Carolina Marin Martin of Spain has won the prestigious Women’s Singles Title in the All England Open

Carolina Marin Martin of Spain has won the prestigious Women’s Singles Title in the All England Open Badminton Championships 2015. In the final match she defeated India’s Saina Nehwal by score of 14-21, 21-16, 21-7. With this victory, Carolina Marin became the first Spanish player to win this prestigious title. It should be noted that Saina Nehwal is first Indian woman badminton player to reach finals of All England Badminton Championship. In the semifinal match she had defeated China’s Sun Yu in straight-game by score of 21-13, 21-13.

International Women’s Day

Our ancient scriptures say that 'Yatranaryastupujyanteramantetatradevataha'--- where women are worshiped there the Gods reside. The Upanishads declare that –Ekam sat viprah bahuda vadanthi’ ---there is only one reality in this world, described in many ways. Man and woman are the two manifestations of one supreme power and are equal in strength, power and disposition. Such was the lofty status given to women in our ancient scriptures and society. Over the ages, women became subject to social exclusion, multiple deprivation and mental and physical abuse.

The vicious cycles of inequality perpetuated a decline in the status of women and fostered lop-sided development. In the 21st century, a paradoxical situation exists when a section of them have made a place for themselves in society, yet a large number remains deprived of the right to live with dignity and, moreover, a girl child is deemed unworthy of life itself. To have inclusive growth, it is imperative to ensure  that women in all situations get equal opportunity to live and lead a life of their choice. 

 The Census 2011 is an eye opener as it records an all-time low Child Sex Ratio(CSR) of 918, which is the number of girls per thousand boys, between the age group of 0-6 years. The declining sex ratio is in existence in every part of the country- rural, urban and tribal areas. It is an alarming situation, which will alter the demographic profile of the country, and requires immediate action to reverse this dangerous trend to prevent further erosion of gender justice, and ensure social cohesion and all-round development.

To arrest this declining trend in  the CSR and ensure women’s education, a national program, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao( BBBP), has been launched by the Prime Minister on January 22, 2015, at Panipat in Haryana. It is a joint initiative of the Ministries of Women & Child Development, Health & Family Welfare and Human Resources Development to spearhead twin objectives: to protect a girl child of her right to be born and her right to life, and to empower her with education and life skills. The place selected for launch of this campaign is also significant, with Haryana being one of the worst performers on CSR. Haryana has just 877 females per 1000 males, and in case of 0-6 years, the figure is as low as 830, as per Census 2011.

The Prime Minister's emotional appeal at the launch of the program highlights the urgency of the situation and the need to reverse this dangerous demographic trend. He said that it is the collective responsibility to end this 'terrible crisis' which will have far reaching consequences on future generations. He appealed to the people to turn the birth of a girl child into an ‘.Anandotsav' and make it into a community celebration. The PM also launched the "Sukanya Samriddhi Account" for the benefit of the girl child for her education. The current year’s Budget proposal for 2015-16, gives it a tax break on its accrued annual interest of 9.1%.

The BBBP, for focussed intervention, has initially chosen 100 Gender Critical districts in all States and UTs. The program has a multi-sectoral approach and lays stress on mass mobilisation and community participation. The program in campaign mode has several monitor-able targets. One is to improve the Sex Ratio at Birth(SRB) in identified gender critical districts by 10 points a year. The other is to reduce gender differentials in under Five Child Mortality Rate from 8 points in 2011 to 4points by 2017. The program  sets the target to increase girl enrolment in secondary education from 76% in 2013-14 to 79% by 2017 and provide toilets for girls in every school in the 100 CSR districts by 2017.

The BBBP Campaign  is to ensure effective implementation of PC& PNDT Act to curb sex-selective abortion. It is also to improve the nutritional status of girls by reducing the number of underweight and anaemic girls under the age of 5, from NFHS-3 levels and ensure universalisation of ICDS. The campaign is also to promote a protective environment for the girl child through implementation of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.

