Society- Dynamic part 1
NOTE: Theoretical and static portions have been thoroughly covered in NCERTs (book1, book2) - refer them. Major focus here is in the dynamic issues.
Salient features of Indian Society
Vasudhaiva Kutumbkam characterises the attitude of Indian society
Characteristics of Indian Society
Multi-ethnic society, Multilingual society, Multi-class society. Indian society is fractured in many ways. Vertically, it is fractured along the axis of caste, class and gender. Horizontally, it is divided along the matrix of different belief systems.
Patriarchal society
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Patriarchy is a social system in which males hold primary power, predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, special privilege & control of property; in the domain of the family, father- figures hold authority over women & children. Many patriarchal societies are also patrilineal, meaning that property & title are inherited by the male lineage. Here, the female alternative is matriarchy.
Unity in diversity
Co-existence of traditionalism and modernity
Balance between spiritualism and materialism
Balance between Individualism and collectivism
Blood and kinship ties
Features:
Caste System
Untouchability
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Policy of caste based reservation
Changes in caste system
Trends for inter-caste marriage
Challenge to orthodoxy
New food habits
Changes in occupation
Improvement in the position of lower caste
Factors Affecting the Changes in Caste System
Sanskritisation
Westernisation
Modernisation
Modernization is the process of social change whereby less developed societies acquire characteristics common to more developed societies. The process is activated by international, or intersocietal, communication.
Industrialisation and urbanisation
Democratic decentralisation
Caste and politics
Legislative measures
Structural and functional changes in the marriage system
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Changes in the aim and purpose of marriage
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In traditional societies the primary objective of marriage is ‘dharma’ or duty; especially among Hindus. But today the modern objective of marriage is more related to ‘life-long companionship’ between husband and wife
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Changes in the form of marriage: Traditional forms of marriages like polygamy, polygyny are legally prohibited in India. Nowadays, mostly monogamous marriages are practiced
Change in the age of marriage: According to legal standards, the marriageable age for boy and girl stands at 21 and 18 respectively.
Increase in divorce and desertion rates
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4. Live in relationships
Three judge bench of SC in 2010 observed that a man and a woman living together without marriage cannot be construed as an offence and held that living together is a Right to Life and Liberty (Article 21) [#IJSC]
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1. SC has also acknowledged that children born out of such relations are legitimate and have property rights of their parents under Section 16 of Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
Major changes in the Indian family system
Changes in family
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Family which was a principal unit of production has been transformed in the consumption unit. Instead of all members working together in an integrated economic enterprise, a few male members go out of the home to earn the family’s living.
Factory employment
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It has freed young adults from direct dependence upon their families. This functional independence of the youngsters has weakened the authority of the head of the house hold over those earning members.
Influence of urbanization
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Urbann living weakens joint family pattern and strengthens nuclear family patterns
Legislative measures
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Prohibition of early marriage and fixing the minimum age of marriage by the child marriage Restraint Act, 1929, and the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 have lengthened the
period of education
2. Changes in marriage system
Even other legislations such as the Widow Remarriage Act, 1856, Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, Hindu succession Act, 1956, all have modified inter personal relations within the family, the composition of the family and the stability of the joint family
1. Influence of western values
Changes in the age of marriage, freedom in mate-selection and change in the attitude towards marriage has diminished marriage is not very much considered a religious affair but only a social ceremony
modern science, rationalism, individualism, equality, free life, democracy, freedom of women etc
Changes in the position of women
1. Some trends in family system
Main factor causing changes in the position of women in our society lie in her changing economic role. New economic role provided a new position in society and especially with respect to men
1. There is decline in share of nuclear family in Urban India and increase in share of nuclear family in Rural India.
In the 2011 census, share of nuclear family 52.1% — 12.97 crore nuclear out of 24.88 crore households.
2. Joint families, meanwhile, fell substantially from 19.1% (3.69 crore) to 16.1% (4 crore) across India.
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Our past is a system of hierarchical plurality. Elucidate. #QTP [refer to Rajeev Bhargava article for better understanding. [here]
How should India incorporate plurality in egalitarian frame. #QTP Unity and Uniformity is not the same. Uniformity is not an essential condition for unity. On the contrary, a celebration of plurality may foster greater unity in a nation such as ours. #QTP
Diversity of India
Factors Leading to Unity Amidst Diversity in India
Constitutional and national identity identity
Religious co-existence
Inter-State mobility
Economic integration
Institution of pilgrimage and religious practices
Fairs and festivals
Climatic integration via monsoon
Sports and Cinema
India’s diversity is among the richest: countless culinary habits, dress, customs and musical traditions; more than 200 different dialects and languages; religious and doctrinal diversity, the ritual-oriented Vedic practices, the teachings of Buddha, Mahavira, Zarathustra, the Torah, and Guru Nanak, the religiosity in the Puranas, Islam, Syriac-Christianity, the great varieties of animism and atheism.
Linguistic Diversity of India and Related Issues:
The 2011 Census listed 1,369 ‘mother tongues’ in the country. Hindi is only one among them. India has thousands of dialects and more than a hundred widely spoken languages. #VAD
According to the 2001 Census, India has 30 languages that are spoken by more than a million people each. Additionally, it has 122 languages that are spoken by at least 10,000 people each. #vad
It also has 1,599 languages, most of which are dialects.
Constitution has made space for 22 languages in the Eighth Schedule.
