World Economic Forum’s: Global Gender Gap Report 2021 GS-I | 01 April,2021 World Economic Forum’s: Global Gender Gap Report 2021 GS-Paper-1: Social issue and Sociology Optional – UPSC PRELIMS – Mains Application Context: World Economic Forum report is providing essential insight about Gender and its empowerment and status which UPSC candidates can utilize in PT for facts and in Sociology optional and ESSAY writing as a reference of Women's status. WEF AIMS and Objective: https://www.weforum.org/ Facts: It was first published in 2006 by the WEF. It benchmarks 156 countries on their progress towards gender parity in four dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival and Political Empowerment. Over the Index, the highest possible score is 1 (equality) and the lowest possible score is 0 (inequality). World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. It was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It is independent, impartial and not tied to any special interests. The Forum strives in all its efforts to demonstrate entrepreneurship in the global public interest while upholding the highest standards of governance. Some major reports published by WEF are: 1 / 175 1. Energy Transition Index 2. Global Competitiveness Report 3. Global IT Report WEF along with INSEAD, and Cornell University publishes this report. 1. Global Gender Gap Report. 2. Global Risk Report. 3. Global Travel and Tourism Report. Aim: To serve as a compass to track progress on relative gaps between women and men on health, education, economy and politics. Through this annual yardstick, the stakeholders within each country are able to set priorities relevant in each specific economic, political and cultural context. India’s Position: India has fallen 28 places 140th among 156 countries in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2021 , becoming the third-worst performer in South Asia. Inspite of prog. Like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, One Stop Centre (OSC) Scheme, Ujjawala Scheme are some the initiatives launched by the government to address the issue of gender inequality. The principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Indian Constitution in its Preamble, Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties and Directive Principles, even than India is scoring the poor rank in South Asia. For the 12th time, Iceland is the most gender-equal country in the world. The top 10 most gender-equal countries include Finland, Norway, New Zealand, Rwanda, Sweden, Ireland and Switzerland. According to the report, India has closed 62.5% of its gender gap to date. Overall Ranking: India is now one of the worst performers in South Asia, it is now ranked 140 among 156 countries. In South Asia, Bangladesh ranked 65, Nepal 106, Pakistan 153, Afghanistan 156, Bhutan 130 and Sri Lanka 116. India had ranked 112th among 153 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index 2020. 1. Political Empowerment: India has declined on the political empowerment index as well by 13.5 percentage points, and a decline in the number of women ministers, from 23.1% in 2019 to 9.1% in 2021. However, it has still performed relatively well compared to other countries, ranking at 51 in women’s 2 / 175 participation in politics. 2. Education Attainment: In the index of education attainment, India has been ranked at 114. 3. Economic Participation: The report notes that the economic participation gender gap actually widened in India by 3% this year. The share of women in professional and technical roles declined further to 29.2%. The share of women in senior and managerial positions also is at 14.6% and only 8.9% firms in the country have top female managers. The estimated earned income of women in India is only one-fifth of men’s, which puts the country among the bottom 10 globally on this indicator. In Pakistan and Afghanistan, the income of an average woman is below 16% of that of an average man, while in India it is 20.7%. 4. Health and Survival index: On this India has fared the worst, ranking at 155. The only country to have fared worse is China. The report points to a skewed sex ratio as the major factor. It says the ratio can be attributed to norms of son preference and gender-biased prenatal sex-selective practices. China and India together account for about 90 to 95% of the estimated 1.2 to 1.5 million missing female births annually worldwide due to gender-biased prenatal sex selective practices. Region Wise Rank: 1. South Asia incidentally is one of the worst performing regions, followed only by the Middle East and northern Africa. 2. Largest Gender Gap in Political Empowerment: The gender gap in political empowerment remains the largest: women represent only 26.1% of some 35,500 parliament seats and just 22.6% of over 3,400 ministers worldwide. 3. In 81 countries, there has never been a woman head of state, as of 15th January, 2021. Bangladesh is the only country where more women have held head-of-state positions than men in the past 50 years. 