PM IAS JULY 14 CURRENT EVENTS

Global Gender Gap Report

Context:

India ranks 135 among a total of 146 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index, 2022, released by the World Economic Forum. The country is the worst performer in the world in the “health and survival” sub-index in which it is ranked 146.

Relevance:

GS-II: Social Justice (Women Empowerment, Governance and Government Policies, Issues Arising Out of Design & Implementation of Policies), GS-II: International Relations (Important International Institutions and their Reports) GS-I: Indian Society (Issues related to Women, Gender Inequality)

Dimensions of the Article:

1. About the Global Gender Gap Report
2. About World Economic Forum (WEF)
3. Highlights of the Global Gender Gap report 2021

About the Global Gender Gap Report

• The Global Gender Gap Report is published by the World Economic Forum and The Global Gender Gap Index is an index designed to measure gender equality.
• The index is designed to “measure gender-based gaps in access to resources and opportunities in countries rather than the actual levels of the available resources and opportunities in those countries.” Therefore, it is not necessarily true that highly developed countries should have higher scores.
• The methodology used to determine index scores is designed in such a way as to count situations in which men are disadvantaged relative to women as “equal”. (Gender imbalances to the advantage of women do not affect the score.). Over the Index, the highest possible score is 1 (equality) and the lowest possible score is 0 (inequality) – To put it more simply: women could be better off in all areas and still the index would deem that country perfectly equal.

The report’s Gender Gap Index ranks countries according to calculated gender gap between women and men in four key areas to gauge the state of gender equality in a country:

• Economic participation and opportunity,
• Educational attainment,
• Health and survival,
• Political empowerment.  

About World Economic Forum (WEF)

• The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.
• It was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It is independent, impartial and not tied to any special interests.
• The Forum strives in all its efforts to demonstrate entrepreneurship in the global public interest while upholding the highest standards of governance.

Major reports published by WEF:

• Energy Transition Index.
• Global Competitiveness Report.
• Global IT Report (WEF along with INSEAD, and Cornell University)
• Global Gender Gap Report.
• Global Risk Report.
• Global Travel and Tourism Report.

Highlights of the Global Gender Gap report 2022

• The Global Gender Report, 2022, which includes the index, says it will now take 132 years to reach gender parity, with the gap reducing only by four years since 2021 and the gender gap closed by 68.1%.
• But this does not compensate for the generational loss between 2020 and 2021 as the trends leading up to 2020 showed that the gender gap was set to close within 100 years.
• India ranks poorly among its neighbours and is behind Bangladesh (71), Nepal (96), Sri Lanka (110), Maldives (117) and Bhutan (126).
• Only the performance of Iran (143), Pakistan (145) and Afghanistan (146) was worse than India in South Asia. In 2021, India ranked 140 out of 156 nations.
• It measures scores on a 0-to-100 scale, which can be interpreted as the distance covered towards parity or the percentage of the gender gap that has been closed.
• India ranks 146 in health and survival, 143 in economic participation and opportunity, 107 in educational attainment and 48 in political empowerment.
  • The report notes that India’s score of 0.629 was its seventh-highest score in the past 16 years.
• India also “recovered” ground since 2021 in economic participation and opportunity, though the report goes on to add that the labour force participation shrunk for both men (by -9.5 percentage points) and women (-3 percentage points).

Centre’s Push for Labour Codes

Context:

With the rollout of the labour codes getting delayed due to the pandemic, renewed deliberations are underway at the highest levels of government on a fresh implementation schedule, amid divergent views on whether to push through all four codes simultaneously or opt for the more practical option of staggering them.

Relevance:

GS-II: Social Justice and Governance (Government Interventions and Policies, Issues arising out of the design and implementation of Government Policies), GS-III: Indian Economy (Human Resource)

Dimensions of the Article:

1. Labour Codes
2. Code on Wages Act, 2019
3. Industrial Relations Code Bill 2020
4. Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code Bill, 2020
5. Code on Social Security Bill, 2020
6. Concerns regarding the implementation of the codes (labour law reforms)

Labour Codes:

It includes 4 versions: 

1. Code of Wages Act 2019,
2. Industrial Relations Code Bill, 2020,
3. Social Security Code Bill, 2020,
4. Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code Bill, 2020

