Monday, March 08, 2021

Current Affairs – March 8, 2021

India

PM dedicates 7500th Janaushadhi Kendra to nation in Shillong

Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation the 7,500th Jan Aushadhi Kendra at North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS), Shillong on March 7, 2021. Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana endeavours to provide quality medicines at an affordable price.

March 7 celebrated as ‘Janaushadhi Diwas’

March 1-7 was celebrated as ‘Janaushadhi Week’ across the nation, with the theme of ‘Jan Aushadhi – Seva bhi, Rozgar bhi’. The last day of the week- March 7 was celebrated as ‘Janaushadhi Diwas’.

President Inaugurates conservation works at Singorgarh Fort in Damoh (MP)

President Ram Nath Kovind laid the foundation stone for the conservation works of Singorgarh Fort in Singrampur village of Damoh district in Madhya Pradesh on March 7, 2021. The President also inaugurated the newly carved Jabalpur Circle of Archaeological Survey of India.

ICG intercepts 3 Sri Lankan Boats off Minicoy island in Lakshadweep

In a swift sea-air coordinated operation Indian Coast Guard on March 7, 2021 intercepted three Sri Lankan Boats with 19 crew suspected of carrying contraband off Minicoy island in Lakshadweep. Indian Coast Guard said, the boats were escorted to Vizhinjam in Kerala for further joint investigation.

Economy & Corporate

India Inc’s business confidence highest in decade: FICCI Survey

FICCI’s Overall Business Confidence Index has witnessed a decadal high of 74.2 in the current round on account of improvement in present conditions as well as expectations. The Index had stood at 70.9 in the previous survey as opposed to score of 59 in 2020. It revealed recovery of demand conditions, improved capacity utilisation and a promising outlook on various operational parameters.

World

Nepal’s SC quashes unification of CPN (UML) and CPN (Maoist Center)

Nepal’s Supreme Court has quashed the unification of the erstwhile Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) led by Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center) led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’. The CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre) merged in May 2018 to form a unified Nepal Communist Party following victory of their alliance in the 2017 general elections. The court on March 7, 2021 issued the verdict giving authenticity of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) to Rishiram Kattel, who had registered the party at the Election Commission (EC) in his name prior to the formation of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) led by Oli and Prachanda. The court said that a new party cannot be registered with the Election Commission when it already has a party registered with a similar name.

Iraq: Pope Francis and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani meet in Najaf

Pope Francis and Iraq’s top Shiite cleric delivered a powerful message of peaceful coexistence on March 6, 2021, urging Muslims in the war-weary Arab nation to embrace Iraq’s long-beleaguered Christian minority during an historic meeting in the holy city of Najaf. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said religious authorities have a role in protecting Iraq’s Christians, and that they should live in peace and enjoy the same rights as other Iraqis.

UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice held in Kyoto, Japan

The UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice started in Kyoto, Japan on March 7, 2021. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres took part in the opening session online. The conference adopted the Kyoto Declaration, which emphasizes the need to promote digitalization of criminal justice systems and develop partnerships with community volunteers.

Sports

Srinu Bugatha (2:14:59), Sudha Singh (2:43:41) win New Delhi Marathon

Srinu Bugatha clocked a personal best to comfortably win the sixth edition of the New Delhi Marathon, while Asian Games gold medallist Sudha Singh (2:43:41) bagged the top honours in the women’s category on March 7, 2021. Bugatha clocked a personal best of two hours, 14 minutes and 59 seconds.

Swiss Open Badminton in Basel: P. V. Sindhu loses in final

World Champion P V Sindhu finished a distant second best in the Swiss Open Badminton final after being completely routed by Olympic gold medallist Carolina Marin of Spain in a lop-sided women’s singles title clash in Basel on March 7, 2021. Sindhu lost to Marin 12-21, 5-21 in the final that lasted only 35 minutes.

