World Food Day observed

On World Food Day, observed to mark the foundation of the Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in 1945, here is a reality check for India.



(a) 2012-14: India has around 190.7 million undernourished people, out of a total population of 1,252 million — a 15% prevalence rate.



(b) 2010-12: India had 188 million undernourished people, which means the number of undernourished people during 2012-14 increased by 2 million.



(c) Number of undernourished people in India was the highest in 2004 when it was 241 million.



World Food Day is observed in more than 150 countries, focusing on the need for action to eradicate poverty and hunger. By sheer numbers more people are going hungry in India than anywhere else. Here’s why.



India is home to 269 million people living below the poverty line, according to the Tendulkar methodology. This is more than the population of Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation.



Simply put, 269 million Indians do not have the money to buy food. This is the reason why India has the world’s biggest food security programme under which two-thirds of the country’s 1.2 billion population has the right to subsidised grains.



A look at India’s prevalence of undernourishment and depth of food deficit, as against BRICS and a few other comparator economies such as Mexico and Indonesia, shows the subcontinent giant is doing better, but only just.



For a quick analysis, take a look at the prevalence of undernourishment, and depth of food deficit.



Undernourishment in India



Prevalence of undernourishment is officially adopted as an indicator of Millennium Development Goal. The numbers explain the probability that how many in the population consume insufficient amount of calories to lead a healthy life.



India’s 15% prevalence of total undernourishment is higher than the world average of 11.3%. India is doing better than the grouping of Least Developed countries that includes mostly African nations and only 9 Asian countries.



From 1994 to 2014, India showed a 21% reduction in the prevalence of undernourished people while least developed countries record 32% reduction.



Depth of Food Deficit



The depth of food deficit indicates the calories required to lift the undernourished from their status. It is calculated by considering the difference between the average dietary energy requirement and the average dietary energy consumption of the undernourished population, which is then multiplied by the total number of undernourished.



India comes second only to the least developed countries.



However, India’s has seen only 9% improvement from 1994-2014 as against a 26% improvement recorded by the world’s least developed countries.

5 Indian companies in global A list of green firms

NEW DELHI: At the time when the government is exploring various options to move on to a low-carbon growth path, five Indian companies have made it to the global list of firms that have shown leadership in adopting measures to cut their climate-damaging emissions.
The list reveals which companies around the world are doing the most to combat climate change. It has 187 companies from across the globe that illustrate that a low-carbon future does not mean low profit.
Most of the companies performing better in terms of their efforts to combat climate change are located in Europe, followed by the US and Japan.
The Indian companies that made it to the list — CDP Climate Performance Leadership Index 2014 — are: Essar Oil, Larsen & Toubro, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro.
This new global index has been prepared by the CDP — an international not-for-profit organization — at the behest of 767 investors who represent more than a third of the world's invested capital. The CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) is the only global system for companies and cities to measure, disclose, manage and share vital environmental information.
"Awarded an 'A' grade for their performance, they (the companies in the list) earn a position on the first global ranking of corporate efforts to mitigate climate change", said the organization in a statement while releasing the report comprising the names of the companies and the parameters\methodology followed on Wednesday.
It said, "Collectively the climate performance leaders have reduced their total (absolute) emissions by 33 million metric tons in the past reporting year, equivalent to turning London's car owners into cyclists for two-and-a-half years".
Paul Simpson, chief executive officer of CDP said, "The businesses that have made it onto our first ever global list of climate performance leaders are to be congratulated for their progress; they debunk economic arguments against reducing emissions. However, global emissions continue to rise at an alarming rate. Businesses and governments must raise their climate ambition. The data shows that there is neither an excuse nor the time for lethargy."
The India 2014 report titled "Indian companies decouple business growth from carbon emissions" reveals that energy efficiency is the key means by which companies are acting on climate change.
"Over 60% of surveyed companies are introducing process energy efficiency initiatives, consequently, 24% have reduced their absolute emissions and an additional 26% have reduced their emissions intensity while driving business growth and profitability", said the report.
The report that analyzed the responses from the top 200 Indian companies by market capitalization found that the companies are now better at identifying and prioritizing the climate change issues they want to actively manage.
The occasion also saw release of the CDP India 200 Climate Change Report 2014, showing how the Indian companies are using their increased commitment to climate change action to drive innovative sustainable businesses processes.
According to the report, the Indian companies expressed their eagerness to engage with the government to keep abreast with regulatory changes. This will ensure that they can take necessary precautions and proactively maintain their competitive advantage and brand image.

