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  • A new form of socialism powered by cooperative economic enterprises is required

    Context

    Inequalities of wealth have increased around the world and India is becoming one of the world’s most unequal countries.

    Role of globalisation and privatisation in increasing economic distress

    • Economic despair is feeding the rise of authoritarianism, nationalism, and identity politics.
    • Role of Globalisation: Opening national borders to free trade became an ideology in economics in the last 30 years.
    • Taxes of incomes and wealth at the top were also reduced.
    • The ideological justification was that the animal spirits of ‘wealth creators’ must not be dampened.
    • With higher taxes until the 1970s, the U.S. and many countries in Europe had built up their public health and education infrastructure and strengthened social security systems.
    • The rich are now being taxed much less than they were.
    • The pie has grown larger but the richest few have been eating, and hoarding, most of it themselves.
    • Role of privatisation: ‘Privatisation’ of everything became another ideological imperative in economics by the turn of the century.
    • Selling off public enterprises raises resources for funds-starved governments.
    • Another justification is efficiency in delivery of services, setting aside ethical questions of equity.
    • When ‘public’ is converted to ‘private’, rich people can buy what they need.
    • The gaps between the haves and the have-nots become larger.

    How liberal economic policies are creating illiberal societies

    • Liberal economists, promoting free markets, free trade, and privatisation, are worried by nationalism and authoritarian governments.
    • They rail against “populist” policies of governments that subsidise the poor and adopt industrial strategies for self-reliance and jobs for their citizens.
    • Liberals must re-examine their ideas of economics, to understand their own culpability in creating authoritarian and identitarian politics.

    The failure of capitalism and communism

    • While communism had lifted living standards, and the health and education of masses of poorer people faster than capitalism could, communism’s solution to the “property” question — that there should be no private property — was a failure.
    • It deprived people of personal liberties.
    • Capitalism’s solution to the property problem — replacing all publicly owned enterprises with privately owned ones (and reducing taxes on wealth and high incomes) has not worked either.
    • It has denied many of their basic human needs of health, education and social security, and equal opportunities for their children.
    • The private property solution has also harmed the natural environment.

    Way forward

    • Climate change and political rumblings around the world are both warnings that capitalism needs reform.
    • Economic policies must be based on new ideas.
    • Thought leaders and policymakers in India must lead the world out of the rut of ideas in which it seems to be trapped.
    • Principles of human rights must not be overpowered by property rights.
    • A new form of “Gandhian” democratic socialism, powered by cooperative economic enterprises, is required in the 21st century, to create wealth at the bottom, not only at the top, and save humanity and the planet.

    Conclusion

    A new form of ‘Gandhian’ democratic socialism powered by cooperative economic enterprises is required.

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  • Criminalizing Marital Rape in India

    The Delhi High Court has told the Centre that it will continue hearing the petitions challenging the legal exception to marital rape and not wait for the government’s ongoing process of initiating reform in the criminal laws.

    What is Marital Rape?

    • Marital rape is the act of sexual intercourse with one’s spouse without her consent.
    • It is no different manifestation of domestic violence and sexual abuse.
    • It is often a chronic form of violence for the victim which takes place within abusive relations.

    Status in India

    • Historically considered as right of the spouses, this is now widely classified as rape by many societies around the world.
    • In India, marital rape is not a criminal offense (as protected under IPC section 375).
    • India is one of fifty countries that have not yet outlawed marital rape.

    Reasons for disapproval of this concept

    • The reluctance to define non-consensual sex between married couples as a crime and to prosecute has been attributed to:
    1. Traditional views of marriage
    2. Interpretations of religious doctrines
    3. Ideas about male and female sexuality
    4. Cultural expectations of subordination of a wife to her husband
    • It is widely held that a husband cannot be guilty of any sexual act committed by himself upon his lawful wife their on account of their mutual matrimonial consent.

    Why it must be a crime?

