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.
General Studies – 1
Topic: Social empowerment
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: The Hindu
Why the question:
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has formulated a scheme “SMILE – Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise”, which includes subscheme – ‘Central Sector Scheme for Comprehensive Rehabilitation of persons engaged in the act of Begging’
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the measures needed to mainstream transgender community in India.
Directive word:
Comment– here we must express our knowledge and understanding of the issue and form an overall opinion thereupon.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by giving statistic about amount of transgenders in India.
Body:
First, mention the issues faced by the transgender community – marginalization, forced sex work, stigma, begging, lack of rights, lack of rehabilitation etc.
Next, write about SMILE – Scheme for marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and enterprise. Mention its features, its pros and cons.
Next, mention as to why just few schemes are not enough and needs a much more holistic and concerted action to overcome historic marginalization.
Conclusion:
Conclude by writing a way forward.
Introduction
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has formulated the SMILE scheme for Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise. It includes a sub scheme – ‘Central Sector Scheme for Comprehensive Rehabilitation of persons engaged in Begging’. This holds significance especially for transgender community where majority are involved in begging.
Body
Background
- According to the Census 2011 total number of beggars in India is 4,13,670 (including 2,21,673 males and 1,91,997 females) and the number has increased from the last census.
- West Bengal tops the chart followed by Uttar Pradesh and Bihar at number two and three respectively.
- Lakshadweep merely has two vagrants according to the 2011 census.
- Among the union territories, New Delhi had the largest number of beggars 2,187 followed by 121 in Chandigarh.
- Among the north-eastern states, Assam topped the chart with 22,116 beggars, while Mizoram ranked low with 53 beggars.
SMILE: Ending history of marginalisation
- Comprehensive measures: This scheme covers several comprehensive measures including welfare measures for persons who are engaged in the act of begging.
- The focus of the scheme is extensively on rehabilitation, provision of medical facilities, counselling, basic documentation, education, skill development, economic linkages and so on.
- Beneficiaries: Persons engaged in the act of Begging are to be covered under the scheme.
- Total funds allocated for the scheme for next five years is 100 crores.
- Initial implementation: Ministry had identified 10 cities for undertaking pilot project on Comprehensive Rehabilitation of persons engaged in the act of Begging.
- Currently, pilot project is ongoing in 7 cities namely Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Indore, Lucknow, Nagpur and Patna.
- Collaboration with other agencies: These pilots are being implemented with the support of State Governments/UTs/Local Urban Bodies and Voluntary Organizations etc., which provide comprehensive measures including survey and identification, mobilization, rehabilitation, provision of medical facilities, awareness generation, counselling, education, skill development and sustainable settlement of persons engaged in begging.
More measures are needed for transgender community
- A multi-prolonged approach with focus on public awareness campaigns is needed to eliminate the social stigma associated with the transgender community.
- Eg: Recently 13 members of the transgender community have been selected as constables under the Chhattisgarh police. This is truly historic and thrilling for a community that had no legal recognition till the Supreme Court in NALSA vs. Union of India (2014) ruled that transgender persons have the right to decide their self-identified gender.
- Large scale sensitization needs to happen starting from the school level to accept the transgender community integral component of societal life.
- Transgenders’ induction into the police force is a vital message to people that they are as physically and mentally competent as others.
- Legal and the law enforcement systems need to be empowered and sensitized on the issues of Transgender community.
- Stringent criminal and disciplinary action must be taken against the people who commits violence against Transgender.
- The establishment of National Council for Transgender Persons which seeks to increase awareness and inculcate sense of respect and acceptance for transgender community, is a welcome step.
- Transgender Persons Act, 2019: The Act states that a transgender person shall have the right to self-perceived gender identity. The Act prohibits discrimination against a transgender person in various sectors such as education, employment, and healthcare etc. It will give much needed legal protection to the transgenders.
Conclusion
Schemes, Policies and regulation alone won’t help, rather there is a need to increase awareness and inculcate sense of respect and acceptance for transgender community. Their grievance of being not included in policies formulation or decision making needs to be allayed and chances for their public participation should increase.
General Studies – 2
Topic: Indian Constitution—historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.
Difficulty level: Moderate.
Reference: Insights on India
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 2 and mentioned as part of Mission-2022 Secure timetable.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about which form of federalism – competitive or cooperative that suits India better.
