may June July 21 will be posted here. Please keep visiting.
Policy Program Summit Portal Scheme etc
Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Nidhi
On 10th March 2021, the Union Cabinet has approved the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Nidhi (PMSSN) as a single non-lapsable reserve fund for share of Health from the proceeds of Health and Education Cess levied under Section 136-b of Finance Act, 2007.
Salient Features of the PMSSN
- A non-lapsable reserve fund for Health in the Public Account;
- Proceeds of share of health in the Health and Education Cess will be credited into PMSSN;
- Accruals into the PMSSN will be utilized for the flagship schemes of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare namely,
- Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY)
- Ayushman Bharat - Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs)
- National Health Mission
- Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY)
- Emergency & disaster preparedness and responses during health emergencies
- Any future programme/scheme that targets to achieve progress towards SDGs and the targets set out in the National Health Policy (NHP) 2017.
- Administration and maintenance of the PMSSN is entrusted to Ministry of Health & Family Welfare; and
- In any financial year, the expenditure on such schemes of the MoHFW would be initially incurred from the PMSSN and thereafter, from Gross Budgetary Support (GBS).
WCD Ministry Classified All Major Schemes Under 3 Umbrella Schemes
For effective implementation of various schemes and programmes of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, all major schemes of the Ministry have been classified under 3 umbrella schemes viz. Mission Poshan 2.0, Mission Vatsalya and Mission Shakti.
- Mission Poshan 2.0: It aims at strengthening nutritional content, delivery, outreach, and outcome. Government has merged the Supplementary Nutrition Programme and Poshan Abhiyan to launch Mission POSHAN 2.0.
- Mission Vastalya: This mission is aimed at safety and well-being of children.
- Mission Shakti: The aim of this mission is to provide safety, security, and dignity to women.
Ease Of Living Index 2020 & Municipal Performance Index 2020
On 4th March 2021, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs released the final rankings of Ease of Living Index (EoLI) 2020 and the Municipal Performance Index (MPI) 2020.
Ease of Living Index 2020
- Million+ Category: Bengaluru emerged as the top performer in the Million+ category, followed by Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Surat, Navi Mumbai, Coimbatore, Vadodara, Indore, and Greater Mumbai.
- Less than Million Category: Shimla was ranked the highest in ease of living, followed by Bhubaneshwar, Silvassa, Kakinada, Salem, Vellore, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Davangere, and Tiruchirappalli.
Municipal Performance Index 2020
- Million+ Municipalities: Indore has emerged as the highest ranked municipality, followed by Surat and Bhopal.
- Less than Million Category: New Delhi Municipal Council has emerged as the leader, followed by Tirupati and Gandhinagar.
Global Bio India 2021
- The second edition of Global Bio-India-2021 is being conducted by India virtually from New Delhi.
- The 3-day event will showcase the strength and opportunities of the India’s biotechnology sector at national level and to the global community.
- The theme for this year is “Transforming lives” with the tag line “Biosciences to Bio-economy”.
About India’s Biotechnology Sector
- The Biotechnology sector has emerged as an integral part of the Indian economy over the past few decades, and the Government of India is playing a transformative and catalytic role in building a USD 150 billion bio-economy by 2025.
- The sector is recognized as one of the key drivers for India to achieve its USD 5 trillion target.
‘Pey Jal Survekshan’ Launched Under Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban)
- A Pilot ‘Pey Jal Survekshan’ under Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban) has been launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
- Pey Jal Survekshan will be conducted in cities to ascertain equitable distribution of water, reuse of wastewater and mapping of water bodies with respect to quantity and quality of water through a challenge process.
- As the first step, Ministry has decided to launch a pilot on Pey Jal Survekshan in 10 cities namely Agra, Badlapur, Bhubaneswar, Churu, Kochi, Madurai, Patiala, Rohtak, Surat and Tumkur.
- Based on the learnings of the pilot, this survekshan will be extended to all the AMRUT cities.
PM Aatma Nirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana
- PM Aatma Nirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana, will be launched with an outlay of about Rs 64,180 crore over 6 years.
- This will develop capacities of primary, secondary, and tertiary care Health Systems, strengthen existing national institutions, and create new institutions, to cater to detection and cure of new and emerging diseases.
