Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Need of stringent laws for women safety
The Maharashtra government’s Shakti Criminal Laws (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill, 2020, on crimes against women and children has recommended capital punishment in rape cases.
Why have stringent laws have consistently failed to instill any fear in rapists? Discuss.
Shakti Act: Key Provisions
- Capital punishment: It proposes stringent punishment including the death penalty and heavy fines for the culprits.
- Fast-track trial: Special police teams and separate courts will be set up for investigation and trial of cases against women and children.
- Jail term: The perpetrators if found guilty will be punished with imprisonment for life for not less than ten years but may extend to the remainder of natural life or with death in cases which have characteristics of being heinous in nature.
- Compensation: A sum of Rs 10 lakh will be given to an acid attack victim for plastic surgery and facial reconstruction and the amount will be collected as fine from the convict.
- Rapid investigation: The investigation shall be completed within a period of 15 working days from the date of registration of an offence. This can be extended by 7 days.
- In-camera investigation: Some cases will be tried in-camera for the recording of evidence of victims and witnesses who are vulnerable.
Why in news?
(1) Covering acid-attacks
- Politicians in Maharashtra have recommended increasing the quantum of punishment for acid attack cases under section 326A of IPC to at least 15 years that may extend to the remainder of a convict’s natural life.
- The expenditure of plastic surgery and face reconstruction operations for the victim will be taken care of from the monetary fine to be charged on the accused.
(2) Social media accountability
- The panel has also increased the punishment under the IPC section 175A for failure to share data for probe by social media platforms, internet providers.
- Also, under Pocso Act, the data must be within three days at the pain of penalty.
(3) Curb on false complaints
- Punishment will be increased for false complaints and for giving wrong information to a public servant.
- The provisions under the bill are being made more stringent to punish the culprits and set deterrence.
- However, it is also necessary that the innocent are saved and so severe punishment is required against people filing false or wrongful complaints.
- The committee has also scrapped the provision of not giving anticipatory bail to people making wrongful or false complaints.
(4) Covering trans-persons
- Under section 354E, which provides for punishment for any act of intimidating woman and insulting her modesty, the category of offenders has been increased to cover men, women and even transgender persons.
Limitations of stringent laws
- Despite several laws, incidences of rapes continue unabated.
- In fact, now we hear cases of extreme brutality.
- The general perception is that since the laws have been made more stringent, so the rapists resort to extreme measures in a bid to destroy the evidence.
Way forward
- What we need is better policing, making public spaces safer for women, ensuring round-the-clock surveillance of isolated areas, and deployment of police at all strategic points.
- Prevention and not punishment is the solution and that requires concerted efforts on part of all the stakeholders.
- It is not harsher punishments that will deter. It is the fear of being caught and not being spared.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: P.N. Panicker and his contribution
Mains level: Not Much
The President of India has recently unveiled the statue of Shri P.N. Panicker at Poojappura, Thiruvananthapuram.
P.N. Panicker (1909-1995)
- Puthuvayil Narayana Panicker is known as the Father of the Library Movement of Kerala.
- June 19, his death anniversary, has been observed in Kerala as Vayanadinam (Reading Day) since 1996.
- In 2017, PM has declared June 19, Kerala’s Reading Day, as National Reading Day in India.
- The following month is also observed as National Reading Month in India
Contributions
- Panicker led the formation of Thiruvithaamkoor Granthasala Sangham (Travancore Library Association) in 1945 with 47 rural libraries.
- The slogan of the organization was ‘Read and Grow’.
- Later on, with the formation of Kerala State in 1956, it became Kerala Granthasala Sangham (KGS).
- He traveled to the villages of Kerala proclaiming the value of reading.
- Grandhasala Sangham won the ‘Krupsakaya Award’ from UNESCO in 1975.
- It became the Kerala State Library Council, with an in-built democratic structure and funding.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ECI and SECs
Mains level: Paper 2- Electoral reforms
Context
The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill that seeks to link the electoral rolls with the Aadhaar database has been passed by both the Houses of the parliament.
Three electoral reforms
- A wide range of electoral reform proposals has been pending with the government, several of them for over two decades.
- The three reforms — common electoral rolls for Vidhan Sabha and panchayat elections, extending the qualifying date for registration of young new voters, and linking of Aadhaar with electoral rolls — taken up by the Union Cabinet on December 15 are, therefore, significant.
[1] Common electoral rolls
- For years, the ECI has been advocating a common electoral roll for all elections.
- Currently, separate electoral rolls are maintained for elections to the Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha and local government bodies (panchayats or municipal).
- Role of ECI and SECs: There are two types of election management bodies in the country — the ECI that conducts the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections and SECs that conduct panchayat and municipal elections.
- The process for making electoral rolls is laid down in the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
- The SECs have the option of either adopting the electoral rolls created by the ECI or preparing such rolls on their own.
- Most prefer to use the rolls prepared by the ECI.
- Some states, however, develop their rolls independently.
- These are Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Odisha, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
- Considering that a voter for all three tiers of elected bodies is the same, why is it that she finds her name missing from one of the rolls, mostly the panchayat rolls?
- This is particularly surprising when the officials responsible for making both these rolls are the same.
- A common electoral roll is thus a logical solution.
Benefits of common electoral rolls
- Tackling stuffing voters: A common experience has been the stuffing of bogus voters in the panchayat/municipal rolls.
- Corrupt practices are proportionately higher in PRI polls.
- Avoid the involvement of teachers in the non-teaching work: The process of making electoral rolls is usually done by the schoolteachers.
- Their involvement in non-teaching work takes its toll.
- Cost-saving: A common electoral roll will obviate the need for deploying them repeatedly, besides saving enormous costs.
Suggestions for preparation of common electoral rolls
- Issue joint instructions: The ECI and SECs can issue joint instructions for preparing the common rolls. The roll-making machinery stays the same.
- Pilot studies may be conducted in random constituencies to identify the discrepancies between two sets of rolls and their reasons.
What are the constitutional and legal changes required?
- Amendment in Article 243K and 243ZA: The SECs derive their powers to supervise local body elections from Articles 243K and 243ZA of the Constitution.
- Changes in State laws: All state governments would have to change their electoral laws to adopt ECI electoral rolls for local elections.
[2] Eligibility date of new voters
- According to Section 14(b) of the Representation of People Act of 1950, only those who have turned 18 on or before January 1 of the year are to be registered.
