CSSP Talk on "Role of Biomedical Research in Public Health: Nepal Perspective" by Dr Sameer M Dixit, Nepal | 2nd September, 3.00 p.m.

Centre for Studies in Science Policy

School of Social Sciences, JNU

 

Invites you to

 

Talk on

Role of Biomedical Research in Public Health: Nepal Perspective

by

Dr Sameer M Dixit

Founder Director of Research

Center for Molecular Dynamics Nepal (CMDN)

Venue:  Room No. 227, 2^nd Floor, SSS-1

Time:   3.00 p.m.

Date: Friday, 2^nd September 2016

 

Abstract: Biomedical (or laboratory-based, basic science-driven) (BM) research is no longer a novel or an ignored field of public health (PH) in member countries of the SAARC region. However, as compared to big scientific powerhouses globally, Nepal has a long way to go to make BM research mainstream in the PH sector. Understanding of the pathogens that cause certain diseases, and also issues of human immunity that play roles in both communicable and non-communicable diseases (NCDs- such as cancers, diabetes etc.) is an integral part of BM research. In Nepal, there appears to be a changing trend of approach to BM research in terms of human resource involved and the technology/infrastructure available to carry out those research activities. Medical and nonmedical sectors are now showing active participation in carrying out BM research in the country. Yet, challenges remain to effectively utilize the knowledge of BM research as well as use of this research to support ongoing disease surveillance in the country. This talk discusses these issues and briefly showcases the role of a research institution based in Nepal- which is now generating interest in the country (and also outside) in this field of science and public health.

 

All are welcome to attend the lecture.

Coordinators, CSSP Lecture Series

Listen to the Lecture: JNU AlumniAffairs Lecture on "Renewable Energy: A Paradigm Shift in India" delivered by Upendra Tripathy, Secretary, MNRE

Office of the Alumni Affairs cordially invited you to a lecture by 

JNU alumnus, Mr. Upendra Tripathy

Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India 

on

"Renewable Energy: A Paradigm Shift in India"

on Monday 29 August, 2016 at JNU Convention Centre, India

Listen to the Lecture.

NSSO releases "Key Indicators of Household Expenditure on Services and Durable Goods"

NSSO releases "Key Indicators of Household Expenditure on Services and Durable Goods"

The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has released the report titled "Key Indicators of Household Expenditure on Services and Durable Goods" based on the related information collected during July, 2014 to June 2015 as part of NSS 72nd Round.  This survey on household expenditure on services and durable goods was the first focused survey of its kind undertaken by National Sample Survey Office.   
The survey was designed to collect some demographic particulars, detailed information on household expenditure on transport, miscellaneous consumer services, food expenditures incurred in hotel & restaurants, expenditure on repair & maintenance services availed, hotel lodging charges, and on durable goods other than those used exclusively for entrepreneurial activity in India through a nationwide household survey.
As household expenditure on services forms an important part of Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE), this focused survey is expected to provide improved estimates of household expenditure on the services as compared to the same based on data collected through usual Consumer Expenditure Survey. Also, in this survey, an attempt has been made to apportion the expenditure by the households on durable goods, when the durables are used both for household consumptions and enterprises.
The survey covered the whole of the Indian Union. The results of the survey are based on the sample, canvassed by NSSO, consisting of 7,969 villages and 6,048 urban blocks, spread over all States and Union Territories of the country. The schedule was canvassed in 47,535 households in rural areas and 36,065 households in urban areas during the period July, 2014 –June, 2015.
Some key findings on various aspects of Household Expenditure on Services and Durable Goods in the country as obtained from the survey during July, 2014 - June, 2015 are as follows:

I. Transport Services

• Bus / Tram is the most reported means of transport both in rural and urban areas. About 66% households in rural areas and 62% households in urban areas reported expenditure on this particular mode. The next most reported means of transport was Auto Rickshaw (about 38% rural households and about 47% urban households). Taxi, Railways and Rickshaw are the other major modes of transport both in rural and urban areas as reported by the households.
• Expenditures on Bus / Tram, Auto Rickshaw, Taxi and Train account for more than 90% of the total expenditure on Transport both in rural and urban areas.  Expenditure share of railways as mode of transport contributes much higher proportion in urban areas (12.54%) than that in rural areas (4.41%).
• Among different modes of transport, monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) on Bus/Tram is highest both in rural (₹ 43.43) and urban (₹ 94.89) India.

