Society

What is the News?
The Government of India is likely to postpone the 2021 census to 2022, due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation in the country.

First phase of the Census was scheduled to be rolled out on 1st April 2020. Under this phase, House Listing & Housing Census and updating of the National Population Register (NPR) was to be completed.

Key Features of the Upcoming 16th Census of India:

• India’s last census or 15th Census of India was carried out in 2011.
• The data collected by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India during the Census will be stored electronically.
• The census will be conducted in 18 languages out of the 22 scheduled languages (under the 8th schedule) and English.
• The option of “Other” under the gender category will be changed to “Third Gender”.
• The data is proposed to be collected through a mobile app by the enumerators, and they will receive an additional payment as an incentive.

About Census:

• The Census of India counts and collects demographic and socio-economic information on the Indian population. It is the largest such exercise.
• The first non-synchronous census was conducted between 1865 and 1872 in different parts of the country.
• However, the first synchronous census in India was held in 1881. Since then, censuses have been undertaken uninterruptedly once every ten years.
• Since 1949 the census has been conducted by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.

Click Here to Read about National Population Register(NPR)

Difference Between NPR and Census:

• The census involves a detailed questionnaire. In the 2011 Census, there were 29 items to be filled up aimed at eliciting the particulars of every person, including age, sex, marital status, children, occupation, birthplace, mother tongue, religion, disability, and whether they belonged to any Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe.
• On the other hand, the NPR collects basic demographic data and biometric particulars.
• The census is legally backed by the Census Act,1948. The NPR is a mechanism outlined in a set of rules framed under the Citizenship Act,1955.

Source: The Hindu

Background of Assam and Mizoram conflict

• • The boundary between present-day Assam and Mizoram is 165 km long and the issue over that dates back to the colonial era when Mizoram was known as Lushai Hills, a district of Assam.

    

• The genesis of present conflict is rooted in the British led demarcated internal boundaries on grounds of administrative needs.
• Government of Mizoram demands that present boundaries must be demarcated based on the 1875 notification, which was notified under Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) Act, 1873, also known as the Inner Line Regulation (ILR). Whereas the Assam government follows the 1933 demarcation.
• While 1873 notification demarcated a line between the plains of Assam (Cachar) and neighbouring hill areas (Lushai) inhabited by tribal communities in Mizoram, 1933 notification was issued after the annexation of the Lushai Hills demarcates a boundary between Lushai Hills and Manipur.

What is the present Issue? 

• According to an agreement between governments of Assam and Mizoram some years ago, the status quo should be maintained in no man’s land in the border area.
• As per the recent info., People from Lailapur (Assam) broke the status quo and allegedly constructed some temporary huts, in response people from Mizoram side went and set fire on them.
• Mizoram civil society groups blame “illegal Bangladeshis” on the Assam side who came and destroyed huts, cut plants and pelted stones on policemen.

Context: Many state governments have announced that they are considering enacting an appropriate law to stop marriages which they term as “love jihad”.

What are the recent cases?

• A Muslim girl by birth converted to the Hindu religion and just after a month, she married a Hindu man according to Hindu rites and rituals.
• The Allahabad court directed the girl to appear before a magistrate to record her statements.
• The purpose was to check whether the girl converted with her consent or not.
• In another matter, a Hindu girl by birth converted to Islam and married a Muslim. The High Court recorded her statement and after its subjective satisfaction that she, being a major, had acted of her own volition.

What was the basis of observations?

• Lily Thomas (2000) and Sarla Mudgal (1995): In both the cases, the issue was of Hindu married men committing bigamy to avail a second marriage, without dissolving the first just by converting from Hinduism to Islam.
• Section 494 and second marriage: Both judgments concluded that the second marriage of a Hindu husband, after his conversion to Islam, would not be valid in view of Section 494 of the Indian Penal Code. The Court clarified that a marriage solemnised as a Hindu marriage cannot be terminated by one spouse converting to another religion.

What are the arguments against such laws?

• No legal basis: The concept of “love jihad” has no legal or constitutional basis, it has been concocted for the last few years.
• Fundamental right: The right to marry a person of one’s choice is a guarantee under Article 21. At the same time, freedom of conscience, the practice and propagation of a religion of one’s choice, including not following any religion, are guaranteed under Article 25.
• Avoid mixing of issues: Polygamy, polyandry, kidnapping, coercion, etc. are separate issues covered under existing provisions of the IPC.
• Fundamental freedoms: The right to marry a person of one’s choice flows from the freedom of individuality, naturally available to any individual.
• Supreme court views: The view of the Supreme Court (1965) that a marriage is not approved unless the essential ceremonies required for its solemnisation are proved to have been performed can only be read if one partner denies the marriage.
• Marriage is the very foundation of civilised society: the observation that “marriage is the very foundation of civilised society” and without which no civilised society can exist have become obsolete given the recent judgments by larger benches of the Supreme Court.
• Sub-judice: The legality of legislation like the Citizenship Amendment Act, which excludes only one religion from its purview, criminalisation of pronouncements of triple talaq and taking away the special status of Jammu & Kashmir are pending consideration in the Supreme Court.

The Courts needs to examine if the individual concerned has exercised their right of “free consent”.

Context – The Supreme Court has laid down the guidelines for payment of maintenance in matrimonial cases.

What are the impacts of early marriage?

1. Health issues – Girls are married off early and bear children long before they should. This triggers a state of poor maternal health and is one of the root causes of high levels of child stunting and wasting in India.
2. Dependency – Since girl brides are not able to complete their education, they remain dependent and underpowered which acts as a big hurdle towards achieving gender equality.

• There is also the possibility of a marriage not working out for varied reasons, leaving the girl or young woman in extreme distress because often she is not financially independent.

What did the Court say?

As per the Supreme Court guidelines-

• Deserted wives and children are entitled to alimony/maintenance from the husbands from the date they apply for it in a court of law.
• A violation would lead to punishments such as civil detention and even attachment of the property of the latter.
• The plea of the husband that he does not possess any source of income ipso facto does not absolve him of his moral duty to maintain his wife, if he is able-bodied and has educational qualifications, the court declared.
• Both the applicant wife and the respondent-husband have to disclose their assets and liabilities in a maintenance case.
• Other factors such as “spiraling inflation rates and high costs of living” should be considered, but the wife should receive alimony which fit the standard of life she was used to in the matrimonial home.
• Overlapping jurisdiction under different enactment– Husband doesn’t have to pay maintenance in each of the proceedings under different Maintenance laws.
• The Court also added how an “order or decree of maintenance” may be enforced under various laws and Section 128 of the CrPC.

Why such a judgment?

• Usually, maintenance cases have to be settled in 60 days, but they take years, in reality, owing to legal loopholes.
• The top court said women deserted by husbands are left in dire straits, often reduced to destitution, for lack of means to sustain themselves and their children.
• Despite a plethora of maintenance laws, women were left empty-handed for years, struggling to make ends meet after a bad marriage.

What are the other   laws where women can make a claim for alimony in India?

•  Maintenance under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956.
•  Child maintenance under section 125 CrPC.

• Maintenance under Section 26 of Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
• Protection of Women from the Domestic Violence Act, 2005.

Way forward-

Maintenance laws have been enacted as a measure of social justice to provide recourse to dependent wives and children for their financial support, so as to prevent them from falling into destitution and vagrancy.

What is the news?

The Supreme Court in a judgement has said that Inter-caste marriages will possibly reduce caste and community tensions.

Background:

• This judgement came on a petition filed by a girl who fled from Bengaluru to Delhi to marry a man who was from a different caste.
• The police officer on a complaint filed by her relatives directed the girl to leave her husband. However, she refused to comply with the statement that they were legally married by her choice.

Key Observations made by the Supreme Court:

• The consent of the family or community is not necessary, once the two adult individuals agree to enter into a marriage. Their consent has to be given primacy.
• Educated youngsters are showing the way forward by tying the knot in inter-Caste-marriages. It will reduce caste and community tensions in India. Possibly, this is the way forward where caste and community tensions will reduce.
• The court also emphasized the need for specific guidelines and a training module for the police personnel. It will train them to handle cases of inter-caste marriage.

The court quoted B.R. Ambedkar’s Annihilation of Caste in which he said, “I am convinced that the real remedy is intermarriage. The fusion of blood can alone create the feeling of being kith and kin, and unless this feeling of kinship, of being kindred, becomes paramount, the separatist feeling — the feeling of being aliens — created by caste will not vanish.”

Dr. Ambedkar Scheme for Social Integration through Inter-Caste Marriages

• The scheme was launched in 2013 by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
• Objective: This scheme was launched to extend the financial incentive to the intermarriage couples. It will enable them to settle down in the initial phase of their married life.
• Incentives: Every such couple that involves a Schedule Caste is eligible to get a one-time incentive of Rs 2.5 lakh from the Centre. It is Irrespective of their total annual income.

Source: The Hindu

Synopsis: The report released by the Royal Institute of International Affairs (UK) recommends an arm’s length relationship with India due to rise of religious intolerance. 

Back ground 

• Recently, the Royal Institute of International Affairs (UK) have proposed a blueprint titled “Global Britain, Global Broker”, for Britain’s future foreign policy after Brexit. 
• As a matter of concern for India, the report has paid less attention to India’s role in the futuristic vision of a “Global Britain”. 
• The report has classified India as one of the “difficult four” countries along with Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. India will be counted among the UK’s “rivals” or “awkward counterparts”. 

What was the reason given in the report for classifying India as one of the “difficult four” countries? 

The report highlights two major issues for that 

• First, according to the report the rise of Hindu nationalism in India is weakening the rights of Muslims and other minority religious groups. 

• This rise in intolerant majoritarianism is damaging the vision of a secular, democratic India envisioned by Nehru. 

• Second, the report labels India as a half-hearted supporter of liberal democracy and a country with mixed approaches to human rights abuses. 

Why the report’s criticism towards India is meaningless? 

Criticism of India over growing religious intolerance and the suppression of critique and dissent is not a surprise. Most of the diplomats from various countries have consented regarding this. For example, the Canada has voiced against the Kashmir internet shut down.  

But second criticism is particularly pointless. Despite being the world’s largest democracy, labelling India as a half-hearted supporter of liberal principles and institutions abroad is not correct, because, 

• India for long been unwilling to step up on the global stage to the responsibilities of “committed democracies” due to uneven playing field in today’s international order. 
• The 21st century Global order produces unevenly distributed rights, obligations, and burdens for post-colonial nations and the principle of equality and sovereignty of states still remains as a myth. 
• Even today, the post-colonial states such as India, do not enjoy full political and economic independence on how they make decisions at home, nor in their efforts to shape the agendas of international institutions. 

Thus, 2nd criticism of India can be precisely summarised in the words of Former Indian foreign secretary and national security advisor Shivashankar Menon. He said, “Encouragement by western international partners for India to “behave responsibly” usually means doing what they would like us to do”. 

 What is the way forward for India? 

