UPSC Daily Current Affairs- 11th October 2022 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

GS-I

Context

Prime Minister of India recently witnessed the 3D light and sound show explaining the importance of the centuries-old Sun temple built during the Chalukya dynasty.

About Sun Temple at Modhera:

• It was built in 1026-27 CE during the reign of Bhima I of the Solanki dynasty and is a protected monument maintained by Archaeological Survey of India.
• The temple complex is divided into three components:
  • Gudhamandapa, the shrine hall,
  • Sabhamandapa, the assembly hall and
  • Kunda, the reservoir.
• The temple is suspected to have been built to commemorate the defense of Modhera by Bhima I against Mahmud of Ghazni.
• The temple complex is built in Maru-Gurjara style also known as Solanki style.
• The exclusively carved temple complex and the magnificently sculpted kund are jewels in the art of masonry of the Solanki period apparently which was also known as the Golden Age of Gujarat.

Modheshwari Mata Temple:

• The temple is located near the ruins of famous Sun Temple, where another original place of worship is situated below the step-well.
• This temple is very famous amongst the Modh clan of Gujarat as Goddess Modheshwari is considered as the deity of the Modh clan.
• The Goddess Modheshwari is believed to be a form of Goddess Parvati and is known for having 18 arms with each arm carrying various weapons to protect the clan from danger.

Other Important Sun Temples in India:

• Sun Temple at Konark, Odisha
• Martand Sun temple, Kashmir
• Katarmal Sun Temple, Uttarakhand
• Dakshinarkaa temple Gaya, Bihar
• Bhramanya temple, Unao, Madhya Pradesh
• Surya Prahaar temple, Assam
• Suryanar Kovil Temple at Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu
• Suryanarayana temple at Arasavalli, Andhra Pradesh

GS-II

Context

Every year, International Girl Child Day is observed on 11th October 2022.

Why do We celebrate International Girl Child Day?

• History:
  • First time in history, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995, proposed an action plan to advance the rights of girls.
  • In 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 to declare 11th October as the International Day of the Girl Child.
• Theme for 2022: “Our time is now—our rights, our future”
• Significance:
  • The day is observed to recognise girls' rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.
  • The International Day of the Girl Child focuses attention on the need to address the challenges girls face and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfilment of their human rights.
  • Also, Women's empowerment and gender equality are integral to all 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
  • The achievement of gender equality is the fifth of 17 SDGs laid out in the Sustainable Development Agenda.
  • Justice, inclusion, economic growth, and a sustainable environment can only be achieved by ensuring the rights of women and girls across all the goals.

What is the State of Girl Child in India?

• About:
  • According to the recently released report “Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India Report 2021” by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB):
  • Crime against children surpassed the pre-pandemic levels after declining in 2020 due to Covid-related restriction.
  • In 2021, 1.49 lakh such cases were recorded, higher than 1.48 lakh in 2019.
  • The data published by the NCRB is specifically grim for the eastern states of India:
  • Sikkim has the highest rate of sexual offences against children followed by Kerala, Meghalaya, Haryana and Mizoram.
  • West Bengal and Odisha are among the top five states (along with Maharashtra, MP and UP) which account for 47.1% of the total crimes committed against children across the country.
  • There were 9,523 cases of crimes against children recorded alone in West Bengal in 2021.
• Issues related to Girl Child:
  • Female Infanticide and Foeticide:
    • India has one of the highest rates of female foeticide in the world.
    • The Census of 2011 has recorded the lowest ever sex ratio of 914 in the age group 0-6 years with 3 million missing girls; from 78.8 million in 2001 to 75.8 million in 2011.
  • Child Marriage:
    • Each year, at least 1.5 million girls under 18 get married in India. Nearly 16% of adolescent girls aged 15-19 are currently married.
    • While child marriage has declined, it has been marginal: from 27% in 2015-16 to 23% in 2019-20, according to National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 5.
  • Devoid of Education:
    • Girls are encouraged and also engaged more in household work and drop out of school at an early age.
    • A study by the International Centre for Research on Women has found that girls out of school are 3.4 times more likely to be married or have their marriage already fixed than girls who are still in school.
• Related Initiatives:
  • Beti Bachao Beti Padhao:
    • Launched in 2015 with the aim to address sex selective abortion and the declining child sex ratio which was at 918 girls for every 1,000 boys in 2011.
  • Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana:
    • Launched in 2015, in order to promote the welfare of girl children. It encourages parents to invest and build funds for the future studies and marriage expenses of the girl's children.
  • CBSE Udaan Scheme:
    • UDAAN is a project launched by the CBSE to address the low enrolment of girl students in prestigious engineering institutions and the teaching gap between school education and engineering entrance examinations.
  • National Scheme of Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education (NSIGSE):
    • It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme launched in 2008, which aims to promote enrollment of girl children in the age group of 14-18 at secondary stage, especially those who passed Class VIII and to encourage the secondary education of such girls.
  • Scheme for Adolescent Girls: Government is also implementing Scheme for Adolescent Girls, which aims to facilitate, educate and empower Adolescent Girls (AGs) so as to enable them to become self-reliant and aware citizens.

