9 PM Current Affairs Brief – October 9th, 2019

Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP)

News: Starting October 15, some stricter measures to fight air pollution will come into force in Delhi’s neighbourhood, as part of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

Facts:

• In pursuant with Supreme Court’s order in the M. C. Mehta vs. Union of India (2016) regarding air quality in National Capital Region of Delhi, the Graded Response Action Plan was notified by MoEFCC in 2017.
• Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) is a set of stratified actions that are taken once the pollution level reaches a certain specified limit. It works only as an emergency measure.
• Under GRAP, there are 4 stages of pollution – Moderate to Poor, Very Poor, Severe and Severe+ or Emergency and action are listed that need to be undertaken as the levels are breached. The categories have been made on the basis of PM 2.5 and PM 10 in the atmosphere.
• The GRAP is implemented by the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA).

Additional Information:

EPCA:

• It is a Supreme Court mandated body tasked with taking various measures to tackle air pollution in Delhi NCR.
• It was constituted in 1998 under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

Nobel Prize 2019

News: Nobel Prizes 2019 in Physics, Chemistry and Medicine have been declared.

Facts:

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019

• It was awarded jointly to William G. Kaelin Jr, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza.
• William Kaelin is at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Peter Ratcliffe is from University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and Gregg Semenza is at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.
• They have been awarded for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.

Nobel Prize in Physics 2019

• It was awarded jointly to James Peebles, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz
• Canadian-born James Peebles is an emeritus professor at Princeton University, Swiss scientists Michel Mayor, and Didier Queloz, are from the University of Geneva.
• They have been awarded for contributions to the understanding of the evolution of the universe and Earth’s place in the cosmos.
• James Peebles has been awarded for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology. Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz have been awarded for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019

• It has been awarded to John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino for the development of lithium-ion batteries.

Additional Information:

Nobel Prize

• The Nobel Prize is a set of annual international awards bestowed in several categories by Swedish and Norwegian institutions in recognition of academic, cultural, or scientific advances.
• The will of the Swedish chemist, engineer and industrialist Alfred Nobel established the Nobel prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine, peace and literature in 1895. The award for Economics was created by Sweden’s Central Bank in 1968.

National Nutrition Survey

News: The Government of India has released the first-ever comprehensive National Nutrition Survey.

Facts:

About the National Nutrition Survey:

• The survey has been conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to measure malnutrition.
• The survey recorded not only micronutrient deficiencies but also details of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol and kidney function in children and adolescents.

Key takeaways from the survey:

National Level:

• Nearly 10% of children in the age group of 5-9 years and adolescents in the age group of 10-19 years are pre-diabetic.
• Further, 5% of the children and adolescents in the same group are overweight and another 5% suffer from blood pressure.

Urban India:

• Malnutrition among children in urban India is characterised by relatively poor levels of breastfeeding, higher prevalence of iron and Vitamin D deficiency as well as obesity.
• In rural India, there is higher percentage of children suffering from stunting, underweight and wasting and lower consumption of milk products.
• 83% of children between 12 and 15 months continued to be breastfed, a higher proportion of children in this age group residing in rural areas are breastfed (85%) compared to children in urban areas (76%). Breastfeeding is inversely proportional to household wealth.
• Children and adolescents residing in urban areas also have a higher (40.6%) prevalence of iron deficiency compared to their rural counterparts (29%).
• Children in urban areas are also overweight and obese as indicated by subscapular skinfold thickness (SSFT) for their age.
• Wealthier households in urban areas and sedentary lifestyle of children may also be responsible for higher deficiency of Vitamin D in urban areas (19%) as compared to rural areas (12%).

Rural India:

• Among children aged 1-4 years, zinc deficiency is more common in rural areas (20%) compared to urban areas (16%).
• Rural areas also witness higher prevalence of stunting (37% in rural versus 27% in urban), underweight (36% in rural versus 26% in urban) and severe acute malnutrition (34.7% in rural areas for children in 5-9 years versus 23.7% in urban areas and 27.4% in urban areas for adolescents in 10-19 years versus 32.4% in rural areas).