Languages get recognition from the Sahitya Akademi after being included in Eight schedule
Members of Parliament and MLAs could speak in that language in Parliament and State Assemblies, respectively.
Candidates could write all-India competitive examinations like the Civil Services exam in that language.
India’s linguistic richness adds beauty to its pluralistic culture. #QTP
Real unifying factor of the country is unity in diversity. #QTP
Issue of Hindi imposition:
‘One nation, one language, one culture’ is a 19th century European idea that failed to create unity. India is a multilingual society.
Many leaders in the national movement visualised a special role for Hindi. Most of them supported Hindusthani, a mixed language, not the pure Hindi being pushed today. But all of them were clear that it could not be imposed.
Three language formula:
Hindi should be introduced in non-Hindi-speaking States from an early stage and the Hindi-speaking States should introduce a non-Hindi Indian language - It was backed by backed by educationists in the Kothari Commission
Issues with it:
most non-Hindi speaking States did introduce Hindi, unfortunately the Hindi-
speaking States bypassed the requirement to teach a non-Hindi language (preferably a South Indian language, said the original formulation)- they fulfilled the third language requirement with perfunctory Sanskrit
Way forward:
Our cities must be recognised as multilingual entities. This will help us in unhinging the education policy for some large metropolises
For example: in Maharashtra, one may argue that a child should be instructed only in Marathi. This is a good argument for a linguistic State. But it is not a good idea to impose this universally in Mumbai as well Teaching kids mostly in their mother tongue.
The recommendation of Sarkaria Commission that the styles, forms and expression of English along with other regional languages are to be retained in the process of development of official language. The three-language formula such as regional language, Hindi and English should be properly implemented. #IC
The Yuelu Proclamation, made by the UNESCO at Changsha, in 2018, says: “The protection and promotion of linguistic diversity helps to improve social inclusion and partnerships, helps to reduce the gender and social inequality between different native speakers and promotes cultural diversity, endangered language protection, and the protection of intangible cultural heritage #pre
Conlcusion:
we need all Indian languages. Together they make our nation. Article 29 of the Constitution provides that a section of citizens having a distinct language, script or culture have the right to conserve the same. #IA
What connects Indians is the Constitution, our history and some epoch-making phenomena, whether it is the Buddha, the Bhakti movement or the freedom struggle, and not any single language. This unity in diversity must be cherished. India is one of the most linguistically rich countries. When we lose a language, it is a loss of an entire universe, including its cultural myths and rituals. Linguistic disaster has happened in our country. All tribal languages are rapidly disappearing. there are not enough livelihood opportunities in those languages
The 1961 census records India as having 1,652 languages. By 1971, it was 808. Over 220 Indian languages have been lost in the last 50 years, with a further 197 languages categorised as endangered according to the People’s Linguistic Survey of India, 2013. #VAD
GoI doesn’t recognise any language with less than 10,000 speakers. Of the 197 endangered languages, only Boro and Meithei have official status in India, as they have a writing system. Such an Act forgets that most of our great scriptures and epics are part of an oral tradition, embossed into actual writing over centuries.
Optical character recognition for digitising Indian languages is still primitive languages are not encouraged and people are getting assimilated in some larger language
It is a form of not only cultural loss but also economic loss. When a language dies, a way of life dies, a way of thinking disappears, a connection between word and world is lost over 3,000 languages might disappear over the next ten years. The danger to minority languages and oral languages is high.
In India coastal languages are dying as the coast and the livelihoods of the coast are being destroyed ecologically and culturally. - As People’s Linguistic Survey of India (PSLI) notes. More than 40 languages or dialects in India are considered to be endangered and are believed to be heading towards extinction as only a few thousand people speak them, #vad The Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, has been working for the protection and preservation of endangered languages in the country under a central scheme, “Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages of India”. To keep vanishing tribal languages in circulation, the Odisha government has come out with lexicons of 21 such languages, formulated by the Special Development Council. It will help in enhancing proficiency in tribal languages. Existing work from groundbreaking initiatives like Global Language Hotspots can be used to enhance documentation of languages.
the 2% corporate social responsibility (CSR) limit should be encouraged to be spent on saving languages and crafts, documenting them and building accessibility tools
Positive story:
Bhil has showcased an 85% growth in speakers in the last 20 years.
Role of women and women's organization
Women's Organization:
National Forum for Single Women’s Rights
collective of single women comprising widowed, divorced, separated and never married women with a membership of 1,50,000
Women like them demand employment, pension for all single women below the poverty line, scholarship for educating their children, medical care, skills training and a right to their marital property so that they can avail themselves of government schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana for affordable housing. This org includes rural women too, who face the social injustice of child marriage, domestic violence, abandonment by husbands, etc.
Ex: Lalli Dhakar was married at the age of 18 months, spurned by her husband for a 1.
second wife as a 12-year-old, a mother at 13 years and widowed by 15, after which she found herself thrown out of her marital home, and turned away by her parents.
ActionAid India- NGO working for child education, women empowerment.
Khabar Lahariya: focuses on gender and education. Initially seen as a women-only publication, it now covers local political news, local crime reports, social issues and entertainment, all reported from a feminist perspective.
Women's movements in India:
Individual Contribution For The Resurrection of Women Issues in India:
Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi
She fought valiantly and although in a beaten state she refused to surrender and fell on the ground as a warrior should, fight the enemy to the last
Begum Hazrat Mahal : She took active part in the defence of state of Lucknow against the British.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy; Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar took up the cause of widows which led to the passing of the widow remarriage act of 1956; Behramji Malabari (1853-1912), a Parsi reformer from Bombay launched An All- India Campaign to raise the age of consent for marriage from 10 years to 12 years.
