Editorials/Opinions Analysis For UPSC 12 July 2025

Content :

1. Mission Without A Mandate
2. View India’s Gender Gap Report Ranking as a Warning

Mission Without A Mandate

Core Argument: India’s AI Ambitions Lack Democratic Anchoring

• India has articulated global ambitions in AI, aiming to lead in regulation, deployment, and shaping international norms — especially for the Global South.
• Despite this, the IndiaAI Mission (₹10,000+ crore, 2023) remains a mission without a mandate — operating without a Cabinet-endorsed national strategy or parliamentary oversight.
• Governance via a Section 8 company (MeitY-led) lacks democratic accountability, cross-ministry integration, and long-term vision.

Relevance : GS 2(Governance ) , GS 3(Technology)

Practice Question : India’s ambition to become a global leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI) must be backed by democratic legitimacy, institutional coordination, and a Cabinet-endorsed national strategy. Critically examine the gaps in India’s current AI governance framework and suggest reforms to align AI development with constitutional and global democratic values.(15 marks, 250 words)

Structural Deficits in India’s AI Ecosystem

• R&D Weakness:
  • India’s AI PhD pipeline is thin; academic research remains underfunded.
  • Most funding is skewed toward consumer tech, not deep-tech foundational AI research.

• Deployment Without Innovation:
  • Indian AI adoption is focused on downstream deployment (e.g., chatbots, analytics), not on developing core AI models or platforms.
  • India is viewed globally as a consumer market, not as a deep-tech innovator.

• Private Sector Gaps:
  • Limited university–industry collaboration.
  • AI start-ups remain underrepresented in global markets and forums.
  • Only ~1% of discussions on AI in Parliament — highlights lack of institutional prioritization.

Governance Vacuum & Risks

• Mission without Mandate:
  • IndiaAI is not backed by legislation or formal political commitment — resulting in uncertain policy direction and fragmented institutional coordination.

• No Whole-of-Government Integration:
  • The current model lacks alignment across domains: security, public infrastructure, data governance, digital economy, innovation.
  • Example: MeitY-driven but without coordination with ministries like Defence, Education, Law, etc.

• Undermining Strategic Autonomy:
  • India risks ceding ground to foreign models (US Big Tech or EU’s AI Act) without asserting sovereign AI governance frameworks.

Key Recommendations from the Editorial

1. Enact a Cabinet-Endorsed National AI Strategy:
   1. Must be tabled in Parliament with bipartisan support.
   1. Needs an actionable roadmap, timelines, and clear mandates for research, regulation, and infrastructure.

• Establish a Coordinating Authority:
  • With whole-of-government mandate and legitimacy to:
    • Align AI R&D with public interest
    • Regulate platforms/data
    • Create rules for AI ethics, security, and transparency

• Democratic Oversight & Inclusion:
  • Mechanisms for transparency, legislative scrutiny, and public engagement must be embedded.
  • Strengthens domestic and global AI legitimacy.

Geopolitical and Strategic Lens

• India’s democratic legitimacy is its global AI edge (vs. China’s techno-authoritarianism).
• However, without democratic frameworks, India undermines its leadership of the Global South on platforms like the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI).
• Strategic autonomy demands AI governance rooted in Indian values, not borrowed Western templates.

Takeaways

Conclusion

India’s AI future cannot rest on bureaucratic silos or techno-solutionism. The editorial powerfully argues that democratic legitimacy, bipartisan consensus, and institutional coordination are critical to shaping India’s AI trajectory — not just as a consumer but as a norm-setting, innovation-leading global player.

View India’s Gender Gap Report Ranking as a Warning

Alarming Findings from the Global Gender Gap Report 2025

• India’s Rank: 131 out of 148 countries globally in gender parity.
• Sub-Index Lows:
  • Economic Participation and Opportunity: India ranks 143rd, one of the lowest.
  • Health and Survival: Persistently poor — sex ratio at birth remains highly skewed, reflecting entrenched son preference.
• Contrast with Potential: Despite being a global digital economy and home to the world’s largest youth population, India’s gender performance is stagnating.
• Missed Economic Potential: McKinsey (2015) projected $770 billion GDP boost by 2025 with gender parity. The editorial warns this window has been missed.

Relevance : GS 1(Society ) , GS 2(Social Issues)

Practice Question : “India’s demographic dividend is at risk without gender parity.” Discuss in the light of recent findings of the Global Gender Gap Report 2025.(250 Words)

Structural Neglect in Women’s Health and Autonomy

• Reproductive and Preventive Health: Chronic underinvestment in women-specific primary care — especially for rural and low-income women.
• Anaemia Crisis: NFHS-5 shows 57% of women aged 15–49 are anaemic — directly impacting productivity, maternal health, and learning capacity.
• Health Disparities: For the first time, healthy life expectancy of Indian women is lower than men, indicating systemic healthcare failure.
• Policy Gap: Health budgets often fail to prioritize women’s reproductive rights, nutrition, and autonomy.

Economic Exclusion and the Invisible Care Economy

• Wage and Work Gaps:
  • Women earn less than 1/3rd of what men do.
  • Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) remains stubbornly low.

• Unpaid Care Work:
  • Indian women perform 7x more unpaid domestic work than men (Time Use Survey).
  • Yet, this labour is invisible in GDP accounting and largely ignored in public infrastructure planning.

• Policy Blind Spots:
  • No systemic investment in care infrastructure (e.g., crèches, elderly care, maternity benefits).
  • Women’s economic inactivity is often treated as cultural, not as a systemic outcome of poor support structures.

Policy and Institutional Recommendations

• Make Gender Equality a Cross-Sectoral Priority:
  • Link health, labour, and social protection policies to enable female participation in the economy.
  • Move beyond “beneficiary” lens — treat women as productive economic actors.

• Care Economy Investment:
  • Develop and fund care infrastructure — childcare, elder care, maternal leave systems.
  • Draw lessons from Uruguay and South Korea, where care economies are integrated into development planning.

• Recognition in Economic Frameworks:
  • Institutionalize time-use surveys, gender budgeting, and labour statistics inclusive of unpaid work.
  • Recalibrate growth metrics to include women’s contributions beyond formal employment.

• Inclusive Budgeting and Decision-Making:
  • Ensure women’s voices in policy spaces, budget committees, and local governance.
  • Promote affirmative action in leadership roles and workforce skilling schemes.

Gender and Demographic Future

• Double Burden Ahead:
  • By 2050, 20% of India’s population will be senior citizens — predominantly older women.
  • Simultaneously, fertility rates have fallen below replacement level.

• Implication:
  • With women excluded from the economy, the dependency ratio will rise — increasing fiscal pressure.
  • The only viable path: healthy, economically active women supporting both ageing parents and the economy.

• Strategic Framing:
  • Gender parity isn’t just ethical — it’s essential for labour productivity, growth, and intergenerational equity.

Conclusion :

“The Global Gender Gap Report is not just a ranking. It is a warning.” Unless India treats gender equality as central to national planning, it risks squandering its demographic dividend and entering a future of care burden, fiscal pressure, and lost productivity.