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
General Studies – 1
Topic: Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism.
Difficulty level: Tough
Reference: Live Mint , Insights on India.
Why the question:
Laws designed to prevent the proliferation of hate have proven to be ineffective.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the causes for the rise of revolutionary national movement and its contribution.
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.
Introduction:
Begin by defining hate speech.
Body:
First, in detail write about the impact of hate speech on society – affects human rights and the rule of law. If left unaddressed, it can lead to acts of violence and conflict on a wider scale etc.
Next, write in detail about various legal and constitutional measures that have been provided for curbing hate speech. Also, mention measures needed to curb hate speech.
Conclusion:
Conclude by writing a way forward.
Introduction
The term hate speech is understood as any kind of communication in speech, writing or behaviour, that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, color, descent, gender or other identity factor.
The Law Commission, in its 267th report on hate speech, said such utterances have the potential to provoke individuals and society to commit acts of terrorism, genocide, and ethnic cleansing.
There is no international legal definition of hate speech, and the characterization of what is ‘hateful’ is controversial and disputed.
Body
Impact on the society
- Hate speech is a discursive process of pushing marginalised groups outside of social, economic and political spheres of society by disseminating hate propaganda and encouraging discrimination.
- At its most harmful, it is widely recognized as a precursor to ethnic cleansing.
- Internal Security: The Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013 was triggered by a fake video that incited communal passions. In the West, hate speech combined with fake news on minorities has induced an anti-immigration sentiment (e.g. : France, Italy, Greece)
- User homophily and Bubble phenomenon: Users with matching political views exchange one-sided information and opinions that suit their own convictions, reinforcing them even further, even if those were based on false information. E.g. : Twitter prompts users to follow those who express similar views or posts.
- Igniting extremist sentiments: Fake news’ perpetuates, previously locally found, extremist ideas and groups together dangerously like-minded people e.g. – Neo-Nazis in Germany, Separatists in Kashmir.
- Mob lynching: Rumours of child lifting in Jharkhand led to mob lynching on innocent victims.
- Violence: An atmosphere of violence and chaos is created directly or indirectly. The Christchurch Terror attack on a mosque by an extremist was a result of Islamophobia (a direct result of hate speech).
- Misinformation and disinformation due to hate speech and fake news have led to riots as seen in the Delhi Riots case 2020.
Legal Provisions to deal with hate speech
- Indian Penal Code:
- Sections 153A and 153B of the IPC: Punishes acts that cause enmity and hatred between two groups.
- Section 295A of the IPC: Deals with punishing acts which deliberately or with malicious intention outrage the religious feelings of a class of persons.
- Sections 505(1) and 505(2): Make the publication and circulation of content which may cause ill-will or hatred between different groups an offence.
- Representation of People’s Act:
- Section 8 of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951 (RPA): Prevents a person convicted of the illegal use of the freedom of speech from contesting an election.
- Sections 123(3A) and 125 of the RPA: Bars the promotion of animosity on the grounds of race, religion, community, caste, or language in reference to elections and include it under corrupt electoral practices.
More measures needed
- For a country like India with a massive population of diverse backgrounds and culture, subjects like hate speech become a complex issue to deal with as it is difficult to differentiate between free and hate speech.
- Several factors are to be considered while restraining speeches like the number of strong opinions, offensive to certain communities, the effect on the values of dignity, liberty, and equality.
- Certainly, there are laws for such atrocities, but a major part of work is still left.
Way forward
- Clarity and technological upgradations needed to deal with this and a mechanism to get down such material, which is prone to disturb social setup.
- Improving the level of training in equality and non-discrimination among police forces and legal bodies, improving research and encouraging reporting of such content.
- Indian government has been pushing for internet platforms to locate their servers in the country, which might help address dangerous speech in real time.
- Generating contra-narratives on social networks and raising public awareness through campaigns to tackle extremism.
- There can be an internationally accepted law that places the responsibility on social media companies like Facebook to tackle hate speech by deleting obviously illegal content within 24 hours if there is a request from the Government of a particular nation.
- Social media platforms need to take responsibility to ensure transparency, accountability and a system of rules and guidelines that users can recognize as standards, and which when enforced in a regularized fashion can begin to act as precedents. Thus, users, police and civil society actors will have a clear sense of what kind of material is likely to be taken down.
