1)Measures to check price rise and hoarding :-
Background :-Recently, due to black marketing and hoarding price of certain commodities have sky-rocketed.Usually hoarding was thought of as a localized phenomenon , however , recent trends indicate towards an organized hoarding.In the recent event of Chennai Floods, people have witnessed day-light robbery in the form of exorbitant price of certain commodities.Hoarders are exploiting the situations such as calamities and deficient monsoon to benefit themselves. The worrisome fact is that , the benefits are not reaching the farmers , instead it is the middle man who is getting all the benefits.In light of this , Central and state governments have taken certain measures to whiplash the hoarders.
Legal Instruments :-
- Essential Commodities Act, 1955
- Prevention of Black-marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act, 1980
Policy Interventions:-
- Price Stabilization Fund is being implemented to regulate price volatility of agricultural commodities.
- Higher MSP has been announced so as to incentivize production and thereby enhance availability of food items which may help moderate prices
2)Panchi :-Wheeled version of UAV Nishant
A product improvement project-Panchi (Wheeled version of Nishant), catering to the Army requirement of conventional take-off and landing has been undertaken. The project is in an advanced stage of development. Panchi could be utilized by Army for their tactical UAV requirements.
3)National De-Worming Programme :-
The expected goal is to maintain coverage of more than 75% of school children with Albendazole, till Soil Transmitted Helminths (STH) ceases to become public health problem.
The de-worming program is accompanied by awareness generation activities, like Information, Education and Communication (IEC) strategies focusing on sanitation, hygiene and use of clean drinking water etc., besides administration of deworming drug.
4) ASPIRE -A Scheme for Promotion of Innovation, Rural Industry and Entrepreneurship :-
- Aspire Scheme Launched to Promote Rural Entrepreneurship
- The planned outcomes of ASPIRE are setting up Technology Business Incubators (TBI), Livelihood Business Incubators (LBI) and creation of a Fund of Funds for such initiatives with SIDBI.
5) SFURTI– Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries:-
- The objectives SFURTI is to organize the traditional industries and artisans into clusters to make them competitive and provide support for their long-term sustainability by way of enhancing the marketability of products, improving the skills of artisans, making provision for common facilities and strengthening the cluster governance systems.
6) Schemes related to Minority Affairs:-
- Seekho aur Kamao (Learn and Earn) – placement linked skill development scheme for minorities aims to upgrade various modern/traditional skills of minority youth enabling self-employment.
- USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/ Crafts for Development)–to preserve rich heritage of traditional arts/crafts of the minorities. It aims at capacity building and updating the traditional skills of master craftsmen/artisans; documentation of identified traditional arts/crafts of minorities; set standards for traditional skills; training minority youths in identified traditional arts/crafts through master craftsmen; and develop national and international market linkages.
- Nai Manzil :-An integrated education and livelihood initiative launched for school dropouts and Madarsa students
- MANAS – Maulana Azad National Academy for Skills – addresses all skill development needs of minority communities. It provides an all India Training framework with leading training partners in PPP Mode.
- Nai Roshni :-for Leadership Development of Minority Women with an aim to empower and instill confidence in women by providing knowledge, tools and techniques for interacting with Government systems, banks and intermediaries at all levels.
- Hamari Dharohar – to preserve the rich heritage of minority communities of India
7)SC backs appointment of priests as per Agamas :-
Reiterating that the fundamental right to freedom of religion is not confined to doctrines and beliefs but extends to “essential practices” done in pursuance of that faith, the Supreme Court held that appointment of archakas (priests) in Tamil Nadu temples as per the restrictions prescribed by the age-old Agamas (treatises) is not a violation of the right to equality.
SC invoked Article 16(5) of the Constitution to hold that “exclusion of some and inclusion of a particular segment or denomination for appointment as archakas would not violate Article 14 [right to equality]
Under Article 16 (5), the fundamental right to equality of opportunity will not affect a law mandating that an office-bearer of a religious or denominational institution should belong exclusively to a particular religion or denomination.
The judgment strikes a balance by not exactly striking down the Tamil Nadu government order of May 23, 2006, which allowed any qualified and trained Hindu to be appointed as priest in Hindu temples in the State.
Reasoning behind the judgement :-
- In the context of the Constitution Bench judgment of 1972 in the Seshammal case, the Supreme Court explained that Agamas were the “fundamental religious belief” of a particular sect.
