UPSC Daily Current Affairs- 15th October 2022 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

GS-I

Context 

Every year, International Day of Rural Women is celebrated on 15th October.

Why do we Celebrate the International Day of Rural Women?

• Background:
  • The idea of honouring rural women with a special day was put forward by international NGOs at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995.
  • The first International Day of Rural Women was observed on 15th October 2008. This new international day was established by the General Assembly in its resolution 62/136 in 2007.
• About:
  • The day aims to create awareness about the fact that the engagement of rural women diversifies family livelihood, yet their efforts largely go unappreciated.
  • It recognizes “the critical role and contribution of rural women, including indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.”
• Theme for 2022:
  • "Rural Women, key for a world free from hunger and poverty."

What are the Challenges Faced by Rural Women Workers in India?

• Incomplete Presentation of Data:
  • The rural economy suffers when women stop looking for work because they believe there is no work available, often incorrectly described as "dropping out" or "Leaving the market".
• Absence of Pay Parity:
  • In the field of manual labour work, women are being paid less than men in terms of piece rate due to physical constraints in lifting heavy weights.
• Lack of Education:
  • Majority of women construction workers are not registered as “Construction Workers” and therefore ineligible for any benefit accruing to them from the Construction Workers’ Welfare Board.
  • The paid formal jobs go to men and women with higher educational qualifications, leaving women with education till secondary level for non-agricultural, construction, house care and other roles.
• Limitation of MGNREGA:
  • The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a labour demand-driven programme, is limited to providing only 100 days of paid labour on public works projects per year.
  • For the rest of the period, women workers have to continuously look for alternative sources of income to meet expenses.
• Financial Constraints:
  • What the women earn from multiple tasks, for which there are no fixed rates is in no way equal to the amount of labour they do.
  • Due to non-availability of sufficient funds and lack of knowledge, they’re most vulnerable to land in debt traps.

What Initiatives Taken for the Upliftment for Rural Women Workers?

• e-Shram Portal:
  • e-Shram Portal was launched to register 38 crore unorganised workers such as construction labourers, migrant workforce, street vendors, and domestic workers, among others.
• The Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP):
  • Launched in 2011, it is aimed at imparting skill development and capacity building programmes for rural women.
  • This scheme was introduced as a sub component of DAY-NRLM (Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana — National Rural Livelihoods Mission) and implemented through State Rural Livelihoods Mission (SRLM) across India.
• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY):
  • Launched in 2015, it aims to train over 40 crore people in India in different skills by 2022. It aims at vocational training and certification of Indian youth for a better livelihood and respect in the society.
• Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)
  • PMJDY has boosted confidence and prospects of rural women participation in economic activities. The Jan Dhan campaign has ensured access to financial services, viz, banking/ savings and deposit accounts, remittance, credit, insurance, pension in an affordable manner to rural women.
• Other Initiatives
  • Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY)
  • Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana
  • Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization Scheme
  • PM-KISAN Scheme

Way Forward

• Survey Conduction:
  • Timely village surveys should be conducted which could reveal the real image of ground reality, as with the deep penetration of capitalist processes in rural India, there is a crisis of livelihood options for rural workers.
  • Widespread surveys of poor rural women and how they spend their time are an urgent necessity.
• Adult Education and Training:
  • Women lack access to quality adult education and training, which is one of the greatest barriers to their sustainable development.
  • Women should receive life skills, and social skills training as part of capacity building and adult training.
• MGNREGA Standards:
  • The performance standards set under MGNREGA should be established gender-wise and the work sites made more worker friendly.
  • The ‘compulsory’ woman worker must be recognised and protected by laws and policies that address her issues.

GS-II

Context

Barring the war-torn Afghanistan, India has performed worse than all the countries in the South Asian region in the Global Hunger Index 2022. It has ranked 107 out of 121 countries.

• India ranked 101 out of 116 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2021.

What is the Global Hunger Index?

• The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels.
• GHI scores are based on the values of four component indicators:
  • Undernourishment
  • Child stunting
  • Child wasting
  • Child mortality
• The GHI score is calculated on a 100-point scale reflecting the severity of hunger - zero is the best score (implies no hunger) and 100 is the worst.
• The GHI is prepared by European NGOs of Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.
• The GHI is an annual report and each set of GHI scores uses data from a 5-year period. The 2022 GHI scores are calculated using data from 2017 through 2021.

What is the Performance of Countries on GHI 2022?

