India falls to 108 on World Economic Forum’s gender gap index

India falls to 108 on World Economic Forum’s gender gap index
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The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap report says at current rates, it will take 100 years before women achieve equality in the four areas measured by it
If it seems women’s progress has stalled lately, new data from the World Economic Forum puts a finer point on it: The gap between the achievements and well-being of men and women widened in the past year, the first time that’s happened in the 11 years that the group has issued its annual Global Gender Gap Report.

At current rates, it will take 100 years before women achieve equality in the four areas measured by the WEF: political empowerment, economic participation, health and education. When the Geneva-based group did its study last year, it estimated it would take 83 years to close the gap.

“It was a disappointing year,” said Saadia Zahidi, head of education, gender and work at the WEF. The global backsliding reflects a general slowing of progress in the world’s larger economies.

The US fell to 49th among the 144 countries ranked, down from 45th last year and 23rd just 11 years ago. The country is only 77% of the way to gender parity in economic opportunity, a gap that’s been narrowing, but not as quickly as in other countries.

Political imbalance

In politics, women make up less than 20% of Congress and just 17% of President Donald Trump’s cabinet, an imbalance that the WEF says puts the country just 12% of the way to political equality. Women in the US do find parity with men in educational attainment and get close on metrics of health and survival.

India, which sank to No. 108 overall, down 10 places from 2006, was the reverse of the US, with high rankings for women’s political empowerment but near the bottom in health, education and economic participation. Economics is a particular area of concern, Zahidi said, because women do a disproportionate amount of unpaid work, like childcare.

Ranked 100 overall, China was No. 144—dead last—for gender parity when it came to women’s health. One metric was life expectancy: Chinese women outlive men by less than two years on average, compared with a global average of five years. While about 70 percent of Chinese women participate in the work force, they earn only 64% of men’s wages.

Progress signs

The news isn’t all bleak: Countries at the top of the list are continuing to make progress. Women in No. 1 ranked Iceland, for instance, may soon be equal to men in their contribution to the national economy. “That’s a message the world needs to absorb,” Zahidi said. She also cited governments in France and Canada for naming gender-balanced cabinets recently.

The WEF collaborated with LinkedIn to delve more deeply into economic data in selected countries, with a focus on gender imbalance by industry. It found that while women’s numbers have increased in most industries, they are not at parity in leadership in any of them—even in fields such as education, where women make up the majority of employees.

In fact, hiring of women hasn’t increased along with the number of women earning appropriate degrees in areas such as information technology and manufacturing. A large proportion of women are choosing not to go into those fields, Zahidi said, adding that retention of the women who do go into a field is also an issue.

“Gender equality has to be looked at in a holistic way,” Zahidi said. “Just making progress in one area isn’t enough.

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What is the gender gap (and why is it getting wider)?

The world is being deprived of a huge untapped resource.

So says Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, at the launch of its Global Gender Gap Report 2017.

And despite the slow but steady progress made towards gender equality over the past decade, 2017 was not a success.

In fact, the gap between men and women across health, education, politics and economics widened for the first time since records began in 2006.

“Overcoming the biases – unseen or otherwise – that are keeping us from closing the gender gap represents an overwhelming economic as well as moral imperative,” Professor Schwab said.

What is the gender gap?

Image: WEF Global Gender Gap Index
The gender gap is the difference between women and men as reflected in social, political, intellectual, cultural, or economic attainments or attitudes.

The Global Gender Gap Index aims to measure this gap in four key areas: health, education, economics and politics.

So the gap in economics, for example, is the difference between men and women when it comes to salaries, the number of leaders and participation in the workplace.

Since the report measures these differences irrespective of overall income levels, some relatively poor countries can perform well on the index.

Both Rwanda and Nicaragua are found in the top 10, for example, showing how these countries distribute their resources and opportunities relatively well.

