AIR Discussions (March 3rd Week)

NATIONAL YOUTH CONCLAVE 2023

Context

Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs Hardeep S Puri said the ”explosion” of startups in the country was a testament to the entrepreneurial culture that the youth of the country has inspired in recent years.
Speaking at the National Youth Conclave 2023, he said he was confident that India would be a world leader in all respects by 2047 due to the youth dividend.

Details

India’s biggest youth summit- ‘National Youth Conclave’ was organized by the Smart Cities Mission, MoHUA, Department of Youth Affairs and National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA).
The event was organized under the aegis of India’s G20 presidency in 2023 and aligned with the Urban20 and Youth20 engagement groups.
Both the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports came together in this 2-day Conclave, being held on 13-14 March 2023 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. It brought together young minds to deliberate on the U20 and Y20 priority areas and foster bright leaders of tomorrow.

About Urban20

Urban 20 (U20), an Engagement Group under the G20, brings together mayors from major G20 cities to inform the discussions of national leaders at the G20, and establishes a platform for cities to collectively inform G20 negotiations.
U20 dialogue this year emphasized on the need for changing the urban sector to achieve long-term beneficial results for the globe and set the way for coordinated city-level activities.
The deliberations under U20 was focused on six priority areas that are critical for grounding complex global urban agendas into actionable city-level initiatives. Inclusion will be a cross-cutting focus across all deliberations.

Priority Areas of U20 are:

Encouraging Environmentally Responsible Behaviours.
Ensuring Water Security.
Accelerating Climate Finance.
Championing ‘Local’ Identity.
Reinventing Frameworks for Urban Governance and Planning.
Catalysing Digital Urban Futures.

About Youth20

Youth20 (Y20) engagement group, with its first Y20 conference held in 2010, provides a platform that allows youth to express their vision and ideas on the G20 priorities and comes up with a series of recommendations which are submitted to the G20 Leaders.
The Y20 India summit in 2023 exemplified India’s youth- centric efforts and provided an opportunity to showcase its values and policy measures so that India’s leadership of this summit can stand out among the youth cohort.
The priority areas selected for the summit showcased Indian leadership on these issues to both global and domestic audiences and helped fulfil India’s vision of making the G20 summit truly participative.

Priority areas of Y20 are:

Future of Work: Industry 4.0, Innovation, & 21^st Century Skills.
Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction: Making Sustainability a Way of Life.
Peacebuilding and Reconciliation: Ushering in an Era of No War.
Shared Future: Youth in Democracy and Governance.
Health, Wellbeing & Sports: Agenda for Youth.

Demographic Transition: ‘Baby Boomer’ Phase

World population has breached the eight billion mark. Though the population has increased in absolute terms, it is characterized by a demographic transition which provides economic opportunities or disadvantages to economies, depending on which phase of the demographic transition there are in.
To illustrate, the ‘baby boomer’ phase for advanced economies such as the US, Germany, and Japan was around 1950-64. Consequently, in 2022, the share of the old-age dependency ratio in Japan, Germany, and the US is approximately 70, 54, and 52 percent, respectively.
India had its baby boom experience during 1980-1994, which led to a gradual increase in its working-age population. The share of this population (aged 20-60 years) to the total was about 44 percent in 1980, which increased to about 55 percent in 2022 and will peak at around 58 percent in 2032.
India entered the demographic dividend phase around 2010, when the share of the working-age population was about 51 per cent, and will continue to enjoy the benefit till 2056, with the ratio projected at 54 percent. Globally, between 2021 and 2052, India will have the highest share in terms of the working-age population.

Dependency ratio

However, during this transition phase, India’s old-age dependency ratio will rise to around 35 per cent in 2050 from the current 19 percent.
The benefits from the demographic dividend will fade away when the country’s baby boomer generation starts retiring. The dependent population will need to be supported by the state, or we may see a decline in investment spending to compensate for it.
Hence, in the next 25-30 years India can reap the economic benefits of demographic dividend, provided appropriate policies are put in place.

