Monday, February 27, 2017

Gender and Public Transport in India:

women’s safety to gender equity



27.02.2017 15:47:32 - Gender and Public Transport in India: How do we move from women’s safety to gender equity? 

(live-PR.com) - CPR and CSH are pleased to invite you to a workshop on

Tuesday, 28 February 2017

Sonal Shah
Conference Hall, Centre for Policy Research


The increased policy attention to gender in public transport in India has focused on women and is largely circumscribed by technological and project level interventions aimed at addressing and preventing gruesome incidents of violence. The accounts of sexual violence in
the public sphere and Nirbhaya’s death in December 2012 galvanized action by civil society and different levels of government in creating safer public transportation systems.

However, public transport planning remains gender blind as city mobility plans rarely collect gender disaggregated data, investigate gendered trip chaining patterns, the mobility of care, inequities such as daily harassment, time poverty, forced mobility and forced immobility, lack of access to non-motorized vehicles and employment and growth in public transport organizations.

This is compounded by fragmented information on existing initiatives undertaken by public transportation authorities. For example, bus-based authorities have created toilets for transgender persons at city bus stands (Mysore), installed GPS devices and CCTV cameras, provided segregated seats and women only doors, conducted gender sensitization trainings, created Women Safety Committees (e.g. Bangalore) and reserved jobs for women drivers and conductors (e.g. Karnataka). Some of these were initiated prior to 2012, often on political requests or on receiving complaints. The implementation challenges, impact of these actions or the extent to which gender equity is rooted within the transport organization’s vision and goals has not been explored. Thus a wide area of research themes on gender and mobility in India remain uninvestigated.

This paper situates women’s security within a broader goal of gender equity; and identifies research gaps in moving the policy discourse towards gender equitable public transport systems. The research focuses on city bus services as they form the back bone of urban India’s public transportation system. The research was conducted at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements and was first presented at the conference on “Urban Planning, Governance and Design for Reducing Urban Conflicts and Violence: Critical Learnings and Possibilities”, March 2-4, 2016, Ahmedabad.

Sonal Shah is Senior Manager at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, where she coordinates urban planning projects, policy and research. She has 12 years’ experience in over a dozen cities in India, on city-scale to neighbourhood plans, transit oriented development and station accessibility planning to street design, historic precinct conservation, gender, urban redevelopment and housing policy research.

She wears dual hats as a practitioner and educator. In addition to co-teaching undergraduate urban design studios and graduate history and theory of planning courses, she has conducted capacity building sessions and workshops with professionals, government officials and practitioners. She has presented in numerous conferences such as Safe and Inclusive Cities Conference (Ahmedabad), Transed (Delhi), Walk 21 (Munich), Eco-mobility Conference (Changwon), Talking Transit (Bhopal) and ConnectKaro (Bangalore and Mumbai).

Sonal previously worked with reputed organizations such as the Indian Institute of Human Settlements, World Resources Institute and with the late Charles Correa at the Urban Design Research Institute. She completed a B.Arch from KRVIA, Mumbai University and MSc Urban Planning from Columbia University.
Contact information:
Sagar Media inc



Contact Person:
Naresh sagar

Phone: 9810974027
Author:
Naresh Sagar
e-mail
Phone: 9810974027

GLOBAL ECONOMIC MONITOR (February, 2017)

Budget is enhancing competitiveness of MSMEs



27.02.2017 15:53:16 - Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, India’s merchandize exports have continued with commendable growth rate registering growth figure of 4.32% in January 2017 to value at USD 22,115.03 million compared to USD 21,199.02 million during January 2016. 

(live-PR.com) - In the OECD area, Composite leading indicators (CLIs), designed to anticipate turning points in economic activity relative to trend; CLI for Germany anticipates growth gaining momentum. In the United States, Canada, and France the CLIs confirm the signs of growth gaining momentum flagged in last month’s assessment, with similar signals now also emerging in Japan.

In the United Kingdom,
there are tentative signs of growth gaining momentum, but the CLI remains below trend and uncertainty persists about the nature of the agreement the UK will eventually conclude with the EU. Stable growth momentum is anticipated in the OECD area as a whole as well as the Euro area and in Italy. Amongst major emerging economies, the CLIs signal growth gaining momentum in China, Brazil and Russia, while signs of easing growth momentum are emerging in India.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the UK economy advanced 0.6 percent on quarter in the three months to December of 2016, the same pace as in the previous period and better than market expectations of a 0.5 percent expansion.