Directive word:
Critically analyze – When asked to analyse, you must examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them in a summary. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, one needs to look at the good and bad of the topic and give a balanced judgment on the topic.Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by defining cooperative federalism and competitive federalism.
Body:
First, explain the differences between both. Discuss how the spirit of competitive federalism is seen in the various inter state ranking metric derived such as for ease of business, environmental pollution etc. Discuss how the spirit of cooperation is being enhanced by sharing experiential learnings etc
Next, Discuss the pros and cons of one over the other – competitive federalism requires States to reform their programmes and provide goods and services that they can self-fund, disciplines the states, accelerates growth. Discuss the advantages that cooperative federalism offers.
Conclusion:
Conclude by giving a balanced opinion.
Introduction
Competitive federalism is a concept where centre competes with states and vice-versa, and states compete with each other. It refers to relations between regional governments (horizontal competition) and between central and regional governments (vertical competition).
Cooperative federalism is the concept which reflects the relationship between centre and state where they both come together and resolve the common problems with each other’s’ cooperation. With the collaborative efforts and cooperation, different level of governments in an amicable manner, contributes towards the growth of the country.
Body
Spirit of cooperative federalism in India
- Separation of Power: Schedule 7 of Constitution provides strict delineation of powers between center and state. (Except during emergencies which comes under judicial review)
- Article 131 of the Constitution, which gives the Supreme Court exclusive jurisdiction to hear cases between states and the Centre. Ex: Chhattisgarh moved SC against NIA Act in Jan 2020
- Coalition governments: It has increased states’ bargaining power.
- GST Council: Majority decisions have been based on consensus till now, while states gave 2/3rd of votes.
- Since 10th FC, state’s share has been continuously increasing till 14th FC by devolving 42%.
- NITI Aayog: Replacing the erstwhile Planning Commission, the Aayog is promoting bottom-up approach to development planning.
- Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas involves State’s as equal partners of development
Spirit of competitive federalism in India
- The concept of competitive federalism is driving the Indian states to rush in for reforms to make an easy way for doing business in their state and expediting the pending project clearances. Ex: Vibrant summits conducted by various states, easing of compliance related laws in states to attract FDI etc
- In this scenario, Centre government is only responsible to frame rules in this kind of free market as generally states compete with each other to attract funds
- Union government devolves funds to the states on the basis of usage of previously allocated funds. Thus, funds and investments flow in greater amount (both from central government and private investors) to those states which have shown optimum use of previously allocated funds.
- This system ensures minimum wastage and maximum use of resources as it strives for Healthy competition to improve physical and social infrastructure within the state.
- Competitive federalism is also welcomed by industry because healthy competition among states will pave the way towards more investment destinations in future. In turn it should lead to significant job creation and economic development.
- Some of the steps taken in India in recent times to give effect to this form of federalism are:
- Greater allocation of funds or favorable terms to states that perform better on certain indices. Ex: Implementation of ‘One Nation, One Ration card scheme’
- Ranking states based on development parameters. Ex: Swachh Bharat rankings, Ease of doing business ratings for states, selection of cities to be included under smart city programme etc
- Andhra Pradesh has come up with their own brand name at Davos integrated and emulated the same elements of the nation brand India campaign with Make Andhra Pradesh Your Business
- States have been given more freedom to plan their expenditure
Critical analysis
Competitive federalism
- Some states have better infrastructure and expertise. This could further add fuel to the inequality that exists between the regions
- A race towards motivated by competition might not be in the best interests of the states vis-à-vis tribal displacement, greater level of pollution etc
- The ranking framework of the central government has also been put to question by some over the alleged bias towards some states.
- An institutional mechanism must be evolved where important decisions are appropriately discussed with states.
Cooperative federalism
- Several issues such as trust deficit and shrinkage of divisible pools plague Centre-State relations. Together, they make total cooperation difficult.
- On one hand the Centre has increased the States’ share of the divisible pool but in reality States are getting a lesser share.
- For instance, as per the 15th FC recommendations, many south states are on the losing side of their share of tax resources.
- The allocation towards various social welfare schemes has also come down, affecting the States’ health in turn
- Inter-State water disputes like the Mahadayi issue between Goa and Karnataka, Mahanadi water disputes (Odisha and Chhattisgarh) requires cooperation from all quarters (centre and riparian states).