Additional information:

UNICEF

• UNICEF stands for United Nations Children’s Fund. It was created by the United Nations General Assembly in 1946.It is headquartered in New York, USA.
• It is a special program of the United Nations (UN) devoted to aiding national efforts to improve the health, nutrition, education, and general welfare of children.

Note: Stunting- low height for age, Wasting- low weight compared to height, Underweight- low weight for age. Malnutrition includes both under and over nutrition.

Hindu Kush Mountains

News: India Meteorological Department (IMD) will collaborate with meteorological agencies in China and Pakistan, among others, to provide climate forecast services to countries in Hindu Kush Mountain region. It will be under the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

Facts:

• The Hindu Kush and Himalayan Range (HKH) is famously known as the earth’s “third pole” as it forms the largest area of permanent ice cover outside of the North and South Poles.
• The HKH region spans Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
• It is the source of ten major rivers, and is particularly sensitive to climate change. According to Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment, 36% of the glaciers along in the Hindu Kush and Himalaya range (HKH) could melt by 2100 even if global temperature rise is limited to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

Additional Information:

World Meteorological Organization (WMO):

• It is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 192 Member States and Territories. It is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) for meteorology, operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences.
• It was established by the ratification of the WMO Convention on 23 March 1950. It is headquartered at Geneva, Switzerland.
• It originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was established after the 1873 Vienna International Meteorological Congress.

Green Channel

News:The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has given its approval under the ‘green channel’ route to acquisition of Essel Mutual Fund by BAC Acquisitions Pvt Ltd, a Sachin Bansal-owned entity.

Facts:

About Green Channel:

• The green channel concept was recommended by the high level panel that reviewed the competition law.
• The Green Channel allows for automatic approval for certain Mergers and Acquisitions(M&As) or combinations based on specified criteria and pre-filing consultation.
• The process is aimed at sustaining and promoting a speedy, transparent and accountable review of combination cases to create a culture of compliance and support economic growth.
• Under the framework, green channel approvals can be availed in combinations where there are (a)no horizontal overlaps (b)no existing or potential vertical relationships and (c)no complementary business activities between the combining parties in which any of the combining parties hold shares or have control.

Additional information:

About Competition Commission of India(CCI):

• Competition Commission of India is a statutory body of the Government of India established in 2003.
• It is responsible for enforcing the Competition Act,2002 throughout India and to prevent activities that have an appreciable adverse effect on competition in India.
• CCI consists of a Chairperson and 6 Members appointed by the Central Government.
• The act prohibits (a)anti-competitive agreements (b)abuse of dominant position by enterprises and (c)regulates combinations (acquisition, acquiring of control and mergers and acquisitions) which causes or likely to cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition within India.

Global Competitiveness Index

News:The Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) compiled by the World Economic Forum(WEF) has been released.

Facts:

About the Global Competitiveness Index(GCI):

• The Global Competitiveness Index is released by the World Economic Forum(WEF).
• It was launched in 1979.It ranks the competitiveness landscape of 141 economies through 103 indicators organised into 12 pillars.
• These 12 pillars are (1) Institutions (2) Infrastructure (3) ICT adoption (4) Macroeconomic stability (5) Health (6) Skills (7) Product market (8) Labour market (9) Financial system (10) Market size (11) Business dynamism and (12) Innovation capability.

Key takeaways from the index:

• Singapore has replaced the US as the world’s most competitive country. The US was positioned at 2nd place and was followed by Hong Kong at third place and Netherlands and Switzerland at 4th and 5th places respectively. 
• China was ranked at 28th position and was the highest ranked among BRICS nations.Vietnam showed higher improvements in the region and was ranked at 67.
• The report has also said that Asia Pacific was the most competitive region globally.It was followed by Europe and North America.

India’s ranking:

• India has moved down 10 places to rank 68th in 2019 from 58th in 2018 on the global competitiveness index.
• The index has flagged limited ICT (information, communications and technology) adoption, poor health conditions and low healthy life expectancy as the reasons.
• India is also among the worst-performing BRICS nations along with Brazil which is ranked even lower than India at 71st this year.
• In the overall ranking, India is followed by some of its neighbours including Sri Lanka at 84th place, Bangladesh at 105th, Nepal at 108th and Pakistan at 110th place.

