Miscellanea

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)  _