World day of the fight against sexual exploitation

Every year since 2009, 4^th March has been designated as World Day of the Fight Against Sexual Exploitation. Although there are exceptions, sexual exploitation overwhelmingly involves women and children, and it is a problem of worldwide proportions. It has been estimated that every second of the day an average of eight women, girls and often young boys, are trapped by international criminal networks where the sole aim is to sexually exploit them, traffic them and enslave them.

This process obviously robs them of their basic human rights, including their right to freedom, their dignity, their right to live where they choose and the right to control their own bodies.

Although the problem is a worldwide one, some places are more vulnerable than others. These include areas in Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and some Latin American and Caribbean countries. Trafficked women from these areas are generally taken to destination countries in the so-called developed world for the purposes of prostitution.

Although older teenage girls can be involved in this traffic, younger girls and boys who are involved in sexual exploitation will generally stay close to their region of origin. UNICEF estimates that more than 3 million children worldwide are affected by prostitution and that children make up more than a third of all sex workers in Asia.

Often this situation arises when poorly informed and ill-educated parents, who have no resources, are unable to raise their children under acceptable conditions. They are approached by shady characters who give them assurances that if the children are voluntarily entrusted to them they will be guaranteed a bright and better future away from their present impoverished environment.

Once they are cut off from their families and friends, the children lose their identity and become the easy prey of crime syndicates who exploit them by forcing them into sex work.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that nearly a million people are trafficked every year for purposes of sexual exploitation. Although 98% are women and girls, this number also includes a significant number of boys and young men.

The major international crimes are trafficking in drugs and weapons, but sexual trafficking follows closely behind and is now a highly lucrative international criminal industry. According to the ILO, human trafficking for sexual exploitation makes between US$ 7 billion and $12 billion a year on the initial “sale”. However, once the victims of trafficking arrive in the destination country and are exploited, a further US$32 billion will be generated by the “industry”.

Although huge sums of money are made, the victims rarely receive any of this, making human trafficking a modern form of slavery.

Prostitution is just one element in the sexual exploitation industry. Another is sexual tourism. In some countries, notably in Southeast Asia, restrictions have traditionally been less restrictive than in other parts of the world. This encouraged the growth of an industry where tourists, chiefly men, would travel to countries where they could indulge in sexual activity with under-age boys and girls.

In October 2012 the BBC reported that the problem of sex tourism was getting worse, with Child Protection charities warning that worldwide an estimated 250,000 people travel abroad every year for the purpose of having sex with minors. Sexual tourism is increasingly responsible for child prostitution around the world.

In the past many paedophiles were helped to escape justice by a lack of cross border legal co-operation, but in recent years there has been a crack-down on this problem as charities, the travel industry and international law enforcement agencies have been increasingly working together. In many cases it is now possible to prosecute paedophiles in their home countries for offences that have taken place overseas.

Yet another issue is child pornography. Depiction of pornographic acts involving minors is universally considered to be a major form of child abuse and for this reason it is considered to be immaterial whether the pornographic act is forced or consensual.

In most countries it is illegal to use the Internet to access material showing images of certain sexual acts, particularly those involving children or young people. In addition to its abusive nature, the bulk of this material would only have been produced following some form of coercion. Whenever such material is viewed, producers are encouraged to produce more, which in turn results in more children being abused.

World Day of the Fight Against Sexual Exploitation sets out to draw attention to this major worldwide problem. As so often happens with matters that thrive in the darker parts of society and teeter on the brink of illegality, sexual exploitation often goes unnoticed.

Even rich countries are affected. A report published in 2001 suggested that in the United States 300,000 children were running the risk of sexual exploitation that could be considered as commercial.

The sad truth is that this unpleasant trade is capable of destroying the lives of countless people every year, but it is a trade that can only function as a result of the perverse demands of others. The answer is to eliminate these demands and there will no longer be any need for supply, but that is a very uphill task.