• First, India need not look into the issue of UK distancing from India too seriously. No nation today can move forward without factoring in India. Even the report has highlighted this. 
• Second, India’s high-profile international activity in the next 2 years as elected member of the UN Security Council and as host of the 2023 G20 Summit should be effectively used to leverage India’s positions of influence in the international sphere.  
• Third, India needs to build on the critical and normative resources to inspire greater equality, legitimacy and inclusivity in the international sphere.  

Synopsis: The Allahabad high court’s recent decision to strike down the provisions of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 that make it mandatory for couples to publish a 30-day public notice of their intent to marry is a significant and much-needed correction.

About the Special Marriage Act

• • The Special Marriage Act was originally enacted in 1872 to provide a framework for inter-caste and inter-religious marriages.
  • The Act allows the solemnization of marriages (performing the public ceremony/rites of marriage) without any religious customs or rituals. The law solemnizes marriages by the way of registration.
  • As per Section 5 of the Special Marriage Act, marriages irrespective of the religion of the couple require parties to give a 30-day public notice of their intention to marry before solemnizing their marriage
  • The provision of mandatory 30 days’ notice period ended up giving vigilante groups, families hostile to inter-faith and inter-caste unions with disproportionate powers to police young couples.
  • The Act is applicable to all Indian citizens and Indian nationals who live in abroad.
  • Allahabad High Court observed the Special Marriage Act as ‘one of the earliest endeavours towards Uniform Civil Code.

About the case 

Recently, in response to a writ petition filed, Allahabad High Court gave a judgment that would have far-reaching impacts.

• • In its conclusion, the HC stated, though the couple wanted to marry under the Special Marriage Act, the mandatory provision for 30-day notice, under section 5 of the act, compelled them to take the easier route of religious conversion.
  • Thus, Section 5 acting as a barrier to inter-faith couples, willing to marry under the secular SMA rather than taking religious conversion routes.
  • On this basis, the Court allowed couples not to publish the mandatory 30-day notice of their intention to marry.
  • Also, the court allowed the individuals, who desire to have more information about their counterparts, to opt for publication of notice under Section 6 of the Act. Such publication of notice under free will not be a violation of fundamental rights due to free choice.
  • The court also noted that when marriages under personal law do not require a notice or invitation for objections, such a requirement for inter-faith couples’ is obsolete in secular law and cannot be forced on a couple.

• • As a result, many preferred to convert and marry under personal laws, rather than under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 to prevent themselves from harassment.

Why the Allahabad high court’s decision is regarded as a significant step?

The high court’s ruling against the mandatory need for couples to publish a 30-day public notice has been praised for the following reasons,

• • First, the decision comes at the right time where the anti-conversion ordinances in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have endorsed the state intrusions on inter-personal relationships.  The decision will protect the primacy of individual autonomy.
  • Second, the HC ruling is in line with The Law Commission of India report in 2012 that recommended keeping a check on the unnecessary interference by caste assemblies in sagotra, inter-caste or inter-religious marriages.
  • Third, The HC judgment reaffirms the constitutional protection to minorities as even today a minuscule of the minority of marriages are, inter-faith unions.
  • Fourth, it is in line with a series of landmark Supreme Court judgments that are against societal and state interference in personal affairs and firmly establishes personal liberty and privacy to be fundamental. For example,

• • • Puttaswamy v Union of India, that recognise the right to privacy as a fundamental right
    • The Hadiya case, right to choose one’s partner.
    • In Navtej Singh Johar case: The ruling that decriminalised homosexuality.

• • It will be a body blow to Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 which have provisions such as

• • • Declaring conversion of religion by marriage to be unlawful
    • Mandating a 60-day notice to the District Magistrate
    • Requiring the Magistrate to conduct a police inquiry to know the real intention behind the conversion.

• • As the Special Marriage Act is a central legislation, couples across the country seeking to marry under the law will benefit from the liberal ruling of the provisions.
  • It paves way for abolishing and cleansing obsolete Victorian-era protectionist provisions in other laws as well.

The Allahabad High Court judgement is a reminder and a warning that the constitution remains the bulwark against an overreaching state policy such as the anti-conversion ordinance in UP and MP.

News: The National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) has announced that it will offer a free IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) in any of their preferred 22 official Indian languages along with every IN domain booked by the registrar.

Facts:

• NIXI: It is a not for profit Organization established under section 8 of the Companies Act 2013 in 2003.
• Purpose: It was set up for peering of ISPs among themselves for the purpose of routing the domestic traffic within the country, instead of taking it all the way to US/Abroad thereby resulting in better quality of service (reduced latency) and reduced bandwidth charges.
• Objectives:
  • To promote the Internet.
  • To set up, when needed, in select location(s)/parts/regions of India Internet Exchanges/Peering Points.
  • To enable effective and efficient routing, peering, transit and exchange of the Internet traffic within India.
  • To continuously work for enhancing and improving the quality of Internet and Broadband services.
  • Set up. Internet Domain Name Operations and related activities.
• Managed by: NIXI is managed and operated on a Neutral basis, in line with the best practices for such initiatives globally.
• India’s Country Code: “.IN” is India’s Country Code Top Level domain (ccTLD).The Govt. of India delegated the operations of INRegistry to NIXI in 2004.

Article Source

News: The Bombay High Court has held that the sale of items, claiming that they possess miraculous or supernatural powers via television advertisement is illegal.

Facts:

What was the matter?

• A petition was filed seeking a direction and injunction to prevent advertisements on television channels that promote the sale of articles like Hanuman Chalisa Yantra.
• The petitioner had come across advertisements in 2015 on TV claiming special, miraculous and supernatural properties/qualities in Hanuman Chalisa Yantra prepared by one Baba Mangalnath who had achieved ‘siddhi’ (supernatural powers) and was blessed by Lord Hanuman.

What is the Judgement?

• The court held that using the name of any God and claiming that it has supernatural qualities is “illegal” and falls under the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act.
• The court observed that the objectives quoted in the Black Magic Act can be achieved mainly through education.
  • Section 3 of the Black Magic Act prohibits not only commission of acts of black magic, evil practices but also propagation and promotion of such practices and magic. Section 3(2) of the Act provides that abetment of such propaganda is also an offence.
• Quoting the fundamental duty to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry, the Court said that the reformists like Mahatma Phule and Babasaheb Ambedkar who worked to remove evil practices and spread awareness against superstition, were born on this soil.

Article Source

Synopsis– Uttar Pradesh recently passed an ordinance which criminalizes inter­faith marriages, which is against the exercise of the free will of individual citizens in India. 

Introduction-  

• UP ordinance which criminalizes inter-faith marriages has set an extreme example, being followed by other states like MP.  
• In these states’ other laws on slaughter of cattle, marriage, and religious conversions have been enacted targeted at minorities of the state.  
• In Uttarakhand, a recent divergent view attracted an enquiry over a press release by district social welfare department that highlighted a scheme incentivizing  inter-faith and inter-caste marriages. 

How interfaith marriages were seen in the past  

• First, Nehru’s view– Chaudhary charan singh in 1994, Sends a proposal to Prime Minister Nehru to pass a law that would ensure only those youth who married outside, or were prepared to marry outside, their caste be recruited in gazetted government services. 
• Charan singh believed the intractable issue of caste required drastic measures to start the process of its disintegration.  

• • • But Nehru disagrees with his proposal on account of freedom of choice of individuals to choose their life partner. 

• Second, Kusubh Chandra sen’s view– The very first debate for legal marriage in India dates back to the 1860s, when the colonial State received a petition signed by Keshub Chandra Sen of Brahmo Samaj, to legitimise marriages amongst the members of Brahmo Samaj. The motive was to provide the Samaj the right to freely marry as per their ‘rites of conscience’. 
• Third, Special Marriage Act, 1954– SMA is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted to provide a special form of marriage for the people of India and all Indian nationals in foreign countries, irrespective of the religion or faith followed by either party. 

However, States such as Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh framing laws that target inter-faith marriage. 

The procedural requirements of the SMA such as the need to give prior notice, and allowance for objections, seem to be undermining its original intent by opening the doors to violent moral policing by vigilante groups. 

What are the issues related to these new laws? 

Interference by the State in an adult’s right to love and marry has a ‘chilling effect’ on freedoms

• First, against personal liberty- These new laws intervene in the citizens’ personal liberty by interfering with the choice of their spouse.  
• Second, Against the Right to Privacy– The level of state interference in a civil union, which is a solemnization of a relationship between two individuals, breaches the basic structure of the Constitution.  
• Third, Hinder the individual’s Right to choose faith– According to Articles 25 to 28, an Indian citizen is guaranteed the freedom to practice any religion of his or her choice. The ordinance is a conflict with these rights as it limits the choice of the religion of a prospective spouse. 
• Lastly, Patriarchal Roots- This shows the law has deep-seated patriarchal roots, wherein women are infantilized, placed under parental and community control, and denied the right to take life decisions, should those decisions not be agreeable to their guardians.

Constitution of India offers high principles for citizens to aspire for. Citizens may not have been lived up to these principles but it was the intent that individual try to achieve those principles by doing better to the society. Laws in questions are doing exact opposite by going against these principles.

Way forward-

Based on the judicial pronouncements it is clear that the Right to marry a person belongs to another faith is a Fundamental Right 

• It is for the court to suo motu strike these laws down if it wants to preserve the basic structure of the constitutional edifice.

Context: The Allahabad High Court verdict in ‘Salamat Ansari’ is a reminder of the Constitution’s most cherished values.

What did the court say?

• Religious conversions, even when made solely for the purposes of marriage, constituted a valid exercise of a person’s liberties.
• The High Court ruled that the freedom to live with a person of one’s choice is intrinsic to the fundamental right to life and personal liberty.
• It held that the judgment in Noor Jahan was incorrectly delivered. Marriage is a matter of choice, and every adult woman has a fundamental right to choose her own partner.

What is the issue?

• Legislation: Various State governments undertaking projects to outlaw what they describe pejoratively as “Love Jihad”.
• Petitioners vs. State:
  • The petitioners had approached the High Court seeking orders to quash a First Information Report (FIR). This FIR alleged that crime was committed under Section 366 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalises the abduction of a woman with an intent to compel her to marry against her will.
  • The State argued that the partnership had no sanctity in the law, because a conversion with a singular aim of getting married was illegitimate.

What are the other related judgements?

• Noor Jahan v. State of U.P. (2014): the High Court had held that a conversion by an individual to Islam was valid only when it was predicated on a “change of heart” and on an “honest conviction” in the tenets of the newly adopted religion.
  • Burden of proof: the High Court had ruled that the burden to prove the validity of a conversion was on the party professing the act.
• Stainislaus v. State of Madhya Pradesh: the Court upheld, on grounds of public order, two of the earliest anti-conversion statutes in India: the Madhya Pradesh Dharma Swatantrya Adhiniyam, 1968, and the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, 1967. These laws required that a District Magistrate be informed each time a conversion was made and prohibited any conversion that was obtained through fraud or illegal inducement.

What does the judgement signify?

