SECURE SYNOPSIS: 19 DECEMBER 2019
NOTE: Please remember that following ‘answers’ are NOT ‘model answers’. They are NOT synopsis too if we go by definition of the term. What we are providing is content that both meets demand of the question and at the same time gives you extra points in the form of background information.
Topic: Role of women and women’s organization; social empowerment
Why this question:
India has been ranked 112th in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2020, out of the 153 countries across the world. Overall gender equality is improving but the number of women entering work is “stalling” and financial disparities are widening, found the World Economic Forum’s annual index tracking gender divides in health, education, economy and politics.
Key demand of the question:
The question wants us to analyse how the increase in the penetration of technology will lead to increase in the gender pay gap due to lack of reskilling and upskilling. Further, you must provide the solutions to tackle the same.
Directive:
Examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we have to look into the topic (content words) in detail, inspect it, investigate it and establish the key facts and issues related to the topic in question. While doing so we should explain why these facts and issues are important and their implications.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Start by explaining the gender gap in India based on the findings of the report.
- Social observers often contend that considerable progress has been made on some fronts.
- But the arc of progress is not straightforward, and even though gender parity is an official policy in various corporate and other settings, the outcomes remain extremely poor in comparison with other countries.
Body:
Discuss about the challenges posed to gender pay gap by digitization and technology:
- One of the biggest challenges to achieving equal pay – with women currently earning about half as much as men – is getting more women into jobs in emerging digital industries as business and trade go online.
- As technology creates new jobs AI, engineering and cloud computing and renders others, like retail, obsolete, women risk losing out as they are less likely to have “disruptive” skills for careers with high job growth and salaries.
- bad share of female voices in our legislative bodies have done little for overall women’s welfare
Now talk about the implications of such challenges to women
- Overall, women must wait 99.5 years to see parity with men on average across health, education, economy and politics, said the authors, a slight improvement from 108 years in 2018.
- This means ensuring women have access to the most in-demand skills but also that companies adopt diverse hiring practices and more inclusive workplace cultures.
Discuss the measures needed to reduce this gender pay gap.
Unless India undergoes a social revolution that puts the idea of equity at its forefront, gender gaps would get harder to close.
Conclusion:
Conclude with balanced way forward.
Introduction:
India’s rank, at 112th out of 153 countries, on a chart drawn from the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2020 is no shocker. The country has been backsliding on this for years. India was ranked No 98 in 2006, when the WEF’s first gender gap report was published, and other countries have performed better in the years since.
The Report aims to serve “as a compass to track progress on relative gaps between women and men on health, education, economy and politics”. Through this annual yardstick, the Report says, “stakeholders within each country are able to set priorities relevant in each specific economic, political and cultural context”.
Body:
Key findings:
- Iceland, Norway, and Finland occupy the top three spots.
- Globally, the average (population-weighted) distance completed to gender parity is at 68.6%, which is an improvement since last edition.
- The largest gender disparity is in political empowerment. Only 25% of the 35,127 seats in parliaments around the world are occupied by women, and only 21% of the 3,343 ministers are women.
- Projecting current trends into the future, the overall global gender gap will close in 99.5 years, on average, across the 107 countries covered continuously since the first edition of the Report.
India’s position:
- India has been ranked 112th among 153 countries this year. In 2018, it ranked 108.
- India has closed two-thirds of its overall gender gap (score of 66.8%). However, the condition of women in large fringes of India’s society is precarious.
- It has lost four positions since the previous edition, despite a small score improvement, as some countries ranked lower than India have improved more.
- The economic gender gap runs particularly deep in India. Only one-third of the gap has been bridged. Since 2006, the gap has gotten significantly wider. Among the 153 countries studied, India is the only country where the economic gender gap is larger than the political gender gap.
Reasons for the Gender Wage Disparity:
Patriarchal Mindset:
- Preference for male employees over female employees
- Preference for promoting male employees to higher positions
- In rural areas, women are given lighter work deliberately in agriculture or other sectors thus making them eligible for low payments.
Lack of Transparency:
- Due to lack of transparency in salaries in private sector, many women are unaware of salaries which they should actually get. In Government sector jobs, this disparity is much less because people working on same posts are entitled for same compensation.
Socio-Cultural Reasons:
- Career breaks taken by women due to socio-cultural issues, marriage or pregnancy and parenthood duties.
- Higher Education levels of women also allow them to pursue leisure and other non-work activities, all of which reduce female labour force participation.
- Insufficient availability of the type of jobs that women say they would like to do, such as regular part-time jobs that provide steady income and allow women to reconcile household duties with work.
- Concerns about safety and Harassment at work site, both explicit and implicit.
- The cultural baggage about women working outside the home is so strong that in most traditional Indian families, quitting work is a necessary precondition to the wedding itself.
- When increases in family incomes are there, due to the cultural factors, women leave the work to take care of the family and avoid the stigma of working outside.
Challenges posed to gender pay gap by digitization and technology:
- Women may struggle to close the gender pay gap as technology reshapes the global economy.
- Women’s jobs more likely to be replaced by robots while men dominate emerging sectors, according to a leading global think-tank.
- As technology creates new jobs AI, engineering and cloud computing, women risk losing out as they are less likely to have “disruptive” skills for careers with high job growth and salaries.
- The changes also present an opportunity for women if they train in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) roles.
Challenges:
- One of the biggest challenges to achieving equal pay is getting more women into jobs in emerging digital industries.
- Though gender parity is an official policy in various corporate and other settings, the outcomes remain extremely poor in comparison with other countries.
- Economic Survey 2018 stressed on the need to increase women participation in labour force. It said that lower women engagement adversely affects the growth potential of the economy.
- The pay gap increases with age, work experience, and rise in occupational hierarchy – thus disincentivising the women to stay on.
Way Forward:
- Women need the 3C’s Confidence, Capabilities, access to Capital. Men need to understand that women are their equals.
- One of the best ways to close the gender gap is to focus on the skills of tomorrow.