- This will be in addition to the National Health Mission.
Corruption Perceptions Index 2020
- India’s rank has slipped six places to 86th among 180 countries in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) in 2020.
- India was ranked at 80th position out of 180 countries in 2019.
- New Zealand and Denmark were ranked at first position while Somalia and South Sudan were ranked lowest at 179th position.
- Berlin, Germany based organization - Transparency International – publishes this annual report.
India Justice Report 2020
- The 2nd Edition of India Justice Report (IJR) 2020 has been released by the Tata Trusts with the support of Centre for Social Justice, Common Cause, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, DAKSH, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) – Prayas & Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.
- Maharashtra (5.77 points) regained the top spot for better justice delivery among 18 large and mid-sized states (population over one crore each), it was followed by Tamil Nadu (5.73) & Telangana (5.64).
- In the category of 7 small states (population less than one crore each), Tripura topped the list followed by Sikkim & Goa.
- The IJR ranks states on the basis of three pillars – Police, Prisons, Judiciary and Legal Aid.
Asia-Pacific Personalised Health Index
- India ranked 10th out of 11 Asia Pacific countries in a newly-launched health index to measure the progress towards personalised healthcare.
- The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report 'Asia-Pacific Personalised Health Index' measures the readiness of 11 health systems across the region — Australia, China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and New Zealand — in adopting personalised healthcare, enabling the right care to be tailored to the right person at the right time.
- The findings further indicated that Singapore performed highest overall of the geographies measured. Taiwan (2nd), Japan (3rd) and Australia (4th) also performed well in overall readiness. Indonesia ranked 11th in the index.
Partnering For Racial Justice In Business: An WEF Initiative
The World Economic Forum has launched the Partnering for Racial Justice in Business initiative, which will see a coalition of organizations commit to building equitable and just workplaces for professionals with under-represented racial and ethnic identities.
- The Partnering for Racial Justice in Business initiative has been designed to operationalize and coordinate commitments to eradicate racism in the workplace and set new global standards for racial equity in business. It also provides a platform for businesses to collectively advocate for inclusive policy change.
Three steps are required to join the initiative:
- Racial and ethnic equity must be placed on the board’s agenda
- Companies must make at least one commitment towards racial and ethnic justice in their organizations
- Companies must put a long-term strategy in place towards becoming an anti-racist organization
National Non-Communicable Disease Monitoring Survey (NNMS)
Union Health Minister released the ‘National Non-communicable Disease Monitoring Survey (NNMS)’, the largest comprehensive national Survey on risk factors and health systems preparedness of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).
- NNMS was conducted during the period of 2017 – 18.
- The purpose of the survey was to collect reliable baseline data on key indicators (risk factors, select NCDs and health systems response) related to the National NCD monitoring framework and NCD Action Plan.
- This is the first of its kind of a comprehensive survey on NCDs using standardised tools and methods, covering the age groups of 15-69 years, males and females residing in urban and rural areas of the country.
- The survey covered a national sample of 600 primary sampling units from 348 districts in 28 States in collaboration with eleven reputed institutions across the country.
Key Findings
Risk Factors for NCDs: Two in five adults had three or more risk factors for NCDs.
The status of health system in responding to the disease burden is also underscored:
- Use of Tobacco and Alcohol: One in every three adults and more than one-fourth proportion of men used any form of tobacco and consumed alcohol in past 12 months respectively.
- Salt Intake: Average daily intake of salt was 8gms
- Physical Activity: More than two in five adults and one in four adolescents were doing insufficient physical activity.
- Obese: More than one in every four adults and 6.2% adolescents were overweight or obese.
- BP & Blood Glucose: Almost three out of ten adults had raised blood pressure and 9.3% had raised blood glucose.
India Innovation Index-2020
NITI Aayog has released the second edition of the India Innovation Index-2020.
Objective
The objective of the India Innovation Index is to scrutinize the innovation capacities and performance of Indian states.
The index provides an extensive framework for the constant evaluation of the innovation ecosystem of the 28 Indian states and 9 union territories.
The index intends to accomplish the following three functions:
- Rank all states and union territories based on their index score
- Identify opportunities and challenges
- Assist in modifying governmental policies to foster innovation
Performance of States/UTs
- Major States: In the 2020 ranking, Karnataka retained its first position in the Major States category. Maharashtra moved one position higher and stood at 2nd spot while Tamil Nadu slid to 3rd position.
