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Domestically Manufactured Electronic Goods

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Giving Preference to Domestically
Manufactured Electronic Goods
 
 
Domestically manufactured electronic products are expected to be more secure because effective monitoring processes can be put in place for manufacturing processes of security
sensitive electronic products
 
 

With increasing deployment of electronic devices and Information Technology applications in various sectors, the critical applications and associated infrastructure are becoming vulnerable to cyber attacks including espionage, financial theft and cyber terrorism. The forms of attack include backdoors, malicious code, identity-theft and information warfare. Instances of malware and other cyber attack tools pre-loaded on to electronic hardware equipment have been detected world-wide. Imported software and hardware IT products are often shipped with maliciously embedded malware. There have been concerns about supply chain security as computers, portable devices and other electronic devices pass through several suppliers before the final product goes on sale and somewhere along line someone could compromise a component or design a capability that could enable cyber attacks. Backdoors are not necessarily limited to software applications as hardware components, such as Embedded Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips or hardware encryption products could be compromised. Even critical infrastructure in civilian sector like Power System is being targeted with targeted attacks on Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Systems (SCADA) emerging.

Using modified hardware provide attackers with a fundamental advantage compared to software based attacks. Due to the lower level of control offered attackers can more easily avoid detection and prevention. Hardware encryption products have also been found to be embedded with malicious software to enable leakage of encryption keys and reduction of encryption strength. In all these instances, the attack code is found to be hard coded in hardware.  
 

Chip Design Industry

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Future of Chip Design Industry

 

ISA is very upbeat about the initiatives announced by the government in the recent past for promoting the fabless industry and also setting up an India fab to kick-start manufacturing activity in the country
 

 

Electronics, a USD 1.75 trillion market, is the largest and fastest growing manufacturing industry in the world. The year 2020 has special significance for the Indian Electronic Systems Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) industry with the Government announcing its vision for the years to come as per the National Policy on Electronics 2011. “Vision 2020” is an ambitious yet strategically crucial vision of the Indian ESDM industry reaching a turnover of USD 400 billion by 2020. 
 
The Indian chip design industry – including VLSI design, embedded software development and hardware/board design – is an integral part of the ESDM ecosystem. Pegged at USD 7.5 billion in 2010, the industry is expected to reach USD 10.2 billion in 2012. As part of Vision 2020, the government aims to make India a global leader in Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI), chip design and other frontier technical areas, and achieve a turnover of USD 55 billion by 2020.
 

Rights of the Child

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Rights of the Child

 
All legislations for protection of child rights have to take categorical and unambiguous position on children’s rights, ensuring State commitment and obligation to provide all structures, institutions and processes for delivering services to children 

 

There is unanimity on the importance of protecting children and their right to freedom and dignity. It was enshrined in the Constitution of India. Yet there have been gross violations of children’s rights since independence and serious gaps in the delivery of services for children. There is a need therefore to understand the core principles for delivering services to children and an adherence to a rights based perspective. Recent enactments, such as the right to education act and protection of children from sexual offences have been child centric clearly emphasizing the rights of children. Some policies like the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) have also shown that decentralisation and involvement of the community and civil society as equal partners with the government are important components for effective realisation of children’s rights. 

Provisions for Children in Constitution of India 

Central Adoption Resource Authority

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CENTRAL ADOPTION RESOURCE AUTHORITY
 

What is Central Adoption Resource Authority? 

The Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) is an Autonomous Body under the Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India. Its mandate is to find a loving and caring family for every orphan/destitute/surrendered child in the country. The Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) was initially set up in 1990 under the aegis of the Ministry of Welfare. Pursuant to a decision of the Union Cabinet dated 2nd July, 1998, the then Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment conferred the autonomous status on CARA w.e.f. 18.3.1999 by registering it as a Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. It was designated as Central Authority by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment on 17.7.2003 for the implementation of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children & Cooperation in respect of Inter-country Adoption (1993). The Ministry of Women & Child Development has of late been mandated to look after the subject matters `Adoption’ & Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2000’ 
 

