1.

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB has found that apart from Indias large
metro cities, 41 tier-II cities also are facing high air and water pollution. Examine the
magnitude of the problem and effectiveness of measures taken by the government to
address pollution problem in these cities
.Air and Water pollution in India is increasingly becoming a cause of
concern in small as well as large cities. The magnitude of the problem can
be understood in the following points :
- Ambient air quality standards are exceeded in 41 out of 74 tier-II cities
- Treatment capacity of sewage is not even 10% of total sewage
generation, hence leading to water pollution
- WHO study - 13 out of 20 most polluted cities in the world belong to
India.
- WHO has ranked outdoor air pollution amongst the top-killers in India
- Increasing communicable and non communicable disease burden
accompanied by economic cost of environment damage

Government has taken following measures to control the pollution levels :

- Moving directly from BS-IV to BS-VI fuel standards by 1 April 2020,
- Introduction of cleaner fuels such as CNG
- Action plan for sewage management and restoration of water quality in
aquatic resources
- Promotion of public transport networks such as metro rail, buses, erickshaws.
- Commitment to reduce emissions as stated in INDCs, and imposition of
coal cess and excise duty on petrol and diesel.
- Categorization of industries as "white", "red", "orange" and "green",
based on pollution levels.
- Ujjwala Scheme to expand LPG adoption and reduce inefficient fuel use
for cooking.

However, effectiveness of measures is limited because of following

reasons -

- Burning of crops continues, as farmers have no viable alternative

- Public transport is not adequate and suffers from last mile connectivity
- Municipalities lack the resources and manpower to manage sewage
- Sewage waste management rules and solid waste management rules are
not taken seriously.
- Fires in landfill sites such as Deonar in Mumbai are a recurrent incident.
- In households where septic tanks are built, they are never emptied.
There is no mechanism to treat the faecal sludge and hence it is dumped
in nearby water bodies.

Following policy actions can be undertaken to improve the current

situation :
- Policies to incentivise reduction in number of personal vehicles, including
concentrated effort towards car pooling.
- Adopting concepts like self-contained neighborhoods
- Educating farmers about the hazardous effects of burning agricultural
waste, setting up bio-ethanol factories
- Greening of unpaved spaces
-Massive research in clean energy so as to lower the cost and induce large
scale adoption
- Campaigning to induce behavioral changes among people
- To treat the problem of sewage, research on technology that is water
efficient is necessary.

2) Why women fare badly on nutritional health indicators in India when

an average girl child aged less than 5 years is healthier than her male
peers? Explain the causes of these gender gaps in nutritional status and
significance of these causes.
Girls have better health status then their boys counterpart under 5 year according to
rapid survey on childrrn 2014-15. But women in adolesence and after 20s show a
poor health indicator due to following causes:
1) patriarchial mind:
men are treated superior To women, so more focus on male nutritional diet.

2) Early marriage:
Due to marriage of girls before maturity, loss to their health due to hormonal change.
3) Abortion:
More abortion for the greed of male child led to degradation of her health.
4) breastfeeding : during this period health becomes weak and required more diet
and rest well but due to illeteracy and social norms no proper diet given to her and all
house burden on her.
5) some customs which allow women to eat after their husband, left no suffice food .
Significance:
1) high MMR AND IMR.
2)economic burden due to buy medicine for poor health.
3) inspite of large demographic dividend, cannot be used at large level.
4) more divorses cases, if due to poor health she cannot get pregnant and meet the
demand of a male child.
Thus only focus toward children heath indicators doesnt give a clear picture but their
should be more schemes for adolocent and married women to keep their health
nutrious which is essential for utilize the whole working population.
Govt schemes (ICDS, IGMSY, NFSA) all focus on nutritional support to pregnant and
lactating mothers thus no differentiation till child is below 4-5 years. As soon as govt
support is taken back, preferential treatment starts.

3.Personal laws in India actually harm rather than preserve religious

freedom. Critically comment.

Art 44 of indian constitution says state shall endeavor to have uniform civil code
throughout the territory of india . It is law related to marriage, divorce, inheritance etc.
However, even after 68 years of independence govt and religious fundamentalists have
failed to come to a conclusion on this regard. Argument that it preserve the religious
freedom under art 25 of constitution does not hold water.
How it harms the religious freedom:
1) Muslim personnel law are against the rights and freedom of women. They are not
given equal status that of men in relation to marriage , divorce and inheritance. Thus
their FR under art 14 and 15 of constitution are stake. Women are oppressed and their
FR is violated.
2) Religious groups have wide range of mutually incompatible views about what their
religion says and what required. Thus, perssonel law given by few individuel or groups
dont accomodate all.
3 Religious groups, such as Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists have been put under hindu

according to pesonnel law definition. They donet even recognize themselves under
hindu religion. Thus, they neither enjoy their own religious law nor a uniform law of state.
4 There is a significant population of atheists, rationalists and agnostics in the country.
They dont believe in any religion. Still a particular religion's law is imposed upon them.
How it preserve the religious freedom:
1) Certain religious group/section sees the existence of personnel law as the symbol of
distinct identity. Every person or group have right to preserve it religious identity , is a FR
under art 25 constitution.
Uniform civil code will play a crucial in nation making process in such a diverse country
like india. The women's right cant be preserved without implementation of UCC. It is
irony that in 21st century women dont have right to adopt a children and have equal right
in ancestral property. Despite repetitive SC's guidelines the FR of women cant be
preserved. It is the need of the hour that all religious groups should be consulted and
have a uniform civil law in the country. In the absence of it the violence and
discrimination against women will continue to happen . This will not only violate their
religious right but also other FR under constitution.
4. Recent data from the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO)

shows, there is a lot of work to be done in improving womens access to

healthcare and more women are reporting being ill compared to men in
India. Discuss the causes and remedial measures.

Women's access to healthcare is stunted by both economic and social factors.

The basic causes of this are:
1. Gender discrimination - A study by the Indian Statistical Institute showed 73%
cumulatively less expenditure on women cancer patients in rural Odisha. Women fall ill
also because they do not have access to quality nutrition. Discrimination begins around
puberty, when they become ineligible for government schemes like IG Maitritva Sahyog
Yojana, Intergrated Child Development Scheme, Midday Meal Scheme etc.
2. Financial - Women simply do not earn as much as men owing to poorer education
levels and the glass ceiling phenomenon. Hence they do not have access to quality
healthcare.
3. Lack of awareness in women - Many rural women are unaware of the benefit
schemes launched for them.
4. Most schemes concentrate on maternity benefits only.
Remedial Measures:
1. There is a need to take out more schemes for adult women, based on health
insurance, timely access to quality medicines(e.g Jan Aushadhi schemes). Nudging can
be used by the government to encourage this.

2. Ensuring equal access based on statistical analysis(Aadhar can be used to analyse

number of hopitalised women and related expenditure).
3. Roping in gram panchayats, urban local bodies, NGOs to spread awareness about
the issue, especially among women themselves and propagate non-discrimination.
4. Encouraging presence and availability of more doctors in rural areas. The proposed
plan to financially incentivise doctors to stay in rural areas needs fast implementation.
Women are biologically ordained to survive longer than men. However, this often
translates into longer illness periods. The government must ensure it is not so.