Social Issues

What is the News?

The Government of India has informed the Supreme Court about the status of India’s Healthcare infrastructure to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.

India’s Healthcare Infrastructure Status:

• India’s Health Infrastructure has increased up to 45-fold to tackle the successive waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The total cumulative vaccine coverage was 27.23 crore doses as of June 19, 2021.
• The total intensive care unit(ICU) beds had increased by 45-fold from a baseline of 2,500 to around 1.13 lakh.
• The total isolation beds (excluding ICU beds) had climbed 42-fold, from 41,000 to 17.17 lakh.
• Oxygen-supported beds have multiplied 7.5-fold from 50,000 to around 3.81 lakh.
• Around 1.5 lakh health personnel had been engaged on the ground to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The insurance coverage was given to 22.12 lakhs health care workers, including ASHA workers fighting COVID-19.
• Testing capacity had been increased from 30,000 tests a day in April 2020 to a high of 22 lakh tests daily.

Source: The Hindu

Read Also :-Revitalizing Coal Bed Methane in India

Synopsis: The vaccination policy of India should maintain a balance between the achievement of health goals and demands of supply constraints.

Introduction 

Vaccines are a proven shield against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. They have prevented serious illness and death. A study of data from the UK collected between December 1, 2020, and April 30, 2021, showed that the AstraZeneca vaccine had an effectiveness of 64% after one dose and 79% after two doses, in protecting against severe illness and death.

• Effectiveness of AstraZeneca vaccine: A report by Public Health England showed that the AstraZeneca vaccine had an effectiveness of 71% after one dose and 92% after two doses in guarding against hospitalization due to the delta variant.
• Effectiveness of COVISHIELD in India: The first report of vaccine effectiveness from India, told an analysis of 8,991 staff who had been vaccinated between January 21, 2021, and April 30, 2021, mostly with Covishield. The protective effect of vaccination was 92% against the need for oxygen and 94% against the need for intensive care.
  • No deaths were reported, but about 10% of those who had received one or two doses were infected.
  • These data from the United Kingdom and India show that the Covishield vaccine is working against the delta variant.

What are the issues with the current vaccination policy of India?

• Too much focus on herd immunity. When vaccines seemed to be somewhere in the future with doubts over timing or supply, discussions on the pandemic focused on ‘herd immunity’ (the percentage of the population that needed to be infected or vaccinated in order to slow the spread of infection)
• The opening of age tiers led to issues of supply. A road map of the availability of vaccines and their supply to individual States is not clear.
• The Swedish strategy of limited restrictions and the Great Barrington declaration attracted much criticism. Many scientific commentators considered it is cruel to follow a strategy that meant that a lot of people would get infected with the virus.
• Anti-science statements made by some people have led to a situation where the public is confused as to how best to cope with the coronavirus. Uncertainty on vaccine availability, doubt, fear, anxiety and depression are widespread.

Suggestions to improve vaccination policy of India

Different needs at different levels require policy approaches that balance the achievement of health and societal goals with the potential impact and the needs of supply constraints.

• Vaccinating a large number of people: The strategy needs to achieve maximum impact. We need to vaccinate a large proportion of the population and extend it at a later stage to children to both prevent disease and slow spread.
• Plan for children as well: The advent of the delta variant made it clear that the previous plan to vaccinate a smaller part of the population is not right, and reaching up to 85% of the population might be required. This means that along with all adults, we should be planning for children as well to achieve Universal Vaccination.
• Vaccinating the high-risk group first: We must vaccinate those most at risk from serious illness and death first based on the principles of public health. The high rates of previous waves in India may make it possible to immunize a large part of our population with a single dose, at least initially.
• Ensuring expansive reach of the vaccine: The vaccine should reach every village. Community leaders should be empowered with information and tools to broadcast the message that the vaccine saves lives. 
  • The central government has centralized vaccine purchase, but it must revisit the private sector allocation and give distribution to States, providing support when requested. The CoWIN app must not be a limiting factor in access to the vaccine.
• An adaptive vaccination policy: The vaccination policy must be adapted quickly to changing circumstances. We must create models to find a suitable vaccination strategy for younger populations.
  • If cases are climbing in a particular region, we should direct vaccine doses there to protect as much of the population. High vaccination coverage in cities may protect rural areas. The Government must trust its citizens and share the information as it is a notable aspect of the pandemic.
• Open sharing of the data: The Government must trust its citizens and share the information that is solely available to it. A notable aspect of the pandemic is the absence of credible data from the government. This has led to speculative ideas based on poor or poorly understood information and misinformation.

Conclusion
Addressing the pandemic must include a strategy that ensures maximum impact. This can be done with an expansive vaccination policy that adapts itself on the go and covers the needs of every section of our society.

Source: Click here

What is the news?

Prime Minister has launched a “customized crash course programme for Covid-19 frontline workers”.

About the Crash Course Programme for Covid-19 Frontline Workers

• Aim: The programme aims to create skilled non-medical healthcare workers to fill the present and future needs of manpower in the health sector.
  • This will be done by providing fresh skills and upskills to over one lakh Covid warriors across the country.
• Nodal Scheme: The course has been designed under the Central Component of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 3.0.

Key Features of the Scheme

• Firstly, the programme would be available at 111 training centers across 26 states in the country.
• Secondly, the Covid warriors will be trained under six modules. These modules include:
  • Home Care Support
  • Basic Care Support
  • Advanced Care Support
  • Emergency Care Support
  • Sample Collection Support and
  • Medical Equipment Support.
• Lastly, the trained workers will then assist doctors in the treatment of COVID 19 patients.

Source: India Today

Synopsis: Application of future Digital technologies in the health sector can lead to accessible, affordable, and quality health care. Further, it can reduce human involvement in risky functions.

Background

• Human involvement in diagnosis, treatment, and hospital care of infected patients puts them at greater risk of contracting the disease. For instance, many frontline warriors fighting COVID-19 have lost their lives.
• In this context, technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous systems, blockchain, cloud and quantum computing, data analytics, 5G can help in addressing the issue.
• The new technologies can improve the welfare of societies and reduce the impact of communicable diseases. Further, it can reduce the chances of hospital staff contracting the infection.

Recent developments regarding the use of disruptive technologies for hospital care

1. One, according to global media reports, some established innovative field hospitals are using robots to care for COVID-19 affected patients.
2. Two, hospitals in China, are using 5G-powered temperature measurement devices at the entrance to flag patients who have fever-like symptoms.
3. Three, some robots are being used to measure heart rates and blood oxygen levels through smart bracelets.
4. Four, In India too, the Sawai Man Singh government hospital in Jaipur held trials with a humanoid robot to deliver medicines and food to hospitalized COVID-19 patients

How new technologies can improve the hospital ecosystem?

• One, Blockchain technology can help in addressing the interoperability challenges that health information and technology systems face.
  • The health blockchain will contain a complete indexed history of all medical data, including formal medical records and health data. Data will be sourced from mobile applications and wearable sensors. This will help in seamless medical attention.
  • Further, it allows for storing of data in a secured and authenticated network. Thereby, it will prevent erosion of Individuals’ privacy and ensure data security.
• Two, Big data analytics can help improve patient-based services such as early disease detection.
• Three, AI and the Internet of Medical Things, or IoMT can support medical care delivery in dispersed and complex environments through Medical autonomous systems.
• Four, Cloud computing can facilitate collaboration and data exchanges between doctors, departments, and even institutions and medical providers. It will enable the best treatment.

Read Also :-Digital nation: On delivery of citizen services 

How Digital technologies can be utilized to achieve “Universal health coverage” in India?

1. India needs to own its digital health strategy that works and leads towards universal health coverage and person-centered care.
2. India’s digital health strategy should emphasize the ethical appropriateness of digital technologies, across the digital divide, and ensure inclusion across the economy.
3. Online consultation through video conferencing should be made a key part of India’s digital health strategy.
4. Moreover, digital health strategy should  utilise available local knowledge. Primary health centres in India should examine traditional knowledge and experience and then use it along with modern technology.
   • There are many instances where traditional knowledge has been utilised for preventing diseases.
   • For example, in Indonesia, where the experience of backyard poultry farmers was used to tackle bird flu.
   • Another example is the Ebola virus outbreak in Africa, where communities proactively helped curtail the spread much before government health teams arrived.

Challenges in developing Digital health strategy

• Standardisation of health data,
• Information sharing between Organisations
• Data security and data privacy, and
• High investments.

India’s efforts in this direction should involve synchronization and integration, developing a template for sharing data, and reengineering many of the institutional and structural arrangements in the medical sector.

