Push for more women, this time in the police

Reservation, actual availability in the police:

1. Through horizontal reservation policy present in many states, 30% or 33% of the vacant posts (of direct recruitment) can be filled up by women in the police forces.

• Horizontal reservation — if the minimum reserved vacant posts are not filled up in each category of the SC, ST, OBCs and un-reserved with women on merit, women candidates are pushed up in the list to make up for the gap. 

2. The reservation for women in the State armed police forces is 10% in some States.
3. The ‘Data on Police Organizations’, published by the Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPR&D) reveals that:
   1. The total available strength of the State police forces increased by about 7.48% in the last 5 years (in 2021).
   2. The representation of women in the State police force also increased from 1 7.28% to 10.47% of the total available force in the same period.
4. As per Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) data, representation of women in the police force (in 2022) remained at 11.7% of the total State police force.
5. Actual availability of women in police force remains low in spite of reservation policies.
   1. Though, few States such as Kerala, Mizoram and Goa do not have reservation policy for women in the police force, they have women’s representation between 6% and 11%. 
   2. Himachal Pradesh has no reservation for women, but 20% constables’ vacancies are filled up by women. 
   3. Bihar provides for 35% reservation for women but the actual number of women in the force is about 17.4%.
6. Lack of permanent police recruitment board to undertake recruitment at regular intervals in some states have been a major factor for under-representation.
7. Only about 4% to 5% of the total posts are filled by recruitment, considering the attrition rate in the police forces to be 2.5% to 3% and the annual sanction of new posts to be about 1.5% to 2%. Such a situation can make women’s representation to increase from 10% to 30% in not less than 20 years.

Crime data and need for more women police:

1. Certain legal provisions mandate recording of reports and statements, arrest and search of a woman accused by a woman police officer.
2. The National Crime Records Bureau data reveals that:
   1. About 10% of the total crime defined under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was committed against women.
   2. About 5.3% of total arrested persons were women in 2021.
   3. This data reflects that available women police force is insufficient even in dealing with cases that are related to women. 
3. Dealing of cases related to law-and-order and day-to-day duties requires women forces.
4. The scope of women recruitment in the police force has been further widened after commencement of the POCSO Act.

Efforts to be taken:

1. The recommendations for ‘police reforms’ has to be implemented properly. The reforms suggested include:
   1. Merging women police with the regular police 
   2. Establishment of the Police Recruitment Board
   3. Establish a ‘women desk’ in every police station.
   4. Special provision in the modernisation plan to build separate toilets for women staff.
   5. Ensure crèche facilities for children in every police station.
   6. Financial incentives were announced by the MHA from 2018-19 (reserving 10% in the 1^st year and 20% of total modernisation funds thereafter) to States that implement police reforms to a satisfactory level, however the outcome was poor.
2. More women have to be encouraged to join the police force, which requires development of minimum necessity of a conductive environment and basic infrastructure.
3. Roll out of a uniform Police Act for the entire country that can help the Centre to frame uniform standards for women police (‘Police’ being a ‘State’ subject in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution).
4. A recruitment board for every state has to be constituted to ensure recruitment on a regular basis.
5. A special drive should be launched by all States and Union Territories to recruit more women and increase their representation in the police force.

Global dispute settlement, India and appellate review

Why in the News?

The New Delhi Leaders Declaration at G20 reiterated the need to pursue reform of the WTO “to ensure a fully and well-functioning dispute settlement system accessible to all members by 2024”.

Issues with World Trade Organization (WTO):

1. The dispute settlement system, a two-tier panel cum appellate body structure, has been dysfunctional since 2019 as the United States has blocked the appointment of appellate body members.
   1. The dispute settlement system has issued over 493 rulings since its establishment in 1995 (the International Court of Justice has dealt with only around 190 cases since 1947).
   2. The appellate body of WTO has been crucial in ensuring coherence and predictability in rulings and confidence in the WTO dispute settlement process.
2. U. S’s continued opposition to an appellate review process seems to be inclined towards the de-judicialization of international trade law.
   1. This can allow countries to take back control from international courts and tribunals.
   2. The appellate review process at the international level serves as an essential check on the interpretation and application of law and ensures consistency.

Benefits of an appellate review:

1. Inconsistent and incoherent decisions and legal reasoning.
   1. For instance, the Investor-state-dispute settlement (ISDS), an international investment law of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) operates through ad hoc or one-off arbitration tribunals without any appellate review.
   2. The ISDS tribunals operating under different arbitral institutions have offered diverging interpretations of the same treaty provision and even reached opposite conclusions despite interpreting and applying the same treaty to the same facts.
   3. This has caused instability and improbability for states and foreign investors.
2. An appellate review shall allow for rectifying errors of law and harmonising diverging interpretations.
3. It shall have the power to uphold, modify, or reverse the decision of a first-tier tribunal and thus bringing coherence and consistency, and hence predictability and certainty into the ISDS system. 

