Showing posts with label Social and Economy development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Social and Economy development. Show all posts

18 January 2018

India’s learning deficit is worsening: ASER study

India’s learning deficit is worsening: ASER study
In 14-18 years age group, only 43% able to do a simple division correctly, while 47% of 14-year-olds could not read a simple sentence in English, says the ASER study
The legacy of learning deficit visible so far in elementary school children is now being reflected among young adults too, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) study revealed.
Since, around 10% of Indian population is in this age group, their productivity has a direct bearing on India’s competitiveness as an economy. At the same time, it also poses a political challenge to incumbent governments as they cannot be easily absorbed in the workforce—adding to the growing number of unemployed youth.
Nearly one out of two (47%) 14-year olds could not read a simple sentence of English. Graphic: Paras Jain/Mint
Click here for enlarge
In the 14-18 years age group, over one in two students could not do a simple division. “Only 43% are able to do such problems correctly,” the ASER 2017 conducted by education non-profit Pratham revealed.
Similarly, nearly one out of two (47%) 14-year olds could not read a simple sentence of English; the proportion was two out of five for 18-year olds. It is not just English, 25% of the youth could not read basic text fluently even when it was in their own languages.
“Learning deficits seen in elementary school in previous years seem to carry forward as young people go from being adolescents to young adults,” the report underlined. “Interestingly, although reading ability in regional languages and in English seems to improve slightly with age (more 18-year olds can read than 14-year olds), the same does not seem to apply to mathematics. The proportion of youth who have not acquired basic math skills by age 14 is the same as that of (an) 18-year (old),” it added.
The findings are disappointing and pointing to a larger problem, said Arvind Subramanian, chief economic adviser to the Union finance ministry, while unveiling the report. According to him political parties needed to make education an electoral issue to improve learning outcomes.
This year ASER surveyed students in the age group of 14-18 years, unlike the last 12 years when it focused on students in elementary schools. The survey, though, has a smaller sample size this year.
“When your secondary level students are not learning like the elementary students, the problem becomes bigger. It is because of two reasons—one, this 14-18 years age group are ready to enter the workforce and thus has a direct bearing on the economy; second, the families depend more on this young cohort for doing free work,” said Rukmini Banerji, chief executive of Pratham Education Foundation.
This time ASER teams went beyond basics and surveyed students on activity in schools, ability to solve problems, exposure, awareness and aspirations across 28 districts in 24 states to gauge the “ability (of adolescents aged 14-18 years) to lead productive lives as adults”.
And the findings are equally disappointing. For example, 24% in the 14-18 age group could not count currency correctly, 44% could not add weights correctly in kilograms as they were asked to add weights, 14% could not recognize a map of India and some 36% couldn’t name the capital of India. Similarly, while 79% could name the state they lived in, 58% could not locate it on a map.
The ASER report also shows that enrolment gap between males and females in the formal education system increases with age. There is hardly any difference between boys and girls enrolment at age 14. But by the time they turn 18, the drop out rate is 32% for females and 28% for males.
“The problem is multi-faceted. It’s not confined to just reading or mathematics and hence needs urgent attention,” said Banerji.
The ASER findings serve as a warning ahead of India’s participation in the rigorous Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) to be conducted by OECD in 2021. In 2009, the last time it participated, India was ranked second last among 74 countries and regions, inviting sharp criticism from academics and experts on how Indian education is impacting the country’s competitiveness to become a global powerhouse

Building on India’s family planning success

Building on India’s family planning success
Empowering women to make reproductive choices is the best way to address fertility, and its associated health challenges in India
Social reformer Raghunath Dhondo Karve was well ahead of his time when he pioneered family planning in Mumbai in the 1920s. Independent India’s first government caught up in 1952 when it started the world’s first family planning programme. There have been missteps since, such as Sanjay Gandhi’s forced sterilization drive. On the whole, these programmes have done well in tackling India’s fertility challenge. The recently released report on the fourth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), carried out in 2015-16, shows where it has succeeded—and where shortcomings remain.
The total fertility rate has declined to 2.2, marginally above the replacement rate of 2.1. This is substantial progress from 2005-2006 when NFHS-3 pegged the rate at 2.7. There are a number of takeaways from slicing the numbers in different ways. The first is the geographic variance. The fertility rate in 23 states and Union territories—including all the southern states—is below the replacement rate. It is substantially higher in a number of states in central, east and north-east India. Bihar, for instance, has the highest rate at 3.41, followed by Meghalaya at 3.04 and Uttar Pradesh and Nagaland at 2.74. Plainly, the nature and scope of the fertility-related public health challenge facing state governments varies widely. So must the response. The most effective way of enabling this is a greater role for local bodies in both urban and rural areas—an item on the incomplete devolution agenda.
Second, breaking up the fertility rate by the background characteristics of female respondents produces the central takeaway. Education is a clear differentiator. Women with 12 years or more of schooling have a fertility rate of 1.7, while women with no schooling have an average rate of 3.1. Birth order backs this up. Thirty-one per cent of births to women with no schooling were of birth order four or higher. The corresponding rate for women with 12 years or more of schooling was 2%.
Education levels are strongly correlated with another important aspect of the fertility rate. Higher levels of schooling mean lower levels of teenage pregnancy. In the 15-19 cohort, as many as one-fifth of the women with no schooling have begun childbearing, while only one in 25 women in the same cohort who have had 12 years or more of schooling have done so. Teenage childbearing, in turn, results in greater health risks. The median birth interval in the 15-19 group is 22.6 months. Birth intervals smaller than 24 months “are associated with increased health risks for both mothers and newborns”.
The implication is clear. Lack of education robs women of reproductive control, feeding into India’s maternal and child health problem. Combined with younger pregnancies and higher childbearing rates, it also constrains women’s economic choices. This, in turn, reinforces a lack of reproductive control—44% of women who are unemployed use modern contraceptives while 60% of women who are employed for cash do so—perpetuating a vicious cycle.
The skewed pattern of contraceptive usage is the third takeaway. Knowledge of contraceptive methods is now almost universal in India; the government has done well here. Despite this, men have not taken up the responsibility of managing fertility. The most popular contraceptive method by far, at 36%, is female sterilization. Male sterilization—a less invasive and easier method with a much lower chance of medical complications—accounts for a mere 0.3%. Male condom usage is low as well, at 5.6%. The public healthcare system, which accounts for almost 70% of modern contraceptive usage, doesn’t do enough to address this problem caused by societal attitudes. Only 54% of women were informed of other available contraceptive methods while 47% of women were informed of the possible side effects of their chosen method.
The initial decades of India’s family planning efforts were shaped by foreign funds and agencies that were driven by Malthusian economics. That particular logic has long since been debunked. Now, the Centre and state governments must catch up. The National Population Policy (NPP) of 2000 explicitly rejected the numbers game—the targeted approach that had dominated fertility management until then. But the hangover remains with the National Health Policy 2017 again setting a fertility rate target. And it took the Supreme Court, in its 2016 verdict in Devika Biswas vs Union of India & Others, to call for an end to sterilization camps. These corral poorly informed women, largely in rural areas, in order to hit bureaucratic targets, often violating reproductive rights in the process.
Almost a century ago, Karve took the then radical view that women could best confront the fertility challenge via emancipation and gender equality. That continues to hold true today. Successive governments have done well over the decades; NFHS-4 shows improvement in almost all metrics from the 2005-06 NFHS-3. Now, they must focus on enabling educational and economic opportunities for women.
Has India made sufficient progress in addressing the fertility health challenge?