Source: The Hindu

Read Also :-Making Education Accessible and Affordable 

Synopsis: Recently, the COVID pandemic has exacerbated the brain drain problem in India but instead of obsessing over the issue of brain drain, government should be more concerned about implementing structural reforms. This will ensure that we create an environment where every last individual is able to thrive to his/her fullest potential.

Introduction

• India has wrestled with the problem of brain drain for many years. COVID pandemic has only given a turbo-boost to this phenomenon. It has amplified a pre-existing trend of high net-worth individuals leaving emerging economies for citizenship of advanced economies.
• COVID has accelerated the brain drain problem in India. Many high net-worth (HNI) individuals are leaving India for greener pastures. Well-off parents too are sending their children abroad especially USA.

But, the real problem is a lack of investment in the people which stay in India. This needs to be resolved as a policy-priority.

What is brain drain?

It is defined as emigration of highly-skilled labor as a proportion of the potential educated labor force in sending countries​.

Trend of brain drain from India

• The first big post-Independence wave of educated and/or well off Indians emigrating started in 1960s. India lost many skilled professionals in medicine, science and information technology starting as early as the 1960s to countries including the U.K., U.S. and Canada.
• India saw the reverse migration of skilled IT and other professionals during the economic boom of the late 2000s. Anecdotal evidence suggests that these reversed flows have slowed down as the pace of economic growth has dropped.
  • This phenomenon of back and forth movement of skilled people in a globalized world has been termed brain circulation.

Should India be worried?

No. As per author, India should not be worried about this recent increase in brain drain because of the following reasons:

• No problems from brain drain: Emigration from India that began in 1960s continued all through the post-reforms era. Despite this India has witnessed growth in its economy. Even the economic crisis of 1990s happened due to Indian socialism and not due to brain drain from India.
• Indian diaspora helps: Indian diaspora acts as a soft power multiplier for the country, as well as a network through which both ideas and investment arrive here.

What should India focus upon?

Instead of worrying too much about brain drain, India should lay emphasis on the following:

• Responding positively to the pandemic-induced crisis: GoI and states should respond to the pandemic-induced economic downturn and implement necessary structural reforms.
• Focus on education and employment: India has too few institutions of excellence and of professional studies. Getting into ‘good’ Indian colleges is often harder than getting into US universities. No country has gone up the wealth ladder without widespread availability of both good public education and regular, skilled employment.

Conclusion
Building world-class public education infrastructure and coupling it with structural reforms is the way forward because we have enough people. All we need to do is to focus on leveraging this asset. Brain drain is not the actual problem, brain waste is.

Source: Times of India

Synopsis: Need to give attention to the requirements of the most vulnerable members of the caregiving team i.e. young healthcare workers.

Introduction 

young medical interns, postgraduates, nurses, physiotherapists, pharmacists, etc are at the lowest steps in the hierarchy of training. It seems fair from an academic view and is according to any professional training path. However, this structure is apathetic for young health care workers.

• Even before the pandemic, duty hour restrictions were not followed for young healthcare workers. Sleep-deprived postgraduates used to work for 100-hours in a week. 
• There is inconsistency in stipends rates. For example, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh offer the lowest monthly stipends to first-year residents at Rs 35-37,000.

What are the adverse effects of the pandemic on young healthcare workers?

During the pandemic, most public hospitals had young interns, postgraduates, nurses, and technicians staff in fever clinics, wards, and ICUs. They were overworked by the huge volume of patients. 

1. Firstly, they are physically distressed by working for 8-12 hours in a stuffy PPE suit and tightly-fitted face mask. One cannot even take a toilet break.
   • It requires a tremendous cognitive effort to manage complex ventilator settings and drug interactions. Especially when the patient is admitted to the Covid-19 ward with multiple co-morbidities. 
2. Secondly, as the second wave hit, hospitals increased their beds and ICU capacity. But the healthcare workers remained overstretched. The burden further increased by poorly-informed public health measures and an increase in public frustration and indifference. 
3. Thirdly, the NEET postgraduate exams this year have been delayed. The shortage of workers will continue to overburden them.
4. Fourthly, the growing amount of disinformation on social media which adds to distrust against doctors and nurses has left most trainees in an unfortunate position. They are defending their worth and the firmness of scientific evidence that updates medical practice. 
   • They also have to defend themselves against the several instances of violence and abuse by patient attendees.
5. Fifthly, all of these factors have taken a toll on the well-being of young trainees. They are away from their families and the uncertainty about their safety amidst a global pandemic affects their mental health. 
6. Sixthly, suicide has claimed the lives of students, interns, and postgraduates in the last year across the country. Reasons were the stress of persistent duty hours, (some even suffering from severe conditions themselves).

The conclusion 

• It is time we bring an end to our indifference towards young healthcare workers. There should be some amendments to the Epidemic Disease Act to protect frontline workers from exploitation. They should be provided with centrally-sponsored insurance schemes. 
• Citizens must now speak out against the exploitation of young trainees. It should be a moral responsibility to end this toxic culture that feeds off public apathy.

Source: click here

What is the News?

The Ministry of Education has launched YUVA Scheme. It is the Prime Minister’s Scheme For Mentoring Young Authors.

 About YUVA-  Prime Minister’s Scheme For Mentoring Young Authors:

• Firstly, the Department of Higher Education under the Ministry of Education launched the YUVA (Young, Upcoming and Versatile Authors) scheme.
• Secondly, it is an Author Mentorship scheme. It aims to mentor authors under the age of 30. It will train them to promote reading, writing, and book culture in the country. This will allow India to project its writings globallya
• Thirdly, this scheme is in line with PM’s vision to encourage young writers to write about India’s freedom struggle.
• Fourthly, Implementation: National Book Trust of India under the Ministry of Education as the Implementing Agency will ensure execution of the Scheme.
• Fifthly, Part of: The scheme is a part of the India@75 Project (Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav). The project aims to bring out the perspectives of the young generation of writers, It would be on themes like unsung heroes, freedom fighters, and others in an innovative and creative manner.

Key Features of the YUVA Scheme:

• Firstly, Under the Scheme, a total of 75 authors will be selected through the All India Contest.
• Secondly, the themes of the contest are unsung heroes, freedom fighters, National Movement among others.
• Thirdly, the young authors will be trained by eminent authors/mentors. The books by these authors will be published by National Book Trust, India.
• Fourthly, the books will also be translated into other Indian languages. It will ensure the exchange of culture and literature thereby promoting ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’.
• Lastly, a consolidated scholarship of Rs.50,000 per month for a period of six months per author will be paid under the Mentorship Scheme.

About National Book Trust:

• National Book Trust(NBT) is an Indian publishing house. It was founded in 1957 as an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education of the Government of India.
• Mandate: The activities of the Trust include publishing, promotion of books and reading, promotion of Indian books abroad, assistance to authors and publishers, and promotion of children’s literature.

Source: PIB

Synopsis: India has lost its leadership in the production of a knowledge economy. But still India maintaining leaderships in few sectors like space, pharma and information technology.

India as Knowledge economy

Background

• The global success of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the pharmaceutical industry signifies the diplomatic potential of India’s Knowledge Economy(production of goods and services is based principally on knowledge-intensive activities).
• For instance, recently ISRO launched Brazil’s Amazonia-1 satellite and India exported the COVID-19 vaccine to Brazil, as part of its “Vaccine Maitri” diplomacy.
• However, India does not hold its leadership position in the production of knowledge Economy like in the 1950s.

What was the reason behind the success of these two sectors?

1. Sustained state support: India’s current knowledge economy leadership in space and pharmaceuticals is due to 50 years of sustained state support.
   • • It was Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who authorised the creation of ISRO in 1972.
     • Again, it was her decision to enact the Indian Patents Act, 1970. The Act facilitated the growth of the domestic pharmaceuticals sector.
     • Subsequent governments have all contributed to the development of both industries.
2. The credit to Indian engineering, scientific and technological talent. There is large scale development of educational institutions throughout India. This made Indian students pursuing world-class standards at a fraction of the cost compared to developed countries.
3. With these initiatives, India became the leader in the Knowledge Economy in the space and pharma sector. Further, India built the capacity to place satellites of several countries at globally competitive rates and also able to supply drugs and vaccines at affordable prices to developing countries.
4. Moreover, It has to be noted that these two sectors were successful even when the western countries created constraints for indigenous technology development. For instance,
   • • Unilateral sanctions were imposed by the US to deny Indian industry access to technology and markets.
     • A multilateral regime for intellectual property rights (IPRs) protection was created, under the aegises of the World Trade Organisation.
     • Even today, Many developed countries oppose India’s Compulsory Licence of medicines.

