Ministry for Women & Child Development unveils the World Bank aided ISSNIP programme

Ministry for Women & Child Development unveils the World Bank aided ISSNIP programme

May 13th, 2013

The Ministry for Women & Child Development launched the World Bank assisted ICDS Systems Strengthening and Nutrition Improvement Project (ISSNIP).
Aim of ISSNIP:

• To improve of child development and nutritional outcomes for children in selected districts having higher proportions of children under nutrition.

Key features of ISSNIP:

• It has been designed to provide additional catalytic support to the existing ICDS programme, through improving institutional capacity and better systems needed to improve nutrition in the targeted groups of mothers and children.
• It will also allow the selected States and Districts to experiment, innovate and conduct pilots of potentially more effective approaches for ICDS in order to achieve early childhood education and nutrition outcomes.
• It will support the government’s efforts in building the necessary institutional capacity and systems needed to improve nutrition in the targeted groups of mothers and children.
• In the first phase, the project will support the efforts of Union Government to bolster policy measures and institutional capacity and will also finance innovative pilots and programmers in 162 high malnutrition-burden districts across 8 States. Besides this, the project will also assist the urban and sub-urban pilots in NCR of Delhi and nutrition pilot programmes in Odisha and Uttarakhand.

ISSNIP has four major components:

1. Institutional and systems strengthening in ICDS
2. Community mobilization and behavior change communication
3. Piloting multi-sectoral nutrition actions
4. Project Management, Technical Assistance and Monitoring & Evaluation.

Project Cost:

• The project will cost Rs 2,893 crore with 70% IDA (International Development Association) assistance equivalent to Rs 2,025 crore over the time period of 7 years.

About International Development Association (IDA):
The International Development Association (IDA) is an international financial institution which offers concessional loans and grants to the world’s poorest developing countries. The IDA is a member of the World Bank Group and is headquartered in Washington, US. It was set up in 1960 to complement the existing International Bank for Reconstruction and Development by lending to developing countries which suffer from the lowest gross national income, from troubled creditworthiness, or from the lowest per capita income. The International Development Association and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development are collectively known as the World Bank.

Kerala against creation of buffer zone in any populated area suggested in Western Ghats Report

Kerala against creation of buffer zone in any populated area suggested in Western Ghats Report

May 13th, 2013

Kerala Cabinet will oppose declaration of any populated area on the Western Ghats in the State as ecologically sensitive area. The Kerala government clarified that it was not opposed to protection of environment or buffer zones. However, it wanted the buffer zone to be brought down to zero kilometers, if the area is populated. Depending on the presence of population, the buffer zone should be zero to 12 km from the sensitive area.
Western Ghats Report:
Background:
The Western Ghats was declared as an ecological hotspot in 1988. A large number of plants, amphibians, birds, reptiles, mammals are endemic to this region. This area has a number of protected areas including 2 biosphere reserves, 14 national parks and several wild life sanctuaries. Besides, many regions are declared as reserve forests.
In recent times, due to anthropogenic pressures the intactness of the Western Ghats is getting fragmented day-by-day. Most of the ecosystem, which is outside protected area is now in danger. The habitat of plants and animals is also threatened due to large-scale deforestation and destruction of forests.
Initially, the report on Western Ghats was prepared by the committee led by ecologist Madhav Gadgil that had called for declaring the entire Western Ghats as an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA).
Following this, a high-level working group headed by Planning Commission member K Kasturirangan was set up to analyze the suggestions made by the Gadgil panel. It stipulated the following key recommendations:

• Only 37% of the biodiversity-rich Western Ghats — about 60,000 sq km of the total 1,64,000 sq km spread over the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu be notified as Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA).
• Blanket ban on mining, quarrying, sand mining, setting up thermal power projects, townships and area development projects in the 60,000 sq km area, along with a cautious approach to setting up hydropower units.
• It identified close to 60 % of the Western Ghats region as “cultural landscape”, dominated by human settlements, agriculture and plantations. It has not recommended any regulatory mechanism for this area.
• The remaining 41% of the area has been classified as “natural landscape”, of which 37% is biologically rich, containing protected areas, world heritage sites, tiger and elephant corridors.
• Declare 22 ESAs in Kerala with buffer zone of 12 km.
• Mining moratorium in Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri districts of Maharashtra as they are ESAs.
• Athirappilly hydropower project in Kerala: The proposed project must be revaluated in terms of generation of energy and whether the plant load factor makes it viable against the loss of local populations of some species. The Gadgil report had opposed the project.
• 200 MW Gundya hydropower project in Karnataka: With the project being located in the ESA, the working group advised “extreme caution”, including re-assessment of the ecological flow in the downstream areas, local damage to all forests and how it can be mitigated. The Gadgil report had opposed the project.

