Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Centre for Policy Research

nksagar_1@yahoo.com

Today at 3:28 PM

DEC

CPR is pleased to invite you to a presentation of findings of a study by
Public Accountability and Governance in Education on
Monitoring Systems in Education
A Study of 5 States in India
Thursday, 17 December 2015, 11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Kiran Bhatty, Priyanka Varma, and Radhika Saraf

Conference Hall, Centre for Policy Research

Image Source

The study is an attempt to examine the government’s system of monitoring schools. Monitoring forms one of the mechanisms by which performance of the education system is tracked, shortfalls identified and changes initiated in a timely fashion to ensure the core objectives of education. If, as is the case, quality is persistently declining, one of the questions that arise is: Are schools being monitored effectively? If they are, are they having the desired impact? If not, where do the shortfalls lie? Unfortunately, even as the criticality of monitoring for efficient service delivery is being widely acknowledged, there is very little information on how the system works, whether it feeds back into the planning and policy loop, and what are its constraints.

Placing the findings within a framework of institutional analysis, the study highlights incoherence in the bureaucratic structures of monitoring, lack of ownership of roles assigned to the monitors, and lack of community embeddedness at lower levels of the bureaucracy as factors contributing to ineffectual monitoring.

The talk is organized by, The Public Accountability and Governance in Education[PAGE] project at CPR, and The Forum for Deliberations on Education [The Forum]. It is the eighth in the series by The Forum.

DECEMBER 16, 2015 | EDIT

85 out of 98 cities submitted proposals to UD Ministry for Smart City Project

DECEMBER 16, 2015

85 out of 98 cities submitted proposals to Urban Development Ministry for Smart City Project
85 of the 98 cities submitted city level Smart City Proposals to the Ministry of Urban Development within the stipulated time. While 17 proposals were submitted yesterday, 68 proposals were received in the Ministry on the last day of submission date i.e. 15 Dec. 2015. Since, Tamil Nadu Government, preoccupied with flood management in Chennai and other parts of the state could not submit the proposals and Telangana Government sought to replace Hyderabad in the Smart City Mission by another city will be communicated later. Continuous monitoring and handholding by the senior officials of the Ministry of Urban Development helped the states and urban local bodies to meet the deadline. The Ministry organized three Smart City Consultation Workshops, one Smart City Ideas Camp, five rounds of Webinars (online consultations with Mission Director seeking clarifications) and one Proposal Enhancement Workshop to enable states and urban local bodies formulate proposals as per Mission Guidelines.

Ministry of Urban Development also provided 8 Region-wise panels of consultants so that states and urban local bodies could chose consultants for preparation of smart city proposals through tendering, thereby saving on time. 30 foreign companies from 20 leading countries have been associated with preparation of smart city proposals of 45 mission cities. These include : KPMG, KcKinsey, CISCO Systems, Price Waterhouse Coopers, DeloiteToucheTohmastsu, Jones Lang La Salle, Dorsh Holding GmbH, Knight Frank, Tractabel Engineering SA, Haskoning DHV Consulting Pvt Ltd., Grant Thornton, Happold Engineers, Ecorys Netherlands BV etc. Cities with which foreign companies were associated in preparation of smart city proposals include: New Delhi Municipal Council, Agartala, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Aurangabad, Bhagalpur, Bhabaneshwar, Bhopal, Greater Mumbai, Ghaziabad, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Pune, New Town Kolkata, Kota, Ranchi, Rourkela, Ujjain, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Tumakuru (Karnataka) etc.

Total population of 98 mission cities is 13 crore accounting for 35% of country’s urban population. Population Break-up of all of these Smart Cities:

No. of Cities/Towns
Population Range (in Lakh)
8
Below 1
3
Between 1 to 2
30
Between 2 to 5
22
Between 5 to 10
25
Between 10 to 25
5
Between 25 to 50
5
Above 50
Source: PHD Research Bureau

Proposals received from Cities include:

Port Blari, Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Tirupati, PasiGhat, Guwahaty,Muzaffarpur,Bhagalpur, Biharshariff, Chandigarh, Raipur, Bilaspur, Diu, Silvassa, New Delhi Muncipal Council, Panaji, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Dahod, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara, Faridabad, Kanal, Dharmashala, Ranchi, Belgavi, Hubbali-Dharwad, Davangere, Mangaluru, Shivamogga, Tumkuru, Kochi, Kavaratti, Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Sagar, Satna, Ujjain, Navi Mumbai, Greater, Mumbai, Nashik, Thane, Amravati, Solapur, Nagpur, KalyanDombivali, Aurangabad, Pune, Imphal, Shilllong, Aizawl, Kohima, Bhubaneshwar, Rourkela, Oulgaret, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jullandhar, Jaipur, Ajmer, Kota, Udaipur, Namchi, Greater Warangal, Agartala, Moradabad, Aligarh, Sharanpur, Bareily, Jhansi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Lucknow, Varanasi, Ghaziabad, Agra, Rampur, Dehradun, New Town Kolkata, Bidhannagar, Durgapur, Haldia