Way Forward

• Strengthening the Child Protection System:
  • Urgent measures are needed to strengthen the country’s child protection system and to make the police, judicial and legal systems more proactive.
• Community-based Child Protection Mechanisms:
  • The offenses related to children have a low conviction rate and a high pendency rate hence, boosting community-based child protection mechanisms, such as village-level child protection committees can play a critical role.
• Raising Social Awareness:
  • Patriarchal social attitudes and prejudices need to be addressed by including sensitisation on gender issues in school education.

Context

U.N. Peacekeeping chief in an interview says that Troop- and police-contributing countries need to be very much in the loop and involved in the process of making decisions on peacekeeping, and have been making a lot of efforts to improve the geographical diversity of nations providing the forces.

About UN Peace keeping forces:

• The first time UN Peacekeeping Forces were first deployed in 1948 when the UN Security Council authorized the deployment of UN military observers to the Middle East.

Three basic principles of UNPKF:

• Consent of the parties:
  • UN peacekeeping operations are deployed with the consent of the main parties to the conflict. This requires a commitment by the parties to a political process.
• Impartiality:
  • United Nations peacekeepers should be impartial in their dealings with the parties to the conflict, but not neutral in the execution of their mandate.
• Non-use of force except in self-defense and defence of the mandate:

UN peacekeeping operations are not an enforcement tool. However, they may use force at the tactical level, with the authorization of the Security Council, if acting in self-defense and defence of the mandate.

• UNPKF brings together the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Secretariat, troop and police contributors and the host governments in a combined effort to maintain international peace and security.
• The Security Council to determines when and where a UN peace operation should be deployed.
• The Security Council establishes a peace operation by adopting a Security Council resolution. The resolution sets out that mission’s mandate and size.
• The Security Council can vote to extend, amend, or end mission mandates as it deems appropriate.
• Currently there are 12 UN peacekeeping operations deployed on three continents.

UNITED NATIONS MILITARY OBSERVER GROUP IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN (UNMOGIP) is deployed in Jammu & Kashmir to supervise the ceasefire between India and Pakistan on 24 January of 1949.

• The UN Peacekeeping force is supplemented by personnel from member nations on a volunteer basis.

Department of Peace Operations (DPO):

• DPO provides political and executive direction to UN peacekeeping operations around the world and maintains contact with the Security Council, troop and financial contributors, and parties to the conflict in the implementation of Security Council mandates.

