Bunker Convention

The Union Cabinet has approved the Ministry of Shipping's proposal for India's accession to the International Convention on Civil Liability for bunker oil pollution damage, 2001, of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), as well as to amend the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, to give effect to the Bunker Convention, Nairobi Convention and Salvage Convention.

About International Maritime Organization (IMO):-

A​​s a specialized agency of the United Nations, IMO is the global standard-setting authority for the safety, security and environmental performance of international shipping. 

• Its main role is to create a regulatory framework for the shipping industry that is fair and effective, universally adopted and universally implemented.
• In other words, its role is to create a level playing-field so that ship operators cannot address their financial issues by simply cutting corners and compromising on safety, security and environmental performance. 

Bunker Convention:-

• The International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage 2001, known as Bunker Convention, provides for "adequate, prompt, and effective compensation" for damage caused by spills of oil carried as fuel in ships' bunkers.

• The territorial jurisdiction for damage compensation extends to territorial sea and exclusive economic zones, it applies to an Indian vessel irrespective of its location, and a foreign flag vessel within Indian jurisdiction.

Details:-

• The registered owner of every vessel has to maintain a compulsory insurance cover which allows claim for compensation for pollution damage to be brought directly against an insurer.

• Every ship above 1,000 gross tonnage needs to carry a certificate on board to the effect that it maintains insurance or other financial security such as guarantee of a bank or a similar financial institution.

• In India, the Directorate General of Shipping would issue the certificate while in foreign countries, respective maritime authorities would do the needful, the statement said.

• No vessel will be permitted to enter or leave India without such a certificate.

• The Bunker Convention 2001 is already in force since November 2008 and maritime countries accounting for 91 per cent of world shipping tonnage are signatories to this Convention.

Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks:-

The Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks, 2007, was adopted by an international conference held in Kenya in 2007. 

• The Convention will provide the legal basis for States to remove, or have removed, shipwrecks that may have the potential to affect adversely the safety of lives, goods and property at sea, as well as the marine environment.

Street light national programme (SLNP)

Government has launched Street Light National Programme in about 100 cities to convert 3.5 crore conventional street lights with energy efficient LED lights.

• This would result in annual energy saving of 900 crore units and the total cost savings of municipalities every year will be Rs 5,500 crore.

• The scheme/programme will be implemented by the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (under the administrative control of Ministry of Power) a joint venture company of four Power Sector PSUs, envisages replacement of conventional street lights with LED lights by March, 2019. 

The objectives of the initiative are:

• To mitigate climate change by implementing energy efficient LED based street lighting

• • To reduce energy consumption in lighting which helps DISCOMs to manage peak demand
  • To provide a sustainable service model that obviates the need for upfront capital investment as well as additional revenue expenditure to pay for procurement of LED lights
  • To enhance municipal services at no upfront capital cost of municipalities
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EESL Service Model:-

• EESL replaces the conventional street lights with LEDs at its own costs and consequent reduction in energy and maintenance cost of the municipality is used to repay EESL over a period of time. 
• The contracts that EESL enters into with Municipalities are typically of 7 years duration where it not only guarantees a minimum energy saving but also provides free replacements and maintenance of lights at no additional costs to the municipalities. 
• The service model enables the municipalities to go in for the state of the art street light with no upfront capital cost and repayments to EESL are within the present level of expenditure. 
• Thus there is no additional revenue expenditure required to be incurred by the municipality for change over to smart and energy efficient LED street lights.

The advantages of LED lighting over CFLs are:

• LEDs are extremely energy efficient and consume up to 90% less power than incandescent bulbs.

• LEDs have a lifespan of up to 60,000 hours compared to 1,500 hours for incandescent bulbs.

• LEDs are solid state lighting devices that utilize semiconductor material instead of a filament or neon gas. Hence more durable than CFLs.

• LED lights are offered in a variety of base colors such as Red, Green, Blue and Amber.

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.