Proof for India as a Knowledge Economy in the past:

There were many instances in the past that shows India’s knowledge is in high demand. They are,

1. Students from across Asia and Africa sought admission to Indian universities for post-graduate courses.
2. Indian expertise was sought by global organisations such as the FAO, UNIDO, etc.
3. The government of South Korea even sent its economists to the Indian Planning Commission till the early 1960s. They got their training in long-term planning.
4. Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES), had acquired a global profile with business in Africa and Asia.
5. The development of India’s dairy and livestock economy also attracted global interest.

Why India its leadership in the Knowledge Economy?

Irrespective of the dominant position during the 1950s, India lost its leadership in the production of the knowledge economy. The reasons are,

1. Flight of Indian talent to other developed countries. It had accelerated since the 1970s and has sharply increased in recent years.
2. China has emerged as a major competitor offering equally good S&T products and services at a lower cost.
3. The appeal of higher education in India for overseas students has decreased. This is the biggest setback for India trying to become the powerhouse of the knowledge economy. This is because of two reasons,
   • • The quality of education offered in most institutions is not up to date. The education institutes in India still teach old technologies instead of new ones.
     • The social environment offered in India is no longer as cosmopolitan as it used to be. There is a significant growth in the narrow-minded ideologies in India.
4. Lack of political and intellectual support to the development of India’s knowledge base and an inadequate commitment by the government. For example, the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP) is discontinued without an alternative programme hurts the quality of technical education in India.

The success of the ISRO and Pharma sector is a tribute to public policy, government support, private sector involvement and middle-class talent. This has to spread across the sector to regain India as the leader of the Knowledge Economy.

What is the News?

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has released the annual World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2021 (WESO) report.

About the World Employment and Social Outlook report:

• The report analyses key labour market issues including unemployment, labour underutilisation, working poverty, income inequality, labour income share and factors that exclude people from decent work.
• It highlights how the COVID-19 crisis had worsened pre-existing inequalities by hitting vulnerable workers harder.

 Key Findings of the World Employment and Social Outlook report

• COVID-induced job loss: Covid-19 induced jobs loss will reach 75 million in 2021, before falling to 23 million in 2022.
  • Further, people who have held onto their jobs have seen their working hours cut dramatically.
• Global Unemployment: Unemployment is expected to stand at 205 million people in 2022. This far greater than the 187 million in 2019. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 5.7%.
• Poor quality of jobs: The quality of newly created jobs would likely deteriorate in developing and emerging economies.
• Increase in Poverty: Compared to 2019, an additional 108 million workers worldwide are now categorized as poor or extremely poor. This means they and their families live on the equivalent of less than US$3.20 per person per day.
• Women: Covid-19 crisis has hit women disproportionately. They have lost jobs at a greater rate than men. Moreover, additional domestic responsibilities for women from crisis lockdowns have created the risk of a “re-traditionalization” of gender roles.
• Child Labour: The crisis has also appeared to reverse the decade of progress in battling child labour and forced labour.

The report cautions that in absence of any decisive action, COVID-crisis will impact the global labour market for the long term.

Source: Indian Express

What is the News?

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs has informed about the status of food grains disturbed under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana(PMGKAY).

About Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana(PMGKAY):

• Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana was announced as part of the relief package during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Aim: To ensure sufficient food for the poor and needy during the coronavirus crisis.
• Nodal Ministry: Department of Food and Public Distribution under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
• Features: Under the scheme, about 80 Crore National Food Security Act (NFSA) beneficiaries are eligible for an additional quota of free-of-cost foodgrains (Rice/Wheat). It is provided at a scale of 5 Kg per person per month over and above their regular monthly entitlement.

Performance of the Scheme:

• Almost a third of all ration cardholders are yet to get their free foodgrains allocation for May under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana.
• However, almost 90% of beneficiaries have received their regular subsidised foodgrains for this month. This raises questions over why the free grain under PMGKAY has reached fewer beneficiaries.
• Moreover, states such as Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Odisha and Rajasthan did not even begin distribution of the May quota under the PMGKAY.

Government advisory on Migrant workers without ration cards:

• The Government of India has issued an advisory. In that, the Center asked the states to launch a special drive to issue ration cards to the most vulnerable sections of society, including migrant workers and street dwellers. There was a nationwide coverage gap of only 1.97 crore beneficiaries.
  • In May, the Supreme Court had directed that migrant workers and poor people without ration cards should be provided with dry ration in any scheme found suitable by the States and Centre.
• However, these ration cards must be issued within the existing coverage allowed for each State under the National Food Security Act(NFSA).
• Since most of the States had already reached their quota limits under NFSA. They would not be able to enrol any new beneficiaries.

Source: The Hindu

What is the News?

The Central Government has issued an advisory to all states to divide the wage payments under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme. The MGNREGA Wages will be divided into separate categories for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and others from the Financial Year 2021-22.

Current Method of Wage Payment under MGNREGA:

• The existing system does not divide the wages under the MGNREGA scheme into separate categories. This means there is no category wise provision of wage payment.
• However, the Ministry of Rural Development maintains separate data on the number of SC/ST/women employed under the scheme.

Possible Reasons for this move by Government:

• According to experts, the possible reason why the government might be dividing MGNREGA payments category wise would be to know the exclusive allocation made for SC/ST groups.

Concerns:

• This move will complicate the payment system under MGNREGA more rather than simplifying it.
• Moreover, the experts fear that this move is meant to reduce funding under the Scheme.

About MGNREGA:

• MGNREGA is an employment guarantee act. It was introduced in 2005 through the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act,2005.
• Under the scheme, every rural household whose adult member volunteers to do unskilled manual work is entitled to get at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year.
• Implementation: Ministry of Rural Development(MRD) in association with state governments monitors the implementation of the scheme.
• Features of the act:
  • Demand-driven scheme: Worker to be hired when he demands and not when the Government wants it.
  • Gram Panchayat is mandated to provide employment within 15 days of work application, failing which the worker is entitled to unemployment allowance.
  • Payment of wages within 15 days of competition of work, failing which worker is entitled to delay compensation of 0.05%/ day of wages earned.

Source: The Hindu

Synopsis:

The second wave of Pandemic has put immense stress on the Indian masses. They are facing job losses, food shortages, and hunger issues. In this scenario, the government should prioritise food and work for all.

Background:

• The second wave of Covid-19 -19 has made it imperative for many states to impose a lockdown.
• This is creating severe hardships for the marginalized and vulnerable masses. Migrant workers and the rural poor have been facing great distress over the past year and the crisis for food and work is only going to intensify further.

Dismal State of Affairs:

• The ‘Hunger Watch’ report of the Right to Food Campaign and the Centre for Equity Studies compares the pre-lockdown situation to the situation in October 2020. As per the report, 
  • 27% of the respondents had no income; 
  • 40% of the respondents witnessed worsening of their food’s nutritional quality
  • 46% of the respondents had to skip one meal at least once a day in October 2020
• According to the estimates of the Stranded Workers Action Network, 81% of stranded workers are without any work since April 15, 2021.
  • Further, 76% of the workers are short of food and cash and require immediate support.

Inadequate Efforts:

• The government announced 5 kg free food grains for individuals enlisted under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), for May and June 2021. 
  • However, about 100 million deserving people are excluded from the ration distribution system. This is due to an outdated database based on the 2011 Census.
• The Centre had allocated 73,000 crore rupees for 2021-22 for MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) and notified an annual increment of about 4% in wages.
  • This is 38,500 crore rupees less than last year’s revised estimate. Even if 1 crore fewer people enroll in the scheme than the previous year, then also this year’s amount can’t meet their demands.

Way Forward:

• The government should expand PDS coverage immediately and include all eligible households under the schemes. It should extend the free food grains program to a year instead of limiting it to two months.
• The government should give a wage hike of at least 10%. This would further call for an allocation of at least 1.4 lakh crore towards the MGNREGS for ensuring an uninterrupted implementation during the year.

Source: The Hindu

Synopsis – COVID pandemic has been a nightmare, especially for orphaned children due to the deadly second wave. Government intervention is needed to help alleviate problems related to orphan care in India.

Introduction

• Even before the COVID pandemic, society generally ignored orphan children and their problems.
• People were discriminatory towards them. Their socio-economic condition, and multiple levels of oppression that they have to face routinely, put them in a disadvantaged position.
• But their plight has been made worse by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
• It’s said that never waste a good crisis. Hence, the government can take this pandemic as an opportunity to design and implement policy-level solutions for orphan children in India.

Challenges faced by orphan children

• Fight for Survival: They have to fight really hard for their survival in the following two cases:
  • if relatives take no responsibility
  • if there is no relative to take responsibility
• No support system
  • No one to guide or provide emotional support
  • Most state govts do not allow staying beyond 18 years of age in state-supported institutions.
  • In the absence of a place to stay or a support system, many end up making wrong choices, or are drawn into a path that leads to poverty and worse.
• Problem in arranging govt documents like Aadhaar, PAN, death certificates of parents etc.