Release of Annual Survey 2014-15 of the Indian Direct Selling

DECEMBER 16, 2015 | EDIT

Naresh Kumar Sagar

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Launch of Media Campaign on the Weekly Iron and Folic Supplement

DECEMBER 16, 2015 | EDIT

Launch of Media Campaign on the Weekly Iron and Folic Supplement

Shri J. P. Nadda, Hon. Minister of Health and Family Welfare and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Priyanka ChopraWhen – December 23, 2015, Wednesday, Time: 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm Venue: Imperial Hotel, Delhi NCR What – India has the largest number of adolescents aged 10-19 years in the world – 253 million out of 1.2 billion. This age group referred as adolescents – comprise one-fifth of India’s population and are key drivers of India’s future economic growth. However, 56 per cent of girls and 30 per cent of boys in the age group of 15-19 years in India suffer from anaemia (NFHS-3). This means that 1 out of 2 young girls and 1 out of 3 young boys are anaemic.

Adolescent marriage and pregnancy is highly prevalent in India, particularly in rural areas. Anaemia has an intergenerational impact on the cycle of poverty. Anaemia during pregnancy increases the risk or mortality and illness for the mother as well as the new born. Children born to anaemic mothers often have low reserves of iron which if remains unchecked have further implications on their growth and development. In response to the problem, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India launched Weekly Iron & Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFS) Programme in 2012 with the aim to reduce the prevalence and severity of nutritional anaemia in adolescent population (10-19 years). The target for WIFS are adolescent girls and boys in government/ government aided/ municipal schools, between classes 6 to 12 and out of school adolescent girls.

We cordially invite you to join us for the media campaign launch of WIFS by Health Minister Shri JP Nadda and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Priyanka Chopra on 23rd December, 2015 at Imperial Hotel, Delhi.

Who: The event is being organised by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in association with UNICEF. Eminent guests who would be present at the launch include:

Hon. Minister of Health, Shri J.P. Nadda
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Ms Priyanka Chopra
UNICEF India Representative, Shri Louis-Georges Arsenault

Looking forward to your confirmation on the same.

For further information, please contact:

UNICEF

Ms Geetanjali Master

Communication Specialist, UNICEF India

Tel: (+91) 981 810 5861

E-Mail: gmaster@unicef.org

Ms Sonia Sarkar

Communications officer (Media), UNICEF India

Tel: (+91) 9810170289, 9891861445

Email: ssarkar@unicef.org

BUSINESSWORLD & BW HOTELIER

DECEMBER 16, 2015 | EDIT

Dear Mr. Naresh Kumar Sagar,

Greetings from BUSINESSWORLD & BW HOTELIER

This is a personal invite to you and leadership team to our forthcoming event as detailed below. The digital invite is attached for your detailed perusal.

Event: BW HOTELIER SMART HOTELS CONCLAVE & EXPO 2015,
Venue: Radisson BLU MBD, Sector-18 NOIDA
Date: Thursday, Dec-17 2015
Timing: 9 am to 5 pm
Registration starts: 9 am

Please find below the agenda for the panel discussion for which we would like to invite you.

4:00 to 4:45 P.M.: INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
Business of Saving Electricity Cost: Yes, Hotels Can Profit from it in More Ways Imaginable
PRESENTATION (15 MINUTES) BY:
Rajesh K. Mendiratta, Director, Business Development IEX
DISCUSSANTS (25 MINUTES): David Hopcroft, General Manager, Le Meridien Gurgaon;Tristan Beau de Lomenie, General Manager, Pullman and Novotel Delhi Airport;Parmeet Singh Nayar,
General Manager, Shangri-la’s Eros Hotel; Chief Engineers of The Oberoi New Delhi and ITC Maurya.
PANEL OF PURCHASE MANAGERS (5 MINUTES): Our View
MODERATOR: Preeti Singh, Executive Editor, BW SmartCities

Attached

digital invite card

The event will be attended by

Southwest Airlines plane skidded off the runway in Nashville

A Southwest Airlines plane has crash landed at the Nashville International Airport, according to local media and accounts from social media.
The plane crash landed and skidded into a ditch.Nashville Fire Department confirmed that eight people were injured and transported to for treatment. All the injuries were minor, “mostly bumps and bruises,” the department said.Three ambulance vehicles arrived at the scene of the crash. Media reports

