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General Studies – 1
Reference: The Hindu
Introduction
Social reformer Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati tirelessly worked to promote education and emancipation of women during late 19th and 20th centuries. She is well known for her empowerment of women especially, the destitute, widows and those ostracised from the society. She worked for the education of women and uplifted many from evils of the society.
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Background and life of Pandita Ramabai
- Born on April 23, 1858 in a Marathi speaking Brahmin family, as Rama Dongre.
- Her parents died during the Great Famine of 1876-78 when she was 16. She and her brother, Srinivas, continued the family tradition of reciting religious texts.
- Her brother passed away in June 1880. During the same year, she married Bipin Behari Medhvi, a Bengali lawyer.
- In deciding to marry Medhvi, who belonged to the socially ostracised lower caste she did not allow considerations of her own high caste to come in the way.
- In 1882 Ramabai lost her husband to cholera. She educated her only daughter, all by herself.
Contributions of Pandita Ramabai in the modern history of India
- She travelled to the United States in 1886 to attend the graduation of her relative and India’s first female Indian doctor, Anandibai Joshi. She stayed back for two years, translated textbooks and delivered lectures across the U.S. and Canada.
- In 1896, during a severe famine, Ramabai toured the villages of Maharashtra with a caravan of bullock carts rescuing thousands of children, child widows, orphans and destitute women and brought them to the shelter of Mukti mission.
- In 1889, she founded the Sharda Sadan for the education of widows and other women.
- By 1900, there were 1,500 residents and over a hundred cattle in the Mukti mission. The Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission is still active today, providing housing, education, vocational training to widows, orphans and those with sight impairments.
- After her husband’s death, Ramabai, who was 23, moved to Pune and founded Arya Mahila Samaj to promote the education of women and their deliverance from the oppression of child marriage.
- In 1882, when the then Government of India appointed a committee to examine the education sector, Ramabai suggested that teachers be trained, women school inspectors be appointed and Indian women be admitted to medical colleges.
- In her book titled The High Caste Hindu Woman, published in 1887, Ramabai highlighted social evils of the time such as child marriage, the plight of child widows and the oppression of women in British India.
Conclusion
As a social reformer he establishment of the Mukti Mission to provide shelter to destitute women and a rescue home, Kripa Sadan, for fallen women has been monumental. She wrote a number of books in Marathi and English. She is best known for writing a book titled “The High Caste Hindu Women” in which she depicted the miserable state of child widows.
Reference: Live Mint
Introduction
High densities and agglomeration effects, the secret sauce of successful big cities, are precisely what make them vulnerable to threats such as pandemics. With an ever-larger shift of populations to urban areas in conjunction with a shift of a very large percentage of national economies to large urban centres, the concentration of a succession of epidemics and pandemics in cities has become stronger.
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Importance of cities in economic growth
- Cities are engines of growth and prosperity. They are labour markets that attract a diverse group of workers and industries, spurring ‘knowledge spill-overs’ and innovation.
- This leads to higher productivity and wages, in turn attracting more talent.
- Globally, countries that prioritized and planned for urbanization have achieved higher growth and employment.
- Cities are, thus, critical to India’s mission of becoming a $5 trillion economy.
- Moreover, in order to increase the quality of life for every Indian, and give everyone access to public services and social-protection schemes, we must serve people where they live and work.
- This is increasingly in our urban agglomerations. Satellite data and various estimates suggest that India’s urbanization rate is already anywhere between 50% and 65%.
- Getting urbanization right will also help address climate and environmental risks.
- Studies show that compact, connected and well- coordinated cities that design public spaces and transportation systems that suit pedestrians, rather than cars, are more productive and inclusive and also cleaner and safer than unplanned, sprawling and resource-intensive cities.
Lesson from the pandemic
- So far, India has treated issues like public health, housing, transportation, water and sanitation as separate, compartmentalized challenges.
- The pandemic reminded us that all these are interlinked. During the first wave, the virus spread much faster in crowded slums with low access to water and sanitation.
