MAINS DAILY QUESTIONS & MODEL ANSWERS
Q1. Good health is one of the most crucial requirements for obtaining the demographic dividend’s benefits. Considering the 2017 National Health Policy, discuss.
GS III – Economy related issues
Introduction:
- Working-age people currently make up 62.5 percent of India’s total population. The proportion of people who are working age will peak at about 65 percent in 2036.
Body:
- According to the UNFPA, nations can only take use of the economic potential of the youth bulge if they are able to give their entire population access to excellent health care, top-notch education, and respectable employment. One of the most crucial requirements for obtaining the benefits of the demographic dividend in India is still maintaining excellent health.
The National Health Policy 2017 has been created in this framework, and it can assist India in achieving its demographic dividend in the following ways:
- The strategy aims to educate, clarify, prioritise, and strengthen the government’s role in defining health systems in all of their aspects, including, but not limited to, health investments, the organisation of health care services, illness prevention, and health promotion.
- Additionally, it aims to provide the best degree of health and wellbeing for people of all ages by emphasising preventative and promotional health care in all developmental projects and ensuring that everyone has unrestricted access to high-quality healthcare without facing financial hardship.
- The policy goals of increasing the healthy working age group’s life expectancy from 67.5 to 70 and reducing the TFR to 2.1 at the national and subnational levels by 2025 have the ability to do so.
- By 2025, it also aims to reduce by 25% the prevalence and incidence of diseases including leprosy, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory disorders as well as diseases like HIV/AIDS and leprosy.
- The strategy also aims to enhance several aspects of the health-care industry, including health insurance, medical facilities, human resources, and the Health Management Information System.
Conclusion:
- The policy will therefore help to lessen teenage vulnerability, boost workforce productivity, and provide an environment where children can realise their full potential. India’s demographic dividend won’t be enjoyed until our human resources are developed to their full potential. Increased financial support for the health system will have a huge positive impact on the economy.
Q2. Even after the bonded labour system was abolished, there are still occasional reports of it being prevalent in India. What are the reasons that the bonded labour system has survived?
GS II – Social Issues
- The Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act of 1976 defines bonded labour as a system of forced labour in which a debtor enters into a relationship with a creditor and agrees to provide service to the creditor for a specific or indefinite period of time, either without wages or for minimal wages, either directly or through any member of his family. Lower castes, indigenous peoples, minorities, and migrant laborers—all of whom experience discrimination and social exclusion—are the groups most likely to engage in bonded labour.
Body:
To end the bonded labour system, the Indian government has pursued three strategies:
- According to Article 23 of the Indian Constitution, forced labour is forbidden.
- The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act was passed by the Central Government in 1976 in order to identify and rehabilitate bonded labourers.
- The Centrally Sponsored Plan Scheme for Bonded Labour Rehabilitation has been in place since 1978.
- The use of the bonded labour system has expanded even after it was repealed in spite of all the measures. Social customs and financial obligations are the root of the issue.
- Economic, social, and religious factors are the primary drivers behind the development, growth, and preservation of the bonded labour system.
- Economic problems include people’s extreme poverty and their inability to locate a living-wage job.
- Not enough land to sustain a family
- Alternative small-scale loans are hard to come by for the impoverished in both urban and rural areas.
- natural catastrophes, including floods and droughts, for instance.
- social exclusion and discrimination based on race, religion, or ethnicity.
- lack of knowledge and illiteracy among the workforce.
- Employers control the local labour and financial markets.
- Workers lack organisation and bargaining strength.
- Examples of such causes include inadequate education, restricted access to healthcare, and unequal social connections.
Conclusion:
- In time, bonded labour has changed. The traditional power structure in agriculture, where lower castes are required to undertake menial labour in exchange for a guarantee of subsistence, is no longer the only one that applies. The system that is currently in place is one of debt bondage, which keeps people in poverty. The 1976 Labour Act must be fully implemented, including all of its provisions for agricultural land allotment, economic rehabilitation, preserving the minimum wage, training in the arts and crafts, education, and a strict health care system. India can be freed from the yoke of unfair bond work as a result.