What is a buffer zone in the context of environment protection?
A buffer zone is created to enhance the protection of areas under management for their biodiversity importance. The buffer zone of a protected area may be situated around the periphery of the region or may be a connecting zone within it which links two or more protected areas, therefore increasing their dynamics and conservation productivity. A buffer zone is intended to avert the effect of negative environmental or human influences, whether or not it embodies great natural or cultural value itself.
What is ESA?
Ecologically Sensitivity is the ability of a landscape to cope with environmental stresses – stresses like various human induced developments and their impacts; future impacts due to climate change; essentially the ecological resilience and how it might vary from landscape to landscape.
ESA for Western Ghats:
“An ecological sensitive area (ESA) is a bio-climatic unit (as demarcated by entire landscapes) in the Western Ghats wherein human impacts have locally caused irreversible changes in the structure of biological communities (as evident in number/ composition of species and their relative abundances) and their natural habitats”
What is the difference b/w ESAs and Protected Areas?
Protected areas in contrast to ESA’s: Extensive, standard, heavy and rigid restrictions, no scope for adaptive management, largely focused on flagship species and their habitats, leaves out small, unique habitats. ESA’s may have protected areas embedded in them, of various extents, could focus on small special habitats, flexible, adaptive regime of regulation for eg: example whole Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim.

Acidification on the rise in Arctic Ocean

Acidification on the rise in Arctic Ocean

May 12th, 2013

As per a new scientific report, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the Arctic Ocean is rapidly escalating which is making its water more acidic.
It was assessed by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) that the ocean chemistry of the region is undergoing widespread changes.
Key findings of the report:

• The rising acidification may bring major changes in the marine ecosystem, but say there is huge uncertainty over what those changes will be.
• Even if CO2 emissions stopped now, it would take tens of thousands of years for Arctic Ocean chemistry to revert to pre-industrial levels.
• Acidification is specifically rapid in Arctic as its water is cold which aids fast absorption of atmospheric CO2 and the recent decreases in summer sea ice have exposed more sea surface to atmospheric CO2.
• The susceptibility of Arctic region is aggravated by increasing flows of freshwater from rivers and melting land ice, as freshwater is less effective at chemically neutralizing the acidifying effects of CO2.
• Acidification is fast in surface waters and more slowly in deep waters.
• Slow mixing of river water with the seawater forms a sort of freshwater lens on the top of the sea in some places, and freshwater lowers the concentration of ions that buffers pH change. The loss of ice also is allowing fast uptake of CO2.
• The pH of seawater has decreased about 0.02 per decade since the late 1960s in the Iceland and Barents seas.
• Average acidity of surface ocean waters worldwide is now about 30% higher than before the Industrial Revolution.
• The possible major changes to the makeup of Arctic marine ecosystem may prove harmful to key prey species like sea butterflies. Other species may thrive. It may also harm the development of fish eggs.

What is Ocean Acidification?
Ocean acidification is the name given to the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth’s oceans, caused by the uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere. About 30–40% of the carbon dioxide released by humans into the atmosphere dissolves into the oceans, rivers and lakes. To maintain chemical equilibrium, some of it reacts with the water to form carbonic acid. Some of these extra carbonic acid molecules react with a water molecule to give a bicarbonate ion and a hydronium ion, thus increasing the ocean’s “acidity” (H⁺ ion concentration). Absorbed CO2 in seawater (H2O) forms carbonic acid (H2CO3), lowering the water’s pH level and making it more acidic

• This increases the hydrogen ion concentration in the water, and limits organisms’ access to carbonate ions, which are needed to form hard parts like those found in calcifying organisms which include organisms such as coccolithophores, corals, foraminifera, echinoderms,crustaceans and molluscs.

SEBI gives nod to $10 million Startup Village Angel Fund

SEBI gives nod to $10 million Startup Village Angel Fund

May 12th, 2013

Market regulator SEBI has given a fillip to the country’s first telecom incubator ’Startup Village’ in Kerala by approving the Startup Village angel fund of $10 million that could go up to $20 million with a ‘Green Shoe’ (over-allotment) option.
The approval for the angel fund would address the problem of resource shortage for startup companies across the country. The startup village has Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan as its chief mentor besides other leading angel investors.
What is Startup Village?
Vision: To have 1000 product startups by 2020.
Startup Village is a business hub that aims to provide beginner entrepreneurs facilities and services to help build your own enterprise. It promotes innovative thinking among students to make their breaking new ideas to come true.
It is the country’s first Public Private Partnership (PPP) telecom business incubator - set up at Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation Park in Kalamassery near Cochin. It is a not-for-profit organization focused on promoting entrepreneurship by developing the support structure to assist them.
 As a business incubator, it will provide:

• Physical infrastructure
• Technology & service infrastructure
• Mentor capital & people network.
• Conducive environment

What is the rationale of Startup Village to focus on student startups?
The rationale for focusing on students startups is based on the knowledge and awareness that some of the most innovative technology companies globally like Apple, Microsoft, Dell, Facebook, Google etc. started out as college startups.
How will it benefit a startup company?
Startup Village is a rigid eco-system pursuing the low costs and high quality for the Incubates. It provides the initial platform for a startup company to start its activities. It does not provide any sort of initial funding, but it will act as a mediator to connect the startup company with various angels in its angel network. The facilities offered at Startup Village include leased line connectivity, telecom labs, technology infrastructure, innovation zones, accounting, legal and intellectual property services, heavily discounted consulting & server hosting services, fully furnished office spaces, co-working spaces and video conference rooms and perks like three-year service tax holiday for startups to build, break and innovate.
Who is Angel Investor?

• An angel investor or angel (also known as a business angel or informal investor) is an affluent individual who provides capital for a business start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity.
• A small but increasing number of angel investors organize themselves into angel groups or angel networks to share research and pool their investment capital, as well as to provide advice to their portfolio companies.

What is a Green Shoe Option?

• A provision contained in an underwriting agreement that gives the underwriter the right to sell investors more shares than originally planned by the issuer. This would normally be done if the demand for a security issue proves higher than expected. It is legally referred to as an over-allotment option.
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• Importance: A greenshoe option can provide additional price stability to a security issue because the underwriter has the ability to increase supply and smooth out price fluctuations if demand surges.

Centre starts Pentavalent Vaccine programme in high-risk areas

Centre starts Pentavalent Vaccine programme in high-risk areas

May 4th, 2013

With an aim to expand and promote the reach of vaccination, the Union Government has kicked off its four-week special immunization programme in high-risk areas across the nation. The vaccines are being provided free of cost aimed at reaching every child.

• Full immunization prevents approximately 4 lakh deaths from vaccine preventable diseases in the under-five category every year.
• Close to 75 lakh children miss childhood vaccinations each year.
• On a global scale, every fifth child is not immunized.

What is Pentavalent Vaccine?
India had introduced the Pentavalent vaccine expansion in 2011 in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. It has now expanded to some other states as well.
Pentavalent vaccine is given to protect children from five diseases:

1. Hib pneumonia and Hib meningitis (Hib = Haemophilus influenzae type b)
2. Diphtheria
3. Pertussis
4. Tetanus
5. Hepatitis B

 India’s Immunization Programme:
Government of India has been running Universal Immunization Programme since 1985 which is currently one of the key areas under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM)since 2005. The program consists of vaccination for seven diseases:-

1. Tuberculosis
2. Diphtheria
3. Pertussis (whooping cough)
4. Tetanus
5. Poliomyelitis
6. Measles
7. Hepatitis B

India had declared year 2012-13 as the ‘Year of Intensification of Routine Immunization’.
Objective of this campaign: To improve full immunization coverage and reach all children, particularly in remote, inaccessible and backward areas as well as in urban slums. The present full immunization coverage of children is 61%.

IMF warns Asia of “Middle Income Trap” and asset bubble

IMF warns Asia of “Middle Income Trap” and asset bubble

May 2nd, 2013

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has indicated that a number of Asian countries are potentially susceptible to the “middle-income trap” and asset bubble Asian emerging economies need to guard against asset bubbles and they must improve government institutions and liberalize rigid labor and product markets if they wish to reach the level of developed countries.
The warning has come at time when the region looks set to lead a global economic recovery as risks from a meltdown in Europe recede. Although the risks from an acute euro area crisis have diminished, regional risks are coming into clearer focus. These include some ongoing buildup of financial imbalances and rising asset prices.
The IMF has ranked Malaysia and China as the highest-ranked developing Asian countries in a chart measuring ‘institutional strength’ while Indonesia, India and the Philippines were at the bottom.
What is Institutional Strength?

• IMF defined institutional strength as demonstrating higher political stability, better bureaucratic capability, fewer conflicts and less corruption.

What is ‘middle-income trap’?

• An economic development situation where a developing economy after attaining certain income / growth risk stagnation and are unable to continue their growth further and enter into the rank of a Developed economy.
• Here, a developing economy might grow very fast initially and then it stucks at a certain level (middle income level) and is then unable to grow further i.e. its growth plateaus.
• A developing nation gets “trapped” when it reaches a certain, comparatively comfortable level of income but cannot appear to take that next big jump into the true major league of the developed world economy, with per capita wealth to match.
• Typically characteristics of a countries trapped at middle-income level:  (1) low investment ratios;  (2) slow manufacturing growth;  (3) limited industrial diversification; and  (4) poor labor market conditions.

