4/2019

Pradeep S Mehta, Secretary General

I N S I D E

At 97, finally Goodenough toget a Nobel Prize

Working Incognito

Covering Flyovers

Google reaches quantumsupremacy

India’s youngest judge of 21years

P.S. Our gratitude to esteemed subscribers.

Andrew McAfee, the techno-optimist, tweeted in 2017 that theworld has reached peak children, which is to say that there will

be never more of them than there are now. To most of us in India,this fact was highlighted by former Chief Economic Adviser to theGovernment of India, Arvind Subrahmanian in his book Of Counsel:The Challenges of the Modi-Jaitley Economy. In a chapter dedicated tohis book on India’s demography, the author argues that while therest of the world is aging, India can still reap the demographicdividend.

With 35 percent of India’s population under the age of 25, India’s demographiccycle is 10-30 years behind that of other countries, such as China, South Korea andBrazil. This means that India still has some time to catch up with its per capita incomelevels.

But this will not happen automatically. Over the past few decades, we have seenjobless growth resulting in underinvestment in human capital. It is not as if it is onaccount of the State alone, the private sector is equally responsible. The currenteconomic slowdown is the grimmest reminder of this fatal error. At the heart of thisslowdown is a significant fall in consumption essentially emanating from the combinationof underemployment and unemployment. In other words, while labour force has beenconsistently increasing, productive work and wages have not.

Therefore, if India has to unleash its true growth potential it will have to unlockopportunities for its young demography. There is no other way but to put its ‘people’at the centre of economic policy thinking. This will entail a continuous process oftweaking both supply and demand-side factors to ensure that we remain competitivein what we produce while ensuring that incomes too rise progressively for most ofthe population.

Remember we are the only country in the world with billion-plus people in oneplace as part of one nation. But we are not yet an ‘economy’ of a billion people andfor so long we cannot provide our people with the opportunities to make aneconomy and engage with it, we will not have the dignity that we aspire for. We haveto remember that a nation’s dignity is the sum of the dignity of each one of itscitizens.

We have already lost a generation in the decades of jobless growth, we cannotlose another one. We simply cannot afford it. This is literally our last chance. Ouryoung demography is not here to stay forever.

Harnessing the demographicdividend in India

www.google.com

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Time Person of the Year for 2019Greta Thunberg,

a 16-year old, theSwedish schoolgirlwho inspired aglobal movement tofight climate change,has been namedTime magazine’sPerson of the Year

for 2019.In 2018, the teenager started an

environmental strike by missing lessonsto protest outside the Swedishparliament building. It sparked aworldwide movement that becamepopular with the hashtag#FridaysForFuture.

Since then, she has become a strongvoice for action on climate change,inspiring millions of students to joinprotests around the world. Shewas nominated as a candidate for theNobel Peace Prize. (Mint, 12.12.19)

Portrait of a LadyA painting believed to be a Gustav

Klimt, an Austrian symbolist painter,stolen almost 23 years ago has beendiscovered in a wall of the gallery itwent missing from.

‘Portrait of aLady’, one of theworld’s mosts o u g h t - a f t e rmissing artworks,was stolen in 1997from a modern artgallery in Piacenza,northern Italy. It has been valued ataround £50m.

After most experts had given uphope of it being recovered, a garden

worker clearing ivy from the gallery wallstumbled on a metal panel. Beneath itwas a recess concealed within, whichwas a black bag that contained whatappeared to be the missing painting.

(TG, 11.12.19)

Starving artist eats US$120K bananaA performance artist shook up the

crowd at the Art Basel show in MiamiBeach when hegrabbed abanana that hadbeen duct-tapedto a gallery walland ate it.

The bananawas, in fact, awork of art byItalian artist

Maurizio Cattelan entitled ‘Comedian’and sold to a French collector forUS$120,000.

Lucien Terras, Director of MuseumRelations for Galerie Perrotin stated thathe did not destroy the artwork. Thebanana is the idea. (ET, 09.12.19)

New WhatsApp ‘risk’ identifiedWhatsApp has identified a

vulnerability that could have beenexploited through a malicious MP4 file.India’s Computer Emergency ResponseTeam described the vulnerability’sseverity rating as ‘high’ and advised usersto update to the latest version ofWhatsApp.

