04 October 2023

MAINS DAILY QUESTIONS & MODEL ANSWERS

Q1. Due to their dependence on natural resources, women are disproportionately affected by climate change. Discuss the difficulties that women are facing as a result of climate change in this setting. What actions need to be taken to solve these issues?

GS I – Women Empowerment

Challenges brought on by climate change for women include:

• Impact on sources of livelihood: Women rely more on natural resources, but they also have less access to them. Obtaining food, water, fuel, and other household energy resources falls overwhelmingly on women in rural areas. However, as droughts worsen, floods become more frequent, and rainfall becomes more variable, women will inevitably have to go further and spend more time obtaining these kinds of income.
• Women in low-income nations work in occupations that are vulnerable to the effects of climate change, such as farming and other labor-intensive jobs. Over 60% of working women in southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are still employed in agriculture, where they are frequently underpaid and overworked, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
• Impact on health: Due to their preexisting lack of access to healthcare and Medicare services, women’s and girls’ health is also seriously threatened by climate change. Risks are so increased even more, particularly those that pertain to mother and child health. Climate change has also significantly accelerated the spread of vector-borne illnesses like malaria, dengue fever, fever, and Zika virus. It is common knowledge that these illnesses affect maternal and newborn outcomes.
• Increased violence: According to a UN research, women and girls make up 80% of the displaced people due to climate-related disasters. Women who have been uprooted are more prone to discrimination, sexual exploitation, and violence. For instance, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) discovered that women were more vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation after the 2015 earthquake in Nepal.
• Food security: Agriculture’s production is significantly impacted by climate change. For crop production and food security, changing precipitation patterns and an increase in extreme weather events have serious consequences. Women who work in agriculture often lack technical knowledge and access to high-quality inputs. Women who work as farmers and workers are thus at greater danger.

The following actions can be performed to alleviate the problems caused by climate change for women:

• Investing in education: If we want to be able to withstand the effects of climate change, we must make investments in women’s education, training, and access to resources.
• Promoting sustainable agriculture: By educating people on sustainable agriculture, water management, and energy production, we can lessen the negative effects of climate change on people’s living conditions. For instance, the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) teaches women farmers in India how to adapt to changing climatic trends in order to better sustain themselves.
• Gender parity in decision-making: Women’s involvement in climate decision-making at all levels is essential for successful mitigation and adaptation policies as well as for landing quality jobs.
• Countries should work towards gender equality in local, national, and international climate planning and policy making, acknowledging the relevance of gender in climate planning.
• Gender Action Plans: It’s critical to implement gender action plans for climate change. This necessitates funding participatory plans with a wide range of stakeholders and industries. This will also support utilising the distinctive expertise and viewpoints of women.
• As a result, climate change is a “threat multiplier” that exacerbates gender inequality by escalating socio-economic and political conflicts.

Q2. Discuss the concerns brought forth in relation to the country’s frequent abuse of the laws governing preventive detention. Exist any protections against the abuse of preventative detention?

GS II – Government Policies and Interventions

• When the administration believes that a person may commit some wrongdoing that would be detrimental to the state, it may place that person in preventive custody. It permits the imprisonment of a person without their being put on trial or found guilty by a judge. The provisions for preventive detention are covered in Article 22 of the constitution. Preventive detention cases increased by about 23.7% in 2021 compared to 2020, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

Problems associated with the country’s widespread abuse of rules governing preventive detention:

• In opposition to personal liberties: Preventive detention deals a fatal blow to those rights. Even in times of peace, the use of preventive detention is viewed as out of date.
• In violation of international standards: The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) states that no one may be arbitrarily detained or arrested. Furthermore, there is no equivalent rule in effect during peacetime in advanced democracies (such as the USA and Britain).
• It is used for frivolous reasons: In India, preventative detention has been used frequently, even for frivolous reasons. For instance, in Telangana, a man who sold subpar chilli seeds was jailed because he was a “goonda.”
• It is paradoxical that the framers of the Constitution, who having previously been subject to the rules governing preventive detention, yet decided to give the government the authority to enact such laws within the terms of the Constitution. Preventive detention rules, according to the supreme court, are a vestige of colonialism and give the state arbitrary authority.
• Non-compliance with procedural protections: For many years, the Supreme Court and the High Courts have expressed concern about the executive branch’s disregard for procedural safeguards while handling the rights of detainees.
• For instance, the majority of detentions are eventually overturned, and the most typical cause is an unjustified delay in the resolution of protests that the detainees file to the authorities in opposition to their detention.
• Preventive detention is typically opposed to democratic ideals and odious to the rule of law, according to the Indian Supreme Court in Rekha v. State of Tamil Nadu.

The rights and protections that are given in the context of preventative detention are covered by Article 22 of the Indian Constitution:

• In order to give the detainee the opportunity to exercise their right to representation, the reasons for the custody should be communicated to them as soon as feasible. However, the state has the right to withhold information that it deems to be against the general welfare.
• The length of custody: Unless an advisory board finds appropriate grounds for extended detention, no statute authorising preventative detention may authorise the imprisonment of a person for a duration of more than three months. High court justices are to make up the board.
• The duration of imprisonment without consulting an advisory board was shortened from three to two months by the 44th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1978. This clause has not yet become effective, nevertheless.
• Right to representation: The holding institution must give the detainee the earliest opportunity to object to the detention order.
• Other protections: According to the supreme court, preventative detention cannot be used to combat routine law and order issues. It is a “exceptional power” of the state and should only be used in limited circumstances.
• A legislative framework is required to establish protections to ensure fair procedure when dealing with detention because of the increased frequency and ease with which preventative detention has been used throughout time. According to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), preventive detention regulations must strike a balance between protecting individual liberties and maintaining national security.