• In 1947, the Swiss League for the Protection of Nature organised an international conference on the protection of nature in Brunnen (Switzerland).
• Afterwards, the IUCN was established on 5 October 1948, in Fontainebleau, France
• The initiative to set up the new organisation came from UNESCO
• Its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland
• It was previously called the International Union for Protection of Nature– IUPN (1948–1956) and the World Conservation Union (1990–2008).
• IUCN has observer and consultative status at the United Nations, and plays a role in the implementation of several international conventions on nature conservation and biodiversity. (Note: It is not a member or part of the UN)
• It is best known for compiling and publishing the IUCN Red List, which assesses the conservation status of species worldwide.

IUCN was one of the few NGOs formally involved in the preparations of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm Conference, 1972). 

The Stockholm Conference eventually led to three new international conventions, with IUCN involved in their drafting and implementation:

• To establish a stable financial basis for its work, IUCN participated in setting up the World Wildlife Fund (1961) now called the World Wide Fund for Nature WWF, Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972). 
• IUCN provides technical evaluations and monitoring. It is involved in data gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, lobbying and education.
• CITES- the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (1974) 
• IUCN is a signatory party and the CITES secretariat was originally lodged with IUCN
• Ramsar Convention – Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (1975). 
• The secretariat is still administered from IUCN’s headquarters.
• In 1975 IUCN started work on the World Conservation Strategy.

The Strategy was followed in 1982 by the World Charter for Nature, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, after preparation by IUCN.

Stockholm Convention on POPs

• Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is an international environmental treaty, signed in 2001 and effective from May 2004, that aims to eliminate or restrict the production and use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
• The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants was adopted by the Conference of Plenipotentiaries on 22 May 2001 in Stockholm, Sweden. 
• The Convention entered into force on 17 May 2004.
• In 1995, the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) called for global action to be taken on POPs, which it defined as “chemical substances that persist in the environment, bio-accumulate through the food web, and pose a risk of causing adverse effects to human health and the environment”.
• The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue of humans and wildlife, and have harmful impacts on human health or on the environment.
• Exposure to Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) can lead to serious health effects including certain cancers, birth defects, dysfunctional immune and reproductive systems, greater susceptibility to disease and damages to the central and peripheral nervous systems.
• Given their long range transport, no one government acting alone can protect its citizens or its environment from POPs

Global Peace Index (GPI)

The Global Peace Index (GPI) is an attempt to measure the relative position of nations' and regions' peacefulness. 

• It is the product of the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) and developed in consultation with an international panel of peace experts from peace institutes and think tanks with data collected and collated by the Economist Intelligence Unit. 
• The list was launched in May 2007 and updates have been made on an annual basis since then. 
• It is claimed to be the first study to rank countries around the world according to their peacefulness.

The index gauges global peace using three broad themes: 

• the level of safety and security in society, 
• the extent of domestic and international conflict, and 
• the degree of militarization.

Factors are both internal such as levels of violence and crime within the country and external such as military expenditure and wars. 

The GPI has been criticised for not including indicators specifically relating to violence against women and children.

The updated index is released each year at events in London, Washington, DC; and at the United Nations Secretariat in New York. 

GPI and India:-

• India was ranked 141st on a Global Peace Index for the year 2016 making it less peaceful than countries like Burundi, Serbia and Burkina Faso with violence taking a 680-billion dollar toll on its economy in 2015.

In a ranking of 163 countries, compiled by global think tank Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), Syria has been named the least peaceful, followed by South Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.

On the other hand, Iceland was ranked as the world’s most peaceful country, followed by Denmark and Austria.

India has moved up two position, from 143rd last year, but the study said the country’s peace score has “deteriorated” over the past year which means the slight rise in ranking could be due to worse performance of others.

