• Denying Women Child Care Leave (CCL) is violation of Constitution said Supreme Court (SC). 
• Recently, a 2-judge bench of the SC directed the government of Himachal Pradesh to review its policies on CCL concerning working mothers, especially mothers of children with special needs.

Key highlights of the SC Directive

• Court observed that where the state is the employer of a working mother, it cannot be ignorant of her responsibilities at home while serving the state.
• Participation of women in workforce is a constitutional entitlement protected by Article 15 of the Constitution.
  • Article 15 provides that State shall not discrimination on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth, or any of them.
•  Maternity benefits given for delivering the child were not sufficient and are perhaps distinct from the concept of CCL.
• About Child Care Leave (CCL)
  •  Rule 43-C of the Central Civil Services (Leave) Rules, 1972 provides for 2 years (730 days) of CCL to female employees and single male parents (unmarried or widower or divorcee). 
    • It is available for taking care of two eldest surviving children upto the age of 18 years.
    • There’s no age limit in case of disabled child.
    • State of Himachal Pradesh has not adopted these provisions of CCL.

• AMFi-CRISIL released a report titled ‘Mutual Growth’ which states that financial decision-making and labour force participation rate (LFPR) of women are rising in India.

Key highlights of the report

• Female Labour Force Participation Rate has increased to 37.0% in 2023 from 23.3% in 2017-18. 
• Female LFPR rose to 37% (PLFS of Oct 2023) against 23.3 five years back.
• 47% of women take financial decisions on their own.
• Autonomy of women in taking financial decisions depends on income source, age, and stage of affluence. 

Significance of increasing role of women in financial decision-making

• Social: Women’s overall empowerment by addressing gender disparities, reduced domestic violence and conflict, etc.
  • Intergenerational impact such as greater proportion of resources allocated towards children’s education, healthcare, etc.
•  Economic: Financial literacy and inclusion resulting in better financial planning and wealth management for families and communities.
  •  Increased financial intermediation and market depth, tapping into talents and skills of women to help drive entrepreneurship and innovation, etc.

Challenges in women’s financial autonomy

• Socio-cultural: Deep-rooted patriarchy, gender stereotypes, etc., which limits women’s financial independence.
• Economic disparities: Lower participation in formal workforce, gender pay gap [share of female labour income was just 18% (World Inequality Report, 2022)], etc.
  • ‘Dual-burden’ of work, unpaid and unrecognized domestic and care work by women, etc.

• UNESCO released 2024 gender report of the Global Education Monitoring Report, titled “Technology on her Terms”.
• The report looks at impact of technology on girls’ education opportunities and outcomes, and role of education on the shape of future technological development. 

Impact of technology on girls’ education:

• ICT can overcome barriers to education access for girls in crisis context.
  • For instance, in Kenya, M-shule platform delivers education through text message without need for internet connection.
• Digital divide: Girls and women are less able to access technology with 130 million fewer women than men owning mobile phone and 244 million fewer women having Internet access.
• Social media negatively affects well-being and reinforces gender norms. Greater interaction on social media at age 10 is associated with worsening socioemotional difficulties with age among girls.
• Cyberbullying is common and is exacerbated by the danger of deepfakes made using AI.

Role of Education in shaping technological development:

• Average share of STEM is 15% among young female graduates and 35% among young male graduates. 
• Underrepresentation in technological design and deployment: In 2022, women held less than 25% of science, engineering and ICT jobs.
• Negative gender stereotypes, reinforced by low expectations from parents and teachers, impact girls’ STEM aspirations.

Recommendations from the report:

• Establish bodies to evaluate education technology and algorithms, to assess where they may be amplifying negative gender stereotypes or negatively affecting well-being. 
• Encouraging more girls to study towards scientific careers and promote female leadership in artificial intelligence and technology development. 
• Avoid infrastructure-only approaches and invest in gender-responsive education and training programmes to enhance digital literacy and skills for all. 

• United Nations Population Fund's (UNFPA) released the State of World Population 2024 report.
• Report is titled "Interwoven Lives, Threads of Hope: Ending Inequalities in Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) and Rights".
  • Women’s SRHR includes right to be free from torture, right to health, privacy, education, life, and prohibition of discrimination. 

Key findings 

• India leads globally with an estimated population of 144.17 crore, followed by China (142.5 crore).
  • India's population is estimated to double in 77 years.
• 68% of India’s population belongs to age group of 15- 64 years, followed by 10-24 years group (26%), 
• India’s Total Fertility Rate i.e. births per woman in reproductive age is estimated at 2.0.
• In India, life expectancy at birth is estimated at 71 and 74 years for men and women respectively.
• Child marriage rates in India was 23% between 2006-2023.
• Women with disabilities experience up to 10 times more gender-based violence than women without disabilities.
• 30 years (1994-2024) of progress in SRH has mostly ignored the most marginalized communities.