• Right to religious freedom: it is neither the province of the state nor any other individual to interfere with a person’s choice of partner or faith.
• Right to privacy: It held that an individual’s ability to control vital aspects of her life inheres in her right to privacy. Puttaswamy judgement, has recognised that every individual possesses a guaranteed freedom of thought.
• Right to live with dignity: It includes the preservation of decisional autonomy, on matters such as “personal intimacies, the sanctity of family life, marriage, procreation, the home, and sexual orientation”.
• Freedom of conscience: Article 25 of the Constitution expressly protects the choices that individuals make. It guarantees to every person the freedom of conscience. The idea of protecting one’s freedom of conscience goes beyond mere considerations of religious faith.

This is high time that we need to respect people’s choices. When we fail to acknowledge and respect the most intimate and personal choices that people make,we undermine the most basic principles of dignity.

Link to our 7PM editorial of similar article (ISSUE OF INTERFAITH MARRIAGES AND LAWS IN INDIA)

The article is based on The Big Picture: Special Marriage Act and Indian Express Explained, Roll it back appeared in the month of November. 

Context: The Uttar Pradesh government has cleared an ordinance that enables the state to police and punish inter-faith marriages with “the sole intention of changing a girl’s religion”.

Why Uttar Pradesh drafted such an ordinance?

• In the past few months, cases of alleged “love jihad” have been reported from different parts of the state, especially eastern and central UP especially Lakhimpurkheri.
• a group of parents from a particular locality in Kanpur had complained that their daughters are being allegedly trapped by Muslim men
• In some cases, girls refused to accept that they were tempted into marriage.

Criticisms against the law

Many critics of the law have put forward a few issues regarding the law:

• Allowing the police to examine subjective “intentions” of men and women entering a marriage veers into thought control — and sets the law up for rampant abuse.
• Law against fundamental rights: By clearing the ordinance, the state government has trespassed the fundamental right to marry guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. 

 Anti-conversion law at central level:

Central government proposed various bills but none of them passed and became a law. They are:

• Indian Conversion (Regulation and Registration) Bill 1954
• Backward Communities (Religious Protection) Bill 1960
• Freedom of Religion Bill in 1979

In 2015, the Law Ministry said passing of any law on religious conversion is purely a “State subject” and Central government has no role in it.

Is Uttar Pradesh being the only state to initiate law for forceful conversion?

• No, after the central government failed to pass 1960 bill, Odisha government moved on and passed the first anti-conversion law in 1968
• After that so far 10 states have had passed anti-conversion laws in India.
• The Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2019, and the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018, both prohibit conversion by misrepresentation, force, fraud, undue influence, inducement, allurement and ‘by marriage’.

But Uttar Pradesh has become one of the first State to pass forcible conversion only during Interfaith marriages as special legislation. States such as Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka have also sought to bring such legislation.

Interfaith Marriages:

• It simply means the matrimonial relation between individuals who follow different religious faiths.
• Marriage between the same faiths has been governed by the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, Muslim personal Law. But to rectify and include interfaith marriages Centre passed the Special Marriage Act 1954.
• Special Marriage Act considers Interfaith Marriages as secular.

 Judicial pronouncement regarding interfaith marriages and forcible conversions:

• The Rev Stanislaus vs Madhya Pradesh case: Supreme Court said Article 25 does provide freedom of religion in matters related to practice, profess and propagate, but the word propagate does not give the right to convert and upheld the laws prohibiting Conversion through force, fraud, or allurement.
• Based on the above case it is clear that forcible conversion or conversion through fraud and allurement is against the Right to Freedom of Religion.
• Sarla Mudgal case: The court had held that the religious conversion into Islam by a person from non-Islamic faith is not valid if the conversion is done for the purpose of polygamy.
• Lily Thomas case: In this case Court observed that marrying another woman after converting to Islam is punishable under the bigamy laws.
• Hadiya Case: Supreme Court said that the right to marry a person of one’s choice is integral to Article 21 (right to life and liberty) of the Constitution
• Allahabad High Court, in the case, Noor Jahan Begum @ Anjali Mishra and another vs. State of U.P. and Others observed that one shouldn’t change one’s faith just for the sake of matrimony. As two persons professing different religions can marry under the Special Marriage Act.
• But in the most recent judgment, Allahabad High Court itself overturned its previous judgment, calling the decision “bad in law”. The division bench of the Allahabad high court said on November 11, that judgment does not take into account the right to life and personal liberty of mature adults.

Way forward:

Based on the judicial pronouncements it is clear that the Right to marry a person belongs to another faith is a Fundamental Right but that does not have to be associated only with personal laws or religious conversions. It is the Right of the individual’s personal liberty to involve in Interfaith Marriage either by the Special Marriage Act of 1954 or by Personal laws (after getting himself converted).

Context: Many state governments have announced that they are considering enacting an appropriate law to stop marriages which they term as “love jihad”.

What are the recent cases?

• A Muslim girl by birth converted to the Hindu religion and just after a month, she married a Hindu man according to Hindu rites and rituals.
• The Allahabad court directed the girl to appear before a magistrate to record her statements.
• The purpose was to check whether the girl converted with her consent or not.
• In another matter, a Hindu girl by birth converted to Islam and married a Muslim. The High Court recorded her statement and after its subjective satisfaction that she, being a major, had acted of her own volition.

What was the basis of observations?

• Lily Thomas (2000) and Sarla Mudgal (1995): In both the cases, the issue was of Hindu married men committing bigamy to avail a second marriage, without dissolving the first just by converting from Hinduism to Islam.
• Section 494 and second marriage: Both judgments concluded that the second marriage of a Hindu husband, after his conversion to Islam, would not be valid in view of Section 494 of the Indian Penal Code. The Court clarified that a marriage solemnised as a Hindu marriage cannot be terminated by one spouse converting to another religion.

What are the arguments against such laws?

• No legal basis: The concept of “love jihad” has no legal or constitutional basis, it has been concocted for the last few years.
• Fundamental right: The right to marry a person of one’s choice is a guarantee under Article 21. At the same time, freedom of conscience, the practice and propagation of a religion of one’s choice, including not following any religion, are guaranteed under Article 25.
• Avoid mixing of issues: Polygamy, polyandry, kidnapping, coercion, etc. are separate issues covered under existing provisions of the IPC.
• Fundamental freedoms: The right to marry a person of one’s choice flows from the freedom of individuality, naturally available to any individual.
• Supreme court views: The view of the Supreme Court (1965) that a marriage is not approved unless the essential ceremonies required for its solemnisation are proved to have been performed can only be read if one partner denies the marriage.
• Marriage is the very foundation of civilised society: the observation that “marriage is the very foundation of civilised society” and without which no civilised society can exist have become obsolete given the recent judgments by larger benches of the Supreme Court.
• Sub-judice: The legality of legislation like the Citizenship Amendment Act, which excludes only one religion from its purview, criminalisation of pronouncements of triple talaq and taking away the special status of Jammu & Kashmir are pending consideration in the Supreme Court.

The Courts needs to examine if the individual concerned has exercised their right of “free consent”.

What is hate speech? 

The term hate speech is understood as any kind of communication in speech, writing or behavior that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of their collective identity, be it race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexuality.

Hate speech threatens two key doctrines of democracy-

• The guarantee of equal dignity to all
• The public good of inclusiveness.

Criteria to identify hate speech:

1. The extremity of the speech.
2. Incitement
3. Status of the author of the speech.
4. Status of victims of the speech.
5. Potentiality of the speech.
6. Context of the Speech.

Regulation of Hate speech in India

• Constitutional provisions: Article 19(2) of the Constitution gives all citizens the right to freedom of speech and expression but subject to “reasonable restrictions” for preserving inter alia “public order, decency or morality”.
• Statutory provisions:   India prohibits hate speech by several sections such as Section 95 of CRPC Section 124A or Section 153A or Section 153B or Section 292 or Section 293 or Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code.

Various Causes of hate speech-

1. Historical underpinnings- Any historical enmity between various religious or societal groups can motivate them to do hate crimes. During the independence struggle, both communities were divided which still has an impact. For example; the divide and rule policy.
2. Vote bank politics: Often vote bank politics, use various communal or emotional tools to garner the vote of few groups by inciting hatred in them. They use false stories, news, etc to incite such incidents.
3. Acceptance of hate by society: Sometimes society, in general, accepts hatred against a particular group or nation based on past experience of atrocities. E.g many groups see refugees or migrated people as their enemies and islamophobia in European countries.
4. Illiteracy-Lack of education prevents the overall development of an individual. Still, about 23% of the population in India is illiterate. This prevents the development of tolerance and understanding of individuality in them.
5. Consensus in society: Increasing unemployment lead to the development of feeling of hatred against a particular group especially refugees and migrated one. People see them as an enemy and one who snatches their rights. This phenomenon is worldwide. For eg, thousands of people of the northeast living in Bangalore headed to Guwahati, following rumors of violence targeting them.
6. Prejudice and bias-Bias toward a particular group can be a reason for hate crimes. E.g 704 cases of crimes against Northeast people in Delhi in 3 years. It can incite hate crime against them without making any difference between culprit and innocent.
7. Patriarchy-This hold true mainly in case of hate crime against women. Honour killing of women is mainly due to patriarchal mindset where women are attached to one’s falsified honour and women seen as an object tied to family respect.
   • For instance, in 2010 when Nirupama, a student of journalism, was killed by her family members in Jharkhand for planning to marry her boyfriend from another caste.
8. Lack of strong laws-lack of strong and clear laws, poor implementation results in low conviction rate. So, culprits are let to roam freely.
9. Social media: Fake news, propagandais often invoked on social media against a particular group to destabilise a society. For example, Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013.

Challenges in regulating hate speech

• Freedom to speech-Any regulations for social media content should follow globally accepted norms of freedom of speech and impartiality which is hard to apply with the restrictions on the content.
• Independent Regulator– An independent regulator can be misused in geographies where the idea of impartiality is used to the wish of the ruling regimes.

• Privacy Regulation– The introduction of privacy regulations such as the European Union’s General data protection regulation (GDPR) signaled the fact that self- regulations of the platforms didn’t work in the desired way.

Way forward 

• Code of conduct: the European Union has also established a code of conduct to ensure non-proliferation of hate speech under the framework of a ‘digital single market.’It requires collaborative, independent and inclusive regulation that is customised to regional and cultural specifications while adhering to global best practices of content moderation and privacy rights.
• The Law Commission of India recommended that new provisions in IPC are required to be incorporated to address the issue of hate speech.
• Punitive action: The legislature and political parties should suspend or dismiss members who are implicated in hate crimes or practise hate speech. Strict disciplinary act should be taken against such individuals and parties.
• The electronic and print media should stop showing or publishing hateful comments and threats. Any act of incitement of hatred should be punished by cancelling license or through imprisonment or fine.
• Imbibing values: Values of tolerance and respect that are common to all religions should be preached and schools should revitalise courses on the directive principles of our Constitution.
• If the speech or statement or art of work have an element of incitement of hate, it should be treated as a hate speech under section 153(a) of IPC and not as a Blasphemy.

Sacrilege: violation or misuse of what is regarded as sacred.
Blasphemy Law: Deals with the matter pertaining to lack of respect toward God, religion, a religious icon, or something else considered sacred.

