Governance Today January 2017

JAN 2017 VOL. 03 ISSUE 04 `60 RNI NO: UPENG/2014/62662 ISSN 2455-0426 PR NO: UP/GBD-212/2015-17 Date of Publishing 04-01-2017 Date of Posting 07-01-2017

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GOOD TO GREAT

Having been the Founder Vice Chancellor of PDM University for last few months, he’s had time to find his feet, and now Prof. (Dr.) Bakhshi looks forward to making the most of the potential he sees in the University.

QUALITY IS AT THE HEART

An Aspirational Destination for Skilling Domestic Workforce WHEN DOMESTIC CARE WORK GOES ENTREPRENEURIAL… discusses Amod K Kanth, Chairman, Domestic Work Sector Skill Council(DWSSC), Ministry of Skills & Entrepreneurship

AMOD K KANTH 2 I January 2017

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PROF. (DR.) A. K. BAKHSHI PG 18

Need to Create an Ecosystem

Recognising Domestic Work as a Dignified Profession Sushil Ramola, a social entrepreneur, a chemical engineer, an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, the co-founder and currently MD and CEO of B-ABLE (BASIX Academy for Building Lifelong Employability Ltd.), talks about the demand-driven and market linked approach for the Domestic Work sector for promoting vertical and horizontal mobility across competency levels for the workers…

SUSHIL RAMOLA

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Editor-in-Chief Ajit Sinha Editor Director R. Manjushree Reddy Senior Copy Editor Ramesh K Raja Consulting editor Rajesh Mehta CORPORATE OFFICE Strategy Head Ajay Kumar Corporate Sales & Marketing Siddharth Verma Vice President siddharth@governancetoday.co.in I 9811561645

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Governance Watch

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Best in Good Governance

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A flick through 12 editions of Governance Today magazine that hit the selves in 2016 and stood out with extraordinary outreach!

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Alliance & Partnerships Stuti Bhushan I 9999371606 Guest Writers & Contributors Dr Dharminder Nagar, Nandini Sinha, Dr Rajneesh Chauhan, Dr Saurabh Arora

99 LPG shows the way

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4 I January 2017

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Editorial

…And Happy New Governance!

As always, I wrote this Editorial for the first issue of the new volume. As always, the team that presented month after month the 12 editions of Governance Today, did a fantastic job in opening up new vistas and new horizons in good governance. As always, New Year’s Eve marked traditional boundary between past and future.

Is it just another turn of the calendar, or the symbolism of a new chapter in our lives? A fresh start to a new year. And an interesting year it will be, with promises to bring some real and substantial changes in government and politics and in the public domains.

This time is an empowering, magical time in which you learn a lot, and get excited to jump into the new year with an overwhelming anticipation to put all of these techniques into practice. Well, at least that’s how it works for us.

Just the things we’ve learned, and hope they’ll prove quite useful for you, too.

Happy reading, happy learning and happy celebrating goodgovernance! And don’t forget to make a truly smashing wish between the years—they always come true, you know.

Best regards

Ajit Sinha Editor-in-Chief www.governancetoday.co.in

January 2017 I 5

Governance Watch

Major Initiatives and Accomplishments in 2016 Commerce & Industry • Exports record a positive growth • Government E-Marketplace (GeM) launched in August, 2016 and becomes fully functional by October, 2016.

• The WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement in Goods ratified • 1st BRICS Trade Fair organised in India from October 12-14, 2016 • INNOPROM 2016 • Building the India Brand

Atomic Energy • Unit 1, (1000 MWe) of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) was dedicated to the nation on August 10, 2016 by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Russian President Shri Vladimir Putin.

• Unit 2 (1000 MWe) of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project achieves criticality and 6 I January 2017

dedicated to the nation.

• Foundation laying of Units 3 & 4 of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project.

• India-Japan Agreement for Cooperation in Nuclear Energy.

• India becomes Associate Member of CERN, Geneva (November 21, 2016).

• Cabinet grants ‘in-principle’ approval to the LIGO-India mega science proposal.

• India supplied indigenous teletherapy machine Bhabhatron, for cancer treatment to Bougando Medical Centre in Tanzania.

• Novel design of CO2 sorbents.

• DHRUVA reactor at Trombay • BARC develops kit for detection of Chromium contamination of water • BARC and SreeChitraTirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology sign MoU for joint development of Deep Brain Stimulator.

• Hall of Nuclear Energy inaugurated in Delhi.

Sports • Rio Paralympics – 2016 • 12th South Asian Games • BRICS U-17 Football tournament • Run for Rio on 31st July, 2016 • Indian U-18 Men Hockey Team won gold in 4 th at Dhaka Asia cup • Khelo Football • MoU between India and New Zealand on cooperation in the field of Youth and Sports • Mission 11 Million Programme • Launch of a new scheme ‘Khelo India - National Programme for Development of Sports’ • National Sports development bill has been sent to Legislative department for approval • Direct Benefit Transfer • India beat Belgium 2-1 to win junior hockey world cup title

Coal • Coal Production Reaches 391.10 MTe, • 6% Overall Growth Recorded www.governancetoday.co.in

GOVERNANCE WATCH During April November 2016 • Coal Ministry Gone Fully Digital • Several IT Initiatives Taken to Enhance Transparency & Ease of Doing Business • ALLOCATION OF COAL MINES UNDER THE COAL MINES (SPECIAL PROVISIONS) ACT, 2015 • MOVING AHEAD WITH TECHNOLOGY – Coal Allocation Monitoring System (CAMS) • FURTHER RATIONALIZATION OF COAL LINKAGES AND IMPLEMENTATION OF 3 PHASE PROGRESS • TRANSPARENT ALLOCATION OF COAL LINKAGES. • ALTERNATIVE DISPUTES RESOLUTION MECHANISM (ADRM) • COAL MINES PROVIDENT FUND ORGANISATION (CMPFO) • NLC India Limited (NLCIL) • SKILL DEVELOPMENT IN NLCIL (Jan--Nov 2016)

Corporate Affairs • MCA entrusted with the responsibility to administer the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (Code) • The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) established • Stabilization of the Cost Records and Audit Rules

Development of Northeast Region • The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, on Jan.18, 2016 inaugurated the Sikkim Organic Festival 2016, and addressed the Plenary Session of the National Conference on Sustainable Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, at Gangtok in Sikkim.

• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on Jan.19, 2016 unveiled the plaque for the foundation stone of the campus for Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Guwahati.

• In two historic moves by Indian Railways, Railways Minister Shri Suresh Prabhu on July 30, 2106 laid the foundation stone of www.governancetoday.co.in

the proposed Imphal railway station, and also announced the commencement of work for the longest rail tunnel in India • In a big milestone, Railways Minister Shri Suresh Prabhu, in the company of his Bangladeshi counterpart Mohammed MazibulHoque, on July 31, 2016 laid the foundation stone for the Agartala–Akhaura broad gauge line.

• Referring to fast-track movement of rail expansion in Northeast, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space DrJitendra Singh said on April 13, 2016 • Assam Chief Minister Shri SarbanandaSonowal on Oct. 3, 2016 announced in Guwahati, direct flights introduced by Spicejet airline on the GuwahatiSilchar and Guwahati-Aizwal routes starting Oct. 4, 2016.

• In the Smart City list released on Sep.20, 2016 by Union Minister of Urban Development, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, two cities of Northeast namely Kohima in Nagaland and Namchi in Sikkim have found a place.

• Central Monitoring Committee (CMC) on Non Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) Central Scheme accorded in-principle approval to fund Rs.15 crores to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting towards the Capital Assets Creation for the proposed ‘ArunPrabha Project’ • M/o DoNER has initiated creation of Venture Capital Fund for NER with North East Development Finance Corporation Ltd (NEDFi) • DoNER Ministry organised the Bamboo Summit on September 27-28, 2016 in New Delhi • Ministry of DoNER sanctioned Rs.207 crores in December 2016 for protection of Majuli island • The NEC approved formation of the North Eastern Tourism

Development Council • From the academic session 201617, one seat each for cancer super-specialization in DM (Oncology) and MCh (Oncology) has been introduced in Dr. B. Borooah Cancer Institute, Guwahati.

• Dr Jitendra Singh laid the Foundation Stone of a Hostel exclusively for Northeast girl students in Bengaluru on June 6, 2016.

• Dr Jitendra Singh on March 3, 2016 hailed the quantum jump in the Budget allocation for North East Region in Union Budget 2016-17 • A DoNER project portal has been launched for online data capture from State Governments, enabling Public Transparency and Social Audit.

• The Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region has gone LIVE on e--office from Sep. 6, 2016 • DoNER has embarked upon the agenda of using Geo Spatial, Remote Sensing and GIS technologies as decision support systems for planning • DoNER Ministry is implementing World Bank assisted North East Rural Livelihood Project (NERLP) in four States namely Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.

• The North East--ASEAN Business Summit was organised during April 7-9, 2016 at Imphal, Manipur • A meeting on “Economic Cooperation Dialogue in Eastern South Asia: Transport Corridors and Border Special Development Zones” was jointly organised

by UNESCAP, Government of Meghalaya and North Eastern Council at Shillong on April 2526, 2016 • Ministry of DoNER supported the Business Sessions held in Mandalay and Yangon in Myanmar as part of the India Myanmar Thailand (IMT) Car Rally which was held from 13 th Nov to 3 rd December 2016 • The DoNER Ministry organised a mega- event “Destination North January 2017 I 7

East-2016” from February 12-14, 2016 at PragatiMaidan, ITPO, New Delhi • Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated the “Northeast Textile & Craft Shopping Mela” on Dec.3, 2016, which was jointly organised by the Ministry of DoNER and the Ministry of Textiles • The Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Smt. Rashmi Verma inaugurated the Purbashree Emporium in New Delhi on June 2, 2016.

• DrJitendra Singh inaugurated the Purbashree stall at DilliHaat, INA on May 16, 2016 • Union Minister of State for Textiles (Independent Charge), Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar and Dr. Jitendra Singh, jointly inaugurated in New Delhi on May 30, 2016 • Records and Audit Rules

Health and Family Welfare • The Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) • MAA Mother’s Absolute Affection • Introduction of new vaccines • Mission Indradhanush • Family Planning • Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight (IDCF) • National Deworming Day (NDD) • Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) • Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme • Centre for Integrative Medicine and Research (CIMR) at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) • T. Initiatives • DISEASE CONTROL • BIG THRUST TO HOSPITALS • Medical Education • National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) • Organ Transplant • Seventh Session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) • 6th BRICS Health Ministers’ Meet 8 I January 2017

• Biomedical Equipment Management and Maintenance Program (BMMP)

Labour& Employment Legislative Reforms • The Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Bill, 2015 • The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 • The Employees’ Compensation (Amendment) Bill, 2016 • The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2016 • Cabinet in its meeting held on 29th June,2016 considered the Model Shops and Establishment (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Bill,2016 • Labour Codes

Administrative Initiatives / Decisions

Governance Reforms through Technology a. Ease of compliance & better enforcement of Labour Laws ii. ShramSuvidha Portal in the Central Sphere c. Better Delivery of Service iv.

Employees Provident Fund Organisation 5. Universal Account Number (UAN) 6. Online Registration of Establishments (OLRE) 7. Online Facilities to Members 8. Exempted Establishments Brought on E-Portal 5. Inoperative Accounts Helpdesk 9. Updation of Accounts 10. Facilities to International Worker 11. Global Network Operations Centre (g-NOC) 12. Compliance Analysis & Monitoring System of EPFO 13. SOCIAL MEDIA xiv.

Employees State Insurance Corporation 15. ESI Scheme 16.

AYUSH 17.

Transforming Public

Employment Services r. Activities and achievements of DGE for the year 2016 xix.

National Career Service (NCS) –Public Employment Service Platform xx. Enhancing Employability of the workforce xxi.