- To justify this reasoning, the Bench referred to a century-old ruling of the Madras High Court in the Gopala Moopanar case which explained that the exclusion prescribed in the Agamas was not on the basis of caste, birth or pedigree. The Moopanar case revealed how some Agamas even excluded Brahmins from the sanctum sanctorum and duties of performance of pujas
Analysis :-
It it is essentially a case of Right to equal opportunity (Article – 16 ) vs Right to equality ( Article-14) and also includes Abolition of untouchability (Article 17)
SC was judging whether any of these rights are violated by Agamas.
The SC holds that it does not violate article – 16 or article -14 as it is in the interest of particular religion or sect to not only hold a certain belief or faith but also should be able to practice it.In this case , Agamas are fundamental belief of certain sect and they should be allowed to practice according to the text of Agamas as long as it does not violate the constitutional norms.
For the case of untouchability (article – 17) , SC holds that the exclusion prescribed in Agamas are not on the basis of birth,caste of pedigree and hence question of violation of article -17 does not arise.
What are Agamas:-
- The Agamas (Sanskrit: आगम) are a collection of scriptures of several Hindu devotional schools. The term literally means tradition or “that which has come down”, and the Agama texts describe cosmology, epistemology, philosophical doctrines, precepts on meditation and practices, four kinds of yoga, mantras, temple construction, deity worship and ways to attain sixfold desires
- These canonical texts are in Sanskrit and in south Indian languages such as Tamil (written in Grantha script and Tamil script)
- The Agama texts of Hinduism present a diverse range of philosophies, ranging from theistic dualism to absolute monism
- The three main branches of Agama texts are those of Shaivism (Shiva), Vaishnavism (Vishnu), Shaktism (Devi) which is also known as Tantra
- The Agamas literary genre may also be found in Śramaṇic traditions (i.e.Buddhist, Jaina etc.). Bali Hindu tradition is officially called Agama Hindu Dharma in Indonesia.
Each Agama consists of four parts:-
Jnana pada – knowledge of reality and liberation
Yoga pada – physical and mental discipline
Kriya pada – rules for rituals, construction of temples , design principles for sculpting, carving
Charya pada – lays down rules of conduct, of worship
The Saiva Agamas are found in four main schools – Kapala, Kalamukha, Pashupata and Saiva ; The Agamas of Kashmiri Saivism is also called the Trika Shastra.
The Shakta Agamas are commonly known as Tantras,and they are imbued with reverence for the feminine, representing goddess as the focus and treating the female as equal and essential part of the cosmic existence.
The Vaishnava Agamas are found into two main schools – Pancharatra and Vaikhanasas
Note- It is not necessary to remember the all details about Agamas ( the essence is essential though), but it is our duty to provide a holistic view of it. The reason is simple – UPSC is running out of questions and is asking questions which are very dynamic or were in news. Hence while covering the polity part we also covered the culture part .We can not afford ignorance.
8)Arbitration and Reconciliation Amendment Bill, 2015
Background – Passed by Lok Sabha , it was a questions in the MAINS this year.
- The Bill seeks to make the arbitration process more investor-friendly, cost-effective and suitable for expeditious disposal of cases. It will also facilitate in making India a hub of international commercial arbitration.
- Important provisions in the bill:-
- The Bill seeks to impose a time limit of 12 months for arbitrators to decide on disputes. Parties can also choose to fast track their arbitration within 6 months.
- Courts will also be asked to decide disputed arbitral awards within a year.
- The Bill also includes provisions specifying and restricting the term ‘Public Policy of India’ on whose ground an arbitral award could be challenged.
- According to the Bill, an award would be construed as against the Public Policy of India if it is induced or affected by fraud or corruption, or is in contravention of the fundamental policy of Indian law or is in conflict with the most basic notions of morality or justice.
9)Few Facts of importance:-
- Afghanistan has become the 164th WTO member
- India’s biggest Wildlife Rescue Centre has been commissioned at Gorewada near Nagpur, Maharashtra. It has been named as Gorewada Zoo and Wildlife
- RK Mathur becomes Chief Information Commissioner
- Nuclear Power Plants in News:-
- Kudankulam- Tamilnadu
- Jaitapur-Maharastra
- Kovvada- Andhra Pradesh
- Mithi Virdi – Gujrat
- The Great Indian Bustard bird which is confined in six states — Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh ; is a critically endangered. Population of this species is estimated to be less than 300. The population of this species is declining due to alteration of important bustard habitats due to industrialisation, mining, intensive agricultural practices, etc
11)Evidence of Buddhist monastery found:-
- A treasure trove of historical evidence of immense heritage value has been by found by archaeologists at the Vommili village of Andhra Pradesh
- The objects retrieved from a trial excavation on the surface include a standing image of the Vajrayana deity ‘Heruka’, a terracotta elephant head, conical mud bowls, thumb and finger print designs on pots, polished black ware, dull chocolate-coloured slipware and herringbone patterns.
