[Mission 2023] INSIGHTS DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS + PIB SUMMARY 11 May 2023

GS Paper 1

 Syllabus: Social issues

 

Source: UNICEF

 Context: According to UNICEF, multiple crises are threatening to reverse hard-earned gains in the decline in child marriage.

 

Child marriage:

• It refers to any formal marriage or informal union between a child under the age of (18 for females and 21 for males in India) and an adult or another child.
• Most child marriages involve girls, many of whom are in poor socio-economic conditions.

 

Data on child marriage:

• Worldwide, an estimated 640 million girls and women alive today were married in childhood, or 12 million girls per year.
• Child marriages have declined from 21 to 19% (globally) since the last estimates were released five years ago.
• However, global reductions would have to be 20 times faster to meet SDG (5.3) of ending child marriage by 2030.

 

Status in India:

• While India has recorded significant progress in recent decades, it still accounts for one-third of the global total (India’s child marriage rate is 21% as per NHFS-5).
• Eight States have a higher prevalence of child marriage than the national average – West Bengal, Bihar and Tripura top the list with more than 40% of women aged 20-24 years married below 18.

 

Most affected regions:

• South Asia continues to remain home to nearly half (45%) of the world’s child brides.
• Sub-Saharan Africa is home to the second-largest global share of child brides (20%).

 

Highlights of the UNICEF’s findings:

• The world is engulfed by a ‘Polycrisis’ – a cluster of related global risks with compounding effects, such that the overall impact exceeds the sum of each part.
• Health and economic crises (rising poverty, income shocks), escalating armed conflicts, climate change shocks and the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 are forcing families into child marriage.
• Girls living in fragile settings are twice as likely to become child brides as the average girl globally.

Fig: Factors Driving Child Marriage

 

Immediate and lifelong consequences on girls:

• Less likely to remain in school.
• Difficult for girls to access health care, social services and community support that protect them from child marriage.
• Increased risk of early pregnancy → increasing the risk of child and maternal health complications and mortality.
• Can also isolate girls from family and friends, taking a heavy toll on their mental health and well-being.

 

Laws and policy interventions in India:

• The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 aim at protecting children from violation of human and other rights.
• A parliamentary standing committee is weighing the pros and cons of raising the age of marriage for women to 21, which has been cleared by the Union Cabinet.
• Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana: The government launched this scheme in 2015 to encourage parents to save money for the future of their girl child
• Kanyashree Prakalpa Scheme: The West Bengal government launched this scheme in 2013 to promote the education and welfare of girls and prevent child marriage in the state.
• National Plan of Action for Children: The plan includes strategies to prevent child marriage and promote education and healthcare for children
• Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme

 

Way ahead for India:

• The solution lies in empowering girls, creating proper public infrastructure and addressing societal norms.
• At the gram panchayat level, ensuring that Child Protection Committees and Child Marriage Prohibition officers are doing the job and activating community support groups.
  • Best practice: Odisha now has over 12,000 Child Marriage Free Villages.

 

Conclusion:

It is possible to end child marriage, which requires unwavering support for vulnerable girls and families. The focus should be on keeping girls in school and making sure they have economic opportunities.

 

Insta Links:

ILO–UNICEF joint report on social protection for children

GS Paper 1

 Syllabus: Role of women

 

Source: BBC

 Context: India surpassed China as the world’s most populous country, which led analysts to highlight the potential benefits of India’s demographic dividend.

A major obstacle to realising this potential: Insufficient representation of women in India’s workforce.

Significance of more women in the workforce: India could add $550bn to its GDP by increasing its female labour force participation by just 10% (McKinsey).

What does the data say? Nearly half of India’s population is female and yet, the female participation rate in India’s labour force has consistently fallen from its peak in 2000 (31%) to a low of 21% in 2018 (World Bank).