    • Associated physical violence: Rape by a spouse, partner or ex-partner is more often associated with physical violence.
    • Mental harassment: There is research showing that marital rape can be more emotionally and physically damaging than rape by a stranger.
    • Compulsive relationship: Marital rape may occur as part of an abusive relationship.
    • Revengeful nature: Furthermore, marital rape is rarely a one-time event, but a repeated if not frequent occurrence.
    • Obligation on women: In the case of marital rape the victim often has no choice but to continue living with their spouse.

    Violation of fundamental rights

    • Marital rape is considered as the violation of FR guaranteed under Article 14 of the Indian constitution which guarantees the equal protection of laws to all persons.
    • By depriving married women of an effective penal remedy against forced sexual intercourse, it violates their right to privacy and bodily integrity, aspects of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21.

    Problems in prosecuting marital rape

    • Lack of awareness: A lack of public awareness, as well as reluctance or outright refusal of authorities to prosecute is common globally.
    • Gender norms: Additionally, gender norms that place wives in subservient positions to their husbands, make it more difficult for women to recognize such rape.
    • Acceptability of the concept: Another problem results from prevailing social norms that exist.

    Present regulations in India

    • Indian Penal Code criminalizes rape in most cases, although marital rape is not illegal when the woman is over the age of 18.
    • However, until 2017, men married to those between 15 and 18 could not be convicted of rape.
    • Marital rape of an adult wife, who is unofficially or officially separated, is a criminal offence punishable by 2 to 7 year in prison; it is not dealt by normal rape laws which stipulate the possibility of a death sentence.
    • According to the Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act (2005), other married women subject to such crime by their husband may demand for financial compensation.
    • They also have the right to continue to live in their marital household if they wish, or may approach shelter or aid homes.

    However, marital rape is still not a criminal offence in this case and is only a misdemeanour.

    Arguments against criminalization

    • Subjective: It is very subjective and intricate to determine whether consent was acquired or not.
    • Prone to Misuse: If marital rape is criminalized without adequate safeguards it could be misused like the current dowry law by the dissatisfied wives to harass and torture their Husbands.
    • Burden on Judiciary: It will increase the burden of judiciary which otherwise may serve other more important causes.

    Way forward

    • Sanctioning marital rape is an acknowledgment of the woman’s right to self-determination (i.e., control) of all matters relating to her body.
    • In the absence of any concrete law, the judiciary always finds it difficult to decide the matter of domestic rape in the absence of solid evidence.
    • The main purpose of marriage is procreation, and sometimes divorce is sought on the ground of non-consummation of marriage.
    • Before giving a final interpretation, the judiciary must balance the rights and duties of both partners.

    Must read:

    [RSTV Archive] Sexual Crime – Fast-tracking Justice

     

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  • Highlights of the India State of Forest Report, 2021

    The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has released the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021.

    About India State of Forest Report

    • ISFR is an assessment of India’s forest and tree cover, published every two years by the Forest Survey of India under the MoEFCC.
    • The first survey was published in 1987, and ISFR 2021 is the 17th.
    • It compiles data computed through wall-to-wall mapping of India’s forest cover through remote sensing techniques.

    Why need ISFR?

    • It is used in planning and formulation of policies in forest management as well as forestry and agroforestry sectors.

    How are forests categorized?

    The Forest Survey of India has listed four categories of forests. They are:

    1. Very Dense Forest (with tree canopy density of 70 per cent or above)
    2. Moderately Dense Forest (tree canopy density of 40 per cent or above but less than 70 per cent)
    3. Open Forest (tree canopy density of 10 per cent or above but less than 40 per cent)
    4. Scrub (tree canopy density less than 10 per cent)

    Highlights of the ISFR, 2021

    [1] Forest cover is increasing

    • ISFR 2021 has found that the forest and tree cover in the country continues to increase with an additional cover of 1,540 square kilometres over the past two years.
    • India’s forest cover is now 7,13,789 square kilometres, 21.71% of the country’s geographical area, an increase from 21.67% in 2019.
    • Tree cover has increased by 721 sq km.
    • Bamboo forests have grown from 13,882 million culms (stems) in 2019 to 53,336 million culms in 2021.