At least by having a special day there is a chance of raising the international profile of the problem and that surely is a step in the right direction.

Changes in the National Food Security Act

The NITI Aayog recently circulated a discussion paper on a proposed revision in the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. The NFSA provides a legal right to persons belonging to “eligible households” to receive foodgrains at subsidised price– rice at Rs 3/kg, wheat at Rs 2/kg and coarse grain at Rs 1/kg — under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). These are called central issue prices (CIPs). A revision of CIPs is one of the issues that have been discussed. The other issues are updating of the population coverage under the NFSA, and beneficiary identification criteria.

Under sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Act, the term “eligible households” comprises two categories — “priority households”, and families covered by the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY). Priority households are entitled to receive 5 kg of foodgrains per person per month, whereas AAY households are entitled to 35 kg per month at the same prices. Under Schedule-I of the Act, these subsidised prices were fixed for “a period of three years from the date of commencement of the Act”. While different states began implementing the Act at different dates, the deemed date of its coming into effect is July 5, 2013, and the three-year period was therefore completed on July 5, 2016.

However, the government has yet not revised the subsidised prices. The government can do so under Schedule-I of the Act, after completion of the three-year period. To revise the prices, the government can amend Schedule-I through a notification, a copy of which has to be laid before each House of Parliament as soon as possible after it is issued. The Act has prescribed the coverage under “eligible households” — 75% of the rural population and up to 50% of the urban population. On the basis of Census 2011 figures and the national rural and urban coverage ratios, 81.35 crore persons are covered under NFSA currently. This overall figure has been divided among the states and Union Territories, based on the NSSO Household Consumer Expenditure Survey 2011-12. In its discussion paper, the NITI Aayog has suggested that the national rural and urban coverage ratio be reduced from the existing 75-50 to 60-40. if this reduction happens, the number of beneficiaries under the NFSA will drop to 71.62 crore (on the basis of the projected population in 2020).

To make these changes in the law, the government will have to amend sub-section (2) of Section 3 of the NFSA. For this, it will require parliamentary approval.

Besides the Food Ministry and the NITI Aayog, discussions on the proposed revisions include the Chief Economic Adviser and top officers of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. According to sources, several meetings have been held under the chairmanship of Prof Ramesh Chand, Member, NITI Aayog, to review the population coverage criterion. If the national coverage ratio is revised downward, the Centre can save up to Rs 47,229 crore (as estimated by the NITI Aayog paper). However, the move may be opposed by some of the states.

On the other hand, if the rural-urban coverage ratio remains at 75-50, then the total number of people covered will increase from the existing 81.35 crore to 89.52 crore —an increase of 8.17 crore. This estimate by the NITI Aayog is based on the projected 2020 population, and, according to the paper, will result in an additional subsidy requirement of Rs 14,800 crore.

Soil Degradation

The problems of our time include climate change, loss of biodiversity, lack of drinking water, poor sanitation and the depletion of fuel wood supplies due to unsustainable rates of use. All of these are significant, but it could be argued that land degradation is the most pressing environmental and social problem facing society today, particularly affecting the world’s poor.

It is estimated that an area equal to the size of China and India combined is now classified as having impaired biotic function (damaged ecosystem structure) as a result of poor land management resulting in soil loss. As populations expand, and as social and cultural changes occur, greater and greater demands are being made on larger areas of landscape and soil. In MEDCs where there has been a relatively long tradition of agriculture (agriculture on an industrial scale) there exists, within the agricultural culture, a knowledge of land management that aims for sustained soil fertility and strives to avoid soil erosion. However even in MEDCs there are occasions when climate and intensive agriculture conspire to bring about unprecedented levels of soil erosion.

Two types of processes can give rise to soil degradation:

• Processes that take away the soil (erosion). This mainly occurs when there is no vegetation on the soil. Wind and water can then simply take the soil away.
• Processes that make the soil less suitable for use. In these processes various chemicals end up in the soil and turn the soil useless in the long run.

