Saturday, February 22, 2014

The progressive barometer of Nation is how treatment provide to Women



From time immemorial, women have been an active participant in the economic, political and social activities of civilizations. World richest and oldest civilization of Indus valley witnessed their active and prominent roles. Women played their responsibilities with integrity and honesty no matter which part of the world they belong to and what role-whether as mother, daughter, sister, grandmother, wife-they were given. Women are the harbinger of progress. Status of women of a nation gives the assessment of the progress of nation. Treatment to women is real developmental indicator. 

Women and progress indicators:

There has been wide debate about the concept of progress or development and its nature. Whatever it is, inevitability of it is recognized. Still, various indicators such as GDP, HDI etc. of development have evolved that measure its different aspect. Therefore, also, I would first assess the women role in terms of these indicators.
GDP is most widely used indicators throughout the world that measures progress in terms of increase in the production measured by monetary value. Women, that constitute almost half of the population of country, should be significant contributor the production. Women today are involved in large sphere of economic activities. Comparing with the ancient world, in contemporary age they are doctor, engineer, lawyer, and public servants and so on. However, in developing countries, they are still to involve significantly in nations economy. While in developing countries even their visible economic contribution is many a time not taken into account, developed country provide them with enough economic liberty.If the economic activities are expanded to constitute the domestic work they are involved in, they may overtake the masculine GDP. Thus, there is a need to explore their potential by giving them rights and responsibilities they deserve. If they will grow, nation will grow.
Of course, when women constitute half of population of a nation, they are central to progress.

Take the case of Human Development Index-supposed to be most holistic indicator of well being and thus progress of nation. It measure development in terms of literacy level,calculated by gross enrollment ratio; health, calculated by life expectancy, and national income. It is said that if a women is literate, she will make whole family literate. Education starts from home, and home is what women make it. The family education given to child builds the foundations on which he further develops. His basic approach towards the surrounding problems, evaluation of the object around him and assessment of many basic things start from home. Values imbued during childhood helps him to become a noble citizen. It has been rightly put,” you educate a man; you only educate a man. You educate a women; you educate generation.”
Health of women is health of nation.  Health of infant depends on the health of women during maturation and incubation period. Malnutrition of an infant is the cause of improper feed to women during pregnancy. Growth of child till teenage does depend on the level of education and health of women. A young and healthy human will not only reduce the burden the expenditure on health by a nation, but will participate in nation building with more efficiency and energy.

Nation income in nothing but equal to gross domestic production of country.

Now, evaluation the women contribution other than in terms of indicators, their importance in relation to politics and state has rightly been understood contemporary. It is said that “In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask women”. So in society. A woman is the full circle, Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform the society. India is good example where social role can be very well understood.

Indian example
India is prominent example where women are filled with sense of duties towards the society. The Indian value system, which constitutes the country’s culturally-devised social security system, is the result of the carefully-nurtured continuum of Indian womanhood. Though, their rights has been neglected compared to Western women, they have uplifted the Indian society with themselves remaining burdened with sense of duty and responsibilities. In western world where women are very conscious towards their rights, family and social traditional responsibilities like old age care, childhood care and education, and many social duties has been falling over state and burdening it.

Thus, to build a nation, building womanhood is necessary. Women rights are largely still unrecognized in the world esp. developing world. Treatment of a nation to its women is the treatment to nation, to society, to every individual. It is rightly put, When women laugh, nation laugh; when she weeps, nation weeps”.   In the word of B.R Ambedkar,’’ I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.”


Friday, February 21, 2014

Security Challenges Infront of NATION


“We have stepped into an extremely dangerous and paradoxical time. We have built ourselves a political fine democracy but in society and economy there is no democracy and there is no equality. The tension between the inequality in the social and economic terms can explode our political democracy.”
-          Primary architect of Indian Constitution, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in his speech after handing over the draft constitution in Parliament

And today almost 63 years after his speech, we can find he got it absolutely correct. The most dangerous threat to the internal security of India is the fastest growing inequality in the social and economic fields. The country is facing the consequences in the form of poverty, hunger, malnutrition, Naxalism and so on. The challenges are interconnected to each other.
Below are the major challenges to the internal security of India:

   1.      Fastest growing inequality in income between the rich and the poor
a.       The inequality in income between the rich and the poor is increasing at fastest rate since 1991 i.e., the year of liberalization of India.
b.      The benefits of globalization are not percolated to the lower strata of Indian society and thus they are ignored from the developmental stream.
c.       This resulted into extreme poverty, hunger, malnutrition, farmer suicides and so on.