- Public authorities must be held accountable for dereliction of the duty of care and also for non-compliance with this court’s orders by not taking action to prevent vigilante groups from inciting communal disharmony and spreading hate against citizens of the country and taking the laws into their own hands.
- Therefore, giving a proper definition to hate speech would be the first step to deal with the menace and other initiatives such as spreading awareness amongst the public is the need of the hour.
Topic: population and associated issues.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: Insights on India/
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 1.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the causes of falling TFR and the challenges it poses.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by giving context from the NFHS-5 data.
Body:
First, write about the factors that have contributed to declining TFR are: Higher education, increased mobility, late marriage, financial independence among women and overall prosperity.
Next, possible challenges that the falling TFR may lead to.
Conclusion:
Conclude by suggesting solutions to the challenges.
Introduction
Total fertility rate (TFR) indicates the average number of children expected to be born to a woman during her reproductive span of 15-49 years. The data in NFHS 2019-21, the fifth in the survey series, shows the fertility rate at 1.6 per cent in urban areas and 2.1 in rural India.
Body
Recently released data from National Family Health Survey’s fifth round (NFHS-5) reveal that India’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) has decreased to 2.0 from 2.2 in the previous round. TFR is the number of children born to a heterosexual couple during their reproductive life. Given that 2.1 is the figure at which the population is maintained at a stable level, taking into account the likelihood of some child deaths, the latest number suggests that the spectre of population explosion need no longer haunt India.
Even as the goal of population stabilisation is being achieved, it is imperative that we invest in fostering the health and wellbeing of all our people, throughout their life course. Decline in fertility frees up funds for investment in development of our human resources.
Value addition
Trends in the declining Total Fertility Rate in India
- NFHS-5 places the total fertility rate (TFR) at 2.0. known as replacement level of fertility. This decline is spread evenly across the country.
- 28 states and UTs have a TFR of 9 or less, with seven below 1.6.
- All southern states have a TFR of 1.7-1.8, similar to that of Sweden.
- Even states that have not reached replacement fertility — Bihar and Uttar Pradesh — seem to be head in that direction.
- Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan that were part of the lagging states have achieved TFRs of 0.
- With falling fertility (currently 2.0), the median age of India has risen from 24 years in 2011 to 29 years now and is expected to be 36 years by 2036.
- With a falling dependency ratio (expected to decrease from 65% to 54% in the coming decade taking 15-59 years as the working age population), India is in the middle of a demographic transition.
Reasons for falling fertility rate:
- Higher education, increased mobility, late marriage, financially independent women, overall prosperityare all contributing to a falling TFR.
- It goes below 2 in both urban and rural areas, where girls complete schooling and reduces further as they pass college.
- Bihar, with the highest TFR of 3.2, had the maximum percentage of illiterate women at 26.8%, while Kerala, where the literacy rate among women is 99.3%, had among the lowest fertility rates.
- Increased focus on family planning by use of Contraceptives, increased tubectomies and relatively lesser vasectomies have also contributed to the reducing TFR.
- Urbanization, reduced joint family system, increasing nuclear and single-parent families, higher cost of living in urban areas and higher wages have discouraged aspiring parents to reduce the number of kids.
- Working people in urban areas want better pay, implying that they have to reduce the number of children so as to increase the time they spend at their workplace.
- As more cities come up, people move for jobs and employment tenure gets shorter, TFR may fall further.
Decreasing fertility rate and its challenges:
- The decrease in fertility and the associated decrease in the dependency ratio, in turn lead to an increase in the share of the population concentrated in the working ages and hence in the ratio of the working age to the non-working age population.
- Dependency ratio:
- The proportion of workers rises sharply, even as the proportion of dependants falls. In many countries, the ratio of workers to dependents goes up, giving a huge boost to per capita income.
- India will see a significant rise in working age adults India’s dependency ratio that is the number of dependents to working people is low at 0.6, compared with the developed countries. That ratio is going to decline further with fertility rates continuing to fall.
- For the next few decades India will have a youthful, dynamic and productive workforce than the rest of the world.
- A demographic trend where the proportion of persons aged 15-24 in the population increases significantly compared to other age groups which paired with limited employment opportunities may contribute to increased poverty, hunger, malnutrition, poorer health, lower educational outcomes, child labour, unsupervised and abandoned children, and rising rates of domestic violence.