Community participation with the involvement of local leaders is key to the success of any mass mobilisation program that primarily targets at changes in attitude and behavioural pattern. The BBBP campaign strongly advocates for the association of all local leaders and grass-root functionaries who will be trained as community champions.

The major plank on which this mass mobilisation movement is based ison the creation of  an enabling environment for the birth of a girlchild. The PM, in his inaugural speech at Panipat, recalled the example of Jayapura village in Varanasi, where the birth of a girl child is a cause for celebration and five trees are planted on each such occasion. He exhorted every village to emulate such celebrations on the birth of a girl child.

The Program lays stress on generating a supportive atmosphere for the birth of a girl child- both at home and at the community level.   Creation of awareness about safe motherhood, delivery and worth of a girl child is a step in this direction. It envisages promotion of awareness for early registration of pregnancy in the first trimester at AWCs/Health Centres forpre-natal and post-natal care and counselling of mothers. For this, community watch groups like women panchayat members, trained teachers, youth groups, and other local leaders are required to be identified to act as facilitators.

With regard to ensuring enrolment of girls in school education, the program speaks of  activating School Management Committees (SMCs) for universal enrolment of girls through special drives and  creation of  Balika Manches, or Girls' Forum, to encourage participation of girls in school and also to bring back drop outs.  For drop out girls, BBBP proposes to launch massive village contact drives with the help of AWWs, ASHAs, PRIs, and other Community leaders. There is provision for incentives and awards to School Management Committees or SMCs which enrols 100% girls at the primary level and also retains them in the first year, and for transition of 100% girls from class V into class VI, from class VIII to class IX and from class X to class XI. The competition to encourage girl’s enrolment and retention is  open to all Government schools.

Apart from this, the campaign proposes organising mass events like Naari Chaupal, BetiJanmotsav, and monthly celebration of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao program as an event and to also observe National Girl Child Day  and International Women’s Day for a sustained impact. To fight against socio-cultural prejudices, BBBP envisages mounting more girl or women-centric festivities like celebration of Lohri for the birth of a daughter, siblings tying rakhis to each other on  Rakshya Bandhan Day, etc.

Sensitisation campaign should also bring forth positive reinforcements in favour of a girl child like daughters as providers of old age security to parents and the benefits of simple weddings to protect parents from financial burden of dowry and equal property rights for daughters and sons and prevention of early and child marriage.

The declining sex ratio is a cause for concern and its persistence has serious implications for our society and the future of humankind. Providing education to a girl child is to empower a large section of the population. The BBBP, through its nation-wide campaign with a two-pronged strategy and focussed interventions in 100 gender critical districts, is sure to make the desired impact on the socio-cultural landscape of our country and pave the way for inclusive and sustained growth,

                   

Tax as empowerment

 By Arunabha Bagchi

 As I got to know “local” Americans after settling in the United States, I noticed to my surprise that they never showed any excessive pride for being Americans. What they always bragged about was that they were “taxpayers”. They stressed that their tax money paid all government employees their salaries. Getting service from those public servants was, therefore, a matter of right for them. This was a completely new way of looking at things for someone from India. I realised that paying income tax gives someone a feeling of participation in society and a sense of empowerment. I later found out that about 45 per cent of all Americans pay income tax. The percentage is roughly similar in all Western countries.

By contrast, according to our erstwhile finance minister P Chidambaram, less than 3 per cent of our countrymen fil­ed income tax returns last year. Of course, many Indians earn too little to qualify to pay income tax, but the major reason is the constant upgrading of exemption limits and income brackets. This is why the percentage of Indian tax payers stagnates at this absurdly low level. Despite a substantial increase in incomes of people in provincial towns with the growth of powerful regional political parties, and filtering of considerable investment to the countryside, there is no visible attempt to tap their incomes for tax purposes.

