Daily Practice Sheet 16 March 2021

Defence import and indigenization

A report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), an international organisation that tracks arms trade, has mentioned that India’s arms imports came down by a third between 2011-2015 and 2016-2020.
Russia was the most affected supplier, although India’s imports of US arms also fell, by 46 per cent.
The report attributed the fall not to the government’s push to make India self-reliant in defence manufacturing, but to factors including reducing the dependence on Russian arms, and the complex procurement procedure.
India remains the second highest importer, only behind Saudi Arabia. The top five global arms exporters were the US, Russia, France, Germany and China in 2016-2020.
Last year a negative imports list of 101 defence equipment and platforms was brought under indigenisation plan. Also, over 60 per cent of the capital expenditure, Rs 70,221 crore, for the armed forces has been allocated for domestically produced weapons and platforms this year.

Violence against women and trafficking

A Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs has found that the lockdown led to a spurt in cases of domestic violence and trafficking, and recommended continued cash transfers and moratorium on loan repayments, among other steps, to empower women.
Against the 1023 Fast Track Special Courts only 597 Courts including 325 exclusive POCSO courts have been made operational in 24 States/UTs.
It said that poor representation of women in the police force and “diversion” of Nirbhaya fund was worrying.
The Committee notedthat women presently constitute 10.30% of the Police force.
It recommended safety in public transport as a key measure to reduce crimes against women.

CSR spending

CSR spending, comprising 28 per cent of total private philanthropic funding, however, is likely to decline by 5 per cent during 2021, owing to a decline in profitability
CSR corpus has shifted away from traditional non-profits and sectors to Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM Cares) and other Covid-19 relief initiatives.
Private sector funding for philanthropic activities in India comes mainly from one of four sources, namely, foreign funding, corporate social responsibility (CSR), retail or individual donations and high net worth individuals (HNIs) or family-backed funds.
The corpus of family-backed philanthropies in the country grew more than three times to Rs 12,000 crore during 2019-20, while the total private sector funding for philanthropic activities rose 23 per cent on-year to Rs 64,000 crore, according to India Philanthropy Report 2021, a study undertaken by global consultancy Bain & Company and philanthropic organization Dasra.

GS1: Society

GS2: International Relations

In the context of rising China discuss significance of Quad for strategic autonomy. [Reference: Indian Express]

GS2: Economy

How the Covid-19 pandemic could be made opportunity to build more & better infrastructure amidst need of sustainable ecosystem. [Reference: Financial Express]