But there is a notable absence of any of the world’s leading industrialized nations – the so-called G20 – within the top 10, showing that economic power is not necessarily a recipe for better equality between the sexes.

Iceland has been the world’s most gender-equal country for nine years, forming part of a trend for Nordic countries to perform especially well.

But Pakistan, Yemen, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria all landed in the bottom 10 out of the 144 countries scrutinized.

On average, the 144 countries in the report have nearly closed the gap in health outcomes and educational attainment.

But the gap is still wide open in political and economic participation.
Countries need to pay attention to the gender gap not only because such inequality is inherently unfair.

But also because numerous studies suggest greater gender equality leads to better economic performance.

The report quotes recent estimates that suggest economic gender parity could add an additional $250 billion to the GDP of the UK, $1,750 billion to that of the US and $2.5 trillion to China’s GDP.

At the current rate of progress the overall global gender gap will take a hundred years to close, while the gap in the workplace will now not be closed for 217 years.

It is a gap the world can’t afford to ignore

Reforms are paying off, now up the ante

Reforms are paying off, now up the ante
The ease of doing business rankings may not be the sole determinant for attracting investment, but the improvement is likely to boost investor confidence as it reflects the government’s commitment to reforms
The Narendra Modi government had plenty of reasons to be pleased with the latest edition of the World Bank’s Doing Business (DB) report. India jumped 30 notches in the rankings to reach the 100th position. It was one of the top 10 improvers in this year’s rankings and has implemented reforms in eight out of 10 doing business indicators tracked by the World Bank. Not only has India improved its position in terms of rankings, which is relative, it has also made improvement in absolute terms, measured by the so-called “distance to frontier” metric.

The improvement in rankings is the result of coordinated efforts made by the government over the past few years. It is aiming to break into the top 50. According to the World Bank, India has adopted 37 reforms since 2003 and about half of them have been implemented in the last four years. In this year’s rankings, India has shown improvement in areas such as paying taxes, dealing with construction permits and resolving insolvency.

One indicator that deserves special mention is the protection of minority investors. India is at the fourth position globally in this category. This is a huge achievement and the government and the securities market regulator deserve credit. What is encouraging is that the Securities and Exchange Board of India is constantly working to enhance investor confidence. Implementation of the recommendations made by the Uday Kotak committee on corporate governance will further augment minority shareholder confidence in the market. The implementation of the bankruptcy code is a big boost, as it will help inefficient firms exit the market and improve overall allocation of capital. The implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) has not been accounted for in this year’s rankings. Therefore, if the teething problems are addressed quickly, it is likely that the GST will help boost India’s ranking further next year.

While the government deserves credit for this impressive improvement in the DB rankings, it should not lose sight of the distance India still needs to cover. For instance, despite all the effort, India’s rank in dealing with construction permits is 181 among 190 countries. The time taken for enforcing a contract has, in fact, worsened from what it was 15 years ago. Consequently, India’s rank in this category is a poor 164.

To be sure, the scope and coverage of the DB survey has limitations and the government needs to work on a much broader canvas to be able to actually encourage investment. Also, as Matthew Lillehaugen and Milan Vaishnav argued in these pages recently (goo.gl/MzsFZV), a wide divergence exists between de jure and de facto realities in most economies. What firms face on the ground is often very different from what is written in the rule book.

While the DB survey takes inputs from professionals, a recent report by NITI Aayog and the IDFC Institute—based on a survey of over 3,000 enterprises—gives an idea of the kind of challenges that policymakers need to address. For instance, it shows that just about 20% of start-ups reported using the single-window facility for setting up a business, and only about 41% of the experts knew about the facility. Further, the survey finds that labour- intensive sectors are constrained by labour market regulations. They also reported that finding skilled workers and dismissing employees are severe impediments. Interestingly, while India ranks 29 in getting electricity in the DB rankings, firms still face power shortages. The NITI Aayog and IDFC Institute report notes that on average, firms face power shortage of around 46 hours in a month. So, what this means is that both the Central and state governments will need to work in a number of areas to improve India’s competitiveness.