• Global Progress: Globally, the progress against hunger has largely stagnated in recent years, with a global score of 18.2 in 2022 as compared to 19.1 in 2014, there is only a slight improvement. However, the 2022 GHI score is still considered “moderate”.
  • The plausible causes for the stagnation in this progress are overlapping crises such as conflicts among countries, climate change, the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the Russia-Ukraine war, which has increased global food, fuel, and fertiliser prices and is expected to “worsen hunger in 2023 and beyond”.
  • As per the index, there are 44 countries that currently have “serious” or “alarming” hunger levels and “without a major shift, neither the world as a whole nor approximately 46 countries are projected to achieve even low hunger as measured by the GHI by 2030.
• Top and Worst Performers:
  • Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Chile, China and Croatia are the top five countries in GHI 2022.
  • Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Central African Republic and Yemen are the countries ranked at the bottom of the index.
  • India and Neighboring Countries: Among the South Asian countries, India (107) is ranked below Sri Lanka (64), Nepal (81), Bangladesh (84), and Pakistan (99).
  • India has a score of 29.1 which places it under ‘serious’ category.
  • Afghanistan (109) is the only country in South Asia that performs worse than India on the index.
  • China, with a score of less than 5, has topped the chart, topped the chart, together with 16 other countries.
• India’s Performance in the Four Indicators:
  • Child Wasting: India’s child wasting rate (low weight for height), at 19.3%, is worse than the levels recorded in 2014 (15.1%) and even 2000 (17.15%).
    • It is the highest for any country in the world and drives up the region’s average owing to India’s large population.
  • Undernourishment: Prevalence of undernourishment has also risen in the country from 14.6% in 2018-2020 to 16.3% in 2019-2021.
    • It implies that 224.3 million people in India (out of 828 million globally) are considered undernourished.
    • The indicator measures the proportion of the population facing chronic deficiency of dietary energy intake.
  • Child Stunting and Mortality: India has shown improvement in child stunting and child mortality.
    • Child stunting (low height for age) has declined from 38.7% to 35.5% between 2014 and 2022.
    • Child mortality (mortality rate under the age of five) has dropped from 4.6% to 3.3% in the same comparative period.
      

What Other Similar Indices/Reports are There?

• State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World:
  • Presented by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the UNICEF, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization.
• Global Nutrition Report, 2021:
  • It was conceived following the first Nutrition for Growth Initiative Summit (N4G) in 2013.
• National Family Health Survey (NFHS):
  • It comprises detailed information on key domains of population, health and family welfare - fertility, family planning, infant and child mortality, maternal and child health, nutrition and anaemia, morbidity and healthcare, women’s empowerment etc.

What are India’s Initiatives to Eradicate Hunger/Malnutrition?

• Eat Right India Movement: An outreach activity organised by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for citizens to nudge them towards eating right.
• POSHAN Abhiyan: Launched by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2018, it targets to reduce stunting, undernutrition, anaemia (among young children, women and adolescent girls).
• Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana: A centrally sponsored scheme executed by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, is a maternity benefit programme being implemented in all districts of the country with effect from 1st January, 2017.
• Food Fortification: Food Fortification or Food Enrichment is the addition of key vitamins and minerals such as iron, iodine, zinc, Vitamin A & D to staple foods such as rice, milk and salt to improve their nutritional content.
• National Food Security Act, 2013: It legally entitled up to 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population to receive subsidised food grains under the Targeted Public Distribution System.
• Mission Indradhanush: It targets children under 2 years of age and pregnant women for immunisation against 12 Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (VPD).
• Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme: It offers a package of six services (Supplementary Nutrition, Pre-school non-formal education, Nutrition & health education, Immunisation, Health check-up and Referral services) to children in the age group of 0-6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers.

Context

The Election Commission of India announced the date for Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections 2022.  Hence the model code of conduct comes into picture.

Model Code of Conduct

• It is a set of guidelines issued by ECI to regulate political parties and candidates prior to elections.
• The rules range from issues related to speeches, polling day, polling booths, portfolios, content of election manifestos, processions and general conduct, so that free and fair elections are conducted.

When does it come into effect?

• According to the PIB, a version of the MCC was first introduced in the state assembly elections in Kerala in 1960.
• It was largely followed by all parties in the 1962 elections and continued to be followed in subsequent general elections.
• In October 1979, the EC added a section to regulate the ‘party in power’ and prevent it from gaining an unfair advantage at the time of elections.
• The MCC comes into force from the date the election schedule is announced until the date that results are out.

