Deepor Beel, a Ramsar site near Guwahati in Assam, known for its fish and bird diversity and rich aquatic vegetation that attracts wild elephants, faces conservation threats from garbage dumping, quarrying, and the construction of a railway line, besides a smart city project.
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DEEPOR BEEL, a perennial freshwater lake located 10 km south-west of Guwahati city, is the only wetland in Assam designated as a site of importance for “conservation and sustainable use” under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. (The international treaty is named after Ramsar in Iran, where it was signed in 1971.)
The landscape of Deepor Beel, a riverine wetland in Kamrup district in the lower Brahmaputra valley, is dynamic, holding attraction for ornithologists, wildlife biologists and environmentalists. It is also a grooming site for bird enthusiasts as it sustains over 200 species of birds, including about 70 species of migratory birds.
Residents of Guwahati often visit or stop over at Deepor Beel for a breath of fresh air and get immersed in the serenity of the landscape. The lake attracts ecotourists and visitors from the across the world. However, the hard realities of increasing conservation threats to this unique biodiversity site lie hidden beneath the spectacular sights.
It is a treat to see wild Asiatic elephants from the Rani and Garbhanga Reserve Forests in Kamrup East Division bathing and feeding on nutritious aquatic food in the wetland. However, there is no guarantee that all the elephants foraging and frolicking in the water will return safely to the four elephant corridors crossing the railway track. For that matter, even their passage to the beel (lake) from the hills for a feast of the water hyacinth and shoots, rhizomes and flowers of the giant water lily, commonly known as makhana (Eueyale ferox), and other aquatic vegetation is fraught with danger.
Incidents of elephants getting run over or hit by speeding trains on the railway line running through the reserve forests and the Deepor Beel Wildlife Sanctuary in the section between Azara and Kamakhya railway stations are grim reminders of how environmental activists’ warnings against construction of railway lines through the wetland went unheeded. In the past two decades, at least 15 wild elephants were hit by passing trains while crossing the railway track.
About 50 fish species and aquatic resources provide livelihood support to about 1,200 households residing in about 12 villages on the fringes of the wetland. Some residents of these villages can be seen rowing their flat-bottomed boats to collect seeds of the giant water lily and nymphaea nuts that are in high demand in local markets.
Unregulated and increasing fishing activities have come into conflict with the activities of migratory birds. The winged visitors use the wetland as a staging site for depositing fats by preying on the fish species.
Birdlife international declared Deepor Beel as an Important Bird Area (IBA) site. Some of the unique migratory bird species that can be spotted here are the white-eyed pochard, the greylag goose, Baer’s pochard and the gadwall, a dabbling duck.
The ecosystem
The Deepor Beel, which was notified under the Guwahati Water Bodies (Preservation and Conservation) Act, 2008, is the only major storm water drainage for the ever-expanding capital city. Mora Bharalu, an abandoned 13.5-km-long channel of the river Bharalu, which flows through the city, and the Basistha-Bahini rivers are the inlets that carry rainwater and untreated sewage to Deepor Beel. The city with a population of 12 lakh does not have a sewage treatment plant. The Khandajan outlet situated in the north-eastern section of the beel is connected with the river Brahmaputra.
The Rani and Garbhanga hills, the habitat of the Asiatic elephants in the southern side of the beel, are part of this ecosystem. Some parts of the hill landscape of the wetland are getting denuded owing to stone mining and earth excavation while heaps of unsegregated municipal solid waste from Guwahati are getting dumped in the Boragaon landfill site near the wetland.
The major villages in the catchment areas of the wetland are Chakardeo, Pamohi, Sakardhum Mikir, Matia Pahar, Deochotal, Maghuwapara, Banghara Than, Dharapur Chariali, Gorchuk and Boragaon.
Following a right to information (RTI) petition, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed the Assam government to take steps to declare Deepor Beel an eco-sensitive zone in order to address the growing conservation threats to it. The government has submitted the draft notification to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The NGT, in its order on December 1, 2020, directed the Ministry to file a status report.
Fragmentation of elephant habitat
In its affidavit to the NGT, the State government stated that the Wildlife Institute of India proposed in 2019—on the basis of a feasibility study conducted by the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System Limited for alternative alignment of the railway line in order to avoid the elephant corridor between Azara and Kamakhya stations—that the most suitable alternative would be “realignment/northern alignment of the railway track outside ‘Deepar Beel’ as it will completely avoid the elephant-prone area and also it will not affect the entire ‘Deepor Beel’ and any major habitations”. This was the same suggestion put forward by those who opposed the construction of the railway track running through the wetland decades ago.
The Northeast Frontier Railway authorities are yet to take a decision on the realignment of the track.
