MAINS DAILY QUESTIONS & MODEL ANSWERS
Q1. What can be done to alleviate the issue of occupational segregation in the labour market caused by India’s patriarchal societal structure?
GS I – Indian Economy related issues
Introduction:
- A complicated and enigmatic system of authority and control in society is the patriarchy. A patriarchal system is one that has long been in place in every society on the planet and is dominated by men. In essence, it is a male-dominated system that governs many facets of life, including moral authority, social privilege, decision-making, property ownership, political leadership, and so forth. Due to long-standing customs from the past and women’s subservience, middle-class working women in India now face difficulties.
The effects of patriarchy in the workforce:
Double workload:
- Women are finding themselves working outside the home more and more as a result of India’s economic recovery in the years following the 1990s.
- However, because of the nuclearization of the family and the high cost of labour, their autonomy has taken the shape of having to work both at home and in the office.
- The patriarchal expectation that women take care of the home and raise the children has an impact on how far up the corporate ladder they can go.
Restricted work locations:
- Women’s freedom to pick their own career path is severely curtailed; in recent years, they have been mainly restricted to the service sector, sometimes known as the pink sector, which includes professions in sales, information technology, customer service, and other related fields.
Salary disparity:
- Women frequently suffer from patriarchy in the form of poor pay, even when they are just as qualified for jobs as men are.
Concern for safety:
- Due to the frequent need for continual relocation for work, women are discouraged from seeking job in the first place as a result of the rise in violent crimes against them. This further lowers India’s low rates of women participating in the labour force.
The current need is:
- Behavioural Nudge: This includes encouraging women and girls to pursue careers in fields that have historically been dominated by men, such computer technology and the military forces, or utilising taxes as a means of promoting equitable child-care sharing. For instance, the Indian Supreme Court ruled that women might now occupy leadership roles in the armed forces.
- Men inherit paternity, which allows them to share in childrearing duties.
- encouraging businesses to hire women in order to meet the 50% target.
Gender Equality in the Workplace:
- Closing the pay gap for equivalent labour.
- Enacting strict legislation to make workplaces safer. The Sexual Harassment at Workplaces Act was passed in India.
- Encourage all staff members to take anti-bias and diversity training.
- In-depth leadership development programmes to help women succeed in their careers.
- Gender Sensitization: Educating families, schools, and workplaces on gender issues in order to break down social barriers. For example, texts that promoted bias and gender roles were eliminated from the NCERT books.
- Social Security and financial literacy: More work should be done to formalise occupations so that many women can benefit from them. Women working in the unorganised sector should get social security benefits up until that point. For instance, the Indian Self-Help Group-Bank Linkage Programme.
- One place to start could be by incorporating financial literacy into initiatives where women are heavily represented.
- To increase the number of women in the workforce, strong legislation and regulations pertaining to maternity benefits and equal pay for equal work are required.
- Political Representation: Women in Panchayats and Local Bodies in India are granted a 33% reservation. Training and capacity building can help them become even more capable.
Way Forward:
- Gender equality is a human right that guarantees everyone the freedom and dignity to live their life as they choose. Additionally, progress and the reduction of poverty are contingent upon gender equality. Women’s potential shouldn’t be restricted by their gender in an irrational way.
Q2. In light of Japan’s newly unveiled strategy for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific, discuss the geopolitical issues the region is currently facing and how this new endeavour will contribute to their resolution.
GS II – International Issues
Introduction:
- A new geopolitical concept called the Indo-Pacific has replaced the long-standing “Asia-Pacific.” The objective of Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) is to restrain China’s increasing assertiveness within the Indo-Pacific area.
- The Japanese PM discussed ideas for strengthening the Japan-India Special Strategic and Global Partnership while in India and presented Japan’s New Plan for a FOIP.
- At this momentous juncture in world history, Japan’s New Plan for the FOIP emphasises the importance of maintaining the rules-based order and respecting one another’s territorial sovereignty.
Under the new FOIP, cooperation is based on four pillars:
- Rules for prosperity and principles for peace: Japan is interested in participating in economic development initiatives like the G-20 Principles for “Quality Infrastructure Investment.”
- Taking on difficulties in the Indo-Pacific region by incorporating doable and useful projects in a variety of fields, including cybersecurity, global health, food security, and climate change.
- Multi-layered connectivity: Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the South Pacific/Pacific Island nations have been designated as the three regions in need of additional implementation of such projects. Japan has pledged to do the following new:
- Contribution of $100 million to the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund
- In collaboration with Bangladesh and India, it will advance the Bay of Bengal-Northeast India industrial value chain idea, among other things.
- Bringing security and safe maritime operations from the “sea” to the “air”: Japan will support international maritime law enforcement agencies’ capacity-building. In order to achieve these goals,
- “Strategic use of Official Development Assistance (ODAs)” will be implemented in Japan.
- Additionally, Japan declared that by 2030, it would mobilise about $75 billion in public and private contributions for infrastructure development.
The region’s geopolitical challenges include:
- Ukraine was invaded by Russia.
- various nations’ stances on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
- food safety.
- the internet.
- among other things, connection and maritime freedom.
- difference in opinion over “what the international order should be.”
How may the new FOIP be useful?
- It will be possible for FOIP to collaborate and foster an environment of harmony rather than conflict and division by working with and embracing different viewpoints.
- Dialogue-based rule-making ought to be promoted.
- Under the FOIP, Japan is expected to collaborate with other like-minded nations in the area, with India being referred to as a “indispensable” partner.
Directions for the future and conclusion:
- Japan must take considerably greater action in the area.
- Japan is becoming ready for any unanticipated danger to both its own security and the security of the region.
- In order to bolster the notion that Japan has been the
- The principal proponent of the FOIP idea
- essential to the developing Indo-Pacific geopolitics
- The FOIP concept needs a new lease on life in light of current global developments (the war between Russia and Ukraine, Chinese aggressiveness in the SCS and ECS, the Indian LAC, and the Taiwan Straits).
- It focuses on the many issues that the Indo-Pacific region faces, like the absence of a consensus on “what the world order should be?”
- India and Japan, who respectively hold the presidencies in the G-7 and G-20 summits, should work together to foster agreement on the new Framework of Investment Protection.
- According to international law, all of the countries in the region should have equal access to common spaces on the sea and in the air, which would include unrestricted commerce, freedom of navigation, and the peaceful resolution of conflicts in line with international law.
- Establishing connection in the region on the basis of good governance, consultation, sustainability, viability, and respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity is crucial.