How can govt tackle the issue?
The government is legally bound by the Constitution to ensure the welfare of children. Following are some policy-level solutions that govt can implement:

• Yearly survey: A yearly survey at district and block levels to be done immediately
• Registration of information about the child’s family and the property of the child
• Supply of government documents on time
• Healthy institutional support system: Provision of a healthy institutional environment to orphaned children based on the principles of freedom, equality, fraternity, and social justice
  • Staying beyond 18 years of age should be allowed. Maharashtra government has changed the rule and allowed their stay in hostels till the age of 23
• Priority in government schemes and programs
• Inter-departmental coordination: Coordination of women and child development department that is responsible for the welfare of children with other departments like finance, higher education help and skill development, etc.
• Separate representation: As a special case, separate representation of orphan children at district and state levels and; special care for a girl child.
• Fund for orphan children: A permanent fund on the lines of a CM welfare fund
• The establishment of an IAS-level administration set-up to cater to the issues of orphan children permanently is also urgent.

These policy changes are important for inclusive long-term planning and if the state wishes to effectively implement programmes for children.

Conclusion

There is a grave need, now more than ever, to stand with orphaned children throughout their life. The support of the government is essential in their lives so that they can get rightful opportunities to lead a quality life and participate in society.

Source: Click here

Synopsis: The Tarun Tejpal acquittal in sexual harassment cases is based on preconceived notions of court and victim shaming. This decision involves legal and moral issues. It will deter women from fighting crimes against them.

Background:

• Tarun Tejpal is a former editor of a news magazine, who was charged with sexually assaulting an employee in 2013.
• The recent judgment of a trial court of Goa acquitted Tarun Tejpal.
• The court also held the investigating officer responsible for the lapses in investigation.
• Also, the Solicitor General of India said that the lower court’s judgment lacked sensitivity regarding crimes against women.

The acquittal has raised some serious question of law, judicial fairness and justice delivery.

What are the major concerns associated with the judgment?

1. Firstly, lack of awareness of criminal laws by the court. There are some changes made in the Evidence Act as per the recommendations of the 172nd report of the Law Commission of India to protect survivor’s right to a fair trial. There are:
   • The defense is not permitted to ask questions to a witness about the general immoral character of the victim and cite it as evidence.
   • The Supreme Court has said that the purpose of cross-examining a survivor of rape is not to humiliate her.
   • Therefore, questions about the past sexual life of the survivor should not have been permitted by the trial court.
2. Secondly, the court’s interpretation is stereotypical and shows the patriarchal mindset of the judiciary.
   • The court has no right to judge anyone’s conduct, as every individual behaves differently under the different circumstances.
   • In Aparna Bhat and Ors. Vs the State of Madhya Pradesh & Ors. (2021), SC has specifically said that courts should not express any stereotyped opinion during proceedings or in judicial order about women.
   • Therefore, the judiciary must be careful while creating standards based on preconceived notions about how a victim should behave.
3. Thirdly, only omissions that lead to conflicting versions of the incident made before the police and the court should amount to contradiction.
   • It is not possible to share the same graphic details of the sexual assault.
   • Therefore, if the statement given during the trial is substantially consistent, it should not be rejected by terming them as untrustworthy.
4. Fourthly, the judgment is against the spirit of the law. Because anything such as the survivor’s husband’s name, her email address, etc. should not have been mentioned in the judgment.
   • As per the Indian Penal Code, disclosure of identity of the survivor of rape by anyone is punishable under Section 228-A.
   • Also, the Supreme Court in State of Punjab vs Ramdev Singh (2003) held that the name of the victim should not be mentioned in the judgments.

The judgment sets a bad precedent. Though the law should be applied equally to everyone, it should not show lack of sensitivity towards the victim.

Source: The Hindu

Read Also :-Organized crimes in India: an overview

What is the News? Union Minister of Women and Child Development appealed to citizens to report the instances of Child Labour on the PENCIL Portal or by calling on Childline-1098. This appeal came on World Day Against Child Labour.

About PENCIL Portal:

• PENCIL Portal stands for Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour.
• Purpose: It is an electronic platform that aims at achieving the target of a child labour free society. For this aim, it coordinates actions of the Centre, State, District, Governments, civil society, and the public.
• Nodal Ministry: The portal is administered by the Ministry of Labour & Employment.
• Components: PENCIL Portal has five components- Child Tracking System, Complaint Corner, State Government, National Child Labour Project, and Convergence.
• Significance: The portal has been launched for the effective implementation of the Child Labour Act and the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme.
  • NCLP aims to eliminate all forms of child labour and rehabilitate them through education in Special Training Centres.

About CHILDLINE 1098:

• CHILDLINE 1098 is a free, emergency phone service for children in need of aid and assistance.
• The helpline responds to the emergency needs of children. Further, it also links them to relevant services for their long-term care and rehabilitation.
• The helpline is managed and monitored by the CHILDLINE India Foundation(CIF).

About World Day Against Child Labour:

• World Day Against Child Labour is observed on 12 June every year.
• It was started in 2002 by International Labour Organization(ILO) to raise awareness and prevent child labour.
• Theme: “Act now: End child labour”.

About CHILDLINE India Foundation(CIF):

• CHILDLINE India Foundation(CIF) is the nodal agency of the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development.
• Purpose: It acts as the parent organisation for setting up, managing, and monitoring the childline 1098 service all over the country.
• It is also the sole agency responsible for monitoring childline service delivery and finance, training, research, and documentation, creating awareness, advocacy as well as resource generation for the service.

Read Also:-Judicial Governance during Pandemic

Source: PIB

What is the news?

“Child Labour: Global estimates 2020, trends and the road forward” report has been released by International Labour Organization and UNICEF.

Key Findings of the Child Labour: Global estimates 2020 report

Overall gist: The report warns that progress to end child labour has stalled for the first time in 20 years. It has reversed the previous downward trend that saw it fall by 94 million between 2000 and 2016.

• The number of children in child labour has risen to 160 million worldwide – an increase of 8.4 million children in the last four years.
• Covid-19 Impact: Globally, 9 million additional children are at risk of being pushed into child labour by the end of 2022 as a result of the pandemic.
• Sectors: The agriculture sector accounts for 70% of children in child labor (112 million) followed by 20% in services (31.4 million) and 10% in industry (16.5 million).
• Age Group: Nearly 28% of children aged 5 to 11 years and 35% of children aged 12 to 14 years in child labour are out of school.
• Gender: Child labor is more prevalent among boys than girls at every age. But the gap narrows when household chores performed for at least 21 hours per week are taken into account.
• Rural vs Urban: The prevalence of child labor in rural areas (14%) is close to three times higher than in urban areas (5%).

Recommendations of Child Labour: Global estimates 2020 report

• Adequate social protection for all, including universal child benefits.
• Increased spending on quality education and getting all children back into school – including children who were out of school before COVID-19.
• Promotion of decent work for adults, so families don’t have to resort to children helping to generate family income.
• An end to harmful gender norms and discrimination that influence child labor.
• Investment in child protection systems, agricultural development, rural public services, infrastructure and livelihoods.

Child labour in India

• As per Census 2011, the total child population in India in the age group 5-14 years is 259.6 million.
• Among them, over 10 million (4% of total child population) are working either as ‘main worker’ or ‘marginal worker’.
• The Census data indicates the decreased incidence of child labour in India by 2.6 million between 2001 and 2011.
• Moreover, there is a greater decline in rural than in urban areas. This is because an increase in rural-to-urban migration is driving demand for child workers in urban areas.

Source: India Today

Synopsis-  The idea for Sustainable development aims to maintain progressive development and at the same time retaining sustainability, catastrophe risk resilience, and community building at its heart. But, India’s efforts to achieve SDGs is commendable.