- This means ensuring women have access to the most in-demand skills.
- Companies must adopt diverse hiring practices and more inclusive workplace cultures.
- Companies need to take bold steps to make sure their hiring processes are fair and inclusive and provide women with the training and sponsorship that they need to advance.
- Countries could add trillions of dollars to their economies by increasing women’s participation in workforces and ensuring they earn as much as men.
- Social stigma against women in the workforce and the general environment of social injustice against women must be tackled.
Conclusion:
India needs is a paradigm shift. Unless India undergoes a social revolution that puts the idea of equity at its forefront, gender gaps would get harder to close.
Topic: poverty and developmental issues; Social empowerment;
Why this question:
Nearly 107 people have been killed in witch-hunting incidents in Assam since 2011, parliamentary affairs Chandra Mohan Patowary told the Assembly during a discussion on various issues related to the home department. Such killings are not uncommon in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and some other states. The truth is that the markers of modernity — literacy, equality and rights — are not universal.
Key demand of the question:
The question wants us to express our knowledge and understanding about the RTI act. The recent proposed changes in the RTI act and how it could lead to subversion of the objectives of right to information.
Directive:
Comment – When asked to comment, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Define the practice of witch hunting. Give the background of continued witch hunting cases in India.
- Witch hunting involves the branding of victims, especially women as witches, where they are accused of possessing supernatural powers to harm others.
- The victim is subjected to numerous forms of torture, beatings, burns, paraded naked through the village, forced to eat human excrement and sometimes even raped.
- In some cases, their hair is cut off and the victim and their children are socially excluded and even put to death.
Body:
Discuss the reasons for such victimization.
Discuss the problems faced and implications on women due to discriminatory acts like witch hunting.
- Women are being killed and specially targeted by being branded as witches.
- Anything that happens abruptly, which does not favour a person or the family, is attached to the cause that the woman (daughter-in-law/wife) is the witch.
- She is the unlucky one, responsible for all the mishaps.
Discuss the failure to prohibit such practices despite presence of laws in states.
Provide measures to tackle the issue of witch hunting.
Conclusion:
Based on your discussion, form a fair and a balanced conclusion on the given issue.
Introduction:
The concept of witch hunting has its traces in past, may it be primitive age, medieval age, modern age and now industrial age, the concept of witchcraft and the incidence of witch-hunting has been witnessed. Witch hunting is considered as an infectious disease which is slowly spreading to newer areas.
Modern sensibilities cannot take root in a nation that allows regressive beliefs to thrive. More important, such an environment allows those with vested interests to take advantage of the ignorance and superstitious fears of ordinary people to further their own ends. Women, especially, become victims of targeted violence under the guise of ‘witch hunts’.
Body:
Witch hunting in India:
- India is a land where the women are treated as symbol or are considered as a token of their community, family, caste and all other diverse divisions. Where people on one hand worship them in name of Goddesses on the other hand kill them considering them witch.
- This practice of killing is not new for Indian society rather it has its deep roots in history.
- Initially when the concept of witch was discussed people thought of ugly women with a broom who can fly, who can disappear.
- Now the concept has changed a bit, which now denotes women who acquire supernatural powers and are indulged in evil practices which are omen.
- It is believed that they are associated to negative energy and for their betterment and for enhancing their power they kill innocent members of society.
- Witch hunting is stigmatization of specific groups of people, which mostly contains widowed women, women who are childless, old couples, women of lower caste.
- It has been witnessed in tribal and rural areas that if wild spread diseases occur or famine occurs which causes death of animals as well as human the allegation develops on the most vulnerable people of the society for witch craft and then violence.
Scenario:
- Witch hunting is more prevalent in 12 states of India which are situated in like Jharkhand, Bihar, Haryana, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Rajasthan and U.P.
- The governments most recent report indicates that about 119 people were killed in the year 2012 in name of witch hunting and around 1,700 women were murdered for witchcraft during 1991-2010.
- These data show the recorded cases, there are many instances which have never been recorded as due to the fear.
- Some 123 people were killed by mobs in Jharkhand between May 2016 and 2019.
- In the eastern state of Odisha, the Maoist-affected areas are severely impacted by witch-hunting, though it happens in relatively prosperous and non-tribal belt.
- According to NCRB, government of India the instances of witch- hunting has increased when compared to previous years’ data.
- As per Human Right Committee report in last 15 years approximately 2,500 women in were killed in name of witch-hunting.
Why witch hunting is still being continued
- The question of evidence – In order to punish one for practicing witch hunting, the court needs proof. In case of witch hunting, it is a crime which is socially manifested hence out of either fear or acceptance of the practice people remain silent, which becomes huddle in collecting evidences. Hence due to lack of evidence proper justice is not achieved.
- Another reason behind lack of evidence is delay in reporting the incident. Due to the geographical reason and societal pressure very few incidents are reported and that too after a long gap, hence it makes the witness testimony unreliable, which was a ground for not convicting the accused in Madhu Munda v. State of Bihar
- Absence of National Legislation – As it has been mentioned earlier India does not have any specific national legislation or laws for preventing witch hunting. It is being covered under the sections of Indian Penal Code and according to it punishment is being granted. Therefore, there is a need of proper legislation to eradicate this heinous practice from the society.
- Poor implementation of prevalent laws – as mentioned above few states still does not have a separate law to tackle with the societal wrong of witch-hunting, though the rate of witch-hunting is high there.
- Due to the quantum of punishment which is granted to the accused is lesser than the gravity of crime they have committed, as the punishment merely extends upto 1 year with a fine of Rs.1000, which lack to set deterrence in society. Hence, this adds to the poor implementation of the existing laws.
Legislative approach to witch-hunting:
- Bihar though being most backward was the first state in India to pass a law against witch hunting in the year 1999, which was named “Prevention of Witch (Dayan) Practices Act.”