Restrictions imposed under MCC

The MCC contains eight provisions dealing with general conduct, meetings, processions, polling day, polling booths, observers, the party in power, and election manifestos.

• For Governments
  • As soon as the code kicks in, the party in power whether at the Centre or in the States should ensure that it does not use its official position for campaigning.
  • Hence, no policy, project or scheme can be announced that can influence the voting behaviour.
  • The code also states that the ministers must not combine official visits with election work or use official machinery for the same.
  • The ruling government cannot make any ad-hoc appointments in Government, Public Undertakings etc. which may influence the voters.
  • Political parties or candidates can be criticised based only on their work record and no caste and communal sentiments can be used to lure voters.
• For Political Parties
  • The party must also avoid advertising at the cost of the public exchequer or using official mass media for publicity on achievements to improve chances of victory in the elections.
  • The ruling party also cannot use government transport or machinery for campaigning.
  • It should also ensure that public places such as maidans etc., for holding election meetings, and facilities like the use of helipads are provided to the opposition parties on the same terms and conditions on which they are used by the party in power.

Campaigning

• Holding public meetings during the 48-hour period before the hour fixed for the closing of the poll is also prohibited.
• The 48-hour period is known as “election silence”.The idea is to allow a voter a campaign-free environment to reflect on events before casting her vote
• The issue of advertisement at the cost of public exchequer in the newspapers and other media is also considered an offence.
• Mosques, Churches, Temples or any other places of worship should not be used for election propaganda. Bribing, intimidating or impersonation of voters is also barred.

Is it legally binding?

• The fact is the MCC evolved as part of the ECI’s drive to ensure free and fair elections and was the result of a consensus among major political parties.
• It has no statutory backing. Simply put, this means anybody breaching the MCC can’t be proceeded against under any clause of the Code..
• The EC uses moral sanction or censure for its enforcement.

What if violated?

• The ECI can issue a notice to a politician or a party for alleged breach of the MCC either on its own or on the basis of a complaint by another party or individual.
• Once a notice is issued, the person or party must reply in writing either accepting fault and tendering an unconditional apology or rebutting the allegation.
• In the latter case, if the person or party is found guilty subsequently, he/it can attract a written censure from the ECI — something that many see as a mere slap on the wrist.
• However, in extreme cases, like a candidate using money/liquor to influence votes or trying to divide voters in the name of religion or caste, the ECI can also order registration of a criminal case under IPC or IT Act.
• In case of a hate speech, a complaint can be filed under the IPC and CrPC; there are laws against the misuse of a religious place for seeking votes, etc.

Using powers under Art. 324

• The Commission rarely resorts to punitive action to enforce MCC, there is one recent example when unabated violations forced EC’s hand.
• During the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the EC had banned a leader and now party president from campaigning in order to prevent them from further vitiating the poll atmosphere with their speeches.
• The Commission resorted to its extraordinary powers under Article 324 of the Constitution to impose the ban.
• It was only lifted once the leaders apologised and promised to operate within the Code.

What if given Statutory Backing?

• Both the ECI and several independent experts, believe that giving statutory backing to the MCC would only make the job of the Commission more difficult.
• This is because every alleged offence will then have to go to an appropriate court, and right up to the Supreme Court.
• Given the flaws of our legal system, election petitions filed decades ago are still pending before many High Courts — it is anybody’s guess what that situation might lead to.

GS-III

Context

 NASA’s DART gives hope that science can ward off extraterrestrial threats. For the very first time, NASA scientists have succeeded in slightly altering the trajectory of an asteroid by using a spacecraft to slam into it.

The Testing

• DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) was aimed at a 160-metre-wide asteroid Dimorphos, which was orbiting a larger asteroid Didymos, both of which were circling the Sun, 11.2 million kilometres from the earth.
• Since neither body would have come closer than about 6.4 million km of the earth in their lifetime, they did not pose any threat.
• However, DART was a test mission to see if this technique, known as kinetic impactor, would give the necessary ‘nudge’ to an asteroid and alter its course by a desired amount.
• After studying the two bodies for nearly 10 days, NASA announced that the course of the smaller asteroid has indeed been altered a little: initially, the orbit of Dimorphos around Didymos took 11 hours and 55 minutes. After the impact, a 32-minute alteration in its orbital period has taken place — it is now 11 hours and 23 minutes only.The reason for this test is to learn how to use the kinetic impactor technique to ‘nudge’ earth-bound asteroids out of the way, years before impact. This is not a last-minute effort.