 

Reasons for this:

• India is still a largely patriarchal society:
  • Indian women spend 8 times the number of hours on unpaid care work compared with men. The global average is 3 times.
  • Only 32% of Indian women work after they get married and most of them are part of the agricultural sector.
• Safety concerns: Not being able to find jobs close to home also prevent women in big cities from joining the workforce.
• Insufficient formal wage employment opportunities: For example, women employees account for less than 20% of India’s manufacturing sector.
• Concentration in low/non-productive jobs: Like agriculture, primary caregiver at home, etc.
• Lack of opportunities for women returning to their careers after a professional break.
• Higher level of participation in education and increase in the family income.

 

 

 

Steps taken:

• A new Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has been established to coordinate the skill development schemes across various sectors.
• The National Career Service (NCS) Project provides a nationwide online platform for job seekers and employers.
• The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017 provides for enhancement in paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks and provisions for mandatory crèche facilities.
• An advisory to the States under the Factories Act 1948 for permitting women workers in the night shifts with adequate safety measures.
• A network of Women Industrial Training institutes, National Vocational Training Institutes and Regional Vocational Training Institutes.
• A number of protective provisions have been incorporated in various labour laws – The Equal Remuneration Act 1976, The Minimum Wages Act 1948.

 

Best practices:

• TVS (one of India’s biggest two-wheeler manufacturers): Offers a scheme for women who are returning to their careers (after the break) with flexible working hours, mentoring and training to them.
• Gabriel India Ltd [An auto parts company in Hosur (Tamil Nadu)]: It provides perks such as on-site accommodation, subsidised food and training programmes to attract more women workers, as their attrition rates are lower compared to their male counterparts.

 

Way ahead:

• A policy framework encouraging and enabling women’s participation should be constructed.
• Active awareness of the “gender-specific” constraints that face most women.
• Gender-responsive policies need to be contextually developed.
• The goal is not merely to increase female labour force participation, but to provide opportunities for decent work → contribute to the economic empowerment of women.

 

Conclusion: Women’s labour force participation and access to decent work are important and necessary elements of an inclusive and sustainable development (SDG 5) process.

 

Insta Links:

Women in the workforce

 

Mains Links:

What are the continued challenges for women in India against time and space? (UPSC 2019)

GS Paper 2

 Syllabus: Social Justice: Health

 

Source: WHO 

Context: According to a report by the United Nations global progress on improving maternal and newborn health has halted since 2015.

Objective of the report: It outlines progress at the mid-point for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, and highlights priority actions towards eliminating preventable maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths.

 

Global Findings:

• Global progress in reducing deaths of pregnant women, mothers and babies has stagnated for eight years
• Deaths: Over 4.5 million women and babies die every year during pregnancy, childbirth or the first weeks after birth – mostly from preventable or treatable causes if proper care was available.
  • 290 000 maternal deaths each year
  • 1.9 million stillbirths (babies who die after 28 weeks of pregnancy )
  • 2.3 million newborn deaths (in the first month of life)

 

India Findings:

• India tops the list of 10 countries which bear 60% of global maternal deaths, stillbirths & newborn deaths burden
• India accounts for 17 per cent of global maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal births

 

Despite the high numbers, As per the Sample Registration System (SRS) report by the Registrar General of India (RGI), the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) of India has reduced from 130 per 100,000 live births in 2014-16 to 113 per 100,000 live births in 2016-18.

 

Reasons for the halt in progress:

 

Recommendations:

• Scale-up access to quality sexual and reproductive health services as part of universal health coverage and primary health care
• Use of technology: E.g., using a simple, low-cost collection device called a ‘drape’ to reduce blood loss during delivery
• Addressing harmful gender norms, biases and inequalities
• Investment and political commitment
• Strengthening service delivery for quality and respectful care
• Community engagement
• Data and information systems
• Access to quality emergency obstetric care (EmOC)

 

Targets to be achieved:

Insta Links:

Maternal death rate declining: report

 

Mains Links:

In order to enhance the prospects of social development, sound and adequate healthcare policies are needed particularly in the fields of geriatric and maternal healthcare. Discuss. (UPSC 2020)

GS Paper 2

 Syllabus: International Relations

 

Source: IE

 Context: The meeting in Riyadh between Saudi Arabia and the US, UAE, and India underlines the growing strategic convergence between Delhi and Washington in the Gulf.

