Editorial 1: An Unequal Burden
Context:
- Context: Latest 2023 edition of Deloitte’s Women@Work Survey Report indicated that working women in urban India still face old biases and 85% still shoulder major household responsibilities along with their job while 42% do all the household chores with job.
Achievements of Women:
- Many women have reached the top of their field. They have broken the shackles of gender stereotypes and stood to achieve their dreams and goals. For instance:
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Social Activist: Sindhutai Sapkal (Padma Shri 2021) - Raising Orphaned Children Environmentalist: Tulsi Godwa (Padma Shri 2021) - Encyclopaedia of Forest Defence: Avani Chaturvedi - First Indian Woman to fly a solo fighter aircraft (MiG-21 Bison) Sports:
International Organisations: Gita Gopinath - First Woman Chief Economist at the IMF (International Monetary Fund). Space Technology: Tessy Thomas - Missile Woman of India (Agni-V missile project) Education: Shanan Dhaka - AIR 1 National Defence Academy Entrance Examination (1st Women's Batch of NDA), Top 3 All India Ranks were achieved by female candidates in UPSC Civil Services Examination 2021. |
Status of Women workforce:
- The current global women in workforce participation rate are under 47% while for men it is 72%.
- Globally women enjoy only 77% of the legal rights that men do. At the current pace, it would take at least 50 years for legal gender equality.
- Globally, only 1.5% of men provide unpaid care on a full-time basis, compared to 21.7% of women. Covid-19 has widened this gap even further.
- Among the OECD countries, 2.4 billion women of working age do not have equal economic opportunities and 176 economies maintain legal barriers that prevent their full economic participation.
But the figures are still lower in India:
- Recently, the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked India at 135 out of 146 countries in its Global Gender Gap (GGG) Index for 2022.
- Gender Inequality Index (GII) of UNDP: India is ranked at 122th position with a value of 0.490 out of 191 countries in 2021.
- According to World Bank data 2021, fewer than 1 in 5 Indian women work in formal organised sector.
- Over nearly two decades, India’s female labor participation rate looks like a steady downward curve: From 32% in 2005 to 19% in 2021.
Issues of Concern:
- Under Representation: Women continue to remain underrepresented at political, economic and social leadership levels.
- In the workforce, starting from entry-level jobs to high-paying roles, this underrepresentation gets worse in senior management positions.
- Deloitte report 2023 says that 91% women at senior positions are unhappy with their organizations on gender diversity and gender support policies.
- Indian Parliament and state legislatures have just around 12-13% of representation of women.
- As per Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women report, India ranks 148 out of 193 countries in the number of elected female representatives in parliament.
- Insufficient Maternity Leave: During child-rearing years, the unemployment is longer, they have a much harder time getting rehired.
- Finland allows seven months of leave for employees, yet such countries are few.
- India’s Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 201 7 (the Act) has increased the duration of maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for two surviving children.
- However, the Indian Maternity Benefit Act, does not apply to women who are self-employed, or at workplaces that have less than 10 employees.
- Mental/Physical stress and harassment: About 30-70% of women in different kinds of jobs face unwelcome verbal, visual, non-verbal or physical harassment.
- In India, Deloitte report 2023 indicated that 53% working women in India have high levels of stress and mental health issues.
- Unequal Pay: Research finds that the median salary for women is roughly 22 percent lower than the median salary for men.
- In India, the Labour Bureau in India has found that in rural areas in the agricultural sector, the daily wage for men is ₹264.05 and ₹205.32 for women.
- In non-agricultural sects, the average daily wage rate for men is ₹271.17, while for women it is ₹205.90.
- Unpaid Caregiving and Family Duties: Women are expected and forced to move in and out of employment, depending on their family’s needs. Reasons such as a mother’s responsibility, dividing time between household activities and office, issues created for going on business Tours/training, safety concerns, etc are the few family issues faced by women workforce.
- Globally, the Covid-19 Pandemic disrupted the participation of the women workforce more than men.
- Gender gap in employment rates remains among highly educated women and men in some countries.
- Data issue: Though most work in India is informal like agricultural or domestic work which often doesn’t get counted.
Way Forward:
- The adoption of the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development and the resolve of world leaders “to achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value” (Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8, target 8.5.) and “to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” (SDG 5) by 2030 are proof of that awareness.
- In India, the government has come up with several initiatives for improving opportunities for women workforce-
- Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.
- Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
- Karnataka and UP have allowed factories to employ women on night shifts.
- NGO’s like Azad Foundation’s Women on Wheels program empowers impoverished women in India by providing them with a stable source of income and a safe environment where women can travel without fear of being harassed.