The development comes afterWhatsApp sued Israeli company NSOgroup over the alleged misuse of theirspyware Pegasus that was installed inthe phones of 1,400 users, including atleast 120 Indians. (ET, 18.11.19)

Celebrating soccer after 40 yearsIranian women watched the

country’s national soccer team for thefirst time in 40 years, celebrating theirlong-awaited access to the nationalstadium but also paying tribute to the‘Blue Girl’ fan who died.

Women have been banned fromwatching men’s games in Iran sinceshortly after the 1979 Islamic revolutionwith only a few exceptions made forsmall groups on rare occasions.

(ToI, 11.10.19)

Don’t text while walkingA pedestrian looks at his cellphone

while standing at a traffic light in Zagreb,Croatia. As part of the ‘Day without

Cellphones in Zagreb’ campaign, a newtype of traffic light has been installed inthe Croatian capital, which sheds lighton the pavement just outside thepedestrian crossing to indicate red forthose pedestrians and cyclists who arecrossing the intersection but are soengrossed in their cell phone screensto look at the existing crossingindicators. (ToI, 15.10.19)

Working Incognito

Justice Ravindra Bhat, Judge of theSupreme Court of India used to travel

incognito to find out the truth, duringhis earlier avatar as the ChiefJustice of Rajasthan High Court. He would justwalk up to thesessions andtrial courtjudges, introducehimself and tryto find out theproblems. “Iam your ChiefJustice, let’s talkto understand problems in yourjurisdictions” Bhatt would say.The method turned out to be effectiveand things got streamlined.

(ET, 18.11.19)

At 97, finally Goodenoughto get a Nobel Prize

If one is reading this on a mobile phone or laptopcomputer, he/she might thank this year’s three

laureates for the Nobel Prize in chemistry for theirwork on lithium-ion batteries.

The prize went to John B Goodenough, 97, aGerman-born American Engineering Professor at theUniversity of Texas; M Stanley Whittingham, 77, aBritish- American Chemistry Professor at the State University of New York; andAkira Yoshino, 71, of Asahi Kasei Corp and Meijo University in Japan.

Goodenough is the oldest person ever to win a Nobeledging Arthur Ashkin,who was 96 when he won it for Physics in 2018. Goodenough still works everyday. (ToI, 10.10.19)

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Dying for a better lifeA South Korean service is offering

free funerals - but only to the living.More than 25,000 people have

participated in mass ‘living funeral’services at Hyowon Healing Centre sinceit opened in 2012, hoping to improvetheir lives by simulating their deaths.

Dozens took part in the event, fromteenagers to retirees, donning shrouds,taking funeral portraits, penning theirlast testaments, and lying in a closedcoffin for around 10 minutes.

(Reuters, 06.11.19)

Google reaches quantum supremacyGoogle claims to have built the first

quantum computer that can carry outcalculations beyond the ability of today’smost powerful supercomputers, alandmark moment that has been hotlyanticipated by researchers.

A paper by Google’s researchersclaimed that their processor was ableto perform a calculation in threeminutes and 20 seconds that would taketoday’s most advanced classicalcomputer, known as Summit,approximately 10,000 years.

The researchers said this meant the‘quantum supremacy’, when quantumcomputers carry out calculations thathad previously been impossible, hadbeen achieved. (FT, 20.09.19)

Shelter to 250 feral catsOn the outskirts of suburban Jakarta,

housewife Dita Agusta lives with morethan 250 cats she has taken in off thestreets, creating a shelter for the animals

she hopes will one day be adopted.She says she does not take in

healthy-looking cats, only ones thatneed help, and expects disabled catsto stay in her shelter forever. She alsoregularly walks throughout herneighbourhood putting down food forevery cat she encounters. (ToI, 23.12.19)

The race to eat ‘biggest burger’A Bangkok burger joint has become

an internet sensation after YouTubersstarted challenging each other to eatits biggest meal - a near 6kg (13 pounds)patty covered in fried onion rings, baconand mayonnaise.

Chris Steaks and Burgers is offeringa 10,000b a h t( $ 3 3 0 )prize fora n y o n ewho canfinish themammoth

snack in nine minutes - one baht forevery calorie. (Reuters, 31.10.19)

Bride finds another groomArriving late for the wedding proved

costly for a groom in Uttar Pradesh’sBijnor as the bride cancelled the matchand got married to another man fromher neighbourhood instead.

