UN programs to end child marriages sees progress, China’s Belt & Road, Mudhumalai Tiger reserve, RBI to kickstart e-rupee in G-secs

UN programme to end child marriages sees progress in India

Steering committee members of a United Nations (UN) global programme to end child marriages are visiting India and said they were impressed with the country’s success in bringing down child marriages. Global Programme to End Child Marriage, A joint initiative of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), promotes the rights of adolescents to delay marriage.

What

1. The global programme, currently in its second phase (2020-2023), has reached over two million girls through life skills and education interventions, and galvanised 20 million community members to take action against child marriages and promote adolescent empowerment in 175 districts across 15 states in India.
2. The programme has supported close to 85,000 adolescent girls in India at risk of child marriage to enroll or remain in school.
3. India has seen a steady decline in the prevalence of child marriage, from 47.4 per cent in 2005 to 23.3 per cent in 2021.
4. The progress in India has led to a 50 per cent decline in child marriage in South Asia. However, the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to roll back the gains made so far.
5. The health, social, political and economic effects of the pandemic have worsened existing systemic gender inequalities and estimates indicate up to 10 million more girls could become child brides globally as a result of the pandemic.
6. The global programme will soon enter its third phase. This phase has the longer-term, gender-transformative goal of enabling significantly larger numbers of adolescent girls and boys to fully enjoy their rights and choices and experience a childhood free from the risk of marriage.

Prevalence of child marriage in India

•  NFHS-5 data show that about 25% of women aged 18-29 years married before the legal marriageable age of 18.
• Marginal decline: The proportion has declined only marginally from NFHS-4 (28%).
• Higher in rural India: Expectedly, the prevalence is higher in rural than urban India (28% and 17%, respectively).
• West Bengal has the highest prevalence (42%), followed by Bihar and Tripura (40% each).
• Oddly, the decline in child marriage has been paltry at best in these high-prevalence States.
• At the other end of the spectrum are Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala (6% to 7%).
• 39% of child marriages in India take place among Adivasis and Dalits.
• The share of advantaged social groups is 17% and the remaining share is of Other Backward Classes.

Role of structural issues in adverse health and educational outcomes

• Impact: Studies associate early marriage of women with early pregnancy, lower likelihood of accessing ante-natal care, higher risks of maternal morbidity and mortality, poor nutritional status of women and poor nutritional and educational outcomes of children.
• These studies seem to provide a rather compelling case for increasing the age of marriage of women from 18 to 21 years, as a delayed marriage might offer significant public health dividends.
• Structural factors at play: But a closer reading of the evidence shows that the association between child marriage and adverse health outcomes does not emerge in a vacuum.
• Rather, it is abetted by structural factors, including social norms, poverty, and women’s education.
• Role of social norms: It is because of social norms in many regions and cultures that parents begin preparations for a girl’s marriage once she has reached menarche.
• Role of poverty: A large proportion of child marriages take place primarily because of poverty and the burden of the huge costs of dowry associated with delayed marriages.
• Role of education:  The NHFS-5 data confirm that a significant proportion of child marriages takes place among women with less than 12 years of schooling and households that are socially and economically disadvantaged.
• The average age at marriage increases from 17 years among women who are illiterate and have had up to five years of schooling to 22 years among women who have had more than 12 years of schooling.
• This indicates that an increase in years of schooling goes hand in hand with an increase in age at marriage.
• While an increase in education is most likely to delay marriage, the increase in age at marriage may or may not increase women’s education.

Why the age of marriage of women matters

• Age of marriage has bearing on maternal mortality rates, fertility levels, nutrition of mother and child, sex ratios, and, on a different register, education and employment opportunities for women.
• It is also argued that other factors — such as poverty and health services — were far more effective as levers for improving women’s and children’s health and nutritional status.
• Child marriage curtail a girl’s opportunities to continue her education.
• And in turn, the lack of educational opportunities plays an important role in facilitating child marriage.

Way forward

• The fact that about one-fourth of women (18-29 years) in India have married before 18 years despite the law tells us that legally increasing the age of marriage may not fully prevent child marriages.
• 1] Ensure education for at least up to 12 years: Much of the benefits can be reaped by ensuring that women complete education at least up to 12 years.
• Bangladesh shows that improving women’s education and imparting modern skills to them that increase their employability reduces child marriage and improves health and nutrition.
• 2] Educational attainment criteria in schemes: Schemes which ease the financial burden of marriage but the eligibility criteria of which should essentially link to educational attainment in addition to age demand attention.
• The lessons from Janani Suraksha Yojana and the zeal demonstrated in ending open defecation might provide valid insights here.

