Context:

• Indian cities face severe pollution, poor infrastructure, and inadequate public services. Without reforms, cities risk becoming unlivable and unsafe.

Urban Challenges in India:

• Rapid urbanization:
  • According to the 2011 Census, census towns increased from 1,362 in 2001 to 3,894 in 2011, contributing to nearly one-third of the urban growth during that decade.
  • By 2036, more than 600 million people will live in Indian cities, which are not ready for this growth.
• Pollution crisis:
  • Overview: 42 Indian cities are among the top 50 most polluted cities in the world. Nearly 50% of 603 rivers in India are polluted.
  • Major causes: Vehicle emissions, industrial waste, and construction dust.
  • Impact: Respiratory diseases, economic losses ($95 billion annually), and deteriorating quality of life.
• Climate change and environmental degradation:
  • Overview: Extreme weather events (heatwaves, floods) are becoming frequent. For example,
    • Mumbai and Bengaluru witnessed flooding and waterlogging (last year), disrupting everyday life and displacing thousands.
    • New Delhi and the rest of North India endured a heatwave with temperatures touching close to 50 degrees Celsius.
  • Causes: Lack of green infrastructure worsens urban heat and flooding.
• Water and waste mismanagement:
  • Overview:
    • Major rivers like the Yamuna and Ganga are heavily contaminated, making them unsafe for consumption and harmful for marine biodiversity.
    • In Bengaluru, lakes have either dried up or become toxic while floods in Chennai have worsened groundwater contamination, leading to a cutoff of clean water supply for many communities.
    • Less than one-fifth of waste is treated in India.
  • Impact:
    • Cities like Bengaluru and Chennai struggle with water scarcity and contamination.
    • Poor waste disposal leads to hazardous landfills and disease outbreaks.

Governance Issues and Urban Planning:

• Census towns and urban mismanagement:
  • Census towns exhibit urban characteristics but lack official recognition.
  • Their governance as rural areas leads to poor infrastructure and funding shortages.
  • Delayed urban status exacerbates regional inequalities.
• Comparing Indian cities to global urban centers:
  • Bangkok: Efficient metro, tourism-friendly policies.
  • London: Well-planned transport, cultural hubs.
  • Dubai: Investment-friendly urban planning.
  • Singapore: Clean governance, smart city initiatives.
• Lessons for India:
  • Key takeaways for India: Efficient governance, affordable housing, and green infrastructure. To achieve this and to compete globally, Indian cities need bold urban reform.
  • Learning from Singapore’s urban model: Singapore overcame overcrowding, pollution, and congestion through structured urban planning.

Solutions and Policy Interventions:

• Solutions:
  • Transforming Indian cities will require an overhaul of planning, strengthened governance, and sustainable financing.
  • With action on these fronts, India can develop liveable, resilient, and economically vibrant cities that can become global attractions.
  • The first step must be to notify census towns as urban areas in their own right. States must take the lead.
• Other solutions:
  • Green spaces (like parks and green roofs), modern drainage systems, and early warning systems.
  • Need for comprehensive waste and water management
• Recent government initiative:
  • Urban Challenge Fund (Rs 1 lakh crore) announced in the 2025-26 Union Budget.
  • Focus areas:
    • Cities as growth hubs, creative redevelopment, and sanitation improvements.
    • Cities must compete to achieve sustainability through transit investments and pollution control.

Conclusion:

• The fate of Indian cities depends on proactive planning and governance reforms.
• Without urgent action, cities will face worsening pollution, congestion, and insecurity.
• The coming decade is crucial for making Indian cities smart, green, and globally competitive.

Q1. What are the major environmental challenges faced by Indian cities?

Ans. Indian cities struggle with severe air pollution, water contamination, waste mismanagement, and climate change-induced disasters like heat waves and floods.

Q2. How does the governance of census towns impact urban development in India?

Ans. Census towns, despite exhibiting urban characteristics, are governed as rural areas, leading to inadequate infrastructure, lack of funding, and poor urban planning.

Q3. What lessons can India learn from Singapore’s urban planning model?

Ans. India can adopt Singapore’s focus on efficient land use, sustainable infrastructure, affordable housing, green spaces, and transparent governance to improve urban livability.

