Ahead of the high-level UN summit to assess progress in the Millennium Development Goals later this month, a recent report says children from the poorest communities in India are three times more likely to die before they reach the age of five than those from high income groups.The new global report titled 'A Fair Chance at Life' by international child rights organisation 'Save the Children' says reductions in child mortality in India and elsewhere in the world appeared to focus on children from better-off communities leaving children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds behind.Of the 26 million children born in India every year, approximately 1.83 million children die before their fifth birthday in India. Half of these deaths occur within a month of the child being born (the neonatal period), says the report.The under five mortality rate in Kerala is 14 deaths per 1000 live births. This stands at a sharp contrast to Madhya Pradesh at 92 per 1000, 91 per 1000 for Uttar Pradesh and 89 per 1000 for Orissa.These inequalities are also marked in respect of newborn mortality rates. While the rate for Kerala is 7 per thousand, the comparable figures for Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa are 48, 45 and 47.In 2008, 5.3 lakh children under 5 died in the lowest income quintile in India in comparison to 1.78 lakh among the highest wealth quintile.The rate of decline in under five mortality rate between 1997-98 to 2005-06 among the lowest income quintile is 22.69 per cent compared to 34.37 per cent among the high income quintile for the same period."The 41 per cent decline in child mortality over the last nearly two decades masks a dangerous expansion of the child mortality gap between the richest and poorest families in India," says Thomas Chandy, CEO, Save the Children."What these aggregate figures do not reveal are the huge inequities in mortality rates across the country, within States and between them, as well as between children in urban and rural areas," points out Chandy.In the year 2000, world leaders committed themselves to eight Millennium Development Goals, including MDG 4 which calls for a two-thirds reduction in under-five mortality between 1990 and 2015.India is a signatory to the original Millennium Declaration and has reaffirmed its support for the Millennium Development Goals, including MDG 4. Despite progress against the target, on the current trajectory, India will fall short of achieving it.The under-five mortality rate has fell from 116 per thousand live births in 1990 to 69 per thousand live births in 2008. The current annual percentage of reduction of under 5 mortality in India is 2.25 per cent, whereas the required annual percentage of reduction to reach the MDG goal in this regard during the remaining seven years has to be 6.28 per cent, says the report.According to the report, 90 per cent of these deaths are caused by pneumonia, measles, diarrhoea, malaria and neo-natal conditions that occur during pregnancy and during or immediately after birth.The latter conditions are particularly significant when it comes to India's newborn deaths. Severe infections, asphyxia and premature births cause over 72 per cent of newborn deaths.Maternal and child malnutrition is significant too in explaining the continuing high rates of child mortality in India. 48 per cent of India's children under the age of five are chronically malnourished, 20 per cent are acutely malnourished and 22 per cent of India's babies are born with low birth weight.These rates of child malnutrition compare with some of the poorest countries in Africa. India's rates of child wasting, for example, are three times higher than Ethiopia, says the report."As the country with the highest number of child deaths anywhere in the world, India has a particular obligation to demonstrate leadership on the issue. Every child has the right to survive and the Indian Government has an obligation to protect them," says Chandy."By demonstrating political will and the right policies, MDG4 can be achieved in India. The good schemes in place need to be matched by effective implementation. And there is enough experience in India proving that low-cost interventions can make the difference between life and death for a child," he adds.Save the Children is an independent child rights organisation that works in India and in over 120 countries around the world. In India, Save the Children works in 10 states focusing on strengthening child rights in the key areas of inclusive education, child protection, health and nutrition and emergencies.(PTI)
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Environmentalists criticised the United Nations on Tuesday after it ruled that a large Indian coal-fired power project is eligible to earn carbon credits worth $165 million at current prices.Several green organisations said the UN rules, or methodology, applied to the 4,000 MW supercritical plant owned by Reliance Power were flawed and that the project was viable without the sweeteners of tradeable carbon credits called certified emissions reductions (CERs).The power station, Andhra Pradesh's Krishnapatnam, is the second Reliance Power project to be formally registered by the United Nations under its Clean Development Mechanism.In total, five high-efficiency coal power plants have been registered under the CDM -- four in India and one in China -- meaning they are all eligible to earn CERs that they can sell.The CDM is meant to reward developers of clean-energy projects in poorer nations by giving them CERs as a way to make the projects viable."To say that this project required CDM revenues to go forward is patently absurd," said Anja Kollmuss of CDM Watch, a green group