ul 17 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)

First Indian Head can Safeguard Country's Interests at BRICS Bank

DEEPSHIKHA SIKARWAR

NEW DELHI





India may have lost out to China on hosting the proposed BRICS Bank, but the government is happy that New Delhi gets to head it from the start, which will give it room to safeguard its interests.The BRICS Bank, which the leaders of India, China, Brazil, Russia and South Africa endorsed on Tuesday at a summit in Brazil, will be headquartered in Shanghai, China's business capital.
India will head the bank for the first five years, followed by Russia and Brazil. China will get the presidency only after two decades, a decision taken to address concerns over the country acquiring an unusually large say in the bank, which will fund infrastructure projects in member countries.
“The first president will shape the design of the bank. This means the developing countries' needs, peculiar circumstances, experience, would be fully factored in, which would mean protecting Indian interests. HRD policies would also be designed to make best use of Indian talent,“ said a senior finance ministry official.
The bank will have $50 billion in equity capital, contributed equally by the five members, giving them an equal voice, a victory for India and Brazil, which had resisted China's attempts for a greater share.
“India has huge requirements ­ industrial corridors, 100 smart cities, housing for all, total sanitation. This will be a good source,“ said the finance ministry official.
The BRICS Bank will be able to leverage its strong balance sheet and strength of sovereign rating to raise long-term resources to fund infrastructure.
Finance secretary Arvind Mayaram called the decision a landmark one that “establishes a multilateral financial institution shaped by the changed global economic reality“.
“After Bretton Woods, this would be the first multilateral financial institution of standing established by the emerging market economies and not by the developed economies,“ Mayaram told ET from Brazil.
The bank has been in the making for over two years out of frustration with the developed world in giving emerging economies a bigger say in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which was conceived at a UN conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in 1944.
Quota reforms of September 2010 that would see India's share in the IMF rise to 2.75% from 2.44% have been stuck because of lack of support from the United States.

Jul 17 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)

RIGHT COURSE FOR THE DIFFERENTLY ABLED - They Came not on Their Own & Still Conquered IIMs

DEVINA SENGUPTA & ANUMEHA CHATURVEDI

MUMBAI | NEW DELHI





India's top business schools go the extra mile to help students with special needs

He often mixes up `who' with `how'. And, when asked for directions, he needs to look at the hand with which he eats to point towards the right direction. Apoorv Agarwal is dyslexic and has just made it to Indian Institute of Management, Raipur, acknowledging his disability for the first time during his interview there.“Because of high content of lead in my blood, language comprehension gets affected, but I will manage because I need to be an example for my sister,“ says Agarwal. His sister too suffers from the disorder.
Sai Prasad Vishwanathanan wheel-chaired his way into Indian School of Business, Bangalore, in 2010 and was hired by Deloitte. He was operated unsuccessfully for a birth condition of additional growth in spinal cord. Subsequent injuries during childhood rendered him disabled.
Seventy-three such students with disabilities are now on campuses at a handful of IIMs ET spoke to for this story . There are more such heroes -with visual, locomotive, hearing and learning disorders -all defying life's cruel blows to make it to the IIMs. Some of them were chosen in general quota -in some cases at the insistence of the candidate -though 3% of the seats are reserved for the disabled in IIMs.
ISB did away with stairs in one of its four entrance gates en abling Vishwa abling Vishwa nathan to take the wheelchair, put a ramp around his ac commodation, built a new washroom, gave him a bat tery-powered wheelchair that cost them . 1 lakh, and ` brought down the height of the stage on his graduating day.
“It touched me when ISB started making changes because it was the right thing to do and not because they could foresee numbers of students like me going up in future,“ says Vishwanathan. “Reservation is not the answer.
What we need is the right infrastructure that can make life easy ,“ Vishwanathan said.
B-schools are trying their best for their disabled students by adding voice announcement facility in lifts, providing them motorised wheelchairs, giving more time to students with learning disorders, adopting special software for the blind and encouraging volunteers to help them in their studies. Infrastructural changes have been made in class rooms and hostels, and students have been sensitised on the needs of the specially-abled. Some IIMs are also in the process of creating a special centre where the needs of the differently-abled can be discussed and met.
IIM Calcutta is planning a centre for specially-abled students.
With 26 such students this year (batch 2015 and 2016), it is an urgent need for the institute.
IIM Kozhikode set up an audit committee last month to make infrastructural changes to cater to the needs of the differentlyabled. “The institute is built on a hill, so we are reviewing the entire space,“ said Debashis Chatterjee, dean of IIM-K.
The B-school has 20 such students in the campus this year.
“There was difficulty in getting qualified DA students in the past. Now, the awareness has increased. This year we could fill up 10 seats out of the 12 in the DA category,“ he added. The Bschool has also admitted meritorious students with special needs in the general category.
In 2010, IIM Bangalore installed a lift with features such as voice announcement and accessible control panel for easy access to classrooms and offices on higher floors. They installed Braille in computers and bought motorised chairs for those with locomotive disorders.
“Professors give me notes a day before the lecture and when there are many equations solved on the board, volunteers from other classes sit with me and explain what is being written,“ says C Gaurav. He is blind and made it to the 2016 batch at IIM Bangalore.
IIMB appoints readers, scribes and tutors as and when required for the 27 such students on the campus now.
Newer IIMs aren't far behind.
IIM Raipur, for example, gives all visually-impaired students larger hostel rooms, which they have to share with two other roommates who do not face similar needs. “This was done to ensure that even if one room mate is not there, we are not alone,“ says Yogesh Gupta (24) from the 2015 batch.
Gupta became blind in 2005 and found it difficult to learn Braille. He relies on speech software to understand notes. Gupta wants to make a career in marketing in the logistics industry.
An internship with Transport Corporation of India this year has boosted his confidence. His classmate Piyush Rakheja wants a career in finance and absence of sight holds no barrier for this commerce graduate from Kolkata.
SUPPORT FROM RECRUITERS Recruiters are also doing their bit. Vodafone just recruited two management trainees with special needs from campuses out of a total of 110 management trainees.
“We have not yet hired students with special needs and it hasn't come up in our hiring discussions, but we will look out for such students closely and will be delighted to hire them,“ says Sachin Nandgaonkar, partner, and head of recruitments for Boston Consulting Group in India.
“Recruitments of the specially-abled tie in with our policy on inclusion, and students are assessed on a variety of factors, including marks and capabilities,“ says P Thiruvengadam, senior director, human capital, Deloitte.
Meanwhile, Vishwanathan will be leaving for a US stint with Deloitte next month.

