United Nations : India has ranked a lowly 131 among the 188 countries surveyed for human development, a new UN report has said, bracketing the third-largest Asian economy alongside its South Asian neighbours like Pakistan, Bhutan and Nepal.
India has made no improvement in its ranking over the previous year, despite the Human Development Report for 2015 noting that foreign direct investment favours countries such as China and India.
India’s Human Development Index rank in 2014 was also 131.
However, 63 per cent Indians were “satisfied” with their standard of living in 2014-15, the latest report found.
The report, released annually by the UN Development Programme, said India’s rank of 131 puts it in the “medium human development” bracket, which also includes nations like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan, Kenya, Myanmar and Nepal.
India’s HDI rank value in 2015 stood at 0.624, which had increased from 0.580 in 2010.
Its life expectancy at birth stood at 68.3 years in 2015 and the Gross National Income (GNI) per capita USD 5,663, the report said.
On the perception of feeling safe 69 per cent answered “yes”, while on freedom of choice, 72 per cent female responders answered they were “satisfied” as compared to 78 per cent for male.
India’s score for overall life satisfaction was 4.3 on a scale of 1-10, according to the report.
On perceptions about government, 69 per cent said they had trust in the national government for the 2014-15 period while 74 per cent said they had confidence in the judicial system.
It lauded measures like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme taken in India to generate employment.
“Creating jobs through a public works programme targeted at poor people can reduce poverty through income generation, build physical infra- structure and protect poor people against shocks. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme in India and the Rural Employment Opportunities for Public Assets Programme in Bangladesh are prime examples.”
The report noted that increasing clean energy investments in India by 1.5 per cent of GDP a year for 20 years will generate a net increase of about 10 million jobs annually in the country, after factoring in job losses from retrenchments in the fossil fuel industries. .
Muzaffarnagar, March 22 : A local court has convicted two men and sentenced them to five years in jail for slaughtering cows.
According to government lawyer Javed Ali, Additional District and Sessions Judge Manoj kumar has also imposed a fine of Rs 15000 each on the accused Gayyur and Gadhe Ali after holding them guilty under the Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act yesterday.
Police had intercepted a truck and seized beef from it at a check post under Jhunjhala police station in Shamli district in January 27, 2012.
A case was registered against both the accused who were arrested in this connection.
New Delhi, Mar 22 : The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is likely to come up with an accreditation framework for its affiliated schools with enhanced focus on academics than on “fancy” buildings.
The board has also approached the Quality Council of India, an autonomous body set up to establish and operate national accreditation structure, in this regard.
“CBSE has asked QCI to draft an approach paper to grade schools with more weightage to criterion like academic performance and learning outcomes, and reduce weightage to fancy infrastructure,” an official said.
However, this is not the first time that CBSE is trying its hands at an accreditation framework.
In 2012, the board had launched the School Quality Assessment and Accreditation, under which 12 agencies were roped in to inspect and rate CBSE schools. However, the project was junked later.
“Unlike popular magazines, this will not involve ranking institutions, but rather, will establish a level of acceptable quality for all accredited schools while respecting the unique missions of the institutions involved.
“The standards applied for accreditation will be qualitative and can be adapted and applied to any of the types of educational institutions affiliated. The awarding of accreditation will signify that the school has met standards at an acceptable level and is willing to both maintain those standards and to improve in areas pointed out to them,” the official added.
About one on four child on the planet will die, have their growth stunted or otherwise suffer from a lack of water by 2040, Unicef has warned in a new report.
Thirsting for a Future, released on World Water Day, paints a bleak picture of the next few decades in which the rising global population, a surge in demand for water, rising sea levels and increasingly common droughts combine to create a crisis of epic proportions.
Already 36 countries in the world face “extremely high levels of water stress”, the report by the UN children’s agency said.
Every day more than 800 children under five die from diarrhoea linked to a lack of clean water and poor sanitation.
The same conditions have resulted in an astonishing 156 million children under five suffering from stunted growth, which causes irreversible physical and mental damage.
In a foreword to the report, Professor Anthony Lake, executive director of Unicef, wrote: “Water is elemental. Without it, nothing can grow. And without safe water, children may not survive.
“Children without access to safe water are more likely to die in infancy – and throughout childhood – from diseases caused by water-borne bacteria, to which their small bodies are more vulnerable.