 

What is unique about this meeting?

• A major departure from the traditional approaches to the Middle East in both India and the US.
• In India, the Nehruvian foreign policy either opposed Washington or kept its distance from the US in the Middle East.

 

Recent changes in USA’s foreign policy (recalibrating its regional strategy):

• Pakistan was a key part of the Baghdad Pact (1955), Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO) and the Regional Cooperation for Development (1964) to counter the Communist threat to the region.
• However, it does not figure in the current strategy to connect the Gulf with the Subcontinent.
• This means the US is discarding its pro-Pakistan bias in thinking about the relationship between the Subcontinent and the Gulf and building new partnerships, including with Delhi.

  

What led to the changes in the foreign policies of India and the US?

• The decline in the Role of Pakistan in the Middle East:
  • Pakistan’s continuing strategic decline, and socio-economic-political challenges.
  • Pakistan has drifted too close to China (all-weather partnership), tempted to align with China and Russia in the region.
• The rising power of the Arabian Peninsula:
  • The Gulf kingdoms (especially Saudi Arabia and the UAE) have accumulated massive financial capital and economic transformation will reduce their dependence on oil.
  • They have also begun to diversify their strategic partnerships, develop nationalism, promote religious tolerance and initiate social reform.

 

India’s new possibilities in the Arabian Peninsula:

• Regional partnership with the US is seen in terms of geopolitical competition with China, elevating its own standing in the region.
• Economic growth and productive involvement in promoting connectivity and security.
• Overcoming violent religious extremism within the Subcontinent.

 

Challenges: Beijing is now the second most important power in the world, and its diplomatic and political influence in the Gulf region will continue to rise.

 

Conclusion: Seizing the new strategic opportunities in the Gulf would involve the long overdue modernisation of Delhi’s strategic discourse on the Gulf.

  

Insta Links:

Diplomatic Dispatch- I2U2 Summit

 

Mains Links:

‘Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD)’ is transforming itself into a trade bloc from a military alliance, in present times – Discuss. (UPSC 2020)

Content for Mains Enrichment (CME)

 

Source: Niti Aayog

 

Every day, in this section we are bringing best practices from each category. Today’s best practices will cover  ‘Financial inclusion and Energy conservation’

Content for Mains Enrichment (CME)

Source: DTE

 Napier grass, also known as elephant grass, is a productive and versatile forage grass native to Africa and Southeast Asia. It is widely used as feed for livestock and in bioenergy applications.

 

Favourable properties for its use in bio-energy:

• Energy output-to-input ratio of approximately 25:1
• High yield
• Ability to withstand drought conditions
• An excellent feedstock for anaerobic digestion processes
• it can be harvested 5-6 times annually
• Short cycle: Its first harvest occurs four months after planting.

 

Napier grass is found in various parts of India, including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala.

 

Usage: The example can be used in Geography/Economy/Environment questions for alternative energy sources.

Content for Mains Enrichment (CME)

Source: TH

The Venda Cup is a football tournament organized by the Bengaluru-based NGO Fourthwave Foundation, aimed at keeping vulnerable youth away from drugs.

 

The boys and girls aged under 18, have been selected from four districts in Kerala identified as prone to drug use. The competition will be held on the four-a-side international slum soccer model, with fair play being an important component.

 

The Foundation’s Project Venda, which was launched six years ago, aims to actively engage vulnerable youngsters in sports and activities of interest to them. It has been recognized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as one of the best practices in working with children and young adults.

 

Usage: The example shows values of Empathy, Fairness, Community building, and Social responsibility

Facts for Prelims (FFP)

Source: BS

 Context: India fears that a proposal by the US under the “supply chains” pillar of the IPEF could violate WTO rules and reduce policy space.

