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  • [Burning Issue] Raising Legal Age of Marriage For Women

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    Child marriage ends childhood.  It negatively influences children’s rights to education, health and protection. These consequences impact not just the girl directly, but also her family and community.

    Context

    The Union Cabinet on Wednesday (December 15) took the decision to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years. With this decision, the government will be bringing the age of marriage for both men and women at par. The Cabinet’s decision to raise the legal age of marriage for women is based on the recommendation of a panel led by Jaya Jaitly.

    The proposal to raise the legal age for the marriage of women carries “enormous” economic and social gains for India, according to a State Bank of India report. The report counts benefits such as lowering maternal deaths and improving nutrition levels in the near term to putting more girls in college and enabling women to achieve greater financial independence in the long term.

    Let us look at the menace of child marriage in India and the rationale behind the govt’s move in detail.

    Facts and figures about the prevalence of child marriage in India

    • Widespread across India: Nearlyhalf of brides married as girls. Every third child bride in the world is an Indian.
    • Slow improvement: There has been a decline in the incidence of child marriage nationally (from 54% in 1992-93 to 33%) and in nearly all states but the pace of change remains slow, especially for girls in the age group 15-18 years.
    • Prevalence in Rural areas: Child marriage is more prevalent in rural areas (48 percent) than in urban areas (29 percent).
    • Variations across different groups: particularly excluded communities, castes and tribes – although some ethnic groups, such as tribal groups, have lower rates of child marriage.
    • Role of Education: A girl with 10 years of education has a six times lower chance of being pushed into marriage before she is 18.
    • International Center for Research on Women: India has the 14th highest rate of child marriage in the world. As many as 39,000 minor girls are being married every day in India
    • Fourth National Family Health Survey (2015-16): There are 26.8% of brides in the country who were married below the age of 18. 40% of the world’s 60 million child marriages take place in India
    • Variations across states: State In West Bengal, the mean marriage age is only 20.9 years and almost 47 per cent of females get married before the age of 21 years, even worse than Bihar and Rajasthan.

    Marriage laws in India

    • Personal laws of various religions that deal with marriage have their own standards, often reflecting custom.
    • For Hindus and Christians: The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872 sets 18 years as the minimum age for the bride and 21 years as the minimum age for the groom.
    • Islam: The marriage of a minor who has attained puberty is considered valid according to the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937.
    • Now, the govt will have to amend the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, the Special Marriage Act and personal laws such as the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

    Factors leading to child marriage in India

    (1) Social Factors

    • Lack of education: A big determinant of the age of marriage is education. Around 45% of women with no education and 40% with primary education married before the age of 18, according to NFHS-4.
    • Social background: Child marriages are more prevalent in rural areas and among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
    • Value of virginity: It is believed that husband needs virgin wife and if the daughter had premarital sex it will dishonor their family. Some societies/castes have social stigma against girl married after puberty.
    • Gender norms: Males are more valued in Indian family and women primary role is to produce son.
    • Practice of dowry: If the girl is married at lower age they may not demand dowry as the girl is pure and believed to be incarnation of goddess Laxmi. Families see it as protection against sexual assault.
      • The dowry amount increases with the age and the education level of the girl. Hence, the “incentive” of the system of dowry perpetuates child marriage.
    • Low awareness about social protection programs: These schemes are often limited to providing cash transfers without the accompanying messages to address the multi-dimensional nature of child marriage.
    • Child marriage is seen as custom which has been borrowed from past and people do not want to change it.

    (2) Economic Factors

    • Seen as a burden: Economically, child marriages work as mechanisms that are quick income earners. A girl child is seen as a leeway to a large dowry, to be given to her family upon her marriage.
    • Poverty: Women from poor households tend to marry earlier. While more than 30% of women from the lowest two wealth quintiles were married by the age of 18, the corresponding figure in the richest quintile was 8%.
    • Trafficking: Poor families are tempted to sell their girls not just into marriage, but into prostitution, as the transaction enables large sums of money to benefit the girl’s family and harms the girl.
    • More working hands: Child marriage means more children and more children will earn more and save family from financial problems.
    • More importance to male child: Family do not want to invest on girls education as there is no return from her and rather trained to become a good wife till the age of 13 or 14 and then they are married.
    • Undervaluation of economic importance of Girls: Girls are often seen as a liability with limited economic role. Women’s work is confined to the household and is not valued.

    What is the Jaya Jaitly Committee?

    • In June 2020, the Ministry of WCD set up a task force to look into the correlation between the age of marriage with issues of women’s nutrition, prevalence of anemia, IMR, MMR and other social indices.
    • The committee was to look at the feasibility of increasing the age of marriage and its implication on women and child health, as well as how to increase access to education for women.

    Key recommendations

    • The committee has recommended the age of marriage be increased to 21 years, on the basis of feedback they received from young adults from 16 universities across the country.
    • The committee also asked the government to look into increasing access to schools and colleges for girls, including their transportation to these institutes from far-flung areas.
    • Skill and business training has also been recommended, as has sex education in schools.
    • The committee said these deliveries must come first, as, unless they are implemented and women are empowered, the law will not be as effective.

    Reasons behind the decision

    • Gender-neutrality: With this decision, the government will be bringing the age of marriage for both men and women at par.
    • Motherhood complexities: An early age of marriage, and consequent early pregnancies, also have impacts on nutritional levels of mothers and their children, and their overall health and mental wellbeing.
    • Mother and Child Mortality: It also has an impact on Infant Mortality Rate and Maternal Mortality Rate.
    • Women empowerment: The decision would empower women who are cut off from access to education and livelihood due to an early marriage.
    • Protection from abuse: This will essentially outlaw premature girls marriages and prevent the abuse of minors.
    • Socio-economic Fronts: Increasing the legal age for the marriage of women has enormous benefits including:
      1. Lowering the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR)
      2. Improvement of nutrition levels
      3. Financial front opportunities will be opened up for women to pursue higher education and careers and become financially empowered, thus resulting in a more egalitarian society.
    • More female labor force participation: Increasing the marriage age will lead to more females doing graduation and hence improving the female labor force participation ratio. The percentage of females doing graduation will increase by at least 5-7 percentage points from the current level of 9.8 per cent.

