Oct 30 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

UGC's panel on 7 deemed univs overlooks own rules

Akshaya Mukul

New Delhi:





When the Supreme Court ordered inspection of seven deemed universities, it had little clue how the University Grants Commission will dilute the process by disregarding its own rules.UGC's inspection committee is headed by its secretary JS Sandhu and consists of OP Kalra of University College of Medical Sciences, Ramesh Dadich of ICSSR, SP Goyal, joint secretary, HRD ministry and Sunita Siwach, a UGC official.
This has happened despite UGC regulation of 2009 setting specific norms how to constitute an inspection committee to ascertain the financial needs of a university or its standard of teaching, examination and research, or for both. The regulation says the committee should consist of two serving or retired vice-chancellors of any central or state university; not less than three and not more than five members, at least one a woman; from amongst professors having special knowledge of the courses being conducted in the university; one member from each of the councils with jurisdiction over the courses in the university and one member from National Academic and Accreditation Council. The regulation also says the committee should be headed by one of the two VCs.
HRD ministry sources justified the constitution of the committee on the ground that it is not a regular inspection committee but could not answer how HRD and UGC officials could be part of it.
It is not only the constitution of the inspection committee that is attracting criticism, now it has come out that the UGC committee that reviewed 41 deemed universities had actually put eight of them in the list to be disqualified as deemed university. But in the last minute, one university from Uttar Pradesh was moved out of the list.

Oct 30 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

India drops 2 spots to 142nd in `ease of doing biz' index

Chidanand Rajghatta

Washington





India has slipped two places to stand 142nd out of 189 countries ranked by the World Bank for `ease of doing business', underscoring the tough task that lies ahead of the Narendra Modi government which has said it wants to make India a businessfriendly country .On the 10 parameters used to measure ease of doing business in WB's 2015 report, covering the period from June 2013 to May 2014 (when UPA was in power), India came close to the bottom in two categories. It stood a wretched 184th in the category `dealing with construction permits' and 186th in `enforcing contracts'.
On the bright side, India stood 7th -an improvement of 14 places -when it came to `protecting minority investors'. This is the only category in which it has shown an improvement from 2013, when it was ranked 21 in this category and 140 in the overall ease of doing business.
All of India's neighbours, except for Bangladesh (173) and Afghanistan (193), were ranked higher.
Tops in consumer confidence again
India continues to top the global consumer confidence ndex, but given the slowdown n discretionary spends, it has dipped by two points in the hird quarter of 2014, according o a Nielsen survey released on Wednesday. The survey said hat India scored 126 in the hird quarter, followed closely by Indonesia (125) in second position. P 19 India's ranking in other eight categories are:
Starting a Business (158th), Getting Electricity (137), Registering Property (121), Getting Credit (36), Paying Taxes (156), Trading Across Borders (126), and Resolving Insolvency (137).
Getting construction permits in India involved an average of 25 procedures that took 186 days and cost 28% of the warehouse value. Enforcing contracts took 46 procedures and 1,420 days or nearly four years. Getting electricity took 106 days and registering a property 47 days.
Indicators measured in Mumbai, India's business epicenter, showed it required 13 procedures to start a business, and 30 days to accomplish this, compared to an average of 4.8 procedures and 9.2 days in advanced economies.
The Modi government, which aggressively made ease of doing business part of its agenda and has already initiated some steps, has plenty to chew on in the report that chronicles how enervating it is to start a business in India.For instance, it takes five days to pay stamp duties online, file all incorporation forms and documents online and obtain the certificate of incorporation and five days to request and obtain Certificate to Commence Operations.
It takes between a week and 12 days for each of the following procedures: Obtain a Permanent Account Number (PAN) from an authorized franchise or agent appointed by National Securities Depository Services Limited (NSDL) or Unit Trust of India (UTI) ­ seven days; Register with Employees' Provident Fund Organization --12 days, simultaneous with previous procedure: Register for VAT online -10 days, simultaneous with previous procedure; Register for medical insurance (ESIC) -nine days, simultaneous with previous procedure; Obtain a tax account number for income taxes deducted at source from the Assessing Office in the Mumbai Income Tax Department ­ seven days.
China topped the neighbourhood at 90.

It will take 81 years for gender parity at workplace, says WEF report

It ranks 114 out of 142 countries in World Economic Forum’s 2014 gender gap index

India, which ranks low on narrowing the gender gap in education, health and equal pay for equal work, has, however, taken a high position on the political empowerment sub-index, shows the annual gender survey of the World Economic Forum.

