Kolkata becomes India’s first Wi-Fi-enabled metro city

Kolkata has become India’s first Wi-Fi-enabled metro city as the service was launched from Park Street in city.

This 4th Generation (4G) free Wi-fi service was launched by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Free Wi-fi service will be will be rolled out in phased manner in all the wards under Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) as well as adjacent areas of Kolkata. The whole city is expected to come under Wi-Fi coverage by mid-April in 2015.

Private telecom operator, Reliance Jio is providing the 4G enabled service Wi-fi s in the city.

Hindol Sengupta’s book shortlisted for prestigious Hayek Prize

ndian Journalist-writer Hindol Sengupta’s book Recasting India: How Entrepreneurship is Revolutionizing the World’s Largest Democracy, has been shortlisted for the U.S.’ prestigious Hayek Prize, 2015.

His book on entrepreneurial ventures in India is among the six books in race for this prestigious award.

Other shortlisted books include The Forgotten Depression: 1921: The Crash that Cured Itself by James Grant; The Rule of Nobody: Saving America from Dead Laws and Broken Government by Philip K. Howard; The Market and Other Orders (The Collected Works of F A Hayek) by F.A. Hayek, edited by Bruce Caldwell; Putin’s Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia by Karen Dawisha; and The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor by William Easterly.

About Hayek Prize

It is awarded each year to writers whose work best celebrates the principles of Austro-Hungarian Nobel laureate in economics, Friedrich von Hayek.

This prize is awarded by Manhattan Institute and carries monetary prize of $50,000.

Symposium: Towards Zero Poaching in Asia concludes in Nepal

A symposium, Towards Zero Poaching in Asia concluded in Kathmandu, Nepal on 6th February 2015.

Symposium: Towards Zero Poaching in Asia

• This five-day anti-poaching symposium started on 2 February 2015, was hosted by the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation of Nepal.
• It was co-hosted by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Global Tiger Forum (GTF), National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) and South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN)
• This event had brought together global anti-poaching experts and delegates from countries like Bangaladesh, Bhutan, China, Cambodia, India, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.
• In this event, experts shared best anti-poaching practices, tools and technologies with the aim of launching a coordinated Asia-wide push to stop poaching.
• Among the Tiger Range Countries that participated in this Zero Poaching in Asia symposium, Nepal is the only country to achieve zero poaching.

Nepal’s achievement of Zero-poaching

• Nepal had celebrated two zero poaching years i.e. in 2011 and 2014.
• In both years no single critically endangered rhino was killed and for past three years not a single tiger was killed.
• Nepal was able to achieve remarkable success in wildlife conservation mainly due to its three C policies, commitment, collaboration and coordination of conservation efforts undertaken by local communities and the security forces.

Nepal’s wildlife

• Nepal, which shares the Terai Arc landscape with India, has rich bio-diversity and rare flora and fauna. It is home to endangered animals like tigers, rhinos, elephants and gangetic dolphins.
• It has 10 national parks, three wildlife reserves and six conservation areas that cover more than 13,000 square miles in total.  As per the previous animal census there are 534 endangered rhinos and 198 tigers in Nepal.
• Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) is Nepal’s nodal agency to monitor its rich biodiversity.

Economic & Political Weekly: Table of Contents

No Transparency in Nuclear Deal

Vol - L No. 5, January 31, 2015 

• Editorials

We need to know if the Modi government has given hidden assurances to the US administration.