    In a landmark judgement of Dhannu Lal v. Ganeshram ,the Supreme Court ruled that two individuals cohabiting and staying in a live-in relationship are not criminal offenders. Raising the legal age of marriage for women will further promote live-in relationship culture.

    Challenges in raising the legal age of marriage for women

    • Illegal marriages: Such legislation would push a large portion of the population into illegal marriages leading to non-institutional births.
    • Ineffectiveness of existing laws: Decrease in child marriages has not been because of the existing law but because of an increase in girls’ education and employment opportunities.
    • Unnecessary coercion: The law would end up being coercive, and in particular negatively impact marginalized communities, such as the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, making them law-breakers.
    • Rights of the girls are threatened: Increasing the age of marriage to 21 years would mean that girls will have no say in their personal matters until they are 21.
    • Exploitation of law by parents: The law has been used by parents against eloping daughters. It has become a tool for parental control and for punishment of boys or men whom girls choose as their husbands.
    • Social validity of marriages: Even if the law declares a marriage before the specified age as void, in the eyes of the community, arranged marriages will have social validity.
    • This worsens the condition of the girls who are widowed even before reaching the new legal age for marriage.
    • Increased female infanticide: Raising the female marriage age in India that have high son preference and high poverty may have the unintended consequence of increasing the prevalence of female infanticide and sex-selective abortion.

    Way Forward

    (1) Need to address the root of the problems: While children born to adolescent mothers have a higher prevalence of stunting and low weight, experts argue that the underlying cause is poverty.

    • There is also a need to improve access to education, skill training, and employment opportunities which are some of the barriers for girls in pursuing higher education.
    • It is also important to ensure a safe environment free from the constant threat of rape and sexual assault which is why girls are married off early.
    • Legislation to increase the age of marriage is superficial and does not go to the root of the problems faced by young women.

    (2) Steps must be taken to address early pregnancies instead of focusing on the age of marriage by extending family planning and reproductive health support which focus on preparation for pregnancy and delaying the first birth.

    (3) Improving educational reach: The answer to delaying child marriages lies in ensuring access to education since the practice is a social and economic issue.

    (4) Increasing Accessibility to Schools: The government needs to look into increasing access to schools and colleges for girls, including their transportation to these institutes from far-flung areas.

    (5) Need for the awareness programs: An awareness campaign is required on a massive scale on the increase in age of marriage, and to encourage social acceptance of the new legislation, which they have said would be far more effective than coercive measures.

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

  • Can India become a technology leader?

    Context

    Every time a technology giant chooses an India-born techie as its leader, there is a justifiable swelling of pride in the country, but also some disappointment.

    Why is India still not a major player in technology?

    • Inability to use opportunities: The popular narrative is that India’s failures are linked to its inability to make use of market-driven growth opportunities.
    • Brain drain: Indeed, as of 2019, there were 2.7 million Indian immigrants in the U.S.
    • They are among the most educated and professionally accomplished communities in that country.

    Role of the state

    • Example of the US: An invisible hand of the US government has been there to prop up each of the so-called triumphs of enterprise and the free market in the US.
    • Introduction of new generation technologies: Research by Mariana Mazzucato shows that the state has been crucial to the introduction of the new generation of technologies, including the computers, the Internet, and the nanotech industry.
    • Public funding: Public sector funding developed the algorithm that eventually led to Google’s success and helped discover the molecular antibodies that provided the foundation for biotechnology.
    • The role of the government has been even more prominent in shaping the economic growth of China, which is racing with the U.S. for supremacy in technology.
    • Even while being hailed as the ‘factory of the world’, China had been stuck at the low value-adding segments of the global production networks, earning only a fraction of the price of the goods it manufactured.
    • However, as part of a 2011 government plan, it has made successful forays into ‘new strategic industries’ such as alternative fuel cars and renewable energy.
    • China’s achievements came not because it turned ‘capitalist’, but instead by combining the strengths of the public sector, markets and globalisation.
    • China’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were seen as inefficient and bureaucratic.
    • However, rather than privatising them or letting them weaken with neglect, the Chinese state restructured the SOEs.
    • On the other, SOEs strengthened their presence in strategically important sectors such as petrochemicals and telecommunication as well as in technologically dynamic industries such as electronics and machinery.

    What went wrong in India’s case?

    • When India inaugurated planning and industrialisation in the early 1950s.
    • Public sector funding of the latest technologies of the time including space and atomic research and the establishment of institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) were among the hallmarks of that effort.
    • Many of these institutions have over the years attained world-class standards.
    • The growth of information technology and pharmaceutical industries has been the fastest in Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
    • Poor education: However, the roadblocks to progress have been many, including India’s poor achievements in school education.
    • Missed opportunity to strengthen technological capabilities: In 1991, when India embraced markets and globalisation, it should have redoubled efforts to strengthen its technological capabilities.
    • Low spending on research and development: Instead, the spending on research and development as a proportion of GDP declined in India from 0.85% in 1990-91 to 0.65% in 2018.
    • In contrast, this proportion increased over the years in China and South Korea to reach 2.1% and 4.5%, respectively, by 2018.

    Positives for India

    • Higher enrollment for tertiary education: The number of persons enrolled for tertiary education in India (35.2 million in 2019) is way ahead of the corresponding numbers in all other countries except China.
    • More graduates from STEM: Further, graduates from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) programmes as a proportion of all graduates was 32.2% for India in 2019, one of the highest among all countries (UNESCO data).

    Way forward

    • Increase spending on education: India needs to sharply increase its public spending to improve the quality of and access to higher education.
    • An overwhelming proportion of tertiary students in India are enrolled in private institutions: it was 60% for those enrolled for a bachelor’s degree in 2017, while the average for G20 countries was 33%, according to OECD.
    • Improve technological capabilities: The ‘Make in India’ initiative will have to go beyond increasing the ‘ease of business’ for private industry.
    • Indian industry needs to deepen and broaden its technological capabilities.
    • India — which will soon have twice the number of Internet users as in the U.S. — is a large market for all kinds of new technologies.
    • While this presents a huge opportunity, the domestic industry has not yet managed to derive the benefits.
    • This will happen only if universities and public institutions in the country are strengthened and emboldened to enter areas of technology development for which the private sector may have neither the resources nor the patience.
    • Strengthen the public sector: PSUs should be valued for their potential long-term contributions to economic growth, the technologies they can create, and the strategic and knowledge assets they can build.
    • A strengthened public sector will create more opportunities for private businesses and widen the entrepreneurial base. Small and medium entrepreneurs will flourish when there are mechanisms for the diffusion of publicly created technologies, along with greater availability of bank credit and other forms of assistance.