II. Miscellaneous Consumer Services

• Under this miscellaneous group, 14 broad services were considered.  These included  domestic services, barber & beauty shops, TV & radio services, laundry, dry cleaning, etc., repair & maintenance, communication, religious services, recreational & cultural services, funeral/ burial/ cremation-related services, business services, services incidental to transport, tailoring services and sewage disposal & sanitation, other services not elsewhere covered.
• In both rural and urban areas, about 90% or more households reported expenditure on barber & beauty shops and communication services.  In case of budget-share of different types of miscellaneous services in rural areas, communication services accounted for the highest share (25.33%) followed by barber & beauty shops (11.07%), TV & radio services (10.58%), repair & maintenance (10.27%)  & tailoring services (10.18%).  In urban areas, communication services again accounted for highest share of budget (26.33%) followed by domestic services (12.11 %), TV & radio services (10.22%) and recreational & cultural services (9.95%).
• In terms of monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) also, highest expenditure was found on communication services amounting to ₹ 36.35 and ₹ 102.46 in rural and urban areas respectively.

III. Other Services

• Certain other services like repairs and maintenance of  some selected items, Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC), hotel lodging and other selected services, which are not covered in the earlier section are considered here under the broad head "repair & maintenance of selected items, hotel lodging charges, etc ". All food expenditures in hotels and restaurants were considered under the broad head "food expenditure in hotels "
• In terms of monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE), expenditure on "repair & maintenance of selected items, hotel lodging charges, etc." was ₹ 55.77 and ₹ 88.28 in rural and urban areas respectively.  On the other hand, the expenditure on "food expenditure in hotels" was ₹ 68.48 and ₹ 178.00 in rural and urban areas respectively.

IV. Durable goods

• The durable goods were grouped into 13 major broad groups, namely, transport equipment, heating, cooling and electricity generation devices, kitchen equipment, equipment for recreation, crockery and utensils, furniture and fixtures, other machines for household work, IT and communication devices, electrical and lighting accessories, productive equipment, sports and medical equipment, miscellaneous durables and jewellery and ornaments.
• The pattern of expenditure on different durable goods and their overall contribution in absolute terms, separately for those purchased for mainly using it for enterprise purpose and domestic purpose in the households having Non-agricultural Enterprise (NAE) was studied.
• In rural area, the share of budget spent on a particular durable group with reference to total expenditure on durables is highest for transport equipment (about 83%), when the purchase was done mainly for using it for enterprise purpose.  The expenditure on each durable group of i) heating, cooling and electricity generation devices ii) IT & communication devices and iii) productive equipment separately accounted for about 4% of budget share.  All other durable groups, except furniture & fixtures (1.6%)   accounted for very little expenditure (each less than 1% in budget share).  When the main purpose of use was for domestic purpose, though the highest budget share was in respect of transport equipment (about 45%), a notably high budget share of about 23% was observed on jewellery and ornaments followed by heating, cooling and electricity generation devices and IT and communication devices (both having a share of about 7% each), and furniture and fixtures (about 5.6%).
• In the urban area, almost similar pattern was observed except the fact that a high share of budget, next to transport equipment, was found for heating, cooling and electricity generation devices (about 7.9%) and for IT and communication devices (7.8%) when the main purpose was for enterprise. When the main purpose was for domestic use, high share of budget, next to transport equipment, was on jewellery and ornaments (18%) followed by IT & Communication (9.9%) and heating, cooling and electricity generation devices (8.1%).
• In terms of absolute values of monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) on all durable goods by the households having Non Agricultural Enterprise (NAE), a total expenditure of ₹ 436.85 and ₹ 1468.69 were observed for the main purpose of enterprise and domestic use respectively in rural areas.  In urban areas, these values were ₹ 379.63 and ₹ 2601.54 respectively.

The publication based on above cited Key Indicators is available on the website of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
Source: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=146590

Download Full-text PDF (Open Access)

ICT in Supporting Teaching and Learning in Underserved Areas: Special and Last Edition UNESCO Office in Bangkok

The ICT in Education Newsletter, August 2016, is now available. Please feel free to forward it to members of your networks.  To view online, click here.

 

