Thursday 8 October 2015

`Depression drives maximum farmers to suicide, not debt'

Health Aid Likely To Benefit More Than Loan Waivers: Study
Depression, and not debts, is responsible for the decades-long tragedy of farmer suicides in Maharashtra, said a paper by an American thinktank after analysing suicide-related information provided by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
The paper, written by Brookings Institution India fellow and Indian School of Business Professor Shamika Ravi, held illnesses -both mental and physical -as the underlying cause for a majority of farmer suicides.

Ravi's research paper, `A Reality Check on Suicides in India', says suicides due to bankruptcy or sudden change in economic status accounted for an average of 5% of farmer suicides in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh between 2002 and 2013. “In shocking contrast, illness or poor health (mental and physical) accounts for approximately 30% of all (farmer) suicides in Andhra and Maharashtra. So health reforms at the state level and particularly in rural areas are likely to have a greater impact on distress and suicides than forgiving institutional loans,“ said the report.

The deaths have been a politically sensitive issue since the 90s, with successive state and central governments intervening to release crores to write off famers' debts. This September, for the first time in 15 years, the Maharashtra government announced a mental health bailout plan for farmers involving psychiatrists, pscyhologists and community health workers.

A study by Yavatmal-based psychiatrist Dr Ramesh Chak psychiatrist Dr Ramesh Chakkarwar showed that 10 to 12% farmers in his district suffered from severe depression and 50 to 55% suffered from mild to moderate depression. “Overall, 67% of farmers were in various stages of depression. The agrarian crisis worsened the depression among farmers, leading to suicides,'' he added. Chakkarwar saw a sharp rise in substance abuse and addiction in areas that reported high incidence of suicide.

Debts are one of the causes of suicides, but it's not the leading one, insisted the Brookings report. It dispelled the debt-related suicide theory by pointing out that the Incidence of Indebtedness (IOI) in Maharashtra (percentage of households that are in debt from institutional and non-institutional lenders) was 31% in 2013, the same as the country average and close to the IOI in Bihar (29.1%) and Uttar Pradesh (29.6%).

“Data from the National Statistics Survey Organisation (NSSO) suggests that debt burden measured as debt to asset ratio declines with increase in asset holding. So, it is the poorer households that have a higher debt burden. This is true for both institutional as well as non-institutional debt,'' said the study .

In contrast, the suicide data reported by the Maharashtra government indicates that the incidence of suicide is much higher for households with larger land holdings. Nearly 86% farmers who killed themselves in the state had more than two acres of landholding and 60% had more than four acres, said the report.

The report points out that a look at the number of suicides for categories of professions unrelated to farming or cultivation, like government service, private service, or among students, shows Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra have reported significantly higher number of suicides in each category compared to UP and Bihar. “So from a public policy per spective, if we are to design appropriate interventions to check he incidence of suicides, Maharashtra and AP should overall rank higher in targeting han UP and Bihar. And these nterventions should be for the arger population beyond the arming community in these states,'' said Ravi.

Psychiatrist Dr Harish Shet y said even if the state government wrote off all farmer debts, he suicides wouldn't stop. “The armers have lost confidence in hemselves and their ability to be providers for their families,'' he said, adding that a comprehensive plan looking at physical and mental health of the farmers is needed. “ At present, the suicide issue is analysed as a po itical and poverty matter, but here are several layers to the problem.“

Source::: Oct 08 2015 : The Times of India (Mumbai). p.06.   http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31804&articlexml=Depression-drives-maximum-farmers-to-suicide-not-debt-08102015004021

Thursday 1 October 2015

`90% of Indians taking online courses benefit'



Finally there is data reflecting the impact of massively open online courses (MOOCs). When they burst onto the education scene about four years ago, there were questions about the evaluation mechanism and the worth of a MOOC certificate. Coursera, one of the largest purveyors of MOOCs, has conducted the first survey of “learning outcomes“ --essentially impact on professional andor academic careers of learners--and it answers at least some of those questions.Surprisingly , as per the survey conducted by Coursera and researchers at the Universities of Pennsylvania and Washington, Indian learners of the 51,954 surveyed, reported better outcomes than the global average. The respondents were learners who were “three or more months past completing at least one Coursera course.“ They were divided into two groups according to their primary objective for signing up for a MOOC--the “career builders“ are those who sought to advance their professional careers and “education seekers“ those who wanted academic help.
“The vast majority of learners who complete open online courses are reporting both career advancement (72%) and educational advancement (61%). Indian learners have reported a slightly higher career (82%) and educational (76%) benefit than the global average,“ says the study . 90% of career builders saw benefits, where the global average was 87%. Apparently , 30% “found a new job“.
Similarly, 91% of Indian education seekers saw a range of benefits where the global average was 88%; 68% “gained knowledge essential to a field of study“, an 33% “saw tangible benefits like receiving credit or fulfilling prerequisites“. But more startlingly, “30% of Indian learners are likely to report improved admissions to academic programs, the highest amongst other nationals“.

The survey was completed in December 2014.