Boxam International Boxing in Spain: Indian women return with 3 silver, 1 bronze

Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Pooja Rani (75kg) and Jasmine (57kg) signed off with silver medals at the 35th Boxam International Boxing Tournament in Castellon, Spain on March 6, 2021. M C Mary Kom (51kg) had ended with a bronze after a semifinal loss. Jasmine (57kg) ended with a silver after going down to Irma Testa of Italy. Simranjit could not take the ring against Rashida Ellis of USA after her semifinal opponent tested positive for COVID-19. Pooja lost 0-5 to another American Melissa Graham. The Indian women boxers thus ended their campaign with three silver and one bronze medal.

Vinesh Phogat wins gold at Matteo Pellicone Rankings Series Wrestling in Rome

Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat won the 53kg title at the Matteo Pellicone Rankings Series in Rome. Vinesh, 26, beat Canada’s Diana Weicker 4-0 and has thus won gold without dropping a point throughout the tournament.

Economic & Political Weekly: Table of Contents

Vol. 56, Issue No. 10, 06 Mar, 2021

Editorials

Regimes of Dispossession

Politics of Caste-based Schemes

From the Editor's Desk

State as a Partisan Entity

Gopal Guru

From 50 Years Ago

From 50 Years Ago: Ides of March

Alternative Standpoint

Trust and the Responsibility of Scientists to the Public

Sundar Sarukkai

Commentary

Book Reviews

Understanding India’s Gilded Age - India’s Billionaires or Billionaires’ India?

Aejaz Ahmad Wani

Agrarian Transformation and Quality of Life in Highlands of Tripura - A Chronicle of Untold Stories

Ishita Mukhopadhyay

Perspectives

Modern Monetary Theory, Deglobalisation and the Dollar

Alok Sheel

Special Articles

The Making of Ambedkarite Public Culture - Spatiality and Expressions of Dalits’ Conscientising Space in Mumbai, circa 1920s–1940s

Kishor Gaikwad

Dynamics of Caste and Landlessness - A Missing Perspective in Urban Development

Ajay Kumar Gautam, Bhujang Sambhaji Waghmare

Notes

Protection for Medical Professionals - Has India Done Enough?

Sakshat Bansal, Gayatri Puthran

Current Statistics

Postscript

Paatal Lok - Deconstruction of a Nation through Subaltern Voices

Kalpajyoti Bhuyan

The Khayal Gharana and the 20th-century Woman Musician

Aditi Deo

Disease, Stigma and a Culture of Profanity

Asrarul Haque Jeelani

Last Lines

Letters

Judiciary and a Responsible Democracy

Nayakara Veeresha

Economic Viability of Destroying Crops

Ramphul Ohlan

Appointments/Programmes/Announcements

How Europe’s €100-billion science fund will shape 7 years of research

As Horizon Europe issues its first call for grants, Nature reviews some big changes — from open science to goal-oriented ‘missions’.

Horizon Europe, the world’s largest multinational research and innovation programme, has issued its first call for grant applications.

Over the next seven years, the European Union’s giant research-spending scheme will distribute a record €95.5 billion (US$116 billion) — including €5.4 billion from a COVID-19 recovery fund — to basic-science projects and cross-border research collaborations to be carried out by tens of thousands of researchers across 27 member states and more than a dozen other countries.

Horizon Europe is an evolution, rather than a reinvention, of the EU’s previous research programmes. Like its predecessor Horizon 2020, which ran from 2014 to 2020, it is a mixed bag of funding schemes. It includes grants for individual scientists in all fields, and for large multinational collaborations covering grand societal challenges such as health, climate change and the digital revolution.

But Horizon Europe also includes new elements that reflect increasing attention to open science, equality, interdisciplinary research and practical applications. Here, Nature takes a look at some of the major changes.

Funding reserved for priority areas

The most anticipated change in Horizon Europe is the introduction of heavily financed, high-priority ‘missions’. About €4.5 billion is earmarked for five areas: climate change; cancer; oceans and other bodies of water; smart cities; and soil and food.