Initiatives taken to improve SRH

• India: Janani Suraksha Yojana, Surrogacy (Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2024 etc.
• Global: International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action in Cairo, Egypt, 1994, Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 1995 etc.

• Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has launched the ‘Longevity India’ Initiative to support ageing research in India.

About LII

• Seeks to enhance understanding of ageing through both fundamental and applied research, and to develop solutions that can improve quality of life.
• Brings together a multidisciplinary team of experts from academia, and industry to promote healthy ageing across India.
• Research focus includes identifying early disease indicators, investigating ageing biomarkers, and developing new therapeutics and technologies to aid in healthy ageing.

• Ministry of Law and Justice notifies panel to address issues related to the queer community. 
• The committee headed by Cabinet Secretary was constituted in compliance with the direction of the Supreme Court (SC) in Supriyo v Union of India case (2023).
  • In this case, SC had refused to grant legal recognition for same-sex marriages observing that it was a matter for the Parliament to decide
• Committee will recommend measures to ensure 
  • no discrimination in access to goods and services for the queer community
  • queer people are not subjected to involuntary medical treatments, violence, coercion, etc.

Queer community

• It refers to people who identify themselves as (or LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex)
• Many such people face issues like Social Exclusion, homelessness, low education, low accessibility to health care, etc. 
• Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 provides for the protection of their rights and their welfare.

• Resolution is adopted at the 55^th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
• Resolution calls on states:
  • To combat discrimination, violence and harmful practices against persons with innate variations in sex characteristics and
  • Address their root causes as well as help intersex people ‘realize the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health’.
• Intersex people are born with sex characteristics (such as sexual anatomy, reproductive organs, hormonal patterns and/or chromosomal patterns) that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies. 
  • They may have any gender identity or sexual orientation.
  • Experts estimate that up to 1.7 % of the population are born with intersex traits.
  • Intersex people are different from transgenders. 
    • Transgenders are born with a body that has unambiguous sexual characteristics (either male or female) but they don’t match the person's gender identity.
• Key issues with Intersex People: They are subjected to human rights violations because of their physical characteristics. 
  • Society has created harmful stereotypes and pathologization (treating intersex persons as necessarily ill or disordered) towards them. 
  • They face issues like Infanticide, forced and coercive medical interventions, discrimination in different sphere, legal recognition, etc. 

• International Organization for Migration (IOM) released a report “A Decade of Documenting Migrant Deaths”. 
• Report was released on completion of ten year of IOM’s Missing Migrants Project (MMP). 
  • MMP was launched in 2014 to document deaths and disappearances of people in migration process towards an international destination.
  • IOM, Established in 1951, is leading intergovernmental organization in field of migration.
    • Headquartered at Geneva (Switzerland) and consists of 175 member states (including India).

Key findings

• More than one in three migrants whose country of origin could be identified comes from countries in conflict.
• More than two-thirds of those whose deaths were documented through IOM’s MMP are unidentified.
• Major causes of death: Drowning; Vehicle accidents; Suffocation due to fuel inhalation, Inadequate shelter, healthcare etc.

Migration 

• Migration refers to movement of persons away from their place of usual residence, either across an international border or within State.
• Factors behind Migrations: Urbanisation, Marriage, Economic disparities, Political instability, Impacts of climate change, etc.
• Consequences of migration
  • Intermixing of diverse cultures and evolution of composite culture.
  • Overcrowding in cities led to their haphazard growth and slum development.
  • Changes resource- population ratio.
  • Brain drain i.e. skilled people migrate from poorer countries to developed countries for better economic opportunities.

• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Launched Food Waste Index (FWI) Report 2024.
• Report co-authored with WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) was published ahead of International Day of Zero Waste (observed annually on 30 March). 
• FWI tracks global and national generation of food and inedible parts wasted at retail and consumer (household and food service) levels. 
  • It supports the goals of two indicators of SDG 12.3 which is to be achieved by 2030 i.e.
    • SDG 12.3.1 (a), Food Loss Index (FLI), reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses. Food and Agriculture Organization is custodian of FLI.
    • SDG 12.3.1 (b), FWI, halve per-capita global food waste at retail and consumer levels. UNEP is custodian of FWI.

Key findings

• Households across all continents wasted over 1 billion meals a day in 2022, while 783 million people were affected by hunger and a third of humanity faced food insecurity.
• Food Waste generates an estimated 8–10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
• Issues
  • Due to lack of robust cold chains, hotter countries generate more food waste per capita in households.
  • Insufficient Data for retail and food service sectors, particularly in low and middle-income countries.
  • Fragmented food system.

• The GNAFC launched the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) which is produced annually by the Food Security Information Network (FSIN).

About GNAFC

• It was launched in 2016.
• By the European Union, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP).
• It seeks to better link, integrate and guide existing initiatives, partnerships, programmes and policy processes to address the root causes of food crises.
• It brings together governments, international organisations, and NGOs to improve humanitarian responses and reduce the number of people facing acute food insecurity.