ICT in Education website | Contact Us ICT in Supporting Teaching and Learning in Underserved Areas: Special and Last Edition August 2016 | UNESCO Bangkok Office   Dear readers, It's been a pleasure to release e-newsletter editions for all of our enthusiastic readers over the past 10+ years. With this August 2016 edition as our last issue, the newsletter will be discontinued and merged into the UNESCO Bangkok Education e-Newsletter to be launched in November 2016.  Along with the special articles to be featured in the new UNESCO Bangkok Education e-Newsletter, we hope to continue reaching out to our readers through social network platforms. Please join us, support us and follow us on our Facebook page and Twitter, which will be more regularly updated with the latest information, events, interesting articles, and other announcements from our team.   © Flickr/Bread for the World Please note that all of our subscribers will be automatically re-subscribed to the unified UNESCO Bangkok Education e-Newsletter. Of course, you will have the option to unsubscribe once the first Education edition is out. As this is our last edition, we wanted to end it on an important focus of teaching and learning in underserved areas, as our aim is continuously to empower and provide quality education to all, regardless of their geographic, social and economic status. Teachers' role in this regard cannot be overstated in achieving quality education for all; yet, there is still much work to be done to support them and their environments, as they represent a profession that is devoted to teaching our future generations, especially in marginalized and remote areas. On the final note, our team would like to extend a special thank you once again to all of our readers and donors for your invaluable feedback and interest in the past newsletters, which not only helped evolve our newsletter to the current form, but served as a learning opportunity for us all, challenged us to reach new heights, and motivated us to do better! If you haven't already, please like our page on Facebook and Twitter to follow what our team is doing, what topics we are working on, and what is going on in the world and Asia-Pacific in regard to ICT in Education! Hope to see you all at our events and projects! We hope you enjoy reading this edition! Highlights:  ICT in Supporting Teaching and Learning in Underserved Areas (by UNESCO Bangkok, APEID) This article provides a UNESCO perspective, mandate, policies and projects on reaching, supporting, and providing equalizing opportunities for quality education for marginalized and hard-to-reach communities in Asia-Pacific.  Promising Uses of Technology in Education in Poor, Rural and Isolated Communities Around the World (by Michael Trucano, Senior ICT and Education Specialist, World Bank) This article looks at the challenges of effectively utilizing ICTs in remote and low income communities around the world, provides lessons learned and recommendations on what to consider when planning such projects in developing countries and underserved areas.   Programmes and Projects:  Teacher Support through Distance Education in Rural Areas: A Case from Western China (by Ge Yi and Zhao Yuchi, UNESCO International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education) This article shares the SNU's strides in supporting in-service training of school teachers in rural areas through distance education with the aim of addressing the underdeveloped educational infrastructure, limited resources, and shortage of qualified teachers in Yulin city.   Reducing Education Divide through Multimedia Classroom (by Md. Afzal Hossain Sarwar, Education Innovation, Access to Information [a2i] Programme, Prime Minister's Office, Bangladesh) This article features the Bangladesh government-led programme to improve and modernize the country's education system through multimedia classrooms in every school across the country.   Mobile Ger Kindergartens This UNICEF Mongolia and Save the Children UK project (supported by the Mongolian Ministry of Education and Science) aims to support hard-to-reach nomadic children by traveling to these areas equipped with teaching materials, toys, meals, and more, taking place inside 'ger's'.   Burmese Migrant Workers' Education Committee (BMWEC) Learning Centres This community-based organization provides education opportunities for migrant youth and internally displaced persons through a network of 25 learning centres along the Thai-Burmese border.   "Digital Rainbow" project (The Shilpa Sayura Foundation) Through the World Bank and Microsoft ICT outreach partnership, the initiative provided grants to NGOs to develop innovative solutions to tackle youth employment and provide training in new technologies in South Asia.   "Broad Class-Listen to Learn" Interactive Radio Instruction Program This radio program in Pakistan aims to broaden access to education for young children of marginalized public schools in Islamabad by using radio instruction to deliver English lessons, literacy, numeracy and life skills as well as teaching materials.  News and Events:  Central Asia Symposium on ICT in Education (CASIE) 2016: Unleashing the Potential of ICT for Skills Development (27-29 June 2016, Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan) This article provides an overview of CASIE 2016, one of the unique UNESCO Bangkok policy platforms for Central Asian republics to deliberate on educational issues at hand, share best practices, and promote collaboration.   International Literacy Day (8 September 2016) This year's event marks the 50th anniversary of the International Literacy Day, and invites governments, multi- and bilateral organizations, NGOs, private sectors, teachers, learners, and others to join in to celebrate this worldwide event. International Literacy Prizes will also be awarded to individuals with outstanding and innovative projects that drive literacy towards achieving Education 2030.   5th UNESCO-APEID Meeting on Entrepreneurship Education - Transforming Entrepreneurs: From Job Seekers to Job Givers (26-29 September 2016, Jakarta and Bandung, Indonesia) To address the high global unemployment rates, this meeting aims to explore innovative and enterprising solutions to address such challenges, and enhance the quality of entrepreneurship education in Asia and the Pacific.   World Teachers' Day: Empowering Teachers, Building Sustainable Societies (5 October 2016) Since 1966 this UNESCO initiative is devoted to appreciating, assessing, and improving the educators of the world, especially in light of Education 2030 agenda, as this crucial profession still needs much support and addressing of continuous challenges.   The HEAD Foundation Request for Proposals in Education 2016 The Foundation is seeking research proposals that focus on its 4 programmes of research: Education Futures, K-12 Development, Higher Education, Skills & Employability. It is also looking for projects that go beyond education but meet the mission of the Foundation. The deadline for submissions is 1 September 2016.  Resources:  Cause Beautiful A not-for-profit organization aimed to empower youth in poor and underprivileged neighborhoods to utilize photography as a social change tool and an opportunity for learning.  Freedom HIV/AIDS Initiative on HIV/AIDS education and awareness through mobile phone games for urban and rural populations.   Molecular Workbench Free and open source interactive simulations in teaching and learning science for those who cannot afford to take part in real-time science experiments.   DAZ 3D Free 3D software, models, accessories and environments for students' and teachers' use. New Publications:  Diverse Approaches to Developing and Implementing Competency-based ICT Training for Teachers: A Case Study This fresh-off-the-shelf UNESCO Bangkok case study provides an extensive overview of various country approaches to developing ICT Teacher Competency Standards, with global perspectives and country contexts from Australia, Korea, China, as well as a blended approach by a non-profit organization, the Global e-School and Communities Initiative (GeSCI). It is aimed to serve as a resource for countries who wish to implement such Standards in their respective contexts by learning from others' experiences and contextualizing the various approaches to their needs.   Directory of Free Educational Resources for Teachers (Science and Classroom Productivity) With the kind support of Chungdahm Learning Inc., UNESCO Bangkok has released two directories/collection of digital resources for teaching and learning, including "Science" (lower secondary) and "Classroom Productivity". The content is freely available in DVDs and USBs, as well as on the UNESCO website to download.    World Development Indicators 2016 This World Bank collection of development indicators provides the latest global development data, divided into national, regional and global estimates.  Literacy in Multilingual and Multicultural Contexts: Effective Approaches to Adult Learning and Education This UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) compilation of literacy programmes advocates for mother tongue-based literacy instruction, and provides examples of good practice, as well as essential lessons in multilingual and multicultural contexts.   The Global Information Technology Report 2016   Focusing on 7 countries that are leaders in generating impact from ICTs, the report brings forward evidence that adopting ICTs along with an enabling environment may be the pathway to success and wider benefits for societies at large.    Contact/Feedback: : ict.bgk@unesco.org ICT in Education website: http://www.unescokk.org/education/ict View previous newsletters: http://www.unescobkk.org/education/ict/enewsletter        ICT in Education Fanpage ICT in Education on Twitter   © UNESCO For enquiries/feedback, email: ict.bgk@unesco.org Visit the ICT in Education website: http://www.unescobkk.org/education/ict View previous newsletters: http://www.unescobkk.org/education/ict/enewsletter/ UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, 920 Sukhumvit Road, Prakanong, Bangkok 10110, Thailand Disclaimer The opinions expressed in the documents included in this newsletter are those of the authors and editors and do not necessarily reflect the policies or views of UNESCO, nor of any particular Division or Office. All rights to the resources included in this guide remain with their respective copyright owners, as indicated for each resource.

