Ghare Baire
- Ghare Baire, the popular museum-exhibition in Kolkata that showcased two centuries of art in Bengal and was housed in a building almost as old, is shutting down after enriching the cultural landscape of the city for nearly two years.
THE HINDU
Omicron
- The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday classified the B.1.1.529 variant detected in South Africa as a SARS-CoV-2 “variant of concern”, saying it may spread more quickly than other forms.
- Preliminary evidence suggested that there is an increased risk of reinfection and there had been a “detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology”
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NFHS-5
- The biggest positive headline news from NHFS-5 is that the total fertility rate (TFR), which is the average number of children born to a woman during her lifetime, has been falling over time and is now just below the replacement rate of 2.1.
- This is true across all States of India.
- This means that the total population has stabilized.
- There are 1,020 adult women per 1,000 men for the first time.
- The natural SRB is 105 boys to 100 girls, which typically stabilizes to a 50-50 adult sex ratio.
- The natural SRB translates to 952 girls per 1,000 boys. Nationally, the SRB has improved from 919 in 2015-16 to 929 in 2019-21, but it is still short of the natural SRB.
- A key health indicator that has worsened is the incidence of anaemia in under-5 children (from 58.6 to 67%), women (53.1 to 57%) and men (22.7 to 25%) in all States of India.
- Anaemia has debilitating effects on overall health, which is why the World Health Organization characterises it as a serious public health concern; 20%-40% incidence is considered moderate.
- Indian States show variation: from 39.4% in Kerala to 79.7% in Gujarat: but barring Kerala, all States are in the “severe” category.
- The three indicators of malnutrition: stunting (low height-for-age), wasting (low weight-for-height) and underweight (low weight-for-age): show an overall improvement.
- We see an increase in the proportion of overweight children, women and men.
- Being overweight also reflects malnutrition, with serious health consequences in the form of non-communicable diseases.
THE HINDU
Cooperatives case
- India’s digital revolution has bypassed the agriculture sector. India talks about smart cities, not smart villages, nor even liveable villages.
- The cooperative movement in India is in a state of flux. It has suffered due to lack of professional management, adequate finance and poor adoption of technology.
- It is on that foundation that Kurien went on to design his idea of Amul as a co-operative, turned it over the years into a global brand, and later launched the White Revolution that would make India the largest milk producing nation in the world.
- Amul continues to remain one of India’s best-known food brands and is an inspiration to other dairy cooperatives such as Nandini in Karnataka, Aavin in Tamil Nadu and Verka in Punjab.
THE HINDU
Multidimensional poverty -NITI AAYOG
- With more than 50% of the population in Bihar identified as “multidimensional poor”, the State has the maximum percentage of population living in poverty among all the States and the Union Territories, according to Government think tank NITI Aayog’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).
- As per the index, 51.91% of the population in Bihar is poor, followed by Jharkhand (42.16%), Uttar Pradesh (37.79%), Madhya Pradesh (36.65%) and Meghalaya (32.67%).
- On the other hand, Kerala registered the lowest poverty levels (0.71%), followed by Puducherry (1.72%), Lakshadweep (1.82%), Goa (3.76%) and Sikkim (3.82%).
- “The development of the National Multidimensional Poverty Index of India is an important contribution towards instituting a public policy tool which monitors multidimensional poverty, informs evidence-based and focused interventions, thereby ensuring that no one is left behind,”
What is multidimensional poverty?
- A person who is poor can suffer multiple disadvantages at the same time for example they may have poor health or malnutrition, a lack of clean water or electricity, poor quality of work or little schooling. Focusing on one factor alone, such as income, is not enough to capture the true reality of poverty.
- Multidimensional poverty measures can be used to create a more comprehensive picture. They reveal who is poor and how they are poor – the range of different disadvantages they experience
- The global Multidimensional Poverty Index (global MPI) is a poverty measure that reflects the multiple deprivations that poor people face in the areas of education, health, and living standards.
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China on Tibet community
- With growing concerns in New Delhi about China’s transgressions at the Line of Actual Control and reports of the settlement of villages along it, the leadership of the Tibetan community in exile says it is concerned that China might be “pushing” more Tibetans out to the border areas while using the opportunity to settle more mainland Chinese in Tibetan cities.
- number of those leaving Tibet has steadily decreased in the past decade, in part due to strict restrictions at the China-Nepal border, and those arriving in India are now down to a small trickle
- Those inside the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) are “losing their culture” as school going children are mandated to learn Mandarin over Tibetan and find employment difficult unless they are schooled in Chinese.
- Chinese authorities are less accommodative of different cultures and languages: they promote ‘One nation, one party, one language, one culture’ now,”
THE HINDU