Jul 17 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

What is dignified death, asks AG





The Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to adjudicate the legality of active and passive euthanasia and the emerging concept of `living will' after treading cautiously for decades on this highly emotive and legally complicated issue.The Centre objected to the exercise. Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi said, “The government doesn't accept eutha nasia as a principle. Our stand on euthanasia, in whichever form, is that the court has no jurisdiction to decide this. It's for Parliament and the legislature to take a call after a thorough debate and taking into account multifarious views.“ The court agreed it was a matter of public policy and that Parliament and the legislature were competent to decide it. But counsel Prashant Bhushan, for PIL petitioner NGO Common Cause, said the issues were debated in public for decades and the legislature had not yet taken the first step.
The court wanted a country-wide debate. The Constitution bench of Chief Justice R M Lodha and Justices J S Khehar, J Chelameswar, A K Sikri and R F Nariman sought views of all states and Union Territories on the PIL in eight weeks.
It requested senior advocate T R Andhyarujina to assist the court as amicus curiae.
The issue concerns the rights of a terminally-ill person after doctors rule out chances of survival. Active euthanasia would involve a doctor injecting a lethal medicine to trigger a cardiac arrest. In passive euthanasia, doctors, with consent from kin, withdraw the life support system. Explaining “living will“, Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO Common Cause, said, “Given the unanimity that a person had the right to refuse a particular medicine or treatment, why should he/ she be not allowed to execute a will in sound mind saying if he/she ever slipped into a vegetative state with a terminal disease with no chance of recovery , doctors shouldn't keep him/her alive with the help of life support?
“The constitution bench should consider active euthanasia that provides an option to the terminally ill...to choose the option of the right to die.
If, after all medical interventions fail and the process of death has commenced, why should the patient not have a right to die,“ he asked.
Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi raised fundamental doubts: “What is dignified death? Who decides when the process of death com mences? What if medical research tomorrow finds a cure to the presently terminally-ill (sic) disease? Can the court fathom the problems and abuse that could happen in far-flung places?“ He added, “Attempt to suicide is an offence under Section 309 of IPC. Abetment to suicide too is an offence. Euthanasia in any form would fall within the meaning of abetment to suicide. Would `living will' not fall under expression of an intention to commit suicide? It is difficult to find a solution through a straight-jacket formula.“