 Critical issues in creating an appellate review:

1. The form in which the appellate mechanism shall take place
   1. Ad hoc appellate mechanism, where a body will be constituted by the disputing parties on a case-by-case basis, or
   2. a standing appellate mechanism
2. Deciding on the standard to review the decisions of the first-tier tribunal.
3. Finalising the time frame and the effect of the decision rendered by the appellate review.

India’s stand:

1. India, presumably, supports the idea of an appellate review in the ISDS because Article 29 of the Indian model BIT advocates it. 
2. Supporting the creation of an appellate review mechanism will be in India’s interest as it will address the concerns about inconsistency and incoherence in the ISDS system.
3. Since India’s quest is to establish a rule-based global order, support to an appellate review shall usher in greater confidence for states and investors in international investment law.

The threat from Illicit trade in India

Why in the News?

Around 3.5 tonnes of gold, 18 crore cigarette sticks, 140 metric tonnes of red sanders and 90 tonnes of heroin were seized along with other drugs during the last financial year.

Highlights of a report released by FICCI CASCADE:

1. In the organised crime segment, India has a lower score of 4.3 against 5.2 for an average of 122 countries.
2. Though there are fewer criminal actors, they are widespread and engage in a variety of unlawful activities such as drug and human trafficking and the illegal trade in wildlife products.
3. The efficacy of criminal networks in India have enabled them to generate substantial illicit financial flows, despite their small numbers.
   1. This has led to total potential revenue loss of US $13 billion involving both mis invoiced imports and exports to India.
   2. The uncollected value-added tax (VAT) amounted to a total of $3.4 billion.
   3. For the 2009-2018 period, the total aggregate value gap of misinvoicing was over $674.9 billion.
   4. In 2018, India had a value gap of US $84.9 billion. The value gaps as the percentage of the trade, however, declined marginally.

4. Terror and Crime: Economic Impact of Violence for India (Billions PPP)
   1. In 2021, India’s economic cost for violence was at US $1170 billion at purchasing power parity (PPP) which accounts for approximately 6% of the country’s GDP.
   2. The violence per capita impact is estimated at US $841 at PPP.
   3. 80% of such containment costs relates to security.

5. Organised Crime and Illegal Economy in India:
   1. The aggregate score of organised crime actors in India is low, at 4.3 on a scale of 1-10, compared to the average benchmark of 5.2 for 122 countries.
   2. The criminal network has a significant influence in India with a score of 6, which is higher than the average score of 5.8 for 122 countries.

5. 3. The illegal economy in India has an overall score of 6.3, which is higher than the average score of 5 of 122 countries.
6. Drug Economy in India:
   1. India’s location near major drug-producing regions has been associated with activities that may involve the transportation and distribution of controlled substances. 
      1. The Golden Triangle (Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand)
      2. The Golden Crescent (Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran)
   2. There has been an increase in the illicit drug trade in India stating that 3,172 cases of drug seizures were recorded during 2014-2022 as against 1,257 cases in 2006-2013.
   3. Total 4,888 arrests were made during the same period for these seizures involving 3.33 lakh kg of drugs worth Rs 20,000 crore.

1. 4. Among the various kinds of drugs, Cannabis has a higher score of 7.5, compared to the benchmark average of 5.4, indicating its significant presence in India in comparison to other countries.
   5. The synthetic drug trade and the heroin trade both had scores of 6.5, which exceeded the benchmark averages of 5.3 and 4.6, respectively.

India’s Semiconductor Industry

Why in the News?

India has geared up to set up its first ever semiconductor fabrication unit and is poised for a vibrant chip industry in the next 3-4 years with an aim to grow the manufacturing ecosystem in India.

India’s Manufacturing ecosystem:

1. Presently, 99% of mobile phones for domestic use are made in India, which is in stark contrast to 99% of phones imported for domestic use a decade ago.
2. India ranks second in mobile phone manufacturing and ranks third in the exports, with more than 200 mobile manufacturing units in India.
3. A fifth of all global semiconductor design is done in India. 
4. The Electronic Manufacturing sector has grown from $30 billion to over $100 billion.
5. Domestic semiconductor consumption is expected to reach $80 billion by 2026.