Way Forward: Since all asteroids are not similar, more tests have to be done to perfect this technique.

The Utility of this Effort

• There is a need to develop this technique because an impact with even a small asteroid can have serious consequences.
• The Chicxulub crater is a reminder of the impact of a 10 km wide large asteroid that fell on the earth 66 million years ago and wiped out nearly 75% of plant and animal life. An impact with an asteroid even about 100 m wide can destroy a city the size of Chennai.
• The other question is whether this technique can be used to deflect asteroids bearing rich bounties of minerals and moving them to closer locations from where these can be harvested. No country has made this an explicit aim till now.

Context

International E-Waste Day is held on October 14 every year as an opportunity to reflect on the impacts of e-waste. This year’s slogan is ‘Recycle it all, no matter how small!

• Hoarding of small, unused, dead or broken plug-in and battery-operated products is the focus of this year’s 5th annual International E-Waste Day.

What is mean by E-Waste?

• E-waste is a popular, informal name for electronic products nearing the end of their “useful life.” Computers, televisions, VCRs, stereos, copiers, and fax machines are common electronic products. Many of these products can be reused, refurbished, or recycled.

Why E-waste is important?

• Highly valuable metals: E-waste is a rich source of metals such as gold, silver, and copper, which can be recovered and brought back into the production cycle. There is significant economic potential in the efficient recovery of valuable materials in e-waste and can provide income-generating opportunities for both individuals and enterprises.
• No harm if stored safely: It is said that the electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) after their useful life does not cause any harm to health and the environment if it is stored safely in households/stores. If the end of life EEE (e-waste) is opened-up and unscientific methods are used for extraction of precious and semi-precious material from it, then it causes health risks and damage to the environment.

Why E-waste is hazardous to environment and health?

• Highly toxic in nature: E-waste can be toxic, is not biodegradable and accumulates in the environment, in the soil, air, water and living things.
• Adverse effects on health: High levels of contaminants such as lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic, which can lead to irreversible health effects, including cancers, miscarriages, neurological damage and diminished IQs.etc.
• Adverse effects on environment: There are problems with toxic materials leaching into the environment. For example, open-air burning and acid baths being used to recover valuable materials from electronic components release toxic materials leaching into the environment.
• Plastic used in electronics highly Hazardous: Hazardous chemicals such as bromine, antimony and lead are applied to electronics like laptops and music systems as flame retardants. They find their way into food-contact items and other everyday products as the demand for black plastics in consumer products is met partly by sourcing from e-waste.

According to the study conducted by Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum

• Non-profit Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum is an international association of 46 e-waste producer responsibility organizations which started the day in 2018.
• According WEEE studies: Roughly 5.3 billion mobile/smartphones will drop out of use this year.The electronics would reach a height of around 50,000 km if stacked flat and on top of each other. That’s an eighth of the distance to the moon.
• WEEE Survey:The forum surveys conducted to reveal why so many households and businesses fail to bring in for repair or recycling. The results were consolidated by the United Nations’ Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Sustainable Cycles Programme.
• Results of WEEE surveys: Of 8,775 European households in six countries, the average household contains 74 e-products. Of 74 average total e-products, 13 are being hoarded. This is the story almost everywhere.The top five hoarded small electronic products were (in order): small electronics and accessories (eg, headphones, remotes), small equipment, small IT equipment (eg, hard drives, routers, keyboards, mice), mobile and smartphones, small food preparation appliances .LED lamps ranked the top of the list of products most likely to be trashed.

What is the present status of E-waste in India?

• Statistics: Approximately 8 lakh tonnes per annum of plastic waste is recycled and 1.67 lakh tonnes per annum is co-processed in Cement Kilns, said the government. There are 468 authorised dismantlers/recyclers in 22 states having a processing capacity of 13.85 lakh tonnes of e-waste in the country.
• The e-waste management rules: The e-Waste (Management) Rules were notified in 2016 which got amended from time to time. So far, the Environment Ministry has notified 21 types of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) as e-waste
• No recent studies on the pollution caused by e-waste: In the recent Parliament session, Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Ashwini Kumar Choubey in his reply to Kerala Rajya Sabha member V Sivadasan (CPM) said no study has been carried out by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to assess the damage caused to the environment by e-waste.