Pradhan Mantri Rojgar ProtsahanYojana (PMRPY) scheme 22. Opening Bank Accounts for Cashless transaction of wage

Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises • Cabinet approves creation of ‘Indian Enterprise Development Service (IEDS)’ in the Office of Development Commissioner (MSME) under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises • Foundation Stone Laying Ceremony of MSME Technology Centre at Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh under Technology Centre Systems Programme (TCSP) & National Vendor Development Programme • MSME EXPO 2016 At PragatiMaidan New Delhi • National SC/ST Hub launched on 8th October 2016 in Ludhiana • MSME Databank and Finance Facilitation Launched at 14th Meeting of National Board Online Census of MSMEs and Finance Facilitation Centres Launched • Giant Charkha unveiled at IGI Airport, Delhi 42 carpenters from Ahmedabad built the Charkha in 55 days • Incubation cell at IIFT Delhi Launched • 38 PSUs Achieved the Target of 20% Public Procurement from MSME • MSME Procurement Policy reviewed • Mauritius to exclusively offer Biofarming Technology to India various areas of cooperation in MSME Sector between both the countries discussed www.governancetoday.co.in

GOVERNANCE WATCH

New and Renewable Energy • A new dawn in Renewable Energy- India attains 4th position in global wind power installed capacity; 46.33 GW grid interactive power; • 7,518 MW of grid- connected power; • 1502 MW Wind power capacity added; • Small hydro power capacity reaches 4323 MW, • 92305 Solar Pumps installed, • 38,000 crore Green Energy Corridor is being set up; • Surya Mitra” mobile App launched, • Solar Tariff as low as Rs 3/unit

Petroleum & Natural Gas • More than 1.22 crore new LPG connections released to BPL women under Pradhan MantriUjjwalaYojana • Increased emphasis on Bio--fuels • Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) announced for award of hydrocarbon acreages • 134 e-Bids received for the 34 contract areas under the Discovered small fields • Pradhan MantriUjjwalaYojana (PMUY) • Direct Benefit Transfer in PDS Kerosene Scheme (DBTK) • Kerosene Free Delhi and Chandigarh • PAHAL: World’s largest Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme • Giveitup and Giveback • Production of Crude oil and Natural Gas • Refining Capacity and Production • Emphasis on Bio-fuels • Auto Fuels • Indian Strategic Storage Programme for storage of crude oil by Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL) • Production and Consumption of Petroleum products • Import of Crude oil • Import and Export of Petroleum Products • Swachh Bharat Mission www.governancetoday.co.in

• Policy for Discovered Small Field • Hydrocarbon Exploration Licensing Policy (HELP) • Appraisal of Sedimentary Basin • Marketing including Pricing freedom from the gas to be produced from the discoveries in High Pressure-High Temperature • Skill Development Initiatives • Start-Up • Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy (IIPE), Visakhapattnam • Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology • Consumer –Centric Initiatives • Acquisition of stake in Vankorneft oil block OVL /Indian Consortium

Power • “24×7 Power for All”: State specific Plans for 34 States/UTs under implementation; • National Energy Shortage reduces to 0.7%; 3.5% in North East • National Peak Power Deficit halved at 1.6%; 0.5% in North East • Free Electricity Connections to 2.5 crore (62%) BPL households released • DeenDayalUpadhyaya Gram JyotiYojana (DDUGJY) • Remote Village Electrification Programme (RVEP) • Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) • Energy Efficiency Schemes • National LED Programme • Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP) • Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) • Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY)

each • 87 Smart City Projects worth Rs.5,768cr in progress; 7 already completed • Cities gear up for resource mobilization through credit rating; 87 smart cities being credit rated • 482 cities become Open Defecation Free; Toilet building close to half-way mark of mission target • Over 9 lakh houses approved for urban poor in just one year; about 3 lakh houses built so far • Ease of Doing Business in urban areas improves • 2016 marks a good beginning in implementation of new urban missions • 2,72,380 cr investment in urban infrastructure approved during 2016 • Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu says first year of execution encouraging

Governance

Commerce & Industry Atomic Energy Sports Coal

Urban Development • 115 cities launch water supply and sewerage projects under Atal Mission at a cost of Rs.6,346 cr • 20 cities take up schemes worth more than Rs.100 cr each; another 20 more than Rs.50 cr

Corporate Affairs Development of Northeast Region Health and Family Welfare Labour& Employment

January 2017 I 9

eGovernance

Between Myth “ ….. to fight and end poverty and ignorance and disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and woman.”

With these words, JAWAHARLAL Nehru, succinctly put the task before people’s representatives and the services, as the first Prime Minister of India, in his famous Tryst with Destiny speech of 15th August 1947.

A deeper look at these tasks would establish that these goals are entirely within the realm of governance, and the works are still in progress.

In absence of an accepted definition of governance, there is divergence of opinion and million negotiations to ensure what is good governance in reality. The onus is now shifting to IT presenting a new paradigm of social regulation, but creating million more negotiations for egovernance in its truest form.

No theory of governance would be intelligible unless it is seen in the context of its time. Here, it is very important to understand that a complete 360 turn-around was required to change the processes and systems in-place so that governance could get new shape and fresh perspective.

The biggest myth is, initially, it was felt that e-Governance is simply switch over to automated systems or simply computerization of the erstwhile manually-fed data and the replacement of traditional typewriters with Personal Computers. Just like replacing traditional postal mail with e-mail, e-Governance is also replacement of traditional governance with ‘e’ or electronic tools of governance.

We have to rise above it to the next level. And this is possible through innovation. Let’s make an honest attempt to understand and differentiate clearly between technology automation and eGovernance before moving further in the New Year. Let’s burst the myth!

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COVER STORY

& Reality

One must understand that eGovernance is the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses and other arms of Government with the usage of information technologies. All biases relating to inability to cope with the new systems in place should be negated and it must be understood that e-Governance will usher a new era of simplified systems and provision of services, making or receiving the payments through automated systems, all certificates and documents retrieval at the click of a button or at the doorsteps of a common citizen, etc.

Let’s see a new horizon with the wish lists for good governance! www.governancetoday.co.in

January 2017 I 11

What are the e Governance myths to be broken in the New Year?

Saurabh Sanyal Secretary General PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry The present government has given a renewed thrust to e- Governance through the initiative of ‘Digital India’ by bringing in public accountability through mandated delivery of government’s services electronically. The program aims at providing digital infrastructure as a utility to every citizen as well as high-speed internet as a core utility in all gram panchayats. However, it is a myth that only e- governance will result in good governance because for it to become a reality, e-Governance needs to be implemented as a tool. In order to make e-Governance effectively implemented, firstly there is a need to impart technical knowhow to the common man. India is a country with low literacy as well as poor internet penetration especially in the rural areas that needs to be addressed with immediate attention. Also since e-Governance is totally based on technology, IT infrastructure services need to be upgraded to prevent problem of slow internet connectivity.

Secondly, e-Governance as the sole mechanism for program implementation does not enable people to people contact as a result the citizens are not able to present their grievances to the 12 I January 2017

government.

Thirdly, e-Governance as the only mechanism for access of services is extremely tedious for the senior citizens who are not usually tech savvy.

Fourth, even though the level of confidence in the security offered by government web sites are high, the public are still concerned over security, fear of spam from providing email addresses and government retention of transaction or interaction history.

There has been growing concern in the country about the privacy of data being collected as part of UID project. The security of cyber space and misuse of data is still holding back the citizens to fully adapt the Aadhar card.

Fifth, the implementation of public administration functions via e-governance requires the presence of two levels of trust wherein the user must be confident as well as comfortable of the tool or technology as well as trust of the government.

There has to be a balance between ensuring that the system prevents fraudulent transactions and the burden that extensive checks can take place on honest people. Trust, along with financial security, are two l factors limiting the adoption of e-government services in the country.

Sixth, cost is one of the most important factors that come in the path of e-governance implementation in India where a large number of people are living below the poverty line.

Lastly, there exists a wide digital divide in the country between those having access to information technology and those that do not have such access. The digital divide exists because of social, economic, infrastructural and ethno-linguistic differences in India. Efforts have to made by

the government at every level to reduce this divide in order to make e-Governance a reality in the country.

To conclude, I perceive e-Governance as a ray of hope that provides the poorest of the poor in India a better access to government amenities as well as facilitates their financial inclusion.

However, e-Governance continues to be more of a myth as it remains just a policy measure of the government. It will only become a reality when e-Governance becomes effectively implemented at every level of government from the panchayats to the centre through digitalized provision of services to the citizens. In order to make this a reality, the digital divide needs to be overcome with greater digital literacy and internet penetration along with strengthening of cyber security in the country.

Heera Lal Managing Director, UPDESCO, GoUP 2016 has been revolutionary in terms of technology change, spread of connectivity and its ecosystem building. Digital India drive uplifts the mobile connectivity even to the rural areas, at the www.governancetoday.co.in

same time 4G launched and now available to most of the urban areas.

Government should ride-upon this vehicle of change and explore the new opportunity to serve the public in more convenient way.

This year e-Governance should be transformed from Computer to Mobile and from paper to paperless.

It has been propagated to the masses that e-Governance is for urban citizen or computer literate person. This myth need to be broken. Government and private actors shall work towards mobile app based citizen centric services where citizen will avail the services in local language interface and can apply with the help of Aadhar card and pay through debit cum ATM card and mobile application baking.

Lokesh Mehra Director – Workforce Development Oracle India Pvt. Ltd. The intent of rebooting the governance system to make it more citizen friendly is a noble intent, and with demonetization the transition to a cashless society will give the much required impetus to e-governance. UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific clearly outlines good governance to have eight major www.governancetoday.co.in

characteristics namely accountable, consensus oriented,effective, efficient,equitable, inclusive, participatory,responsive and transparent. There are some myths surrounding e-governance which need to be dismantled.

Myth 1: E-governance is effective only for people possessing smart phones – Feature phones having basis SMS Services can be used for effective citizen services delivery and this is no longer only about record management or web facing portals. In general the public has low expectancy from Govt. departments assuming that they adhere to traditional paperwork methods. However with adoption of electronic delivery channels, the perception is changing – Today IRCTC PNR SMS feature is one live example.

Myth 2: Government Departments have poor IT culture and customer sensitivity – Prior bad experiences dealing with Govt. departments on large scale projects or procurement put off the private sector for further interactions. Fortunately, the Government has been proactively transitioning to corporate like structures and hiring consultants having extensively worked in the private sector – the reluctance to deal with Government is waning off and Mission Mode Projects have shown the way forward for successful PPPs. Myth 3: Availing services is too complex for rural, illiterate populationleading to Social exclusion– Single Window systems, which provide adequate transparency, accountability and empowerment, have enabled people to interact with Govt. within the defined service timelines especially like Birth/Death certificates, grievance redressal, etc.

Myth 4: E-governance is managed and run only by Govt. officials – The common man’s perception is that only bureaucrats and Govt. officials create the framework and rules of

governance and imposed on the public. Mann kiBaat and mygov. in have led to greater participation in decision-making involving and consulting the citizens, making people’s voices count.

Myth 5: There are no backup, security and disaster recovery mechanisms–Regular Disruption in services like servers down in banks and ATM’s, frequent power cutsmake people feel that we lack proper infrastructure and are prone to hackers. Infact all Public Sectors critical information systems have adequate measures in place to prevent data loss and ensure services are resumed at the earliest. Given the spurt in digital transactions, the recent Government notification has mandated all banks to share IT breaches information within 2 hours.

Vimal Wakhlu Former Chairman & Managing Director TCIL For the past 70 years, any person who is able to circumvent the system in the country either with the aid of the politicians or with his ingenious techniques, has been considered to be smart, and an honest citizen dumb. However, what we have witnessed in the last couple of months is something unprecedented in the history of post Independent India.

January 2017 I 13

What is your advice and eGovernance wish list for 2017?

There are three things that happened during this periodDemonetisation of higher value currency, aggressive work in the direction of implementation ofGST and Benami Property Act implementation. While the demonetisation has been in the news and has broken all records, the other two events too have got a potential of transforming the nation. This tridentwill lead the nation from a developing nation to a developed one. e-Registration of all existing and new properties is expected to be done in the 2017, probably before the end of the financial year. This would break the myth that e-governance in a country like India where bulk of the people are not educated and are poor, is a utopian concept. There was a myth in the country that black money in real estate is there to stay, and no amount of e-Governance can control it. With e-Registration of all properties, new and old, the ‘benami’ properties which have been a safe haven for unscrupulous people, a conduit for parking their ill gottenwealth, will not be able to sustain. The source of income for acquisition of any property shall have to be stated.

With demonetisationdrive having at least succeeded in bringing all the black money into circulation, the noose around the black money promoters seems to be getting tightened. Benami property act would further strengthen the hands of the government in unearthing black money. GST when implemented in 2017 would certainly prevent tax evasion which has been a major source of black money generation.

It has been a paradox for yearsin some of the terrorist affected areas, despite shutdowns and the life being difficult with loss of productivity in a big way , some 14 I January 2017

people have been prospering by leaps and bounds. It is amazing to see the level of prosperity compared to their counterparts in the other parts of the country, which are relatively peaceful. Now it is clear that it has been the fake currency pumped by our enemies, which has been responsible for this. Demonetisation is going to address this issue as well at least till the enemy camp finds an alternative to this.

Heera Lal Managing Director, UPDESCO, GoUP It should be directed to mobile/ ISP companies to waive off data charges for e-Governance services.

Citizen who wants to avail the government services shall apply through his mobile even if they don’t have data pack, similar to mobile emergency services. It has been directed to mobile companies to launch their new product with government services app, preinstalled.

