17 May 2021: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

E. Editorials

Category: SOCIAL ISSUES

1. It is getting from bad to worse for women workers

Background:

Gender inequality in India:

• India has slipped from 112 to 140 amongst 156 countries in the 2021 WEF Global Gender Gap Report. Of the four pillars of the index, India suffered mainly in economic participation.
• Gender inequality subsists in the Indian economy as in other sectors like health, education and politics.
  • The labour participation of women is 22 per cent in India, one of the lowest in the world (comparable countries have 50 per cent).
  • The wage gap between men and women across the Indian economy is a marked feature in India.
  • Despite the fact that the number of women has increased in jobs, still, they lag behind in the total percentage of jobs. The gender employment gap is substantial given that only 18% of working-age women are employed as compared to 75% of men (Pre-pandemic statistics).
    • Reasons include a lack of good jobs, restrictive social norms, and the burden of household work.

Economic impact of the pandemic:

• The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a massive disruption of the labour market in India, rendering millions unemployed and has led to a sudden and large increase in poverty.

Details:

• The pandemic seems to have worsened the situation of gender inequality in India.
• The pandemic has affected more women than men. Women workers, in particular, have borne a disproportionate burden of the pandemic and the associated lockdowns.

A widening economic gap:

• Data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt. Ltd. show that 61% of male workers were unaffected during the lockdown while only 19% of women experienced this kind of work security.
• Women have lost more jobs irrespective of the industry in which they were employed.
• Unlike men who had the option of moving into fallback employment arrangements like self-employment and daily wage work, women seemed to have far fewer options.
• 47% of employed women who had lost jobs during the lockdown, had not returned to work, while the number stood at only 7% for men.
• Nearly half of the women workers, irrespective of whether they were salaried, casual, or self-employed, withdrew from the workforce, as compared to only 11% of men.
• Even as new entrants to the workforce, women workers had poorer options compared to men. Women were more likely to enter as daily wage workers while men found avenues for self-employment. This leads to more precarious work and lower earnings as compared to men.

Growing domestic work:

• With the lockdowns in place and almost everyone limited to the confines of their homes, household responsibilities have increased for women. There has been a massive increase in the burden of household work for women.
  • The India Working Survey 2020 found that among employed men, the number of hours spent on paid work remained more or less unchanged after the pandemic. But for women, the number of hours spent in domestic work has increased manifold. This increase in household work came without any accompanying relief in the hours spent on paid work.
• This could lead to a situation where married women and women from larger households are less likely to return to work, suggesting that the burden of care may be a reason for poor employment recovery.

Recommendations:

Short term measures:

• Expansion of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
• Introduction of an urban employment guarantee targeted at women.
• There should be coordinated efforts by states to facilitate the employment of women while also addressing immediate needs through the setting up of community kitchens, prioritising the opening of schools and anganwadi centres.
• The governments should consider a COVID-19 hardship allowance of at least Rs. 5,000 per month for six months for 2.5 million accredited social health activists and Anganwadi workers, most of whom are women.

Long term measures:

• The National Employment Policy, currently in the works, should systematically address the constraints around the participation of women’s workforce, both with respect to the availability of work and household responsibilities.
• The government should come up with policies for sectors where women participation can be significant, both in current (healthcare, IT, education, agriculture) and emerging (artificial intelligence, blockchain) areas.
• The government should focus on increasing public investment in social infrastructure like health, education, child and elderly care. This can help bring women into the workforce not only by directly creating employment for them but also by alleviating some of their domestic work burdens.
• Given the close link between educational attainment and economic participation and the big drop in enrolment of girls in primary (93 per cent), secondary (62 per cent) and tertiary (29 per cent) education, relevant interventions like Skill India should develop programmes for girls/women and address the systemic issues.
• There is the need to embrace policies for inclusion that help women progress in career, with up-skilling and “return-to-career” schemes, flexi-work, special leave, wage parity, hybrid working models, and so on. A concerted effort across key sectors with a cultural focus on gender sensitivity instead of gender neutrality can help.

Conclusion:

• In the pandemic, women have borne a disproportionate burden of the severe disruptions to life and the economy.
• The govt and businesses must join hands to empower women economically. This apart from the obvious social benefit of gender equality will also give a big boost to the GDP of the nation.
  • The global GDP could rise by as much as $28 trillion by 2025 if, for instance, women play an equal role to men in labour markets. If small, medium and large businesses — both domestic and MNCs — join hands with the government to close the gender gap in economic empowerment, India could add at least a trillion annually to its GDP by 2029.
  • Companies with more women representation have achieved 22 per cent higher productivity, 40 per cent better customer retention and 27 per cent more profitability.