Mercer Global Pension Index (MMGPI) 2014

India's retirement system continues to rank the lowest amongst the 25 countries, with less than 6 per cent of the working population in the country covered under private pension plans while Denmark tops the list with its well-funded plan, according to a recent report.
The country's score largely remained unchanged at a grade of 'D', which is between 35 and 50, indicating that it has some sound features but there are major omissions or weaknesses, according to 2014 Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index (MMGPI).
The report also pointed out that the D-grade classification may also occur in the relatively early stages of the development of a particular country's retirement income system, like India, China, Indonesia and Korea.
The public sector in India has adequate retirement benefits through other additional retirement benefits provided, but they represent only a small fraction of the entire population of India, it explained.
Economic and regulatory changes have put a lot of pressure on the pension mechanism with less than 6 per cent of the working population in India covered under private pension plans (including pension plans for public sector employees and the military), while more than 75 per cent of the working age population in Chile, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden are covered under the private pension plans, it said.
The report said there is no pension or support for the poor and aged and what continues to hold India back is the lack of retirement coverage for the informal sector and less than adequate retirement income expected to be generated from contributions made to Employee's Provident Fund (EPF) and Gratuity benefits.
The Mercer Global Pension Index uses three sub-indices – adequacy, sustainability and integrity – to measure each country's retirement income system against more than 50 questions.
"India scored well in the integrity of their retirement system, which speaks to the strong regulations on governance and protection of employee benefits. However, improving the minimum level of support for the poor, improving the regulations of private pension plans and addressing issues on increasing life expectancy will help raise the score in the future," Mercer's India Retirement Business Leader Arvind Usretay said.
Denmark continued to hold onto the top position in 2014 with its well-funded pension system with its good coverage, high level of assets and contributions, the provision of adequate benefits and a private pension system with developed regulations are the primary reasons for its top spot.
The projected old age dependency ratio for 2035 range from 12 per cent in South Africa and 13 per cent in India to 55 per cent in Germany and 58 per cent in Japan, it said.
It further added that the ratio highlights the impact of the ageing population between now and 2035, and the likely effects on the funding requirements for pensions, health and aged care.

IPCC Fifth Assessment Report

Rural poverty in parts of Asia could be exacerbated due to negative impacts from climate change on rice production, and a general increase in food prices and the cost of living, says the report of working group two of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report.
Launched on Thursday, the report Climate Change 2014 Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability of the IPCC says rice is a key staple crop in Asia and 90 per cent or more of the world’s rice production is from Asia. The most vulnerable regions were western Japan, eastern China, the southern part of the Indochina peninsula, and the northern part of South Asia.
However, the report has some good news for Pakistan. In contrast, climate change may provide a windfall for wheat farmers in parts of Pakistan. Warming temperatures would make it possible to grow at least two crops (wheat and maize) a year in mountainous areas according to studies.
In the Indo-Gangetic Plains of South Asia there could be a decrease of about 50 per cent in the most favourable and high-yielding wheat area as a result of heat stress.
The report says Asia experienced the highest number of weather and climate-related disasters in the world during the period 2000–2008 and suffered huge economic losses, accounting for the second highest proportion (27.5 per cent) of the total global economic loss. Flood mortality risk is heavily concentrated in Asia. Severe floods in Mumbai in 2005 have been attributed to both climatic factors and non-climatic factors.
Impacts of climate change on food production and food security in Asia will vary by region, with many regions to experience a decline in productivity. This is evident in the case of rice production. People living in low-lying coastal zones and flood plains are probably most at risk from climate change impacts in Asia. Half of Asia’s urban population lives in these areas. Compounding the risk for coastal communities, Asia has more than 90 per cent of the global population exposed to tropical cyclones, the report adds.

