Issues with Privacy breach

(GS-IV: Private and Public life)

In News:

Recently, Indian cricketer Virat Kohli’s hotel room was captured, recorded and posted on the media, without his consent. This has created a huge public uproar.

Details:

The Internet has brought about dramatic changes in the perception of the world around an individual. The use of technology to connect to larger society has brought in new challenges and debates on the ethicality of their use.

Recent trends of privacy breaches:

Increasingly, the private lifestyle is brought into the public sphere. Ex: Celebrity’s gym workouts, diets, etc. are recorded by the Media

Public interference in the personal life of the celebrity or influencer. Ex: Virat Kohli’s room recording

 Issues with the Changed landscape of privacy:

Privacy breaches disturb trust and run the risk of diluting or losing security; it is a show of disrespect to the law and a violation of ethical principles.

Development business models that profit from the privacy of the individuals. Ex: Reality shows like Bigg Boss.

There is growing uncertainty due to the blurring of private and public life due to the presumption that the borders between them are within the individual’s.

There is also an imbalance in the desire for publicity and revulsion over too much celebrity-ness. This is mainly due to subjective disposition in defining what amounts to excessive display.

It has made it difficult to ensure a balance between the two- private and public spheres.

 Public sphere beyond ideas of privacy:

• There is increasing surveillance of public life by the State, Institutions, etc. Ex: Surveillance cameras, health care facilities, prisons, etc.
• Media through newspapers, press, cinemas, etc. have helped capture the outside world beyond the immediate public sphere.

Despite these changes, personal life continues to be protected by laws e.g. Right to Privacy (under Article 21 after K. Puttaswamy judgement). Also, public life also has allowed the citizens to exercise the Right to Freedom (Right to speech and expression U/A 19). In cases where public and private life converges, the ethical precepts and morality of individuals define and alter reality.

Bonalu festival

In News:

Rahul Gandhi joins Telangana’s traditional Bonalu festival and picked up a heavy rope and whipped himself as he donned the avatar of ‘potharaju”.

Details:

It is a traditional Hindu festival centred on the Goddess Mahakali from Telangana.

Potharaju, a key figure in the Bonalu festival, is the fearsome brother of the goddess Mahankali, who wields a whip to protect the goddess.

Bonalu involves the worship of the Mother Goddess in regional forms like Maisamma,

Pochamma, Yellamma, Peddhamma, Dokkalamma, Ankalamma, Poleramma, Maremma, Nookalamma .

There has been a persistent decline in poverty in India

(GS-II: Issues related to poverty)

In News:

The recent release of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data for 2019-21 allows a detailed examination of progress in reducing absolute poverty and related variables such as nutrition.

Background:

The NFHS survey is an attempt to provide estimates of a multidimensional poverty index (MPI).

Its calculation is based on poverty estimations based on 10 different indicators (see table below).

The deprivation index for each indication is the percentage of people who are deprived as per that indicator.

What does the above data show?

The pace of decline in poverty accelerated post-2014. For example,

The MPI declined at a compounded annual average rate of 4.8% per year in 2005-11 and more than double that pace at 10.3% a year during 2011-21.

The consumption inequality declined during 2011-21. This is consistent with the highly inclusive growth during the same period.

India makes all of its data public. In contrast, China has not even made data available to the World Bank, a group authorised to publish country-level poverty figures.

Government initiatives taken during 2011-21:

A major factor behind the inclusive nature of growth is the focus of government policies on each of the individual indicators indicative of a dignified standard of living.

Under the Swachh Bharat Mission, over 110 million toilets were constructed.

Saubhagya Yojana managed to electrify every village and household.

Jan Dhan Yojana made financial inclusion a reality in India, especially for women.

Ujjwala Yojana nearly halved (from 26 to 14%) deprivation in just five years.

Awas Yojana: less than 14% are now deprived.

Jal Jeevan Mission – an ambitious project of ensuring universal access to piped water, rural piped water coverage increased to 54% (from 17% in 2019) and is expected to meet the 100% target by 2024.

Slow-moving variables like housing, access to cooking fuel, and sanitation, have seen a significant increase as a direct result of this dedicated economic push.

Issues with the above data:

The aggregation of the 10 indicators into one index involves legitimate issues of weighting.

The Global Hunger Index (GHI), a recently released poverty indicator, shows a worsening of hunger in India between 2014-21, contradicting the considerable improvement recorded in the NFHS data.

Way ahead:

A proactive use of fiscal policy combined with effective targeting will ensure that the benefits of growth are more equitably distributed across a wider class of citizens.

A rights-based approach rather than an entitlements-based approach will help the government in delivering a dignified standard of living to all.

Child Welfare Police Officer (CWPO)

In News:

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs recently asked the States/UTs to appoint a Child Welfare Police Officer (CWPO) in every police station to exclusively deal with children as victims or perpetrators.

Details:

The direction was in line with the advisory issued by the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act/JJ Act, 2015, calls for designating at least one officer, not below the rank of an Assistant Sub-Inspector, in every police station.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) is a statutory body under the Commission for Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act, 2005 and works under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development.

Performance Grading Index (2022)

In News:

Department of School Education and Literacy (DOSE & L) of the Ministry of Education (MOE) has released the Performance Grading Index (PGI) for States/UTs for 2020-21 (4th edition since 2017), an index for evidence-based analysis of the school education system.

Related Information:

Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) for 2021-22 on school education in India is released by MOE. 2021-21 edition has added new indicators viz., digital library, peer learning, hard spot identification, number of books available in the school library, etc.

As per the Report, the total number of students enrolled has increased ( about 25.5 crore in 2020-21); Gross enrollment Ration in higher secondary increased from 54% in 2021-21 to 58% in 2021-22; Girls’ toilets (97.5% of schools); Drinking water:  98.2% of schools.

UDISE is a Management Information System on School Education initiated in 2012-13 integrating DISE for elementary and secondary education.