Women, Peace, and Security is a key commitment of the Action for Peacekeeping initiative

• Through UN Security Council resolution 1325, ensuing resolutions, as well as the Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) Declaration of Shared Commitments, the UN has called for an expansion of the role and contribution of women in its operations, including of uniformed women peacekeepers.
• The Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) initiative views the Women, Peace, and Security agenda as critical to enhancing peacekeeping operations’ performance through supporting women’s full participation in peace processes and making peacekeeping more gender-responsive, including through increasing the number of civilian and uniformed women in peacekeeping at all levels and in key positions.
• A4P has been signed by 152 Member States, a number of which have come forward to specifically champion implementation of A4P’s WPS commitment: Bangladesh, Canada, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

Context 

The Supreme Court Collegium has issued an unprecedented statement acknowledging differences between Chief Justice of India and two senior judges over the procedure to select candidates for appointment as apex court judges.

What is the news?

• Two senior judges of the apex court objected to the CJI’s never-before act of circulating his written recommendations among the collegium members for their approval.
• The standard procedure instead is to have adopt across-the-table discussions.

What is the issue over this?

• CJI Lalit is slated to retire on 8
• As per the Supreme Court convention, the outgoing CJI does not hold collegium meetings when the appointment of his successor has already started.

What exactly is the Collegium System?

• The collegium system was born out of years of friction between the judiciary and the executive.
• The hostility was further accentuated by instances of court-packing (the practice of changing the composition of judges in a court), mass transfer of HC judges and two supersessions to the office of the CJI in the 1970s.
• The Three Judges cases saw the evolution of the collegium system.
• Evolution: The Judges Cases
  • First Judges Case (1981) ruled that the “consultation” with the CJI in the matter of appointments must be full and effective. However, it rejected the idea that the CJI’s opinion, albeit carrying great weight, should have primacy.
  • Second Judges Case (1993) introduced the Collegium system, holding that “consultation” really meant “concurrence”. It added that it was not the CJI’s individual opinion, but an institutional opinion formed in consultation with the two senior-most judges in the Supreme Court.
  • Third Judges Case (1998): On a Presidential Reference for its opinion, the Supreme Court, in the Third Judges Case (1998) expanded the Collegium to a five-member body, comprising the CJI and four of his senior-most colleagues.

How does the collegium system work?

• The collegium of the CJI and four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court make recommendations for appointments to the apex court and High Courts.
• The collegium can veto the government if the names are sent back by the latter for reconsideration.
• The basic tenet behind the collegium system is that the judiciary should have primacy over the government in matters of appointments and transfers in order to remain independent.
• The procedure followed by the Collegium

Appointment of CJI

• The President of India appoints the CJI and the other SC judges.
• As far as the CJI is concerned, the outgoing CJI recommends his successor.
• In practice, it has been strictly by seniority ever since the supersession controversy of the 1970s.
• The Union Law Minister forwards the recommendation to the PM who, in turn, advises the President.
• Other SC Judges
  • For other judges of the top court, the proposal is initiated by the CJI.
  • The CJI consults the rest of the Collegium members, as well as the senior-most judge of the court hailing from the High Court to which the recommended person belongs.
  • The consultees must record their opinions in writing and it should form part of the file.
  • The Collegium sends the recommendation to the Law Minister, who forwards it to the Prime Minister to advise the President.
• For High Courts
  • The CJs of High Courts are appointed as per the policy of having Chief Justices from outside the respective States. The Collegium takes the call on the elevation.
  • High Court judges are recommended by a Collegium comprising the CJI and two senior-most judges.
  • The proposal, however, is initiated by the Chief Justice of the High Court concerned in consultation with two senior-most colleagues.
  • The recommendation is sent to the Chief Minister, who advises the Governor to send the proposal to the Union Law Minister.

Does the Collegium recommend transfers too?

• Yes, the Collegium also recommends the transfer of Chief Justices and other judges.
• Article 222 of the Constitution provides for the transfer of a judge from one High Court to another.
• When a CJ is transferred, a replacement must also be simultaneously found for the High Court concerned. There can be an acting CJ in a High Court for not more than a month.
• In matters of transfers, the opinion of the CJI “is determinative”, and the consent of the judge concerned is not required.
• However, the CJI should take into account the views of the CJ of the High Court concerned and the views of one or more SC judges who are in a position to do so.
• All transfers must be made in the public interest, that is, “for the betterment of the administration of justice”.