Placing India at 114 out of 142 countries vis-à-vis removing gender-based disparities, the survey puts the country at number 15 on the scorecard for political empowerment. India also tops the list of countries on the years with woman head of state (over the past 50 years). While it fell 13 places to 114th slot, politically it is ranked higher than the United States and the United Kingdom. It ranks 111 on the list of countries which have women in Parliament and 107 on the list of countries with women ministers.

Oct 29 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)

Prevention is the key

NAMRATA KOHLI





FAST FACTSKnowledge and awareness about an impending climate danger help one equip oneself with sufficient aids to combat the threat.
Weather forecasting is the attempt by meteorologists to predict the state of the atmosphere at some future time and the weather conditions that may be expected

Scorching summers, bone-chilling winters and deluges that resemble cloudbursts are signs that all is not well with climatic conditions.Climate change is the single biggest environmental and humanitarian crisis of our time.The question arises how do we address this? There are a few personal lifestyle changes that one can make to mitigate the risk and certain initiatives can be taken up at the level of community as well. Things that each of us must do to manage and mitigate the environmental risks and challenges.
Like they say, forewarned is forearmed.Weather forecasting is one way to anticipate emergencies and provide protection for human life and buildings.While global warming is leading to frequent weather extremes such as drought, flooding, hurricanes and tsunamis, one way to reduce the risks of people and structures is by weather forecasting. Improved weather tracking would contain the risk to a great extent.
In this regard, technological intervention in the name of weather radar systems will be pertinent. This is basically a surveillance system that allows one to detect weather threat with greater precision. It can be used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its form such as rain, snow, hail, etc.
Apart from this, as far as possible we must make an effort to progressively reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and employ alternatives such as biodiesel, wind power, etc.
One way to dramatically curtail transportation fuel needs is to move closer to work, use mass transit, or switch to walking, cycling or some other mode of transport that does not require anything other than human energy.There is also the option of working from home and telecommuting several days a week.
Swapping old gadgets with more efficient ones would save billions of kilowatt-hours. Purchasing energyefficient gadgets and gizmos is an important way to save both energy and money. Think green when making purchases and go for efficient refrigerators, air conditioners and other appliances. Look for products that will last the longest and have the least impact on the environment. Knowledge and awareness about an impending climate danger help one equip oneself with sufficient aids to combat the threat. Weather forecasting is the attempt by meteorologists to predict the state of the atmosphere at some future time and the weather conditions that may be expected.Accurate weather forecasts can tell a farmer the best time to plant; an airport control tower what information to send to planes that are landing and taking off; and residents of a coastal region when a hurricane might strike.
Should there be an impending crisis then one needs to be well prepared with disaster management or mitigation techniques. This implies using community resources to fight the effects of an event until the situation can be stabilized. Through disaster management, we cannot completely counteract the damage but it is possible to minimize the risks through early warning, provide developmental plans for recuperation from the disaster, generate communication and medical resources, and aid in rehabilitation and post-disaster reconstruction. The 72 hours following a major event is the most difficult time because of a lack of coordination among relief organizations.Problems that interrupt rather than coordinate the rescue efforts of all groups involved often occur because of hasty decision making under complicated circumstances and the large number of organizations, which are unsure of their roles.

Oct 29 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)

Cutting-edge solutions for natural disasters





When compared to the world, India has been a safer land in terms of natural calamities. However, the times have changed in the past few years. Having witnessed some severe natural calamities due to floods in Uttarakand last year and Kashmir this year, advanced disaster resistance and management has become an absolute necessity for India. Japan is one of the most prone countries to natural calamities due to earthquakes, floods, typhoons, etc. It turns out to be one of the reasons they have one of the best disaster management systems in the world.Before1960 in Japan, the measurement against the flood was not sufficient and thousands of people were killed or lost lives each time heavy typhoons hit the country. The Japanese government then made a fiveyear-plan for flood control. The measures included flood control by improving bank, dam, river system and weather radar, etc., and every five year the number of flood victims began to decrease.
Toshiba has been supplying many weather radars and its applied systems to government and autonomous companies. Toshiba delivered its first weather radar system to the government of Japan in 1955.
In India, Toshiba plans to promote total solutions that help to minimize the impacts of disasters by utilizing highly accurate, high density information obtained from the cuttingedge weather radars.
One of latest offerings in the safety solutions, Toshiba is already in the process of implementing its weather radar system in Kashmir. With the starting point already made, Toshiba will expand its offerings in disaster resistant solutions for India and its commitment is to bring in total solutions for disaster resistance to all the regions of the nation in need. The entry of Toshiba's new business venture, which is focussed on solving yet another social issue of India, reassures Toshiba's commitment to the people of Indian society.

