India fastly pacing towards inclusive growth

Introduction


The agenda of inclusivity and sustainability has become the focus of policy framework both at national and international level. The approach of development through “including” the general mass is directed towards a broad based growth, shared growth, and pro-poor growth.

World Bank defines the IG as follows:
“Inclusive Growth refers both to the pace and pattern of growth, which are interlinked and must be addressed together.”
Thus, in broad sense, IG means the inclusion of all sections of society in the process of economic development and sharing of its benefit. Therefore, IG is not only an outcome or end but a process or a mean in itself.

Dimensions of IG


These are the pillars of the building block of IG, or in simple terms, these are the ideals on which IG is based. Without these ideals, the IG remains superfluous in its merit.
Economic Growth
India is among the fastest-growing major economies in the world. However, currently Indian economy is facing slowdown due to both cyclic and structural challenges.
However, the target of becoming a $ 5 trillion economy by 2024-25 can allow India to reduce inequality, increase social expenditure and provide employment to all.

Equality:
Equality of opportunity in terms of access to markets, resources, and unbiased regulatory environment are the ends to mean of equality. In-equalities exist in various manners which are social inequalities, rural-urban divide, regional disparities, digital divide etc. To realize the IG in its ultimate form, equality is the most fundamental criteria. IG and equality impact each other. Without equality, IG can’t be achieved and lack of IG may lead to in-equality in real or perceived forms. Thus, IG and equality are mutually reinforcing. In contemporary economic environment, gender equality has become a basic element of IG. Gender inequality is a pervasive problem in Indian social set-up which has adverse effect on women. Although Indian economy has progressed, the equality has retrograded at all levels whether social or economic. An OECD report has identified that inequality in India has been continuously rising which has posed policy challenges in promotion of inclusiveness.

Technological Advancement
The world is moving towards an era of Industrial Revolution 4.0. These technological advancements have capabilities to both decrease or increase the inequality depending on the way these are being used.
Technology can help to combat other challenges too,
Agriculture- Modern technology can help in making an agro-value chain from farmer to consumer more efficient and competitive.
Manufacturing– Technology can resolve the problems of finance, procuring raw materials, land, and linkages with the user market. GST was made possible only with the help of sound technology.
Education– Innovative digital technologies can create new forms of adaptive and peer learning, increasing access to trainers and mentors, providing useful data in real-time.
Health– Technologies could transform the delivery of public health services – extend care through remote health services.
Social Development
It means the empowerment of all marginalised sections of the population like SC/ST/OBC/Minorities, women and transgenders.
Empowerment can be done by improving institutions of the social structure i.e. hospitals especially primary care in the rural areas, schools, universities, etc.
Investment in social structures will not only boost growth (by fiscal stimulus) but will also create a healthy and capable generation to handle future work

Sustainability
In long term, it has been identified that, there has been a gross mismatch between the outcomes of the Indian Economic Planning for IG with respect to environment. Although, Indian economy has witnessed a rapid growth, there has been a decline in the environment and standard of living of the poor. In the issues related to IG as discussed ahead, it has been elaborated that Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG) has put a sheer pressure on the environment and created a rural-urban divide. Sustainability and IG can’t be achieved in isolation and they supplement each other.

Good Governance:
In simple words, governance means the regulatory, monitoring or controlling process which facilitates the devilry of the government services. Good governance results in effectiveness and efficiency, it upholds justice in the rule of law, and accountability and it encourages popular participation, consensus, and equality. Tenth plan defines governance in following way”.

As per OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), inclusive growth is economic growth that is distributed fairly across society and creates opportunities for all.

Defining inclusive growth, rapid pace of economic growth is necessary for substantial poverty reduction and for the growth to be sustainable in the long run, it must be broad based across sectors and inclusive of large part of a country’s labour force.
Promoting inclusive growth requires policymakers to address both growth and income distribution, so it requires an understanding of the relationships between growth, poverty and inequality. Economic growth is a prerequisite for poverty reduction when income distribution is held constant. The acknowledgment that inequality affects the impact of growth on poverty reduction has led to a broad agreement that it is necessary to look beyond a ‘growth-first’ agenda in order to successfully deliver inclusive growth.

The United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are
Countries have committed themselves to time-bound targets of prosperity, people, planet, peace, partnership (five P’s) keeping in line with the United Nations 2030 agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. The Paris Agreement, which is part of the SDG framework, requires every country to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century . In order to achieve results in SDG, policy frameworks adopted by the Governments play a crucial role. The three principle layers to measure government efforts to implement the long-term objectives of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement:
The SDG index summaries countries’ current performance and trends on the 17 SDGs.India ranks 115 in 2019.
In the context of India’s inclusive growth trajectory, the strategies of Inclusive growth and development came into the attention in the progressing policies of emerging market economies (EMEs) with higher economic growth rates. With an accelerated economic growth rate, Indian policy makers too moved their concentration on Inclusive growth and expansion while formulating the 12th five-year plan.Thus, the plan targeted deprived sections of the Indian population, health, employment, rural urban infrastructure, women and child development and social security measures against the backdrop of the strategy.

Key elements of inclusive growth


Since globalization, significant improvement in India’s economic and social development made the nation to grow strongly in the 21st century. The following factors encouraged India to concentrate more on inclusive growth:
• India is the 7th largest country by area and 2nd by population. It is the 12th largest economy at market exchange rate and 4th largest by PPP. Yet, India is far away from the development of the neighbourhood nation, i.e., China.
• The exclusion in terms of low agriculture
• There are so many studies that estimate that the cost of corruption in India amounts to over 10% of GDP. Corruption is one of the ills that prevent inclusive growth.
• Although child labour has been banned by the law in India and there are stringent provisions to deter this inhuman practice, still, many children in India are unaware of education as their lives are spoiled to labour work.
• Literacy levels have to rise to provide the skilled workforce, required for higher growth.
Achievement of 9% of GDP growth for
• as a whole is one of the boosting factors which gives the importance to the Inclusive growth in India.
• Reducing poverty and other disparities and raising economic growth is the key objectives of the nation through inclusive growth.

