2014 Human Development Report

Entitled Sustaining Human Progress: Reducing Vulnerabilities and Building Resilience, the Report provides a fresh perspective on vulnerability and proposes ways to strengthen resilience. Persistent vulnerability threatens human development. And unless it is systematically tackled by policies and social norms, progress will be neither equitable nor sustainable.

Levels in human development continues to rise – yet the pace has slowed for all regions and progress has been highly uneven. The lower human development groups appear to be improving at a higher rate – grounds for optimism that the gap between higher and lower human development groups is narrowing.

In the Arab States, Asia and the Pacific region, and Latin America and the Caribbean, average annual growth rate in HDI dropped by about half over 2008–2013 compared to 2000–2008. Threats such as financial crises, fluctuations in food prices, natural disasters and violent conflict significantly impede progress.

Overall inequality has declined slightly in most regions, as measured by the Inequality-Adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI). This has been driven mainly by improvements in health in recent years. However high disparities in education persist. The Report shows that older generations continue to struggle with illiteracy, while younger ones are having difficulty making the leap from primary to secondary schooling. The highest levels of education inequality are found in South Asia, the Arab states and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Report calls for stronger collective action, as well as better global coordination and commitment to shoring up resilience, in response to vulnerabilities that are increasingly global in origin and impact. To increase support for national programmes and open up policy space for nations to adapt universalism to specific country conditions, the Report calls for “an international consensus on universal social protection” to be included in the Post-2015 agenda.

2014 Human Development Index (HDI)

Very high human development	High human development	Medium human development	Low human development
1 Norway	50 Uruguay	103 Maldives	145 Nepal
2 Australia	51 Bahamas	103 Mongolia	146 Pakistan
3 Switzerland	51 Montenegro	103 Turkmenistan	147 Kenya
4 Netherlands	53 Belarus	106 Samoa	148 Swaziland
5 United States	54 Romania	107 Palestine, State of	149 Angola
6 Germany	55 Libya	108 Indonesia	150 Myanmar
7 New Zealand	56 Oman	109 Botswana	151 Rwanda
8 Canada	57 Russian Federation	110 Egypt	152 Cameroon
9 Singapore	58 Bulgaria	111 Paraguay	152 Nigeria
10 Denmark	59 Barbados	112 Gabon	154 Yemen
11 Ireland	60 Palau	113 Bolivia (Plurinational State of)	155 Madagascar
12 Sweden	61 Antigua and Barbuda	114 Moldova (Republic of)	156 Zimbabwe
13 Iceland	62 Malaysia	115 El Salvador	157 Papua New Guinea
14 United Kingdom	63 Mauritius	116 Uzbekistan	157 Solomon Islands
15 Hong Kong, China (SAR)	64 Trinidad and Tobago	117 Philippines	159 Comoros
15 Korea (Republic of)	65 Lebanon	118 South Africa	159 Tanzania (United Republic of)
17 Japan	65 Panama	118 Syrian Arab Republic	161 Mauritania
18 Liechtenstein	67 Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)	120 Iraq	162 Lesotho
19 Israel	68 Costa Rica	121 Guyana	163 Senegal
20 France	69 Turkey	121 Viet Nam	164 Uganda
21 Austria	70 Kazakhstan	123 Cape Verde	165 Benin
21 Belgium	71 Mexico	124 Micronesia (Federated States of)	166 Sudan
21 Luxembourg	71 Seychelles	125 Guatemala	166 Togo
24 Finland	73 Saint Kitts and Nevis	125 Kyrgyzstan	168 Haiti
25 Slovenia	73 Sri Lanka	127 Namibia	169 Afghanistan
26 Italy	75 Iran (Islamic Republic of)	128 Timor-Leste	170 Djibouti
27 Spain	76 Azerbaijan	129 Honduras	171 Côte d'Ivoire
28 Czech Republic	77 Jordan	129 Morocco	172 Gambia
29 Greece	77 Serbia	131 Vanuatu	173 Ethiopia
30 Brunei Darussalam	79 Brazil	132 Nicaragua	174 Malawi
31 Qatar	79 Georgia	133 Kiribati	175 Liberia
32 Cyprus	79 Grenada	133 Tajikistan	176 Mali
33 Estonia	82 Peru	135 India	177 Guinea-Bissau
34 Saudi Arabia	83 Ukraine	136 Bhutan	178 Mozambique
35 Lithuania	84 Belize	136 Cambodia	179 Guinea
35 Poland	84 The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	138 Ghana	180 Burundi
37 Andorra	86 Bosnia and Herzegovina	139 Lao People's Democratic Republic	181 Burkina Faso
37 Slovakia	87 Armenia	140 Congo	182 Eritrea
39 Malta	88 Fiji	141 Zambia	183 Sierra Leone
40 United Arab Emirates	89 Thailand	142 Bangladesh	184 Chad
41 Chile	90 Tunisia	142 Sao Tome and Principe	185 Central African Republic
41 Portugal	91 China	144 Equatorial Guinea	186 Congo (Democratic Republic of the)
43 Hungary	91 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines		187 Niger
44 Bahrain	93 Algeria
44 Cuba	93 Dominica
46 Kuwait	95 Albania
47 Croatia	96 Jamaica
48 Latvia	97 Saint Lucia
49 Argentina	98 Colombia
	98 Ecuador
	100 Suriname
	100 Tonga
	102 Dominican Republic