    [2] State-wise gain/losses

    • The states that have shown the highest increase in forest cover are Telangana (3.07%), Andhra Pradesh (2.22%) and Odisha (1.04%).
    • The Northeast states account for 7.98% of total geographical area but 23.75% of total forest cover.
    • Five states in the Northeast – Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland have all shown loss in forest cover.
    • The report has attributed the decline in the NE states to a spate of natural calamities, particularly landslides and heavy rains, in the region as well as to anthropogenic activities.

    [3] Increase in Mangrove cover

    • Mangroves have shown an increase of 17 sq km. India’s total mangrove cover is now 4,992 sq km.

    [4] Increase in carbon stock

    • The total carbon stock in country’s forests is estimated at 7,204 million tonnes, an increase of 79.4 million tonnes since 2019.

    [5] Big cats population

    • ISFR 2021 has some new features. It has for the first time assessed forest cover in tiger reserves, tiger corridors and the Gir forest which houses the Asiatic lion.
    • The forest cover in tiger corridors has increased by 37.15 sq km (0.32%) between 2011-2021, but decreased by 22.6 sq km (0.04%) in tiger reserves.
    • Buxa, Anamalai and Indravati reserves have shown an increase in forest cover while the highest losses have been found in Kawal, Bhadra and the Sunderbans reserves.
    • Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh has the highest forest cover, at nearly 97%.

     [6] Impact of climate change

    • The report estimates that by 2030, 45-64% of forests in India will experience the effects of climate change and rising temperatures, and forests in all states will be highly vulnerable climate hot spots.
    • Ladakh (forest cover 0.1-0.2%) is likely to be the most affected.
    • India’s forests are already showing shifting trends of vegetation types, such as Sikkim which has shown a shift in its vegetation pattern for 124 endemic species.

    [7] Forest fires

    • The survey has found that 35.46 % of the forest cover is prone to forest fires.
    • Out of this, 2.81 % is extremely prone, 7.85% is very highly prone and 11.51 % is highly prone
    • The highest numbers of fires were detected in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

    Concerns with the declining trends

    • It is worrying that a 1,582 sq km decline was in moderately dense forests, or “natural forests”.
    • This decline shows a degradation of forests in the country, say experts, with natural forests degrading to less dense open forests.
    • Also, scrub area has increased by 5,320 sq km – indicating the complete degradation of forests in these areas.

     

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  • India extends $900 mn aid to Sri Lanka

    India has confirmed a $400 million currency swap with Sri Lanka while deferring another $500 million due for settlement to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU).

    What is the news?

    • Sri Lanka is facing a severe dollar crunch that economists say might lead to a default on external debt and create a food shortage in the imports-reliant island nation.
    • In this regard, the Reserve Bank of India has extended currency swap facilities of $900 million to Sri Lanka.

    What are Currency Swaps?

    • A currency swap, also known as a cross-currency swap, is an off-balance sheet transaction in which two parties exchange principal and interest in different currencies.
    • Currency swaps are used to obtain foreign currency loans at a better interest rate than could be got by borrowing directly in a foreign market.

    Practice question for mains:

    Q. What are Currency Swaps? Discuss the efficacy of Currency Swap Agreements for enhancing bilateral cooperation in Indian context.

    How does it work?

    • In a swap arrangement, RBI would provide dollars to a Lankan central bank, which, at the same time, provides the equivalent funds in its currency to the RBI, based on the market exchange rate at the time of the transaction.
    • The parties agree to swap back these quantities of their two currencies at a specified date in the future, which could be the next day or even three months later, using the same exchange rate as in the first transaction.
    • These swap operations carry no exchange rate or other market risks, as transaction terms are set in advance.

    Why does one need dollars?