Wish list for 2017 »» Over the counter service delivery of at least 10 most voluminous services to citizens. »» Government mobile wallet creation. »» Mobile –aadhar based PDS delivery. »» Virtual Government ID and verification. »» Turning from government 2 to government 3. »» Business correspondence model in each village of UP. »» Promotion of innovations and entrepreneurships through the best startup policy to solve social problems on mass scale on the basis of minimum government and maximum governance.

Lokesh Mehra Director – Workforce Development Oracle India Pvt. Ltd. Wish List would include key elements where ICT is used as an enabler Business Process Reengineering of all departments which outlines the various processes for any task to be completed. These processes should adopt forward and backward integration as well interlock with other departments.

For instance the Ministry of Skills and Entrepreneurship has now reached out to 17 other Ministries also conducting common skilling programs to ensure synergy. This not only streamlines and simplifies processes butalso integrates data and services of all concerned departments.

Adoption of a standardsbased approach to enable integration with other related applicationsimproving accessibility of information to citizens. This would also result in power equation changes within the system.

Ensuring Capacity Building of key stakeholders across different function levels, involved in change management– this would create a dedicated cadre who have the capability to prioritize, conceptualize, develop and manage e-Governance projects.

Creating public awareness campaigns especially using Social media on the benefits of e-Governance – these could be similar to the ones used for polio eradication or the recent cashless digitization launch. The older generation needs to be targeted especially since they are not so ICT savvy.

Barely 35% of India is conversant with English and Localization and Availability of e-governance in multiple languages is a must to ensure speedy diffusion and adoption.

Adequate measures to www.governancetoday.co.in

protect PII (personally identifiable information) which is prone for loss and theft with correct policy regulations is a must.

The past decade has seen a multitude of e-governance projects with good learnings. In a country where paperwork still rules the roost, improving operations, capacity building, portability, reliable services with lower transaction costs would result in successful implementation and higher adoption.

Vimal Wakhlu Former Chairman & Managing Director TCIL Incentivising cashless transactions is going to benefit the country in a big way. Transactions using cash should prove to be more expensive. In the Delhi NCR region, there is a lot of hesitation on the part of both consumers as well as retailers in avoiding cash.

The consumers get blackmailed into using cash. For a proper receipt andpayment through card the charges levied are 15 to 22% higher . People generally fall into this trap, and the government is deprived of revenue, and is turn is tempted to impose more taxes, cess etc., to shore up its resources.

Thus it is a vicious cycle, where a genuine honest citizen of the country is penalised, while the sharks have a field day.

Recently, a small trader known to me was explaining to me how during Diwali festival, dry fruits worth 2 crores were sold from a single shop with none in the supply chain paying any tax at all, thus the government losing almost 3040 lakhs in this single case. Once GST is in place, taxes on goods and services shall become inescapable, thus government would be able to ensure better tax compliance, and further lower tax rates.

My e-governance wish list for 2017 is : www.governancetoday.co.in

1. Make Aadhaar registrationmandatory for all people living in the country. This would ensure that the money meant for intended beneficiaries actually reach them instead of some unscrupulous middle men who have been thriving for so long.

2. Without succumbing to political blackmail by vested interests, work further on e-Registration of all propertiesnew and old, to sift out benami properties. This would eventually bring down the property prices, and make housing affordable for all, besides breaking this conduit of laundering black money.

3. ERP platform for 80 million MSMEs in the country on Pay as You use basis. Under normal conditions MSMEs find it difficult to afford an ERP system, though it would help them improve their efficiencies and also help them on saving on costs . In case government invests into this, and makes its use mandatory, it would be able to recover the cost in just one year, given the resultant tax compliance from this segment.

4. Incentivise cashless transactions by making them cheaper as compared to cash transactions. Government can leverage the strength of its public sector bank infrastructure to give

it a fillip. The private sector banks would have to fall in line for their survival.

5. e-procurementshould to be made mandatory for all tendering process in all governments departments of the centre, and also the State Governments to ensure transparency .

6. Work towards Digital education of the masses. Literate masses only can work in a cashless environment. A mass campaign needs to be started to work in this direction. One educated (10+2) person from each village, designated as e-Mitra can be trained at the taluka level/ district level, and he in the process can digitally educate his fellow villagers.

7. Work on Big data Analytics to ensure an effective intelligence gathering to prevent the hence forth hoarders of black money from laundering their money again, and in the process bringing the efforts of the government and the sacrifices of the people during the last couple of months to a naught. No body, whether it is a politician, businessman or a common man for that matter should be able to cheat the nation.

8. Places like Delhi NCR face a major environmental challenge during winter months in particular.

Automated Monitoring of January 2017 I 15

COVER STORY pollutionof individual vehicles and the industries at source, through a centralised system, which would ensure that punitive action is taken after a proper warning to defaulters would go a long way in mitigating this challenge.

9. Speed up Bharatnet. Nearly one billion Indians live in rural India. For a cashless society, we need to have a reliable broadband network to all the villages.

Bharatnet, an ambitious and flagship project of the Government of India needs to be expedited to make this dream come true.

The time is ripe for these changes. It is a matter of do or die. In case we fail this time, we shall be destined to be a developing country for another 70 years !

Pramod Tripathi Electronic Governance (e-Governance) is the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for the planning, implementation, and monitoring of private & government programs, projects, and activities. This is more systematic cost effective process where the information can be remotely accessed, shred and interpreted. This also brings resources at a platform of comparison, modification and correction of models.

Education in India is provided by the public sector as well as the private sector, The public education system which dominates the base of school education control has funding coming from three levels: central, state, and local. Under various articles of the Indian Constitution, free and compulsory education is provided as a fundamental right to children between the ages of 6 and 14.

According to current estimates, 85% of Indian schools are public schools and remaining 15% private, where the combination of 16 I January 2017

students is uneven, 71% students are enrolled in public schools and remaining 29% of Indian children are privately educated.

India being a 7th largest country in terms of area and 2nd largest in terms of population has huge challenge to educate and develop skills to its upcoming generation e-governance in Indian school system is still at its infant stage and we rarely see any kind of coordination between projects and institutions.

Challenges in education. »» Large country 3287 million Sq km Area. »» Requirement of schools and qualified staff to village level. »» Limited resources and fund allocations considering the thrust of problem »» Monitoring of projects and quality implementation »» Review, audit and correction to ongoing projects for better results. »» Awareness about e-education, home schoolings and e-governance.

Advice and e-Governance Considering the two important statistics’ of time where 40% of Indian population is grouped as young and BRIC nation pool major part of world’s work force, it mandatory for administrators and policy makers to make education more digital and governance more remotely controlled.

Virtual class rooms for lecturing can solve the problem of shortage of quality teachers and disparity between rural and urban divide.

This will also control student’s migration to urban and ru-urban area for quality education.

Resource centres should be established for sharing resources, teaching aid material and library.

Schools will get attached to this resource centre’s for their projects and practical’s. the process is more cost effective and allows students

and teachers from different locations to interact and exchange ideas.

Teacher as human resource to be shared by more than one location / centre for its optimum utilization, this will encourage individual and allows him to work in the area of his interest.

The class room teaching is a unique and dynamic, which changes from time to time and from situation to situation. Sharing knowledge across the centre’s and directions beyond boundary and systems will bring revolution in quality education at remote locations.

Teachers attendance is major issue in public education system, as per record is 40%, this can be simply overcome from e-Governance where any biometrics system can be connected to national server for real time attendance.

Admissions to different level can happen with single entry system by giving priority to locations. This will save time and energy of organizers as well as participants’.

Report card, attendance and child’s progress can be better monitor through digital system than physically on records.

General administration of physical assets, moveable assets, consumable and non consumable resources and wisely utilized when updates and usages record is available.

Financial planning and future growth can be planned well in advance.

In conclusion we feel that digitization of resources and e-Governance is the need of time and can solve various obstructions from the current education systems. The free and compulsory education for all can be only achieved effectively through this means. We need to advance bit faster towards these developments to achieve 100% literacy and improving skilled work force. The pride of nation in with skilled & technically educated populations. www.governancetoday.co.in

www.governancetoday.co.in

January 2017 I 17

QUALITY IS AT THE HEART

PROF. (DR.) A. K. BAKHSHI

Having been the Founder Vice Chancellor of PDM University for last few months, he’s had time to find his feet, and now Prof. (Dr.) Bakhshi looks forward to making the most of the potential he sees in the University.

h

as a long record of winning great respect from the higher education sector of India and abroad. From holding the prestigious Sir Shankar Lal Chair of Chemistry at Delhi University to becoming the Executive Director of Tertiary Education Commission (TEC), Mauritius (a post equivalent to that of Chairman, UGC in India) and Vice-Chancellor of U.P. Rajarshi Tandon Open University (UPRTOU), Allahabad and also Head, Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi, Prof Dr. Bakhshi has remained through an interesting and upward trajectory. He been very actively engaged at the national level in the development of e-content under Digital India initiative and was felicitated two times by the Former President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam for his contributions in the e-transformation of the University of Delhi (2009) and for outstanding contributions in the field of education (2011). He is also Chairman of Centre for e-Learning as well as Chairman of Guru Angad Dev Teaching – Learning Centre (a Centre of the MHRD Govt. of India) as well as Chairman of the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) project in Chemistry of the CSIR. A double gold medalist of Delhi University, Dr. Bakhshi did his post-doctoral training at the University of Erlangen-Nurnberg, Germany with Prof. J. Ladik and at the Kyoto University and the Institute of Fundamental Chemistry, Kyoto, Japan with where he worked with Nobel Laureate Prof. K. Fukui A Visiting Scientist at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangaluru, Prof Dr. Bakhshi has many more honours, accolades and awards to narrate his profile.

18 I January 2017

www.governancetoday.co.in

INTERVIEW The entire approach was teachercentric. But now it has become more learner-centric. Technologies are making great impact in education.

Knowledge is also growing very fast in every discipline. The doubling time of knowledge has shrunk considerably. This is a change which poses a big challenge in education to keep pace with.

But unfortunately, with so many changes happening, we still don’t have high quality education in India.

What are the reasons for quality being missed out from Indian education?

You have so many years of experience in the field of education and academics. How do you see the changes which have taken place in the higher education sector & Indian education system over the years?

I was one of the youngest to enter into the teaching profession, when I was not even 21 years. Because I had topped the University, I secured a job immediately after I finished my MSc. I got the job at Delhi University College that time. I served in the college; I served in Punjab University, Chandigarh, and the journey then took me to Delhi University as a Chair Professor in Chemistry, which I still hold. And now am here.

The biggest change I have seen over all these years is, people have become more quality conscious www.governancetoday.co.in

now. The landscape of Higher Education has really changed.

We have new students, coming from varied socio-demographic backgrounds, with very different mindsets. They have grown with technology and internet. They have experienced how technology makes their lives easier and convenient; so why not education?

That is one change.

Second, there is a great demand for value for money, from all the stakeholders in education sector. They don’t mind paying good money, but they look for value in that. This is a great change.

Third, modern technologies have entered into the classroom.

Because of these ever emerging technologies, the nature of teaching-learning has undergone tremendous change. Those changes can one see now very clearly. Earlier, it was chalk and talk method, where teacher was active but the student was passive.

There were about 25 universities and 700 colleges in India, in 1950s. Now we have about 750 universities, about 40000 colleges, around 2 lakhs teachers and it has all become more about numbers. There has been considerable growth and expansion in the sector, in terms of size. It is been considered as the third largest system of education in the world. But quality wise, none of our top most universities is standing anywhere. Even with this much growth, our gross enrolment ratio is quite low, which is about 24%. We need to expand this further and also we need to grow in terms of quality, as 24 % is not enough. Particularly, when you are looking at the age group of 18 to 23, 76% of this age group is without higher education, which is a serious concern. On one hand, we are boasting that India is a nation with young population and in the other hand we are depriving them of higher education. Even the 24% coming under higher education facilities are not having quality education. According to one report, around 90% of our colleges are providing education below the mark of standards. Two third of our universities are not offering quality education.

January 2017 I 19

In higher education, a teacher has two roles to fulfill- one is disseminating knowledge which is teaching and other is creating knowledge which is research What are your suggestions, to integrate quality at all levels of education?

In my personal view, our method of recruitment of teachers needs fundamental change. We do graduation, post-graduation, PhD, NET and then get a job to teach in college or university. But all these qualifications are to test the domain knowledge. Nobody tests your pedagogical skills. For example, I was an MSc pass out when I started teaching in Delhi University. I had good domain knowledge, but I was never taught how to teach. So formal training on teaching skills is missing. School education at least has some formal exposure through BEd. I would suggest for some shortterm induction program, to give formal training on how to teach.