- Jharkhand followed it and established “Anti Witchcraft Act” in 2001 to protect women from inhuman treatment as well to provide victim legal recourse to abuse. Basically Section 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the concerned Act talks about the punishment which will be granted if any one identify someone as witch, tries to cure the witch and any damages caused to them. Whereas Section 7 states the procedure for trial.
- Chhattisgarh government passed a bill in 2005 named “Chhattisgarh Tonhi Prathama Bill”, which was established to prevent atrocities on women in name of Tonhi.
- Rajasthan government has also passed a bill “Rajasthan Women (Prevention and Protection from Atrocities)” 2006, which makes it illegal as well punishable for calling any woman as “dayan” or to accuse a woman for practicing witchcraft, which extends to three years of imprisonment and Rs 5000 fine.
- Till now there is no specific laws enacted in Maharashtra against witch-hunting and the sole reason behind it is opposition from some religious groups who believes that the enacted law might take away their ancient rites Now after the incidents of witch-hunting has increased the state government has planned to pass a bill to eradicate the social ills and human sacrifice.
- Among the states where witch-hunting is prevalent, some areas of West Bengal like Purulia, Bankura and Birbhum comes under the ambit of those states. Still the state government has failed to establish a separate legislation to tackle it. Hence, there is a need of national legislation which will have a binding effect over all the states in prohibiting it.
- Recently President has given his assent to the Assam Witch Hunting (Prohibition, Prevention and Protection) Bill, 2015 against witch-hunting that the Assam Assembly passed three years ago.
Way forward:
- “Witch-hunting” is just one of the many forms of violence against women. Inequality and gender-based discrimination are issues that need to be addressed at different levels starting from grassroots’ awareness to better policy-making.
- Civil society and government should work together at grassroots level in order to change the mindset of the people. This can happen through information, education and communication.
- Media is also a powerful tool. They can build community based organizations for prevention of “witch hunting” and for compensation, rehabilitation and re-integration of the victim and/or families of the victim.
- Needs to create awareness among local people
- A legislative framework is needed to tackle the problem
- The victims must have access to medical intervention
- They must have access to rehabilitation in their communities and support to process their trauma.
Conclusion:
As witch hunting are more prevalent in backward areas to raise awareness witchcraft can be added as a subject in school as it is necessary to change the perspective of society and believe over superstition. However, it is very difficult to eliminate believes prevalent from centuries in the society but we can try to eliminate by taking above mentioned steps.
Topic: Information sharing and transparency in government, Right to Information.
Why this question:
RTI has been a revolutionary legislation and has significantly increased the transparency and accountability in government functioning. There have been persistent and growing misgivings of the RTI Act. A change in the Act that seeks locus standi as a criterion could dramatically increase the rejection rate of RTI which is around 4.7% now. Limiting RTI responses based on locus standi of the applicants could create a chilling effect.
Key demand of the question:
The question wants us to express our knowledge and understanding about the RTI act. The recent proposed changes in the RTI act and how it could lead to subversion of the objectives of right to information.
Directive:
Critically discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you have to debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You have to give reasons for both for and against arguments. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, all you need to do is look at the good and bad of something and give a fair judgement.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Write a few introductory lines about the RTI act- its aims and significance.
Body:
Discuss the present problems with the act and the need to rectify the same
- seeking locus standi in order to respond to public requests could result in a chilling effect as public authorities (PAs) could choose to deny information to general citizens on subjective grounds.
- Besides, information commissioners and public officials have the authority to reject requests based on criteria that enable exemption from information disclosure
- the persisting problem of vacancies in the CIC and State commissions — the CIC has four vacancies and 33,000 pending cases.
Provide the various measures needed to strengthen the “Master key to Good Governance”.
Conclusion:
Based on your discussion, form a fair and a balanced conclusion on the given issue.
Introduction:
Recently Chief Justice of India said the unbridled use of the Right to Information (RTI) Act had created a sense of “paralysis and fear” in the government. CJI said time had come to lay down guidelines on the use of the RTI. Guidelines should be put in place to check the locus of the RTI applicant and put a “filter” on the kind of requests made under the 2005 Act.
Body:
The Right to Information (RTI) Act:
The Right to Information (RTI) Act, operationalized in October 2005, was seen as a powerful tool for citizen empowerment. Democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information which are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed. It showed an early promise by exposing wrongdoings at high places and bringing to limelight various scams. The act now faces multiple challenges.
Importance of RTI Act:
- Right to information opens up government’s records to public scrutiny, thereby arming citizens with a vital tool to inform them about what the government does and how effectively, thus making the government more accountable.
- The RTI Act, 2005 did not create a new bureaucracy for implementing the law. Instead, it tasked and mandated officials in every office to change their attitude and duty from one of secrecy to one of sharing and openness.
- It carefully and deliberately empowered the Information Commission to be the highest authority in the country with the mandate to order any office in the country to provide information as per the provisions of the Act. And it empowered the Commission to fine any official who did not follow the mandate.
RTI and its effectiveness:
- Fight corruption: Its ability to fight corruption has significantly increased its hold in India.
- Ensure Transparency: The enactment of this act ensured transparency in the bureaucratic systems.
- Fight for Rights: It has increased its position as a major in charge for the fight of rights of the people. It aims to bring an end to the culture of governmental secrecy
- The right to information laws, alongside expanding the citizen’s rights, should be systematically employed to transform governance.
- These laws could be a powerful magnet for mobilizing the people and enthusing them to use these laws to enhance and expand their choices for their own betterment.
- RTI laws directly contribute to improvement in governance by breaking down the barriers between the government and the people by enhancing trust.
- RTI is the most powerful assault on developing countries endemic corruption.
RTI applications increase by 11%, says CIC report:
- Steep increase in the number of applications under Right to Information (RTI) has been registered during reporting year 2018-19.
- As per the annual report of the Central Information Commission (CIC) in the Parliament, Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs rejected the maximum number of RTI queries.
