Two-thirds of elderly financially dependent on others, says study
According to a survey, 65 per cent of the elderly in India are dependent on others for their financial requirements and undergo financial crisis.
The nation-wide survey conducted by Agewell Foundation involved a random sample of 15,000 people across India aged 60 or above.
The study found that pension was the main source of income for 38 per cent of the respondents.
Further, 46.4 per cent of the elderly claimed that their net-worth value had increased remarkably in their old age, primarily due to a sharp increase in real estate prices over the last two decades.
Healthcare
More than four-fifths of the respondents said that their major problems were related to healthcare issues, where financial status plays a key role.
The report finds that senior citizens aged over 70 are marginalised and isolated to a large extent.
According to the report, the financially well-off older people do not wish to be dependent on government facilities for healthcare needs, as they prefer private institutions for better services.
Financially insecure old people expect social security, free health care and subsidies so that they can lead a comfortable and respectable life in old age. At the same time, older people with sound financial health look forward to risk-free investment schemes, so that they can earn good returns to meet financial needs in old age.
Finally, the Adivasis of Telangana get a sweet deal
It is a sweet deal for Telangana’s hard-working Adivasis, the Kolams of Adilabad, the Chenchus of Mahabubnagar and the tribals of Eturnagaram in Warangal.
They can now overcome the setback suffered after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, and get access to the State’s first honey processing and packaging plant at Nirmal, raising their income prospects.
Honey, that these tribals gather from the forests will be packaged for sale under the brand name of Girijan Cooperative Corporation (GCC Honey). The initiative is to be inaugurated on Gandhi Jayanthi.
After Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated, Telangana’s honey gatherers fell on hard times. Honey, which is classified as minor forest produce, was no longer sent to Chittoor or Rajamahendravaram for processing. That left the GCC in Telangana with a large volume, and about 400 quintals were stored in its godowns in Adilabad division.
Encouraging tribals
The main aim is to encourage the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups of Kolams and Chenchus to continue to collect honey. The activity will provide them good income.
Commodities trading may open to foreigners
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has initiated talks with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to allow foreign portfolio investors into the commodity derivatives market.
SEBI Chairman U.K. Sinha said on the sidelines of an event on the completion of one year of merger of Forward Markets Commission (FMC) with SEBI. The FPI regulations emanated from FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act) and any kind of foreign money coming into the country has to have RBI approval.”
The regulator is also keen to allow other participants such as banks, mutual funds and insurance companies in the commodities market but will do so in a phased manner after talking to other regulatory bodies.
SEBI took over as the regulator of commodity derivatives market on 28th September 2015 and since then has initiated various measures like allowing option contracts, new commodities apart from releasing guidelines for warehouse service providers and online registration of brokers, among others.
‘Cautious manner’
The regulator plans to further develop the market but would do so in a “cautious manner.”
Spot polling
SEBI has already set up an advisory committee for commodity derivatives and the committee has further set up separate sub-groups to look into issues of spot polling of prices and how exchanges can rope in more hedgers.
The commodity derivatives market is dominated by two exchanges – Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) and the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX).
Metals and energy contracts dominate the trading at MCX, which has more than 90 per cent of market share in the commodity derivatives space.
The SEBI chairman said that the regulator is also looking at the “unduly balanced” ratio of business between the existing commodity exchanges.
New commodities
The regulator will soon give the go-ahead for options trading in one commodity each from the agri and non-agri segment.
On the recommendation of SEBI, the government has also allowed futures trading in new commodities like diamond, brass, pig iron, eggs, cocoa and tea.
Further, the advisory committee is also deliberating on issues such as improving the liquidity of the contracts.
About Commodity Derivatives:-
Commodity derivatives are investment tools that allow investors to profit from certain items without possessing them. This type of investing dates back to 1848 when the Chicago Board of Trade was established. Initially, the idea behind commodity derivatives was to provide a means of risk protection for farmers.
Modern commodity derivatives trading is most popular with people outside of the commodities industry. The majority of people who use this investment tool tend to be price speculators. These people usually focus on supply and demand and try to predict whether prices will go up or down. When the prices of a certain commodity move in their favor, they make money. If price moves in the opposite direction, then they lose money.
The buyer of a derivative contract buys the right to exchange a commodity for a certain price at a future date. Although this person is a contract buyer, he may be buying or selling the commodity. He does not have to pay the full value of amount of the commodity that he is investing in. He only needs to pay a small percentage, known as the margin price.
The contract seller is the person who accepts a margin. He agrees that on a certain date he will buy or sell the commodity stated in the contract at a certain price. Both parties are generally required to honor the agreement despite losses.
