Gist of EPW September Week 3, 2022

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 analyzed and explained in a simple language, all from a UPSC perspective.

EPW Week 3, September 2022:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Human Development Index 2021–22 and India
2. Focus on Agriculture in the National Water Policy
3. Migrant Urban Youth in the Draft National Youth Policy 2021

1. Human Development Index 2021–22 and India

Context

The Human Development Index 2021–22 report was recently published.

Human Development Index

Image Source: UNDP Website

• The Human Development Report/Index is published by the United Nations Development Programme.
• The first Human Development Report was introduced in 1990 and the report has been released in most of the years ever since.
• The Human Development Index (HDI) is a measure of average achievement in crucial dimensions of human development namely:
  • Long and healthy life
  • Education and being knowledgeable 
  • Decent standard of living
• The health dimension is examined by analysing the life expectancy at birth. 
• The education aspect is measured by assessing the average years of schooling for adults aged 25 years and more and the expected years of schooling for children of school-entering age. 
• The standard of living aspect is measured by gross national income per capita.

Human Development Index 2021–22

• As per the latest report, India’s ranking has dropped from 130 in 2020 to 132 in 2021.
• According to the report, there seems to be a drop in the HDI at a global level on account of the COVID pandemic. However, India’s HDI values have fallen at a faster rate as compared to the global values.
• Regional assessments reveal that:
  • The highest drop in HDI values was recorded in South Asia (0.9%) mainly because of the poor performance of India.
  • The highest improvement in HDI values was recorded in Europe and Central Asia, and East Asia.
  • The HDI values remained stagnant in Arab countries and continued to drop in Latin American and Caribbean countries.
• As usual, the highest improvement in HDI values was reported in the high and very high human development countries.

Human Development Index and India

• India’s HDI ranking has fallen by one rank in the period between 2015 to 2021.
  • In the same period, China’s HDI ranking has improved by 19 ranks; 11 ranks in Bangladesh; Sri Lanka’s by 9 ranks and Bhutan’s by 6 ranks.
• The fall in the growth of India’s HDI values has continued for more than 10 years as almost all the components of the index have been seriously affected.
• Life expectancy has remained stagnant post-2010 and has decreased by 1.1% and 4.1% in the first two years of the pandemic.
• The average yearly growth in the expected years of schooling has reduced by over 0.5% since 2010.
• The trends in the country’s per capita gross national income which increased from 3.6% in the 1990s to 5.1% in the first decade of the millennium have fallen to 4.3% since 2010.
• The trends in the gender development index have also failed to live up to expectations.

Conclusion

• Experts believe that economic growth in the country will become unsustainable if the deceleration of India’s HDI values is ignored as human development is one of the prerequisites to ensure sustainable economic growth.
• This requires immediate efforts by the policymakers to come up with innovative strategies to boost human development in the country which helps create a virtuous cycle of accelerating growth.

2. Focus on Agriculture in the National Water Policy

Background:

• In 2019, the Ministry of Jal Shakti formed a committee to revise the existing National Water Policy (NWP) under Mihir Shah.
  • The National Water Policy was last revised in 2012. The first NWP was adopted in 1987; since then, the NWP has been revised twice in 2002 and 2012.
• In this background, the article makes some recommendations for the National Water Policy with respect to “water in agriculture”.
  • Around 90% of India’s water is used for agriculture.

Policy Suggestions:

After drinking water, prioritise water for ecosystem needs:

• As against the NWP, 2012 which prioritises water for drinking and domestic needs, irrigation and “minimum ecological needs” on an equal and “high priority” basis, the upcoming NWP should prioritise water for ecosystem needs over irrigation.

Limit the area under water-guzzling crops and promote less water-intensive crops:

• Three water-intensive crops—rice, wheat, and sugarcane—consume almost 80% of irrigation water. A reduction in the area under these crops, together with crop diversification towards crops such as millets, pulses, and oilseeds is the immediate need of the hour.
• This would require supportive policy measures in the form of mini­­mum support prices (MSP) for such crops, supply of these crops in the public distribution system (PDS), the anganwadi–Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) programme, and mid-day meal schemes.

Ensuring water use efficiency:

• The use of micro irrigation should be promoted.
• Subsidised/free electricity for irrigation should be gradually but surely reduced.

Watershed, springshed and catchment development:

• There is a need to prioritize dec­entral­ised rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge.

Groundwater to be priced:

• The absence of groundwater pricing is one of the causes of indiscriminate extraction and depletion of groundwater resources in many regions. A system of ground­water pricing based on the area under irrigation should be introduced.