Introduction

• World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated on June 5, every year, to encourage awareness and environmental protection.
• Also, one of the goals of the UN 2030 agenda for sustainable development is to create a balance between sustainable development and environmental conservation.
• The theme for WED 2021- Ecosystem Restoration
  • Focus on resetting nature –A global mission to revive billions of hectares, from forests to farmlands, from the top of mountains to the depth of the sea.
  • The theme for this year in India – Promotion of biofuels for a better environment’.
• The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021 – 2030 was also launched 

Also read: SDG India Index by NITI Aayog

India’s efforts to achieve SDGs throughout the last seven years

• Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban)
  • The movement focuses on achieving an open-defecation-free India, building solid waste management capacity and bringing about behavioural change.
  • By 2022, the mission is expected to have reduced GHG emissions 17.42 million tonnes of carbon
• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana
  • The mission is to ensure the objective basic infrastructure services relating to water supply and management, energy efficiency and increased green spaces have been part of the goal in 500 target cities.
  • By 2022, the mission is expected to have reduced GHG emissions by 48.52 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
• Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 
  • The mission focused on new construction technologies that are innovative, environmentally friendly and disaster-resilient.
  • By 2022, the mission is expected to have reduced GHG emissions by 12 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
• Smart Cities Mission
  • The mission is about the technological advancements of cities to improve governance, sustainability and disaster risk resilience.
  • The objective is to improve city administration, sustainability, and catastrophe risk resistance through technological improvements.
  • In urban areas, smart solutions are being adopted to increase energy efficiency and non-motorized transportation capacity.
  • By 2022, the mission is expected to have reduced GHG emissions by 4.93 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
• Metro Neo, the mass rapid transit system for providing low-cost, energy-efficient and eco-friendly urban transport solutions for tier 2 and tier 3 cities.
  • The system is expected to mitigate around 21.58 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. GHG from 2015-2022.

Read Also :-What is Net Zero Target?

Technological democratization, sustainable infrastructure development, and behavioural change will help us preserve our environment, restore ecosystems and mitigate the risks posed by climate change in the coming decade. India’s efforts to achieve SDGs will aid India in mitigating Climate change.

Source- The Indian Express

Introduction

Recently the NITI Aayog has released SDG India Index 2020-21. In that, India’s overall SDG score improved by 6 points — from 60 in 2019 to 66 in 2020-21. Areas such as Industry, innovation and infrastructure showed a considerable decline in the current index. The report also points out socioeconomic and governance gaps in India.

India’s progress in SDGs is crucial for the world as India is home to about 17% of the world population. With the advent of the global Pandemic, India might face a huge challenge in fulfilling its sustainable development goals.

Sustainable Development Goals and SDG India Index

• The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted in September 2015 as a part of the resolution, ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. India is committed to achieving the 17 SDGs and the 169 associated targets. These comprehensively cover social, economic and environmental dimensions of development and focus on ending poverty and hunger in all its forms and dimensions.
• At the Central level, NITI Aayog has been assigned the role of overseeing the implementation of SDGs in the country.
• Under this mandate, the SDG India Index was launched in 2018 by NITI Aayog in collaboration with the United Nations.
• The SDG India Index acts as a bridge between India’s SDG Progress and aligning India’s SDG with the global SDGs.

About the SDG India Index

• Aim: As the States, progress will determine India’s progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The index aims to instil competition among States to improve their performance across social indices.
• Indicators Covered: The third edition of the index covered 16 SDG Goals on 115 quantitative indicators.
  • In 2018, around 13 SDG goals with 62 indicators were covered.
• Scoring: A composite score for SDG Index is computed in the range of 0–100 for each State/UT based on its aggregate performance across 16 SDGs.
  • The higher the score of a State/UT, the closer it is towards achieving the 2030 national targets.
• Classification: States/UTs are classified based on the SDG India Index Score as follows:
  • Aspirant: 0–49
  • Performer: 50–64
  • Front Runner: 65–99
  • Achiever: 100

Key Findings of the SDG India Index 2020-21

• India’s overall SDG score improved by 6 points — from 60 in 2019 to 66 in 2020-21.
  • This is due to improvement in providing facilities including clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy among others.
• Categories: Currently, there are no states in the aspirant and achiever category. Around 15 states/UTs are in the performer category and 22 states/UTs in the front runner category.

Source: The Hindu

• States:
  • Kerala has topped the index with a score of 75.
  • It was followed by Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu with a score of 74.
• UTs: Chandigarh maintained its top spot among the UTs with a score of 79, followed by Delhi (68).
• Areas showed improvements in the index: Following categories of SDGs showed developments in many States and Union Territories,
  • Abolition of poverty and hunger
  • Steps related to the availability of affordable, clean energy. The campaign to improve the access of households to electricity and clean cooking fuel has been an important factor in this regard.
• Areas showed a decline in the index: The Index also mentions the following areas as worse due to the lockdowns imposed by the governments.
  • Industry, innovation and infrastructure
• Inter-state inequality: There was a stark difference between the southern- western States and the north-central and eastern States in their performance on the SDGs. This points to socioeconomic and governance gaps. This will result in federal challenges if left unaddressed

Significance of SDG India Index

• The index tracks the progress of all states and UTs on 115 indicators aligned with the National Indicator Framework (NIF) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
• The SDG India Index will also help in highlighting the crucial gaps related to tracking SDGs.
• Further, the index will aid India to develop its statistical systems at the National & State/UT levels. This shall lead to the index evolving and becoming more comprehensive over the coming years.

Methodological changes and their impacts on SDG India Index 2020-21

The Index has made the following methodological changes:

• Change in indicators: The 2020-21 Index drops several economic indicators, like:
  • Gini Coefficient: This year the index dropped the well-recognized Gini coefficient.
  • The index did not use the growth rate for household expenses per capita among 40% of rural and urban populations (instead, only the percentage of the population in the lowest two wealth quintiles is used)
    • Impact: Dropping of these indicators means that the SDG score on inequality may have missed out on assessing the impact of the pandemic on wealth inequality.
• Greater weightage to certain indicators: The index gives greater weightage to social equality indicators such as the representation of women and people from marginalized communities in legislatures and local governance institutions, and crimes against SC/ST communities
• The increasing indicators might lead to confusion: The number of quantitative indicators used in the index is getting increased every year. In 2018, the index used 62 indicators. But this year index used 115 quantitative indicators.

Challenges in achieving Sustainable development in India

There are few major challenges that hinder India from achieving SDGs. They are,

1. Financing Sustainable Development Goals: A new study estimates that implementing SDGs in India by 2030 will cost around US$14.4 billion. According to the available statistics, India has only 5% of the required funding to implement SDGs. Further, India’s budgetary spending is also less in essential sectors. India spends around 1.5% on health and around 4% on education. This is far below the required levels to see improvement
2. High growth and redistribution of wealth alone is not enough to achieve SDG. For example, According to the United Nations MDG 2014 report, despite high economic growth, in 2010, one-third of the world’s 1.2 billion extreme poor lived in India alone.
3. Resource consumption and behavioural change: Achieving SDGs also require behavioural change among individual. For example, using water effectively, reducing food wastage and sharing the remaining food with others, etc.
4. Increasing population: The United Nations estimates that India’s population will reach 1.7 billion by 2050. In that case, the country is likely to face a widening ecological deficit even if its current per-capita levels of resource consumption remain the same.
5. Pandemic induced impacts: Many research studies have pointed out that India’s progress in essential sectors was reduced during the pandemic. For example, Oxfam International released a report that highlighted increasing inequalities in India during the time of the Covid pandemic.

Suggestions to improve SDG India index and India’s performance towards SDGs

1. Changes required in the Index: The index has to include the well known necessary indicators such as GINI coefficient, etc.
   • Simplification of the Index: Instead of counting too many indicators, India can try recognition of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is simple and can demand reforms in governance and create more accountability. 
2. Infusing behavioural change and reducing resource consumption: This is one of the important intervention the government need to do. Like Swachh Bharat Mission, India needs to launch mission mode programs to infuse behavioural change among the population. This will reduce the ecological exploitation of resources.
3. Increasing adequate budgetary spending: The government has to increase the spending on health and education to an adequate level.
   • Indian Budget 2021 aims to increase the Health sector spending from 1.2 percent to 2.5 percent in three years. This will increase adequate health infrastructure, improve rural health and associated improvements, etc. This will reflect in the SDG index such as Infant Mortality Rare, etc.

Conclusion

Indian states need to improve their performance in the SDG India index by addressing persistent issues such as increased inequality, reducing poverty and hunger, improving the environment, etc. Similarly, NITI Aayog also has to make certain changes for transforming the index simple and reliable. If this is done, then Indian States/UTs will improve not only in SDG India Index but on the global parameters also.

Synopsis: Although India has a better score in the latest SDG India Index 2020-21, some procedural changes in the methodology have resulted in an inadequate measurement of economic inequality. 

Introduction 

NITI Aayog’s SDG India Index 2020- 21 was released recently. India has improved its overall SDG score from 60 in 2019 to 66 in 2021. This is being credited to the efforts put in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to clean energy, urban development and health.