 You are requested to download the report. Source: http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/presscenter/events/2014/july/HDR2014.html

Jul 30 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)

INDIA at Crossroads

NAMRATA KOHL





For economic growth and fast pace of development, India urgently needs to work on certain key areas like infrastructure, healthcare, energy issues and education system

The world is bullish about the India growth story. The country's population and its unharnessed potential have held promise for investors and multinational companies around the world. However, so far the inadequate physical infrastructure and delay in decision making have been the primary reasons for slow growth.After all, economic boom cannot be built on shaky foundation of a creaky infrastructure; it needs to be built on the rock solid foundation of sound physical and social infrastructure. Everything from power to roads, highways, ports to healthcare and education system needs to be improved upon, in both qualitative as well as quantitative terms. At the moment, even the basic needs of water, electricity, and housing are not adequate enough.

Take the case of electricity. The year marked a dark patch in the history of the Indian power sector, as one of the biggest blackouts hit the country's capital -Delhiites had to contend with long duration of power cut past two months,
suffering hours of darkness.
Another important sector that needs an overhaul is the country's healthcare infrastructure. There is a need to enhance and expand India's healthcare infrastructure to meet the needs of a growing population.

Changing demographics, disease profiles and the shift from chronic to lifestyle diseases in the country has led to increased spending on healthcare delivery. High quality products are sought after in the sector.

The biggest failure of the Indian state is seen to be its inability to meet basic human needs, partly due
to the scale of the challenges in health care and education infrastructure. India's literacy rate is only 74 per cent and only one out of five people in the country has access to basic sanitation. Even more grave is the figure of underweight children under five years old in India. It is 42 per cent, the second-highest in the world. Today, India stands at the threshold of one of its biggest transformations scaling up healthcare and education using readily available technology and frugal innovation.
In addition to that, infrastructure is also one of the core challenges in the country, impacting on the overall situation. Highways, modern bridges, world-class airports, reliable power, and clean water are in desperately short supply. And what's already there is literally crumbling under the weight of large-scale migration from villages to cities. A typical scenario is that of people migrating from smaller cities, towns and villages to the metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad in search of employment opportunities. The economic activity has been concentrated in the key metros of the country and small cities lack adequate infrastructure and scope for employment. The result is that the metro cities become overpopulated, polluted, filthy, with shortage of all amenities of water, housing, power and become nearly uninhabitable for the original citizens. The country has been facing basic social issues for decades, which is hampering the overall growth of the nation in spite of having great potential. What and who will solve India's problems?

Jul 30 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

7-min run daily could add 3 years to your lifespan

Kounteya.Sinha @timesgroup.com

London:





A simple 7-minute run everyday can significantly cut the risk of a heart attack or death due to stroke.DC Lee, lead author of the study and an assistant professor in the Iowa State University said they found that runners who ran less than 51 minutes per week have the same mortality benefits compared to runners who ran more than three hours per week. The benefits were the same no matter how long, far, frequently or fast participants reported running.
Researchers studied 55,137 adults between the ages of 18 and 100 over a 15-year period to determine whether there is a relationship between running and longevity. Those who did run had a 30% lower risk of death from all causes and a 45% lower risk of death from heart disease or stroke. Runners on average lived three years longer compared to non-runners. The authors have therefore concluded that promoting running is as important as preventing smoking, obesity or hypertension.
Benefits were also the same regardless of sex, age, body mass index, health conditions, smoking status or alcohol use. The study showed that participants who ran less than 51 minutes, fewer than 6 miles, slower than 6
miles per hour, or only one to two times per week had a lower risk of dying compared to those who did not run.Thus, it is possible that the more may not be the better in relation to running and longevity.
“Since time is one of the strongest barriers to participate in physical activity, the study may motivate more people to start running and continue to run as an attainable health goal for mortality benefits,” Lee said. The optimum running speed was between 7.1mph and 7.6mph which cut the risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke by 60%, the study found.
For the full report, log on to http://www.timesofindia.com

