12 July 2023

MAINS DAILY QUESTIONS & MODEL ANSWERS

Q1. India has made significant progress in reducing gender disparities. Describe the steps taken by the government in this situation to close the gender gap. What else, in your opinion, can be done to keep this momentum going?

Paper & Topic: GS II – Women Empowerment

• In the World Economic Forum’s 2023 annual Gender Gap Report, India is currently ranked 127th out of 146 countries, going up eight points. India received a score of 135 in the report’s 2022 iteration. According to the report, enrollment across all educational levels had reached parity in the nation. India stands to benefit more than any other nation in the world from a reduction in gender inequality and an increase in women’s engagement in society.

The following are some government initiatives to narrow the gender gap:

Economic potential:

• Mahila Shakti Kendra’s (MSK) goal is to give rural women opportunities for professional growth.
• Low-interest microcredit is made available to impoverished women by the elitist microfinance group Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) for a variety of subsistence and income-generating activities.
• The National Crèche Scheme ensures that women pursue meaningful employment by providing children with a safe, secure, and engaging environment.
• The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) aims to enable many young people in India, including women, to register in training for skills that are pertinent to their line of work in order to secure a better standard of living.
• Giving women the opportunity to improve their skills and find market-based work is the goal of the Deen Dayal Upadhyay National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM).

Health & Safety:

• The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) campaign seeks to safeguard girls against sexism that is based on gender, to secure their survival and safety, and to encourage their engagement in and pursuit of education.
• The Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojna aims to provide maternity benefits to expectant and nursing mothers.

Academic Excellence:

• The school education system has adopted the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005, significant programmes including Samagra Shiksha, and the ensuing Right to Education Act (RTE).
• The Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) have been created in Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs).
• The introduction of a gender sensitization module as part of in-service training, the construction of lavatories for girls, the construction of housing for female instructors, and curriculum adjustments are other ways gender sensitization is carried out.

Involvement in politics:

• To increase the representation of women in local political leadership, the government has set aside 33% of the seats in Panchayati Raj Institutions for them.

What further can be done to strengthen this accomplishment?

• Increasing the proportion of women serving in parliament: According to the gender gap report, only 15.1% of parliamentarians are female. This should spur Parliament to enact the Women’s Reservation Bill, which asks for allocating 33% of the seats in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies to women, in order to advance the problem.
• India ranks close to the bottom, with less than 40% equity, in terms of ensuring equal access for men and women to economic involvement and opportunity. On the one hand, salary and income parity has increased, but the proportion of women in technical and senior positions has fallen.
• Increasing female labour force participation: With a meagre 30% participation rate, India has one of the lowest rates of female employment among growing nations. The formal sector should provide more opportunities for women to engage, and their labour should be adequately compensated.
• Nutritional Improvement: Women’s and girls’ nutrition will be improved through encouraging more egalitarian eating behaviours. For example, women’s cooperatives and SHGs should design and implement their microplans to improve nutrition in their communities.
• Policy measures: The federal and state governments should put programmes into place to support women’s leadership in local governance.
• Gender equality is not just a fundamental human right, but also a requirement for a prosperous, stable, and sustainable planet. Gender equality in India is the secret to all the long-term success that our nation eventually deserves. India’s achievement of SDG Goal 5 will be aided by taking the appropriate actions to alleviate gender inequality.

Q2. What does this Montesquieu quotation mean to you? “The apathy of a citizen in a democracy is more dangerous to the public welfare than the tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy.”

Paper & Topic: GS IV – Ethics related issues

• In his book The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu presented the aforementioned quotation as well as a taxonomy of communities. He believes that democracies demonstrate that a country’s citizens are the ultimate decision-makers or sovereigns. In order to characterise the ideal form of government, he focused on the concept of separation of powers, in which the executive, judicial, and legislative branches have a great degree of independence from one another.

How apathy towards public welfare develops in democracies:

• Montesquieu believed that democracy required “constant preference of public over private interest” and “limits ambition to the sole desire, to the sole happiness, of doing greater services to our country than the other fellow citizens.”
• However, this dedication to brotherhood and the common good may be compromised when people view themselves through “the spirit of inequality” and “the spirit of extreme equality.”
• People who feel entitled to more than what others receive are more likely to break the law and disregard their sense of civic responsibility in order to benefit themselves, such as through corruption, and will also be more likely to feel this way when there is an attitude of inequality.
• People view persons in positions of authority, such as police officers or administrative personnel, as deserving of their positions and defying the law, while doing so in the spirit of radical equality. They would then challenge such powers and formidable institutions like the government.
• Apathy is the absence of interest in something. People who lose interest in politics sometimes perceive themselves as being removed from it, which allows both the spirit of inequality and equality to thrive.

Public apathy in a democracy could result in the following:

• If eligible voters don’t think the election or voting process is fair as a result, they may choose not to cast a ballot. Refusing to vote implies some level of political unpredictability and the possibility of disruption.
• Apathy, which is brought on by restrictive or discriminatory laws and practises, as well as alienation, which is brought on by bureaucratic procedures and the size of cities, businesses, and factories, may be the cause of a decline in public engagement.
• Disillusionment with democracy: Over the past few decades, citizens’ expectations have quickly increased, which has led to discontent with specific governments’ and politicians’ achievements. People have been told that democracy and the free market go hand in hand, and many appear to have been convinced by the logical inference that if the market does not benefit them as much, then the democratic system is to blame.
• Lack of accountability: People who should be watching out for government misdeeds become apathetic due to political disinterest. A lack of responsibility results from this.
• Bipan Chandra, a historian, brings up the hazards of the Emergency and the JP movement in India when he talks about the Jayprakash Narayan-led battle against inflation, corruption, and other problems that followed the proclamation of the Emergency. The talk of party-less democracy, the Total Revolution, and criticism of parliamentary democracy were dangerous because they encouraged cynicism, contempt, and pessimism towards democratic institutions. This was just as dangerous as proclaiming an emergency.
• In a democracy, the people are in charge and the government is formed based on their preferences. Loss of control over this authority will result from indifference, and organisations like businesses, government agencies, and political leaders will form vested interests. Montesquieu believed that it was crucial to investigate and comprehend the basic principles of the norms governing a society in order to employ them for general well-being.