Swarnakumari devi, sister of Peot Rabindranath Tagore, an author in her own right and a novelist of distinction, organized the Shakti Samiti in 1882.
Pandita Ramabai Saraswati, that remarkable woman from Poona, founded the Arya Samaj. She also started the Sharda Sadan to provide employment and education to women, particularly young widows
Begum Rokeya (1880-1932): Muslim girl's education
As early as 1879, college classes were added to the Bethune school in Calcutta.
Ramabai Ranade established the Seva Sadan.
The credit for starting the first All-India women’s organization, the Bharat Stri Mahamandal (1901) must go to Sarladevi Chaudrani.
Satyashodak Mandal was set up by Jotibha Savithribai Phule. It was meant to promote alliance between sudras and women of the upper class. remarkable woman elected for the president ship of Indian National Congress was Sarojini Naidu. Kadambini Ganguly , one of the first woman doctor of the British Indian empire
Pre-independence phase:
Brahmo Samaj and the Arya Samaj were concerned with issues like sati, remarriage, divorce, female education, purdah system, polygamy, and dowry.
Justice Ranade criticised child marriages, polygyny, restrictions on remarriage of widows, and non-access to education.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy played an important role in getting the sati system abolished. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Maharishi Karve pleaded for remarriage of widows. Gandhiji took interest in collective mobilisation of women to fight for political freedom as well as for their
social and political rights.
women’s role in the freedom movement was that of the ‘helpers’ rather than that of comrades. women’s militant role in tribal movements when women confronted authorities, wielding traditional weapons and maintaining lines of supplies to the rebels in their hidden places.
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Two students of government High School, Shanty Ghosh and Smriti Chaudhuri, had killed the district Magistrate of Tipperah (Tripura). Bina Das tried to kill the governor of Bengal, and later many women revolutionaries fought for the freedom.
Women's role in peasants’ movements in Telengana, West Bengal and Maharashtra.
Gandhi ji always wanted women to be a part of the national movement. He believe that if women did not join the movement, India’s march to Swaraj would be delayed
Aruna Asaf Ali and Sucheta Kripalani were to major women organizers of the underground during Quit India movement.
The important national organisations were:
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Bharat Mahila Parishad (1904),
Bharat Stri Mahamandal (1909),
Women’s Indian Association (1917)
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The Women’s Indian Association (WIA) was the first organization to take up issues relating to women workers in the 1930s in a limited way women’s organizations agitated for protective legislation for workers in some sectors.
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National Council of Women in India (1925)
All India Women’s Conference (1927)
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The AIWC prepared a memorandum seeking right to vote for women from the British government. The AIWC was also in the forefront for reforms in marriage and property laws concerning women.
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1. The AIWC played an active role in initiating and campaigning for social legislation that would improve the position of women. It helped in getting the following acts passed: the sarda act 1929; the special marriage act , 1954; the Hindu marriage and divorce act, 1955; the Hindu minority and guardianship act, 1956; the Hindu adoption and maintenance act, 1956; the suppression of immoral traffic in women act, 1956.
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Kamaladevi chattopadhyaya, one of the founders of the AIWC, a valiant freedom fighter dedicated to constructive work,
Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust.
Contribution of foreign women in India’s freedom struggle for independence
Meera Ben and Sarla Ben popularly known as Mahatama Gandhi's two English daughters also made significant contribution to the cause of freedom. Meera Ben whose real name was Madeleine Slade attended the second Round Table Conference with Gandhi.
Catherine Mary Heilman or Sarla Ben as she was better known went from village to village helping the families of political prisoners.
Annie Besant an Irish lady became the leader of the of the Theosophical Society She was the first woman president of the Congress and gave a powerful lead to women's movement in India.
Sister Nivedita was one among the host of foreign women who were attracted towards Swami Vivekananda and Hindu philosophy
women’s participation in movements has been in four major forms: For social, economic and political rights of specific categories of people like tribals, peasants and industrial workers,
1. For improvement in conditions of work and autonomy to women
2. For equal remuneration for work,
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3. In general social movements on issues affecting men and children like abortions, adoption of children, sexual exploitation, etc.
Indian women’s movements worked for two goals: one, liberation or uplift of women, i.e., reforming social practices so as to enable women to play a more important and constructive role in society; [‘corporate feminism]
1. two, equal rights for men and women, i.e., extension of civil rights enjoyed by men in the political, economic and familial spheres to women also. [‘liberal feminism’]
2. factors that provided the required incentive to women’s movements were effect of western education on the male domination on women and on the concept of complementary sex roles,
1. Leadership provided by educated elite women,
2. interest of male social reformers in changing social practices sanctioned by religion,
3. changing socio-religious attitudes and philosophies,
4. decreasing social hostility and opposition of males to women’s associations engaged in selfhelp activities,
5. benevolent attitude of political national leaders towards fledgling women’s movements and their enthusiastic support to women campaigns.
6. The Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB) established by the Government of India in 1953, also promotes and strengthens voluntary efforts for the welfare of women
Only 13% of all women in India with landowning fathers inherited that land as daughters, 24% of such women were able to do so in the state of Kerala. #VAD post-independence phase:
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Post independence feminists began to redefine the extent to which women were allowed to engage in the workforce.