Jul 30 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

Students to get 30 minutes more to crack CAT this year

Indore: PTI





Candidates appearing for the Common Admission Test (CAT) for entrance to IIMs and other prestigious business schools on November 16 and 22 will get 30 minutes more as number of questions will be more this time.“Earlier, candidates appearing for CAT were getting 140 minutes to solve the paper, but now time has been increased to 170 minutes,“ a spokesperson of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore, which is conducting the online CAT 2014, said.
“Henceforth, in sections of Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation, and Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning, the candidates will have to answer 50 questions each instead of earlier 30,“ the spokesperson said. As per the new feature, the candidates can allot time accordingly to solve either of sections of their choice depending on their ability and convenience.

What is "Shodhganga" and "ShodhGangotri"?

"Shodhganga" is a National repository of electronic theses and dissertations with fulltext content based on UGC notification. As per the UGC Notification (Minimum Standards & Procedure for Award of M.Phil. / Ph.D Degree, Regulation, 2009) dated 1st June 2009, it mandates submission of electronic version of theses and dissertations by the researchers in universities within 30 days of award of the PhD aiming at facilitating open access to Indian theses and dissertations to the academic community world-wide. INFLIBNET Centre has the non-exclusive rights to host the content on 'Shodhganga' with a disclaimer that IPR of the content is with the Research Scholars and Universities.
"Shodhgangotri" is a repository of electronic version of synopses/research proposals submitted to universities before awarding the Ph. D. Provisions are made in 'Shodhgangotri' and 'Shodhganga' for researchers to submit synopsis/theses online after registering into both.

2) Can I use 'Shodhganga' without registration?

Yes, registration is not required for browsing, searching and downloading the full text theses. You may download chapter wise or all chapters depending upon your requirement. But proper citation and acknowledgement should be done in your reference and citation.

3) I am a Research Scholar how I can upload my thesis?

For uploading thesis, You have to register into 'Shodhganga' as a 'Shodhganga User'. 'Shodhganga Administrator' will verify and authenticate user with proper user name and password. Theses should be split and upload as per the formats and standards suggested by INFLIBNET Centre for the uniqueness in order to maintain the standard and quality.

4) Can I upload my thesis in one PDF file?

No, INFLIBNET Centre follows standard format of uploaded files. Files should be numbered and named as shown in http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/manual/index.html#q9

5) My University name and Department name do not exist in Shodhganga or Shodhgangotri?

If it is missing, you may contact 'Shodhganga Administrator' at shodhganga@inflibnet.ac.in to create your university name and department name in 'Shodhganga'/ 'Shodhgangotri'.

6) Our University has not signed MoU and not in the list on Shodhganga. Can I send or upload my thesis?

As per the UGC notification, it is mandatory for all research scholars and universities to upload the thesis into Shodhganga. University needs to sign an MoU with INFLIBNET Centre for 'Shodhganga' project.

7) What should I do to withdraw my thesis from' Shodhganga?

INFLIBNET Centre and UGC do not encourage to withdraw the thesis unless requested with proper and valid reasons. To withdraw a thesis from 'Shodhganga' it is permitted only if a formal request is forwarded through Competent Authority of the University (ie. Vice Chancellor or Registrar) by citing valid reasons. In such cases, the embargo period should be between 6 months to one year period.

8) Is it possible to keep a part of the thesis under embargo period?

As mentioned above, a formal request is forwarded through Competent Authority of the University (ie. Vice Chancellor or Registrar) by citing valid reasons. However, embargo period should be specified so that after the period is over, thesis will go public for full text access.

9) I found problem in registering myself into 'Shodhganga' and 'ShodhGangotri'?

Kindly send the screen shots of the error. We will get back to you within 3 working days.

10) I uploaded my thesis but not displayed in Collection, Why?

