30 June 2023 : Indian Express
Indian Express
30-June-2023
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1. NO HIGH TABLE FOR WOMEN
Syllabus – GS I, GS II, GS IV
Context – More women enter civil services; only some get senior posts in core ministries.
Challenges Faced by Women
- PV Narasimha Rao, the 10th prime minister, appointed a Camelot of bureaucrats, technocrats, and politicians to usher in the liberalisation of India’s economy. This team, whose decisions affected the lives of all Indians, was comprised solely of men in 1991.
- There weren’t enough women in the Indian Administrative Services (IAS). Recruitment rules were skewed in favour of men. For instance, only unmarried women could join the services and had to quit if they subsequently married. After the marriage disqualifier was removed, the ratio of women to men in the IAS went from 1:82 in 1960 to 1:8 in the 1970s.
- Second, such structural changes happened too late. Thus, by 1991 when Rao was putting together his team, women officers were either too junior in rank or ongoing systemic issues kept them out of senior positions.
- Third, even with entry barriers gone, postings were overshadowed by mistrust in women’s abilities. Women have largely been seen fit for only “soft” departments. India still hasn’t boasted a woman as RBI governor, cabinet secretary, or chief economic advisor.
- Rao’s team had technocrats from academia and multilateral organisations. Yet, Padma Desai, who taught and influenced many of the members of the Rao Camelot, was never actually invited to the table.
- In her book, Breaking Through, Isher Judge Ahluwalia writes that though she was offered a lateral position in the services, it was a lower-grade post than her husband, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, had been given when he joined laterally at a younger age and with qualifications lower than hers.
- Organisations like the IMF and the World Bank served as revolving doors through which talent came to India. But in all these years, this group has largely comprised men, including the position of executive director (India) to the World Bank. This is also a fallout because these financial institutions did not have female leadership from even the developed nations until the 2000s.
Leading Ladies
- Renuka Viswanathan, the first woman district magistrate in Karnataka, had a doctorat d’etat, higher than a doctorate, in public finance from Paris Dauphine University. Yet, when she sought a spot in the finance ministry in the 1980s, her appointment was not an easy yes. Her file was pushed to Rajiv Gandhi’s office, which had just appointed Sarla Grewal as India’s first woman principal secretary to the prime minister. Gandhi intervened and deemed Viswanathan best suited for the finance ministry.
- Sudha Pillai, who would be robbed of the chance to become India’s first woman cabinet secretary, as joint secretary in the industry ministry, worked on amending the anti-monopoly law.
- Janaki Kathpalia, additional secretary (budget), worked closely with Manmohan Singh in preparing the union budgets from 1991-1995.
- Sindhushree Khullar, then commerce minister P Chidambaram’s private secretary, oversaw significant changes in trade policy.
- Though a junior officer of the Indian Economic Service, Vandana Aggarwal assisted Rakesh Mohan, then economic advisor to the industry ministry, in preparing the New Industrial Policy 1991 that abolished industrial licensing.
Breaking the Monopolies
- Of the 933 candidates selected in the latest round of the union civil service examinations, 320 were women, the highest ever. They also secured six spots in the top 10, including the top four ranks, repeating last year’s record. These trends are promising as they indicate that more women, competent no less, are entering the bureaucracy than before.
- However, these numbers do not indicate how many will reach top leadership positions in the services, particularly in the ministries of finance, commerce and industry, home, and defence.
- With the rise in the number of women entrants, the services have yet another chance to reflect on their talent retention and advancement policies such that the high table is not just a preserve of men.
2. A CRY FOR HELP
Syllabus – GS III
Context – The crisis in Manipur has a fallout in the neighbouring state of Mizoram.
Issues
- At least 12,000 people have crossed over from Manipur to Mizoram to escape the ethnic violence that has wreaked havoc since May.
- About 3,000 are lodged in camps, while the rest are living with relatives and friends.
- Mizoram has already offered shelter to many people who fled Myanmar after the 2021 military coup.
- The state administration has said that the Centre is ignoring its pleas for funds to relieve the displaced people and is now running short of resources.
- There are costs involved in providing relief, such as extending educational facilities to children from displaced families—1,500 students have been admitted to local schools so far, according to the state government.
Reasons
- Mizoram shares borders with both Manipur and Myanmar. Residents of Mizoram have kinship ties with the Chin people in Myanmar and the Kukis in Manipur.
- Ethnic bonds predate the formation of national citizenship and regional identities, which explains the movement of people across borders, international and state, in times of strife.
- Shared religious faith is also a factor, though less pronounced than ethnic identity.
- While the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has asked state governments to maintain vigil at the international borders, Mizoram, in particular, has seen a steady stream of people coming in from Myanmar.
- The state government, civil society groups such as the Young Mizo Association and church groups have been in the forefront of providing relief. Mizoram also hosts a large Chakma population that has fled persecution in Bangladesh, though the Mizos share a tense relationship with the mostly Buddhist Chakmas. The influx of people from the Kuki-Zomi homeland in Manipur to Mizoram is influenced by the same reasons that drew in refugees from the Chin state in Myanmar.
Way Ahead
- Any policy prescription will have to be framed after factoring in the region’s complicated history of state formation.
- The Centre, preoccupied with finding a political solution to the ethnic strife in Manipur, needs to consider the plight of internally displaced persons more. It could start with providing funds, food and other relief material to Aizawl, which seems overstretched.
- The hospitality that Mizoram has generously extended to fellow Indians in distress as well as those on the run from the Tatmadaw junta in Myanmar should not be allowed to become a burden that the state shoulders alone.
For Enquiry
30 June 2023 : Indian Express
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30 June 2023 : The Hindu Editorial
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29 June 2023 : The Hindu Editorial
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