Q4. What is the objective of the Rs 1 lakh crore Urban Challenge Fund announced in the Union Budget 2025-26?

Ans. The fund aims to promote sustainable urbanization by supporting initiatives in growth hubs, creative redevelopment, and water and sanitation improvements.

Q5. How does air pollution impact India’s economy and public health?

Ans. Air pollution costs India nearly $95 billion annually due to lost productivity and healthcare expenses, while also contributing to respiratory diseases and reduced life expectancy. 

Source:IE

Context

• The Union Budget 2025 has marked a significant milestone in gender-responsive fiscal policies by allocating a record ₹4,49,028.68 crore to the Gender Budget (GB), reflecting a 37.3% increase from the previous year.
• This allocation represents 8.86% of the total Budget, indicating a growing recognition of gender-related economic issues.
• However, a closer analysis reveals that this increase is primarily attributed to the inclusion of the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, which alone accounts for 24% of the GB.
• Crucially, this rise does not stem from substantial investments in care infrastructure or new gender-responsive programs, highlighting persistent gaps in addressing unpaid care and domestic work (UCDW) in India’s economic planning.

The Care Work Crisis: An Overlooked Economic Reality

• The Issue of Unpaid Labour
  • Globally, women disproportionately shoulder the burden of unpaid care work, spending an average of 17.8% of their time on such activities.
  • This imbalance is even more severe in the Global South, where women in countries like India face an exacerbated care burden.
  • Indian women, in particular, spend 40% more time on unpaid care and domestic work compared to their counterparts in South Africa and China.
  • The International Labour Organisation (ILO) reports that 53% of Indian women remain outside the formal labour force due to caregiving responsibilities, compared to a mere 1.1% of men.
  • This striking disparity underscores the deeply entrenched gender norms that confine women to unpaid labour, limiting their economic participation and reinforcing systemic inequalities.
• The Heavy Burden on Marginalised Women
  • For marginalised women in low-income households, the situation is even more dire.
  • Many juggle 17–19 hours of daily labour, balancing paid employment with domestic responsibilities.
  • This results in ‘time poverty,’ where women lack the time to invest in personal development, economic opportunities, or leisure, leading to significant health and well-being challenges.
  • Feminist economists from the Global South emphasise that unpaid work in these regions extends beyond household duties to include family farm work, water and fuel collection, and sanitation-related tasks.
  • Limited access to essential infrastructure forces women to spend up to 73% of their time on unpaid care activities, a reality exacerbated by climate change.
  • For instance, water-related unpaid labour in India is projected to cost $1.4 billion by 2050 under high-emission scenarios, a direct consequence of inadequate public investment in care infrastructure.

Missed Opportunities in Budget 2025

• Despite its record allocation, the Gender Budget for 2025 fails to make transformative investments in care infrastructure that could alleviate the burden on women.
• The Economic Surveys of 2023-24 and 2024-25 recognise care infrastructure as a cornerstone of women’s empowerment, yet the Budget does not translate this understanding into concrete fiscal measures.
• India’s continued oversight of the care economy reflects a broader global pattern where unpaid labour remains largely invisible in mainstream economic planning.
• A key recommendation from the Economic Survey 2023-24 is that a direct public investment of 2% of GDP in care infrastructure could generate 11 million jobs while reducing the care burden.
• However, the Budget does not take concrete steps toward this goal.