    • FPIs investors look for safer investments but the current global uncertainty over COVID outbreak has led to a shortfall everywhere in the global markets.
    • This has pulled down foreign exchange reserves of many small and developing countries.
    • This means that the government and the RBI cannot lower their guard on the management of the economy and the external account.

    Benefits of currency swap

    • The absence of an exchange rate risk is the major benefit of such a facility.
    • This facility provides the flexibility to use these reserves at any time in order to maintain an appropriate level of balance of payments or short-term liquidity.
    • Swaps agreements between governments also have supplementary objectives like the promotion of bilateral trade, maintaining the value of foreign exchange reserves with the central bank and ensuring financial stability (protecting the health of the banking system).

    Back2Basics: Asian Clearing Union (ACU)

    • The ACU with headquarters in Tehran, Iran, was established on December 9, 1974, at the initiative of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
    • The primary objective of ACU was to secure regional co-operation as regards the settlement of eligible monetary transactions among the members of the Union/
    • It now aims to provide a system for clearing payments among the member countries on a multilateral basis.
    • The unit of settlement of ACU transactions is a common unit of account of ACU, and the unit is equivalent to one USD, and the Asian Monetary Unit may be denominated as ACU dollars and Euro.

    Must read:

    [Burning Issue] India – Sri Lanka relations in recent times

     

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  • Millimeter Wave band in 5G auctions

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has asked for views on band plan, block size, and conditions for auction of spectrum in 5G bands, which includes Millimetre (mm) Wave band of 24.25-28.5 GHz.

    Must read:

    Status of 5G Rollout in India

    What is 5G technology?

    • 5G or fifth generation is the latest upgrade in the long-term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband networks.
    • It’s a unified platform that is much more capable than previous mobile services with more capacity, lower latency, faster data delivery rate and better utilisation of spectrum.

    5G spectrum

    5G mainly works in 3 bands, namely low, mid and high-frequency spectrum — all of which have their own uses as well as limitations.

    (1) Low band spectrum

    • It has a great promise in terms of coverage and speed of internet and data exchange but the maximum speed is limited to 100 Mbps (Megabits per second).
    • So Telcos can use and install it for commercial cell phone users who may not have specific demands for very high speed internet, the low band spectrum may not be optimal for specialized needs of the industry.

    (2) Mid-band spectrum

    • It offers higher speeds compared to the low band, but has limitations in terms of coverage area and penetration of signals.
    • This band may be used by industries and specialized factory units for building captive networks that can be moulded into the needs of that particular industry.

    (3) High-band spectrum

    • It offers the highest speed of all the three bands, but has extremely limited coverage and signal penetration strength.
    • Internet speeds in the high-band spectrum of 5G has been tested to be as high as 20 Gbps (giga bits per second), while, in most cases, the maximum internet data speed in 4G has been recorded at 1 Gbps.

    What is Millimetre (mm) Wave Band?

    • Millimetre Wave band or mmWave is a particular segment of radio frequency spectrum that range between 24 GHz and 100 GHz.
    • This spectrum, as the name suggests, has a short wavelength, and is apt to deliver greater speeds and lower latencies.
    • This in turn makes data transfer efficient and seamless as the current available networks work optimally only on lower frequency bandwidths.

    Significance of this mm band

    • 5G services can be deployed using lower frequency bands.
    • They can cover greater distances and are proven to work efficiently even in urban environments, which are prone to interference.
    • But, when it comes to data speeds, these bands fail to hit peak potential needed for a true 5G experience.
    • So, mmWave is that quintessential piece in the 5G jigsaw puzzle for mobile service providers.

    Concerns with inclusion of mm-band

    • The mm bands have been preserved for satellite-based broadband services as per the decision taken by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
    • Providing excess spectrum could pose a downside risk of the bands going unsold, or even worse, underutilised by terrestrial players at the expense of satellite-based service providers.
    • Offering excessive spectrum will result in Indian citizens being denied the benefits of high-demand, advanced satellite broadband services.
    • In addition to this, it will result in a massive loss to the Indian economy of up to $184.6 billion by 2030, along with the loss of foreign direct investment (FDI) and employment generation benefits.