- This implies that all those who turn 18 between January 2 and December 31 of a year must wait till the next year.
- This technicality results in the exclusion of a large section of 18-year-olds.
Suggestion by ECI on eligibility date
- The ECI had sent a letter to the Law Ministry on November 4, 2013, which recommended the issuing of a voter card to an individual ideally on their 18th birthday, or updating voter rolls every month or quarter.
- A committee of the Ministry of Law and Justice under Sushil Kumar Modi has proposed quarterly cut-off dates for voter registration — January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1.
[3] Aadhar linking
- The proposal to link electoral rolls with Aadhaar was first mooted by the ECI in 2015 but work on it had to be stopped when the Supreme Court ruled that Aadhaar cannot be used except voluntarily for beneficiary-oriented schemes.
- Benefits of linking: The linking will help in identifying duplicate voters, something that ECI has been desperately attempting for years using various “de-duplication” software with limited success.
Consider the question “What are the concerns with linking of Aadhar and electoral rolls? Suggest the way forward.”
Conclusion
Any progress in addressing the vexed issue of electoral reform — even in a piecemeal manner — is welcome. The time has, however, come for the government to consider the 40-plus pending proposals, instead of selectively going for some reforms.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Linking Aadhar with electoral roll
Context
The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed in the Lok Sabha recently. It seeks to link electoral rolls with the Aadhaar ecosystem.
What are the concerns with linking of Aadhar with electoral roll?
[1] Aadhar is not proof of citizenship
- Aadhaar is not meant to be a citizenship proof but only a digital identity for all residents.
- Residence of 182 days can make even a non-citizen eligible for an Aadhaar ID.
[2] Aadhar is not address proof
- According to public statements by several government functionaries, Aadhaar was only meant to be identity proof but not address proof.
- Electoral roll is based on Aadhar: In contrast, the RER clearly stipulates address to be a key index for electoral rolls.
- Different enrollment process: Moreover, the enrolment processes for voters’ lists and Aadhaar are completely different.
- Whereas Aadhaar enrolment is based on production of existing documents and the “introducer system”, voter enrolments involve physical verification and “house visits” by a registration officer or representative.
[3] No audit report on the efficacy of Aadhaar deduplication or on the authenticity of the Aadhaar database
- Even the Supreme Court accepted the Unique Identification Authority of India’s (UIDAI) claims on the integrity of the Aadhaar database at face value without any scrutiny.
- Risk of exclusion error: Using Aadhaar to clean the electoral rolls involved the risk of disenfranchisement, especially of the marginalised communities.
- It is to be noted that there is ample publicly documented evidence of large-scale exclusion in PDS and welfare disbursal due to Aadhaar.
[4] Conflict of interest
- UIDAI is under government control: Maintenance of the voters’ lists is a primary responsibility of the ECI, which is an independent constitutional body, whereas Aadhaar is a government instrument and UIDAI is under government control.
- Since the ECI has no control on either enrolment or deduplication in Aadhaar, it appears inappropriate — and a potential conflict of interest — to use Aadhaar for electoral rolls.
- In particular, since Aadhaar is directly used for disbursal of welfare and direct benefit transfers, linking it with voter ID may provide a direct method for the government to influence and manipulate voters.
[5] Risk of profiling and targeting of voters
- Aadhaar is a ubiquitous ID that is used in a variety of applications.
- Linking it with the voter ID will open up avenues for profiling and targeting of voters.
- No audit for purpose limitation: This is of particular concern because neither the UIDAI nor the ECI have publicly audited architectures for purpose limitation and protection against insider attacks.
- While profiling using public data is not illegal according to current laws, both the electorate and Parliament need to clearly understand the risks of such profiling.
- It is far easier to win elections through digital analysis of electoral rolls than through attacking the electronic voting process, especially when election results are available at booth-level granularity
- Both privacy and integrity of the electoral rolls are of paramount importance in the digital age, and the clear tension between the two makes the problem challenging.
Way forward
- Use of cryptography: The RER of 1960 clearly opted for transparency as a means to the integrity of the electoral rolls, thereby ensuring that all additions and deletions can be publicly audited.
- However, with the possibility of digital processing of electoral data, the risks associated with such complete transparency have increased manifold.
- Yet, there are several modern techniques from cryptography and computer science that may help mitigate the risks by enabling both privacy and public auditability.
Consider the question “The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 enable the linking of electoral rolls with the Aadhaar ecosystem. What are the objectives of such linking and concerns raised against it?”
Conclusion
An electoral reforms bill at the onset of 2022 needed to explore and address these issues head-on.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Articles 25, 26
Mains level: Religious conversions isses
Amid opposition, the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021, was introduced in the Assembly.
What is the Bill about?
- The Bill envisages stringent provisions for forced or induced conversions.
- The government wants to prohibit conversion by:
- Misrepresentation
- Force
- Allurement
- Fraudulent means
- Marriage
- Coercion and undue influence
Key features of the Bill
(1) Filing of Complaints
- Complaints of conversions can be filed by family members of a person who is getting converted, or any other person who is related to the person who is getting converted, or any person associated with the person getting converted.
(2) Punishment and fines
- The offense of conversion is cognisable and non-bailable and will attract a jail term of three to five years and a fine of ₹25,000 for people found violating the law.
- There is a jail term of three to 10 years, and a fine of ₹50,000 for people converting minors, women and persons from the SC and ST communities.
- The Bill also envisages a compensation of ₹5 lakh to victims of forced conversions.
Do you know?
Odisha was the first State to enact anti-conversion legislation, the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, 1967. Madhya Pradesh enacted the same the following year.
What about willful conversion?
- Prior information: After the law comes into force, any person intending to convert to another religion will have to inform the district magistrate at least thirty days in advance.
- Due inquiry of purpose: The person executing the conversion must also give a notice one month in advance, following which an inquiry will be conducted by the district magistrate through the police to establish the real intent of conversion.
- Defying the conversion: Not informing the district magistrate will lead to the conversion being declared null and void.
Impact of non-conformance
- Not informing authorities will carry a prison term of six months to three years for persons who are converted and one year to five years for the persons carrying out the conversions.
- After getting converted, the person has to again inform the district magistrate within 30 days after conversion and must appear before the district magistrate to confirm his/her identity.
