Inclusive Internet Index 2021

Inclusive Internet Index 2021 has recently been released by Facebook.

About Inclusive Internet Index, 2021

• Facebook commissioned the Inclusive Internet Index, 2021, and The Economist Intelligence Unit develops the index.
• It seeks to measure the extent of accessibility and affordability of the Internet. Also, the internet should be able to enable positive social and economic outcomes at the individual and group levels.
• The index assesses the performance of 120 countries representing 98% of global GDP and 96% of the global population.
• The Index score is based on the scores of 4 categories;
  1. Availability: It examines the quality and breadth of available infrastructure required for access and levels of Internet usage.
  2. Affordability: It examines the cost of access relative to income and the level of competition in the Internet marketplace.
  3. Relevance: It also examines the existence and extent of local language content and relevant content.
  4. Readiness: Furthermore, it examines the capacity to access the Internet. It includes skills (literacy), cultural acceptance, and supporting policy. Literacy measures the level of education and preparedness to use the Internet

Key Findings Related to India:

• India ranked 49th out of 120 countries in the Index.
• India is set to reach one billion internet users by 2025. There were over 687.6 million internet users in India in 2020.

Other Findings:

• Sweden ranks 1st in the index, followed by the US and Spain.
• The majority of countries (77 out of 120) saw improvements in internet inclusion overall, in part because of increased availability.
• People in low and lower-middle-income countries relied more on online education during the pandemic in comparison to wealthier countries.

India’s First “Disc Footed Bat found in Meghalaya

Researchers from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have discovered India’s first disc footed bat near the Nongkhyllem Wildlife Sanctuary in Meghalaya.

About Disc Footed Bat:

• This bat (Eudiscopus denticulus) is a bat species that is very different. It has a flat skull, prominent disk-like pads in the thumb, and bright orange colouration.
• This bat rests inside bamboo internodes. Their sticky disks and flattened skull help them in this.
• So far, this species only thrive in Southern China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar.
• The disc-footed bat is genetically very different from all other bats bearing disc-like pads.

Significance of this discovery:

• The disc footed has raised Meghalaya’s bat count to 66, the most for any State in India.
• It has also helped add a genus and species to the bat fauna of India taking the species count of the flying mammal in the country to 130.

“Gender Samvaad” Event by Ministry of Rural Development

The Ministry of Rural Development recently organized the Gender Samvaad Event.

About Gender Samvaad Event:

• Gender Samvaad is a cooperation between Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission(DAY-NRLM) and Initiative for What Works to Advance Women and Girls in the Economy (IWWAGE).
• It aims to generate greater awareness about gender-related interventions under DAY-NRLM across the country. It focuses on hearing opinions from the states and the field.

Activities under Gender Samvaad: Gender Samvaad provides states with opportunities to:

• Understand best practices/initiatives that other states are undertaking to improve women’s organisations.
• Understand gender interventions globally;
• Engage with experts and other colleagues on suggestions regarding how to handle issues/implementation barriers;
• The creation of a ‘gender repository’. It will have resource materials on best practices for gender interventions across the country/other countries;
• Build advocacy on the need to focus on gender issues across State and National Rural Livelihoods Missions.

About DAY-NRLM:

• A Centrally Sponsored Scheme
• It was launched by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) in 2011 as a restructured version of Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna(SGSY).
  • In 2015, the program was renamed as Deendayal Antayodaya Yojana(DAY-NRLM).
• It looks to create efficient and effective institutional platforms for the rural poor.
• It will enable SHGs to increase household income through sustainable livelihood enhancements and improved access to financial services.
• The mission is aided in part through investment support by the World Bank.
• The mission has set out an agenda to cover 7 Crore rural poor households through self-managed Self Help Groups(SHGs) and federated institutions. It will support them for livelihoods collectives in a period of 8-10 years.