15 January 2018

Gujarat tops new logistics index that flags inefficiency of states

Gujarat tops new logistics index that flags inefficiency of states
Gujarat topped the Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS) index, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh took the second and third positions, respectively
The logistics performance of Indian states and Union territories is “sub-par” owing to a host of inefficiencies, according to a study which also suggests measures for improvement.
The Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS) index, a composite indicator to assess international trade logistics across states and Union territories, is based on a stakeholders’ survey conducted by Deloitte for the ministry of commerce and industry. While Gujarat topped the first-of-its-kind index, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh took the second and third positions, respectively.
Logistics, or the management of the flow of resources such as cargo, documents, information and funds through a range of activities and services between points of origin and destination, is a key parameter in deciding the trade competitiveness of a state or country.
In a major push to developing an integrated logistics framework in the country, including industrial parks, cold chains and warehousing facilities, the government in November granted infrastructure status to the logistics sector, enabling the industry to access cheaper finances. The government also created the position of a special secretary in the commerce ministry to exclusively handle logistics and appointed former director general of the Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals, Binoy Kumar, to the post.
LEADS is loosely based on the World Bank’s biannual Logistics Performance Index (LPI), on which India was ranked 35 among 160 countries in 2016, up from 54 in 2014. LEADS is based on eight parameters such as infrastructure, services, timeliness, track and trace, competitiveness of pricing, safety of cargo, operating environment and regulatory process. The study is based on a perception-based survey of 2,885 respondents across the country over a six-week period.
The study found that supply chain efficiencies and economies of scale are yet to be unlocked, mostly due to suboptimal investment in building scale in infrastructure, automation, human capital and technology. It highlighted problems such as inadequate terminal capacity, poor last-mile terminal connectivity and issues in regulatory services provided by government agencies, among others. It also underlined issues specific to certain states. For example, respondents reported that labour unions created impediments for trade efficiency in states like West Bengal, Kerala, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh.
The study identified indicative focus areas such as enhancing capacity, developing integrated and balanced multimodal logistics and transport infrastructure, focussing on standardization, developing regulatory infrastructure, modernizing logistics infrastructure and transport fleet,
Commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu said Indian logistics costs are said to be among the highest in the world—in the vicinity of 13% of gross domestic product (GDP). “Germany’s costs in comparison average just above 8% of its GDP, providing its industry a huge competitive edge in the global market,” he added.
After the third meeting of the Council for Trade Development and Promotion on Monday that includes state industry ministers, Prabhu said his ministry will develop a strategy with the policy think tank NITI Aayog for supporting states that encourage exports. India’s merchandise exports increased 13% to $271 billion during the January-November 2017 period while its services exports rose 4% to $135 billion during the same period.
The managing director of a logistics firm, who did not wish to be named, said the study should be used by states to put their house in order. The point-based index clearly shows the areas that states need to work upon, he said. Performance improvements by states on the logistics index would help them attract industries, the person said

Project Commencement of Barmer Refinery to be done by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 16 January, 2018

Project Commencement of Barmer Refinery to be done by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 16 January, 2018
Project commencement of Barmer Refinery at Pachpadra, Rajasthan is scheduled to be done by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 16th January, 2018. Chief Minister of Rajasthan Smt. Vasundhara Rajeand Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Shri Dharmendra Pradhan will also be present among other dignitaries.
Project details:
Project Cost – Rs.43129 crore
Target Mechanical Completion – 4 years
Refining Capacity 9 MMTPA
Equity share of HPCL – 74%
Equity share of GOR – 26%
Location – Pachpadra, Barmer, Rajasthan
Incentive – Interest free loan of Rs.1123 crore per annum for 15 years from date of commissioning to be refunded in next 15 years from 16th year onwards
Refinery capable of producing BS VI products
Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, text


Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, text

FDI policy further liberalized in key sectors

FDI policy further liberalized in key sectors
Cabinet approves amendments in FDI policy
100% FDI under automatic route for Single Brand Retail Trading
100% FDI under automatic route in Construction Development
Foreign airlines allowed to invest up to 49% under approval route in Air India
FIIs/FPIs allowed to invest in Power Exchanges through primary market
Definition of ‘medical devices’ amended in the FDI Policy