In both scope and ambition, the missions go far beyond ‘normal’ research collaboration, and will incorporate tools and resources from flanking EU programmes such as the Common Agricultural Policy, which administers farming subsidies, and EU initiatives for developing infrastructure in poorer regions. The idea, first proposed by University College London economist Mariana Mazzucato, is to get researchers, businesses and governments to pool their skills towards a common goal, selected with input from the public.

The missions replace the European Flagships, sometimes-controversial €1-billion programmes that focused on particular areas of research, such as graphene or the human brain. The European Commission says that missions will mirror the spirit of the European Green Deal plan for a sustainable economy, Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan or the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. But many of the details remain to be determined. Over the next few months, mission boards appointed by the commission must lay out specific goals, research needs and indicators for measuring impact. First calls for proposals are expected by the end of this year.

A boost for basic research

Although much attention has been focused on the introduction of missions, they are only a relatively small part of the new programme, points out Torsten Fischer, head of the Brussels-based European liaison office of Germany’s research organizations. Basic science will continue to be a centrepiece of European research. Between 2021 and 2027, the EU’s premier funding agency for basic research, the European Research Council (ERC), will divide €16 billion among researchers at various career levels, an increase of more than 20% compared to Horizon 2020. Non-EU countries associated to Horizon Europe are expected to contribute an extra roughly €4 billion, depending on their level of participation. Associates include research-intensive nations such as Israel, Switzerland and the United Kingdom — which left the bloc at the beginning of 2021, but has signed a deal to allow its scientists, research organizations and companies to participate in Horizon Europe.

The ERC issued its first round of calls for starting grants under Horizon Europe on 25 February, and more are expected in the coming months. However, some types of grant have been delayed owing to a last-minute political agreement on the EU’s multiyear budget in December. There will be no calls in 2021 for ‘synergy’ grants — those involving several teams of scientists. Calls for proof-of-concept grants to develop ideas generated in the course of ERC-funded research will also be delayed until 2022, says Waldemar Kütt, head of the ERC’s administrative arm in Brussels.

Competition for ERC grants — which assign up to €2.5 million for 5 years to an individual investigator — has historically been tough, with an acceptance rate of around 12%, but the larger pot of money could mean that more scientists get funded.

Another important change is that researchers at international organizations headquartered in the European Union — such as the UN-chartered Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy — will now be able to apply for these grants. Around 80 such organizations were previously excluded from the scheme.

From lab to market

Horizon Europe will also aim to strengthen support for applied research with economic benefits. To this end, the European Commission has established the European Innovation Council (EIC), a new funding agency aimed at facilitating the transfer of inventions and research into goods and services.

Around €10 billion is earmarked for the EIC, to be divided between three types of grant. In an early ‘pathfinder’ phase, researchers can get support to develop ideas that have commercial potential. A second, ‘fast track to innovation’ phase will support the transition of promising results to market.

Finally, after market launch, entrepreneurs will be able to request EIC ‘accelerator’ support — including grants, loans and coaching services — to expand their businesses. (The accelerator programme was excluded from the UK–EU trade deal, so UK-based researchers will not be eligible.)

The idea is that recipients of ERC proof-of-concept grants will also be able to apply for EIC support. “Combining support from the two agencies is a wonderful opportunity to unlock commercial potential of basic science,” says Fischer.

Opening up

Horizon Europe is expected to mandate that grant recipients publish their results according to the principles of open science.

In particular, immediate open-access publishing will become mandatory for all recipients of Horizon Europe research grants, including those from the ERC, says Kütt. Scientists will be required to post an accepted, peer-reviewed version of their papers online at a ‘trusted repository’, according to a draft of the instructions for applicants, but it is unclear at this time which repositories will be acceptable. Grants will cover publishing costs for pure open-access journals, but not for hybrid publications. Authors must also retain intellectual-property rights for their papers.