The couple got married at acommunity wedding in the village of

Nangaljat six weeksago but the girl didnot go to her in-laws’ house as boththe bride andgroom first wanteda formal ceremonyto take place.

The bride'sfamily accused the

groom and his father of demanding abicycle and cash, which they were notin a position to give. (ToI, 09.12.19)

Iconic ‘Nike’ gave a golden edgeTo some athletes, brands count for

everything when it comes toperformance.

Filipina schoolgirl Rhea Bullosbagged three gold medals at anathletics without wearing shoes, optinginstead to wrap her feet in tape anddraw an iconic Nike “swoosh” logo onthem.

Bullos, 11, was one of several onher team of 12 athletes who made theirown footwear because they had onlytwo pairs of running shoes betweenthem at the competition in the centralprovince of Iloilo. (Reuters, 14.12.19)

Anatomy lesson in a full bodysuitOne of the biggest challenges

teachers face in a classroom is capturingthe attention of their students andholding it. However, Verónica Duque hadno trouble getting her students to focuson a lesson about human anatomy aftershe showed up to class in quite a head-turning outfit.

Verónica, who has been teaching formore than 15 years, chose a veryinnovative means to make sure theyoung class would pay attention to theclass by wearing a skin-tight bodysuitthat showed the organs of the humanbody.

Her creative solution won theinternet’s seal of approval after herhusband gushed about the ‘volcano ofideas’ he is married to.

(www.mirror.co.uk, 23.12.19)

Covering Flyovers

Assam government has found aninnovative way to protect its

freshly painted flyovers and dividers.

They have been wrapped with plasticsheets to save them from dirt andspit. The flyovers and dividers inGuwahati have been spruced up forthe annual summit of PM Modi andhis Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.

(ET, 06.11.19)

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Polythene ban on paperThe blanket ban on polythene

bags in the state seems to be just onpaper, as shopkeepers and customerscontinue to use these bags withoutany fear of repercussions.

Rajasthan was declared a plastic-free zone since 2010 by the thenAshok Gehlot-led Congressgovernment. However, even after nineyears, plastic continues to form amajor portion of the garbage in thebins on roads, landfill sites andgarbage depots in the city.

Various drives have beenlaunched all over the state from timeto time to seize the plastic bags andfine the people using them.

(ToI, 10.10.19)

Households to get water connectionsRajasthan Chief Secretary D B

Gupta directed Public Health andEngineering Department’s officials totake up Jal Jeevan Mission as a targetso that every household in the stategets a connection of piped water.

Gupta said that waterconnections are to be issued in 98lakh houses under the mission inthe state. The availability of watershould be increased from 40 litresfor a person each day to 55 litres/person in villages.

The mission would beimplemented under the alreadyconstituted State Water andSanitation Mission. (ToI, 10.10.19)

Days of ghoonghat are overStressing on the importance of

women empowerment for nation-building, RajasthanChief MinisterAshok Gehlotsaid the custom of‘ghoonghat’ mustbe eradicated atthe earliest.

E x p r e s s i n gdispleasure at the practice ofcovering women’s faces with a‘ghoonghat’ or veil in some ruralareas, Gehlot said the custom belongsto a bygone era. He was speaking inJaipur at the 20th-anniversarycelebrations of Ekal Nari ShaktiSangathan, an NGO.

Gehlot also highlighted schemesand programmes of his governmentand launched a book based onwomen’s struggles. (IE, 06.11.19)

Formation of youth and eco clubsThe Rajasthan State Education

Department has issued orders forthe formation of youth and eco clubsin government-run schools for theoverall development of children.

Under these clubs, five houseswill be formed in each school inwhich students will perform groupactivities. The names of these housesare – Jal, Agni, Vayu, Prithvi andAkash. The principal will be the headof these clubs. (ToI, 18.11.19)

Waiting at airport porch extendedThe Airports Authority of India,

Jaipur has increased the porch timefrom 3 to 5 minutes. This is done onan experimental basis and if this newporch time would cause traffic jamsor congestion, they will again enforcethe previous timing.

The extension in the time hasbeen done bowing to the pressurefrom travellers and taxi drivers. Theyfeel that 3 minutes is very little timeto pick someone from the arrival ordrop someone at the departure.

(www.jaipurcityblog.com, 15.11.19)

By-laws for rooftop restaurantsThe Government of Rajasthan

has finally come up with a solutionfor the unregulated rooftoprestaurants and G+3 buildings in thestate.

