YOJANA September 2023

Chapter 1: Making of a Bureaucrat

  • The civil service in a democratic government is an important institution. It is charged with the responsibility of assisting the political executive in framing policies, implementing them through programmes that deliver governance and welfare, and discharging system maintenance services.
  • Through its successful actions, it generates public support for executive and legislative policy, and through its failings, it renders itself accountable to the instruments of parliamentary oversight.
  • Part XIV of India's Constitution provides for efficient 'public services' by creating the Union Public Service Commission and the State Commissions, together with elaborate safeguards that support professionalism.
  • Mission Karmayogi is a pragmatic programme, and while acknowledging the heterogeneity and complexity of the civil service architecture, it seeks to make incremental gains through capacity building at the interface point of civil servant-citizen and by changing behaviour, attitudes, and abilities.
  • The mission seeks to hone
    • The individual through its emphasis on the three-dimensional skills of behaviour, functional knowledge, and domain.
    • The nature of the Civil Service by rendering it adept and adaptive through continuous upskilling; and
    • The quality of services delivered through a shift from Rule to Role.
  • The implication of the shift from 'Rule' to Role' is the ability to curate and create learning material which has always been a specialist job, and content has always been king.
  • The transformation of a traditional rule-bound 'bureaucrat' into a role-driven 'civil servant' is a long-needed reform that augurs well for public welfare.
  • A public whose basic needs are well served by government administration without any dithering, harassment, or misconduct is the hallmark of modern societies.

Chapter 2: Accountability and Financial Administration

  • The institution of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) came into existence in the year 1860 and later gained Constitutional status in 1950.
  • The Constitution ensures the independence of the CAG (Article 148) from the legislature and the executive.
  • The CAG has complete discretion in the discharge of his functions, including the selection of audit issues, the manner of conduct and reporting of audits and the organisation and management of his office.
  • The CAG plays a key role in the Public Financial Management space of the country.
  • Public Finances are authorised for collection and utilisation by the Legislature; and the Executive appropriates sums of money in accordance with the budgetary allocations authorized.
  • The CAG advises the Government on the manner in which the accounts of the Union and State Governments are to be maintained.
  • While for the Union Government, the Controller General of Accounts prepares the accounts, for the State Governments, the responsibility is vested with the CAG.
  • The accounts of Union and State Governments are subject to audit by the CAG, who submits the audited accounts along with the Audit Report to the President of India, the Governors of the States, and the Administrators of the Union Territories (UTs) for laying in the Parliament and the State/UT Legislatures.
  • CAG has a nationwide audit mandate encompassing all three tiers of the federal structure of governance: The Union Government, the State/ UT Governments, and the local bodies, thus, ensuring that accountability is enforced up to the last mile.
  • The CAG's institution is a strong pillar in effecting transparency in financial systems and promoting good governance by providing timely, independent, and credible assurance on public resources.
  • The audit jurisdiction includes attached & subordinate offices, autonomous bodies, Statutory authorities and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs).
  • The CAG Audit Reports presented to the Parliament/State Legislatures are selected by the Legislative Committees for detailed examination.
  • The CAG functions as a friend, philosopher, and guide to the legislative committees by suggesting topics of focus and highlighting issues of concern.
  • The committees carry out an in- depth examination of the CAG's Audit observations and call upon the executive ministries and departments to explain their actions on the irregularities pointed out in the reports.
  • Audit by the CAG is of three types:
    • Financial attest audit to ascertain the accuracy and correctness of the financial statements of the entity.
    • Compliance audit to check adherence to applicable rules, regulations, and procedures; and
    • Performance audit to assess whether systems within the entity operate with economy, efficiency, and effectiveness.