Thesis will be merged with database only if it is in proper format, error free and in standard structure in its content. Please follow carefully the formats and standards specified by the INFLIBNET otherwise refer an old thesis for metadata, splitting the files and file naming conventions etc.

11) I submitted my softcopy of thesis to my university. Is it required to submit the softcopy online directly by myself?

INFLIBNET Centre encourages the research scholars to submit their thesis directly to 'Shodhganga' following by the format specified INFLIBNET Centre. The notification mandates submission of the softcopy within 30 days after awarding Ph. D. by university.

12) Can I get printout of Certificate of submission for my uploaded thesis?

Yes, provisions are made for research scholar. If the thesis is submitted by Research Scholar, he/she can take print out directly from the web site. INFLIBNET Centre do not provide any certificate for the thesis uploaded by INFLIBNET Centre or University.

13) My thesis is not in PDF format. How I can convert and split my thesis?

There are online tools available to convert files other files in to searchable PDF. Guidelines are provided in 'Help' menu on http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/moredetails/newmoredetails/dataformat.html and also in Manual athttp://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/ebook/

14) Is it mandatory to submit Synopsis or Research Proposal to ShodhGangotri?

'Shodhgangotri' is for Research in Progress details of ongoing researches in India. Submission will make you enable to claim your Ph.D title or topic in the national level before it is claimed by other research scholar. Shodhgangtri would provide a proof that you have registered the topic before others. (The topic/title will be publically accepted as the first registered topic and others may not be able to claim the same title/topic later.)

15) Do I get financial assistance to upload my thesis?

No, INFLIBNET Centre gives incentives to Universities who proactively participats in 'Shodhganga' Project for digitization of back volumes and setting up of ETD lab etc.

16) Do you test the content of the theses for the plagiarism?

No, It is the responsibility of Research Scholar, Research Supervisor (Guide) and Universities to check for plagiarised contents by using standard anti plagiarism software. INFLIBNET Centre provides Antiplagiarism software to the Universities only those which are eligible for getting grants from UGC (ie. Universities comes under 12(B) & 2(f))

17) Why my registration is delayed or not authenticated in Shodhganga?

You have to upload Ph.D. notification or certificate (scanned copy) awarded for Ph.D for registration. However, we are also permitting to upload registration notification so that the researcher can upload their thesis. However, merging thesis will be done only after receiving the Ph.D notification.

Source:   http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/

Jul 28 2014 : Mirror (Pune)

`Students need to innovate'

Sandip.Dighe @timesgroup.com TWEET @ThePuneMirror





In an interaction with school students, sr NASA scientist Goutam Chattopadhyay spoke of looking beyond marks

In a unique interactive session, 50 school students spent part of their Sunday with NASA senior scientist Goutam Chattopadhyay, at the National Chemical Laboratory's (NCL) Innovation Park in Pashan.The talk, organised by NCL under their Science Outreach Programme, saw students from Vidya Valley School, Vidyapratishthan, Baramati and other city-based schools in eager attendance.
Chattopadhyay, who was also part of the team that built Curiosity, the first rover that was sent to Mars in 2011, has been associated with Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA since 1999.
The most common question asked was the fundamentals of becoming a rocket scientist.
“Mathematics, Science, Art, History and Computer Skills are important, but you also need passion, along with curiosity and an unerring nose for questioning,” Chattopadhyay said.
Students were inspired by the talk. Amey Shirke who studies in Class IX at Vidyapratishthan School, Baramati, said, “I learnt so much from today’s talk, and would like to explore being a scientist. Also, I didn’t have a very clear idea of how Curiosity landed on Mars, but there was a video shown as part of the programme, which helped.” Ninad Gadhe, a teacher who accompanied students to the session, lauded the interaction, saying such
events help students develop an interest in science and research. “Our students attend similar programmes every month. Many of them have changed their approach towards science and are thinking seriously about doing research in the future,” he said.Speaking to Mirror, Chattopadhyay outlined the difference between academic systems in the US and India. “In the USA, undergraduate students get to do research, whereas Indian tend to focus on marks. As a result, their
minds are not open to innovative ideas which can be used in research.India should encourage science at the school level,” he said “We have very good institutes such as the IITs, and highly intelligent students, but the lack of leadership in academics is a problem,” he added.
Chattopadhyay also expressed his curiosity about Mangalyaan — India’s first spacecraft to Mars. “I am excited about Mangalyaan. Even if the mission isn’t 100 per cent successful, it is still a big achievement,” he said.