Examples of human activities that lead to soil degradation are: overgrazing, deforestation and unsustainable agriculture. Overgrazing occurs when too many animals graze in the same area. Overgrazing of grasslands leaves bare patches where roots no longer hold the soil together. When this is combined with the action of rain and wind the bare patches become bigger and soil is removed from the area. This happened on a huge scale in the Sahel area in Africa (just south of the Sahara desert) in the 1970s and 1980s. In many African countries the wealth of a man is measured by the number of cattle he has (quantity not quality is important) — this leads to very high stocking levels and overgrazing becomes a problem. This was then exacerbated in the 705 and 80s when a long dry period strongly reduced the growth of the vegetation which was subsequently eaten by cattle. The soil particles were no longer kept in place by roots and were blown away by the wind. This resulted in the death of most of the cattle and, later on, in a terrible famine. As soil formation is a very slow process, it will take many years for the Sahel region to recover. In wet climates it is often rain water that takes the soil particles away, especially when the rain water is flowing down slopes.

Overcropping depletes soil nutrients and makes the soil friable (dry and susceptible to wind erosion). This reduces soil fertility as no nutrients are being returned to the soil. If the crop fails then the soil surface again becomes susceptible to erosion. This is especially true in dry regions where crop failure can lead to removal of topsoil by wind. During the 1930s, the American Mid West suffered a major period of wind erosion known as the ‘Dust Bowl’. Through overuse of the land an area about twice the size of the United Kingdom, from Nebraska through to Texas, was affected by severe wind erosion. The winds moved soil and dust many thousands of kilometres.

Deforestation is the removal of forest. This can be done in different ways, ranging from careful removal of some of the trees to complete removal of all vegetation. Of course, the more vegetation is removed, the more the soil will be prone to erosion. As most forests are in relatively wet areas, the erosion will mainly be due to water. Deforestation can have a massive effect on soil erosion, especially in tropical regions. The leaves of forest trees both deflect and slow down the progress of rain drops. This helps to stop them explosively removing soil particles. The root systems of forests help to bind the soil together and give it stability, while also absorbing large quantities of water from the soil directly. The absorbed water is eventually returned to the atmosphere via transpiration.

Unsustainable agricultural techniques are techniques that cannot be applied over a long period of time without decrease in productivity or increased inputs of chemicals like fertilizers or energy. Urbanization and paving of land in cities for human settlements that result in run-off is also a major factor contributing to soil degradation. The scale of the problem is self evident. Hence, soil conservation methods, sustainable farming techniques and eco-friendly lifestyles are a must to conserve the soil that provides for us and sustains our planet.

World Zero Discrimination Day

Zero Discrimination Day is an annual day celebrated by the United Nations (UN) and other international organizations. The day aims to promote equality before the law and in practice throughout all of the member countries of the UN. The day was first celebrated on March 1, 2014, and was launched by UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé on 27 February of that year with a major event in Beijing.

The day is particularly noted by organisations like UNAIDS that combat discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS. “HIV related stigma and discrimination is pervasive and exists in almost every part of the world including our Liberia”, according to Dr. Ivan F. Camanor, Chairman of the National AIDS Commission of Liberia. The UN Development Programme also paid tribute in 2017 to LGBTI people with HIV/AIDS who face discrimination.

Campaigners in India have used this day to speak out against laws making discrimination against the LGBTI community more likely, especially during the previous campaign to repeal the law that used to criminalise homosexuality, before that law was overturned by the Indian Supreme Court in September 2018.

On zero discrimination day this year, UNAIDS is highlighting the need to bring an end to income, sex, age, occupation, disability, sexuality, gender, race, class, ethnicity and religious inequality. Inequality is growing for more than 70% of the global population, exacerbating the risk of division and hampering socioeconomic development.