Girl Child in India

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Girl Child in India


 
The opportunity to be born, opportunity to grow in a safe and secure environment, opportunity to develop ones’ full potential are some of the major issues concerning the girl children in India 

 

Achieving gender equality and empowering women is one of the important targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). With only three years to go for achieving these goals, many efforts are being made at the international and the national level. The United Nations Organisation as declared “October 11” as the International Day for the Girl Child since 2012. The day shall be   served every year. It is going to serve an important purpose of fetching the spotlight on the girl child and their problems. This activity aims to promote girl’s rights and highlight gender inequalities that exist between girls and boys. In 1995, during the World conference on Women in Beijing, the Beijing Platform for Action had resolved to eliminate all forms of discrimination against girl child and to  promote the rights of the girl child. Further, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the international commitment of the ‘World Fit for Children’ adopted by the UN General Assembly’s Special Session on Children in 2002, underline the efforts of the international community towards the growth and development of women and children.

Child Protection in India

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Child Protection in India

 
Protecting children from all forms of violence, abuse, and exploitation in different settings, including family, community and wider society is essential to ensure that they are given all the rights due to them
 

Protecting children from all forms of violence, abuse, and exploitation is integral to the holistic development of children, as it enables them to become active participants in their own development and the development of the Nation.  

A child who sells flowers or magazines at a traffic light every day is not just another salesperson, but someone who is deprived of a normal and secured family life, and denied his or her basic rights of nutrition, health, education, and development.  

Unfortunately, it is common to see children in vulnerable and difficult situations. At an age where they should be in school and learning, children are married off; engaged in work– in farms, households, restaurants, and in industries; trafficked for labour and sexual exploitation; and exposed to abuse and violence.  

According to the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), around 170 million or 40 percent of all children in India are either vulnerable to or experiencing difficult circumstances, such as violence at home, separation from family and street life (Integrated Child Protection Scheme– ICPS). If we look at sexual abuse, a study conducted by MWCD in 2007 shows that more than 53 percent all respondents reported to have faced one or more forms of sexual abuse.   

Occupational Lifestyle Diseases in India

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Occupational Lifestyle Diseases in India

  

The emerging lifestyle diseases not only affect the economic conditions of the individuals but also the productivity of the economy which is going to be threatened dangerously in the near future
 

Lifestyle disease is one associated with the way a person or group of people lives  In other words,  lifestyle diseases characterise those diseases whose occurrence is primarily based on the daily habits of people and are a result of an inappropriate relationship of people with their environment. These diseases include hypertension, heart diseases, stroke, diabetes, obesity, diseases associated with smoking and alcohol and drug abuse, cancer, chronic bronchitis, premature mortality etc. Lifestyle diseases which are also called diseases of longevity or diseases of civilisation interchangeably are diseases that appear to increase in frequency as countries become more industrialised and people live longer. There are several factors leading to the occurrence of lifestyle diseases including factors like bad food habits, physical inactivity, wrong body posture, and disturbed biological clock. However, the significant factor contributing to lifestyle diseases of the present day may be regarded as the occupational nature of the people. The occupational pattern in India has undergone drastic changes in recent decades giving priority to IT and other similar services neglecting the very base of the agrarian culture. Along with these changes in occupation, the food habits of the society too changed that gradually caused the spread of several lifestyle diseases in our society.

Mounting figures of lifestyle disorders  

Women and Child Health

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Women and Child Health

 
Unless all concerned – policy makers, civil society, communities and families and all of us – contribute in our own different ways maternal health would continue to be compromised and the human rights of women would continue to be a casualty

  

By the time one finishes reading this article, several women would have died of pregnancy related preventable causes in India! Official figures suggest one unfortunate Indian woman loses her life every eight minutes, which adds up to a loss of more than 63,000 young and productive lives every year. All of us would agree that there can be no improvement in maternal health without eradicating extreme poverty and hunger to which women, in general, and pregnant mothers, in particular, are most vulnerable. Improved maternal health will, on its own, bring about a visible improvement in child survival and child health also. 