Arguements for blasphemy law

• To value and respect for sanctity of the God, Religion and Religious belief.
• Religion affects the actions of human beings. Legal protection provided by state to protect religious belief and sentiments leads to stable society and governance.
• Most of the countries implement Blasphemy laws as a reasonable restriction for the maintenance of communal harmony.
• Blasphemy law is required by the states that have an official religion like Pakistan

Argument against blasphemy law

• Blasphemy has been described as irreverence towards God or Religion, however the term “Religion‟ itself lacks a proper definition for itself.
• Against the spirit of Fundamental right of Speech and Expressions. USA has no blasphemy law to protect freedom of speech and expressions.
• Blasphemy laws are incompatible with the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
• Blasphemy law is often be used as a tool for the majority to oppress the minority.

The allegations of blasphemy have been used by vigilante groups and non-state actors to justify and instigate incidents of interreligious violence.

Judgments

Ramji Lal Modi v. State of Uttar Pradesh

• The case challenged the constitutional validity of law.
• Case argues that Art. 19(2) only put reasonable restrictions but section 295 A casts its net much wider by criminalizing all speech that was intended to outrage religious feeling.
• A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Section 295 A
• Supreme court observed that section 295A did not cover all type of Insult but only intentional insults

The Superintendent, Central Prison, Fatehgarh v Ram Manohar Lohia

• Under this case supreme court observes that speech which is prohibited should have a direct connection to disrupt public order and it should not be just a remote connection
• This is contrary to previous judgment (Ram ji Lal Modi case) which gave the order that a slight connection of freedom of speech with public disorder fall under Section 295 A.

• New Punjab law Under new proposed law any “injury, damage or sacrilege to Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Srimad Bhagwad Geeta, Holy Quran and Holy Bible with the intention to hurt the religious feelings of the people” a crime punishable with life imprisonment Need for Law Several incidents took place in various part of Punjab related to sacrilege of Holy book of Sikhs. Existing provisions of the said Act in Section 295, 295A and 296 though deal with these matters but do not provide deterrent punishment for incidents Issues with the law Protecting Holy book of one religion is anti-secular and discriminatory against other religion. Most importantly, section 295-A of IPC deals with religion and religious beliefs, punishment under section 295-AA explicitly for religious text would be disproportionate

• Misuse of law in the guise of protecting religion sentiments may inflict violence.

In News- Sudarshan TV case will have several implications for the regulation of free speech.

What is hate speech? 

The term hate speech is understood as any kind of communication in speech, writing or behaviour that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis their collective identity, be it race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexuality.

Hate speech threatens two key doctrines of democracy-

• The guarantee of equal dignity to all
• The public good of inclusiveness.

Criteria to identify hate speech:

1. The extremity of the speech.
2. Incitement
3. Status of the author of the speech.
4. Status of victims of the speech.
5. Potentiality of the speech.
6. Context of the Speech.

Regulation of Hate speech in India

• Constitutional provisions: Article 19(2) of the Constitution gives all citizens the right to freedom of speech and expression but subject to “reasonable restrictions” for preserving inter alia “public order, decency or morality”.
• Statutory provisions:   India prohibits hate speech by several sections such as Section 95 of CRPC Section 124A or Section 153A or Section 153B or Section 292 or Section 293 or Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code.

Committees on Hate Speech

1. K Viswanathan Committee recommendations.

• A committee headed by former Lok Sabha Secretary General T.K. Viswanathan submitted a report recommending stricter laws to curb online hate speech
• The panel was formed after Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, was scrapped by the Supreme Court in 2015.

Bezbaruah Committee

• The Bezbaruah Committee was constituted by the Centre in February 2014 in the wake of a series of racial attacks on persons belonging to the northeast
• Though the committee submitted its report in July 2014, the Home Ministry sent out letters to States for their opinion almost four years later, in February this year.

Laws against hate speech:

• Section 295A was also introduced to control series of communal violence.Whoever, with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of citizens of India, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished.

Background of Assam and Mizoram conflict

• • The boundary between present-day Assam and Mizoram is 165 km long and the issue over that dates back to the colonial era when Mizoram was known as Lushai Hills, a district of Assam.

    

• The genesis of present conflict is rooted in the British led demarcated internal boundaries on grounds of administrative needs.
• Government of Mizoram demands that present boundaries must be demarcated based on the 1875 notification, which was notified under Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) Act, 1873, also known as the Inner Line Regulation (ILR). Whereas the Assam government follows the 1933 demarcation.
• While 1873 notification demarcated a line between the plains of Assam (Cachar) and neighbouring hill areas (Lushai) inhabited by tribal communities in Mizoram, 1933 notification was issued after the annexation of the Lushai Hills demarcates a boundary between Lushai Hills and Manipur.

What is the present Issue? 

• According to an agreement between governments of Assam and Mizoram some years ago, the status quo should be maintained in no man’s land in the border area.
• As per the recent info., People from Lailapur (Assam) broke the status quo and allegedly constructed some temporary huts, in response people from Mizoram side went and set fire on them.
• Mizoram civil society groups blame “illegal Bangladeshis” on the Assam side who came and destroyed huts, cut plants and pelted stones on policemen.

Synopsis: NITI Aayog has released a draft National Policy on migrant workers. Though it is well-intentioned, it fails to address the policy misrepresentations which is at the root of migrant workers’ issues.

Introduction 

The suffering of migrant workers during the pandemic raised awareness about their scale, vulnerability, and role in the economy. It also led to several measures taken by the central and state governments.

Read more – Draft policy on migrant workers

• Niti Aayog prepared an umbrella policy document for migrant labourers, including informal sector workers. 
• The draft policy provides a perspective on recognising the scale and role of migrant workers. It states that a complete policy must be viewed from a “human rights, property rights, economic, social development, and foreign policy lens”.

What are the features mentioned in the draft policy?

It states that a rights-based and labour rights perspective built around the core issue of the dignity of labour must be the principle of policy. It should meet ILO commitments and the Sustainable Development Goals.  

1. Firstly, the document appreciates the magnitude of the migrants and their role in the economy. It also finds that the present data fails to capture the growth in their numbers. 
2. Secondly, many sources of vulnerabilities of migrant labourers have been described in the document. It includes:
   • Their invisibility and political and social exclusion to informal work arrangements.
   • Exploitation and denial of labour rights.
   • Lack of collective voice, exclusion from social protection arrangements.
   • Formal skills, health, education, and housing.
3. Thirdly, it identifies the transferability of social protection, voting rights, right to the city. It recognizes health, education and housing facilities as key issues to be dealt with. 
4. Lastly, it proposes a governance structure with the Ministry of Labour. It will act as a focal point for inter-ministerial and Centre-state coordination. It also proposes mechanisms for coordinating the effort on inter-state migration. 

What are the issues missed by the draft policy?

The draft misses recognising and addressing many critical issues.

1. First, gaps in development and inequalities have grown constantly in the last 3 decades. It requires corrections in the development strategy without which migration is bound to grow unchecked. The report did not acknowledge this.
2. Second, the report fails to recognize the root cause of the uneven urban development strategy. The urban strategy has marginalised the poor and the migrants. 
3. Third, the report has denied approaches that rely on cash transfers and special allowances. The denial of the first approach has resulted in ignoring the migrants’ and informal workers’ right to social security. 
4. Fourth, the biggest weakness of the report is its approach towards labour rights and labour policy. It puts grievance and legal redressal above regulation and enforcement.
5. Lastly, the labour codes which are promoting ease of business, have shifted the balance firmly in favour of capital. This weakens the bargaining power of labour and further weakens an already drained enforcement system.

The way forward

• The draft policy identifies the problems but fails to address the policy distortions. However, if the draft will be opened up for further discussions and feedback, it will enrich and complete what is already a significant beginning. 

What is the News?

Indiaspora, a US-based organisation released the 2021 Indiaspora Government Leaders List. The list includes Indian origin persons occupying the highest positions globally.

About the Indiaspora Government Leaders List:

• The list recognizes more than 200 persons of Indian origin. It includes persons, occupied leadership positions in as many as 15 countries. More than 60 of these leaders are holding Cabinet positions.
• It includes diplomats, legislators, senior civil servants from countries with significant histories of Indian diaspora migration. Countries include Australia, Canada, Singapore, South Africa, UAE, UK, and the US.
• These persons were part of their country’s first wave of immigration. Other PIOs serving in their governments are part of subsequent waves of diaspora.
• Significance: These leaders in the list collectively represent the population of more than 587 million. Their countries account for an estimated USD 28 trillion in GDP demonstrating the impact that these leaders are having globally.

Source: Indian Express

What is the News?

The Union Home Ministry is planning an awareness campaign for the National Population Register(NPR) and Census.

Facts:

1. Need: As per a parliamentary committee, there is a lot of dissatisfaction and fear among people regarding the upcoming NPR and Census exercise.
2. Communication Campaign: Ministry will use the right kind of messaging to tackle the miscommunication and rumours around NPR and Census. All kinds of media like social media, digital, outdoor, print, and word of mouth will be used for that.
3. During the NPR exercise, no document is to be collected. Only the demographic and other particulars of each family and individual are to be updated/collected.
4. Information Collected in Census: As per the provisions contained in Section 15 of the Census Act,1948, all individual-level information collected in Census is confidential. In Census, only aggregated data are released at various administrative levels.
5. Postponed Census and NPR: The first phase of the Census and National Population Register(NPR) has been postponed indefinitely due to COVID-19.

Read Further on the postponement of Census and NPR

Source: The Hindu

Source: click here

Syllabus: GS 1 – population and associated issues

Synopsis:  Socio-Economic and Caste Census is suffering from many issues. All the issues must be removed before the next exercise is conducted.

Introduction 

The Census of India is one of the largest exercises which counts and collects demographic and socio-economic information on the Indian population. It has its own history, context, and purpose.

About the Census

The census was a colonial exercise practiced since 1881. It has evolved with time. It is used by the government, policymakers, etc. to estimate the Indian population and its access to resources.

• Census Commissioner for India in 1941 had pointed out that the census is a very powerful tool. But it is not a suitable tool for detailed enquiry about the population.
• Later, many scholars also found census as not useful enough for a detailed and comprehensive understanding of a complex society.

The Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) was conducted in 2011. It was the largest exercise of the listing of castes and has the potential of finding inequalities at a broader level.

However, there were many concerns associated with it.

What are the main apprehensions with regard to the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC)?

First, This census has the potential to solidify the caste identities of individuals.  It won’t be helpful in eliminating discrimination from society. 

Second, SECC has not been able to cover the effects of the caste system on social structure from the local, to the regional, and to national scale. 

Third, the data captured by the census is considered confidential under the census act of 1948. Whereas the personal data captured by SECC is open for use by Government departments. It makes the SECC data prone to use and for misuse by govt. 

Fourth issue is the time duration between each census and the delay in the release of data after it is done.  It makes the data obsolete and unusable to estimate the present status of issues. For example, a sizeable amount of data collected under SECC has not been released even a decade later.

What can be done?

