Tag Archives: world

HAPPENING WORLD–FACTS & PROJECTIONS

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

 

 

By some accounts the Pakistani army chief bears a personal grudge against India—his uncle was killed in the 1965 war and his brother in the 1971

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India is known for producing CEOs of Google, Microsoft, Pepsico, Mastercard, Deutsche Bank, etc. And Pakistan? For hoisting heads of Al-qaida, Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammed, Haqqani group etc.

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Gandhi arrived in South Africa in 1893 at the age of 23. Within a week he collided head on with racism. His immediate response was to flee the country that so degraded people of colour, but then his inner resilience overpowered him with a sense of mission, and he stayed to redeem the dignity of the racially exploited, to pave the way for the liberation of the colonised the world over and to develop a blueprint for a new social order. He left 21 years later, a near Mahatma (great soul).

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Valmiki gave up life as a robber and meditated for years in penance before he went up to compose the epic Ramayana. He is now revered as the ‘Adi Kavi,’ or the first poet, as he is said to have invented the ‘Shloka,’ the first verse, which defined the form of Sanskrit poetry.

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The trade unions represent 15% of the workforce in the organised sector. 85% represents the unorganised sector.

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Cities are our engines of growth and contribute around 63% of India’s GDP.

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Chikungunya was discovered in 1952, in Tanganyika. Indian dengue was first recorded in Madras in 1780, but the first proven epidemic was in west Bengal, 1963-64, also proving its first chief minister, BC Roy’s claim: ‘What Calcutta does today, the rest of India does tomorrow.’

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Total incidents of violent crime in UP fell dramatically from 1999 to 2003 at the rate of 16% per annum. This period coincided with the time when BJP was in power in the state. However, since 2003 when either BSP or SP have been in power, violent crimes in UP have increased significantly at the rate of over 7%. In comparison Bihar which is the closest to UP in its record of crimes, registered increase in violent crimes at 3% per annum.

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In 2014, violent crime in UP was 25% more than in Bihar.

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India’s direct tax payers form part of a narrow base which contributes more than 50% of the Centre’s total tax revenue.

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In 2012-13, tax department’s data showed that 28.9 million individuals filed tax returns, of whom only about 1.6 million people claimed income above Rs 1 million. When this number is juxtaposed with the 2.6 million cars sold the same year.

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India’s income tax base is unnaturally narrow. It spends less than a rupee to collect Rs 100 of direct tax.

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Indian railways continues to be the lifeline of the nation with over 800 crore trips annually

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Air travel in India is likely to continue to grow quickly for the next 10-12 years. To support this growth, investment in airports is expected to be upwards of Rs 2.5 lakh crore. Around 700 planes could be added to our current fleet of around 450 planes totalling an investment of Rs 3 lakh crores.

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Currently the aviation sector is estimated to directly employ 2 lakh people and 12 lakh people across various parts of the value chain, a multiple of 5.8x. in the next decade the sector could employ more than 5 lakh people directly and 30 lakh overall.

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From more than 90% of aspirants failing the central Teacher’s eligibility test year after year, to teacher absenteeism touching as high as 40% in the poorest states, to the prevalence of English Teachers who just can’t speak English. All around there are signs that teacher recruitment in India is in a bad shape.

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Environment: while the Montreal Protocal is now ratified by 197 countries, the Paris agreement has been ratified by 63 countries representing 52.11% of global greenhouse emissions

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The world bank/IMF estimates the size of Indian economy in 2016 at 2.28 trillion $ making it the world’s 7th largest. At $270 billion in 2015, Pakistan is the world’s 38th largest. India’s export of merchandise has powered past 300$ billion and is closing on $500 billion, if you count services, despite a slowdown in 2016. Pakistan’s exports are straining to get past #30 billion. India’s foreign exchange reserves stand at $367 billion; Pakistan is at $20 billion.

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Pakistan is one fourth of India’s size. Has a sixth of its population and poses an equal. Yet India cannot rid itself of Pakistani pestilence.

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Pakistan’s ministry of Overseas told the country’s legislature this week that Saudi Arabia and UAE together hosted nearly 90% of the total Pakistani workforce of 9,48,000 sent overseas last year. Jobs provided to Pakistani by some other counties: Germany 44, Turkey 57, Singapore 68, Japan 84, UK 261 and USA 350.

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HIDDEN FACTS

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

hidden-facts2

 

HIDDEN FACTS

 

A survey shows around 70% of Indians are non-vegetarian these days.

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There is a huge amount of debate about GM crops these days. It has tremendous potential to impact on yields if used with appropriate safeguards. Without GM we need another 175-222 million hectares of farmland to feed our population.

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China on demand side, is trying to nudge its population towards a more vegetarian diet.