Major findings of the NITI Aayog’s SDG India Index 2020-21

• Areas showed improvements in the index: Following categories of SDGs showed developments in many States and Union Territories,
  • Abolition of poverty and hunger
  • Steps related to the availability of affordable, clean energy. The campaign to improve the access of households to electricity and clean cooking fuel has been an important factor in this regard.
• Areas showed a decline in the index: The Index also mentions the following areas as worse due to the lockdowns imposed by the governments.
  • Industry, innovation and infrastructure
• Inter-state inequality: There was a stark difference between the southern- western States and the north-central and eastern States in their performance on the SDGs. This points to socioeconomic and governance gaps. This will result in federal challenges if left unaddressed. 

Read Also :-What is social impact assessment (SIA)?

Methodological changes and their impacts on SDG India Index 2020-21

The Index has made the following methodological changes:

• Change in indicators: The 2020-21 Index drops several economic indicators, like:
  • Gini Coefficient: This year the index dropped the well-recognized Gini coefficient.
  • The index did not use the growth rate for household expenses per capita among 40% of rural and urban populations (instead, only the percentage of the population in the lowest two wealth quintiles is used)
    • Impact: Dropping of these indicators means that the SDG score on inequality may have missed out on assessing the impact of the pandemic on wealth inequality.
• Greater weightage to certain indicators: The index gives greater weightage to social equality indicators such as the representation of women and people from marginalized communities in legislatures and local governance institutions, and crimes against SC/ST communities

 Read Also:– NITI Aayog’s “Governing Council” reconstituted

Conclusion 

The second wave of the pandemic had similar outcomes on livelihoods and jobs. A better score for India to achieve SDGs will bring some optimism. However, governments must work on addressing persistent issues such as increased inequality and economic gloom.

Source: click here

What is the News?

NITI Aayog has released the SDG India Index 2020-21. It is the 3rd edition of SDG India Index.

Key Findings of the SDG India Index 2020-21:

• India’s overall SDG score improved by 6 points — from 60 in 2019 to 66 in 2020-21.
  • This is due to improvement in providing facilities including clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy among others.
• Categories: Currently, there are no states in the aspirant and achiever category. Around 15 states/UTs are in the performer category and 22 states/UTs in the front runner category.
• States:
  • Kerala has topped the index with a score of 75.
  • It was followed by Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu with a score of 74.
  • Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam were the worst-performing states in the SDG India index.
• UTs: Chandigarh maintained its top spot among the UTs with a score of 79, followed by Delhi (68).
• Top Gainers: Mizoram, Haryana and Uttarakhand are the top gainers in 2020-21 in terms of improvement in score from 2019.

About SDG India Index:

• The SDG India Index was launched in 2018 by NITI Aayog. It was developed in collaboration with the United Nations.
• Aim: As the States, progress will determine India’s progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The index aims to instil competition among States to improve their performance across social indices.
• Indicators Covered: The third edition of the index covered 16 SDG Goals on 115 quantitative indicators.
  • In 2018, around 13 SDG goals with 62 indicators were covered.

How are states ranked & classified?

• Scoring: A composite score for SDG Index is computed in the range of 0–100 for each State/UT based on its aggregate performance across 16 SDGs.
  • The higher the score of a State/UT, the closer it is towards achieving the 2030 national targets.
• Classification: States/UTs are classified based on the SDG India Index Score as follows:
  • Aspirant: 0–49
  • Performer: 50–64
  • Front Runner: 65–99
  • Achiever: 100

Significance of the index:

• The index tracks the progress of all states and UTs on 115 indicators aligned with the National Indicator Framework (NIF) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
• It evaluates the progress of states and Union Territories(UTs) on various parameters including health, education, gender, economic growth, institutions, climate change and environment.
• The index helps in identifying crucial gaps related to tracking the SDGs and the need for India to develop its statistical systems.

Source: Indian Express

Synopsis: India needs to look beyond the traditional concept of marriages to recognise marriages irrespective of gender identity and sexual orientation. Thus, India can recognise the marriage rights of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Background:

• Recently, a case related to the question of same-sex marriages came up before the High Court of Delhi.
• But the Union Government requested the court to adjourn it on the ground that it is not urgent during the second wave of COVID-19 cases.
• Court and the government ignored the suffering of the community without the legal protection of marital relationships.
• In India, marriages are observed under personal laws. Such as the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872, Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937.

However, Same-sex and queer marriages are not legally recognised in India.

How marriage rights of the LGBTQIA+ community evolved globally?

• South Africa: In 2005 South African court held that the common law definition of marriage i.e. “a union of one man with one woman” is inconsistent.
  • As a result of the verdict, the Civil Union Act, 2006 was enacted which enabled the voluntary union of two persons above 18 years of age.
• Australia, the reforms by Honourable Michael Kirby in 2007: the Federal Government enacted the Same-Sex Relationships Act 2008 to provide equal entitlements for same-sex couples in matters of social security, employment and taxation.
• The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 of England: It enabled same-sex couples to marry in civil ceremonies or with religious rites.
• Obergefell vs Hodges case, USA: In 2015, the Supreme Court decided that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples.

Judgements in India recognising marriage rights of the LGBTQIA+ community:

In India also, there is judicial guidance available to recognize same sex marriages.

• Arunkumarand Sreeja vs The Inspector General of Registration and Ors, 2019: The High Court of Madras interpretated the term ‘bride’ under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and expanded its scope.
  • It says a ‘bride’ includes transwomen and intersex persons identifying as women.
  • Therefore, a marriage between a male and a transwoman can be valid under the Act.
• Shafin Jahan vs Asokan K.M. and Others AIR 2018 (Hadiya case): The Court upheld that the right to choose and marry a partner comes under right to freedom.
  • Court also observed that marriage lie within a core zone of privacy and society has no role to play in determining our choice of partners.

It shows that bar to same-sex and queer marriages are violative of Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution of India. Further, the concept of marriage that it is a bond between “a biological man and a biological woman” can not be defended.

Way forward:

• The marriage laws must be expanded to include all gender and sexual identities.
• Reform in the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 is needed to bring self-respect marriages under its domain.
  • Self-respect Marriages were legalised in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry through amendments to the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
    • Self-respect marriages have done away with priests and religious symbols such as fire or saptapadi. Instead, the solemnisation of self-respect marriages only requires an exchange of rings or garlands or tying of the mangalsutra.
  • It will help in breaking caste-based and gender-based practices.

The recognition of the unequal laws discriminating against the LGBTQIA+ community and rectifying them is the need of the hour to make the world more inclusive and equal.

Source: The Hindu

What is the News?

The Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment has said that the Elderline is providing assistance to thousands of elderly persons. This was said on the occasion of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.

Read Also :-Increasing old age population of India

 About ELDERLINE:

• ELDERLINE was launched by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
• Purpose: It is a toll-free helpline number(Toll-Free Number-14567) for elderly persons. It aims to help elderly persons by extending emotional care, health and legal assistance through dedicated call centres.
• Coverage: The helpline has already been made operational in 5 major states (Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka). In Telangana, this facility has been working for more than a year.
• Organisations Involved: The helpline has been operationalised with the assistance of Tata Trusts and the NSE foundation.
• Significance: The helpline is functioning in a decentralised manner. It has state-wise call centres and central monitoring and knowledge evaluation.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day:

• World Elder Abuse Awareness Day(WEAAD) is observed each year on June 15th.
• It was officially recognized by the United Nations in 2011 following a request by the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA).
• Theme: “Access to Justice”.

Source: PIB

Read Also :-KIRAN mental health rehabilitation Helpline

Introduction

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) India has released a report titled ‘Aspirational Districts Programme: An Appraisal’. The report calls the program a global example of leveraging local structures of governance and bureaucracy. It applauds the multi-stakeholder partnership for ensuring localization of the Sustainable Development Goals. 

UNDP marks the Aspirational Districts Program as a model replicable program not just within India, but also on a global scale. However, it also calls for broadening its scope and laying greater emphasis on the qualitative aspect of the program. Hence, the government should take proactive steps for ensuring regionally balanced, inclusive, and sustainable growth.

About the Aspirational Districts Programme

• It was launched in 2018 to improve the socio-economic status of 112 aspirational districts across 28 states. 
  • The selected districts were witnessing the least progress on certain development parameters, such as health and nutrition; education; agriculture, and water resources, etc.
  • These districts account for more than 20% of the country’s population and cover over 8,600 gram panchayats.
• It is coordinated by Niti Aayog with support from Central Ministries and the State Governments. 
• The three core principles of the programme are:
  • Convergence of Central & State Schemes, which brings together the horizontal and vertical tiers of the government.
  • Collaboration among citizens and functionaries of Central & State Governments, including district teams. This will enable impactful partnerships between government, market, and civil society.
  • Competition among districts driven by a spirit of the mass movement.
• Each district is ranked based on 49 performance indicators identified across the 5 core themes. This includes 
  • Health & Nutrition (30% weightage)
  • Education (30% weightage)
  • Agriculture & Water Resources (20% weightage)
  • Financial Inclusion & Skill Development (10%)
  • Basic Infrastructure (10%)
• The delta ranking of the Aspirational Districts combines the innovative use of data with pragmatic administration. 
  • The programme ranks districts based on the improvement achieved month-on-month through the Champions of Change dashboard (An online Dashboard).