Infant mortality rate (IMR)

Infant mortality rate (IMR) is the number of deaths of children less than one year of age per 1000 live births. The rate for a given region is the number of children dying under one year of age, divided by the number of live births during the year, multiplied by 1,000. Infant mortality rate was an indicator used to monitor progress towards the Fourth Goal of the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations for the year 2015. It is now a target in the Sustainable Development Goals for Goal Number 3 ("Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages"). Forms of infant mortality: •Perinatal mortality is late fetal death (22 weeks gestation to birth), or death of a newborn up to one week postpartum. •Neo natal mortality is newborn death occurring within 28 days postpartum. Neonatal death is often attributed to inadequate access to basic medical care, during pregnancy and after delivery. This accounts for 40–60% of infant mortality in developing countries. •Post neonatal mortality is the death of children aged 29 days to one year. The major contributors to post neonatal death are malnutrition, infectious disease, and problems with the home environment. The leading causes of infant mortality are birth asphyxia, pneumonia, term birth complications, neonatal infection, diarrhea, malaria, measles and malnutrition. Many factors contribute to infant mortality, such as the mother's level of education, environmental conditions, and political and medical infrastructure. Improving sanitation, access to clean drinking water, immunization against infectious diseases, and other public health measures can help reduce high rates of infant mortality.

National Nutrition Mission

The National Nutrition Mission has has been launched in January 2014 with the following two components:- 

I. Multi-sectoral Nutrition programme:-

• To address Maternal and Child Under-Nutrition in 200 high-burden districts, 
• which aims at prevention and reduction in child under-nutrition (underweight prevalence in children under 3 years of age) and 
• reduction in levels of anaemia among young children, adolescent girls and women 
• The concerned States /UTs have been advised to set up State Nutrition Council / Districts Nutrition Cells and prepare nutrition action plans for approval of the Government and the plans/progress from the States is awaited.
• States with high burden districts include MP, Maharashtra, Gujarat, UP, Rajasthan, Bihar among others. 

II. Information, Education and Communication (IEC) campaign against malnutrition:

• To create awareness about nutrition challenges and promote home-level feeding practices a Nationwide Information, Education and Communication campaign against malnutrition has been launched during 2012-13. 

The component of the National Nutrition Mission, which aims to reduce the incidence of anaemia among young children, adolescent girls and women is the Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Programme, is yet to be implemented.

The key objectives of these programmes are as under:

·        To create awareness relating to malnutrition amongst pregnant women, lactating mothers, promote healthy lactating practices and importance of balanced nutrition;

·        To improve maternal and child under-nutrition in 200 high burdened districts and to prevent and reduce the under-nutrition prevalent among children below 3 years; 

·        To reduce incidence of anaemia among young children, adolescent girls and women.

The programme envisages coordinated action at the Central and State levels for affirmative multi-sectoral action in fulfilling the objectives.

 

• An Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee (IMCC) headed by Cabinet Secretary at National level has been created for coordination at National level.

 At the State level, the State Nutrition Council headed by the Chief Minister would be the highest body for providing policy direction and oversight to the Multi-sectoral Nutrition Programme. 

The State Nutrition Council would be assisted by the Executive Committee headed by the Chief Secretary of the State and would comprise of Principal Secretaries/Secretaries of all line departments concerning the Multi-sectoral Nutrition Programme.

 Similar coordinating bodies would be set up at the District and village levels to provide all support in effective implementation, monitoring and supervision of the programme.

 Monitoring and evaluation of the programme has been entrusted to National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD) to track the progress and achievements during and after implementation.

 At the National level, the Food & Nutrition Board (FNB) under Ministry of Women & Child Development would act as the Technical Support Unit with additional technical human resource to manage and roll out the programme. 

Index of Economic Freedom

India was ranked 143rd out of 186 economies in the annual Index of Economic Freedom 2017 that measures the degree of economic freedom in the countries of the world. 

• The index was released by top US based Think Tank, The Heritage Foundation with Wall Street Journal. 

What is economic freedom?