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval to a number of amendments in the FDI Policy. These are intended to liberalise and simplify the FDI policy so as to provide ease of doing business in the country. In turn, it will lead to larger FDI inflows contributing to growth of investment, income and employment.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is a major driver of economic growth and a source of non-debt finance for the economic development of the country. Government has put in place an investor friendly policy on FDI, under which FDI up to 100%, is permitted on the automatic route in most sectors/ activities. In the recent past, the Government has brought FDI policy reforms in a number of sectors viz. Defence, Construction Development, Insurance, Pension, Other Financial Services, Asset reconstruction Companies, Broadcasting, Civil Aviation, Pharmaceuticals, Trading etc.
Measures undertaken by the Government have resulted in increased FDI inflows in to the country. During the year 2014-15, total FDI inflows received were US $ 45.15 billion as against US $ 36.05 billion in 2013-14. During 2015-16, country received total FDI of US $ 55.46 billion. In the financial year 2016-17, total FDI of US $ 60.08 billion has been received, which is an all-time high.
It has been felt that the country has potential to attract far more foreign investment which can be achieved by further liberalizing and simplifying the FDI regime. Accordingly, the Government has decided to introduce a number of amendments in the FDI Policy.
Details:
Government approval no longer required for FDI in Single Brand Retail Trading (SBRT)
(i) Extant FDI policy on SBRT allows 49% FDI under automatic route, and FDI beyond 49% and up to 100% through Government approval route. It has now been decided to permit 100% FDI under automatic route for SBRT.
(ii) It has been decided to permit single brand retail trading entity to set off its incremental sourcing of goods from India for global operations during initial 5 years, beginning 1st April of the year of the opening of first store against the mandatory sourcing requirement of 30% of purchases from India. For this purpose, incremental sourcing will mean the increase in terms of value of such global sourcing from India for that single brand (in INR terms) in a particular financial year over the preceding financial year, by the non-resident entities undertaking single brand retail trading entity, either directly or through their group companies. After completion of this 5 year period, the SBRT entity shall be required to meet the 30% sourcing norms directly towards its India’s operation, on an annual basis.
(iii) A non-resident entity or entities, whether owner of the brand or otherwise, is permitted to undertake ‘single brand’ product retail trading in the country for the specific brand, either directly by the brand owner or through a legally tenable agreement executed between the Indian entity undertaking single brand retail trading and the brand owner.
Civil Aviation
As per the extant policy, foreign airlines are allowed to invest under Government approval route in the capital of Indian companies operating scheduled and non-scheduled air transport services, up to the limit of 49% of their paid-up capital. However, this provision was presently not applicable to Air India, thereby implying that foreign airlines could not invest in Air India. It has now been decided to do away with this restriction and allow foreign airlines to invest up to 49% under approval route in Air India subject to the conditions that:
Foreign investment(s) in Air India including that of foreign Airline(s) shall not exceed 49% either directly or indirectly
Substantial ownership and effective control of Air India shall continue to be vested in Indian National.
Construction Development: Townships, Housing, Built-up Infrastructure and Real Estate Broking Services
It has been decided to clarify that real-estate broking service does not amount to real estate business and is therefore, eligible for 100% FDI under automatic route.
Power Exchanges
Extant policy provides for 49% FDI under automatic route in Power Exchanges registered under the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Power Market) Regulations, 2010. However, FII/FPI purchases were restricted to secondary market only. It has now been decided to do away with this provision, thereby allowing FIIs/FPIs to invest in Power Exchanges through primary market as well.
Other Approval Requirements under FDI Policy:
(i) As per the extant FDI policy, issue of equity shares against non-cash considerations like pre-incorporation expenses, import of machinery etc. is permitted under Government approval route. It has now been decided that issue of shares against non-cash considerations like pre-incorporation expenses, import of machinery etc. shall be permitted under automatic route in case of sectors under automatic route.
(ii) Foreign investment into an Indian company, engaged only in the activity of investing in the capital of other Indian company/ies/ LLP and in the Core Investing Companies is presently allowed upto 100% with prior Government approval. It has now been decided to align FDI policy on these sectors with FDI policy provisions on Other Financial Services. Thus, if the above activities are regulated by any financial sector regulator, then foreign investment upto 100% under automatic route shall be allowed; and, if they are not regulated by any Financial Sector Regulator or where only part is regulated or where there is doubt regarding the regulatory oversight, foreign investment up to 100% will be allowed under Government approval route, subject to conditions including minimum capitalization requirement, as may be decided by the Government.
Competent Authority for examining FDI proposals from countries of concern
As per the existing procedures, FDI applications involving investments from Countries of Concern, requiring security clearance as per the extant FEMA 20, FDI Policy and security guidelines, amended from time to time, are to be processed by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for investments falling under automatic route sectors/activities, while cases pertaining to government approval route sectors/activities requiring security clearance are to be processed by the respective Administrative Ministries/Departments, as the case may be. It has now been decided that for investments in automatic route sectors, requiring approval only on the matter of investment being from country of concern, FDI applications would be processed by Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) for Government approval. Cases under the government approval route, also requiring security clearance with respect to countries of concern, will continue to be processed by concerned Administrative Department/Ministry.
Pharmaceuticals:
FDI policy on Pharmaceuticals sector inter-alia provides that definition of medical device as contained in the FDI Policy would be subject to amendment in the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. As the definition as contained in the policy is complete in itself, it has been decided to drop the reference to Drugs and Cosmetics Act from FDI policy. Further, it has also been decided to amend the definition of ‘medical devices’ as contained in the FDI Policy.
Prohibition of restrictive conditions regarding audit firms:
The extant FDI policy does not have any provisions in respect of specification of auditors that can be appointed by the Indian investee companies receiving foreign investments. It has been decided to provide in the FDI policy that wherever the foreign investor wishes to specify a particular auditor/audit firm having international network for the Indian investee company, then audit of such investee companies should be carried out as joint audit wherein one of the auditors should not be part of the same network.