How systematically and logically one speaks is very important in teaching! Even if somebody has enough knowledge, imparting that knowledge appropriately to the students is a big task. Subject competency is utmost important and there should not be any compromise on that. But, your teaching should reflect the amount of thinking you have done on the subject. Your teaching is the manifestation of your thinking.

That should be the hallmark of a good teacher. We lack on this sort of training, which is unfortunate and which affects quality.

Again, there is no clear definition of quality. For some, it is an outcome. For example, if the result is good in a class, it proves about good quality. Sometimes it 20 I January 2017

is relative to stakeholder. Students view it differently; for teachers the meaning is different and for evaluation teams it is all the more different. The yardstick varies.

Quality is nonetheless, continuous reduction of defects. We need to focus on this.

We don’t have any award or recognition system for excellence in teaching. That is there for research areas, but not for teaching in higher education. We must remember assessment drives learning. In higher education, a teacher has two roles to fulfill- one is disseminating knowledge which is teaching and other is creating knowledge which is research. So broadly, knowledge creation and knowledge dissemination are the two activities. One should assess the teachers for both the factors, which is missing, unfortunately.

Tell us about PDM University.

How do you plan to build on the success of PDM Group’s long presence?

PDM is a new University established in 2016 by the Haryana State Legislature under the Haryana Private Universities Act. PDM group of institutions have been here for more than 20 years. P D Memorial Religious & Educational Association was established in the year 199596. With which, we have PDM College of Pharmacy, PDM College of Dental Science, PDM College of Engineering, PDM College of Architecture, PDM Public school and some other institutions. All

these institutions have been doing very well since past many years. At present, about 12000 students are studying in the PDM Educational Institutions. About 300000 students have already passed out from the above Institutions and are placed in good job positions in India and abroad. Now, with the setting up of this university we aim to extend world class quality higher education to the students.

The focus will be on the all round development of the students and high placements.

The PDM institutions that are providing specialized subjects will subsequently come under the faculties of PDM University. PDM College of engineering will come under Faculty of Engineering and Technology of PDM University.

Similarly, College of Pharmacy will come under Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the university.

So, along with world class infrastructure, we have good many faculties and student areas already in place. Very soon, we are going to have good teacher pool as well. That is where we are taking our cautious steps for recruiting quality teachers. Any university or institution is as good as its faculty. Hence, there will be no compromise on quality teacher intake.

What opportunities do you see for PDM to play on the national or international stage?

We have started with very high hopes and we are quite hopeful www.governancetoday.co.in

INTERVIEW that soon it will start showing national impact. However, all these will take a little time for giving shape to all our vision towards making a national mark.

Besides academic learning, we are also focusing at all round development of the students. The university management is also fully supportive towards this vision. Am sure, when we have decided about not compromising on quality, we will ultimately succeed.

What are the core strengths of the university?

Good infrastructure, existing institutions in multiple education areas, presence in education sector for more than 20 years, competitive curriculum, good vision with focus on quality education and all-round student development, employment and industry links.

What will be the approach of governance for you as a Vice Chancellor?

Other than the regular set up starting with the Chancellor, the Vice Chancellor and the Pro Vice Chancellor, we are also going to create an advisory committee with eminent people, from different walks of life. They will be a part of our academic and planning board.

Then, there are those existing 13 faculties with the PDM Group of institutions who will be engaged in.

We are focusing more on e-governance now. Our efforts will be to do everything online and to integrate IT in most of our services. We have a fully functional impressive IT division. Other than providing facilities to keep the students connected to the outside world, the university has been making all information available online including the content and their dissemination. Students are provided with technology devices and they carry all their courseware www.governancetoday.co.in

along with them. There is a PDM Educational Directory Service that provides the students all up to date information regarding their course, exam and other time tables, etc. The campus is India’s one of the most advanced technical campuses. We have a fully functional impressive IT division. The entire university is under CCTV. The central facility takes control over everything from one single point. So we are hoping to make the university a role model.

What are the vision and ideas for research you have for the university?

As I said earlier, University’s main function is knowledge creation and knowledge dissemination. Knowledge creation is all about research which is one of the important activities of the university faculty members. How good they will be in research initiatives will ultimately depend on the quality of teacher intake.

My endeavour will be to attract, retain and nurture best talent to this university. Once you have the talent pool, there will be smooth ride, be it research or academic initiatives or technology integration. And we are ready to provide them all kind of support in this direction. All _ evaluation agencies including international ranking agencies, _ give utmost emphasis on the research quality.

Research is no doubt an important area for us.

How do you like to see your Vice Chancellorship here in next few years?

I have held many senior level administrative positions. But this is different, as I have to start the university from scratch, as a Vice Chancellor. Even I have to build my first ordinance. This is very exciting as well as challenging to discussing around how does

an university start. I did not have to change anything when I was in Mauritius. In Allahabad also, I didn’t have to change anything.

But here, you can actually make a big fundamental change. The way of our examination systems, the admissions, the student discipline, whatsoever is your vision, here is an opportunity to implement. That will be a very big thing for me if I am able to do through the vision.

January 2017 I 21

Indian Realty in Search of Earthquake Warning System RAMESH KUMAR RAJA

F

or us all, real estate is a term synonymous with structures and buildings.

These buildings can be broadly categorised into industrial, commercial and residential setups.

Being a developing nation, we usually observe realty development in clusters; where industries, commercial and residential spaces, all get their separate land parcels for construction. As a result, a city is usually filled up with offices, shopping complexes and houses built on tall skyscrapers. In the meanwhile though, since industries and plant and machineries get land banks around the outskirts, these units end up surrounding a fully developed city, which in case of a natural calamity can multiply the damage.

For any form of development, real estate sector is the backbone.

Since privatisation, more and more domestic players have emerged and entered into the realty sector which is allowing our country to meet the much needed supply of housing, retail spaces and offices. This in turn shifts our focus towards the importance of having a system that can keep us safe and alarmed in case of a natural calamity.

Now, calamities can be classified in two ways, where earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones and others arise from natural causes and won’t knock your 22 I January 2017

doors before coming. On the other hand, floods, landslides and others may or may not be due to natural reasons. Having improper drainage systems and irresponsible ways of construction on hilltops can cause floods and landslides, where nature cannot be regarded as a reason. Tsunamis and cyclones are likely to hit the coastal regions more and usually give us some time to prepare and evacuate; but Earthquakes do not give us time to even react. With modern day technologies and equipments, developers are working very hard towards structural stability and soundness. But all can still go in vain when you’re sitting right above the seismic zones 4 and 5, where Earthquakes can hit at magnitudes of over 7 and 8.

Developers in India have access to RCC framed structures and ball bearings installed under the base of structures that allow the buildings to become resistant.

“Modern day construction techniques and equipments can allow the structures to become resistant to some extent only. It does not mean that the structure won’t shake during an earthquake or there won’t be any damage to the property. It simply means that structures will hold there ground but doesn’t guarantee safety of life or property. Indian structures located especially under seismic zones 4 and 5 require systems that

can alarm the inhabitants in case of an earthquake,” shares Bijender Goel, MD, Terra Techcom Pvt. Ltd. “In last two decades, about a million people have died due to Earthquakes and the loss to asset is simply untold. Developers in India, especially in NCR regions are working diligently towards providing Earthquake resistance by developing RCC framed structures and even increasing the depth of excavation to provide more strength to the towers. It is true though, that in case of a mega quake, our cities require a system that can help in allowing some time for people to evacuate the buildings before the quake takes full shape,” believes Vikas Bhasin, MD, Saya Group.

To answer such queries and alarm people before the secondary waves i.e. the waves that can cause damage, arrives; Terra Techcom Pvt. Ltd. has entered India and other countries of South Asia, where there are higher seismic zones and number of earthquake occurrences are more.

In collaboration with a German based company, Secty Electronics GmBH, it brings ‘On site early earthquake warning and security system (On site EWS)’. “In India, before On site EWS, we had the Regional earthquake warning system (REWS) which had been installed at Uttarakhand and was put under a series of tests. This www.governancetoday.co.in

STORY product had been giving false alarms and thus, lost its credibility and effectiveness. Whereas, the On site EWS has been tested and approved by Chennai-based Structural Engineering Research Centre (CSIR-SERC), a pioneer advanced seismic testing and research laboratory under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR); that has allowed us to install the On site EWS device at HIPA office in Gurgaon and New Secretariat Building Haryana in Chandigarh,” adds Goel.

Earthquake emits two sets of waves, first primary waves (P) which are harmless, followed by damaging waves ‘secondary waves (S)’ and ‘surface waves (R)’.

By detecting these primary (P) waves, we can warn the people that ‘an earthquake is on its way’. Earthquakes have become an issue before this world and there is a severe need of any such earthquake warning system that can warn people at least few seconds before the damaging secondary (S) waves strike. On site EWS developed by Germanybased Secty Electronics senses the primary waves of an earthquake and its eight threshold values are programmed in such a manner that it calculates the intensity of 5 at the threshold value 01 and triggers alarm at the intensity of 6 (threshold value 02). Threshold values 03, 04, 05, 06 and 07 are programmed in such a manner to shut off the running applications, like parking of elevators to nearest floors, shutting off gas/power/ water supply, and open/exit gates. Threshold value 08 tells that earthquake is in the building.

Thus, it is very useful for IT sectors, educational institutions, shopping malls, public buildings, industries, apartments, multi-story buildings, hotels, cinemas, bridges, tunnels, metro/ railways/airports, nuclear/ power stations, oil refineries and almost everywhere. “This product at present is the most ideal precautionary measure against Earthquakes, where people can get some time to react to the situation www.governancetoday.co.in

and evacuate the premises. The On site EWS if reaches out to the country, will allow countless lives to get saved and in some cases, even assets,” avers Rakesh Yadav, chairman, Antriksh India.

“In case of a calamity like an Earthquake, every second counts.

In a country like India where real estate sector is on a boom and developing lakhs of units every year, imagine the number of people who will be living in the coming years. Multiple researches and reports are suggesting that there is a big earthquake due, which will hit India anywhere, and it is like a time bomb ticking. In such a scenario, On site EWS is the only technology available to

almost 4,00,000 homes and other properties destroyed. “Every major earthquake in India has resulted with a loss of thousands of lives.

With the land being limited and put to use for development, there is tremendous pressure on the ground below and with people residing on these lands, they are under the risk of getting exposed to such unforeseen damages.

Thus, it becomes imperative to have devices that can alarm before the secondary waves of an earthquake strike. And with the availability of On site EWS now in India, damage to life and property can be significantly reduced,” says Dhiraj Jain, director, Mahagun Group.

mankind today which can help reduce the losses of life in future,” shares and further explains Goel.

Speaking about the seismic zones 4 and 5, almost entire NCR and northern parts of India are a part of it. Every year we witness several earthquakes with varied magnitudes whose epicentres are usually in Nepal or Afghanistan, and still its ripple effects are so strong that we can feel it hundreds and thousands of kilometres away.

India has been a witness to many major earthquakes in the past, and one just cannot forget India’s 52nd Republic Day in 2001 when an earthquake that lasted two minutes had struck Gujarat with its epicentre being in Bhuj with a depth of only 16 kms. As many as 20,000 people died and over 1,50,000 people were injured with

“Indian real estate sector is on a development spree with numerous residential and commercial projects mushrooming in Tier 1 and 2 cities of the country. As these cities develop, migrations will increase, due to high job opportunities and thus, these will become densely populated over the years. As more and more people reside in one city, the risk of losing higher number of lives increase as Earthquakes won’t tell the time and place before they strike. With the presence of such a technology that can grant even a single second to save lives, it is highly welcomed by the realty sector and very soon we will see this system becoming operational in several townships and other commercial projects in India”, concludes Kushagr Ansal, director, Ansal Housing.

January 2017 I 23

24 I January 2017

www.governancetoday.co.in

GLIMPSES 99

99

Best in Good Governance That Happened In 2016 Media feeds are echo chambers. Those echo chambers don’t just reflect our political beliefs, but also reflect our feelings about human progress.

Moving ahead into a New Year 2017, the bad things making news round have been left behind, as bad news can be a bubble too. So, here’s some good news that also happened in 2016.

Glimpses from World Media

Political and Economic Progress 1. In 2016, for the first time ever, the amount of money it would take to end poverty dropped below the amount of money spent on foreign aid. Vox 2. World hunger reached its lowest point in 25 years. New York Times 3. In February, Ontario announced a $100 million initiative to curb violence against indigenous women. The Star 4. Myanmar swore in its first elected civilian leader in more than 50 years. BBC 5. Black incarceration rates fell in the United States. Not fast enough, but certainly something worth celebrating. Washington Post 6. In 1990, more than 60% of people in East Asia lived in extreme poverty. As of 2016, that proportion has dropped to 3.5%.

