SAKSHAM Awareness Campaign

 The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas recently launched SAKSHAM awareness campaign. The campaign was launched to spread awareness about green energy.

About SAKSHAM

The campaign will spread awareness about clean energy. It is a one-month long people centric fuel conservation campaign. The campaign is to be launched by the Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA). The campaign is to create awareness in seven key drivers namely greater reliance on domestic sources to drive bio-fuels, moving towards gas based economy, cleaner use of fossil fuels, achieving renewable targets with the set deadlines, increased use of electric vehicles to decarbonize mobility, increased use of cleaner fuels and digital innovation across all energy systems.

Green Energy Schemes in India

Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM)

The PM-KUSUM scheme covers grid connected renewable energy power plants, grid connected agriculture pumps and solar water pumps. The scheme aims to install 10,000 MW of decentralised grid connected renewable energy power plants. It will install standalone off grid solar water pumps to fulfil irrigation needs. Also, it will solarise the existing grid-connected agriculture pumps. With this the farmers can sell the surplus solar power generated to the Discoms.

Grid Connected Roof top Solar Programme

The programme aims to achieve a cumulative capacity of 40,000 MW of Rooftop solar power projects by 2022. In a grid connected rooftop solar power project, DC power generated is converted into AC power using power conditioning unit and is then fed into the grid. The main objective of the solar programme is to promote solar power generating plants among the residential, institutional and community establishments.

National Wind-Solar Hybrid Policy

The main aim of the policy is to provide a framework to promote large grid connected wind-solar hybrid system. It aims to encourage new technology and way-outs involving combined operation of solar and wind power plants.

National Offshore Wind Energy Policy

The policy was notified in 2015. The main objective of the policy is to develop offshore wind energy in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone. The policy has identified eight zones that have cumulative offshore wind energy potential of 70 GW.

Enhancing women’s employment is key to economic recovery

 Recovery efforts cannot be gender-blind, because, as the saying goes, “gender-blind is not gender-neutral.” There are four areas where government policy can help ameliorate long-standing issues.

In 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, female labour force participation in India and South Asia was 20.5% and 23.5%, respectively (ILO estimates, World Bank database). Comparable estimates for males were 76% and 77%, respectively. The Middle East and North Africa are the only regions with lower female participation than South Asia.

The pandemic has made this situation worse. It has hit women disproportionately — because they work in sectors that have been the hardest hit; work more than men do in the informal economy; or because they are the primary caregivers at home.

Owing to Covid-19, global female employment is 19% more at risk than male employment (ILO estimates). For India, economist Ashwini Deshpande estimates that compared to men, women were 9.5% less likely to be employed in August 2020 compared to August 2019. Ominously, girls are at greater risk of losing their human capital — in India, there is a 30% increase in new registrations on matrimonial websites, and, in South Asia, an additional 200,000 girls are expected to be forced into child marriages this year (Lancet).

Recovery efforts cannot be gender-blind, because, as the saying goes, “gender-blind is not gender-neutral.” There are four areas where government policy can help ameliorate long-standing issues.

First, address child care-related issues, a critical barrier to women’s labour force participation. The biggest dividends will come from focusing on women in the informal sector. In India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan, 76, 89, 71 and 66% of working women, respectively, are employed on own account or as family workers (ILO). The Integrated Child Development Scheme provides some support, but it is not a full-time child care solution. The “Sangini Centres” of Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) provide full-day child care for 0-5 year olds, including nutrition, health and child care. Women using these centres report a monthly income increase of between ₹500-1,000. Similar centres will have to be significantly expanded. As for the formal sector, governments can mandate paternity leave on a use-it-or-lose-it basis, as one way to get men to share in infant care duties.

Second, tackle the digital divide. In India in 2019, internet users were 67% male and 33% female, and this gap is even bigger in rural areas. This divide can become a barrier for women to access critical education, health and financial services, or to achieve success in activities or sectors that are becoming more digitised. To address this, partnerships between the public and private sectors will be most effective. Actions will need to address affordability of phones and computers, female digital literacy and its social context and inadequate technical content dedicated to women and girls.

Third, in the formal sector, use the income tax system to push female labour force participation. Women have a higher elasticity of labour supply than men (their labour supply is more responsive to their take-home wages) — lower income taxes for women can incentivise their participation. In India, given the abysmally low rate of female participation, such a move will not have a significant impact on public finances. This can be compensated with a much smaller tax increase on male employees, if needed. This could help create incentives for female employment within households.