भारत में घटकर 2.2 हुई बच्चे पैदा होने की दर, मुस्लिम सबसे आगे

भारत में घटकर 2.2 हुई बच्चे पैदा होने की दर, मुस्लिम सबसे आगे
साल 2015-16 में हुए नैशनल फैमिली हेल्थ सर्वे के मुताबिक हिंदुओं में बच्चे पैदा करने की दर 2.1 पर आ गई है, जबकि 2004-05 में यह आंकड़ा 2.8 का था। पिछले आंकड़े के लिहाज से देखें तो यह बड़ी गिरावट है।
मुस्लिमों में बच्चे पैदा करने की दर अब भी देश के अन्य समुदायों के मुकाबले अधिक है। मुस्लिम समाज में प्रति परिवार यह आंकड़ा 2.6 है। हालांकि 2004-05 के 3.4 के आंकड़े की तुलना में यह बड़ी गिरावट कही जा सकती है। 2015-16 में नैशनल फैमिली हेल्थ सर्वे का धार्मिक आधार पर डेटा निकालने पर यह खुलासा हुआ है। देश में सबसे कम फर्टिलिटी रेट 1.2 जैन समाज का है। देश में शिक्षा के स्तर में भी जैन समाज के लोग सबसे आगे हैं। इसके बाद सिखों में बच्चे पैदा करने की दर 1.6, बौद्धों और नव-बौद्धों में 1.7 और ईसाइयों में 2 है। भारत के कुल फर्टिलिटी रेट की बात करें तो यह 2.2 है।
........'गरीबी जितनी अधिक बच्चे भी उतने ज्यादा'
यदि आर्थिक आधार पर विश्लेषण किया जाए तो न्यूनतम आय वर्ग वाले परिवारों में बच्चों की दर सबसे अधिक 3.2 है, वहीं सबसे उच्च आय वर्ग लोगों में यह आंकड़ा सबसे कम 1.5 है।
...........जनजातीय समाज में अधिक बच्चे
सामाजिक आधार पर आंकड़ों का विश्लेषण करें तो सबसे पिछड़े जनजातीय समाज में फर्टिलिटी रेट 2.5 है, जबकि अनुसूचित जाति में यह 2.3 है और पिछड़े वर्ग का आंकड़ा 2.2 है। सवर्ण जातियों में यह आंकड़ा सबसे कम 1.9 है। यही नहीं युवा महिलाओं से पैदा होने वाले बच्चों की संख्या अधिक उम्र की महिलाओं की तुलना में खासी कम है। इससे पता चलता है कि बीते दो दशकों में खासा बदलाव आया है

India registers significant decline in under five child mortality rate; Rate of decline has doubled over last year

India registers significant decline in under five child mortality rate; Rate of decline has doubled over last year
Big boost to ‘Mission Indradhanush’
Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare expressed happiness over the just released SRS bulletin (2016) as India registered a significant decline in under-five child mortality. According to the bulletin, under-five child mortality (U5MR) of India showed an impressive decline by 9%, a 4 points decline from 43 per 1000 in 2015 to 39 in 2016. The rate of decline has doubled over the last year. Not only this, number of under-five deaths for the first time in the country have come down to below 1 million with nearly 120,000 fewer under-five deaths in 2016 as compared to 2015. Most of the states have shown good progress in reduction of under-five child mortality from the previous year, except Chattisgarh, Delhi and Uttarakhand, which have shown a slight increase over the previous year and Telangana, which has shown no change in 2016.
Congratulating all those associated with this remarkable feat, Shri Nadda stated that the results signify that the strategic approach of the Government is yielding dividends and the efforts of focusing on low performing states is paying off. He stated that India with the current rate of decline of U5MR is on track to meet the SDG target for under-five child mortality of 25 by 2030. The Health Minister further said that under the visionary leadership and guidance of the Hon. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji, the government is committed to advancing the agenda of Universal Health Coverage in the country and its initiatives like Mission Indradhanush and Intensified Mission Indradhanush, with their focused approach, are significantly turning the tide in favour of India.
Shri Nadda said that these remarkable achievements in merely one year are the result of countrywide efforts to increase the health service coverage through various initiatives of the Government that include strengthening of service delivery; quality assurance; RMNCH+A interventions; strengthening human resources and community processes; information and knowledge; drugs and diagnostics, and supply chain management, etc.
According to the SRS Bulletin, the gender gap in India for child survival is reducing steadily; the gender difference between female and male under-five mortality rates has now reduced to 11% which was as high as 17% in 2014. The current under-five mortality for male child is 37 per 1000, while for female child is 41 per 1000 live births. Amongst the bigger states, seven states (Chattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, MP, Odisha, Tamil Nadu Telangana) have reversed the gender gap in survival of female child, while four of these have reversed the gender gap for under-five survival. These are Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.
Telangana, West Bengal, Odisha, Punjab and Delhi have depicted less than 5% gap in mortality of female child and are within striking distance to reverse the gender gap. The maximum gender gap in survival of under-five for female child is in Bihar (46% higher mortality for female child), followed by Haryana (23%), Kerala (20%), Assam, Karnataka (19%) and Rajasthan (17%).
Further, the SRS Bulletin also shows that the neonatal mortality rate has reduced by 1 point from 25 per 1000 live births to 24 per 1000.

