Think India Foundation

Senior housing comes of age

Imagine India a decade ahead: there will be more senior citizens in the country given the improved healthcare and decreasing mortality rates. The average life expectancy has gone up from 20 years (1900) to 64 years in recent times. Add to this the low fertility rates and we have the 60+ age group as one of the fastest growing segments of the population. With 100 million senior citizens now, the numbers will shoot up to 177 million in 2025 and this is set to double in 20 years. Given the fast-paced urban lifestyle with few provisions for needs of the elderly, there is an opportunity to provide good living solutions for the senior population by being sensitive to their requirements.

In the West, a wide range of retirement living solutions have been available for over five decades, while in India the need for creating ‘special’ spaces for seniors has had an emotional and psychological barrier. Indians pride themselves on their close-knit family structures and values with parents being integral to the ‘parivar’. Two factors have broken this age old tradition: the mobility of the working population and the nuclear family preference in modern times. Read more

Source : indianexpress.com

Housing conundrum: FICCI report on urban infrastructure reveals uncomfortable truths

In 2001, about 286 million persons were living in urban areas of India and it was the second largest urban population in the world. According to the Registrar General & Census Commissioner of India, the urban population in India over the next 25 years is expected to grow 38 per cent and become 534 million in 2026. Furthermore, as per the Census of India, 2001, 640 cities/towns in 26 States/Union territories have reported slum populations. 

Andhra Pradesh has the largest number of towns (77) reporting slums followed by Uttar Pradesh (69), Tamil Nadu (63) and Maharashtra (61). As many as 42.6 million people lived in slums in 2001. This constitutes 15 percent of the total urban population of the country and 22.6 percent of the urban population of the states/union territories reporting slums. Read more

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com

Educating India’s 'Demographic Dividend': The Role of the Private Sector

The growth prospects of the Indian economy depend to a large extent on how the country tackles certain issues of intellectual capital today. The concern largely centers on the much-debated demographic dividend, or the rising proportion of working-age people in India. The recent One Globe 2012 "knowledge conference" in New Delhi emphasized the role that industry needs to play.

Some 54% of India’s 1.2 billion people are under the age of 25. The TeamLease Indian Labor Report 2009 estimates that 300 million will enter the labor force by 2025, and by then, 25% of the world’s workers will be Indians. The National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC) is already grappling with the challenge of providing training and retraining to 500 million people by 2022. The non-negotiables to meet the challenge include fundamental education reform across primary, secondary and higher education, and significant enhancement of supplementary skills development. Read more

Source : knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu

Moving targets

How important is location to a business school? Does it matter if you are rooted in one particular city or country? It is a topic that is creeping on to the business school agenda because, as we know, demographics are changing dramatically.

There are now a mind-boggling 7bn people on the planet. What is more, that figure could double again by the end of the century, with the largest growth occurring in developing countries. Where will people live? What kind of lives will they have? How many will pursue higher education? Read more

Source : ft.com

Revival in investment in India key to recovery in growth: Morgan Stanley

In India, structural measures are needed to help boost private investment. India will continue to have strong support from favorable demographic trends, as the age dependency ratio (proportion of non-working age population to working age population) will continue improving until 2040, according to UN projections.

This warrants a rise in investment to GDP, which would help to generate productive capacity, and is crucial to kick-start a virtuous cycle of faster growth in productive job creation - income growth - savings - investments - higher growth, without a rise in inflation challenges. Read more

Source : myiris.com

Trainer deficit hindering vocational sector’s growth

With its unique demography and desire for positive growth and change, India is experiencing an unparalleled surge for skills development. 

India’s fast economic recovery and overall development has opened up an unprecedented number of job opportunities across industry sectors. Read more

Source : deccanherald.com

India’s human wealth

Large population is not necessarily a burden

In a developing country of more than a billion people, the phrase ‘population explosion’ has negative connotations. But, experts believe India can leverage its vast human capital to its advantage. According to the US-based National Bureau of Asian Research, over the next two decades India will witness a huge surge in its working population, much of which will be highly educated, and this can only serve to further the country’s economic growth. By 2030, the median age of the Indian population will be around 32 years, and almost 68 per cent of its estimated 1.5 billion strong people at that time will be of working age, generally defined as those between the ages of 15 and 64. What will make this huge group particularly powerful is that it will be a highly educated group of young men and women. The Vienna Institute of Demography estimates that by 2030, about 125 million working-age people in India will have a masters degree or a doctorate — more than any country in the world. Already, India is home to 60 million people with tertiary degrees — much more than Japan, Russia and even the US. Read more

Source : dailypioneer.com

More hands on offer but not skills

GURGAON: In 2006, a World Bank report on skill development and vocational training in India spelt it out for all - "The relative supply of workers with technical/vocational skills has declined. This may be due to the fact that workers with technical/vocational qualifications do not have the skills that meet the labour market needs - often because of the poor quality of training provided."