1970s: Prior to independence, most feminists accepted the sexual divide within the labour force. However, feminists in the 1970s challenged the inequalities that had been established and fought to reverse them.
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2. These inequalities included unequal wages for women, relegation of women to 'unskilled' spheres of work, and restricting women as a reserve army for labour.
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2. Feminist class-consciousness also came into focus in the 1970s, with feminists recognising the inequalities not just between men and women but also within power structures such as caste, tribe, language, religion, region, class etc.
The 1970s focus was on achieving some socio-political reforms which in no way challenged the basic gender discrimination in society.
3. Group called the Six Sisters was instrumental in the Government of India ratifying the Convention Against All Sorts of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) passed by the United Nations .
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4. It also oversaw the setting up of a representative National Women’s Commission and state-level (that is provincial) women’s commissions.
1980s: Mainstream feminist thought in India during the 1980s and 1990s began to recognize issues surrounding caste.
1. During 1975–85, progressive women’s organisations began, for the first time, to identify patriarchal social structure as the cause of women’s oppression. At the same time, many lower-caste and tribal women also began to organise themselves both against upper castes and against male dominance in their own communities.
This was a marked change from the various feminist movements in the 70s and 80s which did not address caste issues.
2. The All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) spoke of triple oppression— class, political and gender— and many organisations like the Progressive Organisation for Women (POW) raised their voices against gender discrimination within the left.
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1990s, the women’s movement became fractured. Many organisations became service providers and this phase is known as the non-governmental organisation or NGO-isation.
4. women’s groups fighting on many fronts—environment, forest-dwellers rights, against displacement of people and loss of their lands in construction of big dams and loss of agricultural land by the setting up of special economic zones (SEZs) to promote export industries. These oppositions arose with the advent of so-called liberalisation which threw open the economy to both market forces and foreign trade.
1. There were sex workers’ organisations fighting for respect and against police and pimps’ harassment; and by transgender people for recognition of sexual minorities.
2. 2000s: the focus of the Indian feminist movement has gone beyond treating women as useful members of society and a right to parity, but also having the power to decide the course of their personal lives and the right of self-determination.
5. On 28th September 2018, the Supreme Court of India lifted the ban on the entry of women in Sabarimala temple. It said that discrimination against women on any grounds, even religious, is unconstitutional
1. women worker groups called Self Help Groups have led to women empowerment.
2. Participation of Women and Environmental Movements in India Chipko movement and participation of women
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Women who participated in this movement were largely rural women, who are connected to each other horizontally rather than vertically via a hierarchy
Women Participation in India and Narmada Bachao Andolan : Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that mobilised tribal people, adivasis, farmers, environmentalists and human rights activists against the Sardar Sarovar Dam being built across the Narmada river, Gujarat, India.
Laws and other provisions to empower women:
The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted to protect women from domestic violence
It is a civil law meant primarily for protection orders and not meant to penalize criminally. The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 is a legislative act in India that seeks to protect women from sexual harassment at their place of work.
The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 introduced changes to the Indian Penal Code, making sexual harassment an expressed offence under Section 354 A, which is punishable up to three years of imprisonment and or with fine.
The Amendment also introduced new sections making acts like disrobing a woman without consent, stalking and sexual acts by person in authority an offense. It also made acid attacks a specific offence with a punishment of imprisonment not less than 10 years and which could extend to life imprisonment and with fine
In 2018 the Supreme Court of India struck down a law making it a crime for a man to have sex with a married woman without the permission of her husband. (Adultery law)
Gandhi Nagar railway station in Jaipur : every post is held by a woman official, making it the first non-suburban railway station in the country to be completely operated by women. #pre This station is also one of the six in the country with a sanitary napkin dispenser. CCTV cameras were installed before it was handed over to the all-women staff.
Mumbai’s Matunga railway station, a suburban station on the Central Railway line, became the first one in 2017 to be run by an all-women staff Dalit feminists advocate and have advocated for equal rights for Dalit women based on gender, caste and other issues. They have addressed conferences, created organizations and helped elect other Dalit women into political office.
In the 1970s, autobiographies of Dalit women's lives and experiences began to be published. The first national meeting of Dalit women took place in Bangalore in 1987.
National Federation of Dalit Women and the All India Dalit Women's Forum along with several state-level groups were formed.
In the 1920s, Dalit women were active in anti-caste and anti-untouchability movements. Dalit women were involved in the Non-Brahman movement in the 1930s. challenges:
The National Commission for Women and the state commissions for women have not been 1.
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very effective in prosecution of culprits
The Women’s Reservation Bill which seeks reservation for women in legislative bodies up to 33 per cent is still pending.
Population and associated issues : problems and their remedies
Migration
1. Benefits of Migration:
Today, nearly 35% of people are migrating daily for work. In the 2011 Census, 37.46% of the population is reported as migrants based on the place of last residence.
2. providing cheap labour in the many small and medium enterprises in the manufacturing and construction sectors
1. enhance consumption and lift families out of absolute poverty at the origin
3. Migration trends in India
2. circular migrant’s earnings account for a higher proportion of household income among the lower castes and tribes.
3. Internal migration rates have dipped in Maharashtra and surged in Tamil Nadu and Kerala reflecting the growing pull of southern states in India’s migration dynamics
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2. The largest immigration was at Delhi region, which accounted for more than half of migration in 2015-16, while Uttar Pradesh and Bihar taken together account for half of total out-migrants. #VAD
Out-migration rates increased in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and have dipped in Assam.