6 January 2018

India’s jobless growth is a myth

good analysis whether jobless or not growth in india
India’s jobless growth is a myth
Between 2009-10 and 2015-16, incremental jobs created exceeded the number of persons who entered the labour force by a wide margin
We see two major concerns on employment generation in India. The first relates to regular availability of information on employment generation and the second, to its quality, particularly its ability to capture fully the data on employment generation from the new initiatives taken by the government.
Prajakta Patil/Mint
Click here for enlarge
In India, the overall employment situation is assessed on the basis of periodic comprehensive surveys undertaken by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), usually after every five years. The NSSO surveys reveal that overall employment growth from 1993-94 to 2011-12 (the latest year for which the data is available) averaged 1.1% per annum, perceived to be lower than the growth in the number of people who might have been entering the labour force and what one would expect from accelerating output growth. The employment elasticity during this period was only 0.18. A secular decline in the labour force participation rate (LFPR), which reflects willingness to work, from 430 per 1,000 people in 2004-05 to 395 per 1,000 in 2011-12, kept the unemployment rate at low levels.
Since NSSO surveys have been infrequent, the director general of the Labour Bureau has started providing more frequent information on labour markets since 2009-10. It has released five survey reports during this period, the latest being for 2015-16. The methodology is almost similar, but results are based on large surveys. These could be considered a reasonable proxy for assessing the labour market situation, more so in the intervening periods between the publication of NSSO surveys.
We look at the information from these two surveys—NSSO and Labour Bureau—to seek answers to these three questions:
First, whether this period was one of jobless growth? Second, assuming that each state followed a different development strategy, how different was their relative record in providing employment to job seekers? Third, what is the status when it comes to providing regular, productive and well-paid jobs?
Labour Bureau data indicates that between 2009-10 and 2015-16, incremental jobs created exceeded the number of people who entered the labour force by a wide margin. At an aggregate level, 75 million jobs were created, against 61 million who were added to the list of job seekers. During this period, the overall percentage of people in the age group of 15 and above who were willing to work, both male and female, increased marginally. With employment opportunities outnumbering job seekers by 23%, the rate of unemployment also declined. Contrary to general perception, the period 2009-10 to 2015-16 does not seem to be a period of jobless growth.
Notwithstanding interstate differences, the average annual rate of growth of job creation at the all-India level, at 3.2% in 2009-2016, exceeded the rate of growth of job seekers, which averaged 2.4% (Table 1). Six states—Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Sikkim and Uttarakhand—had lower job creation growth relative to the growth of job seekers. A significantly high growth of incremental job creation in Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh needs to be further analysed to ascertain the contributing factors.
A state-wide analysis suggests that in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, there was a sharp decline in female job seekers—and this might have helped match job opportunities to job seekers. On the other hand, in Sikkim, there were fewer job opportunities for both males and females. Despite adequate availability of job opportunities at the all-India level, state-wide differences remained significant, and, in some cases, surplus jobs arose only because of a decline in the labour and workforce participation rate for females.
The third question relates to how well paid these jobs were. The Labour Bureau survey (2015-16) has categorized workers according to their monthly income levels. Most of the workers, 84% of all, whether self-employed, regular wage earners, contract workers or casual workers, were getting an income of less than Rs10,000 per month (Figure 1). Regular wage earners or salaried-class workers were better off, with 57% having a monthly income of Rs10,000 or less. Finally, 96.3% of casual workers, including those who were employed for public works, and 85% of self-employed persons had a monthly income of Rs10,000 or less. Enough work was also not available for nearly 40% of the workers; they were being employed for only a part of the year. In terms of decent, productive and well-paid jobs, considerable gaps continued to persist.
It is necessary, then, to evolve strategies to create supplementary opportunities for the self-employed, improve the female labour force participation rate, increase the ratio of female to male job seekers, and reduce interstate differences.

What ails higher education in India?

What ails higher education in India?
While the desired levels of research and internationalization of Indian campuses remain weak points, Indian higher education also suffers from a lack of funds, and its largely linear model with very little focus on specialization
In October, Prime Minister Narendra Modi rued the state of higher education in India, especially its poor performance in international rankings.
Three days after he made an appeal to “erase this slur”, the Asia University Rankings by British agency Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed the Prime Minister’s concerns were not misplaced.
Most top Indian schools slipped in their rankings in Asia, with the exception of Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, which ranked 34th in the continent.
While Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore dropped 18 ranks to 51st, Calcutta University dropped 17 places to 125th in Asia. IIT Roorkee slipped 15 places to be ranked at the 93rd position. Top IITs, including Delhi, Madras and Kanpur, slipped between 5 and 11 ranks in the 2018 rankings as against their performance in the previous year.
What then ails Indian higher education?
The answer is almost everything—from quality to accountability, from lack of widespread innovation to marketing quality of Indian schools globally, according to experts and academics.
“Now the shift must happen from a linear model of education, with less focus on innovation, to specialized education that will propel research and tangible output,” said S.S. Mantha, a former chairman of the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE).
With 822 universities and over 51,000 colleges, Indian higher education suffers from a dual problem—quality and quantity.
Unlike the school sector, where access is almost universal, the gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education is 24.5—meaning out of every 100 youths eligible for higher education, less than 25 are pursuing tertiary education.
While the desired levels of research and internationalization of Indian campuses remain weak points, Indian higher education also suffers from a lack of funds, and its largely linear model with very little focus on specialization. Both experts and academics feel Indian higher education is tilted towards social sciences.
Only 1.7% colleges run Ph.D programmes and a mere 33% colleges run postgraduate-level programmes. At the undergraduate level, the highest number (40%) of students are enrolled in arts/humanities/social sciences, followed by science (16%), engineering and technology (15.6%) and commerce (14.1%), according to human resource development (HRD) ministry data.
“Indian higher education needs handholding—both to improve its quality, and branding of good schools such as IITs and IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management) globally to attract foreign students. The world-class university plan and the grant of autonomy to IIMs are steps in that direction,” said a HRD ministry official, requesting anonymity.
China, for instance, has been funding nine of its top universities (called C9) to make them climb the global league table, and it has been quite successful. Tsinghua University, part of the C9, has a global rank of 25 and is placed sixth in Asia. In contrast, IIT-Delhi, placed at 172, is the best Indian institution in the QS world rankings 2018. In Asia, it is placed at 41st rank.
And, if you take out IITs and IISc, Indian universities’ performance is nothing to speak about. Besides, there are hardly any liberal arts universities that are sought after abroad.
On the funding front, there has been a demand to take spending on education to 6% of gross domestic product for decades. Right now, it is a little over 4%. “We believe the private sector can play a bigger role here. Besides, the upcoming higher education funding agency will support the fund requirements to some extent,” the HRD official added.
On branding, the official said IITs and IIMs are looking beyond India. Sangeet Chowfla, president and chief executive of the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), the global body that conducts GMAT exam, told Mint recently that it has agreed to make management education in India an attractive destination for international students.
Initially, students from 27 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe are on the radar, Mint had reported on 8 September.
On the regulatory front too, the country has a poor record with both the University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) being seen more as controllers of education than facilitators. Even now, the apex higher education regulator is headless, highlighting the state of education regulation in India.
“UGC and AICTE should be enablers of education than blocking reform at an institutional level. These regulators need to be reformed first for educational reform to accelerate in India,” said Harivansh Chaturvedi, director of Birla Institute of Management and Technology, or BIMTECH, in Greater Noida.