Significance of CAG Audit

  • Significant audit observations are reported to the Parliament and the State legislatures through the CAG's Audit Reports.
    • These include the Audit Reports on Union Government Appropriation and Finance Accounts, State Finances Audit Reports, General Purpose Financial Reports on the functioning of Government PSUs, and a multitude of Compliance and Performance Audit Reports.
  • Besides audit observations on budgetary management, CAG's Audit Reports also contain information on macro fiscal analysis of key indices and fiscal position, including deficits/surplus, analysis of finances of the Government, critical changes in major fiscal aggregates relative to the previous year, trends, fiscal sustainability, the debt profile, and key Public Account transactions.
  • Audit efforts propel good governance by way of policy changes, design improvements, mid-course corrections, strengthening systems, etc.
  • Audit Reports on tax receipts contain instances of under-assessment of taxes, nonrecovery of receivables, and losses that necessitate recovery from the concerned parties.
  • Based on an audit of receipts during 2021 -22, the Union and State Governments accepted that recoveries of Rs 25,571 crore needed to be made. The Income Tax Department carried out recoveries of Rs 415 crore in the last three years to rectify errors in assessment of taxes pointed out by audit.
  • CAG 's audit of receipts has also proved instrumental in ensuring that public funds are realized in accordance with the prevailing laws.
  • CAG conducts audits of the Government companies in which classification errors, misstatements, irregularities requiring rectification in the financial statements, and issues in corporate governance are highlighted.

Recent Steps Taken

  • With digitalisation, Governments have moved towards an Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS), which is a comprehensive payment, receipt, accounting, and management information system.
  • An institutional framework for the digital audit of GST revenues has also been established.
  • Audits of financial systems in Government schemes such as MGNREGA, PM Awaas Yojana, DDUGJY, SAUBHAGYA, AIBP, and NRHM have been conducted, in which systemic issues relating to the release of funds to implementing agencies, unspent balances, non-submiss ion of utilization certificates; and financial irregularities such as diversion of funds, parking of funds, fraudulent expenditure, and non-realization of revenue were highlighted.

Conclusion

  • The CAG's institution upholds the trust reposed by tax payers in India and investors in Indian enterprises; and continues to contribute constructively towards the goal of establishing a robust financial administration.
  • Fundamental beliefs in the institutional values, professionalism, competence, social awareness, and commitment to provide credible assurance on the collection and utilisation of public resources are the key components that support the legacy of the prestigious institution of the CAG of India as a torchbearer of good governance.

Chapter 3: Parliamentary Committees Strengthening the scope and role

  • Parliament relies on Parliamentary Committees to thoroughly scrutinise specific issues. Therefore, Parliament functions in two modes: on the floor of the House and in Committees.
  • Reports submitted by the Committees allow for informed debate in Parliament. Additionally, Committees provide a forum to build consensus across party lines, develop subject expertise, and consult with experts and stakeholders.
  • Standing Committees can be· broadly categorised into four types:
    1. Department-related/subject,
    2. financial,
    3. accountability, and
    4. administrative.
  1. Department-related Committees, or subject Committees, ensure oversight over each ministry.
    • A Minister is not eligible to be a member.
    • There are 24 subject Committees, and each Committee has 31 members, with 21 from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha.
    • Membership in Committees is allocated to parties in proportion to their strength in the House.
    • Subject Committees review proposed laws, select subjects for closer examination, and scrutinise the allocated budget for each ministry.
  2. Financial Committees consist of three Committees: Estimates, Public Undertakings, and Public Accounts.
    • A minister is not eligible to be a member.
    • The Estimates Committee examines pre budget estimates of ministries; the Committee on Public Undertakings (CoPU) examines the functioning of public undertakings; and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) reviews the government's spending statement approved by Parliament.
  3. Accountability Committee: Apart from financial Committees and DRSCs, three other Committees ensure government accountability towards Parliament and citizens.
    • These are the Committee on Government Assurances, the Committee on Subordinate Legislation, and the Committee on Petitions.
  4. Administrative Committee: Both Houses of Parliament also require significant administrative support for their day-to-day functioning. The Houses have set up different Committees, such as the Business Advisory Committee which helps decide the daily agenda of Parliament. Table 1 provides a list of administrative Committees in Parliament.
  • There are several areas where Parliamentary Committees need improvement and strengthening.
  1. Referring all Bills to Committees: Currently, Bills are not automatically referred to a committee.
    • The decision of whether a Bill should be referred to a committee depends on the decision of the Speaker or Chairman, in consultation with the Minister presenting the Bill.
    • Referring all Bills to a Committee would ensure that all laws go through a minimum level of Parliamentary scrutiny.
  2. Attendance of MPs: Parliamentary Committees hold multiple meetings to discuss issues through deliberations among Members.
    • The participation of Members in these meetings is essential for the success of the Committee system.
    • However, the attendance of MPs in Committee meetings is low. In the 17th Lok Sabha, as of July 2023, the average attendance for subject Committees meetings was 47%.
    • The National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution Report (2002) noted that there was large scale absenteeism in Committee meetings.
  3. Shortage of technical staff and experts: Parliamentary Committees can consult with expert witnesses, stakeholders, and the public to better understand complicated issues and the potential impact of policies or legislation.
    • Currently, technical support available to Parliamentary Committees is limited to a secretariat that helps with scheduling meetings and taking notes.
    • This is in contrast to other democracies like Canada, where the Library of Parliament provides research staff to all Committees on request.
  4. Public transparency: As a measure of transparency the minutes of Parliamentary Committee meetings are included within Committee reports.
    • National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (2002) recommended that major reports of all Parliamentary Committees be discussed in Parliament, especially where there is a disagreement between any Committee and the Central Government.
    • The National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (2002) recommended certain reforms for Parliamentary Committees.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Parliamentary Committees serve an important role in scrutinising the work of the Government and improving the quality of Bills brought before Parliament. They enable parliamentarians to access stakeholder and expert views, and forge consensus across party lines on contentious issues.

