World Social Protection Report 2017- International Labour Organisation

• Could also be viewed as a blueprint for action by political parties of the mainstream.
  • 1)-Risks such as ill health,
  • 2)-Unemployment,
  • 3)-Occupational injuries,
  • 4)-Disability, and
  • 5)-Old age.
• Vast majority of people (4 billion) live without any safeguard
• Less than half (45.2%) have guaranteed access to only one social protection benefit
• More than half the population in rural areas are not covered by universal health programmes,
• As compared to less than a quarter in urban locations.
• Goal of comprehensive social security coverage remains a mere slogan in many parts of the world.
• Public investment in social security is critical to eradicate poverty, boost economic growth, and reduce inequality.
• Targets under the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals
• To meet the 2025 target of eradicating child labour.
• Only 27.8% of persons with severe disabilities worldwide receive appropriate support.
• Levels of support are not adequate enough even to lift people out of poverty,
• Universal coverage is beyond the reach of poor countries.
• Government’s recent budget a precondition for $2.9
  billion loan from the IMF.
• Lower petrol subsidies and higher taxes on cars and utilities are among the measures proposed to reduce the •fiscal deficit, currently at
  6% of GDP, to 4.9% by the year-end.
• Further fuelling anger are the 25% youth unemployment rate, twice national average
• Tourism- sectors worst – hit
• Recent years and the 2015 terrorist attacks.
• Police action have, understandably, led to comparisons withTunisia’s 2011
• European Union nations in particular have an interest in promoting political and economic stability, in the light of migrant outflows from North Africa to the continent.

Problem of plenty

• Agricultural policy should look to address the problem of severe price fluctuations
• Last few weeks,across India price of potatoes has fallen sharply after a year of bumper production.
• Kilogram of potato dropping as low as under a rupee in certain wholesale markets
• Many distressed farmers have left their produce to rot on the roads, and in cold storage facilities
• Potato prices were many times higher just months ago amid scarce supply
• Last year price other produce like red chilli, tur dal and tomato witnessed a similar trend of steep falls compared to the previous season
• Cycle repeats each passing year
• Cobweb phenomenon- Supply and demand
• Prices comes against the backdrop of a slowdown in the rural economy.
• According to advance GDP estimates released by the government last week, farm growth is expected to drop from 4.9% in 2016-17 to 2.1% in 2017-18
• States go to polls, local governments could turn towards populism to satisfy their rural voter base.
  1)- Farm loan waivers,
  2)-A higher minimum support price for farm produce, or
  3)-Some combination of the two
• Next Union budget may well be focussed on the rural economy
• Such relief measures that temporarily ease the pain on farmers
• Any permanent solution to the problem of agricultural distress will have to deal with the challenge of price fluctuations.
• Need to give farmers not just a better, but also more stable, return on their crops.

Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis

• Page-1,9- Deepak Unnikrishnan winsThe Hindu Prize
• Deepak Unnikrishnan, a teacher at NewYork University Abu Dhabi, wonThe
  Hindu Prize, 2017, for his novel Temporary People, a book that was described as bringing a “keen insight into the heartrending plight of the „guest workers‟ in the UAE.”
• Page-1-
• Page-1- Face recognition for Aadhaar validation
• The Unique Identi•cation Authority of India (UIDAI) said on Monday that it would enable Aadhaar authentication using face recognition from July 1.
• existing mode of authentication such as •fingerprint, iris or one-time password (OTP).
• Page-1,13- Israel seeks „big data‟ from India
• Israel proposed to track individual Indian farmers, even as both sides joined hands to use a similar data-driven method to fight cyber crimes.

 
Page-1– No puja without helmet, temple priests tell bikers

• Odisha police rope in pujaris at the highly revered Maa Sarala temple to enforce helmet rule.
• Page- China slams Rawat’s statement
• SaysArmy chief ’s comments do not conform to the spirit of Xiamen talks
• During last week’s press conference, Gen. Rawat said India needed to shift its military focus from its western border with Pakistan to its northern border with China.
• He had observed that if China was strong, India was not
  weak either.

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