In India, PSH potential of about 120GW has been identified at about 120 sites.
• Only nine plants with an installed capacity of 4,785MW have been commissioned so far, and three with a capacity of 2.7GW are under construction.
• Apart from these, about 17 PSH projects with a capacity of 16.5GW in different states are under various stages of implementation.
• Pumped storage schemes use domestically produced material and even the electrical mechanical parts are made in India, so PSH plants can serve the aims of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

Associated risks which affect hydropower generation:

• Generation of Hydro power depends on the availability of water. When water is not available in the lean season, in summer and in drought year the generation drops.
• Other issues like social impact, where lot of people get displaced, livelihood and resources are affected. There are environmental impacts, Disaster related impacts.
• Most of the new projects are coming up in Himalayan region which is vulnerable to disaster in terms of earth quake, landslides, erosion, and flash floods. In the era of climate change there are glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF)which is because of the lakes which are created by the melting of glaciers which consists of boulders and silt.
• There are issues of generation performance. 89% of India’s installed capacity does not generate power at the promised level.
• There is the issue of Siltation and maintenance of Hydro power projects. Silt reduces the storage capacity and proportionally the power generation also goes down.
• Hydro power projects do not consume fuel and it is assumed that there is no carbon foot print which is not correct. The World Commission on Damshas shown how the power generated particularly in tropical countries generates Methane. In one molecule of Methane there is 22 times more potent Green House Gas than CO2.
• Hydro power projects involve deforestation which reduces the carbon sinks and thereby putting back more carbon into the atmosphere.
• With climate change on the rise, the frequency and intensity of Droughts will increase in the coming years. The rainfall patterns are changing. This will impact the power generation capacity of the Hydro power projects.
• Every Hydro power projects are plagued by cost and time overruns. The reason is lack in the appraisal mechanism particularly geological appraisal.
• Hydro and PSH projects are a state government legislative subject, and require the support of many policymakers, including the MoP, MoEF&CC and electricity regulators, apart from state governments.

Way forward:

• There is a need to appraise the projects properly, have proper Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)and proper public consultation process.
• We should maintain the catchment area properly if not the rainfall which comes as flash floods damages the project.
• Micro-hydel projects may also be promoted, as these have less of an adverse social and environmental impact on local communities.
• Large, ‘smart’ hydropower projects may be developed, taking into account the economic, environmental and social concerns of local and downstream communities, in addition to national economic benefits.
• Technical provisions in smart projects can minimize the impacts on aquatic life and terrestrial ecosystems.
• India is using more of ground water and this reduces the surface water flow in the downstream area. All these factors should be taken into account while assessing the generation of Hydro power projects.
• For prioritizing projects, in addition to capital cost and energy supplied, PSH developers and policymakers should consider factors that include the location of the project, duration of storage, availability of a pre-feasibility report, detailed surveys, investigations and project reports, etc, and the cost of the energy supplied, as well as the value of the flexibility assured by it.
• An appropriate policy framework that lets costs and benefits be shared can increase the overall value for primary and end consumers.