Food security: time to move to cash transfers

Food security: time to move to cash transfers
After the deadlock at Buenos Aires, India should hasten the implementation of a cash-transfer programme and preserve political capital for future diplomatic battles
The impasse at the recently concluded 11th ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Buenos Aires is casting doubts over the future of developing countries’ food procurement programmes. International disputes have often had an impact on domestic policy, and the present controversy has the makings of another instance where trade rules will significantly affect the direction of domestic policy.
The bone of contention at the conference was that the US allegedly reneged on its promise to not block food stockholding policies in return for India, the country with the world’s biggest stockholding programme, signing the trade and facilitation agreement (TFA). The TFA aims to reduce administrative barriers and harmonize customs rules and regulations around the world, thereby saving transaction costs and ensuring the smooth flow of goods and services across borders.
US support is important because India’s Food Security Act, passed in 2013, ran into WTO rules that keep a country’s domestic policies from distorting international trade. The law forced a significant ramping up of food procurement by the government to provide coverage to two-thirds of its population. Simultaneously, the government supports farmers through minimum support prices. The cost of these programmes—basically a country’s food subsidy bill—says the WTO, must not exceed 10% of the value of production based on the reference price of 1986-88.
At the Bali conference in December 2013, India secured a ‘peace clause’ that protected it from legal action should it breach the 10% limit. However, the concession was limited to programmes running in 2013 and it comes with onerous reporting requirements about food subsidy levels.
India’s vote for the TFA is vital because, unlike the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund, the WTO is a member-driven organization where, historically, decisions are arrived at through consensus. India’s stand aims to ensure food security for its people, a stand it fears developed nations will not heed once the TFA becomes WTO law.
The WTO rules are tilted in favour of developed nations; there isn’t much that India can do about that. In 1995, rich countries had significant subsidy schemes, which were allowed to continue on the condition that they would be phased out eventually. Meanwhile, poorer countries were barred from introducing new subsidies above a certain minimal level. Given that this is calculated at 1986-88 prices, many countries are limited to less than 10% of production in practice on account of inflation. Finally, due to the obligation to reduce trade-distorting subsidies, rich countries have redesigned their programmes to give unconditional cash transfers to farmers—a policy that does distort trade by lowering international prices.
As this paper has consistently argued, India can utilize this situation to make a virtue out of a necessity. Government policies have increased bank account coverage to 99% of households, and more than 90% of adults are linked to the UID scheme, Aadhaar. A move to cash transfers, for both consumers and producers, is more practical today than it was four years ago.
The government is considering the option seriously, as demonstrated in the report of the high-level committee on reorienting the role of, and restructuring, the Food Corporation of India, suggesting a significant shift from procurement to cash transfers. It signed on the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) for a cash-transfer pilot in three Union territories, conducted from January 2016, that showed progress towards implementing the programme even as significant challenges remain. The programme’s report showed that 20% of the beneficiaries reported not receiving the transfer, even though the government reported 99% success. Beneficiaries spent more time and money in obtaining the cash and food from the market. Also, grievance redressal mechanisms are inadequate.
The key takeaway was that despite these implementation glitches, the initial user-survey response of 39% of the beneficiaries preferring cash transfers had changed to 65% by the survey’s third round. Why was this so? The report says that the beneficiaries preferred the flexibility as well as convenience and choice in terms of quality of food; they could now buy better quality grains than what they got through the PDS or could diversify their diet by adding dairy products or local grains.
The biggest risk in making a transition, however, is that people losing out in the set-up period could delegitimize the idea of cash transfers before its net welfare-improving effect truly has a chance to shine. The report, therefore, favours a choice-based transition to cash transfers so that people continue to have the option to remain in the present system until they’re comfortable with the quality of implementation in their region. This could continue for a couple of years after the capability of starting universal cash transfers is achieved.
India’s current food and farmer support programme is distortionary, leaky and unsustainable. If the currency appreciates or either one of MSP or procurement increases, India could breach its 10% limit and face hostile litigation by other countries for violating WTO rules. It is, perhaps, wise to keep our food-support schemes under WTO-prescribed limits and gradually transition to a cash-based transfer for both consumers and farmers. That way, we will preserve our political capital for other issues like trade rules on electronic commerce, services trade, fisheries and the TFA.
Should the government start working towards cash transfers rather than continuing with the public distribution system?

India is the second largest producer of horticultural crops and fruits in the World

India is the second largest producer of horticultural crops and fruits in the World
a production of 30 crore metric ton horticulture crops on 2.5 crore hectare land is expected during 2016-17
Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shri Radha Mohan Singh said research and development projects in horticulture crops have yielded encouraging results, as a result, the production of horticulture crops have been more than food grains irrespective of adverse climatic conditions. After China, India is the second largest producer of horticultural crops and fruits. The Agriculture Minister said it today at the World Orange Day 2017 event in Nagpur.
Shri Singh said more than 9 crore metric ton of fruits on 63 lakhs hectare land were produced during 2015-16. According to an estimate, a production of 30 crore metric ton horticulture crops on 2.5 crore hectare land is expected during 2016-17 in which contribution of fruit is significant. The record achievement includes 42 million ton of fruit production on 65 lakh hectare land. In terms of area in India, the citrus fruits hold second position (10.37 lakh hectare) and third (12 million tonnes) in production.
The Agriculture Minister said keeping in view the importance of orchards in maintaining nutrient security, providing employment and conserving the environment, Agriculture Ministry is implementing Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture across the nation. The School of Horticultural Sciences department of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), along with its 23 institutes, 11 All India Coordinated Research projects and 2 All India Network projects are providing necessary technical cooperation and scientific research assistance to the horticulture mission.
Shri Singh said that Government established a Central Citrus Research Institute (CCRI) in Nagpur in 1985 with an objective to develop research and necessary techniques for citrus fruits and in 1986 it was upgraded to National Research Centre for Citrus. He said that in 2014, the present central government upgraded this centre to the central institute. A sub-centre of the CCRI was established 42.4-acre land in 2017 in Biswanath Chariali in Biswanath district of Assam with an objective to accelerate the research and development work on citrus fruits in North Eastern states of the country.
Shri Singh said ICAR is implementing All India Coordinated Fruits Crop Research Project in 10 centres of 8 states viz. Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Karnataka. Keeping in view the needs of the specific area, necessary research, technical training, and demonstration are being carried out on citrus fruits. In the last 4 years, the Government has allocated a sum of Rs.23 crore to these centres.
In addition to this, Government has allotted a sum of Rs.13 crore and 68 lakh (Rs.2 crore and 73 lakh per year) only to the institute situated in Nagpur during 12th Five year plan, which has been increased to Rs.13.4 crore only within a span of 3 years from 2017, out of which Rs.3.25 crore has been allocated for the year 2017-18 which is 20% more as compared to the last 5 years’ allocation.
The Agriculture Minister said that many ambitious schemes are being implemented for the integrated development of horticultural crops like informing the farmers of advanced production techniques, promoting the processing and marketing of products to promote the export. For this, 2 clusters will be developed in Amravati and Nagpur.