Loopholes in the Collegium system

• Lack of Transparency: Opaqueness and a lack of transparency, and the scope for nepotism are cited often.
• Judges appointing Judge: The attempt made to replace it with a ‘National Judicial Appointments Commission’ was struck down by the court in 2015 on the ground that it posed a threat to the independence of the judiciary.
• Criteria: Some do not believe in full disclosure of reasons for transfers, as it may make lawyers in the destination court chary of the transferred judge. It has even been accused of nepotism.

Way ahead

• In respect of appointments, there has been an acknowledgment that the “zone of consideration” must be expanded to avoid criticism that many appointees hail from families of retired judges.
• The status of a proposed new memorandum of procedure, to infuse greater accountability, is also unclear.
• Even the majority of opinions admitted the need for transparency, now Collegiums’ resolutions are now posted online, but reasons are not given.

GS-III

Context 

Tiger T-104 was put down by the forest department of Bihar in the Valmiki Tiger Reserve according to protocol laid down by National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) for man-eater tigers, on the orders of the Chief Wildlife Warden (CWW) of Bihar.

• The tiger in question was a three-year-old male, who had killed 10 people in the district.
• Four years ago, Avni or T1, the man-eating tigress of Yavatmal district in Maharashtra, had been similarly eliminated after she mauled 13 people to death.
• Tiger is listed under Schedule 1 of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 (WLPA).

Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR):

• It is the 18th tiger reserve of India, situated in the North West corner of the State of Bihar, in West Champaran district of the state.
• In north, the protected areas are bordered by Nepal while the Indian state Uttar Pradesh bounds the Wildlife Sanctuary from western side.
• VTR comprises of the Valmiki National Park and Valmiki Wildlife Sanctuary.
• The pristine forest and wilderness of VTR is an excellent example of Himalayan Terai landscape.
• The VTR forest area covers 901.07 sq km, out of which Wildlife Sanctuary is 880.78 sq km. and National Park is about 335.64 sq. km.
• VTR is one of the eleven Level 1 Tiger Conservation Units (TCU) in the Indian sub- continent, where long term survival of Tigers (Panthera tigris) is possible.
• The Reserve has also been designated as Important Bird Area (IBA) by the Indian Bird Conservation Network.
• Fauna: Tigers, sloth bear, leopard, Indian gaur, hyena, wild dogs, blue bull, leopard cat, wildcat, fishing cat, Himalayan pan. The dolphin & gharial are present in Gandak river.
• Flora: Bhabar Dun Sal Forest, Dry Siwalik Sal Forest, West Gangetic Moist Mixed Deciduous Forest.

Wildlife Protection Act (WPA) 1972:

• In India, wildlife conservation and protection are maintained under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
• The Act is a product of the times when environmental jurisprudence was rapidly developing in India with due credit to judicial activism.
• The current Act is comprehensive and protects all kinds of animals – amphibians to birds, mammals, and reptiles and specified plants that cannot be destroyed and damaged without the approval of the government.
• Powers to the State Governments: to protect and preserve animals and birds as per Section 3 including prohibition on the capturing, killing, selling, buying, possessing of the animals including their plumage (feathers) and to grant licenses.
• The Central Government is empowered to appoint the Director of Wildlife Preservation.
• The State Government is required to appoint the Chief Wildlife Warden(CWW), Wildlife Wardens, and Honorary Wildlife Wardens.
• Hunting and poaching are prohibited under the Act with exceptions such as special permission may be granted by CWW for purposes like education, scientific research, etc.
• Constitution of the National Board for Wildlife with the PM as its chairperson.
• 6 schedules include protection to both animals and plants including Vermin (specified in Schedule five)
• Recognition of Protected Areas (PAs) such as Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks.

Context 

India’s space economy is likely to be worth nearly $13 billion by 2025, with the satellite launch services segment set to witness the fastest growth due to increasing private participation.

