CONTENTS
- The Union Budget as Litmus Test of a Rethink or Stasis
- The Toll that Extreme Heat Takes on Women
The Union Budget as Litmus Test of a Rethink or Stasis
Context:
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present the Union Budget next week, on July 23. The Budget is more than a mere statement of government revenue and expenditure; it reflects the policy and politics of the ruling government. The recent general election focused on ‘bread and butter’ issues, contrasting with the aspirational and emotive themes of 2014 and 2019. The electorate has clearly expressed disappointment with the government’s handling of its concerns, making this Budget highly anticipated.
Relevance:
GS2-
- Indian Constitution
- Government Policies & Interventions
GS3-
- Growth and Development
- Planning
- Government Budgeting
- Fiscal Policy
- Inclusive Growth
Mains Question:
How can the Union Budget for 2024-25 address the bread and butter issues that were prominent in the 2024 general election? Discuss. (10 Marks, 150 Words).
Employment as a Major Issue:
- Unemployment was a major issue in the 2024 general election campaign, alongside concerns about inflation and questions of social and economic justice. Employment is central to addressing these economic issues.
- Economists from the Chicago School of thought and Columbia University have strongly opposed government efforts to generate employment opportunities.
- This opposition affects potential allocations for the already underfunded Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) program and similar demands for urban employment programs.
Role of MGNREGA:
- The MGNREGA emerged as a response to the shortcomings of neoliberal development policies, which failed to generate sufficient employment through the private sector or the market.
- Recent employment reports from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt. Ltd. (CMIE), the International Labour Organization, and the Institute for Human Development highlight significant employment issues in India.
- These reports reveal high levels of underemployment, youth unemployment (particularly among those aged 15-29 and the educated youth), and a decline in real incomes for regularly employed individuals, likely due to increased informalization and poor-quality jobs.
- Conversely, casual labor incomes have risen, possibly due to MGNREGA and other government social programs.
- Although women’s participation in the labor market has increased, it is often in the form of unpaid family labor and irregular service activities to supplement household incomes.
- These employment challenges coincide with structural shifts, including increased primary sector employment and decreased secondary sector employment.
Contraction of MSMEs:
- This shift is partly due to the significant contraction of the unorganized sector, especially micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
- The MSME sector has been significantly impacted by three major shocks: demonetization, the Goods and Services Tax (GST), and the COVID-19 lockdown. This sector requires special attention and a nuanced understanding in the upcoming Budget.
- Previous Budgets have emphasized infrastructure (CAPEX), skill-based programs, credit for start-ups, and fiscal prudence to generate employment. However, these interventions often had a supply-side bias and targeted high-value activities.
- Even within the MSME segment, the focus has been on export-oriented enterprises, which have high value-added but low employment elasticity.
Where the Focus Should Be:
- The focus must shift from prioritizing growth for its own sake to creating employment opportunities and promoting inclusive growth.
- Social and economic justice should not be mere slogans. This Budget needs to prioritize MSMEs that serve the domestic consumption needs of low-income and socially marginalized groups.
- Given India’s poor performance on the Human Development Index and the Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index (MDPI), it is essential to allocate more resources to education, health, and housing for deprived sections, alongside employment-generation objectives.
Conclusion:
Recent rhetoric about India becoming the fifth-largest economy and aspiring to be the third-largest has overshadowed the persistent issues of joblessness and poor-quality employment growth, which have been ongoing since the mid-1990s. Although political strategies may resist rethinking, aiming to project continuity, it is crucial that this overconfidence does not influence the Budget.
The Toll that Extreme Heat Takes on Women
Context:
Extreme heat has become the planet’s norm and is likely to persist for years. The year 2023 was the hottest on record, and temperatures in several parts of India during May-June 2024 were reported to be record-breaking. Women are disproportionately affected by extreme heat due to unequal power dynamics, gender norms, and unequal access to resources. This is reflected in the Global Gender Gap Index, where India ranks 18th from the bottom. The numbers are alarming, as India is home to more than one-sixth of the world’s women, and extreme heat is now a harsh reality for them.