Conclusion:
- According to World Bank report, global GDP could increase 26 percent by closing the gaps between women and men in the workforce, which would benefit both advanced and developing countries. A McKinsey Global Institute report finds that $12 trillion could be added to global GDP by 2025 by advancing women’s equality. This rise in GDP can significantly help achieve India’s goal of becoming a $5Trillion economy by 2024.
Basic information:
Gender Development Index(GDI): The new GDI of UNDP measures gender gaps in human development and achievement by accounting for disparities between women and men in 3 basic dimensions of human development.
- Health– life expectancy of the population.
- Knowledge –
- (1) Mean years of education among adult population.
- (2) Expected years of schooling for children of school entry age.
- Living Standards – Per capita Gross National Income (GNI).
Gender Inequality Index of UNDP:
- GII is based on–
- Reproductive Health: Measured by maternal mortality and adolescent birth rates.
- Maternal mortality rate (MMR) i.e, no. of deaths per 100,000 live births – 190
- Empowerment:
- Measured by share of parliamentary seats held by women and attainment in secondary and higher education by each gender
- Parliamentary seats held by women in India = 12.2%
- Adult women educated upto at least secondary level = 27%
- Economic activity
- Measured by the labour market participation rate for women and men.
- Reproductive Health: Measured by maternal mortality and adolescent birth rates.
Editorial 2: For safety’s sake
Context:
- Recently, India has endorsed a new Working Group On Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) under its G20 presidency. This makes it well-positioned to prioritise disaster risk financing to achieve the targets set by Sendai framework for 2030.
State of Disaster Management:
- The total cost of disaster events in the USA in 2023, including five severe weather events, one winter storm and a flooding event, exceeded $19 billion and resulted in 97 direct and indirect fatalities, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report 2023.
- Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) report of 2022 says India has witnessed a climate change-induced natural disaster almost every day in 2022.
- These disasters have claimed about 2,755 lives, affected almost 1.8 million hectare of crop area, destroyed over 416,667 houses and killed close to 70,000 livestock.
- These include Amarnath floods, up Floods, Manipur Landslides, Cyclone Asani, Uttarkhanad Avalanche, etc.
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Sixth Assessment Report highlights that significant number of people live in areas that are highly vulnerable to climate change especially South Asia.
- India came in third place after USA and China among the top 50 nations most in danger from the effects of climate change in 2050, according to the XDI Assessment Report 2023.
Steps Taken:
At the International level
- G20’s Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group 2022: It focuses on encouraging collective work by the G20, undertaking multi-disciplinary research and exchanging best practices on disaster risk reduction. It prioritises:
- Global coverage of Early Warning Systems for all hydro-meteorological disasters.
- Increased commitment towards making infrastructure systems disaster and climate resilient.
- Stronger national financial frameworks for disaster risk reduction.
- Strengthened national and global disaster response system to address the consequences of increasing frequency and intensity of disasters.
- Increased application of ecosystems-based approaches to disaster risk.
- Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, 2022 (GP DRR 2022) took place in Indonesia. The outcome was summarised in the Bali Agenda for Resilience. Its theme was “From Risk to Resilience: Towards Sustainable Development For All in a Covid-19 Transformed World.” It focused on:
- A whole-of-society approach to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), ensuring no one is left behind.
- To keep DRR at the core of development and finance policies, legislation and plans to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- Limiting greenhouse gas emission levels below mitigation capacity, to reduce frequency and intensity of catastrophic events.
- Both DRR and climate change adaptation aim at reducing vulnerability and enhancing capacity as well as resilience.
- The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) 2016 :
- It is an international coalition of countries, United Nations (UN) agencies, multilateral development banks, the private sector, and academic institutions, that aims to promote disaster-resilient infrastructure.
- It was launched by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit in September 2019.
- CDRI's initial focus is on developing disaster-resilience in ecological, social, and economic infrastructure.
- Its objective is to promote research and knowledge sharing in the fields of infrastructure risk management, standards, financing, and recovery mechanisms.
- It aims to achieve substantial changes in member countries' policy frameworks and future infrastructure investments, along with a major decrease in the economic losses suffered due to disasters.
- Sendai Framework 2015: It was adopted at the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, held in 2015 in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. The Sendai Framework is the successor instrument to the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA).
- The present Framework applies to the risk of small-scale and large-scale, frequent and infrequent, sudden and slow-onset disasters caused by natural or man-made hazards, as well as related environmental, technological and biological hazards and risks.
- It aims to guide the multi hazard management of disaster risk in development at all levels as well as within and across all sectors.
- The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR)
- It is a global framework established within the United Nations for promoting action to decrease social vulnerability and natural hazards risks and related technological and environmental disasters.
- The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction now in its current form is known as the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).
- It builds upon the experience gained during 1990 – 1999 which had been designated as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction.