Even though the DB rankings may not be the sole determinant for attracting investment, the improvement is likely to boost investor confidence as it reflects the government’s commitment to reforms. At a broader level, a number of things are now falling in place for India and should help augment growth in the medium term. India now enjoys a significant level of macroeconomic stability; the government has taken a decisive step to sufficiently recapitalize public sector banks, and is implementing reforms to improve the business climate. With its demographics, the size of the economy and a well-functioning capital market, India stands a real chance of projecting itself as a preferred destination for investments. The fact that China is likely to slow down further in coming years will also help India’s case.

Therefore, policymakers would do well to build on recent gains with an accelerated pace of reforms in areas such as land, labour and contract enforcement, which will help push investment and growth in the medium to long run.

Will improvement in ‘Doing Business’ rankings help attract investments

FSSAI plans ‘one nation, one food safety law’

FSSAI plans ‘one nation, one food safety law’
Food safety regulator FSSAI seeks to standardize surveillance, sampling, inspection and testing across states to increase transparency
The concept of ‘one-nation, one-tax’ behind the goods and services tax (GST) implemented across the country seems to be influencing other organisations. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the country’s apex food regulator, is working on a ‘one-nation, one-food-safety-law’ so that every state-level food authority follows a standard practice for the implementation, compliance and surveillance of food safety regulations, which in turn will ensure smoother operations for food companies.

“The law has always been same for everyone. But there have been consistency issues at state level. Also, we need to standardize food testing laboratories. With ‘one-nation, one-food-safety-law’, we will be able to remove those and make things more transparent,” said Pawan Kumar Agarwal, chief executive officer, FSSAI.

Under the ‘one-nation, one food-safety-law’ regime, state-level food safety officers will have to follow a 10-point code-of-ethics set by FSSAI. “At present, there is no such thing, and food safety officers across states do things the way they think best. This should not be the practice. We need to standardize this,” said Agarwal.

Under the regime, FSSAI wants to erase discrepancies in food safety regulations across states, and standardize surveillance, sampling and inspection. “This is to enable states with good practices,” said Agarwal. Under the new regime, inspection and sampling will be monitored as everything will be “on the cloud” as part of the agenda to increase transparency, he added.

To bring consistency in food testing, FSSAI is introducing guidelines that food testing laboratories will have to abide by. Under the draft norms, laboratories will have to come under the Indian Food Laboratory Network (InFoLNet), a digital solution to connect all food labs in India to a centralised lab management system.

So far, 154 laboratories have listed on InFoLNet. FSSAI has made this compulsory for all FSSAI-notified laboratories. With this, details of all tests and the results will be available on this platform.

“In the past, there have been questions regarding authenticity of tests done by certain laboratories. Besides upgrading the laboratories, InFoLNet will abolish the discrepancies and ensure transparency,” said Agarwal.

The regulator, which owns and operates two laboratories and has approved 82 others in various states, allocated Rs482 crore earlier this year to strengthen the food testing infrastructure, including upgrading and modernizing laboratories. Besides, FSSAI will also set up 62 mobile testing labs. There are currently four mobile food testing labs in Punjab, Gujarat, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

In 2015, FSSAI questioned safety standards of Swiss packaged food company Nestle India Ltd’s Maggi instant noodles based on reports by one of its testing laboratories in Kolkata, prompting questions about the capacity and state of the laboratory.

Under the new regime, the food regulator also wants to abolish intervention of multiple agencies for things such as import of food products. Going forward, there will be a single standard for every authority.