Chapter 4: Direct Tax Reforms

  • Tax collections help the government to provide education, healthcare, housing, and other basic facilities to the people to improve their quality of life and address the problems of poverty, unemployment, and slow development.
  • While raising revenues, the government needs to ensure that it does not impact the development of trade and industry.
  • It is also the responsibility of the tax administration to ensure that every citizen pays their fair share of taxes.

Tax Reforms- Government of India has undertaken substantial tax reforms to ensure that tax collection increases in a non-adversarial manner through a stable and predictable tax regime.

There are four pillars of this reform-

  1. Removing exemption/deduction and reducing tax rates-
    • A study report to the G20 Development Working Group by the IMF, OECD, UN, and World Bank in October 2015 concluded that tax incentives are often found to be redundant in attracting investment in developing countries.
    • Corporate tax rates were reduced through the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2019, on 20 September 2019, to 25.17% (including surcharge and cess) for existing domestic companies, at their option, which do not avail of specified exemptions/deductions.
    • A lower rate of 17.16% (including surcharge and cess) was provided for new domestic manufacturing companies (incorporated on or after 1 October 2019) that start manufacturing on or before 31 March 2023 (later extended to 31 March 2024).
    • Similar lower tax rates have been provided for cooperative societies.
    • Similar reforms were carried out in personal income tax in 2020 by providing an option for taxpayers to shift to the new tax regime with lower tax rates but without exemption/deduction.
    • The Finance Act, 2023, has further reduced the tax rates in the new tax regime to make it more attractive.
    • The result of reducing tax rates by eliminating exemption/deductions has also started showing results.
  2. Widening and deepening tax base through various measures-
    • New Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) and Tax Collection at Source (TCS) provisions have been introduced like TDS on payment of rents by Individual/HUF, TDS on e-commerce operation, TDS on cash withdrawal above a threshold, TDS on large payments by Individual/HUF, TDS on Purchase of goods, TDS on benefit/perquisite in course of business/ profession.
    • Removing arbitrage on the sale of market-linked debentures and debt mutual funds, removing ambiguity on the taxation of return from business trusts classified as debt, putting a cap on saving long-term capital gains tax by way of investment in residential property, a higher surcharge for high-net-worth taxpayers, etc.
    • The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income & Assets) & Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, was enacted to make provisions to deal with the problem of black money, which is undisclosed foreign income/ assets stashed abroad.
    • The third-party information collection mechanism has been strengthened to collect information on undeclared income/assets.
    • Various amendments have been made to encourage the use of digital transactions in place of cash transactions.
  3. Using technology to increase efficiency in the income tax department-
    • Third-party information is populated in the Annual Information Statement (AIS), which is visible to the taxpayer at the time of furnishing his tax return. Thus, the taxpayer is urged to include all income in its tax return and pay proper tax voluntarily.
    • An e-Verification scheme has been introduced with a facility to update returns with some additional tax.
    • Faceless system of assessment and appearance has started in the Income Tax Department to bring efficiency to the process and provide taxpayers with the convenience of replying to various queries without visiting the income tax office.
    • End-to-end technology driven services are being provided to the taxpayers on the one hand and technology driven processing of tax returns with issuance of refunds within the department is being done on the other.
  4. Reducing litigation by providing tax certainty-
  • Tax litigation consumes a lot of time and resources from all stakeholders, i.e., taxpayers, tax administration, courts, and tribunals.
  • Advance Pricing Agreement (APA) has been a success story in reducing litigation in transfer pricing.

