Indian Monsoon deficit up 24%, dry spell seen
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6174528.cms?prtpage=1
16 Jul 2010, 0514 hrs IST,ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: The met department does not expect a significant resurgence in the monsoon next week, potentially damaging the sowing of soyabean and paddy and forcing farmers to replant.

“It will not be a major revival next week,” said BP Yadav, director and spokesman at the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The IMD had earlier forecast that rainfall in July would recover to 98% of normal in July after falling 16% short of average last month. The met’s new forecast casts a shadow over crucial kharif crops such as soybean, rice, cotton, sugarcane and corn, over which there are already worries. Likewise, the situation has turned grim for sugarcane too because July is a key sowing month.

The forecast of dry spell comes on the back of rainfall deficit rising to 24% last week. A good monsoon raised the prospect of sustaining the moderation in food inflation for two weeks. But excess rainfall has so far only been registered in the southern meteorological region. That is bad news on the price front because the annual rate of inflation is stubbornly ensconced above 10% for five months even without the full impact of a recent fuel price rise. The rain deficit has been the highest in the east and central regions while it has been noticeably lesser in the north and north-western regions. Rainfall in the soybean-growing central state of Madhya Pradesh was barely a third of normal in a week.

“There is still good moisture in soil. But if it does not rain after 7-10 days, then re-planting has to be initiated and initial growth would be retarded,” a Soyabean Processors’ Association official was quoted by agencies as saying.

IMD officials also maintained that the rain distribution had been fairly well-spread, boosting soil moisture in the first half of July. Analysts expect this to help even if total rainfall is 24% below normal.

55% of India's population poor: Report
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6169549.cms?prtpage=1
Rukmini Shrinivasan, TNN, Jul 15, 2010,

NEW DELHI: India's abysmal track record at ensuring basic levels of nutrition is the greatest contributor to its poverty as measured by the new international Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI). About 645 million people or 55% of India's population is poor as measured by this composite indicator made up of ten markers of education, health and standard of living achievement levels.

Developed by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) for the United Nations Development Programmes (UNDP) forthcoming 2010 Human Development Report, the MPI attempts to capture more than just income poverty at the household level. It is composed of ten indicators: years of schooling and child enrollment (education); child mortality and nutrition (health); and electricity, flooring, drinking water, sanitation, cooking fuel and assets (standard of living). Each education and health indicator has a 1/6 weight, each standard of living indicator a 1/18 weight.

The new data also shows that even in states generally perceived as prosperous such as Haryana, Gujarat and Karnataka, more than 40% of the population is poor by the new composite measure, while Kerala is the only state in which the poor constitute less than 20%. The MPI measures both the incidence of poverty and its intensity. A person is defined as poor if he or she is deprived on at least 3 of the 10 indicators. By this definition, 55% of India was poor, close to double India's much-criticised official poverty figure of 29%. Almost 20% of Indians are deprived on 6 of the 10 indicators.

Nutritional deprivation is overwhelmingly the largest factor in overall poverty, unsurprising given that half of all children in India are under-nourished according to the National Family Health Survey III (2005-06). Close to 40% of those who are defined as poor are also nutritionally deprived. In fact, the contribution of nutrition to the overall MPI is even greater in urban than rural India.

A comparison of the state of Madhya Pradesh and the sub-Saharan nation of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which have close to the same population and a similar MPI (0.389 and 0.393 respectively), shows that nutritional deprivation, arguably the most fundamental part of poverty, in MP far exceeds that in the DRC. Nutritional deprivation contributes to almost 20% of MP's MPI and only 5% of the DRC's MPI. MP's drinking water, electricity and child mortality levels are better than that of the DRC.

Multi-dimensional poverty is highest (81.4% poor) among Scheduled Tribes within India's Hindu population, followed by Scheduled Castes (65.8%), Other Backward Class (58.3%) and finally the general population (33.3%).

There is significant variation between the poverty incidence in various states as per the MPI and as per the Indian Planning Commission's official figures. Based on the MPI, Bihar has by far the most poor of any state in the country, with 81.4% of its population defined as poor, which is close to 12% more than the next worst state of Uttar Pradesh.

As per the Planning Commission's figures, 41.4% of Bihar and 32.8% of UP is poor. In a possible indication of inadequate access to health and education facilities which do not show up in income poverty, almost 60% of north-east India and close to 50% of Jammu & Kashmir are poor as per the MPI, while the Planning Commission figures are around 16% and 5% respectively.

The findings would provide further ballast to the argument of some economists that India's official poverty estimation methods are too narrowly focused to capture the real extent of deprivation in the country.

Least number of poor in Delhi, Kerala, Goa
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/572937.aspx
Press Trust Of India | London, July 15, 2010 | First Published: 23:56 IST(15/7/2010)

Amidst acute poverty across South Asia, the five states of Delhi, Kerala, Goa, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh have the least number of poor people in India, according to a new measure of global poverty developed at the University of Oxford for the UNDP.

The new measure, called the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), has been developed and applied by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI). It will be featured in the 20th anniversary edition of the UNDP Human Development Report. An analysis using MPI reveals South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa have comparable intensities of poverty, according to an OPHI paper, Acute Multidimensional Poverty: A New Index for Developing Countries.

In terms of human lives, South Asia has the world's highest levels of poverty.