that monitors the CDM market."Not only is the project required by the Indian government to use supercritical technology, but they already secured all the necessary financing, bought the land, began construction, and ordered all of the critical components before they knew if they could receive CDM funds," she said in a Washington-datelined statement.The executive panel that governs the CDM has been under pressure to suspend the methodology under which firms can apply for U.N. offsets on the basis of cutting greenhouse gas emissions through more efficient power generation technology.Under PressureSupercritical and ultra-supercritical power plants use more efficient boilers that cut coal consumption per megawatt/hour. The Indian government has rolled out a programme that supports the building of 4,000 MW supercritical plants to try to meet booming power demand. Reliance, Tata Power and NTPC are investors.Last week, the methodology panel, which advises the CDM executive board, seemed to back the concerns by stating that the methodology, ACM0013, "may lead to significant overestimation of emission reductions," Point Carbon News, a Thomson Reuters subsidiary, reported on Monday.The panel said the methodology should be put on hold with immediate effect."This project never should have been registered. It is plainly not additional," said Steven Herz, senior attorney with the Sierra Club's International Climate Program, said in the joint statement with CDM Watch.He was referring to a central CDM rule that developers must prove that a project or technology type would not be viable without CER revenue.Reliance Power declined to comment. But a person familiar with the matter said that "the entire process as laid down by the U.N. was followed."The United Nations secretariat that oversees the CDM dismissed the concerns."The project was registered and there is no story there. The project would have gone through the regular vetting process," David Abbass, public information officer for the CDM office told Reuters.The five registered power projects involve two from Reliance Power totalling 8,000 MW, two projects totalling 2,640 MW from Adani Power and a 2,000 MW ultra-supercritical plant by Shenergy in China.According to U.N. data, the five projects are eligible to receive a total of 68.2 million CERs over a 10-year crediting period. That is worth 661 million euros ($919 million) based on current prices of CERs traded on the European Climate Exchange of 9.70 euros.Reliance's Krishnapatnam plant will receive 12.3 million CERs and the firm's other 4,000 MW plant, Sasan Power in Madhya Pradesh, will receive 22.5 million.Total carbon dioxide emissions from the five projects, based on data from project design documents, over the 10-year crediting period is 673 million tonnes. That compares with the total annual greenhouse gas emissions of Australia at less than 600 million tonnes.The European Union's emissions trading scheme is the main buyer of CERs and the EU has already banned the use of CERs in its scheme from some types of projects from 2013."As of now no other credits are banned, however, there is a risk that EU may ban the use of other kinds of credits on sustainability aspects," said Ashutosh Pandey, CEO, carbon advisory business, for project developer Emergent Ventures India.(Reuters)
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up the Centre for limiting the number of below poverty line (BPL) people in a state to 36 per cent of its population as per the Planning Commission's recommendations.Seeking the government's rationale to cap the number of BPL card holders in the states, a bench of justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma said, "We fail to understand the rationale and justification for the cap fixed by the Planning Commission."It asked Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran, who appeared for the Centre, to "respond to the court on the rationality and justification of putting a cap."The bench also expressed concern over large-scale pilferage from the Public Distribution System, pointed out by the Wadhwa Committee, which examined the issue, and said the computerisation of the entire system is urgently needed."Computerisation has to be put in place as soon as possible. Looking at the grave urgency of the matter, we want the ASG to take instruction for a high-powered committee which can take assistance of other organisations concerned to ensure that the computerisation is carried expeditiously," the bench said.During the hearing, the court also remarked that going by the current pace of computerisation, it will not be completed even in ten years."If you want to do it, then do it, otherwise we would pass orders. It cannot go on for years. We want to conclude it," the bench said.On this, the ASG assured the court that he would take up the matter with authorities concerned.The bench also expressed its concern over the figures given by the Centre and respective states over the number of people falling in BPL categories."The figures given by the Centre are in great contrast with the figures given by the states " the bench said, indicating that there are large number of people who are entitled for BPL status but are not getting the benefit.It also mentioned an affidavit filed by the Uttar Pradesh government which said as per the Centre's standard, it has fixed the maximum number of BPL ration card holders at 106.7 lakh, although the number of BPL families is much higher in the state and eligible BPL card holders are not getting the benefits.The bench was hearing a public interest litigation by Peoples' Union for Civil Liberties, complaining about massive irregularities and corruption in the country's PDS mechanism