Vox 7. Homelessness in the United States declined by 35% since 2007, and Los Angeles committed www.governancetoday.co.in

to $1.2 billion to help get more people off the street. CS Monitor 8. Taiwan is on the verge of becoming the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage. New York Times 9. The Gambia and Tanzania banned child marriage, following sustained lobbying by civil society groups. Independent 10. In June, after years of

wrangling, the drive to end female genital mutilation in Africa made a major breakthrough, when the Pan African Parliament endorsed a continent-wide ban. The Wire 11. Germany took on rape culture, introducing a law to broaden the definition of sex crimes by zoning in on the issue of consent.

Catalogue 12. Two weeks before Brexit,

Development aid rises in 2015 as refugee costs increase Net ODA in Billions, constant 2014 USD

140 120 100 80 60 40 20 02000

2003

Other net ODA

2006

2009

2012

2015

Humanitarian aid In - donor refugee costs Source: OECD (2016), DAC Statistics January 2017 I 25

the African Union announced a new single African passport that permits holders to enter any of the 54 AU member states without a visa. Washington Post 13. The United States now feeds healthy lunches to more than 30 million children, is about to ban trans fats, and has enacted one of the biggest overhauls of nutrition labels in decades. Vox 14. Italy became the last large Western country to recognise same-sex unions in 2016, following a long-running battle by campaigners. Independent 15. Denmark became the first country to no longer define being transgender as a mental illness, and Canada announced a ban on transgender discrimination.

Telegraph.

16. 2016 marked the 24th year in a row that teenage pregnancy rates declined in the United Kingdom and the United States.

17. In December, the Gambia became the latest African country to show that voting does count, and dictators do fall. Daily Maverick

Responding to the climate change emergency 18. The Paris Agreement became the fastest (and largest) United Nations treaty to go from agreement to international law in modern history. CBS 19. Global carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels did not grow at all in 2016. It’s the third year in a row emissions have flatlined. Scientific American 20. Thanks to rapid technological innovation and political support from around the world, renewables now account for more installed capacity than any other form of electricity in the world, including coal. Gizmodo 21. The Chinese government placed a ban on new coal mines, created new rules for grid access, and doubled its renewables targets for 2020. WRI 22. India announced it won’t 26 I January 2017

need any new coal plants for the next three years because it’s flush with generation capacity. Times of India 23. In April, the UK’s Chatham House released a report saying “Big Oil is screwed.” Chatham House 24. In the same month, 25% of European countries announced that they had quit coal. EcoWatch 25. The BRICS New Development Bank approved $1 billion in renewables investments in China, Brazil, South Africa, and India. RT 26. In 2016 Costa Rica ran solely on renewable energy for over 100 days. Now it’s aiming for an entire year with no fossil fuels. The Independent 27. In July, the US, Mexico, and Canada committed to getting 50% of their electricity from renewables by 2025. Their leaders also nailed the awkward handshake thing.

Time 28. A new report showed that China reached peak coal in 2014, a landmark moment in the fight against climate change that was reported by every media outlet on the planet. Right? Guardian 29. China installed 20GW of solar in the first half of 2016, three times as much as during the same period a year ago. Reuters 30. In October, the International Energy Agency reported that half a million solar panels were installed each day around the world in 2015. It also drastically increased

its five year growth forecast for renewables. IEA 31. In the same month, 197 countries agreed to drastically reduce their use of HFCs, and the International Civil Aviation Organisation agreed to measures to combat the impact of flying on greenhouse gas emissions.

Scientific American 32. The world’s biggest offshore wind farm received the go ahead for its second phase. Guardian 33. Mexico announced $6 billion in renewables investments, Argentina $2.7 billion, Scotland connected underwater turbines to its grid for the first time, and solar energy generated more power than coal in the United Kingdom.

Independent UK 34. In November, India unveiled the world’s largest solar-xpower plant, and revealed that it is now on track to be the world’s third biggest solar market in 2017. Al Jazeera 35. And in the same month, the United Kingdom agreed to phase out coal by 2025, France said it would get there by 2023, and Germany promised to reduce emissions by 95% by 2050.

Guardian

Strides forward for global Health 36. The World Health Organisation released a report showing that, www.governancetoday.co.in

50. The number of cigarette smokers in the US has dropped by 8.6 million since 2005. That fall will be accelerated by a tobacco tax just passed in California. NPR

The world getting less violent

since the year 2000, global malaria deaths have declined by 60%.

WHO 37. In 2016, some of the world’s biggest diseases, like colon cancer, dementia, and heart disease, started declining in wealthy countries. New York Times 38. A new study from the world’s leading health journal reported that the number of women dying from pregnancy and childbirth has almost halved since 1990.

Guardian 39. Fresh evidence showed that public smoking bans have improved health in 21 nations.

Wiley Blackwell 40. Uruguay won a major case against Philip Morris in a World Bank ruling, setting a precedent for other small countries that want to deter tobacco use. CS Monitor 41. Malawi achieved a 67% reduction in the number of children acquiring HIV, the biggest success story across all sub-Saharan nations. Since 2006, they’ve saved

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260,000 lives. Al Jazeera 42. Child mortality rates came down by 12% in Russia. Article 43. Life expectancy in Africa has increased by 9.4 years since 2000, thanks to improvements in child survival, progress in malaria control, and expanded access to ARVs. Quartz 44. Mobile phones made significant inroads in the fight against rabies, a disease that kills more people annually than all terrorists combined. Ars Technica 45. Thailand became the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.

World Health Organisation 46. Harvard scientists created a new platform for antibiotic discovery that may help solve the crisis of antibiotic resistance. GEN 47. Liberia was officially cleared of Ebola, meaning there are now no known cases of the deadly tropical virus left in West Africa. Vanguard 48. The WHO announced that measles have been eradicated in all of the Americas, from Canada to Chile. It’s the first time the disease has been eliminated from an entire world region. NBC 49. The proportion of older US adults with dementia, including Alzheimer’s, declined from 11.6% in 2000 to 8.8% in 2012, a decrease of about a million people.

Scientific American

51. Following the end of conflict in Colombia in 2016, all of the war in the world is now limited to an arc that contains less than a sixth of the world’s population.

Associated Press 52. ISIS quietly started preparing its followers for the eventual collapse of the caliphate it proclaimed with great fanfare two years ago. New Yorker 53. In April, a new report revealed that for the first time ever, the death penalty has become illegal in more than half of the world’s countries. Article 54. Juarez, in Mexico, used to be the world’s most dangerous city.

In 2016, crime came down and residents started losing their fear.

National Geographic 55. Crime rates in Holland plummeted, with total recorded crime shrinking by 25% in the last eight years. One third of the country’s prison cells are now empty. Dutch News 56. Three years ago Honduras was the most dangerous place on earth. Since then community crime programs have achieved a remarkable reduction in violence.

New York Times 57. Hellholes? Not according to US mayors, who in 2016 celebrated years of positive gains in US cities.

Politico

Signs of hope for a lifesustaining Economy January 2017 I 27

58. Good science and simple economics have started a reversal in overfishing in the United States.

New York Times 59. Norway became the first country in the world to commit to zero deforestation. The Independent 60. In June, a new survey showed that the ozone hole has shrunk by more than 3.9 million square kilometres since 2006. Scientists now think it will now be fully healed by 2050. Sydney Morning Herald 61. In July, more than 800,000 volunteers in India planted 50 million trees in one day. The country is planning on reforesting 12% of its land. National Geographic 62. Later that month, Israel revealed that it now makes 55% of its freshwater. That means that one of the driest countries on Earth now has more water than it needs. Ensia 63. McDonalds announced it would be removing corn syrup from its hamburger buns and removed antibiotics from its chicken months ahead of schedule.

CNBC

64. By August, every major grocery and fast-food chain in the US had pledged to use only cagefree eggs by 2025. Washington Post 65. The average number of large oil spills around the world has been drastically reduced, from an average of 24.5 per year in the 1970s to just 1.8 a year in 2015.

ITOPF 66. The citizens of Mumbai conducted the largest beach cleanup in human history, removing more than 4,000 tonnes of rubbish. Washington Post 28 I January 2017

67. Plastic bag use plummeted in England thanks to the introduction of a 5p charge in 2015. BBC 68. The Italian government overwhelmingly backed a new set of laws aimed at cutting down the vast amounts of food wasted in the country each year.

Independent 69. In December, four of the world’s biggest cities, Paris, Madrid, Athens, and Mexico City, agreed to ban diesel cars from their centers. Guardian

Conservation successes in generation

its decision from a year ago.

Guardian 73. After nearly 13 years of difficult negotiations, Malaysia established a 1 million hectare marine park that pioneers a mixed-use approach to marine conservation. Guardian 74. In 2016, more than 20 countries pledged more than $5.3 billion for ocean conservation and created 40 new marine sanctuaries covering an area of 3.4 million square km. Reuters 75. That included a new record holder for the world’s biggest marine reserve, off the coast of Antarctica. National Geographic 76. New research showed that acid pollution in the atmosphere is now almost back to the level that it was before it started with industrialisation in the 1930s.

Science Bulletin 77. In 2012, the US and Mexico embarked on an unprecedented binational project to revive the Colorado River. By 2016, the results had astonished everyone.

Audubon 78. In November, the Obama administration followed up its March announcements by banning offshore exploration and drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic until 2022. Politico

Well-deserved breaks for endangered animals 79. At this year’s CITES conference, 183 countries agreed to the strongest protections ever for endangered animals, with big

70. British Columbia protected 85% of one of the world’s largest temperate rainforests, home to the wonderfully named ‘Spirit Bear.’

Reuters 71. In February, Peru and Bolivia signed a $500 million deal to preserve Lake Titicaca. HNGN 72. In March, the US government abandoned its plan for oil and gas drilling in Atlantic waters, reversing

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GLIMPSES 99

wins for parrots, rhinos, porpoises, rays, and elephants. Washington Post 80. In February, the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the global manatee population is no longer endangered. Scientific American 81. Wild wolves started coming back to Europe, and for the first time since the American Revolution, wild salmon began spawning in the Connecticut River.

Al Jazeera

in the last 46 years. Science Mag 87. The US finalized new regulations to shut down commercial elephant ivory trade within its borders and stop wildlife crime overseas. WWF 88. Mongolia created one of the world’s largest protected areas for snow leopards. Snow Leopard Trust 89. In September, giant pandas became the latest species to be taken off the endangered list.

Guardian 90. And in 2016, for the first time, we heard that the number of tigers in the wild rose for the first time in 100 years. National Geographic

Alton Sterling and Philando Castile to go to college.

96. Warren Buffett gave $2.9 billion to charity, again.

And his son, a farmer and environmentalist, quietly continued to spend his billion dollar inheritance on sustainable agriculture and hunger eradication.

The Atlantic 97. The Gates Foundation announced another $5 billion in charity for Africa. They also tweeted this video about progress on malaria.

98. Germany took in an additional 300,000 refugees in 2016, despite growing concerns about integration and a backlash from populists. Guardian 99. In Canada, hockey moms, poker buddies, and neighbors took in Syrian refugees, one family at a time. New York Times

A more generous World

82. In March, Yellowstone’s grizzly bears passed a major milestone, completing one of the greatest wildlife comeback stories in history.

National Geographic 83. Fifty years ago, the Columbian white-tailed deer population was 450 animals. This year, the US Fish and Wildlife Service took it off the endangered list. CS Monitor 84. Green sea turtles in Florida and Mexico were taken off the endangered list. Huffington Post 85. Sea World agreed to stop breeding captive killer whales. NPR 86. Humpback whales were removed from the endangered species list, having fully recovered www.governancetoday.co.in

91. At the beginning of the year, we heard that global spending on aid and development increased by 7%, and spending on refugees has doubled. OECD 92. In April, Pony Ma Huateng, the chief executive of the Chinese internet giant Tencent, donated $2 billion to charity. South China Morning Post 93. 2015 was America’s most generous year ever, with charitable donations from individuals, estates, foundations, and corporations reaching record highs. 2016 is on track to be even bigger. Associated Press 94. In 2016, charitable giving in China rose to $15 billion, a 10 fold increase from just a decade ago Bloomberg 95. Online crowdfunding raised almost $1 million for the kids of January 2017 I 29

A flick through 12 editions of Governance Today magazine that hit the selves in 2016 and stood out with extraordinary outreach!

It’s one thing to make a good looking magazine, but time and again over the last 12 months we’ve seen teams that match interesting and original ideas of Governance Today with excellent graphics to create top quality titles. A look through the covers...

