How would you have answered this question?
1. What makes the Indian society unique in sustaining its culture? Discuss.
- Its Consntitutional backing of idea of secularism for e.g. preamble, FRs(A25 to 28),etc.
- Its historic/ancient Ideas and beliefs like Athithi devo bhava, vasudhaivakutumbakam
- Its concept of Unity in diversity e.g.- inter-religious harmony(Muslims celebrating Diwali, Hindus enjoying sewayi on Eid)
- Its phenomena of Social service-Religious practices nexus, example, langar in gurudwara or temple, donations during relief work like Uttarakhand floods
- Its historical background- e.g. being a slave of a foreing land for more than 200 years,(The pain and sorrow that a golden bird faces after being chained). A reason why India is strictly against imperialism/colonialism.
- It’s openness to various faiths and people from all over the world. For example, India-Japan cultural ties, India-Tibet ties(Buddhism).Foreigners visiting holy places like Rishikesh.
- Its cultural proximity with neighbouring nations. Example- cuisines it share with its neighbouring countries like Biryani and Korma famous in 3 countries of south asia(India, Afghanistan and Pakistan).
All these incidents and factors have culminated/resulted into present India which is Tolerant, Diverse, Open,Strong and Vibrant in nature.
You’ve got good diverse points and plenty of examples, so that’s good. But some lacuna in meeting demand of the question.
1. So you’ve pinpointed the unique aspect of our society. But what’s lacking is showing how that uniqueness helps in sustaining our cultures
2. Some fodder points
Introduction- Talk about how india has sustained its core culture since the time of Rig Veda. Eg Naturalism, respecting elders etc
Body- what helps India in sustaining its culture is few unique features
A. Central role of family- helps in passing on culture and tradition to children, more effective in joint family. Eg celebrating auspicious days
B. Diversity- India is diverse in its language, religion, ethnicity etc
- Diversity helps be a natural barrier to homogenisation attempts because of differing sense and sensibilities
C. Traditionalism- Indian society is yet very much traditional and rigid which attempts to ward off attempts at change. Eg Patriarchy/ homely remedies for illness
D. Spirituality as a central theme- being attached to religion, spiritualism and its associated scriptures ensures that there remains a standard belief and practise of certain values and behaviour. Eg Food eating habit
E. Constitution- Indian constitution is a living document which ensures that Indian values are relevant via contemporary times. Eg Adopting principled distance model of secularism, clean environment as key to right to life
Despite such uniqueness there remains challenges in sustaining our culture from the forces of globalisation, rise of social media and modernisation attempts at many fronts.
Conclusion- To ensure that India remains true to its spirit of rich culture and heritage but also is open to genuine modernisation, focus should be on value education in school and village led development model to prevent impact of unwanted values associated with urbanisation.
(There can be much better points in conclusion too)
Q. Women's leadership and representation in the technology sector remains low. What according to you are the reasons? Explain.
The STEM sector which encompasses majority of the broader technology sectors is valued at a over $150bn in India. Despite its reach, women representation lacks in STEM with mere 14% participation according to UN report.
Reasons for low representation and leadership
1. Gender stereotype- from the time of birth, girl child’s interest are shaped by stereotypes surrounding her. This impacts aspirations of many girls to aim for technological sector.
2. Educational attainment- Women enrolment in higher secondary is very low due to gender bias against women in accessing higher education
3. Dual burden- handling home and work takes mental toll on women, on account of which very few continue to attain leadership position
4. Glass ceiling- Prevents women from getting promotion to lead a company
5. Nature of technological sector- research requires long term investment into a specific area of interest. With low pay and child bearing responsibility, women find it disadvantageous to enter it.
Despite such systemic issues, India has been taking strides to correct the gap
A. 1:1 ratio for men and women in BSc enrolment, while women are more than men in MSc enrolment
B. India has the highest female graduates in STEM field globally
C. Government push via - Companies Act mandating women director in all firms (technology related too)
- ISRO’s young scientist programme will interest girls to take up science and technology related careers
The need is to take advantage of higher female graduate in STEM sector and imbibe them in proffsssional sphere. Role of CII and NASSCOM are crucial to promote industries to ensure gender diversity and parity at all levels. While civil society and educational reform should tackle attitudinal challenge against girls to unshackle their potential in technology.
‘Globalisation is generally said to promote cultural homogenisation but due to this cultural specificities appear to be strengthened in the Indian society.’ Elucidate. 15 marks (Mains 2018)
Pointers
1. Introduction- Define globalisation
- Why it promotes homogenisation
2. Body
A. Homogenisation in India- English language, Attire (jeans), McDonaldisation, use of technology, changing value system (individualism), promote rationality and liberal ideals
B. In India- due to perceived threat to culture, inequality giving rise to relative deprivation, cultural specificities rising
C. Cultural specificities- regional language in education, traditional medicine, rise of yoga, call of self reliance, regional cinema
3. Conclusion- The World Economic Forum correctly notes that, post covid globalisation will need to see roll back to traditional wisdom in culture. Need is for society to be open and flexible to modernisation while blocking attempts at westernisation. India can take a lead with its rich cultural heritage and its ability to hybridise plethora of cultures.