Result of these Reforms

  • The tax collection in direct tax has shown a significant increase having buoyancy of more than 1 over the years.
  • Direct tax growth is higher than the growth in GDP over a long period of time.
  • If we take the period from 2013-2014 to 2022- 23, in nine years, GDP has grown from Rs 113.55 lakh crore to Rs 272.41 lakh crore, i.e., growth of 140%.
  • During the same period direct tax collection grew from Rs 6 .39 lakh crore to Rs 16.61 lakh crore i.e., growth rate of 160% giving long term direct tax buoyancy of 1.15.
  • This higher than 1 tax buoyancy signifies efficiency of tax administration and success of various tax reforms.

Future Challenges

  • Tax policy reform is a continuous process. More reforms are contemplated along the above lines in order to ensure that direct tax collection remains buoyant.
  • More reforms are also required to reduce tax litigation and ensure tax certainty at an early stage.
  • Ease of doing business is also one area where tax policies are required to continue to pay attention.
  • It should always be the endeavor to ensure that all those who are required to pay indirect tax pay their tax fairly and voluntarily.

Chapter 5: Protecting the Interests of Consumers and Businesses

  • The Competition Law aims to protect the interests of both consumers and businesses by fostering a competitive environment in markets and preventing anticompetitive practices.
  • It ensures fair competition and a level playing field for all market players, thereby encouraging innovation and efficiency.
  • The law is enforced by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), which acts as a regulatory body to safeguard competition conditions and consumer welfare.
  • CCl's mandate includes preventing anticompetitive practices, promoting and sustaining competition, and protecting consumers interests.
  • While the Competition Law and Consumer Law approach the issue from different angles, they both seek to ensure the wellbeing of consumers.
  • Competition regulation corrects market disruptions, fostering economic development by providing freedom and incentives for businesses to grow while protecting consumers from powerful market players.

Role of CCI in markets and its tools

  • CCI, deriving its genesis from the Competition Act, 2002, has striven since its inception in 2003 to develop and flourish an ecosystem of healthy competition in the Indian Economy.
  • It is an expert body that acts as a watchdog for competition conditions in the Indian markets.
  • CCI uses a variety of tools and mechanisms to enforce competition laws, promote fair competition, and protect consumer interests.