    Conclusion

    The next big story about Indian prowess does not have to be from the U.S., but could come from thousands of such entrepreneurs in far-flung corners of the country.

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

  • How has Samanvaya Mentorship helped Civilsdaily Student Ashish Anand in his UPSC-CSE Preparation? || Book Your First Free 1-on-1 Counselling Session with us in next 24 hours|| LINK INSIDE

    How has Samanvaya Mentorship helped Civilsdaily Student Ashish Anand in his UPSC-CSE Preparation? || Book Your First Free 1-on-1 Counselling Session with us in next 24 hours|| LINK INSIDE

    REGISTER HERE FOR YOUR FIRST FREE SAMANVAYA COUNSELLING SESSION IN 24 HOURS

    Why has Civilsdaily Student and Aspiring UPSC 2022 Civil Servant, Ashish Renewed his Program for One More Year With Us?

    “Unlike other students in my batch, Ashish has been a dedicated and hardworking UPSC aspirant even before joining us. Since he is unable to prepare for UPSC fulltime, he compensates by studying for 6-7 hours everyday after he completes his work as a bank officer. He is always able to complete the weekly targets assigned to him 2-3 days in advance.”, says Ashish’s Civilsdaily Mentor Pravin sir as he sets the tone of our interview. Pravin sir has been mentoring Ashish for more than a year. Satisfied with his guidance, Ashish has upgraded his program once again for 2022 prelims.

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is ashish.jpg

    Ashish had started his UPSC-CSE preparation in March 2020. For 6 months, he prepared without comprehending what was written in the books. He followed random videos on Youtube for a topic he didn’t understand and read all the pages of many books recommended by different toppers. Ashish struggled to study a topic concisely. He did not know what was the relevant information he had to gather for a topic. Hence, though he studied hard he was unable to score well in test series. As a result of which, Ashish in his first Civilsdaily Mains Test was able to score only 50 marks out of 250 and 40 out of 200 marks in prelims.

    REGISTER HERE FOR YOUR FIRST FREE SAMANVAYA COUNSELLING SESSION IN 24 HOURS

    Challenges of Ashish When He Studied Without Mentorship

    By July 2020, Ashish decided he cannot waste anymore time and wanted a personal mentor for his UPSC-CSE preparation. He knew he had no time to attend coaching classes so he was particular about the kind of mentor he preferred. Ashish wanted a mentor who could help him minimize his study materials, guide him on how he could judiciously utilize the available time for preparation and set weekly targets for him. “I wanted to do the studying by myself, it’s not classes that I wanted. I wanted someone with whom I can develop micro and macro study plans, someone who evaluates test series frequently and assesses my performance. Someone who motivates me to stay focused when I feel like taking long breaks.” This on surface, might appear as trivial requirements, but let’s not forget that on a daily basis many aspirants grapple with motivation, consistency and time-management issues.

    Ashish was unable to find the right mentor till he approached Civilsdaily. ” I was a regular reader of the current affairs compilation at Civilsdaily. That’s when I thought of enrolling in its mentorship program as well.” Under it’s mentorship program, Pravin sir has analyzed the previous year questions from year 1994 onwards for every topic in the syllabus. He will then suggest which book or online source Ashish can read for a particular topic. This way, Ashish is able to read about 2-3 books per subject, but not waste time by reading every page of those books.

    REGISTER HERE FOR YOUR FIRST FREE SAMANVAYA COUNSELLING SESSION IN 24 HOURS

    How is Pravin Sir’s Mentorship Helping Ashish?

    Pravin Sir, Civilsdaily Mentor and Two-Time UPSC CSE Interview Aspirant

    “To give an example, I asked Ashish to read Ramesh Singh for Fundamentals of Economy but for certain key concepts I asked him to read only from Shankar Ganesh.”, Pravin sir says and continues, “If there is any current affairs in Samachar Manthan that corresponds to what Ashish is reading this week, I will bring it to his notice.” Pravin sir conducts weekly counselling session where Ashish is free to discuss anything that bothers him personally even if it’s not related to his studies. Every aspirant has had those days when it’s been hard to just study. It happens to the best of us sometimes and for some of us, it happens more frequently. And it is understandable, Civil Service preparation is a long and often lonely process. Every aspirant, from toppers to those who have quit have been overwhelmed by this process at some point in time. Working alone is monotonous and that’s why regular counselling is required. “I believe that during this tough preparation phase, an aspirant is vulnerable to the smallest of the negative distractions. Counselling helps them stay on track and not react to anything going around them in an impulsive manner.” Pravin sir has also included all his students in the Habitat Club where he posts inspirational quotes and invites everyone for a weekly zoom session to conduct live answer writing practice sessions. “I conduct this zoom session right before and after the weekly prelims and mains test series. I feel its important for everyone in a group to discuss and debate on how they can improve an answer for a question. Over here, I also show the answer writing copies of other UPSC toppers”

    When Ashish first wrote the test series, he had a problem of writing vague points which were not backed by relevant factual data. He also did not give current affairs examples of the points he discussed in his answers.

    By November 2020, Ashish learnt how to improve the presentation of his answers by writing shorter points and backing it up with examples wherever necessary. He also highlighted sub-headings as boxes to get the attention of the examiner. However, while concluding, he still made vague points and did not offer solutions to the issues.

    In the recent test series conducted on December 9 2021, Ashish improved his answer writing in terms of presentation, valid specific points and solutions, examples and statistics. However, he missed on giving an introduction that could have fetched him 1-2 marks extra by mentioning about the recent cryptocurrency bill.

