From Air Pollution- New Delhi has the Most Economic Impact in the World in the First Half of 2020

Environmental Groups has launched an Online Tool on 9^th July 2020 as per which India’s Capital New Delhi has the most Economic Impact (based on Per Capita) in the World from Air Pollution during the first half of the year 2020.

About the Online Tool

• The online tool is named ‘Clean Air Counter’. To estimate the health impact due to Air Pollution, the Clean Air Counter tool uses models that have been devised under the epidemiological observational study of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD).
• The tool was launched under a combined effort of the Regional South East Asia Office of the global environmental organization- Greenpeace, Centre For Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA- Headquartered at Finland’s Helsinki) and IQAir AirVisual.
• Clean Air Counter Tool has measured Smog Pollution in 28 major cities across the world.

Highlights from the Report by Clean Air Counter Tool (1^st January to 30^th June 2020)

• China’s Shanghai registered the highest an estimated 27,000 deaths due to Air Pollution among the 28 cities, followed by New Delhi with an estimated 25,000 and China’s capital Beijing with estimated 22,000 deaths.
• On Per Capita Basis:  New Delhi has suffered the most economic impact. An estimated 5.8 percent of New Delhi’s annual GDP was lost due to Air Pollution. Beijing and Mumbai are ranked in 2^nd and 3^rd Place respectively in terms of annual GDP loss.
• USD 3.5 billion is the total estimated cost of air pollution in New Delhi during the first half of 2020. Out of USD 3.5 billion, USD 2.57 billion is the estimated cost in New Delhi due to Year of Life Lost (as a result of high PM2.5).

GoI Report: Average Temperature in India to raise by 4.4 degree Celsius

The Ministry of Earth Science recently released its report “Assessment of Climate Change over Indian Region”. According to the report, the average surface temperature of India could increase up to 4.4 degree Celsius by the end of 2100 as compared to the temperature between 1976 and 2005.

Climate Forcing

• The report says that with the RCP (Representative Concentration Pathway) increasing to 4.5, the temperature of India could rise to 2.4 degree Celsius.
• The Representative Concentration Pathway calculates Radiative Forcing or Climate Forcing. 
• Climate Forcing is the difference between sunlight absorbed by the Earth and the energy that is radiated back from the earth.

Key Findings of the report

• According to the report, the frequency of warm days and warm nights are to increase by 55% and 70% respectively as compared to 1976-2005. 
• The heat waves in the country are expected to increase by 3 to 4 times.
• The average temperature of the country increased by 0.7 degree Celsius as compared to the period between 1900 and 2018. 
• The increase in temperature has been largely associated with global warming.  
• The report predicts that the average temperature in the Hindukush-Himalayan region could increase by 5.2 degree Celsius.

World Investment Report released by UNCTAD

On June 16, 2020, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development released its World Investment Report, 2020. According to the report, India is the 9^th largest recipient of FDI in 2019.

Key Findings: India

• According to the report, the FDI of India has increased from 42 billion USD in 2018 to 51 million USD in 2019. 
• In the region of Asia, India was among the top 5 countries.
• The report says that the investments in Digital sector of India was highly promising. 
• The investors of India in the first quarter of 2020 concluded deals that were worth of 650 million USD and majority of the deals were in digital sector.

Key Findings: World

• The report said that the global FDI inflows are to decrease by 40% in 2020 as compared to 2019. 
• This is the first time since 2005 the global FDI falls below 1 trillion USD mark. 
• The FDI of developing economies in Asia are to hit hard and decline up to 45% in 2020.
• The FDI inflows in South Asia increased by 10%. 
• The growth in the investment was driven largely by the growth of India.

Nature Index

The Nature Research, a division of the popular Springer Nature recently released Nature Index. India secured 12^th rank in the index.

Highlights

The countries that secured top 5 places in the index includes USA, China, Germany, UK and Japan. The top Indian Institutes that were rated high by the index include CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) and IISc Bangalore. Also, three institutions found their places among top 30 Indian Institutions according to Nature Index 2020 ratings. They are

• Indian Association for Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata at the 7^th position
• Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) at 14^th position
• N Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata at 30^th

About Nature Index

The Nature Index is created based on the author affiliation database collected from research articles that are published in around 82 high-quality science journals. These indices are of high importance for the current scenario of COVID-19. This is because, they help to track the researches.

The Nature Index is updated monthly and also releases annual tables of country.