Conclusion

A legalistic approach to increasing the age at marriage will produce positive results only if it leads to an improvement in women’s education and skill acquisition for employability. In the absence of an enhancement in women’s schooling or skills, a legalistic approach to ending child marriage might become counterproductive.

Maiden flight-test of ballistic missile defence interceptor

India on 2 November 2022 successfully conducted maiden flight test of Phase-II Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) interceptor AD-1 missile with a large kill altitude bracket from APJ Abdul Kalam Island, Odisha. The ministry stated that flight-test was carried out with participation of all BMD weapon system elements located at different geographical locations.

More about AD-1

1. The AD-1 is a long-range interceptor missile designed for both low exo-atmospheric and endo-atmospheric interception of long-range ballistic missiles as well as aircraft.
2. It is propelled by a two-stage solid motor and equipped with an indigenously-developed advanced control system, navigation and guidance algorithm to precisely guide the vehicle to the target.
3. According to the Defence Ministry, during the flight-test, all the sub-systems performed as per expectations and were validated by the data captured by a number of range sensors including Radar, Telemetry and Electro Optical Tracking stations deployed to capture the flight data.
4. The development of anti-ballistic missiles is said to have started by the DRDO around the 2000s in view of the development of ballistic assets by Pakistan and China.
5. The phase-1 of the programme is said to have been completed towards the end of 2010s and consisted of the advanced air defence systems and air defence systems based on the Prithvi missile.
6. The second phase, focuses on the development of anti-ballistic defence systems like the US’s Theatre High-Altitude Area Defence system, which can neutralise intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
7. The AD-II, which is capable of neutralising missiles of even higher ranges, is also said to be under development.

India’s position on China’s Belt and Road

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told a virtual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) hosted by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang that “connectivity projects should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Member States and respect international law”. Jaishankar’s statement is seen as a reference to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a massive multinational, multi-modal connectivity infrastructure project promoted by China. India does not support the BRI, and has declined to join the project.

What

1. A joint communique issued at the end of the meeting said Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan reaffirmed their support for China’s BRI and to work jointly to implement the project.
2. The major reason India opposes BRI is because it passes through Indian Territory that is illegally held by Pakistan.
3. The arm of the BRI project that links mainland China to the Arabian Sea runs from Kashgar in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region to Gwadar port in southwestern Baluchistan in Pakistan.
4. The project enters Indian territory occupied by Pakistan in Gilgit Baltistan, and traverses the entire length of Pakistan from north to south before reaching the Arabian Sea.
5. This arm of the BRI is called the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, and consists of multiple modern highway and railway projects.
6. India has repeatedly voiced its concern and opposition to the CPEC, and flagged the violation of international law in its building by China and Pakistan.
7. In July 2022, India took note of reports about the participation of third countries in CPEC projects, and cautioned that “any such actions directly infringe on India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
8. On 11 March 2020, the government told Parliament that India’s “consistent and principled position, as also enunciated in the Parliament resolution adopted unanimously by both Houses on 22 February 1994, is that the entire Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh have been, are and shall be an integral part of India”.

About SCO:

• Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental international organization for regional security.
• SCO was created in 2001 as a successor to Shanghai Five which was constituted by Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
• After Uzbekistan joined the organization in 2001, the Shanghai Five was renamed as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
• India and Pakistan joined the grouping in 2017, Iran became the newest member of the grouping in 2022 while Belarus has applied for membership.
• India is going to be the next Chair of the SCO, and will be hosting the summit in 2023.

About BRI:

• Belt and Road initiative is an investment program that aims at infrastructure development and economic integration of countries along the route of the historic Silk Road.
• The Initiative was announced in 2013 by China’s President Xi Jinping and was previously called as the one belt one road initiative.

It encompassed five kinds of activities:

• Policy coordination
• Trade promotion
• Physical connectivity
• Renminbi internationalisation
• People to people contacts.

Concerns about BRI:

• The projects undertaken under BRI are all allotted to Chines State owned companies most of which bring in Chinese workers. These practices result in economic loss for the host country.
• BRI is seen as a debt trap instrument of the Chinese as seen in Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
• India has raised concerns about violation of its sovereignty by the BRI since a part of it called the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) passes through Pakistan occupied Kashmir.
• BRI projects are also marred with allegations of corruption and bribery. Massive protests have been happening in BRI sites in many countries including Pakistan.