The major industrial cities of the country, like Gurgaon, have seen an upsurge in their younger demographic, along with a parallel decline in employability. There are more hands available, yet not enough skills. The job market has no doubt expanded, but the number of people fit enough to work has been steadily depleting. "Currently, we have enough jobs, with new industries coming into Gurgaon, and many new estates coming up around the city," said M K Sharma, an industrialist. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

India in 2025: We desperately need a bridge to the future

What will India look like in 2025?

Formal-sector job growth has been strongest in regions and industries that have exhibited high rates of entrepreneurship and dynamic economies. Reuters

The optimistic outlook is that India, which accounts for 80% of the South Asian regional economic output, is headed towards double digit growth rates. South Asia too will grow rapidly, primarily due to India. Read more

Source : firstpost.com

UP is home to people with dangerously wide gaps in skills, income and caste

If Uttar Pradesh was to be declared a separate country today, it would be the sixth-largest nation. With a total population at par with Brazil, population density comparable to that of the UK and per-capita income similar to Kenya's, it indicates the paradox of its citizen occupying the same space as his Latin and UK counterparts, yet living in conditions similar to those in Africa.

Setting this hypothesis aside, let us visit a few demographic facts. Uttar Pradesh has nearly 80% rural population, and its 76% population comprises scheduled castes (SC) and backward classes. A quick analysis shows that by 2016, more than 95% of the 8.5 crore population in the 25-60 age group would be looking for earning opportunities with neither sufficient education nor skills. Read more

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com

With $85 trillion, how India can become world's largest economy

According to a study by US banking group Citi, India will be the world's largest economy within 39 years. Indian GDP in 2050, measured by purchasing power parity (PPP), will be $85.97 trillion. China, in second place, will have a GDP of $ 80.02 trillion and the US $ 39.07 trillion (see chart).

With an estimated population in 2050 of 1.63 billion, India will thus have a per capita income of over $53,000 - in the range of today's wealthiest countries like Switzerland and Norway. Sounds too good to be true? Of course it is. Read more

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com

Rising population in Bangalore strains creaky infrastructure

Bangalore : A recent study by the Institute of Social and Economic Change (ISEC) showed that Bangalore’s population grew by 48% in the past 10 years. The demographic changes showed that while there was an increase in the city’s population, the rate of change in literacy has not been significant, indicating a rise in the population of migrant labourers.

According to Dr KS James of ISEC, this should have typically moved the city’s population to the outskirts, but this is not happening, thus aggravating the pressure on a city that was not planned to have such a dense population. “Although Bangalore is the fifth largest city, what makes it different from other cities such as Delhi and Mumbai is that in these cities, the growth is in the periphery. But in Bangalore, the central parts are where the population is concentrated.” He attributes a number of reasons for this. The most important being the lack of accessibility. “Travelling from the outskirts to the city for work is hectic and expensive. A much easier option would be to live within the city, however poor the condition.” Read more

Source : dnaindia.com

Governance challenge

Managing rapid urbanisation is a key emerging challenge for the country. India’s cities score low on key parameters like transportation and infrastructure, ease of doing business, sustainability, demography and liveability, health, and safety and security. An estimated R18,000 crore per year is the investment required in the 63 cities covered by JNURRM. India has over 5,000 urban agglomerations and towns, each growing rapidly to take the country’s urbanisation level to 40%.

Financing the infrastructure to meet this demand is only one challenge. Providing the governance structure for efficient build out of the infrastructure, its maintenance and overall management is another equally big challenge. This will require private provision of urban services. Read more

Source : financialexpress.com

The impact of ecological limits on population growth

Demographers are predicting that world population will climb to 10 billion this century. But with increasing pressure on water and food supplies will this projected population boom turn into a bust?