3. There is an interesting dynamic between Gujarat and Maharashtra where Surat has started acting as a counter magnet region to Mumbai and attracts migrants from the neighboring districts of Maharashtra. Other countermagnet region dynamics are observed in Jaipur and Chandigarh (to Delhi).
4. Until the 2000s, migration was largely a male domin
6. Internal migration can be driven by push and/or pull factors
5. According to census 2011 and NSSO, Migrants constituted about 30% of total working population.
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agrarian distress (a push factor) and an increase in better-paying jobs in urban areas (a pull factor) have been drivers of internal migration
employment-seeking is the principal reason for migration in regions without conflict.
[In a study in Indian Bengal Delta [DECMA report - Deltas, Vulnerability and Climate Change: Migration and Adaptation (DECMA).]], the study which covers 51 blocks of districts of South and North 24 Parganas reveals that 64% people migrate because of economic reasons,
unsustainable agriculture, lack of economic opportunities and debt; 28 % of the migration from the region is for social reasons and about 7% for environmental reasons like cyclones and flooding. #VAD
When it comes to migration in the Indian Bengal Delta, the study finds a huge gender disparity, with men outnumbering women by almost five times. It shows that of the People migrating 83% are men and only 17 % are women. While most of the men migrate due to economic reasons, women do so, driven by mostly social factors.
1. most migrants both in case of men and women are young, in the age group of 20-30 years.
2. in the Sunderbans there are villages where most of the men have migrated for work and the responsibility of the family and agriculture falls on the women.
3. 57% of migration is seasonal, where people move once or twice a year; 19% is circular where those migrating move thrice a year irrespective of reasons and 24% permanent where people intend to stay for at least six months in the place they are migrating to.
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4. one of the reasons for migration is failed adaptation in the areas which are under stress due to climate change.
Issues: 5.
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at the destination, a migrant’s lack of skills presents a major hindrance in entering the labour market
Rise of Urban informal economy
2. as urban formal sector can not absorb flowing labour, rise in informal economy.
1. Urban informal economy is marked by high poverty and vulnerabilities.
2. Migrant workers earn only two-thirds of what is earned by non-migrant workers, according to 2014 data
3. they have to incur a large cost of migration which includes the ‘search cost’ and the hazard of being cheated
4. they are outside the state-provided health care and education system; this forces them to borrow from employers in order to meet these expenses
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5. Attacks on migrant labourers in Gujarat.
Gujarat
is seeing increasing discontent over the lack of adequate jobs for young people
The Gujarat government, under pressure from the Opposition, has promised to make it mandatory for manufacturing and service sector companies to hire 80% of their workforce from the State’s domiciles and to reserve 25% of hires for residents from the location
Nativist arguments against migrants have been too easily used by political forces in various States, from more developed ones such as Maharashtra to smaller States such as Meghalaya, to address resentment over the paucity of jobs.
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1. This neither serves the interest of the State concerned, considering the economic role of migrant labour, nor addresses the issue of ensuring job-oriented growth.
Based on data since 2011, the Economic Survey in 2016-17 pointed out that Gujarat is
among the States, including Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and West Bengal, with the highest net in-migration of workers. #VAD migrants have played a vital role in greasing the wheels of growth in States like Gujarat by providing cheap labour in the many small and medium enterprises in the manufacturing and construction sectors
The Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted to regulate the condition of service of inter-state labourers in Indian labour law. #IBA to protect workers whose services are requisitioned outside their native states in India.
1. equal or better wages for the similar nature & duration of work applicable for the local workmen or stipulated minimum wages under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 whichever is more,
2. home journey allowance (Section 15) including payment of wages during the period of journey,
3. suitable residential accommodation and medical facilities free of charge on mandatory basis.
4. Termination of employment after the contract period without any liability.
5. Right to lodge compliant with the authorities within three months of any incident, accident, etc.
6. Role of contractors:
7. Furnish the details of workmen periodically in such forms as prescribed by state government.
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1. Maintain the registers indicating the details of interstate workers and make available for scrutiny by the statutory authorities
Role of principal employers
1. Role of state governments
Registration of all principal employers who employs or employed directly or indirectly five or more Interstate Migrant Workmen on any day of the preceding 12 months.
9. Appointment of inspectors to oversee implementation of this act.
1. Making rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act subject to the condition of previous publication
2. way forward: steps to arrest the violence against the migrants and stop the exodus
1. Gujarat government must commit itself to a facilitating role for job-creation
2. way forward
6. The need for a national policy towards internal migration
1. Access to information on employment availability before migrating along with social networks tend to reduce the period of unemployment significantly.
2. Policy could aim at reducing distress-induced migration
3. Policy should address conditions of work, terms of employment and access to basic necessities.
4. Interventions aimed at enhanced skill development would enable easier entry into the labour market
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5. government interventions related to employment can be supported by market-led
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interventions such as microfinance initiatives, which help in tackling seasonality of incomes. Policy interventions have to consider the push factors, which vary across regions, and understand the heterogeneity of migrants.
As remittances from migrants are increasingly becoming the lifeline of rural households, improved financial infrastructure to enable the smooth flow of remittances and their effective use require more attention from India’s growing financial sector.
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8. All interstate workers should be registered in gram panchayat or municipality or corporation compulsory.