Measuring Inclusive Growth


Inclusive Development Index (IDI)
In the Inclusive Development Index (IDI) compiled by the World Economic Forum (WEF), India ranked 62nd out of 74 emerging countries and was among the least inclusive countries in Group of 20 (G-20) countries.
The IDI is based on the idea that most people base their country’s growth not on GDP but by their own standard of living.
It gives a measure of inequality based on three parameters: :
• Growth and development
• Inclusion
• Inter-generational equity and sustainability.
India also did not make it to the top 10 most inclusive emerging and developing economies, where its neighbours Nepal, China and Sri Lanka made a mark.
India performed its best in terms of “intergenerational equity and sustainability”, ranking 44th, for which credit can be attributed to its demographic dividend

Measures Taken by India to Achieve Inclusive Growth


Several schemes are being implemented by the government for inclusive growth which includes the following:
• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act Scheme (MGNREGA)
• Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP)
• Mudra Bank scheme
• Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY)
• Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana- National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM)
• Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA)
• National Rural Health Mission (NRHM)
• Bharat Nirman
• Swachh Bharat Mission
• Mission Ayushman
• Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
• Government is working with NGOs and International groupings in policy making eg:
o DISHA Project is being implemented in partnership with UNDP for creating employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for women in India.
• NITI Aayog’s Strategy for New India @75 has the following objectives for the inclusive growth:
o To have a rapid growth, which reaches 9-10% by 2022-23, which is inclusive, clean, sustained and formalized.
o To have an inclusive development in the cities to ensure that urban poor and slum dwellers including recent migrants can avail city services.
o To make schools more inclusive by addressing the barriers related to the physical environment (e.g. accessible toilets), admission procedures as well as curriculum design.
o To make higher education more inclusive for the most vulnerable groups.
o To provide quality ambulatory services for an inclusive package of diagnostic, curative, rehabilitative and palliative care, close to the people.
o To prepare an inclusive policy framework with citizens at the center

Conclusion


• Indian government along with the state gouvernments and local governments should continue to focus on eradicating poverty and achieving sustainable development in order to improve the lives of India’s people.
• Inclusive growth will help in the empowerment of vulnerable and marginalized populations, improve livelihoods, and augment skill-building for women.

The factors for stress and its management

Stress management policies and procedures are then explained and specified for each significant type of a stressors . This is done using a case study of an organisation , where it shows how this firm deals with each kind of different stressor.

Introduction

Stress is a dynamic condition in which an individual confronted with an opportunity, constraint and demand related to what he or she desires and for which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important.

Organizations are mainly concerned with work stress . Nevertheless , organisations provide training to their employees how to manage other personal stresses, since it affects work performance . In addition, organisation always follow up with economical , environmental and political stresses , since they all directly affect organisational work and increase their internal stress.

Types of stress

(i) Challange stressors (beneficial stressors) : Stress associated with workload, pressure to complete tasks , and time urgency. They enhance motivation, energy, alertness, and positive attitude.

(ii) Hindrance stressors (negative stressors) : Stress that keeps you from reaching your goals , and leave a feeling of depression , Anxiety , or pressure , such as red tape , role ambiguity , role conflict, role overloaded, job insecurity etc. and they cause greater harm than challenge sterssors.

sources of stressor:

# Environmental factors:

i) Political uncertainties of political systems

ii) Economic uncertainties of the business cycle : Many organisations are downsizing , so workers are afraid of losing their jobs.

iii) Technological uncertainties of technical innovations, where many technologies are replacing human forces, and other require high technical education in order to use, which forces employees to always keep learning and following up with these technologies.

Organisational factors:

  • Long working hours
  • Work- life balance
  • Retirement plan
  • Safety fears
  • security Hassles
  • Job stability and fear of downsizing
  • Stress to produce
  • Stress to abide by rules
  • Stress to live up to expectations
  • Task demand related to the job
  • Role demands for functioning in an organisation
  • Interpersonal demands created by other employees, stress to interact with other co-workers, supervisors, and to do this without causing hardship to ourselves or other.
  • work place diversity

Personal factors:

i》Family and personal relationships

ii》 Economic problems from exceeding earning capacity

iii》Personality problems arising from basic disposition

Consequence of stress

Stress are additive. High level of stress can lead to these following symptoms :

  • Physiological : Blood pressure, Headache and Stroke
  • Psychological : Dissatisfaction, tension, anxiety, irritability, boredom and procrastination . These effects are greater when roles are unclear in the presence of conflicting demands.
  • Behavioral : Changes in job behaviours , increased smoking and drinking , different eating habits, rapid speech, fidgeting and sleep disorders .

Cost of stress on Organisation

a) Lowered productivity

b) Excessive absenteeism

c) Increased insurance costs

d) Increased turnover

An organisation implementation of stress management

The following are demonstrations of several kinds of stressor and solutions that organisation’s management implements for them:

Long working hours:

# Management teaches and trains its employee on the following:

  • good time management techniques, and never to delay work for the last minutes etc.
  • The organisation applies recognition and rewards programs
  • Managers give positive reinforcement : they tell their employees when they do a good job , and compliment on it.
  • Change employees’ attitudes and current positive self- talk : how to think of successful situations as a challenge to your creative thinking, Always say, “I am capable of doing it, it’s good for me to enhance my capabilities and learn new tough skills etc.”