 

 

Invitation for Public Comments: Indian National Risk Communication Plan (Draft)

National Risk Communication Plan (Draft)

by National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, 2016.

Preface
The health system faces a challenge of effective communication regarding threats posed by public health emergencies and the actions needed for controlling them. Risk communication plays a vital role in mitigating the adverse impacts of a public health emergency. However, recent events have shown that risk communication is not easy to manage. The International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) recognizes risk communication as a critical pillar for developing national core capacity during emerging infectious diseases and other IHR (2005) related events. Such communication needs to be carefully planned and implemented as well as properly integrated with emergency management activities and operations. In July 2014, India submitted the new national Action plan on IHR (2005), identifying risk communication as one of the areas where more needs to be done. While complying by IHR(2005) requirements, India needs to have a national risk communication plan for all public health emergencies as well as fundamentals of risk communication well understood by all concerned stakeholders of IHR (2005). Technical knowhow of disease control has been applied for addressing the prevention of importation of Ebola from West African countries. Govt. of India has taken a lead role in control of Influenza pandemic, Ebola screening of travelers returning from West Africa and ongoing outbreak of influenza A/H1N1. Experience from these endeavors have highlighted that risk communication needs to be understood by technical and administrative stakeholders and managed more systematically (Health care workers, Civil society, media, tourism, Points of Entry, MEA, MHA). It is expected that 'Guidance on National Plan on Risk Communication for Public Health Emergencies' shall enhance capacity of IHR (2005) stakeholders for understanding the nuances of risk communication and provide a framework of principles and approaches for the communications of health risk information to diverse audiences. It is intended for all health care staff, stakeholders and personnel from government agencies and private organizations who must respond to public concerns in the event of a Public Health Emergency. Public health professional must understand the needs of the community and be able to facilitate dialogue concerning the technical issues of public health risk and the psychological, political, social, and economic needs of the community. The Guidance document begins with brief descriptive material about guiding principles for communicating health risk followed by details on identification of partners and stakeholders in the country, and functional coordination and communication mechanisms to be established when informing the public and in managing the relations between the authorities and the media. In addition, highlights the principles of the timely release of information with transparency in decision making that is essential for building trust between authorities, populations and partners. Although the Guidance document attempts to identify principles relevant to and consistent with effective health risk communication practice, it is not intended to suggest that a standard of health risk communication effectiveness is measured solely on the number of principles that are employed. Rather, the manner in which the guidance should be applied will vary from case to case, based on needs, priorities, and other considerations.