• Read more
• 4 Comments

Editorials Mobama's China Spectre New Delhi should refrain from being part of Washington's plans to contain the rise of China. Read more	Strategic Affairs 'Modified' Foreign Policy Interrogating Coherence, Finesse, Efficacy Srinath Raghavan Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invested much political capital in his foreign policy initiatives. Behind the spectacle of the pomp and show, the real test of foreign policy and strategy lies in coherence of design, finesse in execution, and... Read more
Commentary Caste, Community and Crime Explaining the Violence in Muzaffarpur Mohammad Sajjad The violence against Pasmanda Muslims in Azizpur-Bahilwara in Muzaffarpur cannot be understood as an instance of conventional communal strife between Hindus and Muslims. This report from the ground indicates that different layers of caste,... Read more	Commentary Ebola and India How Will the Country Cope? T Jacob John While the chances of the Ebola virus entering India are low, Ebola and pandemic flu teach us to expect the unexpected and be prepared. New diseases are appearing in the world again and again. We live today in a "global village". Ebola-... Read more
Commentary Ethnic Militancy in Assam Whom to Blame? H Srikanth The killing of over 70 adivasis in Assam by one faction of the Bodo militants is part of a pattern which has become normalised in Assam and its neighbouring states. This article places the present killings in the historical context of the rise of... Read more	Commentary Consumer Protection Act An Unequal Fight Sakuntala Narasimhan Twenty-five years after the Consumer Protection Act was put in place as a uniquely beneficial social legislation offering "simple, speedy and inexpensive" redressal, all three characteristics seem to have disappeared. Amendments to the... Read more
Commentary The Academic Performance Indicators Regime and Its Follies V Sujatha The University Grants Commission does not seem to view higher education and research as having anything to do with the culture of intellectual activity. Rather it looks at research as a matter of regulation, monitoring and measurement of academic... Read more	Commentary RTE and Marginal Communities A Perspective from the Field Bibhuti Bhushan Malik This article highlights the educational conditions of marginalised communities in the context of the Right to Education Act in terms of educational status, opportunity and access to education. Further, a modest attempt is made to encapsulate the... Read more
Book Reviews The Relationship between People and Parks Radhika Govindrajan Living between Juniper and Palm by Ben Campbell (New Delhi: Oxford University Press), 2013; pp 392, Rs 995 (Hardcover). Read more	Book Reviews The 'Green' Quotient in the Supreme Court Shibani Ghosh Environmental Jurisprudence and the Supreme Court: Litigation, Interpretation, Implementation by Geetanjoy Sahu (Orient BlackSwan, TISS), 2014; pp xviii + 323, price not indicated. Read more
Book Reviews Simple Economics for Complex Problems Shantayanan Devarajan How Does My Country Grow? Economic Advice through Storytelling by Brian Pinto (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 2014; pp xx + 249, price not stated. Read more	Perspectives A Decade of Disaster Risk Management in India Malini Nambiar Natural Disasters are set to increase in the coming years. Climate change, coupled with a growth in population and insufficient enforcement of building codes in high-risk zones, has not only heightened India's vulnerability to the impact of... Read more
Public Sector Can the Public Sector Revive the Economy? Review of the Evidence and a Policy Suggestion R Nagaraj The public sector's share in domestic output has stagnated since the late 1980s, its share in capital stock has fallen since 1990, and employment has contracted by 10% from the mid-1990s. Why has it fared so poorly even as its financial... Read more	Public Sector The Transformation of India's Public Sector Political Economy of Growth and Change Sushil Khanna This paper examines the paradox of the diminishing institutional role of large central public sector enterprises despite rising profitability and investment as a result of their being efficient competitors in the new market environment. Under the... Read more
Special Articles Rise and Fall of Industrial Finance in India Partha Ray Examining the sources of finance for Indian industry, this paper traces the transition from a state-owned and state-dictated financial sector to a regime of financial liberalisation. There are still a number of rough edges to this transition.... Read more	Special Articles Layers in Globalising Society and the New Middle Class in India Trends, Distribution and Prospects Anirudh Krishna, Devendra Bajpai The means of personal transportation to which one has access constitute an important part of one's relationship with globalisation, limiting or enhancing the scope of activity and area of influence. We define economic classes in relation to... Read more
Notes Conflict of Kashmir and the Problem of Disappearance Paul D'Souza The disappearance of young men without any trace in Kashmir over the last three decades of conflict is a reason for anguish and agitation in the region. For families and close relatives of the disappeared, the issue goes beyond the politics of... Read more	Economic Notes Recent Trends in Inter-Sectoral Terms of Trade R Krishnaswamy, J Dennis Rajakumar Revisiting an old debate about terms of trade of agriculture vis-à-vis other sectors in the Indian economy, it is argued that the ToT of agriculture has remained favourable for a large part of the post-liberalisation phase, with it being... Read more