Features of DAY-NRLM:

• Social Mobilization: It will bring at least one woman member from each identified rural poor household, under the Self Help Group (SHG) network in a time-bound manner.
  • Special emphasis is, particularly on vulnerable communities.
• Community Institutions: The Mission involves working with community institutions through community professionals to promote self-help.
• Financial Inclusion – The mission works on both the demand and supply sides of financial inclusion.
  • On the demand side, it promotes financial literacy among the poor and provides capital to the SHGs.
  • On the supply side, it coordinates with the financial sector to encourage the use of financial technologies.

Convergence: The mission places a high emphasis on convergence with other programs of the MoRD and other Central Ministries. Convergence is also sought with programs of state governments for developing synergies directly or indirectly with institutions of the poor.

About IWWAGE:

• Initiative for What Works to Advance Women and Girls in the Economy(IWWAGE) is an initiative of LEAD.
• LEAD is an action-oriented research center of IFMR Society (a not-for-profit society registered under the Societies Act).
• It aims To build on existing research and generate new evidence to inform and facilitate the agenda of women’s economic empowerment.

National Startup Advisory Council

The Minister of Commerce & Industry chaired the first meeting of the National Startup Advisory Council (NSAC) recently.

About the National Startup Advisory Council (NSAC):

• National Startup Advisory Council (NSAC) was constituted by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade(DPIIT).
• Its purpose is to advise the Government on measures required to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in the country.

Functions of NSAC:

• To foster a culture of innovation amongst citizens and students, in particular. Further, it also promotes innovation in all sectors of the economy across the country.
• To facilitate public organisations to assimilate innovation. This includes innovations in improving public service delivery and promoting the creation, protection, and commercialization of intellectual property rights.
• To make it easier to start, operate, grow and exit businesses. It aims to achieve this by reducing regulatory compliances and costs and promoting ease of access to capital for startups.

Composition of the National Startup Advisory Council:

• Chairman: Minister for Commerce & Industry.
• Convener of the Council: Joint Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.
• Ex-officio Members: Nominees of the concerned Ministries/ Departments/ Organisations not below the rank of Joint Secretary.
• Non-official members: They are nominated by the Government from various categories like:
  • Founders of successful startups
  • Veterans who have grown and scaled companies in India
  • Persons capable of representing the interests of investors into startups, etc.
• The term of the non-official members will be for a period of two years or until further orders whichever is earlier.

WHO's Global Diabetes Compact Initiative

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently launched a Global Diabetes Compact Initiative.

About Global Diabetes Compact Initiative:

• Global Diabetes Compact aims to reduce the risk of diabetes. It will ensure that all people diagnosed with diabetes have access to equitable, comprehensive, affordable, quality treatment and care.
• This initiative launched at the Global Diabetes Summit.
• WHO and the government of Canada Co-hosted the summit with the support of the University of Toronto.
• Global Targets: The initiative will set standards for tackling the disease in the form of ‘global coverage targets’.
• It will ensure a wider reach of diabetes care. A “global price tag” will also quantify the costs and benefits of meeting these new targets.

Need of Global Diabetes Compact

• Diabetes is one of the major comorbid conditions. It is linked to severe COVID-19 infections.
• The number of people with diabetes quadrupled in the last 40 years.
• It is also the only major non-communicable disease for which the risk of dying early is going up rather than down.
• About half of all adults with type 2 diabetes remain undiagnosed. And 50% of people with type 2 diabetes don’t get the insulin they need.

About Diabetes:

• Diabetes is a Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin (a hormone that regulates blood sugar, or glucose) or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces.

Types of Diabetes:

• Type I diabetes: It is also known as juvenile diabetes (as it mostly affects children of age 14-16 years). It occurs when the body fails to produce sufficient insulin. People with type I diabetes are insulin-dependent which means they must take artificial insulin daily to stay alive.
• Type 2 diabetes: It affects the way the body uses insulin. While the body still makes insulin, unlike in type I, the cells in the body do not respond to it as effectively as they once did. This is also the most common type of diabetes, and it has strong links with obesity.
• Gestational diabetes: This type occurs in women during pregnancy when the body sometimes becomes less sensitive to insulin.