Table of Contents

1 Understanding Risk Communication
2 Aim of Risk Communication
3 Targeted Audiences and Partners of Risk Communication
4 Risk Communication Plan: Cyclical Process
5 Country Risk Communication Mechanisms
6 Recap for development of Risk Communication Plan
7 Annexures
Annexure 1 Procedures for approvals from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Annexure 2 List of Ministries, their Stakeholders and Partners
Annexure 3A Table depicting target groups, objectives, medium of communication and expected outcomes, and barriers to effective risk communication wrt Ebola
Annexure 3B Guiding principles of Risk Communication
Annexure 4 Tips for handling media
Annexure 5 Decision instrument (Annex 2) of IHR (2005) for assessment and notification

Invitation for Public Comments: NCDC has prepared Draft "National Risk Communication Plan" in consultation with the experts from fields of communication and Medicine. The Central Government is required to enlist all the stakeholders so as to bring about effective prevention & control of emergency situations involving risk to persons/ communities by effective Risk Communication so that the health risk to the communities is minimized. The National Risk Communication Plan is towards fulfilment of compliance to International Health Regulations (2005). The document is placed at the website of NCDC for information of all stakeholders likely to be affected during such emergencies for enlisting their support. Any suggestions/comments/ objection which may be received from any person with respect to the said draft National Risk Communication document before the last date will be considered by National Centre for Disease Control. Suggestions/ comments/ objections, if any, may be submitted either to the Director, National Centre for Disease Control, 22 Shamnath Marg, New Delhi-110054 or through email id: prabhaaroranvbdcp@gmail.com latest by 30 August, 2016.

Download Draft National Plan (Open Access)

NSSO releases "Key Indicators of Domestic Tourism in India"

NSSO releases "Key Indicators of Domestic Tourism in India"

The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has released the report titled "Key Indicators of Domestic Tourism in India" based on the related information collected during July, 2014 to June, 2015 as a part of NSS 72nd Round. Similar survey on the same subject was last conducted by NSSO during July 2008 - June 2009 as part of NSS 65th Round.
The Domestic Tourism Expenditure Survey was designed to collect detailed information on tourism expenditure alongwith some information on household characteristics, visitor characteristics and trip characteristics relating to domestic overnight trips. The information is required inter-alia for preparation of third Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) by Ministry of Tourism. In addition, some information on trips and expenditure were also collected in this survey in connection with domestic same-day trips.
The survey covered the whole of the Indian Union. The results of the survey are based on the sample canvassed by NSSO, consisting of 8,001 villages and 6,061 urban blocks, respectively, spread over all States and Union Territories of the country. The total number of households in which the Schedule was canvassed was 79,497 and 60,191 in rural and urban India respectively during the period July, 2014-June, 2015.

Some key findings on various aspects of Domestic Tourism in the country as obtained from the survey are as follows:
I. Households reporting overnight trip

• During last 365 days from the date of survey, 19% of Indian households reported at least one overnight trip with any one of the leading purposes as holidaying, leisure & recreation, health & medical and shopping.
• During last 30 days from the date of survey, 21% of Indian households reported at least one overnight trip with any one of the leading purposes as business, social, religious & pilgrimage, education & training and others.

II. Characteristics of overnight trips

• Majority of overnight trips at all-India level (287.2 lakhs from rural and 79.2 lakhs from urban areas), completed during last 365 days, were for the leading purpose of health & medical.
• Social trips were the most common ones among the trips completed during last 30 days (501.9 lakhs overnight trips at all-India level) followed by trips for religious & pilgrimage leading purpose (4.85 lakhs trips).

III. Percentage of single female member overnight trips among all single member overnight trips for various leading purposes

• Nearly half (48%) of all single member trips undertaken by members from a particular household were performed by females in both rural and urban areas for leading purpose health & medical.
• For the business purpose trips, the above proportion for female was very low (2%).