- As per the annual report tabled in Parliament by the ministry during the reporting year 2018-19, 13.70 lakh RTI applications were received by the registered Central Public Authorities (PAs).
- This is higher by 1, 36,922 or 11 per cent than what was reported during 2017-18.
- The highest percentage of RTI applications were rejected by Ministry of Tribal Affairs (26.54 per cent) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) (16.41 per cent).
- At the end of the year the commission had 29,655 cases pending before it.
Problems with the act:
- Structural Constraints: The lack of staff has resulted in lakhs of RTI’s pending. Currently, only seven ICs are working of which, along with the Chief Information Commissioner, fours ICs are to retire by the end of this year — reducing the strength of CIC to just three, against the mandated strength of 11.
- Act gave relaxation to political parties, judiciary, even according to OFFICIAL SECRET ACT officers refuse to provide the information demanded.
- Recent Proposal for amendment: It gives the power to decide the tenure and salary of the ICs to the central government; thereby, directly influencing the independence of the CIC.
- Delay in disposing off cases: The number of RTI Appeals with the Information Commissions is growing at a rapid pace year after year. With current volumes of appeals, there seem to be delays in disposing off cases. In Maharashtra SIC, there is a “wait period” of more than 12 months, thus discouraging citizens from filing appeals.
- No centralized database: There is no centralized data base of RTI (at the State/Centre level) applicants. Given the current situation, neither the State Government nor the State Information Commission is in a position to confirm the number of Public Authorities within a Department and therefore the details on the number of applications filed.
- Complex Process of appeal: The procedure that in followed in courts is highly unsuited for appeals under RTI. But recent proposed amendments like written submission to public authority and attach evidences, would make this process more troublesome.
- Pressure on RTI Activists: Almost 375 incidences of attacks on citizens have been recorded who sought information about corruption or wrongdoings in various public authorities.
- Section 4 of RTI: Public authorities have been lax in providing information suo moto as mandated by section 4 of RTI. This is certainly increasing RTI queries.
- Geographical reach: Majority of the Information Commissions are situated in the State capitals, which results in appellants undergoing an additional cost in order to attend the hearings.
- Role confusion: There is no clear division of responsibilities between the State Information Commission and the Nodal Department in terms of monitoring the implementation of RTI Act.
Section 4 of the RTI Act:
- Section 4 of the RTI Act requires suo moto disclosure of information by each public authority. However, such disclosures have remained less than satisfactory.
Section 4(2) of the RTI Act:
- Section 4(2) of the RTI Act mandates Governments to maintain computerized records and provide information suo moto (on their own accord) to the public, so that there is minimal need for filing RTI applications.
- But in reality, the Governments are not keeping as much information as possible in the public domain on their own accord (suo moto).
- As per a recent NGO study of the Central Information Commission in 2018, 70% of the original RTI applications are not required, provided the Government suo moto publishes the information in the public domain.
Way Forward:
- Repealing of the Official Secret Act.
- Introducing an oath of transparency.
- To use of multi-media campaigns in local languages for awareness.
- Opening up the working of parliamentary standing committees for public access.
- A centralized database of all RTI applicants with their information requests and responses from information providers would enable the Information Commission to publish more accurate numbers in the annual reports.
- The State Government has to play a facilitative role to the Information Commission through issuance of supporting rules/orders to the Public Authorities.
- The benefits of setting up regional offices far outweigh the initial capital costs involved in setting them up. So there is a need to set up regional offices.
- The role of the Centre/State Government is to facilitate the Public Authorities in implementation of the Act. This can happen through providing support to Public Authorities for training, development of software applications, e-Training modules, generating awareness amongst citizens etc.
Conclusion:
Transparency must be accompanied by accountability, and that is where the JSP has great value and significance since it places the power of making the State government accountable to everyone who accesses the information made available on the portal. The Right to Information Act’s role in fostering a more informed citizenry and an accountable government has never been in doubt ever since its implementation in 2005.
Topic: Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.
Why this question:
The first Global Refugee Forum comes at the end of a tumultuous decade in which the number of refugees has risen to over 25 million people worldwide. The Forum will showcase impactful pledges and contributions and the exchange of good practices. At the two-day event, member states of the United Nations (UN) are debating the response of nations to the global refugee situation.
Key demand of the question:
The question wants us to write in detail about the Global refugee crisis and how the Global Refugee Forum can help in international responsibility sharing and help reduce the refugee crisis.
Directive word:
Discuss- this is an all-encompassing directive which mandates us to write in detail about the key demand of the question. we also have to discuss about the related and important aspects of the question in order to bring out a complete picture of the issue in hand.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
write a few introductory lines about the Global refugee crisis and increasing number of refugees. Mention about the Global Refugee forum which was underway in Geneva with UN members in participation.
Body:
Firstly, throw light on how the refugee crisis in on the rise across the globe.
- According to the UN, by the end of 2018, there were around 70.8 million people around the world who had left their home countries because of conflict and persecution.
- Of these 70.8 million, roughly 30 million are refugees.
- Globally, more two-thirds of all refugees come from five countries: Syria (6.7 million), Afghanistan (2.7 million), South Sudan (2.3 million), Myanmar (1.1 million), and Somalia (0.9 million).
- Countries in the developed regions host 16 per cent of refugees; one-third of the refugee population (6.7 million people) are in the Least Developed Countries.
Explain about the Global Refugee Forum, its mandate.
- The first-ever Global Refugee Forum brings together refugees, heads of state and government, UN leaders, international institutions, development organizations, business leaders and civil society representatives, among others, at the Palais des Nations, the home of the United Nations Office at Geneva.
- Guided by the Global Compact on Refugees, the Global Refugee Forum is an opportunity to translate the principle of international responsibility-sharing into concrete action.
- The Forum will showcase impactful pledges and contributions and the exchange of good practices.
Mention about what measures can be taken to overcome the refugee crisis by various stakeholders like international communities, individual countries, private companies, NGOs etc.
Mention about any good practices if any.
