24 Sep 2020: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

B. GS 2 Related

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. Sri Lanka Oppn. challenges new Bill in SC

Context:

Opposition parties in Sri Lanka have moved the Supreme Court challenging the contentious 20th Amendment Bill, a day after it was tabled in the parliament.

This topic has been covered in the 23^rd September 2020 Comprehensive News Analysis.

E. Editorials

Category: SOCIAL ISSUES

1. Weighing in on the efficacy of female leadership

The editorial analyses the necessity to get rid of inherent biases and perceptions about the effectiveness of women in roles of authority, specifically with respect to India.

Women leadership across the Globe:

• With women leaders heading their governments, Germany, Taiwan and New Zealand have garnered much-deserved appreciation for having managed the pandemic much better than their neighbours.
• A detailed study by researchers in the United States reports that States which have female governors had fewer COVID-19 related deaths.
  • Perhaps partly because female governors acted more decisively by issuing earlier stay-at-home orders.
  • The authors of the study conclude that women leaders are more effective than their male counterparts in times of crisis.
• While it is dangerous to make sweeping generalisations based on one study, the important takeaway is the necessity of getting rid of inherent biases and perceptions about female effectiveness in leadership roles.

India’s gram panchayats:

• A study was conducted by Nobel Laureate Esther Duflo and co-author Raghabendra Chattopadhyay, who used the system of mandated reservations of pradhans in gram panchayats to test the effectiveness of female leadership.
• Note:
  • The 1993 amendment to the Indian Constitution mandated that all States had to reserve one-third of all positions of pradhan for women.
  • Since villages chosen for the mandated reservations were randomly selected, differences in investment decisions made by gram panchayats could be attributed to the differences in gender of the pradhans.
• The study demonstrated that women perform significantly better than men in implementing policies that promote the interests of women.
• They concluded that pradhans invested more in rural infrastructure that served better the needs of their own gender.

Gender Equality:

• What needs evaluation is: What proportion of women stand for election to the various State and central legislatures? How many are elected? How many women occupy important positions in the executive branch of government?
• In addition to the importance of promoting more space for women in public policy, this is also an important goal from the perspective of gender equality.

Suffrage in India:

• The right to vote is arguably the most important dimension of participation in public life.
• Independent India can rightly be proud of its achievement in so far as women’s suffrage is concerned.
• In Independent India, women were allowed to vote from 1950 onwards. Therefore, women could participate on an equal footing with men from the first general election of 1951-52.
• This is in striking contrast to the experience in the so-called “mature democracies” of western Europe and the United States.
  • In the U.S., it took several decades of struggle before women were allowed to vote in 1920.
  • Most countries in Europe also achieved universal suffrage during the inter-war period. Since most able-bodied men went away to the battlefields during the First World War, increasing numbers of women could show that they were adequate substitutes in activities that were earlier the sole preserve of men.
  • This is believed to have mitigated the anti-female bias and earned women the right to vote in European countries.
• Also, India has had and have charismatic female leaders like Indira Gandhi, Jayalalitha, Mayawati, Sushma Swaraj and Mamata Banerjee among several others.

Concerns:

Underrepresentation of female ministers:

• At present, there is an underrepresentation of female ministers in India.
• The female representation in the government at the Centre is probably not very far from the typical gender composition in Indian central and State governments.
  • Female members make up only about 10% of the total ministerial strength.
• The underrepresentation of women in Indian legislatures is even more striking.
• Note: Rwanda comes out on top with a staggering 60% of seats in its lower house occupied by women.

The women’s Bill languishes:

• Attempts have been made to extend quotas for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies through a Women’s Reservation Bill.
• When the bill was introduced (1996), male members from several parties opposed the Bill on various pretexts.
• Despite the fact that 24 years have passed since it was first presented in the Lok Sabha and the Bill has been introduced in successive Parliaments, there has been no success in this regard.
• Unfortunately, the fate of this Bill represents a blot on the functioning of the Indian Parliament.