    Right now, Ashish is able to score 105 in advanced prelims test series, 120 in basic prelims test series and 100 out of 250 in advanced mains test series. “I feel reassured when I get timely support from Pravin sir and always look forward to our weekly interactions when I can inform him I completed the modules of the week.” When asked about one particular instance of mentorship that he cherishes, Ashish says, “I did not understand parliamentary committee topic once. Pravin sir was on call with me for half an hour and explained the whole topic till I understood. I really appreciate that from his end.” Ashish told us that Pravin sir directs him to the right videos and sources when he is unable to get conceptual clarity. “This often happens to me when I am reading any topic in international relations. Because of Pravin sir’s support, I am able to understand a topic in lesser time.” Due to the weekly topic wise prelims and mains test series, Ashish has improved his speed and accuracy to a large extent. “While before, I used to take 15-20 minutes to write an answer, now I am able to do so within 10 minutes.”

    Get Your First 30 Min Counselling session By a Mentor for Free

    At the core of Samanvaya lies the fact that each one of you will have a unique journey while preparing for the exam. Some will get through on the first attempt without much effort while others will take both more time and more effort.

    We want to understand you better to help you optimize your journey so you can focus on the right things and not waste time on the wrong ones. We are asking you to tap into the valuable experiences of mentors who underwent the same grind and realize the pitfalls and understand the shortcuts to make it.

    In the first counselling session, we will understand your weaknesses. Over 80% of students who claimed to have revised NCERTs twice were unable to answer basic questions. Many were not comfortable with at least 1 GS subject and Optional. Many struggled with ‘What went wrong’ after 2-3 years of hard work. Our mentors will provide free preliminary assignments so that we can assess your preparedness and suggest accurate strategies. We then help you to stick to one plan or strategy throughout your preparation.

    Samanvaya Code of Conduct to be followed

    However, before you fill the form and get your first 30 minute counselling with us for free, please keep in mind the following —

    • Be honest with your mentors about your preparation levels and stage.
    • Follow their advice and participate in tests and assignments that they set for you
    • Stay active in the telegram groups, ask doubts, don’t hold yourself back.
    • Don’t expect spoonfeeding. You have to drive the initiative.
    REGISTER HERE FOR YOUR FIRST FREE SAMANVAYA COUNSELLING SESSION IN 24 HOURS

  • How has Samanvaya Mentorship helped Civilsdaily Student Ashish Anand in his UPSC-CSE Preparation? || Book Your First Free 1-on-1 Counselling Session with us in next 24 hours|| LINK INSIDE

    How has Samanvaya Mentorship helped Civilsdaily Student Ashish Anand in his UPSC-CSE Preparation? || Book Your First Free 1-on-1 Counselling Session with us in next 24 hours|| LINK INSIDE

    REGISTER HERE FOR YOUR FIRST FREE SAMANVAYA COUNSELLING SESSION IN 24 HOURS

    Why has Civilsdaily Student and Aspiring UPSC 2022 Civil Servant, Ashish Renewed his Program for One More Year With Us?

    “Unlike other students in my batch, Ashish has been a dedicated and hardworking UPSC aspirant even before joining us. Since he is unable to prepare for UPSC fulltime, he compensates by studying for 6-7 hours everyday after he completes his work as a bank officer. He is always able to complete the weekly targets assigned to him 2-3 days in advance.”, says Ashish’s Civilsdaily Mentor Pravin sir as he sets the tone of our interview. Pravin sir has been mentoring Ashish for more than a year. Satisfied with his guidance, Ashish has upgraded his program once again for 2022 prelims.

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is ashish.jpg

    Ashish had started his UPSC-CSE preparation in March 2020. For 6 months, he prepared without comprehending what was written in the books. He followed random videos on Youtube for a topic he didn’t understand and read all the pages of many books recommended by different toppers. Ashish struggled to study a topic concisely. He did not know what was the relevant information he had to gather for a topic. Hence, though he studied hard he was unable to score well in test series. As a result of which, Ashish in his first Civilsdaily Mains Test was able to score only 50 marks out of 250 and 40 out of 200 marks in prelims.

    REGISTER HERE FOR YOUR FIRST FREE SAMANVAYA COUNSELLING SESSION IN 24 HOURS

    Challenges of Ashish When He Studied Without Mentorship

    By July 2020, Ashish decided he cannot waste anymore time and wanted a personal mentor for his UPSC-CSE preparation. He knew he had no time to attend coaching classes so he was particular about the kind of mentor he preferred. Ashish wanted a mentor who could help him minimize his study materials, guide him on how he could judiciously utilize the available time for preparation and set weekly targets for him. “I wanted to do the studying by myself, it’s not classes that I wanted. I wanted someone with whom I can develop micro and macro study plans, someone who evaluates test series frequently and assesses my performance. Someone who motivates me to stay focused when I feel like taking long breaks.” This on surface, might appear as trivial requirements, but let’s not forget that on a daily basis many aspirants grapple with motivation, consistency and time-management issues.

    Ashish was unable to find the right mentor till he approached Civilsdaily. ” I was a regular reader of the current affairs compilation at Civilsdaily. That’s when I thought of enrolling in its mentorship program as well.” Under it’s mentorship program, Pravin sir has analyzed the previous year questions from year 1994 onwards for every topic in the syllabus. He will then suggest which book or online source Ashish can read for a particular topic. This way, Ashish is able to read about 2-3 books per subject, but not waste time by reading every page of those books.

    REGISTER HERE FOR YOUR FIRST FREE SAMANVAYA COUNSELLING SESSION IN 24 HOURS

    How is Pravin Sir’s Mentorship Helping Ashish?