- Most of the Buddhist heritage sites found in the city and in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts are located along the coast and had flourished between 3 century BC and 3 century AD. But this site is located in the hinterland, far from the coast, and it flourished for about a thousand years.
Vajrayāna:-
- Vajrayāna also known as Tantric Buddhism
- The period of Indian Vajrayāna Buddhism has been classified as the fifth or final period of Buddhism in India. Vajrayāna literature does not appear in the Pāli Canon and the Agamas.
- The distinctive feature of Vajrayana Buddhism is ritual, which is used as a substitute or alternative for the earlier abstract meditations.
Questions of the Day (150-200 words)
1)Recently Many state in India are banning Alcohol. Do you think it is a well reasoned and well founded act of the government? What are the pros and cons of banning alcohol.
2)Do you think the ” odd even formula” of banning cars in Delhi is only symbolic? Can it really achieve what it aims to ? Do you think it is enforceable ?
Source – http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/be-afraid-disasters-are-waiting-to-happen/article8000856.ece
Read the technology segment to answer this
3)Do you think it is wise for India to pursue Nuclear power ?What are the risks involved in it ?
Source- http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/on-the-indiajapan-civil-nuclear-deal/article7996972.ece
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On March 31, the World Economic Forum (WEF) released its annual Gender Gap Report 2021. The Global Gender Gap report is an annual report released by the WEF. The gender gap is the difference between women and men as reflected in social, political, intellectual, cultural, or economic attainments or attitudes. The gap between men and women across health, education, politics, and economics widened for the first time since records began in 2006.
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]No need to remember all the data, only pick out few important ones to use in your answers.
The Global gender gap index aims to measure this gap in four key areas : health, education, economics, and politics. It surveys economies to measure gender disparity by collating and analyzing data that fall under four indices : economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.
The 2021 Global Gender Gap Index benchmarks 156 countries on their progress towards gender parity. The index aims to serve as a compass to track progress on relative gaps between women and men in health, education, economy, and politics.
Although no country has achieved full gender parity, the top two countries (Iceland and Finland) have closed at least 85% of their gap, and the remaining seven countries (Lithuania, Namibia, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Rwanda, and Ireland) have closed at least 80% of their gap. Geographically, the global top 10 continues to be dominated by Nordic countries, with —Iceland, Norway, Finland, and Sweden—in the top five.
The top 10 is completed by one country from Asia Pacific (New Zealand 4th), two Sub-Saharan countries (Namibia, 6th and Rwanda, 7th, one country from Eastern Europe (the new entrant to the top 10, Lithuania, 8th), and another two Western European countries (Ireland, 9th, and Switzerland, 10th, another country in the top-10 for the first time).There is a relatively equitable distribution of available income, resources, and opportunities for men and women in these countries. The tremendous gender gaps are identified primarily in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia.
Here, we can discuss the overall global gender gap scores across the index’s four main components : Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment.
The indicators of the four main components are
(1) Economic Participation and Opportunity:
o Labour force participation rate,
o wage equality for similar work,
o estimated earned income,
o Legislators, senior officials, and managers,
o Professional and technical workers.
(2) Educational Attainment:
o Literacy rate (%)
o Enrollment in primary education (%)
o Enrollment in secondary education (%)
o Enrollment in tertiary education (%).
(3) Health and Survival:
o Sex ratio at birth (%)
o Healthy life expectancy (years).
(4) Political Empowerment:
o Women in Parliament (%)
o Women in Ministerial positions (%)
o Years with a female head of State (last 50 years)
o The share of tenure years.
The objective is to shed light on which factors are driving the overall average decline in the global gender gap score. The analysis results show that this year’s decline is mainly caused by a reversal in performance on the Political Empowerment gap.
Global Trends and Outcomes:
– Globally, this year, i.e., 2021, the average distance completed to gender parity gap is 68% (This means that the remaining gender gap to close stands at 32%) a step back compared to 2020 (-0.6 percentage points). These figures are mainly driven by a decline in the performance of large countries. On its current trajectory, it will now take 135.6 years to close the gender gap worldwide.
