SYNOPSIS- IASbaba’s TLP 2016 [6th May] – UPSC Mains GS Questions [HOT]

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SYNOPSIS- IASbaba’s TLP 2016 [6th May] – UPSC Mains GS Questions [HOT]

1. What is your opinion on marital rape? Should it be made punishable under the Indian Penal Code? Give the pros and cons of such move if adopted.

• Intro:

Marital rape (also known as spousal rape and rape in marriage) is non-consensual sex (i.e., rape) in which the perpetrator is the victim’s spouse. It is a form of partner rape, domestic violence and sexual abuse.

• Body:

According to NFHS (National Family Heath Survey) – 1 in 12 women had at some point faced sexual violence. Of these, 93% had experienced this at the hands of their spouses

Presently section 375 of IPC exempts sex under marriage from being charged with rape. It should be made punishable under the IPC, as suggested by Justice J.S. Verma committee, because:

• Pros:

1. Women will get their constitutional rights provided under art 21, and will be treated as a human being, and not as a personal property of the husband, to be used for sex as and when he desires.
2. It will strengthen our commitment for “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women” and removing inequality which is one of the SDG goal.
3. Help to change patriarchal mindset of our society, where women are treated as second class citizens.
4. It will provide social recognition to the wife as an individual, who only duty will no longer be providing sexual satisfaction to the husband.
5. Save the women from multiple physical and emotional trauma and work to improve the gender development indicators.

• Cons:

1. The law against domestic violence already covers both physical and sexual abuse as grounds for the legal system to intervene. This would be the case of “Over legislation – Under governance”.
2. It is said that it’ll jeopardize the marital union, but it does do justice to women who are being repeatedly subjected to brutal physical and mental abuse, the marital union is already dead for that woman
3. There is possibility of misuse of the penal provisions as has been the case with 498A, and the Dowry (Prohibition) Act.
4. Difficulty in implementation due to various factors like illiteracy, poverty, social customs and values, religious beliefs and the mindset of the society to treat the marriage as a sacrament
5. Only one in four rape trials lead to conviction in India, according to the latest data tabled in the Rajya Sabha. The conviction rate for rape trials was 26.4%, 24.2% and 27.1% in 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively. With the conviction rate so low for non marital rapes, where it is easy to prove the act of rape, getting conviction for marital rape seems a herculean task.

• Conclusion:

Write a suitable conclusion.

Best answer: MDA

Women world over (in majority) have been considered, traditionally, as properties of their guardians (father, brother or husband), thereby, establishing sex as a ‘conjugal’ duty and rapes against household dignity. However, in the light of women empowerment, marital rape (forcible intercourse by spouse) is also being considered as a punishable offence.
PROS:
# Marital rape is violation of Fundamental Right guaranteed under Article 14 (equal protection of laws to all) .Studies indicate that 10 -14% married women are raped by their husbands. A legal recourse will discourage the perpetrators and bring relief to the victims.
# Rightfully Addresses loophole in Section 376,IPC: that makes rape a punishable offence for wife less than 16 year whereas the legal age of consent for marriage is 18 .
# Gives alternative to survivors living with the abuser even after the trauma
# Remedy to loophole in Domestic Violence Act, 2005 that condones sexual abuse in a domestic relationship of marriage only if it is life threatening or dangerously hurtful.
#International law : Article 2 of the Declaration of the Elimination of Violence against Women includes marital rape explicitly in the definition of violence against women thus giving the victims a benefit of doubt
#Marital rape is illegal in several developed parts in US, Australia, Canada, France,etc.
Cons:
#Might be misused as found in UP false rape cases and the dowry Act misuse
# The report is generated solely on the victim’s statement, increasing opportunities of harassing the accused
#Might pose threat to socio-cultural fabric of India where marriage is considered sacred

Rape in any form is an act of utter violence. Restricting an understanding of rape condones violence. 172nd Law Commission report has recommended marital rape under punishable offence, a step in right direction, which is in adherence to UN suggestion. Hence, marital rape should be made punishable offence but with safeguard and scrutiny measures. Apart from judicial awakening, way ahead lies in awareness and acknowledgement of women rights

2. Stampedes at gatherings like the Kumbh are frequent in India. In fact they are considered as manmade disasters. Crowd management at such events is integral to the job description of a bureaucrat. Can you suggest few mitigation strategies to avoid the losses that occur during such stampedes?

Stampedes are recurrent and widely prevalent in and across India. Broadly, the causes and triggers behind the crowd related disasters can be categorised into 6 categories, namely: Structural failures, Fire/Electricity, Crowd Control, Crowd Behaviour, Security, and Lack of coordination between various stakeholders.

Mitigation strategies to avoid the losses that occur during such stampedes: (your answer should include some of the following)

Strategic Planning: To move away from erstwhile “crowd control” approach to “Crowd Management” approach would need strategic planning at all levels starting from the events and venues of mass gathering to that of district and State level DM Plans.

Hazard, Risk and Vulnerability analysis (HRVA) at the places of mass gathering with pre-event scenario would be the basis for preparing for overall all three phases of any severe incident (response, recovery and mitigation). HRVA would also enable generation of decision support system for most efficient and effective rescue and relief operations during the crowd related disaster scenario.

Create Awareness among public: Public needs to be taught their responsibility especially staying calm and maintain patience while visiting places where huge crowd will assemble. This can be done by regular broadcasting on TV, use of social media, mobile messages etc.

