IIM Bangalore joins hands with Assam Govt to launch CM’s Young Professional Programme

 

It will be a blend of academic and district-based work with a staggered academic program spanning 40 days in Guwahati (i.e. off-campus programme).

The Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM Bangalore) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Assam to jointly operate the ‘Chief Minister’s Young Professional Programme’ (CMYPP).

The Chief Minister’s Young Professional Programme has been designed by IIM Bangalore and anchored by the school’s Office of Executive Education Programmes. This programme is meant for early career individuals with a post-graduate degree in any field and willing to work in the district. It will be a blend of academic and district-based work with a staggered academic program spanning 40 days in Guwahati (i.e. off-campus programme).The first batch of CMYPP will see more than 65 professionals being recruited jointly by the Assam Government and IIM Bangalore. Upon successful completion of the two-year programme, the participants will be awarded a certificate in public policy and management by IIM Bangalore.

Further details regarding the application process and remuneration will soon be announced in the coming weeks. The details will be available at the official IIM Bangalore website — iimb.ac.in.

‘This is a unique initiative where highly skilled people will get an opportunity to contribute at the grassroots level as well as gain academic expertise from a prestigious institute like IIM Bangalore. Endeavours such as these will open the doors of the government to talented people. More detailed announcements relating to this programme will be made shortly. My thanks to the team of IIM Bangalore for partnering with us,” Chief Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, said.

Edited by Deeksha Teri

Source: Indian Express, 14/11/22

How we can make the digital space safer for all, particularly women

 

What could be helpful is to elevate the public discourse around technology-facilitated abuse. There is a need to focus on safety tools and features across platforms

India has one of the youngest youth demographics in the world (27 per cent are Gen Z while 34 per cent are Millennials) and among the most active online. As online interactions increase, more and more content is created and shared among people, helping them form new and wonderful connections. Sometimes, however, these interactions also make them vulnerable to harm.

Women are often particularly vulnerable. “What should I do, I can’t tell my family!” is a common refrain, heard from young women across the country when they grapple with the fallout of their private pictures being leaked online — sometimes from a hacked account, other times because of a soured relationship. In a culture where mobile phones sell because of the quality of their cameras, it should be no surprise that young men and women are exploring new ways to express their sexuality and navigate relationships, including through the taking and sharing of intimate images. However, it is increasingly evident that these new social norms have created new forms of abuse, as intimate images are being used to blackmail, shame, coerce, and control. Women are usually the victims.

Often, crimes that disproportionately impact women devolve into mass panic and lead to an all too predictable top-down discourse around the need to “protect our sisters and daughters”. This reaction, however well intentioned, will end up denying women their freedom and agency by their so-called “protectors”, many of whom are simply telling women to go offline, to be ashamed of expressing themselves, to stay in their lane.

Fortunately, leading academics — many of them women — are spearheading research around the topic, so that we may more accurately discuss and grapple with the evolution of technology-facilitated abuse, including intimate image abuse. Industry, too, has a role to play. If platform providers could be more responsive to the concerns and experiences of women then, to some extent, better design can help mitigate such issues.

A simple example is that of “unwanted contact”, one of the reasons why women avoid online spaces. This could mean design choices that help women stay in control of who they engage with, thereby reducing unwanted messages or advances. It could also mean leveraging open source technology that detects and blurs lewd images so that women don’t need to see unsolicited pictures. Therefore, focussing on safety tools and features — across the spectrum of websites and apps — could bring forward more ideas for creating a safer internet experience.

Various parliament committees in India have held meetings to discuss the issue of online safety of women over the years, and part of the government’s motivation in notifying the new IT rules had been rooted in the growing concern regarding the safety and security of users, particularly women and children. These are very good tangible steps. With the IT Act coming up for a rehaul, there is an opportunity to discuss in detail the nature of technology-facilitated abuse, capturing what this means, understanding how cases impact individuals as well as communities, the language needed to capture such offences and the punishment — penalties, jail or even rehabilitation programmes for perpetrators. This could be the start of an era of evidence-based discussion. Already, we know that crimes against women are the top category in India’s crime statistics, with cyber crimes a few rungs lower on the scale. Where the two intersect is where we need to focus if we are to make online space safe.

Despite these efforts, it is clear that women in India won’t feel safe online anytime soon unless society lets them. What could be helpful here is to elevate the public discourse around technology-facilitated abuse.

Written by Mahima Kaul

Source: Indian Express, 15/11/22

The writer is Director, APAC Public Policy, Bumble.

Quote of the Day November 14, 2022

 

“The season of failure is the best time for sowing the seeds of success.”
Paramahansa Yogananda

“असफलता का मौसम, सफलता के बीज बोने के लिए सर्वश्रेष्ठ समय होता है।”
परमहंस योगानंद

E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022

 The Indian Government issued notification on E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022, which will come to effect from next financial year.

What is E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022?

• The E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022 was published by the Ministry of Environment, forest and climate change on November 2, 2022.
• The new rules will come to effect from April 1, 2023.
• They will apply to all businesses and individuals involved in manufacturing, sales, transfer, purchase, refurbishing, dismantling, recycling and processing of e-waste or electrical and electronic equipment.
• Under the new rules, the number of items that have been categorized as e-waste has been increased from 21 to 106.
• It includes all electrical devices and radiotherapy equipment, nuclear medicine equipment and accessories, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), electric toys, air conditioners, microwaves, tablets, washing machine, refrigerator, iPad and others.
• This includes electronic components, consumables, parts and spares that make the electronic products operational.
• The new rules are not applicable for waste batteries, which are covered under the Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022.
• It is also not applicable for packaging plastics, which are covered under the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016.
• It also does not apply for micro enterprises and radio-active wastes, which are covered under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 and Atomic Energy Act, 1962 respectively.

What are the key features of the rules?

• The rules restrict the use of hazardous substances for manufacturing electrical and electronic equipment. This comes in response to the deaths caused by exposure to radioactive materials.
• Manufacturers of electronic equipment are mandated to reduce the use of lead, mercury, cadmium and other others that can harm human health and environment.
• These materials can adversely affect brain, heart, liver, kidneys and skeletal system. It also causes harmful effects on neurological and reproductive systems.
• Under the new rules, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) will conduct random sampling of electrical and electronic equipment placed in the market to monitor and verify compliance of reduced use of hazardous substances.
• Manufacturers are required to use technologies and methods that make the end product recyclable. They are also required to ensure the compatibility of components or parts developed by different manufacturers. This will minimise the generation of e-wastes.
• Imports or sales of new electrical and electronic equipment are allowed only if they comply with the government regulations. If the product does not comply with the rules, the manufacturer must withdraw all samples from the market.
• It is the responsibility of the manufacturer to collect e-wastes generated during the manufacturing process and ensure that they are recycled or disposed as per the rules.

Current Affairs-November 13, 2022

 

INDIA

– PM Modi inaugurates Ramagundam Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd in Telangana

– PM inaugurates onshore facilities of ONGC’s U-field in KG (Krishna Godavari) basin block in AP

– Public Service Broadcasting Day celebrated on Nov 12

– National Legal Services Authority observes Legal Services Day on Nov 9

– UGC notifies new regulations on PhD degrees; students completing 4-year undergraduate course eligible for direct admission

– Rajasthani writers Madhu Kankariya (2021), Madhav Hada (2022) awarded Bihari Puraskar in Udaipur

– Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls: 98% voter turnout at world’s highest polling booth (15,256 ft) in Lahaul & Spiti district

– 7th edition of Indo-French air exercise Garuda VII culminates in Jodhpur

– Padma Shri awardee mathematician R. L. Kashyap dies at 84

ECONOMY & CORPORATE

– MSCI includes 6 Indian stocks in its index

WORLD

– India, Cambodia sign four MoUs in areas of culture, wildlife and health following meeting between Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Cambodia’s PM Hun Sen in capital Phnom Penh

– Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agrees in principle to admit East Timor as the group’s 11th member at summit in Phnom Penh

– 9th ASEAN-India Summit organised in Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Indian delegation led by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar

– World Pneumonia Day observed on Nov 12

– Father of modern election science, Sir David Butler, dies at 98 in UK; co-invented the swingometer, a graphics device used to show the shift of votes from one party to another

– China launches cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-5 for its Tiangong space station

– Fifth edition of Paris Peace Forum held; theme: “Riding out the multicrisis”

SPORTS

– Asian Boxing Championships in Amman, Jordan: India return with 12 medals: 4 gold, 2 silver, 6 bronze

– Greg Barclay of New Zealand re-elected as ICC (International Cricket Council) Chairman for two-year term

Economic & Political Weekly: Table of Contents

 

Vol. 57, Issue No. 46, 12 Nov, 2022

Editorials

Pandemic-aggravated Inaccessibility in School Education

Etuaptmumk to Preserve Biodiversity

From the Editor's Desk

Curiosity of Politics

From 50 Years Ago

From 50 Years AGo: Who Cares about the Drought?

H T Parekh Finance Column

Monetary Policy Debates in the Age of Deglobalisation - Waiting for Deglobalisation—I

Ahmet Öncü, T Sabri Öncü

Commentary

Greening Our Laws - Revising Land Acquisition Law for Coal Mining in India

Sugandha Srivastav, Tanmay Singh

Fulfilling the Sustainable Development Nutrition Targets - The Case of Bihar

Swati Dutta

Beyond a Technological Understanding of Technology

Anant Kamath

Chile’s Paradox

Alexis Castillo, Ranjeeva Ranjan

Book Reviews

Making Sense of ‘New India’ - Rich Details but Confusing Frameworks

Suhas Palshikar

Scrutiny of the Union Government’s Performance

Ishan Anand

What Ails the Urban in the ‘Emerging Economies?’

Kanchan Gandhi

Special Articles

Consistency in NSSO Employment–Unemployment Estimates Using NSS 68th Round and PLFS Data

Jatinder S Bedi, Ajad Singh

Poverty Alleviation and Pro-poor Growth in Odisha - A Disaggregate Analysis

Priyabrata Sahoo, Asis Kumar Senapati

India’s Labour Reforms - The Informalisation of Work and Growth of Semi-formal Employment

Secki P Jose

Current Statistics

Current Statistics

Postscript

The Greater India Society and Historiography of India

Pratim Das

Recovery Is Not Retrieval

Ridhima Sharma

a ghazal in english

Jasmine Kaur

Last Lines

Letters

India’s Sustainable Future

Amit Mishra

The Inhuman Cost of Superstitions

Sujata Newton

Permacrisis: what it means and why it’s word of the year for 2022

 

The pandemic, war in Ukraine and more: digging into the philosophical roots of "crisis" reveals that a crisis is not necessarily awful, but may, in the long term, prove a necessary and beneficial corrective.

The Collins Dictionary’s word of the year for 2022 is “permacrisis”. As accolades go, the managing director of Collins Learning, Alex Beecroft, has said that this one “sums up quite succinctly how truly awful 2022 has been for so many people”.

The word, most widely understood as a portmanteau of “permanent” and “crisis”, has been in use for a little longer. In April 2021, policy analysts in Europe saw it as defining the era in which we live. Some in Britain inevitably ascribe the genesis of that era to Brexit. Others point to the pandemic.

For others still, it was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that made the word indispensable. As the writer, David Shariatmadari has put it: “Permacrisis” is a term that perfectly embodies the dizzying sense of lurching from one unprecedented event to another, as we wonder bleakly what new horrors might be around the corner.” This represents a shift from the way the notion of crisis has been defined until now. However, digging into the philosophical roots of the word reveals that a crisis is not necessarily awful, but may, in the long term, prove a necessary and beneficial corrective.

Crisis as necessary to progress

Philosophers have long defined a crisis as a situation that forces an individual or group to a moment of thoughtful critique – to a point where a new path is mapped out in relation to some issue of pressing concern. This definition stems from the ancient Greek term κρῐ́σῐς or krisis, which describes a medical or political moment of opportunity that bifurcates into life or death, victory or defeat.

However, as philosopher of history Reinhart Koselleck has shown, in modern philosophy, that ancient Greek notion of crisis undergoes a semantic shift. Its meaning changes radically, to refer to a contradiction between opposing forces that accelerates the transition of past into future. This can be seen in Karl Marx’s description of capitalism as a crisis-ridden economic system.

In struggling to tame its forces of production, labour and machinery, Marx contends, this system causes crises of overproduction: an excess of supply that cannot be met with an equivalent demand. These crises in turn foster opportunities for cultural, social and political innovation, the best 20th-century example of which is the creation of the welfare state.

“Crisis” is similarly defined in American philosopher Thomas Kuhn’s approach to the history of science. Kuhn views progress in modern research as driven by crises within existing scientific paradigms. The progressive shift from Newtonian to Einsteinian paradigms in 20th-century physics most neatly illustrates his thinking.

In both cases, “crisis” is linked to the idea – the ideal, even – of progress. Marx believed that, because the rate of profit has a tendency to fall, capitalism would meet a final crisis and that this would lead to the emergence of communism: an entirely new and, crucially, better socio-political situation.

“Permacrisis” represents the contemporary inversion of this conception. It is similar to Marx’s idea that human history will lead to a final crisis, only it precludes any idea of further progress. Instead of leading to something better, it denotes a static and permanently difficult situation.

A new realism

This concept of permacrisis has its roots in contemporary systems theory, which claims that a crisis can become so complicated that we can’t predict its outcome. In this regard, in his 2008 book, On Complexity, French philosopher Edgar Morin argues that humanity now resides within a network of interlocking systems and any crisis in one of those systems will engender a crisis in all the others.

Morin uses the word “polycrisis” to describe this situation. It is an idea that is also used in historian Adam Tooze’s work on crisis and disaster. As Tooze recently put it, when considering the sheer accumulation of problems the world currently faces – from conflict and the climate crisis to the pandemic and rising inflation – “the whole is even more dangerous than the sum of the parts”.

Interconnected microsystems, because of ever-shortening positive feedback loops, can very quickly trigger crisis, even catastrophe, in the wider macrosystem. Taking this one step further, the shift from “polycrisis” to “permacrisis” implies that we now see our crises as situations that can only be managed, not resolved. Indeed, “permacrisis” suggests that every decision to accelerate a difficult situation in order to come out on the other side of it risks something far worse.

Take the recent demise, in the UK, of the Truss administration. The decision to resolve an economic crisis only heightened a self-defeating political crisis – which then very rapidly further compounded the original economic crisis. Permacrisis signals not only a loss of faith in progress, but also a new realism in relation to what people can cope with and achieve. Our crises have become so complex and deep-seated that they can transcend our capacity to understand them.

Any decision to tackle them risks only making things worse. We are thus faced with a troubling conclusion. Our crises are no longer a problem. They are a stubborn fact.

Written by Neil Turnbull

The writer is Head of Department: English, Linguistics and Philosophy, Nottingham Trent

 University Nottingham (UK)

Source: Indian Express, 13/11/22