Code on Wages Act, 2019

• The new wage code removes the multiplicity of wage definitions, which can significantly reduce litigation as well as compliance cost for employers.
• It links minimum wage across the country to the skills of the employee and the place of employment.
• It seeks to universalise the provisions of minimum wages and their timely payment to all employees irrespective of the sector and wage ceiling.
• It seeks to ensure Right to Sustenance for every
•  and intends to increase the legislative protection of minimum wage.
• A National Floor Level Minimum Wage will be set by the Centre and will be revised every five years, while states will fix minimum wages for their regions, which cannot be lower than the floor wage.
• It subsumes the following four labour laws:
  • Payment of Wages Act, 1936
  • Minimum Wages Act, 1948
  • Payment of Bonus Act, 1965
  • Equal Remuneration Act, 1976

Industrial Relations Code Bill 2020

• The code, among its important provisions, makes it easier for companies to hire and fire workers.
• Companies employing upto 300 workers will not be required to frame rules of conduct for workmen employed in industrial establishments. Presently, it is compulsory for firms employing upto 100 workers.
• It proposes that workers in factories will have to give a notice at least 14 days in advance to employers if they want to go on strike.
• Presently, only workers in public utility services are required to give notices to hold strikes.
• Besides, every industrial establishment employing 20 or more workers will have one or more Grievance Redressal Committees for resolution of disputes arising out of employees’ grievances.
• The code also proposes setting up of a reskilling fund to help skill retrenched workers.

Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code Bill, 2020

• It spells out duties of employers and employees, and envisages safety standards for different sectors, focusing on the health and working condition of workers, hours of work, leaves, etc.
• The code also recognises the right of contractual workers.
• The code provides employers the flexibility to employ workers on a fixed-term basis, on the basis of requirement and without restriction in any sector.
• More importantly, it also provides for statutory benefits like social security and wages to fixed-term employees at par with their permanent counterparts.
• It also mandates that no worker will be allowed to work in any establishment for more than 8 hours a day or more than 6 days in a week.
• In case of an overtime, an employee should be paid twice the rate of his/her wage. It will be applicable to even small establishments, which have upto 10 workers.
• The code also brings in gender equality and empowers the women workforce. Women will be entitled to be employed in all establishments for all types of work and, with consent can work before 6 am and beyond 7 pm subject to such conditions relating to safety, holidays and working hours.
• For the first time, the labour code also recognises the rights of transgenders. It makes it mandatory for industrial establishments to provide washrooms, bathing places and locker rooms for male, female and transgender employees.

Code on Social Security Bill, 2020

• This will replace nine social security laws, including Maternity Benefit Act, Employees’ Provident Fund Act, Employees’ Pension Scheme, Employees’ Compensation Act, among others.
• The code universalizes social security coverage to those working in the unorganised sector, such as migrant workers, gig workers and platform workers.
• For the first time, provisions of social security will also be extended to agricultural workers also.
• The code also reduces the time limit for receiving gratuity payment from the continuous service of five years to one year for all kinds of employees, including fixed-term employees, contract labour, daily and monthly wage workers.

Concerns regarding the implementation of the codes (labour law reforms)

• The Government announced its intentions of implementing the Codes from April 2021 even as State governments were completely unprepared with the rules. Further, the major political parties reallocated their energies to regional elections rather than the implementation of codes.
• The central government has deferred the possible date of implementation to October 2021, while the Supreme Court of India has exerted pressure on both the central and the State governments to implement a ‘one nation, one ration card’ (ONOR) scheme (which is essential alongside the implementation of the labour law reforms) and register all the unorganised workers under the National Database for Unorganized Workers (NDUW), which was to have been done by July 2021. Hence, Government agencies are rushing to comply with both the directives.

Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA)

Context:

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has removed some crucial data from the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) website.

• The information removed includes the annual returns of NGOs and a list of NGOs whose licences have been cancelled.

Relevance:

GS-II: Polity and Governance (Government Policies & Interventions, Non-Governmental Organisations -NGOs), GS-III: Indian Economy (External Sector, Mobilization of Resources)

Dimensions of the Article:

1. What is the FCRA?
2. Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010
3. Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Act, 2020
4. Issues Related to FCRA
5. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in India
6. Why have NGOs been controversial recently?
7. MHA guidelines regarding FCRA and NGOs

What is the FCRA?

