1. Economy
19. India’s richest one percent corner 73
percent of wealth generation: Survey
The richest 1 percent in India cornered 73
percent of the wealth generated in the country last year, a new survey showed
today, presenting a worrying picture of rising income inequality.
Besides,
67 crore Indians comprising the population’s poorest half saw their wealth rise
by just 1 percent, as per the survey released by the international rights group
Oxfam hours before the start of the annual congregation of the rich and
powerful from across the world in this resort town. The situation appears even
grimmer globally, where 82 percent of the wealth generated last year worldwide
went to the 1 percent, while 3.7 billion people that account for the poorest
half of population saw no increase in their wealth.
The annual Oxfam survey is keenly watched
and is discussed in detail at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting where
rising income and gender inequality is among the key talking points for the
world leaders. Last year’s survey had showed that India’s richest 1 percent
held a huge 58 percent of the country’s total wealth — higher than the global
figure of about 50 percent. This year’s survey also showed that the wealth of
India’s richest 1 percent increased by over Rs 20.9 lakh crore during 2017 —
an amount equivalent to the total budget of the central government in 2017-18,
Oxfam India said.
The report titled ‘Reward Work, Not Wealth’,
Oxfam said, reveals how the global economy enables wealthy elite to accumulate
vast wealth even as hundreds of millions of people struggle to survive on
poverty pay. “2017 saw an unprecedented increase in the number of
billionaires, at a rate of one every two days. Billionaire wealth has risen by
an average of 13 percent a year since 2010 — six times faster than the wages
of ordinary workers, which have risen by a yearly average of just 2
percent,” it said.
In India,
it will take 941 years for a minimum wage worker in rural India to earn what
the top paid executive at a leading Indian garment firm earns in a year, the
study found. In the US, it takes slightly over one working day for a CEO to
earn what an ordinary worker makes in a year, it added.
Citing results of the global survey of
120,000 people surveyed in 10 countries, Oxfam said it demonstrates a
groundswell of support for action on inequality and nearly two-thirds of all
respondents think the gap between the rich and the poor needs to be urgently
addressed. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi attending the WEF meeting in
Davos, Oxfam India urged the Indian government to ensure that the country’s
economy works for everyone and not just the fortunate few.
It also said India’s top 10 percent of
population holds 73 per cent of the wealth and 37 per cent of India’s
billionaires have inherited family wealth. They control 51 per cent of the
total wealth of billionaires in the country.
Oxfam India CEO Nisha Agrawal said it is
alarming that the benefits of economic growth in India continue to concentrate
in fewer hands.
“The billionaire boom is not a sign of
a thriving economy but a symptom of a failing economic system. Those working
hard, growing food for the country, building infrastructure, working in
factories are struggling to fund their child’s education, buy medicines for
family members and manage two meals a day. The growing divide undermines
democracy and promotes corruption and cronyism,” she said.
The survey also showed that women workers
often find themselves at the bottom of the heap and nine out of 10 billionaires
are men. In India, there are only four women billionaires and three of them
inherited family wealth. “It would take around 17.5 days for the best-paid
executive at a top Indian garment company to earn what a minimum wage worker in
rural India will earn in their lifetime (presuming 50 years at work),”
Oxfam said.
(Source: newindianexpress.com dated
22.01.2018)
20. Reward Work, Not Wealth
The annual Oxfam survey is keenly watched
and is discussed in detail at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting where
rising income and gender inequality is among the key talking points for the
world leaders.
Last year’s survey had showed that India’s
richest 1 per cent held a huge 58 per cent of the country’s total wealth—higher
than the global figure of about 50 per cent. This year’s survey also showed
that the wealth of India’s richest 1 per cent increased by over Rs 20.9 lakh
crore during 2017, an amount equivalent to total budget of the central government
in 2017–18, Oxfam India said.
The report titled ‘Reward Work, Not Wealth’,
Oxfam said, reveals how the global economy enables wealthy elite to accumulate
vast wealth even as hundreds of millions of people struggle to survive on
poverty pay.