Fourth, mainstream gender-disaggregated data collection and monitoring. What is measured gets acted upon. Globally, major gaps in gendered data and the lack of trend data make it hard to monitor progress. A UN Women Initiative called “Making Every Woman and Girl Count” was launched in 2016 to help prioritise gender data, ensure regular production of quality and comparable gender statistics, and ensure that data are accessible and used to inform policy. In India, too, significant gaps in data on the girl child prevent a systematic longitudinal assessment of the lives of girls. This needs to be corrected.

The best way to “not waste the crisis” is to ensure that women come back stronger. Women in India and other parts of South Asia can become a critical part of the recovery.

Sanjay Kathuria is senior visiting fellow, Centre for Policy Research and adjunct professor, Georgetown University.

Source: Hindustan Times, 19/01/21

Quote of the Day

 

“Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.”
Hellen Keller

“विश्वास वह शक्ति है जिससे उजड़ी हुई दुनिया को पुनः रोशन किया जा सकता है।”
हेलन केलर

United Nations: India has the largest diaspora in the world

 The United Nations recently released the report “International Migration 2020 Highlights”. According to the report, the Indian diaspora is the largest in the world. More than 18 million people from India were living outside India as of 2020.

Key Findings of the report

• The other countries with large diaspora are Mexico, China, Russia and Syria.
• According to the report, India’s diaspora is distributed across a number of major countries such as UAE (3.5 million), Saudi Arabia (2.5 million) and US (2.7 million).
• The other countries hosting large number of migrants from India are Oman, Australia, Kuwait, Canada, Qatar, Pakistan and UK.
• Between 2000 and 2020, the size of migrant population has grown in all countries. During his period, India experienced the largest gain at nearly ten million. India was followed by Syria, Venezuela, China and Philippines. The countries where the migrant population increased during this period are Armenia, India, Ukraine, Pakistan, Tanzania, Ukraine.
• The migration of India was motivated by labour and family reasons.
• The United States was the largest country of destination of international migrants. There were more than 51 million migrants in the US as of 2020. This is equal to 18% of the total migration population of the world.
• The US was followed by Germany. Germany hosted the second largest migrants worldwide holding more than 16 million migration population. Germany was followed by Saudi Arabia, Russia and the UK.
• The COVID-19 has slowed down the growth in the stock of international migrants by around two million by mid-2020. This is 27% less than the growth expected since 2019.
• The growth in the number of international migrants has reached 281 million. It was 173 million in 2000 and 221 million in 2010. Currently, the total international migrants are about 3.6% of the world population.
• In terms of regional migration corridors, the central and southern Asia to Northern Africa and Western Asia grew the most. In these corridors the migrant population almost tripled between 2000 and 2020.

Economic & Political Weekly: Table of Contents

 

Vol. 56, Issue No. 3, 16 Jan, 2021

Editorials

A Statistical Quirk

American Democracy Struggles for Recuperation

From the Editor's Desk

Democracy on a Slippery Slope

Gopal Guru

From 50 Years Ago

From 50 Years Ago: A Relevant Pakistan Policy

H T Parekh Finance Column

The Challenge of LDC Debt

C P Chandrasekhar

Commentary

MSP in a Changing Agricultural Policy Environment

Sukhpal Singh, Shruti Bhogal

Garnering the Fiscal Stimulus - A Bargaining Game

Indranil De, Sanjib Pohit

A (Re)look at the Proposed DNA Regulatory Board

P Puneeth, Manpreet Dhillon

Demystifying Caste in Bengal

Sandip Mondal

Book Reviews

Invented Scripts, Missionaries and Officials in Colonial Mizoram

N William Singh

Piketty’s Capital and Ideology - Examination without Engagement

Rahul Menon

Insight

National Board for Wildlife and the Illusion of Wildlife Protection

Ritwick Dutta

Special Articles

The Political Economy of the Jat Agitation for Other Backward Class Status

Christophe Jaffrelot, Kalaiyarasan A

Kanshi Ram and the Making of Dalit Political Agency - Leadership Legacies and the Politics of Hissedari