- North East and Hill States: In the North East and Hill States category, Himachal Pradesh stands at first position followed by Uttarakhand and Manipur.
- UTs/Small States: Delhi stands at the first position while Chandigarh retained its second spot in the Union Territories and small States category.
Overall Performance
- Indian states have achieved an average score of 23.4 in the Innovation Index that ranges from a scale of 0 (worst-case scenario) to 100 (best-case scenario).
- The score shows that India has immense scope for improvement in the space of innovation.
- The ‘Performance’ score falling below ‘Enablers’ indicates that the innovation capabilities of the country are not utilised to their optimum level. For example, despite the high number of engineering graduates in the country, their low employability in the knowledge economy results in a level of Knowledge Output and knowledge diffusion that does not correspond with the level of human capital available to be leveraged for innovation. Besides the deficiency in knowledge workers, the low expenditure in R&D, higher education, science, technology and environment, and the lack of venture capital investment also thwart innovation in India.
UNEP Adaptation Gap Report 2020
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has released the 2020 Adaptation Gap Report on 14th January 2021.
What is Adaptation?
- Adaptation is adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities.
- Adaptation is a key pillar of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. It aims to reduce countries’ and communities’ vulnerability to climate change by increasing their ability to absorb impacts.
Overall Findings of the Report
- Though countries have made progress in planning for climate change adaptation, there are significant financing shortfalls in getting them to the stage where they provide real protection against droughts, floods and rising sea levels.
Impact of the Adaptation Gap
- Its impacts will intensify and hit vulnerable countries and communities the hardest, even if we meet the Paris Agreement goals of holding global warming this century to well below 2 degrees Celsius and pursuing 1.5 degree Celsius.
NCAVES India Forum 2021
Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of the Ecosystem Services (NCAVES) India Forum 2021 is being organised by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) virtually over three separate days, on 14, 21, and 28 January 2021.
- India is one of the five countries taking part in this project - the other countries being Brazil, China, South Africa and Mexico.
Implementing Agencies in India
- In India, the NCAVES project is being implemented by the MoSPI in close collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC).
Collaboration
- The NCAVES India Forum will be organized in collaboration with United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), European Union and UN Environment.
About NCAVES
- The NCAVES Project, funded by EU, has been jointly implemented by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Secretariat of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD).
- Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (NCAVES) can help integrate the concerns of sustainability and conserving the environment for future use while charting the course for economic development.
NCAVES Status of India
- Since the work related to environment accounting in India is still in its early stages, primarily because of the large number of subjects to be covered under this domain, India would need a collaborative effort involving various stakeholders, including Line Ministries, state governments, multilateral organizations and research institutions for compiling a complete suite of accounts.
- With a view to facilitate this collaboration and highlight the uses to which natural capital accounts can be put, especially in the areas of decision making and policy analysis, the ministry is conducting the NCAVES India Forum (in a virtual format).
Objectives
- To present India’s achievements in the domain of Natural Capital Accounting (NCA);
- To prioritize the emerging opportunities for NCA in India;
- To familiarize stakeholders with the work undertaken by the different international agencies in the area of NCA; and
- To provide a platform to selected Research Institutions to present their research conducted in the valuation of ecosystem services.
20th IORA Council Of Ministers (COM) Meeting
- The 20th Meeting of Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Council of Ministers (COM) hosted virtually by UAE, IORA Chair on 17th December 2020.
- The meeting saw the participation from all 22 Member States and 10 Dialogue Partners.
- The meeting deliberated upon various regional and global issues of common interest by IORA Member States.
- India as a founding member of IORA has been committed to its growth since its inception in 1997.
- Sri Lanka will be theVice Chair of IORA for the period 2021-23;
- At the Meet, the French Republic was added as the IORA’s 23rd Member State, on the basis of Réunion Island.
About Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA)
- The IORA is an inter-governmental organisation which was established on March 7, 1997 and its Headquarter is at Ebene, Mauritius.
- IORA’s apex body is the Council of Foreign Ministers (COM) which meets annually, with the aim of promoting regional cooperation, prosperity, and growth in the Indian Ocean region.
