The Prayas ePathshala

Exams आसान है !

22 May 2023

Daily Mains Answer Writing

Q1. Despite being crucial to India’s water supply, groundwater problems are frequently disregarded. Examine the problems with groundwater consumption and make recommendations for ways to encourage its sustainable use and management. (250 words)

Paper & Topic: GS I – Water Conservation

Introduction:

India currently uses more groundwater than any other country in the world, with about 90% of it going towards agriculture and the remaining 15% going towards drinking water. Additionally, according to recent estimates, groundwater supplies make up close to 50% of metropolitan water needs. According to the report, India uses an estimated 251 cubic kilometres of groundwater annually, followed by China and Pakistan. India is on the verge of a very significant groundwater problem, which requires mitigation in the country’s policy corridors as well as in the fields.

Body:

Groundwater depletion issues:

decrease in the water table.
water levels in lakes and streams are decreased.
Land subsidence: Depleted aquifers lead to deadly sinkholes, and a lack of groundwater inhibits biodiversity.
cost increases for the user.
decline in the quality of the water.
Saltwater tainting is a possibility.
Lack of water availability causes a drop in crop output (40% of the world’s food is produced using groundwater).
The ‘natural’ water cycle is disrupted by groundwater depletion, adding disproportionately more water to the ocean.
Both the population and the food supply will suffer if big aquifers are exhausted.

Actions required:

For example, Punjab has a semi-arid climate but grows rice, which depletes groundwater and is “highly unsustainable.” The government should adopt laws to identify which crops should be cultivated in which region according to the availability of water, which “has not been the focus.”
Large amounts of water are lost through evapotranspiration as a result of India’s traditional flood irrigation. For effective water use, drip irrigation and sprinkler irrigation must be used.
Groundwater access should be restricted in places designated as “critical” and “dark zones,” when the water table is overused or very low.
To avoid its overexploitation, it is necessary to treat water as a shared resource rather than as private property.
Water logging, salinity, agricultural pollutants, and industrial effluents are only a few of the challenges that need to be thoroughly investigated.
To improve efficient water use practises in agriculture, the government has launched programmes including the DRIP initiative, more drops per crop, and Krishi Sinchai Yojana.
a bottom-up strategy that involves engaging the neighbourhood in groundwater management.
One of the workable answers is to establish community-level regulatory structures like panchayats.
To reduce the loss of water resources, traditional water conservation practises should be supported.
It is also necessary to apply scientific agricultural practises, re-use of water, afforestation, and artificial recharge of tube wells.

Conclusion:

In India, effective groundwater management is essential for addressing the developing problems with water scarcity. Making communities aware and completely incorporating them is therefore essential for success. The most efficient way to address the groundwater disaster is to combine conservation and development efforts, from water extraction to water management, at the local level.

Q2. To ensure that everyone has access to comprehensive treatment, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act 2021 increases access to safe and legal abortion. However, the threat posed by unsafe and unregulated abortions persists unabatedly. Analyse. (250 words)

Paper & Topic: GS I – Health-related issues

Introduction:

To ensure that everyone has access to comprehensive care, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act 2021 increases access to safe and legal abortion services on therapeutic, eugenic, humanitarian, and social grounds. In 1975 and 2002, it underwent amendments. A research that was published in the Lancet Global Health estimates that 15.6 million abortions were place in India in 2015, with 78% of those taking place outside of medical facilities.

Body:

Important Clauses of the MTP Amendment Act of 2021:

Failure of Contraceptive technique or Device: According to the Act, a married woman may end a pregnancy up to 20 weeks early if a contraceptive technique or device has failed. For this reason, it permits divorced women to end a pregnancy as well.

Opinion Required for Pregnancy Termination:

One Registered Medical Practitioner’s (RMP) opinion regarding abortion of pregnancies up to 20 weeks gestation.
Opinions of two RMPs about abortion of pregnancies between 20 and 24 weeks.
If there are significant foetal abnormalities, a pregnancy must be terminated after 24 weeks with the approval of the State-level medical board.
Increases the upper gestation limit for special groups of women, such as rape survivors, incest victims, and other vulnerable women (such as differently abled women, juveniles, among others) from 20 to 24 weeks.
Confidentiality: Unless to a person specified in an active statute, “the name and other particulars of a woman whose pregnancy has been terminated shall not be revealed.”

Reasons for the persistence of unsafe and unregulated abortions:

Early pregnancy is frequently the result of unsafe abortion procedures due to early marriage, pressure to have children early, lack of family decision-making authority, physical aggression, and coercion in sexual and family relationships.
According to the UNFPA Report, Indian parents have turned to sex-selective abortions to secure the birth of male children following a first-born female. This has resulted in the girl children being neglected, and in some cases, even abandoned.
Strong patriarchal culture: The idea that a male child is the family’s proper heir is still prevalent in society.
Girl child perceived as a financial burden: From education through marriage, raising a girl child is viewed in monetary terms. According to the Economic Survey of 2018, this has resulted in the creation of roughly 21 million “unwanted girls” in India.
Compared to the birth of a girl kid, the grandeur and celebration surrounding a boy’s birth are greater.
Parents carry on having kids until they have the required number of sons, then they stop. When one considers that the sex ratio of last birth (females per 100 births) has only changed from 39.5% to 39% between 2005-06 and 2015-16, one may gauge the severity of the issue.
Lack of knowledge of rights: In Assam and Madhya Pradesh, a research of 1.007 women aged 15 to 24 in November 2018 indicated that just 20% of young women are aware of modern contraceptive techniques, and only 22% are aware that abortion is allowed in India. The correct legal gestation is 20 weeks, however none of the women in the survey were aware of this.
Personal factors like lack of financial assistance, the drive to progress professionally, and the need for education.
Rape and premarital sex that results in pregnancy are avoided because of the shame associated with them.
teenagers are not receiving counselling or sex education regarding safe abortion methods.

Actions required:

If the condition of women is to be improved, special attention must be paid to the health requirements of women, their nutritional state, the risk of early marriage, and childbearing.
At the same time, there is a need to spread awareness of health issues on a broad scale through large-scale awareness campaigns.
In order to address and acknowledge the promotion and protection of women’s reproductive rights in India, the appropriate legislative framework is required.
Women must have access to adequate, cost-effective, and high-quality healthcare facilities and related services. Health programmes ought to pay more attention to the reproductive and general health of women.
There is a push for legislation known as the Reproductive Rights (Protection) Act to protect and advance women’s reproductive rights and to address all issues relating to their reproductive health, whether it be in terms of having access to medical facilities, raising awareness, or having health policies and programmes that specifically target women.
Therefore, it is imperative that sexual and reproductive health become a top concern in terms of policy.
It should not stop because of a health emergency to promote more informed and healthier reproductive behaviour among the populace of the nation.

Moving ahead:

Access to safe and legal abortions is a public health concern, a fundamental component of sexual and reproductive equality, and must be taken into consideration in current discussions about democracy in order to create a fair society that abhors all forms of prejudice.
The silence around unsafe abortion results in the deaths of women and conceals significant issues that are related to these issues, like the tremendous obstacles preventing teenage girls from accessing reproductive health treatments, especially abortion services.
The right to safe abortion is a crucial aspect of women’s equality, right to life, and right to bodily integrity, and it must be preserved.