New Book | Trinity for Development, Democracy and Sustainability | by RIS, India, 2016

Trinity for Development, Democracy and Sustainability

by Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), New Delhi, India, 2016, ISBN: 8171221238.

Preface

What evolved as a partnership among India, Brazil and South Africa at economic fora in late nineties eventually emerged as IBSA - a strong grouping of democracies from the South. The coming together of these countries provided a major impetus to the very idea of South-South Cooperation (SSC). In the beginning of this century, the Trinity from the South represented leading economies in the respective continents and represented complementary strengths and capabilities that could be exploited for mutual benefit. The shared political and economic history and similar development experiences provided further heft needed for the broad base of the engagement. 

The brief history of this grouping is extremely rich and needs to be preserved and be proud of. It has to be protected from associated angularities and external influences. IBSA partnership has great potential to make a major contribution to the economic development of the three subregions across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In this regard, issues such as IBSA and global governance, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), S&T cooperation, IBSA Trust Fund, among others, assume great significance. Keeping this perspective in view, RIS has brought out this Report. 

The Report has been prepared by the RIS Research Team and focuses on the current facets of IBSA in terms of global-strategies, protagonism on SSC, social sector commitments, S&T cooperation and collaborative strategy to achieve SDGs, IBSA Trust Fund and its effectiveness. 

...

I am sure the Report would serve as an important policy research reference by all policymakers, academics, practitioners and other stakeholders associated with deepening development cooperation among IBSA countries in the broader context of promoting SSC and implementation of SDGs Agenda.

Prof. Sachin Chaturvedi | Director General, RIS

Contents

Foreword by Ambassador Shyam Saran, Chairman, RIS

Preface by Prof. Sachin Chaturvedi, Director General, RIS

I. IBSA and Global Geo-strategies

II. Brazil, India and South Africa: Key Proponents of South-South Cooperation

III. IBSA Fund for Alleviation of Poverty and Hunger

IV. S&T Cooperation for Sustainable Development and Beyond in IBSA

V. Sharing of Social Sector Experiences in IBSA: Way Forward

VI. IBSA: Health Sector Cooperation Past, Present and Future

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CfA: Lok Sabha Research Fellowships 2016

Parliament of India (Lok Sabha Secretariat)

Lok Sabha Research Fellowships

The Lok Sabha Secretariat proposes to grant 21 (Twenty-one) Research Fellowships for writing books for the year 2016 on subjects of Parliamentary interest. These Fellowships which will provide financial assistance to undertake research of high standard on Parliamentary themes seek to encourage and support original studies on subjects relating to Indian Parliament. The duration of the Fellowships will be of two years with no extension to be granted. The total amount of each Fellowship will be maximum Rs.10 lakh, plus Rs.50,000/- as contingency allowance. The amount sanctioned to a Fellow will be disbursed in instalments, subject to satisfactory progress of the project and recommendation of the Fellowship Committee to that effect. Selected Fellows will be given access to the Parliament Library for their research work. Those who had applied for the Lok Sabha Research Fellowships earlier in 2013 and 2016 may apply afresh, if they so desire. The duly-completed applications may be sent to the Joint Director, Lok Sabha Secretariat, Room No. 128, Parliament Library Building, New Delhi-110001 so as to reach on or before 31st August, 2016. The soft copy of the completed application form along with all supporting documents may also be forwarded at pprls@sansad.nic.in. It may be noted that incomplete application forms will be summarily rejected. For detailed information about the Guidelines and Rules relating to Lok Sabha Research Fellowships, 2016 and for the application form, please visit http://loksabha.nic.in.

​Further Details

New Sourcebook | RIS Bibliography on South-South Cooperation, 2016

RIS Bibliography on South-South Cooperation

edited by Beena Pandey with Kashika Arora, Akanksha Batra, Pratyush, Divya Prakash, Jyoti, and Sushila. Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), New Delhi, India, 2016.