For example, an investor may buy a contract from the seller that gives him rights to one ton of coffee beans for $1000 US Dollars (USD) on July 1st. Although the value of the contract is $1000 USD, the buyer may only be required to pay $100 USD. On July 1st, the seller will transfer the rights of one ton of coffee beans to the buyer.If the current value of a ton of coffee beans on July 1st is $1,500 USD, the buyer can sell to the market and make a $500 USD profit. If the value of coffee beans on that day is only $800 USD, this person will have purchased at a loss. He can choose to take possession of the coffee beans, which is rare. He can sell to the market at a loss. In most cases, he will become the seller and attempt to find a buyer.
Commodity derivatives trading allows a person to use a small sum of money for the potential to earn substantial profits. This sort of investment, however, is considered high risk. When prices are not in an investor’s favor, he can suffer substantial losses. Commodities that are open to this type of investing include cotton, soybean, and rice. In some countries, although these commodities are available, this type of trading is illegal.
Merger of Sebi and FMC:-
What does the merger mean?
The Forward Contracts Regulation Act (FCRA) stands repealed, and the regulation of the commodity derivatives market shifts to Sebi under the Securities Contracts Regulation Act (SCRA), 1956. SCRA is a stronger law, and gives more powers to Sebi than FCRA offered to FMC. Market players feel that commodity markets will now be better regulated, with more stringent processes — and will thus evoke greater confidence.
Why is Sebi seen to be better equipped to monitor commodities trading?
The FMC only regulated the exchanges, and had no direct control over brokers. Also, Sebi has a far superior surveillance, risk-monitoring and enforcement mechanism that market participants say will give more confidence to investors, and may help businesses grow. Among other powers, Sebi now also has the power to access call data records.
How can Sebi expand the scope of commodity trading?
While foreign institutional investors are allowed to invest in Indian equities and debt markets, they are currently restricted from participating in commodities trading at exchanges. According to sources, Sebi may allow FII participation in commodities trading going forward, which would provide more depth to the markets, and increase liquidity, investor participation and better price discovery.
Brokers also feel Sebi may introduce option contracts (call and put options) in commodities trading, thereby providing better hedging tools to investors. Sebi has said that it will oversee price determination of commodities. Price discovery has been a major issue in commodities trading, and if the regulator addresses that concern, it will be a big confidence-booster for participants.
Who proposed the merger?
The NSEL( National Spot Exchange Ltd) episode underlined the need for a better and stronger regulator to safeguard investor interest and restore confidence. The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) had earlier stressed on the need to move away from sector-wise regulation. It proposed a system in which RBI would regulate the banking and payments system, and a Unified Financial Agency (UFA) would subsume all other financial sector regulators such as SEBI, IRDA, PFRDA and FMC, to regulate the rest of the financial markets.
Swachhagraha
‘Swachhagraha’ – an Adani Act initiative towards ‘Creating a Culture of Cleanliness’ has been launched at Ahmedabad recently. The initiative has been launched in association with the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) as its Knowledge and Implementation partner.
The programme plans to be rolled out in 250 schools across 6 cities in Gujarat, namely Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Anand, Rajkot and Bhuj-Mundra. It is envisioned that Swachhagraha will eventually be scaled up to covering more than 12 states across the country in the times to come.
‘Swachhagraha’ draws inspiration from the ‘Satyagraha’ movement, which catalyzed action through tremendous patience & perseverance, and united the entire nation to fight against a common enemy.
‘Swachhagraha’, similar to ‘Satyagraha’ aims at engaging people and bringing about a change, similar in scale to India’s freedom movement, where people get involved to take action for ‘Creating a culture of Cleanliness’.
Aligning with the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) announced by our Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, Swachhagraha’s mission is to kill the litterbug amongst all of us and transform the face of the nation beyond 2019 and forever.
Google to set up ‘Cloud Region’ in Mumbai, to go live in 2017
Google will open a new Google Cloud Region in Mumbai, that is expected to be live in 2017.
The India cloud region is aimed at offering Google Cloud Platform services to Indian developers and enterprise customers.
Recent Posts
- In the Large States category (overall), Chhattisgarh ranks 1st, followed by Odisha and Telangana, whereas, towards the bottom are Maharashtra at 16th, Assam at 17th and Gujarat at 18th. Gujarat is one State that has seen startling performance ranking 5th in the PAI 2021 Index outperforming traditionally good performing States like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, but ranks last in terms of Delta
- In the Small States category (overall), Nagaland tops, followed by Mizoram and Tripura. Towards the tail end of the overall Delta ranking is Uttarakhand (9th), Arunachal Pradesh (10th) and Meghalaya (11th). Nagaland despite being a poor performer in the PAI 2021 Index has come out to be the top performer in Delta, similarly, Mizoram’s performance in Delta is also reflected in it’s ranking in the PAI 2021 Index
- In terms of Equity, in the Large States category, Chhattisgarh has the best Delta rate on Equity indicators, this is also reflected in the performance of Chhattisgarh in the Equity Pillar where it ranks 4th. Following Chhattisgarh is Odisha ranking 2nd in Delta-Equity ranking, but ranks 17th in the Equity Pillar of PAI 2021. Telangana ranks 3rd in Delta-Equity ranking even though it is not a top performer in this Pillar in the overall PAI 2021 Index. Jharkhand (16th), Uttar Pradesh (17th) and Assam (18th) rank at the bottom with Uttar Pradesh’s performance in line with the PAI 2021 Index
- Odisha and Nagaland have shown the best year-on-year improvement under 12 Key Development indicators.