- It comprise of 22 Member states and 10 Dialogue partners.
- The 22 member states are: Australia, Iran, Bangladesh, the Comoros, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
Human Development Index: India Ranks 131
- India has slipped one rank to 131 among 189 countries in the Human Development Index for 2019 compared to 130 the previous year, according to United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Report 2020 released on 16th December 2020.
- The absolute value of the index has gone up for India to 0.645 in 2019 (the year under consideration) compared to 0.642 the year before, reflecting overall better performance.
- In all four HDI indicators, India’s performance has either improved in 2019 compared to 2018 or remained the same:
- Life Expectancy at Birth (SDG3): Improved to 69.7 years compared to 69.4 years the year before.
- Gross National Income (GNI) Per Capita (SDG 8.5): $6,681 in 2019 was higher than $6,427 in 2018.
- Expected Years of Schooling (SDG 4.3): Remained same as previous year at 12.2
- Mean Year of Schooling (SDG4.4): Remained same as previous year at 6.5
New Experimental Elements: Planetary Pressure Adjusted HDI
- For the first time, the United Nations Development Programme introduced a new metric to reflect the impact caused by each country’s per-capita carbon emissions and its material footprint, which measures the amount of fossil fuels, metals and other resources used to make the goods and services it consumes.
- In Planetary Pressure Adjusted HDI India’s ranking improves by eight positions. India’s performance is much better in these compared to most countries higher up on the HDI.
National Family Health Survey-5
- The first set of findings from the fifth National Family Health Survey (NFHS), conducted in 2019-20, was released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on December 12, four years after the last survey (NFHS-4, 2015-16).
- The results of 17 States and 5 UTs (Assam, Bihar, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tripura, Andhra Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Telangana, West Bengal, Mizoram, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu) were released as Phase-I.
Major Findings
Population is Stabilising
- India’s population is stabilising, as the total fertility rate (TFR) has decreased across majority of the states.
- Of 17 states analysed in the fifth round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS), except for Bihar, Manipur and Meghalaya, all other states have a TFR of 2.1 or less, which implies that most states have attained replacement level fertility.
- Sikkim recorded the lowest TFR, with one woman bearing 1.1 children on average; Bihar recorded the highest TFR of three children per woman.
- In 19 of the 22 surveyed states, TFRs were found to be ‘below-replacement’ — a woman bore less than two children on average through her reproductive life.
Family Planning
- All 17 states have witnessed an increase in the use of modern contraceptives of family planning. The proportion of women with unmet need for family planning, who want to stop or delay child-bearing but are not using any method of contraception, has declined in all states, except Meghalaya and Andhra Pradesh.
- Except for Manipur, all states have reported an increase in users getting information on side effects of current contraceptive methods.
Contraception
- Female sterilisation continues to dominate as the modern method of contraception.
- Male engagement in family planning continues to be limited and disappointing as seen by the low uptake of condoms and male sterilisation across states.
Anaemia
- Anaemia among women remains a major cause of concern. In all the states, anaemia is much higher among women compared to men.
Child Marriages
- Despite the efforts being made, it is alarming to see the increase in child marriages in a number of states, reveals the data.
- There has been an increase in child marriages in Tripura (40.1 per cent from 33.1 per cent in 2015-16), Manipur (16.3 per cent from 13.7 per cent in 2015-16) and Assam (31.8 per cent from 30.8 per cent in 2015-16), while states like West Bengal (41.6 per cent) and Bihar (40.8 per cent) still have high prevalence of child marriages.
Teenage Pregnancies
- States such as Manipur, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Nagaland have also shown increase in teenage pregnancies.
- Along with increase in child marriages, Tripura has also shown an increase in teenage pregnancies, from 18.8 per cent in 2015-16 to 21.9 per cent in 2019-20.
Nutritional Status of Children
- NFHS-5 data also showed a decline in nutritional status of children under five years in a number of states.
- Child Stunting: The proportion of stunted children has risen in several of the 17 states and five UTs surveyed, putting India at risk of reversing previous gains in child nutrition made over previous decades. Worryingly, that includes richer states like Kerala, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and Himachal Pradesh.