What happens once the Conversion is held valid?
- Post conversion, the district magistrate has to inform revenue authorities, the social welfare, minority, backward classes and other departments of the conversion.
- These authorities will, in turn, take steps with respect to the entitlements of the person in terms of reservations and other benefits.
How many states have enacted the legislation?
- Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand have laws restricting religious conversion.
- Penalties for breaching the laws can range from monetary fines to imprisonment, with punishments ranging from one to three years of imprisonment and fines from ₹5,000 to ₹50,000.
- Some of the laws provide for stiffer penalties if women, children, or members of Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) are being converted.
- Some other States, including Manipur, are reportedly “considering similar laws.”
How has Parliament handled anti-conversion bills?
After independence, Parliament introduced a number of anti-conversion bills which were not enacted for want of majority approval.
- In post-Independent India, the first Indian Conversion (Regulation and Registration) Bill, 1954, which sought to enforce “licensing of missionaries and the registration of conversion.”
- This was followed by the introduction of the Backward Communities (Religious Protection) Bill, 1960, “which aimed at checking conversion of Hindus to ‘non-Indian religions’ .
- Non-India religions included Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism,.
- The Freedom of Religion Bill in 1979, which sought “official curbs on inter-religious conversion.”
Religious conversion: A Constitutionality check
- Indian Constitution aspires toward tolerance of all religions and guaranteed that each person was “equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion” (Article 25).
- This formulation did not come without dispute; the word “propagate” was one of the most contested in the whole of Indian Constitution.
Core issue: Prevalence of Inter-faith Marriage
- India has the Special Marriage Act, 1954, which can be used by inter-faith/inter-community couples to get married.
- The Act, however, requires an advance notice of 30 days to the magistrate before a couple is able to register their marriage.
- When the parties are from different faiths, communities or castes, such a public notice can be, and has been, a great source of danger and harm from their family/community members.
- Consequently, the only option exercised by the inter-faith couples is for one of them to convert to the religion of the other and get married.
Issues with such laws
The anti-conversion laws have been challenged on the ground that innocent persons were being booked under these Acts.
- Patriarchal dominance: It is widely presumed that such conversions involve ‘coercion’ or ‘deceit’, and hence, Hindu women ought to be ‘protected’ from the danger of conversion.
- Targeting minorities: These laws target Muslims and quoted instances of such inter-faith couples having been harassed by militant activists and state government authorities.
- Freedom of Conscience: Women, it is clear, are being treated in a paternalistic way which assumes that they need protection at the cost of their right to make reasoned decisions about changing faith or choosing a friend or life partner.
What about Incentivised Conversions?
- There are many cases of incentivized conversions for the poor sections of society in exchange for a dignified social life.
For them, the solution lies in addressing the root issues:
- Ending discrimination
- Providing high quality and free education to the poor and disenfranchised
- Improving access and quality of free health facilities and medicines
- Improving nourishment and
- Providing adequate employment opportunities to all
Conclusion
- Clearly, anti-conversion laws amount to discrimination and a violation of the right to equality.
- However, inter-faith marriages should not be pre-conditioned with religious conversion. This certainly raises concerns for the majority of society.
- Instead of pursuing this disastrous course, the government could work towards removing impediments to inter-faith marriages and eradicating the social stigma attached to such marriages.
- The couples who wish to enter into an inter-faith alliance are enabled and protected.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Basel III norms
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed to replace existing approaches for measuring minimum operational risk capital requirements of banks with a new Basel-III standardized approach.
What are Capital Requirements of a Bank?
- Capital requirements are standardized regulations in place for banks and other depository institutions that determine how much liquid capital must be held of a certain level of their assets.
- They are set to ensure that banks and depository institutions’ holdings are not dominated by investments that increase the risk of default.
- They also ensure that banks and depository institutions have enough capital to sustain operating losses (OL) while still honoring withdrawals.
Why need such a requirement?
- An angry public and uneasy investment climate usually prove to be the catalysts for capital requirements provisions.
- This is essential when irresponsible financial behavior by large institutions is seen as the culprit behind a financial crisis, market crash, or recession.
What are the risks for a Bank?
There are many types of risks that banks face.
- Credit risk
- Market risk
- Operational risk
- Liquidity risk
- Business risk
- Reputational risk
- Systemic risk
- Moral hazard
What is Operational Risk?
- ‘Operational risk’ refers to the risk of loss resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, people and systems or from external events.
- This has been defined by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision I as the risk of loss resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, people and systems or from external events.
- This definition includes legal risk, but excludes strategic and reputational risk.
Pros of Capital Requirements
- Ensure banks stay solvent, avoid default
- Ensure depositors have access to funds
- Set industry standards
- Provide way to compare, evaluate institutions
Unwanted consequences of such move
- Raise costs for banks and eventually consumers
- Inhibit banks’ ability to invest
- Reduce availability of credit, loans
Back2Basics: Basel Accords
- They refer to the banking supervision Accords (recommendations on banking regulations)—Basel I, Basel II and Basel III—issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS).
- They are called the Basel Accords as the BCBS maintains its secretariat at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland and the committee normally meets there.
- These are a set of recommendations for regulations in the banking industry.
- India has accepted Basel accords for the banking system.
Let’s revise them:
[1] Basel I
- In 1988, BCBS introduced capital measurement system called Basel capital accord, also called as Basel 1.
- It focused almost entirely on credit risk. It defined capital and structure of risk weights for banks.
- The minimum capital requirement was fixed at 8% of risk-weighted assets (RWA).
- RWA means assets with different risk profiles.
- For example, an asset backed by collateral would carry lesser risks as compared to personal loans, which have no collateral. India adopted Basel 1 guidelines in 1999.
[2] Basel II
- In June ’04, Basel II guidelines were published by BCBS, which were considered to be the refined and reformed versions of Basel I accord.
- The guidelines were based on three parameters, which the committee calls it as pillars:
- Capital Adequacy Requirements: Banks should maintain a minimum capital adequacy requirement of 8% of risk assets.
- Supervisory Review: According to this, banks were needed to develop and use better risk management techniques in monitoring and managing all the three types of risks that a bank faces, viz. credit, market and operational risks.
- Market Discipline: This need increased disclosure requirements. Banks need to mandatorily disclose their CAR, risk exposure, etc to the central bank. Basel II norms in India and overseas are yet to be fully implemented.
