The Hindu Editorial Analysis- 12th April 2025 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - UPSC PDF Download

The Beijing India Report as a milestone and opportunity

Why in News? 

Climate change and migration are impacting the education of many girls in rural India, particularly in states like Chhattisgarh, where there were once high hopes for their future. 

 Beijing Declaration and Its Gaps 

• 30 years later, India has made legal progress with laws like the Domestic Violence Act and the POSH Act. 
•  However, poor implementation still creates a gap between women’s rights on paper and their real-life experiences. 

 Need to Connect Gender and Climate Issues 

•  Gender inequality and climate change are closely intertwined, especially in rural areas. 
•  Unfortunately, India’s Beijing+30 Report misses the opportunity to address these issues together, lacking a strong focus on climate. 

 Climate Impacts on Rural Women 

•  Rural women already face challenges like inequality, limited resources, and lack of decision-making power. 
•  Climate events such as droughts and heatwaves exacerbate these problems, leading to issues like malnutrition, infertility, and menstrual health problems. 
•  These health issues contribute to income loss and distress migration, with nearly 33% of income lost, particularly from non-farm work. 

 Low Focus on Gender in Climate Policies 

•  Gender is rarely addressed in climate policies, with only 6% mentioning women, 1% mentioning the poor, and 6% mentioning farmers. 
•  Climate change increases women’s unpaid care work, such as water collection and fuel gathering. 
•  Women in India already work over 8 hours daily, with 71% of this work being unpaid. 
•  If no action is taken, unpaid work could rise to 8.3 hours daily by 2050. 

 Health and Violence Issues 

•  Over 50% of pregnant women in India are anaemic, a situation worsened by food insecurity. 
•  Women facing food insecurity are 1.6 times more likely to suffer from anaemia. 

 Women’s Role in Climate Adaptation 

•  Women, particularly in rural areas, possess valuable traditional knowledge for sustainable farming and are crucial for preserving climate-resilient seeds. 
•  They are often the first responders during disasters and play a key role in managing forest livelihoods, ensuring safety amid resource conflicts, and addressing migration issues. 

 Need for Climate-Gender Integration in Plans 

•  National and state climate action plans should have a gender-specific focus to address the unique challenges faced by women. 
•  Climate budgeting needs to be gender-audited to prevent greenwashing and ensure genuine commitments. 
•  Rural women should have platforms to participate in climate-related decision-making and access necessary support services. 

 Promoting Women’s Leadership and Research 

•  Community climate meetings should actively involve women and encourage them to take on leadership roles in green projects. 
•  There is a need for better data, indicators, and research on the connection between gender and climate issues to inform policies and practices. 
•  Closing gender gaps in agriculture could significantly boost food production and help feed millions more people. 

 Policy and Livelihood Support 

•  Essential support includes disaster preparedness, protection against trafficking, elderly care, and training for non-farm jobs for women. 
•  Implementing gender-responsive climate policies at the ground level is crucial for effective outcomes. 

 Role of Private Sector and Partnerships 

•  Green funds should prioritize supporting women-led innovations and climate-friendly businesses. 
•  The private sector has a role in promoting gender-inclusive climate solutions and resilience-building technologies. 
•  Cooperation among government, civil society, businesses, and international organizations is vital for empowering women and ensuring a sustainable future. 

Giving shape to the university of the future

Why in News?

 India’s National Education Policy (NEP) aims to revolutionize higher education by promoting multidisciplinary, cross-disciplinary, and interdisciplinary approaches. Achieving this vision necessitates comprehensive structural, financial, and regulatory reforms across educational institutions. 

NEP’s Vision for Higher Education

The National Education Policy (NEP) seeks to dismantle the fragmented system of higher education in India. It advocates for the establishment of large multidisciplinary institutions that facilitate cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary education. The emphasis is on fostering communication, debate, research, and integrated thinking across various subjects.

Understanding the Terms

• Multidisciplinarity. Involves different disciplines working in the same area without interacting, each maintaining its own methods.
• Cross-disciplinarity. Entails collaboration and dialogue between disciplines without merging methods or knowledge.
• Interdisciplinarity. Integrates methods and knowledge from different disciplines to address complex problems.

Developing Multidisciplinary Campuses

• The NEP suggests phasing out single-stream institutions in favor of multidisciplinary campuses.
• This can be achieved by:
• Adding new departments to broaden focus (e.g., engineering institutions incorporating humanities).
• Creating university clusters by linking nearby institutions (e.g., arts and commerce colleges collaborating).
• Presently, 35% of undergraduate colleges are single-stream, many offering only B.Ed. programs, complicating the clustering process.
• New multidisciplinary universities should be established, ideally one in each district by 2030, to enhance efficiency.
• Public universities, while efficient in education, face challenges in research, particularly with multiple campuses.

Promoting Cross-disciplinary Practice

• Future universities should not only house diverse departments but also foster collaboration and openness.
• Students and faculty need exposure to a range of subjects beyond their core areas.
• Cross-disciplinary learning can begin with students enrolling in courses from other departments, followed by joint research projects involving faculty and students from different disciplines.
• Sustaining these initiatives requires long-term funding and incentives.

Encouraging Interdisciplinary Thinking

• Cross-disciplinary efforts provide a foundation, but interdisciplinary thinking necessitates deep integration of knowledge across fields.
• While some combinations, like biotechnology and medicine, thrive, others, such as engineering and architecture, encounter challenges in publication and career progression due to misalignment with existing academic structures.
• To bolster interdisciplinarity, reforms in funding, faculty recruitment, promotions, and academic publishing practices are essential.

Conclusion

Implementing these transformations will demand significant investments over an extended period. Public spending priorities will need adjustment, and regulatory changes must be thoughtfully designed. The aim is to establish a higher education system akin to successful international models that have evolved over decades.