The success of the program lies in its robust institutional framework and core strategy.

Institutional framework and core strategy

• Framework:
  • NITI Aayog anchors the program at the central level while individual ministries have been responsible to drive progress in districts
  • States are the main drivers of the program
  • For each district, a central Prabhari officer has been nominated. He/she should possess the rank of joint secretary/additional secretary.
• Core Strategy of the programme:
  • Work on the strength of each district.
  • Make development a mass movement in these districts.
  • Identify low-hanging fruits and the strength of each district which can act as a catalyst for development.
  • Measure progress and rank districts to spur a sense of competition.
  • Districts shall aspire from becoming State’s best to Nation’s best.

Why was it praised by the UNDP?

1. First, the program can illuminate the path towards the attainment of sustainable development goals. It is a very successful model of local area development and aligned to the principle of “leave no one behind” – the vital core of the SDGs.
2. Second, real-time monitoring on the ‘Champions of Change’ dashboard and a monthly ranking of the best-performing districts adds a competitive zeal to the programme. This motivates the districts to push themselves to outperform others.
3. Third, some aspirational districts have performed better than non- aspirational districts in many domains. This shows its efficacy in ensuring balanced regional development.
4. Fourth, the program received a high degree of political support as it was envisioned by the PM itself. This resulted in more growth and development in the aspirational districts over the last three years.
5. Fifth, the program managed to deliver optimum results even in security-sensitive LWE (left-wing extremism) affected districts.
6. Sixth, the program encourages collaboration and coordination among the government, civil society, and private sector. This led to the adoption of a multi-stakeholder approach in planning and implementing the projects, which delivered better results.

Achievements of Aspirational Districts Programme

• Health and Nutrition: Model anganwadi centres have been set up across districts to benefit women and children. The number of institutional deliveries has increased, along with a dip registered in the rate of severe acute malnutrition in infants.
  • Poshan App has been developed for an aspirational district in Ranchi. It is a real-time data analytics digital platform. 
  • It monitors bed occupancy, child-growth charts, and the inventory of every malnourishment treatment center in the district
• Education outcomes: Innovation and digitisation have been the cornerstone of transformation in the education sector. The ‘Hamara Vidhyalaya’ model adopted in Namsai, a remote district in Arunachal Pradesh, registered substantial improvement in learning outcomes and overall teaching practices.
  • Under this model, a school prabhari is appointed for each school in the district to ensure monitoring, assessment, and guidance. The model makes use of an online platform called ‘Yathasarvam’ for improving the outcomes.
• Agriculture and water resources: District administrations have laid tremendous emphasis on improving irrigation facilities and yield, as well as farmer education. Several innovative paths have been adopted to create market linkages for products indigenous to the aspirational districts.
  • The farmers of Chandauli, U.P were encouraged to grow fertiliser-free organic black rice.
  • The experiment was remarkably successful, with Chandauli adding to the thriving global market of black rice and exporting to even countries like Australia and New Zealand. 
• Basic Infrastructure: This pillar witnessed significant advancement, especially in LWE affected districts. This ensured better connectivity and seamless movement from rural to urban regions.
  • Bijapur in Chhattisgarh and Malkangiri in Odisha have greatly improved the network of roadways and ramped up the infrastructure projects in their jurisdiction. 
• Financial inclusion and skill development: Micro-ATMs have been launched in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district to provide financial assistance to women self-help group members. They are provided with commission-based income on every transaction.

Issues associated with the Aspirational Districts Programme

• Inadequate Coverage: Although the program is highly inclusive in nature, it fails to capture crucial variables like environment and gender.
• Imbalance in implementation: Most districts channelized their efforts focused on health and nutrition, education, and agriculture, and water resources. They paid less emphasis on the sectors of Skill Development and Financial Inclusion.
• Budgetary Constraints: ADP is affected by the issue pertaining to insufficient budgetary resources. This sustains the lack of human resources and the dearth of technical capacities at the district and block levels.
• Coordination Issue: Niti Aayog plays a mentoring role in 27 districts in eight states. Twelve central government ministries have similarly adopted the remaining districts. Implementation involving multiple ministries leads to a lack of coordination.
• Shortcomings of Delta Ranking: It is largely focused on assessing quantity (that is, coverage of access) rather than quality. For instance, timely delivery of textbooks in schools is part of the ranking index however very little weightage is given to the quality of education rendered in these districts.

Suggestions to improve the Aspirational Districts Programme

• The first UNDP appraisal of the Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) has recommended a realignment of sectors under the program. It calls for the addition of topics such as environment and gender.
• The weightage of Skill Development and Financial Inclusion sectors must be enhanced so that states give greater focus over them.
• The government must give greater funding to the districts, especially the LWE districts, which are plagued with the double burden of countering LWE activities and ensuring development.
• The center and states must work in the spirit of cooperative and competitive federalism in order to improve the lives of the most vulnerable citizens. 
• Further, the bottom-ranked districts should learn from the success model of the top-ranked districts.

Conclusion

The success of the Aspirational Districts Programme has been testified by national as well as international agencies. It is a flagship initiative for improving the lives of citizens residing in the most backward regions of the country. The need of the hour demands overcoming its challenges and realizing the vision of ‘SABKA SATH, SABKA VIKAS’ for ensuring inclusive development.

What is the News?

The Madras High Court has issued guidelines aimed at mainstreaming LGBTIQA+(Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Intersex, Queer, Asexual) persons.

 What was the case?

• A petition has been filed in the Madras High Court by a lesbian couple whose relationship was being opposed by their parents.
• They have asked the Court to provide protection against police harassment and from any threat or danger to their safety and security.

Madras High Court guidelines for mainstreaming LGBTIQA+:

• The Madras High Court has issued guidelines aimed at mainstreaming LGBTIQA+ persons.
• The court said that LGBTQIA+ persons are entitled to their privacy and have a right to lead a dignified existence. This includes their choice of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender presentation, gender expression and choice of partner thereof.
  • This right and the manner of its exercise are constitutionally protected under Article 21 of the Constitution.

What are the Madras High Court guidelines for mainstreaming LGBTIQA+?

 Educational Institutions:

• Parent Teachers Association(PTA) meetings should be used to sensitize parents on issues of the LGBTQIA+ community and gender-nonconforming students. This is to ensure supportive families for the LGBTQIA+ community.
• Necessary amendments should be made to policies and resources to include students belonging to the LGBTQIA+ community in all spheres of school and college life.
• Educational institutions should have the availability of gender-neutral restrooms. Apart from that, the educational institutions should provide the inclusion of ‘transgender’ in addition to M and F in the gender columns of application forms.

Judiciary:

• Judiciary should conduct awareness programmes for Judicial Officers at all levels in coordination with the enlisted NGOs and community support.

Police and Prison authorities:

• Conducting awareness programmes for police and prison officials for protection from and prevention of offences against the LGBTQIA+ community.
• Conduct sensitization about the legal rights of the LGBTQIA+ community at regular intervals.
• Outreach programs should be conducted by the NGOs with community support to put forth first-hand problems faced by the LGBTQIA+ Community in the hands of law enforcement agencies and to train them in providing effective assistance.

Physical and Mental Health Professionals

• Mental health camps and awareness programs should be conducted to understand gender, sexuality, sexual orientation and promote acceptance of diversity.
• Any attempts to medically “cure” or change the sexual orientation of LGBTIQA+ people to heterosexual or the gender identity of transgender people to cisgender should be prohibited.
• Action should be initiated against the concerned professional involving themselves in any form or method of conversion “therapy” including withdrawal of licence to practice.
  • Conversion therapy or Cure therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of trying to change an individual’s sexual orientation.
  • In this therapy, psychological, physical, or spiritual interventions will be carried out for the members of the LGBTQIA+ community to change them heterosexual.

Note: Tamil Nadu is set to be the first state to ban ‘conversion therapy’ in India.

Source: Indian Express

What is the news?

Prime Minister has launched a “customized crash course programme for Covid-19 frontline workers”.

About the Crash Course Programme for Covid-19 Frontline Workers

• Aim: The programme aims to create skilled non-medical healthcare workers to fill the present and future needs of manpower in the health sector.
  • This will be done by providing fresh skills and upskills to over one lakh Covid warriors across the country.
• Nodal Scheme: The course has been designed under the Central Component of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 3.0.

