Studies shows that Female labour force participation rate (FLFPR) exhibits a U-shape during the process of economic development. The downward trend in ‘U’ was due to rise in Household incomes because of expansion of markets and shift from farm activities to factory work.
However, when educational level rises and as value of women’s time in the market increases further, they move back into the paid labour force.
However, despite experiencing structural changes such as decline in fertility rates and expansion of women’s education, Indian FLFPR has been stagnated. While NSSO found that 25.9% of all women worked in 1999-2000, female labour force participation rate in 2020-21, according to PLFS report, is only 25.1%.
The female labour force participation rate of Muslim women in the country is 15%, as compared to 26.1% for Hindu women. Over the past three years, Muslim women have had the lowest LFP rate amongst all religious groups in the country.
Reasons for low female labour force participation
Rising Household Incomes: Rising incomes allow women to escape harsh labour on farms and construction sites and focus on their families.
Agrarian crisis: Declining farm sizes, rising mechanisation and agrarian crisis are pushing women out of agricultural workforce.
Lack of Rural connectivity:Lack of transport network to villages may prevent women from taking non-agricultural work in Neighbouring towns. Lack of transport services effect women more than men.
Increased Education levels of women: Growing enrolment of women in Higher education and lack of adequate well paid formal jobs in the market.
Nuclear families: Growing trend of nuclear families keeping childcare left to women with no support from elders of the family.
MSME crisis: MSME sector offers significant employment opportunities to women. But rigid labour laws and other protective policies of govt hindered the growth of MSMEs.
Patriarchal norms: Patriarchal norms of society determines Domestic division of labour. Women are expected to take care of domestic chores while men go out for work.
Childcare: Most education drop out of labour force due to childbirth and care.
Other factors: Glass ceiling at workplace which limits work opportunities for females at senior levels, sexual harassment at workplaces inducing fear among females. Lack of access to marketable skills in an economy which is driven by service class.
Measures to be taken
Promote gender-responsive employment policies particularly through macroeconomic, sectoral and labour market policies that address effectively the gender-specific effects of the COVID- 19 crisis and support the creation of full and productive employment for women.
Promote appropriate public and private investment in the care sector, which has the strong potential not only to expand decent work opportunities – especially for women – but also strengthen the resilience of economies and societies and enable workers with family responsibilities to engage in employment.
Closing the gender skills gap by gender-responsive upskilling and reskilling policies that enable women to take full advantage of the decent job opportunities on offer.
Context: Recently the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) filed an intervention application in the Supreme Court in the matter of Amburi Roy vs Union of India, opposing adoption by gay couples.
The petition that the commission has opposed is seeking declaration of unconstitutionality of Section 5(2) and 5(3) of the Adoption Regulations, 2022.
Section 5 of adoption regulations deals with eligibility criteria for prospective adoptive parents, their physical, emotional, mental and financial capability as well as criminal records or records of abuse.
Section 5(2) A says a child can be adopted only if “there is consent of both the spouses for the adoption in case of a married couple”. The regulation goes on to say that a single woman can adopt a child of any gender, but “a single male shall not be eligible to adopt a girl child”.
Section 5(3) says that no child shall be given in adoption to a couple unless they have at least two years of stable marital relationship, except in the case of relatives or step-parent adoption.
CARA:
Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) is a statutory body of Ministry of Women & Child Development.
CARA attained the status of a Statutory Body in 2016 under JJ Act, 2015.
It functions as the nodal body for adoption of Indian children and is mandated to monitor and regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions in accordance with the provisions of the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, 1993, ratified by Government of India in 2003.
CARA is also mandated to frame regulations on adoption-related matters from time to time as per Section 68 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
In 2018, CARA has allowed individuals in a live-in relationship to adopt children from and within India.
Benefits of adoption
Adoption can provide a child with the critical resource needed for a healthy and stable living
Allows mother to continue pursuing their goals without putting their education or career on hold.
Relieves the financial and emotional stress of unplanned pregnancy and single parenting
Gives an opportunity to help hopeful parents who would not be able to have a child otherwise
NCPCR:
National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) is a statutory body under the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act, 2005
The Commission works under the aegis of Ministry of Women and Child Development, GOI
The body is mandated to ensure that all Laws, Policies, Programmes, and Administrative Mechanisms are in consonance with the Child Rights perspective as enshrined in the Constitution of India and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Context: The Government developed National Credit Framework (NCrF) to integrate learning on all dimensions i.e., academics, vocational skills and experiential learning including relevant experience and professional levels acquired. The National Credit Framework (NCrF) provides for Assignment, Accumulation, Storage, Transfer & Redemption of Credits through Academic Bank of Credits.
