GS Paper: GS1-06.Salient features of Indian Society

PYQ Relevance: [UPSC 2019] Empowering women is the key to control population growth”. Discuss Linkage: The PYQ’s focus on “Empowering women” directly reflects this crucial aspect of granting individuals, particularly young women, the choice and control over their bodies and lives. The article further elaborates that true empowerment means equipping adolescents, especially girls, with the skills, education, and opportunities.

 

Mentor’s Comment:  The World Population Day 2025 has reignited global and national discussions on youth empowerment, reproductive rights, and falling fertility rates. With the theme “Empowering young people to create the families they want in a fair and hopeful world”, the UN highlights the need for informed reproductive choices and access to health, education, and economic opportunities, especially for India’s large youth population. The day also coincides with the release of the UNFPA’s State of World Population Report 2025, which warns that the real fertility crisis lies not in declining birth rates, but in the unmet reproductive goals due to financial, social, and infrastructural constraints. 

Today’s editorial analyses the youth empowerment, reproductive rights, and falling fertility rates. This topic is important for  GS Paper I (Indian Society) in the UPSC mains exam.

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Let’s learn!

Why in the News?

Recently, World Population Day 2025 has brought renewed attention to global and national debates on empowering youth, ensuring reproductive rights, and addressing the challenges of declining fertility rates.

Why is youth empowerment essential for harnessing India’s demographic dividend?

• India’s youth population is a major economic asset: With over 371 million people aged 15–29, India has the world’s largest youth population. If equipped with quality education, skills, health, and family planning services, this segment can become a powerful engine of economic growth and innovation.
• Youth empowerment boosts national productivity and employment: Empowered youth can significantly reduce unemployment and enhance social outcomes. According to the World Bank and NITI Aayog, unlocking youth potential could increase India’s GDP by up to $1 trillion by 2030.
• Empowerment ensures participation in nation-building: By promoting reproductive autonomy, gender equality, and economic independence, youth, especially young women, can participate in decision-making and shape their futures, contributing meaningfully to sustainable development.

What barriers hinder reproductive autonomy and fertility choices in India?

• Limited access to family planning services and information: A significant share of the population lacks access to modern contraceptives, comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education, and counselling. Eg: According to the UNFPA State of World Population Report 2025, 36% of Indian adults faced unintended pregnancies, while 30% had unmet reproductive goals, reflecting systemic gaps in reproductive healthcare access.
• Socio-cultural norms and gender inequality: Patriarchal attitudes, early marriages, and taboos around women’s reproductive rights often prevent young women from making independent fertility decisions. Eg: Though child marriage rates have declined, they remain high at 23.3% (NFHS-5, 2019–21), indicating how cultural practices continue to limit women’s reproductive autonomy.
• Economic insecurity and structural barriers: Financial constraints, lack of housing, quality childcare, and secure employment inhibit couples from achieving their desired family size. Eg: A UNFPA survey found that 38% of Indian respondents cited financial limitations and 22% housing constraintsas major reasons for not fulfilling fertility aspirations.

How have schemes tackled child marriage and women’s empowerment?

• Promoting girls’ education to delay early marriages: Schemes like Project Udaan in Rajasthan focused on keeping girls in secondary school using government scholarships, reducing the incidence of child marriage and teenage pregnancy.
• Enhancing reproductive health awareness and services: Programmes such as Udaan and Advika improved access to modern contraceptives and sexual and reproductive health education, thereby strengthening reproductive agency among young women.
• Empowering adolescents through life skills and leadership training: The Advika programme in Odisha helped prevent child marriage by providing life-skills training, leadership development, and child protection awareness across thousands of villages.
• Fostering economic independence and employment: Project Manzil, implemented in Rajasthan, aligned skill training with young women’s aspirations and connected them to gender-sensitive workplaces, empowering over 16,000 women with employment and negotiation power.
• Engaging communities to shift social norms: Behaviour change strategies under projects like Manzil worked to challenge harmful gender norms and involved families and communities, leading to reduced resistance against girls’ education and work.

Why should population discourse focus on rights and gender equity over fertility panic?