IV. Month of visit (starting month)

• Summer season (i.e. May-June) was the peak period for undertaking a trip with leading purpose holidaying, leisure & recreation, whereas, for shopping trips it was winter (December-February).
• Religious & pilgrimage trips were started more frequently during the months of July and August.

V. Visitor-trip characteristics

• Nearly 23% of visitor-trips in rural areas were for holidaying as visitor's purpose, whereas for urban areas this share was about 59%.
• The share of visitor-trips for heath & medical purposes from rural areas (48%) was nearly twice than that from urban areas (25%).
• More than 80% of overnight visitor-trips completed during last 30 days, were for social purpose both in rural and urban areas.

VI. Mode of travel

• Bus was the dominant mode of travel (70% & 55% of visitor-trips in rural and urban areas respectively) for the visitor-trips with any one of the leading purposes being as business, social, religious & pilgrimage, education & training and others, completed during last 30 days.

VII. Trip duration

• Average number of nights spent on overnight visitor-trips during last 365 days with any one of the leading purposes as holidaying, leisure & recreation, health & medical and shopping were 5.4 nights and 6.7 nights in rural and urban areas respectively.

VIII. Main destination

• At all-India level, main destination of most of the overnight visitor-trips (over 80%) was within the States.
• For visitor-trips from outside States with any one of the leading purposes as business, social, religious & pilgrimage, education & training and others, Uttar Pradesh (12.7 lakhs) was the most visited State followed by Andhra Pradesh & Telangana combined (nearly 8.7 lakhs) and Rajasthan (nearly 8.6 lakhs).

IX. Expenditure on overnight trips

• Health & medical trips were the costliest overnight trips with average expenditure per trip of 15,336 followed by trips with leading purpose of shopping (₹ 13,902).

X. Same-day trips

• Shopping (35%) and social (34%) were the two most frequent purposes for same-day trips undertaken by the rural households, whereas, from urban areas nearly half of the trips were for social purposes.
• Average expenditure on same-day trip combining all leading purposes was 620 at all-India level.

The publication based on above cited Key Indicator is available on the website of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
Source: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=146589

Download Full-text PDF (Open Access)

Top Ten Academic Papers written by Ambassador Arundhati Ghose, India's CTBT Durga (1939-2016)

Top Ten Academic Papers written by Ambassador Arundhati Ghose, India's CTBT Durga (1939-2016)

• Ghose, Arundhati (2014). The Road to Nuclear Zero: Rhetoric or Reality? CLAWS Journal, Summer 2014, 36-45. Download
• Ghose, Arundhati (2012). Book Review: Does the Elephant Dance? Contemporary Indian Foreign Policy. India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs, 68(2), 195–214. Download.
• Ghose, Arundhati (2011).  Emerging India: Strategic Challenges and Opportunities. K Subrahmanyam Memorial Lecture. National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore. Download
• Ghose, Arundhati (2011). Book Review: Making Sense of Pakistan. India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs, 67(4), 373-375. Download.
• Ghose, Arundhati (2010). The Importance of 2010. Strategic Analysis, 34(2), 165-170. Download.
• Ghose, Arundhati (2010). Emerging Markets and Global Governance: An Indian Perspective. The International Spectator, 45(4), 49-61. Download.
• Ghose, Arundhati (2009). Nuclear Weapons, Non-proliferation and Nuclear Disarmament Evolving Policy Challenges. India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs, 65(4), 431-440. Download.
• Ghose, Arundhati (2008). Terrorists, Human Rights and the United Nations. South Asia Terrorism Portal. Download.
• Ghose, Arundhati (2008). The Threat of Bio-Terrorism. CBW Magazine, 1(4). Download.
• Ghose, Arundhati (2006). Prospects for Indo-US Cooperation in Civilian Nuclear Energy. IDSA Comment, January 2006. Download.
• Ghose, Arundhati (2006). Maintaining the Moratorium: A De Facto CTBT. Disarmament Forum, Vol. 2. Download.
• Ghose, Arundhati (1997). Negotiating the CTBT: India's Security Concerns and Nuclear Disarmament. Journal of International Affairs, 51(1), 239-261. Download.
• Ghose, Arundhati (1996). Statement made by Ms. Arundhati Ghose, in the Plenary of the Conference on Disarmament on August 8, 1996. FAS.ORG. Download.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

[apeid.higher_education.bgk] Asia-Pacific higher education: ‘Sydney Statement’ sets out actions for improved comparability and recognition of qualifications

Dear Colleagues,

 

Greetings from EISD in Bangkok. We have good news to share - below, please find a brief update, including the announcement of the Sydney Statement on comparability and recognition of qualifications in Asia-Pacific.