Work- life Balance :

  • Applying flex-time , especially for females who have children and house responsibilities , where do not have to be restricted to come and leave at a specific time , as long as total sum of working hours still the same.
  • Establishing nurseries in the organisation for the day care of employees’ children
  • Applying labour law that states to offer paid vacations of minimum 21 days for employees (this varievaries according to each country)

Technology :

  • The organisation employs specialized IT professional who is only responsible for assisting all employees on their IT related issues
  • Tge organisation provides specialised training courses on any topic required for work advancement

Manager’s inability to find solutions for stress :

  • The organisation encourages communication and always asks for feedback , where the HR manager is always accessible to any employee to listen to.
  • The organisation always try to follow up all the corporate and business news , in addition to new studies published regarding work stress, how to spot in and solve it.

Security fears:

The organisation has done great efforts in making employees and people feel safe by applying laws for security checks , checking identities of visitors to the firm and not allowing unauthorized people to enter.

Retirement plans:

Applying social security system and pension fund, which is a great insurance and relief for employees in order not to worry about their retirement any more.

Job security and fear of downsizing:

The economic crisis is very complex. Unfortunately, layoffs and downsizing are forced on many organisations , and there is nothing that management can do internally to stop this issue.

# Workplace diversity

# Task demands related to job and Role demands of functioning in an organisation

India vs China, Economic Differences Yet India Liveable

The President of China (Left) and The Prime Minister of India (Right)

China and India are the two fastest growing Asian economies. Respective governments have left no stones unturned to project the two nations as ideal investment destination on global platform, inviting industrialists with the lure of a business-friendly atmosphere. The two countries have always been at loggerheads for political reasons, making their bilateral relationship really rocky. The leaders at the helm of power of these two neighbours are known for their reformative approach and the similarities between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President XI Jinping are conspicuous. Both of them are known to rub shoulders with ten-figure friends to draw investments. While China has wowed the world with its bullet trains, India is pacing ahead in its space mission, launching valuable communication satellites.

Here’s a list of four fronts in which India is ahead of China in terms of growth:

India Being one of the Greatest Economy Balancer

An important metric where India beats China is financial market development. India ranks 38, while China ranks 56. Though the two nations introduced separate sets of reforms at different points of time, China started moving towards the pro-market economy in 1978 and India did the same in 1991. But India is 15 years ahead of China with regard to reforms in economic and financial markets. Experts are of the opinion that India has performed better than China in the financial sector. Indian bond market is known as one of the most liquid in Asia, which is well regulated by the RBI and is fully electronic. India is known as one of the best countries in the world in the way the financial sector is managed. As far as equity markets are concerned, reporting standards in India maintain global standards.

Tight Competition Among India and China in Space Technology

Though China is doing really good in space missions, India is not much behind with its successive launching of communication satellites. Recently, India has sent its heaviest communication satellite with its own GSLV MK III. India reportedly aims to win a bigger share of the $300-billion global space industry. It has successfully launched record 104 satellites, earning praise even from its northern neighbour. China started its space missions in the late 1950s while India entered the space in 1962 and is racing fast.

India being a Top Pharmaceutical Manufacturer and Exporter

India regards pharmaceutical production and exports as one of its biggest strengths. It has consistently beaten China in exports of pharmaceutical products to Latin America in the past five years. In 2016, India exported products worth $651 million to Latin America, as compared to China’s $404 million-worth exports, stated the IBEF report. Fortunately, India has never suffered regulation bottlenecks in the sector, ensuring the ease of doing business for Indian manufacturers and vendors.

What makes our country’s growth in this sector more interesting is the fact that it imports the bulk of its raw materials from China. This sector is not really the focus area of Beijing. A study by Assocham forecasted in june 2016 that India’s pharma exports could reach $20 billion by 2020. It has already crossed this mark and in fact the impact of covid-19 in 2020 has led to major medicinal demands from India than any time before. Demands of hydroxychloroquine from India have surged to a point where many countries like US, Australia, UK & other European countries are all lined up for getting these and many other medical drugs.

Judge yourself

Don’t give advice because people never listen. Did you listen to someone? If yes you are lying. If you listen to someone then you will never advice someone. If you don’t listen to someone then you will always prefer to advice the advice you got.

My suggestion is you never listen to other suggestions because it remains as a suggestion. But you have to listen to my suggestion of you don’t want to listen others suggestion. People cannot accept the fact of denying their capacity. Accept your worth if you wanna improve your skills.

Atleast be honest with yourself because it’s you with whom you have to spent rest of your life. Accept yourself and try to keep on improving. If you wanna improve them listen to yourself. You are the only judge who can make right choice. Listen to your advice and make yourself out of it. Never betray yourself and try to fix the things that you wanna fix. Make yourself by listening to yourself.

Privatisation of Indian Railways

Indian railways has the 4th largest railway network in the world. And the maintenance of such a big network is solely on the Railways. To lessen this burden, empowered group of secretaries headed by NITI  Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant have planned the privatisation of the railways. Railways currently recovers only 57% of its cost through passenger tickets. Some of its income is through freight. At the same time it has many expenses such as salaries of the employees, maintaining trains etc. Under privatisation, there will be an investment of around 30,000 crore and many expenditures will be borne by private players.

It is to be noted that now our Railways have the same corridor for both freight and passenger trains, which is expected to get separated when the privatisation happens. If such a thing happens it is expected that the problem of punctuality of trains will improve and the passengers will get better service. The government has identified 109 busy routes which will get 151 private trains, but this is only 5% of the total trains that run in India. This means that 95% of the control remains with Railways.