Oct 29 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)

Climate Challenges in India

NAMRATA KOHLI





Rising seas, droughts and wildfires, severe storms, hurricanes and floods vagaries of nature are becoming more pronounced with each passing day

The earth is puffy with heat-trapping carbondioxide, which threatens large-scale disruptions in climate. Evidence of this is visible in the form of drastic variations in rain pattern, extreme hot and cold periods, even glaciers shrinkage worldwide affecting run-off and water resources downstream.Every other day a new natural calamity is striking some part of the globe, followed by another, each time increasing the level of ferocity. Take the case of recent hudhud cyclone in coastal Andhra Pradesh which wreaked havoc in the coastal areas especially in the city of Vishakapatnam, or the recent floods in Jammu & Kashmir where heavy rainfalls battered the western Himalayas killing over 400 people and displacing thousands of them, or the case of Uttarakhand cloudburst which culminated in the most devastating flood and landslides, killing over 5,000 people. Destruction of bridges and roads left about 100,000 pilgrims and tourists trapped in the valleys of Hindu pilgrimage sites.
Islands of heat that are getting formed nowadays make it unbearable for all living beings. Irregularities in weather have a direct impact on farming industry and agriculture. This is impacting the crop yield especially that of wheat and maize. Reductions in crop yield leads to increased food prices and also creates food insecurity which adversely affects the poor.
But who is the culprit for all this. Changes in the environment pattern are brought about not in a day, but over a sustained period of unplanned construction of buildings and roads, especially in the floodplains of the rivers and the banks of the lakes; cutting of trees for uncontrolled construction in the hills, rampant and unchecked dumping of garbage in the rivers and lakes; overuse of chemical fertilizers by farmers.
Global warming has led to increase in average temperatures thereby resulting in faster rate of melting of glaciers and polar ice caps. It has been projected that the many islands will get submerged by mid 21st century with the rise in sea level.Coastal systems and low-lying areas will experience adverse impacts such as submergence, coastal flooding, and coastal erosion. Global marine-species redistribution and marinebiodiversity reduction in sensitive regions will challenge the sustained provision of fisheries productivity and other ecosystem services. Many terrestrial, freshwater, and marine species have shifted their geographic ranges, seasonal activities, migration patterns, abundances, and species interactions in response to ongoing climate change. Spatial shifts of marine species due to projected warming will cause high-latitude invasions and high local extinction rates in the tropics and semi-enclosed seas. Species richness and fisheries catch potential are projected to increase, on average, at mid and high latitudes and decrease at tropical latitudes. Climate change will impact human health mainly by exacerbating health problems that already exist. Throughout the 21st century, climate change is expected to lead to increases in ill-health in many regions and especially in developing countries with low income, as compared to a baseline without climate change.

Oct 29 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

‘Indian customers most tolerant’

John Sarkar

New Delhi





Will online shoppers warm up to Flipkart again after it botched up their chances of landing a good deal on the Big Billion Day sale? It seems like they would, reveals a global survey. Indians are the most tolerant customers in the world with 66% of them willing to give companies a second or more chances when faced with poor customer service, says the survey, which measures customer service of companies across the world.This is in stark contrast to customers in Japan (52%), Italy (45%) and Mexico (44%), who say that companies do not get a second chance to make a good impression when it comes to customer service.
However, the findings also suggest that Indian consumers are also very touchy with 71% having dropped an intended purchase due to poor customer service.
“The highly networked Indian customer presents a phenomenal opportunity as he wields a wide sphere of ‘word of mouth’ influence and is also willing to pay a premium to companies providing great service. So, focusing on delivering outstanding service will ultimately help companies to grow. Businesses can build advocates by delivering good customer service,” said Sanjay Rishi, president, American Express South Asia. Interestingly, the survey shows that good customer services help companies rake in more revenues. Nearly 78% of consumers have spent more with a company because of history of positive customer service experiences. The survey also indicates that this trend is picking up as 86% of Indian customers have expressed willingness to spend 23% more with a company they believe provides excellent customer service as against the global average of 66%, who are willing to spend 12% more.
In addition to spending more, 66% of the survey’s respondents say they always tell others about good service interaction. According to the findings, recommendations from friends or family members are amongst the most likely ways to get 22% Indian customers to try a new company.
The immense tolerance index of Indian customers is also highlighted by the fact that when it comes to their willingness to wait in-person or when they are put on hold on telephone for customer service, the most patient consumers, on an average, are in India (wait in-person for 20 minutes, wait-on-hold for 18 minutes).
On the other hand, their counterparts in other markets exhibit less tolerance (average wait in-person for 14 minutes, on hold for 12 minutes), finds the survey by American Express .