The Markit US manufacturing PMI for the United States registered at 55.0 in January rising from 54.3 in December. However, the Nikkei Japan Manufacturing PMI posted at 52.7 in January, up from 52.4 in December.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, Consumer prices in China rose 2.5 percent year-on-year in January of 2017, compared to a 2.1 percent rise in December. However, according to the preliminary estimates by the Eurostat, Consumer prices in the Euro Area are expected to increase 1.8 percent year-on-year in January of 2017, following a 1.1 percent rise in December.

All key international indices exhibited positive trend during the period January-February, 2017. The most significant jump was registered by DJIA which grew by 4.02% to 20624.05. Other key indices such as SENSEX registered a jump of 3.95% to 28,468.75 followed by SHSZ which grew by 2.34% to 3421.44. The NIKKEI which witnessed a jump of 2.10% during the period registered an index value of 19234.62 and the DAX rose by 1.88% to 11,757.02 respectively.

According to General Administration of Customs, China reported a USD 51.35 billion trade surplus in January of 2017, lower than a USD 56.67 billion surplus a year earlier but above market consensus of a USD 47.90 billion surplus.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, US unemployment rate rose to 4.8 percent in January 2017 from 4.7 percent in the previous month and above market expectations of 4.7 percent. According to Statistics Canada; the unemployment rate in Canada declined to 6.8 percent in January of 2017 from 6.9 percent in December.

Union budget 2017-18 is a balanced and growth-oriented budget which focuses on small taxpayers by offering tax benefits, enhancing competitiveness of MSMEs and providing infra status to affordable housing. The socio-economic focus across the segments including farmers, rural population, youth, poor and underprivileged will have a significant impact on the inclusive development of the country. The fiscal deficit target at 3.2% of GDP in 2017-18 is in line with the overall thought process of the government.

According to Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, India’s merchandize exports have continued with commendable growth rate registering growth figure of 4.32% in January 2017 to value at USD 22,115.03 million compared to USD 21,199.02 million during January 2016. On the other hand, India’s merchandize imports also witnessed slight expansion, growing by 10.7% to value at USD 31,955.94 million in January 2017 compared to USD 28,866.53 million during same period previous year.PHD Dr. S P Sharma,
Contact information:
Sagar Media Inc



Contact Person:
Naresh sagar

Phone: 9810974027
Author:
Naresh Sagar
e-mail
Phone: 9810974027

ZTE unveiled lightening-fast 5G mobile

Chinese telecoms giant ZTE unveiled Sunday what it said is the world´s first smartphone compatible with the lightening-fast 5G mobile internet service that networks expect to have up and running by 2020.
The company said the Gigabit Phone is the first smartphone capable of download speeds reaching up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) — up to 10 times faster than the first generation of 4G services widely in use today.
The device, unveiled in Barcelona in northeastern Spain on the eve of the start on Monday of the Mobile World Congress, the world´s biggest mobile fair, will allow for 360-degree panoramic Virtual Reality video and fast downloads of ultra Hi-Fi music and videos.
“With the new device, the way people stay connected will be changed forever.
Focusing on 5G technologies will be one of the key priorities of ZTE´s global development,” a ZTE spokesman said.
Tech firms are racing to develop products that will be compatible with 5G, shorthand for the fifth generation of networks, which promise blazing fast connectivity for a generation used to streaming movies and TV directly to phones.
South Korean carrier KT Corp aims to offer trial 5G services during the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
The first large-scale commercial deployment of the technology is expected in 2020.
Forrester analyst Thomas Husson said ZTE was using the phone to “showcase innovation” and “offer a glimpse into the future when people will be able to download full movies in seconds” but it was not likely to be a big seller.
“The sad reality is that this smartphone will not end up in consumers´ pockets because both 5G and Virtual Reality are still years away to be a mass-market consumer reality,” he added.
Founded in 1985, ZTE offers telecom equipment and services and has customers in more than 160 countries, according to the company.
It is the only Chinese smartphone vendor with a meaningful presence in the United States, where its 10 percent market share makes it the fourth-largest vendor.

Sri Lanka prison bus shooting

Attackers opened fire on a prison bus outside Colombo on Monday, killing five prisoners and two armed guards in the worst gang-related violence to hit Sri Lanka in decades.
Gunmen sprayed bullets at the bus as it drove through a wooded area, police said, adding that four guards escaped with gunshot injuries.
The prisoners were being driven to court for a hearing when the audacious daytime attack took place, police said.
“It is believed that the shooting was a result of enmity between two underworld gangs,” police said in a statement. “Investigations are under way.”
Security for underworld suspects had been tightened following a similar shooting on a prison bus that seriously wounded another suspected gang leader in the capital in March last year.
Six people were killed in two separate incidents on that day, but police said Monday’s bus ambush was the deadliest gang-related attack in Sri Lanka in living memory.
Automatic weapons are easily available eight years after the end of the country’s 37-year ethnic war.
Attempts to crack down on possession of illegal firearms have been largely ineffective.

