TOPIC : GS 2 Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections of the population by the Centre and States and the Performance of these Schemes; Mechanisms, Laws, Institutions and Bodies constituted for the Protection and Betterment of these Vulnerable Sections.
What is the news?
- Socio-economic empowerment is more effective than coercion in cutting fertility rates
- Incentives and penalties form an integral component of the measures to control population growth, announced by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister.
- These steps are aimed at reducing P.’s total fertility rate (TFR), recorded as 2.7 by the National Family Health Survey-4 in 2016
- This is a data figure only lower than that of neighbouring Bihar (3.1 as of 2020 in NFHS-5).
Measures to be admitted
- It mainly aims in this direction increasing the rate of modern contraceptive prevalence and male contraception,
- It also includes decreasing maternal mortality and infant mortality rates significantly by 2026
- The policy on the face of it, in line with what was stressed at the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development in 1994.
- The Cairo Consensus called for a promotion of reproductive rights, empowering women, universal education, maternal and infant health to untangle the knotty issue of poverty and high fertility.
Narrow Analysis of Policy
- Rather than taking steps in this direction, the Government seems to have taken the beaten path of a mixture of incentives and penalties to tackle what is a socio-economic issue as a demographic one.
- In a draft Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilization and Welfare) Bill, 2021, the Government aims to incentivize one-child families and reward those with two children with perks in government schemes
- It as rebates in taxes and loans, and cash awards if family planning is done among other sops.
- Disincentives for those with more than two children include denial of subsidies and welfare benefits, a bar on applying for government jobs and taking part in local election
Policy GovernanceÂ
- The incentives/disincentives approach has been denounced in the past by the National Human Rights Commission
- It was denounced after such measures were introduced by several States in the 1990s and 2000s, i.e., Haryana, undivided Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
- The Supreme Court, in 2003, upheld a Haryana government law barring persons with more than two children from contesting local body polls
- The legal grounding of the moves impinging upon the informed choice of the individual remained questionable.
- Empirical studies of coercive measures have shown their discrimination against marginalized people in particular and with no discernible effect on population control
Way Forward
- More substantive poverty reduction schemes and economic reforms have raised labour productivity and employment opportunities, allowed families to empower women, and reduced fertility rates as rational choices.
- India’s TFRs have been reducing substantially across most States, even in U.P. and Bihar with the highest TFRs.
- To hasten the drop to replacement levels of fertility, States should tackle the socio-economic issues confronting India’s largely youthful demography rather than seeking neo Malthusian approaches on population control
Mains Question
Explain how it is an unproductive idea of UP population control draft policy ?
PRELIMS PUNCHERS
- National Research Centre on Yak National Insurance Company Ltd tie up for insuring Yaks.
The Significance is the Yak population in India declined by around 24.7% between 2012 and 2019. Total yak population in India – 58,000 both wild and domesticated yaks. It is mainly found in- UTs of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Uttarakhand.
National Research Centre on Yak is exclusively engaged in research and development of yak in India. It was established in 1989 by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research – at Dirang, Arunachal Pradesh. Wild Yak A large herbivore species. Inhabiting the high-elevation alpine tundra and cold desert of the Tibetan plateau. Native populations of wild yak in Bhutan and Nepalbelieved to be extinct. Presently, their range is confined to China and India. Found extensively on the plateau of western China. Alpine and subalpine regions; altitudes from 2000 – 5000 m.
Sources : https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/in-a-first-himalayan-yaks-to-be-insured/article35231749.ece
- Khangchendzonga National Park
It is also Kanchenjunga Biosphere Reserve is a national park and a Biosphere reserve located in Sikkim, India. It was inscribed to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in July 2016, becoming the first “Mixed Heritage” site of India. It was included in the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme. The park is named after the mountain Kangchenjunga alternative spelling Khangchendzonga, which is the third-highest peak in the world
The park contains Tholung Monastery, a gompa located in the park’s buffer zone. It is considered one of the most sacred monasteries in Sikkim. The vegetation of the park include temperate broadleaf and mixed forests consisting of oaks, fir, birch, maple, willow. The vegetation of the park also includes Alpine grasses and shrubs at higher altitudes along with many medicinal plants and herb. The Park contains many mammal species including musk deer, snow leopard, Himalayan tahr, dhole, sloth bear, viverrids, Himalayan black bear, red panda, Tibetan wild ass, Himalayan blue sheep, serow, goral and takin, as well as reptiles including rat snake and Russell’s viper.
- The Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary
It covering an area of barely and located about 12 km from Kothamangalam Kerala state, India, was the first bird sanctuary in Kerala. Salim Ali, one of the best known ornithologists, described this sanctuary as the richest bird habitat on peninsular India. Thattekkad literally means flat forest, and the region is an evergreen low-land forest located between the branches of the Periyar River, the longest river in Kerala. This place is situated near to Palamattam a village in Kothamangalam.
The Edamalayar forest is located about 15 km from Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary. This is also an evergreen forest located above the Edamalayar River. The mountain hawk eagles are found in this forest. Other birds in this forest include dark-fronted babbler, brown-cheeked fulvetta, brown-backed and white-rumped needletails, and emerald green pigeons.
- Samagra Shiksha
Samagra Shiksha is an integrated scheme for school education extending from pre-school to class XII to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education. It subsumes the three Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE). The scheme treats school education holistically as a continuum from Pre-school to Class 12.
The main emphasis of the Scheme is on improving the quality of school education by focusing on the two T’s – Teacher and Technology.
The Scheme is being implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. The fund sharing pattern for the scheme between Centre and States is at present in the ratio of 90:10 for the North-Eastern States and the Himalayan States and 60:40 for all other States and Union Territories with Legislature. It is 100% centrally sponsored for Union Territories without Legislature.
PRELIMS QUESTIONS
- Consider the following statements regarding Samagra Shiksha\
- The Scheme is being implemented as a Centrally Sector
- It subsumes the four Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan , Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan , Rashtriya Madhyamik Uchathar Abhiyan and Teacher Education .
Select the correct answer from the following
- A only
- B only
- Both of them
- None of the above
Answer: D
Samagra Shiksha is an integrated scheme for school education extending from pre-school to class XII to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education. It subsumes the three Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE). The scheme treats school education holistically as a continuum from Pre-school to Class 12.
The main emphasis of the Scheme is on improving the quality of school education by focusing on the two T’s – Teacher and Technology.
The Scheme is being implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. The fund sharing pattern for the scheme between Centre and States is at present in the ratio of 90:10 for the North-Eastern States and the Himalayan States and 60:40 for all other States and Union Territories with Legislature. It is 100% centrally sponsored for Union Territories without Legislature.
- The Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary is located at which of the following state
- Andhra Pradesh
- Odissa
- Kerala
- Tamil Nadu
Answer:Â C
It covering an area of barely and located about 12 km from Kothamangalam Kerala state, India, was the first bird sanctuary in Kerala. Salim Ali, one of the best known ornithologists, described this sanctuary as the richest bird habitat on peninsular India. Thattekkad literally means flat forest, and the region is an evergreen low-land forest located between the branches of the Periyar River, the longest river in Kerala. This place is situated near to Palamattam a village in Kothamangalam.
The Edamalayar forest is located about 15 km from Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary. This is also an evergreen forest located above the Edamalayar River. The mountain hawk eagles are found in this forest. Other birds in this forest include dark-fronted babbler, brown-cheeked fulvetta, brown-backed and white-rumped needletails, and emerald green pigeons.