Policy & Governance

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 28 nov 2013

There are varied and different, local and global perspectives on how a particular country pursues economic development. Oftentimes it is difficult to completely and totally agree or disagree with one or the other. Similar is the case with India with often conflicting approaches competing with each other and trying to gain relevance both within and outside the government. Governmental policies are often directed towards the developmental agenda based on the majority view within the political party in power and its vision that was depicted in its election manifesto. Moreover global economy and its direction also plays an important role in choosing the development plan as in the globalized and connected world, economies and countries find it unimaginable to pursue their own agendas in isolation. Article explores one such view that questions the neoliberal economic development model that the current government is implementing and provides some alternative concepts and approaches towards India's development considering the massive poverty and social inequality that is prevalent - focus on well-being of the population; invest heavily on education, healthcare and welfare programs; ensure and encourage sustainable farming communities; controlled urbanization; reduce environmental degradation etc. Read on...

Global Research: Mass Poverty and Social Inequality in India - The Devastating Impacts of the Neoliberal Economic Development Model
Author: Colin Todhunter

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 nov 2013

With about 70% of India's population residing in rural areas, a converged approach is needed with participation from government, private sector, social sector and entrepreneurs, to fulfil the required rural development agenda. According to Mr. Parmesh Shah, Lead Rural Development Specialist of World Bank, the Last Mile Service delivery is a US$ 19 billion opportunity in India and entrepreneurs have to play a crucial role to translate it for the welfare and benefit of the rural population. He mentions service delivery deficiencies in agriculture, storage of agri-produce and health. He suggests focus on four key areas - entrepreneurship, service delivery, value chain and small scale manufacturing. Read on...

Odisha Diary: India Needs Entrepreneur Managed Service Delivery Models for Rural Areas: Shah
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 18 oct 2013

India's green architect, Ashok Lall, believes that ethics should be the guiding force in architecture and consideration should be given to address environmental impact, social inequity and cultural subversion in architectural practice. According to him architectural design had to be about resource conservation, efficiency, economy and affordability. He says that urban planning in India and other developing Asian countries should focus on integration and inclusion of marginalized residents within the urban economy. The urban housing and public transport policy should work towards affordable housing and travel for them. Moreover it should consider environmental sustainability as one of the key factor for better urban future. Read on...

Eco-Business: Building green starts with citizenry and cultural shifts
Author: Elga Reyes

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 18 oct 2013

Social entrepreneurship has the potential to solve many issues that India faces in the field of education, healthcare, agriculture, employment etc. With combination of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) programs, government funding, independent NGOs, social entrepreneurs etc, a social development ecosystem can be created to support such efforts at the national level. Successful social entrepreneurs can mentor and guide the young and inexperienced social entrepreneurs that have implementable ideas to solve the social issues and problems. Read on...

CoolAge: Social Entrepreneurship - Transforming India
Author: Shreya Dalela

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 12 oct 2013

Higher education is one of the most important thing on India's development agenda. In 12th Five Year Plan, the Planning Commission has a target to create capacity for additional 10 million students above the 25 million that are in the education system in 2011-12. One of the main focus of the plan is to improve the quality of education and skill development that would have an impact on the growth of the economy in the future. Industry experts expect technical talent coming out of Indian educational institutions should also have soft-skills for better overall value. Planning Commission mentions that Indian education system have variety of challenges like trained faculty shortage, inadequate infrastructure, outdated curricula, lack of quality research even in prestigious institutions etc. Academic experts also mention low funds and sub-standard research facilities and labs as one of the reasons for poor quality research. Moreover certain educational regulatory policies particularly in the creation of private educational institutions are restrictive for attracting private investments in the sector. Educational expert mentions the 'not-for-profit' clause as one of the main hindrance for the development of private education sector in India. Also entry of foreign educational institutions in the Indian education sector has to be considered with a balanced view and should encourage collaborations and partnerships for the mutual benefits. Read on...

Times Higher Education: India's higher education sector focuses on standards
Author: John Morgan

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 05 oct 2013

In a recent study by School of Pharmacy at University College London it was mentioned that the healthy life expectancy in India is only about 55 years due to the high residual rates of infection in poorer communities and increasing prevalence of disabling chronic diseases. The research estimates that non-communicable diseases already cost India equivalent to 12.5% of GDP in lost welfare terms. According to Prof. David Taylor, the co-author of the study, India currently spends a bit more than 1% of GDP on publicly funded healthcare and only about 0.1% of GDP on publicly funded medicines. He recommends that India should seriously focus on universal healthcare coverage and increasing the supply of essential medicines for its poorer citizens. Considering India's global strategic importance the healthcare issues here may have larger impact on the world. Read on...

Pharma Times: India urged to prioritise healthcare for citizens
Author: Kevin Grogan

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 sep 2013

Recent study conducted by IMS Institute for Health Informatics found that healthcare services in India are more concentrated and focused towards urban population which makes up only 28% of the total population while having access to 66% of the available hospital beds. On the contrary rural population of 72% have access to only 1/3rd of the hospital beds. Moreover insufficiencies in public healthcare facilities is driving people to chose private in-patient service providers, 61% rural patients and 69% urban patients in 2012 as compared to 40% in 1986-87. According to Mr. Arun Maira, member of the Planning Commission, 'the healthcare system in India is not delivering affordable, acceptable and accessible healthcare to all Indians - which must be the test of its quality.' Read on...

The Economic Times: Rural India's access to healthcare patchy: Study
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 21 sep 2013

South-East Asian countries like Philippines and Indonesia are evolving themselves into knowledge-based economies by focusing on skills development of their workforce. This is creating a more competitive scenario for India in the Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) space. According to Gopi Natarajan, CEO of Omega Healthcare, India seems to be losing its competitive advantage due to lack of availability of skilled human resources and the government's tax and regulatory policies that result in a difficult business environment and fail to provide basic infrastructure support. US Affordable Care Act under the Obamacare legislation and ICD-10 medical coding system, both to be enforced in 2014, will bring additional opportunities for BPO and KPO companies. India has to leverage its human resources advantage by imparting valuable skills to the graduates to remain competitive and at leadership position in the global BPO and KPO space. Read on...

PHARMABIZ: India losing edge in KPO to South East Asia's knowledge-based economies - Omega chief
Author: Nandita Vijay

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 04 sep 2013

Indian government recently released National Cyber Security Policy 2013 with a vision of 'building a secure and resilient cyber space for citizens, businesses and government'. National policy intends to unify various government programs regarding cyber security for better coordination and keep pace with the dynamic nature of cyber space. There are 14 objectives that form the core of the policy. Some of them are - create secure cyber ecosystem; strengthen regulatory framework; enhance protection and resilience of national critical information infrastructure; develop indigenous security technologies; create a workforce of 500,000 cyber security professionals in next 5 years. Read on...

futureGOV: National Cybersecurity Policy Released in India
Author: Sumedha Jalote

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 15 aug 2013

According to the latest MDG (Millennium Development Goals) Report 2013 released by the UN, India has made substantial progress in reducing its poverty that is visible from its consistently falling poverty rates - 49% in 1994, 42% in 2005, 33% in 2010. If this momentum continues India will be able to achieve its poverty reduction target by 2015. There are eight MDGs that need to be achieved by 2015 - (1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger (2) Achieve universal primary education (3) Promote gender equality and empower women (4) Reduce child mortality rates (5) Improve maternal health (6) Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases (7) Ensure environmental sustainability (8) Develop a global partnership for development. Read on...

SME Times: India will meet poverty reduction target by 2015: UN
Author: NA

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