This year marks the arrival of the seven billionth human. But with increasing pressure on water and food supplies will this projected population boom turn into a bust? Photograph: Ace stock Ltd/Alamy/Alamy

The hard part about predicting the future, someone once said, is that it hasn't happened yet. So it's a bit curious that so few experts question the received demographic wisdom that the Earth will be home to roughly 9 billion people in 2050 and a stable 10 billion at the century's end. Demographers seem comfortable projecting that life expectancy will keep rising while birth rates drift steadily downward, until human numbers hold steady with 3 billion more people than are alive today. Read more

Source : guardian.co.uk

Analysis: Gujarat female literacy up 12.93%, Kanya Kelavani a hit

The world's largest administrative exercise - Census 2011 - was recently completed in the country. It involved the deployment of 2.7 million enumerators to cover 1.21 billion people living in 240 million households in 7,935 towns and 6,40,867 villages of the 28 states and 7 union territories (UT) of the country.

The provisional population totals of the decadal Census were released within three weeks of the completion of the national exercise. This data sheds light on the demographic attributes of the population in different states and UTs as observed in the previous decade. Read more

Source : dnaindia.com

Conference aims to transform car-centric cities into walkable places

Three years ago, a milestone was reached in human evolution. For the first time, more than half the world's population - 3.3 billion people - lived in urban areas.

The unprecedented demographic shift happened quickly and dramatically. Only 50 years earlier, two-thirds of all people lived in rural areas. By 2030, 60 per cent of the world's five billion people will be crowded into cities, according to the United Nations Population Fund estimates. Read more

Source : vancouversun.com

What happens if the population forecasts are wrong?

The assumption that global population will peak around 9-10bn may be overly optimistic — and if it is, population will continue to rise, placing enormous strains on the environment

In a mere half-century, the number of people on the planet has soared from 3 billion to 7 billion, placing us squarely in the midst of the most rapid expansion of world population in our 50,000-year history — and placing ever-growing pressure on the Earth and its resources.

Children queue for rice porridge in Manila's Baseco slum area. The population growth rate in the Philippines is among the highest in the world. Photograph: Jay Directo/AFP/Getty Images

But that is the past. What of the future? Leading demographers, including those at the United Nations and the U.S. Census Bureau, are projecting that world population will peak at 9.5 billion to 10 billion later this century and then gradually decline as poorer countries develop. But what if those projections are too optimistic? What if population continues to soar, as it has in recent decades, and the world becomes home to 12 billion or even 16 billion people by 2100, as a high-end UN estimate has projected? Such an outcome would clearly have enormous social and environmental implications, including placing enormous stress on the world's food and water resources, spurring further loss of wild lands and biodiversity, and hastening the degradation of the natural systems that support life on Earth. Read more

Source : guardian.co.uk

Homes not 'home' for India's elderly

New Delhi : Latest census figures show that the average family size in India has dropped from seven members to five in the last 10 years.

Indian octogenarian Sheela poses at a privately run charity elderly home in New Delhi. Photo courtesy: AFP/Sajjad HUSSAIN

"This reflects large-scale migration," said Mathew Cherian, the head of the non-profit group, HelpAge India.

"Rural youngsters are migrating to urban areas for employment, and those in the cities are either moving to a bigger one or going abroad for better economic prospects, leaving their parents behind," Cherian told AFP. Read more

Source : mysinchew.com

Business expertise deployed to develop sustainable cities

With over three million people a week migrating to cities, more people than ever are living in urban environments

More people than ever are living in urban environments, particularly in the developing world. Photograph: 19697.000000/Getty Images

With more than three million people a week moving to cities around the world to find a better quality of life, more people than ever before live in urban environments.

This trend is particularly pronounced in developing countries. In India 41 families move into a town every minute and it is estimated that this rate of migration will result in an urban population of 700 million by 2050. Developed countries face a different, but equally pressing, challenge: an ageing population and outdated infrastructure. Read more

Source : guardian.co.uk

Over 35 pc decadal increase in urban population in J&K

Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed 35.66 per cent decadal increase in Urban population while population growth rate in rural areas has been recorded at 19.77 per cent.