All interstate workers shall be provided with the benefits of Public Distribution System (PDS) Cards to avoid buying food grains and kerosene at higher prices. Adhar identity card shall be made compulsory for the interstate workers.
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10. The remuneration to interstate workers shall be deposited in their bank accounts and not by cash by the contractors
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Every state government shall mandatorily operate an internet portal indicating the registered principal employers, contractors, establishments and interstate workmen details including Adhar card data for general public information and verification. The details of interstate workmen shall be uploaded by the principal employers and contractors promptly.
Population growth:
India has registered an improved sex ratio and a decline in birth and death rates with noncommunicable diseases dominating over communicable in the total disease burden of the country, according to the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence’s (CBHI) National Health Profile (NHP)
2019. #VAD
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As per NHP, sex ratio (number of females per 1,000 males) in the country has improved from 933 in 2001 to 943 in 2011.
In rural areas the sex ratio has increased from 946 to 949.
As per the report, the total fertility rate (average number of children that will be born to a woman during her lifetime) in 12 States has fallen below two children per woman and nine States have reached replacement levels of 2.1 and above.
Between 2005-06 and 2015-16, the total fertility rate (TFR) declined from 2.68 to 2.18 births. (National Family Health Survey)
Economic Survey 2018-19. The Survey notes that India is set to witness a “sharp slowdown in population growth in the next two decades”, in tune with theory of demographic transition.
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3. Economic Survey points out, States with high population growth are also the ones with the lowest per capita availability of hospital beds.
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Today, as many as 23 States and Union Territories, including all the States in the south region, already have fertility below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman. #VAD
UN’s World Population Prospects 2019 #VAD
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1. India is projected to become the most populous country by 2027 surpassing China, and host 1.64 billion people by 2050;
national leaders must redouble their efforts to raise education, health and living standards for people everywhere.
2. world as a whole could be home to 8.5 billion people in just over a decade from now, and the number could go up to 9.7 billion by mid-century.
3. Favours stabilising population numbers by raising the quality of life of people, and achieving sustainable development that will not destroy the environment
4. migration to countries with a falling ratio of working-age people to those above 65 will be steady, as those economies open up to workers to sustain economic production
5. achieving a reduction in fertility rates in States such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh is a challenge for India as it seeks to stabilise population growth
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6. They must singularly focus on improving education and health access for women, both of which will help them be gainfully employed.
7. Urban facilities have to be reimagined, with an emphasis on access to good, affordable housing and mobility.
A growing population of older adults is a certainty, and it opens up prospects for employment in many new services catering to them.
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Population growth in the north and central parts of India is far greater than that in south India.
Demographic dividend:
Demographic dividend provided by the increasing share of working age adults is a temporary phase during which child dependency ratio is falling and old-age dependency ratio is still low. But this opportunity only lasts for 20 to 30 years. For States such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu which experienced fertility decline early, this window of opportunity is already past.
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1. For different states, this phase will last differently. So our population policy should be in tune with that.
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In order to maximise the demographic dividend, we must invest in the education and health of the workforce, particularly in States whose demographic window of opportunity is still more than a decade away.
conclusion: It is time for India to accept the fact that being the most populous nation is its destiny. It must work towards enhancing the lives of its current and future citizens.
Population management or control:
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The Population and Women Empowerment Policy of Assam will come into effect from January 1, 2021.
1. National Population Policy (NPP) was introduced in 2000
making government jobs out of bounds for people with more than two children.
2. government’s commitment to “voluntary and informed choice and consent of citizens while availing of reproductive health care services” along with a “target free approach in
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administering family planning services”
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“family Planning programme in India is target free and voluntary in nature and it is the prerogative of the clients to choose a family planning method best suited to them as per their reproductive right”.
“lifecycle framework” which looks to the health and nutrition needs of mother and child not merely during pregnancy and child birth but “right from the time of conception till the child grows… carrying on till the adolescent stage and further
Family health, child survival and the number of children a woman has are closely tied to the levels of health and education of the parents, and in particular the woman; so the poorer the couple, the more the children they tend to have. The poor tend to have more children because child survival is low, son preference remains high, children lend a helping hand in economic activity for poorer households and so support the economic as well as emotional needs of the family.
National Family Health Survey-4 (2015-16) notes, women in the lowest wealth quintile have an average of 1.6 more children than women in the highest wealth quintile, translating to a total fertility rate of 3.2 children versus 1.5 children moving from the wealthiest to the poorest
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11. Women with no schooling have an average 3.1 children, compared with 1.7 children for women with 12 or more years of schooling
Population dynamics of India:
demographic divide has been observed between States with an attained replacement level of fertility and those yet to attain the same.
“Replacement level fertility” is the total fertility rate—the average number of children born per woman—at which a population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next, without migration. This rate is roughly 2.1 children per woman for most countries, although it may modestly vary with mortality rates.
Census:
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National Population Register (NPR) is a Register of usual residents of the country. It is being prepared at the local (Village/sub-Town), sub-District, District, State and National level under provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003. #Pre
It is mandatory for every usual resident of India to register in the NPR. A usual resident is defined for the purposes of NPR as a person who has resided in a local area for the past 6 months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next 6 months or more. [NPR is different from decennial census]
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1. recording biometric and family-tree details of Indian citizens under the National Population Register (NPR) is done.
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The objective of the NPR is to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country. The database would contain demographic as well as biometric
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particulars.
