Current Affairs 12 August 2022 – IAS Current Affairs

Current Affairs 12 August 2022 focuses on Prelims-Mains perspective. Major events are :

SMILE-75 Initiative

Source: The Hindu
GS I: Sociology;  GS II: Policies and Developmental Studies; GS III: Indian Economy 

What is discussed under SMILE-75 initiative?

1. What Is SMILE-75 initiative?
2. Objectives of SMILE-75 initiative
3. Status of beggars in India

Why in News?

The Indian Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment developed the ‘SMILE-75 Initiative’ to provide complete rehabilitation to beggars.

Key Facts

• • In the spirit of AzadikaAmritMahotsav, the Government of India has chosen 75 municipal corporations to execute complete rehabilitation of beggars via SMILE-75.
  • The initiative is part of the Ministry’s current SMILE project, which has been allotted 100 crore till 2025-2026.
  • SMILE: Support for Marginalised Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise.

What Is SMILE-75 Initiative?

• • 75 municipal corporations, in partnership with NGOs and other stakeholders, will cover a wide range of comprehensive welfare measures for beggers, with a particular emphasis on:

    

    1. Rehabilitation
    2. Provision of medical facilities
    3. Counselling and awareness
    4. Education
    5. Skill development
    6. Economic linkages and convergence with other government welfare programmes
  • Project aims to make 75 municipalities ‘begging-free’.

Objectives of SMILE-75

• • The Ministry, through the coordinated action of various stakeholders, intends that no one is forced to beg in order to survive and meet their basic requirements by developing a support framework for comprehensive rehabilitation of people engaged in the act of begging.
  • The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment recognises the critical role of local urban bodies, civil society organizations/non-governmental organizations in addressing this persistent social issue via collaborative efforts.

Components

• • This contains a sub-scheme of complete rehabilitation for those who beg, covering identification, rehabilitation, medical care, counselling, and education, as well as skill development for good jobs and self-employment/entrepreneurship.

Global Employment Trends for Youth 2022: ILO Report

Source : The Hindu
GS II:  Policies and Developmental Studies; GS III: Indian Economy

 What is discussed under ILO Global Employment Trends for Youth 2022 report?

1. What Is International Labour Organization (ILO)?
2. Important global findings of the report 
3. Important findings related to India
4. Key policy messages

Why in News?

International Labour Organization (ILO) has released a report on ‘Global Employment Trends for Youth 2022: Investing in transforming futures for young people’. 

Key Facts

• 

  Global Employment Trends for Youth describes the global labour market scenario for young people demonstrating:

  1. where progress has been achieved or has not been made
  2. updates on global and regional youth labour market information
  3. thorough assessments of trends and concerns affecting young people in the labour market
• The 2022 edition analyzes the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on young people and their labor-market prospects during and after the recovery.
• India experienced significant working-hour and employment losses in 2020-2021, especially among youths.

What Is International Labour Organization (ILO)?

• • ILO is the only tripartite UN agency established in 1919 under the League of Nations.
    • Tripartism is a neo-corporatism economic system in which all standards, policies, and programmes require discussion and approval from the representatives of governments, employers, and workers.
  • Its headquarter is in Geneva, Switzerland.
  • It brings together governments, employers and workers of 187 member States, setting labour standards, developing policies and devising programmes to promote decent work for all women and men.
  • The key goals of ILO are to promote workers’ rights, stimulate good job opportunities, improve social protection, and foster discourse on workplace concerns.
  • ILO received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1969.

Important Global Findings of the Report

Youth employment

• • The COVID-19 epidemic has disproportionately impacted young people aged between 15 and 24 years in numerous ways.
  • Young people faced significant job losses, degradation in employment quality, and increased inactivity, as well as more barriers to joining the labour market or changing occupations.
  • Number of unemployed young population has decreased from 75 million in 2021 where 73 million in 2022, which is still 6 million more than the pre-covid-19 pandemic.
  • Young people’s labour market opportunities and outcomes diminished with time through ‘scarring effect’.
    • Scarring effect: Effects of youth unemployment over working life as more spells of unemployment, lower earnings prospects and lower chances of obtaining a decent job in the longer term.

Gender disparity

• • Global inequalities, both within and across countries, increased because of the heterogenous direct and long-term effects of the COVID-19 crisis on young people in different countries and with different socio-economic backgrounds.
  • Young women have suffered a greater employment impact as a result of the crisis than young men.
  • Globally, young women’s unemployment rate (27.4 %) was below the male rate (45.6) both before and throughout the crisis.

Green and blue economies

• • The transition to green and blue economies can help to create decent and productive jobs while
    contributing to environmental sustainability and poverty eradication.
    • Green economy:  Low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive economy.
    • Blue economy: sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of ocean ecosystem.
  • Through the adoption of green and blue policy initiatives, an additional 8.4 million employment for young people might be produced by 2030.

Important Findings Related to India

Youth employment

• • Despite an overall average increase in the labour environment, Indian youth employment declined in 2021 compared to 2020.
  • According to the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy Surveys, the employment participation rate of young people aged 15-20 years fell by 0.9% in the first nine months of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, while it grew by 2% for adults.