About the report

• The report is released by the Indian Space Association (ISpA) and Ernst & Young.
• It says that the growing demand for smaller satellites is set to boost satellite manufacturing in the country.
• It will attract global start-ups in the sector to help incubate space tech companies to India.

Key highlights

• India’s space economy was pegged at $9.6 billion in 2020 and is expected to touch $12.8 billion by 2025.
• In dollar terms, the satellite services and applications segment would be the largest with a turnover of $4.6 billion by 2025, followed by the ground segment at $4 billion.
• Satellite manufacturing stands at $3.2 billion and launch services at $1 billion.
• The launch services segment was pegged at $600 million in 2020 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 13 percent to reach $1 billion by 2025.

Key drivers of this demand

• India has of over 100 space tech start-ups with investments in the segment touching $68 million in 2021.
• The availability of low-cost satellite launch vehicles coupled with mass production will lead to demand from customers around the world.
• Several companies are utilising cutting-edge technologies to develop innovative launch solutions in India.

Where does India stand in the global space market?

• As per SpaceTech Analytics, India is the sixth-largest player in the industry internationally having 3.6% of the world’s space-tech companies (as of 2021).
• US holds the leader’s spot housing 56.4% of all companies in the space-tech ecosystem.
• Other major players include UK (6.5%), Canada (5.3%), China (4.7%) and Germany (4.1%).
• The Indian Space Industry was valued at $7 billion in 2019 and aspires to grow to $50 billion by 2024.

Why does India matter in the global space-tech market?

• The country’s standout feature is its cost-effectiveness.
• India holds the distinction of being the first country to have reached the Mars’ orbit in its first attempt and at $75 million — way cheaper than Western standards.

Future prospects of India’s private ‘Space’

• India may lead in space junk management
• Almost 60-odd start-ups had registered with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) this year.
• A majority of them were dealing in projects related to space debris management.
• As space becomes more congested with satellites, the technology would thus help in managing ‘space junk’ (debris of old spacecraft and satellites).

How is the private sector’s involvement regulated in India?

In June 2020, the Union government announced reforms in the space sector enabling more private players to provide end-to-end services.

The central idea was to bring forth a predictable policy and regulatory environment for them and additionally provide access to ISRO facilities and assets to improve their capacities.

• Establishment of IN-SPACe
  • An announcement for the establishment of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) was made.
  • It was mandated the task of promoting, authorising and licensing private players to carry out space activities.
  • As an oversight and regulatory body, it is responsible for devising mechanisms to offer sharing of technology, expertise, and facilities free of cost to promote non-government private entities (NGPEs).
  • IN-SPACe’s Monitoring and Promotion Directorate oversees NGPE’s activities as per prescribed regulations and reports back in case any corrective actions or resolutions are required.
  • ISRO shares its expertise in matters pertaining to quality and reliability protocols, documentation, and testing procedure through IN-SPACe’s ‘interface mechanism’.
• Establishment of NSIL
  • Additionally, constituted in March 2019, New Space India Ltd (NSIL), is mandated to transfer the matured technologies developed by the ISRO to Indian industries.
  • All of them are under the purview of the Ministry of Defence.
  • Private sector’s involvement in the long term, as with other commercial sectors, is believed to help spur investment and expertise in the realm which is capital-intensive and demands high technology.

Where does India lack?

Undisputedly, it is the finances

• The US and Canada were the highest receivers of space-related investment in 2021.
• The US’s space budget was $41 billion in 2021, $23.3 billion of which was focused on NASA.
• India’s total budgetary allocation for FY2022-23 towards the Department of Space was ₹13,700 crore ($172 million).
• Further, as per Tracxn data, funding into the sector’s start-ups (in India) nearly tripled to $67.2 million on a year-over-year basis in 2021.

Context

After flooding of major metropolitan cities of Bengaluru, Gurgaon and Delhi following heavy rainfall, the Centre has pointed to two cities – Davanagere and Agartala – as successful examples of cities that have curbed urban flooding.

Why cities are  so important in India?