As a consequence, COVID-19 is hitting vulnerable people the hardest – poor and socially marginalised communities throughout the world will be the last to receive vaccines for the coronavirus. Many have equated this to vaccine apartheid.

Discrimination and inequalities are closely intertwined. Intersecting forms of discrimination, be it structural or social, against individuals and groups can lead to a wide range of inequalities—for example, in income, educational outcomes, health and employment. However, inequalities themselves can also lead to stigma and discrimination. It is critical, therefore, when looking to reduce inequalities to address discrimination. Members of key populations are often discriminated against, stigmatized and, in many cases, criminalized and targeted by law enforcement. Research has shown that this social and structural discrimination results in significant inequalities in access to justice and in health outcomes.

On this day, everyone should stand up for those who are at the receiving end of societal and institutional discrimination to create a better and safer world that teaches its children love before hate.

The Myanmar Coup

Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, seized control of Myanmar on February 1, 2021, detaining the country’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of her party that won the November 2020 elections, citing election fraud, a claim that was refuted by the UEC (United Elections Commission of Myanmar).

Military coups are not unknown to Myanmar, having spent more than 50 years under military rulers – it was the military that facilitated Myanmar’s transformation to democracy by drafting the 2008 Constitution, touted as a ‘roadmap to democracy.’ But it only created an institutional set-up prone to misuse wherein the Burmese Constitution ensured the military of its supremacy in national affairs, with a political party that contested elections as its proxy. The results of the 2020 election gave the NLD a majority significantly bigger compared to previous elections, serving as a mandate for potential constitutional reform and dismantling military rule.

All of this was effectively undone by the events of February, with mass arrests of political leaders and internet blackouts and the establishment of an executive body called the State Administration Council lead exclusively by military leaders and non-NDP civilians, and it isn’t likely that the Tatmadaw will abide by its promise of holding a new election anytime soon. However, there is still hope for a change in the status quo, with massive resistance from Burmese both within Myanmar and outside it and large mobilizations and strikes by healthcare workers, civil servants and industrial workers, with calls for boycotting products related to the military through the ‘Stop Buying Junta Business’ campaign. A visible sign of the protests is the three-finger salute that was also seen in October last year at demonstrations against the monarchy of King Maha Vajiralongkorn in neighboring Thailand, and the usage of red ribbons as symbols of solidarity.

The international response has been quite strong with the United States embassy and diplomatic missions of 15 other countries and the European Union issuing a joint statement ‘opposing any attempt to alter the outcome of the elections or impede Myanmar’s democratic transition.’ Nevertheless, the fight for Burmese democracy has spanned many bloody decades of protest, and the military coup has not yet undone all the substantial gains made by the movement for democracy.

Ways to be optimistic and positive every day

Years of research and studies have shown that positive and optimistic thinking helps us be happier, healthier and more productive in any field of work. It is the key to living a satisfactory life and ensuring the well-being of the people around us as well. However, it’s very difficult to practice positivity and optimism every day, so here are some tips.

1. Guide your energy. Positive energy invites positive deeds and events, and vice-versa. According to quantum physics, our thoughts have a frequency and a corresponding unique vibration that attracts similar frequencies into our lives. So negative thinking attracts negative energy; positive thinking attracts positive energy. This also applies to group thinking or collective consciousness. When a collection of people together guides their mental energy for a positive outcome, the likelihood of their success is usually lot higher and than otherwise. Their collective energy attracts positivity or negativity.

2. Develop resilience. Positive people develop a mental capacity that allows them to adapt with ease during adversity. They develop a set of powerful mental traits. Resiliency begins with adaptability, acceptance, and gratitude. Success and happiness does not always come from blasting through rocks and impediments, rather from having the faith, courage and ‘letting it happen’ attitude to cope with harsh realities of life.

3. Connect with yourself. The better we understand the nature of the world, the better we can move in the world. The better we understand the nature of ourselves, the better we can move within ourselves. Life is a process of ongoing transformation spurred by the interlinked qualities of curiosity, purpose, and courage. When you know yourself, you can act with a confidence that is your own.