- Education constraints:
- There are serious problems with Indian higher education. These include a shortage of high quality faculty, poor incentive structures, lack of good regulation
- India is home to the world’s largest concentration of illiterate people in the world
- Health:
- At the primary level, there are also serious problems with health and nutrition that impact the effectiveness of education and the capacity for learning.
- In future large proportion of older working aged people who face longer periods of retirement, accumulate assets to support themselves.
Way forward:
- Health and education parameters need to be improved substantially to make the Indian workforce efficient and skilled.
- Enhance, support and coordinate private sector initiatives for skill development through appropriate Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models; strive for significant operational and financial involvement from the private sector
- Focus on underprivileged sections of society and backward regions of the country thereby enabling a move out of poverty; similarly, focus significantly on the unorganized or informal sector workforce.
- Measures should have pan Indian presence and not just concentrated in metropolitan cities as most of the workforce is likely to come from the rural hinterland.
- Investing in people through healthcare, quality education, jobs and skills helps build human capital, which is key to supporting economic growth, ending extreme poverty, and creating more inclusive societies
- New technology could be exploited to accelerate the pace of building human capital, including massive open online courses and virtual classrooms
- Policymakers should have a greater incentive to redouble their efforts to promote human capital so that it can contribute to economic growth and job creation
Value addition
Findings from NFHS-5
- NFHS-5 finds that there has been a significant increase in current use of any modern contraceptive method, which stands at 56.5 per cent in 2019-21 against 47.8 per cent in 2015-16. The share of condoms is 9.5 per cent against 5.6 per cent in 2015-16.
- The uptake of female sterilisation has gone up to 38 per cent against 36 per cent in 2015-16.
- The uptake of injectable contraceptives, introduced in 2017, remains abysmally low at 0.6 per cent.
- The increase in female sterilisation shows that the onus of family planning remains with women, with men not participating in the process and “shrugging responsibility.
- The quality of care in family planning has shown significant improvement with 62 per cent of current users reporting that they received information on side effects from service providers. This has increased from 46 per cent in the last survey.
- The number of women who have a bank account they operate themselves has increased significantly from 53 per cent in 2015-16 to 79 percent, the data show.
General Studies – 2
Topic: Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: Indian Express , Insights on India
Why the question:
The goal to become a developed nation a hundred years from independence is a worthy challenge. It can be achieved with the right mindset and people’s participation.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about good governance and its various dimensions and measures needed to achieve it.
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 good governance.
Body:
First, elaborate up on the various components of good governance.
Next, discuss in detail various dimensions of good governance in India – administration, g-governance, finances, infrastructure, welfare and people’s happiness etc.
Next, suggest reforms to achieve it.
Conclusion:
Conclude by stressing on the importance of good governance to India.
Introduction
The World Bank defines governance as the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country’s economic and social resources for development. Governance is defined as the exercise of power or authority by political leaders for the well-being of their country’s citizens or subjects. A great deal about governance is the proper and effective utilization of resources.
The World Bank defined Good Governance as “the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country’s economic and social resources for development”..
Body
Good governance has 8 major characteristics. ‘It is participatory, consensus-oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive and follows the rule of law. It assures that corruption is minimized, the views of minorities are taken into account and that the voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making. It is also responsive to the present and future needs of society.
Major Features of Good Governance:
- Participation
- People should be able to voice their own opinions through legitimate immediate organizations or representatives.
- This includes men and women, vulnerable sections of society, backward classes, minorities, etc.
- Participation also implies freedom of association and expression.
- Transparency
- Information should be accessible to the public and should be understandable and monitored.
- It also means free media and access of information to them.
- Rule of Law
- Legal framework should be enforced impartially, especially on human rights laws.
- Without rule of law, politics will follow the principle of matsya nyaya i.e. law of fish which means the strong will prevail over the weak.
- Responsiveness
- This implies that processes and institutions should serve all stakeholders within a reasonable time frame.
- Consensus oriented
- Consensus oriented decision-making ensures that even if everyone does not achieve what they want to the fullest, a common minimum can be achieved by everyone which will not be detrimental to anyone.
- Accountability
- Good governance aims towards betterment of people, and this can not take place without the government being accountable to the people.
- Governmental institutions, private sectors, and civil society organizations should be held accountable to the public and institutional stakeholders.
- Effectiveness and Efficiency
- Processes and institutions should be able to produce results that meet the needs of their community.