Summary: The RIS Bibliography on South-South Cooperation includes selected books, documents and research articles on five broad sectors, viz. Broad Themes, Trade and Investment, Sectoral Studies, Technology and Technology Transfer and Miscellaneous. It is a result of collective efforts made by a research team and the RIS Library team.  This is an on-going work, not an exhaustive bibliography.

Table of Contents

1. Broad Themes

2. Trade and Investment

3. Sectoral Studies

4. Technology and Technology Transfer

5. Miscellaneous 

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CfPs | CCI National Conference on the Economics of Competition Law | 2-3 March 2017 in New Delhi

CCI's National Conference on the Economics of Competition Law 

2-3 March 2017 in New Delhi

Call for Papers

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is organizing the second annual two-day National Conference on the 'Economics of Competition Law' on 2-3 March 2017 in New Delhi. Papers are invited from Economists on the following

broad themes:

• Market definition and measuring market power
• Economics of cartels and collusion
• Economics of abuse of dominant position
• Economic analysis in merger review
• Any other theme related to enforcement of the Competition Act, 2002.

Interested scholars are invited to send an abstract of 100 words and an extended abstract of 1,000 words of original research papers along with their bio-data and professional contact details to ecoseminar@cci.gov.in. The last date for submission of abstract is 5th September 2016. Authors of the accepted papers will be invited to present their papers in the conference. Depending on the quality of submissions, some papers may be considered for publication by the CCI. The authors of the selected papers will be considered for honorarium. Those from outside Delhi/NCR would also be eligible for reimbursement of TA/DA on the submission of original bills and invoices. For details please visit http://www.cci.gov.in.

CSIR-NISTADS Vitarka/Policy Debate on India's Current Agricultural Trade Policy is not Water Sustainable | 24th August | IIC New Delhi

Vitarka: A CSIR-NISTADS Outreach Programme for Inclusive Policy Debate

Topic: "India's Current Agricultural Trade Policy is not Water Sustainable"

Date: 24th August 2016 at 6:00 PM (Tea: 5:45 pm)

Venue: India International Center, Seminar Hall 1, New Delhi

Online Register Vitarka session at CSIR-NISTADS

NISTADS is planning a small group discussion comprising maximum 30 participants from various section of the society. Participation in Vitarka is by invitation based on direct invitation or selection from requests received through web registration. Kindly register on NISTADS website for participation by 20th August 2016. Email from NISTADS will be sent by 22nd August 2016 to the participants whose participation is confirmed.

About Vitarka

An active and inclusive public debate can make significant contribution to policy formulation and policy advocacy. CSIR National Institute for Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS) is launching a public discussion forum Vitarka. The primary goal of Vitarka is to engage the public in policy debate for techno-socio-economic transformation, especially through S&T intervention.

Vitarka is planned as an open environment platform for informed and participative discussion. Vitarka sessions will be organized at India International Centre (IIC).

CSIR-NISTADS invites public and all stakeholders for their views, contribution and participation in this techno-socio-economic developments initiative. Vitarka will greatly benefit from your contribution and participation. The topics planned under Vitarka can range from Clean Water, Carbon Taxes, Energy, GM Crops, and Stem Cell Research to Space Mission and Nuclear Policy.