• The FCRA was enacted during the Emergency in 1976 amid apprehensions that foreign powers were interfering in India’s affairs by pumping money into the country through independent organisations.
• These concerns were, in fact, even older — they had been expressed in Parliament as early as in 1969.
• The law sought to regulate foreign donations to individuals and associations so that they functioned “in a manner consistent with the values of a sovereign democratic republic”.

Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010

The Foreign Contribution (regulation) Act, 2010 is a consolidating act whose scope is to regulate the acceptance and utilisation of foreign contribution or foreign hospitality by certain individuals or associations or companies and to prohibit acceptance and utilisation of foreign contribution or foreign hospitality for any activities detrimental to the national interest and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Key Points regarding FCRA

• Foreign funding of voluntary organizations in India is regulated under FCRA act and is implemented by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• The FCRA regulates the receipt of funding from sources outside of India to NGOs working in India.
• It prohibits the receipt of foreign contribution “for any activities detrimental to the national interest”.
• The Act held that the government can refuse permission if it believes that the donation to the NGO will adversely affect “public interest” or the “economic interest of the state”. However, there is no clear guidance on what constitutes “public interest”.
• The Acts ensures that the recipients of foreign contributions adhere to the stated purpose for which such contribution has been obtained.
• Under the Act, organisations require to register themselves every five years.

Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Act, 2020

• The Act bars public servants from receiving foreign contributions. Public servant includes any person who is in service or pay of the government, or remunerated by the government for the performance of any public duty.
• The Act prohibits the transfer of foreign contribution to any other person not registered to accept foreign contributions.
• The Act makes Aadhaar number mandatory for all office bearers, directors or key functionaries of a person receiving foreign contribution, as an identification document.
• The Act states that foreign contribution must be received only in an account designated by the bank as FCRA account in such branches of the State Bank of India, New Delhi.
• The Act proposes that not more than 20% of the total foreign funds received could be defrayed for administrative expenses. In FCRA 2010 the limit was 50%.
• The Act allows the central government to permit a person to surrender their registration certificate.

Issues Related to FCRA

• The Act also held that the government can refuse permission if it believes that the donation to the NGO will adversely affect “public interest” or the “economic interest of the state” – however, there is no clear guidance on what constitutes “public interest”.
• By allowing only some political groups to receive foreign donations and disallowing some others, can induce biases in favour of the government. NGOs need to tread carefully when they criticise the regime, knowing that too much criticism could cost their survival. FCRA norms can reduce critical voices by declaring them to be against the public interest – Hence, it can be said that FCRA restrictions have serious consequences on both the rights to free speech and freedom of association under Articles 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(c) of the Constitution.
• In 2016, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association undertook a legal analysis of the FCRA and stated that restrictions in the name of “public interest” and “economic interest” failed the test of “legitimate restrictions” as they were too vague and gave the state excessive discretionary powers to apply the provision in an arbitrary manner.

Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in India

• Worldwide, the term ‘NGO’ is used to describe a body that is neither part of a government nor a conventional for-profit business organisation.
• NGOs are groups of ordinary citizens that are involved in a wide range of activities that may have charitable, social, political, religious or other interests.
• In India, NGOs can be registered under a plethora of Acts such as the Indian Societies Registration Act, 1860, Religious Endowments Act,1863, Indian Trusts Act, etc.
• India has possibly the largest number of active NGOs in the world.
• Ministries such as Health and Family Welfare, Human Resource Department, etc., provide funding to NGOs, but only a handful of NGOs get hefty government funds.
• NGOs also receive funds from abroad, if they are registered with the Home Ministry under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA). There are more than 22,500 FCRA-registered NGOs.
• Registered NGOs can receive foreign contribution under five purposes — social, educational, religious, economic and cultural.

Why have NGOs been controversial recently?

• An Intelligence Bureau (IB) report, submitted to the PMO and National Security Adviser in 2019, alleged that several foreign-funded NGOs were stalling India’s economic growth by their obstructionist activism.
• In 2015, the Home Ministry had cancelled the FCRA licences of 10,000 organisations.
• The annual inflow of foreign contribution has almost doubled between the years 2010 and 2019, but many recipients of foreign contribution are being not utilised the same for the purpose for which they were registered or granted prior permission under amended provisions of the FCRA 2010.