[3] Basel III
- In 2010, Basel III guidelines were released. These guidelines were introduced in response to the financial crisis of 2008.
- A need was felt to further strengthen the system as banks in the developed economies were under-capitalized, over-leveraged and had a greater reliance on short-term funding.
- Also the quantity and quality of capital under Basel II were deemed insufficient to contain any further risk.
- Basel III norms aim at making most banking activities such as their trading book activities more capital-intensive.
- The guidelines aim to promote a more resilient banking system by focusing on four vital banking parameters viz. capital, leverage, funding and liquidity.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Armoured Engineer Reconnaissance Vehicles (AERV)
Mains level: Not Much
The first batch of next-generation indigenously designed Armoured Engineer Reconnaissance Vehicles (AERV) was inducted by the Indian Army.
About AERV
- AERV is indigenously designed and developed by DRDO and manufactured by the Pune unit of Bharat Electronics Limited.
- It has more than 90% indigenous content.
- It is a versatile BMP-IIK amphibious Infantry Combat Vehicle (ICV) fitted with instruments for water reconnaissance, land reconnaissance, navigation, and data backup.
Unique capabilities of AERV
- AERV is capable of measuring soil bearing capacity on riverbanks.
- It works to determine if they are motorable for military vehicles on Go-No Go basis (critical parameters for bridge laying), dry and wet gaps in day and night conditions, slopes and height of river banks or canals.”
- AERVs can navigate terrain using Military Grid Coordinate System, measure and plot underwater beds and water currents of rivers or canals.
- They can store data from various instruments on Control Console for further analysis and decision-making.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Asiatic Cheetah
Mains level: Wildlife re-introduction Program
Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh was all prepped to welcome the African cheetahs — a project that has been a decade in the making — this year. The project has now been postponed, as the new coronavirus variant of concern omicron prompted travel restrictions.
Confused over Leopard and Cheetah?
The most common difference between these two animals is the patterns on their coat. At first glance, it may look like they both have spots, but in actual fact, a leopard has rosettes which are rose-like markings, and cheetahs have a solid round or oval spot shape.
About Asiatic Cheetah
- Cheetah, the world’s fastest land animal was declared extinct in India in 1952.
- The Asiatic cheetah is classified as a “critically endangered” species by the IUCN Red List, and is believed to survive only in Iran.
- It was expected to be re-introduced into the country after the Supreme Court lifted curbs for its re-introduction.
- From 400 in the 1990s, their numbers are estimated to have reached to 50-70 today, because of poaching, hunting of their main prey (gazelles) and encroachment on their habitat.
Why reintroduce Cheetahs?
- Reintroductions of large carnivores have increasingly been recognized as a strategy to conserve threatened species and restore ecosystem functions.
- The cheetah is the only large carnivore that has been extirpated, mainly by over-hunting in India in historical times.
- India now has the economic ability to consider restoring its lost natural heritage for ethical as well as ecological reasons.
Why was the project halted?
- The court was worried whether the African cheetahs would find the sanctuary a favorable climate as far as the abundance of prey is concerned.
- Those who challenged the plan argued that the habitat of cheetahs needed to support a genetically viable population.
Try this PYQ:
Q. Consider the following:
1. Black necked crane
2. Cheetah
3. Flying squirrel
4. Snow leopard
Which of the above are naturally found in India?
(a) 1, 2 and 3 only
(c) 2 and 4 only
(b) 1, 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Post your answers here:
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 370
Mains level: Paper 2- J and K issue
Context
The article deal with the impact of the passage of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019 on Ladakh’s autonomy or participatory democracy.
What has changed?
- Hill Councils: The Autonomous Hill Development Councils of Leh and Kargil read along with the framework of J&K’s special status and its bicameral legislative system gave Ladakh autonomy and participatory democracy.
- The Hill Councils had the powers over land in Ladakh while the majority of the bigger concerns regarding land remained protected under Article 370 and J&K’s robust land protection laws.
- Power to recruit the officers: Gazetted officers were recruited through the State Public Service Commission.
- The District Service Selection Board made recruitments at the district level.
- But today, there is no Public Service Commission in Ladakh and the Hill Councils’ power to make recruitments at the district level has also been affected by the Lieutenant Governor (LG)’s presence.
- No law to protect the jobs: Technically, there also exists no law in Ladakh now that protects the land or even the jobs.
- Loss of representation: the Reorganisation Act has taken away the six seats of the Members of Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council and wakened the functioning of the Hill Councils.
- The only elected representation from Ladakh outside of Ladakh is a lone MP.
Conclusion
Steps need to be taken to address the issues related to the lack of representation in Ladakh in the wake of the passage of the Reorganisation Act of 2019.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- India's relations with Central Asian countries
Context
The government is inviting the leaders of the five Central Asian countries — Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan — as guests for Republic Day on January 26.
Significance of Central Asian region for India
- Return of Taliban in Afghanistan: The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan has made Central Asia a region where great contestations for influence are unfolding.
- There is a growing awareness that for leveraging influence in Kabul and harvesting that influence in the form of material gains, a firm footing in Central Asia is a prerequisite.
- Economic dimension: Given the vast untapped mineral wealth of the region encompassing the five Central Asian countries and Afghanistan — estimated to be worth a few trillion dollars — there is a significant economic dimension to the unfolding saga.
- Geopolitical angle: Washington hopes to create in Central Asia a vector of its Indo-Pacific strategy to contain China and Russia. At the same time, governments in Moscow and Beijing are circling the wagons.
Suggestions for India
- India needs to work on an intricate network of relationships with the regional states while remaining mindful of the “big picture”.
- Delhi’s non-aligned mindset needs to be turned into a strategic asset to navigate its long-term interests.
- India’s membership of the BRICS and SCO will help.
- Cooperation of Russia and China: The deepening of the traditional Indo-Russian mutual understanding has injected dynamism into Delhi’s regional strategy on the whole.
- It is bound to have a calming effect on India’s tensions with China.
- Delhi cannot have an effective Central Asia strategy without the cooperation of these two big powers.
- Regional connectivity: India can use the card of regional connectivity to stimulate partnerships.
- The time may have come to reopen the files on the TAPI and IPI gas pipeline projects. Both involve Pakistan.