india cannot take shortcuts to development

india cannot take shortcuts to development
The private sector cannot replace the state when it comes to human development, which boosts growth and prosperity
There are no shortcuts to development. Nevertheless, Indian policymakers may now be tempted to attempt two more, the first two having landed the economy in swamps from which further progress was difficult.
The first shortcut, along which policies began to move in the 1990s, was to shoot for GDP (gross domestic product) growth before making progress in human development through public health and primary education. The argument of GDP cheerleaders was that the state needs resources to invest in human development. Therefore, the growth of the economy must precede improvements in human development. Amartya Sen and other economists who pointed out that it must be the other way around, and indeed has been the other way around for the Asian miracle economies and China too, were dismissed as socialist, anti-capitalist, and anti-growth by those on the GDP bandwagon. Now, the hurdles for productivity of enterprises, and for GDP growth, owing to poor levels of education and skills in the country have become evident. Moreover, since the purpose of development must be to enable people to live longer and better lives, India’s lack of attention to public healthcare is anti-development.
The second shortcut emerged accidentally. The Y2K crisis at the turn of the century fuelled a surge in demand in the West for low-cost engineers who could write computer code. Indian information technology (IT) companies, with the large pool of engineers they could tap into in India, thanks to the Nehruvian thrust to build high-class engineering institutions in the country, and thanks to the English language, were the only ones able to respond. India’s IT sector grew remarkably. Many speculated that India had found a shortcut to development and growth, avoiding the traditional route via high-employment manufacturing that the Asian miracle economies had followed.
The need to create jobs, to prevent India’s demographic dividend from turning any further to a demographic disaster, signs of which are now unmistakable, has panicked the government into undertaking a rash of schemes to revive manufacturing and create jobs, especially at the bottom of the pyramid. Having missed the opportunity to create more jobs in manufacturing while China was becoming the factory of the world, lifting millions of poor Chinese into the middle class, India wants to catch up now. Make in India, Stand-Up India, Start-Up India, etc. hope to create more jobs and enterprises for India’s burgeoning youth population. The problem is that the rapid advance of automation is expected to reduce jobs in manufacturing and even services.
The threat of job losses to automation is tempting Indian policy-makers into the third shortcut, to prepare for ‘Industry 4.0’. Consultants in the ‘future of work’ and manufacturers of robots and automation equipment are busy organizing seminars in India and advising India’s policymakers on how to prepare for a future of automated work. However, the World Bank’s recent report, Trouble In The Making? The Future Of Manufacturing-Led Development, estimates that up to only 8% of present jobs will be eliminated by automation in the next few years. The problem of jobless growth that India is suffering from now is in the present configuration of the economy, caused by shortcuts India has tried to take in the past. It has little to do with Industry 4.0, which is yet to spread.
Economies industrialize and grow when enterprises in the economy, and people within them, learn to do what they could not do before, thus advancing up an escalator of capabilities. Escalators that can lift large numbers of people out of poverty must reach down to the present levels of knowledge and skills of people, and to the present levels of competencies of potential entrepreneurs, and from there lift them. Most Industry 4.0 solutions that consultants are proposing are based on the situations of countries, the majorities of whose populations are on higher rungs of the development escalator. What is missing in India are steps at the lower rungs of the escalator. We must build these quickly to enable people to earn more income in enterprises and jobs that may not yet have taken the shape of the jobs of the future that Industry 4.0 consultants are forecasting. In enterprises at these lower rungs, people can also learn the soft skills of interacting with others, in addition to technical task skills, that employers say people need to become fully productive.
The fourth, big shortcut that some economists and industrialists suggest India take is to cut the government out of the picture and leave growth to private enterprises. They say the Indian economy only grows at night when the government is asleep. They offer the example of the Indian software industry, which they say grew only because the government stayed out of its way. They conveniently brush aside the huge role that public investment in institutes of technology played in providing the industry with a huge pool of well-trained and low-cost workers that it could use in wage-arbitrage strategies from which it benefited enormously. Moreover, the government made a huge contribution with the tax concessions that the industry was given, and continues to enjoy. These concessions have deprived the state of resources to invest in human development, the tardy progress in which is now hurting all industries, including those that have so far enjoyed low taxes.
There can be no shortcut to improving the capacity of the state for building the steps at the bottom of the capabilities escalator. Nowhere in the world is primary education and public health privatized. Small enterprises must grow in both rural and urban India to support the large factories that will themselves become more automated and employ less people. Moreover, such small enterprises will provide the steps needed for people to earn and learn. India’s hundreds of millions aspiring citizens need world-class governance, not world-class tertiary hospitals and world-class automated factories.

