Fertility Levels drop below one in many Asian Nations

• There is a demographic problem affecting many East and Southeast Asian countries, with record-low fertility rates and fewer births annually.
• A number of Chinese hospitals discontinued providing baby birth services in March of this year as a result of dwindling patient demand.

TFR of India and Asian nations compared to others:

Reasons for several Asian countries’ declining fertility rates below one:

• Family Planning Measures: Tight family planning laws have been enacted in nations like Singapore and South Korea, which have reduced the number of children that are recommended for a marriage. The 1980s South Korean phrase, “Even two children per family are too many for our crowded country,” for instance, highlights the need to limit population increase.
• Opportunities for Women in Careers: Priorities have shifted away from having children as women have greater opportunity to pursue occupations.
• Marriage rates are declining: Since marriage is usually associated with childbearing, declining marriage rates are a contributing factor to declining fertility rates. The window of opportunity for childbearing closes as fewer people marry or put off getting married.
• Cost of parenting Children: Having larger families is said to be discouraged by the growing expense of parenting children. Expenses related to housing, healthcare, and education could discourage a couple from having more kids.
• The ideal rate of reproduction 2.1 children per woman is the optimal fertility rate for a population to stay steady, assuming no immigration or emigration. It guarantees that every generation will replace itself. This pace is called the replacement rate.

Suggestive Measures to maintain an ideal Fertility Rate:

• Promoting Work-Life Balance: To encourage people to have children while pursuing their jobs, policies that promote work-life balance should be put into place. Examples of these policies include flexible work schedules, maternity leave, and reasonably priced childcare.
• Financial Incentives: Provide families with financial aid or subsidies to help with the cost of raising children, which will make it more affordable for people to start families.
• Education and Awareness: To assist people in making educated decisions regarding their fertility, provide education and awareness programs on the advantages of having children at a younger age and the significance of family planning.
• Healthcare Support: To guarantee a secure and encouraging atmosphere for those thinking about beginning a family, enhance healthcare services pertaining to conception, pregnancy, and delivery.

Asian countries experiencing a population crisis as a result of strict family planning laws, limited professional possibilities for women, a decline in marriage rates, and high child-rearing expenses. To sustain an optimal reproduction rate, actions such as work-life balance policies, financial incentives, education, and healthcare improvements are required.

Reforms needed in the voting process

In order to fully cross-verify the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with the vote total as reported by Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the Supreme Court has agreed to examine petitions in this regard.

What is the history of the Voting Process?

• First two General Elections: Each candidate had a separate box with their election symbol set for them in the elections of 1952 and 1957. To cast their vote, voters had to place a blank ballot into the designated box for the candidate they wished to support.
• Third Election: Voters stamp the name of their preferred candidate on a ballot paper featuring the names of the contenders and their insignia.
• Introduction of EVM in Lok Sabha Elections: In the 2004 general elections to the Lok Sabha, EVMs were used in all 543 constituencies.
• Global Scenario: Instead of employing electronic voting machines (EVMs) for national or federal elections, several Western democracies, including the United States, France, England, and The Netherlands, have chosen to stick with paper ballots.
• Following experiments over the last 20 years, the usage of EVMs has been halted in certain nations. For instance, in 2009, the German Supreme Court ruled that electronic voting machines (EVMs) were unlawful.

Relevance of EVM:

• Booth capture, the practice of unauthorized people taking over polling booths in order to manipulate votes, has been greatly decreased by electronic voting machines (EVMs).
• Eradication of Illegitimate Votes: A frequent problem with paper ballots, invalid votes have been virtually eradicated by electronic voting machines.
• Environmental Sustainability: By lowering paper consumption, the use of EVMs helps to promote environmental sustainability in a country with an electorate as vast as India’s—nearly one billion people.
• Administrative Convenience: On election day, electronic voting machines (EVMs) offer polling officers administrative convenience. They streamline the voting procedure, making it simpler for both voters and election authorities to run polling places effectively.

Limitations on using EVM:

• Susceptibility to Hacking Allegations: Despite electoral authorities’ assurances, questions have been raised concerning the security of electronic vote machines (EVMs), raising fears that their electronic nature may make them susceptible to hacking.
• Restricted Sample Size for Verification of VVPAT: There are now only five voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) slips used for each assembly constituency or segment, which limits the sample size used to validate the EVM count.
• Identification of Polling Behavior: Polling behavior by political parties can be identified by comparing EVM counts with VVPAT slips at the booth level. The confidentiality and impartiality of the election process could be compromised by the use of this information for intimidation and voter profiling.

Way Forward:

• Improving Comprehensibility and Transparency: In a transparent democracy, voters should be able to comprehend and validate the electoral process without needing complex technical knowledge.
• Sampling Methodology for EVM-VVPAT Correspondence: Possibly by breaking each state up into large zones as experts have advised, the sample for matching the EVM count with VVPAT slips should be decided scientifically rather than aiming for a 100% match.
• Error Resolution: The VVPAT slips for the affected region should be completely counted in the event that an error is found, as this will serve as the foundation for the findings. This would provide the counting procedure statistically substantial confidence.

India ranks number 10 in World Cybercrime Index

India is ranked 10th globally in the “World Cybercrime Index,” a recent research project that provides insight into the state of cybercrime globally.

About the World Cybercrime Index

• Oxford University and the University of New South Wales, Sydney, have collaborated to establish the World Cybercrime Index.
• CRIMGOV, a project backed by the European Union, has provided the funding.
• The index was created to rank nations according to the important national sources of cybercrime in order to pinpoint the biggest hotspots for cybercrime worldwide.
• The journal PLOS ONE has published the paper “Mapping the global geography of cybercrime with the World Cybercrime Index.”

The study evaluated five primary categories of cybercrime, which were:

• technical goods and services (such as the creation of tools, access to compromised networks, botnet access, and virus writing).
• assaults and extortion (such as ransomware and denial-of-service attacks).
• Identity/data theft (such as credit card fraud, phishing, account intrusions, and hacking).
• frauds (such as online auction fraud, business email compromise, and advance fee fraud).
• Money laundering and cashing out (such as credit card fraud, money mules, and illegal virtual currency platforms).

Key Findings of the Report

• According to cybercrime rankings, India is ranked 10th, and the most common sort of frauds involve advance fee payments.
• The top five countries on the index are Russia, the US, China, Romania, Nigeria, Ukraine, and North Korea. Brazil, the UK, and North Korea round out the top five.

Shrinkflation

The FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) sector confronts the threat of decreasing packs as input prices rise, which will affect customer preferences and business dynamics.

What is Shrinkflation?

• Shrinkflation is a marketing strategy whereby corporations lower the quantity or size of a product while maintaining the same price.

Causes for Shrinkflation:

• Cost management: It assists businesses in controlling growing labor and raw material expenses without compromising profitability.
• Market Competition: Businesses may utilize shrinkflation to preserve their market share in competitive markets by maintaining competitive prices.

Impact of Reduced Inflation:

• Customer Perception: Should customers become aware of the alteration, it may result in diminished customer loyalty, a bad opinion of the brand, and a loss of trust.
• Accuracy of Inflation Measurement: Since shrinkflation occurs when quantity falls but price stays the same, accurate measures of inflation are made more difficult.
• Restrictions: Businesses can only use shrinkflation subtly and for a short period of time before customers find out and take offense. Brand reputation can be harmed by overuse.