4. Be kind to yourself. It is particularly difficult to stay positive in the face of adversity and failure. For many, even though it may be easy to show compassion to others, it may be hard to accept, embrace, and be compassionate toward ourselves. Some of us blame others for all our miseries and some blame ourselves. Often it’s easy to blame oneself, feel sorry, and/or put oneself down. It is only through being able to let go, have compassion for oneself, and self-encouragement that we can pursue a path of positivity.

Only gradually changing your ways to implement these can improve the quality of your life and help change your outlook towards it for the better, which will eventually result in material gains in the form of happiness and productivity.

The new Information Technology Rules

The government recently released a set of guidelines to regulate social media and OTT content providers like Netflix and amazon prime. The prime concern behind this was an alleged misuse of social media, especially for the events that unfolded on January 26, 2021. What exactly is the rules’ impact?

Section 79 of the Information Technology Act provides a ‘safe harbour’ to intermediaries that host user-generated content, exempting them from liability for the actions of users if they adhere to government-prescribed guidelines. However, the new guidelines prescribe an element of due diligence to be followed by the intermediary, failing which the safe harbour provisions would cease to apply to these platforms and they could be held liable.

The guidelines also prescribe a grievance redressal mechanism by mandating that the intermediaries should establish a mechanism for receiving and resolving complaints from users. These platforms will need to appoint a grievance officer to deal with such complaints, who must acknowledge the complaint within 24 hours, and resolve it within 15 days of receipt.

Surprisingly, the guidelines also lays down 10 categories of content that the platforms should not host, including content that “threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign States, or public order, or causes incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence or prevents investigation of any offence or is insulting any foreign States”; “is defamatory, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, invasive of another’s privacy, including bodily privacy; insulting or harassing on the basis of gender; libellous, racially or ethnically objectionable; relating or encouraging money laundering or gambling, or otherwise inconsistent with or contrary to the laws of India”, etc. which are vague enough to arouse concerns about arbitrary censorship.

The rules also stipulate that upon receipt of information about the platform hosting prohibited content from a court or the appropriate government agency, it should remove the said content within 36 hours. The penal provisions for violating these guidelines vary from imprisonment for three years to a maximum of seven years, with fines starting from Rs 2 lakh. Executives of intermediaries which fail to act on an order issued by the government citing threat to sovereignty or integrity, defence, security of the state or public order, can be jailed for up to a period of seven years under Section 69 of the IT Act.

Hence, a watchful eye must be kept on how these rules are used to ensure we don’t descend into only consuming content the government wants us to consume in a censorship regime.

The criminality of marital rape in India

It is appalling that in this day and age, India still remains a part of the 36 countries in which marital rape is not legal. About 70 per cent of women in India are victims of domestic violence. National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) ‘Crime in India’ 2019 report shows that a woman is raped every 16 minutes, and every four minutes, she experiences cruelty at the hands of her in-laws. An analysis of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2015-16 data indicates that an estimated 99.1 per cent of sexual violence cases go unreported and that the average Indian woman is 17 times more likely to face sexual violence from her husband than from others.

This is because of the rape culture that is still entrenched in Indian society. Women are considered to be their husbands’ chattel in marriages rather than equal partners, and this reflected itself in the skewed adultery law that was amended because it was discriminatory towards women. Whilst there is great outrage over stranger rapes that are covered with big headlines in newspapers, we must remember that the biggest bearers of sexual violence do not have the social capital to come out with their stories because our society does not understand that consent can be withdrawn in a marriage as well.

This societal disease infiltrates into our legal and governmental establishment as well. Powerful ministers making sexist statements is not unheard of, and judges making their judgements in rape cases to blame the victim are commonplace. This institutional rot cannot be cured without striking the problem at its root.

