19 Jan 2023

#GS2 –01. Learning Outcomes

The Annual Status of Education Report’s revelation that more than half of rural India’s 14-18- year olds can’t do a three-digit arithmetic division, as the latest round of this survey has found, raises the worry of a weak demographic dividend on account of an underskilled youth bulge. It’s also bad news in the context of a rising premium on math skills as we undergo a tech-led economic shift. Could artificial intelligence (AI) leap to the rescue?
– Commentary in News
Key Terms/Issues : ASER

#GS3 — 02. Challenges before the world

We face four big challenges: a climate transition, good-jobs problem, an economic development crisis and the search for a newer, healthier form of globalization.

As the world shifts its policy priorities, economic advisors must be open to experiments and sympathetic if governments act in ways that do not conform with conventional advice.
– Harvard Kennedy School Professor Dani Rodrik

#GS1 -03. No Snow in Indian Skii destinations : Western Disturbances

India’s two big skiing resorts, Gulmarg in Kashmir and Auli in Uttarakhand, have had a largely dry winter so far. For long stretches, there has been no snow in sight. Barren slopes stare back in stark contrast with what’s usual at this time of the year. Much o fthe winter rain and snow (at altitudes above 1,600-odd-metres) that northern states get is brought by ‘westerly disturbances’ (WD),which are extra tropical storm systems formed over the Mediterranean region,
Moving from west to east. Their usual patterns of precipitation, though,have been disrupted in recent years.While these changes are still being analysed and causes studied, experts are clear that this season’s snow deficit in the western Himalayas is on account of feeble WDs,which have been losing both intensity and frequency for a while now.

The prime suspect is climate change, of course,given the complex ways in which it plays havoc with atmospheric systems across the globe. And the past year has had an added phenomenon: El Niño.
-Commentary in News
Key Terms/Issues : Western Disturbances, El Nino

#GS2 –04. Red Sea Crisis

Business chiefs warned that disruption to shipping in the Red Sea caused by attacks by Yemen’s Houthi militants could affect supply chains for months and lead to a shortage of tankers needed tot ransport fuel.

Attacks by the Iran-allied Houthi militia on ships in the region since November have slowed trade between Asia and Europe and alarmed major powers—an escalation of Israel’s more than three-month-old war with Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.

The Houthis say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians and have threatened to expand attacks to include US ships in response to American and British strikes on their sites in Yemen.

The alternative shipping route around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope can add 10-14 days to a journey when compared to a passage via the Red Sea to the Suez Canal.
-Commentary in News
Key Terms/Issues : Red Sea, Cape of Good Hope, Houthis, Yemen, Suez Canal

#GS3 –05. Greenwashing

Unsubstantiated‘ green’ or environmentally friendly claims and misleading marketing tactics of advertisers are likely to land them in trouble going forward. These claims have come under the scanner of the self-regulatory body, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) which has now decided to put out stringent guidelines on what constitutes environmentally friendly and is a violation.
-Commentary in News
Key Terms/Issues : Greenwashing, ASCI

#GS2 –06. Unemployment & Labour Force Participation

There are three principal ratios which are used in discussions of labour-market conditions, namely the labour force participation rate (LFPR), workforce participation rate( WPR) and the Unemployment rate (UR). If during the specified reference period, the person is working or otherwise engaged in economic activity for most of the time, then he is presumed to be employed. Further, if not employed as above but still making tangible efforts to seek work, then the person is classified as unemployed. If not engaged in economic activity (work) and also not available for work, then s/he would be classified as not being in the labour force. From these,we derive the workforce participation rate, which is the number of workers as a proportion of the total population. The count of workers plus the unemployed defines the labour force, which is also expressed as a percentage of the population.The unemployment rate refers to the unemployed as a proportion of the labour force.

Since the last census,when our population was approximately1.2 billion,our population is estimated to have risen to a little over 1.4 billion in 2023.Thus, the denominator in both WPR and LFPR has risen significantly.

One common misconception that arises as a consequence is from the percentage of people with a regular salary having declined from 22.8% in 2017-18 to 20.9% in 2022-23. This seems like a drop, but when we combine this with population numbers, we see that the number of workers in this category increased by almost 15 million in the same period.

The PLFS2022-23 shows an unemployment rate of 10% in the age group of 15-29 years, as compared to an unemployment rate of 3.2% across all age groups. This, of course, is an important difference, but it should be noted that the unemployment rate in the age group of15-29 has seen a very sharp decline from 17.8% in 2017-18. Further, the WPR in this age group has increased from31.4% in 2017-18 to 40.1% in 2022-23. This implies an additional 35 million people have found work,even though the population in that segment has increased only by 17 million.The implied narrative of dwindling job opportunities for the youth is no tborne out by the data.
-Former Chief Statistician of India TCA Ananth

Key Terms/Issues :