Proposed benefits for various stakeholders are as follows:
Students: NCrF will ensure Flexibility in the duration of study/ courses through provisions of multiple entries and exit/work options as well as pave the path for creditisation of all learning hours, including academic, vocational and experiential learning. It will also give the provision for lifelong learning – any time anywhere learning: It will also help students by:
Establishing multidisciplinary and holistic education with flexible curricula
Removing the hard distinction between the education stream and making study choices respectful, allowing for more than one award in the same period
Removing the distinction between arts, science, social sciences, commerce, etc
Giving student credits for every academic/ skill/ experience
Enhancing the scope of core learning to include foundational and cognitive both
2. Institutions: NCrF will bring about a unification of higher education institutions to promote multidisciplinary education, creating a diverse and rich students knowledge base. It will also help in:
Promoting stronger collaboration between institutions
Making credit mechanism simpler and uniform
Increasing focus on research and innovation
Promoting digital learning, blended learning, and open distance learning
Leveraging the institutional infrastructure
3. Government: NCrF is expected to assist the government to increase the enrolment of students, helping to fulfil the national vision of complementing the demographic dividend and transforming India into the Skill Capital of the World. It will also:
Making vocational education and training/ skilling aspirational
Highly educated and trained workforce for Aatmnirbhar Bharat
4. Industry: NCrF will allow students to attain NSQF-approved foundational skills developed by industry and be more employable. The provision of micro-credentials will allow integration of quick educational upgradation/ up-skilling It will also help in:
Re-Skilling and up-skilling of existing employees/ engineers
Making students more employable by enabling a more holistic design of the study
Creating a multi/ cross-sectoral skilled pool of employable youth
Need for Academic Bank of Credit scheme:
India has a long tradition of holistic and multidisciplinary learning, from universities such as Takshashila and Nalanda, to the extensive literatures of India combining subjects across fields. Integrating the humanities and arts with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) improves learning outcomes, creativity, innovation, critical thinking, social awareness and responsibility among the students. National Education policy (2020) also suggested the need for Holistic and multi-disciplinary education to lead India into 21st century and 4th Industrial revolution.
However, not every Higher education institution in India can provide such a multidisciplinary education due to shortage of faculty, limited financial resources and lack of institutional autonomy in setting curriculum.
To overcome these challenges, National education policy suggested Academic Bank of credits (ABC) scheme. UGC has recently notified the scheme.
Academic Bank of credit scheme:
Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) is a virtual/digital storehouse that contains the information of the credits earned by individual students throughout their academic journey.
Academic Bank of Credits shall provide to every student the facility to open unique or individual Academic Bank Account in digital form. When a student pursues any course and clears exams, credits will be automatically awarded to them. Institutions need to fill out the details and upload the deposits in the students’ Academic Credit Bank’s account on the digital portal.
ABC will allow students of undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses to exit the course and enter within a stipulated period. The student can earn up to 50 per cent credits from outside the college/university where she/he is enrolled for the degree/diploma programme.
Advantages:
Option to exit and enter: If any student needs to get back to education after a break or has to relocate to another city, they can easily ‘carry’ forward their completed credits.
Wider choice to students:
As multiple institutes are connected to the ABC portal, one can be formally enrolled in university ‘A’ but can choose to do some courses from university ‘B’, some more from university ‘C’ and so on and all of these would count towards the student’s degree.
Students also can join online courses offered by MOOCs like SWAYAM or NPTEL (National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning) and add these credits to my ABC.
Reduces the burden on institutions: It reduces the burden on any single institute to float an unmanageable number of courses and increases the competition among institutes.
Problems:
Grade inflation: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) platforms such as SWAYAM and NPTEL are ‘supposedly designed’ for large enrolments. one of the metrics for success of these courses is student performance in the final assessment. Thus, it would be in the interest of course coordinators to award scores liberally and paint a rosy picture.
Dilution of Quality of degrees: An average student from premier institute like IIT/IISER may find it tempting to opt out of a challenging course in my institute and use the ABC scheme to replace it with an equivalent course from another
university where it would be far easier to obtain good grades.
Contraction of teaching posts in small institutes: The ABC scheme specifies that students can avail up to 50% of credits from other institutes. students avail these credits outside the parent college, they need not enrol for the corresponding in-house courses. As the number of teaching posts in any higher education institute are calculated on the basis of student enrolment numbers, when a large fraction of students do not enrol for the courses offered by them it might result in co traction of teaching posts in those institutes.
As a whole, this scheme has all the right and laudable intentions and would probably work well in a society with a more equitable distribution of resources. But in India, where the quality of education varies drastically from one institute to the next, this can lead to unmanageable academic and administrative issues in higher education institutes with brand names, and lead to a contraction in the number of teaching posts in smaller higher education institutes. The UGC must rethink expeditiously how to implement this scheme.
Context:The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken Suo moto cognisance of media reports about the deaths of seven sanitation workers in two different incidents in Jhajjar and Bharuch districts of Haryana and Gujarat, respectively on April 4.
Manual scavenging is the practice of removing human excreta by hand from sewers or septic tanks. India banned the practice under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (PEMSR). The Act bans the use of any individual for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of or otherwise handling in any manner, human excreta till its disposal.
Major features of Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013
The Act prohibits the employment of manual scavengers, the manual cleaning of sewers and septic tanks without protective equipment, and the construction of insanitary latrines.
It seeks to rehabilitate manual scavengers and provide for their alternative employment.
Each local authority, cantonment board and railway authority is responsible for surveying insanitary latrines within its jurisdiction. They shall also construct a number of sanitary community latrines.
Each occupier of insanitary latrines shall be responsible for converting or demolishing the latrine at his own cost. If he fails to do so, the local authority shall convert the latrine and recover the cost from him.
Offences under the act shall be cognizable and non-bailable.