Thursday 9 April 2015

Right to Services Bill

The Maharashtra Right to Services Bill was the significant Bill to be introduced in the state assembly.The government said the Bill is to create a right to obtain public services in a stipulated time; to mandate public authorities to notify the public services, designated officers, appellate authorities and stipulate time limit. The Bill also provides for giving a unique number so that the complaint can be tracked online. It provides for penalties and disciplinary action against officials who fail to deliver public services within a stipulated time limit while giving cash incentives for those who deliver in time. It also provides for action against citizens who obtain public services by providing false information.
Bill for regulated edu fee
The Bill introduced is for regulation of admission and fees charged by unaided private professional educational institutions in the state.

Source| Times of India | 09.04.2015 | p.02  http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/index.aspx?eid=31804&dt=20150409
No stamp duty on transfer of properties to spouse, kids



Mumbai: The state on Wednesday introduced a Bill amending the Maharashtra Stamp Act to scrap the stamp duty on transfer of residential or agricultural property to wife, husband, son, daughter, grandson and grand-daughter. At present, the stamp duty is 5% of the market value of the property . Revenue minister Eknath Khadse, who announced the relief last week, urged the assembly to ensure it is passed by both Houses before the session ends so that citizens do not have to wait for the relief.

Source| Times of India | 09.04.2015 | p.02  http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/index.aspx?eid=31804&dt=20150409

Wednesday 18 February 2015

NMC Horizon Report – 2015 Higher Education

Summary of the Report

Makerspaces, wearable technologies and adaptive learning technologies are three of the six technologies that will have a profound impact on higher education within the next five years, according to the NMC Horizon Report: 2015 Higher Education Edition, released Wednesday by the New Media Consortium and the Educause Learning Initiative.

The annual report is developed by a panel of higher education experts to identify major developments in education technology and technological trends that will help shape teaching and learning in the near future. The researchers also identify the six most significant challenges facing education in the coming years.

Technological developments are sorted into three categories: those whose impact will be felt soon (or is being felt now), those that will come into p[lay in the mid-term (two to three years) and those that are a bit further out on the horizon (four to five years).

Source | http://cdn.nmc.org/
Women under represented in higher education in India: Report

Summary of the Report
Women continue to be under-represented in India’s higher education leadership despite nine-fold increase in the government expenditure on the sector between 2007 and 2012, according to a British Council report. While women constitute 44 per cent of the 27.5 million students in country’s higher educational institutions, they constitute just 1.4 per cent of the professoriate and 3 per cent of vice-chancellors in the universities, it noted. In most Indian universities, the representation of women academics is less than 40 per cent, added the report, titled 'Women in Higher Education Leadership in South Asia: Rejection, Refusal, Reluctance, Revisioning’. “While in all categories of academic positions women are under-represented, this increases for higher positions. Thus, only 25.5 per cent of professors, 31.1 per cent of readers and associate professors, and 38.5 per cent of lecturers or assistant professors are women,” it noted, analysing a 2013 report of the government. The report, prepared by the British Council in collaboration with the Centre for Higher Education and Equity Research (CHEER) of the University of Sussex, was released here at a two-day deliberation on the representation of women in higher education in South Asia. The event, organised by the British Council, concluded on Wednesday. An analysis of the government data also indicated that women with disability represent only 1.9 per cent of the overall total number of academics in India. “Muslim women are also under-represented in Indian higher education, both in relation to male academics and overall. Of the Muslim academics, only 33.5 per cent are women, which is only 14.9 per cent of the total number of academics in India,” underlined the report. The report found that women in higher education in South Asia, including India, were not prepared for leadership. There was also evidence that when they did aspire for leadership, they were frequently rejected for the most senior positions. Referring to interactions with women faculty, the report highlighted how the country’s universities’ selection procedures were “exclusionary and discriminated” against women. “First and foremost, most selection committees have only men. Very few have women. Most that I've gone through, have all men on the committee, for any position,” the report quoted a senior woman faculty. The British Council suggested that educational institutions should adopt changes in work practices. Source | http://www.britishcouncil.in/

Tuesday 20 January 2015

Dalit Venture Capital to Aid Entrepreneurs.

The government on Friday launched a Dalit venture capital to encourage entrepreneurship among the scheduled castes.
The “venture capital fund for SCs“ would offer concessional finance to business initiatives of Dalits. Social justice minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot said the fund, with an initial capital of Rs 200 crore, would render an unprecedented help to the community .

According to the scheme, about 30 people would benefit from the financing every year and the loans in each case would go up to Rs 15 crore.

IFCI Ltd will act as sponsor, settler and asset management company (AMC) to operate the scheme. The IFCI Ltd would contribute Rs 50 crore which would comprise Rs five crore as sponsor and Rs 45 crore as investor.

The social justice ministry also launched a `Green Business Scheme' for Dalits aimed at providing financial assistance for business initiatives to help fight climate change. Under the scheme, loans at concessional rate of interest for unit cost up to Rs one lakh would be provided to SCs for starting activities like e-rickshaw, solar pump and solar energy powered implements, polyhouse.

Source::::: The Times of India (Mumbai),Jan 17 2015, p.16