- Normalisation of India-Russia ties: Russia is well-placed to act as guarantor and help build both these pipelines, while China too will see advantages in the normalisation of India-Pakistan ties.
New geoeconomic partnership
- Recently concluded third meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue in Delhi served a purpose to sensitise the Central Asian interlocutors that it attaches primacy to geoeconomics.
- But India will have a challenge on its hands to flesh out the “4Cs” concept that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar presented at the event — commerce, capacity enhancement, connectivity, and contact being the four pillars of a new geoeconomic partnership.
- The key areas are transit and transport, logistics network, regional and international transport corridors, free trade agreements, manufacturing industry and job creation.
- They ought to be front-loaded into India’s Central Asian strategy.
- Certainly, the EAEU integration processes must be speeded up.
Consider the question “With changing geopolitical scenario, India’s stake in Central Asia has drastically increased. In the context of this, examine India’s outreach efforts toward the region and the challenges it faces in it.”
Conclusion
A host of new possibilities open up if India’s initiative on Central Asia runs on a parallel track with an improvement in relations with China.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Rising inequality and its implications
Context
In the aftermath of Covid-19 pandemic, evaluating the state of inequality serves as an eye-opener on the income/wealth divides prevailing across regions.
Income and wealth inequality in the world
- The top 10% of the global population share 52% of the total income, while the bottom half survives with a mere 8.5% of it.
- This leaves the 40% in the middle with 40% of the income.
- This distribution shows the tendency of a rising middle class with lower disparity in income, but it also shows that the status of the poor is worsening day by day.
- Inequality of wealth: In terms of wealth, the top 10% of the global population own 76% of the total wealth, while the bottom 50% share a mere 2%.
- Some additional features of this exposition of inequality also relate to imbalance of women’s share in income as well as the ecological inequities indicated by the differential carbon emission levels.
Factors responsible for rising inequality
[1] Absence of effective measures of redistribution
- Inequality varies across regions. It is moderate in Europe and sharp in Africa.
- The top 10% have an income share of 36% in Europe vis-à-vis the top 10% with a share of 58% of the total income in West Asia and North Africa.
- Measures for redistribution: This disparity shows that worsening inequalities are avoidable with appropriate measures in place.
[2] The absence of measures discouraging undue accumulation
- Kuznet’s curve not follower everywhere: While there is an argument in literature that inequalities are a manifestation of the average level of income, as explained by the Kuznets’ theory, the prevailing pattern across countries does not follow the same.
- Average income level is poor predictor of inequality: The average income levels seem to be poor predictors of the levels of inequality, with high-income countries such as the U.S. having higher levels of inequality as against countries such as Sweden, which have moderate levels of inequality.
- Similar contradictions are also seen when we contrast middle-income nations such as Brazil, India and China as against Malaysia and Uruguay.
- Hence, emerging inequalities are not necessarily an outcome of rising levels of income in the post-liberalisation era, but a depiction of poor redistributive policies towards discouragement of accumulation by governments with due sensitivity towards inequalities.
How inequality hurts government finances
- This prevailing pattern of wealth concentration and differential levels of income around the world has also resulted in rich nations having poor governments.
- Such a situation has two underpinnings: one, governments have a limited capacity to act on inequality aversion measures and two, private interests overshadow the distributional fairness of wealth.
Way forward
- Focus also needs to be placed on reducing disparities in capability domains like education and differential endowments (tangible and intangible) that have the potential to sustain inequalities.
Consider the question “How rising income and wealth inequality could harm us in various ways? What are the factors responsible for the rising inequality? Suggest the way forward.”
Conclusion
The rising levels of income and wealth need to be addresses by policy measures and reducing disparity in capacity domains.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Logistcs and Supply chain management in India
In order to reduce transportation and logistic cost, the union government along with the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is working on warehouse policy.
What are Warehouses?
- A warehouse is a building for storing goods.
- Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc.
- They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities, towns, or villages.
Objectives of the New Warehousing Policy
- Logistics boost: The new policy is aimed at improving logistics throughout the country.
- Supply chain management: The modern warehouses will house cold-storage chains and will be able to store all kinds of cargo—wet and dry.
- De-congesting cities: These facilities are expected to come up outside city centres so that large trucks carrying the cargo do not need to enter the city to unload their goods.
- Fuel efficiency: This will also help boost bulk carrying capacity and save fuel.
- Curbing air pollution: The idea is to minimize pollution and traffic congestion in major cities.
Who will frame and implement the policy?
- NHAI: The policy will be framed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). It will also be the implementing agency.
How?
- Through Land Banks: There are land banks along the highways and expressways of the country with the NHAI.
- PPP mode: Tenders will be floated for such land parcels, inviting private players to develop warehousing zones in PPP mode on a revenue-sharing basis or for a fixed fee.
What will be the impact on logistic costs?
- Logistics cost-saving: Warehousing zones will help cut India’s logistics cost, which is 14%-16% of gross domestic product (GDP), compared to 8%-10% of GDP in China and 12%-13% in the US.
- Establishment of MMLPs: The warehousing zones and multi-modal logistics parks (MMLPs) are being set up by the NHAI.
- FMCG sector boost: This will help Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) firms, steel and cement makers stock inventory near major hubs.
How will MMLPs aid warehousing policies?
- Integration of multi-modal transport includes the development of 35 MMLPs.
- The MMLPs are aimed at fostering inter-modal connectivity through dedicated railway lines and access from highways to provide connectivity to an airport or a seaport or an inland waterway terminal.
- The aim is to:
- Remove deficiencies related to logistics
- Draw the associated costs down, and
- Strategically integrate highway projects and other connectivity initiatives
Why such move?
Ans. E-commerce boom
- The e-commerce sector has been driving the demand for logistics and warehousing across global markets.
- It has emerged as the most prominent driver of Indian warehousing market volumes along with the third party logistics sector.
- This sector’s share in transactions has grown from 18% in FY17 to 31% in FY21.
- The Indian market is on the verge of its next phase of growth with domestic groups such as Tatas and Reliance entering the business.
- Thus far, Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc. have driven the market.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Delimitation of constituencies
Mains level: Jammu and Kashmir after reorganization
The J&K Delimitation Commission has proposed to increase six seats for the Jammu division and one for the Kashmir division evoking sharp reactions from the regional parties.
What is Delimitation and why is it needed?