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) as RKVY-RAFTAAR (Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied sector Rejuvenation)

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) as RKVY-RAFTAAR (Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied sector Rejuvenation)

The RKVY was launched during 2007-08 to achieve 4% annual growth in farm sector by ensuring a holistic development as per a resolution of the National Development Council (NDC). The Centre had allocated Rs 25,000 crore for this scheme during 11th plan period (2007-12) and Rs 63,246 crore during 12th plan period (2012-17).
The scheme is being implemented as a 'special additional central assistance' scheme to incentivise states to draw up comprehensive plans taking into account agro-climatic conditions and natural resources for ensuring more inclusive and integrated development of agriculture and allied sectors.
It has, at present, six sub-schemes including spreading green revolution to eastern India, initiative on vegetable clusters, national mission for protein supplements, saffron mission (economic revival of J&K saffron), crop diversification and Vidarbha intensive irrigation development programme.

Cabinet allocates Rs15,722 crore for next three years under revamped agricultural scheme
The Union government on Wednesday earmarked fresh funds for an agricultural programme designed to enable farmers to produce and sell crops which net better remuneration.

The government has already committed itself to doubling farm income by 2022.

The Union cabinet renamed the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) as RKVY-RAFTAAR (Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied sector Rejuvenation) with an allocation of Rs15,722 crore for the next three years.

“(It has been done) with the objective of making farming a remunerative economic activity through strengthening the farmer’s effort, risk mitigation and promoting agri-business entrepreneurship,” said an official statement.

According to an official of the agriculture ministry who did not want to be identified, the scheme has been structured such that states will be incentivized to link farmers to the market and also produce more value added crops.

The officer added that for the first time the scheme has earmarked 8% of its budget for innovation, incubation and development of agri-enterprises.

The RKVY-RAFTAAR funds would be provided in the ratio of 60:40 to all states except for North-East and Himalayan states which will get 90:10 grant. For 2017-18, the scheme has been allocated Rs4,750 crore.

Under the revamped scheme, which was launched in 2007 to achieve an agricultural growth rate of 4% annually, the government said about 70% of the annual outlay will be provided for setting up infrastructure, assets and value addition while 20% of the outlay will be for special sub-schemes of national priority.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has been making efforts to reach out to farmers and strengthen its voter base in rural areas for political gains. The recently concluded assembly polls of Uttar Pradesh had witnessed strong support of farmers and rural population in favour of BJP enabling the party to return to power in the state after a gap of 15 years.

In the last few months, BJP-ruled states such as Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have announced farm loan waivers to fulfil electoral promises, reduce farm distress and aid rural consumption. And last year, the government had revamped the crop insurance scheme to help mitigate growing risks in Indian farming as farmers diversified into more value-added produce like cash crops.

Separately, the cabinet on Wednesday also gave ex-post facto clearance to implementation of the Special Banking Arrangement (SBA) of Rs10,000 crore for payment of outstanding claims towards fertiliser subsidy in 2016-17. The cabinet also approved to amend the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) Act to grant one-time retrospective recognition to the central and state universities who are running teacher education courses without NCTE permission.

Supreme Court for special courts to deal with criminal cases against politicians

Supreme Court for special courts to deal with criminal cases against politicians
Supreme Court seeks details of 1,581 cases involving MPs and MLAs as declared by the politicians at the time of filing their nominations for the 2014 elections
Taking a step towards electoral reforms, the Supreme Court on Wednesday favoured setting up special courts to deal with criminal cases against politicians. The court also asked the Union government about the 1,581 cases involving Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) as declared by the politicians at the time of filing their nominations for the 2014 elections.

The Supreme Court asked the government to give details of how many cases have been disposed of within one year as per its directions in 2014. Describing the move as being in the interest of the nation, the apex court also asked the government about details of how many of these 1,581 cases have ended in conviction or acquittal of the accused.

The court further asked the government about the criminal cases filed against politicians and legislators from 2014 till date as well as the data on disposal of these matters.

A bench comprising justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha made the remarks after the centre said decriminalisation of politics has to be done and it was not averse to setting up of special courts to deal with cases involving politicians and expeditious disposal of these matters.