Category: POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Restructuring the tribunals system

Background:

• The Centre has abolished several appellate tribunals and authorities and transferred their jurisdiction to other existing judicial bodies through the Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance 2021.

For more information on this topic, refer to:

Tribunals in India

• The Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance 2021 has been challenged in the Supreme Court.

Concerns:

• The Ordinance has met with sharp criticism for the following reasons.

Bypassing the normal legislative process:

• By taking the ordinance route the government seems to have bypassed the usual legislative process thus depriving the legislature of its right to discuss and deliberate on the issue.

For more information on the concerns regarding ordinances refer to:

CNA dated April 20, 2021: The ordinance route is bad, repromulgation worse

Impact of the abolishment of tribunals:

• The abolishing of several tribunals such as the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal without any stakeholder consultation will have a profound impact on the stakeholders.

For detailed information on this issue refer to:

CNA dated April 11, 2021: The abolition of FCAT

• Despite the Supreme Court’s direction in Rojer Mathew v. South Indian Bank (2019), no judicial impact assessment was conducted prior to abolishing the tribunals through this Ordinance.

Against the judicial direction:

• While the Ordinance has incorporated the suggestions made in Madras Bar Association v. Union of India (2020) on the composition of a search-cum-selection committee and its role in disciplinary proceedings, it has fixed a four-year tenure for Chairpersons and members of tribunals thus blatantly disregarding the court’s direction for fixing a five-year term.

Non commission of NTC:

• The Centre is yet to constitute a National Tribunals Commission (NTC), an independent umbrella body to supervise the functioning of tribunals, the appointment of and disciplinary proceedings against members, and to take care of administrative and infrastructural needs of the tribunals.
  • The idea of an NTC was first mooted in Chandra Kumar v. Union of India (1997).
• The lack of an institutional body like the NTC will fail to deter executive interference in the functioning of tribunals in matters of appointment and removal of tribunal members, as well as in the provision of finances, infrastructure, personnel and other resources required for the day-to-day functioning of the tribunals.
• Such a scenario can lead to a situation where the system can be used to serve political or private interests.

Significance of NTC:

• The NTC would ideally take on some duties relating to administration and oversight. A ‘corporatised’ structure of NTC with a Board, a CEO and a Secretariat will allow it to scale up its services and provide requisite administrative support to all tribunals across the country. The NTC could pave the way for the separation of the administrative and judicial functions carried out by various tribunals.
• The NTC functioning as an umbrella authority can support uniform administration across all tribunals.
• The NTC could set performance standards for the efficiency of tribunals and their own administrative processes. This can help increase efficiency as well as ensure better accountability.
• It could function as an independent recruitment body to develop and operationalize the procedure for disciplinary proceedings and the appointment of tribunal members. Giving the NTC the authority to set members’ salaries, allowances, and other service conditions, subject to regulations, would help maintain tribunals’ independence.

Recommendations:

• The Finance Ministry which has been vested with the responsibility for tribunals until the NTC is constituted should come up with an appropriate transition plan.
• The way to reform the tribunal system is to look at solutions from a systemic perspective supported by evidence. Establishing the NTC will definitely entail a radical restructuring of the present tribunals system.
• Developing an independent oversight body like the NTC requires a legal framework that protects its independence and impartiality. The NTC must be established vide a constitutional amendment or be backed by a statute that guarantees it functional, operational and financial independence.

 Q 1:  Consider the following statements:

Q 2: Which of the following is/are weapons India has purchased from Israel?

Q 3: Consider the following statements:

Q 4: Consider the following statements:

Q5. Which of the following National Parks is unique in being a swamp with floating vegetation 
that supports a rich biodiversity? (UPSC 2016)

I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

1. Discuss the concerns associated with abolishing appellate tribunals and the need for establishing the National Tribunal Commission. (10 Marks, 150 Words) (GS 2 Polity and Governance)
2. The COVID-19 pandemic is having devastating social and economic consequences further exacerbating inequalities and creating new vulnerabilities for women. Comment. (10 Marks, 150 Words) (GS 1 Social Issues)

Read the previous CNA here.