Effective crowd management personnel: Deploy good number of uniformed staff with wireless devices for effective communication and coordination. Personnel can include NGO members, NCC/Scouts members, temple organizers and volunteers. If demand exceeds supply, then deployment of police and paramilitary forces would help in crowd management.

Flexible plan to adapt to immediate challenges: Restricted entry, large location maps at prominent junctions, distribution of route maps indicating emergency routes, safe deposit areas at entry, open spaces for crowd dispersal, multilateral support (personnel, green corridor, ambulance) for acute needs like medical, fire, rescue resources.

A proximate Incident Command Center addressing in at least two languages apart from regional one (for foreigners and outstation tourists), equipped with closed-circuit TV to spot risky crowd movements .

Medical Preparedness: Immediate medical attention after a fatal event can save many lives; medical preparedness must be given importance.

Effective spatial management: installing barricades, lined movement paths, widening public utilization area and resources.

Stampedes are man-made disasters, and are poorly regulated one in India. Since, India hosts numerous crowd attracting events regularly, it is wise to empower district administration with best practices for less casualties and loss.

Best answer: Snow white

Stampedes in India have become a common problem these days and are the consequences of human activities labeling it as manmade disaster. This has occurred due to lack of patience within public, irresponsible behavior of human beings and also lack of effective management by authorities.

Current examples are Kumbh Mela stampede recently, 27 people killed in Andhra Pradesh during Pushkaram festival, Kerala temple fire leading to stampede.

Following mitigation strategies can be used to avoid losses that occur by it-

1. Create Awareness among Public–
2. Prior to all, public needs to be taught their responsibility especially staying calm and maintain patience while visiting places where huge crowd will assemble. this can be done by regular advertisement on tv, use of social media, mobile messages. regular emphasis should be given on this.
3. Effective Management of Crowd-
   1. Deploy good number of staff in crowded events like mela and religious fair.
      Take help of NGO, NCC cadets as volunteers and security guards shall be deploying.
   2. One point of entry but multiple exits to empty the space promote more open space; prevent distribution of Prasad near the entry or exit lines.
   3. avoid panics caused by rumors or fire by taking care of electrical circuits, police shall take care of any rumor such incidence can use network jammers.
   4. Give a proper counter to address people issues, giving instruction to people plus sign board’s needs to be placed in right manner.
   5. Maintaining coordination among administration staff and religious place or temple authorities.
   6. USE OF TECHNOLOGY LIKE cctv cameras can be used to check crowd

All these steps have to be ensured as a public servant by bureaucrat along with his ability to smartly take people support as without public support all things are Sisyphean.

3. What do you understand by the term ‘disruptive innovation’? Can you cite few examples? What is its significance? Explain.

Definition:

Disruptive innovation term was coined by Clayton Christensen which he defined as innovation which create a new market and disrupt the existing product, market or may be displace it in near future.

Examples:

1. Innovation of smart phones disrupted landline phones and traditional mobile industry and its markets.
2. Emergence of e-commerce distracted the markets of offline retailers.
3. Invention and influx of storage devices shunted the optical storage device (CDs, DVDs etc.,) industry into sunset industry.
4. Chinese cheap goods made by reverse engineering many industries and markets in almost every globalised country.

Significance:

1. Social inclusion – Lower strata of society also gets basic services enjoyed by the rich.
2. Encourages innovation – Entrepreneurs are encouraged to think for cheaper solutions.
3. Comparative advantage – New markets can be captured like our pharmaceutical companies have done in Asia and Africa.
4. Strategic autonomy – Cheaper solutions remove or reduce dependence. IRNSS will give relative autonomy with respect to GPS.
5. Growth of economy – Production of goods increases resulting in increase in GDP, tax collection and overall wellbeing.

Conclusion:

1. However in the initial stage it disrupts the market with predatory pricing which is against the principle of an open market. This eventually leads to lose the market of either the existing one or the new one, because of huge discounts. Also since they are new, the existing law may not be helpful to prevent them from violating the law.
2. Sometimes, these innovations have societal impact affecting the livelihoods in a country like ours as we have large illiterate, semi-skilled and unskilled populations. Moreover, it is reported that India has poor research and innovation index. Therefore, care must be taken that these disruptions does not threat livelihood of poor and marginal.

Best answer: Thesuperman

Disruptive innovation disrupt the current existing market by introducing breakthrough technology perform similar task. Disruptive innovation is considered as displacing established market leaders and alliances. Disruptive innovation is executed majorly by outsider as existing market or area generally does not prefer the same in the area. Disruptive innovation is sometimes accidental or it takes longer time for innovation and development

Example of Disruptive Innovation:

1) LCD display technology against CRT display ( less power consumption and compact design etc)
2) Personal computer against work computer, work station (where earlier further being disrupted by Laptops, IPads)
3) Smart phone against PDA, wireless phone pager etc
4) CDs, USB Flash drive against floppy drive, zip drive hard drive.
5) LED Bulb against CFL bulb

Significance of Disruptive Innovation:

1) Creates new opportunity to existing stagnated market and breaks the monopoly
2) Provide cost, design, and environmental benefits to the consumer (e.g. LED is compact in size; consume less power, and environment friendly.
3) Bring more choice and dynamic function with same purpose to the consumers (e.g. smart phone basic purpose is calling and texting but it has additional functions of multimedia, internet surfing, calculator, calendar, email etc
4) It also provide healthy completion environment in market and encourage the innovation environment
5) It breaks rigidity and bring advancement in society

Although the initial cost of disruptive innovation related product are high but eventually they are very much beneficial from consumer as well as market point of view. Government should promote such innovation with balanced positive attitude.