TATA STEEL GROUP & PGTI ANNOUNCE THE 14TH TATA OPEN GOLF

~ Prize money of Rs. 75 lakhs ~

~Top names in the field include Abhijit Singh Chadha, Mukesh Kumar, Udayan Mane, Om Prakash Chouhan

Jamshedpur, December 15, 2015: The TATA STEEL Group and PGTI have announced the 14th TATA Open Golf which will be held in Jamshedpur from 17th – 20th December, 2015. The four-day tournament will be hosted at the Golmuri Golf Course in Jamshedpur. The Pro-Am will be played on 16th December, 2015. The event offers a rich prize purse of Rs. 75 lakhs.

The tournament will feature some of the top Indian professionals such as Abhijit Singh Chadha, Mukesh Kumar, Udayan Mane, defending champion Om Prakash Chouhan, Shankar Das, Shamim Khan and Ashok Kumar, to name a few. The top foreign players in the field are Sri Lankans Anura Rohana, K Prabagaran and N Thangaraja, Kunal Bhasin of Australia, Nepal’s Shivaram Shrestha and Bangladesh’s Md Zamal Hossain Mollah.

The local challenge will be led by Jamshedpur’s Karan Taunk, who won the PGTI Emerging Player of the Year title in 2014. Taunk was the runner-up at the 12th TATA Open in 2013.

Speaking about the event, Mr.Sunil Bhaskaran, Vice President, Corporate Services, Tata Steel, said “Tata Open Golf is one of country’s prime professional tournaments held at Jamshedpur. Over the years it has attracted top golfing talent from across geographies to play in the scenic golf courses of the steel city. This year, the tournament will be held at the re-modeled 18-hole Golmuri Golf Course.Tata Steel has always supported golf and the shining cases of the achievements of local golfers stand testimony to this. The thrill of watching top professional golfers in action will add to the excitement of this much awaited event.”

Mr. Uttam Singh Mundy, Director, PGTI, said, “It is the support of sponsors such as the TATA STEEL Group that has helped the PGTI build a strong base for professional golf in India. We thank the TATA STEEL Group for their continued support to the sport. An exciting contest lies in prospect at the 14th TATA Open as the leading professionals of the South Asian region compete for the lucrative prize purse and top position in the Rolex Ranking. We wish the players all the best and look forward to another successful edition of the TATA Open.”

The tournament was held at both the Beldih and Golmuri golf courses till last year. This year the Golmuri golf course will be the only venue for the tournament. Golmuri is a lush green, beautiful and very well-maintained golf course which doesn’t allow golfers any room for error.

Merchandise exports decline by (-) 24.4% in November, 2015

India’s exports for the month of November 2015 stands at USD 20 billion as compared to USD 26.4 billion in November 2014 registering a growth of (-) 24.4%. During November 2015, the imports are registered at USD 30 billion as compared to USD 43 billion in November 2014, registering a growth of (-)30.3%. The balance of trade stands at around USD (-)9.8 billion during November 2015 as compared to USD(-)16.2 billion for November 2014.

Value of Foreign Trade			USD Billion
Period	September	October	November
Exports
FY16	21.8	21.4	20
Growth (%)	(-) 24.3%	(-)17.5	(-)24.4
Imports				FY16	32.3	31.1	30
Growth (%)	(-) 25.4%	(-)21.2	(-)30.3	Trade balance
FY16	(-) 10.4	(-)9.8	(-) 9.8

Source: PHD Research Bureau, compiled from Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt of India

The cumulative value of exports for the period April- November 2015-16 is US$174.3 billion as against US$ 214 billion over the same period last year registering a negative growth of around (-)18.5% in Dollar terms. The cumulative value of imports for the period April-November 2015-16 is US$262 billion as against US$316 billion registering a negative growth of (-)17.2% in Dollar terms over the same period last year.

Trend in Exports and imports (%)

Source: PHD Research Bureau, compiled from Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt of India

October, 2015 Services Exports stands at USD 13.3 billion

India’s services exports for the month of October,2015 stand at around USD 13.3 billion and services imports stand at USD 7 billion in October 2015. The trade balance in services stands at USD 6.3 billion for the month of October 2015.