• Respecting reproductive autonomy prevents coercion: Framing falling fertility as a “crisis” can lead to target-driven pronatalist policies that pressure women to reproduce, threatening their right to bodily autonomy. Eg: In countries like Hungary and Iran, such policies have led to restrictions on abortion and contraception, undermining women’s freedom.
• Empowering women yields long-term social gains: Promoting gender equality, economic participation, and education for women improves both fertility decisions and broader development outcomes. Eg: Nordic countries like Sweden focus on workplace equality and parental leave, ensuring women can choose when and whether to have children.
• Inclusive policy design avoids harmful stereotyping: Fertility panic often ignores the needs of those who want children but face barriers, while blaming those who are voluntarily childfree. Eg: The UNFPA’s 2025 report shows that 40% of respondents globally had to forgo childbearing due to financial and structural obstacles, not personal choice.

What can India learn from global responses to fertility decline?

• Focus on enabling choices, not coercion: Countries like South Korea have spent billions on pronatalist incentives, but results remained limited until recent societal support systems (e.g., childcare, housing, and financial aid) improved. India must prioritize voluntary reproductive agency over target-driven incentives.
• Promote gender equity in workforce and caregiving: Fertility policies that reinforce traditional gender roles have backfired. Instead of pressuring women to bear more children, countries like Sweden have boosted fertility by promoting gender-equal parenting, paternal leave, and women’s employment, which India can emulate.

Way forward: 

• Invest in rights-based reproductive health systems: Ensure universal access to quality contraceptives, safe abortion, maternal care, and infertility services, while safeguarding individuals’ reproductive autonomy through accurate health education and gender-sensitive policies.
• Shift from fertility targets to gender equity: Focus on empowering women through education, economic independence, and childcare support, instead of promoting pronatalist incentives that risk reinforcing patriarchal norms and limiting personal choices.

PYQ Relevance: [UPSC 2019] What are the continued challenges for women in India against time and space? Linkage: The article details talk about the various challenges that contribute to women bearing a disproportionate burden, including socio-economic inequalities, health risks, and the burden of caregiving roles.

 

Mentor’s Comment: In a risk society — where modernisation creates new, man-made dangers like pandemics or climate crises — women face deeper vulnerabilities due to caregiving burdens, poor health, insecure work, and limited access to aid or resources. This gendered risk is not incidental but structural.

This is relevant for GS Paper 1 (Indian Society) and themes like “Challenges for women across time and space”.

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Let’s learn!

Why in the News?

The term ‘risk society’, coined by Ulrich Beck in his book Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity, refers to a shift from an industrial society to a society where uncertainty and dangers, caused by technology and environmental changes, play a larger role in shaping our lives.

Why are women more vulnerable to the consequences of risks in a risk society, especially in developing countries?

• Unequal Access to Resources: Women often have less access to land, credit, education, and technology compared to men. Eg: In rural areas of Africa and South Asia, women farmers typically control smaller plots and have less access to irrigation or improved seeds, making them more vulnerable to climate shocks like droughts.
• Caregiving Responsibilities Increase Exposure: Women are usually responsible for caregiving roles (childcare, eldercare, healthcare), exposing them more to environmental and health risks. Eg: During the COVID-19 pandemic, women healthcare workers (70% of health workforce globally) faced higher exposure to the virus.
• Greater Health Vulnerabilities: Due to physiological factors and social inequalities (like poor nutrition), women face higher health risks during environmental crises. Eg: In India, 57% of women suffer from anaemia (NFHS-5), making them more vulnerable during food shortages or health crises.
• Social and Cultural Norms Deepen Disadvantages: Gender norms often prioritize men’s needs over women’s during disasters, leading to unequal relief, recovery, and aid access. Eg: After natural disasters like the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, women had lower survival rates partly because cultural norms restricted their ability to swim or climb trees.
• Economic Insecurity Limits Resilience: Women are overrepresented in informal, low-wage, and insecure jobs, making it harder for them to recover from economic disruptions. Eg: During lockdowns in 2020, women in informal sectors (like domestic work or street vending) lost incomes faster and found it harder to regain employment.

How do manufactured risks differ from natural risks?