International Religious Freedom Report

The US Government recently released the International Religious Freedom Report, 2019. India has raised its concerns over the report. This was because the report alleged India with discrimination and attacks against religious minorities in the country.

What were the concerns raised in the report?

• The religious freedom conditions in India is experiencing downturn. The national Government of the country has used its majority in the parliament and has instituted national level policies that is violating religious freedom.
• The report had also raised concerns over scrapping of special status of Jammu and Kashmir
• It also criticized the Citizenship Amendment Act saying the act is a fast track to provide citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
• The report also condemned cow slaughter laws, anti-conversion laws and mob-lynching.

FCRA

According to the report, India has prohibited several internationally funded NGOs. They were prohibited from operating in India since 2010. This was implemented through the amendment of the FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act), 1976. Through the amendment, the GoI can shut any of the internationally funded NGO based on national interest.

NIRF Ranking

On June 11, 2020, the Ministry of Human Resource Development released National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) for the educational institutions in the country.

Key Highlights

• The IIT Madras topped the list followed by IISc Bangalore. 
• The third place was secured by IIT Delhi. 
• The other institutes that were in the top 100 were IIT Bombay at fourth place, followed by IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur, IIT Guwahati, etc.

About NIRF

• The NIRF ranking system was launched in 2015. 
• The first NIRF ranking was released in 2016. 
• The NIRF ranks institutions in 10 categories namely engineering, university, management, college, medical, pharmacy, law, dental and architecture.

Significance

• The NIRF ranking promotes competition among the educational institutions  all over the country. 
• The rankings have great importance as the performance of the institutions have been linked to “Institution of Eminence” scheme

Institution of Eminence

• The scheme is operated by the Ministry of HRD. 
• IT aims to project Indian institutes to global recognition.

Periodic Labour Force Survey: Decline in Self-Employed households

The National Statistical Office recently released the Periodic Labour force Survey. According to the survey, the percentage of self-employed households in rural India declined from 52.2% to 51.7% in the year 2019.

Highlights

• The Survey says that in Urban India the self-employed households declined from 32.4% to 31.8%.
• The decline in rural India is mainly because of the falling dependence on agriculture. 
• The self-employed households that depend on agriculture has declined from 37.8% to 36.6%.

Key Findings

• The Survey says that in urban India, people running small shops have folded up and become labourers. 
• In rural India, the non-agricultural labourers grew from 12.9% to 13.4%.
• In Urban India, the regular wage earners grew by 1.4%.

Implications

• The findings of the report say that Indian Economy is becoming more formalised. 
• The Indian Government has been trying push formalisation and digitisation so hard in the last 5 to 6 years.

Formalisation and Digitisation

• Formalisation is bringing unorganised sector into formal means through GST, ensuring strict registrations under law. 
• The Digitisation has been pushed through Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Direct Benefit Transfers, etc.

Global Economic Prospects Report, 2020 by World Bank

The World Bank recently launched the Global Economic Prospects Report, 2020. The report highlighted the impact of COVID-19 on countries.

Key findings of the report

• The report says that the Emerging Market and the Developing Economies are highly vulnerable. 
• They face health crisis, external shocks, restrictions, tourism, falling trade, capital outflows and commodity prices. 
• These countries according to the report are expected to have 3% to 8% output loss.
• Around 60 million people may be pushed to extreme poverty due to COVID-19 this year. 
• The financial crisis due to recession will reduce the potential output by almost 8%.

Recommendations

The report makes the following recommendations

• The report suggests to make better policy choices. It includes greater debt transparency, major expansion of cash safety and faster advances in digital connectivity.
• Along with addressing health emergencies, policies to boost long term boost should also be considered. This includes improving environment for business, enhancing outcomes of education and improving governance.

World Gold Council Report: 37% of Indian Women never bought gold

On May 27, 2020, the World Gold Council released its report on Retail Gold Insights: India Jewellery Report. According to the report, around 37% of Indian women never bought jewellery.

Highlights

• The report says that gold jewellery was the second most popular item among “Fashion and Lifestyle” shoppers next to clothes and silk sarees. 
• Around 60% of Indian women already owned jewellery.
• The 37% of Indian women that do not buy gold are now being seen as new target by the gold industry. 
• Of these, 44% of the women are from rural areas and 30% are from urban.