Reasons for persistence of Manual scavenging:
Narrow definition of Manual scavengers:
Under the act, “manual scavenger” means a person engaged or employed, at the commencement of this Act or at any time thereafter, by an individual or a local authority or an agency or a contractor, for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of, or otherwise handling in any manner, human excreta in an insanitary latrine or in an open drain or pit into which the human excreta from the insanitary latrines is disposed of, or on a railway track or in such other spaces or premises, as the Central Government or a State Government may notify, before the excreta fully decomposes in such manner as may be prescribed, and the expression “manual scavenging” shall be construed accordingly.
- The definition of manual scavengers as per the Act above is narrow and excludes a wide variety of work done by diverse people in terms of numbers employed, gender, and location. The current definition describes them as a single amorphous category, but leaves out other types of sanitation work such as drain cleaning or even the cleaning of toilets by domestic help; septic tank cleaners, sewage treatment plant workers. (It excluded many sanitation workers)
- a person engaged or employed to clean excreta with the help of such devices and using such protective gear, as the Central Government may notify in this behalf, shall not be deemed to be a „manual scavenger.
Inadequate rehabilitation: Though the act mandated rehabilitation of manual scavengers, they were unable to take up non-sanitation related occupations due to social stigma attached to them. Even the mechanisation of sanitation work had little impact as the underlying issue of sanitation work being a caste-based occupation will not be tackled by making descendants of manual scavengers continue the same work in a different form. So, mechanisation can only save them from health risks but may not address the stigma or results in occupational mobility
Lack of legal responsibility on the government: Neither the state nor the centre is mandated under the Bill to provide financial assistance for the conversion of insanitary latrines. This adversely impact implementation of the act.
Failure of swatch Bharat to eradicate manual scavenging: Toilets that are built under SBM are mainly pit based toilets that are not linked to the sewer network. As long as households remain unconvinced about or unmotivated to construct twin pit latrines, the risky work of manual scavenging (performed largely by Dalits) is likely to continue.
A technical solution to a social problem will have limited impact.
Context: A District Judge in Texas, the US has suspended the approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, which will essentially make sales of the pill illegal in the US.
About Mifepristone
Mifepristone is a medication that is commonly used for medical abortion. It is a synthetic steroid compound that blocks the action of the hormone progesterone in the body.
Progesterone is necessary for maintaining the lining of the uterus during pregnancy, so by blocking progesterone, mifepristone can effectively terminate an early pregnancy.
Mifepristone is typically used in combination with another medication called misoprostol. This is taken after mifepristone and helps to expel the pregnancy from the uterus by inducing contractions.
Both mifepristone and misoprostol are taken orally as pills and are typically used up to 10 weeks of pregnancy. Mifepristone’s popularity lies in the fact that:
It is a non-surgical option for abortion, considered to be the safest option for aborting early-term pregnancies.
Since it is a pill, it allows individuals to have more privacy and control over the abortion process.
Roe v. Wade
In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade recognized that the decision of whether to continue or end a pregnancy belongs to the individual, not the government.
Abortion Laws in India
Under Indian Penal Code, voluntarily causing a woman with a child to miscarry is an offence attracting a jail term of up to three years or fine or both unless it was done in good faith where the purpose was to save the life of the pregnant woman. Since this provision was highly restricting the reproductive rights of women, a law was passed to give exemptions from the above criminal provision.
Medical Termination of Pregnancy, Act (1971)
This act allowed voluntary termination of pregnancy under the following conditions:
Continuation of the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life of the pregnant woman or cause grave injury to her physical or mental health.
Substantial risk that the child if born, would be seriously handicapped due to physical or mental abnormalities.
Pregnancy is caused by rape.
Pregnancy is due to the failure of contraceptives in a married woman.
Maximum time limit to terminate the pregnancy – 20 weeks though the law granted abortion rights to some extent, there were some issues with it and there was a need for an amendment.
Need for amendment of MTP Act, 1971
Unsafe abortions: Rigid conditions and time-limit for termination of pregnancy legally forced many to resort to illegal unsafe abortions. E.g., According to a study published in Lancet Global Health, 15.6 million abortions occurred in India in 2015 of which 78% of these were outside health facilities.
Time delay at judiciary: Those who wish to terminate pregnancy beyond the legal time limit had to seek the court’s permission. This often leads to judiciary delay and prevents women from terminating their pregnancy at the right time.
Technological advancements: Most of the foetal anomalies that are detected late and the MTP Act, of 1971, had not kept pace with the changing times, needs and advancements in medical science. With the advancement of medical technology, there is a scope to increase the upper limit for terminating pregnancies, especially for vulnerable women, and in cases of severe foetal abnormality.
Discriminatory to unmarried women: Lack of choice for abortions to unmarried women due to failure of contraception.
Keeping in view of these challenges, an amendment was made to the Act in 2021.
MTP Amendment Act, 2021
Increased legal time limit: Increases the time for abortion from 12 weeks to 20 weeks with the advice of one registered medical practitioner (RMP) and allows abortion beyond 20 weeks for rape survivors and beyond 24 weeks in case of substantial foetal abnormalities thereby preventing illegal abortions beyond 20 weeks through quacks involving risk to maternal health
Equal rights to unmarried women: Replaces “any married woman” with “any woman” undergoing termination of pregnancies resulting from contraception failures, thus destigmatising pregnancies outside marriage and accepting modern-day relationships.