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Forthcoming Issue

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January 2017 I 35

An Aspirational Destination for Skilling Domestic Workforce WHEN DOMESTIC CARE WORK GOES ENTREPRENEURIAL…

AMOD K KANTH What are the challenges and objectives you had to attend when you started heading the Domestic Worker Sector Skill Council? How has it been evolving?

I will start with the ground situation in domestic work sector.

Nearly 13 million workforces enter India’s labour market every year.

Every month we get more than a million people. Out of that, only 2-3 per cent workers are formally 36 I January 2017

discusses Amod K Kanth, Chairman, Domestic Worker Sector Skill Council (DWSSC), Ministry of Skills & Entrepreneurship trained in institutions, in various programs and another 3 per cent are informally trained to do their jobs. Till today, we have got only around 5 per cent trained workforces in the domestic work segment. If we compare this with international situations, countries like Germany, Korea and some others have their trained workforce as high as 80 to 85 per cent. Even in China, this is nearly 50 to 60 per cent. Most of the developed and developing countries have their skilled workforce as high as between 40 to 90 per cent, whereas,

we are standing at a 5 per cent mark only.

This is one of the biggest drawbacks in India’s developmental process and a serious impediment in India’s industrialization and economic growth. We may be far more developed in certain areas like IT, but in most of the development areas we are far behind the race. One of the reasons very prominently is skilling.

Secondly, there are several disconnects. There is huge disconnect between India’s www.governancetoday.co.in

INTERVIEW education programs and skilling programs. There is disconnect between India’s skilling programs and industrial and other employability situation. There is disconnect between India’s education, skilling, community, industry, and the people at large.

All these disconnects have led to a very peculiar situation in the country.

When we started the national level skilling program in 2008, the former Prime Minister, Dr Man Mohan Singh announced about the National Skill Development program for the first time. Subsequently, it was created in 2009.

A target was set for 500 million work forces to be trained by 2022.

However, even after 8 years, not even 50 million out of the target of 500 million have been trained.

With this backdrop, we are now looking at the skilling programs for India with a new vision. In an attempt to organize the whole skills jurisdiction, we have now a functional Ministry of Skills & Entrepreneurship, the National Skill Development Corporation and some 40 sector skill councils including the Domestic Work Sector Skill Council (DWSSC).

Sector Skill Council for the Domestic Workers is a recent step.

It started with some primitive ideas and efforts few years back, to organized the domestic workers in the country to convert domestic work to a profession. Several organizations got involved in establishing a separate Sector Skill Council for Domestic Workers. The 20 million Domestic Workers in India make a very big constituent; creating a huge employment opportunity and a huge source of livelihood. Such a big sector cannot be overlooked. Thus, initiated the thoughts towards organizing the sector through a separate Sector Skill Council.

Ministry of Labour & Employment tried to create the Sector Skill Council and International Labour Organization (ILO) started taking the leadership.

My involvement started at that www.governancetoday.co.in

point of time, while representing Prayas. Prayas is a large organization with 246 centres, 9 states, and 800 employees and has done several programs for Domestic Workers. As part of activities of Prayas, we were running programs for Domestic Workers during 2008-09. Prayas has been a partner of ILO, as well as the Delhi Government, and the Ministry of Labour, for several purposes including training and uplifting the socio-developmental condition of Domestic Workers.

That paved path for Prayas to the programs for Domestic Workers which were led by ILO in the beginning of 2015. Prayas, subsequently, became the lead agency and for the first time in India in 2015, an autonomous body called DWSSC was formed.

Not only the training providers who have joined us in this mission,

“

countries like Germany, Korea and some others have their trained workforce as high as 80 to 85 per cent. Even in China, this is nearly 50 to 60 per cent. Most of the developed and developing countries have their skilled workforce as high as between 40 to 90 per cent, whereas, we are standing at a 5 per cent mark

but the trade unions, other stakeholders, Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Women & Child Development, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, all came under the umbrella for creating DWSSC, ultimately for bringing in changes in the livelihood situations, in skilling programs, and other activities relating to Domestic Workers.

How does the Council respond to the needs of the Domestic Workers in giving their dues?

Sector Skill Council is like an extension of Ministry of Entrepreneurship & Skill Development, a body connected to the ministry through NSDC. The purpose of the Council coming into operation is to find out the various dimensions of the sector, at the first place. The council needs to work on the gaps between skilling and the sectors requirements, to survey the labour management situation and skilling gap and to create relevant programs with the help of training providers and different stakeholders for reducing the skill gap.

What are the skill sets that are to be recognized and how have you planned to bring in standardization? Also, what are the industries which can be engaged in?

DWSSC is the only Sector Skill Council which has no industry base. But, every household that provides employment to Domestic Workers is like an industry.

From that point of view, this is a unique Sector Skill Council, having a different community base and different employment opportunities. Placement agencies in this sector have also played havoc with the system, which have turned out mostly to human traffickers, exploitations, misuse of power. Only trade unions have January 2017 I 37

INTERVIEW been protecting the interests of the DW community so far and that is how the trade unions have become the partners of the council now. So, on one hand, the job of the council is to protect such rights, and on the other hand, the core work of the council is to create national occupational standards, qualification packages and various job roles connected to the Domestic Workers in India.

So far, we have been able to create 4 full time job roles including, house-keeping, housekeeping cum cooking, child care, elderly care. We are trying now to set up pre-natal and post natal care services. The council is all set to start programs in these 4 to 5 service areas.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kaushal Vikash Yojna ( PMKVY)-2 has been launched. DWSSC, in this attempt, has already been associated with 300 training providers across the country.

Over 220 training providers got affiliated to us. Meanwhile, Government of India changed its entire policy and systems.

Accordingly, SMART- a common portal for all training providers across the country is launched by Government through NSDC. All training providers are supposed to upload their details on SMART and get them registered, following which, a third party assessment is to be made by Quality Council of India (QCI) in order to get accredited. The final accreditation is to be done by the council. The accredited training providers can then take up the relevant course, however, they need to follow and maintain national standards and the national level curriculum created by the council.

They also have to undertake the training programs of the trainers. The training centre’ infrastructure, capacity, equipments to be provided in a job role, everything has to be standardized. The conditions have been made a little stringent to ensure quality and success. Earlier, under PMKVY-1, there were 13000 38 I January 2017

“

We are trying to identify and locate those kinds of industry, equipment or gadget that can be connected to the domestic work situations.

There may be new job roles including gardening or driving, etc. to relate to house hold services. The national Domestic Workers Skill Summit 2017 is being organized to focus upon those stakeholders who have not yet been covered. The summit will provide them the platform.

Skill Summit 2017 in Fabruary is important. We are trying to identify and locate those kinds of industry, equipment or gadget that can be connected to the domestic work situations. There may be new job roles including gardening or driving, etc. to relate to house hold services. The national Domestic Workers Skill Summit 2017 is being organized to focus upon those stakeholders who have not yet been covered. The summit will provide them the platform. There are stakeholders like placement agencies, training providers, NGOs, trade unions, government departments, international agencies, and app based services for domestic help among others.

All these programs like app based services are futuristic. We have a partner in London, who has created a brilliant app under which they take the services of nearly 3000 domestic workers and they cover about 30000 households.

We have similar agencies in India as well.

We want this entire program to be aspirational. Because, the biggest challenge for this sector is the mindset of the employers.

In a domestic set up, nobody wants these Domestic Workers to be independent. Their level of aspiration is going to curtail their activities. One needs to think about their working hours, their weekly leaves, minimum wages and insurance. For all these, nobody is prepared, since it all go against the interest of employers.

training providers. But now with such stringent standardization attempt, majority of them do not qualify. Under PMKVY-2, there are not even 1000 training providers who have registered, even after one month time of the announcements.

What are the reform plans at policy level, for the Domestic workforce or the labour market organisations?

Awareness and advocacy are the tools. What is your take on this vis-Ă -vis DW sector?

That is where, organizing this particular Domestic Workers

So far, the trade unions have been the lead people in this sector.

And nothing was organised.

Secondly, we have been trying to develop a national policy. In Jharkhand, there is already a law in this regard is in force, which is the Placement Agencies and Domestic www.governancetoday.co.in

Workers Regulation Act, 2016.

Maharashtra and Chattishgarh also have similar laws. There are some DW Boards as well, which are functional in this area. Recently, ESI (Employee State Insurance) services have been extended to limited areas of Domestic Work.

This service is seen in Hyderabad, Delhi, and Ranchi, however, this has a very limited presence so far.

So, now there is an effort to have insurance, to have the mechanisms of protection, minimum wages for Domestic Workers and more things are in the process. We are at a threshold now, when the entire DW sector is getting a fillip towards becoming a profession.

DWSSC expects to provide this leadership. However, it is a long shot for now, and is going to take time.

associations, reaching out to other residential areas and conglomerates, causing awareness in media, all these are required to be done in this line.

How to break the isolation of the community & enable them to be more accessible & come under shared networks & platforms, as conceived by the DWSSC?

How to bring balance between skills for economic or knowledge development and skills for poverty alleviation?

Mobilising, creating awareness, outreach programs in different communities, trying to access as many stakeholders as possible, going out to Resident Welfare Associations and to other welfare www.governancetoday.co.in

Do you still see any role for the unions?

There is a strong view that has been ruling so far is that, only the rights of Domestic Workers will be emphasized and not the duties. It is going to be counterproductive.

After all, we are in the process of creating better employment. So, a balanced approach is required. For that matter only, the trade unions or the placement agencies could not have led it and the leadership role ultimately falls on a neutral body like DWSSC.

Skills which bring better economy are the requirement of the industry. That is already there and cannot be overlooked. On the other side, when the individuals are skilled, and the change that comes in their lives, adds to their

productivity. It adds empowerment to their lives, to their income, to their lifestyle, and brings about a basic change in their personality and lifestyle. So, actually, it is one in the same. Only there are two ways to look at. It should be a connected situation in the end.

How do you see the work in future? Is there any plan towards having international engagements or cooperation in this line?

Sushma Swaraj, the minister for External Affairs, Government of India is very keen on strengthening this sector. This is her wish that the Indian women, Indian skilled caretakers, child care providers, cooks, etc should occupy the international space, which is presently dominated by Philippinos and others. Even adding the new skill area like pre-natal and postnatal care is a suggestion that has come from the Minister. we are certainly looking for International opportunities. In fact, we held a program, in which, we had two British partners who came here and trained our domestic workers for their placement in the UK. Prayas too has developed an international centre in Ranchi.

January 2017 I 39

STORY

LPG Shows the Way

Auto LPG, which is 50 per cent cheaper than petrol and cleaner fuel, can help tackle increasing air pollution in cities, says a study RAMESH KUMAR RAJA

A

lthough the liquefied petroleum gas is mostly used for cooking in India, it can cheaply and quickly replace petrol and diesel in transport. An auto LPG industry body – which works very closely with the World LPG Association, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, Automotive Research Association of India and International Centre for Automotive Technology – hopesto make this fuel popular among driversafter a decade-long struggle when higher prices and subsidy held back its expansion.

But, does auto LPGhold the key to tackling air pollution in Indian cities? A recent study conducted 40 I January 2017

by Marketing and Development Research Associates (MDRA) suggests that auto LPG is fast emerging as the alternative fuel worldwide, as it is much cheaper, cleaner and safer fuel than petrol and diesel, even better than CNG. The MDRA study was commissioned by the Indian Auto LPG Coalition (IAC), which is the nodal body for the promotion of auto LPG in India. Members of the coalition include the oil sector PSUs, private auto LPG marketers, kit suppliers and equipment manufacturers.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), 13 out of 20 most polluted cities in the world are from India. Delhi tops this list

with 153 micrograms of PM 2.5 per cubic meter, while PM 2.5 should not exceed 10 micrograms per cubic meter. Due to air pollution, half a million premature deaths happen every year in India, and health cost of air pollution in India has been assessed at three per cent of its GDP. Presently, India has an estimated 222 million vehicles, 80 per cent being two-wheelers, 14 per cent passenger vehicles, three per cent commercial and the remaining three per cent as threewheelers.

IAC PresidentYKGupta, who also happens to betheexecutive director of Indian Oil Corporation, said, “Among the cleaner fuels, auto LPG is the most suited as it can be fitted in two wheelers as well. More than 26 million vehicles run on auto LPG globally in more than 70 countries, and therefore auto LPG has become the third largest selling fuel in the world, after petrol and diesel.”

The study says that auto LPG’s www.governancetoday.co.in

STORY operating expenses are up to 50 per cent lower than petrol, cost of LPG vehicles (Original Equipment Manufacturer –OEM, or Retro-fit) is lower than CNG, and the investment in auto LPG infrastructure and installation time is lower than a CNG station. Its compact and lighter fuel tanks, easy retro-fitment and easily portable, transportable and faster re-fuelling clearly make LPG a preferable fuel.