Conclusion:
based on your discussion, form a fair and a balanced conclusion on the given issue.
Introduction:
A refugee is defined as a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country. In the seven decades since it became an independent country, India has seen and largely welcomed waves of migrants fleeing conflict in neighboring nations.
Body:
Refugee crisis in on the rise across the globe:
- Globally, more two-thirds of all refugees come from five countries: Syria (6.7 million), Afghanistan (2.7 million), South Sudan (2.3 million), Myanmar (1.1 million), and Somalia (0.9 million).
- Countries in the developed regions host 16 per cent of refugees; one-third of the refugee population (6.7 million people) are in the Least Developed Countries.
- The largest host countries are Turkey (3.7 million), Pakistan (1.4 million), Uganda (1.2 million), Sudan (1.1 million), and Germany (1.1 million).
- According to the UN’s Global Trends report released in June this year, there are 37,000 new displacements every day.
- In 2018, 13.6 million people were newly displaced due to conflict and or persecution.
Causes for refugee crisis
- Political Instability: There is great instability in the west Asia. War between the ISIS and Kurdish rebels in Iraq and Syria, attacks by Saudi Arabia on Houthi rebels in Yemen, the civil War in Syria. All of them combined to displace a large number of people from these countries.
- Dictatorship regimes and Islamic fundamentalism: Continuous dictatorship type regimes and Islamic fundamentalism made Middle East most volatile n disturbed place on the planet. Western powers in order to make their oil supply smooth and to be part of Gulf Boom started in early 80’s always took a partial stand on these issues
- Economic Reasons: A large number of refugees from Africa have been forced to leave their countries in search of opportunities abroad, primarily in Europe.
- State Persecution: Rohingyas are a sect of Muslims who claim they are original inhibitors of the Rakhine, a state in Myanmar. However, Myanmar considers them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and has withdrawn citizenship rights from the Rohingyas. This has forced Rohingyas to flee to other countries.
- Democracy movements and civil war: Present refugees’ crisis didn’t started yesterday but it has been seen a huge surge from Libya conflict. If we go again back refugee problem as a crisis started from US, UK joint war to liberate Iraq.
- Climate Change: Low lying island nations are threatened by rising sea levels and forced to leave their countries. Such refugees are known as Environmental refugee.
Refugee situation in India
- India does not have a separate statute for refugees, and until now has been dealing with refugees on a case-by-case basis.
- India is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention on Refugees or the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. In 2011, the Union government circulated to all states and Union Territories a Standard Operating Procedure to deal with foreign nationals who claimed to be refugees.
- In late 2011, the Rohingya started to arrive in India’s northeast following stepped-up persecution by the Myanmarese armed forces.
- According to the Home Ministry, there are roughly 14,000 Rohingya refugees in India who are registered with the UNHCR, and there are estimated to be 40,000 Rohingya living in India illegally.
- According to the Bureau of Immigration Data, India sent back 330 Pakistanis and 1,770 Bangladeshis between 2015 and 2018.
- Rohingya presence in the country has serious national security ramifications and it poses national security threats. Illegal influx of Rohingyas into India started in 2012-13 and inputs suggest links of some of the immigrants with Pak-based terror groups.
Role of Global Refugee Forum:
- Global Refugee Forum is an opportunity to translate the principle of international responsibility-sharing into concrete action. Discuss (250 words)
- The Global Compact intends to provide a basis for more predictable and equitable responsibility sharing, recognizing that a sustainable solution to refugee situations cannot be achieved without international cooperation.
- The Global Compact calls for a number of arrangements, both at the global and national level, to translate the principle of international solidarity into concrete action. Chief among them is the organization of a Global Refugee Forum.
- The Global Refugee Forum will also provide an opportunity to explore ways in which responsibility-sharing can be increased, take stock of progress, and showcase good practices that can inform the development of future pledges.
- At the Global Refugee Forum, States and other stakeholders will announce concrete pledges and contributions in relation to the objectives of the Global Compact.
- Pledges and contributions may take the form of financial, material, and technical assistance; resettlement places and complementary pathways for admission to third countries; as well as other actions that States and other stakeholders have elected to take to achieve tangible benefits for refugees and host communities. Pledges can be made either individually or jointly with other actors.
- The Global Refugee Forum will serve as a space to share good practices, experiences, and lessons learned around common priority themes that will be identified with respect to specific country or regional situations, as well as on a global level.
Way forward:
- Refugees and migrants contribute to the growth and development of host countries as well as their countries of origin. So there is a need for more measures to promote the social and economic inclusion of refugees and migrants.
- There is a need to give greater attention to addressing the drivers of forced displacement.
- There is a need to strengthen the international systems that manage large movements of people so that they uphold human rights norms and provide the necessary protections. States must honour their international legal obligations, including the 1951 Refugee Convention.
- Global policy efforts, therefore, must focus on better cooperation and dialogue among the affected countries. This includes promoting a safe and secure working environment for refugees.
- The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) must be empowered with budgetary resources to tackle the problem at a war footing.
- All states should put in place comprehensive refugee policy to avoid ad-hoc measures in line with the UN convention.
Conclusion:
Ultimately, refugee crises end when their root causes are addressed. Ending conflicts and widespread human rights abuses are objectives that states should pursue, but they are difficult to achieve. However, individual states and the international community as a whole must recognize that they can lessen the devastating consequences of the refugee crisis on people. For this, a global approach to the problem is needed
Topic: Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.
Why this question:
A special meeting of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Kashmir was not convened on Tuesday, diplomatic sources have confirmed. The meeting was sought by China to discuss India’s decision to end the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
Key demand of the question:
The answer must discuss the role and significance of UNSC, need for UNSC reforms, why India should be given permanent membership.
Directive:
Critically examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we have to look into the topic (content words) in detail, inspect it, investigate it and establish the key facts and issues related to the topic in question. While doing so we should explain why these facts and issues are important and their implications. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, one needs to look at the good and bad of the topic and give a fair judgement.