- Therefore, we must look at a city as ‘a living whole’ and plan for urbanization in an integrated manner.
- The pandemic also reminded us that different segments of urban residents inhabit widely different realities. While many of us transitioned to remote work relatively easily, the urban poor lost their livelihoods, were left stranded, and continued living in hazardous crowded spaces.
- Women faced the brunt of the pandemic’s socio-economic impact.
- Going forward, urban planning must put the most vulnerable and excluded populations at its heart, especially those belonging to the bottom 60% of our income distribution.
- The past year has reinforced the importance of ‘city resilience’. Whether it is floods in Kerala or water shortages in Chennai, environmental and climate risks are only increasing.
- This is unlikely to be the last pandemic either. Therefore, urban planning must actively take into account medium-to-long term risks.
Way forward
- The more immediate policy responses that will earn large dividends in India include: – One, addressing crowding by increasing per-capita consumption of floor area by drastically reducing regulatory barriers to construction.
- Two, administratively, the crisis has taught us that a pandemic response cannot be federally-mandated and requires a decentralised, proximal, and accountable response. To enable this, city leaders need to be empowered.
- Three, social protection systems need to be redesigned to protect the poor and vulnerable in urban areas, in addition to the current focus on rural settlements.
- Four, countries such as India with large out-of-pocket expenditures on private health care must restore the balance between health care and robust public health that focuses on improving health outcomes for all — only a capable State can deliver the latter.
- A holistic approach to investing in cities: Given our learnings from the pandemic, there are four key areas that we must invest in to build truly integrated, inclusive and resilient cities. These are: data, technology, engaging communities, and innovation.
Conclusion
Covid-19 is neither the first nor the last public health crisis to hit cities. Everything from the Black Death to the bubonic plague to the Spanish flu, not to mention world wars and terror attacks, have ravaged cities in the past. Each time, people worried that it was the end of big cities, only to watch them re-emerge stronger and more vibrant. This time will be no different.
General Studies – 2
Reference: The Hindu
Introduction
The Supreme Court’s decision to invoke a “dormant provision” in the Constitution to clear the way for appointment of retired judges as ad hoc judges to clear the mounting arrears in the various High Courts is an indictment of the extraordinary delay in filling up judicial vacancies.
Article 224A of the Constitution, provides for appointment of ad hoc judges in the High Courts based on their consent.
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Background
- At any time, the chief justice of a high court of a state can request a retired judge of that high court or any other high court to act as a judge of the high court of that state for a temporary period.
- He can do so only with the previous consent of the President and also of the person to be so appointed.
- Such a judge is entitled to such allowances as the President may determine. He will also enjoy all the jurisdiction, powers and privileges of a judge of that high court.
- But, he will not otherwise be deemed to be a judge of that high court.
- The numbers both in respect of pendency of cases and vacancies in the High Courts are quite concerning, a backlog of over 57 lakh cases, and a vacancy level of 40%.
- Five High Courts account for 54% of these cases.
Guidelines on appointment of pro term judges
- As the provision has been utilised only sparingly in the past, and for the limited purpose of disposing of particular kinds of cases, the endeavour to appoint ad hoc judges will have to come with some guidelines.
- The Court has made a beginning by directing that the trigger point for such an appointment will be when the vacancies go beyond 20% of the sanctioned strength, or when more than 10% of the backlog of pending cases are over five years ol.
- When cases in a particular category are pending for over five years, or when the rate of disposal is slower than the rate of institution of fresh cases, this can be done.
- The Bench has ruled that the current Memorandum of Procedure be also followed for appointing ad hoc judges, a process initiated by the Chief Justice of a High Court, with a suggested tenure of two to three years.
- The Court has clarified that this is a “transitory methodology” and does not constrain the regular appointment process.
Conclusion
The government, which did not oppose the proposal, but wanted the vacancies to be filled up first, would do well to expedite the regular appointment process from its end, and give up its propensity to hold back some recommendations selectively. As for the judiciary, it should ensure that only retired judges with experience and expertise are offered the temporary positions, and there is no hint of favouritism.