Value of Service Trade (USD billion)
Period	September	October
Exports
FY16	13.3	13.3
Imports
FY16	7.5	7
Trade balance
FY16	5.8	6.3

Source: PHD Research Bureau, compiled from Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt of India

Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ahmedabad

15-12-2015

PRESS INVITATION

Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Shri Ananth Kumar will lay the foundation stone of National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Ahmedabad at Palaj, opp Air Force Station at Chiloda, Gandhinagar.

The details given below

Date : 16-12-2015

Time : 10 : 30 AM

Venue: At Palaj, Opposite Air Force station at Chiloda, Gandhinagar.

You are cordially invited to cover the event. Kindly make it convenient to send your reporte / Correspondent / Photographer / cameraperson for the same.

For, Addl. Director General,

-Sd-

Jigar Khunt

Information Asst.

—

Press Information Bureau,

Government of India,

Ahmedabad

Diversity of Cultural Expressions

First Global Report – Evaluating the Impact of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions

Paris, 16 December – The rise of Internet giants, the explosion of social networks, the digital revolution – all profoundly changing the methods of production and dissemination of cultural goods such as music, film and books. Since the adoption of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, the world’s cultural landscape has changed considerably. Presented at UNESCO on 16 December, the Report Re|Shaping Cultural Policies explores these changes and the policy impact of the Convention.

Adopted by UNESCO in 2005, the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions came into force in 2007. It now has 141 signatory States and the European Union.

Industrialised nations hold the biggest stake in exports

Encouraging an equal flow of cultural goods and services from the developing world is a key guiding principle of the Convention. However, ten years after the adoption of the Convention, the sector remains largely dominated by industrialized countries.

Out of the $212.8 billion in global exports of cultural goods, 46.7% is from developing nations, this compared to 25.6% in 2004. However, this overall picture is distorted by cultural exports mainly from China and India, as these two countries are increasingly competing with developed nations. Without them, the market share of the developing countries for world exports of cultural goods increased by merely 5% between 2004 and 2013.

Developed countries are increasingly importing music and audiovisual goods from developing countries. The share of these imported goods in developed countries represented 39.6% in 2013. Books and publishing form the second largest group, with 32.3% of the share of imports from developing countries.

Digital revolution

The expansion of social networks and user-produced content, the growing use of connected multimedia devices, and the explosion in the quantity of data available have led to the emergence of new actors and new rationales. This revolution is by no means confined to industrialized countries, many regions in the global south have made considerable progress, particularly in the field of connectivity. In Africa, the penetration rate for mobile telephony increased threefold between 2007 and 2012.

Technology also provides an opportunity for new voices to make themselves heard in public service media. We are seeing an emergence of new actors, including citizen journalists and amateur film producers, who are redefining the boundaries of journalism. Likewise, the enthusiasm of young people for film creation has been greater. The production of fiction film in developing countries rose significantly between 2005 and 2010, up from 3% in 2005 to 24% in 2013, while the production of documentaries rose from 1 to 25% over the same period.

But these changes are occurring in part to the detriment of linguistic diversity. Indeed, 80% of linguistic content available on the internet is in English, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, German, Arabic, French, Russian, and Korean. Another problem identified by the Report: the rise of Internet giants is undermining access to a diversity of cultural choices, particularly in language choice. “Although the platforms provide a wide range of cultural offerings, the fact that they control not only sales but also the communication and algorithms of recommendations raises the problem of discoverability”, the Report emphasises.

Reinforced policies

Faced with these developments, some signatory countries to the Convention have adopted measures to support creative professionals and industries. Examples include the establishment of a guaranteed income from the Norwegian government for artists. The Côte d’Ivoire, for its part, adopted measures in 2013 to promote publishing and reading. In Argentina, the law of 2009 on audiovisual communications services made it possible to increase local content on the country’s channels by 28%.

The Report also underlines that the Convention is increasingly used in major free trade agreements to give recognition to the specificity of cultural goods and services. But much progress remains to be achieved in other areas, particularly to encourage the role of women in certain cultural professions, to facilitate the mobility of artists from developing countries, and incorporating culture in sustainable development strategies.

The Report, produced with the financial support of the Swedish government within the framework of the project “Enhancing Fundamental Freedoms through the Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions”, was compiled based on reports provided by 71 signatory countries and supplemented by various studies. It examines the impact of the Convention in the light of its four objectives: support sustainable cultural governance systems; achieve a balanced exchange of cultural goods and services and increase mobility; include culture within sustainable development frameworks; and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Interviews available on request with English, French and Spanish speaking experts.

Watch the launch live

Follow us on Twitter: #supportcreativity

Media Contact: Agnès Bardon, UNESCO Press Service. Tel.: +33 (0)1 45 68 17 64, a.bardon@unesco.org

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