Current Affairs April 2016 - Reports
News 1 - WHO and UN-Habitat released Global Report on Urban Health
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat) jointly released the Global Report on Urban Health: Equitable, healthier cities for sustainable development, 2016. The report compares data on health from urbanites in almost 100 countries. The criteria vary from clean water access to HIV knowledge, obesity and air pollution.
About 3.7 billion people live in cities today. A further 1 billion people will be added by 2030, with 90% of the growth being in low- and middle-income countries. India’s urban population is projected to increase from 380 million (33 percent) in 2014 to 600 million (about 40 percent) by 2031.
News 2 - UNIDO ranked India at the 6th position in the top-10 manufacturers list
In a report published by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, India was ranked 6th among the world's top 10 largest manufacturing countries. Previously, India held the 9th position.
According to the report, While Manufacturing Value Added grew by 7.5% compared to previous fiscal, Index of Industrial Production went by 1% in the fourth quarter of 2015 for India. The global growth rate of manufacturing production slowed to 2.8% in 2015. China topped the list followed by the U.S., Japan, Germany and Korea. Indonesia was ranked 10th on the list.
News 3 - Aon Hewitt released the list of India’s Best Employer 2016
05/04/2016. Aon Hewitt released its list of India's Best Employer 2016. Aon Hewitt is a global human resource firm. A total of 113 organizations participated in the 2016 Aon Best Employers India study.
Reliance Asset Management Company - India's third biggest mutual fund in terms of asset under management —has been recognized among the best employer brands.
In the list released by Aon, Reliance Capital Asset Management is the only asset management company to be named as one of the best employers in India in the Aon list for 2016. The AGS Health, the SKS Microfinance and the Yash Technologies were named in the Emerging Best Employers of India for the years 2016.
News 4 - SIPRI released Trends in world military expenditure, 2015 report
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) published the Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2015 report. World military expenditure totaled almost $1.7 trillion in 2015, an increase of 1% in real terms from 2014.
The United States remained by far the world’s biggest spender in 2015, despite its expenditure falling by 2.4% to $596 billion. Among the other top spenders, China’s expenditure rose by 7.4% to $215 billion, Saudi Arabia’s grew by 5.7% to $87.2 billion—making it the world’s third-largest spender—and Russia’s increased by 7.5% to $66.4 billion. India moved up one spot in the global rankings to reach the sixth position in terms of military expenditure with 51.3 billion US dollars (a growth of 0.4%) as military spending in 2015.
News 5 - WHO released Global Report on Diabetes
The World Health Organization (WHO) released its first Global Report on Diabetes. WHO has announced the theme for World health Day observed on 7th April as "Halt the rise: Beat Diabetes".
The report says that there were 422 million adults living with diabetes in 2014, a fourfold increase since 1980. The WHO Non Communicable Diseases (NCD) Global Action Plan 2013-2020 aims at helping countries reduce the impact of diabetes.
News 6 - Asia’s 50 Power Businesswomen 2016 by Forbes
Forbes released Asia’s 50 Power Businesswomen 2016 list that features eight Indian women business leaders. Reliance Industries Director Nita Ambani and State Bank of India Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya topped Forbes’ Asia 50 Power Businesswomen 2016 list.
Top 8 Power Businesswomen 2016 :
1st Rank − Nita Ambani (Chairman, Reliance Industries)
2nd Rank − Arundhati Bhattacharya (Chairman & Managing Director, State Bank of India)
3rd Rank − Cao Thi Ngoc Dung (Chairman & CEO, Phu Nhuan Jewelry, Vietnam)
4th Rank − Somruedee Chaimongkol (CEO, Banpu, Thailand)
5th Rank − Sih Ming Chao, Chairman, Wah Kwong Maritime Transport Holdings
6th Rank − Solina Chau Hoi Shuen (Cofounder, Horizons Ventures)
7th Rank − Chew Gek Khim (Co-founder & CEO, Trend Micro, Honk Kong)
8th Rank − Sonia Cheng (Executive Director, Rosewood Hotel Group, Singapore)
News 7 - India Tops Consumers Scorecard 2016
According to Credit Suisse Emerging Consumer Scorecard 2016, India topped the chart, while China and Saudi Arabia shared the second position with Indian consumers being most optimistic, among nine followed by followed by Turkey (5th), Mexico (6th), Brazil (7th), South Africa (7th) and Russia (8th).
Credit Suisse Deputy Global Chief Investment Officer Giles Keating said, the survey points to fast growth in consumption in categories with very low penetration like female hygiene products and smart phones.