This was stated by Director, Census Farooq Ahmad Factoo Wednesday while releasing paper-II on Census-2011 at a press conference here. Read more

Source : kashmirdispatch.com

Inclusive pension policy needed

We rarely see useful answers to fixing India’s gigantic pension coverage gap within the rapidly shrinking window of our demographic advantage or perhaps we are not asking the right questions

Every now and then, the New Pension System (NPS) manages to cut through the clutter and move up the policy agenda to make it to the the front pages of newspapers. But we rarely see useful answers to fixing India’s gigantic pension coverage gap within the rapidly shrinking window of our demographic advantage. Perhaps we are not asking the right questions. Read more

Source : livemint.com

Mega Cities Could Trigger Water Shortages and Social Unrest

STOCKHOLM (IPS) - The rapid growth of urban population - described as one of the world’s major demographic trends - has triggered an explosion of "mega cities" in Asia, Latin America and Africa, causing a breakdown in basic services, including water supplies and sanitation facilities.

And by 2050, about 70 percent of the world’s population will live in urban areas causing horrendous problems, predicts a new 80-page study released here by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Read more

Source : ipsnews.net

India: An idea whose time has come

Key democratic institutions, especially the judiciary and the media, despite the odd compromise, largely remain rooted to the principles of democracy that ensure that freedom goes beyond sovereignty

It’s India’s 65th Independence Day today. A day on which we look back and feel nothing but absolute pride. Looking forward, regardless of what is happening around us today—despondency over the drift in government, lost opportunities, rising inflation or the humiliating defeat that our cricket team, only recently crowned World Cup champions, is suffering at the hands of England—there are enough reasons to be optimistic. Here are five: Read more

Source : livemint.com

Switching on to global energy investment

Increasing demand for energy combined with limited supply sounds like the perfect investment equation. However, as Mark Hume explains, it’s not without some risk.

As populations rise, economies strengthen and living standards improve, the long-term demand for energy is expected to increase. The trajectory of rising energy consumption is likely to be dictated by the pace of economic growth and demographics in emerging markets. Many of these countries, which are relatively low energy consumers today, are likely to see their demand for energy rapidly accelerate. Read more

Source : moneymanagement.com.au

Child sex ratio declines in Rajasthan

Jaipur : In a worrying manifestation of bias against girl child, the 2011 census reveals that child sex ratio in Rajasthan has declined sharply, in comparison to the 2001 census. "Child sex ratio (in the age group of 0-6 years) in rural areas in the state has dipped to 886 (2011 census) from 914 of 2001 census and 869 (2011 census) from 887 (2001 census) in urban areas," RR Meena, Joint Director, Directorate of Census operations said today.

"The total number of children (0-6 years) in the state is 1,05,04,916 as per the latest census whereas it was 1,06,51,002 in 2001 census. Child sex ratio is the number of females per thousand males in human population between age group 0 to 6 years. Read more

Source : ibnlive.in.com

Fresh thrust to urbanization

Trend may redefine the political economy of the country, forcing a shift in public policy focus towards urban India

New Delhi: India’s Census 2011 shows that one in every three Indians now lives in an urban habitat and that the move towards towns and cities has happened mostly in south India, contiguously from Maharashtra to Tamil Nadu.

According to the latest census, 31.2% of the total population lives in urban centres compared with 27.8% in 2001 and 25.5% in 1991. Of the 1.21 billion population, 833 million live in rural India while the remaining 377 million reside in urban India. Read more

Source : livemint.com

Why Are Indian Women So Stressed Out?

Women in urban India have easy access to domestic help: A full-time maid, cook or driver are not uncommon in their households. Of course, these are luxuries that most working women in the rest of the world can only dream about.

But a recent survey by global research firm Nielsen illuminates another picture. Covering 6,500 women across 21 developed and developing countries, the study’s results show that women in India are the most stressed out. Of the respondents in India, 87% said they felt stressed most of the time. They are followed by women in Mexico (74%), Russia (69%), Spain (66%), France (65%) and Italy (64%). In the U.S., the number is at 53%.  Read more

Source : knowledgetoday.wharton.upenn.edu

How Will the World, America Look in 2050?

Suburbs will be like big cities

The America in 2050 will look very different than the America we know today, according to a recent report issued by the U.S. Census Bureau.

We would all like to know what the future holds and the new report issue by the Census Bureau gives us a glimpse into what our Earth may look like 40 years from now.