Aspect	Natural Risks	Manufactured Risks
Origin of the Risks	Arise from natural events or phenomena without human intervention.	Result from human activities, often related to technological, industrial, or environmental actions
	Eg. Earthquakes, floods, storms	Chernobyl nuclear disaster, pollution from industrial activities
Predictability and Control	Typically unpredictable, though some can be forecasted with scientific tools.	Often foreseeable and manageable through technologies or regulations.
	Eg. Earthquakes (hard to predict), hurricanes (can be forecasted)	Air pollution (can be reduced through cleaner technologies)
Scope and Impact	Often localized, though some (e.g., pandemics) can have widespread effects.	Tend to have global implications, affecting large populations and interconnected systems.
	Eg. Flood in a specific region	Climate change causing global consequences (e.g., rising sea levels, extreme weather)

How did significant disasters like the Chernobyl nuclear accident and the COVID-19 pandemic reveal the vulnerabilities of an interconnected world?

• Global Spread of Consequences: Both disasters showed how localized events can have widespread, global implications due to the interconnectedness of modern society. Eg: The Chernobyl disaster in 1986 released radioactive material into the atmosphere, which was carried by wind and affected countries across Europe, highlighting how environmental risks can transcend national borders. Similarly, the COVID-19 pandemic, originating in China, spread rapidly across the globe, disrupting economies and health systems worldwide.
• Overwhelming Existing Systems: Both events overwhelmed existing infrastructures, revealing vulnerabilities in global systems that were ill-equipped to handle large-scale crises. Eg: In Chernobyl, the failure to control the nuclear fallout showed the inadequacies of disaster management and safety protocols, especially with complex technologies. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed weaknesses in healthcare systems, even in developed countries, as hospitals were overwhelmed with patients and unable to cope with the rapid spread of the virus.
• Amplification of Inequalities: Both disasters deepened existing inequalities, demonstrating how interconnected risks can exacerbate vulnerabilities for marginalized groups. Eg: Chernobyl disproportionately affected nearby populations, including poorer communities, who were more vulnerable to health impacts due to limited access to resources and healthcare. The COVID-19 pandemic similarly highlighted how marginalized groups, such as low-income workers and people in developing countries, suffered more from economic disruption and limited access to healthcare.

Who primarily bears the burden of managing risks in households, especially related to environmental and health hazards?

• Women as Primary Caregivers: In many societies, especially in developing countries, women are the primary caregivers and household managers, placing them at the forefront of managing health and environmental risks. Eg: Women often handle household chores such as cooking, cleaning, and caring for children or elderly family members, putting them at increased exposure to risks like air pollution from solid fuel use or water contamination.
• Gendered Roles in Resource Management: Women are frequently responsible for collecting water, gathering fuel, and managing food resources, making them more vulnerable to environmental hazards like water scarcity, pollution, and food insecurity. Eg: In rural areas, women often walk long distances to collect water, and if these water sources are contaminated, they face health risks directly, such as waterborne diseases.
• Economic and Social Vulnerabilities: Women’s economic position and access to resources are often limited, making it harder for them to recover from environmental or health-related disasters. Their roles as caregivers are frequently undervalued, and they often lack the financial independence or support to manage risks effectively. Eg: In the aftermath of climate-related disasters like floods or droughts, women, especially in rural or low-income households, may face greater difficulties in accessing relief or rebuilding their livelihoods, further exacerbating their vulnerability.

What are the steps taken by the Indian government?  National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC): Launched in 2008 to tackle climate change by promoting renewable energy and enhancing climate resilience (e.g., National Solar Mission). Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission): Initiated in 2014 to improve sanitation and reduce health hazards through waste management and toilet construction. Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY): Launched in 2016 to provide crop insurance, protecting farmers from losses due to natural calamities.

Way forward: 

• Strengthening Gender-Responsive Policies: Develop and implement policies that address the specific needs of women in disaster management, healthcare, and environmental sustainability to reduce vulnerabilities.
• Enhancing Access to Resources and Technology: Improve access to education, technology, and financial resources for women, particularly in rural areas, to enable them to better manage and mitigate risks.