Challenges

• According to the World Gold Council, the current young Indian women show least interest towards gold ornaments. 
• Only 33% of women in the age group 18-24 bought gold jewellery. Their future purchase intent is low.
• This is a great threat to the gold market. 
• India is one of the largest gold market in the world and decrease in gold purchase in the country will affect gold industry badly.

World Steel report: India’s steel output declined by 65%

On May 24, 2020, the World Steel Association released the World Steel Report. According to the report, the crude steel report of India declined by 65%. During April 2020, the steel output of India was 3.13 million tonnes.

Highlights

• In April 2019, according to the report, India produced 9.02 million tonnes. 
• In March 2020, India faced a decline of 14% steel output as compared to March 2019.
• The report also says that the global steel output declined by 13%. 
• In April 2019, the global steel output was 157.67 million tonnes. 
• In April 2020, the output declined to 137.09 million tonnes.

National Steel Policy

• India is currently operating under its National Steel Policy 2017. 
• Under the policy, India is to increase its steel production to 300 million tonnes by 2030. 
• It also aims to make India self-sufficient in steel. 
• It also aims to build a globally competitive steel industrial output in the country.

Key Findings of the report

• China has reported 1.7% fall in steel production. 
• This is the first time China is facing an output decline. 
• US faced a decline of 32%. South Korea’s steel production declined by 8.4%.
• The other global steel producers such as European Union, France, Italy, Turkey, Spain, Russia, Ukraine and Brazil also faced decline in their output.

United Nations releases World Economic Situation and Prospects Report, 2020

The United Nations recently released the World Economic Situation and Prospects Report, 2020. According to the report, the world economy is to shrink by 3.2% in 2020. The GDP growth in developed countries will decline to -0.5% in 2020.

Highlights: India

The report says that the growth rate of India in 2018 was 6.8% and in 2019 it was 4.1%. It will reduce to 1.2% in 2020. The report predicts that the growth of India will raise eventually in 2021 hitting 5.5%

Highlights: World

The Global economy is to gradually recover by 2021. The world economy will lose around 8.5 trillion USD due to COVID-19. Also, the global economy is to shrink by 4.9% in 2020. Around 34.3 million people are to enter below poverty line by 2020.

Also, the report say that several governments are rolling out uneven fiscal stimulus measures that are roughly equal to 10% of their GDP to minimize the crisis created by COVID-19 outbreak.

Solutions suggested

The report has suggested following solutions to combat COVID-19

• The COVID-19 is disturbing fundamental premise of globalization. Therefore, stronger international cooperation is required to contain the virus
• More liquidity should be pumped into the economies
• The International Tourism should be given focus. Around 80% of the tourism has become idle rendering millions jobless.

Facts Box: “State of the World’s Nursing Report 2020”

The World Health Organization, Nursing Now Campaign and the International Council of Nurses released the State of World’s Nursing report. The report has been released as United Nations marks 2020 as the Year of Nurse and Midwife.

Key Findings of the report

• There are 36.9 nurses per 10,000 people with variations in different parts of the world. 
• The number of nurses in Americas is 10 times more than that of Africa. 
• In America, there are 83.4 nurse per 10,000 people and in Africa there are 8.7 nurses per 10,000 people.
• According to the report, the shortage is to increase to 5.7 million nurses. 
• The largest shortages is to occur in he South East Asian regions. 
• The Europeans and Mediterranean people are dependent on migrant nurses.

India

• According to the report, there are 1.56 million nurses in India. 
• However, of these nurses, the professional nurses are 67%. 
• Around 322,827 nurses are graduating every year. 
• Nurses comprise of 47% of medical staff in India. 
• The doctors constitute 23.3%, dentists constitute 5.5% and pharmacists constitute 24.1% of medical staff in India.

Need of the moment

• The role of nurses, especially during the current health crisis is paramount. 
• Their role is essential as they ensure quality care for patients, control his infection and prevent its spreading.
• International Nurse Day is celebrated on May 12 to celebrate the significance of nurse in medical industry.

Birth rate, death rate & IMR data released by Registrar General of India

On May 10, 2020, the Registrar General of India released data on the national birth rate, death rate and infant mortality rate for the year 2018. The data complied on these statistics is called as the Sample Registration System.

Key findings

• According to the data released, the national birth rate stood at 20, death rate at 6.2 and infant mortality rate at 32.
• Madhya Pradesh had the least IMR in the country and Nagaland had the best. 
• Andaman and Nicobar Islands had the least birth rates, while Bihar had the highest. 
• Delhi had the lowest death rates and Chhattisgarh had the highest.