Gender disparity

• • Indian young women experienced larger relative employment losses than young men in 2021 and 2022.
  • Young Indian males account for 16% of young men in the global labour market, whereas young Indian women account for only 5%.
  • The report complimented the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act for its contribution to paid employment, particularly for women, as well as carbon sequestration due to the Act’s emphasis on natural resources like as land, water, and trees.

School closures due to COVID-19

• • Due to the long shutdown of schools and other institutions, access to internet resources has become extremely uneven.
  • Children from low-income households, who make up the vast majority, have practically no access to online resources.
  • Only 8% of  240 million school-aged children in rural regions and 23% in urban areas had appropriate access to online education.
  • School closures resulted in ‘learning regression,’ – children forgetting what they had previously learned.
  • On average, 92% of children lost at least one core ability in language, while 82% of children lost at least one foundational ability in mathematics.
  • School closures also had a huge negative impact on nutrition and health.

Underpaid teachers

• • Teachers in private schools are paid one-eighth and one-half of what their counterparts in the public sector are paid.
  • Young, inexperienced, undertrained teachers who earn lower wages and have fewer benefits are more likely to lose motivation, which reduces the quality of their teaching.

Domestic workers

• • Young domestic workers are frequently migrants from rural areas.
  • Domestic work is a highly informal sector in India, with relatively low salaries.
  • Domestic workers are generally young women or girls because of their lower social status in Indian
    family and society.
  • Abuse of young domestic workers, including verbal and physical abuse and sexual exploitation, is prevalent.

Key policy messages

• • Ensuring that the labour market creates jobs for young people.
  • Investing to transform the economy, create new decent jobs and ensure the well-being of future generations.
  • Adopting supportive labour market policies and promoting skills development and entrepreneurship.
  • Training should be more learner-centred, offering a range of skills and various options for reskilling, upskilling and lifelong learning.
  • Youth programmes combining training, income support, counselling and intermediation can be more effective than such measures implemented in isolation.

India 7th Highest Digital Currency Ownership

Source : Live Mint
GS III : Science and Technology

What is discussed under India 7th Highest Digital Currency Ownership?

1. 3 three policy briefs published  UN body 
2. Curbing the expansion of Cryptocurrency
3. UN trade and development organisation UNCTAD

Why in News ?

According to the UN, over 7% of India’s population owned digital currency in 2021, ranking seventh in the list of top 20 global economies for digital currency ownership as share of population.

Key Facts

• • According to the UN trade and development organisation UNCTAD, in 2021, 15 of the top 20 economies in terms of the percentage of the population that owns cryptocurrencies were developing countries.
  • Ukraine topped the list with 12.7%, followed by Russia with 11.9%, Venezuela with 10.3%, Singapore with 9.4%, Kenya with 8.5%, and the US with 8.3%.
  • UNCTAD stated that while some people have benefited from these private digital currencies and they have made remittances easier, they are an unstable financial asset that also carries social risks and costs.
  • The monetary sovereignty of nations may be at risk if cryptocurrencies take off as a common form of payment and even informally displace national currencies.
  • Global use of cryptocurrencies has increased exponentially during the COVID-19 pandemic, including in developing countries.

3 three policy briefs published  UN body 

1. 1. All that glitters is not gold
      • This mentioned reasons for the rapid uptake of cryptocurrencies in developing countries.
      • Including facilitation of remittances and as a hedge against currency and inflation risks, under the title ‘All that glitters is not gold: The high cost of leaving cryptocurrencies unregulated’.

        

      • Also mentioned the risks of digital currencies stating that recent digital currency shocks in the market suggest that there are private risks to holding crypto, but if the central bank steps in to protect financial stability, then the problem becomes a public one.
      • If cryptocurrencies become a widespread means of payment and even replace domestic currencies unofficially this could jeopardise the monetary sovereignty of countries.
   2. Public payment systems in the digital era
      • Focuses on the implications of cryptocurrencies for the stability and security of monetary systems, and to financial stability.
      • It Put forward a domestic digital payment system that serves as a public good could fulfil at least some of the reasons for crypto use and limit the expansion of cryptocurrencies in developing countries.
   3. The cost of doing too little too late
      • Discusses how cryptocurrencies have become a new channel undermining domestic resource mobilisation in developing countries.
      • While cryptocurrencies can facilitate remittances, they may also enable tax evasion and avoidance through illicit flows, just as if to a tax haven where ownership is not easily identifiable.

Cryptoization
Global financial stability report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) subtitled COVID-19, Crypto and Climate : Navigating Challenging Transitions coined a new name Cryptoization to refer the introduction and/or substitution of crypto in emerging markets.

Curbing the expansion of Cryptocurrency

• UNCTAD urged authorities to take actions to curb the expansion of cryptocurrencies in developing countries, including ensuring comprehensive financial regulation of cryptocurrencies through
  1. regulating crypto exchanges
  2. Digital wallets and decentralised finance
  3. Banning regulated financial institutions from holding cryptocurrencies or offering related products to clients.
• Also called for restricting advertisements related to cryptocurrencies, as for other high-risk financial assets.
• Providing a safe, reliable and affordable public payment system adapted to the digital era.
• Implementing global tax coordination regarding cryptocurrency tax treatments, regulation and information sharing

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