Measures to be taken:
-          To bridge the gap between rich and poor Government has to focus on the Directive Principles of State Policy (DSPS).
-          The Directive Principles of State Policy are guidelines to the central and state governments of India, to be kept in mind while framing laws and policies. These provisions, contained in Part IV of the Constitution of India, are not enforceable by any court, but the principles laid down therein are considered fundamental in the governance of the country, making it the duty of the State to apply these principles in making laws to establish a just society in the country.
-          Government scheme to the poor should reach to the last hand
-          Self-employment like SHG(Self Help Groups) should be generated in rural and urban areas
-          The most vital thing to reduce the inequality in income in the society is political will of the politicians

   2.      Maoist/Naxalites insurgency in the heart of India
a.       The deprived and the marginalized sections of the society, unable to survive in the present system, get alienated from the growth of the country. The militant and extremist forces thrive in this environment.
b.      The most prominent among the groups, that have mushroomed in the recent years, are the People’s War Group (PWG) and the Marxist Communist Centre (MCC)
c.       The Naxalites have now been going after the innocent civilians after the Government security forces. Extortion is the only way of funding to Naxals.

Measures to be taken:
-          Poverty and livelihood issues should be resolved
-          Infrastructure in the Naxal affected areas must be improved
-          The intelligence network has to be strengthened significantly
-          The issue of Naxalitescan be resolved by the only way of peaceful talk to Naxal leaders since this kind of insurgency is caused due to the ignorance of government towards these forest dwellers and seizing their lands for industrialization.

   3.      Fundamentalist forces (Terrorism):
a.       This is the most serious threat to the India’s internal security
b.      The organizations, like Al Qaida, and Jaish-e-Mohammad, are encouraging the so-called ‘Jehadis’ to enter India from outside
c.       The break-up of the Indian Union continues to be the main goal of Pakistan’s domestic and foreign policy
d.      Easy availability of deadly weapons with the subversive groups operating in India has created new dangers for India’s security.

Measures undertaken by Government:
-          Sophisticated Counter-Terror Technology (CCTV cameras)
-          Intelligence agencies, state police, customs, border security, cyber and public health departments to counter terror attacks.
-          The state’s counter-terror mechanism must envision the creation of Special Forces meant specifically for the purpose of averting terror networks in India. These Special Forces must be established in vulnerable states like Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan Manipur and Assam
-          The state’s land and coastal border security must be strengthened given the fact that terror attacks have been conducted and planned in the neighboring states.
-          Cyber specialization should be made a part of the counter-terror mechanism towards addressing hacking issues, tracing terror links in the virtual world, locating the computers, and countries where this transnational nature of terrorism originates, etc.
-          India should establish a Federal Counter-Terrorism Mechanism, which will integrate with above mentioned institution.

   4.      Environmental degradation at rapid pace
a.       The Indian rivers on whose banks the Indian civilization was once flourished are on the verge of diminishing their beauties. They are highly degraded and the water is polluted due to discharge of the sewages from the industries.
b.      The deforestation is taking place at rapid pace since Liberalization of the country in 1991. Deforestation became the serious threat to so many vulnerable species of flora and fauna.

Measures taken by the Government:
-          Increased the area of Protected Area Networks with the increase in wildlife sanctuaries and National Parks.
-          Enacted Project Tiger and Project Elephant to save these wild-lives  from poaching
-          Central Zoo Authority (CZA) provides assistance to various zoos for better upkeep and health facilities to the zoo animals.
   5.      Illegal immigration to the north-east
a.       Estimates of the total population of illegal immigrants in Nagaland or elsewhere in India is problematic due to the clandestine nature of the immigrants. Illegal immigration is getting recognized as one of the growing concerns in tribal-dominated Nagaland.
b.      Most of the alleged illegal immigrants usually possess fraudulent voter identity cards, driving licenses and ration cards. This made the task of investigation extremely difficult.

Constraints in preventing the illegal immigration:
·         Inadequate policing along the border
·         Demographic dynamics
·         Indifferent attitude of Bangladesh
·         Lack of political will
·         Communal politics
·         Corruption
Impact of Illegal migration:
·         Security impact
·         Communal polarization
·         Demographic impact
·         Political impact

   6.      Fragile, unstable neighbors
a.       Pakistan – failed state
b.      China – Border issues
c.       Sri-Lanka – Had a brutal civil war that does not address the underlying problems
d.      Bangladesh – fragile democracy, so many times military has overtaken the government
e.       Nepal – Maoist insurgency, democratic process is fragile.

   7.      Armed “Sena” on caste and ethnic lines
a.       Affected the police and administration
b.      Loss of public confidence in the capacity of the state to protect their life and property is the primary cause of this dangerous development
c.       In the Border States these movements become secessionist because of the support they receive from the hostile neighboring states.