- Resources of the community should be used effectively for the maximum output.
- Equity and Inclusiveness
- Good governance assures an equitable society.
- People should have opportunities to improve or maintain their well-being.
Leveraging technology for good Governance
Legislation
- Technology-centric solutions can ensure work continuity in law-making institutions even when meetings can’t be held physically.
- These online meetings of legislative bodies will help in the furtherance of debate and deliberation on important issues.
- The establishment of e-legislature will help in reducing the frequent use of ordinances.
- Following this, Virtual parliament has been set up in the democracies like the UK, New Zealand, etc.
- The use of ICT platforms will enable proper functioning of parliamentary committees.
- Also, the added advantage could be that the committee could get to hear a wide range of stakeholders who might otherwise find it difficult to appear in person before the committees.
Judiciary
- By adopting initiatives like e-courts judiciary may reduce the backlog of cases.
Executive
- Many state governments have adopted Information Technology to automate processes like Digital Land Record management, Treasury management etc.
Participative democracy
- There is an unprecedented opportunity for community collective choice, whereby citizens who are affected by a set of governing rules can help to select and frame policy, rank spending priorities, and can, in partnership with their local government representatives,
- Such Mechanism may help in strengthening Social audit. For example, citizens can directly give suggestions to the government on myGOV platform.
Steps required to promote Good Governance in India
- There is imperative need to strengthen and widen the national public information infrastructure through developing information networks for wider access of digital information through wider use of information technologies.
- Changing the mindset of the government employees is important. This will be addressed to organizing programmes for orientation, training and capacity building.
- States may be advised to establish an independent public grievance redressal authority to deal with complaints of delay, harassment and corruption.
- Use of technology is critical in engendering good governance: Some examples abound in Government already, and many more are possible.
- There are startups such as Avantari and ai which use artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) to create “mass personalization” in advertising and communication.
- Good governance is also the responsibility of enlightened citizens who should give some thought to complex trade-offs like these and not just only demand good governance but also contribute to it.
- To ensure sustainable human development, actions must be taken to work towards this ideal with the aim of making it a reality.
Conclusion:
Good governance is significant in public institutions to conduct and manage public affairs and resources to guarantee human rights in free of abuse and corruption, and with due regard for the rule of law. Good governance is thus, a function of installation of positive virtues of administration and elimination of vices of dysfunctionalities. It makes the government work effective, credible and legitimate in administrative system and citizen-friendly, value caring and people-sharing.
Topic: Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.
Difficulty level: Tough
Reference: Indian Express
Why the question:
A parliamentary standing committee on labour, textiles and skill development in its 52nd report on ‘National Policy on Child Labourers’ has said that it was “practically not possible” to meet the international commitment to eliminating child labour by 2025.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the steps taken to eradicate child labour and further measures needed to end this menace completely.
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 statistics related to prevalence of Child labour in the country.
Body:
First, write in detail about the policy and programmatic interventions targeted and eliminating child labour and its impact. Write about the factors which continue to the menace of child labour.
Next, write about the measures that are needed in order to end this menace completely.
Conclusion:
Conclude with way forward.
Introduction
Child labour typically means the employment of children in any manual work with or without payment. It is a deep rooted social ill in India. As per the 2011 Census, in the age group 5-14 years, 10.1 million of 259.6 million constituted working children. Even though there was a decline in the number of working children to 3.9% in 2011 from 5% in 2001, the decline rate is grossly insufficient to meet target 8.7 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is to end child labour in all forms by 2025.
A parliamentary standing committee on labour, textiles and skill development in its 52nd report on ‘National Policy on Child Labourers’ has said that it was “practically not possible” to meet the international commitment to eliminating child labour by 2025.
Body
Current state of Child Labour in India:
Efforts taken to eradicate child labour in India:
- Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act(1986)to prohibit the engagement of children in certain employments and to regulate the conditions of work of children in certain other employments
- Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016 : The Amendment Act completely prohibits the employment of children below 14 years.
- The amendment also prohibits the employment of adolescents in the age group of 14 to 18 years in hazardous occupations and processes and regulates their working conditions where they are not prohibited.
- On World Day Against Child Labour (June 12) in 2017, India ratified two core conventionsof the International Labour Organization on child labour.
- National Policy on Child Labour (1987), with a focus more on rehabilitation of children working in hazardous occupations and processes, rather than on prevention.
- Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act2000and amendment of the JJ Act in 2006: includes the working child in the category of children in need of care and protection, without any limitation of age or type of occupation.
- Section 23 (cruelty to Juvenile) and Section 26 (exploitation of juvenile employee)specifically deal with child labour under children in need of care and protection.
- Pencil: The government has launched a dedicated platform viz. pencil.gov.in to ensure effective enforcement of child labour laws and end child labour.
- The Right to Education Act 2009has made it mandatory for the state to ensure that all children aged six to 14 years are in school and receive free education. Along with Article 21A of the Constitution of India recognizing education as a fundamental right, this constitutes a timely opportunity to use education to combat child labour in India.
- Amendments made to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Actprescribes severe punishment for people found guilty of retaining bonded labour.
- The amendment stipulates rigorous imprisonment for those who force children to beg, handle or carry human waste and animal carcasses.
- The draft National Policy for Domestic Workers, when goes into force, will ensure minimum Rs.9,000 salary for household helpers.
- Every police station in the country has a separate cell for juvenile, women and child protection.
- Many NGOs like Bachpan Bachao Andolan, CARE India, Child Rights and You, Global march against child labour, RIDE India, Child line etc. have been working to eradicate child labour in India.
Gaps still persist:
- Multiple forms exist: Child labour is not uniform. It takes many forms depending upon the type of work that children are made to do, the age and sex of the child and whether they work independently or with families.
- Due to this complex nature of child labour, there is no one strategy that can be used to eliminate it.
- The absence of national legislation to give effect to global conventions on the employment of children in hazardous industries, as well as on the minimum age of work.
- The lack of harmony between global commitments and domestic priorities.
- Incoherency between laws that prescribe a minimum age for employment and those for completion of compulsory school education. It also means that the expansion of quality universal basic education has to extend beyond the fulfilment of statutory provisions.
- Lack of effective labour inspections in the informal economy. Around 71% of working children are concentrated in the agriculture sector, with 69% of them undertaking unpaid work in family units.
Way forward:
- Abolition of child trafficking, elimination of poverty, free and compulsory education, and basic standards of living can reduce the problem to a great extent.
- Strict implementation of labour laws is also essential in order to prevent exploitation by parties or multinational companies
- Strengthening policy and legislative enforcement, and building the capacities of government, workers’ and employers’ organisations as well as other partners at national, State and community levels should be prioritized.
- Education:
- Spreading literacy and education is a potent weapon against the practice of child labour, because illiterate persons do not understand the implications of child labour
- The single most effective way to stem the flow of school-aged children into child labour is to improve access to and quality of schooling.
- Eradicate Unemployment:
- Another way to stop child labour is to eliminate or rein in unemployment. Because of inadequate employment, many families cannot afford to meet all their expenses. If employment opportunities are increased, they will be able to let their children read and write and become worthy citizens
- Continued progress against child labour requires policies that help mitigate the economic vulnerability of households. Accelerating progress towards universal social protection is key, as social protection helps prevent poor households from having to rely on child labour as a coping mechanism.
- Attitude change:
- It is important that the attitudes and mindsets of people are changed to instead employ adults and allow all children to go to school and have the chance to learn, play and socialize as they should.
- A sector-wide culture of child labour-free businesses has to be nurtured.
Conclusion:
Eliminating child labour is firmly placed within Goal 8 of the SDGs. A stronger nexus between the discourse on SDGs and the discourse on eliminating child labour can take the advantage of complementarities and synergies of a wide range of actors engaged in both areas of work. The fight against child labour is not just the responsibility of one, it is the responsibility of all.
General Studies – 3
Topic: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: The Hindu , Insights on India
Why the question:
There are many indications everywhere that India continues to be going through a jobs crisis. Official data sources as well as many on-the-ground reports point to this fact.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about causes behind unemployment and measures need to create jobs.
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 citing statistic to give a current scenario of unemployment in the country.
Body:
First, write about the causes behind unemployment in India – historical, unequal growth, lack of job specialisation, automation related losses etc.
Next, suggest measures that are needed in order to ensure job creation and to reduce unemployment in the country.
Conclusion:
Conclude by writing a way forward.