Other key findings of the report on India:

• India was ranked high at 15th place in terms of corporate governance, while it is ranked second globally for shareholder governance.
• In terms of the market size, India is ranked third and has the same rank for renewable energy regulation.
• Besides, India has also punched above its development status when it comes to innovation which is well ahead of most emerging economies and on par with several advanced economies.
• According to the report, India also needs to work on its skill base, market efficiency, trade openness and worker protection rights.
• The ratio of female workers to male workers in India was 0.26.It was ranked at 128th place and was very low as compared to certain other developing countries.

Additional information:

World Economic Forum(WEF)

• WEF was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva,Switzerland.
• The objective of WEF is to improve the state of the world by engaging business,political,academic and other leaders of society to shape global,regional and industry agendas.
• Some of the most significant reports published by the WEF are (a)Global Competitiveness Report (b)Global Gender Gap Report (c)Global Risks Report and (d)Global Travel and Tourism Report among others.

Modi-Xi summit

News:The second informal summit between the Indian Prime Minister and Chinese President will be held in Mamallapuram,Tamil Nadu.

Facts:

About Mamallapuram:

• Mamallapuram also known as Seven Pagodas of Mahabalipuram is a town in Chengalpattu district in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.It was one of two major port cities during Pallava rule.
• The town has a collection of 7th and 8th century religious monuments that has been declared as a UNESCO World Heritage sites.
• Some important structures includes  (a)Thirukadalmallai (b)descent of the Ganges (c)Varaha Cave Temple and (d)Pancha Rathas(Five Chariots).
• Mamallapuram has several archaeological evidences which shows that trade links existed between India and China since ancient times. 

Evidences:

• The Celadon ware (pottery) that were recovered from the eastern coast of Tamil Nadu belonged to first and second centuries.They give clues to Chinese maritime activities. 
• Along with Mamallapuram,Kancheepuram district in Tamil Nadu also had links with China.Chinese coins dating to the same period were found in kancheepuram.
• Chinese monk Hiuen Tsang visited Kancheepuram in the seventh century AD to understand more about Buddhism.
• Emperor Wei (185 – 149 BC) had sent several gifts to the rulers of Tamil Nadu.
• The ancient poems “Pattinappalai” that was written in Sangam period (1st to 6th century BC) cites anchorage of Chinese ships in the east coast of Tamil Nadu. 
• The Chinese text Han Annals written in the same period as that of Sangam period has reference to the Tamil country. 

Rafale fighter jet

News:Defence Minister has formally received the Indian Air Force’s first Rafale fighter jet from a series of 36 such aircraft purchased from France.

Facts:

• In 2016,Indian government had inked a direct deal with the French government to purchase 36 new Rafale fighter jet.

About Rafale fighter jet:

• Rafale is a twin-engine medium multi-role combat aircraft.It is manufactured by the French company Dassault Aviation.
• The Rafale is referred to as an ‘omnirole’ aircraft by Dassault. It is the capability to perform several actions at the same time. It can carry out both air-to-ground as well as air-to-air attacks.
• The aircraft is also fitted with an on-board oxygen generation system (OBOGS).It suppresses the need for liquid oxygen refilling or ground support for oxygen production.
• Rafale also provides standoff capability when any country attacks India. An active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar enables the pilot to look 200 to 400 kms away.
• The aircraft also has Situational awareness capability in which Aircraft has got those sensors which enable the pilot to be aware situationally and detect the enemy Aircraft for which the Rafale has AESA radar.

India International Cooperative Trade Fair

News:A three-day India International Cooperative Trade Fair will be held in New Delhi from 11th October,2019.