- Child Wasting: The share of underweight and wasted children has also gone up in the majority of the states. Telangana, Kerala, Bihar, Assam and Jammu-Kashmir witnessed an increase and Maharashtra and West Bengal have been stagnant.
Under 5 and Infant Mortality Rate
- The Under 5 and infant mortality rate (IMR) has come down in 18 states and union territories but in parallel 16 states recorded an increase in underweight and severely wasted under 5 children among 22 states.
Out of Pocket Expenditure
- There is increase in average out of pocket expenditure (OOPE) per delivery in public health facilities in some states. Compared to NFHS-4, OOPE has increased in several states - Sikkim (109%), Mizoram (63%), Bihar (60%), Assam (42%) and Manipur (40%).
Spousal Violence
- While spousal violence has generally declined in most of the states and UTs, it has witnessed an increase in five states, namely Sikkim, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Assam and Karnataka.
- Karnataka witnessed the largest increase in spousal violence, from 20.6 per cent in NFHS 4 to 44.4 per cent in NFHS-5.
Sexual Violence
- Sexual violence has increased in five states (Assam, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Meghalaya and West Bengal), as per the data.
Disparity in Access to the Internet
- NFHS-5 depicts a stark disparity in access to the internet by men, in contrast to women in a number of states.
- In Karnataka and Bihar, for example, twice as many men have access to the internet as compared to women.
- Sikkim is the only state where access to internet among men (78.2%) and women (76.7%) is almost equal.
Clean Fuel for Cooking
- Less than 45% of households use clean fuel for cooking in five states, including Bihar and West Bengal.
- The five states where less than 45% households use clean fuel for cooking are Assam (42.1%), Bihar (37.8%), Meghalaya (33.7%), Nagaland (43%) and West Bengal (40.2.
- Over 80% of households use clean fuels in Andhra Pradesh (83.6%), Goa (96.5%), Mizoram (83.8%) and Telangana (91.8 %). Electricity, LPG or natural gas and biogas are considered as clean fuel in the survey.
- The survey also showed that the use of clean fuel increased in all the 22 surveyed states and UTs in comparison to NFHS-4 (2015-16).
Sanitary Facility
- Over 70% of the population in 16 states is living in households that use an improved sanitation facility.
- Lakshadweep (99.8%) and Kerala (98.7%) have the highest percentage of population living in households with an improved sanitation facility, while Bihar (49.4%) and Ladakh (42.3%) have the lowest.
Water & Electricity
- Over 90% of the population was living in households with electricity, and more than 70% with improved drinking water sources.
Vaccination
- The survey found considerable improvement in vaccination coverage among children age 12-23 months across all states and UTs.
Women Empowerment
- Women’s empowerment indicators (including women with bank account) also portray considerable progress.
Urban Quality Of Life Index By IIT Bombay
IIT-Bombay, recently released its Urban Quality of Life Index, wherein the institution compared the life quality in various cities all over India on the basis of some common denominations and ranked them accordingly. It has various categories of comparisons including water, power, electricity, literacy rate, gender parity, employment rate among others.
Findings
- Cities with Highest Quality of Life: Mumbai provides the highest quality of life in the country, closely followed by Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata.
- City with Lowest Quality of Life: Bihar’s capital city Patna has been ranked at the lowest position, providing the poorest quality of life to its people. It ranks lowest in several categories including basic amenities, safety and security, economic development, infrastructure and gender role.
- Gender Parity Index: Chennai offers best gender parity. The city has shown the least gender discrimination and differences. Kolkata and Mumbai also exceed the average score for gender role index. However, some of the most developed cities in the country including Delhi- the national capital, haven’t performed well in this parameter. Jaipur,Indore and Patna were way below average on the gender parity issue. Patna remains the worst performing city when it comes to gender discrimination.
- Crime: According to the study, the pink city of Jaipur has the highest crime rate against women, as compared to other cities in the list. Chennai recorded the lowest crime against women.
- Unemployment: The unemployment levels for women in Patna is higher than the other cities, the gap stood at 346 which is four times the urban average score of 73.
- Literacy: The literacy rate was highest in Pune at 91 per cent and lowest in Hyderabad at 83 per cent. The literacy gap between men and women was highest in Jaipur at 13.2 per cent and lowest in Kolkata with 5.4 per cent.