Way forward
- There needs to be a mix of competitive and cooperative federalism for India to move ahead.
- The future for India is cooperative and competitive federalism. Competitive federalism provides the dynamism that needs to be unleashed.
- We need cooperative federalism to balance competitive federalism.
- Constitution needed to catch up with economics to “favour integration over granting sovereignty” to promote Indian internal integration.
- GST which seeks to introduce the concept of one nation-one tax, in order to economically unify the country for the first time, is described this as “pooled sovereignty”, which would bring a big change in the working of federalism in the country.
Conclusion
Competition alone cannot give the best results it is competition with cooperation that will drive the real change. There has to be a balance between cooperative and competitive federalism.
In this regard an institutional mechanism must be evolved where important decisions are appropriately discussed with states to ensure no states is left behind in the development paradigm.
Topic: Indian Constitution—historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.
Difficulty level: Easy
Reference: Insights on India
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 2 and mentioned as part of Mission-2022 Secure timetable.
Key Demand of the question:
To write analyze the suitability of parliamentary form of government and presidential system for India.
Directive word:
Examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we must investigate 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:
Begin by giving context as to why India adopted parliamentary form of government.
Body:
First, explain the various issues and limitations of parliamentary form of government.
Next, explain in brief the working of presidential form of government. Mention its pros over parliamentary form of government and then evaluate its limitations.
Conclusion:
Conclude by giving a balanced opinion.
Introduction
Modern democratic governments are classified into parliamentary and presidential on the basis of nature of relations between the executive and the legislative organs of the government. The parliamentary system of government is the one in which the executive is responsible to the legislature for its policies and acts. This type of model is prevalent in Britain, Canada, India and Japan. The presidential system of government on the other hand is one in which the executive is not responsible to the legislature for its policies and acts, and is constitutionally independent of the legislature in respect of its term of office. USA, Brazil and Russia are examples of this type of model of government.
Body:
Features of presidential system:
- President is both the head of the state and the head of the government. As the head of the state he/she occupies a ceremonial position and as the head of the government he/she leads the executive organ of the government.
- The President is elected by an electoral college for a fixed tenure. He/she cannot be removed by the legislature except by the impeachment for the grave constitutional act.
- The President governs with the help of a cabinet or smaller body called ‘Kitchen Cabinet’. It is only an advisory body and consists of non-elected departmental secretaries. They are selected and appointed by him/her, are responsible only to him/her and can be removed by him/her any time.
- The President and his/her secretaries are not responsible to the congress for their acts. They neither possess membership in the legislature nor attend its session.
- The President cannot dissolve the legislature.
- The doctrine of separation of power is the basis of Presidential system. The legislature, executive and judicial powers of the government are separated and vested in the three independent organs of the government.
Should India adopt the Presidential system?
- A presidential system centralizes power in one individual unlike the parliamentary system, where the Prime Minister is the first among equals. The surrender to the authority of one individual, as in the presidential system, is dangerous for democracy.
- The over-centralization of power in one individual is something we have to guard against.
- Those who argue in favor of a presidential system often state that the safeguards and checks are in place: that a powerful President can be stalled by a powerful legislature.
- But if the legislature is dominated by the same party to which the President belongs, a charismatic President or a “strong President” may prevent any move from the legislature.
- On the other hand, if the legislature is dominated by a party opposed to the President’s party and decides to checkmate him, it could lead to a stalemate in governance because both the President and the legislature would have democratic legitimacy.
- A diverse country like India cannot function without consensus-building. This “winner takes it all” approach, which is a necessary consequence of the presidential system, is likely to lead to a situation where the views of an individual can ride roughshod over the interests of different segments.
- Thus India is performing well on the scale of Parliamentary system and needs to strengthen it.
Conclusion:
India’s constitutional makers adopted the Parliamentary system due to factors like familiarity of the system, preference to more responsibility, need to avoid Legislative-Executive conflict and nature of Indian society. These factors still stand relevant at present for Indian polity. In fact, the matter whether to change for Presidential system was considered in detail by Swaran Singh Committee appointed by the congress government in 1975. The committee opined that the parliamentary system has been doing well and there is no need to replace with Presidential system.