    How could this disrupt the satellite communication industry?

    • Internet has largely been provided to users via fibre-optic based broadband connectivity or mobile network.
    • Of late, another class of Internet vendors is showing up. These are satellite-based communication service providers.
    • For example, SpaceX’s Starlink and Bharti Airtel’s OneWeb are some of the players in this market.
    • This segment uses Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites to provide broadband to both urban and rural users. Their service could also be used for weather predictions.
    • The mm band had been the subject of controversy due to out-of-band emissions into the passive satellite band used for weather satellites at 23.6-24 GHz.

    HeaWay ahead

    • The allocation of mmWave band is critical to the satellite communication industry, which needs a stronger regulatory support to ensure that 5G operations don’t interfere with their existing operations.
    • The industry body pointed to Europe’s “5G Roadmap”, which is built on the ITU’s decision to hold these bands for satellite-based broadband services.

     

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  • Dravidian Model of Development

    The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu is pushing for a ‘Dravidian Model’ where economic development is inclusive.

    What is the Dravidian Model?

    • The goal is equal economic development that will be in tune with social justice.
    • It has taken root since the days of the Justice Party government [in pre-Independent India].
    • TN polity has divided the task into short-term and long-term, and travels with the objective of improving the economy by implementing them within the time frame.

    Note: The Government of India Act 1919 implemented the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms, instituting a Diarchy in Madras Presidency. The diarchial period extended from 1920 to 1937, encompassing five elections. Justice party was in power for 13 of 17 years.

    Unique features of this developmental approach

    (1) Financial planning

    • TN has constituted an Economic Advisory Council comprising internationally renowned economists since there is a need to evolve an economic development to suit the current situation.
    • It has emerged out higher as comparatively high levels of human development with economic dynamism.

    (2) Health and education

    • It sought and ensured opportunity-equalizing policies in the expanding modern sectors through affirmative action policies and investments in education and health.
    • Tamil Nadu has been a pioneer in broad-basing entry into school education through a slew of incentives, the noon meal scheme being the most well-known.

    (3) Social Harmony

    • It also succeeded in building a bloc of lower caste groups under a Dravidian-Tamil identity that subsumed and sought to transcend individual caste identities.
    • It has distinct political mobilization against caste-based inequalities in the state.
    • Mobilization built an ethos that questioned the privileges of caste elites and the naturalness of merit in a caste society.

     

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  • BARC ratings for news channels to resume soon

    Ratings by Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) for the news channels will resume, after the organisation revised its procedures and protocols.

    The ratings were suspended after the Mumbai police busted a racket involving a private channel’s efforts to tamper the TRPs.

    Try this question:

    Q.What do you mean by “TRP Journalism”? Discuss the loopholes in the present system of self-regulation in Indian media.

    What is TRP?

    • In simple terms, anyone who watches television for more than a minute is considered a viewer.
    • The TRP or Target Rating Point is the metric used by the marketing and advertising agencies to evaluate this viewership.
    • In India, the TRP is recorded by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) using Bar-O-Meters that are installed in televisions in selected households.
    • As on date, the BARC has installed these meters in 44,000 households across the country. Audio watermarks are embedded in video content prior to broadcast.
    • These watermarks are not audible to the human ear, but can easily be detected and decoded using dedicated hardware and software.
    • As viewing details are recorded by the Bar-O-Meters, so are the watermarks.

    What is BARC?

    • It is an industry body jointly owned by advertisers, ad agencies, and broadcasting companies, represented by The Indian Society of Advertisers, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation and the Advertising Agencies Association of India.
    • Though it was created in 2010, the I&B Ministry notified the Policy Guidelines for Television Rating Agencies in India on January 10, 2014, and registered BARC in July 2015 under these guidelines, to carry out television ratings in India.