Reduces delay by setting up of medical boards: The amendment sets up state-level Medical Boards to decide if a pregnancy may be terminated after 24 weeks in cases of substantial foetal abnormalities.
Confidentiality: Medical practitioners are barred from revealing the identity of women who wants to terminate pregnancies thus ensuring their right to Privacy. However, there is still a long way to ensure full reproductive rights for pregnant women.
Limitations of Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2021
Section 19 of the POCSO Act requires any person aware of a minor engaging in sex to report the matter to the local police even if it was a consensual act as the law pegs the age of consent at 18 years. Often, they are denied safe and legal termination of pregnancy due to fear of police harassment.
It does not cover victims of marital rape under the category of rape survivors thereby limiting the right of women to terminate pregnancies.
There is no change in the process for terminating pregnancies due to rape that have crossed the 24-week limit and the only recourse left is to get permission from SC/HC through a writ petition.
Lack of government healthcare clinics or medical professionals in remote areas leads to the prevalence of illegal abortion facilities thereby defeating the purpose of the MTP Act.
Context: The Assam Government recently launched a crackdown on child marriage, arresting over 3000 people involved in child marriage so far. The arrests have resulted in protests by women in the districts where they had taken place, as government action has left families separated and without a stable source of income.
Why crackdown
The crackdown was initiated in response to over 4,100 FIRs registered across the state, and a cabinet sub-committee has been formed to finalize a Rehabilitation Policy within 15 days for victims of child marriage.
Child marriage is a persistent problem in India, with an estimated 27% of girls being married before turning 18, the legal age of women in India for marriage.
Laws involved in these arrests
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POSCO)
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (PCMA)
Major provisions of POSCO
Sexual assault under POCSO is a non-bailable, cognizable offence.
Child marriage under 14 is presumed to be sexual assault. Nonpenetrative sexual assault carries a minimum imprisonment of 3 years, extendable up to 5 years with a fine.
Mandatory reporting obligation under POCSO Act requires reporting of sexual offences against children to the police or Special Juvenile Police Unit. Doctors must also report cases where minor girls seek medical assistance during pregnancies or for termination of pregnancies.
Major Provisions of PCMA
Child marriages are illegal but not void. They can, however, be voided at the option of the minor either through their guardian or by themselves once they attain adulthood.
The Act sets the minimum marriageable age at 18 years for women and 21 years for men.
Child marriage is punishable by rigorous imprisonment of up to 2 years, a fine of up to one lakh rupees or both.
Marriageable age under Muslim personal law
Under Muslim personal law, girls who attain puberty are considered to be of marriageable age. This is usually considered to be 15.
This incongruence between Muslim law and the PCMA has led to legal confusion and inconsistency.
Why this crackdown is being criticized
The arrests have taken place disproportionately in 10 Muslim-majority districts of Assam, which many believe is a targeted step.
Several poor and single-income families have been left without a stable source of income and are more vulnerable through this recent slew of arrests.
The application of this law has been done retrospectively in many cases, where the wife is no longer a minor, and in some instances even above the age of 30.
Child marriage is voidable at the option of the party who was minor at the time of marriage. On attaining adulthood, if an annulment is not filed for, then the marriage remains valid, and the State must not apply the Act retrospectively or interfere with the family unit.
The lack of access to schools in these districts due to severe flooding in the Monsoon, and generational poverty have been major factors contributing to the high number of child marriages. While detaining the breadwinners of the family will worsen the situation instead of curtailing it.
Government is misusing public health data to arrest the people instead of genuine FIR by the victims.
Under PCMA, no women can be imprisoned, but the Assam government is also detaining women.
Way forward
The law should not be used as a political weapon to target any community
The law should not be implemented retrospectively in case of attaining adulthood and the involved party is not filing an annulment.
Government should focus on availing of quality education.
Context: Despite attempts to create an egalitarian and modern society, the caste system remains a prominent feature of Indian society. Historically, castes, which are often associated with certain occupations, were arranged in a hierarchy, with some castes considered superior to others and thus accorded more power and privileges than others. This system of social stratification and power relations has been a major problem in India as it has led to discrimination and inequality for those belonging to lower castes.
CASTE
Caste is an institution unique to Indian sub-continent. Although it is an institution characteristic of Hindu society, caste has spread to the major non-Hindu communities of Indian sub-continent like Muslims, Sikhs and Christians.
Change in Caste system
Traditional nature of caste system has undergone significant changes in modern-day society. Many features of caste system have been diluted to some extent due to new developments like:
Modern Education instilled values like rationality, justice and equality. Modern educated youth are preferring inter-caste marriages.
Industrialisation gave equal opportunity to all individuals across castes. This destroyed traditional caste-based occupation feature of caste system.
Urbanisation gave anonymity to caste identities of individuals and caste based dietary choices and commensality rules are no more strictly adhered to in urban areas. Ex. Restaurants, Eateries.
Land reforms undertaken by Indian government after Independence has resulted in transfer of Land from upper castes to lower castes. This resulted in economic empowerment and improved status of lower caste groups.
Universal adult franchise; 73rd & 74th Amendment acts together gave political power to lower castes if they have adequate numerical strength
Constitutional rights and Affirmative action like article 14,15, 16 and reservation policies empowered lower castes educationally and economically.