Current scenario and issues in E-waste recycling

• Crude and Scrappage: As of today, some 95% of e-waste is managed by the informal sector which operates under inferior working conditions and relies on crude techniques for dismantling and recycling.
• Infrastructure lacunae: Another important issue is the lack of sufficient metal processing infrastructure which is why recyclers have to export materials to global smelters.
• Price competencies: As aggregators are mostly informal, they demand up-front cash payments.
• Bloomed informal network: The informal network is well-established and rests on social capital ties that PROs have yet to establish and are hence insulated from reaching the viable number of aggregators.
• Policy failure: Policy changes have tried repeatedly to formalize the sector, but issues of implementation persist on the ground.

Way forward

• Effective design: Since India is highly deficient in precious mineral resources, there is a need for a well-designed, robust and regulated e-waste recovery regime that would generate jobs and wealth.
• Consumer responsibility: The consumers must responsibly consume the product for its useful life and then weigh between the chances of repair or disposal with utmost consciousness towards the environment.
• Recyclable products: On the supply side, e-waste can be reduced when producers design electronic products that are safer, and more durable, repairable and recyclable.
• Reuse: Manufacturers must reuse the recyclable materials and not mine rare elements unnecessarily to meet new production.
• Commercial recycling: Rather than hoping that informal recyclers become formal it would be more feasible for companies and the state to design programs ensure e-waste easily makes its way to proper recyclers.

Conclusion

Concerted efforts are important to generate a momentum of sustained efforts towards increasing disposal through formal and scientific channels and catalyzing sustainable consumption patterns is the need of the hour.

Context

Recently, the Minister of Civil Aviation has inaugurated the 4th Heli-India Summit 2022 in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

• Theme: Helicopters for Last Mile Connectivity.

What are the Highlights of the Summit?

• Announcing the achievements in the Civil Aviation sector, it was noted that the country had only 74 airports from 1947 to 2014, but it now has 141, with 67 added in the last seven years.
• It is proposed to build a civil enclave in Jammu and the Srinagar’s present terminal will be expanded three times.
• Announced to develop Fractional Ownership Model and HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Services) pilot called Project.
  • Fractional Ownership Model: It helps to grow the non-scheduled operations.
    • It will lower the barrier on the cost of acquisition of helicopters and airplanes through pooled capital by multiple owners.
  • HEMS: It is called Project Sanjeevani; a helicopter will be deployed to provide emergency medical services at AIIMS Rishikesh.
    • The helicopter will be based at the hospital at 20-minute notice and will have a service covering an area of 150 km radius.

What is the Scenario of the Civil Aviation Sector of India?

• About:
  • Helicopters have multifarious roles, providing urban connectivity and the other roles of helicopter service have been the emergency medical services and disaster management during floods, rescue operations etc.
  • The civil aviation industry in India has emerged as one of the fastest growing industries in the country during the last three years and can be broadly classified into scheduled air transport service which includes domestic and international airlines, non-scheduled air transport service which consists of charter operators and air taxi operators, air cargo service, which includes air transportation of cargo and mail.
• Significance:
  • India is currently the 7th largest civil aviation market in the world and is expected to become the third-largest civil aviation market within the next 10 years.
  • India is expected to overtake China and the United States as the world's third-largest air passenger market in the next ten years, by 2030, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
  • In FY22, airports in India pegged the domestic passenger traffic to be 166.8 million, a 58.5% YoY increase, and international passenger traffic to be 22.1 million, a 118% YoY increase, as compared to FY 2020-21.
• Opportunity:
  • FDI: 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) allowed under Automatic route for Ground Handling Services and Maintenance Repair and Overhaul Services (MRO) and for both green and brownfield projects.
  • Scope of Growth: The Indian civil Aviation MRO market, at present, stands at around USD 900 million and is anticipated to grow to USD 4.33 billion by 2025 increasing at a CAGR of about 14-15%.
  • Connecting New Airports: The government aims to develop 100 airports by 2024 (under the UDAN Scheme) and create world-class civil aviation infrastructure to be at par with global standards.

What are the Related Initiatives?