Forward-looking policies

Countries like Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea have already shown us how demographic dividend can be reaped to achieve incredible economic growth by adopting forward-looking policies and programmes to empower the youth in terms of their education, skills and health choices. There are important lessons from these countries for India.

Updated National Transfer Accounts (NTA) Assessment

The first is to undertake an updated National Transfer Accounts (NTA) assessment. Using NTA methodologies by Lee and Chen (2011-12) and M.R. Narayana (2021), we find that India’s per capita consumption pattern is way lower than that of other Asian countries. A child in India consumes around 60% of the consumption by an adult aged between 20 and 64, while a child in China consumes about 85% of a prime-age adult’s consumption. The NTA data for India needs to be updated to capture the progress made on such investments since 2011-12. State-specific NTAs need to be calculated every year and States need to be ranked for investing in the youth.

Invest more in children and adolescents

The second is to invest more in children and adolescents. India ranks poorly in Asia in terms of private and public human capital spending. It needs to invest more in children and adolescents, particularly in nutrition and learning during early childhood. Given that India’s workforce starts at a younger age, a greater focus needs to be on transitioning from secondary education to universal skilling and entrepreneurship, as done in South Korea.

Make Health Investments

The third is to make health investments. Health spending has not kept pace with India’s economic growth. The public spending on health has remained flat at around 1% of GDP. Evidence suggests that better health facilitates improved economic production. Hence, it is important to draft policies to promote health during the demographic dividend. We need more finance for health as well as better health facilities from the available funding.

Make Reproductive Healthcare Services Accessible

The fourth is to make reproductive healthcare services accessible on a rights-based approach. We need to provide universal access to high-quality primary education and basic healthcare. The unmet need for family planning in India at 9.4% as per the latest National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21) is high as compared to 3.3% in China and 6.6% in South Korea, which needs to be bridged.

Bridge Gender Gap in access to Education

Fifth, education is an enabler to bridge gender differentials. The gender inequality of education is a concern. In India, boys are more likely to be enrolled in secondary and tertiary school than girls. In the Philippines, China and Thailand, it is the reverse. In Japan, South Korea, and Indonesia, the gender differences are rather minimal. This needs to be reversed.

Increase Female Workforce Participation

Sixth, India needs to increase female workforce participation in the economy.
New skills and opportunities for women and girls befitting their participation in a $3 trillion economy is urgently needed. For example, a girl who passes Class 10 needs more choices to learn skills that will help her find appropriate work. She will need safe transport to travel to work.
Finding work will likely delay her age of marriage and make her participate in the economy more productively, as also exercise her rights and choices.
South Korea’s female workforce participation rate of 50% has been built on
1. Legally Compulsory Gender Budgeting to analyse gender disaggregated data and its impact on policies,
2. Increasing childcare benefits, and
3. Boosting tax incentives for part-time work. It is predicted that if all women engaged in domestic duties in India who are willing to work had a job, female labour force participation would increase by about 20%.

Address the diversity between States

Seventh, India needs to address the diversity between States. While India is a young country, the status and pace of population ageing vary among States. Southern States, which are advanced in demographic transition, already have a higher percentage of older people.
These differences in age structure reflect differences in economic development and health – and remind us of States’ very different starting points at the outset of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Agenda. But this also offers boundless opportunities for States to work together, especially on demographic transition, with the north-central region as the reservoir of India’s workforce.

A new Federal Approach to Governance Reforms

Eight, a new federal approach to governance reforms for demographic dividend will need to be put in place for policy coordination between States on various emerging population issues such as migration, ageing, skilling, female workforce participation and urbanisation. Inter-ministerial coordination for strategic planning, investment, monitoring and course correction should be an important feature of this governance arrangement.

Transition from the Agriculture Sector

Next, India needs to reduce its share of the population that is dependent on agriculture.
The share of employment concentrated in the agriculture sector stands at 43% in India compared to 25% in China and typically less than 2% in developed countries.
If India were to reduce its share of agricultural employment to 15%, around 93 million new jobs will have to be created over the next 25 years just to transition a portion of the workforce from the agriculture to the non-agriculture sector.

