Context: 

• The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, also known as the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth Amendment) Bill, 2023, has been approved by Lok Sabha, proposing a 33% reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies. 

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• The reservation provision is not immediate, contingent on two processes: a delimitation exercise and a Census. . 
• The 2021 Census will serve as the basis for this exercise, resulting in an increase and redefining of constituency boundaries. 
• In the increased constituencies, 33% will be reserved for women in the subsequent elections.

About Delimitation:

• Delimitation is the process by which the limits or boundaries of a country’s territorial constituencies are rejigged to reflect changes in population.
• The redrawing of these boundaries is based on the recent census.
• In India, the number of Lok Sabha seats allocated to different states, along with the total number of seats in a state’s Legislative Assembly, can change as a result of a delimitation exercise.
• The body tasked with carrying out the exercise is called Delimitation Commission or Boundary Commission.
• Such commissions have been constituted four times in India: 
  • 1952 under the Delimitation Commission Act, 1952, 
  • 1963 under Delimitation Commission Act, 1962, 
  • 1973 under Delimitation Act, 1972 and 
  • 2002 under Delimitation Act, 2002.
• There was no delimitation after the 1981, 1991 and 2001 Censuses.
• However, the 2002 Act did not make any changes in total Lok Sabha seats or their apportionment between various states. 
• The delimitation exercise is done for three main reasons:
  • To ensure a fair division of geographical areas.
  • To ensure equal population representation from every seat.
  • To ensure that the principle of “One Vote One Value” is maintained.

How is delimitation supposed to be carried out?

• Under Article 82 of the constitution, Parliament is to enact a Delimitation Act after every Census. Once the Act is in force, the Union government sets up the Delimitation Commission.
• The Commission is supposed to determine the number and boundaries of constituencies in a way that the population of all seats, so far as practicable, is the same. 
• The Commission is also tasked with identifying seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
• Under Article 170, States also get divided into territorial constituencies as per Delimitation Act after every Census.

Reason for Infrequent Delimitation:

• Constitutional Ratio Principle: The Constitution aims for consistent Lok Sabha seats per population ratio across states, aiming for equitable representation.
• Fear of Disproportionate Representation: States that didn’t emphasize population control might gain more seats, creating fears of disproportionate representation.
• Amendments Postponing Delimitation: To allay these fears, the Constitution was amended in 1976 to suspend delimitation until 2001.
  • Another amendment postponed this until 2026, hoping that the country would achieve a uniform population growth rate by this time.

Issues with Delimitation:

• Population Control Discrepancy: States showing little interest in population control could gain a greater number of seats in Parliament.
  • Southern states, which emphasized family planning, faced the risk of seat reduction.
• Inconsistent Delimitation Based on Census: Delimitation in 2002-08 was based on the 2001 census, but the total number of seats was determined as per the 1971 Census.
  • The 87th Amendment Act of 2003 advocated delimitation based on the 2001 census, but this was not tied to altering seat allotments to each state in the Lok Sabha.
• Cap on Parliamentary Seats: The Constitution limits the number of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha seats to a maximum of 550 and 250, respectively.
  • Increasing populations are represented by a single representative, potentially causing underrepresentation and dilution of the democratic process.
• Economic Contribution vs. Representation:
  • With only 18% population, the southern States have been contributing 35% to the country’s GDP, may not be adequately represented in the political sphere due to the proposed delimitation.
• North-South Representation Disparity: Projections indicate that northern states might gain seats while southern states could lose, raising concerns about regional imbalances in representation.
  • For Example: Based on the previous census data and population projection, after the 2026 delimitation, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh will have a total of 222 MPs, while four South Indian states will have a combined representation of 165 in the Lok Sabha.

Way Forward:

• Alternatives Proposed:Population Freeze until Stabilization: Suggests a freeze on delimitation until all states achieve population stabilization, without a defined time frame.
  • Mathematical Model Development: Devise a mathematical model along the lines of the ‘Cambridge Compromise’ based on a mathematically equitable “formula” for the apportionment of the seats of the European Parliament between the member-states.
• Ensuring Representation without Penalties: Emphasizes that states successfully stabilizing their population, particularly in the south, should not face representation penalties but continue enriching legislative and parliamentary processes.
• Focus on Population Control: Advocates the necessity to limit population growth without compromising equitable representation.
• Addressing Diverse Characteristics: Move beyond headcount-based representation and consider diverse characteristics, ensuring the inclusion of marginalized voices like tribal communities and the elderly.   
• Increase no of Parliament Seats: Each Lok Sabha seat in India represents a massive population of nearly 1.6 million Indians, highlighting a significant disparity in representation compared to other countries. 
  • A seat in the UK Parliament accounts for 44,000 members of the general populace. 
  • Meanwhile, a seat in Indonesia and Brazil account for 366,000 and 341,000 citizens each.