• Heli-Sewa Portal:
  • HeliSewa portal is fully online and being used by all operators for obtaining landing permissions to helipads, and it also is creating a database of helipads in the country.
• Heli-Disha:
  • HeliDisha, the guidance material on helicopter operations for State administration, has been distributed to 780 districts.
  • It contained all regulations and issues related to helicopter size, weight, operations, etc, and it would be distributed so that awareness about them is created in the district administrations across the country.
• Helicopter Accelerator Cell:
  • The Helicopter Accelerator Cell is fully active in resolving helicopter issues and the advisory group of industry representatives is helping identify problems areas.
• Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik:
  • Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) was launched as a regional connectivity scheme under the Ministry of Civil Aviation in 2016.
  • It is an innovative scheme to develop the regional Aviation market.
• Krishi UDAN 2.0 scheme:
  • It lays out the vision of improving value realization through better integration and optimization of agri-harvesting and air transportation and contributing to agri-value chain sustainability and resilience under different and dynamic conditions.

Way Forward

• Civil Aviation has now become the need of the hour not only for India but for humankind across the world as it always brings with it two important multipliers, the economic multiplier and the employment multiplier.
• The industry stakeholders should engage and collaborate with policy makers to implement efficient and rational decisions that would boost India’s civil aviation industry.
• With the right policies and relentless focus on quality, cost and passenger interest, India would be well placed to achieve its vision of becoming the third-largest aviation market by 2020.

Context

The livestock sector is one of the most rapidly growing components of the rural economy of India, accounting for5% of national income and 28% of agricultural GDP in 2018-19.In the last six years, the livestock sector grew at 7.9% (at constant prices) while crop farming grew by 2%. In rural households that own livestock, women are invariably engaged in animal rearing.

What is mean by Livestock?

• Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting The livestock provides food and non-food items to the people.  Food: The livestock provides food items such as Milk, Meat and Eggs for human consumption.

Role of Livestock in Indian Economy

• Livestock plays an important role in Indian economy. 
• About 20.5 million people depend upon livestock for their livelihood. 
• Livestock contributed 16% to the income of small farm households as against an average of 14% for all rural households. Livestock provides livelihood to two-third of rural community. It also provides employment to about 8.8 % of the population in India. 
• India has vast livestock resources. Livestock sector contributes 4.11% GDP and 25.6% of total Agriculture GDP.

DO YOU KNOW?

• India is the world’s largest milk producer, followed by the United States of America, China, Pakistan and Brazil.
• India ranks 1st contributing 23 of the global production. In the last 3 decades, India witnessed over 3 times rise in milk production.

Role of Women in rural economy

• Mostly engaged in agricultural activities: It is widely recognised that the majority of women workers in rural areas (72%) are engaged in agricultural activities. However, with the exception of participation in dairy cooperatives, specifically in milk marketing, women’s role in the livestock economy is not as widely known or discussed.
• Rise in no of women in Dairy cooperatives: There were five million women members in dairy cooperatives in 2015-16, and this increased further to 5.4 million in 202021.Women accounted for 31% of all members of dairy producer cooperatives in 2020-21.In India, the number of women’s dairy cooperative societies rose from 18,954 in 2012 to 32,092 in2015-16.

Why women are not recognised in livestock rearing?

• Sporadic nature of work: Conventional labour force surveys fail to accurately record women’s work in livestock raising for many reasons. Among the many problems in data collection, two significant ones are the sporadic nature of work undertaken for short spells throughout the day and often carried out within the homestead, and women’ own responses.
• Poor data collection: 12 million rural women were workers in livestock raising an estimate based on the Employment and Unemployment Survey of2011-12. However, with the augmented definition, according to estimates, around 49 million rural women were engaged in raising the livestock.
• Non recognition by policy makers: The problem clearly is that women livestock farmers are not visible to policymakers, and one reason is the lack of gender disaggregated data.

What are the Problems associated with women and livestock rearing?

• No specific data on women in the livestock economy: Recent employment surveys such as the Periodic Labour Force Survey fail to collect data on specific activities of persons engaged primarily in domestic duties. So, the undercounting of women in the livestock economy continues.
• Lack of Training: the reach of extension services to women livestock farmers remains scarce. According to official reports, 80,000 livestock farmers were trained across the country in 2021, but we have no idea how many were women farmers. only a few women in each village reported receiving any information from extension workers. Women wanted information but wanted it nearer home and at times when they were free.
• Difficulty to avail loans: women in poor households, without collateral to offer to banks found it difficult to avail loans to purchase livestock. Around 15 lakh new Kisan Credit Cards(KCC) were provided to livestock farmers under the KCC scheme during 2020-22.There is no information on how many of them were women farmers.
• Lack of technical knowledge: Women livestock farmers lacked technical knowledge on choice of animals (breeding) and veterinary care. Men invariably performed these specific tasks and took animals for artificial insemination.
• No active role in cooperatives: Women were not aware of the composition and functions of dairy boards and that the men exercised decisions even in women only dairy cooperatives. Further, the voice of women from landless or poor peasant Scheduled Caste households was rarely heard.