• Economic freedom is the fundamental right of every human to control his or her own labor and property. 
• In an economically free society, individuals are free to work, produce, consume, and invest in any way they please. 
• In economically free societies, governments allow labor, capital, and goods to move freely, and refrain from coercion or constraint of liberty beyond the extent necessary to protect and maintain liberty itself.

• Thus, essentially, economic freedom is dependent on the following broad dimensions:
  • Security of privately-owned property,
  • levels of personal choice,
  • ability to enter markets and
  • the rule of law.

In this edition, India’s overall score was 52.6 points, 3.6 points less than scored in 2016 when it was ranked 123rd. 

How countries are ranked? 

The Index of Economic Freedom ranks countries based on score ranging 0 to 100, with 0 being the least free and 100 the most free. 

The score is based on ten factors of economic freedom, separated into four categories, using statistics from international organizations like World Bank, IMF, Economist Intelligence Unit and Transparency International. 

Based on the score, countries are grouped in 5 different categories, 

• Free (80–100), 
• Mostly Free (70.0–79.9), 
• Moderately Free (60.0–69.9), 
• Mostly Unfree (50.0–59.9) and 
• Repressed (0–49.9)

Key Highlights of 2017 Economic Freedom Index 

• Top 5 countries in this edition of index are Hong Kong (1st), Singapore (2nd) and New Zealand (3rd), Switzerland (4th) and Austria (5th). 
• India with 52.6 points score was ranked 143rd. It was placed in the category of “Mostly Unfree” Economies (points ranging from 50.0-59.9). 
• India’s neighbours, Nepal (125th), Sri Lanka (112th), Pakistan (141st), Bhutan (107th), and Bangladesh (128th) have surpassed India. Only Afghanistan (163rd) and Maldives (157th) were ranked below India. 
• China with a score of 57.4 points ranked 111th which is 5.4 points above 2016 score. United States was ranked 17th with a score of 75.1 points. 
• The world average score was 60.9, highest recorded in the 23-year history of the index. 
• 49 countries majority of developing countries and also Norway and Sweden have achieved their highest-ever index scores. 

Human Capital Index

India has been ranked at 105th position out of 130 countries globally on the 2016 Human Capital Index (HCI), which was recently released in the World Economic Forum (WEF) report.

Human Capital Index:-

• The Human Capital Index measures countries’ ability to nurture, develop and deploy talent for economic growth.
• The Human Capital Index measures countries’ ability to maximize and leverage their human capital endowment. 
• The index assesses Learning and Employment outcomes across 5 distinct age groups, on a scale from 0 (worst) to 100 (best), and assesses 130 economies.
• It is based on 46 indicators about how well countries are developing and deploying their human capital, focusing on education, skills and employment.
• The WEF report of HCI presents an analysis by focusing on a number of key issues that can support better design of education policy and future workforce planning.
• The index takes a life-course approach to human capital, evaluating the levels of education, skills and employment available to people in five distinct age groups, starting from under 15 years to over 65 years. 
• The aim is to assess the outcome of past and present investments in human capital and offer insight into what a country’s talent base looks like today and how it is likely to evolve into the future.

Key Facts

Top 10 Countries in 2016 HCI:

• Finland (1st position),
• Norway (2nd),
• Switzerland (3rd),
• Japan (4th),
• Sweden (5th),
• New Zealand (6th),
• Denmark (7th),
• Netherlands (8th),
• Canada (9th) and
• Belgium (10th).

India’s Neighbours:

• Sri Lanka (50th),
• China (71st),
• Bhutan (91st),
• Bangladesh (104th),
• Nepal (108th) and
• Pakistan (118th).

India and HCI:-

• India is ranked lowest as against Russia (28th), China (71st), Brazil (83rd) and South Africa (8th).
• In the 2015 edition of HCI, India had ranked 100th out of total 124 countries.
• India has got better rankings HCI’s indicators such as quality of education system (39th), staff training (46th) and ease of finding skilled employees (45th).
• India is the second largest country in the global distribution of tertiary degree holders share at nearly 78 million after China (2.5 billion) in STEM subjects (science, technology , engineering and mathematics).
• India has optimized just 57% of its human capital endowment. 
• Its youth literacy rate is still only 90% (103rd in the world).
• In case of labour force participation, India ranks low as it has world’s largest employment gender gaps (121st).