For a wider food basket

For a wider food basket
While undernutrition remains high in India, over-nutrition too is becoming an emergency
In the last few decades, with strides in technology, irrigation practices, and extension services, and with progressive agricultural policies, India has seen improvement in food and nutrition security. Agriculture, food grain production, and agricutlural export have grown. This is good news.
However, despite hunger (as measured by undernutrition) decreasing, the level of undernutrition remains unacceptably high in the country. India ranks 114th out of 132 countries in stunting among children aged less than five and 120th out of 130 countries in under-5 wasting, as per the Global Nutrition Report, 2016. The burden of vitamin and mineral deficiencies (‘hidden hunger’) is also considerable.
This is because a vast majority of Indians eat cereal-based food, mainly wheat and rice. There is an insufficient intake of food such as milk, pulses, and fruits and vegetables, which are rich sources of micronutrients. Women and children are the most vulnerable to micronutrient deficiencies. This has adverse affects on their health. Deficiency of iron in women not only reduces physical work capacity and causes fatigue, but could lead to depression and post-partum maternal haemorrhage. In children, it impairs growth and cognitive development.


What is ironic is that over-nutrition is emerging as an emergency in India. As per the recent findings of the National Family Health Survey-4 (2015-16), the Body Mass Index (BMI) of 15.5% of urban women was found to be less than 18.5 kg/m2, whereas 31.3% of urban women were in the category of overweight or obese (BMI of or more than 25.0 kg/m2). Around 15% of urban men were underweight, while 26.3% belonged to the category of overweight and obese. Dramatic changes in lifestyle and dietary patterns in recent decades have contributed to an increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases. If this double burden of undernutrition and growing percentage of obesity and associated non-communicable diseases is not controlled, it can have serious implications for the economy.
How has this happened? While the Green Revolution phase saw new, fast-growing varieties of staples, especially wheat and rice, the following decades saw a steady decline in the food basket diversity, especially of traditional grains such as bajra and millet, which have high nutritional value. The 1990s, though, saw a focus on the role of micronutrients. Deficiencies of micronutrients such as zinc, folic acid, magnesium, selenium and vitamin D started receiving more attention.
The Sustainable Development Goal-2, which aims to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”, is a priority area for India. To ensure food and nutrition security, there is a growing need for a multisectoral approach. The policies and programmes of various ministries should be converged for better results. This will not only transform India’s agricultural practices, but also spread awareness about nutritious food among key target groups, including tribals, women and children.

5 January 2018

What is LIDAR?

What is LIDAR?
LIDAR, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth. These light pulses—combined with other data recorded by the airborne system— generate precise, three-dimensional information about the shape of the Earth and its surface characteristics.
Types: Two types of LIDAR are topographic and bathymetric. Topographic LIDAR typically uses a near-infrared laser to map the land, while bathymetric lidar uses water-penetrating green light to also measure seafloor and riverbed elevations.
Applications: LIDAR systems allow scientists and mapping professionals to examine both natural and manmade environments with accuracy, precision, and flexibility. Scientists are using LIDAR also to produce more accurate shoreline maps, make digital elevation models for use in geographic information systems, to assist in emergency response operations, and in many other applications.

...............Bharatiya Nirdeshak Dravya (BND-4201):
What is it? It is India’s first home-grown high purity gold reference standard. It was launched recently. It is the reference material for gold of ‘9999’ fineness (gold that is 99.99% pure). It will be beneficial to the consumers and public at large to ensure purity of gold.
Benefits of the new standard: Once the BND’s of other purity gold are made available in the market, jewellers will move towards more instrumental methods rather than the conventional fire assay methods for testing, which are not only time consuming but also not environment friendly as poisonous gases are released. Gold reference standard is indispensable in gold and jewellery hall marking. This will also be useful for Collection and Purity Testing Centres to certify the purity of gold deposits under the gold monetisation scheme.

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About e- HRMS:
What is it? It is an online platform for central government employees to apply for leave and access their service-related information.
Benefits for employees: With launch of e-HRMS, employees will be able to not only see all their details with respect to service book, leave, GPF, salary, etc. but also apply for different kind of claims/reimbursements, loan/advances, leave, leave encashment, LTC advances, tour etc. on a single platform. They will also be able to track status and match details instantly.
Benefits for the government: Availability of centralized data will enable Government for policy research and planning as such educational qualifications and other competencies and deficiencies may be easily obtained. It will enable Government to take transfer and posting decisions more pragmatically based on reliable first hand data.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,What is Anti-smog gun?
Anti-smog gun is a device that sprays atomised water into the atmosphere to reduce air pollution. Connected to a water tank and mounted on a vehicle, the device could be taken across the city to spray water to settle dust and other suspended particles.
How it operates?
The fog cannon, also dubbed as the ‘anti-smog cannon’, comprises a cylindrical drum with a tank to store water and a high-velocity exhaust fan. The water is pumped from the tank to the exhaust fan which blows out water in the form of micro droplets. The theory is that the sprayed water will cling on to the pollutants — particularly particulate matter PM2.5 and PM10 — and wash it down creating the effect of rain. The current trials will be used to find if the theory holds true.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,India’s first design university ‘World University of Design’ opens campus:
India’s first and only Design University – World University of Deisgn has opened it’s campus at Sonipat, Haryana. The University has International Collaborations with foreign Universities like UWS University of West Scotland, VFS the Vancouver Film School, and IAAD the Italian University of Design
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Country’s first AC suburban local train in Mumbai:
The Indian Railways has flagged off the country’s first air-conditioned suburban local train for Mumbai commuters, 150 years after the first suburban local was hauled by a steam engine in 1867. Manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, the fully air-conditioned air-suspension coaches have a capacity of carrying nearly 6,000 commuters per rake, automatic door opening-closing system, LED lights, Emergency Talk Back System between commuters and guard besides a public address system and advanced GPS-based passenger information systems.
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About National Company Law Tribunal:
What is it? National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is a quasi-judicial body that will govern the companies in India. It was established under the Companies Act, 2013 and is a successor body of the Company Law Board.
Powers: NCLT will have the same powers as assigned to the erstwhile Company Law Board (which are mostly related to dealing with oppression and mismanagement), Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR)(revival of sick companies) and powers related to winding up of companies (which was available only with the High Courts).
Background: The setting up of NCLT as a specialized institution for corporate justice is based on the recommendations of the Justice Eradi Committee on Law Relating to Insolvency and Winding up of Companies.

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