I use the term “maternal health” in its broadest sense as  the culmination of all that goes wrong with women generally and those from the poorer sections, in particular – beginning with the discrimination from the embryonic stage when detection of a female foetus leads to its elimination or termination; and if it survives, the tragedy of the infant girl whose mortality rate is higher than that of infant boys; and growing up to face the neglect as a girl child who has to shoulder adult like responsibilities at the cost of her schooling and foregoing exposure to her there entitlements in comparison to male siblings; and then is confronted with the travails of vulnerable adolescence as she has no access to basic sanitation facilities or even a sanitary napkin or its crude substitutes become a luxury; and then she grows to assume young adulthood when sexual health is not considered a priority for her in the reproductive age, deprived as she is of sufficient nutrition, preventive health care, and denied the right to choose the timing of conception or the power to decide on which method of contraceptive to use; and then she is forced to double up as a provider of livelihood for the family; and finally, in her old age she is discarded and thrown out to beg and survive.  

Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms

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Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms

 
What is National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms?  

The National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms was set up in June, 2011 in India to achieve the twin goals of increasing access by reducing delays and arrears; and enhancing accountability through structural changes and by setting performance standards and capacities. The Mission has become fully functional from 2012-13 and is pursuing strategic initiatives: outlining policy and legislative changes; re-engineering of procedures and court processes; focussing on Human Resource Development; and leveraging Information and Communication Technology & tools for better justice delivery.

What are the policy and legislative changes the Mission has undertaken? 

The Mission has taken several steps in each of the strategic areas towards fulfilment of its objectives. Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill has been prepared. The Bill has already been passed by the Lok Sabha and is now before the Rajya Sabha for consideration. Constitution amendment bill for raising the retirement age of High Court Judges is also before the Parliament. A comprehensive proposal has been formulated for constitution of All India Judicial Service and the 25 States have formulated their Litigation Policies. 

What are the changes proposed for Court Procedures and Court Processes? 

Responding to HIV and AIDS

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Responding to HIV and AIDS
                    in India health and nutrition

At one end while it is needed to step up research to understand the rural dynamics of the epidemic, at the other end HIV testing, provisioning of treatment and condoms, quality health personnel and awareness generation needs to be scaled-up as per the rural needs 

 

Taruni, from Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh recently delivered a healthy baby girl. She is an HIV positive from the district which has the highest HIV prevalence in the country and has been on Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) since the last few years. Early screening and diagnosis of HIV, followed by the treatment regime prevented the transmission of the disease from Taruni to her child - undoubtedly good news for many in the fight to combat HIV and AIDS. 

India has come a long way since 1982, when the first case of HIV was diagnosed in Mumbai and in the same year the first AIDS case reported in Chennai. Thereafter in 1986 the first HIV case through injection drug use (IDU) was diagnosed in Manipur. In India the epidemic is of concentrated nature with almost 90 percent of infections transmitted through one of the following three routes -heterosexual contact, homosexual contact and injection drug use. 

The virus is concentrated mostly among sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender, injecting drug users, and bridge populations like clients of sex workers, truckers, prison inmates, street children and migrants. At present, there is an estimated 2.39 million people living with HIV, 39 percent of whom are women and 3.5 percent children below 15 years. Broadly, the Government’s response to prevent and contain HIV and AIDS has been through awareness generation and prevention programmes; regular surveillance for HIV and AIDS related data and research focusing on epidemiology of HIV and AIDS.  

Mobile Governance

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MOBILE GOVERNANCE IN INDIA

 
What is Mobile Governance?

Mobile Governance (m-Governance) is a strategy and its implementation to leverage available wireless and new media technology platforms, mobile phone devices and applications for delivery of public information and services to citizens and business.  

What is Mobile Services Delivery Gateway (MSDG)? 

MSDG is the core infrastructure for enabling the availability of public services through mobile devices. The prime objective of creating the MSDG is to put in place government-wide shared infrastructure and services to enable rapid development, mainstreaming and deployment of m-Governance services. It will enhance interoperability across various public services as well as reduce the total cost of operation of m-Governance services by providing a common pool of resources aggregating the demand for communication and e-Governance services, and act as a platform for various Government Departments and Agencies to test, rapidly deploy, and easily maintain m-Governance services across the country.  