India’s Semiconductor Mission:

1. 1. Under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
   2. To make India as a global hub for electronics, chip manufacturing and design.
   3. Launched as part of ‘Make in India’ Initiative.
   4. The mission proposes a $10 billion incentive plan with a fiscal outlay of up to 50% of a project’s cost to display and semiconductor fabricators.
   5. Four Schemes under the Mission
      1. Semiconductor Fab Scheme – A fiscal support of up to % of project cost on projects appraised by the Expenditure Finance Committee.
      2. Display Fab Scheme - A fiscal support of up to % of project cost on projects appraised by the Expenditure Finance Committee.
      3. Semiconductor and Semiconductor ATMP - fiscal support of 50% of capital expenditure to Compound Semiconductors / Silicon Photonics / Sensors (including MEMS) Fabs and Semiconductor Packaging (ATMP / OSAT) units.
      4. Design Linked Incentive Scheme - offer financial incentives and design infrastructure support across various stages of development and deployment of semiconductor design(s) for Integrated Circuits (ICs), Chipsets, System on Chips (SoCs), Systems & IP Cores and semiconductor linked design(s) over a period of 5 years.

Other steps taken by the Govt:

1. Fiscal support of 50% of project cost for Setting up of Semiconductor Fabs and Display Fabs in India.
   1. Aims to set up at least two greenfield Semiconductor Fabs and two Display Fabs as High-Tech Clusters with requisite infrastructure in terms of land, semiconductor grade water, high quality power, logistics and research ecosystem.
2. Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme to provide 50% of eligible expenditure and product deployment linked incentive of 6% - 4% on net sales for five years, for domestic companies of semiconductor design.
3. Efforts are taken for modernization and commercialization of Semi-conductor Laboratory (SCL), Mohali.

Need to create a culture of excellence:

1. Power fluctuations even as minutest interruptions can lead to a total batch loss of chips worth millions of dollars.
2. The packaging will need to be of Japanese quality, and the transportation.
3. The new fabs will need to be protected from the vagaries of market and government failures until the bridge between islands of excellence and the rest of the economy is built.

Need for a timely census

Why in the News?

The conduction of 2021 Census got delayed due to the pandemic, while the implementation of the women's quota has been tied to the delimitation exercise, which in turn will be based on the first census after 2026.

What is the need for Census?

1. Data availability has increased in the present times which raises questions on need for a Census.
   1. The digital economy generates a lot of data such as telecom and internet data which can guide policymakers.
   2. With the rollback of the centralised plan economy and broader acceptance of the ‘minimum government’ paradigm, government’s dependence on one central database for policy decisions has come down.
   3. Other independent data such as surveys done by private firms, also offer the govt with reliable data.
2. A country like US have considered stopping their census and rely on the American Community Survey (ACS) that carries on continuously (every month, every year) and provides vital information on a yearly basis. However, Census was decided to be carried forward as
   1. It is a constitutional requirement to have a census.
   2. ACS being a survey, covers only a fraction of population and can leave out important segments of the population from the policy perspective such as migrants and the homeless.
3. Need for Census in India:
   1. Relying on other source of data such as administrative statistics, runs the risk of many Indians fall outside of their scope, such as migrant workers.
   2. Comparability of data across the country and over time is possible using Census data.
      • For instance, the Management Information System data has huge standardisation issues across states.
      • Every government department has an MIS system, each one follows its own set of data standards, definitions etc., making comparability a huge problem.
   3. Census can act as a reality check on administrative data, as the latter can be faulty for a variety of reasons, ranging from neglect to incompetence to corruption.
      • For instance, the PM announced India as open defecation free with toilets in every household based on the administrative data, while the later NFHS revealed that 30% of the households don’t have toilets.

How the Census delay hurts:

1. Data and the statistical system
   1. Census being the foundation of the entire statistical system of the country, household surveys draw their sample based on the census data.
   2. Delayed Census can cause distortion the original picture and fail to be representative of the reality.
   3. The quality of survey data also becomes questionable.
   4. Some metrics of data will begin to falter as the census gets delayed:
      1. Rural-urban population distribution
      2. Internal migration, as it changes quite rapidly.
      3. Mortality data, which is vital for age-distribution projections and assessing policies such as old-age pension requirements.
2. Policymaking
   1. Almost all the major policies are decided on the basis of census data.
   2. For instance, delay in census is resulting in exclusion of genuine beneficiaries under the NFSA, as the act specifies a ratio of population that needs to get the benefits (up to 75% of the rural population and 50 per cent of the urban population).
   3. Census data becomes vital for not only framing policies but also in assessing whether policies have been effective or not.
3. Private sector:
   1. Census plays as a benchmark for such private surveys.
   2. Census provides micro-level data of heterogeneous India which is important for micro-marketing/ targeted marketing to specific groups of people. 
   3. Private firms also make decisions based on census numbers.
      1. For instance, Data on migration to urban areas gives a good understanding of the region-wise infrastructure needs in the country. 
      2. Similarly, census provides a good understanding of penetration of consumer durables (such as two-wheelers, cars and TVs etc.) in different regions. 