News 8 - India ranks 44th in the 2016 Global Connectivity Index
Huawei has released its third Global Connectivity Index report. The report released during the Global Analyst Summit 2016 in Shenzhen, China, sheds light on various global improvements in the field of connectivity.
The US, Singapore and Sweden top the ranking while India is ranked 44th in the list with a GCI score of 30. The Digital India initiative of the Government of India is the driving reason.
News 9 - UN Health Agency: Investment in treatment for depression and anxiety yields four-fold return
The United Nations (UN) health agency unveiled a study published by The Lancet Psychiatry, that depression and anxiety disorders cost the global economy 1 trillion US dollars each year. Every US$1 invested in scaling up treatment leads to a return of US$ 4 in better health and ability to work, according to a new WHO-led study. The study for the first time estimates both health and economic benefits of investing in treatment of the most common forms of mental illness globally.
News 10 - World’s largest remittance recipient in 2015 - India
According to the World Bank Report ‘Migration and Development Brief’, India has appeared to be the world’s largest remittance recipient for the year 2015. India recorded 69bn US$ in remittances, down from 70 billion in 2014 followed by China (64 billion dollars), Philippines (28 billion), Mexico (25 billion) and Nigeria (21 billion dollar). This marks the first decline in remittances since 2009 for India.
It is estimated by calculating global remittances which include those to high-income countries contracted by 1.7% to 581 billion US dollar compared to 592 billion in 2014.
News 11 - A total of 3 Indians make it to the Forbes First Ever ‘Global Game Changers’ List
Forbes launched its inaugural Global Game Changers list featuring 30 of the most powerful business leaders from around the world based on corporate growth, innovation and global presence. Three Indians have also made it to the list. Rahul Bhatia of InterGlobe Enterprises at number 3, Cyrus Poonawalla of Serum Institute of India at 23 and Sunny Varkey of GEMS Education at 26th rank.
Some of the other notable names on the list include Larry Page, cofounder, Alphabet; Mark Zuckerberg, cofounder, chairman and CEO, Facebook; Jeff Bezos, CEO, founder, Amazon.com; Reed Hastings, founder, CEO, Netflix; Travis Kalanick, cofounder, CEO, Uber; Jack Ma, founder, CEO, Alibaba; Elon Musk, cofounder, CEO, Tesla Motors; Howard Schultz, CEO, Starbucks. The list was topped by Mark Benioff of Salesforce.com.
News 12 - World Bank released 2015 Migration and Development Brief
Growth in global remittances, including those to developing countries, will slow sharply this year due to weak economic growth in Europe, deterioration of the Russian economy and the depreciation of the euro and ruble as per the latest issue of the World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief, released on 13th April 2016.
The 2015 remittance growth rates are the slowest since the global financial crisis in 2008/09. The number of international migrants is expected to exceed 250 million in 2015, and their savings and remittances are expected to continue to grow.
News 13 - India's Ad Growth Rate to be the Fastest in 2016: Report
India's 2016 advertising growth rate will be the fastest at 12%, way ahead of global average of 4.5%, including the US (4.7 per cent), the UK (6.2 per cent), Russia (0.2 per cent), China (5.8 per cent), Japan (1.8 per cent), and Brazil (6.8 per cent). The report was released by media agency Carat, which is part of the Dentsu Aegis Network. India's ad growth rate for the previous year was 11%. The growth is driven by the urge of marketers in India to promote their goods and services.
It was reported that India’s advertising market is small at Rs 50,000 crore and the growth next year is expected to touch 13.9%.
News 14 - Time Magazine released the list of 100 most influential people in world
Time Magazine released its list of 100 Most Influential People in the World. RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, tennis player Sania Mirza, actress Priyanka Chopra, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and founders of Flipkart, Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal have been named by Time magazine in its list of the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World’. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not in the final list determined by Time’s editors.
Time Magazine editor Nancy Gibbs revealed the others who made the cut, ranging from U.S. presidential candidates to Hollywood stars, and the qualities that defined them as "most influential" in the world.
News 15 - TCS recognized as one of the Times Top 50 Employers for Women in the UK
The Tata Consultancy Services has been recognized as one of the UK’s leading employers for women in The Times Top 50 Employers for Women.
TCS’ place in The Times Top 50 is recognition of its continued drive to make gender equality a central part of its business strategy, its ongoing commitment to enabling women to fulfill their professional ambitions across all areas of its organization. TCS employs over 100,000 women globally, a third of its total workforce.