The Indian media are full of blogs on economic matters every day, but the bloggers seem to have adopted a collective maunobrata (vow of silence) as far as inco­me tax is con­cer­ned. The only time we read about income tax is du­ring the budget speech eve­ry year when the finance minster ritualistically in­creases the exemption li­m­it for paying the tax. There is no justification giv­en for the increase, and it is obviously a sop for cheap popularity. But no one takes a critical look at this gimmick, possibly for fear of bringing the income tax debate into the open. This year was no ex­ception. Although our curr­ent Finance Minister did not increase the exemption limit directly in the latest budget proposal, he indirectly jacked it up considerably by providing many tax de­du­c­tible possibilities to please the upper middle class voters.

Winston Churchill showed his contempt of the ability of Indians to govern themselves by declaring that the rulers of an independent India would even tax the air one breathes there. It is as if to prove Churchill wrong that our rules ended up collecting the least amount of tax as percentage of the GDP among all large economies of the world. The most astounding fact in India is that agricultural income, despite huge increase in income of many farmers after the “green revolution”, is not taxed at all. Sometimes it appears that there is a conspiracy among our elites to keep the percentage of taxpayers very low to deny ordinary Indians a sense of permanent empowerment and of participation in the affairs of their country. The fact that these hapless common folk exercise their voting rights once in a while is bad enough!

Comparison with China is appropriate at this point. In an interesting study published five years back, Thomas Piketty and Nancy Qian came up with the startling conclusion, “The combination of fast economic growth and under-indexed tax schedule in China implies that Chinese income tax revenues grow very fast as a fraction of GDP, while the constant adaption of exemption levels and income brackets in India prevents the income tax from playing such a powerful role. According to our estimates, the fraction of the population in China subject to the income tax has increased from less than 0.1 per cent in 1986 to about 20 per cent by 2008, while it has stagnated at around 2 per cent-3 per cent in India.”

The first author is the same Thomas Piketty who has now achieved cult status with the publication of his encyclopedic treatise last year, entitled Capital in the Twenty-First Century. His analysis of the dramatic rise in the wealth gap everywhere during the last three decades and his “dangerous” suggestion of introducing a “wealth tax” are hugely debated in advanced countries at present. By contrast, we have just abolished the paltry wealth tax in the latest budget, replacing it with 2 per cent surcharge instead.

No one likes paying income tax. Even the wealthy among the socially conscious Calvinists/Lutherans of Northern Europe use all possible tax loopholes to reduce their tax burdens. Outright cheating is, however, more widespread in Southern Europe. Their outrageous ways of avoiding income tax became public knowledge during the credit crisis, and is considered a key reason for difficulties facing these countries in getting out of this chaos. India is, however, a case apart. The more property you have and the richer you become the less and less tax you pay, because you can take things like dividend income from shares and property away from taxable income. We do not have any inheritance tax! The highest slab for income tax of 34.61 per cent (including surcharge) is abysmally low by international standards, particularly when we boast of having more billionaires than Germany. Our wealthy use existing tax laws to pay hardly any income tax by international standards. This is in addition to massive cheating of much larger scale than in Southern Europe. Why does this not cause an outrage in our country? I believe it is because only a tiny group of salaried people pay income taxes in India, and others do not feel empowered to demand fairer share of taxes from their rich countrymen. This is why the movement of Anna Hazare against black money, largely amassed by cheating on income tax, attracted the attention of only the tax paying urban middle class in India.

Ever since our economic liberalisation in the early Nineties, our government was steadily reducing its role in education and healthcare under the pretext of balancing the budget, making room for the private players to make huge profits in the bargain. The vast majority of our countrymen could not protest, as they did not contribute directly to the government finances. Those who paid taxes, on the other hand, earned enough to finance costs of education and healthcare from their own pockets. No one objected either when the government steadily increased exemption of taxes paid by our businesses. The only way out of this passivity of the vast majority of our countrymen is to bring as many of them within the income tax bracket as possible.

How could this be achieved? It is preposterous for a layman like me to give any serious suggestion. Here are some off-the-cuff naïve ideas. The first obvious step is to follow China by under indexing the tax schedule. Next, serious efforts must be made to bring all (wage and non-wage) incomes throughout the country into the tax system. A paltry 10 per cent of the workers fall within the organised sector. Bringing more employees into the formal sector is one obvious step in this direction. Here is the real challenge. Our business gurus know everything we need to do to become an advanced economy. The only thing they are apparently clueless about is how to devise a mechanism to tax all (wage and non-wage) incomes as in the advanced economies.