4. Economic Participation: The countries with the largest gender gaps in economic participation include Iran, India, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Afghanistan. 5. Timeframe to Close the Gap: It will take South Asia 195.4 years to close the gender gap, while Western Europe will take 52.1 years. Source: WEF 3 / 175 China-Iran increasing ties GS-II | 01 April,2021 China-Iran increasing ties GS-Paper-2: International issue and Political science Optional – UPSC PRELIMS – Mains Application Context: China and Iran have signed a 25-year "strategic cooperation pact” which includes "political-economic and strategic components". The agreement comes as a major push from China to back Iran to deal with the continuing weight of sanctions reinstated by the US after its withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal. In this context, it is very important for India to redesign its strategy in West Asia and the Indian Ocean. News: It will deepen relations between Iran and China and would establish a blueprint for "reciprocal investments in the fields of transport, ports, energy, industry and services. It forms a part of China's trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, a plan to fund infrastructure projects and increase its influence overseas. Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action In 2015, Iran with the P5+1 group of world powers - the USA, UK, France, China, Russia, and Germany agreed on a long-term deal on its nuclear programme. The deal was named as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action: JCPOA and in common parlance as Iran Nuclear Deal. Under the deal, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear activity in return for the lifting of sanctions and access to global trade. The agreement allowed Iran to accumulate small amounts of uranium for research but it banned the enrichment of uranium, which is used to make reactor fuel and nuclear weapons. Iran was also required to redesign a heavy-water reactor being built, whose spent fuel could contain plutonium suitable for a bomb and to allow international inspections. In 2018, the United States declared its withdrawal from JCPOA and imposed unilateral sanction on Iran. 4 / 175 Iran has pulled away from restrictions imposed under the deal in order to put pressure on the other signatories — Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China — to provide new economic incentives to offset US sanctions. China and Middle East Iran relies on China as its largest trading partner. Chinese foreign minister, in his recent visit to West Asian nations, proposed a five-point initiative for achieving security and stability in the Middle East, advocating "mutual respect, upholding equity and justice, achieving non-proliferation, jointly fostering collective security, and accelerating development cooperation.” Earlier, China and Russia called for the US to unconditionally return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action as soon as possible and revoke the unilateral sanctions against Iran. In this context, they proposed "the establishment of a regional security dialogue platform to converge a new consensus on resolving the security concerns of countries in the region.” India's Concerns 1. Military Partnership: China is also concluding a security and military partnership with Iran. China calls for “joint training and exercises, joint research and weapons development and intelligence sharing” to fight “the lopsided battle with terrorism, drug and human trafficking and cross-border crimes”. The sizable Chinese investments in Iranian ports development may eventually be turned into permanent military access arrangements with Iran. 1. Strategic Stakes Around the Chabahar Port: With a growing Chinese presence in Iran, India is concerned about its strategic stakes around the Chabahar port project that it has been developing. The port is close to Gwadar port in Pakistan, which is being developed by China as part of its China-Pakistan Economic Corridor that links it to the Indian Ocean through BRI. 2. Geopolitical Rivalry: India finds itself caught in the geopolitical rivalry 5 / 175 between the US & China over Iran. India’s dilemma also stems from the fact that robust support from the US is essential when it is locked in a border stand-off with China. 3. Impact on Relationship with Other Countries: Growing Chinese footsteps in Iran will have a long-lasting impact on India’s relationship with not only Iran but also on Afghanistan and Central Asian nations. Source: TH India’s 2021 economic output-below 2019 level: UN report GS-II | 01 April,2021 India’s 2021 economic output-below 2019 level: UN report GS-Paper-3: Economic issue and Economics Optional – UPSC PRELIMS – Mains Application Context: India, according to the 'Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2021: Towards post-COVID-19 resilient economies', is estimated to record an economic growth of 7 per cent in 2021-22, over a contraction of 7.7 per cent witnessed in the previous fiscal on account of the pandemic's impact on normal business activity.