and wastage of huge quantities of grain due to poor storage conditions.The bench also flayed the government for following the 2004 criterion for indentifying BPL families. The 2004 criterion stipulated that those with daily earning of less than Rs 12 in rural area and Rs 17 in urban areas would fall in the BPL category."Do you think that in 2011, Rs 17 and Rs 12 are a realistic figure seeing the current rate of inflation. Even the government of India has increased the salaries of its employees twice in a year. How can it be realistic?" the bench said, adjourning the matter till April 4.During last hearing on March 16, the bench had asked the Centre as to why the tax payers' money should be used for subidising food grains under the public distribution system (PDS) for those who are above the poverty line."We don't understand the logic as to why a person, let us say earning an annual income of Rs 10 crore, should be (given) subsidy (by using) the tax payers' money for distribution of the grains."We can understand the necessity of subsidising those who belong to the AAY (Antodaya Anna Yojana) and BPL families should be given the benefits, but why should others be given the benefit from the limited resources?" the bench had asked.It had also asked the government to explain the steps taken by it for computerisation of the PDS delivery mechanism to ensure fool-proof implementation of the welfare measure.(PTI)
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Tokyo remains the most expensive city in Asia for expatriates, while Singapore overtook Hong Kong to become the costliest place in the region outside of Japan, according to a survey by human resources consultancy Mercer.Tokyo retained its status as the second most expensive city in the world for expatriates after Luanda in Angola, which topped the list for the second year in a row.Osaka in western Japan was the next most expensive Asian city, ranked sixth in the world, followed by Singapore at the world's number eight and Hong Kong at number nine."Most Asian cities have moved up in the ranking as availability for expatriate accommodation is limited and demand is high," senior researcher Nathalie Constantin-Metral at Mercer said in a statement.The increase in cost of living was, however, most keenly felt in Australia due to a rise in the Aussie against the US dollar, Mercer said in its 2011 Cost of Living survey.Sydney rose 10 places to rank 14th, while Melbourne jumped to 21st from last year's 33th position.London fell to 18th from 17th, while New York dropped to 32nd from 27th.(Reuters)
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India's population rose to 1.21 billion people over the last 10 years--an increase by 181 million, according to the new census released on Thursday, but significantly the growth is slower for the first time in nine decades.The population, which accounts for world's 17.5 per cent population, comprises 623.7 million males and 586.5 million females, said a provisional 2011 Census report. China is the most populous nation acounting for 19.4 per cent of the global population.The country's headcount is almost equal to the combined population of the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan put together, it said.The population has increased by more than 181 million during the decade 2001-2011, the report said. The growth rate in 2011 is 17.64 per cent in comparison to 21.15 per cent in 2001.The 2001-2011 period is the first decade -- with exception of 1911-1921 -- which has actually added lesser population compared to the previous decade, Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner of India C Chandramauli said in presence of Home Secretary Gopal K Pillai.Among the states and Union territories, Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state with 199 million people and Lakshadweep the least populated at 64,429.The combined population of UP and Maharashtra is bigger than that of the US.(PTI)
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As China tries to cope with what may be its worst power shortage in years, coal demand from the world's biggest consumer is likely to take centre stage at one of Asia's largest coal industry gatherings in Indonesia next week.China will face stiff competition for coal shipped by Indonesia, the world's biggest exporter of thermal coal, from India where demand for electricity is rising in an economy seen growing around 8.5 per cent."With domestic prices rising so strongly - they are basically on par with import prices now - the likelihood of China being strong importers of thermal coal over the summer is extremely high," said Daniel Hynes, director of commodity research at Citigroup in Sydney.Chinese domestic coal prices rose to the highest level in more than two years last week as utilities stocked up ahead of the summer months, making imports more attractive.Chinese buyers have already been on the hunt for Indonesian cargoes as well as some Australian coal over the last few weeks to fill requirements.If Beijing lifts restrictions on how much coal-fired power plants are permitted to charge more for electricity, as it has already done in some provinces, import demand could grow even higher as utilities burn more coal.Indian demand for Indonesian coal is also on the rise, and India's short-term and long-term demand is likely to be a focus."Over the last couple of months, you're actually seeing the share of India coal imports from Indonesia, increasing... India has made a lot of progress with imports, with year-on-year growth. People will want to see where they are at the moment," said one Indonesia-based analyst who asked not to be named.Growing demand for Indonesian coal by India, to fill the