Introduction
The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data recently reported a decline in India’s unemployment rate in urban areas to 6.6% during April-June 2023 against 7.6% a year ago period. The 19th Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) noted that the unemployment rate (UR) for persons aged 15 years and above in Urban areas was 7.6% in April-June 2022. It was 6.8% in January-March 2023, 7.2% in July-September 2022 as well as October-December 2022.
In a jobless growth economy, unemployment remains stubbornly high even as the economy grows. This tends to happen when a relatively large number of people have lost their jobs, and the ensuing recovery is insufficient to absorb the unemployed, under-employed, and those first entering the workforce. Jobless growth of the Indian economy is a “5C” problem: a Complicated Condition Created by Combinations of Causes.
Body
Causes of unemployment in India
- Jobless growth: There is mounting concern that future growth could turn out to be jobless due to de-industrialization, de-globalization, the fourth industrial revolution and technological progress. As per the NSSO Periodic Labour Force Survey 2017-18, India’s labour force participation rate for the age-group 15-59 years is around 53%, that is, around half of the working age population is jobless.
- Asymmetric demography:The growth in the working-age ratio is likely to be concentrated in some of India’s poorest states and the demographic dividend will be fully realized only if India is able to create gainful employment opportunitiesfor this working-age population.
- Lack of skills:Most of the new jobs that will be created in the future will be highly skilled and lack of skill in Indian workforce is a major challenge. India may not be able to take advantage of the opportunities, due to alow human capital base and lack of skills.
- Low human development parameters:India ranks 130 out of 189 countries in UNDP’s Human Development Index, which is alarming. Therefore, health and education parameters need to be improved substantiallyto make the Indian workforce efficient and skilled.
- Informal nature of economy in Indiais another hurdle in reaping the benefits of demographic transition in India.
Public sector employment as a remedy: Critical analysis
- The latest data showed that there were 86 lakh vacant jobsamong all central government civilian posts as of March 2020.
- The government recently announcedAgnipath scheme for youth as a contract employment of four years.
- But even this measure would be ameliorative in the real economy that continues to remain distressed, a consequence ofeffects of the pandemic in the last few years.
- The country cannot afford to squander more years in its race to reap the benefits of its demographic dividend, and the push to provide jobs for those seeking to enter the labour force, even if belated, will help ease matters for the medium term.
- Real jobs in manufacturing, industries, MSME’s are the key to reaping demographic dividend. Skill development will also help in youth getting jobs in high paying services sector.
Measure needed and way forward
- Building human capital:Investing in people through healthcare, quality education, jobs and skills helps build human capital, which is key to supporting economic growth, ending extreme poverty, and creating a more inclusive society.
- Skill developmentto increase employability of young population. India’s labour force needs to be empowered with the right skills for the modern economy. Government has established the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) with the overall target of skilling/ up skilling 500 million people in India by 2022..
- Education:Enhancing educational levels by properly investing in primary, secondary and higher education. India, which has almost 41% of population below the age of 20 years, can reap the demographic dividend only if with a better education system. Also, academic-industry collaboration is necessary to synchronise modern industry demands and learning levels in academics.
- Establishment of Higher Education Finance Agency (HEFA)is a welcome step in this direction.
- Health:Improvement in healthcare infrastructure would ensure higher number of productive days for young labourforce, thus increasing the productivity of the economy.
- Success of schemes like Ayushman Bharatand National Health Protection scheme (NHPS) is necessary. Also nutrition level in women and children needs special care with effective implementation of Integrated Child Development (ICDS) programme.
- Job Creation:The nation needs to create ten million jobs per year to absorb the addition of young people into the workforce. Promoting businesses’ interests and entrepreneurship would help in job creation to provide employment to the large labourforce.
- India’s improved ranking in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Indexis a good sign.
- Schemes like Start-up Indiaand Make in India , if implemented properly, would bring the desired result in the near future.
- Urbanisation:The large young and working population in the years to come will migrate to urban areas within their own and other States, leading to rapid and large-scale increase in urban population. How these migrating people can have access to basic amenities, health and social services in urban areas need to be the focus of urban policy planning.
- Schemes such as Smart City Mission andAMRUT needs to be effectively and carefully implemented.
Conclusion
India is on the right side of demographic transition that provides golden opportunity for its rapid socio-economic development, if policymakers align the developmental policies with this demographic shift.
To reap the demographic dividend, proper investment in human capital is needed by focussing on education, skill development and healthcare facilities.