Jul 17 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

1/3rd of world's extreme poor in India: UN study

Himanshi.Dhawan@timesgroup.com

New Delhi





India is home to the largest number of poor with one-third of the world's 1.2 billion extreme poor living here. It also had the highest number of under-five deaths in the world in 2012, with 1.4 million children dying before reaching their fifth birthday , according to the UN Millennium Development Goals report 2014.Poverty rates in Southern Asia fell from 51% in 1990 to 30% two decades later with China leading the way . Extreme poverty in China came down from 60% in 1990 to 16% in 2005 and 12% in 2010.
In India, poverty reduction was sluggish in comparison coming down from 49.4% in 1994 to 42% in 2005 and 32.7% in 2010. Two-thirds of the extreme poor (those who lived on income less than $ 1 a day) live in India, China, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Congo.
Minority affairs minister Najma Heptulla said the report's findings present a challenge to the Modi government and that it would be able to surmount it. “Good days will come,“ she said. “We don't have to be proud of what we have done. Poverty is the biggest challenge... I am sure when the next report comes, we will have done much better,“ she said, stressing on the PM's commitment to poverty elimination and his mantra of “sabka saath sabka vikas (Development with all, for all)“. According to the report, almost 60% of people who defecate in open reside in India, which also accounts for 17% of global maternal deaths.
South Asia, of which India is the largest and most populous country , has fared worse than other Asian regions on most counts. The region has, however, done well in school enrolment.
UN resident coordinator Lise Grande said the Millennium Development Goals can't be met globally if they're not reached in India.

Jul 17 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

Don't change juvenile age: NGOs

New Delhi TIMES NEWS NETWORK





The campaign follows Union minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi's recent statement that juveniles involved in serious crimes like rape should be tried as adults

Lowering the age limit for juvenile delinquents from 18 years to 16 years is not the answer to the city's crime spiral, women and child rights activists said on Wednesday after getting together to demand a dialogue with the Centre on the draft Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Bill, 2014.The campaign follows Union minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi's recent statement that juveniles involved in serious crimes like rape should be tried as adults. Her statement has revived the debate on the juvenile age issue that was first raked up after the Nirbhaya gang rape in December 2012.
Under the banner of ProChild Network, a coalition of 58 NGOs, activists have gathered in the city to demand that the ministry reconsider its decision to allow treatment of some juvenile offenders as adults while looking for solutions in the existing JJ system. Angan Trust, Centre for Child and the Law, NLSUI Bangalore, CRY, HAQ: Centre for Child Rights, Leher and Save the Children are part of the coalition that called upon the government to deliberate before deciding to repeal and re-enact the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protec tion of Children) Act, 2000.
ProChild Network has offered to help the government find a solution to rising sexual violence by juveniles, by giving professional suggestions based on evidence and research.
“We strongly condemn all sexual violence, be it by adults or juveniles... But we also condemn pitching human rights of women against human rights of children since that will not provide an answer to creating a healthy society . All we want is a dialogue with the government before a final decision in this regard is taken,“ said Bharti Ali, co-director of HAQ.
On June 18, the Ministry of Women and Child Development stated its intent to repeal and re-enact the Juvenile Justice Act and invited feedback from stakeholders and civil society groups on the draft Juvenile Justice Bill, 2014. The voluntary organizations have submitted their suggestions to the ministry . The draft Bill put up on the ministry's website after the BJP government took office is different from the draft put up before various experts on a review committee set up by the UPA government, the voluntary organizations say .
The draft Bill recommends sweeping changes.
Under the ministry's proposal, while trying a juvenile aged 16-18 years who is involved in heinous crimes such as rape and murder, the Juve nile Justice Board will decide whether he should be sent to an observation home or tried under a regular court. This, NGOs fear, can be misused given the many flaws in the policing and JJ systems.
“We firmly believe all human beings, especially growing children, need to be taught that there are consequences of their actions and that they need to be accountable for their behaviour,“ a statement issued by the group said.
“However, we assert that the means for ensuring accountability should be grounded in child and adolescent psychology , the rights of children and a deeper understanding of the circumstances that lead to such behaviour or action, be it indiscipline, anti-social or criminal behaviour,“ it adds.
As per the National Crime Records Bureau statistics, in 2013, as many as 33,707 rape cases were registered in the country as against 24,923 cases in 2012. The number of juveniles involved in rape cases in 2013 was 1,884.