Gender and Public Transport in India:

FEB
28
CPR and CSH are pleased to invite you to a workshop on
Gender and Public Transport in India: How do we move from women’s safety to gender equity?
Tuesday, 28 February 2017, 3:45 p.m.
Sonal Shah
Conference Hall, Centre for Policy Research
Image: ITDP India
The increased policy attention to gender in public transport in India has focused on women and is largely circumscribed by technological and project level interventions aimed at addressing and preventing gruesome incidents of violence. The accounts of sexual violence in the public sphere and Nirbhaya’s death in December 2012 galvanized action by civil society and different levels of government in creating safer public transportation systems.
However, public transport planning remains gender blind as city mobility plans rarely collect gender disaggregated data, investigate gendered trip chaining patterns, the mobility of care, inequities such as daily harassment, time poverty, forced mobility and forced immobility, lack of access to non-motorized vehicles and employment and growth in public transport organizations.
This is compounded by fragmented information on existing initiatives undertaken by public transportation authorities. For example, bus-based authorities have created toilets for transgender persons at city bus stands (Mysore), installed GPS devices and CCTV cameras, provided segregated seats and women only doors, conducted gender sensitization trainings, created Women Safety Committees (e.g. Bangalore) and reserved jobs for women drivers and conductors (e.g. Karnataka). Some of these were initiated prior to 2012, often on political requests or on receiving complaints. The implementation challenges, impact of these actions or the extent to which gender equity is rooted within the transport organization’s vision and goals has not been explored. Thus a wide area of research themes on gender and mobility in India remain uninvestigated.
This paper situates women’s security within a broader goal of gender equity; and identifies research gaps in moving the policy discourse towards gender equitable public transport systems. The research focuses on city bus services as they form the back bone of urban India’s public transportation system. The research was conducted at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements and was first presented at the conference on “Urban Planning, Governance and Design for Reducing Urban Conflicts and Violence: Critical Learnings and Possibilities”, March 2-4, 2016, Ahmedabad.
Sonal Shah is Senior Manager at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, where she coordinates urban planning projects, policy and research. She has 12 years’ experience in over a dozen cities in India, on city-scale to neighbourhood plans, transit oriented development and station accessibility planning to street design, historic precinct conservation, gender, urban redevelopment and housing policy research.
She wears dual hats as a practitioner and educator. In addition to co-teaching undergraduate urban design studios and graduate history and theory of planning courses, she has conducted capacity building sessions and workshops with professionals, government officials and practitioners. She has presented in numerous conferences such as Safe and Inclusive Cities Conference (Ahmedabad), Transed (Delhi), Walk 21 (Munich), Eco-mobility Conference (Changwon), Talking Transit (Bhopal) and ConnectKaro (Bangalore and Mumbai).
Sonal previously worked with reputed organizations such as the Indian Institute of Human Settlements, World Resources Institute and with the late Charles Correa at the Urban Design Research Institute. She completed a B.Arch from KRVIA, Mumbai University and MSc Urban Planning from Columbia University.
This is the eighty fifth in a series of Urban Workshops planned by the Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH), New Delhi and Centre for Policy Research (CPR). These workshops seek to provoke public discussion on issues relating to the development of the city and try to address all its facets including its administration, culture, economy, society and politics. For further information, please contact: Christine Ithurbide at christine@csh-delhi.com , Partha Mukhopadhyay at partha@cprindia.org or Marie-Hélène Zerah at marie-helene.zerah@ird.fr 

Manipur Candidates with Criminal Cases:

Criminal Background

·         Candidates with Criminal Cases: Out of 167 candidates analyzed, (5%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.
·        

Criteria for serious criminal cases

1.        Offence for which maximum punishment is of 5 years or more.
2.        If an offence is non-bailable
3.        If it is an electoral offence (for eg. IPC 171E or bribery)
4.        Offence related to loss to exchequer
5.        Offences that are assault, murder, kidnap, rape related
6.        Offences that are mentioned in Representation of the People Act (Section 8)
7.        Offences under Prevention of Corruption Act
8.        Crimes against women.

Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: 3 (2%) candidates have declared serious criminal cases, including cases related to attempt to murder, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property etc.
·         Party wise Candidates with Criminal Cases: 4 (11%) out of 38 candidates from Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP)2 (5%) out of 37 candidates from Indian National Congress (INC), 1 (10%) out of 10 candidates from Manipur National Democratic Front and 1(17%) out of 6 candidates from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
·         Party wise Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases 2 (5%) out of 38 candidates from BJP and 1 (3%) out of 37 candidates from INC have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.