   8.      Communal forces
a.       The communal forces are the major challenge which wants to undermine the democratic secular fabric of the society.
b.      Government needs to isolate such extremist forces which disturb the unity of the nation and its people.
c.       The recent Muzaffarnagar riot is one of the example how communal forces play the bloody game of division in the society.

Measures to be taken:
There is need to strengthen and revitalize local "peace communities" in rural areas which have representatives from different communities and have in the past been effective in containing and resolving conflicts.
 
Measures to be taken at broader level
     1.      The Internal security issues should not be treated as merely law and order problems.
     2.      There should be work on social, political and economic levels.
  Source Via- envfor.nic.in
P. Sainath  articles on The Hindu

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Globalization Reacts

In simple terms globalization Is the process of growing interconnectedness between various parts of the world. It is a process through which diverse world is unified into a single society. Globalization touches almost all spheres of human life; social, economic, political, cultural, environmental.

Economic impact:
Positive impact:

             a.       Trade with other countries tremendously increased. Exports and imports boomed due to opening up of trade markets.
             b.      Liberalization of Indian markets for foreign players. This has increased the inflow of men, money, material, labor, technology etc from foreign countries to India.
             c.       Markets expanded. Many of the Indian industries have global markets and India serves as a market for many foreign companies.
             d.      Globalization is responsible for the growth of many industries in India and especially software industry.
             e.       It has given nations greater access to global markets, technology, financial resources and quality services and skilled human resources.
             f.        Improvement in and greater access to quality goods and services and an exponential increase in the volume of trade.
             g.      Access to global capital resources via the stock market and international debt depending on the economic potential of nations and their markets.
             h.      Access to technologies depending on the nation’s responsiveness to respect to protection of IPR and the responsible usage of technologies.
             i.         Access to the world markets to the skilled human resources from nations with inherent intellectual and technical capabilities.
             j.        Increase in exports of goods and services in which nations have their respective competencies.
             k.      Increased the purchasing capability of the nation through the creation of a sizeable middle class which is hungry for quality goods and services while there is a large poor class whose time is yet to come.
             l.        Shifting of labor force from agricultural sector to industrial sector and thus reducing disguised employment in agricultural sector.
            m.    High quality and low cost products flooded Indian markets increasing consumers’ choices.
             n.      Just few years back in India landline phone was a prestige symbol but now mobiles can be seen in the hands of many people.
            o.      In agricultural sector new varieties of farm equipment, new agricultural practices, applications of biotechnology like drought resistant, pest resistant varieties etc are indirectly due to globalization.
             p.      Indian companies adopting international standards in the areas of accounting, inventory management, Human resource, marketing, customer relationship management practices etc.
             q.      Increase in flow of investments from developed countries to developing countries, which can be used for economic reconstruction.
             r.        India gained highly from the LPG model as its GDP increased to 9.7% in 2007-2008. (It is now in low level but hoping it will make some upside graph)
             s.       The free flow of Information both general and commercial.
Negative impact:
             a.       Rich poor divide increased due to unequal distribution of wealth.
             b.      Ethical responsibility of business diminished.
             c.       Tribes are unable to integrate in the era of globalization and they are facing many problems due to industrial expansion like land alienation, loss of livelihood, displacement etc.
             d.      High growth but problem of unemployment.
             e.       Price hike and inflation of every daily usable commodities.
             f.       Native traditional industries in India got badly affected as they are unable to compete with foreign players.
             g.      Government driven public sector units are in sale due to increased privatization.
             h.      Growth in different sectors became uneven.
             i.        More inflow of money has aggravated the problem of corruption.


Cultural impact:

·         Language: (India is only place in world having more than 1000 local + regional languages, but from past 50 years most of them are completely gone)
Positive impact:
a.       Many people in India became bilingual or multilingual than before.
b.      Prominence of English as a language increased and importance of many regional languages decreased.
Negative impact:
a.       Some languages got extinct.
b.      Traditional knowledge that is expressed in the languages that are becoming extinct is getting unutilized. Many patents are filed internationally which is already mentioned in our traditional literature.

·         Music, Dance, Entertainment:
Positive impact:
a.       Many foreign musical instruments flooded Indian market.
b.      Foreign movies became widely available in Indian markets.
c.       Indian classical music has gained worldwide recognition
d.      Fusing western music with Indian traditional music is encouraged among musicians.
e.      Many foreigners are learning Indian dance forms like Bharatanatyam while many Indians are getting attracted to foreign dance forms like salsa, hip-hop etc.
Negative impact:
a.       The penetration of global pop music has marginalized the traditional Indian music.
b.      There is an increase in tendency of playing western songs and pop music during marriage functions, birthday celebrations, engagements etc.
c.       Folk and tribal music is nearly extinct. Government is taking steps to preserve it.
d.      One can see in India that inhibitions have been diluted because of the advent of media and the medium of entertainment. This has also naturally had some affect on the old cultural values with the focus now being on consumerism and success.