Structure of the answer
Introduction:
Briefly explain the mandate of UN security council in general.
Body:
Discuss about the successes of UNSC since its inception.
Discuss about the various concerns/challenges plaguing the UNSC:
- Expansion of UNSC.
- Asia’s inadequate representation
- Do away with Veto power
- It doesn’t represent the current balance of power.
- South America and Africa have no representative at all.
- Changes in geopolitical realities since UNSC formation.
Now discuss the following:
- What are the current proposed reforms?
- What are India’s demands?
- Why India should be given a permanent seat in the council?
Conclusion:
Conclude with a way forward.
Introduction:
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international sanctions, and the authorization of military action through Security Council resolutions; it is the only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member states.
Body:
Role and Significance of UNSC:
- The Security Council is the United Nations’ most powerful body, with “primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.
- Its powers include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international sanctions, and the authorization of military action through Security Council resolutions.
- It is the only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member states.
- Under the UN Charter, all Member States are obligated to comply with Council s decisions.
Need for reforms in UNSC:
Regional representation
- Supporters of UNSC reform claim that there is a huge European bias in P-5 due to the presence of the United Kingdom and France including Russia.
- While regions like Latin America, Caribbean group, Arabs and Africa do not have a single permanent member. Similarly, there is a western bias in UNSC. As China is the only Asian country among the five permanent members of UNSC.
- Thus a large chunk of the population and many different regions of the world remain unrepresented in the permanent membership of UNSC.
- It seems highly unfair that the whole continent of Africa does not have a single member in P-5 despite the fact that most of the affairs of the body concern this part of the globe only.
- So regions like Africa and Latin America and others will have to be accommodated in the reformed UNSC.
Changing geopolitics:
- The victors of World War II shaped the United Nations Charter in their national interests, dividing the permanent seats, and associated veto power, among themselves.
- It has been 72 years since the foundation of UNSC.
- During this period, the geopolitical realities have changed drastically, but the Council has changed very little.
Question of Veto:
- All five permanent members of UNSC enjoy a veto power.
- Veto is a kind of negative vote by a permanent member that prevents the adoption of a proposal, even if it has received the required overall votes by the members.
- Sadly, veto power is grossly misused by the permanent members in their own national interest.
- out of 24 vetoes over the last 20 years, 15 have been used by the United States to protect Israel.
- This also badly affects the conduct of the business of UNSC as many important proposals involving substantive issues get blocked due to use of veto by any of the five permanent members.
G-4 and India s quest for a permanent seat:
- In recent decades, India has been very vocal in demanding for a permanent seat in UNSC. It is also part of G-4, a group of 4 nations (India, Brazil, Germany and Japan) to lobby for permanent positions on the UNSC or at least to make the council more representative.
- Many member-states have been pledging support for our aspiration for permanent membership. Several P-5 countries have also announced their support. At present, China is the only P-5 member opposing India s bid.
- G-4 wants to expand the permanent seats in the UNSC to 10 to include 6 new members G-4 nations apart from one seat to Africa and one seat to Arabs
Transparency and Working Methods:
- While the expansion of the Security Council has been hotly debated across the world, debate on the working methods of the Council, an equally important aspect of reform to many member states, has attracted less attention.
- It is true that UNSC has been functioning in the most non-transparent and non-consultative way.
- The undemocratic nature of UNSC within the supposedly democratic UN has compromised the overall credibility of the United Nations.
Why India should be given a permanent seat in the council?
- For the first 40 years we did not want permanent membership.
- In 1993, we submitted a written proposal but did not mention that we need permanent membership.
- Only after that we have started asking for a permanent membership in the council.
- India was among the founding members of United Nations.
- It is the second largest and a one of the largest constant contributor of troops to United Nations Peacekeeping missions.
- Today, India has over 8,500 peacekeepers in the field, more than twice as many as the UN’s five big powers combined.
- India, since long time, has been demanding expansion of UNSC and its inclusion as permanent member in it. It has been a member of UNSC for 7 terms and a member of G-77 and G-4, so permanent membership is a logical extension.
Conclusion:
In recent times the credibility of UNSC has suffered a severe blow as it has been ineffective and inefficient in tackling the conflicts in different parts of the world such as Syria, Ukraine etc. in most of these situations UNSC has remained mere a mute spectator. Therefore, the demand for reforms in the council has become a necessity to restore its credibility and effectiveness in maintaining international peace and security.
Topic: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
Why this question:
Recently, the Ganga Council headed by Prime Minister (PM), in its first meeting held on December 14, 2019, floated a plan to promote sustainable agriculture in the Gangetic plain by promoting organic clusters in a five-km stretch on both sides of the Ganga basin in Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
It is a good policy move, considering the cumulative use of pesticides has doubled in the last one decade and most of it runs off in our rivers. For the short-term, the five-km stretch is fine, but the government should eventually plan to stretch it to cover more area in the basin. Agriculture along the entire riverbed should be organic.
Key demand of the question
The question is about analysing the significance of Namami Gange programme and the achievements made by it. One has to further discuss the challenges faced and measures needed to set the problems straight.
Directive word
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you have to debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You have to give reasons for both for and against arguments .
Structure of the answer
Introduction:
In a few introductory lines brief upon the background and mission objectives of NMCG.
Body:
The question must discuss the following points:
The successes of NMCG so far:
- Namami Gange has completed 114 projects and about 150 projects are in progress, while about 40 projects are under tendering, of which 51 sewage projects were approved before May 13, 2015 — the day Namami Gange was approved by the Union Cabinet.
- Till April 2019, 1,930 MLD of sewerage treatment capacity in 97 Ganga towns has been developed, whereas the sewerage generation in these towns is 2,953 MLD.
- It is further projected that the sewerage generation would touch 3,700 MLD by 2035.
The failures, challenges facing in the revival of Ganga
- The industrial pollutants largely originate from tanneries in Kanpur, paper mills, distilleries and sugar mills in the Yamuna, Ramganga, Hindon and Kali river catchments.
