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Friday, December 02, 2016

How India lives, thinks, earns and spends

How much do India’s richest earn and what do they spend their money on? Does a college education influence earnings significantly? How are Indians living in metros different from those living in other parts of the country?
In a 16-part data journalism series, Mint tries to answer these and many more questions on how India lives, thinks, earns and spends, based on fresh data from the ICE 360° survey conducted this year by the People Research on India’s Consumer Economy (PRICE), and shared exclusively with Mint. The ‘Household Survey on India’s Citizen Environment & Consumer Economy’ (ICE 360° survey), covering 61,000 households, is the largest consumer economy survey in the country since the National Sample Survey Office conducted the last consumer expenditure survey in 2011-12.
The survey results show that India’s richest quintile accounts for 45% of aggregate household disposable income. The top decile earns 29% of aggregate household income, only a little less than what the bottom 60% households collectively earn. The top percentile earns 6% of the aggregate income, which is nearly equal to the share of the bottom 20% in the aggregate income pie. The survey data shows that an overwhelming majority (87%) of people living in metros belong to the top two quintiles of India’s income pyramid. The data also suggests that a college education raises the likelihood of earning more.

Source: Mint epaper, 2-12-2016

Citizens into subjects

SC’s mandating of nationalism and patriotism threatens to turn the wheel of constitutional history backwards.


The enterprise of teaching and instilling patriotism is fast picking up. India has fought wars before and both during those wars and in peace time, the citizens of this country have never shown any trace of disloyalty or disaffection toward this country. But suddenly, we seem to be collectively succumbing to this phobia about a shortage of nationalism and patriotism among the public. And so, pills and injections containing vitamins N and P are being forced on to the unsuspecting citizenry.
Every day, there is a new demand on our patriotism. If you complain of the queues at ATMs, you are reminded of the soldier and told that standing in a queue is the measure of your loyalty to the nation. Recently, the UGC issued a fatwa that on November 26, Constitution Day, all educational institutions must instill knowledge of not the Constitution generally, but of Fundamental Duties specifically. Now, the Supreme Court has chosen to instruct the government on how to ensure that nationalism and patriotism are instilled in the citizenry — playing the national anthem at the beginning of movie screenings in cinema halls with the national flag displayed on the screen.
The politics of patriotism and nationalism is not new and in many countries across the world, it has unfolded at different points in time, but often with very similar effects — harassment of minorities, blackmailing of dissenters and closure of intellectual freedoms. But what happens when the highest judiciary also begins to believe that the vital vitamins are in short supply and need to be injected forcibly?
Playing the national anthem in cinema halls is not a new move. Judicial overreach, too, is not a new phenomenon. In this case, for instance, the court could have chosen to wait till the government responded (the next hearing on this petition is scheduled for February 2017). Instead, it chose to hurriedly pass this order. In giving an interim order, the SC bench has sought recourse to three interconnected arguments and it is the logic employed by the court that merits critical discussion.
First, the court has transformed the national flag and national anthem into fossilised and statist signatures of power and authority instead of allowing these to be imbricated in popular affection and creative imagination. Because the court says that dramatisation of the national anthem is “inconceivable”. Also, it says that those using the national anthem should not derive any benefit from it. While this would only give rise to controversies over the use of the flag or anthem in creative performances, including their depictions in “commercial” cinema, the idea of transforming symbols of affection and pride into the legal-bureaucratic fangs of the state is equivalent to turning love into fear. Nationalism grounded in a punitive bureaucratic mindset often tends to give way to unruly vigilantism or authoritarian state machinery or both. The court arrives at this statist interpretation because it concludes that the notion of “protocol” is associated with the anthem and flag. It is a pity that popular symbols are thus turned into instruments to frighten and discipline the citizen.
Two, the bench chose to rely on Part IV A of the Constitution, the Fundamental Duties, in order to justify a forced show of respect. This is an explosive arena as far as interpretation of the Constitution is concerned. So far, rights constituted the core of the Constitution. Now, both inside the courtrooms and outside them, a shift in the discourse seems to have begun by invoking “duties”. In this order too, the court chooses to counterbalance rights with duties. This is unfortunate and problematic. Does the order imply that duties are more sacrosanct than rights? Does it imply that rights are conditional on fulfilling certain moral obligations? In fact, the court order has literally thrown open the doors for a new phase in interpreting the Constitution. While the order makes a reference to the “ideals engrafted in the Constitution”, it turns to the Fundamental Duties as instances of those ideals. Showing respect to the national anthem is one such ideal. While there cannot be two opinions on the importance of the anthem or the flag, to state that showing respect to them constitutes “ideals” enshrined in the Constitution is almost rewriting the document; changing it from a document based on welfare and liberalism to one based on authority, patriotism.
Three, the order mentions in passing the idea of constitutional patriotism. It is not clear from the short order of the bench what exactly the honourable judges mean by it. Constitutional patriotism could be seen as a great idea, exhorting citizens to commit to a liberal democratic ethic. It could, alternatively, be seen as an ideological tool for reordering the cognitive universe of citizens and thereby leave behind other loyalties — linguistic, ethnic, regional, etc and place national loyalty above everything. In the former sense, it would operate in the realm of values and moral principles — that citizens must abide by the fundamental values of the Constitution above all. It is doubtful if contemporary proponents of majoritarian nationalism would endorse this idea of constitutional patriotism.
In its latter sense, the idea of constitutional patriotism could privilege uniformity of ideas and ways of life — something Indian nationalism and constitutionalism sought to avoid. From the wording of the SC order, it can be deduced that the honourable judges have probably leaned on the latter meaning of constitutional patriotism. Why else would they say that, “It (constitutional patriotism) does not allow any different notion or the perception of individual rights, that have individually thought of have no space. The idea is constitutionally impermissible.”
This approach of the court might not be very surprising. The courts have normally given rulings and interpreted the Constitution in tune with the overall political-moral ethos of the time. So, the thinking behind the order is consistent with the current ethos.
These three arguments of the bench make for disturbing reading. The order engages in a redefinition of citizenship, wherein the holding of rights is not the hallmark of citizenship; the discharge of certain obligations is the new sine qua non of being a patriot-citizen. Their lordships have taken away from us our cherished right to love our country, our society, our right to be nationalistic and patriotic; in one stroke, our rights are converted into legally enforceable duties — nationalism as compulsion is indeed a pitiful condition. The order of the court has pushed us into that pitiful condition. This is not exactly in tune with the specific history of India’s constitutionalism nor with the more general history of constitutionalism.
Constitutionalism evolved through struggles for rights of ordinary men and women. But when state appropriates the language of nationalism and blatantly sets aside citizenship rights in favour of duties, the wheels of history turn backward. India’s nationalism gave us democracy and converted subjects into citizens. Are we now contemplating to turn citizens into subjects?
The writer taught political science at Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune and is chief editor of, ‘Studies in Indian Politics’.
Source: Indian Express, 2-12-2016

HIV: The self-test option


th the World Health Organisation releasing guidelines on HIV self-testing, a major obstacle in improving access to diagnosis has been cleared. Though much progress has been achieved in India in making HIV testing accessible and free of cost, many infected persons remain unaware of their status. Across the world, nearly 40 per cent of people with HIV are unaware of their infection and run the risk of unknowingly transmitting it. Besides going a long way in preventing new infections, early diagnosis will help in a prompt start to treatment and enable the infected to live longer and healthier. Though there has been a 66 per cent drop in incidence in 2015 in India compared with 2000, the number of new HIV infections last year was 86,000; children below 15 years of age alone account for 12 per cent of this number. In 2015, the total number of people with HIV in India was estimated to be 2.1 million. Of this, 1.5 million were detected and tested at integrated counselling and testing centres (ICTC) and about a million people are on treatment. This leaves about half a million who are unaware of their HIV status. The government has approved in principle the proposal to take HIV testing closer to those in need by starting community-based testing. This will soon become operational and will be in addition to institutional testing. India is also weighing the option of self-testing.
The WHO-approved OraQuick HIV self-testing is based on HIV antibodies present in oral and blood samples. The test can detect antibodies developed within three months of getting infected. It is a screening test, and a positive result should be reconfirmed though a blood-based test. Despite greater awareness, people with HIV still face stigma and discrimination. As a result, getting everyone at risk of HIV infection tested has been a challenge. The OraQuick self-testing makes diagnosis easier and faster, besides ensuring privacy and confidentiality, thus encouraging more people to get tested. But there are challenges in terms of counselling and sensitivity, with the accuracy of the tests pegged at around 93 per cent. Counselling has to be done through innovative ways, such as over the telephone, as in the case of the U.S. Unlike the conventional method of getting tested at ICTCs, people self-testing should be more aware about the possibility of false negatives. But the risk of not getting tested far outweighs the limitations posed by self-testing. Twenty-three countries have in place policies that support HIV self-testing. It is time India adopted it quickly to enable more people to test themselves and help break the transmission cycle.
Source: The Hindu
1% Central Job & Education Quota for Mentally Impaired
New Delhi:


AHEAD OF INTERNATIONAL DAY OF DISABLED PERSONS Right of Persons with Disabilities Bill to be tabled in Rajya Sabha today; for first time govt would reserve jobs for persons with intellectual disability & mental illness
Ahead of International Day of Disabled Persons on December 3, the Narendra Modi government has paved the way for a landmark initiative ­ increase in reservation for the differentlyabled from 3% to 4% in public sector jobs and educational institutions. For the first time, the government would reserve jobs for persons with intellectual disability and mental illness.The government would introduce the Right of Persons with Disabilities Bill in Rajya Sabha on Friday ­ a day before the International Day . This would end a three-year wait for the Bill, which increases the number of disabilities from 7 to 21.The biggest initiative is increase in reservation for jobs and educational institutions.So far, jobs and places in educational institutions were reserved for three categories of disabilities ­hearing, visually and orthopaedically impaired and orthopaedically impaired. The three categories each got 1% reservation totaling up to 3%. Now another percentage point has been added opening up jobs and educational institutions for other categories including mental illness, intellectual disability and cerebral palsy .
The government would follow the set procedure of referring the matter to a committee, which would identify certain jobs that can be reserved for persons with intellectual disability . A senior official told ET, “There are several repetitive jobs, like in a laundry , which persons with intellectual disabilities do very well.These will be identified.“ The move to reserve jobs for people with intellectual disabilities comes after much debate within the government.
A Group of Ministers had examined the issue in detail whether jobs could be entrusted to persons with mental illness. The matter was then referred to Prime Minister's Office, which also took independent views from medical and disability experts. The final view was in favour of reserving jobs for them. The government is hoping to get political support for the Bill as both Houses are facing repeated adjournments. The Bill comes after a three-year delay . It had been introduced under UPA-II in February 2014 when the government pushed for a 5% quota for the disabled.

Source: Economic Times, 2-12-2016

SPREADING REACH - Kindle books now in 5 Indian languages
Bengaluru:


Amazon's Kindle has launched digital books in five Indian languages and is adding more local languages to its collection.Kindle's India sales grew 200% in 2015, and further accelerated this year, its India director for content Sanjeev Jha told TOI. The company has added thousands of best sellers and exclusive titles in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Gujarati and Malayalam. “We have been working on innovations to make the experience the same as that for English. We had also learnings from launching in other languages. This is day one and we will gather feedback to improve the offerings,“ Jha said.
He added that all the features available for the English language, like personalization, note taking, and page flip, will be standard for the Indian languages, too, with custom typesetting for a seamless reading experience.
Kindle expects India to surpass the US market in the next few years. Kindle, which lists more than 4 million digital books, has more than 10 crore app downloads on Google Play .Around half of Kindle users are accessing the services through the app on Google Play or Apple's Appstore and the other half through Kindle devices. The Indian subscription is priced at Rs 150 per month.
“With more than a billion smartphones expected in India, this is going to be a big market. We don't have languages from South East Asia or West Asia yet and that shows the importance of the Indian market for Amazon. It was a lot of effort to transform the Indian publishing ecosystem as we had to digitalize the physical books,“ Jha said. Kindle already has Indian English books and Jha said that the focus was to add the most relevant books rather than trying to publish every book.
Jha said that Indians are value seekers and Kindle offers a fair value for the price.Amazon is working towards bringing government publications and educational books on Kindle. When Amazon customers take up digital readership, they tend to read four times more than they read physical books (based on the sales of physical books on Amazon).However in India, a Kindle user downloads ten times the number of books that heshe bought in physical form.

Source: Times of India, 2-12-16
Why We Are Reluctant To Do Hard Work


Hard work requires discipline, persistence, the ability to stay with and overcome difficulties, and a strong desire to accomplish one's goals. In today's world pleasure seeking has become paramount. As long as it is good sailing, and we receive incentives and rewards, the more willing we are to put in extra hours, extra effort and extra zest into what we are doing. Unfortunately, life does not work like that all the time.There are experiences of gruelling work, boredom, repetitive tasks, frustration whilst doing chores and the need to earn a livelihood that compel us to choose to remain at the till.We live in a civilisation that makes the human body look for comfort and ease, the mind to remain really unchallenged, allows emotions to swing from good to bad and vice versa and creates a plethora of choices that make us feel we can rule the world with the minimum of effort on our part.
On the other hand, problems are so complex today, work has become so demanding, that unless we are prepared to literally sweat it out, we might get nowhere.
Teaching can throw at us many challenges. My experiences working with and teaching orphan children meant that i had to be alert and alive when i most wanted to sit comfortably in a chair and do things my way. But, the children would not allow me to get lazy. In the middle of a hot morning, they wanted to get up and play-act or dance, sometimes up on the terrace, dragging me along to participate with them. Teaching the hearing impaired and mute was strenuous and physically hard on me, too.
Whilst teaching reading to those who were not able to pronounce words correctly, i had to repeat drills, teach them to enunciate words and read with expression. That demanded a lot of work that sometimes, i was reluctant to take up either because i was shying away from hard work or i had underestimated the difficulties of teaching. And so it is with life. Life does not bring us comfort and ease. It throws at us challenges and responsibilities that force us to continue even if we reach a point where we think we go on any further. Sickness and cannot go on any further. Sickness and disabilities bring us trials when we think we deserve a little rest. But life is a race that runs along and we have to run with it or be left trailing behind.
Who said becoming a champion is easy? We only look at the master strokes and mastery that people have gained over a job or task. We know very little about the long hard hours of work that went into turning out masters.
The discipline, hard work, the courage to continue in the face of challenges that extract the most out of us will make us warriors. By our hard work, we are laying the groundwork for reaching heights. We have to carry on, often alone. Effort and work in the present will lead us to a better future where work becomes worship.Worship is not easy either, because it is also hard work and effort. But God's grace flows without impediment to those who work hard without stressing about the outcome.
Samsung tops IIT hirings with Rs 78L pay
Mumbai:


Uber Int'l Follows With Rs 75L
Day One of placements at IITs started off on a tough note this year. Uber International was the big buyer with its massive annual compensation of $1.1 lakh or around Rs 75 lakh (base salary) at IIT-Madras.But it was Samsung, which took the pre-placement offer (PPO) route and picked around 10 IITians, including five from IIT-Bombay and a couple from IIT-Delhi and IIT-Kanpur, that offered the largest compensation of $1.15 lakh (Rs 78 lakh) as base salary .Much before the on-campus placements kicked off at Powai, the pool of computer science graduates had shrunk, with 20-25 students accepting various preplacement offers of the 125 overall that had come in. By 10pm on Day 1, 60 offers were made at IIT-B by companies from across the world.
The offers were similar at other IITs, but companies picked fewer students this time. Top organizations hired an average of three to four candidates, down from the eight to nine average the previous year.
At IIT-Bombay , 18 com panies, including Google, Microsoft, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Boston Consulting, Bain, WorldQuant, A T Kearney , P&G and ITC, spent the day hunting for talent.
In the second session, IIT-Bombay had students vying for openings in 11 companies, including PwC, Diac, Schlumberger, Flow Traders, Opera Consulting, IBM, Xerox, Uber International, NEC Corp, Sysmex and Murata Manufacturing from Japan.
At IIT-Madras, 57 offers were made at the end of two sessions on Day One.
At IIT-Kharagpur, 63 offers were made by 25 companies, said sources. A student at IIT-Roorkee was offered a job at Microsoft.Placement head N P Padhy said, “We gave space in Slot One to a PSU and to a central government organization. We were surprised at how aggressive they were.One PSU was equivalent to five IT companies.“
(With inputs from Vi nayashree Jagadeesh in Chennai, Shreya Roy Chowdhury in Delhi & Jhimli Pandey in Kolkata)

Source: Times of India, 2-12-2016