There should be transparency on the use of existing caste data by the government for granting or withdrawing benefits. Further, the following steps should be taken:

• First, the collected census data should be linked with other databases of national sample surveys or the National Family Health Surveys that cover issues such as maternal health. This will help in the utilization of this data for dealing with social issues in a better way.  
  • • Scholars like Mamta Murthi have suggested linking the data of surveys in the past.

• Second, This linking of data sources that involve the Census should be inclusive and non-discriminatory.
• Third,
• Fourth, there should be a closer and continuous engagement between officials of the Census and SECC. It is because the Census and the SECC are projects of governance as well as of academic interest.
• Fifth, there should be an evaluation of the previous exercise before the next SECC is conducted.

Way forward

Concerns regarding methodology, significance, rigidity, spreading, transparency, and privacy need to be taken seriously.

Source: Click here

News: HelpAge India,an NGO has received the ”2020 UN Population Award” in the institutional category for its contribution towards serving disadvantaged elderly people and raising awareness on their cause.

Facts:

• UN Population Award: It was established by the United Nations General Assembly(UNGA) in 1981.
• Objective: The award honours an individual and/or institution in recognition of outstanding contributions to population and reproductive health questions and to their solutions.
• Committee: The Committee for the United Nations Population Award is composed of 10 UN Member States with United Nations Secretary General and UNFPA Executive Director serving as ex-officio members.

Additional Facts:

• United Nations Population Fund(UNFPA): It is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency.It aims to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted,every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.Headquarters: New York, United States. Report: State of World Population Report.

Source : Click here

News: Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare has addressed the Inter Ministerial Conference by Partners in Population and Development(PPD).

Facts:

• Partners in Population and Development(PPD): It is an Intergovernmental alliance formed during the International Conference on Population and Development(ICPD) held in Cairo in 1994.
• Aim: To expand and strengthen South-South collaboration between and among the developing countries in the field of reproductive health, population and development.
• Members: Currently, PPD has the membership of 26 developing countries, representing more than 59% of the world’s population.
• Secretariat: Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Additional Facts:

• South–South cooperation: It is a term used by policymakers and academics to describe the exchange of resources, technology and knowledge between developing countries also known as countries of the Global South.
• Triangular cooperation: It is collaboration in which traditional donor countries and multilateral organizations facilitate South-South initiatives through the provision of funding, training, management and technological systems as well as other forms of support.

In News: India can achieve the goal of self-reliance (Atma Nirbharta) by enhancing the capability of youth.

About Demographic Dividend:

• According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), demographic dividend meansthe economic growth potential that can result from shifts in a population’s age structure. The change in age structure is typically brought on by a decline in fertility and mortality rates.
• India has one of the youngest populations (62.5% of its population in the age group 15-59) in an aging world.
• The demographic dividend leads to an increased labor supply that will increase the production of goods and boost savings and investment on the other.
• The first demographic dividend occurs during the demographic transition process, when the working-age population increases as a share of the total population, and the percentage of both young and old dependents decreases.
• The second demographic dividend results from an increase in adult longevity, which causes individuals to save more in preparation for old age. This increase in savings can thus contribute to capital accumulation and economic growth.

Major findings of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on demographic dividend:

• Demographic dividend phase in India: Report says the availability of demographic dividend in India, started in 2005-06 and will last till 2055-56 based on the following facts:
  • India’s Population structure: Close to 30% of India’s population is in the age group 0-14 years. The elderly in the 60-plus age group is still a small proportion (8%) of the country’s population. The working-age group 15-59 years accounts for 62.5% of India’s population. The working-age population will reach the highest proportion of approximately 65% in 2036.
  • Regional variations in the degrees and timings of fertility decline: Reports also highlight that demographic dividend is not available in all the states at the same time because Northern states are predominantly youthful whereas southern and western states are maturing.

Steps to be taken 

• India has just a decade’s time to realize the youth demographic dividend. So, the country should launch an Indian Youth Guarantee (IYG) program.
  • The European Union Youth Guarantee (EU-YG) launched a similar programmein 2010 at a time when youth unemployment rates were soaring above 20%.
  • In order to ensure the gainful and productive engagement of youth, the functioning of an Indian youth Guarantee (IYG) initiative as an implementing framework with legal backing could help.
• Youth Component Plan: the plan could help in allocating budgetary resources under a separate head on the lines of the Special Component Plan for the Scheduled Castes and the Tribal Sub-Plan. 
• IYG’s goal: young people graduating from college or losing a job either find a good quality job suited to their education and experience or acquire skills required to find a job through an internship within a fixed time period.
  • The district administration and local bodies should be incorporated by IYG for more effective outcomes.
  •  Existing youth schemes and skilling infrastructure need to be merged and modernised.
• The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)has been very effective in providing rural livelihood security and social protection yet only about 4% of youth in the labour force have been impacted by it.

• Implementation of rural youth employment program alongside MGNREGA: Even though an urban youth employment program will be a new involvement, the rural youth employment should be instituted alongside MGNREGA.

Demographic dividend can be a demographic disaster:

• The growth benefit of a demographic dividend is not automatic. Much depends on whether the increase in working population can be trained, and enough jobs created to employ the 10 million more people who will join the labour force every year.
• Substitute existing jobs: While digital technologies may enable the creation of new products and more productive jobs, they may also substitute existing jobs.
• Lack of skills: India may not be able to take advantage of these opportunities, due to a low human capital base and lack of skills.

• Lack of jobs combined with a demographic dividend will increase the share of the population that is dependent on the working population increasing the economic insecurity of the elderly, as there will be fewer people generating wealth.

Why India should focus on demographic dividend?

• Economic growth: Better economic growth brought about by increased economic activities due to a higher working-age population and lower dependent population. The demographic dividend has historically contributed up to 15 % of the overall growth in advanced economies.
• To become a super power globally: Demographic dividend has historically contributed up to 15% of the overall growth in advanced economies. For instance, Japan was among the first major economies to experience rapid growth because of the changing population structure and emerge as an economic superpower.
• Effective policymaking: Fine-tuning of the planning and implementation of schemes and programs by factoring in population dynamics is likely to yield greater socio-economic impact and larger benefits for people.
• Human capital of the world: With more than 65% of the working-age population, India will rise as an economic superpower, supplying more than half of Asia’s potential workforce over the coming decades.

Various opportunities related to the demographic dividend in India:

• Labour supply: The first benefit of the young population is the increased labour supply, as more people reach working age. However, the magnitude of this benefit depends on the ability of the economy to absorb and productively employ the extra workers.
• Capital formation: As the number of dependents decreases individuals save more. This increase in national savings rates increases the stock of capital in developing countries and provides an opportunity to create the country’s capital through investment.
• Female Human capital: A decrease in fertility rates result in healthier women and fewer economic pressures at home. This provides an opportunity to engage more women in the workforce and enhance human capital.
• Economic growth: Another opportunity is produced by increased domestic demand brought about by the increasing GDP per capita and the decreasing dependency ratio. This leads to demand-driven economic growth. Growth, education, better economic security, and a desire for more durable goods are the cause and consequence of young demographics.
• Infrastructure: Increased fiscal space created by the demographic dividend enables the government to divert resources from spending on children to investing in physical and human infrastructure.
• Skilled workforce: Most sectors of the Indian economy would require a more skilled workforce than the present. It would be both a challenge and an opportunity for India to provide its workforce with the required skill sets and knowledge to enable them to contribute substantially to its economic growth.
• Migration:It presents some opportunities that can arise from having demographic changes, particularly the demographic dividend and interstate migration to overcome labor shortage in some parts.

Challenges of demographic dividend in India:

• Enhancing human capital: According to ASSOCHAM, only 20-30 % of engineers find a job suited to their skills. Thus, a low human capital base and lack of skills is a big challenge.
• Low human development: India ranks 130 out of 189 countries in UNDP’s Human Development Index, which is shocking. Life expectancy at birth in India (68 years) is much lower than in other developing countries.
• Informal economy: Informal nature of the economy in India is another challenge in reaping the benefits of demographic transition in India.
  • Nearly 216 million people are engaged in the agriculture sector, are in the informal economy where not only they earn lower wages, but with little social security and few days of employment in a year.
• Jobless growth: There is a mounting concern that future growth could turn out to be jobless due to deindustrialization, de-globalization, the fourth industrial revolution, and technological progress. As per the NSSO Periodic, Labour Force Survey 2017-18, India’s labour force participation rate for the age-group 15-59 years is around 53%, that is around half of the working-age population is jobless.
• Asymmetric demography: The growth in the working-age ratio is likely to be concentrated in some of India’s poorest states and the demographic dividend will be fully realized only if India is able to create gainful employment opportunities for this working-age population.
• Issue of tilted sex ratio: Declining female labour force participation: According to data from the International Labour Organization and World Bank, India’s female labor force participation rates have fallen from 34.8% in 1990 to 27% in 2013. Without women’s participation, India can’t dream of reaping the demographic dividends.

Way Forward:

• For states with less scope:
  • UNFPA backs a differential approach in forward-looking policymaking and program planning to join the demographic dividend opportunity in those states where the windows for opportunity are closing soon.
  • The focus in the states where the demographic dividend window is yet to open will have to be threefold such as addressing harmful practices such as child marriage, access to quality sexual and reproductive health services and family planning services to all, and provisioning of health, education, life, and vocational skills to all the young people.
• Good governance: Effective avenues for citizen input, well-functioning institutions, respect for the rule of law, low level of corruption, respect for property rights, the sanctity of contracts, etc. are important aspects of good governance that enable the equal opportunity to all.
• Building human capital: Investing in people through healthcare, quality education, jobs, and skills helps build human capital, which is key to supporting economic growth, ending extreme poverty, and creating a more inclusive society.
• Skilling: India’s labour force needs to be empowered with the right skills for the modern economy. Government has established the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) with the overall target of skilling/ up-skilling 500 million people in India by 2022.
• Academic-industry collaboration: Will help to synchronize modern industry demands and learning levels in academics.
• Education: Enhancing educational levels by properly investing in primary, secondary, and higher education. India, which has almost 41% of the population below the age of 20 years, can reap the demographic dividend only if with a better education system.
• Health: Improvement in healthcare infrastructure would ensure a higher number of productive days for the young labor-force, thus increasing the productivity of the economy. The success of schemes like Ayushman Bharat and the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) is necessary. Also, the nutrition level in women and children needs special care with effective implementation of the Integrated Child Development (ICDS) program.
• Job Creation: The nation needs to create ten million jobs per year to absorb the addition of young people into the workforce. Promoting businesses’ interests and entrepreneurship would help in job creation to provide employment to the large labor force.
• Urbanisation: Schemes such as Smart City Mission and AMRUT needs to be effectively and carefully implemented.

In News: India can achieve the goal of self-reliance (atma nirbharta) by enhancing the capability of youth.