However, despite all these modern forces of changes, caste system continued to exist in Indian society performing some old and new functions
Continuity of Caste
Private realm: Though ritual aspect of Caste system continued but confined to personal sphere.
Though Industrialisation and Modern education gave new economic opportunities. Even today, most manual scavengers are from lower castes and many entrepreneurs are from upper castes.
According to a 2010 study on social discrimination by Oxfam India, Dalits and tribal groups are highly under-represented in better paid and higher status jobs, while they are disproportionately concentrated among those with lower wages in the informal sector.
Caste based Political mobilization Advent of democratic political apparatus like Universal adult franchise made Caste based political mobilization possible and rendered caste-based identity relevant.
New components of status like Education, Income and occupation led to breaking of barriers of sub- caste for the purpose of Marriage. But Marriage between Upper caste and lower caste is still an exception. Ex: Honour killings
Caste assuming new identities
Caste identities have evolved and assumed new dimensions, which have further strengthen the institution of caste system. Following are the examples where association with cast identities have larger incentives vis a vis a casteless society.
The politicization of caste - Perhaps, the most eventful and important sphere of change has been that of politics. From its very beginnings in independent India, democratic politics has been deeply conditioned by caste. Since the 1980s there has been emergence of explicitly caste-based political parties (For ex. Bahujan Samaj Party , BSP). In the early general elections, it seemed as though caste solidarities were decisive in winning elections. But the situation soon got very complicated as parties competed with each other in utilising the same kind of caste calculus.
Concept of Dominant caste - ‘Dominant caste’ is a term used to refer to those castes which had a large population and were granted land rights by the partial land reforms effected after Independence. Once they got land rights, they acquired considerable economic power. Their large numbers also gave them political power in the era of electoral democracy , and this gave rise to demands of reservation by several of these dominant castes. (For ex. Jats in Haryana, Patidars in Gujrat , Marathas is Maharashtra etc)
Invisibility and Visibility of caste identity – For upper people belonging to upper caste , caste identity plays no part in their public lives, and is limited to the personal sphere of religious practice or marriage and kinship. However, For the scheduled castes and tribes and the backward castes – the opposite has happened. For them, caste has become all too visible, because they must compete with an already entrenched upper caste group, they cannot afford to abandon their caste identity for it is one of the few collective assets they have The policies of reservation and other forms of protective discrimination instituted by the state in response to political pressure serve as their lifelines. But using this lifeline tends to make their caste the all-important and often the only aspect of their identity that the world recognises.
National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data show that higher education levels could play a greater role than wealth in delaying a woman’s marriage.
Laws that prescribe minimum age for marriage in India:
The Hindu marriage act (1955), Indian Christian marriages act (1872) and special marriages act (1954) prescribed the minimum age of marriage as 18 years for the bride and 21 years for the groom.
Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 prohibits marriage below 18 years for women and 21 years for men.
Child Marriages
Child marriage refers to a marriage to which either of the contracting parties is a child (if a male, has not completed 21 years of age, and if a female, has not completed 18 years of age). In India, it is estimated that there are over 24 million child brides. According to the National Family Health Survey, 40% of the World’s 60 million child marriages take place in India. According to NFHS-5 data, the share of women aged 20-24 who married before turning 18 is around 23%. Child marriage is far more prevalent amongst girls and this highlighted the gender dimension of the problem.
Causes
Poverty: Poor families resort to child marriages to avoid all sorts of burden of a female child, like expenditure on education, dowry etc.
Patriarchy: Girl in our patriarchal(patrilocal) set up is believed to be somebody’s property and are considered to be a liability as they are not seen as individuals who can contribute productively to the family. These beliefs lead parents to marry the girl child.
Social mobility: The institution of marriage is often used to strengthen economic and social ties between different families and a young girl may be offered to a family in order to improve the financial and social standing of the girl’s family.
Insecurity: To secure from offences like assaults, eve teasing against unmarried girls, their parents are in a hurry to marry their daughters soon after she attains puberty or even before that.
Avoiding share in Ancestral Property: Early marriage is a way of denying share of ancestral property to females.
Dropout of school: Dropout of teenage girls from school due to lack of basic amenities like toilets or for helping in the household work when both the parents go out for work, is one of the reasons for early marriage of girls.
Legal conundrum: Prohibition of child marriage act prohibits marriage of any women before the age of 18 but Muslim personal law mentions puberty or age of 15 years as minimum age of marriage for women.
Age of Marriage
Rationale behind raising the minimum age of Marriage for women:
The Constitution guarantees gender equality as part of the fundamental rights and also guarantees prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of sex. The existing law do not adequately secure the Constitutional mandate of gender equality in marriageable age among men and women.
Incidence of early marriage and childbearing are amongst the important causes of undernutrition in India. Children born to teenage mothers are more likely to be undernourished than children of adult mothers. India is home to more stunted children than any other country and is one of the ten countries with the largest burden of teenage pregnancy.
It is important to bring down the incidence of teenage pregnancies, which are not only harmful for women's overall health but also result in more miscarriages and stillbirths.
Early marriage often reduces the women labour force participation and increasing the legal limit of minimum age will give more chance for women to work.