Redress historical inequalities:

While the male Labour Force Participation Rate for India is on par with these countries, the female LFPR stands at 22% in India compared to an average of 70% in these three countries.
Female LFPR declined from an average of 32% before the Global Financial Crisis to an average of 24% after the Global Financial Crisis.
India must redress at least a portion of these historical inequities by creating at least 43 million jobs for its female population over the next 10 years.

Support its growing population:

Data from the International Labour Organization (ILO) shows that Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) stands at 52% in India compared to 73% in the U.S., 76% in China and 78% in the UK.
Even if India were to increase its LFPR by one percentage point every year until it reaches a LFPR of 70%, around 95 million non-agricultural jobs will have to be created over the next 25 years considering the rate at which the total population is estimated to increase.

Growth Imperative

Between 1992 and 2019, India created 1.3 million jobs per percentage point of growth in its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
If India can maintain the same level of employment elasticity, its real GDP needs to grow at an average rate of 10.8% annually until 2030, 6.5% between 2031 and 2040, and 4.2% between 2041 and 2047 to support the creation of 231 million jobs.
These growth rates will likely catapult India into a US$10 trillion economy by 2032 and a US$31 trillion economy by 2047. Subsequently, India’s per capita GDP will increase to around US$ 18,600 by 2047, almost eight times the 2022 level.

The Capital Imperative

India should have a Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) of 33% of GDP in order to meet its growth and job creation goals. This translates to a cumulative capital requirement of around US$120 trillion over the next 25 years.
The role of foreign capital in India’s economic development has been relatively less than other countries. External liabilities as a percentage of GDP as of 2021 stood at 41% in India compared to an average of 178% in rapid reformers. India needs to augment foreign capital inflows by creating more pockets of opportunities that generate higher returns.

Conclusion

India’s success with its demographic dividend phase ultimately depends on strong state institutions and sound policy.
In this backdrop, it is critical for India to acknowledge the diversity between the states based on the stages of demographic transition they are in.
For instance, as noted by the Population Fund, Kerala has an ageing population, while in Bihar, the number of working people will keep increasing. So ageing Kerala would need policies to attract migrant labour from young states such as Rajasthan and Bihar, while relatively young states such as Bihar and Madhya Pradesh require a strong health and education system to prepare their workforce for the future.
A study by researchers at Harvard University and the World Bank assessing the state capability showed that the Indian situation is in a ‘capability trap’ – where the destination and route are known but the country lacks the ability to implement the strategy. As the Confederation of Indian Industry has noted, if India does not create enough jobs, and its workers are not adequately prepared for those jobs, we may have a demographic liability within this capability trap.
A comprehensive and inclusive economic and social strategy will foster an environment of empowerment, protection, and investment in people. Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea have already shown us how demographic dividend can be reaped. There are important lessons to learn from them.

https://newsonair.gov.in/Spotlight.aspx#

GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX REPORT

Context

The Government has called the Global Hunger Index report flawed and non-representative of the true picture of hunger in the country.

About

The Global Hunger Index(GHI) is a tool that attempts to measure and track hunger globally as well as by region and by country.
It is prepared by European NGOs of Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.

How is it defined?

The global hunger index captures three dimensions of hunger: insufficient availability of food, shortfalls in the nutritional status of children and child mortality (which is, to a large extent, attributable to undernutrition).
Accordingly, the index includes three equally weighted indicators:

1. the proportion of people who are food energy-deficient, as estimated by FAO;
2. the prevalence of underweight in children aged under 5 years, as compiled by WHO; and
3. the mortality rate of children aged under 5 years, as reported by UNICEF.

A regression analysis of the global hunger index on GNI per capita is performed to identify countries that are notably better or worse off with regard to hunger and undernutrition than would be expected from their GNI per capita.
Countries are ranked on a 100-point scale, with 0 and 100 being the best and worst possible scores, respectively.

