Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon (Polity(Social Justice)) – June 10, 2020

Global Gender Gap Report, 2020 by World Economic Forum benchmarks 153 countries on their progress towards gender parity across four thematic dimensions:

• Economic Participation and Opportunity
• Educational Attainment
• Health and Survival, and
• Political Empowerment.

India slipped four places to 112th rank and has closed two-thirds of its overall gender gap (score of 66.8%). While India has improved in political empowerment, it has fallen in other three indicators. India is the only country among the 153 countries studied where the economic gender gap is larger than the political one.

Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

• The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.
• A functional commission of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), it was established by ECOSOC resolution 11(II) of 21 June 1946.
• The CSW is instrumental in promoting women’s rights, documenting the reality of women’s lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women.

In 1996, ECOSOC in resolution 1996/6 expanded the Commission’s mandate and decided that it should take a leading role in monitoring and reviewing progress and problems in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and in mainstreaming a gender perspective in UN activities.

To deal with child sexual abuse cases, the Government has brought in a special law, namely, The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. The Act has come into force with effect from 14th November, 2012 along with the Rules framed there under.

Provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act:

• The Act defines a child as any person below eighteen years of age and regards the best interests and well-being of the child as being of paramount importance at every stage, to ensure the healthy physical, emotional, intellectual and social development of the child.
• It defines different forms of sexual abuse, including penetrative and non-penetrative assault, as well as sexual harassment and pornography, and deems a sexual assault to be “aggravated” under certain circumstances, such as when the abused child is mentally ill or when the abuse is committed by a person in a position of trust or authority vis-à-vis the child, like a family member, police officer, teacher, or doctor
• It also seeks to establish Special Courts for speedy trial of such offences. The Act stipulates that a case of Child Sexual Abuse must be disposed of within one year from the date the offence is reported.
• It also provides for relief and rehabilitation of the child, as soon as the complaint is made. The Special Juvenile Police Unit or the local police are also required to report the matter to the Child Welfare Committee within 24 hours of recording the complaint, for long term rehabilitation of the child.
• It is gender neutral law, wherein the law takes cognizance of sexual crimes committed against both girls and boys under the age of 18 years.

It does not recognize consensual sexual acts among children or between a child and an adult. Prosecutes any person (including a child) for engaging in a sexual act with a child irrespective of whether the latter consented to it.

The Hague Convention protects children and their families against the risks of illegal, irregular, premature or ill-prepared adoptions abroad. To do this, the Hague Convention puts:

• safeguards in place to make sure that all inter-country adoptions are in the best interests of the child and respects their human rights,
• a system in place of cooperation among countries to guarantee that these safeguards are respected, and to prevent the abduction of, sale of, or traffic in children.

For Hague adoptions, the authorities in both countries must agree to go ahead with the adoption. For non-Hague adoptions, requirements may vary from one country to another.

The Hague Convention does not allow private adoptions in the child’s home country.

NATIONAL LEGAL SERVICES AUTHORITY (NALSA) VS UNION OF INDIA case was filed by the NALSA to legally recognize persons who fall outside the male/female gender binary, including persons who identify as “third gender”.

• This was a landmark decision where the apex court legally recognised “third gender”/transgenderpersons for the first time and discussed “gender identity” at length.
• The Court recognised that third gender persons were entitled to fundamental rightsunder the Constitution and under International law.

Further, it directed state governments to develop mechanisms to realise the rights of “third gender”/transgender persons.

Bandicoot is a robotic system for manhole and sewer line cleaning aimed at the complete elimination of manual scavenging from the face of earth. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in 2019 procured a ‘Bandicoot’, which would help end the practice of manual scavenging.

The committees/commissions related to De-notified/criminal tribes.

• The Ananthsayanam Ayyangar Committee(gave a comprehensive report on how CTA worked throughout India), the CTA was repealed in August 1949 and former “criminal tribes” were de-notified in 1952, when the Act was replaced with the Habitual Offenders Act, 1952 of Government of India.
• In 2002, Justice Venkatchaliah Commissionrecommended for strengthening the programmes for economic and educational development of De-Notified Tribes (DNTs).
• National Commission for De-notified Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes was constituted in 2005 under the chairmanship of Balkrishna Sidke Renke, to study the socio-economic conditions of these groups.

Another National Commission for De-notified Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes chaired by Bhiku Ramji Idate was constituted in 2015 for a three-year period. It submitted its report viz “Voices of the Denotified, Nomadic & SemiNomadic Tribes” in 2018.

The Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA).

Statement 1 is incorrect: HEFA has been set up on 31st May 2017 by the Central Government as a non-profit, Non Banking Financing Company (NBFC).

Statement 2 is correct: HEFA was established to mobilize extra-budgetary resources for building crucial infrastructure in the higher educational institutions under Central Government.

NOTE: The Government has approved the authorised equity capital expansion of Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA)  to Rs. 10,000 crore, with Government equity of Rs. 6000 crore.

• An amount corresponding to 10% of the Government equity would be contributed by the partner institution, Canara Bank.
• All Centrally Funded Educational Institutions in Higher Education, School Education and Medical Education sectors are eligibleto avail of loans through HEFA.

The RISE by 2022 is an attempt to translate the objectives into action plan by making available resources from the market. The objectives of RISE by 2022 are:

• Qualitatively upgrade the researchand academic infrastructure in India to global best standards by 2022.
• Make India into an education hubby making available high quality research infrastructure in Indian higher educational institutions.
• To allow access of HEFA funding to institutionslike Central Universities, AIIMS, IISERs and newly created Institutes of National Importance, without creating any additional burden to the students.
• To bring greater accountability and speed in executionof infrastructure projects and avoid all cost/time over-runs, moving from the block-grant mode to project-mode for all infrastructure projects.

To cater to the requirements of the Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas, and medical institutions like AIIMSs in a faster time frame.

The report “Healthy States, Progressive India”.

Statement 1 is incorrect: The report has been developed by NITI Aayog, with technical assistance from the World Bank, and in consultation with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Statement 2 is correct: It ranks states and Union territories innovatively on their year-on-year incremental change in health outcomes, as well as, their overall performance with respect to each other.