Early marriages reduces the educational and employment opportunities for women and make them financially dependent on men, which eventually results in skewed division of labour in domestic sphere.
Age of marriage of females is a key factor that influences fertility. Demographic studies have revealed the apparent link between early marriage and increasing fertility rates.
Arguments against
Restriction on choice of marriage: It can be used by parents to punish their daughters who marry against their wishes or elope to evade forced marriages, domestic abuse and housework.
Legal limits are not successful: According to NFHS-5 (2019-2021), 23.3% of women aged 20-24 years married before the age of 18, which shows that the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006, has not been successful in preventing child marriages.
Depriving legal protection: Increasing the legal age at marriage for girls will expand the number of persons deemed underage and render them without legal protection.
Declining fertility rates: India’s fertility rates have already been declining to well below replacement levels in many States, including those with higher levels of child marriage.
Poverty is the underlying reason: Poverty and lack of higher education are major underlying reasons for early marriages. According to an analysis of NFHS-4 (2015-2016) data, 56% girls were married below the age of 21 and this figure was as high as 75% among the poorest category of population.
Way forward
Instead of focusing on age of marriage, following steps may eventually reduce the age of marriage
Conditional cash transfer schemes to improve the attendance of girls in schools and skill training.
Providing Increased access to contraceptives.
Ensuring a safe environment to women free from the constant threat of rape and sexual assault which is why girls are married off early.
Assessment carried by NAAC for higher education institutions have been mired in controversy. There have been demands for reviewing the process of accreditation by NAAC.
ABOUT National Assessment & Accreditation Council (NAAC)
NAAC is an autonomous institution established by the University Grants Commission (UGC) under the UGC Act, 1956 for assessing and accrediting higher education institutions (HEIs) of the country.
NAAC conducts assessment and accreditation of HEIs to derive an understanding of the 'Quality Status' of the institution.
Headquartered in Bengaluru.
Eligibility: Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), with at least two batches of students graduated, or been in existence for six years, whichever is earlier, are eligible to apply for process of Assessment & Accreditation (A&A) of NAAC. Institutions covered can be:
Universities (Central/State/Private/Deemed to be) and Institutions of National Importance
Autonomous colleges/Constituent Colleges/Affiliated Colleges (Affiliated to universities recognised by UGC as an affiliating university)
Accredited HEIs applying for Reassessment or Subsequent Cycles (Cycle 2, Cycle 3, Cycle 4) of Accreditation
Any other HEIs at the discretion of NAAC.
Criteria of Accreditation followed by NAAC: Currently, the NAAC follows an input-based approach and focuses on 7 main criteria. NAAC has categorised HEIs into three major categories (University, Autonomous College and Affiliated/Constituent College) and are assigned different weightages to these criteria. They are:
Curricular Aspects
Teaching-Learning & Evaluation
Research, Innovations and Extension
Infrastructure and Learning Resources
Student support & progression
Governance, Leadership and Management
Institutional Values and Best Practices.
Process of Accreditation: Process of assessment and accreditation broadly consists of:
Online submission of institutional information for quality assessment and self-study report.
Data validation and verification by NAAC.
Student Satisfaction Survey by NAAC
Peer Team Visit
Institutional Grading
Assessment Outcome: Final result of Assessment & Accreditation exercise will be an ICT based score, which is a combination of qualitative and quantitative metrics. This will be based on report of Peer Review Team, institutional grade sheet and quantitative metrics. The above three parts will together form “NAAC Accreditation Outcome” document. It is mandatory for the HEIs to display it on their institutional website apart from NAAC hosting it on its website.
Range of Institutional Cumulative Grade Point Average
Letter Grade
Status
3.51-4
A++
Accredited
3.26-3-50
A+
Accredited
3.01-3.25
A
Accredited
2.76-3.00
B++
Accredited
2.51-2.75
B+
Accredited
2.01-2.50
B
Accredited
1.51-2
C
Accredited
<=1.50
D
Not accredited
Validity of Accreditation: Accreditation given by NAAC is usually valid for a period of 5 years. However, institutions which have secured highest grade consecutively in previous two cycles of accreditation and continue to do so in the 3rd cycle will be eligible for extension of validity from 5 years to 7 years.
Scope of Reassessment: Institutions can apply for reassessment to make an improvement in the accredited status, after a minimum of one year or before three years of accreditation. Current procedures and methodology is also applicable for all institutions applying for re-assessment.
Issues with NAAC
Discrepancies in Assessment process: Peer review of Assessments done by NAAC have been found to be allocating 'arbitrary points' to colleges. There have been allegations that certain HEIs are given more scores in NAAC assessment and even corruption and bribing of members of peer-review team.
Limited coverage: Despite mandate for universal accreditation of HEIs in India. More than 50% of universities and 75% of affiliated colleges in India are not accredited.
Issues with current assessment method of NAAC
Current assumption is that desired learning outcomes can be achieved once systems and processes necessary for achieving them are in place. However, the focus must shift to assessing the learning outcomes themselves. There is a need to assess knowledge and skills acquired by students as outcomes after completing their studies.
Process of Peer Team Visits adds substantial effort on the part of NAAC and Higher Education Institutions. Hence, role of Peer Teams should be facilitatory in nature and not have a significant weightage in assessment and accreditation.