GHI Severity Scale

Indicator

Severity scale

GHI

≥50: extremely alarming

35-49.9: alarming

20-34.9: serious

10-19.9: moderate

≤9.9: low

https://newsonair.gov.in/News?title=Global-Hunger-Index%e2%80%99s-report-should-not-be-taken-at-face-value%2c-says-WCD-Minister-Smriti-Irani&id=457518

TURKEY

Context

In Turkey, floods caused by torrential rains hit two provinces that were devastated by last month’s earthquake, killing at least five people.

Details:

About:Turkey is a transcontinental country located mainly on Anatolia in Western Asia, with a portion on the Balkans in Southeast Europe.
Expanse:Asian Turkey, which includes 97 percent of the country's territory, is separated from European Turkey by the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles.
Borders:It shares borders with Greece and Bulgaria to the northwest; the Black Sea to the north; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran to the east; Iraq to the southeast; Syria and the Mediterranean Sea to the south; and the Aegean Sea to the west. Cyprus is located off the south coast.
Capital:Ankara is Turkey's capital, while Istanbul is its largest city and financial centre.
Population:Turks form the vast majority of the nation's population and Kurds are the largest minority.

https://newsonair.gov.in/News?title=Turkey%3a-Floods-caused-by-torrential-rains-hits-2-provinces-devastated-by-last-month%e2%80%99s-earthquake%2c-kills-at-least-5-people&id=457515

WORLD CONSUMER RIGHTS DAY 2023

Context

World Consumer Rights Day is celebrated on March 15 to raise awareness about the rights of consumers.

Details

World Consumer Rights Day came into being in 1983. It was inspired by a speech given by John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the former president of the United States of America, to the U.S. Congress on consumer rights.
In India, the government passed the Consumer Protection Act,1986 that outlines some basic consumer rights.

Theme

The theme of the World Consumer Rights Day, 2023 is “Empowering consumers through clean energy transitions”.

https://newsonair.gov.in/News?title=World-Consumer-Rights-Day-2023&id=457464

MCMAHON LINE

Context

The US formally recognized the McMahon Line as the international boundary between India’s Arunachal Pradesh and China, and rejected Beijing’s claim that the northeastern state falls under Chinese territory.
A bipartisan resolution, acknowledged Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of India and also supported India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Further details

Apart from recognising the McMahon Line, the resolution also condemned Chinese provocations in the region, including China’s use of military force to change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control, construction of villages in contested areas, publication of maps with Mandarin-language names for cities featuring Arunachal Pradesh, and expansion of Beijing’s territorial claims over Bhutan.

What is the McMahon Line?

The McMahon Line serves as the de facto boundary between China and India in the Eastern Sector.
It specifically represents the boundary between Arunachal Pradesh and Tibet, from Bhutan in the west to Myanmar in the east.
China has historically disputed the boundary and claims the state of Arunachal Pradesh as part of the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR).

Retracing History

Under what circumstances was it drawn?

The McMahon Line was drawn during the Simla Convention of 1914, officially described as the Convention Between Great Britain, China, and Tibet.
China was represented at the convention by the government of the Republic of China, which was in power in the mainland from 1912 to 1949, when its leaders were driven to the island of Taiwan during the civil war that established the communists in Beijing and led to the proclamation of the People’s Republic.
The McMahon Line delimited the respective spheres of influence of Tibet and British India in the eastern Himalayan region in what is today India’s Northeast and northern Myanmar. The border in this region was undefined prior to the signing of the convention.
After the first Anglo-Burmese War (1824-26), the British gained almost complete control over the Assam Valley. From there, the British expanded their influence outwards in the predominantly tribal lands across the Northeast. For long, these tribal lands acted as a buffer between British India and Tibet.
By the time the 20th century dawned, Chinese influence over Tibet had significantly waned and the British were wary about Tibet falling into the Russian sphere of influence. In an effort to preclude Russian influence, the British led an expedition into Tibet and signed the Convention of Lhasa in 1904.
At the same time, alarmed at Britain’s growing influence in the region, China, at the fag end of Qing rule, also invaded, taking control of the southeastern Kham region. Notably, the Chinese campaign encroached upon the tribal regions north of the Assam Valley, pushing British officials to advocate extending British jurisdiction into the tribal territory.

