KERALA
Kerala has highest dowry inflation in country, says World Bank blog
Christians and Sikhs have shown a sharp increase in dowry leading to higher average dowries than Hindus and Muslims while average net dowry in Muslim marriages is only slightly lower than among Hindus and has remained stable, a study of about 40,000 marriages that took place in rural India between 1960 and 2008 has shown.
The analysis is based on data from 2006 REDS—the most recent source of dowry data for India—covering 17 states that contain about 96% of India’s population, according to a blog on the World Bank site.
The blog focuses on rural India, where it says dowry remains a widespread phenomenon despite being illegal since 1961. According to the 2006 Rural Economic and Demographic Survey (REDS), dowry was paid in 95% of marriages during 1960-2008, it said.
Kerala displayed stark and persistent dowry inflation since the 1970s and has the highest average dowry in recent years. Other states with inflationary trends are Haryana, Punjab, and Gujarat.
“Given Kerala’s religious composition—26% Muslims, 18% Christians, and 55% Hindus—this trend is compatible with the differential trends by religion described earlier. Similarly, the inflationary trend in Punjab—a majority Sikh state—is also consistent with the rise in Sikh dowries. On the other hand, average dowry decreased in Odisha, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra,” according to the blog.
It said that average net dowry has been stable over time with some inflation before 1975 and after 2000.
INTERNATIONAL
India Positioned in 51st Place in Annual Bank Statistics
According to ‘Annual Bank Statistics of 2020’ launched through Swiss National Bank (SNB), the Central Bank of Switzerland. India with Swiss Francs (CHF) 2.55 billion (INR 20,706 Crore) has been positioned at 51st place in the list of overseas clients’ cash in Swiss Banks during 2020.
The United Kingdom (UK) topped the listing with CHF 377 billion, accompanied by means of the US (152 billion). India was once ahead of countries like New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Mauritius, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in phrases of foreign clients’ money in Swiss banks.
Sixth Edition of SDR 2021 Has Been Released
According to the 6th Edition of ‘Sustainable Development Report 2021 (SDR 2021)’ released by Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).
India with a score of 60.1 has been placed at a hundred and twentieth rank out of a hundred sixty-five countries. Finland topped the Index accompanied by way of Sweden & Denmark.
For the 1st time seeing that 2015, all countries have shown a reversal in progress in accomplishing Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
SDR 2021 has been written by way of a crew of authors led via Professor Jeffrey Sachs, President of the SDSN and has been published by Cambridge University Press.
NATIONAL
NISHTHA The Capacity Building Programme
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs and NCERT collaborated to organise a NISHTHA Capacity Building Programme for teachers and principals of Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS).
120 EMRS teachers and principals completed the 40-day NISHTHA-National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement Program.
The capacity building programme aims to improve the quality of school education through integrated teacher training and to build competencies among teachers and school principals. The teachers came from three different states: Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.
More EMRS teachers from across the country will participate in the programme.
Biotech-KISAN Programme – DBT
DBT has issued a Special Call under the Biotech KISAN Programme to improve agricultural productivity in the North East region.
It is a farmer-centric scheme for farmers developed by and with farmers under the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Department of Biotechnology.
It is a pan-India programme that promotes entrepreneurship and innovation in farmers while also empowering women farmers.
It identifies and promotes local farm leaders of both male and female. In addition to facilitating knowledge transfer, this type of leadership also helps to develop science-based agriculture.
The goal is to understand the farmers’ water, soil, seed, and market problems and provide simple solutions to them.
The programme connects available science and technology to the farm by first understanding the local farmer’s problems and then providing scientific solutions to those problems.
The Biotech-KISAN hubs are expected to provide the technology needed to generate agriculture and bio-resource-related jobs and better livelihoods for small and marginal farmers by ensuring biotechnological benefits.
Integrated Power Development Scheme – IPDS
As part of the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav,’ a 50 KWP solar roof top was inaugurated in Solan under the IPDS scheme.
About the Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS):
The scheme was established in 2014 with the following goals:
Strengthen transmission and distribution networks in urban areas.
Measure distribution transformers/feeders/consumers in urban areas.
IT support for the distribution sector and strengthening of the distribution network.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and IT-enabled balance urban towns schemes
The scheme is administered by the Ministry of Power, Government of India, and it focuses on urban power distribution.
Under the scheme, all discoms will be eligible for financial assistance
Under the overall supervision of the Power Ministry, Power Finance Corporation Limited (PFC) has been designated as the Nodal Agency for the scheme’s operationalization and implementation.