Jul 16 2014 : Mirror (Pune)

Babies start talking after months of toil





Researchers found the brain areas associated with speech motor planning light up in 7-month-old babies, even though they don't usually talk until they are one

Infants can tell the difference between sounds of all languages until about 8 months of age when their brains start to focus only on the sounds they hear around them. It’s been unclear how this transition occurs, but social interactions and caregivers’ use of exaggerated “parentese” style of speech seem to help.University of Washington research in 7and 11-month-old infants shows that speech sounds stimulate areas of the brain that coordinate and plan motor movements for speech.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that baby brains start laying down the groundwork of how to form words long before they actually begin to speak, and this may affect the developmental transition.
“Most babies babble by 7 months, but don’t utter their first words until after their first birthdays,” said lead author Patricia Kuhl, who is the co-director of the university’s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences.
“Finding activation in motor areas of the brain when infants are simply listening is significant, because it means the baby brain is engaged in trying to talk back right from the start and suggests that 7-month-olds’ brains are already trying to figure out
how to make the right movements that will produce words.” Kuhl and her research team believe this practice at motor planning contributes to the transition when infants become more sensitive to their native language. The results emphasise the importance of talking to kids during social interactions even if they aren’t talking back yet.“Hearing us talk exercises the action areas of infants’ brains, going beyond what we thought happens when we talk to them,” Kuhl said.
“Infants’ brains are preparing them to act on the world by practicing how to speak before they actually say a word.” In the experiment, infants sat in a brain scanner that measures brain activation through a noninvasive technique called magnetoencephalography. Nicknamed MEG, the brain scanner resembles an egg-shaped vintage hair dryer and is completely safe for infants. The Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences was the first in the world to use such a tool to study babies while they engaged in a task.
The babies, 57 7and 11or 12month-olds, each listened to a series of native and foreign language syllables such as “da” and “ta” as researchers recorded brain responses. They listened to sounds from English and Spanish.
The researchers observed brain activity in an auditory area of the brain called the superior temporal gyrus, as
well as in Broca’s area and the cerebellum, cortical regions responsible for planning the motor movements required for producing speech.This pattern of brain activation occurred for sounds in the 7-montholds’ native language (English) as well as in a non-native language (Spanish), showing that at this early age infants are responding to all speech sounds, whether or not they have heard the sounds before.
In the older infants, brain activation was different. By 11-12 months, infants’ brains increase motor activation to the non-native speech sounds relative to native speech, which the researchers interpret as showing that it takes more effort for the baby brain to predict which movements create non-native speech.
This reflects an effect of experience between 7 and 11 months, and suggests that activation in motor brain areas is contributing to the transition in early speech perception.
The study has social implications, suggesting that the slow and exaggerated parentese speech – “Hiiiii! How are youuuuu?” – may actually prompt infants to try to synthesise utterances themselves and imitate what they heard, uttering something like “Ahhh bah bah baaah.” “Parentese is very exaggerated, and when infants hear it, their brains may find it easier to model the motor movements necessary to speak,” Kuhl said.

Jul 16 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)

Tata Group Spent Rs 8k Cr on CSR in 10 Years

MUMBAI OUR BUREAU





The group's brand custodian says avg spend in last 3 years . 1,000 cr is about `

The Tata Group, which has been restructuring and realigning its philanthropic and corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to address emerging societal challenges and also conform with the new regulatory requirements on Tuesday revealed that it has spent . 8,000 crore on CSR acin excess of ` tivities over the last decade between a medley of Tata trusts and group companies.Mukund Rajan, brand custodian and chief ethics officer of the Group, who also oversees the sustainability function, told media persons at a roundtable in Mumbai that the average spend on CSR in the last three years has been around ` . 1,000 crore a year in a ratio of 60:40 between the companies and trusts. The specific figure for Tata companies in 2013-14 stands . 660 crore.
at ` Even before the present set of mandatory CSR norms came into force, the group had been channeling a sizeable chunk of its profits back into the community as its business model had been designed for the purpose; 66% of the equity of Tata Sons, the holding company is held by philanthropic trusts.
Sustainability and giving back to society has been integral to the business philosophy of the group.
Only now it's beginning to address CSR in a more strategic and focused manner across the group; the Tata Council for Community Initiatives (TCCI), for instance, has been disbanded and a new Tata Sustainability Group (TSG) has been created at Tata Sons under the tutelage of Shankar Venkateswaran, formerly with PricewaterhouseCoopers. The TSG will draw guidance from a new Global Sustainability Council chaired by Ra jan and CEOs of major group companies as members.
As part of the group's strategy, efforts are on to put together a panIndia group-wide programme on skills building, the need of the hour for a country battling human capital challenges. This is expected to be a multi-stakeholder initiative with even the government playing its role. The traditional programmes of the group companies -on education, health and nutrition, livelihoods, biodiversity -continue.
TSG head Venkateswaran announced that the group will work across three major prongs -community development, environment, and disaster response.
Having tested the waters on employee volunteering recently, which touched 25,000 volunteers, in 150 companies, across 60 countries and 540 locations, the group has decided to integrate volunteering as major component in its overall strategy for the future. A 6-12month sabbatical for employees to go out and engage with NGOs and institutions is also on the cards.