    How are the households selected?

    • Selection of households where Bar-O-Meters are installed is a two-stage process.
    • The first step is the Establishment Survey, a large-scale face-to-face survey of a sample of approximately 3 lakh households from the target population. This is done annually.
    • Out of these, the households which will have Bar-O-Meters or what the BARC calls the Recruitment Sample are randomly selected. The fieldwork to recruit households is not done directly by BARC.
    • The BARC on its website has said that the viewing behaviour of panel homes is reported to BARC India daily. Coincidental checks either physically or telephonically are done regularly.

    Vigilance activities by BARC

    • Certain suspicious outliers are also checked directly by BARC India.
    • BARC India also involves a separate vigilance agency to check on outliers that it considers highly suspicious.
    • And as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, these households rotate every year.
    • This rotation is in such a manner that older panel homes are removed first while maintaining the representativeness of the panel.
    • The Ministry guidelines further say that the secrecy and privacy of the panel homes must be maintained, and asked the BARC to follow a voluntary code of conduct.

    What are the loopholes in the process?

    • Several doubts have been raised on many previous occasions about the working of the TRP.
    • As per several reports, about 70% of the revenue for television channels comes from advertising and only 30% from subscriptions.
    • It is claimed that households were being paid to manipulate the TRP.

     

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  • [pib] Harvest Festivals in India

    The President has greeted the people of India on the occasion of Makar Sankranti and Pongal festivals.

    Makar Sankranti

    • Makar Sankranti or Uttarayan or Maghi or simply Sankranti is considered as the transition day of Sun into the Capricorn.
    • Now the sun moves northwards in the Hindu calendar.
    • Dedicated to the deity Surya, many native festivals are organized all over India.
    • It mostly falls at the end of Kharif harvests.

    Statewise festivals celebration

    • Pongal: In South India and particularly in Tamil Nadu, it’s the festival of Pongal which is being celebrated over 4 days at harvest time.
    • Lohri: It is celebrated in North India particularly in Punjab as a traditional winter folk festival or as a popular harvest festival of farmers.
    • Bhogi: In Andhra Pradesh, it is celebrated as a four day festival with a bonfire with logs of wood, other solid-fuels, and wooden furniture at home that are no longer useful.
    • Magha Bihu: In Assam and many parts of the North East, the festival of Magha Bihu is celebrated. It sees the first harvest of the season being offered to the gods along with prayers for peace and prosperity.
    • Uttarayan: Gujarat celebrates it in the form of the convivial kite festival of Uttarayan.
    • Saaji: In Shimla District of Himachal Pradesh, Makara Sankranti is known as Magha Saaji. Saaji is the Pahari word for Sankranti, start of the new month. Hence this day marks the start of the month of Magha.

    Try this question from our AWE initiative:

    Do we have cultural pockets of small India all over the nation? Elaborate with examples. (15 Marks)

     

     

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  • Reaping India’s demographic dividend

    Context

    Countries like Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea have already shown us how demographic dividend can be reaped to achieve incredible economic growth by adopting forward-looking policies and programmes.

    The window of demographic opportunity

    • With falling fertility (currently 2.0), rising median age (from 24 years in 2011, 29 years now and expected to be 36 years by 2036), a falling dependency ratio (expected to decrease from 65% to 54% in the coming decade taking 15-59 years as the working age population), India is in the middle of a demographic transition.
    • This provides a window of opportunity towards faster economic growth. India has already begun to get the dividend.
    • As fertility declines, the share of the young population falls and that of the older, dependent population rises.
    • If the fertility decline is rapid, the increase in the population of working ages is substantial yielding the ‘demographic dividend’.
    • The smaller share of children in the population enables higher investment per child.
    • Therefore, the future entrants in the labour force can have better productivity and thus boost income.
    • With the passage of time, the share of the older population rises and that of the working age population begins to fall and hence the dividend is available for a period of time, ‘the window of demographic opportunity’.