Facts:

About the India International Cooperative trade fair:

• The trade fair is aimed at promoting cooperative-to-cooperative trade within India and abroad leading to enhanced rural and farm prosperity.
• It is a unique initiative for taking farmers, artisans & other members of cooperatives directly to the global trade platform.
• It is being conducted by the National Cooperative Development Corporation(NCDC) with the support of Network for the Development of Agricultural Cooperatives(NEDAC), Ministries, State Governments and several apex level Indian cooperative organizations.

Significance of trade fair:

• The Cooperative sector has a big role to play in doubling agriculture exports from present US $ 30 billion to US$ 60 billion+ by 2022 as envisaged in the Agriculture Export Policy.
• An estimated 94% of the Indian farmers are members of at least one cooperative institution.
• Hence, the trade fair would be a major platform to promote exports by cooperatives with direct benefits to their members who are mainly farmers, artisans, women,SC /ST among others.

Additional information:

About NCDC:

• National Cooperative Development Corporation(NCDC) was established by an Act of Parliament in 1963 as a statutory Corporation under Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. 
• It has many regional centres to provide financial assistance to Cooperatives or Societies or Federations.

About NEDAC:

• The Network for the Development of Agricultural Cooperatives in Asia and the Pacific is a unique regional forum linking 21 apex cooperative organizations in 12 countries.
• It was set up in 1991 by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO)’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) and the International Labour Organization (ILO).
• The NEDAC member organizations include Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

India helps Mongolia for its first petrochemical refinery

News:India’s oil minister is in Mongolia for the commissioning of the construction of country’s first petrochemical refinery.

Facts:

About refinery project:

• The Mongol refinery project is the largest project undertaken by the government of India under its Lines of Credit (LoC) programme.
• State-run Engineers India Ltd(SEIL) is the project management consultant for the development of the oil refinery.
• The project is expected to be built by 2022 at an approximate cost of $1.25 billion.
• The capacity of the refinery will be 1.5 million metric tons per annum, with diesel and gasoline as the primary products and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), fuel oil and jet fuel being produced as secondary products. 

Significance of the project:

• Mongolia has its own oil fields producing enough crude for its requirements. 
• However,almost all of its crude oil is exported and all of its finished petrochemical products are imported.
• Hence,the refinery project is expected to cut some of Mongolia’s fuel import dependence.

Additional information:

About line of credit:

• The Line of Credit is not a grant but a ‘soft loan’ provided on concessional interest rates to developing countries which has to be repaid by the borrowing government.  
• The projects under LOCs are spread over different sectors such as Agriculture, Infrastructure, Telecom, Railway, power among others.

Govt sets up high-level panel to check money laundering activities

News:Government has set up a 19-member Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee for better cooperation among government departments to curb money laundering.

Facts:

About the committee:

• The committee will be chaired by the revenue secretary.
• It will have four other government secretaries of the departments of financial services, economic affairs, corporate affairs and external affairs who will be members of the group.It will also have representation from intelligence and regulatory agencies.
• The committee will be tasked with operational cooperation between the government, law enforcement agencies, the Financial Intelligence Unit and other regulators. 
• It will also ensure policy cooperation and consultations across authorities, and will develop policies to counter money laundering and terror funding.

Additional information:

About Money laundering:

• Money laundering is the process by which large amounts of illegally received money is given the appearance of having originated from a legitimate source.
• In India,the money laundering is regulated by the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002(PMLA) which came into force in 2005.
• The act defines money laundering offence and provides for the freezing, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds of crime.
• The provisions of this act are applicable to all financial institutions like banks, mutual funds, insurance companies, and their financial intermediaries.
• The act was amended thrice, first in 2005, then in 2009 and 2012. PMLA(Amendment) Act, 2012 has enlarged the definition of money laundering by including activities such as concealment, acquisition, possession and use of proceeds of crime as criminal activities.

C40 cities climate summit

News:Ministry of External Affairs(MEA) has not granted the mandatory travel clearance to Delhi Chief Minister for the C40 World Mayors Summit at Copenhagen.

