It appeared from media reports and commentaries as if India was the flavour at the 77th UNGA where India was ably represented by her Foreign Minister (EAM) Dr S Jaishankar. This is not a eulogy for the EAM but he is known to call a spade a spade which you could only do when you are convincing and represent a power that is taken seriously otherwise it becomes a rant of the disadvantaged.
The chorus around India’s population growth refuses to die down. In his address on the occasion of Dussehra on October 5, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat raised the issue of population growth, its religious ‘imbalance’ and the need for a population policy.
Given the lack of financial support for students in India, the decision to enter higher education demands to be taken carefully. However, the 27 per cent of school-leavers who currently decide to go ahead — 38.5 million people — suffer from an information dearth. The country’s 1,043 universities, 42,343 colleges and 11,779 stand-alone institutions have vastly different quality levels, in terms of both infrastructure and performance.
India is the third-largest electricity producer in the world after the US and China. The International Energy Agency (IEA) also forecasts a 6.5% increase in the nation's power demand between 2022 and 2024. India has a numerical power surplus, but there are problems with the transmission and distribution of the electricity produced.
Gender disparity signifies differences in women's and men's access to education, health services, employment, mobility, freedom, autonomy, decision making and resources to lead a dignified life. It is an indicator of socio-economic-cultural- legal and political status as well as physical and mental well-being. Gender usually favour men and are often institutionalised through law, justice and social norms. Indian women and transgender community still face gender discrimination in education, child marriage and pregnancy, sexual violence and unrecognized domestic work.
Agricultural incentives, intended to safeguard farmers’ incomes while achieving self-sufficiency in food security, are resulting in unintended negative consequences such as distortion of the cropping pattern and inefficient use of natural resources due to ineffective planning and implementation. Incentives provided for paddy production across the country are a typical example of ineptly planned schemes that have led to a flawed production system and unsustainable use of scarce groundwater, apart from adding to the government’s fiscal burden.