Background Note
Eliminating hunger and malnutrition has been a pertinent challenge for India since Independence. Despite the tremendous growth and phenomenal industrial and economic performance, India is still home to 190.7 million under nourished people (FAO and UN, 2014, The State of Food Insecurity in the World), a quarter of all undernourished population in the world. Moreover, projections of India’s population reaching 1.6 billion by 2050 (UN, Department of Economics and Social Affairs, June 2013, World Population Prospect) shall entail much higher food requirements than today. It is of highest priority for India to ensure secure access to food by every one of its citizens, now and for the future. Climate change, resource constraints, distribution and storage are some concerns that threaten India’s food security. 
Agriculture, the soul of food security, is a highly intensive resource sector. Agriculture accounts for 70 percent of total global freshwater withdrawals, making it the largest user of water. At the same time, the food production and supply chain consumes about 30 percent of total energy consumed globally (FAO 2011, Issue Paper: Energy-smart Food for People and Climate). Food security is related to the nexus between water and energy, and while water and energy are required for irrigation, energy is vital for water access, and water is critical for energy production. While water scarcity in the region increases, food price hikes and food access become grave concerns for many. A balance is crucial for the nexus approach. Agriculture is undeniably a resource intensive sector and this fact comes along with a need for efficient and effective management of finite resources, in order to ensure long term sustainability of agriculture and thus food security for all.
India is poised to lose its entire available water supply within 500 years if its current food export policy continues, a new method of calculating “virtual water” flow through trade has shown. India, in contrast, is a net exporter of water through agricultural products and the new analysis claims: “This can lead to a slow but irreversible loss of water sustainability”. India’s main exports are cereals, tea, coffee, cashew nuts and sugar, which all require vast amounts of water. The analysis concludes that the net virtual water export alone can severely impact on a nation’s long-term water sustainability. 
Water shortage in India is not merely because of bad monsoon. Water is now a policy challenge. Several countries have started analysing water demand and supply in the context of agricultural, trade and industrial policies. India and China are the world's biggest countries (in terms of population) and their water policies are the subject of global studies. Studies of Stockholm Water Institute and International Water Institute (available on the internet) show that China is managing its water resources better. Rainfall in India is 50 per cent higher than that in China, but India's water resources are 67 per cent of those of China's and per capita water availability is declining faster than that in China.
Looking at the exploitation of groundwater, river water and other water resources, India needs a comprehensive policy change on its water usage. This is essential because India hosts a massive virtual water trade at the domestic level, which involves the cultivation of crops like cotton, sugarcane and paddy in low rainfall areas of north-west and their supply to eastern states.
Through this debate, we would like to address the following questions:

• What policy interventions (trade, investment, natural capital, climate) are needed to build co-ordination among water, energy and food sectors to address the issue of resource conflicts?
• What are the technology solutions in agriculture that can support in attaining optimum efficiency and utilisation of resources along with the balance in the nexus? Are there market mechanisms required to mainstream such technologies?
• What are the strategies needed to prevent incoherence of macro policies with local problems of resource availability and usage?
• How can farmer ensure efficient use of resource keeping the Water-Energy-Food nexus in perspective?

Further Details

Dr. Mohammad Rais

Coordinator: Vitarka-NISTADS Outreach Programme (NOP)

CSIR-NISTADS, Pusa Gate, K.S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi 110012, India

T: +91-11-25843052 (office)

E: mohammad_rais[at]hotmail.com; rais[at]nistads.res.in

http://nistads.res.in/index.php/outreach-programme/vitarka

NITI Aayog, India | Report of the Expert Committee on Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Report of the Expert Committee on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
by NITI Aayog, New Delhi, India, August 2015.

