UPSC EDITORIAL ANALYSIS : Systems science for a better future
Kartavya Desk Staff
Source: The Hindu
• Prelims: Current events of national importance, democracy, global Environment Performance Index etc
• Mains GS Paper I and II: Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, institutions and other measures etc
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
• The Pew Research Center surveyed the citizens of many countries in 2023 to gauge how many prefer authoritarian rulers to multi-party democracy.
INSIGHTS ON THE ISSUE
Context
Democracy:
• Democracy is a form of government in which rulers are elected by the people in a free and fair elections, on universal adult franchise.
• Fundamental rules: It is governed on the basis of certain fundamental rules like a constitution.
• Political philosophy: It has been a part of contemporary political philosophy and other social choice theories.
• Discussions: Democracy is about a government by discussion but that discussion should not divide us into two hard brackets.
Pew Research Center surveyed :
The numbers choosing dictators will dismay democrats:
• In the Global South: India (85%) Indonesia (77%) South Africa (66%) Brazil (57%).
• India (85%)
• Indonesia (77%)
• South Africa (66%)
• Brazil (57%).
• In the West: the United Kingdom (37%) the United States (32%),
• the United Kingdom (37%)
• the United States (32%),
India:
• It has 5% of the world’s population living on only 2.4% of the world’s land.
• In 2014, India ranked 155 out of 178 countries in the global Environment Performance Index. In 2022, India slipped to the very bottom — 180 out of 180.
• In 2022, India slipped to the very bottom — 180 out of 180.
Systems’ knowledge:
• It has been devalued by specialization.
• Heart specialists can keep the heart alive with amazing technologies.
• Brain specialists delve deeper into the biology of the brain. They lose sight of the whole human being.
• They lose sight of the whole human being.
• Climate scientists research how to remove carbon from the atmosphere The effects of their solutions on the livelihoods of citizens are not in their science’s scope.
• The effects of their solutions on the livelihoods of citizens are not in their science’s scope.
• High-tech solutions can improve parts of complex systems while reducing overall health and well-being.
Way Forward
• Systems acting to improve the world for everyone must be driven by organizations whose purpose is cooperation, not by organizations driven by competition.
• The purpose of business corporations and armies is to make more profit and gain more power The purpose of families is to improve the well-being of their members.
• The purpose of families is to improve the well-being of their members.
• Women’s contributions to the well-being of families and societies are under-valued in money terms and not counted in GDP. The world needs more caring, less competition. Women are natural family builders and systems facilitators whereas men are brought up to compete.
• The world needs more caring, less competition.
• Women are natural family builders and systems facilitators whereas men are brought up to compete.
• Rather than men teaching women to think like men and compete with them in hierarchies of the formal labor force men must learn the caring ways of women to make the world better for everyone.
• men must learn the caring ways of women to make the world better for everyone.
QUESTION FOR PRACTICE
On what grounds a people’s representative can be disqualified under the Representation of People Act, 1951? Also mention the remedies available to such person against his disqualification.(UPSC 2019) (200 WORDS, 10 MARKS)
Editorial Analysis – 4 April 2024