“When these diseases don’t kill outright, they can contribute to the stunting of children’s bodies and minds – and the blighting of their futures – by undermining their ability to absorb nutrients.
“When a community’s water supply dries up or becomes contaminated – because of drought, because of flooding, because of conflicts that undermine infrastructure and prevent people from reaching safe water sources – such diseases abound.”
Parts of Africa and the Middle East are currently in the grip of a serve drought.
“We see the terrible effects of water scarcity today all over the world – and nowhere more tragically than in parts of Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, where drought conditions and conflict are producing deadly effects,” Professor Lake said.
“Nearly 1.4 million children face imminent risk of death from severe acute malnutrition as famine grows in these areas.
“In Ethiopia alone, we anticipate that more than nine million people will be without safe drinking water in 2017.”
The increasing population and rising demand means the amount of water available to each person on the planet cut by 50 per cent by 2050, the report warned.
But as global warming will result in higher rates of evaporation and less rainfall in many areas – such as the Middle East – “water will become even scarcer”, it added.
“Rising temperatures increase the atmosphere’s water storage capacity, which essentially reduces water availability on the ground, particularly during the warmer months of the year,” it said.
“Then, when the air eventually cools, more intense rainfall occurs, this can lead to increased frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones and other extreme weather events. Rising temperatures also impact water by creating an environment for bacteria, protozoa and algae to grow, which can lead to illness and death in children.”
Higher sea levels can contaminate freshwater with salt, rendering it undrinkable. Low-lying areas and small islands, the places most affected by this problem, are home to about 25 per cent of the world’s population.
“The changing climate is one of many forces contributing to an unfolding water crisis. In the coming years, demand for water will increase as populations grow and move, industries develop and consumption increases,” the report said.
“This can lead to water stress, as increasing demand and use of water strains available supplies. By 2040, almost 600 million children [one in four of the total] are projected to be living in areas of extremely high water stress. If action is not taken to plan for water stress, and to safeguard access to safe water and sanitation, many of these children will face a higher risk of death, disease, and malnutrition.”
But Unicef stressed that a “growing water crisis” was “not inevitable, if we act now”.
It said countries should prioritise access to safe water for the most vulnerable children; increase the capacity of water storage facilities; factor in climate risks to water and sanitation policies; and get businesses to work with communities to prevent contamination and depletion of clean water supplies.
“In a changing climate, we must change the way we work to reach those who are most vulnerable,” Professor Lake said.
“One of the most effective ways we can do that is safeguarding their access to safe water.”
New Delhi : The government’s demonetisation move is set to augment the economic growth as interest rates have come down as a result of increased deposits in banks, Parliament was informed today.
It is noteworthy that the government is being targeted constantly from across the quarters for nullifying old Rs 500/1,000 notes from circulation in November, contending it would impact the economy negatively as India is a cash dominant market.
“After demonetisation, more deposits came into the banking system,” minister of state for finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
“This in turn leads to increasing the demand for loans in general and housing loans in particular as well as credit flow to micro, small and medium enterprises which will spur economic activity and generate employment opportunities,” he said.
Bulk of India’s transactions happen in cash than through technical/electronic means and banned notes formed as much as 86 per cent of cash currency in circulation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi while announcing the note ban on November 8, 2016 had said it would help curb black money, counter fake currency and put a plug to terror financing.
This required people to deposit their holdings in banned currencies to their bank accounts, resulting in flooding of huge cash into banks.
Gangwar said this helped banks reduce their lending rates significantly, as cost of deposits came down.
India’s chief statistician T C A Anant while estimating GDP for December quarter at 7 per cent, during which demonetisation was exercised, said it had minimal impact on economic growth.
On the other hand, there are many economists and experts who have lauded demonetisation saying it will help clean the system.
New Delhi : The government has given in principle approval for setting up 18 airports which together are estimated to cost nearly Rs 30,000 crore.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha today said the government has granted “in principle” approval for the greenfield airports.
Citing information provided by developers, the total estimated cost for setting up of the 18 airports “comes out to Rs 30,000 crore (approximately)”, Sinha said.
“As regards construction of new greenfield airports, execution of project including finalisation of project cost and financing arrangement is the sole responsibility of the respective airport promoters,” he said, as per an official release.