Key tools employed includes following-

  1. Advocacy: Engaging in educational and awareness campaigns to promote competition principles among businesses, consumers, and policymakers. CCI publishes advocacy materials for guidance and use by stakeholders.
  2. Anti-Competitive Agreements Detection: Monitoring and investigating agreements between competitors that may violate the Competition Act, 2002, such as cartels, price-fixing, bid-rigging, market allocation schemes, resale price maintenance, etc.
  3. Abuse of Dominance Assessments: Scrutinising dominant firms' conduct to ensure they do not exploit their market power to harm competitors or exclude new entrants.
  4. Digital Tools and Data Analytics: CCI also uses advanced digital tools and data analytics to process datasets, identify potential violations, and support evidence -based decision-making.
  5. Fines and Penalties: Imposing fines and sanctions on those found guilty of violating competition laws serves as a deterrent and encourages compliance.
  6. International Cooperation: Cooperating with other competition authorities and regulatory bodies to address cross-border competition issues and also acquire international best practices.
  7. Market Studies: It helps identify potential areas requiring market correction and also suggest the formulation of evidence- based policies.
  8. Merger Control: CCI scrutinises mergers, acquisitions, and amalgamations in a quick and decisive manner. Provisions like Green Channel provide ease of business and facilitate trust among stakeholders.
  9. Leniency Programmes: Offering incentives to parties to come forward and provide information about their involvement in anti- competitive practices, often providing reduced penalties for cooperation.
  10. Remedies: Requiring companies to take corrective actions, divest assets, or make structural changes to address competition concerns identified by CCI.

Relation between Competition and Consumer Protection

  • Competition and consumer policies correct market failures and function effectively.
  • Consumer-specific laws focus on the demand side and advocate rights, while competition laws emphasise the supply side, guaranteeing consumers diverse choices and affordable prices.
  • Fair competition serves as a fundamental pillar for consumer welfare by offering a wide range of products and services at the lowest cost.

Relation between Competition and Business

  • Competition creates an environment where businesses are constantly pushed to improve, innovate, and meet consumers’ needs effectively.
  • Better competition in the local market results in greater productivity and growth and increases the international competitiveness of domestic businesses.
  • A distorted market burdened with anti-competitive ineffectiveness ends up hurting domestic GDP growth and can become detrimental to the economy of the nation at large.

Conclusion

  • As a linking law between businesses and consumers, competition law can be said to be a boon for both. On the business side, competition can help businesses identify consumers' needs and then develop new products or services to meet them, which in turn allows consumers to have access to better choices.

Chapter 6: Role of Constitutional Bodies in Strengthening Democracy

  • Constitutional bodies are the foundation of democracy as an institution. Their presence has been a critical factor in the resilience of Indian democracy. Considering the underlying philosophy and structural needs of democracy, constitutional bodies are needed to establish, protect, and perpetuate democratic ideals.
  • The most essential democratic body has to be the elected legislature, which makes laws.
  • The Indian Parliament, where both Houses are directly or indirectly elected, performs this primary function as a constitutional body.
  • Our Constitution through Part Ill ensures protection of the Fundamental Rights. To protect these rights, another essential constitutional body is required, in the form of an independent judiciary.
  • Courts, as constitutional bodies, have the critical function of safeguarding the Constitution itself, which sometimes means going against the people's will.
  • The courts also keep a check on all subordinate bodies created through laws and other constitutional bodies to ensure that they perform their functions as prescribed.
  • We have the unique distinction of having the world's largest and most comprehensive Constitution.
  • We have many more constitutional bodies than other jurisdictions. Our constitutional founders did this to ensure the rule of law system is deeply embedded in our governance system.
  • The benefits of prescribing constitutional status to these bodies are manifold.
  1. Permanency begets consistency and predictability in the functions and aspirations of people approaching these bodies.
  2. In a Rule of Law governance system, the Law is supreme, every person and institution is subordinate to it, and there is no scope for discretionary and arbitrary decision-making.
  3. It is evident that constitutional bodies are the foundation of democracy as an institution. The Parliament establishes the procedural requirements of democracy; the judiciary protects the substantive aspects of democracy; the EC ensures free and fair elections; and the UPSC and CAG also play a vital role in preserving democratic ideals.

Chapter 7: Administrative Reforms

  • Administrative reform is a political process designed to adjust the relationships between a bureaucracy and other elements in a society, or within the bureaucracy itself.
  • India has undertaken transformational reforms, with e-Governance models simplifying the citizen's interface with the government and bringing the government and citizens closer.
  • The Central Government's e-Governance models like Ayushman Bharat, PM's Jan Arogya Yojana, PM's Jan Dhan Yojana, One Nation-One Ration Card, and Passport Sewa Kendras have been successful in bringing transparency and openness to government processes.
  • The Prime Minister has adopted the policy of 'Maximum Governance Minimum Government’ which envisages a ' Digitally Empowered Citizen' and a 'Digitally Transformed Institutions radically changing India's governance landscape in scale, scope, and learning paradigms.