Policy Recommendations: The Three R Framework

• Recognizing Unpaid Care and Domestic Work
  • Recognition is the first step toward addressing unpaid labour. India’s 2019 Time Use Survey marked a milestone in quantifying the time women spend on UCDW, revealing an average of seven hours per day.
  • However, conducting such surveys regularly is expensive.
  • A cost-effective solution would be integrating time-use modules into existing household surveys to systematically track unpaid work and inform policy decisions.
• Reducing the Burden Through Infrastructure Investments
  • Reducing women’s care burden requires significant investments in time-saving technologies and affordable care services.
  • The government’s decision to extend the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) until 2028 is a positive step toward addressing gaps in water access, a major contributor to unpaid labour.
  • However, funding delays and underutilisation continue to hinder its implementation.
  • While the scheme’s budget saw a 195% increase over Revised Estimates (RE), it declined by 4.51% from last year’s Budget Estimates (BE), highlighting allocation-spending mismatches.
  • Stronger implementation measures and sustainability initiatives are necessary to ensure that women benefit from improved water access.
• Redistributing Care Work Beyond Households
  • Redistributing care responsibilities, from households to the State and society—is essential for achieving gender equality.
  • The newly announced ₹1 lakh crore Urban Challenge Fund, with ₹10,000 crore allocated for FY 2025-26, presents an opportunity to finance urban redevelopment projects, including water and sanitation improvements.
  • If leveraged effectively, this fund could help establish care infrastructure in urban centres, taking inspiration from Bogotá’s Care Blocks, which consolidate caregiving services to reduce women’s unpaid work.
  • Similar models could be integrated into India’s Smart Cities Mission to create gender-responsive urban spaces.

The Way Forward: The Need for Women’s Representation in Policy-Making

• Ensuring women’s representation in decision-making processes is critical to designing policies that reflect their lived experiences.
• Excluding women from policy formulation results in economic strategies that fail to address gender-specific challenges.
• Studies suggest that policies designed with women’s participation are six to seven times more effective in achieving gender-equitable outcomes.
• By encouragement of greater female leadership in governance, India can enhance the responsiveness and effectiveness of its gender policies.

Conclusion

• With its emphasis on Nari Shakti as a driver of economic growth, India has the potential to emerge as a global leader in gender-responsive economic planning.
• However, the 2025 Budget falls short of making care infrastructure a central pillar of its strategy.
• Recognising unpaid care work, investing in time-saving infrastructure, and redistributing caregiving responsibilities are critical steps in creating an inclusive economy.

Q1. What percentage of the total Union Budget for 2025 is allocated to the Gender Budget?
Ans. 8.86% of the total Union Budget for 2025 is allocated to the Gender Budget, amounting to ₹4,49,028.68 crore.

Q2, What major factor contributed to the increase in the Gender Budget for 2025?
Ans. The inclusion of the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, which accounts for 24% of the Gender Budget, contributed significantly to the increase.

Q3. What is the key issue regarding women’s unpaid care work in India?
Ans. Women in India bear a disproportionate burden of unpaid care work, spending significantly more time on domestic and caregiving tasks than men, limiting their economic participation.

Q4. What is the proposed solution to reduce the care burden on women in India?
Ans. Investing in time-saving technologies, expanding affordable care infrastructure, and implementing public childcare and eldercare centers are key solutions to reduce women’s care burden.

Q5. Why is women’s representation in policy-making important?
Ans. Women’s representation in decision-making processes is crucial for creating effective gender-transformative policies that address the lived realities of women, improving their effectiveness significantly. 

Source:The Hindu

Context

• Language policy in education has always been a contentious issue in India, and the debate surrounding the three-language formula is no exception.
• While the National Education Policy (NEP) advocates the introduction of a third language to enhance cognitive ability, mobility for employment, and national integration, several issues arise with this approach.
• These include the practical difficulties of implementation, the prioritisation of foundational learning, and the potential political ramifications of language imposition.
• A careful assessment of these factors is necessary to ensure that educational reforms genuinely serve students rather than becoming political battlegrounds.

The Core Issue: Student Welfare and Educational Equity

• The first and foremost concern in the three-language debate should be the student, particularly those enrolled in public schools.
• Public school students form a significant percentage of the total school enrolment in Tamil Nadu, yet they lack access to coaching and other learning resources available to their counterparts in private schools.
• The key question, therefore, is whether learning an additional language will significantly enhance their career prospects.
• Given the existing challenges in public education, such as poor literacy levels and inadequate teaching quality, the introduction of a third language might divert attention from addressing more fundamental problems in education.

Questioning the Hypothesis: Does Learning a Third Language Offer Real Benefits?