The commission will encourage EU-funded scientists to post their papers on Open Research Europe, an open-access platform that will formally launch in March. Works submitted on the platform, run by the London-based open-science publisher F1000 Research, will be posted immediately and cannot be published elsewhere. Articles will be subject to open peer review, meaning that the reviews and reviewers’ names will be openly available, and the commission will cover publication costs.

Scientists will also need to make sure that any research data they generate are preserved and made available for reuse by others. Horizon Europe will require participants to submit a data-management plan, in line with the FAIR principles (findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability), within six months of completing a research project, although exceptions may be granted where business secrets or sensitive personal data are involved. A partnership of research and data-service organizations across Europe is developing the European Open Science Cloud, a freely accessible virtual repository for data from all research that is publicly funded, whether by a participating state or by the EU.

The rules have raised some concerns. Meeting data-management requirements might be technically challenging, in particular for scientists and research organizations in poorer countries, says David Smith, director of Croatia’s largest public research institute, the multidisciplinary Ruđer Bošković Institute in Zagreb.

“We are ready for open-access publishing, but we are not quite prepared for open data,” he says. “Frankly speaking, the whole region is behind in that respect.”

Equality

EU policymakers and the European Commission have agreed to spend more than 3% of Horizon Europe money — around €3 billion — on widening the participation of member states that tend to win fewer grants. The scheme will continue to use tried-and-tested tactics, such as teaming leading research institutions with ones that are less well-established, providing special grants for top researchers in countries that joined the EU only recently, and training researchers to improve their grant-writing and project-management skills.

However, it is unclear whether the headline Horizon Europe ‘missions’ will make fair allowance for scientists in poorer countries. “I do hope that the missions will not be geared for established players in rich countries,” says Smith. “Smaller countries like Croatia have a lot to offer too. If implemented reasonably, the new concept has potential to narrow the East–West gap.”

Organizations participating in Horizon Europe will also have to submit plans to improve gender equality — another change from Horizon 2020. Starting in 2022, all Horizon Europe-funded research institutions will be expected to aim for gender balance among their research staff, enact recruitment and anti-harassment policies, and start to offer gender-equality training opportunities.

Nature 591, 20-21 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00496-z

A misplaced idea of honour enables violence against women

Multiple efforts at preventing, eliminating and redressing violence against women (VAW) have had limited success. Securing violence-free homes, workplaces and other public spaces for women has been an onerous task, among other reasons, on account of it meandering through the realm of what people see as honour. We all have been witness to frenzied groups perpetrating VAW with the specific objective of dishonouring a particular community in ethnic or communal strife. Saving or restoring “family honour” tends to promote tolerance, acceptance, even justification for honour killings. Honour metamorphoses into a barrier to the elimination of VAW if it constitutes the foundational premise of such law. Even if it does not constitute the foundational premise, operationalisation of the law within such a culture of honour contradicts the purpose of law.

Internationally accepted understanding of VAW falls into a quagmire when juxtaposed with the socially and culturally determined notions of honour. Violence against women or gender-based violence is defined by the Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women as “violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately”. Gender-based violence violates women’s human rights and the infringement of human rights constitutes an affront to humanity. The inviolability of humanity stands eroded when expected to be judged through the prism of honour. First, the notion of honour is socially and culturally determined and is thus ever shifting. It is incapable of offering an unconditional basis for any conception of justice or righteousness.

Second, on account of being constructed within and through the existing social structure, the notions of honour or dishonour embody and reflect social hierarchy and prejudices. The notion of honour thus has a tendency to perpetuate hierarchy rather than usher in a transformation or deliver social justice. Finally, the ideology of gender attributes respect/honour to women not on the basis that they are human beings and thus worthy of respect, but on whether and to what extent their actions are in accordance with what is socially allowed for them, what is socially expected of them, and what is socially valued in them.

The prevailing gendered notions of honour remain at variance with the gender-just society that the Constitution seeks to establish. The constitutional principles of non-discrimination and equality are in tune with India’s international obligations as a party to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women. Despite this, it’s appalling to find legal norms pertaining to VAW or their operationalisation meandering the realm of honour, in complete contravention of international standards.