Fifty-one percent of Pakistan's population is MPI poor, 58 percent in Bangladesh, 55 percent in India, and 65 percent in Nepal. The analysis states: "Delhi has an MPI equivalent to Iraq (which ranks 45), whereas Bihar's MPI is similar to Guinea's (the 8th poorest country in the ranking).

"In terms of headcount, in Delhi and Kerala 14 percent and 16 percent of the population are MPI poor, in Jharkhand 77 percent of population are MPI poor and in Bihar, 81 percent."

Other states with the least number of poor are Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Haryana and Gujarat.

The analysis by MPI creators reveals that there are more 'MPI poor' people in eight Indian states (421 million in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal) than in the 26 poorest African countries combined (410 million).

"...The population of the poorest state Bihar, with 95 million people, exceeds the sum of nine of the 10 poorest African countries," authors Sabina Alkire and Maria Emma Santos say.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/572937.aspx

India to soon surpass US in direct-to-home (DTH) subscribers base
http://biz.zeenews.com/news/news_content.aspx?newscatid=1&newsid=9847
Sunday, July 18, 2010, 13:42

Mumbai: The strongly growing domestic direct-to-home broadcast market (DTH) may soon catapult India into the number one position globally in terms of the country with largest DTH subscribers base, ahead of the US, an industry official said.

As at June 30 this year, India had 23.5 million DTH subscribers.

"As at June-end, the DTH subscriber base in India stood at 23.5 million, which is equivalent to the size of the markets in other countries. By this year-end, we will leave the US behind, which has got 32 million subscribers base, making us the largest DTH country," Bharat Business Channel Limited (BBCL) Chief Executive Officer, Anil Khera said.

BBCL is the DTH broadcast arm of the multi-billion Videocon Group.

There are currently seven DTH broadcast service providers in the country with a combined revenue of around USD two billion. The industry is clocking an 18 per cent growth this year as compared to last year, Khera said, adding, "every month around 8.50 lakh new customers are coming in across the DTH platform."

On his upcoming films, Omi said, "Madhur's film is about different stages of dating and relationships in the metros and how people cope with love and heartbreaks. About Abbas Mastan's film, I don't have much idea apart from the fact that it is going to be action."

Omi, will also been on television as a host of musical show, 'Chote Ustad'.

"The message of this show is interesting. It is not about competing between India and Pakistan. It is bringing them together through children and their songs."

The actor also said, "I enjoy hosting because you get instant gratification. When you look at the audience, they immediately laugh. You don't have to wait for six months for the audience to laugh."

Bureau Report

New Rupee Symbol of India -` How to use in Computers?
Courtesy: TOI | Posted: 25 Jul 2010 02:05 AM PDT

Download The Rupee Font
Install/save to “fonts” folder of your PC: Location: C:/Windows/Fonts

Open your word processor and select the “Rupee_forindian.
Just select “Rupee” font from the drop down list of your fonts in your application and press the key just above your tab button. It will display the new rupee symbol of India. Try it
`
Rupee symbol creator honoured at being part of India's history
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6173050.cms?prtpage=1
15 Jul 2010, 2006 hrs IST,PTI

MUMBAI: "No words can explain my feeling....It is a great honour for me to be part of the Indian history," said a jubilant D Udaya Kumar who gave the Indian rupee its unique symbol. The 31-year-old IIT-B post graduate in industrial design also feels that his use of Devanagri script helped him clinch the coveted honours.

"Indianising the symbol was very important. I had to be simple and acceptable nationally and internationally. It had to reflect our culture and ethos," Kumar, who would be joining IIT (Guwahati) as Assistant Professor tomorrow, said. "My design is based on the tricolour, with two lines at the top and white space in between. I want our flag to fly high," Kumar said with a broad smile. With the union cabinet approving his design, the Indian rupee will join elite currencies like the US dollar, Euro, British Pound and Japanese Yen which have a distinct identity.

Kumar's entry was chosen from 3,000 designs competing for the currency symbol. He will get an award of Rs 2.5 lakh.

India unveils prototype of $35 tablet computer
Click here
ERIKA KINETZ, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | July 23, 2010 3:43 p.m.

MUMBAI, India - It looks like an iPad, only it's 1/14th the cost: India has unveiled the prototype of a $35 basic touchscreen tablet aimed at students, which it hopes to bring into production by 2011.

If the government can find a manufacturer, the Linux operating system-based computer would be the latest in a string of "world's cheapest" innovations to hit the market out of India, which is home to the 100,000 rupee ($2,127) compact Nano car, the 749 rupees ($16) water purifier and the $2,000 open-heart surgery.

The tablet can be used for functions like word processing, web browsing and video-conferencing. It has a solar power option too - important for India's energy-starved hinterlands - though that add-on costs extra. "This is our answer to MIT's $100 computer," human resource development minister Kapil Sibal told the Economic Times when he unveiled the device Thursday.

In 2005, Nicholas Negroponte - co-founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab - unveiled a prototype of a $100 laptop for children in the developing world. India rejected that as too expensive and embarked on a multiyear effort to develop a cheaper option of its own. Negroponte's laptop ended up costing about $200, but in May his non-profit association, One Laptop Per Child, said it plans to launch a basic tablet computer for $99.

Sibal turned to students and professors at India's elite technical universities to develop the $35 tablet after receiving a "lukewarm" response from private sector players. He hopes to get the cost down to $10 eventually.