What is the purpose of setting up the MSDG?  

Drug Pricing and Pharma Policy

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Drug Pricing and Pharmaceutical Policy

 

Within healthcare, the cost of medicine is the major cost driver which constitutes nearly 60-70 percent of the total healthcare cost
 

The Department of Pharmaceuticals was established on 1st July 2008 as nodal Department for ensuring the availability of medicines at reasonable  prices in the  country. Availability of good quality drugs at affordable prices  with specific focus on  the poor has been the constant endeavour of the Government. The Government is administering Drug Price Control through the Drug Price Control Orders issued from time to time. 

Under Drug Policy 1994, DPCO 1995 was framed with the following salient features:-  

- 74 Bulk Drugs and their  formulations under price control

- Cost based pricing of bulk drugs   

- Pricing of indigenously manufactured scheduled formulations under specified formula i.e Cost + MAPE (Maximum  allowable Post- Manufacturing Expenses) not exceeding- 100 percent

- For imported formulations : Landed Cost plus margin not exceeding 50 percent

- Control of price of any non-scheduled formulation in public interest.  

The Drugs (Price control) Order, 1995 (DPCO,95) was promulgated by the Government of India on 6th January, 1995 in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act . Under DPCO,1995, seventy six bulk drugs (subsequently reduced to 74) are included in its First Schedule. These bulk drugs are scheduled bulk drugs. The Government of India is empowered to fix and notify the price of scheduled bulk drugs and their related formulations. NPPA has been effectively  performing its role of a regulator of the prices of specified drugs.  

Indian IT-ITeS Industry

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Indian IT-ITeS Industry-
 
A Success Saga

 

The liberalization of Indian economic policy, de-regulation of key sectors and progressive moves towards further integrating India with the global economy has been a key driver of increased IT adoption in the country 

 

2012 will be remembered as a landmark year in the history of Indian Information Technology- Information Technology Enabled Services [IT-ITeS] industry, as aggregate industrial revenue crossed USD 100 billion dollars with a y-o-y growth of 14 percent. With USD 69 billion, exports [excluding hardware] contributing the lion’s share of 78 percent, accounted for the growth of +16 percent over 2011. The domestic revenue [including hardware] is expected to account for USD 32 billion, a growth of +9 percent over 2011. There is no doubt that IT-ITeS industry has emerged as one of the most dynamic sectors in India’s economic boom and is responsible for the global recognition of India as a “soft” power. The consistent growth of the IT segment has created phenomenal wealth, employment, exports and a significantly large reservoir of highly competent technocrats and knowledge workers.  

Majority of the Fortune 500 and Global 2000 corporations are sourcing IT/ITeS from India. Further most of Capability Maturity Model (SEI-CMM) Level 5 firms are based in India. On the plus side, the Indian IT-ITeS industry has also moved up the value chain of global perception. India is delivering several mission critical services to clients globally. Indian companies have set up delivery centres across the world and are actually providing services from different regions. 340 delivery centres in 184 cities across 48 countries in 2007 have now increased to over 560 centres in over 200 cities across 70 countries by 2012. India is fundamentally advantaged and uniquely positioned to sustain its global leadership position, grow its offshore IT-ITeS industries at an annual rate of 13-14 percent, sustain nearly 10 million direct jobs and generate export revenues of about USD 175 billion by 2020. This represents an opportunity capable of catapulting India into a higher growth orbit.  
 

Janani-Shishu Suraksha Karyakrama

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Janani-Shishu  Suraksha Karyakram
 
JSSK has been launched, to ensure that each and ever pregnant woman and sick neonates upto one month gets  timely access to health care services free of cost and without  any out of pocket expenses.

 

In June 2011, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,  Government of India launched the Janani-Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK), a national initiative  which entitles all pregnant women delivering in public health institutions to absolutely free and no  expense delivery, including  caesarean section.  