    Pravin Sir, Civilsdaily Mentor and Two-Time UPSC CSE Interview Aspirant

    “To give an example, I asked Ashish to read Ramesh Singh for Fundamentals of Economy but for certain key concepts I asked him to read only from Shankar Ganesh.”, Pravin sir says and continues, “If there is any current affairs in Samachar Manthan that corresponds to what Ashish is reading this week, I will bring it to his notice.” Pravin sir conducts weekly counselling session where Ashish is free to discuss anything that bothers him personally even if it’s not related to his studies. Every aspirant has had those days when it’s been hard to just study. It happens to the best of us sometimes and for some of us, it happens more frequently. And it is understandable, Civil Service preparation is a long and often lonely process. Every aspirant, from toppers to those who have quit have been overwhelmed by this process at some point in time. Working alone is monotonous and that’s why regular counselling is required. “I believe that during this tough preparation phase, an aspirant is vulnerable to the smallest of the negative distractions. Counselling helps them stay on track and not react to anything going around them in an impulsive manner.” Pravin sir has also included all his students in the Habitat Club where he posts inspirational quotes and invites everyone for a weekly zoom session to conduct live answer writing practice sessions. “I conduct this zoom session right before and after the weekly prelims and mains test series. I feel its important for everyone in a group to discuss and debate on how they can improve an answer for a question. Over here, I also show the answer writing copies of other UPSC toppers”

    When Ashish first wrote the test series, he had a problem of writing vague points which were not backed by relevant factual data. He also did not give current affairs examples of the points he discussed in his answers.

    By November 2020, Ashish learnt how to improve the presentation of his answers by writing shorter points and backing it up with examples wherever necessary. He also highlighted sub-headings as boxes to get the attention of the examiner. However, while concluding, he still made vague points and did not offer solutions to the issues.

    In the recent test series conducted on December 9 2021, Ashish improved his answer writing in terms of presentation, valid specific points and solutions, examples and statistics. However, he missed on giving an introduction that could have fetched him 1-2 marks extra by mentioning about the recent cryptocurrency bill.

    Right now, Ashish is able to score 105 in advanced prelims test series, 120 in basic prelims test series and 100 out of 250 in advanced mains test series. “I feel reassured when I get timely support from Pravin sir and always look forward to our weekly interactions when I can inform him I completed the modules of the week.” When asked about one particular instance of mentorship that he cherishes, Ashish says, “I did not understand parliamentary committee topic once. Pravin sir was on call with me for half an hour and explained the whole topic till I understood. I really appreciate that from his end.” Ashish told us that Pravin sir directs him to the right videos and sources when he is unable to get conceptual clarity. “This often happens to me when I am reading any topic in international relations. Because of Pravin sir’s support, I am able to understand a topic in lesser time.” Due to the weekly topic wise prelims and mains test series, Ashish has improved his speed and accuracy to a large extent. “While before, I used to take 15-20 minutes to write an answer, now I am able to do so within 10 minutes.”

    Get Your First 30 Min Counselling session By a Mentor for Free

    At the core of Samanvaya lies the fact that each one of you will have a unique journey while preparing for the exam. Some will get through on the first attempt without much effort while others will take both more time and more effort.

    We want to understand you better to help you optimize your journey so you can focus on the right things and not waste time on the wrong ones. We are asking you to tap into the valuable experiences of mentors who underwent the same grind and realize the pitfalls and understand the shortcuts to make it.

    In the first counselling session, we will understand your weaknesses. Over 80% of students who claimed to have revised NCERTs twice were unable to answer basic questions. Many were not comfortable with at least 1 GS subject and Optional. Many struggled with ‘What went wrong’ after 2-3 years of hard work. Our mentors will provide free preliminary assignments so that we can assess your preparedness and suggest accurate strategies. We then help you to stick to one plan or strategy throughout your preparation.

    Samanvaya Code of Conduct to be followed

    However, before you fill the form and get your first 30 minute counselling with us for free, please keep in mind the following —

    • Be honest with your mentors about your preparation levels and stage.
    • Follow their advice and participate in tests and assignments that they set for you
    • Stay active in the telegram groups, ask doubts, don’t hold yourself back.
    • Don’t expect spoonfeeding. You have to drive the initiative.
    REGISTER HERE FOR YOUR FIRST FREE SAMANVAYA COUNSELLING SESSION IN 24 HOURS

  • MSP for all crops is fiscally unfeasible

    Context

    Many political parties are demanding to make the minimum support prices (MSP) a legal instrument.

    Background of MSP

    • MSP regime had its genesis in 1965 when India was hugely short of basic staples and living in a “ship-to-mouth” situation.
    • Indicative price: It was an indicative price (not a legal price) and procurement of rice and wheat was done to support farmers when they were adopting new seeds (HYV technology) and domestic procurement was to feed the PDS.
    • The government declares MSP for 23 crops: Seven cereals (paddy, wheat, maize, bajra, sorghum, ragi and barley), five pulses (tur, moong, chana, urad and masur), seven oilseeds (soybean, groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, sesamum, safflower, sunflower and nigerseed) and four commercial crops (sugarcane, cotton, jute and copra).

    Need to rethink procurement policy

    • But now with granaries overflowing with rice and wheat, there is a need to rethink and redesign the procurement policy.
    • In the crop year 2020-21, about 60 million metric tonnes (MMTs) of rice and 43 MMTs of wheat were procured by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and NAFED procured about 0.66 MMTs of pulses.

    The increasing cost of PDS

    • The main procurement by the government happens largely for rice and wheat to feed the public distribution system (PDS).
    • The PDS issue prices of rice and wheat are subsidised by more than 90 per cent of their economic cost to the government.
    • In 2020-21, the food subsidy bill was almost 30 per cent of the net tax revenue of the central government, reflecting clearly a huge consumer-bias in the system.
    • Way forward: Unless this PDS is reformed either by restricting this to say the bottom 30 per cent of the population, or raising the issue prices to say half the economic cost of rice and wheat, giving a better deal to farmers is likely to blow up the fiscal position of the central government.

    The cost of legal MSP

    • Assuming that only 10 per cent of the production of remaining crops (excluding sugarcane) is procured, it will cost the government about Rs 5.4 lakh crore annually to procure these other MSP crops.
    • This cost is estimated on the basis of economic costs of operation that are usually about 30 per cent higher than the MSP (in case of rice and wheat it is 40 per cent).
    • But it appears that despite this, market prices may stay below MSP, especially during the harvest time.
    • It also raises the question why only these MSP crops, why not other agri-produce, say milk, the value of which is more than the value of rice, wheat and sugarcane combined.