The privatisation will be done in 12 clusters, namely Patna, Jaipur, Bengaluru, Secunderabad, Howrah, Prayagraj, Chandigarh, Chennai and two clusters each in Delhi and Mumbai. The private firms will be placing bids on those particular clusters which they want to take up. The first round of bidding has ended and the second one will end by this financial year and the first set of 12 trains is estimated to be on tracks by the year 2022-23. Thereafter 45 trains in 2023-24, 50 in 2025-26 and 44 in 2026-27, which in total will be 151 private trains. Any private company, Indian or foreign are allowed to place their bids. But there are some conditions as well. The company should have a minimum net worth of ₹1,165 crore in its last financial year. This amount is different according to different clusters and can go up to ₹1,600 crore. The companies have to follow government rules and regulations. The trains should have a maximum speed of 160 km per hour and also minimum of 16 coaches. Of course the company which will give the Railways the maximum revenue who will win the bid but there is also a performance indicator which is punctuality which has the highest number of points to ascertain the performance. The Railways on its part will provide land to this private companies to work on. This is the same land which Railways have.

It is obvious that the tickets of these trains will be higher than we have now. Some people fear that this may cause segregation among the middle class or poor people and the upper class since these trains may not be affordable to all. But our Railway Minister Mr. Piyush Goyal has clarified that Railway will have sufficient control and also the recruitments will happen under the Railway Ministry only. The privatisation is happening to just a fraction of total capacity of the Railways. According to him it is more like a Public-Private Partnership. He assured that Indian Railways will not be fully privatised.

Don’t be a tool of a tool :

Influencer Marketing is a magic bullet, it’s going to solve all your problems, it works every time, but it increases your odds. And in marketing, that’s all you can ask for. And if you can break even or turn a profit two times more than you fail, guess what?That is a remarkable record. The value of Influencer Marketing , Lots of other data is out there in the marketing statistics. As a society were the passive tool for a business to kick start at its worse and become better we’re also going to help you develop a business case for Influencer Marketing in your organization because , Because ultimately, you’re going to need some funding. One of the things that unfortunately is happening in most businesses today is there are little experiments going on with Influencer Marketing, and they’re all underfunded. And so, one of the things that goes beyond strategy and tactics is to say how do you explain this to top management in such a way that they’re going to give you a budget to actually implement it. There are other ways to spend your money and they are much more likely to be effective, and we’re going to explore that. But we want you to know what, let’s just say the suckers, are falling for, what the rubes, the naive people, who think, “Oh, if I just give enough money to the right influencer, magic happens.” That’s a total story , no magic is gonna happen until unless you make yourself up for being a tool for a tool , as a rational human beings we’ve all got bigger stuff to do than just being someone who just keeps up with anything.

When the right influence hits the top most elite button that’s when actual productivity starts to show up in the phases of marketing influences and strategies. It’s not a big deal to cut yourself off from something that makes you feel like anything less than a tool , being helpful is way more different from being a tool for a tool. Actual and authentic magic happens when you put your actual self out there and step out of your comfort zone.

Phoney healthy influences :

The gist of the problem is simple. Most of the content that most of the marketers are creating on most of their social media platforms is, pardon me, corporate propaganda. It’s not something that you would share with a friend.The alternative is not to try to get people who have learned to write one way over their entire marketing career and they create brochureware. And put it on a social platform and expect magic to happen, it doesn’t. Boring content is still boring content. But boring doesn’t mean to make up hideous content and end up causing mental illness to the viewers out there , there’s toxic consequences of each ugly marketing strategy that’s taken up by all these people who are desperate enough to make it up to their organization. Here the joke is on us , it’s literally on the people who believe that everything’s that put on to a certain platform is true which actually is not. But there is a different group of people out there who are creating engaging content, amazing content. Content that people are commenting on. Content that people are sharing. Content that people are liking like mad. And who are these people? For lack of a better term, we’ll call them influencers. We as society are blinded up by all the appealing phony things that have been put out on the cyber platforms which isn’t something of authentic content and we are forgetting how pathetic the interaction is with people in the social platform. There were very few shares. There were very few likes. There were incredibly few comments. I don’t know how much you’re paying your staff to create this content. But if nobody’s interacting with it, if it isn’t engaging anyone, why are you doing it? What’s the big deal? Of course when some activity of that such is engaged through many means with the society it makes a big deal and people need to route for healthy influences.

Tentative business issues

Indecisiveness in any area of business organizations are a common thing , in a society like today times we need to actualize certain factors that effect the underrated things in business. Yes or no decisions are very common in business problems. In prescriptive analytics, yes or no decisions are modeled with binary variables.Each publisher breaks down the subscriber base into a number of groups based on demographics and location. The company has set a budget for the advertising campaign and wants to maximize the number of subscribers exposed to its ads. The company wants to determine which publishers to select and how many groups to purchase from each publisher but there comes the actual issue , business is a chain which isn’t guaranteed of transparency and assured loyalty. Clearly, the selection of a publisher requires a yes or no decision. That is, a publisher is either selected or not. Once a publisher is selected, a second decision must be made regarding the number of subscriber groups to purchase. The model for this problem must take into consideration that no subscriber groups can be purchased from a publisher that has not been selected. It also must consider that when two publishers are competitors, the company wants to select amongst one of them. Finally, the model should take into account that there is a fixed cost for engaging a publisher. These analyzing contributions to the business benefit the subordinates and defining chances of minimizing the indecisiveness which causes to the loss of business.