Infant Mortality Rate

• The IMR according to the data has declined about one-fourth as compared to 1971 census. 
• In the last decade, around 35% decline of IMR has been witnessed in rural areas.

Sample Registration System

• It is a demographic survey that provides annual estimates on birth rate, death rate and infant mortality rate. 
• It also issues mortality indicators at national and sub national levels.
• The system was initiated in a few states in 1964-65. 
• Later it became completely operational throughout India in 1969-70.

Working

• The field investigation of SRS consists of continuous enumeration of births and deaths.
• The survey is also conducted by the Anganwadi workers every 6 months. 
• The data obtained are matched.

“Lost At Home”: A Report released by UNICEF

On May 5, 2020, the UNICEF released its report called “Lost at Home”. The report enforces the risks and challenges of internally displaced children and the need to protect them.

Key Findings of the report

• According to the report, at the end of 2019, around 46 million people were internally displaced due to conflict and violence. 
• Among them, every four out of 10 were children, which is 19 million children.
• Due to conflicts the number of people displaced has increased from 25 million a decade ago to 40 million in the last 5 years. 
• In the end of 2019, among the 46 million living in displacement due to violence, 42% were children.

Region Wise

• The highest number of children that were displaced were in Middle East and North Africa (MENA). 
• Around 12 million children were displaced in 2019 alone in MENA due to violence. 
• The regions where the displacement of children were high includes west and central Africa, eastern and southern Africa, Latin America and Caribbean, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, South Asia, East Asia and Pacific and Western Europe.

Three Major Countries

• The three major countries that accounted to more than half of persons displaced due to conflict and violence are Syrian Arab Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and Yemen.

Displacements due to Natural Disasters

• In 2019, around 25 million were displaced due to natural disasters. 
• The natural disaster led disasters were high in India, China, Bangladesh, Philippines. 
• These countries accounted to 65% of global natural disaster-based displacement.

India

• In India, according to the report, the displacements were mainly due to disasters. 
• Around 5 million were displaced in India in 2019 due to natural disasters. 
• This mainly includes floods and storms.

CMIE: Unemployment rate climbs to 27.1%

On May 5, 2020, the Centre for Monitoring of Indian Economy released unemployment data. According to the data, 121.5 million are without works.

Highlights

The data says that 91,3 million daily wage labourers were out of their jobs due to COVID-19 crisis. Also, 18.2 million entrepreneurs are without work as there are lack of labourers. Around 17.8 million salaried workers are also affected due to COVID-19.

Key findings

The report generated by CMIE had the following findings

• The ongoing lock down, considered the biggest in world history has generated jobless rate of 27.1%.
• Both the urban and rural unemployment rates increased. The rural unemployment increased from 20.88% to 26.16%. In order to help the rural population, GoI is strengthening MNREGA. The wages of MNREGA has been increased under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann yojana. Also, several states like Jharkhand are launching schemes to further boost such measures.

Farming Sector

Among all the activities, farming was performing good as it was exempted from lock down. Around 5.8 million farmers returned to work after April 20, 2020. Also, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) were engaged in their fullest to procure the rabi crops. This included rice, wheat, pulses and cotton.

Core sector Growth of India hit due to Lock Down

The core sectors of India include crude oil, steel, natural gas, refinery product, cement, fertilizer, electricity and coal. According to the figures released by the Ministry of Commerce recently, the production of core industries of India shrank in March, 2020 due to lock down.

Highlights

The output of the core industries has reduced by 6.5% in the month of March. This is the sharpest reduction since 2012.

• The petroleum sector slid by 0.5% as the transportation sector was completely halted
• The demand of electricity decreased by 7.2%. The production was relatively reduced.
• With the construction sector coming to a complete halt, cement industry saw 25% drop.
• The steel production demand reduced by 13%.
• The only sector that saw a positive figure was coal.

Significance

• The eight crore industries have a weight of 40.27% in the Index of Industrial Production. 
• With these industries contracting in their output, the country is to face very low economic output.

Index of Industrial Production

• The Index of Industrial Production is published by the Central Statistical Organization. 
• It shows the growth rate of different industrial groups. 
• The IIP is calculated with 2004-05 as the base year.
• The IIP indicator measures broad sectors namely mining, electricity and manufacturing. 
• It also measures use-based sectors namely capital goods and intermediate goods and basic goods.