Value Addition
Merits of presidential system:
- Stable government: The Presidential system provides a stable government. There is surety that government would survive for its tenure unless the President commits grave constitutional act and is impeached.
- Definiteness in policies: The Presidential system is conducive for the formulation and implementation of long-term policies due certainty of the tenure of the government.
- Based on separation of powers: There is complete and rigid separation of powers between the legislative, executive and judicial organs of the state. This prevents the despotic tendencies of any one organ and balances the distribution of power.
- Government by experts: The Presidential system is conducive to the administrative efficiency as ministers or secretaries are the experts in their fields. The President is free to choose his/her secretaries from the wide range of candidates and experts in their respective fields.
Demerits of Presidential system-
- Conflict between Legislature and Executive: It is biggest drawback of the Presidential system as conflict between legislature and executive can arose due to rigid separation of powers. This may stall the functioning of government and defeat the very purpose of governance.
- Non-responsible government: In Presidential system executives are not responsible to the legislature for their acts and policies. Thus it is difficult for elected representatives or legislative organ to exercise control over executives.
- Autocratic tendencies: In this system executive authority is vested in single person that is President and when President enjoys support in legislature, could lead to dictatorial tendencies.
- Narrow representation: In Presidential system secretaries are not elected members of the legislature but they are appointed by President. This restricts the scope of the wide representation and is limited to President’s favour.
General Studies – 3
Topic: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, Nano-technology, biotechnology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: Indian Express
Why the question:
Metaverse is more than a buzzword. It is an idea whose time has come. But then, the metaverse is not really a new concept; it has been around as an idea for decades.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the potential and limitations of metaverse on the economy and society of India.
Directive word:
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you must debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You must give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by defining metaverse.
Body:
First, Next, Elaborate on the various components of the metaverse and its possible applications. Substantiate with examples.
Next, write about the potential applications of metaverse in India – Businesses, remote working, industrial, problem solving and social interactions.
Next, mentions its concerns – data security, privacy concerns, digital divide, high cost of infrastructure and growing addictions.
Conclusion:
Conclude by stressing on striking a balance between the benefits and limitations of metaverse.
Introduction
The term “metaverse” is used to describe the vision whereby the internet will evolve into a virtual world. The idea was first conceptualised in 1992 by the American novelist Neal Stephenson in his science fiction classic, Snow Crash. It foresees the internet as a 3D virtual living space, where individuals dip in and out, interacting with one another in real time.
The metaverse is a form of mixed reality that is fast becoming commonplace in everyday tech products. The combination of augmented and virtual reality will not only introduce digital elements in the real world, but it will also merge Internet with the virtual world.
Body
Potential of Metaverse
- Metaverse will incorporate current Meta products, like WhatsApp and Messenger, but also offer plenty of new tools like virtual homes, offices, and ecommerce opportunities for businesses and content creators.
- In Meta’s metaverse imagining, users will have complete creative control over their virtual worlds, designing everything from waterfront homes to space stations where you can work collaboratively, chat with friends, or study.
- Using VR, AR, and our current tech tools, the metaverse will combine both the physical and digital worlds.
- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes augmented reality glasses will eventually be as widespread as smartphones. If that is the case, this will be a very big market.
- Huge scope in the development of software applications to support the meta-verse ecosystem.
- Heightened sales of physical goods and services will be linked to the virtual ecosystem in the future.
- Immersive Learning is a training methodology that uses Virtual Reality (VR) to simulate real-world scenarios and train students in a safe and engaging immersive training environment.
- Decentralized commerce (dCommerce) in-world transactions to happen peer-to-peer.
- Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) – the claim of ownership for a unique, non-interchangeable digital asset that is stored on a blockchain – may be widely adopted.
Challenges posed by Metaverse:
- The metaverse requires infrastructure that currently does not exist, and the current form of Internet is limited in its design to hold the digital space. The space will need a broader and more complex set of standards and protocols than traditional Internet. This means large technology companies like Amazon, Google, and Facebook will need to prepare for cross integrating their systems.
- Unlike the internet, which was built using patient capital, the metaverse will most likely be created by big tech companies, giving rise to concerns of walled gardens and cartelization.
- That said, it is clear that if the metaverse is to become as ubiquitous as the internet, it needs to remain open so that everyone can participate in it.