- Then, there is the huge load of municipal sewage which contributes two-thirds of total pollution load.
- Water in India is a state subject and water management is not a truly knowledge-based practice.
- The management of the Ganga lacked basin-wide integration and is not very cohesive between various riparian states.
- Further, there is a greater challenge of upgrading the water supply and wastewater treatment infrastructure in the designated smart cities and of providing clean water supply to all rural households by 2024 under the Jal Jeevan Mission.
Critical steps needed to overcome the challenges:
- Promote only decentralised sewage treatment plants (dSTP) at the colony level.
- Develop and restore local storages (ponds, lakes, wetlands) as permanent solutions to both floods and droughts.
Conclusion:
Give a balanced way forward.
Introduction:
Namami Gange Programme is an umbrella programme which integrates previous and currently ongoing initiatives by enhancing efficiency, extracting synergies and supplementing them with more comprehensive & better coordinated interventions. National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) endeavours to deploy best available knowledge and resources across the world for Ganga rejuvenation. Clean Ganga has been a perennial attraction for many international countries that have expertise in river rejuvenation.
Body:
Salient features of Namami Gange programme:
- River front development.
- Conservation of Aquatic life and biodiversity
- Improvement of coverage of sewerage infrastructure in habitations on banks of Ganga.
- River Surface cleaning for collection of floating solid waste from the surface of the Ghats and River
- Afforestation
- Industrial Effluent Monitoring
- Development of Ganga Gram
- Creating Public Awareness
Achievements of Namami Gange:
- Namami Gange has a well-balanced spread of 221 projects, which include STP, ghat development, surface cleaning afforestation, sanitation, and public awareness, out of which 58 have been completed.
- There is a concerted focus on 10 towns that contribute to 64% of the total sewage discharged in Ganga.
- To address the cross-functional challenge faced by GAP, Namami Gange has synergized itself with government schemes by signing MoUs with 10 central ministries.
- More than 90 per cent villages across river Ganga have been declared open defecation free, and by October 2017, the rest of the villages would become ODF as well.
- The programme has also successfully renovated over 180 ghats and built 112 new crematoriums.
- 4,464 villages situated on the bank of Ganga have been declared as open defecation free (ODF). Moreover, Namami Gange was instrumental in constructing more than 12.7 lakhs household toilets.
- Trash skimmers have been deployed in 11 cities to collect any surface waste.
- Six public outreach programmes were organised in areas around Ganga basin:
- Swachhata Pakhwada
- Ganga Sankalp Divas
- Ganga Nirikshan Yatra
- Ganga Dusshera
- Ganga Vriksharopan Saptah
- Swachhta Hi Seva Pakhwada
Challenges:
- According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)’s estimates, approximately 8,250 million litres per day (MLD) of wastewater is generated from towns in the Ganga basin, while treatment facilities exist only for 3,500 MLD and roughly 2,550 MLD of this wastewater is discharged directly into the Ganga.
- The industrial pollutants largely originate from tanneries in Kanpur, paper mills, distilleries and sugar mills in the Yamuna, Ramganga, Hindon and Kali river catchments.
- there is the huge load of municipal sewage which contributes two-thirds of total pollution load
- The National Green Tribunal (NGT) in November 2019 had imposed a penalty of Rs 10 crore on the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government for failing to check sewage discharge containing toxic chromium into the Ganga at Rania and Rakhi Mandi in Kanpur.
- The cost of the damage was assessed by the state pollution control board (UPPCB) as compensation for restoration of environment and the public health in the area.
- Plastic has also caused significant damage to this stretch. “Kolkata produces 2,114 tonnes of solid waste per day of which 10 per cent is plastic
- There have been issues regarding untreated waste that flows into the river, restoring the flow of the river, sludge management in Ganga basin towns, cost overruns in execution of projects and governance glitches
- CAG in its report claimed that the NMCG neither circulated Ganga Rejuvenation Basin Management Programme (GRBMP) to different ministries/departments for consultation and seeking their opinion, nor finalised the Ganga Rejuvenation Basin Management Programme (GRBMP) for initiating the long-term intervention on the Ganga.
Way forward:
- Promote only decentralized sewage treatment plants (dSTP) at the colony level. Reuse treated wastewater for irrigation and empty into natural drains.
- For all upcoming cities, smart cities and for those, whose master plans are not in place, earmark land for dSTPs. dSTPs below 10 MLD should be encouraged and incentivised under urban development schemes and real estate development.
- The existing and planned STPs need to be verified on efficiency, reliability and technology parameters by independent agencies (tech-efficiency-reliability verification).
- This will allow assessing if the technology provides value for money and is sustainable. Many STPs are not performing up to desired standards due to choice of unrealistic assumptions and erroneous technology choice.
- A survey conducted by CPCB in 2016 found that most STPs in Kanpur fail to comply with environmental regulations.
- Develop and restore local storages (ponds, lakes, wetlands) as permanent solutions to both floods and droughts.
- Only 10 per cent of water received during monsoon rainfall is harvested. Restoration of ponds, lakes and wetlands should be an integral part of river restoration and conservation strategy.
- Bring back glory to all natural drains that empty into rivers, and transform and rejuvenate them into healthy water bodies — they have been converted to sewage carrying drains by our municipalities and planning bodies.
- Start restoring lower order streams and smaller tributaries in the Ganga Basin. Every river is important. The focus of Ganga Action Plan (Phase I and II) and Namami Gange has been on the main stem of the river.
- The tributaries that feed the river were overlooked. The Ganga has eight major tributaries (Yamuna, Son, Ramganga, Gomti, Ghaghra, Gandak, Kosi and Damodar).
- The majority of the funds were spent on pollution-abatement measures on the main stem of the Ganga and on the upper Yamuna basin, which constitute just 20 per cent of the Ganga basin.
- Further, these eight major tributaries are joined by smaller rivers, whose restoration is equally important.