APEC Summit 2020
- The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit 2020 was held virtually which was chaired by Malaysian Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
- The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
- To date, its 21-member countries are China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan, Russia, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Australia, Chile, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore, Peru, Taiwan, Thailand, Brunei, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Mexico, and the US.
- APEC is headquartered at Singapore.
- India is not a member of APEC.
15th East Asia Summit
- The 15th East Asia Summit (EAS) was held virtually on 14th November 2020.
- The Summit was chaired by the Prime Minister of Vietnam H.E. Nguyen Xuan Phuc in his capacity as ASEAN Chair. All the eighteen EAS countries participated in the virtual Summit.
- External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar represented India at the summit, which is generally represented by the Prime Minister.
- Regional and international issues such as South China Sea, situation in Korean peninsula and Rakhine state were discussed. Besides the Ha Noi Declaration, the Summit also adopted four other Leaders’ Statements on Marine Sustainability, Epidemics Prevention and Response, Women, Peace and Security, and Steady Growth of Regional Economy.
17th ASEAN-India Summit
The 17th ASEAN-India Summit was held virtually under the chairmanship of Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister of Vietnam and current Chair of ASEAN.
Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi participated in this summit.
Highlights
- Role of ASEAN in Act East Policy and SAGAR: India highlighted the centrality of ASEAN in India's Act East Policy and noted that a cohesive, responsive and prosperous ASEAN is central to India's Indo-Pacific Vision and contributes to Security And Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR).
- IPOI: India noted importance of strengthening convergence between India's Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative and the ASEAN Outlook on Indo-Pacific, to ensure a free, open, inclusive and rules-based Indo-Pacific region. India invited the ASEAN countries to cooperate on various pillars of India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI).
- ASEAN Response Fund:India announced a contribution of US$ 1 million to the COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund.
- AITIGA: India called for an early review of ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA), which is pending for a long time.
- ASEAN Connectivity:India highlighted the importance of greater physical and digital connectivity between ASEAN and India and reiterated India's offer of US$ 1 billion Line of Credit to support ASEAN connectivity.
- ASEAN-India Plan of Action for 2021-2025: The ASEAN leaders welcomed the adoption of the new ASEAN-India Plan of Action for 2021-2025.
- South China Sea: The discussions covered regional and international issues of common interest and concern, including South China Sea and terrorism. The leaders affirmed the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, stability, safety and security in the South China Sea and ensuring freedom of navigation and over-flight.
- UNCLOS: Both sides noted the importance of promoting a rules-based order in the region including through upholding adherence to international law, especially the UNCLOS.
About ASEAN
- Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a regional grouping that promotes economic, political, and security cooperation.
- It was established on 8th August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) by the founding fathers of ASEAN, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
- Members of ASEAN: It has 10 members- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
SERB – POWER (Promoting Opportunities For Women In Exploratory Research)
- The Union Minister for Science & Technology has launched a Scheme named -SERB-POWER (Promoting Opportunities for Women in Exploratory Research).
- SERB is a statutory body under the Department of Science and Technology, GOI, established by an Act of the Parliament of India in 2009 (SERB ACT, 2008).
About the Scheme
- The Scheme is an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
- It will have two components namely (i) SERB-POWER Fellowship (ii) SERB- POWER Research Grants.
SERB-POWER Fellowship
- Targets - Women researchers in 35-55 years of age with a limit of up-to 25 Fellowships per year and not more than 75 at any point in time.
- Fellowship – Rs. 15,000/- per month in addition to regular income; Research grant of Rs. 10 lakh per annum; and Overhead of Rs. 90,000/- per annum.
- Duration - Three years, without the possibility of extension once in a career.
SERB- POWER Research Grants
- This will empower women researchers by funding them under the following two categories:
- Level I (Applicants from IITs, IISERs, IISc, NITs, Central Universities, and National Labs of Central Government Institutions): The scale of funding is up to 60 lakhs for three years.
- Level II (Applicants from State Universities / Colleges and Private Academic Institutions): The scale of funding is up to 30 lakhs for three years.
Significance
- The program is formulated to mitigate gender disparity in science and engineering research funding in various S&T programs in Indian academic institutions and R&D Laboratories.