Auto LPG is currently available in more than 500 cities across India, including 19 outlets in Delhi, the national capital. It is already the preferred fuel in south India, and fast catching up in other parts of the country.

The study says that one can be assured of continuous availability of auto LPG for the Indian subcontinent at very low, compelling prices in the foreseeable future as global LPG production was growing faster than demand (10 million metric tonnes in excess; 2015).

Of the many advantages of auto LPG, says the study, the most significant is its contribution to improving air quality. Auto LPG is the most effective option for converting the existing pool of petrol-fuelled cars and bikes into more environment friendly vehicles. It also provides tremendous opportunity to avoid usage of high polluting carcinogenic diesel-fuelled cars for personal and public transport.

LPG has 22 per cent lower carbon dioxide than petrol, 96 per cent lesser nitrogen oxide than diesel and 68 per cent lesser than petrol, and the PM (particulate matter) - 120 times lower emission than diesel.

As per Rajiv Chohan, president, Aegis Logistics Ltd, “With effects of global warming so apparent now, moving to cleaner fuels is not a choice anymore. Auto LPG is clean, efficient, easy to handle and offers significant economic benefits.”

Suyash Gupta, the director general of IAC, said,“The auto LPG www.governancetoday.co.in

market clocked an annual growth of more than 30 per cent during its peak in 2007-11, and then it dipped a bit due to international LPG pricing hitting record highs, whereas petrol and diesel then, were still regulated and heavily subsidized.But still saw a 17 per cent growth in 2015. But for any unforeseen changes in the global energy trends, macro factors will continue to be supportive of auto LPG growth in India. Global excess of LPG, primarily due to the US shale glut has resulted in significant excess of product globally. International prices of LPG have dropped from more than $1200/t to about $400/t. But for any unforeseen major global event, international prices are much expected to stay around this level, making auto LPG probably the lowest cost, cleaner automotive fuel in the country.”

While a number of factory-fit auto LPG vehicles are available across the world and in India, giving a wide range of options in terms of vehicle choice, any petrol car or bike can be easily and quickly retrofit with an auto LPG kit. Auto LPG fuel tanks are compact and lighter than CNG and can be easily integrated in the car without much loss of trunk space.

It is easily portable, transportable– not dependent only on pipeline infrastructure. Refuelling time for auto LPG is similar to other conventional (petrol and diesel)

fuels unlike CNG, which takes more time (5-10 minutes) to refill primarily because of the very high pressures CNG operates at.

Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a staunch supporter of the clean fuel. During his address at arecent industry event in New Delhi, the PM categorically highlighted the role of auto LPG, along with biofuels as the way forward for cleaner transport fuels.

The PM has rightly pointed out,said the IAC director general, “that our country needs to realize that gaseous fuels provide an immediate solution. Electric vehicles, for India, which produces most of its electricity from coal based power plants, are not completely clean. Well-to-wheel emissions need to be considered when taking any policy decision.”

Auto LPG can play a major role and offers an opportunity to address the alarming and severe air quality issues India is grappling with, Suyash Gupta added.

“India, with an estimated auto LPG vehicle population of 2.2 million vehicles, is, at a minimum, one million tonne market annually.

I can say with certainty that the recent initiatives of the Indian government on the subsidy administration front, particularly the direct cash transfer of subsidy and the success of ‘Give It Up’ campaign, will decisively change the landscape of Indian auto LPG industry,”Gupta asserted.

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INTERVIEW

Need to Create an Ecosystem Recognising Domestic Work as a Dignified Profession

SUSHIL RAMOLA Give us a background of B-ABLE’s skill mission!

My organization Basix Academy for Building LifeLong EmployabilityorB-ABLEwas set up in 2009 in partnership with BASIX. BASIX is the pioneering microfinance and livelihood promotion company in India. We startedwith the ‘less’, the less organized sectors and the less privileged people of thesociety.

With a mission to provide skills and 48 I January 2017

Sushil Ramola, a social entrepreneur, a chemical engineer, an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, the co-founder and currently MD and CEO of B-ABLE (BASIX Academy for Building Lifelong Employability Ltd.), talks about the demand-driven and market linked approach for the Domestic Work sector for promoting vertical and horizontal mobility across competency levels for the workers… meaningful livelihood opportunities to 1 million less educated and under-skilled youth, B-ABLE was the first to partner with NSDC. When you start working ina social enterprise, your focus is obviously on areas which are usually not in focus. Domestic Work is obviouslysuch a sector.

About 4 years ago I decided to venture into this extremely unorganized sector, as this was often unexploited and there has nothing been done in this area. I

took over an organisation called DomesteQ in 2012. It was set upby Shawn Runacres, a US citizen resident in India. She created firstly aninformal set up for domestic workers, and the objective was to build the networkto connect people with domestic help requirements. It was created to provide training and jobs to workers in an unorganised sector like domestic work. There are 13 training curriculum designed specifically for the illiterate or semiwww.governancetoday.co.in

literate workers in both domestic and corporate job roles. Shawn Runacres continues to be part of our work. The organisation has set up very good systems and processes; the conditions in which the domestic worker will work, the ways the domestic workers will be treated are very upfront and straight forward. It not only ensures that the domestic workers get their rights and understand their responsibilities, but also make it equitable and helpful for both the parties involved, even for theemployers.

B-ABLE, of course, works in large number of skill areas other than DW. As I said earlier, we are one of the first partners of NSDC to build this skill ecosystem.

In your experience, what are some of the unique problems and challenges one encounters in the skills sector for domestic workers?

The first challenge is supply.

Unless youidentify and get people fromremote areas, you cannot get supply. In this sector, the demand is far more than the supply. There area limited number of people who have already migrated and there are enoughjobs for them.

But in order to meet the demand, we need to create acontinuous path, a chain.

Ideally the middle-men or the agencies from different states who supplymanpower, predominantly from Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, etc,.Then youtrain and prepare them over their place of origin, provide them jobs in the city, thenbring them and provide them a very structured working set up and as well as all initial supports. But that supply chain is not continuous. As aresult, people like us are a little cautious, in terms of gettingpeople from outside.

We certainly don’t want to deal with the situation ofmigration. We intend to deal with people who are already in the city, who are skilled, and whom we can connect with www.governancetoday.co.in

the jobs. So the biggest challenge is to create the supply system and maintain the supplychannel. As a corollary,the Sector Skill Council has to work towards maintaining this supply chain.

Secondly, this is an undefined sector, in terms of what all are to comeunder this DW sector.There could be house-keeping, elderly care, child care, cooking. There could be large number of service needs.But there wasno structure earlier.There is a need to create a path for them,to show them what all can they achieve with this job or with the skills, so that the domestic workers can see it as an aspirational area of work.

That didnot happen, which is a challenge.

Again, when these people come to the city, they immediately want to do a job. They do not have the time or the affordability to get trained. On the other hand, the employers are also not keen to get them trained.

There are insecurities in exposing the domestic workers to outside contacts and connections. That’s how our employer segment works.

That poses the biggest challenge.

There is no big taker or giver for the skilling task. Government’s focus is primarily on the known organized sectors. Also, government’s programs cannot run in this unorganized sector smoothly. A lot of informal work has been happening. Almost 1.5 cr people are working in this sector across the country. But there is no formal system. That is the gap that the Sector Skills Council is trying to fill.

What are the plans for intervention?

As a Sector Skill Council, which is promoted by NSDC, having the backing from the government and the funding coming from the government, it provides an unbiased platform to talk to the government, to talk to employer

community, to all the stakeholders, the unions, workers forums, RWAs, and various departments of the government.All of these stakeholders can brought to a single platform through this council. That is also the objective of the National Domestic Worker’ Skill Summit 2017which is happening in February.So, it creates acceptability, provides unbiased platform, takes up issues to be talked out, and takes some action.It also supports various organizations, state government departments through consultancy, providing the know-how, to come up with the right policies, right frameworks, right acts, etc., in order to move this sector from unorganized to organized direction. There is no other body for the stakeholders in DW sector.

DWSSC,other than having this role also looks into standards, systems, trainings, and frameworks.

DWSSC has already started working on the National Skill Qualification Framework. There are various jobs and job roles.

January 2017 I 49

Under each job role, there are national occupation standards.

DWSSC provides the yardstick, the standard platform for training.

So, if a person is trained from one location, the training is equivalent to the training the other person gets from the other location. The standard for that job as well as the evaluation and assessment criteria are well defined. The certification is also uniform. It can also provide for the standards for how the sector would be looked after by.

What are the skills in focus?

How do you go about infusing this new way of thinking and skills training for domestic workers?

We need to look at the things in demand first, insteadof being futuristic. This is one criteria of determining which skill we need to focus on.

Second, no skill is fix or static.

So, how can we make people grow in that skill? There are different levels to education and skill sets. National Skills Qualification framework provides that pathway, which automatically defines the level oneneeds to start with and the level one needs to

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A good domestic worker can bring in many changes in the home zone, can act as a mentor to a child, can make a child happy. It’s a far more evocative and interesting work, provided, we can make it aspirational. reach through defined gradual steps.

Third is more specific to the DW sector. The skills in this sector are not watertight. A domestic worker needs basic 3 to 4 skills, in order to get a decent job, which are like, the basics of house-keeping, how to use the mops, how to clean, what is cleanliness, what are the standards of hygiene, how to operate a toaster or a mixi, basics of cooking , basics of child care,

etc. They end up doing multi task.

That is one of the areas we need to start from.

We may not call it as aspirational initially. But that can be a starting point. We can then build on it in two ways. One is to go vertically up, in getting skills at different levels, one by one. If a domestic worker works as a child care support, she can get more traning for child care at different levels as there are intricacies. End of the day, she can become a governess or an expert support in the stream.

In old systems, the governess is the one who understands child psychology. If we go further deep, these skill group can avail opportunities in other countries, as expert care takers. In middleeast or far-east, the need for this workforceis huge. That is about creating skills at a different level.

In Singapore, it is much more a dignified job. They have more say in the child’s development than the parents. Parents too trust them, because they come with the desiredqualification and behaviour likea professional.That is how the future of any skilllooks like.

There is a lot of focus on the technical skills of domestic workers. What about the transversal side of skilling?

That is very much a part of skill building. There are different kinds of skills that are being taken care.

Technical or domain skills, which includes things like how to cook, what kind of spoons or cutleries to be used, which light has to be used, etc.

Second is behavior or life skillswhich is about the softer side of the job roles, like,how do we manage, how do we understand the need, how do we handle, how to showdiscipline, etc.

Third is aboutlanguage skill or communication.

Then, there is theenterprise skill.This is about the need to have

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certain skills relating to sensitivity, about reactions to particular situations and the ways to deliver the job. For acquiring domain skills, theory is available, which one can teach. But it is difficult to demonstrateenterprise skill. Each situation can lead to a discussion about what a worker can do. So situations are created to make them understand what action is appropriate for them to do and what not to.

Then there is one program, which is about training new people, and then there is recognition of prior learning.

People who are working in households are recognized, but not their skills. There is another program which is to recognize them and certify, assess it and certify. This will make them feel that inspite of working in the field for 4-5 years, they have nothing to show for it.

What are the skill areas B-ABLE focuses on to?

We focus on the basic 3 to 4 skills including house-keeping, child care, cooking, elderly care, etc. The trainings that we provide are much more interactive. In

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Providing them skill is the first step. We have to give them the destination.

Destination is to support them to rise to whichever level they wish to, using their skills and competency. www.governancetoday.co.in

most of our training cases, the trainers themselves are domestic workers. Use of technology or any other advanced procedures are less visible, but the trainings are imparted in very interactive way, to make them comprehensive for the domestic workers.

However, we have to do a lot more at the fundamental basic level. The training is even downstream. We need to create an ecosystem where domestic work is recognized as one profession or vocation.The work that DWSSC should take up on priority is to work with centre and state governments to disseminate all the policies and acts, make people aware and capable of implementing them, and then facilitate their formulation and their implementation where they don’t exist.

What are the governance issues you identify in the skill sector?

Governance issues lie withthe accountability of the workers as well as with accountability of employers. When you are taking up a formal job there is a clear accountability, which is missing in domestic work sector.

Taking care of their basic needs, their banking, insurance, minimum wages, due leave periods, working hours, etc are

the other kind of accountabilities posing for governance issue.

What are the suggestions formaking the stakeholders accountable?

Primarily, facilitate awareness as Sector Skill Council. Then create adequate policies, acts, systems and then help implement it. Domestic work is equally a respectable job as is any other job. A good domestic worker can bring in many changes in the home zone, can act as a mentor to a child, can make a child happy. It’s a far more evocative and interesting work, provided, we can make it aspirational. In the developed world, domestic workers are not available adequately and there is huge demand. So we need to build this profession in such a way that it is treated as a very respectable job.