Can a country come out of “Middle Income Trap” ?

• YES, but breaking out of it, however, is extremely difficult.  The reason is that escaping the “trap” requires an entire overhaul of the economic growth model most often used by emerging economies.
• The concept behind the “middle-income trap” is quite simple:  It’s relatively easier to rise from a low-income to a middle-income economy than it is to jump from a middle-income to a high-income economy.
• The one very famous example is that of the Republic of Korea (South Korea). South Korea has proved to the world that by building a high-quality education system which promotes creativity and innovation in science and technology and private companies supported by the financial sector and the government, a nation can escape the “Middle Income Trap”.

How can a “Middle Income Trap” be avoided:
Some key suggestions to avoid Middle Income Trap include:

• Identifying strategies to introduce new processes and find new markets to maintain export growth.
• Ramping up domestic demand
• Shifting from resource-driven growth (i.e. dependent on cheap labor and capital) to growth based on high productivity and innovation
• Investments in infrastructure and education.

India expresses concerns to Saudi Arabia over ‘Nitaqat’

India expresses concerns to Saudi Arabia over ‘Nitaqat’

April 30th, 2013

India has expressed its concerns to Saudi Arabia over the possibility of job losses of a large number of Indian workers in the kingdom because of a new labour law (Nitaqat).
Both the nations have set up a Joint Working Group (JWG) which will deliberate on framing a Memorandum of Understanding, which is to be a comprehensive document guiding all aspects of India-Saudi labour relations.
What is Nitaqat?

• The Nitaqat  is a new policy being placed by the Saudi government in order to reduce the unemployment rate among Saudi citizens.
• This policy makes it mandatory for Saudi Companies to reserve 10 percent of jobs for Saudi nationals.

Why Saudi Arabia is implementing such a policy?

• Saudi Arabia’s economy depends heavily on the existence of a large proportion of expatriates working for various establishments in the private and public sector.
• However, unlike the other states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Saudi Arabia has large number of unemployed citizens, which creates a state of resentment among those citizens.
• As per estimates, the unemployment rate among Saudi nationals has reached 12%. More than 6.5 million non-Saudis are working in the private sector of the Kingdom compared to 7,00,000 Saudis.

Is this type of policy a new concept?
No. This is not a new concept. Initially in 1994, the Saudi government had started a system called ‘Saudization’ with the same purpose of reducing unemployment of its citizens. The programme required the appointment of Saudi citizens of the total workforce of all the establishments existing in the Kingdom. However, due to several reasons, the system could not be implemented. This percentage varied in accordance to the activity of the establishment. However, due to several reasons, the system did not achieve the desired objectives.
How will Nitaqat work?

• ‘Nitaqat’ which means ‘Ranges’, divides the Saudi labor market into 41 activities and each activity into 5 sizes (Giant, Large, Medium, Small and Very Small) to have in total 205 categories.

It classifies establishments into following ranges:

• Excellent : establishments which have highest localization ratio in their workforce
• Green: establishments which have high localization ratio
• Yellow : low localization ratio
• Red : lowest localization ratio

Effects of classification on different ranges:

• Those establishments which will be in Excellent and Green ranges will have advantages and rewards while those in Yellow and Red will be on the receiving end.

Some key advantages to Excellent or Green ranges:

• Eligibility to issue work visas for the development of new business
• Ability to contract with non-Saudi workers from the establishments of the Red and the Yellow ranges in the Saudi market.
• This will result in granting the establishments that have achieved high rates of localization the opportunity to appoint non-Saudi workers with no need to issue new work visas, which helps to rationalization the recruitment and employment of additional non-Saudi labor.

Main disadvantages to Red and Yellow ranges:
They will be forced to expedite the localization of the jobs within the establishments to upgrade their range to the Green or the Excellent range to maintain the expats they have. Otherwise, the establishments located in these ranges – Red and Yellow ranges – will be denied from obtaining new or alternative visas, lose control over the non-Saudi workers in the establishment as they will have the freedom of contract with a new employer and will not be allowed to obtain new work visas to appoint new-non-Saudis workers or to set up a new subsidiary or branch.
Recent addition in Nitaqat law:

• Expatriate worker should work only under his sponsor and the worker is not meant to perform any job other than the one mentioned on his job card have raised much panic among the expatriate workers.

What are India’s concerns over this policy?

• At present over 2 million Indian nationals are working in Saudi Arabia. Implementation of this law will lead to job losses and reduced job opportunities for Indians too.