“2017 saw an unprecedented increase in the
number of billionaires, at a rate of one every two days. Billionaire wealth has
risen by an average of 13 per cent a year since 2010—six times faster than the
wages of ordinary workers, which have risen by a yearly average of just 2 per
cent,” it said.
In India, it
will take 941 years for a minimum wage worker in rural India to earn what the
top paid executive at a leading Indian garment firm earns in a year, the study
found. In the US, it takes slightly over one working day for a CEO to earn what
an ordinary worker makes in a year, it added.
Citing results of the global survey of
70,000 people surveyed in 10 countries, Oxfam said it demonstrates a
groundswell of support for action on inequality and nearly two-thirds of all
respondents think the gap between the rich and the poor needs to be urgently
addressed.
(Source: newindianexpress.com dated
22.01.2018)
2. Technology
21. BSNL,
NTT AT sign pact for future tech, 5G test
The agreement is in line with the vision of
the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to
collaborate on the next generation technologies.
(Source: Economic Times dated 20.02.2018)
22. Internet
users in India expected to reach 500 million by June: IAMAI
Rural India, with an estimated population of
918 million as per 2011 census, has only 186 million internet users leaving out
potential 732 million users in rural India.
(Source: Economic Times dated 20.02.2018)
23. Blockchain
tech can reduce transaction Costs: FICCI – PWC
The next generation blockchain technology
can help in reducing cost of transactions in various government schemes, a
joint report by industry chamber FICCI and consultant firm PwC.
“By removing the need for third parties
to manage transactions and keep records, blockchain technology can massively
reduce transaction costs… Leveraging blockchain technology for social benefit
schemes will support the government’s wider policy objectives of
sustainability, thus reducing poverty and generating value for money in public
expenditure,”
Blockchain is a digital, decentralised
(distributed) ledger that keeps a record of all transactions that take place
across a peer-to-peer network.
In the blockchain technology, the data can
be captured at various location or blocks and all the information captured at
various block can be connected with help of a common link or signature in one
set of information.
Additionally, each ‘block’ is uniquely
connected to the previous blocks via a digital signature which means that
making a change to a record without disturbing the previous records in the
chain is not possible, thus rendering the information tamper-proof.
Blockchain solutions, if implemented, may
lead to the elimination of intermediaries or middlemen, thereby leading to
improved pricing, decreased transaction fees, thus eliminate issues of
hoarding.
(Source: Economic Times dated 20.2.2018)
24. A Store of Future – Amazon Go
The technology inside Amazon’s new
convenience store, enables a shopping experience like no other — including
no checkout lines. The first clue that there’s something unusual about
Amazon’s store of the future hits you right at the front door. It feels as if
you are entering a subway station. A row of gates guard the entrance to the
store, known as Amazon Go, allowing in only people with the store’s smartphone
app.
Inside is an 1,800-square foot mini-market
packed with shelves of food that you can find in a lot of other convenience
stores — soda, potato chips, ketchup. It also has some food usually found at
Whole Foods, the supermarket chain that Amazon owns. But the technology that is
also inside, mostly tucked away out of sight, enables a shopping experience
like no other. There are no cashiers or registers anywhere. Shoppers leave the
store through those same gates, without pausing to pull out a credit card.
Their Amazon account automatically gets charged for what they take out the
door.
There are no shopping carts or baskets
inside Amazon Go. Since the checkout process is automated, what would be the
point of them anyway? Instead, customers put items directly into the shopping
bag they’ll walk out with. Every time customers grab an item off a shelf, Amazon
says the product is automatically put into the shopping cart of their online
account. If customers put the item back on the shelf, Amazon removes it from
their virtual basket.
The only sign of the technology that makes
this possible floats above the store shelves — arrays of small cameras,
hundreds of them throughout the store. Amazon won’t say much about how the
system works, other than to say it involves sophisticated computer vision and
machine learning software. Translation: Amazon’s technology can see and
identify every item in the store, without attaching a special chip to every can
of soup and bag of trail mix.
There were a little over 3.5 million
cashiers in the United States in 2016 — and some of their jobs may be in
jeopardy if the technology behind Amazon Go eventually spreads. For now, Amazon
says its technology simply changes the role of employees — the same way it
describes the impact of automation on its warehouse workers.