After the by-laws on rooftoprestaurants are notified, all thereopened rooftop restaurants andothers will have to take the approvalof the Jaipur Municipal Corporation

(JMC) within three months fulfillingall the requirements.

It was decided that all the rooftoprestaurants will be constructed of atemporary structure using iron, steeland aluminum material and followingguidelines made by the NationalBuilding Code. (ToI, 23.11.19)

Luxury buses to be rented outIn a first, cash-strapped Rajasthan

State Roadways Corporation (RSRTC)decided to rent out its luxury busesfor a wedding, tourism, study, andreligious tours.

The RSRTC is just followingprivate players who are alreadyoffering these services and will helpit to boost earnings.

The express service buses werealready available on rent, however,the luxury buses, including Volvo andMercedes, would now be availableto people seeking a bus to travel fora marriage ceremony and otherpurposes. (ToI, 23.11.19)

India’s youngest judge of 21 years

Jaipur boy Mayank Pratap Singh, has made history bycracking the Rajasthan judicial services 2018 exam at

just 21 years of age, which has set him on the path ofbecoming the youngest judge in the country.

The original age requirement for appearing in thejudicial services exam was 23 years, which had beenreduced to 21 years by the Rajasthan High Court in 2019.

Singh said that it was a good move as it would help fill vacancies ofthe posts lying vacant and said it would also help him help more peoplethroughout his career. (IT, 21.11.19)

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City BriefsCity BriefsCity BriefsCity BriefsCity Briefs

Swachhta stickers distributedThe JMC introduced six types of

stickers to promote Swachhta. Thesestickers will be distributed amongrestaurant owners and hoteliers who

will be requested to paste it on theirproperties and delivery packages.

This is being done to promotethe message of cleanliness to earnget better ranking in SwachhtaSurvekshan – 2020. (ToI, 05.12.19)

Raj ranks low in innovationRajasthan has fared poorly in the

Niti Aayog’s Innovation Index 2019.The desert state has been placed at13 positions, among the bottom five,in the major states category.

The state’s below-parperformance on seven pillars, whichinclude five enablers and twoperformance indicators, underpins theimportance of improving theecosystem for innovation and growth.

(ToI, 19.10.19)

Mega Cricket Stadium gets a nodThe Jaipur Development

Authority (JDA) has earmarkedaround 35 hectares in Chop village

on the Jaipur-Delhi National Highwayfor developing a new stadium.

During the previous Congresstenure, the civic body had allottednearly 18.16 hectares to RCA inChop village in 2012. However, thethen BJP government cancelled theallotment in 2017 claiming that theacademy did not adhere to the termsand conditions. (ToI, 22.12.19)

Electric pyre at Chandpol soonThe electric crematorium at

Chandpol will become functionalthree years after it was establishedwith the JMC deciding to hand itover to a social welfare organisation.

The electric pyre was set up tocut down on the usage of wood.

Due to a lack of awareness amongpeople and technical issues, it waslying unused. (ToI, 04.12.19)

Govt. schools to grow veggies, fruitsThe Rajasthan state government

has directed the EducationDepartment officials to help schoolsgrow vegetables and fruits on their

campus to reduce the cost of middaymeals (MDM) and give students afirst-hand experience of gardening.

MDM is provided to all studentsfrom classes I to VIII studying in66,493 government schools acrossthe state. (DB, 12.12.19)

Jaipur Metro stations to be renamedMetro stations in the city may soon be named after big brands or

companies. On the lines of big cities, including Delhi, Jaipur Metro RailCorporation (JMRC) has planned togive branding and ‘semi-naming inrights’ to companies whose name mayappear as a prefix to a station’s name.

(ToI, 06.12.19)

Trial runs for I(B) metro corridorThe JMRC has expedited the

ongoing work on the Mansarovar-Chandpole metro to open it for publicuse by March 2020. To start with, internal tests on Phase I(B) metro wouldbe conducted to check the physical infringements with the underneathplatform and the tunnel. (www.pinkypost.com, 14.11.19)

Metro UpdatesHealthcare to go digital

Janta clinics are all set to redefinehealthcare facilities in the city as theHealth Department is roping inNGOs for paperless registration ofpatients as doctors will prescribemedicines on computerapplications.