Documentation exercise is too intensive and overwhelming for HEIs and must be rationalised.
Choosing of members of peer-review group is often biased and not objective. Only those Universities/Colleges which have NAAC grading or NIRF Ranking will be eligible for inclusion in the list maintained by UGC for receiving financial assistance.
Way Forward:
Moving towards outcome based assessment: NAAC should clearly spell out outcomes of learning expected of graduates of an Higher Education Institution with focus on assessing Educatedness, Professional Skills, Career Progression, Alumni Feedback, Autonomy of Practitioners, Quality of Teaching, Quality of Research, Commitment for SDGs, Diversity & Inclusiveness & Infrastructure support and development.
Assessment and Accreditation of educational institutions should be done transparently and professionally.
Only those Universities/Colleges which have NAAC grading or NIRF Ranking will be eligible for inclusion in the list maintained by UGC for receiving financial assistance.
Move towards unified National Accreditation Council (NAC): National Education Policy, 2020 has proposed National Accreditation Council as a meta-accrediting body. UGC has established a committee to bring synergy between NAAC, National Board of Accreditation (NBA) and National Institutional Ranking Framework to propose a common framework and roadmap for National Accreditation Council.
Accreditation & Assessment shall be mandatory and every Higher Educational Institution needs to be accredited. Self-declaration and transparency shall be basis of assessment and accreditation.
Accreditation should be carried out by an independent ecosystem of accrediting institutions supervised and overseen by NAC. Recognised accreditor to be awarded to an appropriate number of institutions by NAC.
A Graded system of accreditation should be developed which will eventually result in graded autonomy for colleges and HEIs.
Technology Enabled Assessment: Use of technology to might help HEIs in reducing burden of collecting and verifying data for assessment. Technology enabled formative assessment may provide a comprehensive, reliable and realistic assessment of HEIs.
The different nature of rural and urban spaces in the country, ranging on all different dimensions including governance, environment, education, health, infrastructure and development, is the rural-urban dichotomy in principle. It is economic, cultural, social, historical and well as political in nature.
Reasons for Rural-Urban dichotomy
Economically
Lack of formal credit institutions in rural areas makes it difficult to invest in capital formation.
Lack of industrialisation
High seasonal and disguised unemployment
Failing APMC regime
Concentration of capital in cities
Occupational mobility is higher in urban areas
Booming startup culture in urban areas
Social reasons
Rural Indian society tends to be more patriarchal than urban setup
Caste discrimination more rampant in rural areas
Girls’ education upto a limited extent in rural areas
Urban areas tend to modernise on lines with western culture more frequently
Liberal values are promoted in urban settings compared to rural areas
Historical reasons
Old cities were establishments of kings, ministers and nobles in medieval times and residences of rich traders, aristocrats and British officers in modern times
Urban areas were nodal points of trading and big marketplaces
Need to reduce rural-urban dichotomy
Reducing this dichotomy will result in a ‘rural-urban continuum’ which means the less and almost negligible difference between rural and urban areas. An example is Kerala which has had a high level of this continuum for many years.
Physical infrastructure will get a boost by integrating rural areas with value supply chains and freight corridors. The Sagarmala project, National Waterways project and Golden Quadrilateral have the potential to bring regions into the mainstream.
For financial infrastructure, digital banking needs to be pushed in rural areas, along with penetration of POS and ATMs at the grassroots level.
There are 3 crore houses required in rural areas and 1.2 crore houses required in urban areas. Schemes like PM Aawas Yojana and Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC) have given a push in this regard.
India’s expenditure on healthcare is just 2.1% of GDP (2021-22 Union Budget). To improve this in both rural and urban areas, PM Jan Arogya Yojana, National Rural/Urban Health Mission, and Rashtriya Bal Swasth Karyakram is underway.
Literacy rate in urban areas is 87.7% while that of rural areas is 73.5%. To fill this gap, education is promoted through Mid-Day Meal Scheme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and PM Schools for Rising India (PM-SHRI).
It will result in economic freedom of the rural population from the evil of informal credit and debt trap. For this RBI has unveiled the Payments Vision 2025 which would lead to better financial inclusion and participation. Centre has also announced a bank recapitalisation scheme by infusing Rs. 15000 Crore in weak PSUs.
It will result in a reduction of social evils like caste discrimination and dowry etc.
It will lead to a rise in political awareness among the population.
Challenges in achieving rural-urban continuum
Lack of infrastructure and investment in rural regions
Unwillingness of political leaders to bring about a social change
Failure in policy implementation at the rural level
Low number of dedicated schemes to achieve the continuum
Migration of rural population in cities makes the development of villages more challenging
Way forward
Achieving the rural-urban continuum must be one of the key points in policy-making, given the Amritkaal, the 17 SDGs and the global climate crisis. Striving for this continuum will result in multifaceted growth and fulfilment of multidimensional goals.
We must look forward to the German model – where villages are designated sub-sectors of production and services and trained for that, which results in internal as well as external consumption and acts as a capital expenditure multiplier.
National Sample Survey (NSS) Multiple Indicator Survey 2020-21 highlights the migration trends of Indians
What is migration?
The National Sample Survey defined migrants as those who had ever spent at least six straight months in a village/town/country different from their place of residence, i.e., where they were surveyed.
