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.
GS 1 Full Syllabus
Q1.Urban Poverty and inequality are highly complex and multidimensional challenges whose manifestation goes beyond lack of income. (15M)
INTRODUCTION
The rapid growth in the urban population of developing nations witnessed in the 20th century has been accompanied by a corresponding rise in the urban poverty incidence in these nations. According to the World Development Report, nearly half of the poor people of the world reside in South Asia, though it is home to just about 30% of the population of the world.
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Causes of the urban poverty and inequality
Poverty
- Lack of opportunities and skills training for most of the working age population.
- Shortage of adequate investment
- In quality education and basic services like health, sanitation, waste management and skill training.
- Lack of skills
- It has led to generations of malnourished, uneducated, unaware and unskilled or semi-skilled people who find it difficult to find decent paying jobs.
- Agriculture is barely a lucrative option,
- the only job option is to seek out work in the cities’ informal economies.
- Share of the informal jobs
- Millions migrate to the cities every day to take up informal jobs such as domestic help, driving cars for middle-class people, taxi driving, construction site work, etc. However, this creates overcrowding in the already packed urban infrastructure.
- Lack of affordable housing
- Leaves these people address-less on paper. They settle wherever they can, but as more people join, a whole community of undocumented settlers emerges. This further complicates the procedure of accessing basic services like electricity, water and sanitation, etc
Inequality
- Unequal asset distribution
- 10% share of Indian people holds the 70% of the total national wealth of the nation
- Flawed laws of inheritance
- confusion in the matter of gender
- Even the recent Supreme Court judgment allowed to equal rights to both male and female to have the inheritance rights, but problem and confusion still there.
- Asymmetric quality education and employment opportunities.
- Stratified society with respect to caste, ethnicity, gender, etc. leading to unequal access to resources
Multidimensional challenge
Poverty and inequality is a multidimensional concept which has economic, political, social and cultural manifestation ;-
- Society v/s urban poverty and inequality
- Social tension and crime
- Drug abuse and rising alcohol consumption among urban poor.
- Rise in cases of trafficking
- Child labor and bonded labor
- Development v/s urban poverty and inequality
- Engendered development leading to feminization of poverty
- Lack of sustainable development leads to over utilization of resources affecting forest dwellers
- Low investment in education and health has a bearing on child and mother ultimately affecting human capital.
- Population v/s poverty and inequality
- Poverty encourages families to reproduce more and more with the expectation that number of member in the family is directly proportional to rising income level.
- Poverty discourages families to send their children for education
- Poverty pushes families to get their children married at an early state
- Globalization v/s poverty and equality
- Income inequality: According to Oxfam report,
- 10% share of Indian people holds the 70% of the total national wealth of the nation
- Lacked industrialization at the cost of service sector
- MNC companies is profit motivated, bringing competition in market , the profit is reduced this leads to the low salary and low benefits to employees.
- Income inequality: According to Oxfam report,
- Major program of govt to eradicate poverty and inequality
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- Five years plan
- 3rd: Food for work program
- 5th: Investment in health and education, food and nutrition, etc.
- 6th FYP: Gareebi Hatao
- Integrated rural development program, 1978
- To provide employment opportunities to the poor as well as opportunities to develop their skill sets so as to improve their living conditions.
- Nationalization of banks
- Access loans to the different sector of the society.
- 20 point program during emergency
- Poverty eradication and to improve the quality of life of the poor and the under privileged population of the country.
- Wage security scheme
- MGNAREGA
- Skill India
- Self-employment program
- Mudra
- Collateral free loans to the small entrepreneurs.
- Stand up India, startup India
- Mudra
- Five years plan
CONCLUSION
Poverty and inequality can effectively be eradicated only when the poor start contributing to growth by their active involvement in the growth process. This is possible through a process of social mobilization, encouraging poor people to participate and get them empowered.
Q2. India’s fiasco to convert its victory in the 1971 war into a long-lasting peace in the region via the Shimla Agreement of 1972 is a case of missed opportunity. Examine. (15M)
INTRODUCTION
The Shimla Agreement was a comprehensive blue print for good neighborly relations between India and Pakistan. Under this both countries undertook to abjure conflict and confrontation which had marred relations in the past, and to work towards the establishment of durable peace, friendship and cooperation.
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The following are the key principles of the Shimla Agreement;-
- A mutual commitment to the peaceful resolution of all issues through direct bilateral approaches.
- To build the foundations of a cooperative relationship with special focus on people to people contacts.
- To uphold the inviolability of the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, this is a most important CBM between India and Pakistan, and a key to durable peace.
- India has faithfully observed the Simla Agreement in the conduct of its relations with Pakistan.
Key Provisions of Shimla Agreement:
- Principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations shall govern the relations between the two countries.
- Two countries resolved to settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations or by any other peaceful means mutually agreed upon between them.