Cautious promotion of solar energy:

• The government has been promoting solar pumps on a large scale. However, there are many concerns associated with this.
• The installation of solar panels even on fallow and barren lands may result in reducing the village commons which play an important role in maintaining local ecosystem balance and village livelihoods.
• Also, large-scale adoption of solar pumps can have negative impacts on groundwater levels. Solar pumps may result in depleting the alr­eady precarious groundwater resource.

Adopting a ‘water stewardship’ approach at the local level:

• Local communities need to be involved in the conservation of water and hence a “stewardship” approach and attitude need to be fostered and adopted in the realm of water conservation.
• Such an approach would work towards sensitising communities, building a cadre of local “water stewards” (jal sevaks), putting in place community-defined access and use rules and establishing representative and effective governance mechanisms that enforce these.

Assessment of water management performance:

• A system is required for the periodic evaluation of water management performance like the Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) developed by NITI Aayog upto the district and block levels.
• This can promote healthy competition and promote better management practices in the realm of water management.

Conclusion:

• The revised NWP should work towards an ecosystem-based approach and climate-proofing of watersheds, promotion of “water stewardship,” move towards climate-resilient agriculture and policies that incentivise increased production of rain-fed crops.
• There is a need for sustainable, efficient and equitable management of surface and groundwater resources.

3. Migrant Urban Youth in the Draft National Youth Policy 2021

Background:

• India has one of the largest youth populations in the world. It has around 360 million youth in 2019 and the youth population in the demographic structure of the country will remain so at least till 2030. As a result of this India enjoys a favourable demographic dividend.
• However, there remains the threat of this demographic dividend turning into a demographic disaster if youth development is neglected.
• In this context, the article analyzes the challenges faced by the migrant urban youth population and makes some recommendations in this direction.

Concerns/challenges faced by the migrant urban youth:

• Given their low education levels and limited skill set, they are mostly found employed in the informal sector. They work as wage or casual labourers in the urban informal sector. They are mostly scattered across small-scale industries, construction, brick kilns, rag-picking, textiles, gig and platform work, sanitation and domestic work, petty self-employment activities, etc. Hence they remain prone to issues such as lack of social security and secured employment. The work is usually precarious and low-paid, and the workers are at risk of experiencing exploitation in the workplace. 
• Being from socially and economically disadvantaged sections, the migrant urban youth face multiple challenges and remain more disadvantaged than the urban educated youth.
• This section remains highly prone to economic shocks like the one observed during the COVID-19 pandemic given their financial vulnerability.
• Since they are typically engaged in informal labour contracts, mostly in routine manual and non-manual jobs, the chance of their replacement in the rapidly changing technological environment is the highest and hence they face immense job insecurity.
• Given that the migrant urban youth are known for their constant mobility, they remain undocumented in welfare policies, social protection coverage and public services due to lack of domicile and other proofs. 
• Despite their significant contribution to the urban economy and national economy, they remain unnoticed in the development policy. There is a lack of attention to their plight from governments and policymakers.

Significance of the draft National Youth Policy 2021:

• As against the National Youth Policy (NYP) of 2014 which only made a general reference to migrant youth but failed to implement specific measures for their inclusion, the draft NYP 2021 shows a concern for the youth engaged in the urban informal sector, and acknowledges them as a separate category. The draft NYP ensures to provide a support system for strengthening their social security as per the national labour standards and envisages the holistic development of this section.
• The draft NYP has envisioned providing safety nets to gig and platform workers to protect them from exploitation. 

Concerns with the draft National Youth Policy 2021:

• The young female labourers in the urban informal sector are an important workgroup missed by the draft NYP 2021, despite them being among the most vulnerable segment in the urban informal labour market as they face severe gender-based challenges, sociocultural prejudices and discrimination in society in general and workplaces in particular. They face issues such as unpaid work, safety, privacy, health and hygiene, violence, sexual exploitation, abuse and trafficking. 

Recommendations:

• Given the importance of quality education and skill sets in the youth population, all efforts must be taken to impart them to the migrant urban youth population. A special alternative education model based on the principles of lifelong learning and equitable quality education could be useful here. 
• There is also the need to ensure health, safety and appropriate working conditions, along with other legal safeguards envisaged under various labour laws and fundamental rights in the Constitution of India for this vulnerable section.
• It is important to identify the gender-specific needs of migrants. The migrant female labourers need to be identified as a separate category among the migrant youth.
• To curtail rural-to-urban migration, requisite measures need to be taken in rural areas. Ensuring the availability of good public services as well as adequate economic opportunities in rural areas can help curtail large-scale rural-to-urban migration.

Read previous EPW articles in the link.

EPW Week 3, September 2022:- Download PDF Here