Global Innovation Index (GII)

The Global Innovation Index 2016 (GII), in its 9th edition this year, is co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO, an agency of the United Nations).

• The core of the GII Report consists of a ranking of world economies’ innovation capabilities and results.

Over the last nine years, the GII has established itself as a leading reference on innovation.

The Global Innovation Index (GII) aims to capture the multi-dimensional facets of innovation and provide the tools that can assist in tailoring policies to promote long-term output growth, improved productivity, and job growth.

• India’s ranking in GII-2016 jumped 15 places to 66th position.
• Aiming to strengthen the eco-system of innovation in the country, and thereby further improve India’s ranking in GII, the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion has decided to set up a Task Force on Innovation.  

The GII helps to create an environment in which innovation factors are continually evaluated. 

It provides a key tool and a rich database of detailed metrics for economies, which in 2016 encompassed 128 economies, representing 92.8% of the world’s population and 97.9% of global GDP.

• Understanding in more detail the human aspects behind innovation is essential for the design of policies that help promote economic development and richer innovation-prone environments locally.

Recognizing the key role of innovation as a driver of economic growth and prosperity, and the need for a broad horizontal vision of innovation applicable to developed and emerging economies, the GII includes indicators that go beyond the traditional measures of innovation such as the level of research and development.

• Innovation is widely recognized as a central driver of economic growth and development. The Global Innovation Index (GII) aims to capture the multi-dimensional facets of innovation.
• Global Innovation Index (GII) 2016 was recently launched in which India has retained the top rank in Information and Communication Technology Service Export for more than last three years.
• India is the top-ranked economy in Central and Southern Asia, and shows particular strengths in tertiary education and R&D, including global R&D intensive firms, the quality of its universities and scientific publications. India also over-performs in innovation relative to its GDP. 
• India ranks second on innovation quality amongst middle-income economies. As per the report, “India is a good example of how policy is improving the innovation environment”. India moved up across all indicators within the Knowledge Absorption sub-pillar. 
• It has also exhibited a solid performance in the GII model’s newly incorporated research talent in business enterprise, where it ranks 31^st.

Global Hunger Index (GHI)

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger globally, regionally, and by country.

Each year, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) calculates GHI scores in order to assess progress, or the lack thereof, in decreasing hunger.

The GHI is designed to raise awareness and understanding of regional and country differences in the struggle against hunger.

• An increase in a country's GHI score indicates that the hunger situation is worsening, while a decrease in the score indicates an improvement in the hunger situation.
• The scores are based on source data for the four component indicators. The data for these indicators are continually revised by the international organizations that compile them, and each year's GHI report reflects these revisions. 

• The 2016 GHI reflects country-level data and projections spanning the period 2011 to 2016.

The four component indicators used in the GHI are:

• Undernourishment: the proportion of undernourished people as a percentage of the population (reflecting the share of the population with insufficient caloric intake);
• Child wasting: the proportion of children under the age of five who suffer from wasting (low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition);
• Child stunting: the proportion of children under the age of five who suffer from stunting (low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition); and
• Child mortality: the mortality rate of children under the age of five (partially reflecting the fatal synergy of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).

Here is how the Global Hunger Index (GHI) scores are calculated:

STEP 1 - Determine values for the component indicators:

PUN	proportion of the population that is undernourished (in %)
CWA	prevalence of wasting in children under five years old (in %)
CST	prevalence of stunting in children under five years old (in %)
CM	proportion of children dying before the age of five (in %)

Global Competitiveness Report

The Global Competitiveness Report 2016-17 published by the World Economic Forum (WEF)

featuring the Global Competitiveness Index, the Report assesses the competitiveness landscape of 138 economies, providing unique insight into the drivers of their productivity and prosperity.