widening gap between domestic coal output and demand, is likely to continue, the analyst added, resulting in intense competition between India and China for tonnage.Indian and Chinese companies are also seeking to acquire stakes in Indonesian coal mines to secure their supply, with Coal India, the world's largest coal miner, in advanced talks to buy up to 40 per cent of Indonesian low-grade coal producer Golden Energy Mines for up to $1 billion, three sources with direct knowledge of the deal said.Although India is home to 10 per cent of global coal reserves, it is plagued by a shortfall in local supplies as demand has grown rapidly with the increase in coal-fired power plants.India's coal demand is forecast to grow 11 per cent a year, reaching 135 million tonnes in 2011/12 with imports set to make up about 20 per cent of its total consumption.Anticipation Of RecoveryThe industry will also be closely watching Japanese demand for coal, which withered after the March tsunami took some coal-fired plants offline and forced some utilities to declare force majeure on coal shipments. Some Japan-bound cargoes have been diverted to destinations such as China.Japanese buyers, particularly industrial buyers, have been indicating a return to the market for coal, market sources said."Japanese buyers are starting to think that they might have a slight increase in coal burn," one Australia-based market source said.But industry watchers said demand so far has been tepid and utilities are still recovering from the tsunami aftermath ."They are certainly starting to dip their toes back in the water... (but) it's going to be July before the utilities in particular are back on their feet and a bit more comfortable with making some more longer term purchases," Citigroup's Hynes said, adding that a full-blown recovery may not materialise until the late third quarter or even fourth quarter of the year.Indonesia Mining RegulationWith demand for Indonesian coal ramping up, in particular from China and India, Indonesian coal production capacity and regulations will also be in the spotlight.Indonesia's coal, generally lower-quality than the coal its neighbour Australia produces, is attractive to Asian buyers seeking bargains, and cheaper freight from Indonesia offers an advantage.But the lack of infrastructure and some government regulations have depressed production."The overall consensus is that production is still under pressure," Singapore-based UBS analyst Andreas Bokkenheuser said.Indonesia also struggles to deal with a raft of problems including illegal mining and overlapping mining concessions.In its latest move to clean up the industry, Indonesia's government will audit some 8,000 new mining permits to make sure they are in line with mining and environmental laws."For the fifth or sixth year in a row, it's going to be about production, infrastructure and regulations," Bokkenheuser said."There will be talk about new land reform, increasing the investment environment in Indonesia - that will be the primary focus."(Reuters)
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India's literacy level has increased by 9.21 per cent in the past 10 years to reach 74.04 per cent, according to provisional data of the 2011 census released in New Delhi on Thursday.According to the data, literates constitute 74 per cent of the total population aged seven and above and illiterates form 26 per cent.The literacy rate went up from 64.83 per cent in 2001 to 74.04 per cent in 2011 showing an increase of 9.21 per cent.Interestingly, females literacy level saw a significant jump as compared to males between 2001-2011.While female literacy in 2001 stood at 53.67 per cent, it has gone up to 65.46 per cent in 2011. The male literacy in comparison rose from 75.26 to 82.14 per cent.Kerala with 93.91 per cent continues to occupy the top position among states in the field of literacy while Mizoram's Serchhip (98.76 per cent) and Aizawl (98.50 per cent) recorded highest literacy rates among districts.Lakshadweep followed Kerala with a literacy level of 92.28 per cent, while Bihar remained at the bottom of the ladder with a literacy rate of 63.82 per cent followed by Arunachal Pradesh at 66.95 per cent.Ten states and UTs viz. Kerala, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Tripura, Goa, Daman and Diu, Puducherry, Chandigarh, NCT of Delhi and Andaman and Nicobar Islands achieved literacy rate of above 85 per cent, the target set by the Planning Commission to be achieved by 2011-12.The gap of 21.59 percentage points recorded between male and female literacy rates in 2001 census has reduced to 16.68 percentage points in 2011. Planning Commission has set up target of reducing this gap to 10 percentage points by 2011-12.(PTI)
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A fragile global economy is likely to suppress oil demand growth to 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2012, lower than this year, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said in its first forecast for next year.Oil prices could draw some support from a lingering supply shortfall of more than a million bpd between the anticipated need for OPEC crude and the amount pumped by the 12-member group, although increased output from top producer Saudi Arabia has narrowed the gap.In its monthly report on Tuesday, OPEC predicted world oil consumption would rise by 1.36 million bpd this year, slightly lower than the 1.38 million bpd expected in last month's report.It said the demand outlook was subject to much uncertainty and would depend on factors such as the speed of Japan's recovery from this year's nuclear disaster and tsunami, as well as on the impact of oil prices on developed economies."Should