Key Features of the Scheme

• Firstly, the programme would be available at 111 training centers across 26 states in the country.
• Secondly, the Covid warriors will be trained under six modules. These modules include:
  • Home Care Support
  • Basic Care Support
  • Advanced Care Support
  • Emergency Care Support
  • Sample Collection Support and
  • Medical Equipment Support.
• Lastly, the trained workers will then assist doctors in the treatment of COVID 19 patients.

Source: India Today

Introduction

According to the World Economic Forum’s report The Future of Jobs 2018, more than half of Indian workers will require skill development by 2022. This is to meet the talent demands of the future. Further, the proportion of the working-age population (15-59 years) is expected to be over 64 percent of the population by 2021.

Predictions are, this demographic advantage will last only by 2040. India, therefore, has a very narrow time frame to harness the demographic dividend and encourage skill development. With the Covid-19 pandemic, the time frame with India is reduced even further.

The District Skills Committees and various initiatives of the government has improved skill development in India. But to inculcate necessary skills India needs to take massive efforts to address various challenges in skill development.

About District Skill Committees

District Skill Committees (DSCs) function under the guidance of State Skill Development Missions (SSDM). These DSCs play a key role in addressing the skill gap and assessing demand at the district level.

DSC is composed of all the significant district development departmental officers. The DSCs are headed by the District Collector.

More than 700 District Skill Committees (DSC) set up across states over the last decade.

Functions of District Skill Committees

• Planning for skill training according to demand and supply, the socio-economic profile, and availability of skill infrastructure.
• The DSCs will also make resources available for various activities such as identifying trainees, mobilization, counseling, advocacy, etc
• Lastly, they will also monitor and evaluate the courses and perform course corrections to achieve outcomes.

Few Government schemes aim to provide skill development

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana

• It is the flagship scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) launched in 2015. It is implemented by National Skill Development Corporation(NSDC).
• The objective is to enable a large number of Indian youths to take up industry-relevant skill training that will help them secure a better livelihood.
• Individuals with prior learning experience or skills will also be assessed and certified under Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). These certifications will have the grade according to the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF).
• Training and Assessment fees are completely paid by the Government.
• Recently, the government of India has launched the third phase of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY 3.0).

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra: 

These are the state-of-the-art Model Training Centres envisaged to create benchmark institutions. These institutions will demonstrate aspirational value for competency-based skill development training.

SANKALP:

• The scheme focuses on the district-level training ecosystem through convergence and coordination.
• It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme collaborated with the World Bank.
• It aims to implement the mandate of the National Skill Development Mission (NSDM).

STRIVE:

• The main focus of the scheme is to improve the performance of ITIs.
• Skills Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE) scheme is a World Bank assisted-Government of India project
• The objective is to improve the relevance and efficiency of skills training provided through Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and apprenticeships.

Other schemes

Apart from that, the government also launched few specific schemes. Such as

• “Samarth Scheme” for Capacity Building in Textile Sector
• USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills & Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development) scheme
• ShramSaathi module for Tribal Migrants

Challenges in skill development

1. Lack of state government participation: State departments not permitting the district officers to undergo training. Further, in most skill development schemes, planning, and monitoring are handled by the Centre. The state governments and districts have virtually no role. This makes the entire skill development initiatives as a centralised one.
2. Traditionally, skills in India, have been and continue to be, caste-specific. These skills are non-remunerative and not upmarket. For example, scavengers or ‘Safai karmacharis’. Changing these skills as monetarily rewarding, skills with entrepreneurial ability and career opportunities are challenging.
3. Absence of micro-level study on skill development: Delineated geographical and administrative units and the skills pertaining to that locality are not considered for skill training. Instead, the skill training initiatives heavily focused on the training of persons on machinaries.
4. Not recognising the backward and forward linkages in skill training. So, far Indian skill training initiatives have neglected the linkages in skill training.
   • For example, skill training in the tourism sector at present only involves skill training in aspects of tourism in a particular district alone. They do not consider the border picture and provide training on national and state tourism maps/destinations/policies.
5. The skill training does not emphasise the findings between the opportunities and trainees’ attitudes and aspirations. Without the interest, without identifying an individual’s potential the skill training is done in India. So, at the end of the skill training, the trained persons might not get adequate employment opportunities. Further, over a period of time, he/she might forget the training he/she had.

Suggestions to improve skill development

1. Capacity building of DSC is essential. Further, to ensure true decentralisation the DSCs has to ensure optimum resource utilisation and the inclusion of all marginalised sections of society.
2. The skill development of DSC have to focus on,
   • Creating and managing knowledge
   • Customising and localising content
   • Disseminating knowledge through training
   • Providing opportunities for guided practice
   • Lastly, Evaluation with actionable feedback.
3. Leveraging skill training to ensure socio-economic development: For example, mechanisation of the work for manual scavengers, rag-pickers will provide monetary benefits and result in social change. Further, it will also provide entrepreneurial ability and career opportunities to the caste-based skills also.
4. The increased role of states: The state government not only have to send officials for skill enhancement but also has to provide incentives to the trained officers. For example, the state government can provide choice for their next postings, extending them in their deputation posts, sponsoring them for a higher training course, etc.
5. District skill planning has to understand the socio-economic profile of the district population. To understand this, the government have to perform the micro-level study. The study should also take account of individuals attitudes and aspiration.
6. The government also has to differentiate between the training that gives livelihoods to people at the local level and the training that grow beyond the local at state, national or
   international levels. The government also has to encourage people to move ahead and get training beyond the local level.
7. Interact with industry representatives: The government has to interact with Local industry, trade chambers, sector skill councils, and experts to identify relevant industrial skills. Similarly, the government also has to provide courses in self-development and interpersonal communication and other softer aspects.
8. Recognising the backward and forward linkages: The government has to provide holistic training. For example, skill training in the tourism sector should also include training on national and state tourism maps/destinations/policies.

Source: Yojana – May 2021

What is the news?

Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship(MSDE) rolls out Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship(MGNF) Programme under the SANKALP scheme. It will strengthen district skill administration and the District Skill Committees(DSCs).

Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship(MGNF) Program:

• It is a two-year academic program. It aims to address the challenge of the non-availability of personnel for the implementation of various skill development programs at national, state, and district levels.
• MGN fellows will be trained to understand the overall skill ecosystem. They will be attached to DSCs and help them manage the skill development planning at the district level. It will provide them with practical experience on the ground.
• Implementation: IIM Bangalore’s Centre of Public Policy(CPP) will implement it.
• Eligibility: Graduates from a recognized university and citizens of India in the age group of 21-30 years are eligible to apply for it.

Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood (SANKALP) Scheme:

• Type: Centrally Sponsored Scheme
• Duration: The scheme was launched in 2018 and has a tenure till March 2023.
• Ministry: It is an outcome-oriented scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship(MSDE). The World Bank is providing loan assistance to this program.
• Aim: It will improve short-term skill training qualitatively and quantitatively through strengthening institutions. Moreover, it will bring in better market connectivity and inclusion of marginalized sections of the society.
• The scheme aims to implement the mandate of the National Skill Development Mission (NSDM).
• The outcomes in the scheme are measured through the Results Framework. This framework is agreed upon between MSDE and the World Bank.

Result Framework: Under the scheme, four key result areas have been identified viz:

• Institutional Strengthening (at National, State & District level);
• Quality Assurance of skill development programs;
• Inclusion of marginalized population in skill development; and
• Expanding Skills through Public-Private Partnerships(PPPs).

Source: The Hindu

Skill Development : news and updates

What is the News?

The Ministry of Textiles has informed Rajya Sabha about the Samarth Scheme.

Samarth Scheme:

• It was launched by the Ministry of Textiles.
• Aim: It will address the skill gap in the textile sector. It will supplement the efforts of the textile industry in providing gainful and sustainable employment to the youth.
• Objectives: Following are the objectives of Samarth Scheme:
  • It will provide a program which demand-driven, placement oriented and National Skills Qualifications Framework(NSQF) compliant.
  • It will supplement the efforts of the industry in creating jobs in the organized textile and related sectors, covering the entire value chain of textile. It excludes Spinning and Weaving.
  • Likewise, it will provide for skilling and skill up-gradation in the traditional sectors of handlooms, handicrafts, sericulture, and jute.
• Target: The Scheme targets to train 10 lakh persons (9 lakhs in organised & 1 lakh in traditional sector).
• Implementing agencies: The programmes would be implemented through the Textile industry, government institutions and Reputed training institutions/ NGOs/ Societies active in the textile sector.
• Monitoring and Management Information System(MIS): It is a centralized web-based Information System that has been put in place for monitoring and implementation of the scheme.

Source: PIB