Hello
Hope you had a great week! Today we are highlighting over the recent Gender Gap Report, Rohingya in India, the great ship in Suez Canal and our guest contribution on healthcare system in India.
Have a great day and an amazing week ahead!
1) Gender Parity and Pandemic
Did you notice something in the pandemic, which was very common in many households? The increased household chores to the increased pressure on women across the world. As per a new report, 1 in 4 women have thought of scaling back their career or even leaving the workforce altogether during the pandemic. The back scaling is mostly prominent in cases of working mothers, leading to the loss of women in leadership positions.
The effects of this trend can be seen in the world Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2021, where India ranked at the 140th among 156 countries becoming the third-worst performer in South Asia. The impact of this could be:
Making women wait for a generation longer to earn the same as men.
It will almost take 135 years for men and women to achieve parity again.
268 years to get the same pay-checks as men for similar work.
Moreover, women are less likely to get hired for a leadership role, or as a parliamentarian or in the policymaking arena that has resulted in reversing 2 years of progress.
(Sources: Bloomberg, NDTV and Business Standard)
Bangladesh youth takes to the streets
Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a two-day visit to Bangladesh on Friday to celebrate its 50th independence day. However, the air was already intense after people got to know about the PM's visit and the protests were already going on in the country and the visit intensified them.
Who were the protestors? : As per The Print the protestors included Hefazat activists and some students affiliated with the Left parties. The Hefazat-e-Islam or ‘saviour of Islam’ is an Islamic fundamentalist group and a coalition of several small organizations which has been prominent in Bangladesh since 2013.
During the protests, 60 people were injured including police officers and 2 journalists.
However, on diplomatic notes, the Prime Minister of India gifted 1.2 million doses of domestically produced Covid-19 vaccines to Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina as a part of its vaccine diplomacy program.
Do you think these protests can affect the relationship between India and Bangladesh in any way?
(Sources: The Print, ABP News and Deccan Herald)
The Impact of Suez Canal on Global Economy
Recently, Suez Canal was in the news for its blockade by the shipping container called Ever Given for almost a week.
The Importance of the Suez Canal- It is the only Canal that directly connects the waters of Europe with the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the countries of the Asia-Pacific. Without the Suez, shipments travelling would have to traverse the entire continent of Africa, adding hefty costs and substantially extending their journey times.
Its significance is highlighted in the infographic below.
However, there have been cargo delays, Route changes that delayed the shipment much further as per the Swiss-Italian international shipping line.
(Sources: CNN, Business Line)
Decision Makers of National Capital of India
Both houses of the parliament passed the Government Of National Capital Territory of Delhi ( GNCTD) Bill. This gives authority to the ‘Lieutenant Governor’ to give his perspective on governance decisions by the Delhi Government. This also brings any judgements or acts passed before this enactment of the act to be considered void!
According to the new law, the Delhi Government will have to ask for his opinions in :
the matters of the day-to-day administration of the NCT of Delhi
conduct any inquiry about administrative decisions.
Moreover, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal showed dissent tweeting
What do you think about this amendment?
(Source: The Hindu, PRS)
To be a Human: Rohingya Crisis
The long stretched Rohingya Crisis has once again come to a point where the refugees are being deported from India back to Myanmar.
Why are they being deported? -
As per the provisions of the Article 21(the right to life and liberty) of the Indian Constitution, the "illegal immigrants" cannot assert the right to settle in India.
India did not sign the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and treats all Rohingya as illegal immigrants.
(Source: The Wire)
What Else is Happening?
With a single-day spike of 43,183 new cases, the Maharashtra government applied a night curfew in Pune. Other metropolitan cities in India have witnessed a surge and shortage of beds in hospitals.
The Pfizer- BioNTech vaccine coronavirus is extremely effective among adolescents aged between 12-15 years.
Gujarat Assembly just passed 'Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) bill 2021, becoming the third state after Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, to make a law against Love Jihad.
Volkswagen did an April fool prank by claiming to change to ‘Voltswagen of America’. The announcement was made as a tongue-in-cheek mark (which was a disaster) before the announcement of its new electric vehicle.
Sneak- Peek into what PolicyFide did this week
Samarth Khurana analyses the Healthcare system of India- expenditure, budgetary allocation, value of human capital and other vital aspects to the system.
Also, a happy picture from our last week’s Creative and Academic Writing workshop.
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