• Driveres of Growth: Urbanisation has played and will continue to play a critical role in India’s growth story in the 21st century.
• Cities are seen as GDP multipliers: By some estimates, Indian cities already contribute up to 70% of the country’s GDP. Yet, depending on which official estimates you use, India is just 26% or 31% urban. But there is growing evidence that India is more urban than is officially recognised.
• Cities have more productivity: Well-functioning and diverse cities allow for the sharing and cross-pollination of ideas, which in turn drive greater productivity.

what are the Urban challenges?

• Lack of Planning: current urban planning policies and practice have led to suboptimal use of land in Indian cities. This has multiple consequences. There is not enough floor space for accommodating migrants in search of economic opportunities; they make space for themselves in informal settlements. There is also not enough land in the public domain for developing adequate open spaces or augmenting infrastructure capacities.
• lack of Housing:The pandemic revealed that the cities’ economies rely on migrant populations in the formal and informal sectors. Workers in both markets move from rural to urban and urban to urban areas as they find better opportunities; they are mobile and need adequate rental options. Today, in most Indian cities, this demand is not met and leads to unaffordable options, pushing the poorer sections out to slums and other informal settlements.
• Lack of Transport: Indian cities are infamous for their road congestion; three of them rank in the 10 most congested in the world according to the 2020 TomTom Travel Index with Mumbai ranking second. The existing public transportation systems are already overcrowded and of poor quality.
• Lack of Public health: Like other health crises, the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the need to ensure adequate healthcare services and sanitation infrastructure for a healthy population in cities. In the initial months of the outbreak, the focus of health services shifted entirely towards addressing the novel coronavirus, leaving other health issues unaddressed and shutting down routine care services.
• Impact on Environment: The causes for low air quality are multiple; vehicular movement and on-road congestion are major contributors. A safe and clean environment is key to good public health.
• Problems faced by vulnerable sections: The economic shock and work from home guidelines changed migration patterns; workers in cities returned to their home towns and villages. Slum dwellers, with limited access to adequate infrastructure, and migrant workers, disenfranchised from social protection systems or daily wagers, were more vulnerable to this shock. In the medium and long term, it is difficult to predict what the job market will be in cities.

What can be done to address the urban challenges?

• Future planning is necessary: Manage the spatial growth of cities and allow them to build more planned road networks for future horizontal expansion and revoke faulty policies that constrain the use of floor space to build vertically.
• Housing for all scheme is important: Focus on providing public housing for the poor; India can learn from successful models in Singapore or Hong Kong and understand the strategic challenges of other international examples such as Mexico. India can also work toenable efficient rental markets
• Holistic transport should be focused: Integrate formal and informal modes of transportation into holistic transportation strategies to ensure seamless mobility, as well as first and last mile connectivity.
• Increasing funds to Cities: Decentralise fiscal powers to the local level and train city authorities so that they can make more strategic decisions in health expenditures or public health infrastructure, as well as gain the capacity to raise their own resources.
• Need of a healthy Environment: Increase the number of open spaces in the public domain, maintain them and monitor their use. Prepare for disasters with robust framework of physical infrastructures, road networks and large open spaces. Build adequate infrastructure to support the sustainable development of emerging Tier-2 and Tier 3 towns.
• More attention to vulnerable: Develop more systematic identification mechanisms of the urban poor to ameliorate the delivery of public services and social protection. Collect accurate data on migrant population and capture their socio-economic diversity to better address their needs. Monitor access to services, housing and jobs of the vulnerable communities in real time.

Conclusion

Urban infrastructure is crumbling day by day. In the next 25 years, cities will have more population than rural areas. Indian cities need urgent reform in order to unlock their economic potential and transform quality of life.

Context

India has used Aadhaar (digital identity) and UPI (digital payments) extensively to address the challenges of identification and financial inclusion in social protection delivery, particularly in the case of migrants.

What are the problems faced by migrants?