India’s new CEA

US-based economist Arvind Subramanian took charge as chief economic advisor (CEA) in the finance ministry.

He is a former International Monetary Fund economist. His key task will be to work out a new monetary policy framework in which the government will set the inflation target, to be implemented by a policy panel of the central bank.

He heads a team who are to bring out the government’s annual Economic Survey during the Budget session, and the Mid-Year Analysis of the economy in the Winter Session of Parliament in December. The challenge before him will be to defend policies and actions of the government, such as India’s stand at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Chief Economic Adviser heads the Economic Division of Government of India. The main functions of the Division are advisory in nature. The Division examines domestic and international economic trends and undertakes research studies having a bearing on economic policies and management of the economy and renders policy advice.

Main activities of the Economic Division include:

• Monitoring of Prices and policies relating to price control.
• Monitoring of trends in Agricultural and Industrial Production and related policy issues.
• Monitoring of Production, Public Distribution and Stocks of food grains and related policy issues.
• Monitoring of Monetary and Credit Aggregates.
• Monitoring of Public Finance.
• Monitoring of Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms.
• Monitoring of Foreign Trade and Balance of Payments.
• International Economic Institutions: World Bank and IMF, ADB and G-20 related issues.
• Preparation of Annual Economic Survey and Mid Year Review of the Economy.

World Food Prize

World Food Prize

Sanjaya Rajaram, an eminent Indian scientist, has been awarded the World Food Prize in recognition of his significant contributions to global wheat production.

Mr. Rajaram, currently a Senior Scientific Advisor at the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), has developed some 480 wheat varieties that have been released in 51 countries across six continents and an estimated 58 million hectares. His wheat improvement research has helped secure a 1.3 per cent rise in global wheat production per annum in the last four decades.

About World Food Prize:

THE WORLD FOOD PRIZE is the foremost international award recognizing — without regard to race, religion, nationality, or political beliefs — the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.

The Prize recognizes contributions in any field involved in the world food supply — food and agriculture science and technology, manufacturing, marketing, nutrition, economics, poverty alleviation, political leadership and the social sciences.

The World Food Prize emphasizes the importance of a nutritious and sustainable food supply for all people. By honoring those who have worked successfully toward this goal, The Prize calls attention to what has been done to improve global food security and to what can be accomplished in the future

MIT questions feasibility of Mars One mission

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have questioned the technical feasibility of the ‘Mars One’ project that aims to establish the first human colony on the Red Planet by 2025.

‘Mars One’ is a non-profit organisation based in the Netherlands that has put forward conceptual plans to establish a permanent human colony on Mars.

The mission plans to initially send four astronauts on a one-way trip to Mars where they would spend the rest of their lives building the first permanent human settlement.

The MIT researchers developed a detailed settlement-analysis tool to assess the feasibility of the ‘Mars One’ mission and found that new technologies will be needed to keep humans alive on Mars.

“We are not saying that ‘Mars One’ is infeasible but we do think it is not really feasible under the assumptions they have made. We are pointing to technologies that could be helpful to invest in, with high priority, to move them along the feasibility path,” explained Olivier de Weck, an MIT professor of aeronautics, astronautics and engineering systems.

For example, if all food is obtained from locally grown crops as ‘Mars One’ envisions, the vegetation would produce unsafe levels of oxygen that would set off a series of events that would eventually cause human inhabitants to suffocate.

“To avoid this scenario, a system to remove excess oxygen would have to be implemented — a technology that has not yet been developed for use in space,” he noted.

Similarly, the Mars Phoenix lander discovered evidence of ice on the Martian surface in 2008, suggesting that future settlers might be able to melt ice for drinking water — another ‘Mars One’ goal.

But according to the MIT analysis, current technologies designed to “bake” water from soil are not yet ready for deployment, particularly in space.

The team also performed an integrated analysis of spare parts re-supply — how many spare parts would have to be delivered to a Martian colony at each opportunity to keep it going.

The researchers found that as the colony grows, spare parts would quickly dominate future deliveries to Mars, making up as much as 62 percent of payloads from Earth.

According to the ‘Mars One’ plan, six Falcon Heavy rockets would be required to send up initial supplies before the astronauts’ arrival. — IANS