- Delimitation is the act of redrawing boundaries of an Assembly or Lok Sabha seat to represent changes in population over time.
- This exercise is carried out by a Delimitation Commission, whose orders have the force of law and cannot be questioned before any court.
- The objective is to redraw boundaries (based on the data of the last Census) in a way so that the population of all seats, as far as practicable, be the same throughout the State.
- Aside from changing the limits of a constituency, the process may result in a change in the number of seats in a state.
Delimitation in J&K
- Assembly seats in J&K were delimited in 1963, 1973 and 1995.
- Prior to August 5, 2019, carving out of J&K’s Assembly seats was carried out under the J&K Constitution and Jammu and Kashmir Representation of the People Act, 1957.
- Until then, the delimitation of Lok Sabha seats in J&K was governed by the Constitution of India.
- However, the delimitation of the state’s Assembly was governed by the J&K Constitution and J&K Representation of the People Act, 1957.
- There was no census in the state in 1991 and hence no Delimitation Commission was set up by the state until 2001 census.
Why is it in the news again?
- After the abrogation of J&K’s special status in 2019, the delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in the newly-created UT would be as per the provisions of the Indian Constitution.
- On March 6, 2020, the government set up the Delimitation Commission, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, which was tasked with winding up delimitation in J&K in a year.
- As per the J&K Reorganization Bill, the number of Assembly seats in J&K would increase from 107 to 114, which is expected to benefit the Jammu region.
Factors considered during Delimitation
- The number of districts had increased from 12 to 20 and tehsils from 52 to 207 since the last delimitation.
- The population density ranged from 29 persons a square km in Kishtwar to 3,436 persons a square km in Srinagar.
- The remoteness of the place, inaccessibility etc are also considered during the exercise.
What’s new?
Ans. Reserved constituencies for SC/STs
- For the first time, in Jammu and Kashmir, nine seats are proposed to be allocated for Scheduled Tribes out of 90 seats on the basis of population.
- Seven seats are proposed for Scheduled Castes.
Concerns raised over Delimitation
- Jammu vs. Kashmir: Concerns had been expressed over how the delimitation process may end up favoring the Jammu region over Kashmir in terms of the seats.
- Under-representation of Ladakh: Arguments have been made on how Ladakh has been underrepresented, with demands for statehood/sixth schedule.
- Non-proportionate reservations: It is argued that seats for STs should’ve been divided in both Jammu province & Kashmir province, as the ST population is almost equal.
Do not forget to answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.With reference to the Delimitation Commission, consider the following statements:
- The orders of the Delimitation Commission cannot be challenged in a Court of Law.
- When the orders of the Delimitation Commission are laid before the Lok Sabha or State Legislative Assembly, they cannot affect any modifications in the orders.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Post your answers here:
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UDAN Scheme
Mains level: Aviation infrastructure in India
PM launched the UDAN scheme nearly five years back with the aim to take flying to the masses. However, many routes have launched by airlines have been discontinued.
UDAN Scheme
- The Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme is a low-cost flying scheme launched with the aim of taking flying to the masses.
- The first flight under UDAN was launched by the PM in April 2017.
- It is also known as the regional connectivity scheme (RCS) as it seeks to improve air connectivity to tier-2 and tier-3 cities through revival of unused and underused airports.
Working of the Scheme
- Airlines are awarded routes under the programme through a bidding process and are required to offer airfares at the rate of ₹2,500 per hour of flight.
- At least 50% of the total seats on an aircraft have to be offered at cheaper rates.
- In order to enable airlines to offer affordable fares they are given a subsidy from the govt. for a period of three years.
Present status of working
- A total of nine rounds of bidding have taken place since January 2017.
- The Ministry of Civil Aviation has set a target of operationalizing as many as 100 unserved and underserved airports and starting at least 1,000 RCS routes by 2024.
- So far, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has awarded 948 routes under UDAN, of which 403 routes have taken off that connect 65 airports.
- Out of the total 28 seaplane routes connecting 14 water aerodromes, only two have commenced.
Issues with the working
- Discontinuance: In reality, some of the routes launched have been discontinued as most of the routes awarded under UDAN are not active.
- On-paper Ambitions: UDAN was expanded to provide improved connectivity to hilly regions and islands through helicopters and seaplanes. However, they mostly remain on paper.
- The reasons include:
- Failure to set up airports or heliports due to lack of availability of land
- Airlines unable to start flights on routes awarded to them or finding the routes difficult to sustain
- Adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
Various challenges
- Lack of funds: Many small airlines await infusion of funds, to be able to undertake maintenance of aircraft, pay rentals to lessors, give salaries to its staff, etc.
- Maintenance issue: Many players don’t have more than one or two planes and they are often poorly maintained. New planes are too expensive for these smaller players.
- Availability of pilots: Often, they also have problems with the availability of pilots and are forced to hire foreign pilots which costs them a lot of money and makes the business unviable.
- Competition: Only those routes that have been bagged by bigger domestic players such as IndiGo and SpiceJet have seen a better success rate.
Way forward
- The govt offers subsidies for a route for a period of three years and expects the airline to develop the route during this time so that it becomes self-sufficient.
- Airlines need an extension of the subsidy period for their operational continuity.
- Due to the rise in COVID cases, travel restrictions and passenger safety too needs to be taken into consideration in the loss-making of such airlines.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: World Press Freedom Index
Mains level: Freedom of press in India
The Centre has shown its disagreement with the conclusions drawn by Reporters Without Borders about press freedom in India for various reasons.
World Press Freedom Index
- The PFI is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders since 2002.
- It is based upon the organization’s own assessment of the countries’ press freedom records in the previous year.
- It intends to reflect the degree of freedom that journalists, news organizations, and netizens have in each country, and the efforts made by authorities to respect this freedom.
- It is careful to note that the index only deals with press freedom and does not measure the quality of journalism in the countries it assesses, nor does it look at human rights violations in general.
India’s ranking
- India is ranked at 142 out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index 2021.
- In the South Asian neighborhood, Nepal is at 106, Sri Lanka at 127, Myanmar (before the coup) at 140, Pakistan at 145 and Bangladesh at 152.
- China is ranked 177, and is only above North Korea at 179 and Turkmenistan at 178.
What the report said about India
- Targeting women: It has been highlighted that the “campaigns are particularly violent when the targets are women”.