Financial Background


·         Share of wealth among candidates : The share of wealth amongst the candidates contesting in the first phase of assembly elections Manipur is as follows:
Value of assets (Rs.)
No of candidates
Percentage of Candidates
Rs.5 cr and above
3
2%
Rs.2 crores to 5 crores
20
12%
Rs. 50 lakhs to 2 crores
62
37%
Rs.10 lakhs to 50 lakhs
47
28%
less than  Rs. 10 lakhs
35
21%
Table: Share of wealth amongst contesting candidates


·         High asset candidates:  The 3 richest candidates contesting in the first phase of the Manipur Assembly Elections are given below:
S.No.
Name
District
Constituency
Party Name
Movable Assets (Rs)
Immovable Assets (Rs)
Total Assets (Rs)
PAN Given
1
SENAPATI
SAITU(ST)
Naga Peoples Front
11,96,000
13,00,00,000
13,11,96,000
13 Crore+
Y
2
BISHNUPUR
BISHENPUR
BJP
30,68,751
9,14,89,315
9,45,58,066
9 Crore+
Y
3
IMPHAL EAST
LAMLAI
INC
4,31,05,173
4,61,60,000
8,92,65,173
8 Crore+
Y
 Table: Top three candidates with highest declared assets

·         Crorepati CandidatesOut of the 167 candidates, 54 (32%) are crorepatis.
·         Party wise Crorepati Candidates: 21(57%) out of 37 candidates from INC, 21 (55%) out of 38 candidates from BJP, 5 (42%) out of 12 candidates from National Peoples Party, 2(25%) out of 8 candidates from North East India Development Party and 2(33%) out of 6 candidates from NCP have declared assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore.
·         Average assets: The average of assets per candidate contesting in the first phase of the Manipur Assembly Elections is Rs 1.04 Crore.
·         Party wise average assets: Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 37 INC candidates is Rs. 1.73 crore, 38 BJP candidates is Rs 1.49 crore, 12 National Peoples Party candidates have average assets of Rs 1.06 crores, 10 AITC candidates have average assets worth Rs 32.74 lakhs, 6 NCP candidates have average assets worth Rs 58.74 lakhs, and 14 Independent candidates have average assets of Rs. 26.36 lakhs.
·         Low asset candidates: The three candidates with lowest assets are as follows:
S.No.
Name
District
Constituency
Party Name
Movable Assets (Rs)
Immovable Assets (Rs)
Total Assets (Rs)
PAN Given
1
IMPHAL EAST
KHETRIGAO
Manipur Peoples Party
7,000*
0
7,000
7 Thou+
Y
2
CHURACHANDPUR
TIPAIMUKH(ST)
IND
14,163
0
14,163
14 Thou+
N
3
CHURACHANDPUR
THANLON(ST)
IND
14,570
0
14,570
14 Thou+
Y
 Table: Candidates with declared lowest assets

                                                                                                                                                  

·         Candidates with high liabilities: The top three candidates with highest liabilities are as given below:
S.No.
Name
District
Constituency
Party Name
Total Assets(Rs)
Liabilities (Rs)
1
Imphal East
Wangkhei
INC
1,92,34,357
1 Crore+
6,08,28,534
6 Crore+
2
Bishnupur
Bishenpur
INC
4,38,21,788
4 Crore+
2,70,21,000
2 Crore+
3
Imphal West
Singjamei
INC
3,54,81,015
3 Crore+
1,41,47,920
1 Crore+
 Table: Top three candidates with high liabilities

·         Undeclared PAN:  A total of 9 (5%) candidates have not declared their PAN details.
·         Candidates with high income as declared in the ITR*: 10 candidates have declared total annual income of more than Rs 20 lakhs. The top 3 candidates  with highest income are as given below:
S.No.
Name
Party Name
Constituency
District
Total Asset (Rs)
The financial year for which the last income tax return has been filed by candidate
Total income shown by candidate in ITR (Self+Spouse+Dependent) (Rs)
Self income shown by candidate in ITR (Rs)
1
INC
Lamlai
Imphal East
8,92,65,173  8 Crore+
2015-2016
2,21,71,827  2 Crore+
7,50,500  7 Lacs+
2
LJP
Bishenpur
Bishnupur
68,63,400  68 Lacs+
2015-2016
28,11,749  28 Lacs+
11,31,749  11 Lacs+
3
INC
Bishenpur
Bishnupur
4,38,21,788  4 Crore+
2015-2016
27,75,210  27 Lacs+
18,93,240  18 Lacs+
 Table: Top 3 candidates with high income as declared in ITR
*Total income includes income of self, spouse and dependents