    Way forward

    • PDP: One may use price deficiency payments (PDP), implying that the government pays to farmers the gap between the market price and MSP, whenever market prices are below MSP.
    • Income support instead of price support: It may be better to use an income policy on a per hectare basis to directly transfer money into farmers’ accounts without distorting markets through higher MSPs or PDPs.

    Consider the question “What are the challenges in providing the legal backing to the Minimum Support Price to the agriculture produce? Suggest the way forward.”

    Conclusion

    There is no easy substitute to “getting the markets right”. Government need to apply an innovative approach to solve the conundrum of the MSP.

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  • Disability in india

    Context

    The Draft Accessibility Standards/Guidelines recently released by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for built infrastructure under its purview (police stations, prisons and disaster mitigation centres) and services associated with them assume significance.

    What are the provisions under the Standards?

    • Models for police stations: The Standards set out models for building new police stations as well as improving upon existing police stations and prisons that are modern, gender sensitive and accessible.
    • The Standards speak to the need to make the websites and institutional social networks of police stations accessible, ensuring that persons with disabilities accused of committing any crimes are treated appropriately, having disabled-friendly entrances to police stations and disabled-friendly toilets.
    • Inclusive police force: the Standards state that the police staff on civil duty could be persons with disabilities.
    • Equal protection during natural disasters: Acknowledging that persons with disabilities must receive equal protection as others in such situations, the Standards provide direction on disability inclusion in disaster mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery efforts.
    • They also stress on disability inclusive training for persons involved in disaster relief activities, data aggregation, use of information and communication technology (ICT) and enforcing accessible infrastructure models for schools, hospitals and shelters following the principle of universal design.
    • Accessibility norm: The Standards introduce accessibility norms for services associated with police stations and prisons.
    • These norms promote the use of ICTs to facilitate communication, development of police websites, app-based services for filing complaints, making enquiries, etc., as well as encouraging the use of sign language, communication systems such as Braille, images for persons with psycho-social disabilities, and other augmentative and alternative modes of communication.

    Shortcomings of the Standards/norms

    • Accessibility of signage not ensured: The Standards call for the deployment of directional signage regarding accessibility features in the MHA’s physical infrastructure as well as to indicate the location of accessible toilets.
    • However, they do not require that such signage itself be accessible to the visually challenged, such as through auditory means.
    • Certain accommodations merely recommendatory: The Standards characterise several reasonable accommodations that are necessary for the disabled as being merely recommendatory.
    • These include having trained police personnel in every police station to assist persons with disabilities and placing beepers at all entrances to enable the visually challenged/blind to locate themselves.
    • Lack of detail on human assistance: In the case of Patan Jamal Vali, the Court suggested connecting special educators and interpreters with police stations to operationalise the reasonable accommodations embodied in the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013.
    • While the standards do require developing a mechanism to provide human assistance to the disabled such as sign language interpreters, they are short on specifics on this count.
    • Lack of representation: Interestingly, the Standards state that the police staff on civil duty could be persons with disabilities.
    • This is inconsistent with the Office Memorandum issued by the Department of Empowerment for Persons with Disabilities on August 18, 2021, according to which the Centre has exempted posts in the Indian Police Service; the Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshdweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli Police Service; as well as the Indian Railway Protection Force Service from the mandated 4% reservation for persons with disabilities in government jobs.

    Conclusion

    In sum, the Standards, when enacted into law, will mark a huge step forward in making our law enforcement apparatus more disabled-friendly. Bolstering the Standards further, by incorporating the suggestions flowing from well- thought-out public comments, will take us closer to the aim of ensuring that India’s disabled citizens truly have the police they deserve.

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  • Explained: India’s Missile Capability

    The Defence Minister has encouraged scientists to work towards developing hypersonic missile technology after China’s successful demonstration of hypersonic glide vehicles (HGV).

    Try this question:

    Q. Hypersonic missiles are nothing but weapons of deterrence. Critically comment in context of arms race development for hypersonic missiles.

    History of Missile Technology in India

    (1) Pre-Independence

    • Before Independence, several kingdoms in India were using rockets as part of their warfare technologies.
    • Mysore ruler Hyder Ali started inducting iron-cased rockets in his army in the mid-18th century.
    • By the time Hyder’s son Tipu Sultan died, a company of rocketeers was attached to each brigade of his army, which has been estimated at around 5,000 rocket-carrying troops.

    (2) Post-Independence

    • At the time of Independence, India did not have any indigenous missile capabilities.
    • The government created the Special Weapon Development Team in 1958.
    • This was later expanded and called the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), which moved from Delhi to Hyderabad by 1962.
    • In 1972, Project Devil, for the development of a medium-range Surface-to-Surface Missile was initiated.
    • By 1982, DRDL was working on several missile technologies under the Integrated Guided Missiles Development Programme (IGMDP).

    What kind of missiles does India have?

    • India is considered among the top few nations when it comes to designing and developing missiles indigenously.
    • However, it is way behind the US, China and Russia in terms of range.
    • DRDO is working on multiple varieties of missiles:

    [A] Surface-launched Systems

    ANTI-TANK GUIDED MISSILE:

    • Nag has already been inducted into the services. Nag is the only fire-and-forget ATGM meeting all weather requirements for its range (around 20 km).
    • Recently Heli-Nag was tested, which will be operated from helicopters and will be inducted by 2022.
    • There is also a Stand-off Anti-Tank (SANT) missile, with a range over 10 km.

    SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILE

    • Short-range SAM system: Akash has already been inducted in the Army and the Air Force.
    • For Akash 1, which has a seeker, the Army has already got the Acceptance of Necessity from the government.
    • For Akash (New Generation), the first tests were conducted in July this year and a couple more trials are to be done.
    • Medium-Range SAM: Production of MRSAM systems for the Navy is complete, and it is placing its order.

    [B] Air-launched Systems

    AIR-TO-AIR:

    • Astra, India’s Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM), has been completely tested and is under induction.
    • It has a range of around 100 km, and DRDO is trying to now induct it with more IAF platforms, including the domestically developed light combat aircraft Tejas.
    • A long-range Astra is also being developed, for which initial tests have been conducted.
    • The missile uses solid fuel ramjet technology, which enhances speed, and will have an indigenously-built seeker.

