Gist of EPW May Week 1, 2023

The Economic and Political Weekly (EPW) is an important source of study material for IAS, especially for the current affairs segment. In this section, we give you the gist of the EPW magazine every week. The important topics covered in the weekly are analysed and explained in a simple language, all from a UPSC perspective.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Demography is Not a Destiny
2. Gendered Impact on Unemployment
3. India’s Toy Industry
4. Planned Incoherence

1. Demography is Not a Destiny

Context: India has now become one of the most populated countries in the world. Changing population dynamics will throw up major challenges to the economy and society.

Stats related to population: 

• The State of World Population report of the United Nations Population Fund estimated India’s population to be 1.428 billion in 2023 as against 1.425 billion in China. 
• The global population is now 8.045 billion, of which 1.151 billion are in the least developed countries, 6.769 million in the less developed regions and 1.276 billion in the more developed regions.
• While it is estimated that it took almost 50,000 years for the global population to touch 1 billion by around 1804, it then doubled to 2 billion by 1927, and further grew to 3 billion by 1960. 
  • Later, in another four decades, the global population again doubled to 6 billion in 2000. It then grew by another 2 billion in a little more than two decades to touch 8 billion by 2023.

Population growth and resources: 

• The exponential growth of the population will far outstrip the linear growth of resources and cause famines and poverty the world over.
  • The expected huge food shortages and the fall in living standards were not as it was contemplated.
  • The important factors that facilitated these improvements in income and life expectancy were the demographic transition and the faster-than-expected growth in productivity.
  • Agriculture production has more than tripled since the middle of the last century. This was facilitated by the new green revolution technologies and the substantial expansion in the use of natural resources, including land and water.
• The global per capita incomes have more than doubled since the second half of the 20th century. More­over, life expectancy increased from 46 years to 73 years.
• In the last 70 years, global fertility rates, or the number of children born per mother, have halved to 2.3, which is only a few points over the replacement level fertility rate of 2.1. 
  • Fertility rates in the more developed countries have now gone down to 1.5, while the rates are 2.4 in the less developed regions.
• Most countries achieved universal enrolment in primary education and improved overall welfare during this period.

Contrast between developed and developing countries: 

• The skewed fertility levels will now ensure that the least developed countries will double their populations at twice the pace of the less developed regions.
• So population growth will remain a major issue in the least developed regions, the challenge in the less deve­loped countries is about finding productive employment for the labour force in the 15–64 age group, who constitute about two-thirds of their population. 
  • In contrast, the challenge in the more developed regions is to provide universal healthcare and old age pensions for almost a fifth of their population, whose numbers are set to increase sharply. 
  • Thus, generating employment for the productive age group and ensuring the welfare of the ageing population are the two main demographic challenges in the 21st century.

Countries across the world need to ramp up their policies and programmes in order to meet the challenges that may arise on account of the rising population. Adequate population control measures coupled with a rise in productivity lie at the centre of the sustainable management of the population. 

2. Gendered Impact on Unemployment

Introduction

• The labour market across the world was severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• As per the International Labour Organization (ILO) report (2021), the working hours lost in the year 2020 amounted to 255 million full-time jobs. It further translates into labour income losses worth US$ 3.7 trillion.
• Women across the world were impacted more due to existing gendered inequalities, the sudden closure of schools and daycare centres, and the increased burden of unpaid care.
• Women often enjoy less work protection or job guarantee.

Also read: Coronavirus & Impact on Economy: RSTV – Big Picture

Case Study of India

• As claimed by World Bank, India’s Female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) was nearly 21% in 2019.
• It is 26 percentage points lower than the global average and the lowest among BRICS members.
• Furthermore, women are dropping out of the labour force at an increasing rate since the onset of the pandemic.
• The number of unemployed women seeking employment is also less than the pre-pandemic average.
• A survey found that the burden of household chores and responsibility for childcare and family dependents increased exponentially for women.
• The main reason found for declining women’s participation in the workforce was an increase in work and caregiving responsibilities.

Figure 1: Female Unemployed and Inactive Job Seekers

Source: Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy

Source: Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy

Impact of Second Wave of COVID-19 on Gendered Unemployment

• The gender unemployment gap means the difference between male and female unemployment rates.
• Since 2016, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) conducts household surveys in India on a triennial basis.

Figure 3: Unemployment rate on the basis of gender

Source: Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy

• The sharp increase in male unemployment during the national lockdown resulted in closing the gender gap in Q2 2020.
• The gender gap narrowed initially as more males lost their jobs initially (during the pandemic) in absolute terms.
• The rural regions witnessed a narrowing gender gap during the post-lockdown normalcy.