- The interoperable metaverse could also raise questions of data protection since industry-wide consensus on data security and persistence will be harder to establish.
- One of the key features of the metaverse will be its ability to replicate the physical world within its virtual environment.
- The creation of these mirror-worlds will call for mega-scans of our physical surroundings—enormous centimetre-resolution images of the physical world that we can render within the metaverse to faithfully recreate our physical environs in a virtual space.
- The metaverse will need altogether new rules for censorship, control of communications, regulatory enforcement, tax reporting, the prevention of online radicalisation, and many more challenges that we’re still struggling with today.
- It’s hard not to then start thinking about how these new technologies will shape our society, politics and culture, and how we might fit into that future.
- This idea is called “technological determinism”: the sense that advances in technology shape our social relations, power relations, and culture, with us as mere passengers. It leaves out the fact that in a democratic society we have a say in how all of this plays out.
- Another element of the metaverse that is still being worked out is its payment rails. While cryptocurrencies are widely touted as the ideal payment system of the metaverse, it is unlikely that they will be able to operate at the velocity at which transactions are likely to occur in these virtual environments.
Way forward for India:
- To achieve this, we will need to agree on a set of open standards that govern its essential aspects, ensuring interoperability across environments.
- We may ultimately need to pass regulation to ensure that other aspects of the metaverse—the devices we use to interface with it, the payment systems that drive its economy and the portals that connect the virtual world to the physical—comply with open protocols framed to ensure that we are not locked into any single device or service provider.
- India needs to put in place regulations that encourage the development of these new virtual environments while ensuring that they can still function in an open, interoperable manner.
- If this is the next evolution of internet technology, we should ensure that the many features it is likely to offer are deployed to our advantage.
- India’s digital payments platforms, on the other hand, have demonstrated that they can operate at population scale—processing 10 billion transactions a month without breaking a sweat.
Conclusion
A new iteration of the internet is being worked on and this will have massive implications for society. Marketing, communications, and branding professionals will face new challenges but also new opportunities. This new era of the metaverse will unleash amazing creativity and open up new frontiers and horizons for brands and businesses.
India was a relatively late adopter of the internet, and, as a result, was unable to take advantage of its many features until much later. We have an extraordinary opportunity now to actively participate in the development of the metaverse. We would do well to dive right in.
Topic: issues of buffer stocks and food security;
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: Down to Earth
Why the question:
More than a million bags of paddy lying in the open in market yards in Odisha’s Bargarh district have reportedly got damaged due to heavy rain and hailstorm, which also caused extensive damage to vegetable crops in the district.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the impact of food wastage in India and measures needed to avoid it.
Directive word:
Analyse – When asked to analyse, you must examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them in a summary.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by giving a statistic of food wastage in India.
Body:
First, mention the context food shortage that is faced in India. Write in detail about the reasons for food wastage in buffer stocks.
Next, write about the impact of food wastage of buffer stocks on food security for India.
Next, suggest steps to overcome the same and prevent food wastage.
Conclusion:
Conclude by writing a way forward.
Introduction
Between the recently ended farmers’ protests highlighting cries of no proper remuneration for what the “annadata” (food provider) produces and India’s 103rd position in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) lies Indian agriculture’s third shocking reality – farm produce wastage.
Nearly 40 per cent of the food produced in India is wasted every year due to fragmented food systems and inefficient supply chains, a figure estimated by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). This is the loss that occurs even before the food reaches the consumer.
Body
Food wastage in India
- Pre-Consumption Losses: Nearly 40% of the food produced in India is wasted every year due to fragmented food systems and inefficient supply chains.
- Food Wastage at Households: There is also a significant amount of food waste generated in our homes. As per the Food Waste Index Report 2021, a staggering 50 kg of food is thrown away per person every year in Indian homes.
- Greenhouse Gases Emission: This excess food waste usually ends up in landfills, creating potent greenhouse gases which have dire environmental implications.
- Supply-Chain Management Issues: Some problems in the Indian food supply chain include inefficiency of government programs, lack of transparency in revenue generation, insufficient storage facilities, and lack of comprehensive and accurate inventories.
Impact on food security
- Hunger: Despite adequate food production, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has reported that about 190 million Indians remain undernourished.
- Moreover, it states that every third malnourished child is Indian.