    Need for forward-looking policies

    • Without proper policies, the increase in the working-age population may lead to rising unemployment, fueling economic and social risks.
    • This calls for forward-looking policies incorporating population dynamics, education and skills, healthcare, gender sensitivity, and providing rights and choices to the younger generation.

    Lessons for India

    • Countries like Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea have already shown us how demographic dividend can be reaped.
    •  There are important lessons from these countries for India.
    • 1) NTA data: The first is to undertake an updated National Transfer Accounts (NTA) assessment.
    • Using NTA methodologies, we find that India’s per capita consumption pattern is way lower than that of other Asian countries.
    • A child in India consumes around 60% of the consumption by an adult aged between 20 and 64, while a child in China consumes about 85% of a prime-age adult’s consumption.
    • The NTA data for India needs to be updated to capture the progress made on such investments since 2011-12.
    • 2) Invest more in children and adolescents: India ranks poorly in Asia in terms of private and public human capital spending.
    • It needs to invest more in children and adolescents, particularly in nutrition and learning during early childhood.
    • 3) Make health investments: Health spending has not kept pace with India’s economic growth.
    • The public spending on health has remained flat at around 1% of GDP.
    • Evidence suggests that better health facilitates improved economic production.
    • Hence, it is important to draft policies to promote health during the demographic dividend.
    • 4) Make reproductive healthcare services accessible on a rights-based approach: We need to provide universal access to high-quality primary education and basic healthcare.
    • The unmet need for family planning in India at 9.4% as per the latest National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21) is high as compared to 3.3% in China and 6.6% in South Korea, which needs to be bridged.
    •  5) Bridge gender differentials in education: The gender inequality of education is a concern.
    • In India, boys are more likely to be enrolled in secondary and tertiary school than girls. This needs to be reversed.
    • 6) Increase female workforce participation: As of 2019, 20.3% of women were working or looking for work, down from 34.1% in 2003-04.
    • New skills and opportunities for women and girls befitting their participation in a $3 trillion economy is urgently needed.
    • It is predicted that if all women engaged in domestic duties in India who are willing to work had a job, female labour force participation would increase by about 20%.
    • 7) Address the diversity between StatesWhile India is a young country, the status and pace of population ageing vary among States.
    • Southern States, which are advanced in demographic transition, already have a higher percentage of older people.
    • These differences in age structure reflect differences in economic development and health – and remind us of States’ very different starting points at the outset of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Agenda.
    • But this also offers boundless opportunities for States to work together, especially on demographic transition, with the north-central region as the reservoir of India’s workforce.
    • 8) Governance reform: A new federal approach to governance reforms for demographic dividend will need to be put in place for policy coordination between States on various emerging population issues such as migration, ageing, skiling, female workforce participation and urbanisation.

    Conclusion

    In India, the benefit to the GDP from demographic transition has been lower than its peers in Asia and is already tapering. Hence, there is an urgency to take appropriate policy measures.

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  • [Sansad TV] Perspective: Innovation in Education

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    Context

    • The buzzword across the globe for the 21st century is Innovation which is considered to be the primary driver of progress.
    • Incentivising innovation and intellectual property creation is important for India’s future growth prospects.
    • Making all these considerations, the Ministry of Education’s innovation cell has recently released the third edition of Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) 2021.

    What is Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA)?

    • ARIIA ranking classifies participating institutions into two major categories; technical and non-technical.
    • It is developed by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the Ministry’s Innovation Cell.
    • It aims to systematically rank all major higher educational institutions and universities in India.

    Highlights of ARIIA 2021

    • In the technical ranking IIT Madras has been recognised as the Most Innovative Educational Institute in India.
    • This is the third time that IIT Madras has secured the first rank. IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi were placed at the second and third ranks respectively.
    • Out of total of 3551 HEIs registered, 1438 institutions including all IITs, NITs, IISc, etc. participated in this exercise.