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Context:

• A spate of teenage suicides in Kota, Rajasthan, competing to crack the various entrance exams has hit the headlines of students suicide  in the last few days. 

More on News:

Kota had already developed a reputation for student suicides in the last decade or more, having lost more than 100 young people in the last 10 years.

• It has seen a sharp rise in its tragic numbers with 25 students had died by suicide till September 20, 2023, these rates of suicide are disturbingly high.
• The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reported in 2020 that a student took their own life every 42 minutes or 34 students died by suicide every day.  About Suicide:

• Suicide or suicidal behaviour is the culmination of various influences ranging from biological, socioemotional, cultural, political and issues of social justice. 
• For young people, this may reflect in developmental differences, family and parental expectations, the education system they can’t escape, and the marginalisation that some have to face due to their race, religion or socio-economic background. 

Factors contributing  Suicide:

• Academic and Performance pressure : Packed schedules, cut-throat competition, constant pressure to do better, the burden of parents’ expectations and homesickness are among the common struggles of the students here.
• Peer Pressure and  Parental Expectation: The intense competition and high expectations from parents, teachers and society place immense pressure on students, leading to psychological stress and mental distress.
• Lack of Social Support: Away from their families and friends, they have no one to turn to during periods of distress and self-doubt. Neither is there any mechanism to identify and accept individual differences, safe spaces for students to share and support each other.. 
• Lack of Mental Health Support: There is a lack of adequate mental health support and counseling services in educational institutions in Kota, and where it is available, it is rarely used.
• Social Stigma: The deep sense of failure, guilt and helplessness spirals out of control for some to a point of no return. 
• Commercialization and Commodification of Education: The coaching industry in kota has become a lucrative business, institutions prioritise profit over student wellbeing.
• Rising lower middle-class aspirations: The focus is on securing admissions to top colleges to ensure a stable future, overshadowing passion and interests.
• Challenges in Higher Education: 

Mental Health Awareness Initiatives:

• National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) and District Mental Health Programme (DMHP): To address the huge burden of mental disorders and shortage of qualified professionals in the field of mental health, the government has been implementing NMHP since 1982. The district Mental Health Program was added to the Program in 1996.
• Mental Healthcare Act, 2017: To provide for mental healthcare and services for persons with mental illness and to protect, promote and fulfill the rights of such persons during delivery of mental healthcare and services.
• Manodarpan Initiative: It is a psychological support initiative by the Ministry of Education for mental health & well being of students during the COVID Outbreak and beyond.

Steps Taken by  Government to Check the Suicides in Kota:

The Rajasthan government held a meeting on the issue with the representatives of coaching institutions and hotel association and decided to introduce measures such as:

• Half-Day Study, Half-Day Fun: On every Wednesday and institutes will not conduct any routine tests for the next two days.
• Identification of Students with Suicidal Tendencies: A form will be developed for coaching students to fill in every day so that their mental status can be assessed.
• Psychological Counseling: Absentees from the routine tests and poor performers will be identified and they will be provided psychological counseling.
• Reduce Course Burden: Coaching institutes have been asked to form a committee of subject experts in an attempt to reduce the burden of courses on students.
• Motivational Sessions: The institutes have also been asked to hold online motivational sessions by experts and upload the same on social media for the benefit of all students.

Ethical Issues:

• Coaching Industry: Profit maximisation vs Student Welfare: Educational institutions need to generate revenues to sustain their operations and ensure quality education. High tuition fees can exclude deserving students from accessing quality education.
• Right to Education vs Right to Well Being: Getting the opportunity to prepare for competitive exams from Kota is a luxury many can’t afford in India. However, the picture is equally gloomy on the other side, where students believe that they have been put in a “pressure cooker”.
• Parental Pressure vs Child’s Autonomy: Mismatch between the aspirations of parents for their children are not balanced with child’s well-being. For instance, parents telling them there is no going back”, according to police and district officials attempting preventive measures

• Success Factor: With most of the students belonging to middle or low income background, success appears as the only option. Further, the environment and surroundings ensure the hype for success is maintained.
• Social Influence of Media: Media highlights success stories of toppers which lead to creation of an unrealistic expectation and increase pressure on students.
• Meritocracy vs Equality of Opportunity: While both principles aim to create a fair and just society, merit based systems promote competition and innovation whereas equality of opportunity promotes social mobility, reduction in discrimination and fair access to all students.

