Content

1. Nari Shakti, India’s defining reform for the next decade
2. Have elections in India become plutocratic?

Nari Shakti, India’s defining reform for the next decade

Why in News ?

• Recent policy discourse highlights a decade-long shift toward women-led development, focusing on scale, infrastructure, and measurable outcomes.
• Debate now centres on last-mile delivery, leadership representation, and policy effectiveness, rather than mere scheme creation.

Relevance

GS II (Governance & Social Justice)

• Women-centric schemes (PMJDY, Ujjwala, NAM) linked to inclusive governance & welfare delivery.
• Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam – political representation, deepening democracy.
• SDG-5 (Gender Equality) and SDG-3 (Health) alignment.

GS I (Society)

• Shift in gender roles, social norms, and empowerment paradigm.
• Addressing patriarchy, education, and demographic dividend.

Practice Question  

• “India’s transition from women-centric welfare to women-led development marks a paradigm shift in governance.”Critically examine the achievements, challenges, and future roadmap. (250 words)

Key achievements & data

Financial inclusion & economic empowerment

• PM Jan Dhan Yojana enabled 57+ crore bank accounts, with over 55% held by women, expanding financial access.
• Nearly 10 crore women in 90 lakh Self-Help Groups (SHGs) driving grassroots entrepreneurship and local economies.
• Around 70% of MUDRA loans accessed by women, indicating expanding credit inclusion and enterprise participation.

Welfare & social protection

• Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana reached 10.5 crore households, reducing health risks and drudgery for women.
• Schemes like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao contributed to shifting social attitudes toward girl child education and survival.

Health & human development

• Ayushman Bharat improved financial protection for healthcare access, reducing vulnerability among women.
• Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan strengthened maternal healthcare and safe pregnancy outcomes.

Labour force participation

• Female Labour Force Participation Rate increased to ~35.3%, reversing a long-term declining trend.
• Reflects improved access to opportunities, credit, and skill-based participation in economy.

Structural transformation

• Shift from viewing women as beneficiaries to economic actors and growth drivers.
• Policy design emphasises scale, delivery efficiency, and measurable outcomes, rather than fragmented welfare interventions.
• Integration of schemes creates ecosystem approach, linking finance, health, entrepreneurship, and social empowerment.

Role of governance & administration

• Effective outcomes depend on alignment of design, delivery, and accountability mechanisms.
• District-level administration plays critical role in implementation, monitoring, and outreach.
• Increasing reliance on data-driven governance and convergence across departments to improve impact.

Last-mile challenges

• Awareness gaps limit access despite large-scale scheme availability.
• Uneven enrolment and delivery capacity across regions affects inclusivity.
• Persistent exclusion of vulnerable groups due to administrative inefficiencies and socio-economic barriers.
• Need to shift from coverage metrics to outcome-based evaluation.

Role of political representation

• Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (Women’s Reservation) can enhance women’s representation in legislatures.
• Greater representation may align policy design with lived experiences, improving targeting and implementation.
• Potential multiplier effect: representation → responsive policy → increased participation → leadership pipeline.

Emerging opportunities

• India has one of the highest proportions of women in STEM education, offering potential for leadership in innovation sectors.
• Expanding role of women in healthcare, science, governance, and entrepreneurship can accelerate economic growth.
• Demographic advantage can be leveraged through skill development and institutional support systems.

Challenges & concerns

• Gap between policy intent and actual access, especially in rural and marginalised communities.
• Institutional capacity constraints at local level affecting delivery efficiency.
• Risk of token representation without adequate capability-building for leadership roles.
• Limited focus on quality of participation, beyond numerical inclusion in schemes and workforce.

Way forward

• Ensure saturation of schemes, focusing on universal access rather than selective coverage.
• Strengthen district-level governance, monitoring, and accountability mechanisms for effective implementation.
• Build capacity of women leaders through mentorship, training, and institutional support systems.
• Simplify policy design for ease of access, faster delivery, and reduced administrative barriers.
• Develop strong feedback loops and real-time data systems to track outcomes and refine policies.
• Promote leadership in STEM, governance, and enterprise, leveraging existing educational gains.

Prelims pointers

• PM Jan Dhan Yojana: financial inclusion scheme; majority beneficiaries are women (>55%).
• Self-Help Groups (SHGs): key instrument for women-led grassroots development (~10 crore women).
• Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana: provides LPG connections to poor households (10.5 crore).
• Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam: provides reservation for women in legislatures.

Have elections in India become plutocratic?

Why in News ?

• With upcoming elections in multiple States, concerns are rising over increasing cost of elections and its impact on fair democratic competition.
• Data indicating ~93% MPs are crorepatis raises questions about growing inequality in political representation.