- Criminal prosecutions: Often used to gag journalists critical of the authorities.
- Draconian laws: It termed various Indian laws such as – laws on ‘sedition,’ ‘state secrets’ and ‘national security’, draconian.
- Curb on freedom of expression: The report has also highlighted the throttling of freedom of expression on social media.
- Censorship on social media: It specifically mentioned that in India the “arbitrary nature of Twitter’s algorithms also resulted in brutal censorship”
Reservations held by India
- India along with many nations has reportedly disgusted the outcomes of this report. It stated that media in India enjoy absolute freedom.
- The government does not subscribe to its views and country rankings and does not agree to the conclusions drawn by this organization for various reasons:
- Non-transparent methodology
- Very low sample size
- Little or no weightage to fundamentals of democracy
- Adoption of a methodology that is questionable and non-transparent
- Lack of clear definition of press freedom, among others
Why is the report biased?
- The report is a subjective measure computed through the prism of western liberals.
- It tends to default to a homogenous view of mass media which then facilitates comparison between countries.
- There are no questions about media ownership or about their economic concentration in private hands.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UAPA
Mains level: Anti-national activities
The phrase ‘anti-national’ has not been defined in statutes, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has informed the Parliament.
Defining Anti-national Activities
(1) Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act
- The UAPA is aimed at the prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
- Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India.
(2) Sedition Law
- Section 124A IPC deals with attempts to bring into hatred or contempt or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government established by law in India.
- This law was enacted by the British colonial government in 1870 with the sole object of suppressing all voices of Indians critical of the government.
(3) NCRB Reports
- In 2019, when the National Crime Records Bureau released the annual Crime in India report for year 2017, it included for the first time a new chapter on “Crime Committed by Anti National Elements.”
- The chapter listed – “North East insurgents, Left Wing Extremists and Terrorists (including Jihadi terrorists)” as the three anti-national elements.
Attempts for defining
- There are criminal legislations and various judicial pronouncements deal with unlawful and subversive activities which are detrimental to the unity and integrity of the country.
- In this regard, it is relevant to mention that the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976 inserted in the Constitution Article 31D (during Emergency) which defined “anti-national activity”.
- This Article 31D was, later, omitted by the 43rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1977.
Supreme Court guidelines
- In the ultimate analysis, the judgment in Kedar Nath (1962) read down Section 124A and held that without incitement to violence or rebellion there is no sedition.
- It says that ‘only when the words written or spoken etc. which have the pernicious tendency or intention of creating public disorder the law steps in.
Who maintains the data of such individuals?
- The onus of maintenance of such data lies with the respective states.
- ‘Public Order’ and ‘Police’ are State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.
- Hence the data about the number of people arrested for indulging in anti-national activities are not maintained centrally.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Chillai Kalan
Mains level: Not Much
Kashmir is in a deep freeze as the 40-day harshest spell of winter, locally called ‘chillai kalan’ has started with the minimum temperature already sub-zero in the entire Valley.
Chillai Kalan
- Chillai Kalan is the coldest 40-day period of harsh winter of winter in the Jammu and Kashmir region.
- It is traditionally defined as a seasonal period of harsh winter accompanied by a change in increase in both frequency and quantity of precipitation usually snow.
- It begins from December 21 and ends on January 31 next year.
- It is followed by a 20-day long Chillai-Khurd (small cold) that occurs between January 31 and February 19 and a 10-day long Chillai-Bachha (baby cold).
- According to Persian tradition, the night of 21st December is celebrated as Shab-e Yalda-“Night of Birth”, or Shab-e Chelleh “Night of Forty”.
Its’ celebration
- In the Persian tradition, the night of December 21, the longest of the year, is celebrated as Shab-e-Yalda (night of birth) or Shab-e-Chelleh.
- Dozens of netizens from Kashmir named it the ‘Pheran Day’, after the long woollen gown worn during the winters in Kashmir.
- Use of a traditional firing pot called Kangri increases.
- Tap water pipelines partially freeze during this period. The Dal Lake also freezes.
- The famous tourist resort of Gulmarg receives heavy snow which attracts skier’s from every part of the world.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Seed Village Concept
Mains level: Not Much
The govt is implementing Seed Village Programme (Beej Gram Yojana) since 2014-15 to upgrade the quality of farmers’ saved seeds.
What do you mean by Seed Village?
- It is a village, wherein a trained group of farmers are involved in the production of seeds of various crops and cater to their needs themselves.
Seed Village Programme
- This program aims at upgrading the quality of farm-saved seeds.
- Under this, financial assistance is available for up to one acre per farmer for distribution of foundation/certified seeds at:
- 50% of seed cost for cereal crops
- 60% for pulses, oilseeds, fodder, and green manure crops
Objectives of the program
- Increasing the seed production
- Increasing the seed replacement rate
- Organizing seed production in cluster (or) compact area replacing existing local varieties with new high yielding varieties
- Self-sufficiency and self-reliance of the village
Implementation
The present program of seed village scheme is having two phases:
- Seed production of different crops: The area which is suitable for raising a particular crop will be selected, and raised with a single variety of a kind.
- Establishing seed processing unit: If the seeds are not processed and handled properly, all the past efforts in production may be lost. Thus seed processing and packaging is a very important aspect of seed production.
Benefits offered
- Seed is available at the doorsteps of farms at an appropriate time.
- Seeds are available at affordable costs even lesser than the market price.
- It has increased the confidence among the farmers about the quality because of known sources of production.
- It facilitates the fast spread of new cultivars of different kinds.
Back2Basics: Seed Replacement Rate
- It is the percentage of area sown out of the total area of the crop planted in the season by using certified/quality seeds other than the farm-saved seed.
- In simple terms, it is a measure of the cropped area covered with quality seed.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Implications of Russia-West relations for India
Context
Thirty years ago this week, the Soviet Union collapsed — after seven decades of an expansive global role. Few countries have been as significant as Russia for modern India’s evolution.
Impact of Russian geopolitics on India’s worldviews
- Russia’s relations with the West have always had consequences for India’s international relations.
- India’s fear of a unipolar world dominated by the US: After the collapse of the USSR in December 1991, the loss of the long-standing Soviet ally left Delhi in fears of a unipolar world dominated by the US.
- These anxieties were accentuated by post-Soviet Russia’s quick embrace of the US and the West.