According to a PTI report, additional solicitor general (ASG) Atmaram Nadkarni, representing the centre, told the bench that the government was “not averse to setting up of special courts and quick and early disposal of criminal cases involving politicians”. He said that recommendations of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Law Commission favouring life-time disqualification of politicians convicted in criminal cases was under “active consideration” of the Centre.

The SC also observed that the average number of cases each court in the country was dealing with currently was over 4,000 in subordinate judiciary, adding that unless a judicial official deals exclusively with cases involving politicians, it would be difficult to complete these trials within a year.

“We direct the competent authority of the Union of India to place before the court the following information: how many of 1581 cases involving MLAs and MPs (as declared at the time of filing of the nomination papers to the 2014 elections) have been disposed of within the time frame of one year as envisaged by this Court by order dated 10th March, 2014.... How many of these cases which have been finally decided have ended in acquittal/conviction of MPs and MLAs...,” the bench said,

Carbon dioxide levels hit record high in 2016: WMO report

Carbon dioxide levels hit record high in 2016: WMO report
Concentration of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere rose at a record-breaking speed in 2016 to reach the highest level in 800,000 years
Concentration of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere rose at a record-breaking speed in 2016 to reach the highest level in 800,000 years, a report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said. The development, it said, has the potential to initiate unprecedented changes in climate systems, causing severe ecological and economic disruptions.

The WMO’s ‘Greenhouse Gas Bulletin’, released on Monday, said the abrupt changes in the atmosphere witnessed in the past 70 years are without precedent.

As per the report, globally averaged concentrations of CO2 reached 403.3 parts per million (ppm) in 2016 up from 400.00 ppm in 2015 because of a combination of human activities and a strong El Niño event. Concentrations of CO2 are now 145% of pre-industrial (before 1750) levels.

The report emphasized that the last time the Earth experienced a comparable concentration of carbon dioxide was 3-5 million years ago when the temperature was 2-3°C warmer and sea level was 10-20 meters higher than now.

It warned that rapidly increasing atmospheric levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases have the potential to initiate unprecedented changes in climate systems, leading to severe ecological and economic disruptions.

It underlined factors like population growth, intensified agricultural practices, increases in land use and deforestation, industrialization and associated energy use from fossil fuel behind the unprecedented increases in concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere since the industrial era, beginning in 1750.

According to the report, the rate of increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 70 years is nearly 100 times more than that at the end of the last ice age.

Methane, another major greenhouse gas, reached a new high of about 1853 parts per billion (ppb) in 2016 and is now 257% of the pre-industrial level.

The levels of nitrous oxide, another greenhouse gas, too reached new highs. Its atmospheric concentration in 2016 was 328.9 parts per billion which is 122% of pre-industrial levels.

“Without rapid cuts in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, we will be heading for dangerous temperature increases by the end of this century, well above the target set by the Paris climate change agreement. Future generations will inherit a much more inhospitable planet,” said WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas in an official statement.

“CO2 remains in the atmosphere for hundreds of years and in the oceans for even longer. The laws of physics mean that we face a much hotter, more extreme climate in the future. There is currently no magic wand to remove this CO2 from the atmosphere,” he added.

The report comes ahead of the UN climate change negotiations that are scheduled to be held from 7-17 November in Bonn, Germany.

The European project’s Catalonia challenge

The European project’s Catalonia challenge
The EU’s role as a peacemaker abroad hinges on stability at home, that reputation is at risk, thanks to the crisis in Spain
The European project rests on the idea that its member states enjoy sovereignty while eliminating trade barriers and erasing borders within the union. The Brussels bureaucracy and the Strasbourg parliament constantly work towards blending identities and integrating the continent, whose divisions had been so bloody and whose boundaries were once considered so sacrosanct that to defend them millions had died.