It is true that legal minutiae have very little impact on the day-to-day affairs of most people in the country, but the law sets a precedent. We all know the legal ban on untouchability has not stopped the practice, but the illegality of it guides the moralities of people and draws a line between what is normal in a civilised society and what is not. Hence, it is important that are laws are amended to deem marital rape a criminal offence that merits high punishment for us to progress as a society.

The Proposed Ban on Cryptocurrencies

First launched in 2009, Bitcoin is a kind of cryptocurrency or digital currency that exists completely online. It is decentralized without a single central bank to administer it and the currency is stored in digital wallets. These wallets are backed by private and public keys for security, and the public key is what lets users transact with each other. Because of its decentralized nature and the anonymity associated with it, the currency can be easily traded across users and countries without identifying the person who holds the bitcoin. The popularity of bitcoin has spurred a range of alternate crypto currency including Etherium, Dogecoin and Binance.

The major problem with these private cryptocurrencies is that they create an alternate to real money, which may lead to the problem of ‘double spending.’ Hence, the government had set up a committee in 2017 led by the then Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg to study the issues related to virtual currencies. The committee, in its final report made public in 2019, had drafted a Bill to impose a complete ban on private cryptocurrencies after the regulators expressed their concerns over it.

It is not known what effect this step will have, but many have opposed it because of the inherent flaws in the argument of ‘double spending’ and since Tesla has renewed interest in cryptocurrencies by investing in bitcoin. Only time will tell whether this action will impact the markets significantly or not.

Upcoming Elections in India

In the new year 2021, as India comes out of a year of lockdown and paused public life, it is going to, by degrees, go back to the pre-coronavirus normalcy. This involves conducting regular elections as well. We can’t expect the new elections to be as difficult to organise and conduct as the Bihar elections of 2020, but elections in a pandemic are yet a new phenomenon and it has to be observed how their handling can impact their results.

This year, we have legislative assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal (in April) and later Jammu and Kashmir. There are also a few bye-elections scheduled. Politicians have already begun campaigning aggressively for all these elections – large crowds in West Bengal attend rallies as the top contenders have a fight of ideologies, and Assam sees an increase in the wages of the tea-growers in light of the upcoming election. The field has gotten even more competitive as E. Shreedharan, also known as the ‘Metro Man’ of India, has joined the BJP in light of the upcoming Kerala elections.

The public and media discourse has also greatly moved on from other political challenges and the coronavirus debates to this – and so have the priorities of the political leaders. Even in the union budget of 2021, there was a major allocation of funds to these states for highway projects and other things. Now the only thing left to see is how these very unpredictable elections turn out for all the political actors involved.

Cognizable and non-cognizable offences

Often, in the coverage major trials, we hear the legal terms cognizable and non-cognizable offences. But legal knowledge of the average Indian is average at best and it prevents us from understanding our rights and privileges. Hence, everyone should know what these terms mean.

Under section 2(C) of the CrPC, a cognizable offence is an offence in which a police officer may arrest a person without a warrant issued by a magistrate. Section 2(I) details the converse, i.e., a non-cognizable offence in which a police officer has no authority to arrest without a warrant.

It can be checked whether an offence is cognizable or not by checking the first schedule of the code. However, they are also classified by gravity of the offence – serious offences like rape and murder punishable with imprisonment for not less than 3 years are considered cognizable, and less serious offences like nuisance punishable with imprisonment for less than 3 years are considered non-cognizable.

There are some exceptions to this rule, wherein offences related to marriage and perjury are punished with more than 3 years of imprisonment despite being non-cognizable, and cognizable offences like outraging modesty of women being punished with less than 3 years of imprisonment.

Every citizen must know which offences he can be arrested with or without a warrant for and the rights he has that the constitution bestows upon him. It only helps us to contribute to making the criminal justice system more accountable, transparent and efficient.

Groundwater crisis in India

Ever since the Green Revolution, farmers’ dependence on intensive inputs like water and fertilizers has resulted in the serious depletion of the underground water table, in many states across the country.