The amount of taxation for low/middle income people must be a token one. But this will give them a real sense of rights. This is different from rights given to them as gifts by governments, often as gimmicks for getting votes. Is it not possible for us to use our much-hyped “digital connectivity” of provincial towns and villages for this purpose?

PPP problems

In the Union Budget for 2015-16, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley promised a major thrust towards investment in infrastructure. The outlay for the railways and road transport ministries were hiked substantially. The finance minister promised Rs 70,000 crore of new spending by way of budgetary support towards the government's Plan outlay. However, it, of course, continues to be true that public spending will be grossly inadequate to close India'sinfrastructure gap. According to the advance estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) for 2014-15, gross fixed capital formation is under 30 per cent of GDP - and has fallen nearly a whole percentage point over the year. This is a fall of at least eight percentage points since the pre-crisis years. And even that rate was small compared with that seen in countries like China that have demonstrated sustained high growth. In other words, public investment would struggle to fill the investment deficit. This is particularly true given India's constrained fiscal space; the finance minister has chosen to delay India's fiscal consolidation in order to prime the investment pump, but naturally this cannot be kept up forever. So private investment in infrastructure is key. This lies behind, presumably, the Rs 20,000-crore fund to be set up that will be able to leverage its equity to sell debt and, thus, mobilise private-sector debt funds for the infrastructure sector.

However, there are reasons to be concerned that the government may be repeating some mistakes from the past that it should have learned from. In his speech, the finance minister assured those listening that the problems in the private-public partnership (PPP) model would be addressed. The way this would be done, he said, was to ensure that the government took most of the risk in such ventures. The argument is that this will permit greater investment in such PPP projects. Certainly, something must be done about PPPs - the problems with the model have been responsible in large part for the investment slowdown of recent years, and such stalled projects are also a significant proportion of the stress on banks' balance sheets. Other methods to settle these issues were also mentioned - a law to oversee disputes, for one, which should be carefully drafted. The Economic Survey, released a day before the Budget, also suggested an independent committee to oversee renegotiation. These are both sensible ideas in theory, and the government's attempts to follow up on them - to "clean up" the sector of disputes and bad loans - should be supported and encouraged.

However, the proposal to transfer risk away from the private sector to the government must be re-examined. This essentially returns India to a pre-2000 model for investment. Has New Delhi forgotten disastrous investment models like Enron's Dabhol project? That is what happens when private returns are guaranteed by the state. When the state takes all the risks, there is little or no reason to suppose that the right projects are picked. Only when private capital takes the risk will the future pay-off from such projects be properly evaluated. PPPs cannot be turned into a system in which project choice is politicised, and serve as an excuse for vast transfers of scarce resources to the private sector in the guise of guaranteed returns - in return for projects of dubious viability and appropriateness. This is not the right way to revive the sector.

Beat the swine flu season

A simple mask can provide 62 per cent protection against viruses, compared to 98 per cent protection with a professional-grade N95 mask with 14 layersSocial media is abuzz with photographs of an unpainted Sonam Kapoor, the proof that even Bollywood starlets are not safe from the H1N1 influenza virus, colloquially known as swine flu, that has already claimed over 1,000 lives in the country in the past few weeks. Over 20,000 people have fallen prey in this fresh spate of infections, and with a rare rainstorm hitting most parts of north and central India this week, as well as some areas in the south of the country, there is a greater likelihood of more cases erupting.

The reason behind the 2015 swine flu epidemic, considered much worse than its 2009 predecessor, is how the H1N1 infection is akin to regular seasonal flu or "viral", and thus escapes early detection. Exhibiting similar symptoms of fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue, the virus is spread mainly from coming into contact with infected people. Sometimes people may also get infected by touching surfaces or objects infected with the flu virus and then touching their mouth or nose. An infected person runs the risk of infecting others from a day before he or she develops symptoms and up to seven or more days after becoming sick.