·         Food and Dress:
Positive impact:
a.       Many dresses of foreign brands are available in Indian local markets. Dressing style, costumes, etc of Indians changed due to globalization
b.      Male and female dresses distinction is getting blurred.
c.       Food and dress habits are internationalized
d.      Pizzas, burgers, Chinese foods, and other western foods have become quite popular.
e.       Fusion of Indo western clothing is the latest trend. Ex: wearing western jeans and Indian pajama or kurtha.
f.       A distinct change in life-styles with rapid adaptation to worldwide trends
Negative impact:
a.       Our traditional food and dress habits are getting changed generation after generation
b.      Due to intake of western and fast foods there is a threat of non communicable diseases like obesity, hyper tension, cardio vascular diseases etc.

Religion:
Positive impact:
a.        India is birth place of different religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism etc. Due to globalization new religions like Christianity entered India and have multi dimensional impact on the culture of India.
Negative impact:
a.       Conversions to Christianity increased by the financial and institutional support of western players.

·         Festivals:
Positive impact:
a.       Western festivals like Valentine ’s Day, friendship day etc are spreading across India.
Negative impact:
a.       Importance of our traditional native festivals getting decreased.
b.      Sacred component in our religious festivals is getting decreased and there is increase of secular component in the form of social gatherings during festivals.

·         There is increase in interaction between people of different countries leading to admixture of cultures.
·         Nations have built greater awareness of themselves and the other countries and cultures of the world. India is not an exception

Social impact:
·          Marriage:
Positive impact:
a.       Love marriages increased and thus parents preference for children wishes increased.
b.      Inter religious and inter caste marriages increased and thus caste rigidities and inequalities getting reduced.
Negative impact:
a.       Divorce rate increased
b.      Marriage changed from religious sacrament to civil contract.
c.       Unmarried boys and girls are sharing same apartment and staying away from their parents. Thus without marriage live-in relationships are happening in India

·         Family:
Positive impact:
a.       Previously all the members of the family did the same type of work but after globalization the same family has adapted different types of work depending upon availability and their economic benefits.
b.      As husband and wife are employed in most of the cases the child care is taken by day care centers or crèches.
c.       Family controls on children are getting weekend and children wishes are seldom ignored
d.      Social gatherings are getting increased than religious gatherings.
Negative impact:
a.       Nuclear families increased at the expense of joint families
b.      Family ceased to be a unit of production.
c.       The voice and decision of elders in the family matters decreased.

·         Education:
Positive impact:
a.       Foreign universities tie up with Indian universities increased.
b.      Literacy rate increased
c.       Scientific and technological innovations have made life comfortable, pleasant and enjoyable.
d.      Extension of internet facilities to rural areas and thus increasing awareness in rural youth.
e.       Increased access to better and qualitative education.
f.       The choices for the children increased as there are many streams in education to pursue.
g.      Extensive use of information communication technology.
Negative impact:
a.       Education became commercialized
b.      Pressure on children increased by parents, teachers, peers to get succeed in education which is essential to compete in this globalized world
c.       Education is measured in the number of degrees a person holds rather than the useful knowledge he gained.
·         Society:
Positive impact:
a.       People shifting from unorganized sector to organized sector
b.      Distinction between polluting and non polluting castes getting weakened.
c.       Social taboos are getting weakened
d.      Caste based occupations are getting converted to merit based occupations.
Negative impact:
a.       Rural, urban divide increased
b.      Migration of people from rural areas to urban areas due to urbanization
c.       Due to extreme mechanization demand for manual labor is decreasing day by day. This leads to increase in unemployment

Political impact:
Positive impact:
                a.       Awareness about the right to vote increased.
                b.      Opinion forming in many political issues increased with the help of ICT.
                c.       International obligations creating pressures on domestic political system.
                d.      India say in international matters increased.
                e.       Financial support from international organizations to India became possible due to globalization
Negative impact:
               a.       Politico-bureaucracy-industrial nexus increased which is affecting badly the common man.
               b.      Criminalization of politics and politicization of criminals increased.
               c.       Organized crime with political support increased.

Environmental impact:
Positive impact:
a.       Awareness and concern about environmental problems increased
b.      Technology and financial support from international organizations to combat climate change
Negative impact:
a.       Excessive emission of green house gases which leads to climate change and global warming
b.      Land degradation due to excessive use of chemical fertilizers
c.       Degradation of ozone layer due to release of ozone depleting substances like chloro floro carbons (CFCs)
d.      Excessive mining and deforestation caused displacement of millions of people without proper rehabilitation and resettlement provisions.
Source via - thehindu.com/
economictimes.indiatimes.com/