Subordinates or the superiors who are utmost torn between a yes or no often end up having serious doubts about the overall subjecting of several other aspects effecting the business’s There are many more in areas such as network design in supply chain management, portfolio selection in finance, and power generation in energy. Energy contributing into the organization must be cut into rational and fair parts of the business , it keep the game on.

Money heist 5

The famous Netflix series “Money heist” is setting for fifth season,Money heist stars Alvaro morte,Ursula corbero,alba Forbes,are gearing for the final season

Money heist all four seasons are streaming in Netflix,the four seasons contains 31 episodes

The season started from 2 May 2017 in Netflix

Energy drinks, good or bad ?

Energy drinks are widely promoted as products that increase energy and enhance mental alertness and physical performance. Next to multivitamins, energy drinks are the most popular dietary supplement consumed by American teens and young adults. Men between the ages of 18 and 34 years consume the most energy drinks, and almost one-third of teens between 12 and 17 years drink them regularly. Energy drinks are supposed to do just what the name implies — give you an extra burst of energy. As it turns out, most of that “energy” comes from two main ingredients: sugar and caffeine. A typical energy drink can contain up to 80 milligrams of caffeine (about the same amount as a cup of coffee). By comparison, a 2006 study found that the average 12-ounce soda contains 18 to 48 mg of caffeine.

Other than caffeine levels, how do energy drinks differ from sodas and sports drinks? Soft drinks are mainly water, sugar and flavouring. They don’t do anything for your body; they’re just supposed to taste good. Sports drinks are designed to replenish fluids lost during activity. They typically contain water, electrolytes and sugar. Energy drinks have added caffeine and other ingredients that their manufacturers say increase stamina and “boost” performance. They’re designed for students, athletes and anyone else who wants an extra energy kick.

Energy drinks became popular in Asia long before they reached the United States. In 1962, Japanese pharmaceutical company, Taisho, released its Lipovitan D drink. It was designed to help employees work hard well into the night. Lipovitan D contains taurine, the same ingredient found in many of today’s energy drinks.

The very first “energy” drink to reach the United States wasn’t an energy drink at all — it was more of a hyped-up soft drink called Jolt Cola. The “jolt” in the cola was a lot of added sugar and caffeine. Introduced in the 1980s, Jolt Cola quickly became a staple of college campuses.

There are two kinds of energy drink products. One is sold in containers similar in size to those of ordinary soft drinks, such as a 16-oz. bottle. The other kind, called “energy shots,” is sold in small containers holding 2 to 2½ oz. of concentrated liquid. Caffeine is a major ingredient in both types of energy drink products—at levels of 70 to 240 mg in a 16-oz. drink and 113 to 200 mg in an energy shot. (For comparison, a 12-oz. can of cola contains about 35 mg of caffeine, and an 8-oz. cup of coffee contains about 100 mg.) Energy drinks also may contain other ingredients such as guarana (another source of caffeine sometimes called Brazilian cocoa), sugars, taurine, ginseng, B vitamins, glucuronolactone, Yohimbe, carnitine, and bitter orange.

Consuming energy drinks raises important safety concerns.

  • Between 2007 and 2011, the number of energy drink-related visits to emergency departments doubled. In 2011, 1 in 10 of these visits resulted in hospitalization.
  • About 25 per cent of college students consume alcohol with energy drinks, and they binge-drink significantly more often than students who don’t mix them.
  • The CDC reports that drinkers aged 15 to 23 who mix alcohol with energy drinks are four times more likely to binge drink at a high intensity (i.e., consume six or more drinks per binge episode) than drinkers who do not mix alcohol with energy drinks.
  • Drinkers who mix alcohol with energy drinks are more likely than drinkers who do not mix alcohol with energy drinks to report unwanted or unprotected sex, driving drunk or riding with a driver who was intoxicated, or sustaining alcohol-related injuries.
  • In 2011, 42 per cent of all energy drink-related emergency department visits involved combining these beverages with alcohol or drugs (such as marijuana or over-the-counter or prescription medicines).

A growing body of scientific evidence shows that energy drinks can have serious health effects, particularly in children, teenagers, and young adults. In several studies, energy drinks have been found to improve physical endurance, but there’s less evidence of any effect on muscle strength or power. Energy drinks may enhance alertness and improve reaction time, but they may also reduce the steadiness of the hands. The amounts of caffeine in energy drinks vary widely, and the actual caffeine content may not be identified easily. Some energy drinks are marketed as beverages and others as dietary supplements. There’s no requirement to declare the amount of caffeine on the label of either type of product.

COVID-19 ROLE OF MEDIA

The spread of the COVID-19 has proved deadly, and this is a challenging time for the union as well as state governments as they work to address this health emergency. However, shows that in times of crisis, democratic governments may take a dangerous autocratic turn. In such a situation, journalism has a great role to play in a democracy, as it has been ideally visualized as a platform for objective information and critical-rational discourse. Thus, the health of journalism in a country can be examined in the times of a crisis. 

Corporate control over most media bodies also means that they become an instrument of the ideological apparatus of the state. There are many concerns associated with the COVID-19 crisis: ill-equipped public health systems, policies to combat the pandemic, and the lack of planning and support to the vulnerable sections. These issues demand serious examination, but the mainstream media, barring some courageous exceptions, seems to be forgetting its democratic role.

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Manipulation of Discourse

Just before the announcement of the nationwide lockdown till 14th April 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reportedly called upon print and electronic media owners and editors of the country and asked them to support government efforts to combat the pandemic and also advised them to present “positive news” related to COVID-19 (Sagar 2020).

Plainly put, these were the owners and editors who control most of the Indian media at the national and regional levels who were advised to abide by the official narrative and present information as provided to them by the government about COVID-19.