Surinder S Jodhka

Insecurity, Identity and Resistance - Contours of Shia Political Discourse in Kashmir

Syed Jaleel Hussain, Syed Eesar Mehdi

Letters

Need for Doctoral Scholarships

Deepa Kylasam Iyer

Streamlining Work from Home

K Sivananda Kumar

Current Statistics

Current Statistics

Engage Articles

Jazba, Restraint and Political Action: New Dimensions of Islamic Politics in Pakistan

Iqbal Singh Sevea

Building a 'Hindu Rashtra' through 'Seva'

Malini Bhattacharjee

Recasting Politics and Reimagining Islam: Beyond Contested Nationalisms in Bangladesh

Samia Huq

Media in Religion and Politics

Robin Jeffrey

Current Affairs – January 18, 2021

 

India

Himachal Pradesh: India’s first voter votes in panchayat elections

India’s first voter Shyam Saran Negi (103) voted in the panchayat elections in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh on January 17, 2021. Believed to the first voter in the 1952 General Election, Negi was born on July 1, 1917 and retired as a schoolteacher.

Classical musician Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan (89) dies

Legendary Indian classical musician Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan died in Mumbai on January 17, 2021 at the age of 89. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1991, followed by Padma Bhusan in 2006 and Padma Vibhushan in 2018. In 2003 he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi award.

Union Education Minister honoured by Canada’s Hindi Writers Guild

Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ was honoured by the Hindi Writers Guild, Canada for his literary work on January 16, 2021. Nishank was conferred with the “Sahitya Gaurav Samman” through a virtual programme. India’s High Commissioner in Canada Ajay Bisaria was also present on the occasion.

Karnataka: Union Home Minister inaugurates farmer-friendly projects in Bagalkot

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on January 17, 2021 inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of various farmer-friendly projects in Bagalkot, Karnataka.

Kerala: India’s first ‘Labour Movement Museum’ to be set up in Alappuzha

The country’s first Labour Movement Museum, showcasing the history of world labour movement, would be launched in Alappuzha, Kerala. The museum will feature a huge repository of documents and exhibits that shaped the labour movements across the continents, state Tourism department said on January 17, 2021.

Economy & Corporate

Pm flags off 8 trains to boost connectivity to Statue of Unity at Kevadia, Gujarat

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 17, 2021 flagged off eight trains connecting different parts of the country to Kevadia in Gujarat, via video conferencing. Kevadia is famous for world’s tallest statue, the Statue of Unity of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, which Modi inaugurated in October 2018. These trains will connect Kevadia to Varanasi, Dadar, Ahmedabad, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Rewa, Chennai and Pratapnagar. The Ahmedabad-Kevadia Jan Shatabdi Express, one of the eight trains, has been equipped with the ‘Vista-dome tourist coach’ which offers large viewing areas with rooftop glasses and seats for passengers.

World

Boris Johnson invites PM Modi to UK for G7 summit in June

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has invited his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for the G7 summit on January 17, 2021 for the high-level meeting to be presided over by Britain in Cornwall between June 11 and 13. India was chosen alongside South Korea and Australia as guest countries of the multilateral summit. The Group of Seven (G7) comprises the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US.

Norway: 29 elderly die after receiving Pfizer-BioNTech SE vaccine for Covid-19

Norway expressed increasing concern about the safety of the Pfizer-BioNTech SE vaccine for Covid-19 on elderly people with serious underlying health conditions after raising an estimate of the number who died after receiving inoculations to 29.

Unidentified gunmen kill two women judges in Afghan capital

Gunmen fired on a car in northern Kabul on January 17, 2021, killing two women judges who worked for Afghanistan’s high court.

Sports

Sports Ministry to name all new, upgraded SAI facilities after sportspersons

The Sports Ministry on January 17, 2021 said it has decided to name all the upcoming and upgraded facilities of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) after renowned athletes who have brought accolades for the country.

Quote of the Day January 15, 2021

 

“A man is born alone and dies alone; and he experiences the good and bad consequences of his karma alone; and he goes alone to hell or the Supreme abode.”
Chanakya

“व्यक्ति अकेले जन्मता है और अकेले मरता है; और अपने अच्छे और बुरे कर्मों का फल खुद ही भुगतता है; और वह अकेले ही नर्क या स्वर्ग जाता है।”
चाणक्य