Effective Redressal of Public Grievances

  • Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) has been adopted and implemented across all the Central Ministries and Departments, attached, subordinate, and autonomous bodies.
  • Currently, 17 lakh citizens have registered themselves on this platform to file public grievances. 84,449 Grievance Officers and 950 appellate officers are mapped on the CPGRAMS portal.
  • In 2022, 18,19,104 grievances were received by all Ministries, Departments, States, and UTs of which 15,68,097 were redressed.
  • The average disposal time of Central Ministries and Departments has improved from 32 days in 2021 to 27 days in 2022.
  • The average grievance redressal time Central Ministries and Departments came down to 19 days in the period 1 January 2023 to 30 June 2023.
  • The 10-step CPGRAMS reforms adopted to improve the quality of disposal and reduce timelines had a significant impact.

Benchmarking Governance

  • Benchmarking Governance is an important Next Generation Administrative Reform.
  • The DARPG undertakes a biannual assessment of the governance of States and UTs.
  • It is done through the Good Governance index (GGI), which assesses the governance at the district level through the District Good Governance Index, and assesses the delivery of e -Services through the biannual National e -Services Delivery Assessment.
  • The Good Governance Index framework, covering 10 sectors and 58 indicators, represents a comprehensive framework for assessing the governance of States and UTs and presents a competitive picture for improvement.
  • The National e- Services Delivery Assessment (NeSDA) assesses the state of e-services Delivery across the Nation.

Secretariat Reforms

  • The Government implemented deep- rooted Secretariat Reforms through the initiative for increasing efficiency in decision making, which focuses on delayering, delegation of financial powers, adoption of e-office, and the Special Campaign 2.0 for institutionalizing swachhata and minimizing pendency.
  • Under Special Campaign 2.0, in 2022, the Swachhata Campaign was Implemented in 1,01,582 campaign sites, 64.92 lakh files were reviewed, 37.27 lakh files were weeded, 4.56 lakh public grievances were redressed.
  • e-File adoption in the Central Secretariat stands at 89.66 percent with 26.48 lakh e-files in June 2023, and the physical files stand at 7.17 lakh.

Chintan Shivir- In 2023, this concept gained considerable momentum following deliberations in the Council of Ministers that every Ministry should conduct internal, inhouse deliberations to take a fresh look at their governance models.

Civil Services Day

  • India observes 21 April every year as 'Civil Services Day’.
  • It is marked as an occasion for civil servants across the Nation to rededicate themselves to citizens and renew their commitment to public service and excellence in work.
  • The Civil Services Day 2023 was celebrated with the conference theme 'Viksit Bharat - Empowering Citizens and Reaching the Last Mile; with 2 Plenary Sessions and 4 Breakaway Sessions.

Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Public Administration

  • These were instituted to acknowledge, recognize, and award the extraordinary and innovative work done by districts, Central, and State Governments and organisations.
  • The 2022 Awards Schemes included Promoting Swachh Jal through the Har Ghar Jal Yojana, Promoting Swastha Bharat through Health and Wellness Centres, Promoting Quality Education through Samagra Shiksha, Holistic Development through the Aspirational District Programme.
  • With a special focus on saturation approaches, and Innovation categories for Central Ministries, States, and Districts.

Replication of Good Governance Practices

  • The Government has made significant efforts for the dissemination and replication of Award-winning nominations.
  • Since 2022, 16 National Good Governance Webinars have been held on a monthly basis, in which 32 PM's Award winners presented their successful initiatives.