    Why discuss innovation?

    • Academic nature: For the longest of time in India, innovation was either tucked away in the R&D centres of government enterprises, academia and the MNEs.
    • Situational constraints: Quiet often it was around unorganised markets in the form of the cheap Jugaad.
    • Rise of Unicorns: With over 35 Unicorns (and counting), India has become the third-largest hub of Unicorns globally, something that is not even remotely replicable by others in similar class of economies.
    • Pitch for Indigenization: Introduced at the beginning of the 2020s, the ‘Vocal for Local’ credo is symbolic of a nation that is beginning to believe in its own self-worth.
    • Unleashed potential: From ISRO’s groundbreaking low-budget streaks to India being a frontrunner in the Covid vaccine development, India’s ability to innovate is beginning to make a lasting impact on the world.
    • Global acknowledgement: The Global Innovation Index indicates India has been consistently outperforming other economies. India’s ranking has gone up from 81 (2015) to 48 (2020).

    For a better India

    • The once stereotypical attitude of ‘chalta hai’ is giving way to the newfound zeal around ‘how to make things work better.
    • This is the question that Indian entrepreneurs are applying to the products and services landscape of new India.

    Why does India need innovation?

    • Heterogeneity of users: With the hard metrics of innovation ecosystem in place, what really acts as the magic ingredient is the vast and heterogenous user segments in India that are hungry for novel solutions.
    • Capable institutions: This combination of strong capabilities and categories ripe for disruption makes India a fertile ground for new innovations.
    • Youth: India is also a young country. While population growth is under control, it is still growing at two per cent per year in population.
    • Being later than never: Technology is clearly the biggest area of transformation in India. India has some advantages in this area from being a ‘late mover’, which has enabled it to leapfrog the competition in many cases.

    Hurdles to Innovation in HEIs

    • Low gross enrolment ratio is a major challenge in India towards the introduction of innovation in education
    • Inadequate quality of education and infrastructure that is requisite to boost innovation
    • Lack of funds for state-run Universities
    • Faculty crunch and severe shortage of teaching staff and poor facilities
    • Stagnant academic syllabus in institutions other than IITs/NITs
    • Decline in research standards due to lack of infrastructure
    • Limited institutional support- While India has the scientific talent, we do not have the deep pockets and the enabling ecosystem that drives most of the innovation in the West.

    Structural lacunae

    • Lack of incubation centres: In terms of world-class manufacturing, India still lags behind.
    • Limited policy successes: Even though the government has an initiative in place to encourage companies under Make In India/ Vocal for Local, it hasn’t had any major victories in terms of attracting big players.
    • Weaker IPR regime: The lack of funding support in the country forces innovators in India to park their IP rights outside the country.

    Significance of Innovation in Higher Education

    • Competition: The ranking system of ARIIA facilitates a healthy competitive environment among institutions to expand the purview of innovation. 
    • Formative years of students: This ecosystem would inspire young students to put forth their ideas in their formative years. 
    • Quality enhancement: ARIIA will exert a large emphasis on the quality of innovation and will make an attempt to examine the influence of the innovations nationally and internationally. 
    • Social applications: The innovation in education has a far-reaching impact on human development for productivity, research and improved value chain interaction across different spheres of the economy.

    Way forward

    • In today’s knowledge-driven economy, innovation is the primary driver of progress. And, a large reservoir of entrepreneurial energy in India waiting to be tapped lies in these HEIs.
    • For innovation to flourish, ideas must be funded and taken to market. The HEIs are the right place to invest in for innovations.
    • It is by investing in breakthrough ideas and embracing entrepreneurship as an economic model of growth that India will be able to unleash the power of innovation to ensure a better life for its billion-plus citizens.

    Conclusion

    • We must build the credibility of Indian innovation within our borders and convince people that the quality of research done in India is at par with the best in the world.
    • This can be done by promoting more innovations in HEIs.