The report shows a slow immigration and differing birth rates among races in 2050, which means there will be a drastic change in the country's ethnic composition. Read more

Source : christianpost.com

Jobless growth in India is largely concentrated in the female half of the population

For a nation intoxicated by the possibility of reaping the demographic dividend, the latest NSS results on employment and unemployment come as a sobering reality check. 

While fertility decline reduces the number of dependents per working age adult, unless this is also reflected in changing worker to non-worker ratio, how can we reap the demographic dividend? According to the NSS results, between 2004-5 and 2009-10, the work participation rates declined from 42% to 39%, hardly a reason to be sanguine about the potential of harvesting the demographic dividend. Read more

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com

Utah university in pact to improve Punjab villages

Chandigarh: In a bid to improve conditions in the villages of Punjab a foreign university has entered into a partnership with the department of public health at PGIMER and a family run trust. The University of Utah, USA in collaboration with the department of public health, PGIMER and a the trust, Meher Baba Charitable trust (MBCT) has started a development programme for the villages of the state.

Nine villages from Fatehgarh Sahib district have been selected for the pilot project, according to Sharon Talboys, project director for India from the University of Utah. Nearly 20 volunteers from the university of Utah are in Punjab to conduct field work. This summer, they analysed the villages on the basis of four criteria - environmental analysis, demographic analysis, qualitative aspects and understanding and building personal relations with the villagers. Read more

Source : indianexpress.com

 

Life expectancy rising ... but

In the early 1950s, life expectancy at birth for the world was about 46.6 years. For 2010-2015, it is projected at 68.9. In Asia, it was 41.2 in 1950-1955 and is expected to reach 70.3 for 2010-2015.

Birth rates have decreased in many parts of the world, resulting in a demographic shift where the population above 60 is growing rapidly. However, in developing nations where this is happening, governments with limited resources have a short span of time to ensure they have effective retirement income schemes. Read more

Source : gulf-daily-news.com

Karnataka govt. schools pander to English craze

Bangalore : English is certainly becoming the language of choice for parents of school children across the State.

The recent decision of the State education department to carve out English medium sections in the existing higher primary schools seems to be in line with the demand- driven and need- based education that parents aspire for their children.

Perhaps the craving for English medium learning explains the declining trend of enrolment from 6th to 8th standards in Kannada medium government schools as opposed to the aided and unaided English medium schools where the enrolments have shown an upward spiral. Read more

Source : deccanherald.com

Population growth spurs surge to Asia’s cities

HONG KONG: Somewhere in the world – Asia would be a good bet – a pregnant woman is carrying a baby destined to be the planet’s seven billionth human being.

The historic baby is due to be born on Oct 31, the United Nations Population Division predicts.

Bookmakers have made Asia the hot favourite for the symbolic arrival, possibly for no better reason than that the sun rises in the east, giving Asian mothers a head start. Read more

Source : freemalaysiatoday.com

India's 68 % people may get legal right to subsidised food

India's 68 per cent population may get legal right to subsidised food if the draft National Food Security bill prepared by the Food Ministry is approved by a panel of ministers at the forthcoming meeting.

 After analysing the recommendations of the National Advisory Committee (NAC) and Rangarajan Committee, the Food Ministry has prepared a draft bill, likely to be placed before the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on food next week.

The ministry has also proposed to provide subsidised food grain on 'individual basis' instead of the current practice of allocating 35 kg of wheat or rice to per family, according to sources. Read More.

Source: india.gov.in

Mumbai city ranks first in renewable energy consumption, says a recent PwC report

Mumbai  -- The finance and business centers of the future may not be the traditional capitals of global dominance, according to a new report released today by PwC and the Partnership for New York City.

The fourth edition of Cities of Opportunity shows that in a more virtual and mobile world, holistic cities with balanced economies and strong quality of life offer an attractive alternative: resilience during downturns and allure for skilled people who will build the future. Read more

Source: finchannel.com

The “Other” Cities

For those who have been reading for years about jobs being offshored from the US to China and India, it may come as a surprise that job creation is a burning issue there as well. At the recently concluded UC Berkeley- Indian cities conference in New Delhi, Rakesh Mohan, one of India’s leading economists and policymakers, asked two questions. First, “where are the future jobs going to come from in urban India?” and second, “has India missed the bus, in terms of tapping manufacturing for employment growth?”  In other words, will the much heralded demographic dividend for countries such as India, which will have close to 500 million young (15-34 years) people by 2030, and an increase in the overall labor force of over 270 million in the next two decades, turn out to be a demographic disaster, severely undermining the urbanization process and its job creation potential? Read more

Source: blogs.berkeley.edu

 

 

Demographic dividend for India

Indians have long viewed their growing population as a disadvantage when it comes to future development and maintaining social and political stability. But several years of strong economic growth, a robust military modernisation campaign, and greater recognition of India’s emerging global status has changed the conversation about Indian demographic trends.