Reference: News on Air
Introduction
The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act 1992 is a significant landmark in the evolution of grassroot democratic institutions in the country. It transformed the representative democracy into participatory democracy. It is a revolutionary concept to build democracy at the grassroot level in the country.
However, after decades of this historic amendment, Panchayati Raj Institutions have remained laggard in the developmental process.
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Success of Panchayati Raj
Gandhiji’s dream of Gram Swaraj and Oceanic Circles of Power were realised through the Panchayati Raj System.
- The PRIs are the local self-governing bodies that ensure the opportunity for people’s participation and involvement in the formulation and implementation of rural development programmes.
- The main objective of Panchayat System in India is to strengthen the base of democracy at the grass root level.
- It was introduced as a real democratic political apparatus which would bring the masses into active political control from below, from the vast majority of the weaker, poor sections of rural India.
- They play the role of a catalytic agent in integrating development of tribal masses in rural areas.
- Plan documents of both the central and state governments and various committees have emphasised the importance of these bodies in the polity. Five-year plans have also laid special emphasis on the role of Panchayats in rural developments.
- Rural Development includes measures to strengthen the democratic structure of society through the PRIs.
- PRIs have been used to improve the rural infrastructure, income of rural households and delivery systems pertaining to education, health and safety mechanisms. These institutions are to be galvanised to become effective instruments of social and economic change at the local level.
- Reservation for women (33%) has increased their presence in the public life.
Failures of democratic decentralisation especially in Panchayats
- Overwhelming dependency on government funding: Panchayat’s own resource base to raise finances is low and the financial resources are tied to certain schemes and initiatives. When Panchayats do not raise resources and instead depend on external funding, people are less likely to enforce social audit and efficacy of the schemes.
- Eg: In case of Urban local bodies, majority of municipalities have not increased property tax since many years and have not leveraged the municipal bonds for betterment of city infrastructure.
- Creation of Parallel Bodies: Parallel Bodies have usurped the legitimate space of local bodies. For instance, Smart City scheme is being implemented in major cities through Special Purpose Vehicles, squeezing the limited space of urban local governance in municipalities.
- Lack of adequate Devolution: Many states have not devolved the 3F’s of function, funds and functionaries, to enable local bodies to discharge their constitutionally stipulated functions.
- Excessive control by bureaucracy
- In many Gram Panchayats, Sarpanches have to spend an extra ordinary amount of time visiting block Officers for funds and/or technical approval. These interactions with the Block staff office distort the role of Sarpanches as elected representatives.
- Multiple institutions like parastatals, development authorities, public works departments, and ULBs themselves report to different departments of the state government and have been entrusted with overlapping responsibilities.
- Poor Infrastructure: It is found that nearly 25% of Gram Panchayats do not have basic office buildings. Capacity building of elected representatives is another hindrance in the grass roots democracy. In case of urban local bodies, Mayor position is merely cermonial.
Measures Need to strengthen Panchayats
- Central Government has started the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyaan. The campaign is undertaken under the name of “Sabka Sath, Sabka Gaon, Sabka Vikas”.
- It aims to draw up Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDPs) in the country and place them on a website where anyone can see the status of the various government’s flagship schemes.
- Gram Panchayats have been mandated for the preparation of GPDP for economic development and social justice utilizing the resources available to them.
- Government of India formulated E-Panchayat Mission Mode Project for e-enablement of all the Panchayats, to make their functioning more efficient and transparent.
- Social Audit: The power of social audit was proven by Jan Sunwai in Rajasthan. Transparent, third party Social Audit can enable people to hold the representatives accountable.
- Citizen Participation: In case of Gram Sabhas, their functions and roles must be clearly defined as in the PESA Act, to enable to function effectively.
Conclusion
The need of the hour is to bring about a holistic change in the lives of people among the villagers by uplifting their socioeconomic and health status through effective linkages through community, governmental and other developmental agencies. People’s demands for the sustainable decentralisation and advocacy should focus on a decentralisation agenda. The framework needs to be evolved to accommodate the demand for decentralisation.