The 18 airports which have received in principle nod for construction include Mopa (Goa), Navi Mumbai, Shirdi and Sindhudurg (Maharashtra), Bijapur, Gulbarga, Hasan and Shimoga (Karnataka), Kannur (Kerala), Pakyong (Sikkim), Karaikal (Puducherry), Dholera (Gujarat) and Bhogapuram (Andhra Pradesh).
Besides, “site clearance” has been given to 5 greenfield airports. They are Machiwara, Ludhiana Airport (Punjab), Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh, Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, Alwar in Rajasthan and Kothagudem in Telangana.
The information was given by Sinha in a written reply in Rajya Sabha, as per the release.
A new report shows Norway is the happiest country on Earth, Americans are getting sadder, and it takes more than just money to be happy.
Norway vaulted to the top slot in the World Happiness Report despite the plummeting price of oil, a key part of its economy. Income in the US has gone up over the past decade, but happiness is declining.
The US was 14th in the latest ranking, down from No 13 last year, and over the years Americans steadily have been rating themselves less happy. The UK is ranked 19th.
“It’s the human things that matter. If the riches make it harder to have frequent and trustworthy relationship between people, is it worth it?” asked John Helliwell, the lead author of the report and an economist at the University of British Columbia in Canada (ranked No 7). “The material can stand in the way of the human.”
Studying happiness may seem frivolous, but serious academics have long been calling for more testing about people’s emotional well-being, especially in the US. In 2013, the National Academy of Sciences issued a report recommending that federal statistics and surveys, which normally deal with income, spending, health and housing, include a few extra questions on happiness because it would lead to better policy that affects people’s lives.
Norway moved from No 4 to the top spot in the report’s rankings, which combine economic, health and polling data compiled by economists that are averaged over three years from 2014 to 2016. Norway edged past previous champ Denmark, which fell to second. Iceland, Switzerland and Finland round out the top 5.
“Good for them. I don’t think Denmark has a monopoly on happiness,” said Meik Wiking, chief executive officer of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, who wasn’t part of the global scientific study that came out with the rankings.
“What works in the Nordic countries is a sense of community and understanding in the common good,” Wiking said.
Still, you have to have some money to be happy, which is why most of the bottom countries are in desperate poverty. But at a certain point extra money doesn’t buy extra happiness, Helliwell and others said.
Central African Republic fell to last on the happiness list, and is joined at the bottom by Burundi, Tanzania, Syria and Rwanda.
The report ranks 155 countries. The economists have been ranking countries since 2012, but the data used goes back farther so the economists can judge trends.
The rankings are based on gross domestic product per person, healthy life expectancy with four factors from global surveys. In those surveys, people give scores from 1 to 10 on how much social support they feel they have if something goes wrong, their freedom to make their own life choices, their sense of how corrupt their society is and how generous they are.
While most countries were either getting happier or at least treading water, America’s happiness score dropped 5 per cent over the past decade. Venezuela and the Central African Republic slipped the most over the past decade. Nicaragua and Latvia increased the most.
Study co-author and economist Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University said in a phone interview from Oslo that the sense of community, so strong in Norway, is deteriorating in the US.
“We’re becoming more and more mean spirited. And our government is becoming more and more corrupt. And inequality is rising,” Sachs said, citing research and analysis he conducted on America’s declining happiness for the report. “It’s a long-term trend and conditions are getting worse.”
University of Maryland’s Carol Graham, who wasn’t a study author but did review some chapters, said the report mimics what she sees in the American rural areas, where her research shows poor whites have a deeper lack of hope, which she connects to rises in addictions to painkillers and suicide among that group.
“There is deep misery in the heartland,” Graham, author of the book “The Pursuit of Happiness,” wrote in an email.
Happiness — and doing what you love — is more important than politicians think, said study author Helliwell. He rated his personal happiness a 9 on a 1 to 10 scale.
New Delhi, Mar 20 (PTI) In its bid to check the “misuse” of funds under MNREGA, the Rural Development Ministry has removed as many as 87 lakh job cards from the beneficiaries list, Union Minister Ram Kripal Yadav said today.