higher international oil prices persist, or should further setbacks in the OECD economies occur, then it might impose a stronger reverse elasticity on oil demand, putting more weight on the downside risk," OPEC said."This risk might be translated into a reduction of current growth by 200,000 bpd."The demand for OPEC's crude was estimated to rise to 30.3 million bpd next year, from 30 million bpd in 2011.At a meeting in June, OPEC failed to reach agreement on a Saudi-led proposal to increase output even though the group's own economists forecast a supply gap in the second half of the year. Tuesday's report implied a shortfall of 1.25 mln bpd.Saudi Arabia has since unilaterally added some 461,000 bpd to its production in June, compared with May, taking its output to 9.42 million bpd, according to secondary sources cited by the report.OPEC output as a whole rose by 520,000 bpd in June compared with May to 29.60 million bpd, the secondary sources found.In response to the failed OPEC meeting, the International Energy Agency, led by top oil consumer the United States, announced the release of 60 million bpd from emergency stockpiles late last month.Some OPEC officials, notably from Iran, condemned the intervention and OPEC's monthly report also implied criticism."Speculative activity has continued to push prices beyond levels justified by fundamentals", the report said."The market reaction to the recent decision to release Strategic Petroleum Reserves provides a good example," it continued, noting prices had initially fallen sharply, but then recovered.Brent crude futures were trading above $115 a barrel on Tuesday, higher than before the announcement of the IEA's emergency reserves release.(Reuters)
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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday announced marginal changes to his cabinet, retaining key ministers in core policy areas as the embattled government struggles with policy paralysis and major corruption scandals.Avoiding a major cabinet reshuffle of the Congress party-led coalition government is likely to disappoint investors who had hoped for new blood to tackle poor governance and high inflation, and want economic reforms to catalyse growth.Following are details of key personnel changes.JAIRAM RAMESH, RURAL DEVELOPMENT MINISTERIn a surprise move, the influential and maverick Jairam Ramesh was moved to the rural development ministry from environment, where he took a strong stance in blocking multi-billion-dollar industrial projects over green concerns.With a reputation as a blunt policy-maker, the silver-haired Ramesh reaffirmed India's commitment to bolstering nuclear power plant construction following Japan's nuclear crisis, brushing off anti-nuclear protests.He differed with Singh on several policy decisions, including on clearance for South Korean firm POSCO's proposed $12 billion steel mill. The prime minister has said he had pressured Ramesh to change several decisions.Ramesh is close to Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and will be expected to help drum up crucial grassroots support amongst India's rural electorate ahead of a key election in Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state, next year.His ministry is in charge of implementing a rural jobs scheme, which costs nearly 1 percent of India's GDP and has been criticised for being inefficient, but which has been popular amongst Congress' rural voters.Analysts cite this scheme as the single biggest reason for the government's re-election in 2009. Ramesh's move is seen as bringing an efficient administrator to a ministry that has long been neglected.JAYANTHI NATARAJAN, ENVIRONMENT MINISTERNatarajan, a spokeswoman for the Congress party, is seen as a loyalist of Sonia Gandhi. She was last a minister 13 years ago and unlike Ramesh, is not expected to differ on policy issues with the prime minister.Analysts say the 57-year-old Natarajan will bring in a more measured style to the ministry, and hope this will remove a key obstacle to the granting clearances for coal mining, setting up power plants or building factories.SALMAN KHURSHEED, LAW AND JUSTICE MINISTERAs the government grapples with a multi-billion dollar telecoms licensing graft scandal, Salman Khursheed, former corporate affairs minister, takes on a potentially important role in steering a police investigation into the massive fraud, a move sorely needed to restore government credibility.Analysts say Khursheed, trained as a lawyer, will need to better articulate the government's positions to the Supreme Court as it grapples with rising public anger at a string of scandals ranging from the Commonwealth Games last year to telecoms.A member of the ruling Congress party, the Uttar Pradesh (UP) native began his career in the office of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the early 1980s. An Oxford graduate, he is an amateur playwright and stage actor.Close to Sonia Gandhi, Khursheed is seen as a key player in the party's campaign to rebuild its strength in UP.Congress needs to rebuild itself in the state if it is to lessen its reliance on coalition allies. It has been a minor player in UP for over two decades now, and the state is controlled by Mayawati, the leader of the former untouchable castes, who has often held the balance of power in parliament.VEERAPPA MOILY, CORPORATE AFFAIRS MINISTERMoily, former law and justice minister, becomes the new corporate affairs minister. A senior member of the ruling Congress Party, his power base is in Karnataka state, the capital of which is Bangalore.Known for his occasional public gaffes, he takes on corporate affairs at a time of discontent amongst foreign investors at India's failure to embrace economic reforms including simplifying land acquisitions for investment and further opening up India's potentially lucrative retail sector to goliaths like Wal-Mart.DINESH TRIVEDI, RAILWAYS MINISTERDinesh Trivedi, a politician with Trinamool Congress becomes railways minister, replacing his party chief Mamata Banerjee, who resigned in May to become chief minister of West Bengal.Trivedi comes to a ministry which has long been used by politicians to distribute largesse in the form of new trains, engine and coach factories, and jobs.Critics say this has rotted infrastructure and caused a safety neglect, underlined by two major railway accidents this month. (Reuters)