What are the targets you have set for B-ABLE? We have taken a target of starting with Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and agreed to do 2000 RPLs. We haven’t yet reached near that mark, as the government program which was supposed to do this has not yet started. As part of RPL, we take people who January 2017 I 51

INTERVIEW

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It would be rewarding, if we can bring some change in the lives of the workers and the way the profession is looked at by the workers themselves.

are already working somewhere, give them some awareness, some information about their job role, train them for what they could do, and where they could go. Then we assess them for their skills and certify appropriately. That is the initial step.

Then, we set up skill centres, preferably at source point of domestic workers. Because, once the domestic workers come here, she would not be sent by her employer for any kind of training.

They need to be trained at the source, wherever they are from.

If the worker is from Jharkhand, we need to set up a centre at Jharkhand. Then the government has a role to support, so that they can come to the city and are looked after well. B-ABLE so far has not taken up the migratory labour force for trainings, considering the risks and issues attached to the core. But now as the SSC creates this pathway, we would definitely like them to make use of the trainings.

How to bring balance between skills for economic development or knowledge development and skills for poverty alleviation?

Skill is for providing better livelihood and doing well in life.

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Skills are for poverty alleviation.

But that would be limiting the larger impact of skilling the domestic workforce. It is not a good way to do, if we do skills for poverty alleviation, as that won’t be aspirational. Skills initially do serve that purpose of getting people out of poverty. But without a strong foundational skill, we cannot get people out of poverty.

We cannot keep giving them support, subsidies, NREGA, etc. As soon as that initiative is stopped, they go back to the old living.

However, ifwe give them skill, they can use that to continue to earn.

Again, providing them skill is the first step. We have to give them the destination. Destination is to support them to rise to whichever level they wish to, using their skills and competency.

decent work. In last 6-7 years since DomesteQ started, these workers with the constant support, mentoring and coaching are now earning decent and attractive.

As an individual organization, I can say, we are able to achieve that. Whereas, we know that these DWs when come through middle men, their earning Is compromised, as also there are several other exploitations. So that’s my achievement. What we have not been able to achieve is numbers and that’s because of the ecosystem. Unless the ecosystem is built, there is no point focusing on the targets or numbers.

Are we in the path towards corporatization when we speak about an entrepreneurial domestic workforce?

It would be very rewarding for me or for B-ABLE when we can say that as one of the very early and key promoters in this sector, we have been able to create a very strong ecosystem, in terms of the right policy, the right skilling programs, standards, systems, etc, allowing the employers and workers to do the right thing.

For training people, it would be rewarding again, if we can bring some change in the lives of the workers and the way the profession is looked at by the workers themselves.

In places like Jharkhand or West Bengal, they send their children out for work till the time they get married. As soon as they get married, they stop working. So it is under distress that they work.

Many of the domestic workers are supporting their families. I would be very happy to see the change, may be in five years down the line, when the parents would send their children gladly for this work, quite like parents sending their children abroad for further studies or to make career in IT. When they can say with dignity that yes, this is a good job and I am willing to send my child for this work, then we can see fulfillment in our work.

It is certainly not a corporate and the intention is also nowhere to move that way. This is an unorganized sector. In corporate sector, there is a defined and very large customer base.Here the customers are individuals. Each customer has a very different need. If we call the skills of the DWs as product, the product has to be customized to the needs of the customers in the end of the day. It is just to make the system more equitable. It is not only that we need to meet the requirements of the DWs. We also need to meet the requirements of good governance in this system, to make it more organized. However, this will remain informal, not a corporate.

What are the milestones B-ABLE has been able to set?

I am happy that through our network of domestic workers, we are able to place them in

What will be the most rewarding part of your work with the domestic workers?

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NTPC

National Thermal Power Corporation Commendations ‘VAJRA’ Award for Talcher Kaniha NTPC, TALCHER KANIHA HAS BEEN AWARDED “WINNER” OF THE PRESTIGIOUS ‘VAJRA’ FOR ‘POWER GENERATION’BEST PERFORMING THERMAL & CONVENTIONAL ENERGY PROJECT DURING “10TH ENERTIA AWARDS 2016 – INDIA & SOUTH ASIA’S AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN SUSTAINABLE ENERGY & POWER” HELD IN NEW DELHI. THE AWARD WAS RECEIVED BY SHRI L D SAHOO, GM(O&M). SHRI K. RAVIKUMAR, FORMER CMD BHEL AND SHRI YOGENDRA PRASAD, FORMER CMD NHPC WERE THE EMINENT JURY MEMBERS.

Recognition for NTPC NETRA NTPC NETRA awarded for Institutional Research, Training and Excellence in Academia at the 10th Enertia Awards held in New Delhi

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NTPC

NTPC Awarded as Best Thermal Power Utility NTPC awarded as the Best Thermal Power Utility of the country by CentralBoard of Irrigation and Power (CBIP) on 29th December,2016 at a function held in New Delhi Union Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan presented the award to Shri Gurdeep Singh CMD NTPC. Shri AK Jha Director, (Technical) NTPC was also honoured by CBIP on the occasion for his outstanding contribution to the sector.

NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited signs Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Nepal Electricity Authority NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN), wholly owned subsidiary of NTPC Limited, has signed Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) for supply of up to 160 MW power for theperiod January 2017 to May 2017 through MuzaffarpurDhalkebar transmission line. The Agreement was signed in New Delhi between NVVN and NEA by Shri Arun Kumar Garg, CEO NVVN and Shri Kul Man Ghising Managing Director, NEA.

NTPC AWARDED FOR EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY www.governancetoday.co.in

One of the best employers and the largest power utility of the country NTPC has been awarded for Employee Productivity at the 4th Governance Now PSU Awards 2016 held in New Delhi.

The Award was received by Shri S.P. Singh, Executive Director (HR) and Shri Sanjay Singh, General Manager(HR) from Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, food and Public Distribution. Shri Jitendra Kapoor, Legendary Actor and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.

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STORY

Coverage of antenatal checkups still below 50%; half of all new mothers still bereft of postnatal services

Assam Veeds Improvement in Health Status of Children and Women RAMESH KUMAR RAJA

Assam has over 22% shortfall of doctors at PHCs level and nearly 43% shortfall of specialists at CHCs level

W

hile Assam has made progress in its health indicators, it further needs to strengthen its existing health services especially the rural healthcare to be able to achieve significant improvement in the status of its women and children, according to Dr Ashok K Agarwal, the Delhi Dean of International lnstitute of Health Management Research(IIHMR).

The most recent summary data put out by the 4th National Family Health Survey shows that while Assam has succeeded in improving its health indicators, the current situation leaves a lot more room for improvement. For instance, while the coverage of antenatal checkups for pregnant women went up from 23.5 per cent in NFHS3 to 46.5 per cent in NFHS 4, there is still room to double that coverage.

Similarly, one in two women receive post-natal services currently, a significant 58 I January 2017

improvement over the one in seven women that received these services in 2006-7, but leaves behind half of all the new mothers.

Such strengthening of services to improve maternal and child outcomes in the state will require substantial investment of additional resources, in money and personnel terms. IIHMR Delhi recommendsthat the number of health personnel in primary and secondary healthcare system in Assam should be as per the NHM guidelines and an increased health budget for the state to the tune should be twice of existing health budget over the next five years.

Dr Agarwal also said that 50 per cent dependency on private hospitals by urban population is adding to the healthcare bill extensively in the state and needs to be tackled immediately.

Select current health indicators for Assam:

»» Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) 48 (As per NFHS IV) »» Under 5 mortality Rate (U5MR) 56 (As per NFHS IV) »» Full Vaccination Coverage 47% (As per NFHS IV) »» Children’s Nutritional status (children age below 5 years who are underweight is 29.8%) - (As per NFHS IV) »» Anemia among children (children age 6-59 months who are anemic 35.7%) -(As per NFHS IV) »» Underweight women with BMI below normal 25.7% (As per NFHS IV) »» Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) 300 (as per SRS Bulletin 2011-13) »» Life expectancy at birth 63.6 for men and 64.8 for women, national average stands at 67.3 and 69.6 respectively Assam is the most populous state from the North Eastern region of India and comprises nearly 70 per cent population of the entire region of seven states also known as Seven Sisters.

The state, with over three crore population as per the Census 2011 data, has nearly 86 per cent population residing in rural areas and only around 14 per cent population in urban areas.

The state expenditure on public health in 2012-13 was a total of INR 1,539 crore out of which 1353 crore were spent in medical and public health, 185 crore were spent in family welfare schemes.

In its budget for 2016-17, the Sarbananda Sonowal government has allocated approximately INR 3,994 crore for health and family welfare schemes that includes several new initiatives targeted at improving the healthcare infrastructure in the state including making 200 bed cancer hospital operational in Guwahati Medical College and Hospital, establishing cancer units in government medical colleges of Jorhat, Tezpur, Silcher and Barpeta. It also plans to add many facilities related to cardiac care, dialysis and IVF in the GMCH. www.governancetoday.co.in

FOYER

The Foyer

Where were the best places to find innovations, new trends or new products? Where were the forums to find the whos who of the country’s most talked about people and influencers?

Governance Today events, conferences and summits happened in the past months brought together entrepreneurs, creatives, innovators, and influencers for a sneak peek into the innovation ecosystem and future of governance.... all while having a great time with the events and forums of Governance Today!

“Karnataka Co-operative Banks have traditionally been an integral and crucial part of the Indian economic system. These banks help in channelizing the idle savings of the society to fruitful economic ventures. Apart from channelizing the idle saving, these Cooperative Banks help in development of small and medium scale enterprise in urban areas by providing substantial credit facilities to this segment.

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“After the success of the 1st edition of ‘India’s Payment Corridors – Towards Cashless Future 2015’. Governance Today is organizing the 2nd edition of ‘India’s Payment Corridors – Unleashing Banking into New Horizon’ with the aim to promote transparent and reliable transactions. The Summit will bring together the experts from Top banking and financial organizations and institutions under one roof.

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“Urban Co-operative Banking Summit 2016, Gujarat conference has been designed to discuss such challenges of cooperative banks. This summit will provide an interactive experience producing valuable, actionable outcomes.

Participants will become part of an actively engaged community sounding board that generates productive ideas, activities and alliances during and between conferences.

Urban Co-operative Banking Summit 2016, Gujarat “Unleashing Urban Co-operative Banking� into new horizon conference will combine high profile key speakers, interactive panel discussion and moderated debates. Productive networking time will complement the event agenda.

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“The summit aims to facilitate the innovative developments for smart city planning in West Bengal where sector concerned with Urban Planning, Disaster Management, Transportation, IT & Communications, Security, Safety and Energy, Private Companies, PSUs and the Government would share same platform to discuss the road map ahead.

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“The summit aims to facilitate the innovative developments for smart city planning in West Bengal where sector concerned with Urban Planning, Disaster Management, Transportation, IT & Communications, Security, Safety and Energy, Private Companies, PSUs and the Government would share same platform to discuss the road map ahead.

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With the aim to promote the cashless dream, Governance Today will organize ‘India’s Payment Corridors – Towards Cashless Future’ which would bring together experts from top banking and financial organization and institutions. The summit would not only act as a platform for discussing various financial and technical innovations that are taking the financial world by storm, but also provide a stage where policy related matters, necessitated by the emergent realities, can be deliberated upon.

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Raipur, Chhattisgarh – June 26, 2015: Governance Today has successfully organized ‘Gen-Next Summit 2015, Chhattisgarh – Empowering IT/ITeS’ along with Chhattisgarh Infotech & Biotech Promotion Society (CHiPS) and the state government here today at Taj Gateway, Raipur.

The objective of the summit was to bring IT corporates from across the country to invest in Naya Raipur, India’s first Smart City.

The summit was inaugurated by Dr. Raman Singh, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Government of Chhattisgarh along with Vivek Dhand, Chief Secretary, Chhattisgarh & Aman Singh, Principal Secretary, Electronics IT and Energy, Chhattisgarh.

During the summit Chief Minister stated “with the ample of investment opportunities Government of Chhattisgarh is promoting ‘Make in Chhattisgarh’ initiative.” He also added, there is dearth of knowledge about opportunities provided by Chhattisgarh Government and investors need to know that state has formulated best policies for IT companies.

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FOYER National Energy Summit on Renewable Energy 2014 will serve as a one-of-its-kind Energy Summit for initializing some national as well as global dialogues on energy efficiency through alternate resources; it is critical that we expand upon these dialogues, commitments and partnerships.

The objective of the Summit is to foster discussion and dialogue on the innovative generation and utilization of non-conventional energy as a strategic tool for better government service delivery in the energy sector.

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