NCW to legalise Prostitution, Department of Electronics and Information Technology to ban Pornography, Iraq long term accord with Kurdish region

Ques 38. Critically examine the merits and demerits of the recent proposal by the National Commission for women to legalise prostitution.

Ans. The call to legalise prostitution is not new in India. There have been strong voices by NCW, social experts and even by many prostitutes to give them a legal mandate. There are solid merits in this argument but the demerits tend to outfox than –

Merits – 

(a) If the trade is legalized it can stop the harassment of sex workers by Government officials to a large extent.

(b) They will get a large share of their service by reducing the consultancy cut of pimps as customers can directly approach them.

(c) A proper exclusive health care facility can be set up for them with regular checks there by reducing the prevalence of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV/AIDS.

Demerits – 

(a) In other countries where prostitution has been legalized, conditions of women involved in the trade has deteriorated and no solid reason to prove that the status quo will not be maintained in India.

(b) It may lead to sudden increase in women trafficking, child trafficking and prostitution and it will become more difficult for NGO and Civil society groups to save them.

(c) Many young women who are currently involved in this trade secretly will have to get themselves registered after legalization which may earn them the wrath of their community and family members and lead to their seclusion.

(d) Rehabilitation of women after leaving this trade due to illness, old-age etc. will be a challenge as it would be almost impossible for them to go back to their families.

Ques 39. “This planned prohibition of pornography and any other objectionable content will ultimately come at a cost to our collective interest in the freedom of expression while simultaneously turning a deaf year to what science is or is not able to account for. A web filter opens the door to above, stupidity, official petty – mindedness and a habit of giving up and reaching for the easiest way out.” In the might of government’s plan to filter the web, critically comment on the statement.

Ans. Department of Electronics and Information Technology has been searching for ways to implement web filter, a mechanism to block on line porn content. But there are still some facts that need to be answered to before imposing a ban. 

They are –

(a) Scientifically it has not been proved that viewing pornography leads to sexual violence. So imposing a ban on this premise will be an unscientific step. 

(b) Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine in its study in June 2014 has also said that availability of on line porn has no impact on sexual crimes such as rape.

(c) A study even said that easy availability of porn in privacy of homes is an excellent sex stress reliever and removing that leverage may cause a spurt in sexual violence.

(d) Web filters can be passed by proxy networks. So the efficiency of the filters is dubious. 

(e) Web filters may also lead to the filtering of useful on line material related to fields of education sports etc. which is not in public interest.

(f) Whether majority of Indians want this step to be taken is not sure so implementing it will definitely be an invasion on our fundamental right of expression.

Ques 40.  Critically comment on the significance of Iraqi government’s recent long term accord with the autonomous Kurdish region to share the country’s oil wealth and military resources.

Ans. Kurdish autonomous regions’ people form the largest minority of Iraq. The region is dominated by Sunni sect Muslims and there relations with the central government of Iraq were not very good during the regime of former Prime Minister Nuri Kamalal-Maliki.

Now Prime Minister Haider Al-Abach after taking charge in order to pacify Kurdish minority to confront ISIS has taken following steps –

(a) A long term agreement has been made between Central Government and Kurdish region over the sharing oil resources.

(b) Government will pay salaries of Peshmerga the Kurdish security forces.

(c) Iraq Govt. will also provide weapons procured from the United states to the Kurdish Security forces to counter Islamic State. Onset of ISIS way supported by some Kurdish Sunni Arabs as a protection against elite ruling Shia class of Iraq but it was against national and global interest as ISIS is a threat to humanity. It will at least temporarily unite the Iraqis in fight against ISIS.

Vested interests of Turkey to source Kurdish oil will be jeopardized. If Turkey would have been successful in gaining control over Kurdistan region the Iraqis stand against ISIS would have been weakened. 

The stance of Iraq towards Sunni countries like Saudi Arabia is softening which may lead to much stable West Asia region in the future.