- Pandemic and access to food: In the wake of the lockdown imposed last year, surplus stocks of grain — pegged at 65 lakh tonnes in the first four months of 2020 — continued to rot in godowns across India.
- Access to food became extremely scarce for the poor, especially daily-wage laborers.
- Malnutrition: According to the Women and Child Development Ministry, more than 9.2 lakh children (from six months to six years) in India were ‘severely acute malnourished’ till November, 2020.
Need of the hour
- India should include Food wastage as a core component of its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Summit. This will place great accountability and motivate the country to take more concrete and innovative steps.
-
- Currently, only 11 countries mention Food waste as part of their NDCs.
- Multilateral platforms like the UN Food Systems Summit can be used to improve cooperation and collaboration among countries.
- India can utilise the knowledge and practice of UNEP’s Regional Food Waste Working Groups. Especially to share and learn good practices with peer countries.
- Sufficient support in the form of incentives and other rebates should be given to innovative food conservation models.
-
- For instance, Adrish is India’s first chain of zero-waste concept stores. They aim to shift people from harmful, artificial consumption to an eco-friendly, zero-waste lifestyle.
- Similarly, India Food Banking Network (IFBN) is bringing the government, private sector and NGOs together to fight hunger and malnutrition in India. It aspires to create one food bank in every district of India by 2030.
- The government has to conduct Awareness and Sensitisation drives to inculcate a behavioural change in food usage. For example, changes like,
-
- Ordering consciously from restaurants
- Feed someone with extra food or make a compost out of it.
- Focus on traditional nose-to-tail cooking when it comes to meat and seafood. There are certain regional Indian recipes that encourage this practice. The government has to encourage this. For example, Surnoli, a Mangalorean dosa or gobhi danthal sabzi made with cauliflower stalks and leaves in Punjab.
Nose-to-tail cooking: It is the method of including as much as of an animal/vegetable in cooking.
- At the community level – People can associate with organisations like No Food Waste. It is a Coimbatore-based organisation that aims to redistribute excess food to feed the needy and hungry.
Way Forward
- Food security of a nation is ensured if all of its citizens have enough nutritious food available, all persons have the capacity to buy food of acceptable quality and there is no barrier on access to food.
- The right to food is a well-established principle of international human rights law. It has evolved to include an obligation for state parties to respect, protect, and fulfil their citizens’ right to food security.
- As a state party to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, India has the obligation to ensure the right to be free from hunger and the right to adequate food.
- India needs to adopt a policy that brings together diverse issues such as inequality, food diversity, indigenous rights and environmental justice to ensure sustainable food security.
General Studies – 4
Topic: ethical concerns and dilemmas in government and private institutions;
Difficulty level: Tough
Directive word:
Analyse – When asked to analyse, 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:
Start by giving context
Body:
First, mention the advantages of population control law. Checking population, reduced demand on resources, better governance etc.
Next, mention its disadvantages – coercion, no sanction of society. Give the example of China,
Conclusion:
Conclude by stressing on need for an attitudinal change towards population control rather than coercive one.
Introduction
Population control is the methodology or the practice used to control and maintain the type, location and number of people that inhabit the earth.
The government of Uttar Pradesh released a “Population Policy” in August 2021, in which the government stated its intention to bring the gross fertility rate in the State down from the existing 2.7 to 2.1 by 2026. To stabilize the population, the government is considering the enactment of a new piece of legislation.
Body
Ethical repercussions of the law:
- Degrades value of human life:
- Any population control mechanism degrades the value of human life and is therefore, morally unacceptable.
- According to this policy, advocates of population control instrumentalize human beings as just another metric for dealing with problems like resource limitation and land use.
- By instrumentalizing human beings, developing countries infringe on each individual’s derivative moral right to an open future, which stems from a human right to liberty.
- Against right to reproductive freedom and privacy:
- In Suchita Srivastava & Anr vs Chandigarh Administration (2009), the Court found that a woman’s freedom to make reproductive decisions is an integral facet of the right to personal liberty guaranteed by Article 21.
- It has bearing on reproductive rights of women. Also the effects are already evident in villages of states like Haryana and Punjab, leading to an unethical thriving bride business.
- Against right to equality:
- In a state like Uttar Pradesh, where patriarchy and misogyny are common and treatment of women is not commonplace, the Bill can have disastrous consequences on women and their personal health.