With a median age of 25 and more than 11 million workers per year expected to come over the next two decades, the focus now is how India can reap a ‘demographic dividend’ — increased savings and capital creation from a rise in the number of workers relative to dependents. Read more

Source: gulfnews.com

Kolkata's population drop leaves experts puzzled

Provisional census figures show that the city has seen a drop of 1.88 per cent in population.

India added 181 million people in the last 10 years to its population (1.21 billion, census 2011). Of this, 11 million people was Bengal's contribution.

However, what has forced demographers to wear their thinking hats in Bengal and left policy makers equally worried in a politically charged ambience, is Kolkata's demographic changes this decade. Provisional census figures show that the city has seen a drop of 1.88 per cent in population, which means that it has now 86,197 lesser people than it had ten years ago. Read more

Source: business-standard.com

Project to track China’s and India’s rapid urban expansion

New Haven, Conn. — Over the next two decades, China is expected to create at least 30 cities, each with 1 million residents, and India is on track to add 26 cities of the same size. In fact, by 2030, one-third of the world's urban inhabitants will live in either China or India.

A research project to track the nations' rapid urban expansion has received a three-year $1.3 million grant from NASA. Read more

Source: opac.yale.edu

 

Tackling parking problems in Kochi

KOCHI: In its effort to address issues related to urban traffic, urban planning and development, the state government has approved the Automobile Parking Policy for the towns and cities in the state as envisaged in the reforms under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The Local Self Government Department (LSGD) has already issued orders in this regard to the Mayors and the officials concerned of all the five Corporations in Kerala to begin the basic work for the formulation of the Urban Parking Policy based on the demographic specialties of the respective cities.

As per the order issued by the state, though different agencies are responsible for the construction and maintenance of different categories of urban roads, it is necessary to entrust the responsibility of vehicle parking policies to a single agency, the Municipal Corporation. Read more

Source: expressbuzz.com 

 

UIDAI launches ‘Aadhaar’ project in Odisha

Bhubaneswar:Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a statutory body of Government of India has launched Unique Identification (UID) number project , ‘Aadhaar’ in Odisha through which all residents above the age group of one year shall be enrolled in the project.

In a symbolic ceremony at Raj Bhawan, first citizen of the Odisha was enrolled under the project by Smart Chip Limited, an enrollment agency engaged by State Bank of India which is acting as registrar under the scheme. Sri Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare, His Excellency, the Governor of Odisha was presented with “Aadhaar Acknowledgement Receipt” by C. H. Narasimha Rao, Chief General Manager, State Bank of India, Odisha. Read more

Source: orissadiary.com

India has the world's largest demographic dividend

India now has the world's largest demographic dividend, or share of working-age people — about 781 million between 15 to 64 years old.

The demographic dividend of the world's youngest country is in danger of becoming a democratic liability because its public-education system is failing.

By 2020, the median age in India will be 28, in China 37, in the US 38 and in western Europe 45. But this demographic dividend could turn into a deficit if these young people — more than 500 million are under 25 — remain under-educated, unskilled, unemployed or unemployable. Read more

Source: hindustantimes.com

Seven economies including India to rise by 2050

HANOI: Seven economies are the potential drivers of Asia's rise over the next 40 years into a powerhouse that accounts for just over half of global output, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in a report released on Wednesday. 

"Yawning inequalities must be narrowed and -- as home to over half of the world's population -- Asia must confront a massive wave of urbanisation and changing demographic profiles," the ADB said, adding the region's urban population would nearly double to 3.1 billion people by mid-century. Read more

Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

Goa Takes Top Spot in the Indian State Competitiveness Report 2011

According to the State Competitiveness Report launched today by the Institute for Competiveness (IFC), Goa ranks No. 1 as the most competitive state in the nation. Income, consumption and demographics have played the most critical role in Goa’s ascendance. 