Pakistan bomb blasts

Why in the News?

A recent bomb blast has killed at least 53 people and injured over 70 in a suicide blast in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, marking it as the deadliest terror attack in Pakistan since 2018.

Balochistan remains a problem province for Pak:

1. Balochistan is the largest Pakistani province which is sparsely populated and impoverished, compared to the rest of the country. 
2. Its strategic location and abundance of natural resources, especially oil, makes it strategically vital for Pakistan.

3. The province has been a site of bloody insurgencies, brutal state repression, and an enduring Baloch nationalist movement since 1948.
   1. Though the province chose to remain as an independent Baloch state, a treaty of accession was signed between Baloch and Pakistan after the Pakistan Army moved into Balochistan in 1948.
   2. five Baloch “wars of independence” were fought in 1948, 1958–59, 1962–63 and 1973–1977, and currently ongoing since 2003, against the accession agreement.
4. These insurgencies have been brutally dealt with by Pakistani forces, who have been accused of committing numerous atrocities such as abductions, torture, arbitrary arrests and executions.
5. According to NGO ‘Voice for Baloch Missing Persons’, around 5,228 Baloch people have gone missing in the period between 2001 and 2017.
6. In the recent times, Baloch nationalist organisations have grown close to Islamist organisations including the TTP and the Islamic State.

Driven by ethnic wedges, economic injustice

1. Fundamental reason for the persistence of conflict is ethnic difference.
   1. People of Balochistan have a shared history, language and other cultural similarities.
   2. This is very different from Punjabis or Sindhis.
   3. However, Punjabi landlords who had an almost unchallenged hold over Pakistan’s bureaucracy, led to sparking of ethnic differences.
   4. The ethnic differences became the driving force behind Baloch nationalism.
2. Deep economic and political grievances faced by the Baloch people.
   1. It entails a sense of economic alienation.
   2. They do not gain the advantages of its own abundant natural resources.
   3. The economic injustice faced by the Baloch population was revealed by the construction of the China-backed Gwadar Port, in which Punjabi and Sindhi engineers and technical specialists were hired en masse in spite of extremely high levels of unemployment among the educated Baloch population. 

Poona pact

1. The pact was a historic compromise between Gandhi and Ambedkar over the rights of Dalits, or "untouchables", in 1932.
2. It was an agreement on political representation of the Depressed Classes.
3. A communal award giving separate electorates for the scheduled castes in central and provincial legislatures was given by Ramsay Macdonald, the then British Prime Minister.
4. Ambedkar and other leaders of the Depressed Classes welcomed the award.
5. But Gandhi feared that it would de-link untouchables from Hindus, and announced a fast unto death on 20th September 1932, till the time separate electorates were removed.
6. Finally, Gandhi and Ambedkar came to an agreement, the Poona Pact 1932 that discarded separate electorates.
7. Though the pact decried separate electorates, it accepted a system of the joint electorates with reserved seats (78 more seats than proposed in the award) for the Scheduled castes.
8. Other important provisions of the agreement:
   1. Non-discrimination and fair representation of Depressed Classes in public services
   2. Earmark a portion of state’s educational grant for Depressed Classes
9. The pact influenced Govt. of India Act, 1935 where separate electorates were given to Muslims, Sikhs and others, but not to the Depressed Classes.

Age of Consent

1. The age of consent is the minimum age at which an individual is considered legally old enough to consent to participation in sexual activity.
2. The current age of consent in India is 18 years.
3. Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act criminalises all sexual activity by children under 18.
4. Prosecution for statutory rape or the equivalent local law will be initiated when a sexual activity involves individuals less than 18 years.
5. The age of consent lowers to age 15 if the couple are married.
6. Countries like the US provides exception in the form of "Romeo and Juliet laws" if one or both participants are underage, and are close in age.
7. Recently, the Law Commission of India has advised against reducing age of consent to 16 under POCSO Act, as it can have damaging effects on fighting child marriage and child trafficking.

Manaskhand Temple Circuit

1. It connects Uttarakhand to tourist destinations the Kumaon region.
2. It shall connect ancient and revered temples across various districts to provide a rich spiritual heritage of the region.
3. The project will connect Jageshwar temple, Kainchi Dham, Mukteshwar, Purnagiri temple, and Golu Devta temple.
4. The temple circuit connects the places of
   1. Almora which encompasses temples such as Dandeshwar Temple, Chandi-ka-Temple, Jageshwar Temple, Kuber Temple, Mritunjaya Temple, Nanda Devi and Surya temple.
   2. Bageshwar
   3. Champawat
   4. Nainital
   5. Udham Singh Nagar