Farming is becoming increasingly unsustainable in these regions, as the map shows, and there is a heavy need to switch to more sustainable alternatives. However, the reverse has happened. Policymakers have only incentivized more groundwater usage through credit and subsidies for groundwater extraction equipment as well as low electricity tariffs that lead to excessive water usage. This is catastrophic – good for short-term profit, but soon the marginal output of farms will start decreasing and the environment would be beyond recovery.

The choice of crops is also important – being water-abundant, the east is more suited to growing water-intensive crops like sugarcane and paddy. But differences in electricity supply have ensured that such crops have not found a place in their natural habitat. On the other hand, electricity subsidies and tariffs in the south and west India, regions with low water tables, encouraged sugarcane and paddy cultivation, draining these regions of their already low groundwater.

The need of the hour is to switch to surface water irrigation and other sustainable alternatives to groundwater depletion before it’s too late, and to prioritize crop growing according to what is most sustainable. The government must realize that short-term revenue cannot be the altar at which nature is sacrificed, and that it is for the benefit of all parties involved that unsustainable farming practices are discouraged.

Coronavirus's Impact on Mental Health

Coronavirus has put the world into a stage it has never seen before – where all activity has to be done without human contact, which is a staple of life. Even though the strict lockdowns have started to ease up and life is gradually coming back to normal, we must acknowledge the impact the pandemic has had not just on people’s physical health and daily routines but on their mental health.

Withdrawing from all social interaction and using electronic gadgets for performing the most basic tasks, as well as the inevitable immobility that accompanies a lockdown, has taken a toll on people’s mental health. Additionally, most people have experienced the effects of the global economic recession which has worsened their condition. A KFF Health Tracking Poll from July 2020 found that many adults are reporting specific negative impacts on their mental health and well-being, such as difficulty sleeping (36%) or eating (32%), increases in alcohol consumption or substance use (12%), and worsening chronic conditions (12%), due to worry and stress over the coronavirus.

There are certain groups that are disproportionately affected by this: the people with low incomes or unstable jobs, and people that have lost close ones to the coronavirus. It is incredibly difficult to be high-functioning in such a scenario which is why many are resorting to substance abuse, because even mental healthcare is inaccessible.

In a situation like this, we must realize that we cannot be as harsh with people as we could before the pandemic. Being productive in such a gloomy and confined atmosphere is difficult, and this is the time in which everyone should stand together in solidarity against the virus and understand each other’s misgivings.

What are the farm laws?

Everywhere in the news, there are different refrains about the protests and opinions for and against the new farm laws. But what exactly are these laws and how do they change the status quo? These laws are: The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act. They were passed in June as ordinances before being approved by Parliament during the Monsoon Session by a voice vote.

The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act provides for setting up a mechanism allowing the farmers to sell their farm produces outside the Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs). Before this law, they could only sell it in the government APMCs or ‘mandis.’ Now, any licence-holding trader can buy the produce from the farmers at mutually agreed prices, which will be free of the ‘mandi tax’ imposed by state governments. Some think this will allow agribusinesses to monopolize the market through initially low prices and exploit farmers, and some think it will result in better prices for the farmers and a more efficient agricultural market because of more choices.

The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act allows farmers to do contract farming and market their produces freely. Some think it will result in the wage slavery of farmers but others think it will increase investment in the agricultural sector.

The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act is an amendment to the existing Essential Commodities Act. This law freed items such as food grains, pulses, edible oils and onion for trade except in extraordinary situations. As such, it is not as contentious as the previous 2 laws.

The main grouse of the protesting farmers with these laws, especially the first one, is the lack of an MSP (minimum standard price) assurance. They believe they will suffer because of big businesses reducing prices after monopolizing the markets. However, the people that oppose this idea believe that the MSP system is inefficient and only results in wastage. Only time can tell who will win this battle of ideas and what will happen to the agricultural sector.

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this: