The National Advisory Council has been reconstituted after a gap of four years. Once again Congress president Sonia Gandhi is its chairperson. The NAC was originally set up by a government order in June 2004 to monitor the implementation of the UPA’s Common Minimum Programme (CMP). The functions of the NAC include the formation of policy of the government and assistance in
In the age bracket of 13-15 age groups, 8.3 percent of girls consume some form of tobacco, said a report prepared by the Union health ministry in India along with the World Health Organisation (WHO) in its first Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS). (Note: The GATS report is likely to be released in June, 2010) However, young girls around the globe are consuming tobacco often, says
It is a man’s world after all. We even refer to God as he. Even my liberal parents get a headache if one day I decide to come home late, whereas, my male friends wax eloquent about their after-hours escapades, which mostly are a ‘men-only’. Good girls stay in after dark; it’s not safe, you see. I live in the national capital- a city bordering some of the
The movement of ‘very important persons’ or VIPs on Wednesday -- only days after the Mangalore plane crash -- put to risk three commercial flights, with over 450 passengers on board, when they were diverted from Delhi airport, according to a Times of India report. The three flights had been dangerously short of fuel when they were diverted from Delhi to Jaipur airport withou
The Asia-pacific region has more child labourers than anywhere else in the world, said a International Labour Organisation (ILO) report. However, it says that the number of child labourers around the world is on decline. “In absolute terms there is decline of child labour (between the age group of 5-14 years) which is 26 percent - 122.3 million to 96.4 million across the world.”
While the Indian economy has grown in the last one decade, its biggest players lack in charity, compared to those in US and European countries, says a study by Bain & Company. “In the United States, donations totaling slightly more than $300 billion come around 2 percent of the US gross domestic product, in India philanthropic donations accounts to 0.6 percent of India’s G
C Chandramouli, 49, the Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer of 1985 batch, is overseeing the mammoth exercise of counting nearly 1.2 billion heads. He took time off his busy schedule to speak to Trithesh Nandan about Census 2011. Excerpts from the interview: A census is not just a simple head count. Tell us about the process and its implications. The census is
All governments, in order to govern their subjects efficiently, convert the population into homogeneous categories and also try to transform people into statistics. These ‘statistics’ and ‘categories’ are tools of governance and the state also imagines them as the basis for planning for development. Since caste is a vital structure of Indian society, policy maker
An opinion poll conducted by the Chatham House on the both sides of Line of Control (LoC), reveals that only 2 percent of people from Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) favour joining Pakistan. The survey conducted in 2009 by the Britain based think-tank said that 44 percent of people in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) supported independence. But it was less in the Jammu and Kashmir, as only
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in its latest report has given a thumbs-up for India and China’s economic growth and said two countries will lead the worldwide growth. The OECD countries economy will grow at 2.7 percent in 2010, more than the 1.9 percent predicted in November, said the Paris-based group. It also hailed non-members China and
Alcohol consumption kills 25 lakh people across the world annually, says a new report from the World Health Organisation. “Worldwide, alcohol consumption causes 2.5 million deaths (3.8 percent of total) and 69.4 million (4.5 percent of total) of Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs),” the report statistics read. It says that the youth are the worst victim of consumin
When a prime minister talks, a nation listens. That’s what happened earlier today when Manmohan Singh addressed his first press conference in four years. But because prime ministers say so little, as did Manmohan this morning, it is what they don’t say that makes better news than what they say. And it is what they mean that makes better sense than what they say. So, h
The migrants who have shifted from rural to urban areas are more likely to suffer from obesity and diabetes in India, a study has found. “Migrants develop levels of obesity and diabetes similar to the urban dwellers they live and work with, but their rural dwelling brothers and sisters tend to stay less obese and have lower rates of diabetes,” says the study published in the PLoS Me
The 80-minute-long press conference by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh can be summarised in six words: he came, he saw, he prevaricated. Being only the second press conference addressed by the prime minister during his six years in office, it was expected to be eventful, if not path-breaking, coinciding as it did with the completion of the first year in his second stint. As expected, the
Raising alarm over situation of children in the conflict zone, the United Nations has expressed deep concern over recruitment and use of children and adolecents by the Maoists/Naxalites in India. In its latest report, the UN said, “The Naxals have claimed that children were used only as messengers and informers but have admitted that children were provided with training to use non-lethal
India faces huge shortfall of nurses, says a report released by the World Health Organisation. According to its report, “India will need 2.4 million nurses by 2012 to achieve the government`s aim of a nurse-patient ratio of one nurse per 500 population.” The WHO said that shortage of nurse is more in the developing countries than in the developed countries. &ld
I and two colleagues, working for Public Cause Research Foundation (PCRF), a Delhi-based NGO, set ourselves on a search for a well-functioning gram sabha in late 2008. By the standards of ‘local self-governance’, a gram sabha should meet regularly and collectively decide all issues of development and social justice in its jurisdiction, leaving the elected and unelected panch
High industrial activity in India during 1994-2007 led to an increase of 58 percent in greenhouse gas emissions, says a report by the environment ministry. According to the report titled - India’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2007 “the total annual greenhouse gas emissions grew from 1.25 billion tonnes in 1994 to 1.90 billion tonnes in 2007.” Two countries - USA an
The centre and states usually have a very stormy relationship. I would want to draw attention of the readers of Governance Now to the different aspects of this relationship. We live in a federal structure of government with three levels; centre, state and the panchayati raj institutions. There are a number of legislative subjects that either belong exclusively to the centre or to the states, or
It was a bittersweet moment for the media recently when the Supreme Court upheld the Delhi High Court judgement and awarded life imprisonment to Manu Sharma in the Jessica Lal murder case. The case reached the Supreme Court and its logical conclusion only after the Delhi High Court fast-tracked it following uproar in the media. While pronouncing its verdict, though, the Supreme Court cautioned