NSTMIS report: India placed 3rd in scientific publication

The National Science and Technology Management Information (NSTMIS) has conducted a survey on Research and Development Statistics and Indicators 2019-20.

Highlights

• The report says that India ranks 3^rd globally in the scientific publication. 
• The first two ranks were occupied by USA and China. 
• The gross expenditure on Research and Development in the country has tripled between 2008 and 2018. 
• It was Rs 39,437 crores in 2008 and increased to Rs 1,13,825 crores in 2018.

Key Findings of the report

• The report says that the two main contributors were Department of Science and Technology and Department of Biotechnology. The DST contributes 63% of R and D support and the DBT contributes 14%.
• The women participation in the R&D field has increased from 13% to 24%.
• Around 5.52 lakh personnel are working in R&D establishments as on April 2018.
• In terms of Resident Patent Filing India was ranked 9^th in the world. India’s Patent Office ranked seventh in the world.
• The number of researchers per million has doubled in India since 2000.
• According to the report, India is currently spending 185 USD per researcher and is ahead of Russia, Hungary, Israel, UK and Spain in this spending.

Significance

• The report is important for policy making, planning higher education, industrial competitiveness and intellectual property.

India ranks 53rd in Budget Transparency and Accountability

According to the Open Budget Survey conducted by the International Budget Partnership, India ranked 53^rd among 117 countries in budget transparency and accountability.

Highlights: World

• India scored 49 out 0f 100 in the survey. 
• The score was above the global average of 45. 
• New Zealand scored 87 and topped the list. South Africa, Mexico and Brazil were the other top performers with scores 87, 82 and 81 respectively.

Highlights: India

• The survey gave better scores for India for its timely publishing and relevant information in the audit reports. 
• According to the survey, absence of pre-budget statement and mid-year review in the year 2018-19 was the main reason for India to scoreless in the survey.

Suggestions

• The survey suggests to maintain high degree of transparency in government finances in order to ensure the public resources are used judiciously. 
• An integrated expenditure information architecture has to be built in every district headquarters. 
• This will help the coordination and management committees at district level to enforce accountability and improve budget transparency

About the Survey

• The survey evaluated every country based on their issuance of information to the public in a timely manner. 
• Also, they assessed how far the countries allowed public participation in order to prepare the ranking.

GRID 2020 report: Over 5 million displaced in India in 2019

The Global Report on Internal Displacement, GRID 2020 released by Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, IDMC said that over 5 million people have displaced in India in 2019. According to the report, this is the highest in the world.

Highlights: World

• According to the report, around 33.4 million people faced displacements in the world due to conflicts and disasters. 
• They are spread in 145 countries. In 2019, around 75% of the disasters were triggered by disasters. 
• Out of these, 95% were due to weather hazards such as floods and storms.
• The disasters were dominant in the regions such as East Asia, South Asia and Pacific. 
• Of all, India, China, Bangladesh and Philippines each recorded more than 4 million displacements in 2019.

Highlights: India

• According to the report, social and economic vulnerability, hazard intensity and high population were the major reasons for the displacement. 
• The report says that 2.6 million people in India suffered displacement due to south west monsoon. 
• Around 19,000 faced displacement in the country due to conflicts. 
• They were mainly high in the regions of West Bengal and Tripura.

Solutions

• The report demands greater political support. 
• It also suggests increased investment in development sectors and humanitarian sectors.

SIPRI: India one among top three military spender

On April 27, 2020, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released its report on military spending of different countries in the world. According to the report, US, China and India are the three top most military spenders in 2019.

Highlights

• Following the three top military spenders in the world, Russia and Saudi Arabia were on the fourth and fifth places respectively. 
• The top three military spenders accounted to 62% of the world military expenditure. 
• However, it is the first time in the history of the report that 2 Asian countries have occupied the top positions.

Global military expenditure

• The total military expenditure increased by 3.6% in 2019 as compared to 2018. 
• In 2019, the global expenditure spent was 2 trillion USD. 
• This is the highest expenditure spent since 2008 global financial crisis.

Highlights: India

• According to the report, the military expenditure of India increased due to its increasing tensions with Pakistan over the Kashmir issue. 
• In 2019, India has spent 71.1 billion USD over its military. 
• This has increased by 6.8% as compared to 2018.

Highlights: USA

• According to the report, the US is driving the military spending in the world largely. 
• In 2019, the US had spent 732 billion USD for military. 
• This is 5.3% higher than that of 2018.