The scheme emphasises utmost importance on “Free  Entitlements”. The idea is to eliminate out-of-pocket expenses for both pregnant women and sick neonates. Under this scheme, pregnant women are  entitled for free drugs and consumables, free  diagnostics, free blood wherever required, and free diet to 3 days for normal delivery and 7 days for  caesarian section. This initiative also provides for free transport from home to institution, between  facilities in case of a referral and drop back home. Similar entitlements have been put in place for all sick newborns accessing public health institutions for treatment till 30 days after birth.  

The JSSK initiative is estimated to benefit more than one crore  pregnant women and newborns who access public health institutions every year in both urban and  rural areas.  

Why JSSK ?  

India has made considerable progress in reduction of Maternal Mortality Ratio  MMR) and Infant  mortality Rate (IMR), but the pace at which these health indicators are declining  needs acceleration. The number of institutional deliveries has increased significantly, after the launch of Janani Suraksha Yojna (JSY) in the year 2005 but many of those who opted for institutional deliveries were not willing to stay for 48 hrs, hampering the provision of essential services both to the mother and neonate. Moreover, the first 48 hours after delivery are critical as complications like haemorrhage, infection, high blood pressure, etc are more likely to develop during this period and unsafe deliveries may result in maternal and infant morbidity or mortality.  

Electronics System Design and Manufacturing

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Strategic Importance of ESDM Sector  


A Communications and Brand Building Campaign for promotion of ESDM sector in India has been launched with the objective to build “Made in India” as leading global brand in ESDM and increasing awareness regarding initiatives taken by Government to promote investments
 

The electronics industry emerged in the 20th century and has quickly become a global industry worth of millions of dollars with products ranging from simple consumer products to highly complicated aerospace ones. Over the years electronics has become a meta-resource, the building blocks of modern technology and is redefining how the world operates every day. India also has been a part of this great transformation, where electronics today has become a way of life.  

The demand for electronics hardware in the country is projected to increase from USD 45 billion in 2009 to USD 400 billion by  020 (Source: Task Force Report). This provides a huge opportunity for India to become an Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) hub to meet the domestic as well as the global requirements. Most of India’s domestic demand is presently being met through imports. This has   serious economic and strategic implications for the country. Every country is unique. India’s uniqueness is about diversity but at the same time, masses have similar kind of expectations from consumer products, more so from consumer durables, particularly electronic products. Under such a dynamic environment ESDM is set to be the area of interest for India in the years to come.  

Importance of the ESDM Sector in the Indian Context 

National E-Governance Plan, India

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National e-Governance Plan: Vision, Challenges and the Way Forward
 
 

The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) is the most significant initiative taken in India during the last decade to mainstream ICT in governance at both central and state levels
 

 
E-governance in India owes its origins to the inhouse development of applications during the 1970s and 1980s in defence, economic planning, census, tax administration and elections. Subsequently, massive efforts were made during the 1980s by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to connect all the district headquarters in the country through  a VSAT network. However, all these efforts were mainly government centric with the primary objective of exploiting Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for automating internal government functions. Citizen centricity with a focus on improving delivery of services to the citizens was not the primary goal during this period. In the late 1980s, a few computerization initiatives in the government started making an impact on citizen services. 
 
The most prominent among these was the computerization of the passenger reservation system by the Indian Railways (Ramani, 1991). E-governance during this period received a major thrust with the launch of NICNET in 1987, followed by the launch of DISNIC that aimed at computerizing all the district offices in the country (2ndAdministrative Reforms Commission, 2008). During the 1990s, several government departments at both central and state levels launched projects aimed at deploying ICTs for improving services to citizens. Initial attempts were made by some government departments during the latter half of this decade to use the World Wide Web mainly for providing information to the citizens. Several states, particularly the southern states, achieved significant successes in using e-governance to improve delivery of services to the citizens during this period. This trend continued during the early years of the last decade with several states across the country implementing citizen-centric e-government projects. However, these initiatives were isolated and fragmented due to lack of adequate and integrated ICT infrastructure reaching down to the block and village levels, lack of comprehensive backend computerization, lack of connectivity, and lack of adequate capacity at all levels of government to efficiently deploy ICTs for improving the quality of governance. The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), conceptualized in the early part of the last decade, aimed at addressing all these deficiencies.  


 

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