Why would media houses follow government diktat rather than investigating the real state of affairs, unless they have associated business interests? Journalism is considered to be an ethical communicative practice in a democracy, but corporate ownership subverts the autonomy of journalism and the freedom of the press. Unfortunately, this conflict of interest has become a common feature of Indian journalism.

However, even though a majority of Indian media is under corporate control, there are many counter-voices both within and outside this grouping. Thus, the Indian mediascape has become a battleground of ideologies. Many of these alternate counter-voices have raised genuine issues of social concern during the pandemic outbreak.

The prevalence of international media on the internet and small media organizations in the country has played an important role in disseminating factual and more nuanced information, but unfortunately, these platforms do not have the vast access that big corporate media platforms are privy to. 

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Media shoes its Islamophobic side

Media’s ugliest moment, however, was its coverage of the news surrounding Delhi’s Tablighi Jamaat Markaz (meeting). Many participants had left after the markaz, but many were stranded in the mosque due to the lockdown and were later found infected. However, the media outrage that followed was clearly an extension of the already prejudiced and polarised coverage, as the Tablighi Jamaat was blamed for violating lockdown rules and for “corona jihad,” “Islamic insurrection,” and “corona terrorism.” This is clearly an example of fake news propagated by the mainstream media to further the predominant agenda (BBC 2020; News Laundry 2020). Muslims were also attacked in various parts of the country. 

People of other religious groups also gathered at religious places in large numbers even after the lockdown, but they were not criticised in a similar manner. However, when some journalists did raise questions, they were threatened with legal action (Scroll 2020).

The need of Greater Accountability

Since most of the people are at home during the lockdown, it is natural to see a growth in media consumption. People are using various media platforms for COVID-19-related information,   but what is provided is far from factual and does not further a critical rational discourse.

Some television news channels see a Chinese conspiracy in the spread of COVID-19. In such a “positive” atmosphere, the news related to labourers’ mass exodus and the markaz was mostly presented due to its sensational value.The pandemic is also threatening an already-deteriorating economy, which also demands a thorough investigation beyond the official narratives. The media, however, has worries related to its own economic situation. Print media, especially, is dealing with a resource crunch, dwindling advertisements, and worries of reduction in circulation and readership.

With concerns of job security, inadequate resource support, and abuses faced by the police, many journalists are putting their health at stake to cover the COVID-19 situation. This scenario does little to add to the morale of honest and responsible journalists. Some media houses have already begun cutting wages; an extension in the lockdown can create a new crisis in Indian journalism. 

The role of larger media as observed during the pandemic, however, is not an overnight shift. It has been visible for some time now.  The media has seen phenomenal growth during the last three decades, and India has become one of the biggest media markets in the world.

Electric vehicles’; the future

An electric car is just a car propelled by one or more electric motors using energy stored in rechargeable batteries, instead of burning petrol or diesel internally and exhausting fumes. There are broadly three kinds of electric cars at present:

1.   Solar-powered electric cars and vehicles

2.   Hybrid electric cars powered by a mix of internal combustion and batteries 

3.   Electric cars with on-board battery packs also known as battery electric vehicle (BEV) 

More often than not, electric cars in the context of mobility and environmental conservation refer to battery electric vehicles, but may also refer to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV)

In the Indian context, automobile manufacturers have announced electric four-wheelers such as Hyundai Kona Electric, Mahindra e-Verito, Mahindra e2o, Porsche Taycan, Tata Tigor EV 2019, MG ZS. But many more will be needed if India is to take meaningful steps towards becoming an EV-first nation. 

With enthusiasm rising around the chances of Elon Musk’s Tesla launching in India in 2020, many local and global auto manufacturers have started testing the waters in the Indian market for electric cars.

Some questions arise that need to be discussed these

* How do you see the evolution globally of electric vehicles in the coming years?

* Are there pockets or regions where EVs will take off sooner?

* What will happen to ICE platforms?

* What does that mean for global automakers in different regions such as Asia, Europe and US?

* What can be done to push the take rate of EVs?

What Are The Advantages Of Electric Cars Over Fuel Cars?

At a fundamental level, electric cars offer a dramatically lower operating cost compared to conventional internal combustion engines. On average, electric vehicles are 75-80% cheaper from fuel and maintenance perspective, which is an important consideration for many consumers who have high usage. This reality holds across form factors because it’s materially cheaper to charge a battery compared to refuelling a conventional liquid fuel tank.

Moreover, EVs have 75-80% fewer moving components and this ultimately translate to a much lower maintenance bill. Over and above the robust operating cost angle, EVs also possess an inherent advantage when it comes to performance and driveability.

What Are The Challenges In Consumer Adoption Of Electric Cars?

Breaking away the old norms and establishing new consumer behaviour is always a challenge. It is common to find users anxious about the speed and range of EVs. Thus, a lot of sensitisation and education is needed, to bust several myths and promote EVs within the Indian market, Zoomcar’s Moran told Inc42.

Apart from this, there are several challenges in the adoption of electric vehicle cars in India shortly. These include:

1.   Charging infrastructure

2.   Battery performance

3.   Supply-demand gap

4.   Creating the closed-loop

Lack of battery cell manufacturing

There is a complete absence of primary battery cell manufacturing in India which poses the risk of increasing our trade deficit. At the moment, most manufacturers rely on batteries imported from Japan, China, Korea and Europe. Hence, the Indian market needs encouragement for indigenous technologies that are suited for India from both strategic and economic standpoint, such as aluminium fuel cells.

How Can The Government Promote Electric Cars Further?