The Census Act was enacted in 1948 to provide for the scheme of conducting population census with duties and responsibilities of census officers.
poverty and developmental issues : problems and their remedies
Theory of ‘culture of poverty’: Poverty perpetuates inequality in the society.
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the poor have social and cultural characteristics that make them responsible for perpetuating their poverty
Illegal mining in Meghalaya: Rat hole mining:
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National Green Tribunal (NGT) banned unscientific ‘rat-hole mining’ in the State on April 17, 2014.
There is umpteen number of cases where by virtue of rat-hole mining, during the rainy season, water flooded into the mining areas resulting in the death of many.
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2. rat-hole mines employed child labourers in large numbers.
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Coal mining in Meghalaya, financed by businessmen from outside, took off commercially in the 1980s. Since much of the State’s land is community-owned, it was easy for the moneyed locals to purchase land and employ non-tribal labourers to burrow for maximum profit. Rat-hole mining, involving digging of tunnels 3-4 feet high, was the most preferred to strike at narrow coal seams deeper inside the hills.
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Rat-hole-sized tunnels are dug horizontally wherever the coal seams are found for the workers to crawl in and out. The NGT found these techniques unscientific and unsafe for workers.
Many who matter in Meghalaya own a coal mine or are associated with the trade. They include politicians, bureaucrats, police officers and extremists
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6. way forward:
chairman of the committee of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for rat-hole mining in Meghalaya has advised small coal mine owners in the State to form cooperatives to shift to scientific and sustainable mining.
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1. The NGT had also advised the state to explore alternative way of mining that factors in safety measures, environmental clearance and restoring the areas mined.
Urbanization: problems and remedies
"The heart of the capital is a shanty town”, Graham Greene in The Comedians.
Climate-smart urbanization:
Challenges due to urbanization:
rampant increase in built-up area across natural drainage channels, the diversion or damming of rivers upstream leading to sediment transport and siltation, coastal subsidence and other effects of development
Construction in cities or in urbanising areas does not take into consideration the existing topography, surface water bodies, stream flows or other parts of terrestrial ecosystems
Example: In Chennai, systematic intrusion into the Pallikaranai marsh and other wetlands by housing complexes and commercial buildings, slums along Cooum and Adyar rivers, and large-scale construction along the coast increased vulnerability to floods.
Urbanisation has ignored ecological principles associated with water bodies, vegetation, biodiversity and topography.
Way forward:
Cities could be laid out to reduce flooding by following natural contours, drainage and tank systems.
Emergency responders should be well prepared to transport and care for people who may become stranded during disasters
Sustainable land uses
lakes and tanks, waterways need to be protected as important urban spaces
Development should be climate-smart and sustainable.
construction on existing lake beds and other waterbodies needs to be removed or redesigned to allow flood drainage along natural water channels
World Urbanization Prospects report (2018) by the United Nations’s Population Division
India has one of the fastest-growing urban populations in the world. The Economic Survey of 2017-18 notes that a third of the population now lives in urban areas which produce threefifths of the GDP. #VAD
India, China and Nigeria will together account for 35% of the projected growth of the world’s urban population between 2018 and 2050. #VAD by 2050, India will have added 416 million urban dwellers, China 255 million and Nigeria 189 million.
In the next 15 years, about 200 million people will move from rural areas in India to the country’s urban centers #VAD in just 30 years from now, half of India will be living in cities by 2030, urban centers in India will generate nearly 70 percent of the country’s GDP #VAD
Government data estimates that India’s cities would need $1.2 trillion in capital funding over the next 20 years to keep up with the demands of their growing populations. #VAD
Delhi — or the National Capital Region, to be precise — is the world’s second-most populous urban agglomeration. By 2028, in just a decade, Delhi will become the world’s most populous city, outstripping Tokyo.
By 2030, India will have seven cities with populations in excess of 10 million, two cities in the 510 million bracket, as many as 62 cities in the 1-5 million range, and a staggering 70 more with populations between half and 1 million #VAD
Challenges
India’s overflowing cities lack capacity, infrastructure and leadership( ineffective urban local bodies).
We do not have the infrastructure to cater to the needs of so many people. India requires around $134 per capita to support urbanization capital expenditure (capex), but it actually spends around $20 per capita. #VAD
This discrepancy has caused several problems: only 30 percent of sewage is treated, 24 percent of the urban population lives in slums, public transit usage is declining, and almost half of all city drivers spend more than 12 hours a week stuck in their car. We do not have the resources — whether water, transport, housing, education or health care — that will be in demand then.
Smart Cities Programmes have made slow progress. Less than 7% of the funds allocated for the entire project have been used so far (till 2018) #SCA
Features of Mission:
every city identified one or two core pan-city issues that it would like to solve Different cities across India chose mobility, governance, water, energy, security, and solid waste management as their top themes. For example, while Pune selected mobility and water as the main pan-city themes, Bhubaneshwar selected intelligent city operations
City authorities must share updates on a regular basis while seeking input on progress, the quality of execution, and new ideas. While every city was given seed capital from the government, they were encouraged to come up with innovative sources of funding to bridge the gap between this seed capital and the money needed to fulfill their plans. These source ideas included land monetization, public-private partnerships, and other sources of revenue like developmental charges.