Relevance:
GS2-
- Government Policies and Interventions
- Role of Women
- Social Empowerment
- Issues Related to Women
GS3-
- Climate Change
- Environmental Pollution and Degradation
Mains Question:
Women are disproportionately harmed by extreme heat, largely because of unequal power dynamics, gender norms, and unequal access to resources. In this context, analyse the toll that extreme heat takes on women. (15 Marks, 250 Words).
Hidden Toll:
- A recent report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), “Rising Above the Heat,” highlights the unequal impact of extreme heat on women in Asia and the Pacific.
- Women living in informal settlements in cities face multiple challenges due to rising temperatures.
- Their homes, often made of materials like tin, asbestos, and plastic, trap heat, turning them into heat chambers.
- Women also endure poorly ventilated kitchens, experiencing scorching temperatures while cooking. Rising temperatures exacerbate their extreme time poverty and care burdens.
- Due to lower productivity from heat stress, women work significantly longer hours to complete their share of unpaid work at home.
- According to the Arsht-Rock “Scorching Divide” report, productivity loss due to heatwaves translates to 90 more minutes of care work per day in India.
- This adds to the existing gender differences in time use; women spend two and a half times more minutes per day than men on unpaid work like cooking, cleaning, and fetching water and fuel (National Statistical Office 2019 data).
- Intriguingly, more than two-thirds of women’s productivity loss from heat strain occurs in the domain of unpaid labor in India.
- This loss also represents opportunity costs associated with heat stress, meaning that women could have earned extra income, acquired skills, or rested adequately.
Worryingly Pervasive:
- Urban female informal laborers face extreme weather conditions while working in marketplaces, streets, construction sites, landfills, or their employers’ homes.
- These casual-wage workers—street vendors, paid domestic helpers, construction workers, and sanitation workers—are particularly vulnerable to climatic extremes, according to the International Labour Organization’s report “Work in a Changing Climate.”
- The situation is exacerbated by energy poverty, as these workers often live without cooling facilities such as ventilated spaces, fans, air conditioners, or coolers.
- Additionally, greenery and other natural cooling methods are increasingly scarce in dense urban areas.
- Water scarcity and power fluctuations further complicate efforts to stay hydrated and comfortable.
- In rural India, the situation is equally severe. Consider the daily routine of a woman in a heatwave-affected rural area: she starts her morning cooking with biomass over a hot stove, enduring significant health risks.
- With 56.8% of rural Indian families cooking with biomass (NFHS-5), this public health hazard is widespread.
- Women in these areas also face longer working hours under heat stress. If she performs home-based work in a living space with asbestos or tin roofing, temperatures can become unbearable, making labor unsafe.
- Additionally, restrictive gender norms on mobility and clothing can force her to stay indoors and follow non-heat-friendly dress codes.
- Conversely, if she works outdoors, such as in MGNREGA projects, she is exposed to the scorching sun.
- Prolonged exposure to heatwaves also negatively impacts crop yields, determining whether poor rural women live in hunger and poverty.
Unequal Health Strain:
- The incidence of heat-related diseases is rising with increasing temperatures. Heat stress puts significant strain on the body, making it harder to regulate temperature, leading to illnesses such as heat cramps, severe heat stroke, and hyperthermia.
- Women are at greater risk due to their physiological makeup—body fat percentage, water content levels, and hormonal changes associated with menstrual cycles and pregnancy affect heat tolerance and hydration.
- Women bear a dual burden from heat-related health issues since they are more susceptible to its effects and shoulder the majority of caregiving responsibilities that follow.
- Additionally, heat stress significantly impacts maternal and child health. The increase in preterm delivery, miscarriage, and stillbirths due to heat strain is particularly concerning in India, given its higher maternal mortality rates.
- The burden on women becomes evident as India grapples with soaring temperatures. Millions continue to suffer from worsening heat-related losses with no relief in sight.
Conclusion:
Strengthening their resilience to heat strain is crucial—climate-friendly urban planning, development and access to sustainable cooling technologies, a fair division of care work, and public provisioning of essential services should be immediate priorities. Addressing the social power gradient that determines women’s capacity to face this crisis is also essential for any discussion on adaptation and resilience.