What happened at the Simla Convention of 1913-14?

The convention attempted to settle the question of Tibet’s sovereignty and avoid further territorial disputes in the region. The Tibetan government in Lhasa was represented by its plenipotentiary Paljor Dorje Shatra, and Britain by Sir Arthur Henry McMahon, foreign secretary of British India at Delhi. The Chinese plenipotentiary was Ivan Chen.

The treaty divided the Buddhist region into “Outer Tibet” and “Inner Tibet” – the former would “remain in the hands of the Tibetan Government at Lhasa under Chinese suzerainty”, though China was not allowed to interfere in its affairs.
The latter would be under the direct jurisdiction of the newly formed Republic of China. In its annexes, it also determined the border between China proper and Tibet as well as Tibet and British India.
The latter of these newly decided boundaries would later be called the McMahon Line after McMahon, the chief British negotiator. While a draft convention was agreed upon by all three countries on April 27, 1914, China immediately repudiated it.
The final convention was only signed by McMahon on behalf of the British government and Shatra on behalf of Lhasa. Ivan Chen did not consent to the convention, arguing that Tibet had no independent authority to enter into international agreements.

How was the border between British India and China decided?

The 890-km border from the corner of Bhutan to the Isu Razi Pass on the Burma border was drawn largely along the crest of the Himalayas, following the “highest watershed principle”.
This principle, considered to be the most logical way of drawing borders in mountainous regions by the British, basically drew the border along the highest ridge between two river plains.
However, exceptions were made. Notably, Tawang, which would have been a part of Tibet had this principle been uniformly implemented, was included in British India due to its proximity to the Assam Valley.
As the War of 1962 would show, capturing Tawang would give an invading Chinese army easy access to the valley in the south, affirming McMahon’s decision to include Tawang under British jurisdiction. This inclusion was contested by Tibet for years, even though the border remained porous, and Lhasa still held some sway in the region.

What has the status of the McMahon line been since 1914?

While there were disputes regarding the McMahon line from the very beginning, after the communists took power in 1949, they pulled China out of all international agreements and the so-called “unequal treaties” that had been imposed on it during its “century of humiliation”, and demanded a renegotiation of all its borders.
During the 1962 Sino-Indian War, China was able to quickly overpower India and make deep inroads into Indian territory across the McMahon Line. However, its forces retreated to pre-war positions after the unilateral ceasefire was announced on November 21.

https://newsonair.gov.in/News?title=US-recognizes-McMahon-Line-as-international-border%3b-Says-Arunachal-Pradesh-is-integral-part-of-India&id=457541

TEKNAF PORT

Context

A delegation from Myanmar arrived at Teknaf port in Cox’s Bazar area of Bangladesh to verify the information about Rohingyas willing to return to the Rakhine province.

Details

Teknaf Upazila is the southern-most city on the mainland in Bangladesh, on the narrow strip running along the coast of Myanmar.
It is situated in the Cox's Bazar District in the Division of Chittagong, Bangladesh. It forms the southernmost point in mainland Bangladesh (St. Martin's Island is the southernmost point).
The name of the region comes from the Naf River which forms the Eastern boundary of the upazila. It shares a border with Myanmar, opposite the town of Maungdaw.
The tidal range at the Teknaf coastal area is strongly influenced by the Naaf river estuary.
The area has a warm tropical climate and sufficient rainfall to enable it to support a wide biological diversity.
Teknaf Peninsula is one of the longest sandy beach ecosystems (80 km) in the world.
It represents a transitional ground for the fauna of the Indo-Himalayan and Indo-Malayan ecological sub-regions.
Important habitats at the site include mangrove, mudflats, beaches and sand dunes, canals and lagoons and marine habitat.

https://newsonair.gov.in/News?title=A-Delegation-from-Myanmar-reaches-Teknaf-port%2c-Bangladesh-on-March-15-to-verify-information-about-Rohingyas-willing-to-return-to-Rakhine-province&id=457521