Facts:

About C-40:

• C40 is a network of the world’s megacities taking action to address climate change.
• It is a group of 94 cities around the world that represents one-twelfth of the world’s population and one-quarter of the global economy.
• The summit was launched in London in 2005 when the then London Mayor convened representatives from 18 megacities.
• C40 supports cities to collaborate effectively, share knowledge and drive meaningful, measurable and sustainable action on climate change.
• The aim of the summit is also to show how cities are delivering their strong commitments for healthier, sustainable, resilient and inclusive future.

Explained: Why Urdu is an Indian language, not a foreign one

News:Recently, Punjab University had proposed to merge the Department of Urdu language with school of foreign languages to be set up after merging departments of French, Russian, German, Chinese and Tibetan.

Facts:

Origin of Urdu language:

• According to the historical references, the origin of Urdu had taken place in Punjab state of India several centuries back.
• Before it is called Urdu,it was familiar with other names including Hindustani, Hindavi, Dehlavi and Rekhta.
• The poet Ameer Khusro in his book ‘Ghurrat-ul- Kamal’ had written that Masood Lahori a renowned poet born in Lahore in 11th century had composed poetry in Hindavi(Urdu) which is also called Dehlavi.
• Further,historians have said that Urdu had developed and flourished in Delhi during the period of ‘Delhi Sultanate’ from the 12th to the 16th century.
• It then developed during the period of ‘Mughal Empire’ in Delhi from the 16th century to 19th century.

Similarity with Punjabi Shahmukhi language:

• Urdu language is written from right to left and the same was the case of Punjabi Shahmukhi language which was also written right to left.
• Despite its Persian script,Urdu is an Indian language because several Indian languages like Punjabi Shahmukhi language is also written in Persian Script.

Urdu’s official status in India:

• Urdu is one of the officials’ languages under the Constitution of India.It is among the 15 Indian Languages written on the Indian Currency notes.
• It is also one of the official languages in states like Kashmir, Telangana, UP, Bihar, New Delhi and West Bengal.
• In Punjab,all old records in the Revenue Department are available in Urdu language only.
• However,post-independence much attention was not given to the urdu language and several states where Urdu was a compulsory subject in school curriculum was removed.

Informal Summits

News:Chinese President’s proposed visit to India for the second Informal Summit is scheduled to take place in the Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu on October 11-12.

Facts:

About Informal summit:

• Informal Summits act as supplementary exchanges to annual Summits and other formal exchanges such as the G20 Summit, EU-India Summit and the BRICS Summit among others.
• Informal Summits may not take place on a fixed annual or biennial schedule.
• They are impromptu in the sense that they take place when a need for them is perceived by the concerned nations.
• Informal summit allows for direct and free exchange of views between countries which may not be possible to do through formal bilateral and multilateral meetings as they are agenda driven where specific issues are discussed.
• China is not the only country with which India has had an Informal Summit. 
• In May 2018,India had met Russia’s President for their first Informal Summit to discuss international matters in a broad and long-term perspective.

Significance of informal summit:

• Informal summits allows for quietly discussing contentious issues away from the media glare and publicity.
• The absence of any formal joint communique also enables each side to spell out its own impressions of any outcomes.
• It also allows leaders to meet informally in order to know and understand each other better.

Draft social security code

News:Government of India has circulated the Draft social security code.

Facts:

Highlights of the code:

• The draft code has proposed that the Central Government shall formulate and notify social security schemes for unorganised workers on matters relating to life and disability cover, health, pension among others.
• The code has also proposed to offer a slew of benefits from provident funds to health cover, accident insurance and education for children of informal and gig workers.
• The code says that the state governments may also unveil schemes related to provident fund, employment injury benefits, housing, educational schemes for children, skill upgradation for workers among others.
• The code also says that every woman is entitled to the payment of maternity benefit for the period of her actual absence.It includes the period immediately preceding the day of her delivery and the period immediately following her delivery.
• The Code on Social Security once in place will also merge the eight existing labour laws.
• The code also proposes the Corporatization of Employment provident fund organisation(EPFO) and Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).
• This means that the labour minister, labour secretary and the central PF commissioner and Director General of ESIC may not be by default the head of such organizations.

