GS PAPER: II

APAAR ID: What is it and how will it work?

Why in the news?

The Education Ministry has introduced the Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR) and directed schools to obtain the consent of parents to initiate the APAAR enrollment process.

What is APAAR ID?

• Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR ID) is a new student identification system being developed by the Indian government.
• It is part of the ‘One Nation, One Student ID’ initiative, which is aimed at creating a single, lifelong ID for all students in India.

How will it work?

• Every student will have a unique APAAR ID, which will be linked to their Aadhaar number. This will allow students to easily track their academic progress from pre-primary to higher education, even if they change schools.
• APAAR will also serve as a gateway to DigiLocker, a digital system where students can store their academic documents and achievements.

\What are the benefits of APAAR ID?

• Easier transfer between schools
• Reduced fraud: APAAR will help to reduce fraud and duplicate educational certificates by providing a single, trusted reference for educational institutions.
• Improved tracking of academic progress

Do You Know?

• Registration for APAAR ID is voluntary, not mandatory. Students can choose to either accept or decline sharing their Aadhaar number and demographic information with the Ministry of Education for creating the APAAR ID.

Analysis:

• APAAR ID is a new and innovative student identification system with the potential to revolutionize education in India.

GS Paper: I

Supreme Court Stays Amendment to Surrogacy Law

Why in the news?

Recently, the Supreme Court of India has protected the right of parenthood for a woman suffering from a rare medical condition by staying the operation of a law that threatened to wreck her hopes of becoming a mother through surrogacy.

• The woman, who has Mayer Rokitansky Kuster Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, was unable to produce her own eggs or oocytes and had begun the process of gestational surrogacy in December 2022.
• However, a government notification in March 2023 amended the law to ban the use of donor gametes, stating that “intending couples” must use their own gametes for surrogacy.
• The woman and her husband challenged the amendment in the Supreme Court as a violation of a woman’s right to parenthood. The court agreed with their argument and stayed the operation of the amendment, holding that it was prima facie contrary to the main provisions of the Surrogacy Act, 2021.

About Surrogacy Act, 2021

The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, was enacted to regulate and supervise the practise of surrogacy in India.

• The Act defines surrogacy as the practise where a woman agrees to carry and deliver a child for another couple with the intention of handing over the child to the couple after birth.

The eligibility criteria for intending couples are:

• They must be Indian citizens who have been married for at least five years.
• The female partner must be between 23 and 50 years of age, and the male partner must be between 26 and 55 years of age.
• They must not have any surviving children (biological, adopted, or surrogate).
• They must have a medical certificate certifying that they are unable to conceive or carry a child to term.

Eligibility criteria for surrogate mothers:

• They must be Indian citizens between the ages of 21 and 35 years.
• They must have at least one child of their own.
• They must have a medical certificate certifying that they are physically and mentally fit to be a surrogate mother.

The Act prohibits commercial surrogacy and only allows altruistic surrogacy, where no money is exchanged between the intending couple and the surrogate mother.

The Act also prohibits the use of donor gametes in surrogacy, except in cases where the intending couple is unable to produce their own gametes due to a medical condition.

The Act establishes a National Surrogacy Board and State Surrogacy Boards to regulate and supervise the practise of surrogacy in India.

GS PAPER: II

Army’s first Vertical Wind Tunnel (VWT)

Why in the news?

The Indian Army’s Special Forces Training School (SFTS) in Himachal Pradesh has acquired the Army’s first vertical wind tunnel (VWT). The VWT is a state-of-the-art training facility that will allow military trainees to improve their Combat Free Fall (CFF) skills in a safe and controlled environment.

The VWT functions by generating a powerful vertical airflow, which allows trainees to experience the feeling of freefall without having to jump from an aircraft. This makes it an ideal training tool for both beginners and experienced free-fallers.

The VWT has a wide range of benefits for CFF training. It allows trainees to:

• Practice and refine their freefall skills in a safe and controlled environment
• Simulate a wide range of CFF scenarios, such as formation flying, canopy control, and landing in difficult terrain
• Receive real-time feedback from instructors on their performance
• Build confidence and develop the skills they need to operate effectively in complex and challenging environments

The VWT is a valuable asset for the Indian Army’s CFF training programme. It will help to ensure that India’s special forces are equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in their missions.