• India ranked 39th among the 138 countries in the GCI Report 2016-17. 
• It has jumped 16 places from its previous position of the 55th in the GCI report 0f 2015-16.
• Top 4 countries are
  • 1. Switzerland
  • 2. Singapore
  • 3. USA
  • 4. Netherlands

GCI defines competitiveness as the set of institutions, policies, and factors that determine the level of productivity of an economy, which in turn sets the level of prosperity that the country can achieve.

Since 2005, based on the Klaus Schwab’s original idea of 1979, the World Economic Forum has published the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) developed by Xavier Sala-i-Martín in collaboration with the Forum.

The GCI combines 14 indicators that capture concepts that matter for productivity and long-term prosperity.

These indicators are grouped into 12 pillars:

• Institutions,
• Infrastructure,
• Macroeconomic environment,
• health and primary education,
• higher education and training,
• goods market efficiency,
• labor market efficiency,
• financial market development,
• technological readiness,
• market size,
• business sophistication, and
• innovation.

These pillars are in turn organized into three sub indexes: 

• Basic requirements, 
• Efficiency enhancers, and
• Innovation and sophistication factors. 

The three sub indexes are given different weights in the calculation of the overall Index, depending on each economy’s stage of development, as proxied by its GDP per capita and the share of exports represented by raw materials.

The GCI includes statistical data from internationally recognized organizations, notably the International Monetary Fund (IMF); the World Bank; and various United Nations’ specialized agencies, including the International Telecommunication Union, UNESCO, and the World Health Organization.

World Economic Outlook (WEO)

The World Economic Outlook (WEO) is a survey conducted and published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

• It is published biannually and partly updated two times a year.
• It portrays the world economy in the near and medium context, with projections for up to four years into the future.
• WEO forecasts include key macroeconomic indicators, such as GDP, inflation, current account and fiscal balance of more than 180 countries around the globe.
• It also deals with major economic policy issues.

Global growth will rise to a rate of 3.4 percent in 2017 and 3.6 percent in 2018, from a 2016 rate of 3.1 percent.

• Indian Growth Prospect has been 6.6% from the earlier projection of 7.6%.

Global Gender Gap Report

According to the “2016 Global Gender Gap Report”, India ranked 87th in terms of gender equality, out of 144 countries.

• When it comes to wage equality, India stood at 103rd spot.

Global Gender Gap Report:-

The Global Gender Gap Report was first published in 2006 by the World Economic Forum. The 2016 report covers 144 major and emerging economies. The Global Gender Gap Index is an index designed to measure gender equality.

• The Global Gender Gap ranking released annually by World Economic Forum (WEF) quantifies disparities in health, politics, education and employment among women and men.
• Through the Global Gender Gap Report, the World Economic Forum quantifies the magnitude of gender disparities and tracks their progress over time, with a specific focus on the relative gaps between women and men across four key areas:

• Health, Education, Economy and Politics.
• The 2016 Report covers 144 countries.

The report examines four overall areas of inequality between men and women in 144 economies around the globe, over 94% of the world’s population:

• Economic participation and opportunity – 
• outcomes on salaries, participation levels and access to high-skilled employment
• Educational attainment – 
• outcomes on access to basic and higher level education
• Political empowerment – 
• outcomes on representation in decision-making structures
• Health and survival – 
• outcomes on life expectancy and sex ratio. 
• In this case parity is not assumed, there are assumed to be less female births than male (944 female for every 1,000 males), and men are assumed to die younger. 
• Provided that women live at least six percent longer than men parity is assumed, if it is less than six percent it counts as a gender gap.

Human Development Report (HDR)

The Human Development Report (HDR) is an annual report published by the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The report uses the HDI Index as an indicator for the Human Development in a country.

The Human Development Report 2016 ‘Human Development for Everyone’ will be launched on 21 March 2017 in Stockholm.