 

More than 30 delegates met last week in Sydney, Australia for the 14^th Session of the Regional Committee and Asia-Pacific Regional Workshop on Education 2030. This was an important opportunity to link ratification and implementation of the 2011 Tokyo Convention to SDG4 and promote fair and transparent recognition of higher education qualifications throughout the region. We received 36 Country Reports, many of which include detailed national work plans on ratification efforts. We look forward to being in touch with Member States as these plans and national consultations take shape. In the meantime, we appreciate your support and look forward to any questions about the Sydney meeting.

 

Asia-Pacific higher education: 'Sydney Statement' sets out actions for improved comparability and recognition of qualifications

http://www.unescobkk.org/news/article/press-release-asia-pacific-higher-education-sydney-statement-sets-out-actions-for-improved-c/

 

Event: 14th Session: Presentations and further information

 

With best regards,

 

Secretariat of the Regional Committee

Section for Educational Innovation and Skills Development (EISD)
UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education

Mom Luang Pin Malakul Centenary Building
920 Sukhumvit Rd., Bangkok 10110, Thailand
Tel.: +66 23 91 05 77
Fax: +66 23 91 08 66
www.unescobkk.org

http://www.unescobkk.org/education/higher-education/

[apeid.higher_education.bgk] Invitation to submit narratives of teachers for World Teacher's Day Forum, 5-6 Oct, Bangkok

UNESCO Bangkok is organizing the World Teachers' Day (WTD) Forum, 5-6 October 2016 in Bangkok. The WTD theme this year is "Valuing Teachers, Improving their Status".  We would like to feature stories about teachers as part of this event.

 

As such, we hope to collect narratives (text and images) of teachers' valuable impact in students' lives.

 

The invitation is open to all Pre-schools, K-12 schools and TVET Institutions. The narratives could be directly submitted to us by members of the school community and the local community / families. We would appreciate the dissemination of the invitation to include the following details:

 

Specifications of submission

1)      Narrative write-up: 100 – 200 words (Word Document)

2)      1 to 2 digital images. The image must be suitable for 4-color print. Image size details (JPEG format) are as follows:

a.       1240 pixels X 1748 pixels; or

b.       A6 dimension at 300 dpi resolution (file size at 6 Mb).

c.       Minimum file size 6 Mb - Maximum 8mb

d.       Please note, if the image is taken with a phone camera, please extract the full-size image to a computer (transferring image via phone apps will drastically reduce the image quality, making it unsuitable for printing)   

3)      Submission email Subject: WTD Bangkok 5-6 Oct Narratives Submission

4)      Labelling of file names:

a.       For Word Document, please name the file "WTD_2016_teacher-name" (E.g. "WTD_2016_Mr-Hamid")

b.       For image file, please name the file "WTD_2016_teacher-name_01" (The second image file name will be "WTD_2016_teacher-name_02")

5)      Submission date: By 5 September 2016    

 

For clarifications, please email to Ms Mun Yee Lee at: my.lee@unesco.org

For submission of narratives, please email to Ms Mikyung Seo at: m.seo@unesco.org

 

Best

 

Mun Yee Lee

Section for Educational Innovation and Skills Development (EISD)

UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education

 

Mom Luang Pin Malakul Centenary Building

920 Sukhumvit Rd., Bangkok 10110, Thailand

Tel.: +66 23 91 05 77

Fax: +66 23 91 08 66

www.unescobkk.org

New Book | Sustainable Energy for All: Innovation, Technology and Pro-poor Green Transformations | by David Ockwell & Rob Byrne

Sustainable Energy for All: Innovation, Technology and Pro-poor Green Transformations

by David Ockwell & Rob Byrne. Routledge, 2016, 214 pages, Paperback, ISBN: 9781138656932.

About the Book
Despite decades of effort and billions of dollars spent, two thirds of people in sub-Saharan Africa still lack access to electricity, a vital pre-cursor to economic development and poverty reduction. Ambitious international policy commitments seek to address this, but scholarship has failed to keep pace with policy ambitions, lacking both the empirical basis and the theoretical perspective to inform such transformative policy aims. Sustainable Energy for All aims to fill this gap. Through detailed historical analysis of the Kenyan solar PV market the book demonstrates the value of a new theoretical perspective based on Socio-Technical Innovation System Building. Importantly, the book goes beyond a purely academic critique to detail exactly how a Socio-Technical Innovation System Building approach might be operationalized in practice, facilitating both a detailed plan for future comparative research as well as a clear agenda for policy and practice. These plans are based on a systemic perspective that is more fit for purpose to inform transformative policy ambitions like the UN's Sustainable Energy for All by 2030 initiative and to underpin pro-poor pathways in sustainable energy access. This book will be of interest to academic researchers, policy makers and practitioners in the field of sustainable energy access and low carbon development more broadly.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Beyond Hardware Financing and Private Sector Entrepreneurship
2. Innovation Systems for Technological Change and Economic Development
3. Innovation in the Context of Social Practices and Socio-Technical Regimes
4. Emergence and Articulation of the Kenyan Solar PV Market
5. Policy Regime Interactions and Emerging Markets
6. Learning from the Kenyan Solar PV Innovation History
7. Conclusions: Towards Socio-Technical Innovation System Building