“The Rural Development Ministry had started a cleansing drive to check whether funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) were reaching the genuine beneficiaries, and in that drive it was found that about 87 lakh job cards were duplicate or fake or the beneficiaries had died,” he said.
About 63 per cent of 12.49 crore job cards issued under the MNREGA Act have so far been verified, the minister said.
It was found that the cards were made in the name of the beneficiaries who did not exist, Yadav said, adding that the work was allocated and amount released to such dubious claimants.
The flagship programme of NREGA is a demand-driven employment scheme. Not less than 100 days of employment is provided to registered workers upon receipt of their demand.
These workers are given job cards which are linked with their Aadhaar numbers and bank accounts.
NREGA provides supplementary means of livelihood to people in rural areas, primarily during lean periods.
The Centre has also announced additional employment over and above 100 days per household to upto 150 days in notified drought-affected districts in various states of the country.
Assets created under NREGA include works related to natural resource management such as water conservation, land development and irrigation. Besides these, dams, irrigation channels, check dams, ponds, wells and Aanganwadis are also built under the scheme.
The board of the Aditya Birla-backed Idea Cellular has approved its merger application with Vodafone India and Vodafone Mobile Services, according to a notification to the BSE.
Soon after markets opened, the shares of Idea Cellular were trading at Rs 112.00, up Rs 4.10 or 3.80% from previous close.
The merger, when it comes though, will mark the first consolidation amongst the existing players after the Mukesh Ambani-backed Reliance Jio’s entry into the telecom market in September last year.
“Upon the amalgamation becoming effective, the entire business of Vodafone India and Vodafone Mobile Services (VMSL) (excluding the former’s 42% stake in Indus Towers Limited, its international network assets, and information technology platforms) will vest in the Company,” Idea told the bourses.
To make the merger possible, “Vodafone India will be deconsolidated by Vodafone on announcement and reported as a joint venture post-closing. It will help the Vodafone Group to cut its net debt by nearly $8.2 billion (nearly Rs 54,552.5 crore),” a statement from Vodafone said.
It told the BSE that the merger would be “subject to receipt of necessary approvals of shareholders, creditors, Sebi, stock exchanges, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), the Department of Telecommunications, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, the Reserve Bank of India, and other governmental authorities and third parties (as may be required).” Subject to the necessary approvals, Vodafone said it expects the merger to be completed in 2018.
Vodafone India and Vodafone Mobile Services have a combined turnover of about Rs 454 billion while Idea has a turnover of about Rs 360 billion.
In the merged entity, Vodafone will own 45.1% of the company, transferring a stake of approximately 4.9% to the promoters of Idea and/ or their affiliates for Rs 38.74 billion in cash. Idea’s promoters will hold 26% of the company while the balance will be held by the public.
Idea told the bourses, “on the scheme of amalgamation of VMSL with the company becoming effective, the Company shall issue an aggregate number of equity shares of the Company to VIL equal to 47% of the post issue paid-up capital of the company on a fully diluted basis. Immediately there after on the amalgamation of VIL with the company, the shares issued to VIL pursuant to the amalgamation of VMSL with the company shall stand cancelled and, post such cancellation, the company shall issue an aggregate number of equity shares of the company equal to 50% of the post issue paid up capital of the company to the shareholder of Vodafone.”
Accra, Mar 20 : Twenty students have died after trees fell on them while swimming in a river during a storm in Ghana, emergency officials said.
Ghana National Fire Service spokesman Prince Billy Anaglate said the “unusual incident” happened yesterday afternoon, when a group of high school students were swimming at the Kintampo waterfalls, a popular tourist destination in the Brong-Ahafo region.
Anaglate told AFP that a brewing storm caused trees to topple and fall on the teenagers while they were in the water.
“They were swimming in the river when there was a storm, a windy atmosphere that had uprooted some of the trees and they had fallen on some of them — those who were apparently swimming,” Anaglate said.
18 students died at the scene while two others died in hospital, Anaglate said, adding that 11 more were receiving treatment, including one of the school administrators in charge of the trip.
“We extend our condolences to the families of the dead and pray for the injured,” said the country’s tourism minister Catherine Abelema Afeku in a statement.
Accidents ranging from deaths caused by mass flooding to petrol tanker explosions happen sporadically in Ghana because of lax regulations and disregard for rules.