More on migration:
Migration is the geographic movement of people across a specified boundary various reasons especially social, economic, political reasons. Along with fertility and mortality, migration is a component of the population change.
The term “in migration” and “out migration” are used for migration within a country and are comparable to the terms “immigration” and “emigration” used in international migration.
Patterns of Migration:
Internal migrant flows can be classified on the basis of origin and destination.
Rural to Rural
Rural to Urban
Urban to Rural
Urban to Urban
Factors for migration:
Push Factors
Pull Factors
-Lack of employment -Caste Discrimination -Poor availability of basic amenities e.g., Sanitation, Housing -Lack of Healthcare and educational facilities -Natural Disasters e.g., Cyclones, Landslides
-Better job opportunities and wages -Healthcare facilities e.g., Multi-specialty hospitals -Urban lifestyle - Liberty and Free society -Quality education -Industrial ecosystem
Status of Migration in India as per NSS 2020-21 Survey:
One in three Urban Indians is a ‘migrant’ – but mostly intra-state.
Among migrants, 55% have moved between villages – mostly women moving after marriage.
Marriage is a larger driver of migration than jobs for women.
Jobs are the biggest reason of migration from men.
Himachal Pradesh and Telangana have the highest share of job-related migrants in their total urban male population.
Delhi has the highest share of persons (21.3%) who have come from outside its territory.
Issues faced by migrants:
Lack of social security and health benefits and poor implementation of minimum safety standards law
Lack of portability of state-provided benefits especially food provided through the public distribution system (PDS)
Poor implementation of protections under the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979 (ISMW Act)
Lack of access to affordable housing and basic amenities in urban areas
Steps taken by Government for the welfare of Migrants:
e-SHRAM portal, a National Database of the Unorganised Workers has been launched for registration of unorganised workers including migrant workers. The main objective of the e-SHRAM portal is to create a national database of unorganised workers seeded with Aadhaar. It is also to facilitate delivery of Social Security and welfare Schemes to such workers.
Jharkhand's first survey of migrants - aims to map the major sectors of engagement for migrants workers, find social security benefits and identify the health hazards.
Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) launched in 2015 provide for life & disability cover due to natural or accidental death.
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana caters to the housing needs to eligible beneficiaries.
Way Forward:
A favourable legislative and policy framework is the need of the hour to facilitate orderly, safe, and responsible migration and mobility of people (SDG 10.7).
Recently, the Centre, in an affidavit in the Supreme Court, has frowned upon samesex marriage while invoking the “accepted view” that a marriage between a biological man and woman is a “holy union, a sacrament and a sanskar” in India.
Problem faced by LGBTQRIV+ Community:
Family disruption
Lack of understanding and proper communication about sexual orientation and gender identity can lead to fighting and family disruption that can result in an LGBT adolescent being removed from or forced out of the home.
Many LGBT youth are placed in foster care, or end up in juvenile detention or on the streets, because of family conflict related to their LGBT identity.
These factors increase their risk for abuse and for serious health and mental health problems like, increase attempt to suicide, chances of drug addiction, indulging in criminal activities, etc.
This is caused by lifelong dissonance, deep-rooted stigma, discrimination, and often abuse, that the community experiences. It often leads to extreme distress and poor self-worth, resulting in self-hate and suffering.
Sexual orientation and gender identity are rarely discussed in our social, educational or familial environments, and if ever done, these discussions are stigmatizing.
It is difficult to find friends and family who understand what the person feels.
Political parties and religious leaders kept away from the LGBT movement
Victim of Hate Crimes and Violence
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender people and those perceived to be LGBT are regularly targeted as victims of hate crimes and violence.
LGBT people experience stigma and discrimination across their life spans, and are targets of sexual and physical assault, harassment, and hate crimes.
Barriers to Health Care
A large majority of the psychiatrists in India still consider diverse sexual orientations and gender identities as a disorder and practice ‘correctional therapy’.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are more likely to experience intolerance, discrimination, harassment, and the threat of violence due to their sexual orientation, than those that identify themselves as heterosexual.
Particularly vulnerable are young LGBT people who experience estrangement from family and friendship networks, harassment at school, and invisibility, which can lead in some cases to underachievement at school, school drop-out, mental ill-health, and homelessness.
Discrimination not only denies LGBT people equal access to key social goods, such as employment, healthcare, education, and housing, but it also marginalizes them in society and makes them one of the vulnerable groups who are at risk of becoming socially excluded.
Challenges for LGBT Elders
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) face a number of particular concerns as they age.
They often do not access adequate health care, affordable housing, or other social services that they need due to institutionalized heterosexism.
Most LGBT elders do not avail themselves of services on which other seniors thrive.
Lack of family support system as enjoyed by other elderly people.
Landmark judgements and related issues
In 2000, Law Commission was the first to recommend decriminalizing Section 377.
Naz Foundation vs. Govt. of NCT of Delhi (2009): The Delhi High Court decriminalized homosexual acts involving consenting adults. The Court held that Section 377 offended the guarantee of equality enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution, because it creates an unreasonable classification and targets homosexuals as a class. Discrimination is the antithesis of equality and that it is the recognition of equality which will foster the dignity of every individual.
Suresh Kumar Koushal Case (2013): Supreme Court overturned the previous judgment by Delhi High Court (2009).
