Syllabus: #GSIII - Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development andEmployment.

Highlights:
1. Editorial criticises the recent decision by the Indian government to require licences for importing laptops, tablets, and other devices, drawing parallels to the repressive policies followed before the economic reforms of 1991.

2. The move is said to be aimed at promoting domestic manufacturing and reducing imports from China, but it is seen as a sledgehammer approach that could disrupt the market, create supply shortages, and increase equipment prices.

3. The government has been adopting more socialist policies in recent years, such as banning rice exports and imposing stock holding limits on pulses, which could threaten the economic gains made after the dismantling of the license permit raj in the 1990s.

#Keywords: Repressive policies, Import restrictions, Licensing regime, License permit raj.

Today's Prelims Practice Questions 👇

Explanation for today's MCQs👇

#Essay_Anecdote
Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880 –1932) was born into a rich family who owned a lot of land. Though she knew how to read and write Urdu, she was stopped from learning Bangla and English. In those days, English was seen as a language that would expose girls to new ideas, which people thought were not correct for them. Therefore, it was mostly boys who were taught English.

Rokeya learnt to read and write Bangla and English with the support of her elder brother and an elder sister. She went on to become a writer. She wrote a remarkable story titled Sultana’s Dream in 1905 to practise her English skills when she was merely 25 years old. This story imagined a woman called Sultana who reaches a place called Ladyland. Ladyland is a place where women had the freedom to study, work, and create inventions like controlling rain from the clouds and flying air cars. In this Ladyland, the men had been sent into seclusion – their aggressive guns and other weapons of war defeated by the brain- power of women. As Sultana travels in Ladyland with Sister Sarah, she awakes to realise that she was only dreaming.

As you can see, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain was dreaming of women flying planes and cars even before girls were allowed to go to school! This was the way in which education and learning had changed Rokeya’s own life. Rokeya did not stop at getting education just for herself. Her education gave her the power not only to dream and write, but also to do more – to help other girls go to school and to build their own dreams. In 1910, she started a school for girls in Kolkata, and to this day, the school is still functioning.

This anecdote can be used in multiple essays:
1. Women's Empowerment
2. Role of Education in Social Change
3. The Intersection of Colonialism and Feminism
4. The Evolution of Women's Rights Movements