• Cognitive Development: Is More Always Better?
  • One of the main arguments in favour of learning multiple languages is that it enhances cognitive abilities.
  • There is strong evidence that bilingualism has cognitive benefits, including improved memory, problem-solving skills, and multitasking abilities.
  • However, research does not conclusively support the idea that adding a third language enhances these cognitive abilities proportionally.
  • In fact, some studies suggest that introducing a third language too early, especially before a strong foundation in the mother tongue is established, can create cognitive overload and hinder overall academic performance.
• Employment Mobility: A Theoretical vs. Practical Advantage
  • The NEP suggests that learning a third language will improve students’ ability to move across states for employment.
  • While this argument holds some validity in an increasingly interconnected world, the practical benefits of knowing a third language depend on the specific employment opportunities
  • For instance, in Tamil Nadu, most students seek employment within the state, where Tamil is the dominant language of communication.
  • Even for national-level jobs, English remains the preferred medium for competitive exams, higher education, and professional settings.
  • Fields such as IT, engineering, medical sciences, and business primarily require strong English proficiency rather than fluency in Hindi or any other regional language.
• National Integration: Language vs. Cultural Understanding
  • Another major justification for the three-language policy is that it creates national unity by enabling communication between people from different linguistic backgrounds.
  • While linguistic diversity can promote cultural understanding, language alone is not the primary factor in fostering national integration.
  • Respect for diverse cultures, shared historical narratives, and common civic values play a far greater role in uniting a nation.
  • Moreover, the idea that enforcing a third language will lead to greater national integration is debatable.
  • India has a long history of linguistic diversity, and different regions have developed strong cultural and linguistic identities.
  • Rather than imposing a particular language, nurturing respect for multiple languages and cultures would be a more effective approach.

The Ground Reality of Public Education

• Another critical issue is the already struggling state of primary and secondary education in Tamil Nadu, as highlighted by the ASER Survey 2024.
• A significant portion of students lack basic literacy skills even in their first and second languages, making the addition of a third language an unnecessary burden.
• The second-language proficiency, particularly in English, is already a major challenge for many students.
• Even top-performing students from English-medium public schools struggle with higher education due to inadequate exposure to English instruction.
• The priority, therefore, should be on improving the quality of teaching and learning rather than increasing the language load.

Practical Challenges in Implementation of Three Language Policy

• The implementation of a three-language formula raises serious logistical concerns. Public schools already face teacher shortages and infrastructure deficits.
• Recruiting competent teachers for a third language, particularly if multiple language options are offered, would strain educational budgets further.
• With Tamil Nadu already spending a significant percentage of its education budget on teacher salaries, diverting funds to accommodate third-language instruction could reduce resources available for critical infrastructure improvements.

Political Dimensions and the Way Forward

• The debate over language education is also influenced by political factors.
• Tamil Nadu has historically resisted the imposition of Hindi, viewing it as a threat to linguistic and cultural identity.
• However, the political stance on language policy should not come at the cost of students' career prospects.
• A rigid opposition to Hindi could disadvantage students if national employment and educational opportunities begin favouring Hindi proficiency.
• A balanced approach would be to introduce Hindi as an optional third language at the middle-school level, starting in district headquarters and expanding based on demand.
• This gradual implementation would allow flexibility without burdening all students unnecessarily.

The focus should remain on improving English proficiency and overall educational quality while ensuring that language policy decisions are made in students' best interests.

Conclusion

• The three-language formula, while well-intentioned, presents more challenges than benefits, especially for public school students.
• Rather than imposing a third language, efforts should be directed toward enhancing teaching quality, improving literacy levels, and ensuring students gain proficiency in languages that offer the best career opportunities.
• A pragmatic approach, rather than a rigid stance, will ensure that Tamil Nadu’s students are not left behind in an increasingly competitive world.

Q1. Why is the three-language formula considered problematic for public school students?

Ans. It adds an unnecessary burden when many students already struggle with basic literacy in their first and second languages.

Q2. Does learning a third language significantly improve cognitive abilities?
Ans. No, research suggests that strong proficiency in the mother tongue is more important for cognitive development than learning multiple languages.

Q3. How does employment mobility challenge the need for a third language?
Ans. Most jobs in Tamil Nadu do not require Hindi, and English remains the key language for national and global opportunities.

Q4. Can enforcing a third language promote national integration?
Ans. Not necessarily; fostering cultural respect and shared values is more effective than imposing a common language.

Q5. How is technology changing the need for language learning?
Ans. AI and translation tools are making language barriers less significant, reducing the necessity of enforcing a third language. 

Source:The Hindu