1)Culture of Karnataka :-
Background – Address by the President of India at the second Annual Convocation of the Central University of Karnataka . Thought the address itself is not important , however he touched upon few things that are part of our course and culture.
- Karnataka is a historical land marked by its multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-lingual nature. Buddhism, Jainism, Veera-shaivism or Lingayitism and Islam have flourished here
- The Vachana Movement, Sufi saints, Keertanakaras and the Thatva Padakaaras have shaped the hearts and minds of the people of this region. Urdu and Persian literatures have flourished here and so to Kannada folk literature, which gave this region its indigenous identity.
- It is the seat of two universities in the past – Anubhava Mantapa of Basavanna and Mahmud Gawan’s Madrsa – both of which attracted intellectuals from across the country and abroad.
- It is also worth mentioning about Sannati, an ancient Buddhist centre of learning, and Nagavi Ghatikasthan.
Lingayatism /Veera- Shaivism and Basavanna:-
It is a distinct Shaivite denomination practiced in India. It makes several departures from mainstream Hinduism and propounds monotheism through worship centered on Lord Shiva (formless, infinite god) in the form of Ishtalinga.
Contemporary Lingayatism is a rich blend of reform-based theology propounded by Basava and ancient Shaivite tradition and customs, with huge influence among the masses in South India, especially in the state of Karnataka
108 Feet Basava Statue at Bidar
Anubhava Mantapa was an academy of mystics, saints and philosophers of the Lingayat faith in the 12th century. It was the fountainhead of all religious and philosophical thought pertaining to the Lingayat.
It was presided over by the mystic Allama Prabhu and numerous Sharanas from all over Karnataka and other parts of India were participants. This institution was also the fountainhead of the Vachana literature which was used as the vector to propagate Lingayata religious and philosophical thought.
Other giants of Lingayat theosophy like Akka Mahadevi, Channabasavanna and Basavanna himself were participants in the Anubhava Mantapa. The Anubhava Mantapa was originally called the Shivanubhava Mantapa
Vachana Sahitya:-
Vachana sahitya is a form of rhythmic writing in Kannada that evolved in the 11th century C.E. and flourished in the 12th century, as a part of the Sharna movement. The word vachanas literally means “(that which is) said”.
Poets – Madara Chennaiah, Basava
Mahmud Gawan’s Madrsa:-
The Madrasa of Mahmud Gawan (Madrasa-e-Mahmud Gawan) is an ancient university located in Bidar – the City of Whispering Monuments. This heritage structure is placed under the list of monuments of national importance. Founded by the prime-minister of the Bahamani empire in the late 15th century, it bears testimony to the scholarly genius of Mahmud Gawan.
Mahmud reportedly built the madrasa with his own money and it functioned like a residential University
2)All that is to be understood about Syrian Crisis:-
3)All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) :-
The survey covers all the Higher Education (HE) institutions of the country including Universities, Colleges and Stand-Alone institutions. The entire survey has been voluntary, based on motivation of respondents; and without any statutory mandate in place for collecting information of this nature
The major findings of the AISHE 2014-15 are as follows –
- Increase in overall enrolment from 27.5 million in 2010-11 to 33.3 million in 2014-15
- Improvement in Gross Enrolment Ratio which is a ratio of enrolment in higher education to population in the eligible age group (18-23) years from 19.4% on 2010-11 to 23.6% in 2014-15
- Gender Parity Index (GPI), a ratio of proportional representation of female and male, has marginally improved from 0.86 to 0.93 to the corresponding period.
- Number of institutions of higher education listed on AISHE portal has also increased significantly
The Survey was initiated in the year 2011 to prepare a robust data-base on higher education. Keeping in view the usefulness of data collected during the very first year, Ministry decided to make this survey an annual exercise of data collection in higher education sector.
4)Insurance Cover to Unorganised Labourers –
The Government has enacted ‘Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008’ for the welfare of unorganised workers. The Act provides for formulation of suitable welfare schemes for unorganised workers on matters relating to:
(i) life and disability cover,
(ii) health and maternity benefits,
(iii) old age protection
(iv) any other benefit as may be determined by the Central Government through the National Social Security Board.
The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) implemented by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is a health insurance scheme which provides health and maternity benefits to the unorganized workers, listed in the Schedule I of the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008.
For insurance against death and disability, Department of Financial Services implements schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY)
Ministry of Labour and Employment implements Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) which covers death and disability along with a scholarship component for 2 children studying in class 9th to 12th standard
5) T K Vishwanathan Committee recommendation on Bankruptcy Law:-
Background:-
These changes are much-needed in the Indian context where, in most cases of large corporate defaults, banks are sitting ducks when it comes to recovery of money like in the case of Rs 7,000 crore default by Vijay-Mallya owned Kingfisher Airlines.
When the recovery process gets delayed by several years, the value of the underlying assets deteriorates. Large corporate defaults, including those by willful defaulters (promoters and companies, which have the ability to repay but wouldn’t do) form a significant part of the Rs 300,000 crore gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of Indian banks.
According to a 2014 World Bank report, the average time to resolve insolvency is four years in India, compared with 0.8 in Singapore and one year in London. The Vishwanathan panel too has observed that, the loan recovery rates obtained in India are among the lowest in the world. When default takes place, broadly speaking, lenders seem to recover 20 percent of the value of debt.
The biggest challenge for the bankruptcy code to work, however, is the intervention of judiciary in the insolvency cases
Recommendations:-
- It proposes creation of an insolvency regulator and setting a time limit of 180 days (which can be 90 days in special cases) to deal with insolvency resolution cases
- If 75 percent of the creditors approve the plan, the insolvency resolution process can kick off. If not, the adjudicating authority can order liquidation of the company
- It also recommended an administrative mechanism for resolving financial distress of viable MSMEs
- Speedy judicial resolution
- Provide a predictable system for
- (a) takeover of management or assets by the company administrator as part of the rescue process, and
- (b) governing the interrelationship between such administrator, the managerial personnel and the shareholders in the event of such takeover.
- Provide an enabling provision for raising ‘rescue finance’ and granting super-priority to such financiers as part of a scheme of revival
Insolvency:-When an individual or organization can no longer meet its financial obligations with its lender or lenders as debts become due. Insolvency can lead to insolvency proceedings, in which legal action will be taken against the insolvent entity, and assets may be liquidated to pay off outstanding debts
Bankruptcy:-Bankruptcy is a legal status of a person or other entity that cannot repay the debts it owes to creditors. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor.
Bankruptcy is not the only legal status that an insolvent person or other entity may have, and the term bankruptcy is therefore not a synonym for insolvency. In some countries, including the United Kingdom, bankruptcy is limited to individuals, and other forms of insolvency proceedings (such as liquidation and administration) are applied to companies. In the United States, bankruptcy is applied more broadly to formal insolvency proceedings.
Bankruptcy vs Insolvency :-
A state of insolvency can lead to bankruptcy. However, it is also possible that the state of insolvency could be temporary and fixable. Thus, insolvency does not necessarily lead to bankruptcy, but all bankrupt legal entities or persons are deemed to be insolvent.
6)Lok Sabha passed the National Water Way Bill :-
Read complete analysis here- http://upsctree.com/2015/12/10/09-and-10-dec-2015/
Yet to cover:-
Currently Juvenile Justice Bill (Amendment) and Bankruptcy bills are tabled in parliament , once the process is over we will cover it and analyze it depending upon the outcome of these bills.
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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.