MAINS QUESTIONS DAILY QUESTIONS MODEL ANSWERS
Q1. How far do you believe “menstrual hygiene” has advanced in Indian society? Mention a handful of the problems that women have in this area.
Paper & Topic: GS I – Women Empowerment
Model Answer:
Introduction:
- Menstrual hygiene is still one of the most difficult development problems we face today. In Indian society, menstruation is still stigmatised. Even today, it is extremely difficult to ensure that adolescent females are provided the correct information on menstrual hygiene due to cultural and social effects on people.
- The high percentage of illiteracy, particularly among girls, poverty, and a lack of knowledge about menstrual health and hygiene are the main causes of this taboo’s continued relevance in Indian society. In India, fewer than 18% of women use sanitary pads.
Body:
Menstrual hygiene is a concern for Indian society:
- In India, half of women in rural areas (52%) do not use hygienic measures of protection during their menstrual cycle, according to the fourth National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) in 2015–16.
- Data available indicates that menstrual hygiene management (MHM) continues to be given low priority because of things like ingrained cultural misconceptions, discriminatory traditions, and social gender constructs.
- Only 48% of teenage females in India are informed about menstruation prior to their first period.
- Young people lack access to accurate and reliable information on their rights and reproductive health.
- Due to the shame associated with menstruation, parents, teachers, and other community members are reluctant to bring up the topic of periods.
- Nearly 355 million girls in India have reached menarche, and a 2016 landscape analysis titled Menstrual Health in India found that 71 percent of these girls reported knowing nothing about menstruation prior to their first period.
Problems women have with menstruation hygiene:
- Access to restrooms: An estimated 355 million Indian women and girls need to figure out how to deal with period hygiene on a monthly basis. Most of these women lack access to restrooms or must use dirty facilities.
- Safety and access: Additionally, they typically wait until nighttime to use public restrooms or fields, leaving them vulnerable to numerous types of physical assaults.
- Lack of knowledge: The high percentage of illiteracy, particularly among girls, poverty, and a lack of knowledge about menstruation health and hygiene are the main causes of this taboo’s continued relevance in Indian society. In India, fewer than 18% of women use sanitary pads.
- Menstruation is taboo in certain households because it is seen as an unclean or unpleasant activity. This stigma extends to the mention of menstruation in both public and private settings. On their journey to a pharmacy, the majority of girls even conceal themselves out of fear or embarrassment since they cannot afford to purchase hygienic sanitary pads.
- School dropout: Menstruation is viewed as an unclean or embarrassing phenomenon in some households, to the point where it is mentioned both in public and privately.
- On their journey to a pharmacy, the majority of girls even conceal themselves out of fear or embarrassment since they cannot afford to purchase hygienic sanitary pads.
- Unhygienic methods of managing menstruation: Most rural Indian women use clothing and rags for feminine hygiene. Due to the difficulty in keeping used napkins clean and free of hazardous bacteria, these materials may put women at risk for genital infections.
- Economical: While commercially produced sanitary napkins offer a potential substitute, only 13% of Indian women can afford this choice.
Actions required:
- According to the figure, all three channels—mass media, influencers, and targeted education—should provide girls and boys with correct, timely information on the biological and psycho-social elements of puberty, menstruation, and MHM.
- With supporting evidence, all three of these domains face considerable difficulties. However, community influencers and education geared at females are particularly crucial enablers for enhancing menstrual health for women and girls in India.
Conclusion:
- MHM curricula currently only cover period management; they do not have the time or room to cover psycho-social changes. For a complete management of menstrual hygiene, this must be addressed. In order to promote healthy child development and positive attitudes toward menstruation, it is important for both boys and girls to get basic education on these topics.
Q2. “Money power in elections is the primary driver of corruption in India.” How does the public interest suffer from the lack of openness in election spending. Also, make some suggestions for the same.
Paper & Topic: GS II – Election related issues
Model Answer:
Introduction:
- With several upcoming Assembly elections, one problem might require more focus than others. Money is spent heavily on elections today. Depending on estimates, a candidate may invest crores of rupees in a single constituency. Voters overlook this crucial issue amid the cacophony of campaigns, leaders, celebrities, and media attention.
- Political parties are thought to be the biggest and most immediate beneficiaries, and money lies at the heart of India’s political corruption problem. Election corruption results in diminished accountability, distorted representation, and asymmetry in governance. Transparency in election funding is required as a result.
Body:
Background:
- Voters support political parties because they promise to benefit the populace. The governments in power are more obligated to the donors than to the electorate if election financing come from other sources.
- For instance, according to the Government Budget, the Government lost 2. 24 lakh crore in 2019–20 as a result of incentives to enterprises and a reduction in tariffs and taxes. The voters are unaware of this.
- After the introduction of Electoral Bonds, there is no longer any transparency in fundraising. All political parties have refused to submit to the transparency that comes with Right to Information despite the CIC judgement. Additionally, financial restrictions lack clarity.
Issues with finance for elections:
- Donation obscurity: The majority of political parties’ funding (about 70%) comes from financial donations made anonymously. Additionally, parties are exempt from income tax, giving black money hoarders a conduit.
- For instance, the legal status of electoral financing, which is rife with issues. After the introduction of Electoral Bonds, there is no longer any transparency in fundraising. Citizens are no longer able to learn who finances political parties.
- Failure to take action against bribery: The EC requested the addition of a new clause, 58B, to the RPA, 1951 so that it could act if parties bribe electors in a constituency, but this has not been discovered.
- allowing foreign investment Political parties now have access to an unprecedented amount of foreign cash thanks to the FCRA’s amendment, which may eventually result in meddling with government.
- Unlimited corporate contributions: The 7.5 percent cap on the percentage of profits that a firm may give to a political party has been removed, making it possible for shell companies to be formed just to support political campaigns.
- Lack of transparency: Parties fail to submit their annual audit reports to the Election Commission in accordance with section 29 of the RPA, 1951.
- RTI: Parties have also resisted being included in the RTI act’s purview. All political parties have refused to submit to the transparency that comes with Right to Information notwithstanding the Central Information Commission’s (CIC) order.
Measures to increase electoral finance transparency:
- Switching to finish transactions digitally.
- Donations over a particular threshold should be disclosed in order to disrupt the corporate-political nexus.
- As is done in nations like Bhutan and Germany, political parties should be included in RTI.
- Create a national electoral fund where people can donate and money is then distributed to various parties based on how well they performed in the most recent elections. This will also eliminate dirty money and guarantee donors’ anonymity.
- Election state funding has previously been proposed as a solution to the excessive expense of elections. State funding has been favoured by the Law Commission of India, the Second ARC, and the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution.
- Limit the total amount that political parties may spend to a number of times the number of candidates fielded times the maximum allowed limit for individual candidates.
Conclusion:
- As a return on their money, political donors can ask for favourable laws and policies, advantageous government contracts, and extraordinary police enforcement. Additionally, because money and power go hand in hand in politics, it ultimately results in its criminalization. Therefore, improvements in election funding are urgently needed in India.