Most people who spend any time in a
supermarket understand how vexing the checkout process can be, with clogged
lines for cashiers and customers who fumble with self-checkout kiosks. At
Amazon Go, checking out feels like — there’s no other way to put it —
shoplifting. It is only a few minutes after walking out of the store, when
Amazon sends an electronic receipt for purchases, that the feeling goes away.
For now, visitors to Amazon Go may want to watch their purchases: Without a
register staring them in the face at checkout, it’s easy to overspend.
(Source: nytimes.com dated 21.01.2018)
3. World news
25. Future shocks: 10 emerging risks that
threaten our world
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, we
asked ourselves one question over and over again: why didn’t we see it coming?
It rocked the global economy and threatened to destroy the financial systems
that we rely on. Ten years on, some countries are still picking up the pieces.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2018 says that, in our
increasingly complex and interconnected world, this type of shock may become
more likely. The report explores 10 potential future shocks, including food
scarcity, the extinction of fish, technological breakdowns and another
financial crisis.
The report explores 10 potential future
shocks, including food scarcity, the extinction of fish, technological
breakdowns and another financial crisis.
26. Not enough food to go around
Extreme weather events are becoming an
all-too-familiar sight. Drought, hurricanes and floods have a major impact on
the global food supply chain. Lower yields in crops lead to rising food prices,
hitting those already struggling to feed themselves.
The report argues that, if an extreme
weather event were to coincide with existing political instability or crop
disease, we could see a major food crisis happen overnight.
This is a
scenario exacerbated by the inherent “choke points” within the global supply
chain. These are the sections within the chain where a large volume of trade
passes through. Disruption to any one of these could cause immediate global
shortages and price hikes, in turn causing political and economic crises, and
ultimately, conflict.
27. The end of trade as we know it
Brexit, Trump, protectionist policies, these
are all undermining globalization as we know it. Institutions designed to
resolve trade disputes have become weaker as a result.
The report argues that the continued march
against globalization could lead to multilateral rules being openly breached.
Those further along the value chain could
then retaliate, and before we know it the world will be grappling with rapidly
spreading trade disputes.
Economic activity, output and employment
could all be adversely affected. But these effects will have a far greater
impact on some people, fuelling further discontent.
“Whatever the settled position on global
trade is to be,” argues the report, “more deliberation and consensus-building
would bolster its legitimacy.”
28. War without rules
21st century warfare will not involve guns
or bombs, but rather cyber-attacks on a massive scale, posits the report.
If a country’s critical infrastructure
systems are compromised by a cyber-attack, leading to disruption of essential
services and loss of life, there would be massive pressure for a government to
retaliate. What if they target the wrong culprit? There is no telling where
this retaliation might lead.
Governments need to establish agreed norms
and protocols for cyber warfare, much like those that exist for conventional
warfare today. This would help to prevent conflict erupting by mistake.
29. The break-up of the internet
If cyberattacks become more likely they
could end up breaking the internet.
Nations might build digital walls as they
seek to protect themselves. But this might not be the only reason. Governments
might also choose to do this on the basis of economic protectionism, regulatory
divergence, or censorship and repression. If governments felt they were losing
power relative to global online companies they might also seek to control the
internet.
There would be a barrier to the flow of
content and transactions. Technological advancements would slow. While some
might welcome this, others would not. It’s likely that there would be plenty of
illegal workarounds.
Perhaps most worryingly, human rights abuses
would likely increase as advances in international monitoring are rolled back.
Ongoing dialogue between governments and
technology companies would help to ensure that internet-based technologies
develop in a politically sustainable context of shared values and agreed
responsibilities, suggests the report.
(Source: weforum.org)
4. Sports
30. Roger
Federer becomes oldest world no.1 in history
Roger Federer added yet another record to
his vast collection when he officially returned to world number one as the latest
ATP rankings were released on 19 February. The 36-year-old beat Andre Agassis
record as the most senior player to reach the summit of the sport.
(Source:
International Business Times dated 20.02.2018)
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