National Conferences on e-Governance and National e-Governance Awards

  • The Government of India convenes the National Conferences on e-Governance every year in association with one of the States or UT Governments.
  • The 25th National e-Governance Conference, conducted at Katra, Jammu & Kashmir, was attended by over 1600 delegates, which included officials from the Government of India, State and UT Governments, industry, academia, and the private sector.
  • The Conference reiterated that open digital platforms are tremendous force multipliers and critical for providing affordable, interoperable technology to India's citizens.

Conclusion

  • It can be said that India has adopted several Next Generation Administrative Reforms in the period 2014-2023 to improve its time-tested administrative systems for carrying out functions of Nation-Building and the creation of an inclusive State.

Chapter 8: Women Empowerment Recent Reforms

  • It is well said that empowering a man leads to empowering an individual, but empowering a woman empowers an entire generation.
  • With a dedicated focus on empowering women as equal stakeholders, addressing domestic and professional abuse, ensuring their security, and fostering their impact in the twenty-first century, the current government has taken significant strides in this direction.

Gender Inequality

  • Governments and societies have put in a lot of effort to combat domestic violence through comprehensive legal frameworks, increased awareness campaigns, and support services for survivors.
  • Initiatives such as helplines, safe houses, and counselling programmes can provide crucial support to victims and help break the cycle of violence.

Ending Child Marriage

  • The persistence of child marriage robs girls of their childhood, education, and future prospects.
  • Efforts should focus on implementing and enforcing laws that set the minimum age for marriage, promoting girls' education, and raising awareness about the harmful consequences of early marriage.

Political Empowerment

  • Despite progress, women's representation in political institutions remains low.
  • Governments have adopted affirmative action policies, such as quotas, to increase women's participation in decision-making processes.
  • Encouraging political parties to nominate more women candidates, providing leadership training, and addressing systemic barriers are essential steps towards achieving equal representation in Parliament and local governments.

Economic Empowerment

  • Governments and businesses should promote equal pay for equal work, establish maternity leave and childcare policies, and provide access to finance and entrepreneurship training for women.
  • Encouraging women's participation in traditionally male-dominated sectors and dismantling barriers to career advancement will contribute to greater gender equality in the workforce.

Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

  • Governments should prioritize comprehensive sex education, family planning services, and safe abortion services.
  • Investments in healthcare infrastructure and addressing stigmas surrounding reproductive health will reduce unintended pregnancies and empower women to make informed choices about their bodies and futures.

Land Rights

  • Governments should enact and enforce legislation that ensures equal access to land, property rights, and inheritance laws.
  • Strengthening land tenure systems, providing legal assistance, and promoting women's land ownership awareness campaigns are essential for gender equality and poverty reduction.

Gender Budgeting

  • Governments must allocate sufficient resources to address the specific needs and challenges faced by women and monitor the effectiveness of these investments.
  • Transparent and accountable systems will ensure progress towards gender equality goals.
  • Combating violence, ending child marriage and female genital mutilation, promoting political and economic empowerment, safeguarding sexual and reproductive health rights, protecting land rights, and implementing gender-responsive budgeting are crucial steps towards achieving gender equality.

Government Initiatives for Women Empowerment

Conclusion

  • These reforms have played a crucial role in advancing women's rights and empowerment in India, fostering gender equality, and challenging systemic inequalities.
  • However, it is important to continue working towards creating a society that fully upholds and respects women's rights in all aspects of life.

Mains Practice Question

  1. Discuss the role of Public Accounts Committee in establishing accountability of the government to the people. (2017) (Answer in around 250 words)
  2. Discuss the various administrative reforms brought by the government recently, to encourage greater efficiency, transparency and create corruption free governance.(Answer in around 250 words)
  3. How does the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee keep the administration under its toes and inspire reverence for parliamentary control? Evaluate the working of such committees with suitable examples.(Answer in around 250 words)
  4. E-Governance is not only about utilization of the power of new technology, but also much about the critical importance of the ‘use value’ of information Explain.(Answer in around 250 words)
  5. Discuss the role and powers of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in regulating competition in the Indian market. How effective has the CCI been in promoting healthy competition and protecting consumers from anti-competitive practices? Examine.(Answer in around 250 words)
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