• Issues with finding local Employment: Most migrant workers have a seasonal nature of employment. During off-seasons, they struggle to feed their families. Repeated lockdowns made situations more difficult for migrants to find jobs in their localities. They faced travel restrictions which hindered their job search as well.
• Lack of Insurance Benefits in a Pandemic Environment: Migrant workers work in precarious conditions with little wages and no access to government schemes and services. Poor and unsafe working and living conditions make them prone to diseases. Greater threats of occupational illnesses, nutritional diseases, alcoholism, HIV, and communicable diseases are rampant in the migrant workforce.
• Issue of timely and Fair Payment of Wages: The informal workforce in India consists of more than 150.6 million regular and daily wage earners. Most of these workers are unaware of their rights as ‘migrant workers’. Many unscrupulous agents coerce them and don’t pay minimum wages as per law.
• Lack of portability of benefits: Migrants registered to claim access to benefits at onelocation lose access upon migration to a different location. This is especially true of access to entitlements under the PDS.  Ration card required to access benefits under the PDS is issued by state governments and is not portable across states.  This system excludes inter-state migrants from the PDS unless they surrender their card from the home state and get a new one from the host state.
• Lack of affordable housing: The proportion of migrants in urban population is 47%. In 2015, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs identified migrants in urban areas as the largest population needing housing in cities. There is inadequate supply of low-income ownership and rental housing options.

How technology could provide a Solutions ?

• Providing digital public infrastructure (DPI):  Digital public infrastructure systems that enable the effective provision of essential society-wide functions and services  can enable a paradigm shift, allowing governments to co-create solutions with the private sector and civil society.
• Adopting Public private partnership models: There are three key areas where DPI can enable public-private partnerships (PPP) in the delivery of social protection of migrants,
• Awareness of entitlements: One barrier faced at the initial stage is lack of awareness of entitlements or of the need to reapply, when migrants move from one state to another. Jan Saathi is an application that provides migrants withinformation on eligible social security schemes. Organisations such as Haqdarshak not only inform potential beneficiaries about their eligibility for various schemes, Central or State, but also help them avail entitlements.
• Information about livelihoods and housing: The informal nature of the labour market makes access to affordable and safe living conditions a challenge, especially if the family migrates as a unit. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairshas introduced the Affordable Rental Housing Complexes under PMAY-Urban but the availability of such facilities is inadequate compared to the number of migrants. Bandhu’s ecosystem of applications connect migrant workers directly with employers and housing providers, to give them more informed choices. Jobsgaar and MyRojgaar also play a similar role by connecting workers to employers.
• Healthy Grievance redressal Mechanism: Gram Vaani bridges the gap in grievance redressal by providing a platform where citizens can use Interactive Voice Response (IVR) to record their grievance in accessing entitlements. Aajeevika Bureau and The Working People’s Charter built the India Labourline to provide legal aid and mediation services to migrant workers.
• Adopting a well-designed data: While a growing ecosystem of private players (NGOs, civil society organisations, not-for-profit and for-profit entities) are addressing these needs, well designed data exchanges can help unlock a strong public-private collaboration in the delivery of social protection.

What more government can do to address the issue of migrants?

• Creating a centralised data: The state’s digital efforts are often in siloes and the need to maximise use of data across schemes and departments is a high priority.
• E-Shram: Initiatives such as direct benefit transfers and linking of schemes for portability of entitlements have shown promise. e-Shram, which is a national database of unorganised workers, aims to reduce access barriers to social protection for migrants.
• Making portable entitlement: Recent announcements of API-based integration of e-Shram with the various state government labour departments and with the One Nation One Ration Card scheme are a step in that direction.
• Working with private sector: Enabling linkages of migrant data with the private sector can lead to benefits on the demand side, in the form of reduced transaction costs in identifying jobs, affordable housing and redressal of grievances.
• Engaging private sector: Private players who have established relationships with these mobile populations can help the state in planning and forecasting the demand for benefits. An example of this is the digital payment ecosystem since the introduction of UPI.

Conclusion

Digital technologies have the potential solve the problems and transforms the livelihood of migrants. The need for adequate data protection and safeguards is essential for implementation of any such initiative.