Reference: Hindustan Times
Introduction
On the Panchayati Raj Diwas on April 24 2020, the prime minister launched the ‘Swamitva Yojna’, or the ownership scheme, to map residential land ownership in the rural sector with the help of modern technology like drones.
The scheme aimed to revolutionize property record maintenance in India was launched on the Panchayati Raj Diwas by the prime minister, who also interacted with members of Gram Panchayats across the country through video conferencing.
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Swamitva Yojana: Features
- Objective: The Swamitva Scheme is to provide an integrated property validation solution to the rural areas of the country.
- Technology used: Under this scheme now the demarcation of inhabited land of the rural area will be done according to the latest surveying methods using drones.
- Implementing Agency: The Panchayats of the rural areas were expecting the launch of this scheme for a long time. For the demarcation of inhabited land, the latest surveying method is Drone’s technology.
- The scheme will be carried out in close coordination with the Central Panchayati Raj ministry, Survey of India, Panchayati Raj departments and Revenue departments of various states.
Benefits to boost rural economy
- It is expected to go a long way in settling property rights in rural hinterlands and likely to become a tool for empowerment and entitlement, reducing social strife on account of discord over properties.
- The delivery of property rights through an official document will enable villagers to access bank finance using their property as collateral.
- The residential land in villages will be measured using drones to create a non-disputable record.
- It is the latest technology for surveying and measuring of land.
- Drones will draw a digital map of every property falling within the geographical limits of a village and demarcate the boundaries of every revenue area.
- The property records for a village will also be maintained at the Panchayat level, allowing for the collection of associated taxes from the owners. The money generated from these local taxes will be used to build rural infrastructure and facilities.
- Freeing the residential properties including land of title disputes and the creation of an official record is likely to result in appreciation in the market value of the properties.
- The accurate property records can be used for facilitating tax collection, new building and structure plan, issuing of permits and for thwarting attempts at property grabbing.
Significance of the Scheme
- The need for this Yojana was felt since several villagers in the rural areas don’t have papers proving ownership of their land.
- In most states, survey and measurement of the populated areas in the villages has not been done for the purpose of attestation/verification of properties.
- When we look at the benefits of this scheme, we will have to understand this point that most people don’t have the papers of their land in a rural area. In this case, the chances of disputes get increased in rural areas. This scheme will fill this gap and make the people aware of their ownership of land in rural areas.
- Swamitva Yojana is aimed to fill the above gap to provide ownership rights to people in the villages.
- As the property record of a village will be managed at the Panchayat level, the collection of taxes from the local landowners will also be done at this level only and collected money will be used for the benefit of the local area and people.
Challenges
- The scheme does not spell out how to resolve existing disputes on land in the rural areas.
- There is a lack of grievance redressal mechanism and villagers have no means to place their objections or bring notice to the authorities regarding any discrepancies.
- The scheme has not addressed the level of reliability of the drone survey, as accuracy rate may vary.
- Before implementation, people must be apprised of the scheme thoroughly and made aware of their rights and benefits accruing out of it.
- Without the cooperation of the people and their acceptance, the scheme will be difficult to implement.
Conclusion
The scheme will go a long way in achieving social justice and securing the lives of rural people by providing them definite legal assurance of their land ownership.
General Studies – 3
Reference: Indian Express
Introduction
The pandemic revealed the precarious state of India’s informal sector. 2020 exposed the abysmal flaws of an economic system that drives tens of millions of people into insecure jobs that they can lose overnight, with no alternative or safety net. This is the fate of a majority of the 90 per cent of India’s workforce that is in the unorganised sector.
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Background: Unorganized sector
- Over the last few decades of “development”, economic policies have created a massive pool of cheap labour for the state-dominated or capitalist industrial class, adding to the already large numbers of landless agricultural labourers caught in traditional caste, class and gender discrimination.