- SERB - POWER is specially designed to provide structured effort toward enhanced diversity in research to ensure equal access and weighted opportunities for Indian women scientists engaged in research and development activities.
- It will empower women scientists and cultivate women friendly culture in our academic and research institutions and ensure more women in leadership positions in decision making bodies.
Access To Food Grossly Unequal: WFP Report
- “The Cost of a Plate of Food-2020” released by United Nations World Food Programme (UN-WFP),Nobel Peace Prize winner of 2020, found in its study that access to food is grossly unequal throughout the world.
- The report highlights the countries where a simple meal costs the most, when compared with people’s incomes.
- South Sudan is once again top of the list, with basic ingredients costing a staggering 186 percent of a person’s daily income.
- Seventeen of the top 20 countries featured in the index are in sub-Saharan Africa.
What is the major contributor of Hunger in many countries?
- The report highlights conflict as a central driver for hunger in many countries, as it forced people from their homes, land and jobs, drastically reducing incomes and the availability of affordable food.
A Gloomy Scenario
- The WFP estimates that the lives and livelihoods of up to 270 million people will be under severe threat in 2020, unless immediate action is taken to tackle the pandemic.
The Report on India
- On an average, an Indian spends 3.5% of his/ her daily income for a plate of food as compared to 0.6% by an Individual from New York, United States (US).
- The report has ranked 36 countries where India stood at 28th position.
The Commitment To Reducing Inequality Index-2020
- On 7th October, 2020, Oxfam International along with the Development Finance International(DFI) published the third(previous two in 2017 and 2018) edition of The Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index(CRI) Index-2020.
About CRI-2020
- It is a multidimensional index which ranks 158 countries on their policy performance to reduce inequality.
- It primarily measures progress on tackling economic inequality, i.e. the gap betweenrich and poor
- The index has three pillars and 19 different indicators, each of which relates to one policy area that has been found to be critical in reducing inequality: public services (previously known as spending); taxation; and labour.
Key Findings
World Specific Findings
- Most of the countries near the top of the index are Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD) countries.
- With higher gross domestic products (GDP), they have much more scope to raise progressive tax revenues because they have more citizens and corporations with higher incomes.
- Likewise, they have greater scope to spend those revenues on public services and social protection.
- Norway tops the 2020 CRI Index, notably scoring top on labour rights.
- At the bottom of the Index is South Sudan, which is new to the index and comes close to last on all three pillars.
- Vietnam’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been among the best in the world.
- The low ranking also reflects a failure of policy setting by the government for its citizens: for instance, South Sudan spends six times more on the military and on debt servicing than it does on vital public services, and it collects only around 15% of the tax that it should. This leads to failure to deliver on even the most basic of services.
India Specific Findings
- Ranked at 129 in the index, India’s health budget is the fourth lowest in the world.
- Just half of its population have access to even the most essential health services, and more than 70% of health spending is being met by people themselves, one of the highest levels in the world.
- So far India’s response to COVID-19 has been woeful, with huge numbers of deaths and millions of people forced into destitution.
Fighting Inequality in the Time Of Covid-19
Role International Financial Institutions in Response to Pandemic
|
Recommendations
Urgent Government Action to Radically Reduce Inequality
- In response to the coronavirus pandemic, governments must dramatically improve their efforts on progressive spending, taxation and workers’ pay and protection as part of National Inequality Reduction Plans under SDG 10.
- Spending on public services and social protection needs to be increased and its impact on coverage and inequality improved.
- There also needs to be systematic tracking of public expenditures, involving citizens in budget oversight.
- Workers need to receive living wages and have their labour rights better protected.
- Women and girls especially need their rights to equal payand protection against sexual harassment and rape to be enforced including for vulnerable workers.
Inequality Policy Impact and Analysis
- Governments, international institutions and other stakeholders should work together to rapidly improve data on inequality and related policies, and to regularly monitor progress in reducing inequality.
Coming Together to Fight Inequality
- Governments and international institutions should come together in the fight against increasing inequality as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
- The most urgent policy measures include a global commitment and funding to ensure that COVID-19 vaccines will be free to all countries and expansion in social protection to protect workers in lower-income countries.
- The international community must support them with Special Drawing Rights,debt relief and global solidarity taxes.