About the Authors
David Ockwell is Reader in Geography at the University of Sussex, UK, and Deputy Director of Research in the ESRC STEPS Centre. He is also a Senior Research Fellow in the Sussex Energy Group and a Fellow of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. David sits on the board of the Low Carbon Energy for Development Network.
Rob Byrne is Lecturer in SPRU (Science Policy Research Unit) at the University of Sussex, UK. With David, Rob co-convenes the Energy and Climate Research Domain of the ESRC STEPS Centre. He is also a Research Fellow in the Sussex Energy Group and a Fellow of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. Rob sits on the board of the Low Carbon Energy for Development Network and is a member of Climate Strategies.

​Further Details

Call for papers: Citizen Science and Citizen Labs

From: Sarita Albagli <sarita.albagli@gmail.com>

CALL FOR PAPERS Liinc em Revista:  "Citizen Science and Citizen Labs"

 

Liinc em Revista is inviting submission of articles, subject to double-blind evaluation, for publication in Vol. 13, n. 1 (May 2017). We accept unpublished articles in Portuguese, Spanish and English.

 

This issue will present a dossier on "Citizen Science and Citizen Labs", organized by Guest Editors Henrique Parra (Unifesp, São Paulo), Mariano Fressoli (Cenit, Buenos Aires) and Antonio Lafuente (CSIC, Madri), within the theme proposed below.

 

Social studies of science and technology have observed in the last few years the emergence of multiple practices and alternative spaces of knowledge production, redesigning identities and frontiers between scientists and a concerned public, between the scientific laboratory and the citizen laboratory. 

 

Inspired by the more critical tendencies of collaborative science and research "in the wild", of open or citizen science, and by a tense dialogue with the dynamics of biopolitical government and of commodification of knowledge, there are new cognitive and political actors whose practices we wish to investigate.

 

Contributions to this dossier may include topics such as: 

• Open science, citizen science and "common" science
• Science and the production of the common
• Communities of practice, epistemic communities, and counter-expertise
• Citizen labs and political experimentation
• Fablabs, hackerspaces, and the maker movement
• Open science and grassroots innovation movements
• Production of counter-hegemonic scientific knowledge and technological appropriation
• Protocols, infrastructures, technologies and modes of organization for open and collaborative production of knowledge.

The dossier will also include a section for texts recounting innovative experiences within these topics. First authors of the articles should have doctoral or master degrees.  This rule does not apply to accounts of experiences. Other guidelines for authors can be found at: http://liinc.revista.ibict.br/index.php/liinc/about/submissions#authorGuidelines

Apart from the dossier, we also accept articles and reviews on other topics within the range of interest of Liinc em Revista.

PERIOD OF SUBMISSION: FROM SEPTEMBER 15, 2016 TO JANUARY 31, 2017 at http://www.ibict.br/liinc

[UNESCO CI News] CI highlights

UNESCO Communication and Information Weekly Newsletter

• 19.08.16 Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information visits Honduras and Mexico This month, UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information Frank La Rue visited Honduras to promote Internet Universality Principles, and Mexico to present the Spanish translation of UNESCO's global report on digital safety for journalism.

• 19.08.16 Director-General condemns killing of journalists Mubarak Al-Abadi and Abdulkarim Al-Jerbani in Yemen The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today urged measures to improve the safety of journalists in Yemen following news of the killing of two reporters in the country, Mubarak Al-Abadi and Abdulkarim Al-Jerbani.

• 18.08.16 Director-General denounces killing of journalist Mustafa Saeed in Iraq Paris, 18 August—The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today urged measures to improve the safety of journalists in Iraq following the killing of Kurdistan TV cameraman Mustafa Saeed on 14 August, the second such killing in the last week.

• 16.08.16 Director-General condemns killing of journalist Widad Hussein Ali in Iraqi Kurdistan The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today urged an investigation into the killing of Widad Hussein Ali, a freelance news journalist, in Iraqi Kurdistan on 13 August.

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