Foreword
Late in the spring of 2015, I was privileged to be asked to chair a committee on Entrepreneurship and Innovation, constituted under the auspices of NITI Aayog. The committee was pulled together in rather short order - a testimony to the good spiritedness of my colleagues who were willing to carve out time from their incredibly busy schedules - and we met formally to initiate the work on May 1, 2015, in the NITI Aayog offices in New Delhi.
Subsequently, there has been a whirlwind of activity, a near-continuous virtual meeting to brainstorm and write the report these past months, punctuated by occasional physical meetings in New Delhi, Bangalore, and Boston (my adopted home).
We took care to ensure the committee was drawn from very diverse walks of life, to include entrepreneurs (with track records of building for-profit and social enterprises), financiers, scientists and academics, heads of academic institutions and, finally, several who have experience liaising with government. Each member has, in turn, helped us access an incredibly broad network of individuals not on the committee, both in India and in parts of the Indian diaspora, who have all unfailingly and generously given of their time.
Through all this, my colleagues in NITI Aayog, led by Arvind Panagariya and his able team, and, informally, colleagues in the Prime Minister's Office, have been nothing short of spectacular.
Our approach has been to take a big-tent view of entrepreneurship, to think of the innovation and creativity that underlie successful entrepreneurship in a variety of walks of life, far transcending the exciting but ultimately rather limited remit of current entrepreneurial hotspots in information technology and e-commerce. These hotspots have given us much to be proud of, the "re-Bangalorization of the world" as the media sometimes puts it, but we cannot rest on these (limited) laurels. This has meant that our report is intentionally broader than past reports that have tended to emphasize venture capital and private-equity as handmaidens of entrepreneurship. There is an important role for such financing, and we suggest how to nurture it. However, at the end of the day, such financing is but one of multiple factors that need attention.
That said, we surely stand on the proverbial shoulders of giants. The committee laboured hard to acquaint itself with the myriad reports related to entrepreneurship produced by prior government committees and bodies, as well as numerous superbly qualified groups from the private sector and civil society. We are mindful of learning from these, as well from some other groups of people working in parallel in India on, for example, skill-development and securities markets issues.
Finally, consistent with India's desire to reimagine its future as a world leader, we seek to learn from the experiences of others and to contribute to these. So the reader will find an openness to experiments from far and wide. Chile, China, Israel and the United States, are sites of some of these that receive mention in these pages.
All this has led us to a conceptual model of an Entrepreneurial Pyramid that offers a prioritization of the many efforts that will propel entrepreneurship forward. First, we recognize that success breeds success, so, in the interests of building a constituency for change, we must identify actions that yield short-term payoffs. The so-called 'top layer' of our pyramid model does this. In particular, it identifies a dramatic upgrading and broadening of the incubators that pepper the Indian landscape already, a commitment to using competition and prizes to encourage grass-roots innovation, and the initiation of a symbolic but also substantive national entrepreneurship movement. The use of novel methods to stimulate innovation—including a special focus on science and technology—will affect the social inclusion that is sorely needed to empower the disenfranchised.
From there, we sequentially identify longer-range actions that will yield longer-term and more systemic payoffs, and will amplify the efforts of subsequent short-term initiatives. There is no use pretending that these investments– often in the form of public goods that have received short shrift from Indian society in recent decades—will yield results immediately, but there' s also no option but to embrace the need for these changes.
Through all this, we repeatedly emphasize the importance of some behavioural traits that we' d all do well to embrace—a bias to action, a willingness to be accountable with output rather than input metrics, an openness to ideas from wherever they emerge, and a partnership ethos, the last especially important to overcome the huge trust deficit that exists between the public and private sectors. These 'can-do' attitudes will, we are confident, ensure that our report does not gather dust in some cabinet.
As the Honourable Prime Minister said in his Independence Day address on August 15, 2015, to the people of India, "Startup and Stand-up". I couldn' t agree more. Let's do it sans partisanship and with team spirit. | Tarun Khanna, New Delhi and Cambridge

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World Social Science Report 2013:Changing Global Environments | A global report mapping social sciences research

World Social Science Report 2013: Changing Global Environments

by UNESCO. UNESCO, OECD and the International Social Science Council (ISSC), Paris, 2013, ISBN: 9789264203419.

Summary:The environmental challenges that confront society are unprecedented and staggering in their magnitude, scope, pace and complexity. They have potentially serious consequences for the wellbeing of people all over the world. The consequences of global environmental change are unfolding now; individuals and communities are already struggling to manage often precarious livelihoods; other social, economic and political crises – including persistent poverty, increasing inequalities and social discontent – are intricately linked to and exacerbated by environmental change. Global environmental change changes everything for everyone on this planet – our life support systems, our livelihoods, our ways of life, our actions and interactions with each other. It also changes demands for and on the social, including behavioural and economic sciences.

This is the third edition of the World Social Science Report. Based on a call for proposals, over 150 authors from all over the world have contributed articles. The Report issues an urgent call to action to the international social science community. Social scientists need to collaborate more effectively with colleagues from the natural, human and engineering sciences to deliver relevant, credible knowledge that can help to address the most pressing of today's environmental problems and sustainability challenges. And they need to do so in close collaboration with decision-makers, practitioners and the other users of their research.