A computerisedmachine will beinstalled at the Jantaclinic, on which apatient will file his/her details on his/her own or with a helper. Theprescription will go to pharmacistsdirectly online and the patients willget medicines. (ToI, 19.12.19)

E-waste Collection Bins in Jaipur: CUTS InitiativeIn India, Rajasthan stands as the 6th largest E-waste generator. CUTSin collaboration with Etco E-Waste Recycler Pvt. Ltd. has installed sixE-waste collection bins in Jaipur, which can be used to depositelectronic as well as electrical waste items. Given below are sixlocations of E-waste bins:1. D-218 A, Bhaskar Marg, Bani Park, Jaipur (CUTS International

office)2. D-117, Amababari, Jaipur (Etco E-Waste recycler Pvt. Ltd. office)3. Alankar Plaza, Main Gate, Ground Floor,

Vidhyadhar Nagar, Jaipur4. E-9, Gokhale Marg, C-Scheme, Jaipur (Mac Photo

Printers)5. G-202, Anand Chambers, Near Raiser Plaza,

Indra Bazar, Jaipur (Pure Tech Business System)6. H1- 240-243 & H1- 252-255, EPIP, RIICO Industrial

Area, Sitapura, Jaipur

CityMattersCityMattersCityMattersCityMattersCityMatters is a quarterly newsletter published by Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS), D-217, Bhaskar Marg, Bani Park, Jaipur 302016, India,Phone: 91.141.2282821, Fax: 91.141.2282485, Email: cuts@cuts.org, Web site: www.cuts-international.org, and printed by SGM Printers, Jaipur, India.

CUTS offices also at Kolkata, Chittorgarh and New Delhi (India); Lusaka (Zambia); Nairobi (Kenya); Accra (Ghana); Hanoi (Vietnam); Geneva (Switzerland) and Washington DC (USA).

Sources: DB; Dainik Bhaskar; ET: The Economic Times;IE: The Indian Express; IT: India Today; TG: The Guardian; ToI: Times of India

OpinionOpinionOpinionOpinionOpinion

The news/articles in this Newsletter are compressed from several newspapers. The sources given are to be used as a reference for further information, and do not indicatethe literal transcript of a particular news/story. CUTS International is a not-for-profit organisation and the listing of paid news/articles is for informative and educative purposes only.

‘Jan Aadhar Card’ will be applicablein Rajasthan from April 01, 2020

The Rajasthan government has made a formalannouncement to bring a new card ‘Jan Aadhaar’

to give benefits of various government schemes to thecitizens of the state. Jan Aadhaar scheme commencedon December 18, 2019 to mark the completion ofone year of Ashok Gehlot government’s tenure andthe same card will be validfrom April 01, 2020.

A senior official said that afterthe new ‘Jan Aadhaar Card’came into existence, the‘Bhamashah Card’ run by theprevious BJP government willbe closed. The official said thatthe process of issuing ‘JanAadhaar Card’ in place of theexisting ‘Bhamashah Card’ hasbeen started and it isexpected to be completed inthe next three months.

He said that the Jan Aadhaar card will be a unique10-digit number. Its registration can be done free ofcost by visiting Jan Aadhaar portal or e-friend. TheState’s Medical and Health Minister, Raghu Sharma saidafter the cabinet meeting, ‘Bhamashah card will bereplaced by March 31, 2020 in entire Rajasthan. Afterthat only Jan Aadhaar card will be useful. The Jan

Aadhar card number will be createdseparately. Bhamashah card number will not be usefulafter March 31, 2020.

It is noteworthy that the Bhamashah card was startedin 2014 by the then Vansudhara Raje government. In

this, the card is issued in thename of the woman of thefamily and the beneficiaries ofthe public distribution system,free medical, pension and allgovernment schemes areavailable to the beneficiarythrough this card. In this, thebenefit of cash goes directlyto the beneficiary’s bankaccount.

At the same time, CM Gehlothad said that in his budgetpresented in July, he will bring

Rajasthan Jan Aadhaar scheme. According to itsguidelines, under this, each family of the state will begiven a Jan Aadhaar card with a 10-digit familyidentification number. A woman of 18 years or morein the family will be made the head. If not female, then21 years or more will be male head.

The news item appeared in the Times of India onDecember 15, 2019.

A senior official said that

after the new ‘Jan Aadhaar

Card’ came into existence,

the ‘Bhamashah Card’ run

by the previous BJP

government will be closed.