Flaws in the code:

• The code talks about social security but does not specify how universal social security will be achieved. 
• It talks about insurance, provident fund and other benefits for gig workers but fails to clarify who is responsible for providing them.
• The code has also avoided the ambiguities over the basic criteria for availing social security benefits such as the minimum number of employees in an organisation and length of service.
• The code is also unclear on how the proposed Corporatization ESIC and EPFO is a better alternative.

Statue of Unity set to host Narendra Modi’s event

News:The Statue of Unity will be hosting a set of events till October 31 which is Sardar Patel’s birth anniversary.

Facts:

About the programme:

• The programmes are planned by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
• It will include all probationer IAS, IPS, IFS and IRS office officers, top secretaries of the Government of India, World Bank President among others.
• The prominent theme of a programme is on “How to make India a $5­ trillion economy by 2024”.
• The programme will be addressed by the World Bank President who will speak to the probationers about the global economic situation.

Additional information:

Statue of Unity:

• The Statue of Unity is a memorial to Sardar Vallabhai Patel.It was inaugurated on 31st October 2018 in commemoration to Sardar Patel on his 143rd birth anniversary.
• It is situated in the Kevadia town,Narmada district Gujarat. It has been built on the Sadhu Bet Island, on the Narmada River.
• It is the tallest statue in the world with a height of 182 mts.

About Sardar Patel:

• Sardar Vallabhai Patel popularly known as the Iron Man of India served as the first home minister of independent India. 
• He is credited with integrating the more than 500 disparate princely States into the Dominion of India.
• He is also remembered as the patron saint of India’s civil servants for having established the modern all-India services system.

Global Competitiveness Index

News:The Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) compiled by the World Economic Forum(WEF) has been released.

Facts:

About the Global Competitiveness Index(GCI):

• The Global Competitiveness Index is released by the World Economic Forum(WEF).
• It was launched in 1979.It ranks the competitiveness landscape of 141 economies through 103 indicators organised into 12 pillars.
• These 12 pillars are (1) Institutions (2) Infrastructure (3) ICT adoption (4) Macroeconomic stability (5) Health (6) Skills (7) Product market (8) Labour market (9) Financial system (10) Market size (11) Business dynamism and (12) Innovation capability.

Key takeaways from the index:

• Singapore has replaced the US as the world’s most competitive country. The US was positioned at 2nd place and was followed by Hong Kong at third place and Netherlands and Switzerland at 4th and 5th places respectively. 
• China was ranked at 28th position and was the highest ranked among BRICS nations.Vietnam showed higher improvements in the region and was ranked at 67.
• The report has also said that Asia Pacific was the most competitive region globally.It was followed by Europe and North America.

India’s ranking:

• India has moved down 10 places to rank 68th in 2019 from 58th in 2018 on the global competitiveness index.
• The index has flagged limited ICT (information, communications and technology) adoption, poor health conditions and low healthy life expectancy as the reasons.
• India is also among the worst-performing BRICS nations along with Brazil which is ranked even lower than India at 71st this year.
• In the overall ranking, India is followed by some of its neighbours including Sri Lanka at 84th place, Bangladesh at 105th, Nepal at 108th and Pakistan at 110th place.

Other key findings of the report on India:

• India was ranked high at 15th place in terms of corporate governance, while it is ranked second globally for shareholder governance.
• In terms of the market size, India is ranked third and has the same rank for renewable energy regulation.
• Besides, India has also punched above its development status when it comes to innovation which is well ahead of most emerging economies and on par with several advanced economies.
• According to the report, India also needs to work on its skill base, market efficiency, trade openness and worker protection rights.
• The ratio of female workers to male workers in India was 0.26.It was ranked at 128th place and was very low as compared to certain other developing countries.

Additional information:

World Economic Forum(WEF)

• WEF was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva,Switzerland.
• The objective of WEF is to improve the state of the world by engaging business,political,academic and other leaders of society to shape global,regional and industry agendas.
• Some of the most significant reports published by the WEF are (a)Global Competitiveness Report (b)Global Gender Gap Report (c)Global Risks Report and (d)Global Travel and Tourism Report among others.