The Human Development Index (HDI) was created to emphasize that expanding human choices should be the ultimate criteria for assessing development results. Economic growth is a mean to that process, but is not an end by itself.  

The HDI can also be used to question national policy choices, asking how two countries with the same level of GNI per capita can end up with different human development outcomes. 

• For example, Malaysia has GNI per capita higher than Chile, but in Malaysia, life expectancy at birth is about 7 years shorter and expected years of schooling is 2.5 years shorter than Chile, resulting in Chile having a much higher HDI value than Malaysia. These striking contrasts can stimulate debate about government policy priorities.

The Human Development Index (HDI) by UNDP uses the following components:

• Life expectancy at birth
• Mean of years of schooling for adults aged 25 years
• Expected years of schooling for children of school entering age
• GNI per capita (PPP$)

India ranked 130 among 188 countries in HDI Report of 2015. India climbed one notch from 131 to 130 .

• India's HDI is 0.609 which puts the country in the medium human development category.

Top 4 countries on HDI are

1. Norway
2. Australia
3. Switzerland
4. Denmark

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development:

• a long and healthy life,
• being knowledgeable and
• have a decent standard of living.

Source: UNDP and Wikipedia

Pillar edicts of Asoka

The pillar edicts of Asoka may be divided into two groups:

• Major Edicts, and
• Minor Edicts

Major Pillar Edicts:-

There are seven major pillar edicts:

• Pillar Edict I
  • It mentions Asoka's principle to protect people through dhamma, to administer affairs according to dhamma, to please the people with dhamma, and to guard the empire with dhamma.
• Pillar Edict II
  • It defines dhamma as a minimum of sins, many virtues, compassion, liberality, truthfulness and pu­rity.
• Pillar Edict III
  • It exhorts people to consider that cruelty, harshness, anger, pride and envy are sins, the indulgence in which is ruinous.
• Pillar Edict IV
  • Engraved in the 26th year of Asoka's rule, this edict deals with the duties of rajukas.
• Pillar Edict V
  • It provides a list of animals and birds which should not be killed on some days and others which are not to be killed at all.
  • It also mentions the release of 25 prisoners by Asoka.
• Pillar Edict VI
  • It mentions Asoka's engraving of dhamma policy after 12 years of his rule.
• Pillar Edict VII
  • Inscribed in the twenty-eighth year of Asoka's rule, it describes at length the works done by Asoka for spreading dhamma policy.
• Asoka's seven major pillar edicts have been found at the following places:
  • Topra (Delhi),
  • Meerut,
  • Kausambi (Allahabad),
  • Rampurva (Champaran),
  • Lauriya- Nanrlangarh (Champaran),
  • Lauriya Areraj (Champaran) and
  • Mehrauli (Delhi)

Minor Pillar Edicts:-

• The Minor Pillar Edicts have been found in Sanchi, Saranath, Rummindei and Nigalisagar.
  • These edicts deal with Buddhist pilgrim centres, pilgrimage and solution of differences in the Buddhist religion.
• Rummindei Pillar Inscription
  • It mentions Asoka's visit to Lumbini, the birth place of Lord Buddha.
  • Asoka exempted Lumbini from paying tax, and fixed its contribution of grain at one-eighth.
• Nigalisagar Pillar Inscription
  • It mentions Asoka's visit to Konakamana stupa in the fifteenth year of his rule.
• Schism Edict
• The pillar edicts at Sarnath and Sanchi are known as Schism edicts.
• These edicts are addressed to dharmamahamatras.

Language of the Asokan Inscriptions

• Asoka's inscrip­tions are written in four languages-Aramaic, Greek, Ira­nian, and Prakrit.
• Four scripts have been used in these inscriptions-Aramaic, Greek, Brahmi and Kharoshthi.
• The Mansehra and Shahbajgarhi inscriptions are in the Kharosthi script, while the Kandahar inscription is in Greek and Aramaic scripts.
• The remaining inscriptions are in the Brahmi script.