Way Forward:

• Imparting Value Education: According to Swami Vivekanand, ‘’education is not merely the accumulation of knowledge and its primary aim should be character building.’’ Thus downgrading education for the mere sake of high paying jobs narrows down its scope. He saw education as a means of liberation of individuals from social constraints.
• Corporate Ethics in Coaching Industry: Balancing profit maximisation and student welfare by providing scholarship and financial aid programmes. Apart from this, non-profit organisations can also play an important role in ensuring student welfare over profit maximisation.
• Role of Family, Friends and Teachers: Parents have genuine intent behind sending their children to the coaching hub but they should be ready to accept and act if their child is not able to cope up due to any reason.
• Government Initiatives: Steps like regulating Coaching industry and fraudulent claims, scholarship schemes for needy students and ensuring a universal education can help tackle the increasing mental agony and social anomie among students.
• Imparting Value Based Education: Teaching ethical values like integrity, objectivity, tolerance and compassion towards other fellow students can help in making rational decisions and broaden the scope of individual thinking, helping them to see beyond the present goal.
• Stakeholders Engagement: Involving various stakeholders viz. students, educators, policy makers in making collaborative strategies may help prevent suicides by students. 

By addressing students’ related issues by holistic approach , it is possible to create a more supportive and nurturing environment for students. However, in the long term, we need to address challenges in the crippling higher education system in india.

Source: Indian Express

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Context:

• Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister will unveil a grand statue of  Saint Adi Shankaracharya in Omkareshwar on 21 September 2023.

More on News:  

• The 108-foot-tall statue dedicated to the 8th-century philosopher, an influential and revered figure in Hinduism, has been named “Ekatmata Ki Pratima” (Statue of Oneness).
• The towering structure is perched atop the Mandhata hill on the banks of the Narmada river in Omkareshwar in Khandwa district.
• The temple town of Omkareshwar is home to one of Lord Shiva’s 12 Jyotirlingas and is now envisioned as a global hub for the Advaita Vedanta philosophy.
•  It was in Omkareshwar where Adi Shankaracharya — who traveled all the way from Kerala — met his Guru Govind Bhagwadapad and stayed for four years to receive his education.

About Adi Shankaracharya:

• Adi Shankaracharya also called  Shankara (Born in 738 AD, Kaladi village, in Kerala) was a Devotee of Shiva, Philosopher and Theologian, and the most renowned exponent of the Advaita Vedanta school of philosophy.He wrote commentaries on the Brahma-sutra, (the principal Upanishads), and the Bhagavadgita and   Gayatri Mantra among others.
• Shankara also authored Upadesasahasri, his most important original philosophical work.
• He established four Mathas in the four cardinal directions of Bharat to spread his teachings.
  • Jyotirmath: Joshimathi Chomoli, Uttarakhand.
  • Shringeri Math: Chikmagalur, Karnataka.
  • Govardhan Math: Puri, Odisha.
  • Dwarka Math: Dwarka, Gujrat.

Source: Deccan Herald

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Subject: GS2: Polity and Governance 

Context:

• An opposition leader claimed that the words ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ were missing from the new Constitution copies distributed to MPs.

History of ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ in the Preamble:

• The two terms “socialist” and “secular” were inserted into the Preamble by the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution in 1976. 
• This was done during the Emergency imposed by the then-Prime Minister between 1975 and 1977.

Secular state: The Constitution of India stands for a Secular State. Hence, it does not uphold any particular religion as the official religion of the Indian State.

• The following provisions of the Constitution reveal the secular character of the Indian State:
  • The Preamble secures to all citizens of India liberty of belief, faith and worship.
  • Article 14: The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or equal protection of the laws
  • Article 15: The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on the ground of religion.
  • Article 16:Equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters of public employment.
  • Article 25: All persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practice and propagate any religion

Socialism:

• Indian socialism is a ‘democratic socialism’ which holds faith in a ‘mixed economy’ where both public and private sectors co-exist side by side.
• Indian socialism is a blend of Marxism and Gandhism, leaning heavily towards Gandhian socialism.

News Source: Business Standard

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Subject: GS3: Environment 

Context:

• Solar radiation management (SRM) is gaining attention as a climate mitigation approach.

About Solar Radiation Management:

• It involves blocking incoming solar radiation to cool the Earth’s surface. It includes:
  • Using gigantic pumps to introduce microbubbles into reservoirs or other bodies of still water
  • The genetic engineering of crops to make leaves shinier
  • The spreading of reflective films on the ocean’s surface or on vulnerable ice flows.