A new kind of social science is needed, one that is bolder, better, bigger, different:

• Bold enough to reframe and reinterpret global environmental change as a fundamentally social process
• Better in terms of infusing social science insights into real-world problem-solving
• Bigger in terms of the need for more social scientists to address the challenges of global environmental change directly
  
• Different in the sense of changing the way the social sciences think about and do science – its theories, assumptions, methodologies, institutions, norms and incentives, to help meet the vexing interdisciplinary and cross-sector challenges society faces.
  

This report aims to engage social scientists working in all disciplines in academia, research institutes, think tanks, NGOs, and government agencies all over the world. The ISSC will use the report as a basis for critical discussion with its members and partners to sharpen the social science knowledge base on global environmental change and to support social science leadership in research for sustainability.Report includes two chapters on open knowledge: 11. A new vision of open knowledge systems for sustainability: Opportunities for social scientists, by David Tàbara; 12. Viewpoint: Open knowledge and learning for sustainability, by Tim O'Riordan.

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UNESCO Science Report: Towards 2030 | A world report mapping Science, Technology and Innovation

UNESCO Science Report: Towards 2030

by UNESCO. United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization, Paris, 2015, ISBN: 9789231001291.

Summary: The UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 provides more country-level information than ever before. The trends and developments in science, technology and innovation policy and governance between 2009 and mid-2015 described here provide essential baseline information on the concerns and priorities of countries that should orient the implementation and drive the assessment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the years to come.
There are fewer grounds today than in the past to deplore a North-South divide in research and innovation. This is one of the key findings of the UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 launched on 10 November 2015.  For two decades now, the UNESCO Science Report series has been mapping science, technology and innovation (STI) around the world on a regular basis. Since STI do not evolve in a vacuum, this latest edition summarizes the evolution since 2010 against the backdrop of socio-economic, geopolitical and environmental trends that have helped to shape contemporary STI policy and governance.  Written by about 50 experts who are each covering the country or region from which they hail, the UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 provides more country-level information than ever before. The trends and developments in science, technology and innovation policy and governance between 2009 and mid-2015 described here provide essential baseline information on the concerns and priorities of countries that should orient the implementation and drive the assessment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the years to come.

Table of Contents
Foreword | Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO
Perspectives on Emerging Issues

• Universities: increasingly global players | Patrick Aebischer, President, Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
• A more developmental approach to science | Bhanu Neupane, Programme Specialist, Communication Sector, UNESCO
• Science will play a key role in realizing Agenda 2030 | Opinion piece based on a policy brief prepared by the Scientific Advisory Board of the Secretary-General of the United Nations
• Science for a sustainable and just world: a new framework for global science policy? | Heide Hackmann, International Council for Science and Geoffrey Boulton, University of Edinburgh
• Local and indigenous knowledge at the science–policy interface | Douglas Nakashima, Head, Local and Indigenous Knowledge Systems programme, UNESCO

Global Overview

• A world in search of an effective growth strategy | Luc Soete, Susan Schneegans, Deniz Eröcal, Baskaran Angathevar and Rajah Rasiah
• Tracking trends in innovation and mobility | Elvis Korku Avenyo, Chiao-Ling Chien, Hugo Hollanders, Luciana Marins, Martin Schaaper and Bart Verspagen
• Is the gender gap narrowing in science and engineering? | Sophia Huyer

A closer look at BRICS Countries

• Brazil | Renato Hyuda de Luna Pedrosa and Hernan Chaimovich
• Russian Federation | Leonid Gokhberg and Tatiana Kuznetsova
• India | Sunil Mani
• China | Cong Cao
• East and Central Africa | Kevin Urama, Mammo Muchie and Remy Twiringiyimana
• Latin America | Guillermo A. Lemarchand
• South Asia | Dilupa Nakandala and Ammar Malik

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Critical Reviews of Indian National Intellectual Property Rights Policy, 2016

Indian National Intellectual Property Rights Policy, 2016, receives mixed reactions from the policy analysts, activists, industry experts and scholars of innovation studies. Some of the observations have appeared in the following online articles:

Original Texts 

• Indian National Intellectual Property Rights Policy, 2016 | Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion: Government of India | May 12, 2016 | Download