However, there are various methods of prevention available, with varying degrees of success. As far as protective gear is concerned, medical health professionals agree on the prudence of using a face mask for effective prevention. "Swine flu spreads through respiratory droplets that are transmitted by coughing, sneezing or inhaling. A simple mask can provide 62 per cent protection against these particles, compared to 98 per cent protection with a professional-grade N95 mask with 14 layers," says Srikant Sharma, consultant, internal medicine, Moolchand Medcity, New Delhi. Even family members and medical help tending to a patient should invest in these masks, and if the N95 mask is not available, two three-layered masks could also be used.

While health activists in the states are currently embroiled in a battle for making flu vaccinations mandatory for children, the state of the vaccines isn't much better in the country either. According to R K Singal, head of the internal medicine department at BLK Super Specialty Hospital, New Delhi, government guidelines have constantly fluctuated on the use of vaccines, and the fact that they are expensive (Rs 500-1,000) and in short supply only impedes their widespread use. "There are two types of vaccines for swine flu: injectable and intranasal. But these need to be taken before the onset of this influenza season, as the minimum time taken for the vaccine to be effective is three weeks," says Singal. Since we are nearing the end of the influenza season, barring the sudden drop in temperature and rise in moisture, he advises that the best thing to do is to follow other preventive methods and to get vaccinated later in the year, around October or November.

For most adult patients with confirmed or suspected H1N1 infection and those who need treatment, Singal recommends a neuraminidase inhibitor oral oseltamivir, 75 mg, twice a day for five days. Sharma suggests a thorough doctor's consultation, after which the patient can take antiviral drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza that have proved to be most effective if taken within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms. Patients are advised to stay indoors for at least a week from the first day of the onset of symptoms.

Singal lists a few dos and don'ts for the general public, everyday steps that can be taken to protect your health: Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze, and throw the tissue in the trash after you use it. Wash your hands often with soap and warm water. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth, since germs spread this way. In case you are sick with a flu-like illness, try to stay at home for a few days or for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone.

People can increase their immunity to safeguard themselves against an H1N1 infection by following simple tips like eating a well-balanced diet, including food rich in Vitamin C and E, dry fruits, high-protein food. Sharma advocates following a strict daily exercise regime, while consuming four basil leaves with water on an empty stomach every morning to help boost immunity.

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft reaches dwarf planet Ceres

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has created history by becoming the first mission to achieve orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres with an aim of providing new insights and capturing images from the distant world.

The spacecraft was approximately 61,000 kilometres from Ceres when it was captured by the dwarf planet’s gravity, NASA said.

Mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California received a signal from the spacecraft that Dawn was healthy and thrusting with its ion engine, the indicator Dawn had entered orbit as planned.

“Since its discovery in 1801, Ceres was known as a planet, then an asteroid and later a dwarf planet,” said Marc Rayman, Dawn chief engineer and mission director at JPL.

“Now, after a journey of 3.1 billion miles (4.9 billion kilometres) and 7.5 years, Dawn calls Ceres, home,” said Rayman.

In addition to being the first spacecraft to visit a dwarf planet, Dawn also has the distinction of being the first mission to orbit two extraterrestrial targets.

From 2011 to 2012, the spacecraft explored the giant asteroid Vesta, delivering new insights and thousands of images from that distant world, NASA said.

Ceres and Vesta are the two most massive residents of our solar system’s main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Summarization on Global Roundtable on Inclusive Innovations

Speech by the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee at the Rapporteurs’ Summarization on Global Roundtable on Inclusive Innovations