About Demographic Dividend:

• According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), demographic dividend means the economic growth potential that can result from shifts in a population’s age structure. The change in age structure is typically brought on by a decline in fertility and mortality rates.
• India has one of the youngest populations (62.5% of its population in the age group 15-59) in an ageing world.
• The demographic dividend leads to an increased labour supply that will increase the production of goods and boost savings and investment on the other.
• The first demographic dividend occurs during the demographic transition process, when the working-age population increases as a share of the total population, and the percentage of both young and old dependents decreases.
• The second demographic dividend results from an increase in adult longevity, which causes individuals to save more in preparation for old age. This increase in savings can thus contribute to capital accumulation and economic growth.

Major findings of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on demographic dividend:

• Demographic dividend phase in India: Report says availability of demographic dividend in India, started in 2005-06 and will last till 2055-56 based on the following facts:
  • India’s Population structure: Close to 30% of India’s population is in the age group 0-14 years. The elderly in the 60-plus age group are still a small proportion (8%) of the country’s population. The working age group 15-59 years’ accounts for 62.5% of India’s population. The working-age population will reach the highest proportion of approximately 65% in 2036.
  • Regional variations in the degrees and timings of fertility decline: Reports also highlight that demographic dividend is not available in all the states at the same time because Northern states are predominantly youthful whereas southern and western states are maturing.

What is the news?

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs releases the rankings of the Municipal Performance Index(MPI) 2020.

About Municipal Performance Index(MPI), 2020:

• It is a framework to assess and analyze the performance of Indian Municipalities. Performance is evaluated based on their defined set of functions.
• It provides citizens with a better understanding of their local government administration.
• The MPI has been undertaken for the first time in the country.

Note: Both Ease of Living Index and Municipal Performance Index(MPI) released together. Both indexes provide a holistic view of the performance of cities across India.

Parameters: The index ranks municipalities based on five parameters which are:

1. Services: It includes an assessment of all functions that citizens experience on a daily basis.
2. Finance: It measures municipalities based on how they manage public funds and how their agency is accessing financial resources.
3. Planning: It examines the level of preparation, implementation, and enforcement of urban planning.
4. Technology: It measures the digital coverage of municipality services and the extent to which it empowers its citizens to access such services.
5. Governance: It deals with aspects of municipal bodies and their governance mechanism.

Coverage:

• The index examined the sectoral performance of 111 municipalities (with Delhi being assessed separately for NDMC and the three Municipal Corporations).
• Classification: It has classified municipalities based on their population:
  • Million+ (municipalities having over a million population) and
  • Less than Million Population.

Key Findings:

• Million+ category: Indore has emerged as the highest-ranked municipality followed by Surat and Bhopal.
• Less than Million category: New Delhi Municipal Council has emerged as the leader followed by Tirupati and Gandhinagar.

Significance of the index:

• MPI provides a detailed understanding of municipalities’ functionalities and the extent of their development and capabilities.
• It also seeks to raise awareness among citizens and key stakeholders regarding their local government bodies and build greater transparency and accountability.

Source: Business Standard

What is the news?

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs releases the rankings of the Ease of Living Index (EoLI) 2020.

About Ease of Living Index,2020:

• Developed by: Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in 2018.
• It is an assessment tool. By this tool, quality of life and the impact of various initiatives on urban development are assessed.

Parameters: The index evaluates cities based on the following parameters:

• Quality of Life (35%): It looks at the indicators for decent urban life. These indicators include affordable housing, access to clean water, basic education, healthcare facilities, safety and security and recreation avenues.
• Economic Ability (15%): It captures the economic well-being of citizens. It is done by evaluating the level of economic development and inequalities in a particular city.
• Sustainability (20%): It evaluates the availability of green spaces, green buildings, level of energy consumption. Moreover, the quality of natural resources such as air, water, and the city’s ability to withstand natural disasters are also assessed.
• Citizen Perception Survey (30%): It provides a perception of the city residents. Thus, it allows citizens to evaluate the level and quality of development in their respective cities.

Coverage: The index assessed 111 cities by bifurcating them into two categories:

• Million+ populated cities (those with a population of more than a million) and
• Less than A Million populated cities (those with a population of less than a million) along with all the cities under the Smart Cities Program.

Key Findings:

• Million+ category: Bengaluru has emerged as the top performer. It is followed by Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Surat, Navi Mumbai, Coimbatore, Vadodara, Indore, and Greater Mumbai.
• Less than Million category: Shimla is at the top in this category. It is followed by Bhubaneswar, Silvassa, Kakinada, Salem, Vellore, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Davangere, and Tiruchirappalli.

Significance of the index:

• The findings from the index can help guide evidence-based policymaking.
• It also promotes healthy competition among cities. It encourages cities to learn from each other and advance their development trajectory.

Source: The Hindu

What is the News?

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launches the City Innovation exchange(CiX) platform.

About City Innovation exchange(CiX) Platform:

• The platform aims to connect cities to innovators. It will help to design innovative solutions for pressing urban challenges.
• The platform is built on the philosophy of ‘everyone is an innovator’.
• The Smart Cities Mission will partner and effectively collaborate with Startup India, Atal Innovation Mission, AGNIi, and other initiatives in the Indian Innovation ecosystem.
• Currently, the platform has more than 400 start-ups, 100 smart cities, more than 150 challenges statements, and over 215 solutions.

Significance of the platform:

• The platform brings together Citizens-Organisations -Academic Businesses-Government to co-create solutions for the future of Urban India.
• The platform will help cities in adopting solutions that will enhance the quality of life for their residents. Moreover, it will significantly improve the Ease of Doing Business.
• It will also be a significant addition to the growing innovation ecosystem of India as it focuses on fostering innovative practices in cities.

AGNIi – Accelerating Growth of New India’s Innovations

• Nodal Agency: It is a program of the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India and a Mission under the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council(PM-STIAC).
• Purpose: It helps commercialize Indian technological innovations. It supports technology initiatives by connecting owners of innovative and new solutions with the market.
• Implementation: It is executed at Invest India, India’s National Investment Promotion Agency.

Source: PIB

[Answered]In the coming decade, India’s cities need to focus on governance and sustainable development. In light of this, discuss various reasons for the poor performance of urban local bodies in India. What should be done to improve urban local governance?

What is the News?

NITI Aayog has prepared a Draft National policy on Migrant workers.

Issues with the Existing Law on Migrants:

Inter-State Migrant Workers Act, 1979

• It was designed to protect labourers from exploitation by contractors. It safeguards their right to non-discriminatory wages, travel and displacement allowances, and suitable working conditions.
• However, this law covers only labourers migrating through a contractor. It does not cover independent migrants.

About the Draft Policy on Migrant Workers:

Approach: The draft policy describes two approaches to policy design:

• Handout Approach: It focuses on cash transfers, special quotas, and reservations. It also means providing aids instead of skills.
• Rights-Based Approach: It enhances the agency and capability of the community. Thereby, it promotes an individual’s own natural ability to thrive.

The Draft policy rejected the Handout approach and opted for a rights-based approach.

Salient features of the Draft Policy:

• Implementation by: Ministry of Labour and Employment should be the nodal Ministry for implementation.
• Special Unit: Ministry should create a special unit to help converge the activities of other Ministries. This unit would manage migration resource centres in high migration zones.
• Central Database: The policy calls for the creation of a central database of migrant labours.
• Role of Panchayats:  Panchayats should maintain a database of migrant workers. It would issue identity cards and passbooks to workers. Moreover, it would also provide migration management and governance through training, placement and social-security benefit assurance.
• Inter-state migration management bodies should be set up to cover the nation’s key migration corridors: Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai; Bihar and Delhi; Western Odisha and Andhra Pradesh; Rajasthan and Gujarat, and Odisha and Gujarat.
• Migrants Workers Section: Labour Departments in Each state should establish a migrant workers section. labour officers of source states and destination states should work collectively.
• Migrants Children Education: The Ministry of Education should take measures for migrant children’s education. It should map migrant children and provide local-language teachers in migrant destinations.
• Housing for Migrants: The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs should address issues of night shelters, short-stay homes and seasonal accommodation for migrants in cities.
• Grievance Cells: The National Legal Services authority(NALSA) and Ministry of Labour should set up grievance handling cells and fast track legal responses. It should work on issues like trafficking, minimum wage violations, and workplace abuses and accidents for migrant workers.
• Migrants should be the target of Disaster Risk Reduction(DDR) programmers in urban centres.

Source: Indian Express

What is NITI Aayog?

What is the news?

Telangana has achieved 100% tap water connections to all schools and Angan Wadi Centres (AWCs) under 100 day Special Campaign.

The other states like Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Haryana and Tamil Nadu, also achieved this target.

Centre’s 100-day Special Campaign:

• On 2nd October 2020, Ministry of Jal Shakti had launched the 100-day Special Campaign. It was to ensure piped safe water to all schools and anganwadis under the Jal Jeevan Mission.
• The campaign was launched in order to ensure safe potable piped water for children.  Children are more susceptible to water-borne diseases.

What has been achieved so far?

• So far, 1.82 lakh grey water management structures and 1.42 lakh rain water harvesting structures had been constructed in all schools and AWCs.
• In all, 5.21 lakh schools and 4.71 lakh AWCs had been provided with piped water supply and around 8.24 lakh assets in these institutions had been geo-tagged.

Mission Bhagiratha:

• It is a flagship programme of the Telangana government.It is aimed at providing safe drinking water to every household.

Click Here to read about Jal Jeevan Mission

 Source: The Hindu

 Read also:-

Food security to nutritional security in India

What is the news?

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs shortlisted 25 cities for the ‘Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge’. This challenge is covered under the Smart Cities Mission.

About Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge

• It is a three-year initiative hosted by the Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, in collaboration with the Bernard van Leer Foundation and World Resources Institute(WRI) India.
• All cities with a population above 5 lakhs are eligible to participate.
• Purpose: The challenge aims to enable Indian cities to focus on early childhood development (0-5-year-old children). The focus will incorporate into the planning and management of Indian cities.
• Objectives:
  • Promote early childhood centric approach among Indian cities.
  • Facilitate demonstration of early childhood centric solutions.
  • Catalyse cities to the mainstream and implement solutions in the long-term.
  • Develop a peer to peer network of nurturing cities.
  • Collect and analyse data related to young children and their caregivers.
• Who can apply? The challenge is open to all Smart Cities, capitals of States and UTs, and other cities with a population above 5 lakhs.
• Cities Selected under the challenge: The following cities have been selected for the Challenge: Agartala, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Dharamshala, Erode, Hubballi, Hyderabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Kakinada, Kochi, Kohima, Kota, Nagpur, Rajkot, Ranchi, Rohtak, Rourkela, Salem, Surat, Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruppur, Ujjain, Vadodara and Warangal.
• Benefits to Selected Cities: Cities will receive technical assistance and capacity building. It will be helpful to develop, pilot and scale solutions that enhance the quality of life of young children.
• Over time, the programme will enable cities to incorporate a focus on early childhood development into the planning and management of Indian cities.

Source: PIB

What is the News?

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched a  Pilot Pey Jal Survekshan.

About Pey Jal Survekshan

• It is a drinking water survey launched in 10 cities under Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban).
• Ministry: Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
• Purpose: It will ascertain the equitable distribution of water, reuse of wastewater in target cities. Moreover, it will map water bodies with respect to the quantity and quality of water.
• Coverage: It will cover 10 cities; Agra, Badlapur, Bhubaneswar, Churu, Kochi, Madurai, Patiala, Rohtak, Surat, and Tumkur.