– The gender gap in Political Empowerment remains the largest of the four gaps tracked, with only 22% closed to date, having further widened since the 2020 edition of the report by 2.4 percentage points. Across the 156 countries covered by the index, women represent only 26.1% of some 35,500 Parliament seats and 22.6% of over 3,400 Ministers worldwide. In 81 countries, there has never been a woman head of State as of January 15, 2021. At the current rate of progress, the World Economic Forum estimates that it will take 145.5 years to attain gender parity in politics.
– The gender gap in Economic Participation and Opportunity remains the second-largest of the four key gaps tracked by the index. According to this year’s index results, 58% of this gap has been closed so far. The gap has seen marginal improvement since the 2020 edition of the report, and as a result, we estimate that it will take another 267.6 years to close.
– Gender gaps in Educational Attainment and Health and Survival are nearly closed. In Educational Attainment, 95% of this gender gap has been closed globally, with 37 countries already attaining gender parity. However, the ‘last mile’ of progress is proceeding slowly. The index estimates that it will take another 14.2 years to close this gap on its current trajectory completely.
In Health and Survival, 96% of this gender gap has been closed, registering a marginal decline since last year (not due to COVID-19), and the time to close this gap remains undefined. For both education and health, while progress is higher than economy and politics in the global data, there are important future implications of disruptions due to the pandemic and continued variations in quality across income, geography, race, and ethnicity.
India-Specific Findings:
India had slipped 28 spots to rank 140 out of the 156 countries covered. The pandemic causing a disproportionate impact on women jeopardizes rolling back the little progress made in the last decades-forcing more women to drop off the workforce and leaving them vulnerable to domestic violence.
India’s poor performance on the Global Gender Gap report card hints at a serious wake-up call and learning lessons from the Nordic region for the Government and policy makers.
Within the 156 countries covered, women hold only 26 percent of Parliamentary seats and 22 percent of Ministerial positions. India, in some ways, reflects this widening gap, where the number of Ministers declined from 23.1 percent in 2019 to 9.1 percent in 2021. The number of women in Parliament stands low at 14.4 percent. In India, the gender gap has widened to 62.5 %, down from 66.8% the previous year.
It is mainly due to women’s inadequate representation in politics, technical and leadership roles, a decrease in women’s labor force participation rate, poor healthcare, lagging female to male literacy ratio, and income inequality.
The gap is the widest on the political empowerment dimension, with economic participation and opportunity being next in line. However, the gap on educational attainment and health and survival has been practically bridged.
India is the third-worst performer among South Asian countries, with Pakistan and Afghanistan trailing and Bangladesh being at the top. The report states that the country fared the worst in political empowerment, regressing from 23.9% to 9.1%.
Its ranking on the health and survival dimension is among the five worst performers. The economic participation and opportunity gap saw a decline of 3% compared to 2020, while India’s educational attainment front is in the 114th position.
India has deteriorated to 51st place from 18th place in 2020 on political empowerment. Still, it has slipped to 155th position from 150th position in 2020 on health and survival, 151st place in economic participation and opportunity from 149th place, and 114th place for educational attainment from 112th.
In 2020 reports, among the 153 countries studied, India is the only country where the economic gender gap of 64.6% is larger than the political gender gap of 58.9%. In 2021 report, among the 156 countries, the economic gender gap of India is 67.4%, 3.8% gender gap in education, 6.3% gap in health and survival, and 72.4% gender gap in political empowerment. In health and survival, the gender gap of the sex ratio at birth is above 9.1%, and healthy life expectancy is almost the same.
Discrimination against women has also been reflected in Health and Survival subindex statistics. With 93.7% of this gap closed to date, India ranks among the bottom five countries in this subindex. The wide sex ratio at birth gaps is due to the high incidence of gender-based sex-selective practices. Besides, more than one in four women has faced intimate violence in her lifetime.The gender gap in the literacy rate is above 20.1%.
Yet, gender gaps persist in literacy : one-third of women are illiterate (34.2%) than 17.6% of men. In political empowerment, globally, women in Parliament is at 128th position and gender gap of 83.2%, and 90% gap in a Ministerial position. The gap in wages equality for similar work is above 51.8%. On health and survival, four large countries Pakistan, India, Vietnam, and China, fare poorly, with millions of women there not getting the same access to health as men.
The pandemic has only slowed down in its tracks the progress India was making towards achieving gender parity. The country urgently needs to focus on “health and survival,” which points towards a skewed sex ratio because of the high incidence of gender-based sex-selective practices and women’s economic participation. Women’s labour force participation rate and the share of women in technical roles declined in 2020, reducing the estimated earned income of women, one-fifth of men.