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The President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Hari S. Bhartia has urged industries to participate actively in the skill development movement taking place across the country at an event held to mark the signing of an MoU between CII and PanIIT Alumni Reach for India (PARFI). He said that "it is critical for industries to take their businesses beyond the corridors of their corporate offices and look at business for livelihoods".Skill development, especially among the rural school-dropped out youth, is the single most contributor that will ensure that the Indian demographic dividend is actually reaped.Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII explained how, in order to achieve this ambitious goal, "CII and PARFI, the Nation Building arm of PanIIT Alumni have forged a unique partnership to set-up a national chain of rural, residential training centres called PARFI Skill Gurukuls for under?privileged youth with an annual training capacity of 10,000 candidates per annum. PanIIT Alumni association (PIAI) is a not-for-profit registered society of IIT alumni across campuses, with a charter for nation building."India today faces a unique 'dilemma', as 40 per cent of world's population under 25 years of age is living in India and yet only 5per cent of the total Indian industrial workforce is skilled (compared to 85 per cent of the 450 million (approx) global workforce). Only 9 per cent of the Indian workforce is engaged in the organised sector and only 5 per cent has marketable skills."To reap India's demographic dividend, we need to invest in skill sets to empower youth along with on-the-ground implementation just like the government has done through IITs," says Hari Padmanabhan, Founding Patron, PARFI. Padmanabhan states that while on one side, there is huge unemployment/under-employment in India, on the other side many companies suffer human capital shortage. The root cause for this issue, he believes, is the lack of investment in skill. "Hence, we have chosen to 'give back' the same through vocational education in a self-sustainable manner for the underprivileged youth in this country and co-invest along with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD),CII to set-up 30 skill gurukuls with a training capacity of 10,000 across the country, out of which 7 gurukuls with capacity of 3500 are already set-up," he says. With support from CII, PAFRI have kept up the 100 per cent post-training employment rate so far and intend to institionalise this partnership to continue this outcome guarantee and at the same time, provide valuable human capital to CII industry members. At present, in India nearly 63 per cent children drop out from school at different stages and by the end of 2012, there is expected to be a surplus of 13 lakh unskilled and unqualified school dropouts and illiterates. In relation to this, various studies state that by 2020, there will be a global shortage of 56.5 million skilled workers. On the contrary, India will have a surplus of 42 million people of working age. Salient Features Of CII-PanIIT Skill Gurukuls Vocational finishing schools, targeting school drop outs below grade X and from Below Poverty Line(BPL) households Fulltime, residential training of 30-45 days in trades such as welding, construction, catering, driving with a practical orientation One-of-its-kind self-sustainable model with zero-subsidy for blue collar trades by giving 100 per cent micro finance assistance funded by NABARD 100 per cent placement assurance due to upfront tie up with CII members Recovery of training loan through wage?deductions based on assured placement Thus, uneducated, unemployed rural BPL youth get 100 per cent loan, skill training, government recognised MES certification, financial inclusion through SBI account to which wages are deposited and assured employment Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh has set a mandate to have a skilled workforce of 500 million by the year 2022 and thus leverage the advantage of our young population to thereby become the largest pool of technically trained manpower in the world. Bhartia, who is also the Co-Chairman & MD of Jubilant Organosys, recounted that "CII had committed to opening 10 skill development centres and we have already initiated 11 skill development centres. We have moved the skill development agenda with the theme of business for livelihood. While the government is investing in skill development, private sector involvement is critical and businesses in India accept responsibility and have participated in skill building." He goes on to establish that CII believes it is imperative to capacitate people by making them self-reliant and independent of external support. This can be achieved through a futuristic approach which aims towards providing sustainable livelihood. This partnership between CII and PanIIT Alumni Reach For India(PARFI) is one such initiative.
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