Value-addition
Steps taken by government in recent times
- Dedicated Shram Suvidha Portal:That would allot Labor Identification Number (LIN) to units and allow them to file online compliance for 16 out of 44 labor laws.
- Random Inspection Scheme:To eliminate human discretion in selection of units for Inspection, and uploading of Inspection Reports within 72 hours of inspection mandatory.
- Universal Account Number:Enables 4.17 crore employees to have their Provident Fund account portable, hassle-free and universally accessible.
- Apprentice Protsahan Yojana:Government will support manufacturing units mainly and other establishments by reimbursing 50% of the stipend paid to apprentices during first two years of their training.
- Revamped Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana:Introducing a Smart Card for the workers in the unorganized sector seeded with details of two more social security schemes.
- The National Career Service is being implemented as a mission mode project to provide various job-related services information on skills development courses, internships etc
General Studies – 4
Topic: Citizen’s Charters
Difficulty Level: Easy
Reference: Insights on India
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 4 and part of Mission-2024 Secure.
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 defining citizen charter.
Body:
First, mention the shortcoming of citizen charters – not formulated through a consultative process, lack of awareness, absence of grievance redressal etc.
Next, suggest steps to overcome the above shortcomings.
Conclusion:
Conclude by stressing on need to make the charters effective to provide high quality public service delivery.
Introduction
A Citizens’ Charter represents the commitment of the Organisation towards standard, quality and time frame of service delivery, grievance redress mechanism, transparency and accountability. The concept of Citizens Charter enshrines the trust between the service provider and its users.
Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances in Government of India (DARPG) initiated the task of coordinating, formulating and operationalising Citizen’s Charters.
Body
The basic objective of the Citizens Charter is to empower the citizen in relation to public service delivery.
Importance of Citizen’s charter in the Governance of developing nation like India:
- To make administration accountable and citizen friendly.
- To ensure transparency.
- To take measures to improve customer service.
- To adopt a stakeholder approach.
- To save time of both Administration and the citizen
Problems faced in implementation of Citizen’s charter:
- One size fits all: Tendency to have a uniform CC for all offices under the parent organization. CC have still not been adopted by all Ministries/Departments. This overlooks local issues.
- Silo operations: Devoid of participative mechanisms in a majority of cases, not formulated through a consultative process with cutting edge staff who will finally implement it.
- Non-Dynamic: Charters are rarely updated making it a one-time exercise, frozen in time.
- Poor design and content: lack of meaningful and succinct CC, absence of critical information that end-users need to hold agencies accountable.
- Lack of public awareness: only a small percentage of end-users are aware of the commitments made in the CC since effective efforts of communicating and educating the public about the standards of delivery promise have not been undertaken.
- Stakeholders not consulted: End-users, Civil society organizations and NGOs are not consulted when CCs are drafted. Since a CC’s primary purpose is to make public service delivery more citizen-centric, consultation with stakeholders is a must.
- Measurable standards of delivery are rarely defined: making it difficult to assess whether the desired level of service has been achieved or not.
- Poor adherence: Little interest shown by the organizations in adhering to their CC. since there is no citizen friendly mechanism to compensate the citizen if the organization defaults.
Way forward:
- Wide consultation process: CC be formulated after extensive consultations within the organization followed by a meaningful dialogue with civil society.
- Participatory process: Include Civil Society in the process: to assist in improvement in the contents of the Charter, its adherence as well as educating the citizens about the importance of this vital mechanism.
- Firm commitments to be made: CC must be precise and make firm commitments of service delivery standards to the citizens/consumers in quantifiable terms wherever possible.
- Redressal mechanism in case of default: clearly lay down the relief which the organization is bound to provide if it has defaulted on the promised standards of delivery.
- One size does not fit all: formulation of CC should be a decentralized activity with the head office providing only broad guidelines.
- Periodic updation of CC: preferably through an external agency.
- Fix responsibility: Hold officers accountable for results: fix specific responsibility in cases where there is a default in adhering to the CC.
Conclusion
Citizen’s Charter is playing a prominent part in ensuring “minimum government & maximum governance”, changing the nature of charters from non-justiciable to justiciable & adopting penalty measures that will make it more efficient & citizen friendly. The Sevottam model proposed by 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission for public Service Delivery can be regarded as a standard model for providing services in citizen centric governance.