Invasive tree spreading in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve

About Mudumalai Tiger Reserve:

• Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary was established in 1942 in the Mudumalai forest area in Tamil Nadu.
• Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary was designated as Mudumalai National Park in 1990.
• Mudumalai was designated as a tiger reserve by the Tamil Nadu state government in April 2007.
• The place is home to over 100 tigers and over 260 species of birds. About 8% of all species of birds found in India are seen here.
• Rare birds like Malabar Gray Hornbill and Malabar Laughing Thrush are some of them.
• Mudumalai Tiger Reserve is also home to elephants, spotted deer, wild boar, porcupine, panthers, and so on. One can also find rare species of plants such as giant bamboo and valuable timber trees, such as rosewood, teak, etc.
• Moyar River acts as a separation between the forest of Bandipur National Park and the Mudumalai sanctuary to the south which also separates the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

About Senna spectabilis:

• Senna spectabilis is a plant species of the legume family (Fabaceae) in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae native to South and Central America.
• The plant has become an invasive alien species in parts of Africa such as Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda, and also in South-India.
• The thick foliage of the tree arrests the growth of other indigenous tree and grass species.
• Thus, it causes food shortage for the wildlife population, especially herbivores.

About Lantana camara:

• Lantana camara is a highly variable ornamental shrub, native of the neotropics.
• It has been introduced to most of the tropics and subtropics as a hedge plant and has since been reported as extremely weedy and invasive in many countries including India.
• It competes with native plants for space and resources, and also alters the nutrient cycle in the soil.
• This invasion has resulted in the scarcity of native forage plants for wild herbivores.

RBI To Kickstart E-Rupee Pilot In G-Secs

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has stated that the first trial in the Digital Rupee, or e-rupee, in the wholesale segment will begin on November 1, 2022, in government securities.

Background

• According to the RBI, the use case for this e-rupee pilot is the settlement of secondary market transactions in government securities.
• The use of e-rupee in the wholesale segment is projected to increase the efficiency of the interbank market.
• The first pilot in the Digital Rupee – Retail segment is scheduled to launch in a month in chosen regions with limited user groups of customers and merchants.
• Settlement in central bank money would lower transaction costs by eliminating the requirement for settlement guarantee infrastructure or collateral to limit settlement risk.
• The e-rupee pilot will involve nine banks: State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank, and HSBC.

What is Digital Rupee or e-rupee?

• A Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) or Digital Rupee/e-Rupee is a digital version of a central bank’s currency notes. A digital rupee, often known as an e-rupee, is a kind of money that may be used in contactless transactions.
• The Finance Minister, declared during the presentation of the Union Budget 2022 that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will shortly launch its digital currency.
• CBDC will be accepted as a payment medium and legal tender by all three parties – individuals, government agencies, and businesses.
• Because it is government-backed, it may be readily exchanged for money or notes from any commercial bank.
• It is quite similar to banknotes, but because it is digital, it is likely to be easier, faster, and less expensive.
• According to the RBI, it also offers all of the transactional benefits of other types of digital money.
• The central bank stated that the digital currency is intended to supplement, rather than replace, present forms of money and to give users with an extra payment pathway, rather than to replace existing payment systems.

What is the Significance of Digital Rupee or e-rupee?

• According to the central bank, e-rupee, or CBDC, can be structured as either token-based or account-based.
• A token-based CBDC would be a bearer instrument, similar to banknotes, in that whoever owns the tokens at any one moment is believed to own them.
• An account-based system would necessitate the keeping of a record of all CBDC holders’ balances and transactions, as well as indicating the ownership of the monetary balances.
• In this situation, an intermediary will authenticate an account holder’s identification.
• Under the RBI’s consideration, there are two methods for the issuance and administration of CBDCS: direct model (single tier model) and indirect model (two-tier model).
• In the direct approach, the central bank will be in charge of all elements of the digital rupee system, including issuance, accounting, and transaction verification.
• In an indirect approach, the central bank and other intermediaries (banks and other service providers) each fulfil their respective roles.
• The central bank will issue CBDC to customers indirectly through intermediaries in this approach, and any claims by consumers will be managed by the intermediary.

What are the issues related to Digital Rupee in India?

• Cybersecurity: Digital Rupee ecosystems may be vulnerable to cyber-attacks in the same way that traditional payment systems are.
• Concerns about privacy: The Digital Rupee is projected to create massive amounts of data in real time.
  • The privacy of the data, as well as worries about its anonymity and effective usage, will be a hurdle.
• Financial illiteracy and the digital divide: The NFHS-5 also provides data segmentation based on the rural-urban difference.
  • Only 48.7% of rural males and 24.6% of rural females have used the internet at some point in their lives.
  • As a result, the CBDC may widen the gender gap in financial inclusion, as well as the digital divide.

What is the difference between Digital Rupee and Cryptocurrency?

• A cryptocurrency is a blockchain-based decentralised digital currency and medium of trade.
• However, it has mostly been problematic owing to its decentralised character, which means that it operates without the intervention of any middleman like banks, financial organisations, or central agencies.
• In contrast, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) would be legal currency in digital form.