Positives of the mission:
The program aims to assist several Indian cities in kick-starting urban renewal. it’s an important start and offers several best practices for city leaders in emerging countries
The Smart Cities Mission granted funding to cities based on project proposals
submitted by each city. The competition between cities resulted in high-quality submissions that identified specific objectives and resources and were aligned with citizens’ expressed priorities
Each city came up with a plan to develop a relatively small area (approximately 1,000 acres) and improve its living standards by addressing core infrastructure challenges such as water access, solid waste management, and open space. Kochi devised a plan to retrofit seven square kilometers of land, linked throughout by waterways. threefold effect:
citizens and city authorities imagined, for the first time, how a relatively small area could be developed and revitalized to achieve higher standards of livability; funding sources were more accessible for planning these pockets of land, given their smaller size; citizens were more compelled to pay for these developments via betterment levies once they witnessed the real benefits of these neighborhoods.
Success Story
Pune
creating public spaces that capitalize on existing assets to promote health, happiness, and well-being
The city redesigned streets to improve safety and walkability and brought multiple use cases to citizens through a smart element project that created and wove together six key components
Wi-Fi hotspots across strategic locations such as parks, hospitals, and other public spaces
environmental sensors to monitor critical parameters such as air quality and noise pollution
public announcement systems to broadcast both general and emergency messages to improve communication and public awareness
an emergency response system to increase citizen safety
a variable message system that deployed electronic display boards, placed across the city, to broadcast messages, alerts, and city updates
a scalable command and control center, which assimilated data from all of these elements to monitor and manage smart-city operations from a single hub
Bhubaneshwar established seven public-private partnership projects to raise $42 million (INR 2,725 cr), which covered almost half of its total smart-
city plan cost of $70 million (INR 4,537 cr)
Negatives:
in the three years since the programme was launched, completed projects account for only 1.4% of the total investment envisaged. Another 407 projects have issued tenders.
Inability of our civic system to absorb and execute large investment plans - lack of institutional capacity within civic authorities, particularly when it comes to planning and project execution way forward for smart city mission: The right effort to make a city smart will incorporate a focus on sustainability, resource productivity, economic development, and job creation, as well as getting basic core infrastructure right to enable decent quality of living. efforts must begin with a comprehensive citizen engagement initiative Water is going to be a critical challenge in virtually every city in India. Housing and civic conservancy present equally tall challenges. Uncontrolled and unplanned urbanisation and the near absence of reliable public transportation have added another mega problem to the list: pollution.
14 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities are in India. #VAD creating jobs is another mega challenge.
Unorganized development around the city and Slums
Union Cabinet approved a proposal to grant ownership and transfer rights for properties in 1,797 Delhi’s unauthorised colonies that had been identified in 2014. about 40 lakh people would benefit from this decision.
Slum is a dilapidated neighborhood where many people live in a state of poverty. A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting mostly of closely-packed, decrepit housing units in a situation of deteriorated or uncompleted infrastructure, inhabited primarily by impoverished persons.
The Sustainable Development Goals aspire to halve the proportion of people living in slums within each country by 2030.
At the root of chaotic urban development is the deplorable compact arrived at between governments and violators that allows rezoning to accommodate illegal commercial establishments in residential zones, weak enforcement of regulations and post facto regularisation of illegalities.
challenges faced by people in slums:
The 2011 Census estimated 65 million people in slums, a marked shortfall from the UNHABITAT’s 2014 estimation of 104 million. #VAD over 70% of families in slums live in debt with no access to formal financial systems, any borrowing comes from private money lenders at high interest rates.
For many, even water and electricity are disproportionately more expensive as they are forced to rely on the grey market rather than on formal, subsidised channels. residents end up staying in the same slums for an average of 21 years, Among the slum blocks: • 58% have open or no drainage • 43% must bring water from outside their communities • 26% do not have access to clean drinking water • 34% have no public toilets in their communities • 2 electricity outages occur per day
The gap between growing demand for affordable urban housing and insufficient supply has encouraged the formation of slums.
Issues in Providing Affordable Housing for the Urban Poor
Lack of available urban land
Rising construction costs
Regulatory constraints
The lengthy procedure of land development is especially determined by the efficiency of urban local bodies, which are in charge of city planning, delivering utility administrations, and controlling development through approvals
National Urban Livelihood Mission
To reduce poverty and vulnerability of the urban poor households by enabling them to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities, resulting in an appreciable improvement in their livelihoods on a sustainable basis, through building strong grassroots level institutions of the poor.
Building shelter equipped with essential services under NULM for urban poor including urban homeless will provide the social security to urban poor. This program is directly reducing slum formation in urban areas. Slums are one of the biggest challenges in reducing the Urban poverty.
NULM aims to achieve universal financial inclusion, through opening of basic savings accounts, facilitating access to financial literacy, credit, affordable insurance, and remittance facilities to the urban poor and their institutions
Evolution of national schemes in India over time
National Slum Development Programme (NSDP)
The 1996 slum upgradation initiative, National Slum Development Programme (NSDP), started with the aim to upgrade 47,124 slums throughout India.
It identified a target slum in each city which it planned to develop as a “model” slum. improvements in physical amenities - such as water supply, storm water drains, community baths and latrines, wider paved lanes, sewers, streetlights, etc. - are provided to the entire slum community.
NSDP was only able to disburse about 70% of its allocated funds, indicating difficulties in the administrative process projects often lacked proper monitoring and supervision, resulting in a trend of time-delays and misused funds
Basic Services to Urban Poor (BSUP)