The Indian government is gunning for its goal of making 30% of Indian vehicles electric by 2030. The steps taken in 2019 to promote electric vehicles in the country include:

1.   Special policy measures such as slashing GST on EVs to 5% versus 28% for combustion engines

2.   INR 1.5 lakh tax exemption on loans to buy electric vehicles

3.   INR 10K Cr allocated to FAME II to push electric mobility through standardisation

4.   Union cabinet has proposed customs duty exemption on certain EV parts including electric drive assembly, on-board charger, e-compressor and a charging gun to cut down costs

5.   To localise the value chain, cabinet outplayed a five-year phased manufacturing programme (PMP) until 2024

6.   Nearly a dozen states either issued or proposed electric vehicle policies till date, with Delhi being the latest one.

“We will soon be pushing for setting up of bigger factories for battery manufacturing. We are open to listening to new ideas and pushing them, so I encourage all founders to push the envelope,” Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog, said recently.

Further, the industry leaders Inc42 spoke to highlighted more measures that are needed:

1.   More incentives, tax cuts or rebates for every stakeholder in the mix, including the manufacturers and consumers

2.   Facilitating access to capital both for R&D as well as manufacturing

3.   Promotion of indigenous technology and capacity

4.   Creating infrastructure supporting shared mobility

5.   Offering a permit distribution for shared micro-mobility services as against a tendering system to open up the market

6.   Promoting mobility-as-a-service using EVs

7.   Phasing out ICE vehicles. For OEMs, 60% of new vehicles sold after April 1, 2025 should be zero-emission vehicles. This could be applied in a gradual way leading to 60% by 2025.

8.   Access to vehicular loans for EVs to the end-user at interest rates at par with normal vehicles even for new brands.

Article 370 and removal of Kashmir’s special status: Devil lies in ways which Article 367(4) will now apply to Jammu and Kashmir

The Union Government passed a Presidential Order under Article 370 (1) of the Indian Constitution, to supersede the 1954 Presidential Order, which, along with several other Presidential Orders, specifies which provisions of India’s Constitution apply to Jammu and Kashmir. This Presidential Order is unique in that it lays out most of the details on the special status accorded to Jammu and Kashmir under the Indian Constitution.

As described earlier, Article 367(4) as applied to Jammu and Kashmir will in turn make Article 370(3) apply to Jammu and Kashmir (by modifying the reference to the “Constituent Assembly of the State” to mean “Legislative Assembly of the State” as described above). Thus, if the Presidential Order cannot cause Article 370 to apply in a modified form to Jammu and Kashmir directly, the Order cannot achieve the same outcome indirectly, through the funnel of Article 367(4).

But if the Indian Constitution says that Article 370 can be applied to Jammu and Kashmir, then why does Article 370(1)(d) prohibit applying a modified version of Article 370 to Kashmir?

Article 370 of the Indian Constitution provides all those elements of the Indian Constitution which will apply to Jammu and Kashmir, namely:

  • the powers of the Indian Parliament that shall extend to the territory of Jammu and Kashmir;
  • Article 1 and Article 370 of the Indian Constitution will apply to Jammu and Kashmir;
  • provisions other than Article 1 and Article 370 can be made to apply to Jammu and Kashmir in a modified form by a Presidential order provided either concurrence or consultation of the Jammu and Kashmir Government is taken, depending on what is being modified.

Clause (3) of this Article 370 clarifies that all of the above requirements can be overridden by the President in a “public notification” declaring that Article 370 of the Indian Constitution shall have no force or have partial force in the Indian Constitution, so long as the Constituent Assembly of the State of Jammu and Kashmir also consents.

The force of Article 370’s text lies along two vectors:

– One vector of Article 370 is in clause (1), which can cause provisions in the Indian Constitution other than Article 1 and 370 to apply to Jammu and Kashmir (in Article 370(1) and (2)) and;
– Another vector of Article 370 is in clause (3), which applies within the Indian Constitution, and also applies to Jammu and Kashmir in an unmodified form, to sustain the special status of Jammu and Kashmir as delineated in the rest of Article 370

By the Presidential Order, modified Article 367(4) as applied to Jammu and Kashmir causes Article 370(3) to be applied to the State of Jammu and Kashmir by replacing “the Constituent Assembly” with the Jammu and Kashmir “Legislative Assembly”. However, Article 370(3) applies to India too, in the Indian Constitution. So even if this Presidential Order modified Article 370(3) as applied to Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian Constitution’s Article 370(3) continues to require the Jammu and Kashmir Constituent Assembly’s concurrence. This Presidential order cannot modify the text of the Indian Constitution, even if it modifies the text of the Indian Constitution as it applies to Jammu and Kashmir. Therefore, for any action under Article 370(3) to be valid for India, we would still need the Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir to consent.

In short, for the purposes of the Indian Constitution, any modification of Article 370(3) as applied to Kashmir, even if it were valid, would not touch Article 370(3) as it applies in India.

But the Constituent Assembly no longer exists in Jammu and Kashmir, so is there anything India can do now?

Many hold the view that Article 370 may not be abrogated at all, legally. This idea merits some exploration.

The constitutionally legitimate way to abrogate Article 370 will be for the President to issue a public notification abrogating Article 370, under Article 370(3) of the Indian Constitution as applied to India. In fact, the Rajya Sabha has attempted to recommend that the President pass such a notification in its “Statutory Resolution”. Such a notification would only have been valid, in India, if the Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir had consented to the abrogation — which needless to say, no longer is in existence.