    AIR-TO-GROUND:

    • Rudram, a New Generation Anti-Radiation Missile (NGRAM), has cleared initial tests and some more tests will be conducted soon.
    • With a maximum range of around 200 km, the missile mainly targets communication, radar and surveillance systems of the adversary, and was tested from the Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jet last year.
    • BrahMos, which India developed jointly with Russia, is already operational.
    • It has a 300 km to 500 km range, and is a short-range, ramjet-powered, single warhead, supersonic anti-ship or land attack cruise missile.

    India’s crucial missile systems

    The two most important are Agni and Prithvi, both being used by the Strategic Forces Command.

    • Agni (range around 5,000) is India’s only contender for an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM), which is available in only a few countries.
    • Prithvi, although a short-range surface-to-surface missile with a 350 km range, has strategic uses. India also tested an anti-satellite system in April 2019.
    • A modified anti-ballistic missile named Prithvi Defence Vehicle Mk 2 was used to hit a low-orbit satellite.
    • It put India only behind the US, Russia and China in this capability.

    What about Hypersonic Technology?

    • India has been working on this for a few years, and is just behind the US, Russia and China.
    • DRDO successfully tested a Hypersonic Technology Demonstrated Vehicle (HSTDV) in September 2020, and demonstrated its hypersonic air-breathing scramjet technology.
    • India has developed its own cryogenic engine and demonstrated it in a 23-second flight.
    • India will try to make a hypersonic cruise missile, using HSTDV.
    • Only Russia has proven its hypersonic missile capability so far, while China has demonstrated its HGV capacity.
    • India is expected to be able to have a hypersonic weapons system within four years, with medium- to long-range capabilities.

    What makes India good in missile technology?

    • Missile technology is one field in which India has made very positive and substantial progress.
    • Under the IGMP then headed by A P J Abdul Kalam, later India’s President, first came Prithvi, then Agni.
    • BrahMos, at 2.5-3 times the speed of sound, was among the fastest in the world when developed.
    • After the nuclear blast in 1998, cryogenic etc were not given to us by developed countries. Kalam and others, they made it a point that they developed it within the country.

    Where do China and Pakistan stand compared to India?

    • While China is ahead of India, a lot of things about China are psychological.
    • China may have either achieved parity or even exceeded the US in land-based conventional ballistic and cruise missile capabilities.
    • China’s missile development is definitely a concern for us, but we will definitely evolve.
    • It has given the technology to the irresponsible hands of Pakistan. But getting technology and really using it, and thereafter evolving and adopting a policy is totally different.

    Must read:

    Agni V vs China’s Hypersonic Missile

     

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  • Why policymakers prefer targeting of Retail Inflation over Wholesale Inflation?

    The wholesale inflation in India has grown by double digits. This is the highest year-on-year increase recorded in any month since the start of the 2011-12 data series.

    Context

    • It is surprising policymakers are not looking as concerned as the inflation figures show.
    • The Finance Ministry has largely focused on the trend in retail inflation — or the inflation rate at the level of retail consumers.
    • It is not just the policymakers within the government who prefer to focus on retail inflation but also the RBI.

    Wholesale and Retail (Consumer) Inflation

    • The wholesale and retail (consumer) inflation rates are based on the wholesale price index (WPI) and the consumer price index (CPI), respectively.
    • In other words, we make two separate indices — one each for wholesale prices and retail prices — and see how the index values have gone up in a particular month as against the same month last year.
    • The percentage change is the rate of inflation.
    • The CPI-based inflation data is compiled by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (or MoSPI) and the WPI-based inflation data is put together by DPIIT.

    The tables alongside detail how the two indices — WPI and CPI — differ in their composition. There are two key differences.

    [A] Wholesale Price Index

    Component Weight (in %) Inflation rate (in %);

    Nov 2021
    All Commodities 100.00 14.23
    Primary Articles 22.62 10.34
    Fuel & Power 13.15 39.81
    Manufactured Products 64.23 11.92

    [B] Consumer Price Index

    Component Weight (in %) Inflation rate (in %); 

    Nov 2021
    General Index 100.00 4.91
    Food and beverages 45.86 2.60
    Pan, tobacco and intoxicants 2.38 4.05
    Clothing and footwear 6.53 7.94
    Housing 10.07 3.66
    Fuel and light 6.84 13.35
    Miscellaneous (services) 28.32 6.75

    A Comparison

    (1) Manufactured Goods Vs. Food Items

    • WPI is dominated by the prices of manufactured goods while CPI is dominated by the prices of food articles.
    • As such, if the year-on-year increase in the prices of food articles is subdued, as is the case at present, chances are that the overall (also called headline) retail inflation will be within reasonable bounds.
    • In WPI, if manufactured products are getting costlier at the wholesale level then that would likely spike wholesale inflation regardless of how food prices are doing at the wholesale level.

    (2) Accounting Service

    • Two, WPI does not take into account the change in prices of services. But CPI does.
    • If services such as transport, education, recreation and amusement, personal care etc. get significantly costlier, then retail inflation will rise but there will be no impact on wholesale price inflation.

    Why do policymakers prefer targeting retail inflation instead of wholesale inflation rate?

    • RBI’s limitations: RBI is the monetary authority that has little ability to control food and fuel prices. Ex: raising the repo rate (rate at which RBI lends money to banks) is unlikely to contain the price of vegetables if any disruptions have led to a sudden spike.
    • Non-commodity Inflation: Wholesale inflation does not capture price movements in non-commodity-producing sectors like services, which constitute close to two-thirds of economic activity in India.
    • Large revisions in WPI: Movements in WPI often reflect large external shocks and as such, the wholesale inflation rate is often subject to large revisions.

    Arguments in favour of CPI-based inflation targeting

    • Commodity basket: A crucial reason why CPI-based inflation could not be ignored is the fact that it has almost 57% dominance of food and fuel prices.
    • Affecting general public: Since most people use retail inflation as a way to arrive at their real earnings, and use it for wage negotiations etc., it makes more sense for policymakers,
    • Public faith: The choice of CPI establishes ‘trust’ viz., economic agents note that the monetary policy maker is targeting an index that is relevant for households and businesses.
    • Inflation affecting people: True inflation that consumers face is in the retail market. It is for this reason that almost all central banks in big economies use CPI as their primary price indicator.