Learning from the Nordic region, noteworthy participation of women in politics, institutions, and public life is the catalyst for transformational change. Women need to be equal participants in the labour force to pioneer the societal changes the world needs in this integral period of transition.
Every effort must be directed towards achieving gender parallelism by facilitating women in leadership and decision-making positions. Social protection programmes should be gender-responsive and account for the differential needs of women and girls. Research and scientific literature also provide unequivocal evidence that countries led by women are dealing with the pandemic more effectively than many others.
Gendered inequality, thereby, is a global concern. India should focus on targeted policies and earmarked public and private investments in care and equalized access. Women are not ready to wait for another century for equality. It’s time India accelerates its efforts and fight for an inclusive, equal, global recovery.
India will not fully develop unless both women and men are equally supported to reach their full potential. There are risks, violations, and vulnerabilities women face just because they are women. Most of these risks are directly linked to women’s economic, political, social, and cultural disadvantages in their daily lives. It becomes acute during crises and disasters.
With the prevalence of gender discrimination, and social norms and practices, women become exposed to the possibility of child marriage, teenage pregnancy, child domestic work, poor education and health, sexual abuse, exploitation, and violence. Many of these manifestations will not change unless women are valued more.
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]2021 WEF Global Gender Gap report, which confirmed its 2016 finding of a decline in worldwide progress towards gender parity.
Over 2.8 billion women are legally restricted from having the same choice of jobs as men. As many as 104 countries still have laws preventing women from working in specific jobs, 59 countries have no laws on sexual harassment in the workplace, and it is astonishing that a handful of countries still allow husbands to legally stop their wives from working.
Globally, women’s participation in the labour force is estimated at 63% (as against 94% of men who participate), but India’s is at a dismal 25% or so currently. Most women are in informal and vulnerable employment—domestic help, agriculture, etc—and are always paid less than men.
Recent reports from Assam suggest that women workers in plantations are paid much less than men and never promoted to supervisory roles. The gender wage gap is about 24% globally, and women have lost far more jobs than men during lockdowns.
The problem of gender disparity is compounded by hurdles put up by governments, society and businesses: unequal access to social security schemes, banking services, education, digital services and so on, even as a glass ceiling has kept leadership roles out of women’s reach.
Yes, many governments and businesses had been working on parity before the pandemic struck. But the global gender gap, defined by differences reflected in the social, political, intellectual, cultural and economic attainments or attitudes of men and women, will not narrow in the near future without all major stakeholders working together on a clear agenda—that of economic growth by inclusion.
The WEF report estimates 135 years to close the gap at our current rate of progress based on four pillars: educational attainment, health, economic participation and political empowerment.
India has slipped from rank 112 to 140 in a single year, confirming how hard women were hit by the pandemic. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two Asian countries that fared worse.
Here are a few things we must do:
One, frame policies for equal-opportunity employment. Use technology and artificial intelligence to eliminate biases of gender, caste, etc, and select candidates at all levels on merit. Numerous surveys indicate that women in general have a better chance of landing jobs if their gender is not known to recruiters.
Two, foster a culture of gender sensitivity. Take a review of current policies and move from gender-neutral to gender-sensitive. Encourage and insist on diversity and inclusion at all levels, and promote more women internally to leadership roles. Demolish silos to let women grab potential opportunities in hitherto male-dominant roles. Work-from-home has taught us how efficiently women can manage flex-timings and productivity.
Three, deploy corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds for the education and skilling of women and girls at the bottom of the pyramid. CSR allocations to toilet building, the PM-Cares fund and firms’ own trusts could be re-channelled for this.
Four, get more women into research and development (R&D) roles. A study of over 4,000 companies found that more women in R&D jobs resulted in radical innovation. It appears women score far higher than men in championing change. If you seek growth from affordable products and services for low-income groups, women often have the best ideas.
Five, break barriers to allow progress. Cultural and structural issues must be fixed. Unconscious biases and discrimination are rampant even in highly-esteemed organizations. Establish fair and transparent human resource policies.
Six, get involved in local communities to engage them. As Michael Porter said, it is not possible for businesses to sustain long-term shareholder value without ensuring the welfare of the communities they exist in. It is in the best interest of enterprises to engage with local communities to understand and work towards lowering cultural and other barriers in society. It will also help connect with potential customers, employees and special interest groups driving the gender-equity agenda and achieve better diversity.