- However, by the turn of the millennium, relations between Russia and the West had begun to sour.
- That drew India once again closer to Russia.
- Russia’s growing closeness to China: Moscow also roped in Beijing to build a new coalition — the RIC — to promote a multipolar world that would limit the dangers of American hyperpower.
- Improvement in India-US relations: India’s fears of the unipolar moment turned out to be overblown and Delhi’s ties with Washington began to see rapid improvement since 2000.
- The upswing in India’s ties with America, however, coincided with a steady downturn in the relations between Russia and the US.
Tension between Russia and the West
- The continuous escalation of tensions between Russia and the West culminated in the last few weeks in Ukraine — at the heart of Europe.
- Moscow’s military mobilisation on the frontier with Ukraine — that was part of the Soviet Union until 1991 — raised alarm bells of a new war between the forces of Russia and the US-led European military alliance, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
- Last week, Russia presented several proposals for a new European security architecture.
- Moscow is calling for an end to NATO’s further eastward expansion.
- Moscow also wants NATO to rescind its earlier promise to make Ukraine and Georgia — two former Soviet Republics — members of the military alliance.
Major compromises between US and Russia
- The resolution of US-Russian differences, however, involves some major compromises.
- Russia aware of the over reliance on China: While Russia has demonstrated that its interests can’t be simply ignored by the West, it also recognises the costs of a prolonged confrontation with the US and Europe and the dangers of relying solely on China to secure its geopolitical interests.
- Russia seeking accommodation with US and Europe: While Moscow is unlikely to abandon the partnership with China, there is no doubt that an accommodation with America and Europe is a high priority for Russia.
- US to focus on China challenge: The US, which is now focused on the China challenge, appears interested in easing the conflict with Russia.
- Despite its extraordinary military resources, Washington can’t afford to fight in both Asia (with China) and Europe (with Russia).
Implications for India
- Role of ideological sentiment: While coping with the complex dynamic of Russia’s relations with the West has been an enduring element of independent India’s foreign policy, Delhi’s thinking on Russia has too often been coloured by ideological sentiment.
- In Delhi, the tendency is to over-determine Russia’s contradictions with the West.
- It is not Russia’s national destiny to forever confront the West.
- Russia’s current problems with the West are not about ideological principles.
- It is about the terms of an honourable accommodation.
- Prior to the 1917 revolution, Russia was a leading part of the European great power system.
- Delhi can’t influence the new effort to build a mutually acceptable security order in Europe, but it can welcome and support it.
- Role of Asian geopolitics: That the pressure for this attempted reset in Russia’s relations with the West is coming from Asian geopolitics is of some significance.
- A reconciliation between Russia and the West will make it a lot easier for India to manage its own security challenges.
Conclusion
Delhi knows that stabilising the Asian balance of power will be difficult without a measure of US-Russian cooperation in Europe. If Moscow — at odds with the West in the last two decades — deepens its current close alignment with Beijing, it will be a lot harder to prevent Chinese dominance over Asia.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Age marriage of women issue
Context
The announcement of a cabinet decision to raise the age at marriage for women from 18 to 21 years marks the fruition of a plan that was first revealed almost two years ago when a Task Force was set up for the purpose.
Why the age of marriage of women matters
- Age of marriage has bearing on maternal mortality rates, fertility levels, nutrition of mother and child, sex ratios, and, on a different register, education and employment opportunities for women.
- It is also argued that other factors — such as poverty and health services — were far more effective as levers for improving women’s and children’s health and nutritional status.
Issues with the decision
[1] Role of poverty neglected
- If women who marry at higher ages seem to have better health and nutrition indicators, this is not caused by their marrying later than others — it is because women from better-off groups tend to marry at higher ages.
- Conversely, the health indicators of poorer women do not change just because they marry at a higher age.
- An illustration of this truth is found in the National Family Health Survey (IV) data, which show that levels of anaemia — which is the highest cause of maternal mortality in India and one of our worst statistics — show no change even at ages of marriage up to 25 years, once we control for other factors.
- World Bank study finds no impact on women: Population control was at the heart of the 1978 amendment to the Sarda Act of 1929.
- Moreover, reducing fertility rates globally by banning marriage before the age of 18 years is very much on the agenda of international agencies to this very day.
- A major multi-country study undertaken by the World Bank in 2017 estimated that “savings” of no less than $5 trillion would accrue if marriage before the age of 18 was eliminated.
- But such savings would be mostly due to reductions in fertility and consequent reductions in public health investments due to fewer births.
- The same study saw no significant gains from raised age of marriage for women’s decision making, for lowering the levels of violence they face, or helping them find employment.
- Restriction on the right of an adult woman: Globally, the age of 18 is widely regarded as the age of adulthood.
- It is also viewed as an upper limit in terms of the physical and reproductive maturity of women, as well as the age of majority by child rights conventions to which India is a signatory.
- Thus, the proposed move will restrict the rights of already adult women, an issue for legal experts to debate.
- Law is meant to set minimum age not the right age: Equally important is the crucial slippage in the arguments made on behalf of the government from the minimum age at marriage to the right age at marriage.
- The minimum age is obviously a floor, not a standard or desirable norm.
- Laws are meant to set minimum levels, a threshold for triggering legal or penal action, because of the harm that may be done.
Way forward: Address issues that drive empowerment
- Going by the NFHS 4 data (2015-16), more than half — 56 per cent — of women in the age group 20-24 years marry before the age of 21 years.
- The problem is that the real reasons that drive empowerment are not being addressed, at least not adequately.
- Educational attainments have improved enormously in recent years.
- But the shocking fact (evident in all major data sets) is that decline in early marriages has been accompanied by a fall in women’s employment rates, that persisted even during the 1990s boom.
- Paradoxical outcomes: The proportion of women not in paid work increases at higher ages of marriage!
- Complex paradoxes like these are the hallmark of our society.
- They cannot be addressed by a legal fix, particularly one that will be very hard to implement.
Consider the question “How the age of marriage of women is connected with the issue of women empowerment? What are the concerns with increasing it to 21 years? Suggest the way forward.“
Conclusion
Instead of criminalising our youth, the government must take concrete steps to really empower women. If they are truly in charge of their own lives — through affordable education, meaningful and decent employment opportunities — they will be able to make better decisions about whether, when and whom to marry.
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