Many instances of the meandering of legal norms through the realm of honour relate to sexual offences. For instance, the exclusion of marital rape from the category of sexual offences raises the question of whether rape is an offence against the bodily integrity of a female or an affront to her honour. One of the presumptions on which one may exclude marital rape from the category of sexual offences is that the socially determined honour of the female remains unblemished. What adds to the malaise is the judicial meandering into the realm of honour. The recent remarks by a Supreme Court (SC) bench holding out the promise of “help” to a person accused of rape if he wanted to marry the girl, in this context, are worrying. Can the violation of bodily integrity be lawfully redressed through the social arrangement of marriage? Even where in its substance or its assumptions, the law seeks to usher in gender justice, as in rape by an unknown person, its interpretation and operationalisation in the gendered culture of honour makes it frail.

Everyone is constitutionally entitled to legal redress for violations of their rights and for that the SC still remains the last hope for the marginalised. And it must rely on law, not a misplaced sense of what constitutes honour, in providing justice.

Amita Punj is associate professor, National Law University, DelhiThe views expressed are personal

Source:HindustanTimes,8/03/21

India’s women and the workforce

Women are not dropping out. They are being pushed out by the lack of demand for their labour. There has been movement out of agriculture into informal and casual jobs, where the work is sporadic, and often less than 30 days at a stretch. The new modern sector opportunities, especially in high value-added service sectors, mostly accrue to men.Why is women’s employment declining in India? The thrust of the predominant explanations is that women are dropping out of paid work or the labour force either because of fear of sexual violence outside the home; or fear of being stigmatised by the community that might see their work as a marker of low status, i.e. the inability of the husband, the main breadwinner, to provide for the family; or a rise in conservative attitudes that believe a woman’s place is inside the home and kitchen, and that if the woman steps outside the socially approved threshold, it would invite a backlash.

All these explanations prima facie sound persuasive and plausible. But consider this. Recorded labour force participation rate (LFPR) of Indian women, never very high, logged a dramatic decline between 2004-05 and 2011-12. It has continued to decline thereafter, albeit at a lower rate. The bulk of the decline has been in the LFPR of rural women, with the sharpest decline seen in the case of Scheduled Tribe or Adivasi women.

How do the mainstream explanations fit in with this basic fact?

Research on the impact of sexual violence on female LFPRs focuses on urban areas; but urban female LFPRs, always lower than rural, have not registered a decline. My ongoing work with my PhD student Jitendra Singh shows virtually no correlation between crime statistics and female LFPRs, not for India, not internationally. Female employment outside the home in rural areas was flat between 2004 and 2017 (the period when the total rural female LFPR registered a decline), and in urban areas, there was a slight upward trend. This picture does not lend credence to the rising stigma story. National Crime Records Bureau data show a rise in assault cases (between 2011 and 2013) and rise in cruelty cases between 2004 and 2013. Rape cases increased from 2011 onwards, with slight fluctuations.

Thus, national data for India does not support the presumed correlation between crimes against women and their (in)ability to work outside the home. Macro-statistics suggest very little connection between the two, if any.

This should not be read to mean that violence against women is not a serious problem, or that it does not adversely affect their work. While there is no evidence that fear of violence keeps women from seeking jobs, for women who have jobs, sexual harassment at the workplace is very real, with devastating consequences for their work and well-being. This is a good place to note that the public focus on external violence is not only misplaced in the context of women’s employment, but the consequent push to keep women indoors completely masks the fact that the bulk of violence against women is perpetrated by those known to them — husband, partner, family, friends. Keeping women locked indoors is absolutely the wrong policy for multiple reasons; most of all it fails in its stated objective, i.e. to protect them from violence.