Methods of Solar Radiation Management:

• Stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI): It involves increasing the concentration of aerosol particles in the stratosphere to reduce the amount of solar radiation reaching Earth’s surface
• Marine cloud brightening (MCB): It refers to an albedo modification technique that aims to increase the reflectivity of clouds. It injects naturally occurring sea salt into cloud updrafts.
• Cirrus cloud thinning (CCT): It includes eliminating or thinning cirrus clouds by injecting ice nuclei or aerosol particles to allow heat to escape into space.

Concerns with Solar Radiation Management: 

• Solar Radiation Managementcarries inherent risks, as it disrupts natural processes and can have global consequences.
• An SRM experiment in one country that increases rainfall over the Horn of Africa might inadvertently trigger locust swarms, harming crops in Pakistan and India.
• Currently, there is no international mechanism to hold geoengineering governments accountable for transboundary effects or allow affected nations to seek compensation.
• There’s limited research on how various global weather systems interact and their sensitivities to interventions like SRM.

News Source: The Hindu

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Subject: GS2: Social Justice 

Context:

• The ‘Tracking universal health coverage: 2023 Global monitoring report’ has been released by the World Health Organization and the World Bank. The report includes comprehensive data on health expenditure worldwide, shedding light on the critical aspects of healthcare financing and accessibility.

Highlights of the report about Out of Pocket Health Expenditure: 

• Growth of Universal Health Service Coverage (UHC) to prevent Out of Pocket Health Expenditure: It has stagnated since 2015 and financial protection for those who receive health services has worsened.
  • As of 2021, over half the world’s population lacked complete coverage for essential health services, and this gap was often exacerbated by insufficient health expenditure.
  • The world will not achieve universal health coverage by 2030 as planned.
• Worsening of health service coverage: Of the 194 countries, 108 countries experienced worsening or no significant change in health service coverage (HSC) to prevent Out of Pocket Health Expenditure.
  • While the overall health service coverage has improved since 2000, progress has slowed since 2015. Further, there was no improvement from 2019 to 2021.
  • HSC was calculated using the UHC service coverage index (SCI) score.
    • SCI captures coverage of essential services across the entire population of a country, and is therefore a reflection of the entire health system for all individuals.
• Service Coverage: The largest improvements have been made in the service coverage for infectious diseases, which has witnessed an average yearly growth of 7 per cent, it said.
  • There has been no improvement in service coverage for non-communicable diseases and reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health services in the recent years.
• Rural- urban divide in health Expenditure and services: Disadvantaged demographic sub-groups such as the poorest, least educated and those living in rural areas, suffer more hurdles in accessing healthcare services.
  • For example, distance to a healthcare facility is cited as a barrier for 45 per cent of women aged 15-49 years living in rural areas, compared with 19 percent living in urban areas.

News Source: DTE

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State of Working India Report

Context:

• A recent report by Bengaluru-based Azim Premji University, titled “State of Working India 2023: Social Identities and Labour Market Outcomes,” found that there is a large variation in unemployment rates among people with higher education, even though post-COVID figures are lower than pre-COVID levels.

Key Findings of Report:

• Labour Market Scenario:
  • Post-pandemic, 42% of graduates under 25 were unemployed. 
  • The main reason is the global economic slowdown caused the pace of job creation to decrease.
  • The unemployment rate falls from over 40% for educated youth under 25 years of age to less than 5% for graduates who are 35 years and above” (Refer-Image).
• Correlation between Economic growth and Job Creation:
  • The report found that, since the 1990s, there has been no correlation between year-on-year non-farm GDP growth and non-farm employment growth. 
  • This means that policies that promote faster economic growth may not necessarily lead to faster job creation.
  • However, the report also found that, between 2004 and 2019, on average, economic growth did translate to decent job creation. This trend was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a larger growth in distressed employment.
• Informal Sector Main Driver in Job Creation:
  • The report found that the Indian economy has grown rapidly since the 1980s, and this growth has drawn millions of workers out of agriculture. 
  • However, the report also found that the manufacturing sector has not grown its share of GDP or employment significantly. Instead, the construction and informal services sectors have been the main job creators. 
  • It also highlighted the proportion of salaried or regular wage workers has also increased, while the proportion of casual workers has decreased.
• Gender Wage Gap:
  • According to the report, the gender-based earnings gap in India has narrowed over the past decades, but it has remained constant since 2017. 
  • In 2004, salaried women workers earned 70% of what men earned, but by 2017 this had increased to 76%. However, the gap has not changed since then.

Source: Live Mint

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