MHA guidelines regarding FCRA and NGOs

• The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued new regulating guidelines to banks under Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. It states that the donations received in Indian rupees by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and associations from any foreign source (even if that source is located in India at the time of such donation) should be treated as foreign contribution.
• Under the issued regulations, donations given in Indian rupees (INR) by any foreigner/foreign source including foreigners of Indian origin like Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) or Person of India Origin (PIO) cardholders should also be treated as foreign contribution.
• The guidelines mandate that good practices should be followed by NGOs in accordance with standards of global financial watchdog- Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
• MHA asked NGOs to inform the Ministry about “suspicious activities” of any donor or recipient and “take due diligence of its employees at the time of recruitment.”

About I2U2 Initiative:

Context:

The U.S. believes that ‘I2U2’, a group comprising India, Israel, the U.S., and the UAE, can become “a feature” of the West Asian region, just like the Quad is for the Indo-Pacific.

Relevance:

GS II- International Relations

Dimensions of the Article:

1. About I2U2 Initiative
2. What is the aim of I2U2 grouping?
3. Significance

About I2U2 Initiative:

• Following the Abraham Accords between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, I2U2 was founded in October 2021 to address marine security, infrastructure, and transportation challenges in the region.
• It was known as the ‘International Forum for Economic Cooperation’ at the time.
• The ‘West Asian Quad‘ was coined to describe this situation.
• India, Israel, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates have formed the I2U2 initiative.
• ‘I2’ refers for India and Israel in the group’s name, while ‘U2’ stands for the United States and the United Arab Emirates.
• This is an outstanding achievement that reflects the region’s geopolitical shifts.

Focus:

This will not only revitalize and re-energize the system of alliances and partnerships around the world, but also stitch together partnerships that did not exist previously or were not utilized to their full extent.

What is the aim of I2U2 grouping?

• Its stated aim is to discuss “common areas of mutual interest, to strengthen the economic partnership in trade and investment in our respective regions and beyond”.
• Six areas of cooperation have been identified by the countries mutually, and the aim is to encourage joint investments in water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security. 

Significance:

• It empowers partners and encourages them to collaborate more closely, resulting in a more stable region.
• India is seen as a large consumer market as well as a large producer of high-tech and highly sought-after items in the United States.
• When it comes to Israel’s relationship with the United Arab Emirates, the US wants to improve commercial and economic ties between the two nations.
• The Abraham Accords will allow India to enhance its relationship with Israel without jeopardising its ties with the UAE and other Arab states.

Cervavac

Context:

The Serum Institute of India (SII)’s vaccine Cervavac recently received the Drugs Controller General of India’s (DGCI) approval for market authorisation.

Relevance:

GS III- Science and Technology

Dimensions of the Article:

1. About Cervavac
2. About Cervical cancer

About Cervavac:

• Cervavac is India’s first quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine (qHPV) vaccine, and intended to protect women against cervical cancer.
• Experts see this as a real opportunity to eliminate cervical cancer, and have expressed the hope that it will be rolled out in national HPV vaccination strategies, and be available a cost more affordable than existing vaccines.
• The vaccine is based on VLP (virus like particles), similar to the hepatitis B vaccine, and provides protection by generating antibodies against the HPV virus’s L1 protein.
• Experts have expressed hope that the DGCI approval will allow the government to procure enough HPV vaccines at a special price to vaccinate nearly 50 million girls aged 9–14 years in India who are waiting to receive the vaccine.
• This will be a huge step to accelerate cervical cancer elimination in India and globally, a statement from IARC-WHO has said.

About Cervical cancer:

• Cervical cancer is preventable, but kills one woman every eight minutes in the country.
• It is preventable as long as it is detected early and managed effectively.
• Cervical cancer is a common sexually transmitted infection.
• Long-lasting infection with certain types of HPV is the main cause of cervical cancer.
• Worldwide, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer type and the second most common cause of cancer death in women of reproductive age (15–44).
• India accounts for about a fifth of the global burden, with 1.23 lakh cases and around 67,000 deaths per year according to the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO).

Existing vaccines

• Two vaccines licensed globally are available in India — a quadrivalent vaccine (Gardasil, from Merck) and a bivalent vaccine (Cervarix, from GlaxoSmithKline).
• Although HPV vaccination was introduced in 2008, it has yet to be included in the national immunisation programme.