- In the 60:40 division States, the top three performers are Kerala, Goa and Tamil Nadu and, the bottom three performers are Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar.
- In the 90:10 division States, the top three performers were Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Mizoram; and, the bottom three performers are Manipur, Assam and Meghalaya.
- Among the 60:40 division States, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are the top three performers and Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Delhi appear as the bottom three performers.
- Among the 90:10 division States, the top three performers are Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland; and, the bottom three performers are Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh
- Among the 60:40 division States, Goa, West Bengal and Delhi appear as the top three performers and Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Bihar appear as the bottom three performers.
- Among the 90:10 division States, Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh and Tripura were the top three performers and Jammu & Kashmir, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh were the bottom three performers
- West Bengal, Bihar and Tamil Nadu were the top three States amongst the 60:40 division States; while Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan appeared as the bottom three performers
- In the case of 90:10 division States, Mizoram, Assam and Tripura were the top three performers and Nagaland, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand featured as the bottom three
- Among the 60:40 division States, the top three performers are Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa and the bottom three performers are Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Goa
- In the 90:10 division States, the top three performers are Mizoram, Sikkim and Nagaland and the bottom three performers are Manipur and Assam
In a diverse country like India, where each State is socially, culturally, economically, and politically distinct, measuring Governance becomes increasingly tricky. The Public Affairs Index (PAI 2021) is a scientifically rigorous, data-based framework that measures the quality of governance at the Sub-national level and ranks the States and Union Territories (UTs) of India on a Composite Index (CI).
States are classified into two categories – Large and Small – using population as the criteria.
In PAI 2021, PAC defined three significant pillars that embody Governance – Growth, Equity, and Sustainability. Each of the three Pillars is circumscribed by five governance praxis Themes.
The themes include – Voice and Accountability, Government Effectiveness, Rule of Law, Regulatory Quality and Control of Corruption.
At the bottom of the pyramid, 43 component indicators are mapped to 14 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are relevant to the States and UTs.
This forms the foundation of the conceptual framework of PAI 2021. The choice of the 43 indicators that go into the calculation of the CI were dictated by the objective of uncovering the complexity and multidimensional character of development governance
The Equity Principle
The Equity Pillar of the PAI 2021 Index analyses the inclusiveness impact at the Sub-national level in the country; inclusiveness in terms of the welfare of a society that depends primarily on establishing that all people feel that they have a say in the governance and are not excluded from the mainstream policy framework.
This requires all individuals and communities, but particularly the most vulnerable, to have an opportunity to improve or maintain their wellbeing. This chapter of PAI 2021 reflects the performance of States and UTs during the pandemic and questions the governance infrastructure in the country, analysing the effectiveness of schemes and the general livelihood of the people in terms of Equity.
Growth and its Discontents
Growth in its multidimensional form encompasses the essence of access to and the availability and optimal utilisation of resources. By resources, PAI 2021 refer to human resources, infrastructure and the budgetary allocations. Capacity building of an economy cannot take place if all the key players of growth do not drive development. The multiplier effects of better health care, improved educational outcomes, increased capital accumulation and lower unemployment levels contribute magnificently in the growth and development of the States.
The Pursuit Of Sustainability
The Sustainability Pillar analyses the access to and usage of resources that has an impact on environment, economy and humankind. The Pillar subsumes two themes and uses seven indicators to measure the effectiveness of government efforts with regards to Sustainability.
The Curious Case Of The Delta
The Delta Analysis presents the results on the State performance on year-on-year improvement. The rankings are measured as the Delta value over the last five to 10 years of data available for 12 Key Development Indicators (KDI). In PAI 2021, 12 indicators across the three Pillars of Equity (five indicators), Growth (five indicators) and Sustainability (two indicators). These KDIs are the outcome indicators crucial to assess Human Development. The Performance in the Delta Analysis is then compared to the Overall PAI 2021 Index.
Key Findings:-
In the Scheme of Things
The Scheme Analysis adds an additional dimension to ranking of the States on their governance. It attempts to complement the Governance Model by trying to understand the developmental activities undertaken by State Governments in the form of schemes. It also tries to understand whether better performance of States in schemes reflect in better governance.
The Centrally Sponsored schemes that were analysed are National Health Mission (NHM), Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services scheme (ICDS), Mahatma Gandh National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SmSA) and MidDay Meal Scheme (MDMS).
National Health Mission (NHM)
INTEGRATED CHILD DEVELOPMENT SERVICES (ICDS)
MID- DAY MEAL SCHEME (MDMS)
SAMAGRA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN (SMSA)
MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE SCHEME (MGNREGS)