- In such a society it will not be wrong to assume the majority burden will be borne by women to undergo sterilization operations risking her life.
- The objectives of the bill is not being realized by incentivizing sterilization and in fact it is in violation of Article 14 of the Indian Constitution.
- Against international obligations:
- India is committed to its obligations under international law, including the principles contained in the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action, 1994.
- Foremost in those principles was a pledge from nations that they wouldlook beyond demographic targets and focus instead on guaranteeing a right to reproductive freedom.
- Promotes patriarchy:
- Patriarchy driven preference for a male child is an important driver of higher fertility rates.
- Restricting to two child policy, is believed to have had an adverse effect on the sex ratio of the population through practices such as female foeticide etc.
- It would lead to unethical abortion practices and pre-natal sex determination.
- Affects vulnerable sections of society:
- A population control policy is not only a gross violation of fundamental human rights but will also have the maximum impact on the poorest, weakest and most marginalized sections of a country. It could have long-term, irreversible consequences”.
Conclusion
It is a common/old belief that sometimes using coercive ways to control something or get the desired objective can turn out to be completely ineffective in achieving that objective. So can be the case in Uttar Pradesh, here it would also violate the basic human rights of the citizens. It would in fact also lead to an increase in corruptive practices in our country along with the increasing amount of redtapism and paperwork. The carrot and stick approach to population control doesn’t really seem like an appropriate solution to the problem.
Topic: case study.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Why the question: The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 4 and part of ‘Case Study Fridays’ in Mission-2022 Secure.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by giving context.
Body:
- Outline all the ethical values involved one by one.
- Mention all the stakeholders involved.
- Evalaute the actions of the editor-in-chief, give reasons as to why or why not if his action was right.
- Chart out a course of action for joy which solves the issue and also safeguards him from any harm.
Conclusion:
Mention way to overcome the dilemmas.
Introduction
The case involved both ethical journalism and ethical conscience of a reporter who is asked to blatantly lie and hide a grave violation of rules and embezzlement of public money. Not only is this illegal, but shows how the law makers themselves are the law breakers.
Body
Stakeholders
- The journalist Mr Joy
- Chairman of Gram panchayat
- CEO of Zilla panchayat and Chief project officer
- State government and revenue loss
- Experienced reporters and their ethical judgement
Ethical values involved
- Journalists cannot always guarantee ‘truth’, but getting the facts right is the cardinal principle of journalism. In this case, not reporting the truth is injurious to the State and its governance.
- Journalists must be independent voices; they should not act, formally or informally, on behalf of special interests whether political, corporate or cultural. Hiding the truth upholds the belief that, Big Fish never fry and reinforces the same.
- Accountability of law makers is violated when they themselves are unravelling the laws made in the state.
- Embezzlement goes against the principle of good governance and is a violation of people’s trust.
The editor in chief was not right in transferring Mr Joy to sports section because he is accountable to his conscience and must adhere to the ideals of responsible journalism. Reporters and journalists are public watchdogs who bring to notice the wrongdoings in law and order or governance thereby enforcing accountability of public servants and politicians.
By not revealing the wrongdoing, not only leads to shielding the culprits, it also sets a wrong precedent. Unbiased reporting is the hallmark of a journalist and reporter.
Course of Action
It may not be possible to publish the evidence of embezzlement as my editor-in-chief is not cooperative. I would find ways to find a safe place and ensure my safety to life. I will ensure that the evidence is out in the public domain, so that I can seek police protection against threat to life.
I would carry strong evidence against the violation and give the same to the media houses. Wrong does not cease to be wrong if majority share in it. We are answerable to our conscience and the guilt of not doing one’s job well would always haunt me especially as I am in the field of journalism.
The main reason for eroding credibility of media and reporting is because of the strong nexus between the politicians and media houses and excessive focus on revenue making from sensational news. To restore this, the need of the hour is honest and truthful reporting. Moreover, one cannot have different rules and laws for different people. Rule of law must be upheld and everyone is same and treated equal before the law of the land.
Conclusion
In a democracy everyone is accountable to the people, and so is the media and the law makers. Therefore, Indian media must introspect and develop a sense of responsibility and maturity and always upheld truthfulness.