Delhi and Maharashtra have dropped one place each to the 2nd and 3rd position respectively from last year.

Gujarat has fared as the best middle income state due to its focus on providing business incentives, improving physical and communication infrastructure as well as the state’s healthy financial condition. Read more

Source: businesswireindia.com

Eco-friendly waste disposal in Gurgaon

Gurgaon: AFTER scripting a success story in Noida, Eco Wise Waste Management, the only company in the country with a separate segregation and treatment site, is set to launch its waste management facility in Gurgaon in July this year.“We will be following Eco Wise Umbrella Model, that is collection, transportation, segregation, treatment and disposal,” said Manik Thapar , founder and CEO of Eco Wise. “Currently, we are in the process of locating land, on which we will build our organic waste treatment facility, along with a wear house to stock recyclable product,”Mr Thapar said.

Despite the bold leap that the city has taken in industry and business over the past decade, Gurgaon still lacks organised waste management. With higher levels of economic growth, Gurgaon generates around 500-550 tons of waste every day, including residential, commercial and industrial discard. Explaining the concept, Mr Thapar said, “Collection of waste is only one part of the process. One of the major issues is treatment and disposal of waste.” A lot of this waste such as organic refuse can be converted into nutrient- rich compost utilising a simple process. Read more

Source: eco-wise.blogspot.com

World's future is a crowded place

Later this year, the world will mark a population milestone with the birth of its 7 billionth citizen. Statistically, that baby is likely to be a boy, delivered in a rural area of India, the country with the highest number of births a year - about one in five of all arrivals.

The planet's population peak is still some way off; another 2 billion or even 3 billion will have been added by mid-century. However, the 9 billionth or 10 billionth person is more likely be born in a city, and in a very different world, although still in a developing country. These numbers raise many issues. The environment is already feeling the strain of global warming. With oil, gas and water pushed to their limits, and close to a billion people going hungry every day, the big question is how the planet will support these extra billions. Read more

Source: smh.com.au

India second biggest market for elevators

Rapid urbanization – and booming infrastructure development projects that follow – has led to India becoming the second-biggest market for elevators globally, second only to China.

And India’s demand for elevators is only going to keep growing, according to Connecticut-based Otis Elevator Company. One of the world’s largest manufacturers expects to build a whopping 70,000 units over the next three years. This is no small number when one compares it to the 6,000 units it build in India last year. Read more

Source: blogs.ft.com

 

Indian food & drinks market showing remarkable growth

According to our report “Indian Food and Drinks Market: Emerging Opportunities”, Indian food and beverage market is one of the fastest growing markets in the world. Being the world’s second largest populous country with diversified food habits, the country offers most attractive retail destinations on the globe map. As per our estimations, the market is projected to grow at a CAGR of around 7.5% during 2009-2013.

As per our team of experts, economic liberalization and rising income of middle class population have had a positive impact on the consumer spending and consumption in both rural and urban areas. Indian consumer now spends a significant proportion of disposable income on food and other essential commodities. Several other factors, such as demographic and macro economic conditions have also given fillip to expenditure on food and beverages in the country. Read more

Source: sbwire.com

Heart risk factors high in young Indian adults: study

More and more, young urban adults in India are developing obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes, suggesting that rising rates of cardiovascular disease could appear in the future, an Indian study said.

Among 1,100 young adults from New Delhi, all three conditions became steadily more common over the 7 years of the study, according to findings published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

"Given the rapid socioeconomic and demographic transitions in India, I was not surprised at the high incidence rate," said Dorairaj Prabhakaran, a cardiologist at the Center for Chronic Disease Control in New Delhi, who worked on the study. Read More

Source: reuters.com

Drought, floods sent waves of people to Bangalore

BANGALORE: Acute drought in the early part of the last decade and massive floods in North Karnataka in 2009 could have spurred unprecedented migration to Bangalore, two demography experts from the city-based Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) said on Monday. 

During a round table discussion on provisional Census 2011 figures for Karnataka, P Hanumantharayappa and TN Bhat, both associated with ISEC's Population Research Centre, said that migration could be the key reason behind Bangalore's maniacal growth over the past decade, superceding other possibilities like natural growth and boundary changes.  Read more

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com