- Since 1991, about 15 million farmers have moved out of agriculture, many because the economic system simply does not make farming (including pastoralism, fisheries and forestry) remunerative enough.
- And 60 million people have been physically displaced by dams, mining, expressways, ports, statues, industries, with mostly poor or no rehabilitation.
- Meanwhile, exploiting such people desperate for any kind of job, and also nature, a minority becomes wealthier by the second. The richest 5 per cent of Indians now earn as much as the remaining 95 per cent.
Alternative pathways that reduce pressure on informal sector
- The biggest is that local self-reliance for basic needs, and localised exchanges of products and services, are far more effective in securing people’s livelihoods than are long-distance markets and jobs.
- Rather than incentivise big industry to take over most production, virtually all household needs — soaps, footwear, furniture, utensils, clothes, energy, even housing, food, drinks etc can be produced in a decentralised manner by thousands of communities.
- The shortage of purely agriculture-based livelihoods can be made up by crafts, small-scale manufacturing, and services needed by their own or surrounding populations.
- In Telangana and Nagaland, respectively, Dalit women of Deccan Development Society (DDS) and tribal women of North-East Network ensured complete food security for dozens of villages throughout 2020.
- Samaj Pragati Sahayog in MP, and Mahila Umang Samiti in Uttarakhand were able to ensure that farm produce reached a (mostly local) consumer base, averting economic collapse for thousands of farmers.
- Several case studies show that self-help groups and community solidarity helped sail through pandemic very easily, especially for those from the unorganized sector,
- In Assam, Farm2Food worked with several thousand students to continue local food growing in schools and communities.
- Local self-reliance has to go along with worker control over the means of production, more direct forms of democracy (swaraj), and struggles to eliminate casteism and gender discrimination. Again, there are many examples of this.
Conclusion
An economy that promotes mass vulnerability only increases social strife, creating an atmosphere ripe for communal, class and caste violence. This will eventually engulf all of us. Many millions would not have to go back to insecure, undignified jobs in cities and industrial zones if they could have economic security in their own villages and towns. Alternative pathways that provide this are available, and have been demonstrated to work in the COVID crisis.
Reference: digitalcommons.wayne.edu
Introduction
The media is supposed to exist to maintain the bridge between the government and the people. The press is also called the fourth pillar of democracy. It is necessary to take into account that the media not only communicate but also offer their own perspective on every event that takes place.
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Media’s seminal role in democratization and good governance processes
- Media acts as a watchdog of public interest in a democracy. It plays an important role in a democracy and serves as an agency of the people to inform them of the events of national and international significance.
- Its importance in influencing readers can be gauged by the role it played during the freedom struggle, politically educating millions of Indians who joined the leaders in their fight against the British imperialism.
- It is like a mirror which reveals us the bare truth and harsh realities of life. A news media, be it in print form or TV/radio, its main job is to inform people about unbiased news without any censorship or tampering.
- For the democratic system to operate to its full potential, the participation on a part of the public is imperative, that successively needs circulation of reliable info to the masses on numerous public problems. This is where the mass media comes as fourth pillar of democracy.
- Journalism is a profession that serves. By virtue, thereof it enjoys the privilege to ‘question’ others.
- The fundamental objective of journalism is to serve the people with news, views, comments and information on matters of public interest in a fair, accurate, unbiased: and decent manner and language.
- The press is an indispensable pillar of democracy. It purveys public opinion and shapes it. Parliamentary democracy can flourish only under the watchful eyes of the media. Media not only reports but acts as a bridge between the state and the public.
- With the advent of private TV channels, the media seems to have taken over the reins of human life and society in every walk of life.
- The media today does not remain satisfied as the Fourth Estate, it has assumed the foremost importance in society and governance. While playing the role of informer, the media also takes the shape of a motivator and a leader.
Conclusion
Such is the influence of media that it can make or unmake any individual, institution or any thought. So, all pervasive and all-powerful is today its impact on the society. With so much power and strength, the media cannot lose sight of its privileges, duties and obligations. It must live up to its name of being the fourth estate of democracy.