Topic: Utilization of public funds;
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude by Lexicon Publications.
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 4 and part of Mission-2024 Secure.
Key Demand of the question:
To explain how transparency in utilization of public funds of the country will improve it efficacy.
Directive:
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:
Discuss the importance of transparency and accountability in public funds.
Body:
Explain the lacunae in the country with respect to utilization of public funds such as corruption, nepotism, incomplete works, bad quality work, siphoning funds etc.
Discuss the significance of Transparency and efficiency as tools for monitoring and supervising distribution of public fund.
Explain various mechanisms through which it can be done – Public Fund Management System, Auditing agencies – CAG, Budgeting – Outcome based budgeting, zero base budgeting, Participation and transparency – Social Auditing, Financial Prudence etc.
Conclusion:
Summarize of this will aid in the developmental process of the country as well as reduce corrupt practices.
Introduction
‘Public money ought to be touched with the most scrupulous conscientiousness of honor. It is not the produce of riches only, but of the hard earnings of labour and poverty.’ – Thomas Paine.
Efficient utilisation of public funds is necessary for judicious use of financial resources to satisfy the needs of the present society in such a way that it doesn’t compromise the capability of societies of future generations to meet their own needs.
Body:
Lack of transparency remains a major impediment in utilization of public funds due to
- Corruption
- The large sum of money earmarked for public activities are taken away by officials as well as politicians in form of bribes. This results in funds not able to contribute towards development.
- As our former Prime Minister had remarked, “only 15 paisa for every rupee spent on public welfare actually reaches to the masses”, thereby highlighting the gravity of ineffective utilization of funds in our country
- Ex: Money allocated for construction of houses for poor is consumed by corrupt officials.
- Political rivalry
- Sometimes political class indulges in act of vendetta where they do not cooperate in allocation or release of funds to their opposition. They hope to reap the anger against their opponents for their political gains.
- Ex: Government in power not allocating developmental funds to opposition MLAs.
- Diversion
- The funds allocated to one activity is diverted to another in order to meet strict control over finances.
- Ex: Funds allocated to road repair is diverted to giving freebies.
- Red-tapism
- Colonial bureaucratic attitude sometimes acts as hinderance in carrying out developmental activities. They complicate the process due to which funds are not properly utilized.
Measures to enhance of transparency and accountability:
- It is vital to uphold the ‘social contract’. Citizens must be confident that they are protected by the law and that public institutions and servants will act in accordance with it.
- Public institutions with operational independence from political control are more likely to be trusted to act in the public interest.
- A well-informed population is far more likely to be confident about investing for the future. This means both providing appropriate information in ways that are accessible and easy to understand, and educating citizens as well as inviting them to participate in decision making.
- Effective public financial management requires that decision-makers, citizens and other stakeholders, are able to ‘follow the money’ to see how taxes were raised, why decisions to spend it were made, how the money was actually spent and what was bought.
- Where government plans and activities are measured against expected outputs and outcomes, citizens and other stakeholders will be able to judge the performance of government. This, in turn, provides the basis for feedback and continuous improvement mechanisms.
- For the public to believe that public officials will do the right thing, a range of controls to promote integrity and ethical behaviour and to tackle fraud and corruption are required.
- Most importantly, the public must believe that individuals will be held responsible for their actions, no matter who they are.
- A climate for investment is created when investors believe a state is stable, well run and that political and fiscal risks will be managed effectively.
Conclusion:
It is important for citizens to trust that the government will act in their interest, if they are to invest their own private resources and so create economic activity and employment. Efficient utilisation of public funds requires a number of reforms for good governance such as decentralisation of power, plugging legislative loopholes, strengthening the public Institutions like CVC and RTI, enhancing administrative accountability and making society more democratic. These reforms could make society more sustainable in the long run.
Value addition
Four principles underpin trust in the public finances:
- Transparency −accurate records that show where money is raised and spent.
- Assurance − figures and processes are checked by independent experts.
- Accountability −decision makers are clearly identified and subject to strict rules and review of performance and outcomes.
- Objectivity − policies are based on accurate information and rigorous analysis
Join our Official Telegram Channel HERE
Please subscribe to Our podcast channel HERE
Subscribe to our YouTube ChannelHERE
Follow our Twitter Account HERE
Follow our Instagram ID HERE
Follow us on LinkedIn : HERE