Heads of State, Nobel Laureates, specialists provided thought leadership at 15th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 2015

Report by Rashmi Ranjan Parida, New Delhi: Heads of State, Nobel Laureates and thought leaders converged at the landmark 15th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 2015 (DSDS) to find solutions for some of the key issues that will shape our global planet. This flagship event of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) provided a unique platform to further the developmental discourse on ‘Sustainable Development Goals and Dealing with Climate Change’, the theme this year. The DSDS 2015 assumes significance as the post-2015 development agenda is being finalized -- the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is expected to adopt the new set of goals in September 2015 and the climate negotiations (Conference of Parties – CoP21) will be held Paris later this year.

 

Dr R K Pachauri, Director-General, TERI, said: “The IPCC reports have proved beyond doubt that if we don’t take immediate measures, the future will be catastrophic. But climate change also offers an opportunity of co-benefits – investing in clean and affordable energy sources like solar and wind power can curb greenhouse gas emissions, and clean transportation systems such as trains and cycling can reduce air pollution woes and improve public health. DSDS is a reaffirmation of the support that TERI receives from across the globe.”

Said Mr Prakash Javadekar, Hon’ble Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, India: “Growth has brought in a scenario where inequities are growing. This has to be taken up in the development discourse. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that we are suffering due to the pressures created by climate change. We have the responsibility to improve the lives of the future generations. We have already taken the clean energy path – we have enhanced our renewable energy commitments and launched smart cities.”

 

“All countries have been affected by air pollution. Clean air must be a birthright for all. We need to work towards clean air, water and energy for all,” Mr Javadekar added.

 

Said Mr Suresh Prabhu, Hon’ble Minister for Railways, India: “Climate change is a scientific reality. If we delay action, the repercussions will be disastrous. We need to find a unified solution to tackle climate change innovatively. We need to move towards a low carbon economy and this has the potential to create new employment opportunities.” 

 

Delivering the special address, Mr Arnold Schwarzenegger, Founding Chair, R20 – Regions of Climate Change, & Former Governor, California, said: “Climate change is no science fiction. We need both a bottom up and a top down approaches. India will be a major player in the climate negotiations. We need action, not hesitation.”

 

“We need to find innovative solutions to problems such as indoor air pollution. TERI’s Lighting a Billion Lives campaign has illustrated new solutions, providing solar lanterns as a clean alternative to the polluting kerosene lamps,” added Mr Schwarzenegger.

 

Delivering the inaugural address, HE Mr Laurent Fabius, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, France, & Former Prime Minister, France, & President, COP 21, said: “2015 will be a decisive milestone for climate change and sustainable development. The scientific community has done its job. Now governments and the corporate sector must play its part. If you accept climate disruption, then there will be a development disruption.”

 

Said Dr Annapurna Vancheswaran, Director, Sustainable Development Outreach Division, TERI: “DSDS is the foremost forum to deliberate on critical environmental and developmental problems. Having been part of every edition of the DSDS, I can say the journey has been fascinating.”

 

At a special session ‘Leaders’ Speak’, Nobel Laureate Prof. Yuan Tseh Lee, President Emeritus and Distinguished Research Fellow, Academia Sinica, said: “Climate change is the biggest enemy of the planet. It cannot be solved by the scientific community, but by everybody. To be successful, we have to be organized and work together. Population explosion and consumption explosion has overloaded the Earth with many dangers. We need to wake up to this crisis.”

 

Said Nobel Laureate Mr Kailash Satyarthi, Founder of Bachpan Bachao Andolan & Chairperson, Global March Against Child Labour, India: “A large number of girls have been abducted and taken hostage by the ISIS. Parents said that they sent their girls in uniform, but they returned in coffins. We live in a world where children are sold as animals, sometimes even less than animals. The biggest crime is denying the child a chance to dream.”

 

Among the highlights of the day was the release of TERI publications – Global Sustainability Report and an Energy Security Atlas.

Feb 07 2015 : The Times of India (Delhi)

After 19-month hunt, man finds wife lost in Kedarnath deluge

Ashish Mehta & Rajendra Sharma

Alwar TNN





In an awe-inspiring story of human grit in the face of adversity , a 45-year-old travel company employee kept up the search for his wife who went missing in the Uttarakhand flash floods of June 2013 for a year-and-a-half, though she was officially declared dead and relatives had given up hope. Far away from home and their five children, Vijendra Singh found Leela in a remote village in the Himalayas on January 27, alive but too traumatized to speak or recall her past.“On June 12, 2013, my wife and I had left for the Char Dham yatra. I had taken 30 passengers in the bus of the travel company I worked for. I had last spoken to her on June 16 when the floods struck Kedarnath and devastated the region,“ said Vijendra of Alwar's Bhikampura village.
“Since that day , I stayed in Uttarakhand and must have gone to a thousand villages in the hope of finding her. I had faith in God and in destiny that I would meet her again and that she was alive,“ said Vijendra. “All I had was her picture that I showed villagers. On January 27, some people of Gongoli village told me they had seen a mentally unstable woman who resembled my wife.“ The ravages of time had made her unrecognizable but he knew it was Leela. The one-and-a-half year search was painful.
“Even my family members urged me to return, but I didn't give up. Many people thought that I had lost my mind,“ said Vijendra. “Officially , she was declared dead and our family even got a compensation of Rs 9 lakh.“
The 45-year-old spent several nights on roads when there was no hotel or village home to turn to. The reunion has been joyful but there's still a tinge of sorrow.
Sagar wept on seeing his mother. “Maa ne mujhe pehchaan liya (mother recognized me),“ he said. But Lee la's condition remains a worry as she isn't talking to anybody since she has reached home on Wednesday .
“She's unable to recall anything, but when my sister and her son-in-law were leaving, she applied `tilak' on her forehead and performed `vidayee' (a send-off ritual). We are hopeful,“ said Sagar.
Vijendra and his daughters, Raj Lakshmi, Pinki, Pushpa, and Seema Devi, and son Sagar, are all praying for her recovery . “We're not talking to her about what happened, but trying to make things normal,“ said Vijendra.

Visitor's Awards for 'Best University', 'Innovation' and 'Research' presented by the President of India at Rashtrapati Bhavan 

Report by India Education bureau, New Delhi:President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee presented Visitor’s Awards for Central Universities in the categories of ‘Best University’, ‘Innovation’ and ‘Research’ for the year 2015 at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan yesterday (February 4, 2015). 

The University of Hyderabad received ‘Best University’ Award for academic excellence & overall outstanding work. ‘Innovation’ Award was presented to Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary and Dr. Amita Gupta of University of Delhi for their invention of ‘TB Confirm’, a rapid diagnostic test for Tuberculosis. The ‘Research’ Award was received by Cosmology and Astrophysics Research Group, Centre for Theoretical Physics, Jamia Millia Islamia for path breaking research carried out in the field of Astrophysics and Cosmology. The Research Group comprises of Jamia Millia Islamia faculty - Prof. M. Sami, Prof. Sushant G. Ghosh, Prof. Sanjay Jhingan & Prof. Anjan Ananda Sen. 

The ‘Best University’ received a Citation and Trophy while winners of Visitor’s Award for ‘Innovation’ and ‘Research’ received a Citation and cash award of Rs. one lakh. 

The President had announced institution of these awards at the Vice Chancellors’ Conference last year with the aim of promoting healthy competition amongst Central Universities and motivating them to adopt best practices from across the world.