Relevance

GS II (Polity & Governance)

• Free and fair elections, role of ECI, electoral reforms.
• Political funding transparency & accountability.

Practice Question

• “Rising election expenditure threatens the principle of political equality in India.”Critically analyse whether Indian elections are becoming plutocratic and suggest reforms. (250 words)

Legal & institutional framework

• Election Commission of India (ECI) prescribes spending limits: ₹95 lakh (Lok Sabha) and ₹40 lakh (Assembly) per candidate.
• No explicit cap on political party expenditure, creating asymmetry between candidate-level regulation and party-level freedom.
• Monitoring mechanisms rely on short-term observers (20–30 days), limiting effective oversight of large-scale expenditure.

Nature and scale of election expenditure

• Official disclosures significantly underestimate actual spending; candidates reportedly spend ₹50–100 crore in some constituencies.
• 2024 general elections: official party spending ~₹3,300–3,400 crore, while estimates suggest ~₹1 lakh crore total expenditure.
• Large share of spending occurs through unaccounted cash transactions, bypassing regulatory scrutiny.

Impact on electoral competition

• Money has become a necessary condition (though not sufficient) for electoral success in most constituencies.
• Smaller parties and independents struggle to compete against financially strong national and regional parties.
• First-past-the-post system encourages vote consolidation, reducing space for fragmented or low-resource political actors.

Structural drivers of rising costs

• Large constituency sizes require extensive campaigning, logistics, and outreach expenditure.
• Increasing reliance on media campaigns, advertising, and digital outreach raises baseline campaign costs.
• Competitive elections with narrow victory margins (1–2%) incentivise maximum resource deployment by candidates.

Debate on spending limits

Arguments for revising limits

• Current limits are unrealistically low, forcing candidates to rely on black money despite raising legitimate funds.
• Increasing limits may allow greater use of transparent, white money and reduce illegal expenditure practices.

Arguments against revising limits

• Higher limits may favour resource-rich candidates, worsening inequality in electoral competition.
• Even with limits, first-past-the-post incentives drive excessive spending, including unethical practices like cash distribution.

Transparency vs regulation dilemma

• Strict caps may push spending underground, increasing reliance on unreported black money.
• Removing limits and focusing on full disclosure could improve transparency but may not eliminate illegal funding practices.
• Persistent gap between declared and actual expenditure highlights weak enforcement capacity.

Political funding concerns

• Corporate funding raises questions about legitimacy, as companies do not possess voting rights but influence political outcomes.
• Supreme Court striking down electoral bonds exposed donor-party linkages, but systemic opacity in funding persists.
• Amendments allowing loss-making companies to donate raise concerns about shareholder interest and regulatory misuse.

Feasibility of level playing field

• Achieving equality requires strong political will, which is often lacking due to entrenched interests.
• Structural constraints like electoral system design and campaign dynamics limit feasibility of perfect parity.
• Evidence suggests money alone does not guarantee victory, but remains a critical enabler of competitiveness.

Reform options

Electoral finance reforms

• Introduce partial state funding or in-kind support (media time, logistics) to reduce dependence on private funding.
• Impose caps on party expenditure, similar to models in countries like the UK, linked to number of candidates.

Systemic reforms

• Consider proportional representation or mixed systems to improve representation of smaller parties.
• Ban government-funded advertisements at least 6 months before elections to prevent misuse of public resources.

Transparency and accountability

• Mandate real-time disclosure of funding sources and expenditure, improving public scrutiny and accountability.
• Strengthen auditing mechanisms and enforcement capacity of ECI to track unaccounted expenditure.

Challenges in reform implementation

• Strong nexus between political actors and corporate interests reduces incentive for reform.
• Enforcement difficulty due to cash economy and informal transactions.
• Voter behaviour sometimes supports candidates with financial or criminal influence, complicating reform outcomes.

Way forward

• Shift focus from strict caps to greater transparency, disclosure, and auditing mechanisms.
• Strengthen institutional capacity of ECI for continuous monitoring, beyond limited election period.
• Encourage internal party democracy and decentralised leadership, reducing dependence on high-cost centralised campaigns.
• Promote civic awareness and electoral literacy, addressing deeper behavioural drivers of voting patterns.

Prelims pointers

• Election Commission of India (ECI) regulates candidate expenditure but not party expenditure.
• Spending limits: ₹95 lakh (Lok Sabha), ₹40 lakh (Assembly).
• Electoral bonds scheme struck down by Supreme Court (2024) due to concerns over opacity.
• First-past-the-post system leads to vote consolidation and high campaign competitiveness.