- The agreement converted the cease-fire line of 17 December 1971 into the Line of Control (LOC) between India and Pakistan and it was agreed that ‘neither side shall seek to alter it unilaterally, irrespective of mutual differences and legal interpretations’
- Respecting each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs.
- To refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of each other.
- Both governments will take all steps within their power to prevent hostile propaganda directed against each other.
- Withdrawal of Troops from International Border and exchanging prisoners of war.
Concerns with Shimla Agreement:
- The spirit of the Shimla Agreement lost:
- This has not stopped Pakistan from internationalizing the Kashmir issue.
- Recent discussion of Kashmir issue in the international organisations like UN , SAARC platform by Pakistan.
- There has been a difference of opinion regarding Line of Control (LOC) between India and Pakistan.
- This has not stopped Pakistan from internationalizing the Kashmir issue.
- Pakistan not held accountable:
- The Shimla Agreement and the subsequent Delhi Agreement, 1973 gave Pakistan everything it wanted:
- The territory it lost to India in the war.
- The safe return of all its soldiers without one of them being held responsible for the genocidal campaign.
- But the subsequent breaking of cease fire by the Pakistani Army has eroded its creditability, eliminated it as a political force and led to more enduring peace in the region.
- Disadvantageous peace for India:
- Post-1971 war, India had Pakistan on its knees, holding over 15,000 square kilometres of its territory and 93,000 of its soldiers which were nearly a quarter of its army, as prisoners of war. Some have considered India’s move to return these to Pakistan a blunder.
- The Shimla agreement was mild on the aggressor country given that Pakistan had waged war on India.
- No enduring Peace:
- Nothing in the Agreement pinned Pakistan down to future good behavior. What the Shimla Agreement failed to achieve for India could well have been obtained through the 1973 Delhi Agreement signed by India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
- But India failed to leverage its dominant position to ensure enduring peace in the region.
- It included some non-binding provisions, such as the clause requiring both governments “to take all steps within their power to prevent hostile propaganda directed against each other”. Pakistan started working on nuclear weapon programme post this agreement.
- The agreement has not prevented the relationship between the two countries from deteriorating to the point of armed conflict, most recently in the Kargil War of 1999.
- In Operation Meghdoot of 1984 India seized all of the inhospitable Siachen Glacier region where the frontier had been clearly not defined in the agreement.
Conclusion:
India ought to have rightly insisted that an international tribunal try those prisoners of war who had contributed to the well-documented genocide in Bangladesh. This would have also eroded the credibility of the Pakistani Army, eliminated it as a political force and led to a more enduring peace in the region. We will continue to bear its consequences, one of them being confronting a nuclear Pakistan.
Value addition
Gains for India
- The balance of power in south Asia tilted towards India and it emerged as a pre-eminent power.
- Refugee problem was solved.
- India regained its lost pride and respect.
- It demonstrated the strength of Indian secularism.
- It was a big blow to the two nation theory and personal victory for Indira Gandhi.
Ethics:
Q3. “The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is conformity”. In light of this statement explain the importance of positive political attitudes in sustaining democracy. 10M
Introduction
“The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is conformity” this is quoted by Rollo May. This means the Opposite of courage is not cowardice which means hiding and being fearful, but it is conformity which is being with the masses essentially not being an outlier, not being who you are and expressing your true self.
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- Quote simply means people act like everyone without knowing what they are doing, why they are doing and whom they are following.
- Conformity is like a slave to what others want you to be and it means being loyal to expectations of what others think you should be.
- Courage is what makes one be ourselves, live by our values, and live by our beliefs.
- The more loyal we are to our values, to our individualized compass, the more different we can be from other people.
Political attitude refers to the attitude of people toward the political system, parties or their ideology. In a wider sense, political attitude means attitude towards specific issues of public life such as economy, employment, women, inequality, caste system, voting pattern, etc.
The importance of positive political attitudes in sustaining democracy can be understood by different stakeholders involved in democracy.
- Voters – For voters positive attitudes like active participation in the election of ethical candidates, following laws, and holding representatives accountable become important.
- These political attitudes help to decriminalize politics, curb communication issues and corruption in democracy respectively.
- Ruling parties – Ruling parties do not have to blindly continue policies, or acts done by the previous government. They have to stick to their ethical, and moral ideologies.
- This helps them to respect and recognize the rights of minorities, to be non-partisan, be honest, integral and uphold the dignity of the office/chair.
- Opposition – They have to be more courageous in holding the ruling party and an executive accountable and transparent.
- This helps to maintain transparency in ruling and exposes corruption or any unethical practices done by the government.
- Political parties – Political parties need to be rational in their political agendas and political promises and not follow unethical practices like vote banks simply to gain power.
- Civil societies – Open debate, and criticism of government policies by civil societies helps to recognize the rights of vulnerable sections like women, and elders and also expose the true nature of parties so they can be held accountable and transparent to people.
Conclusion
The successful story of Switzerland is a fine example of how active political participation of voters in decision-making, and law-making helps to sustain democracy.