Shrinking area
Contradictory positions of the River Rejuvenation Committee (RRC), Assam, and Guwahati Smart City Projects Limited on the total area of Deepor Beel is a reflection of the hard realities of the wetland standing at the crossroads of development priorities and conservation challenges.
“The notified area of the beel is about 6.89 sq. km. Though earlier reports indicate 40 sq. km of beel area, the current total wetland area is about 13 to 15 sq. km,” claims Guwahati Smart City Projects Limited. The Action Plan for Deepor Beel approved by the RRC, on the other hand, states: “Ramsar Convention in 2002 declared 40.14 sq. km as Deepor Beel wetland and 4.14 sq. km area was proposed as a bird sanctuary under the Wildlife Protection Act of India, 1972 (Government of Assam, 1989).
The beel is part of the elephant habitat and contiguous to Rani and Garbhanga reserve forests. Increased presence of human beings on the southern bank of the wetland may lead to stopping of the movement of wild elephants from Rani and Garbhanga reserve forests to Deepor Beel permanently.
The department wrote to the Guwahati Smart City Projects Limited authorities suggesting that the watch tower and a restaurant with a picnic spot should be constructed on the northern bank of the lake as per the Government of India’s Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017.
Conservation threats
An experts’ team constituted by the erstwhile Planning Commission in 2008 to review the status of implementation of the National Wetland Conservation and Management Programme of the Ministry of Environment and Forests identified the following major threats to the Deepor Beel ecosystem: Fragmentation of hydrological regime, siltation, pollution, encroachment and land reclamation, species invasion, including alien species, unregulated recreation and tourism, over-harvesting of resources and climate change.
“Large-scale encroachment, heavy siltation from the denuded hills surrounding the beel, accumulation of all sorts of filth and wastes from the Bharalu and Bahini rivers, unregulated fishing practice, invasion of aquatic weeds, industrial development within its periphery, construction of railway line along the southern boundary, quarrying within the beel ecosystem, etc., have pushed this once-pristine ecosystem to the brink of disappearance,” the report submitted by the expert team stated.
The threats have only increased over the past decade or so. The Action Plan for Deepor Beel approved by the RRC corroborates this. “The total area of the polluted stretch of Deepar Beel is 40.14 sq. km. The area has been suffering from environmental degradation due to continuous encroachment and waste dumping as the Guwahati Municipality dump yard (24 hectares) located in Boragaon, lies in the eastern corner of Deepor Beel.
The encroachment of the beel is very evident and rampant as there are a number of dwelling units and cement structures and hence encroachment and settlements around the periphery has contributed to the shrinking of the beel. The wetland ecosystem is disturbed by the railways’ railroad in the southern boundary and the embankment for the railroad has resulted in the water flow blockage,” states the plan.
The beel has 111 species belonging to free floating, submerged and emergent weeds/plants besides swamp/marsh and wetland hydrophytes while the fauna in the wetland and adjacent forests comprise some 201 species of birds and 21 species of mammals.
Dumping site
Adjutant storks and rag pickers sharing scavenging space at the dumping site at Boragoan and the dumping site posing a threat to the wetland are pixels of an enlarged picture of a flawed model of development that often comes into conflict with environment protection.
Smoke billowing from heaps of unsegregated and untreated solid waste and the stink emanating from the filthy and hazardous waste fail to deter rag pickers as their livelihood compulsion overshadows health hazards.
In response to an application filed by the RTI activist Rohit Choudhury, the Assam government submitted to the NGT on June 23, 2015, through an affidavit that “steps have been initiated to shift the municipal dumping site away from West Boragaon”. More than five years and eight months have elapsed since then, but heaps of garbage have only grown bigger as the municipal waste of Guwahati city continues to be dumped there.
The government submitted to the NGT that the dumping site would be shifted once the four proposed decentralised solid waste management facilities in the city commenced and gave December 31, 2019, as the tentative date for discontinuation of dumping at the Boragoan landfill site.
“This wetland is not only known for its fish and bird diversity but is a major natural water reservoir for Guwahati city and its adjoining areas. Its conservation is crucial to avoid an ecological catastrophe in the area, which could affect local livelihood.
Unplanned urbanisation
However, in the past two decades, unplanned urbanisation around Deepor Beel has reduced the original water spread area, which is a cause of worry. If the existing landscape of Deepor Beel is further altered, it could trigger flash floods in the area.
The experts’ team sounded the alarm bell in its report: “Deepor is the best indicator of the environmental quality of the city, and the day the birds cease to flock the beel, it will confirm the complete transformation of the once green city into a quagmire of pollution.”