What are the Government policies?

• The National Livestock Policy (NLP) : The NLP of 2013, aimed at increasing livestock production and productivity in a sustainable manner, rightly states that around 70% of the labour for the livestock sector comes from women. One of the goals of this policy was the empowerment of women.
• The National Livestock: The National Livestock Mission (NLM) of2014-15 was initiated for the development of the livestock sector with a focus on the availability of feed and fodder, providing extension services, and improved flow of credit to livestock farmers. However, the NLM does not propose any schemes or programmes specific to women livestock farmers.
• Responsibility of state Government: The policy proposes that the State government allocates 30% of funds from centrally sponsored schemes for women. There is no logic for the 30% quota.

Conclusion

Women’s labour is critical to the livestock economy. It follows then that women should be included in every stage of decision making and development of the livestock sector. Today, women livestock workers remain invisible on account of their absence in official statistics. We must recognise the due role of women in livestock rearing.

GS-IV

Context

The report titled  ‘Law in the Emerging Bio Age’, have proposed giving legal rights to plants, animals, and non-living entities is crucial to building meaningful human-environment relationships in the future.

• The report focused on rapid developments in biotechnology and the need to understand its ethical consequences on humanity’s relationship with the environment.

What is the “bio age”?

• As per the report, the increased integration of biotechnology in human life will bring in the bio age.
• Integration of life sciences with modern technology through the production of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), engineering of genes to enhance disease resistance, gene editing, and more, indicate that biotechnology is most likely to pervade our lives in the future.
• This era will require legal intervention to hold researchers accountable for the impact of their work on the environment.
• This is where the question of nature as a “juristic person” or an entity recognized in law as a person, which otherwise is not, comes in.
• Granting legal rights and protection to non-human systems – flora, fauna, rivers, ecosystems and landscapes – would recalibrate human-environment relationships and bring ethical conduct to the field.

Recognising the rights of Nature

• At a time when the world is battling climate change and exploitation of natural resources, countries like Ecuador, Bolivia, and New Zealand have taken some significant steps in bringing laws into the natural world, for a variety of reasons.

Ecuador

• The first country in the world to recognise the rights of nature
• Ecuador, in 2008, approved a Constitution that grants tropical forests, islands, rivers and air, legal rights to “exist, flourish and evolve”.
• The country’s courts now recognize the rights of “Pacha Mama” or nature, to maintain and regenerate its cycles, structure, functions and evolutionary processes, as highlighted by Article 71 of the Ecuadorian Constitution.
• More recently, in April 2022 Ecuador became the first country to grant legal rights to individual wild animals.

Bolivia

• Establishing the Law of Mother Earth
• Bolivia granted all nature rights equal to that of humans in 2011.
• It established the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth, which redefined Mother Earth as “an indivisible community of all living systems and living organisms, interrelated, interdependent and complementary, which share a common destiny.”

New Zealand’s Whanganui river

• First in the world to be given legal status
• The Maori people had been fighting for the river to be recognized as a living entity for about 160 years. The New Zealand parliament, on March 15, 2017, passed the Whanganui River Claims Settlement Bill, which granted legal personhood to river Whanganui and its surrounding ecosystem.

Where does India stand?

• Article 51-A (g) of the Constitution of India lays down that it is the fundamental duty of every citizen to protect wildlife and have compassion for all living creatures. However, such duties are not enforceable by law.
• The Uttarakhand High Court, on March 20, 2017, granted the river Ganga and its longest tributary Yamuna the legal right to be protected and not be harmed.

How does granting legal rights help?

• Just granting the rights is not sufficient. There should be proper implementation and strict monitoring from the respective agency.
• Ecuador’s courts have since held more than three dozen lawsuits in the name of nature. Many have been successful but verdicts have not always been enforced on the ground.
• A compelling shift from competition to cooperation between humans and living systems for future survival is currently an underexplored area, with the question of how India is preparing for the “bio age” still remaining.