- The UNDRR incorporates the principles which were adopted in the above-mentioned Decade including
- Yokohama Strategy for a Safer World: Guidelines for Natural Disaster Prevention, Preparedness and Mitigation and its Plan of Action
- Geneva Mandate on Disaster Reduction.
- The Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS):
- The specialized Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) an initiative under World Meteorological Organization, saves lives, assets and livelihoods through increased access to early weather warnings and risk information for people in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
- Green Climate Fund’s Sectoral Guide on Climate Information & Early Warning Systems
India’s Initiatives:
- Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure Society (CDRIS):
- CDRI is a global partnership of national governments, United Nations agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks and financing mechanisms, the private sector, and academic and research institutions.
- It aims to increase the resilience of infrastructure systems to climate and disaster risks, thereby ensuring sustainable development.
- National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP):
- Its primary purpose is to coordinate response to natural or man-made disasters and for capacity-building in disaster resiliency and crisis response.
- It lays down policies, plans and guidelines for Disaster Management to ensure timely and effective response to disasters.
Way Forward
- Insurance: To boost resilience, insurance products that cover both house and household assets are needed for climate resilience.
- The State may have to intervene to address the needs of those with the lowest purchasing power.
- Housing insurance for the poor be launched on the lines of Agriculture insurance schemes.
- Minimising Response Time: Between exposure to climate risk and the accrual of benefit is necessary whether from the State or insurance firms.
- The direct benefit transfer (DBT) architecture can be leveraged.
- Integrated Approach:
- Across six policy areas (social protection, public health, livelihood, housing, community infrastructure, and urban planning) at different scales (household, community, and city levels).
- Three enabling factors –
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- capable, accountable, and responsive governance;
- climate and urban data;
- climate and urban finance
- These need to be put in place to ensure that pro-poor climate resilience solutions to reduce vulnerability.
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- Data Governance: Satellite imagery to identify flooded areas, and government databases to identify beneficiaries can be collaborated.
- Role of Local Governments:
- City governments are the drivers for addressing risks by providing basic services which are critical to improving the resilience of the urban poor.
- City officials can build resilience by mainstreaming risk reduction into urban management.
- Public Participation: People are the first responders to any climate risk and their active support will enhance risk reduction before any major damage.
- Financial Independence and Higher financial support is needed through devolution of funds, functions and functionaries.
Basic Information:
- What is a Disaster?
- The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) (2009) defines Disaster as: A disaster is a serious problem occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.
- As per the Disaster Management Act 2005, “Disaster” means a catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave
occurrence in any area, arising from natural or manmadẹ causes, or by accident or negligence which results in substantial loss of life or human suffering or damage to, and destruction of, property, or damage to, or degradation of, environment, and is of such a nature or magnitude as to be beyond the coping capacity of the community of the affected area. - As per statistics, India as a whole is vulnerable to 30 different types of disasters that will affect the economic, social, and human development potential to such an extent that it will have long-term effects on productivity and macro-economic performance.
Disasters can be classified into the following categories:
The disaster can be of mainly two kinds i.e. Natural and Anthropogenic.
The widely accepted classification system classifies disasters arising from natural hazards into five major categories:
What is Disaster Management?
- The Disaster Management Act of 2005 defines Disaster Management as an integrated process of planning, organizing, coordinating and implementing measures which are necessary for-
- Prevention of threat of any disaster
- Reduction of risk of any disaster or its consequences
- Readiness to deal with any disaster
- Promptness in dealing with a disaster
- Assessing the severity of the effects of any disaster
- Rescue and relief
- Rehabilitation and Reconstruction
Agencies involved in Disaster Management
- National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA):- The National Disaster Management Authority, or the NDMA, is an apex body for disaster management, headed by the Prime Minister of India. It is responsible for the supervision, direction, and control of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
- National Executive Committee (NEC):- The NEC is composed of high profile ministerial members from the government of India that include the Union Home Secretary as Chairperson, and the Secretaries to the Government of India (GoI)like Ministries/Departments of Agriculture, Atomic Energy, Defence, Drinking Water Supply, Environment and Forests, etc. The NEC prepares the National Plan for Disaster Management as per the National Policy on Disaster Management.
- State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA):- The Chief Minister of the respective state is the head of the SDMA.The State Government has a State Executive Committee (SEC) which assists the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) on Disaster Management.
- District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA):- The DDMA is headed by the District Collector, Deputy Commissioner or District Magistrate depending on the situation, with the elected representatives of the local authority as the Co-Chairperson. The DDMA ensures that the guidelines framed by the NDMA and the SDMA are followed by all the departments of the State Government at the District level and the local authorities in the District.
- Local Authorities:- Local authorities would include Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI), Municipalities, District and Cantonment 11 Institutional and Legal Arrangements Boards, and Town Planning Authorities which control and manage civic services.