Inordinate delay in preventing garbage dumping at the site, demarcation of the wetland’s boundary, notification of the eco-sensitive zone and implementation of an integrated management plan is pushing DeeporBeel to the brink. The growth of commercial, institutional and residential activities in the wetland landscape has sought to amplify the fears expressed by environmental experts 12 years ago.
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Steve Ovett, the famous British middle-distance athlete, won the 800-metres gold medal at the Moscow Olympics of 1980. Just a few days later, he was about to win a 5,000-metres race at London’s Crystal Palace. Known for his burst of acceleration on the home stretch, he had supreme confidence in his ability to out-sprint rivals. With the final 100 metres remaining,
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]Ovett waved to the crowd and raised a hand in triumph. But he had celebrated a bit too early. At the finishing line, Ireland’s John Treacy edged past Ovett. For those few moments, Ovett had lost his sense of reality and ignored the possibility of a negative event.
This analogy works well for the India story and our policy failures , including during the ongoing covid pandemic. While we have never been as well prepared or had significant successes in terms of growth stability as Ovett did in his illustrious running career, we tend to celebrate too early. Indeed, we have done so many times before.
It is as if we’re convinced that India is destined for greater heights, come what may, and so we never run through the finish line. Do we and our policymakers suffer from a collective optimism bias, which, as the Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman once wrote, “may well be the most significant of the cognitive biases”? The optimism bias arises from mistaken beliefs which form expectations that are better than the reality. It makes us underestimate chances of a negative outcome and ignore warnings repeatedly.
The Indian economy had a dream run for five years from 2003-04 to 2007-08, with an average annual growth rate of around 9%. Many believed that India was on its way to clocking consistent double-digit growth and comparisons with China were rife. It was conveniently overlooked that this output expansion had come mainly came from a few sectors: automobiles, telecom and business services.
Indians were made to believe that we could sprint without high-quality education, healthcare, infrastructure or banking sectors, which form the backbone of any stable economy. The plan was to build them as we went along, but then in the euphoria of short-term success, it got lost.
India’s exports of goods grew from $20 billion in 1990-91 to over $310 billion in 2019-20. Looking at these absolute figures it would seem as if India has arrived on the world stage. However, India’s share of global trade has moved up only marginally. Even now, the country accounts for less than 2% of the world’s goods exports.
More importantly, hidden behind this performance was the role played by one sector that should have never made it to India’s list of exports—refined petroleum. The share of refined petroleum exports in India’s goods exports increased from 1.4% in 1996-97 to over 18% in 2011-12.
An import-intensive sector with low labour intensity, exports of refined petroleum zoomed because of the then policy regime of a retail price ceiling on petroleum products in the domestic market. While we have done well in the export of services, our share is still less than 4% of world exports.
India seemed to emerge from the 2008 global financial crisis relatively unscathed. But, a temporary demand push had played a role in the revival—the incomes of many households, both rural and urban, had shot up. Fiscal stimulus to the rural economy and implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission scales had led to the salaries of around 20% of organized-sector employees jumping up. We celebrated, but once again, neither did we resolve the crisis brewing elsewhere in India’s banking sector, nor did we improve our capacity for healthcare or quality education.
Employment saw little economy-wide growth in our boom years. Manufacturing jobs, if anything, shrank. But we continued to celebrate. Youth flocked to low-productivity service-sector jobs, such as those in hotels and restaurants, security and other services. The dependence on such jobs on one hand and high-skilled services on the other was bound to make Indian society more unequal.
And then, there is agriculture, an elephant in the room. If and when farm-sector reforms get implemented, celebrations would once again be premature. The vast majority of India’s farmers have small plots of land, and though these farms are at least as productive as larger ones, net absolute incomes from small plots can only be meagre.
A further rise in farm productivity and consequent increase in supply, if not matched by a demand rise, especially with access to export markets, would result in downward pressure on market prices for farm produce and a further decline in the net incomes of small farmers.
We should learn from what John Treacy did right. He didn’t give up, and pushed for the finish line like it was his only chance at winning. Treacy had years of long-distance practice. The same goes for our economy. A long grind is required to build up its base before we can win and celebrate. And Ovett did not blame anyone for his loss. We play the blame game. Everyone else, right from China and the US to ‘greedy corporates’, seems to be responsible for our failures.
We have lowered absolute poverty levels and had technology-based successes like Aadhaar and digital access to public services. But there are no short cuts to good quality and adequate healthcare and education services. We must remain optimistic but stay firmly away from the optimism bias.
In the end, it is not about how we start, but how we finish. The disastrous second wave of covid and our inability to manage it is a ghastly reminder of this fact.
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.
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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.