One conceptual way of thinking about this issue is that Article 370 embodied the terms of a treaty between the State of Jammu and Kashmir (under the Maharaja) and the Dominion of India which laid out the terms on which Jammu and Kashmir would join the dominion. The embodied form of the treaty in Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, represents the coming together of two sovereign territorial units. Therefore, it is important to remember that the Indian Dominion was not bestowing a concession on Jammu and Kashmir, as commentary sometimes propagates. In this background, the Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir would have been the representative of the sovereignty of Jammu and Kashmir, on questions of whether Article 370 would stop having force in the Indian Constitution.

Therefore, one can argue theoretically that Jammu and Kashmir is free to decide that it will be represented by any legislative body instead of the Constituent Assembly, on the question of ending Article 370’s operation — which is a question of ending the treaty between Jammu and Kashmir and the Union of India. There is no situation in which India can decide for Jammu and Kashmir that a State Assembly can stand in for the Constituent Assembly. This is because, as shown earlier, Article 370(3) continues to apply to India regardless of how the Presidential Order modifies it for Jammu and Kashmir.

In short, only if both Jammu and Kashmir and India were in consensus could Article 370 have been abrogated, and that too by proceeding under Article 370(3) and not Article 370(1) of the Indian Constitution. So long as Jammu and Kashmir wants to retain special status in regard to the Indian State, Article 370 is effectively incapable of revocation or abrogation. The Supreme Court has thus also heldthat Article 370 is permanent, effectively.

Is there any way in which President’s Order can be considered constitutionally legitimate?

Even if we can somehow ignore that the President’s Order attempts to extend Article 370(3) of the Indian Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir — which Article 370(1)(d) does not allow the President to do — there is no way to save this Order. This is because a Presidential Order under Article 370(1)(d) requires the “concurrence of the Government” of Jammu and Kashmir, if it aims to extend the Indian Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir on matters not covered by the Instrument of Accession. This is specially provided in the second proviso to Article 370(1).

We know that Jammu and Kashmir has been under President’s rule for over a year now. This implies that Jammu and Kashmir is not governed by its own elected representatives, but is being run by an officer of the President of India — presently Governor Satya Pal Mallik. Therefore, it remains unclear as to how the Indian Government can argue that it has obtained the “concurrence” of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir.

The role of governor in India

The Governor of a State shall be appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal (Article 155). A person to be eligible for appointment as Governor should be citizen of India and has completed age of 35 years (Article157).The Governors of the states of India have similar powers and functions at the state level as that of the President of India at Union level. Governors exist in the states while lieutenant governors or administrator exist in union territories including National Capital Territory of Delhi. The governor acts as the nominal head whereas the real power lies with the Chief ministers of the states and his/her councils of ministers. Although in union Territories real power lies in lieutenant governor or administrator, except in NCT of Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir where he/she shares power with a council of ministers headed by a chief minister.

In India, a lieutenant governor is in charge of a union territory. However, the rank is present only in the union territories of Andaman and Nicobar IslandsLadakhJammu and KashmirDelhi and Puducherry (the other territories have an administrator appointed, who is usually an IAS officer or a retired judge of a court). However, the governor of Punjab acts as the administrator of Chandigarh. Although lieutenant governors do not hold the same rank as a governor of a state in the list of precedence.

QualificationsEdit

Article 157 and Article 158 of the Constitution of India specify eligibility requirements for the post of governor. They are as follows:

A governor must:

The governors and lieutenant governors are appointed by the president for a term of five years.

Dal Baati Special


This is one of my favourite dish Dal Baati
Churma has been an important part of Rajasthani cuisine since time immemorial but the exact root of its origin is not known. It’s believed that the dish originated during the reign of Bappa Rawal, the founder of the Mewar Kingdom in Rajasthan. Bafla and baati are always eaten with hot dal with pure ghee and chutney. Churma is a popular delicacy usually served with baatis and dal. … Traditionally it is made by mashing up wheat flour baatis or leftover rotis in ghee and jaggery, optionally mixed with dry fruits and flavours. It can be eaten alone or with dal.

the Gupta Empire settled in Mewar, that the combination of dal and baati became popular – panchmel dal was a much-loved favourite in the royal court of the Guptas. The panchmel dal is a simple and nuritious mix of five lentils – moong dal, chana dal, toor dal, masoor dal and urad dal – prepared with a fragrant tempering of cumin, cloves and other spices.

Churma, on the other hand, is believed to have been invented when a cook of Mewar’s Guhilot clan accidentally poured sugarcane juice into some baatis. Realising that it had made the baatisofter, the women of the clan started dunking the battis in sweet water (made from sugarcane or jaggery) in an attempt to keep the baatis soft and fresh for their husbands. This eventually evolved into churma, a sweetened and cardamom-flavoured mix of crushed baati.

Litti Chokha which originates from Bihar and looks similar to Baati, is a wheat ball stuffed with sattu (roasted chickpea and barley flour), mixed with herbs and spices and then roasted over coal or cow dung cakes or wood after which it is tossed with lots of ghee. … People fighting over Dal Bati and litti Chokha

India has a very rich culture, that is of course well known all over the world. However I think how rich and diverse our food is not really known. Indian food in the west is synonyms with curry and naan. And that actually is just a fraction of our food. Each state in India has it’s own cuisine, which is totally different from one another. It’s so different that growing up in North, I would have hardly even eaten anything from say Gujarat or Assam or Rajasthan.

Indian cuisine has always been a paradise for vegetarians. It’s amazing the variety of vegetarian recipes we have. Rajasthani food is one of my favorite and I have mentioned this before when I shared the recipe for Gatte ki sabzi. I am always amazed by all the delicious vegetarian food people created in Rajasthan without any fresh produce. i think everyone should try ones in their life because seriously it’s delicious specially Rajasthani Dal baati.