 Critical Reviews

• India releases National Intellectual Property Rights Policy. by Anasua Mukherjee Das | Current Science | October 2016 | Download.
• Market Impacts of Patent Reforms in Developing Countries. by Aparajita Goyal | World Bank Blog July 2016 | Download. 
• India-US Relations: The IPR Conundrum. by N K Singh | India Foundation Blog | July 2016 | Download. 
• Indian National Intellectual Property Rights Policy, 2016: Some Highlights. by Anasua Mukherjee Das | The Nationalist | July 2016 | Download.
• National IPR Policy and Innovation. by Reji K. Joseph | Institute for Studies in Industrial Development, New Delhi, 2016 | Download.
• Who Will Gain From the National IPRs Policy?. by Dinesh Kumar Abrol | Institute for Studies in Industrial Development, New Delhi, 2016 | Download.
• Making Quality Medicines Affordable: An Interview with CIPLA CEO. by Catherine Jewell | WIPO Magazine | August 2016 | Download.
• National Intellectual Property Policy Suffers from a Lack of Conceptual Clarity. by Srividhya Ragavan, K. Subramanian | IndianExpress.com | June 11, 2016 | Download | The best aspects of the document are contained in the third objective discussing the legal and legislative framework.
• The Wrong Incentive: The National Intellectual Property Rights Policy Must Be Opposed. by Dinesh Abrol | Economic and Political Weekly | 11 June, 2016 | Download.
• Why New IPR Policy Is Inadequate: Pressure from US Is Unstated Reason. by K M Gopakumar | Economic and Political Weekly | 21 May, 2016 | Download.
• National Intellectual Property Rights: Patently a Missed Opportunity. by Achal Prabhala & Sudhir Krishnaswamy | The Hindu | May 25, 2016 | Download
• India's New IP Policy: A "Bare" Act? by Shamnad Basheer | SpicyIP.com |  June 6, 2016 | Download
• Modi's New Intellectual Property Rights Policy Will Only Benefit Players with Deep Pockets. by Anubha Sinha | The Wire | May 21, 2016 | Download | The new policy fails to enact a balanced regime and instead is tilted in favour of rights-holders.
• Why You Just Can't Have a One-Size-Fits-All IPR Policy. by Sushila Ravindranath | June 13, 2016 | Financial Express | Download | The National IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) policy was released on May 11. This 38-page document will give directions to the government to promote 'creative and innovative India'.
• India Calls for Flexibilities in Intellectual Property Rights to Combat AIDS. by PTI | IndianExpress.com | June 10, 2016 | Download
• Ahead of Prime Minister Modi's Visit, Doctors Without Borders Urges India to Put People's Health Before Pharmaceutical Profits. by Doctorswithoutborders.org | June 02, 2016 | Download | India must resist pressure from US lawmakers and pharmaceutical industry groups to block access to key medicines for millions of people worldwide.
• At EU-India Summit, India Must Defend Its "Pharmacy of the Developing World". by Doctorswithoutborders.org | March 29, 2016 | Download | MSF urges Indian Prime Minister not to cave into pressure from EU to accept trade deal that could prevent millions of people from accessing lifesaving medicines.
• Wither Away the Pressure on India's Patent Law. by  Saradindu Bhaduri | Vikalp | December 21, 2014 | Download
• Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation: MNCs in Pharmaceutical Industry in India after TRIPS. Sudip Chaudhuri | Institute for Studies in Industrial Development, New Delhi, 2014 | Download.
• Strengthening Intellectual Property Rights Globally: Impact on India's Pharmaceutical Exports. by Jaya Prakash Pradhan | Institute for Studies in Industrial Development, New Delhi, 2006 | Download.
• Public Health Perspective on Intellectual Property and Access to Medicines: A compilation of studies prepared for WHO | by Carlos M. Correa. The South Centre, Geneva, 2016, ISBN 9789291620470 | Download.
• Intellectual Property and Access to Science | by Carlos M. Correa | The South Centre Research Paper No. 69, July 2016 | Download