    Impact of Wholesale inflation on Retail

    • The Urjit Patel committee analysed the relationship between WPI and CPI based on monthly data from January 2000 to December 2013 — a total of 14 years.
    • When they looked at the impact of an increase in WPI-food inflation on CPI food inflation, they found it to be “significant”.
    • It stated that higher food inflation in wholesale markets leads to an increase in retail food inflation “till two months”.
    • An increase in retail food inflation leads to a corresponding increase in WPI-food inflation.

     

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  • Election Commission

    The “informal interaction” of the CEC and two other Election Commissioners with the Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary has raised questions about the neutrality of the Commission, especially when elections to crucial States are around the corner.

    About Election Commission of India

    • The ECI is a constitutional authority whose responsibilities and powers are prescribed in the Constitution of India under Article 324.
    • In the performance of its functions, the Election Commission is insulated from executive interference.
    • It is the Commission that decides the election schedules for the conduct of elections, whether general elections or by-elections.
    • ECI decides on the location of polling stations, assignment of voters to the polling stations, location of counting centers, arrangements to be made in and around polling stations and counting centres and all allied matters.

    Litigations against EC

    • The decisions of the Commission can be challenged in the High Court and the Supreme Court of India by appropriate petitions.
    • By long-standing convention and several judicial pronouncements, once the actual process of elections has started, the judiciary does not intervene in the actual conduct of the polls.

    Issues with PMO meeting

    • Executive interference: ECs are expected to maintain distance from the executive — a constitutional safeguard to insulate the commission from external pressure and allow it to continue as an independent authority.
    • Violating official channels: The EC’s communication with the Government on election matters is through the bureaucracy — either with its administrative ministry — the Law Ministry or the Home Ministry.
    • Breach of protocol: The Law Ministry spells the fine print on law for the country and is expected not to breach the constitutional safeguard provided to the commission to ensure its autonomy.

    Recent incidence of criticisms

    Ans. Partiality in Elections

    • Over the last couple of years, several actions and omissions of the commission have come in for criticism.
    • Nearly 66 former bureaucrats in a letter addressed to the President, expressed their concern over the working of the Election Commission.
    • They felt was suffering from a credibility crisis, citing various violations of the model code of conduct during the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.

    Importance of ECI for India

    • Conduction of Election: The ECI has been successfully conducting national as well as state elections since 1952.
    • Electoral participation: In recent years, however, the Commission has started to play a more active role to ensure greater participation of people.
    • Discipline of political parties: It had gone to the extent of disciplining the political parties with a threat of derecognizing if the parties failed in maintaining inner-party democracy.
    • Upholds federalism: It upholds the values enshrined in the Constitution viz, equality,
      equity, impartiality, independence; and rule of law in superintendence, direction, and control over electoral governance.
    • Free and fair elections: It conducts elections with the highest standard of credibility, freeness, fairness, transparency, integrity, accountability, autonomy and professionalism.

    Issues with ECI

    • Flaws in the composition: The Constitution doesn’t prescribe qualifications for members of the EC. They are not debarred from future appointments after retiring or resigning.
    • No security of tenure: Election commissioners aren’t constitutionally protected with security of tenure.
    • Partisan role: The EC has come under the scanner like never before, with increasing incidents of breach of the Model Code of Conduct in the 2019 general elections.
    • Political favor: The opposition alleged that the ECI was favoring the ruling party by giving clean chit to the model code of conduct violations made by the PM.
    • Non-competence: Increased violence and electoral malpractices under influence of money have resulted in political criminalization, which ECI is unable to arrest.

     

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  • Risks of mandatory Iron Fortification

    Many things have been said about the necessity for mandatory iron fortification of foods in India.

    Iron fortification

    • Iron fortification of food is a methodology utilized worldwide to address iron deficiency.
    • A critical problem in some food fortification programs is the lack of bioavailability of iron compounds.

    Why need iron fortification?

    Ans. Prevalence of Anaemia

    • Iron deficiency anaemia is due to insufficient iron.
    • National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 provides insights into anaemia prevalence in the country, indicating that 57.2% of women ages 15 to 49 are anaemic, up from 49.7% in NFHS-4.
    • Without enough iron, the body can’t produce enough of a substance in red blood cells that enables them to carry oxygen (hemoglobin).
    • Severe anemia during pregnancy increases your risk of premature birth, having a low birth weight baby and postpartum depression.
    • Some studies also show an increased risk of infant death immediately before or after birth.

    Concerns over iron fortification

    Ans. Fear of diabetes and heart ailments

    • Iron increases the risk for many non-communicable diseases like diabetes, hypertension and even high blood cholesterol.
    • A US based survey shows that high ferritin level had a four-fold higher risk of having diabetes.
    • The Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey of Indian adolescents to resulted in such scary outcomes.
    • There was a clear and significant risk for each of these conditions as serum ferritin increased.

    India’s vulnerability

    Ans. India is world capital of diabetes and hypertension

    • No less than 50% of Indian children, aged 5-19 years, already had a biomarker of either high blood sugar or high blood lipids, even when thin or stunted.
    • Thus, the risk of chronic disease is already very high in our children.
    • Thus mandatory cereal fortification has severe hazards for India.

    Why mandatory fortification is not a feasible option?

    • Occurrence of deficiencies: We do not even know if anaemia is as rampant to warrant such mandatory measures.
    • Manipulating food choices: When mandatory fortification is enforced in parts of the population that do not need this, it removes their choice of foods, or autonomy.
    • Morbidities due to excess: It could even be unethical if the risk of other morbidities is increased.
    • No successful example: Rice fortification has not been shown to work in a combined analysis.

    Conclusion

    • Food fortification is not a magic bullet.
    • It should be viewed as a complementary strategy for the prevention and control of micronutrient deficiencies.
    • As dietary patterns and deficiency states change, monitoring and periodic evaluation will be essential in helping to make necessary changes.

     

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