@upsc2020 @TheNotorious @rashiv plz suggest smthing
Good answer, covered basic points well. Suggestions:-
1. It’ll be convenient if you uploaded picture after rotating it
2. Introduction- enrich your introduction by adding background of the act. In the backdrop of swadeshi movement and mounting pressure on britishers, the Morley Minto reforms occurred.
3. Body- just add a point of provisioning of 1 Indian in executive council (Satyendra Sinha)->was to confuse moderates by giving illusion of representation
4. Conclusion- add a good point of the reform too. It was a step towards increasing representation of Indians and their powers to keep a check on the legislators.
@rashiv Would you want to suggest topics for making brief pointers?
I think we can start with something easy like cyclone. Prepare notes for GS 1(geography) and also GS 3 (DM).
As a second option we could do->impact of lockdown on women (Society)
GS 1: Effects of Lockdown on Women
1.
Economy: Women’s economic resources are being hit hardest. Economic crises hit women harder. Why?
- Women tend to earn less.
- Women have fewer savings.
- Women are disproportionately more in the informal economy.
- Women have less access to social protections.
- Women make up the majority of single-parent household
Oxfam India estimates the economic loss from women losing their jobs during the pandemic at about $216 billion, knocking off 8% from the country’s gross domestic product. World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2020 ranks India 112th of 153 countries in offering equal opportunities to women and men, and women often don’t have the same access to health care and education as their male counterparts.
2. Psychological Impact: Emotional impact of the pandemic is disproportionately falling on women’s shoulders in most countries. Increases in unpaid care and domestic work, job and income loss, and the effects of the lockdown on gender-based violence are among the factors that may be contributing to higher rates of stress and anxiety among women.
3. Increased the unpaid care and domestic workload, and women are bearing the heaviest burden. Factors such as double shifts for working women, the absence of assistance of house-help, and the increased need for cooking, cleaning, caring and hygiene is further increasing and tipping our skewed balance of domestic work today.
4. Public transit was interrupted across regions, limiting many women’s mobility as they are less likely than men to own a vehicle.
5. Civil society organizations (CSOs) who provide services to women victims of violence have seen increases in the number of victims reaching out for help. More than 40 per cent of those CSOs saw increases in cases of violence perpetrated by family members. National Commission for Women has recorded a two-fold increase in gender-based violence across the country, with the body receiving 257 calls in the final week of March as opposed to 116 calls in the first week.
6. There are 11.8 million women with disabilities in India who experience considerable difficulties in the everyday lives. With high poverty levels, poor health conditions, lower incomes, lower education and a patriarchal system they face further dangers in COVID-19. Information to the deaf and those with intellectual disabilities was not available. Personal assistants and health care were not available. It was also seen that the policy of social distancing was excluding them as they were dependent on personal assistants.
7. Education: girls’ education was disadvantaged — as only 29% of Internet users in India are female, and there’s tendency for families with limited means to give preference to boys for schooling.
8. Women were at higher risk of contracting the virus because they are overrepresented in the health-care sector.
9. Provision of family planning and other sexual health commodities including menstrual health items were impacted as supply chains were under strains from the pandemic. Unplanned pregnancies due to lack of abortion facilities.
10. Small and growing businesses (SGBs) have been hit during the pandemic esp. women entrepreneurs. Gender-lens investing was becoming a part of mainstream conversations but that took a setback.
11. A positive effect of the pandemic, could be that employers start offering more flexible and work-at-home options to their employees. This would help educated women enter and stay in the labour force and not be forced to drop out after child-birth, though the long-term implications for career progression will be unclear in this option.
Since public health emergencies are not gender-neutral, it’s time to devise a gender-balanced response to fight them. Post Covid-19 situation may bring more and more behavioural and mental changes among women with huge post-traumatic stress. Policy decisions need to articulate gendered concerns during public health emergencies because gender-sensitive pandemic planning may substantially mitigate these concerns.
@rashiv
Data
- 20% increase in violence against women worldwide (UN)
Impact
- UN Women- 1.5 trillion $ loss due to violence on women
- Women impact->impacts child->demographic dividend
- Failure of protection of HR
- Reduces gains achieved in past years
- Suicides
Way forward
- Gender auditing and perspective during crisis
- UN Women- strengthen services like helpline, digital counsellor, online reporting
- message from law enforcement officers to reassure women and against men. Eg Mumbai police on Twitter
- women part of decision making process to have inclusive outcomes
Yes, good next topic to take up !