Weakening national identities have emboldened regional voices to look for greater space, and that drama is now most visible in Spain. The pain in Spain is mainly in its extremities—the Basque region had always seen itself as separate, and now prosperous Catalonia threatens to redraw the Spanish map. The disputed referendum, in which Catalonians voted for independence, has prompted Spain to dissolve the regional parliament and press sedition charges against the ousted Catalonian President Carles Puigdemont, who is in Brussels and has made his return conditional upon getting a fair trial.

This sounds like a situation where European Union (EU) diplomats would intervene, except that they have said they won’t, since Spain is part of the EU. Can the EU do at home what it advocates abroad?

Spain is a multilingual, and arguably multi-ethnic, country. To argue that all Spaniards speak Spanish is as arrogant and illiterate as saying that all Indians speak Hindi. What’s often described as “Spanish” is actually the version spoken over the widest territory—Castilian—and it is different from the Galician, Basque, or Catalonian languages. Describing those languages as dialects is also a political act; as the old joke goes, a dialect is a language without an army.

Catalonia has enjoyed substantial autonomy (it has its own flag and parliament), but it wants more powers, which Madrid is unwilling to grant. Turning back from brinkmanship is possible, but it would require deftness, adroitness and diplomacy, which seem difficult in the charged political atmosphere. Both sides have miscalculated. Catalonians demanding separation assume that the EU will let them become a full-fledged nation without many adverse consequences. But some investors have already moved headquarters to the Spanish capital Madrid. And European officials have told Catalonians that there is no automatic entry into the union for breakaway nations.

Perhaps Catalonians overplayed their hand when they held the referendum, in which 2.2 million voters, less than half the eligible 5.3 million, turned out. The low turnout took the shine off the 90% vote in favour of independence. Several opposition parties didn’t support the referendum. Did the low turnout mean that those who didn’t vote opposed the referendum? Or were they unable to vote and would have voted for independence? It is impossible to tell, except that many in Catalonia question the need for the referendum.

Spain’s over-the-top response to the referendum didn’t help matters. The enduring image of the referendum is of security forces dragging peaceful Catalonians wanting to vote, bringing back memories of divisions that date back to the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s, in which tens of thousands of civilians died. Francisco Franco’s dictatorial rule ended only with his death in 1975, and Spain joined the EU only in 1986.

Since Puigdemont declared independence, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has dissolved the Catalonian parliament and called for fresh elections in Catalonia in December. If held in a free and fair manner, those elections offer hope for a peaceful conclusion. Two European countries will watch the elections with more than casual interest: The UK, where Scotland may opt for another referendum should the Brexit talks descend into chaos, and Belgium, where Wallonia and Flanders sit uncomfortably alongside as if in an unhappy marriage.

To be sure, national self-determination is an essential element of international law, but even governments that support nationalistic aspirations elsewhere crush dissent at home sternly. Think of Indonesian use of force in East Timor, China’s suppression of Tibet, and closer home, the insurgencies India has faced in the North-East and in Jammu and Kashmir. Regardless of the law or the specifics of each case, there are legitimate questions: To what extent do the separatists represent the people in whose name they seek freedom? If referendum is the answer, is a simple majority enough to win? How would minorities be protected in the new nation?

In 1970, East Pakistanis voted overwhelmingly for the Awami League. Instead of inviting the Awami leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to form the government recognizing his majority, Yahya Khan prolonged negotiations with the Awamis and sent troops, unleashing terror in which hundreds of thousands were killed, making Bangladesh’s independence inevitable.

The Catalonian situation is vastly different. But Rajoy has raised the stakes by pressing sedition charges. Walking back from such a precipice requires sagacity. In the period of prolonged uncertainty that lies ahead, avoiding and dealing with unpleasant surprises will require wisdom.

The EU was formed to prevent violence on a blood-soaked continent. On its periphery, it has failed twice: the Balkans in the 1990s, and Ukraine more recently. Its role as a peacemaker abroad hinges on stability at home. That reputation is at risk. The Spanish dilemma may prove to be far more complicated than Brexit, which now looks like a comedy in comparison.