·         Candidates who have not declared Income Tax Details*: 66 (40%) out of 167 candidates have not declared income tax details.
* Some candidates may be exempted from filing Income Tax Return



·         Candidates with high Assets who have not declared Income Tax Details*: 10 candidates with assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore have not declared Income Tax details. The top three candidates with highest assets who have not declared their IT returns are as given below:
S.No.
Name
District
Constituency
Party Name
Total Income (Rs)
Total Assets (Rs)
PAN Given
Self Income
1
SENAPATI
SAITU(ST)
Naga Peoples Front
0
13,11,96,000 13 Crore+
Y
ITR not filed
2
SENAPATI
SAITU(ST)
BJP
0
3,48,19,212 3 Crore+
Y
ITR not filed
3
CHURACHANDPUR
HENGLEP(ST)
INC
0
3,27,56,278 3 Crore+
Y
ITR not filed
 Table: Top three candidates with highest assets who have not declared ITR details
* Some candidates may be exempted from filing Income Tax Returns


Other Background Details
·         Education details of candidates: 38 (23%) candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between 5th and 12thwhile 124 (74%)candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above and 1 candidate is illiterate.
·         Age details of candidates: 72(43%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 and 50 years while 95 (57%) candidates have declared their age to be between 51 and 80 years 
Gender details of candidates: 7 (4%) female candidates are contesting in first phase of the Manipur assembly election this year.
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SPIC MACAY International Convention at IIT Delhi

Dear Sir,
 
SPIC MACAY is a nationwide voluntary movement, is continuing its commitment towards creating awareness and a deep-rooted sense of pride in our rich cultural heritage across schools and colleges all over India. We are pleased to inform you that SPIC MACAY is organizing 5th International Convention at Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, from 5th June to 11th June, 2017.
 
We have had four International Conventions in the past 4 years at IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIT Guwahati and at the IIM Calcutta. 
 
The highlight of the event is that about 1500 youth will be participating in the convention from all over the country and abroad. There will be week long series programs of Indian Classical Music, Dance, Folk, Theater, Films, Yoga and Talks by eminent artists.  There would be theater presentation performances of various folk forms. We would also be having intensives and workshops conducted by inspiring gurus and master craftsmen. We believe that one of the best ways of making students aware of the gentler, more aesthetic, and diverse, yet integrated, strands of India’s culture is by systematically introducing them to various forms of Indian classical music and dance in Schools, Colleges, and universities throughout the land. International Conventions are the congregation of the people associated with this Noble Cause, who spend one week in a unique ashram-like atmosphere.
 
The concluding day will have a ‘Classical Overnight’ concert beginning at 8 pm and ending at 6 am the following morning with non-stop concerts by India’s top performing artists. 
 
Padma Vibhushan Awardees: Vidushi Girija Devi, Vidwan Umayalapuram Sivaraman, Pt.Hariprasad Chaurasia, 
Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pt.Birju Maharaj, Vidhushi Sonal Mansingh, Shri  Adoor Gopalakrishnan; 
 
Padma Bhushan Awardees: Prof. T N Krishnan, Pt. Rajan and Pt.Sajan Mishra, Pt. Vishwamohan Bhatt, Begum Parween Sultana, Smt. Teejan Bai, Vidhushi Sudha Raghunathan; 
 
Padma Shri Awardees: Vidushi Malavika Sarukkai,  Ustad Shahid Parvez, Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar, Pt. Venkatesh Kumar, Guru Ghanakanta  Bora, Ustad F Wasifuddin Dagar Smt. Anjolie Ela Menon,
 Vidushi Kanyakumari ,Shri Gurappa Chetty; 
 
Jnanpith Awardee, Dr. SatyavratShastri, Ramon Magsaysay Awardee, Vidwan T M Krishna, Shri Margi Madhu, are some of the renowned artists who are expected to participate in the Convention.
 
We humbly request you to kindly grace the forthcoming 5th International Convention at IIT-Delhi on 5th June, 2017 at 1800 hrs as
a very

Special Guest
 This benign gesture will be a great inspiration to the morale of the young volunteers working for this movement and the whole cultural fraternity. 
 
We look forward for your support for news coverage and curtain raiser for publicity, press release and registration link.

 
 
Warm Regards,
 
Suman Doonga
Head-Media and Communication
Central State Facilitator(North India)
(Delhi and NCR)
SPIC MACAY
+91-9899308093

The prejudices against marginalised communities

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