QUESTION 2

Legal recognition of women farmers is a prerequisite for achieving inclusive rural development. What are the institutional and governance reforms required to ensure equitable access to land, credit, welfare schemes, and agricultural extension services for women in India?

QUESTION 1: Artificial Intelligence governance is emerging as a new arena of strategic competition among major powers. Discuss how competing AI governance models may reshape global institutions and India’s foreign policy choices.

Relevance: The topic connects International Relations, global governance, emerging technologies, digital diplomacy, and India’s strategic interests. It is important because AI governance is becoming a key geopolitical issue comparable to cyber governance, climate governance, and semiconductor diplomacy, with direct implications for India’s foreign policy and global role.

Note: This is not a model UPSC answer. It only provides you with a thought process which you may incorporate into the answers.

Introduction:

— Artificial intelligence (AI) has progressed from a technological invention to a strategic geopolitical asset that affects economic competitiveness, national security, and global rule-making.

— The establishment of China’s planned World AI Cooperation Organization (WAICO) underscores the growing competition among major powers to set worldwide AI governance, standards, and norms. For India, this changing terrain poses both opportunities and strategic quandaries in combining technology collaboration with strategic autonomy.

Body:

You may incorporate some of the following points in your answer:

How competing AI Governance Models may reshape global institutions?

— China’s proposal for WAICO aims to establish an alternative platform for AI governance, which might challenge Western-led frameworks. This could result in parallel institutions with competing standards rather than a unified global regulatory framework.

— Divergent approaches to AI ethics, data governance, transparency, and regulation may result in distinct technical ecosystems. Countries may progressively align with various AI governance blocs based on strategic and economic considerations.

— AI governance, like trade agreements and digital infrastructure efforts, is increasingly being used to enhance geopolitical influence. Countries that lead in AI standardisation are expected to shape future digital trade, investment, and innovation ecosystems.

— China’s emphasis on inclusive participation aims to entice developing countries that have been under-represented in existing AI governance conferences. This could shift the balance of power within global technology governance agencies.

— International organisations may incorporate AI governance into larger sustainable development and digital cooperation agendas.

Conclusion:

— The struggle for AI governance is the next frontier of global strategic competition, with far-reaching ramifications for international institutions and global power distribution. India’s challenge is not to pick between competing blocs, but to create an inclusive, interoperable, and human-centric AI governance framework that safeguards its strategic autonomy while strengthening its ambition to be a leading voice in global digital governance.

(Source: In China’s creation of new global AI body, a push for lead role in governance, UPSC Issue at a Glance | India AI Impact Summit 2026: Backdrop, key highlights, initiatives and concerns, AI Impact Summit begins in New Delhi today: How India plans to shape the AI conversation)

Points to Ponder

Technology standards as instruments of geopolitical influence.

Role of the Global South in shaping future AI norms.

Related Previous Year Question

e-Governance is not just about the routine application of digital technology in service delivery processes. It is as much about multifarious interactions for ensuring transparency and accountability. In this context, evaluate the role of the ‘Interactive Service Model’ of e-Governance. (2024)

QUESTION 2: Legal recognition of women farmers is a prerequisite for achieving inclusive rural development. What are the institutional and governance reforms required to ensure equitable access to land, credit, welfare schemes, and agricultural extension services for women in India?

Relevance: The issue directly falls under Governance, Social Justice, Welfare of Vulnerable Sections, and Government Policies and Interventions. It also links with women’s empowerment, agricultural governance, gender-inclusive policymaking, and cooperative federalism, making it a highly relevant contemporary theme for GS Paper 2.

Note: This is not a model UPSC answer. It only provides you with a thought process which you may incorporate into the answers.

Introduction:

— Women make up a sizable portion of India’s agricultural workforce, but many remain institutionally invisible because government benefits are heavily related to land ownership, which is overwhelmingly held by men.

— The Maharashtra Women Farmers Empowerment Act of 2026, which legally recognises women as farmers regardless of land ownership, represents a radical shift toward gender-inclusive agricultural governance.

Body:

You may incorporate some of the following points in your answer:

What are the institutional and governance reforms required?

— Enact legislation across states to recognise women working in agriculture and related activities as farmers. Extend the legal definition of agriculture to include cattle, fisheries, agroforestry, mushroom cultivation, and primary processing.

— Encourage joint land titles for spouses and simplify the transfer of inherited land to women’s names. Digitising land records and adding gender-disaggregated ownership information.

— Recognising certified women farmers as qualified borrowers, regardless of land title. Increased collateral-free loans, crop insurance, and Kisan Credit Card coverage for women farmers. Encourage women-led Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), cooperatives, and Self-Help Groups (SHGs) to enhance financial inclusion.

— Remove land ownership as the sole eligibility requirement for agricultural subsidies and welfare programs. Ensure equal access to input subsidies, irrigation support, crop insurance, and social security programs.

— Provide personalised training in climate-resilient agriculture, mechanisation, digital agriculture, and value addition.

— Create Women’s Farmer Empowerment Councils, dedicated implementation cells, and monitoring committees. Create a comprehensive database of women farmers to support evidence-based policymaking.

— Increase the representation of women in Gram Sabhas, Water User Associations, Cooperatives, and FPOs.

— Connect women farmers to livelihood, nutrition, climate adaption, and skill-development programs for comprehensive rural development.

Conclusion:

— Legal acknowledgement is the first step toward addressing women’s historical under-representation in agriculture. However, inclusive rural development necessitates extensive reforms to land governance, financial inclusion, welfare distribution, extension services, and institutional accountability. Maharashtra’s effort provides a scalable paradigm for changing women from unseen agricultural workers to recognised economic agents, thereby increasing gender justice, agricultural productivity, and sustainable rural development.

(Source: In Maharashtra, giving women farmers the recognition they deserve, Maharashtra Council passes Bill to recognise women farmers, extend access to welfare schemes, Maharashtra introduces bill to recognise women farmers)

Points to Ponder

Women’s role in climate-resilient and sustainable agriculture.

Institutional reforms for inclusive agricultural governance.

Related Previous Year Questions

Besides the welfare schemes, India needs deft management of inflation and unemployment to serve the poor and the underprivileged sections of the society. Discuss. (2022)

Women’s social capital complements in advancing empowerment and gender equity. (2025)

Previous Mains Answer Practice

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 3 (Week 164)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 3 (Week 165)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 2 (Week 164)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 2 (Week 163)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 1 (Week 163)

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 1 (Week 164)

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