Way forward:

• The establishment of quotas for women is the best way forward.
• A sure way of increasing numbers of women in legislatures and subsequently in cabinets is by avoiding the logjam in the Parliament by reserving say a third of party nominations for women.
• Quotas have both a short-term and long-term impact.
  • There is substantial evidence showing that increased female representation in policymaking goes a long way in improving perceptions about female effectiveness in leadership roles.
  • It would decrease the bias among voters against women candidates.
  • Voter perceptions about the efficacy of female leadership may change so drastically in the long run that quotas may no longer be necessary.
• Since women running for elections face numerous challenges, it is essential to create a level-playing field through appropriate legal measures.

2. The mental health needs of the homeless

The editorial throws light upon how the ground realities during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic make a sound case for increased investments in the health and social sectors.

Issues:

• Among the most affected during the COVID-19 pandemic are homeless persons and the ultra-poor, many of whom are employed in the informal sector.  Oppressed classes suffer the most as a consequence of multidimensional poverty.
• They are exposed to greater adversity against the backdrop of intergenerational social disadvantage and lack of social security.
• There is plenty of evidence pointing to relative poverty and its co-relation to stress, mental health and well-being.
• Data suggest that deaths by suicide and common mental disorders have also been on the rise during the pandemic.

Distinctly deprived – homeless people with mental illness:

• Distinctly deprived are homeless persons living with a mental illness. They are at risk of violent victimisation, assault and long-term incarceration.
• In India, close to two million individuals sleep in uncomfortable conditions, typically out of doors; 35% of them live with one or the other mental health concern.
  • Pathways into homelessness include abject poverty, conflict, natural or man-made disasters, lack of access to health and mental health care, social hardships, disruptions in care-giving and domestic violence.
• Historically, in a limited context of religiosity associated with renunciation and hearing voices (considered unique to the saint), a few were worshiped; however, the majority were feared, found to be repulsive and often treated as objects of ridicule.
• This has resulted in their occupying a lowly place in society’s hierarchical structure to date.

Concerns:

• Inadequate care staff has resulted in a grossly underwhelming caregiving climate. Services for this under-served group are scarce globally.
• They are susceptible to physical co-morbidities and co-occurring substance misuse, and unshielded against the consequences of homelessness, malnutrition, sexual violation, loss of support networks and kinship.
• Their experience of loneliness and hyper-segregation contributes to their low sense of self-worth and shrunken group identity, weakening their collective ability to influence change.

Way forward:

A person-centric action plan:

• The UN set up a fund of $2 billion to alleviate the distress of the ultra-vulnerable, including those living with a disability or chronic illness.
• Tamil Nadu Example:
  • The Tamil Nadu government, taking cognizance of the mental health needs of homeless persons, will take to scale Emergency Care and Recovery Centres (ECRC) that will support the treatment and community inclusion of this vulnerable section in 10 districts.
  • Various government departments and NGOs will together pursue the goal of improving mental health access and mitigating social and opportunity losses.

Resistance to Parochial Practices:

• Strong resistance has been built against narrow-minded practices which are giving way to newer dimensions of therapeutic and social care. However, much remains to be done.
• States must re-examine the role of social determinants of health in perpetuating unjust structures that normalise deprivation.
  • A person’s social context and health intersect to help achieve a better quality of life.

Early enrolment into care:

• Early enrolment into care may result in a reduction of exposure to harm, injury and starvation, and better prognosis.
• An integrated approach will help address the stigma associated with this group.
• Additionally, facilitation of social needs care and livelihoods may reduce the recurrence of episodic homelessness, critical to sustaining and enhancing well-being gains.

Partnering for alleviating the distress of the deprived:

• Three sectors — the government, development and corporate sectors — must partner to ensure that the lives of those who live on the fringes matter.
• The mental health team that anchors the Centre may also lend further support to the District Mental Health Programme, and offer counselling support to address mental health issues in the context of the pandemic.

Conclusion:

ECRCs are not a panacea to all distress undergone by homeless individuals. Issues of homelessness and mental ill-health independently present intractable problems; in combination, one may confront ethical dilemmas and emerging constraints and challenges. While it could be a powerful start to acknowledge the need to focus on minority mental health, there is a strong need to further build on care plans and mental health systems for the vulnerable.