1.At the outset, I extend a warm welcome to the distinguished national and international participants of this Global Round-table on Inclusive Innovations. I have listened with interest the summary of outcomes of the discussions that took place in this forum, as presented by Prof. Gupta. I also thank the two distinguished delegates for sharing their perspectives. This topic, according to me, is pertinent for any nation desirous of ensuring inclusive development for all sections of society through innovation. Ladies and Gentlemen: 2.India has had a long tradition of grassroots innovation.From time to time, the common people in this country have ushered in novel solutions to overcome their day-to-day difficulties.The drivers that influence the pursuit of innovation are many – from basic survival to propulsion of growth.A healthy eco-system is needed for harnessing the innovative potential of various segments in different sectors and at multiple levels in our society. 3.Creating an inclusive eco-system calls for linkages between grassroots innovators on the one hand, and academic institutions and market forces, on the other. Countries successful in building such a network have become innovation leaders. As an attempt to bring educational institutions and grassroots innovators within the ambit of an inclusive innovation system, a programme for Innovation Scholars In-Residence was started in Rashtrapati Bhavan last year. I am glad that the second batch of innovation-scholars has joined us today. During their two-week stay at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, they will be mentored and connected with relevant stakeholders to give wings to their ideas. Ladies and Gentlemen: 4.Educational institutions have a critical role to play in nurturing innovations in the society. India, with a large network of 713 universities and over 36,000 colleges, is poised to play a leading part in developing an innovation eco-system. To catalyze the institutions of higher learning in this process, I have been urging the leaders of the higher education sector to establish a connection between their institutes and grassroots innovations in their hinterland, and to also set up Innovation Clubs. Youth power has to be galvanized for nation-building. Thus, the students have to be encouraged tosensethe unmet needs of the common man, and search, spread and celebrateinnovations.The members of these Innovation Clubs are participating in the Festival of Innovation, which is taking place for the first time in Rashtrapati Bhavan. The presence of distinguished participants from India and abroad will definitely provide a global platform to all the innovators and participants of this important Festival. 5.Many outstanding social, educational and corporate leaders present here have pioneered initiatives aimed at taking the Indian grassroots story forward.Our traditional knowledge has contributed to the introduction of many popular ayurvedic medicines and other such products.At the same time, modern applications of science and technology have increased livelihood opportunities for the people. A significant breakthrough in our march towards development and progress is possible; but with challenges, to overcome which, a collaborative effort of all stakeholders is necessary. 6.Noble Laureate Prof. Yunus had created an outstanding model for micro-finance that has led to the emancipation of poor in developing countries.To my mind, the next major breakthrough will come through micro venture innovation finance, which has been pioneered by the Honey Bee Network and National Innovation Foundation.By partnering with companies and colleges in India and abroad, our grassroots innovators will propel a different kind of globalization.The products and services based on grassroots knowledge and creativity will reach global markets in an affordable, accessible and accountable manner. Distinguished participants: 7.The Union Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Harshvardhan, is spearheading the scientific and technological strategies for an inclusive growth under the leadership of the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. The Make in India, Clean India, and Inclusive India, under which financial inclusion is of prime essence, needs a significant push. Many amongst you have shared your experiences about how your countries and institutions have made progress in the direction of inclusive innovation. I am also happy at the interest evinced by you to engage with stakeholders from India. Some of you will share your insights tomorrow as well. You may take this opportunity to give your valued suggestions for a strategic roadmap for India to become much more inclusive and innovative.I assure you of our highest consideration for your suggestions and ideas. 8.An ‘Atal Innovation Mission’ as an Innovation Promotion Platform involving academics, entrepreneurs and researchers has been announced recently. It will draw upon national and international experiences to foster a culture of innovation, R&D and scientific research in India. The platform will also promote a network of world-class innovation hubs to address the grand challenges of our country. I call upon you to participate in the Indian development story, which will exhibit frugal and sustainable pathways for other countries and communities. In this era of globalization, the Indian innovations and development will not only benefit India but the rest of theworld as well. The ingenious goods and services developed through inclusive innovation, and by blending affordability, accessibility, acceptability and availability, will have the potential to transform the global landscape. 9.In the end, I do hope that your interactions with various innovators at this forum are productive and trigger long-term partnerships for peace, progress and prosperity in the world. I wish a pleasant stay to the visiting dignitaries from abroad. I invite you all to visit the Mughal Gardens at Rashtrapati Bhavan. I wish you the very best for the future