US proposal: All IPEF partner nations would be required to give advance notification of any changes to export regulations and tariffs.

India’s concern: Notifications are usually done only after measures are taken and not before. India has therefore sought industry inputs to protect its interests.

The IPEF:

• It is an economic initiative launched by the US President Joe Biden on May 23, 2022.
• The framework launched with a total of 14 participating founding member nations in the Indo-Pacific region with an open invitation for other countries to join.
• The IPEF members represent 40% of the global GDP and 28% of the world’s trade.
• Analysts have compared it to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which the US withdrew from in 2017.

 

The IPEF has four pillars:

• Trade, supply chains, clean economy, and fair economy.
• India has yet to take a call on whether to join the trade pillar, though it has joined the other three.

 

Facts for Prelims (FFP)

 

Source: ET

Context:  Recently, Union Home Minister laid the foundation stone of various development projects of LPAI.

About the Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI):

Facts for Prelims (FFP)

Source: FE

 Context: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is working on increasing the share of the Build-Operate-Transfer (toll) model in highway construction to 10% of the total awards

 

Status of the model used:

As per the ICRA report: EPC will remain the mainstay of awarding contracts, accounting for 70-75% of total projects offered while BOT will be less than 5%.

 

Aim of NHAI: Building 60% of highways through HAM, 30% through EPC, and 10% through BOT (toll).

 

Changes proposed in BOT:

• NHAI will offer only viable projects with land already tied up for bidding, which can be completed on their own or with viability gap funding.
• NHAI will commit 90% of the construction zone (land for execution) for such projects
• Flexibility has been given to concession holders, allowing them to change ownership after a year instead of two years as was the rule earlier.
• Innovations like dispute resolution boards and sharing of traffic risk have been provided to make BOT (toll) more attractive.

 

Comparison of three models:

Facts for Prelims (FFP)

Source: PIB

Context: The Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways has launched the ‘Harit Sagar’ Green Port Guidelines to achieve the larger vision of achieving the Zero Carbon Emission Goal.

 

Key points of the ‘Harit Sagar Guidelines 2023’:

 

The ‘Sagar Shreshtha Samman’ awards were also conferred to major ports for their exceptional achievements in various operational parameters during the event.

 

Awards conferred to major ports during FY-2022-23:

Facts for Prelims (FFP)

Source: HBL

 

Context: Oil marketing companies (OMCs) receive 45% of contracted 514 crore litres of ethanol for the ethanol supply year (ESY) 2022-23 ending October. It will help them to increase blending to 11.65% against 10% during the same period a year ago.

 

Ethanol blending in India:

Facts for Prelims (FFP)

Source: PIB

 

Context: The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and the Ministry of Railways in India have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for ‘Station Area Development along Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail’ (Project-SMART)

 

Aim: To develop the areas surrounding the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Railway (MAHSR) stations to improve the accessibility and convenience of commuters and promote economic activities in the vicinity of station areas.

 

About Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR):

Facts for Prelims (FFP)

Source: IE

 Context: Car manufacturers have started providing ADAS which could create a safe traffic environment resulting in reduced accidental death.

Facts for Prelims (FFP)

 

Source: BS

Context: A new Android malware named ‘FluHorse’ has been discovered that targets users in Eastern Asia with fake carrier apps that mimic legitimate versions, such as the Taiwanese toll collection app ‘ETC’ and the Vietnamese banking app ‘VPBank Neo’.

 

The malicious apps are designed to extract sensitive information, including user credentials and Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) codes.

 

What is Android malware?

Android malware is malicious software designed to target Android smartphones and tablets. Malware can come in various forms, such as trojan horses, viruses, and spyware, and can be distributed through various channels, such as malicious apps, phishing emails, and websites.

 

What are Two-Factor Authentication codes?

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) codes are a security measure used to protect user accounts. In addition to requiring a password to access an account, 2FA adds an extra layer of security by requiring a unique code ( such as OTP) to be entered as well.