Key Features:

• The survey will be monitored through a technology-based platform. This platform will monitor the beneficiary responses.
• Authorities will collect data through various methods; face-to-face interviews with citizens and municipal officials, on-call interviews, water sample collection, laboratory testing, and field survey.
• Based on the learnings of the pilot survey, this exercise will extend to all Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) cities.

 Source: AIR

Source: The Hindu

Gs2: Devolution of Powers and Finances up to Local Levels and Challenges Therein.

Synopsis:  The Budget allocation for improving Urban Mass transport is welcome. Yet much is needed to be done to achieve inclusive urbanisation.

Background:

• In the recent budget, Finance Minister announced fund allocation for improving the Urban mass transport system.
• A sufficient amount is allocated for the Kochi, Chennai, and Bengaluru Metro projects.
• Budget allocation for the Metro projects in the three cities is commendable. It provides greater certainty for these cities to meet their targets.
• However, the budget allocation for improving bus transport will not be adequate.
• The budget allocation for expanding the bus transport system is (₹18,000 crore) under the PPP model.

Issues in the Budget proposal for Bus Transport system?

• India’s ratio of buses to population is a low 1.2 (per 1,000 people) compared to 8.6 in Thailand and 6.5 in South Africa. Some states like Karnataka are exceptions with the above national ratio.
• Moreover, Private bus services is a politically sensitive matter in some states with government monopolies in bus services.

What further needs to be done to improve Public transport in Urban India?

The challenge of urbanization needs multiple interventions apart from supplying grants to Metro and bus system

1. First, State governments control the Urban development instead of city administrations. They have failed to operationalize the nodal authorities to regulate transport.
2. Second, Common mobility cards are still in pilot mode. It would help citizens, use bus, train, and feeder networks seamlessly.
3. Third, Metro and bus services are expensive compared to the per kilometer cost of a two-wheeler.
4. Fourth, Census 2011 identified no. of Census towns. But Urban local bodies are not yet established here. They lack access to funding, infrastructure, and capacity to meet the needs of large populations. Hence, the Recognition of census towns as urban bodies will provide the flow of necessary funds to these growing urban conglomerations.

Way forward

In this context, the Centre should start working with State governments to integrate key areas with its transport vision. Such as affordable inner-city housing, access to civic services and health care, and enhanced sustainability, greenery, and walkability. Only integration can bring about inclusive urbanisation.

What is the News?

In the Budget 2021-22, the Government has announced the launch of Jal Jeevan Mission(Urban).

About Jal Jeevan Mission(Urban):

Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs

Objective: To provide universal coverage of water supply to all households in all 4,378 statutory towns, through functional taps.

Duration: The duration of the mission is over five years.

Features of the Jal Jeevan Mission

• It will rejuvenate the water bodies to facilitate sustainable fresh water supply and the creation of green spaces.
• It will promote a circular economy of water through the development of city water balance plan in each city. The plan will focus on recycling/reuse of treated sewage water and water conservation. 20% of water demand is to be met by reused water.
• Awareness Campaign: Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) campaign is proposed. It will spread awareness among the masses about the conservation of water.
• Pey Jal Survekshan will be conducted in cities. It will ascertain the equitable distribution of water, reuse of wastewater, and mapping of water bodies
• Technology Submission For water: It is proposed to leverage the latest global technologies in the field of water.
• PPP Model: The mission has mandated that cities having a million-plus population will take up PPP projects. These projects shall constitute a minimum of 10% of their total project fund allocation.

Funding:

• For Union Territories, there will be 100% central funding.
• For North Eastern and Hill States, central funding for projects will be 90%.
• Central funding will be 50% for cities with less than 1 lakh population, one-third for cities with 1 lakh to 10 lakh population, and 25% for cities with the million plus population.

Source: The Hindu

What is the News?

The Finance Minister launched Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0 along with Jal Jeevan Mission(urban).

Swachh Bharat Mission Urban

• Launched in: It was launched in 2014 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
• Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 1.0: The focus of the mission was to make urban India open defecation free (ODF). As well as, 100% scientific solid waste management.

Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0:

• The mission would be implemented over five years — from 2021 to 2026
• Focus: Following are focus areas of Mission:
  • Faecal sludge management and waste water treatment,
  • Source segregation of garbage,
  • Reduction in single-use plastic,
  • Reduction in air pollution by effectively managing waste from construction and demolition activities and
  • Bioremediation of all legacy dump sites.

Jal Jeevan Mission(urban)

• Aim: It aims at universal water supply in all urban local bodies. It will facilitate 2.86 crore household tap connections as well as liquid waste management in 500 AMRUT cities.
• Duration: The scheme will be implemented over the next 5 years.

Jal Jeevan Mission(Rural): It launched in 2019. It aims to provide every rural household with a tap water connection by 2024. Nearly 30 million tap water connections have been provided under this so far.

Source: The Hindu

What is the News?

Niti Aayog has released a  megacity plan for Little Andaman. The plan is a part of its Vision Document titled “Sustainable Development of Little Andaman Island”.

Facts:

• Aim: To leverage the strategic location and natural features of the Little Andaman island. A new greenfield coastal city will be developed as a free trade zone. The city will compete with Singapore and Hong Kong.

Zones: The document has proposed the development along the three zones:

• Zone 1: It will spread along the east coast of Little Andaman. It will be the financial district and medi city and will include an aerocity and a tourism and hospital district.
• Zone 2: It will spread over 85 sq km of pristine forest in Andaman. It will have a film city, a residential district and a tourism Special Economic Zone(SEZ).
• Zone 3 — It will spread over 52 sq km of pristine forest. It will be a nature zone. It will be further categorised into three districts: an exclusive forest resort, a nature healing district and a nature retreat, all on the western coast.

Challenges for Mega-City

There are certain factors that could prevent the sustainable development of Little Andaman namely:

• Lack of good connectivity with Indian mainland and global cities
• Fragile biodiversity and natural ecosystems
• Certain Supreme Court notifications can pose an impediment to its development.
• Presence of indigenous tribes and concerns for their welfare
• 95% of Little Andaman is covered in forest, a large part of it is the pristine evergreen type.
• Some 640 sq km of the island is Reserve Forest under the Indian Forest Act.
• Nearly 450 sq km is protected as the Onge Tribal Reserve, creating a unique and rare socio-ecological-historical complex of high importance.

Source: The Hindu

Why in News?

According to Government data, a total of 1.1 crore houses has been approved under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), of which more than 70 lakh houses are under various stages of construction and more than 41 lakh houses have been completed.

Facts:

• • Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana(Urban): It was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban affairs in 2015.
  • Aim: To provide Central assistance through States/Union Territories (UTs) for providing houses to all eligible families/beneficiaries by 2022.

Verticals: The mission seeks to address the housing requirement of the urban poor including slum dwellers through program verticals :

• • Slum rehabilitation of Slum Dwellers with participation of private developers using land as a resource
  • Promotion of Affordable Housing for weaker section through credit linked subsidy
  • Affordable Housing in Partnership with Public & Private sector
  • Subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction/enhancement.

Key Features of the Scheme:

• • Beneficiaries of the scheme include Economically weaker sections (EWS), low-income groups(LIGs), and Middle Income Groups(MIGs).
  • The Mission is being implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) except for the component of credit linked subsidy which will be implemented as a Central Sector Scheme.
  • The houses constructed with central assistance under the mission should be in the name of the female head of the household or in the joint name of the male head of the household and his wife and only in cases when there is no adult female member in the family, the dwelling unit/house can be in the name of a male member of the household.

Article Source

News: World Economic Forum(WEF) has released a report titled “Indian Cities in the Post-Pandemic World”.

Facts:

• About the report: The report has been produced in collaboration with IDFC Institute, Mumbai.
• It compiles insights from leading global and Indian urban experts across seven thematic pillars— planning, housing, transport, environment, public health, gender and vulnerable populations.
• Purpose: The report highlights the country’s most pressing urban challenges that were exacerbated by the pandemic. It also provides insights for translating the lessons learned from the pandemic into an urban reform agenda.

Key Takeaways from the report:

• Impact on Cities: Cities have borne the maximum brunt of the covid-19 outbreak, but they will also be key to India’s post-pandemic growth. They account for nearly 70% of the country’s GDP and an average of 25-30 people migrate to cities from rural areas every single minute.
• Households: About 25 million households in India—35% of all urban households cannot afford housing at market prices.
• Impact on Different Population Groups: The impact of the pandemic has been profoundly uneven on different population groups. Vulnerable populations, including low-income migrant workers have suffered the dual blows of lost income and weak social-protection.

Recommendations:

• Greater decentralization and empowerment of local governments, which will allow for more proximate and responsive governance.
• Collection of data to help cities in managing and directing emergency operations during a crisis.
• Government have to create a new urban paradigm that enables cities to be healthier, more inclusive, and more resilient.
• Ensure the infrastructure that has adequate functional capacity, aligned with current and future demands.
• Prioritise action on environmental sustainability, air pollution and disaster management in urban rebuilding efforts.
• Prioritising inclusivity by addressing the biases and impediments faced by women and vulnerable populations in accessing urban opportunities.

Source : Click here

News: The Urban Governance Index 2020 has been released.

Facts:

• Published by: The index has been published by Praja Foundation, a Mumbai-based think tank.
• Purpose: The index ranks states to indicate where they stand in terms of real empowerment of grassroot democracy and local self government.
• Themes: The ranking is based on these main themes— how empowered elected city representatives and legislative structures are; how empowered the state’s city administration is; how empowered the citizens are and finally the fiscal empowerment and financial autonomy of the state.

Key Takeaways:

• Topped by: Odisha was ranked first in the index followed by Maharashtra, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
• Worst States: Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur and Nagaland performed the worst in the index.

Source: Click Here

News: IIT-Bombay researchers have released an Urban Quality of Life Index.

Facts:

• About the Index: The index has compared the quality of life in various cities in India and ranked them on the basis of various categories such as water, power, electricity, literacy rate, employment rate among others. For the first time, the index has factored in gender parity.

Key Takeaways:

• Mumbai has topped the index followed by Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai.
• Among Gender Parity, Chennai is the most women-friendly city and Patna the least.
• Jaipur has the highest crime rate against women and Chennai recorded the lowest crime against women.
• The gap in literacy rate between men and women is the widest in Jaipur (13.2%) and lowest in Kolkata (5.4%).Literacy was the highest in Pune (91%) and the lowest in Hyderabad (83%).
• The unemployment levels for women in Patna is higher than the other cities, the gap stood at 346 which is four times the urban average score of 73.

Context- A radical shift is needed in our approach towards disaster mitigation and management. Government can handle cyclones better by investing in town planning and infrastructure.

What are the reasons of no major casualty or lesser destruction by cyclone Nivar?