Data indicate that the decline in LFPRs is driven by women moving from paid to unpaid work and hence not getting counted as “workers”, even though they might continue to be involved in unpaid economic work in family enterprises (farming, livestock, kirana shops, handmade products for sale and so on). These are economic activities, and men involved in them get counted as workers, but not women. This reflects the low value placed on women’s contribution to these activities without which these would not survive. The real issue is the lack of demand for labour in occupations and activities in which women are concentrated. There is important research that shows that what we note as a decline (which is equated with the withdrawal of women from the labour force in the mainstream view) is a manifestation of the changing nature of work availability, especially for rural and less educated women. This body of research raises a question mark on the “dropping out” narrative.

Thus, the proportion of economically active women has not declined, but the number of days they work has, which shows up as a decline in LFPRs. Over the last three decades, there has been a massive decline in agricultural jobs, which has not necessarily been accompanied by an increase in rural non-farm employment or livelihood opportunities. Research shows that mechanisation has led to significantly greater decline in women’s than men’s labour in Indian farms.

There has been movement out of agriculture into informal and casual jobs, where the work is sporadic, and often less than 30 days at a stretch. The new modern-sector opportunities, especially in high value-added service sectors, mostly accrue to men. Despite all this, women who find jobs commensurate with their education levels have to battle hurdles such as lack of transportation and childcare, which could be so severe that they are unable to join that work.

Women’s education has increased significantly over the last two decades, and fertility rates have fallen — both conditions that have historically and elsewhere in the world, contributed to increasing participation of women in paid labour force. But not so in India. The Covid-19 induced economic slowdown has exacerbated the gender gap in paid work, while it has intensified the already high burden of domestic labour on women.

All surveys report a huge unmet demand for work by women. Indian women are not dropping out: They are being pushed out by the lack of demand for their labour.

Ashwini Deshpande is professor of economics and the founder director of Centre for Economic Data and Analysis, Ashoka UniversityThe views expressed are personal

Source:HindustanTimes,8/03/21

Friday, March 05, 2021

Quote of the Day March 5, 2021

“Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression.”
Haim Ginott

“बच्चे गीले सीमेंट के समान हैं। जो कुछ उन पर गिरता है, एक छाप छोड़ जाता है।”
हैम गिनॉट

“Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.”
James Dean

“सपने ऐसे देखें मानों आप सदा जीते रहेंगे, और जीएं ऐसे मानो आज का दिन आपके जीवन का आखिरी दिन हो।”
जेम्स डीन

Himalayan Serow Spotted in Assam

A Himalayan mammal is the newest creatures that has been spotted in the state of Assam.

About Himalayan Serow

The Himalayan serow looks like somewhere between a goat and an antelope. It was spotted in the Manas Tiger Reserve which is having the area of 950-sq. km on December 3, 2020. This animal is a high-altitude dweller which is usually found around 2000 to 4000 metres above the sea level. The Himalayan serow is a subspecies of mainland serow. The species is native to the Himalayas. The Himalayan serow was previously considered its own species as Capricornis thar. It is mostly blackish along with the flanks, hindquarters. The upper legs of the species are rusty red in colour while the lower legs are whitish. The specie has been listed in CITES Appendix I.

Mainland Serow

The scientific name of the mainland serow is Capricornis sumatraensis. The serow is a native to the China, Himalayas and Southeast Asia. The serow is having the guard hairs on its coat which are bristly or coarse. The hairs cover the layer of fur which is closest to the skin of serow. The animal also has a mane which runs from horns to middle of dorsal aspect serow in between the scapulae that covers the skin. The males are characterised by the horns and are light-coloured. It is six inches in length and curve slightly towards to the back of the animal. The mainland serow grow up to six feet long. The adult serow weighs around 150 kg.

Manas National Park

It is a national park which is UNESCO Natural World Heritage site. It is also a Project Tiger reserve, an elephant reserve and the biosphere reserve. It is located in the state of Assam in the foothills of Himalaya. The reserve is in contiguous with Royal Manas National Park of Bhutan. It is known for its rare and endangered endemic wildlife including hispid hare, Assam roofed turtle, pygmy hog and golden langur.

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