3. India’s Toy Industry

Introduction

• During 2018-2022, India’s toy exports increased considerably from $109 million to $177 million.
• Moreover, toy imports decreased from $371 million to  $110 million.
• Increasing toy production and exports is in line with government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative that was launched in 2014.

Details 

• Notably, many countries like Japan and China have successfully targeted toy making as one of the labour-intensive industries for exports.
• It promotes an equitable growth process.
• The largest toy producer in the world is China and the United States is the biggest market.
• India is trying to increase the production of consumer goods through traditional methods (like cottage industries), fiscal assistance, and regulations.
• The toy industry has remained traditional and backward due to fragmented production and marketing structures.
• In 1997, the Reservation Policy of 1967 that “reserved” toys was abolished based on the recommendation of the Abid Hussain Committee.
  • Many experts favoured the deregulation of toys as it had positive outcomes like:
    • It led to the entry of new firms and expansion of output and investment.
    • It also reduced resource misallocation.
    • It was advantageous for the overall economy.
  • However, some of the limitations were:
    • The benefits accrued only in the organized sector. It should be noted that the organized sector in the toy industry accounts for only a small fraction.
    • A substantial share of the toy industry in India is unorganized.

Read more on Indian toy exports in the linked article.

Toy Production and Trade Since 2000

• In 2015-2016, the toy industry comprised nearly 15000 enterprises (both organized and unorganized). It was found that:
  • Only 1% of the factories and enterprises were registered.
  • It employed 20% of workers, used 63% of fixed capital, and produced 77% of the output.
• In real terms, it is observed that from 2000-2001 to 2015-16, the output of the toy industry shrunk by half (from 1716 crore to 861 crore) and the number of enterprises declined from 20800 to 14800.
• Employment also decreased from 59000 workers to 35000 workers during the same period.
• However, the number of registered factories increased.
• The imports during  2000-2001 to 2015-16, showed a considerable increase from 7% of domestic production to 141% of the same.

• Though India’s exports of toys have increased since 2018-19, it is primarily the result of a rise in the basic customs duty on toys (from 20% to 60%).
• Moreover, several non-tariff barriers were also imposed.
• The toy import also saw a reduction due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• It is argued that the increase in the toy trade is a short-term effect of rising import barriers and increased demand for Indian toys in the U.S.

Also read: Toycathon

Way Ahead:

• More policy support is required to become domestically competitive and increase its exports.
• There is a need to indigenize production and support domestic enterprises.
• Moreover, for overall economic growth, there is a need to promote labour-intensive industrialization.

4. Planned Incoherence

Context: Recent attempts to reduce the burden of the syllabus on school students. 

Introduction:

• The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has revised its syllabus for multiple classes, making 1,334 alterations in 182 books. This includes removing texts about the Mughal era, the Delhi Sultanate, and Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination.
• The rationale given by the NCERT for these changes is the need to rationalize and reduce content load. However, critics argue that the revisions are politically driven and revisionist in nature.
• The modifications to the syllabus have sparked concerns about their impact on India’s education system, collective memory, and national identity, prompting a broader debate on the subject.

Impact of these changes:

• Recent attempts to reduce the burden of the syllabus on school students may have the opposite effect, intensifying the sense of burden. 
• Crude shortening of textbooks can result in reduced comprehensibility compared to the original versions. 
• The Yash Pal Committee in 1993 identified incomprehensibility as the source of the burden students feel in school.
• However, present policy decisions on syllabus reduction are influenced by both epistemic and political dimensions.
• The Covid-19 pandemic provided an opportunity for interests vested in online education to push for syllabus and textbook cuts. 
• Social science subjects were particularly affected. Despite criticism, the strategy to dilute examination demands persisted, covering both science and humanities subjects.
• While censoring evolutionism has drawn criticism from the scientific community, there is a lack of voices advocating for the removal of other important topics, such as those related to literature, inequality, and protest movements.
• The syllabus reduction has reignited a textbook controversy, leading to a predictable pattern where teachers silently teach while focusing on exam-oriented information to help students navigate conceptually compromised lessons. 
• Private schools may opt for alternative boards or affiliations with publishers producing private textbooks. 
• Schools linked to state boards may choose to ignore the deletions, but their students may still face the effects of a truncated syllabus.
• Students applying for admission to central universities will likely encounter the consequences of the syllabus reduction in national admission tests, which are expected to reflect the remaining content from the extensively edited NCERT textbooks. 
  • Similar subtle consequences may be observed in other centralized tests. The long-term effects of these changes may become irrelevant as a new curricular framework is expected to bring a new set of textbooks.
• The new policy emphasized critical thinking, but the deletions have affected examples of critical enquiry in textbooks. 
• Overall, the recent changes in the syllabus and textbooks raise concerns about comprehensibility.

Read previous EPW articles in the link.

EPW May Week 1, 2023:- Download PDF Here