Cyclone Nivar- It is the fourth cyclone that has taken shape in the North Indian Ocean region this year. The reason for lesser destruction are-

1. Correct weather forecasting– IMD has pointed the track of the cyclone very early and his help with adequate warnings and evacuation from the coast.
2. Disaster preparedness – The NDRF deployed 25 teams and disaster management equipment in the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Andhra Pradesh.
3. Government readiness – The Tamil Nadu government has shown brisk readiness in handling the acute challenge of a severe weather event.

What are the concern concerns?

1. Unplanned development– Unplanned development, encroachments in riparian zones, failure of flood control structures, unplanned reservoir operations, poor drainage infrastructure, deforestation, land use change and sedimentation in river beds are exacerbating floods.

• Indiscriminate encroachment of waterways and wetlands, inadequate capacity of drains and lack of maintenance of the drainage infrastructure.

2. Governments have not shown the rigour to collect and publish data on annual flooding patterns, and measure the peak flows in the neglected rivers and canals to plan remedies.

Way forward-

• The aftermath now presents an opportunity to make a full assessment not just for distribution of relief but also to understand the impacts of extreme monsoon weather.
• Governments and local bodies should hardwire urban planning and invest heavily for a future of frequent disruptive weather.

Context: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for a reimagining of urban planning and development to make cities and towns healthy and liveable after COVID-19.

More on news:

• PM emphasised resetting the mindset, processes and practices for safe urban living, and acknowledged that governments actually do little for the working millions at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum.

Discuss the spread of pandemic in urban areas and associated issues.

• Spread of pandemic: The top 10 cities affected worldwide accounted for 15% of the total cases, and data for populous Indian cities later showed large spikes that radiated into smaller towns.
• Reason for the spread: Rapid transmission in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai was the unavoidable outcome of densification and an inability to practise distancing norms.
• In Dharavi, which has one of the world’s highest slum densities, epidemiologists point an apparently low viral impact to screening and herd immunity.
• Social impact: The pandemic’s full social impact, especially among the poorer people has not been adequately measured here or elsewhere.
• Housing: Good and affordable housing is the basis of a sustainable and healthy city.
• Well-designed rental housing that is the key to protecting migrant labour and other less affluent sections remains poorly funded.
• Mumbai is estimated to have added only 5% of rental housing in new residential construction (1961-2000), and that too led by private funding.
• Enforcement of laws:  Laws on air pollution, municipal solid waste management and water quality are hardly enforced, and tokenism marks the approach to urban mobility.

What can be done?

• Schemes: An opportunity to make schemes such as the Centre’s Affordable Rental Housing Complexes deliver at large scale and focus on new good houses built by the state.
• Demand and supply: The Ministry of Housing could work by digitally combining and transparently publishing data on demand and supply for each city.
• Learning from the past:  Past menaces such as cholera, the plague and the global flu pandemic a century ago led to change such as sewerage, waste handling, social housing and health care that reduced disease. Something on the same lines should be done about the pandemic.
• Government should show the political will to reinvent cities after the pandemic is over.

What is commission for air quality management

Source: PIB

News: The Government of India and the World Bank has signed a $500 million Green National Highways Corridors Project.

Facts:

• Objective: To demonstrate safe and green National Highway corridors in selected States and enhance the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in mainstreaming safety and green technologies.
• States covered under the project: Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
• Key Features of the Green National Highways Corridor Project:
  • The project supports an in-depth analysis of gender-related issues in the transport sector along with help in creating jobs for women by training women-led micro enterprises and women collectives to implement green technologies in the highway corridors.
  • The project will also strengthen and widen existing structures; construct new pavements, drainage facilities and bypasses; improve junctions and introduce road safety features

Context: The new Science, Technology and Innovation Policy is currently being drafted by the Department of Science and Technology (DST)

More on news: 

• Its aim will be to increase the participation of women in science.
• The DST will incorporate a system of grading institutes depending on the enrolment of women and the advancement of the careers of women faculty and scientists.

What is Athena SWAN?

• The Athena SWAN Charter: It is an evaluation and accreditation programme in the UK enhancing gender equity in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM).
• Function:Participating research organisations and academic institutions are required to analyse data on gender equity and develop action plans for improvement. The programme recognises such efforts with bronze, silver or gold accreditation.
• Institutions that sign up commit to:
• Addressing unequal gender representation.
• Tackling the gender pay gap.
• Removing the obstacles faced by women in career development and progression.
• Discriminatory treatment often experienced by trans people.
• Gender balance of committees and zero tolerance for bullying and sexual harassment.

How well has it worked? 

• In 2019, a report by Ortus Economic Research:In partnership with Loughborough University found that 93% of participants believed the programme had a positive impact on gender issues.
• 78% said it had impacted equality and diversity issues positively, and 78% noted a positive impact on the career progression of women.
• A study in BMJ: It found that in the five-year period since the scheme was started, participating institutions had a higher number of female leaders than non-Athena institutions, and gender diversity in leadership positions also improved.

Why does India need such a programme?

• GATI: In India, it will be called GATI (Gender Advancement through Transforming Institutions). India is ranked 108 out of 149 countries in the 2018 Global Gender Gap report.
• According to DST figures: In 2015-16, the share of women involved in scientific research and development was 14.71%.
• The DST has also found that women are either not promoted, or very often drop out mid-career to attend to their families.

What are the challenges ahead? 

• Institutions lack control:To get as many institutions as possible to sign up, the DST will need to manoeuvre around government red tape as most universities, barring the IITs and NITs, are run and funded by the government as well.
• This means that these institutions don’t have direct control over institutional policies, recruitment and promotions.

What are the steps of DST towards ensuring gender equity?

• Gender equity:The DST has tied up with National Assessment and Accreditation Council, under the UGC, aiming to push gender equity through them.
• Gender sensitisation: The DST plans to run intensive gender sensitisation programmes, especially for the top leadership of institutions, and work within existing rules such as pushing for women members on selection committees during recruitment processes.
• Policy changes: In the future, the DST is likely to consider policy changes such as those brought about in the UK providing financial incentives through grants to institutes.

Way forward

• For the pilot, 25 institutes will be shortlisted to carry out self-assessment on gender equity in their departments. The British Council is assisting the DST and will facilitate collaboration between selected institutions under GATI with Athena SWAN-accredited institutions in the UK, with each institute here having a partner institute in the UK for guidance.

Context – Declining female labour force participation.

Why in news-

Year 2020 marked as-

1. The nearly fifty years since the Committee on the Status of Women in India (CSWI) submitted the report ‘Towards Equality’ to the United Nations (UN).
   • It focused on women-sensitive policymaking in India, providing a fresh perspective on gender equality.
2. The 25th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action- A benchmark for analyzing the condition of women and State-led empowerment.

What is the status of women’s workforce in India?

1. Workforce participation: India demonstrates one of the lowest labour participation rates for women, which have been consistently declining since 1950.

• The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), 2018-19 indicates a fall in absolute employment for women.
  • Women faced a decline in labour participation rates (from 2011 to 2019) in rural areas from 35.8% to 26.4%, and stagnation in urban areas at around 20.4%.

2. Poor worldwide Rankings:
   • Global Gender Gap Index– India has been ranked 149^th among 153 countries in terms of women’s economic participation and opportunity published by World Economic Forum.

• 2019 Oxfam report– Gender wage gap highest in Asia. Based on hourly wages, women earn, on average, 65.5% of what their male colleagues earn for performing the same work.

3. Women in agriculture:
   • Lack of ownership of land– As many as 87 per cent of women does not own their land, only 12.7 per cent of them do.

4. Status of women in other sectors of the economy:
   • Manufacturing sector – around 14% of the female labour force.
   • Women account for only 19.9% of the total labor force in India
   • The service sector sees women disproportionately involved in care-work, over 60% of the 4.75 million domestic workers are women.

5. The non-availability of white collar jobs, disproportionate long hours and lesser job security narrow downs the job opportunities for educated women in India.

What are the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic and new labour codes on women workforce?

1. COVID-19 impact– Recent job stagnation and high unemployment rates for women, exacerbated by the Coronavirus pandemic, also keep women out of the labor force.

• Job lost in pandemic– The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) data showed that 39% of women lost their jobs in April and May compared to 29% of men.

2. New labour codes impact– The labour reforms disregard women’s work conditions.

• The codes acknowledge neither the gender wage gap nor non-payment of wages and bonuses
• Ignore informal mostly women workers in terms of social security, insurance, provident fund, maternity benefits, or gratuity.
• There is no protection against sexual harassment at workplace.
• Maternity benefits remain unchanged from the 2017 amendment

Way forward-

• Addressing structural issues which keep women away from the workforce is a must.
• Policy decisions need to articulate gendered concerns during public health emergencies because gender-sensitive pandemic planning may substantially mitigate these concerns.

Synopsis: Post pandemic era will be giving rise to new world order and create uncertainties. India should use a “Gated Globalisation” framework to handle this change. 

Introduction 

The 3rd decade of the 21st century will witness a multipolar world and the rise of this New World Order will be driven by reliability of partners, national interest, and economic factors. 

New developments are being witnessed with the development of vaccines. Nations are forging alliances for the vaccine supplies. Trust factor will also dominate these alliances as seen in the doubts raised over vaccines by China and Russia and this factor will not be limited to vaccines only. 

Although security interest will continue to drive partnerships, it will not be the sole criterion as seen in the Israel and Arabs relations and BREXIT 

What is the gated globalization framework? 

Gated globalization advocates selective trade policies with selective trade partners like creating walls with restrictive gates, opened on certain conditions. 

The Gated Globalisation framework doesn’t have a place for “Non-alignment” and will be a test of “strategic autonomy” of India. As per the framework, India needs Solid boundaries but building new partnerships (like the Quad) based on trust and common interests is equally important, as necessitated by Doklam and Ladakh clash with China. 

• Firstly, India will have to make partnership choices, beyond security, on the basis of trade, capital flows and the movement of labour.

For instance, India has chosen to stay out of RCEP and the UK has left the EU. 

• Secondly, technology flows and standards will also define gated communities. The Great Firewall of China has shut out many of the big tech players like Google, Facebook and Netflix.  

Instead, China has its Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent. The introduction of 5G technology, will deepen the issues of trust. 

• Third, the EU-crafted General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a brilliant example of Gated Globalisation. The EU has set the terms of engagement; those who do not obey will be kept out.  

The Indian law on data protection that is currently being discussed follows a similar sovereign route.  

• Lastly, India and other countries have similar policies where they put restrictions on trade with nations that are unfavourable to their interest and build stronger financial relationships with other countries within their gated communities. 

For instance, India has imposed restrictions on trade with China but this does not stop enhanced capital flows from new partners. To prevent the inflow of illegal funds, India has barred capital from poorly-regulated authorities. 

• • • India’s global scattering is now over 30 million and sends more through transfers ($80 billion per year) than foreign capital inflows. The Indian diaspora is now increasingly impacting policy in countries like the US, UK and Australia where it has contributed politicians and technocrats, innovators and influencers, billionaires and cricket captains. 

Way forward 

• During these fast-changing post-pandemic realities, India has to be quick in identifying partners whom it can trust and who will help protect and further its national interests.