- Identify, define and protect ‘river-corridors’ as areas for no cement-concrete structures — know that rivers have been formed after thousands of years of nature’s work.
- Infrastructure development and destruction of river ecosystem through populist measures such as riverfront developments in the name of area and township development projects or urban / smart city development must be stopped to protect and conserve surface water sources.
- Map the entire looped length of each and every tributary of the Ganga and correct the land records.
- Many of the rivers have been underestimated which causes encroachment and jurisdiction conflicts.
- The existing methodology to measure river length is flawed and complete mapping of looped lengths is required for proper assessment of water resources and correct revenue maps.
- This will ensure that active flood plains and river-corridors are free from encroachments.
- Restore base flows through groundwater recharge. Groundwater contributes significantly to river-flows through base flows (average base flow in the order of 40- 55 per cent) especially during lean seasons in the entire Ganga Basin.
- The idea of Ganga rejuvenation is also linked to groundwater rejuvenation. There is a need to have robust planning and regulation of withdrawal and recharge of groundwater across all orders of the river streams to make rivers perennial.
- Define the desired ecological flow regime(s) in the Ganga main stem and its tributaries (not just a static figure) to allow the rejuvenation of the river.
- Evolve new and innovative ways to generate sufficient revenues for operation and maintenance (O&M) of water and wastewater infrastructure through pricing and valuing water.
Conclusion:
Ganga is an integral part of the socio-eco-cultural-political fabric of India. However, the longest river has faced the brunt of increasing industrialization, which has not only affected the flow but also the quality of its water. Namami Gange Programme aims to restore the purity and flow of water in the Ganga River through abatement of pollutants and treatment of discharged water. Namami Gange has not only taken lessons from the failure of GAP, but, it has also ensured cross-state cooperation as well as public support to expedite the processes.
Topic: Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and application in administration and governance.
Ethics by Lexicon
Why this question:
The article discusses in detail the importance of emotional intelligence in life of every person. People who exhibit emotional intelligence have the less obvious skills necessary to get ahead in life, such as managing conflict resolution, reading and responding to the needs of others, and keeping their own emotions from overflowing and disrupting their lives.
Key demand of the question:
The answer must discuss why emotional intelligence is of prime importance in life, how empathy can be more effective than anger at the personal and professional level.
Directive:
Elucidate – Give a detailed account as to how and why it occurred, or what is the particular context. You must be defining key terms where ever appropriate, and substantiate with relevant associated facts.
Structure of the answer
Introduction:
In a few introductory lines appreciate the need for Emotional intelligence.
Body:
Define – empathy and emotional intelligence
Discuss how emotional intelligence is necessary for the people interaction, dispute resolution in daily life. Emotional intelligence as the ability to accurately perceive and manage your own emotions and understand and navigate those of others, thus enhancing your ability to influence, manage conflicts, lead others and build relationships.
Elucidate on the four pillars of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management.
Provide for a case study/example to conclude better.
Conclusion:
Conclude by re asserting significance of such virtues.
Introduction:
Emotional intelligence or EI is the ability to understand and manage your own emotions, and those of the people around you. Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth.
Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in another’s position.
Emotional intelligence as the ability to accurately perceive and manage your own emotions and understand and navigate those of others, thus enhancing your ability to influence, manage conflicts, lead others and build relationships.
Body:
How emotional intelligence resolve the disputes:
By following emotional intelligence skills, we can resolve the disputes
Self-awareness:
- The ability to recognize and understand personal moods and emotions and drives, as well as their effect on others.
- Hallmarks of self-awareness include self-confidence, realistic self-assessment, and a self-deprecating sense of humour.
- Emotional awareness: This deals with knowledge of one’s emotions and their effects. People having this competency are more aware of their feelings and performance.
- Accurate self-assessment: This involves being aware of one’s strengths and weaknesses. One is open to feedbacks, new viewpoints, etc.
- Self-confidence: This relates to complete affirmation of one’s worth and abilities. They are usually more confident and are able to make sound decisions despite any uncertainties or pressures
Self-management:
- Ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods, and the propensity to suspend judgment and to think before acting. Hallmarks include trustworthiness and integrity; comfort with ambiguity; and openness to change.
- Adaptability: This involves flexible attitude towards change. People with this competency find it easy to handle changing routines, multiple roles and even shifting priorities.
- Innovativeness: This involves getting easy with and open to new information and ideas. People who possess this are able to gather new ideas from multiple sources, set challenging roles and are able to take calculated risks. They evolve original solutions to various problems.
Social Awareness:
- The ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people. A skill in treating people according to their emotional reactions.
- Empathy does not necessarily imply compassion. Empathy can be ‘used’ for compassionate or cruel behavior. Serial killers who marry and kill many partners in a row tend to have great emphatic skills.
- A passion to work for internal reasons that go beyond money and status -which are external rewards, – such as an inner vision of what is important in life, a joy in doing something, curiosity in learning, a flow that comes with being immersed in an activity
Relationship management:
- Proficiency in managing relationships and building networks, and an ability to find common ground and build rapport.
- Hallmarks of social skills include effectiveness in leading change, persuasiveness, and expertise building and leading teams.
Social Skills:
- Social competence takes many forms – it’s more than just being chatty. These abilities range from being able to tune into another person’s feelings and understand how they think about things, to being a great collaborator and team player, to expertise at negotiation. All these skills are learned in life.
- We can improve on any of them we care about, but it takes time, effort, and perseverance. It helps to have a model, someone who embodies the skill we want to improve.
- But we also need to practice whenever a naturally occurring opportunity arises – and it may be listening to a teenager, not just a moment at work.
Conclusion:
Not every type of interaction with another person will be a conflict, of course. Some social skills just involve meeting new people, socializing with people of different mindsets, or just playing games. However, resolving conflict can be one of the best ways to learn how to apply your emotional skills. Disputes are best resolved when you know what you want, can communicate it clearly, understand what someone else wants, and come to favorable terms for everyone.