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One estimate pegs the economic loss because of Bengaluru traffic congestion at Rs 3,700 crore a year; including a whopping 50 crore litres of annual fuel losses. Extrapolate these figures to Delhi, Mumbai and other Indian cities and we have a full-blown economic crisis on hand.

hidden-facts

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Traffic jams: I can easily do 5 or more meetings in a day even if they are spread across Singapore or any European city. In Delhi or Bengaluru, I can never plan more than 2 or maximum 3.”—Rishi Seth—A PR and marketing start-up person.

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Gadkari’s ministry measures its performance in kilometres of new roads built per year. What good are these new roads, or the existing roads for that matter, when they are rank incapable of moving people and goods quickly—Rishi Seth, PR and marketing startup professional.

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India has the worst record of road accident deaths in the world; every four minutes a person dies on our roads.

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India is held at ranson by some of the most corrupt and incompetent civic bodies.

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WHO’s report on Road Safety 2015 gave India a rating of 3 or 4 out of 10 for enforcement of laws on speed limits, drunk driving or wearing helmets on two wheelers.

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Tata sons is into over 100 lines of business.

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hiddenfacts1

In 2016 air passengers in India grew by an impressive 23.17%

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Nearly 4% of New Zealand’s population is of Indian origin and Hindi is the third most widely spoken language in Auckland.

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India is New Zealand’s largest source of skilled migrants and 29,000 Indian students are currently enrolled at our academic institutions making them the 2nd largest overseas student population studying in New Zealand.

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India’s GDP is valued today at $2 trillion. Amitabh Kant, chief executive of Niti Aayog says if all goes well it could touch $10 trillion by 2032. A shorter term assessment would have it reaching $ 5 trillion in the next decade, by 2025-26

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India is now the fastest growing major aviation market—the number of air passengers has been growing more than 20% year-on-year. In the past 12 months, more than 9 crore passengers flew and another 5 crores  or so flew internationally. In the next few years India will become the 3rd largest aviation market in the world after the US and China.

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INTERESTING FACTS

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

 

 

The Chinese economy is five times bigger than India’s.

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The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) reserved for India just 19.48% of the total waters of the six-river Indus system

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India is selling 25 million smart phones per quarter and the anticipation is 700 million smart phones in hand by 2020. Internet penetration is growing with 332 million internet users in India. Is now second largest international market, ahead of the US.

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Aadhar is the only billion-user platform outside the US and the only government one.

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India is the largest young country in an ageing world and will continue to have a young population for the next 25 years, whereas China has started ageing.

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Thailand has 25 million international visitors per year while India has only 8 million.

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The International monetary fund estimates that Indian per capita income more than tripled from about $550 in 1991 to $ 1800 last year.

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In 1991, the world’s most populous country accounted for a scant 3.6% of global gross domestic product. By 2015 this had nearly doubled to 7%.

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WHO estimates that the average Indian lives 10 years longer today (68 years) than a quarter century ago. But he has yet to catch up with the average Indonesian (69 years), and continues to lag behind the average Chinese (76 years).

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Between 1991 and 2015, India slashed infant mortality by more than half- from 86 deaths to 38 deaths per 1000 births.

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The international Telecommunications Union estimates that mobile subscriptions in India reached 79% of population last year, up from 62% just five years earlier. That sounds awfully impressive until you realise that in China the mobile penetration is 93% and in Indonesia it’s a stratospheric 132%.

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Back in 1950s and 1960s, US steelworks and auto workers were by far most productive in the world, and could demand high, rising wages. But today the workers in developing countries have acquired skills that are almost as good.

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Before the industrial revolution, China and India accounted for over half of world GDP, but their share fell to barely 7% in the 20th century.

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In the 20th century Europe was twice devastated by World Wars, letting the US forge ahead. US hegemony followed in the second half of the 20th century. Even US workers without college degrees had skills that were globally scarce, and so attracted high pay.

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The world Bank says the number of poor people globally more than halved from 1.75 billion in 1990 to just 702 million in 2015; the proportion of people in extreme poverty fell from 37% to 9.6%; and the world Gini coefficient (which measures inequality) fell from 75% to 62%.

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The US is indeed a great country, but for completely different reasons. It has been the most welcoming country for immigrants in history. Half the start-ups in Silicon Valley are by people of Chinese or Indian origin. Many Nobel Prizes have been won by first or second generation immigrants.

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What a lie: Out of the 6753 candidates of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections that were scrutinized, only four admitted that they had exceeded the limit of election spending as prescribed by ECI while 30 said they had spent 90%. The rest claimed that they had spent 52-55%.

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The telecom industry saw only 40% of the spectrum on offer being sold in 2016. In particular, the complete absence of any bids in the 700 MHz and 900 MHz bands came as a rude shock.

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Recently, interesting though intriguing data from 70-80 countries show that anxiety levels increase when there is less work (James Tozer in the Economist, citing a study done by the World Bank, in 2015).

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Economic liberalisation in China and India are commonly thought to have started in 1978 and 1991 respectively.

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DID YOU KNOW?

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

DID YOU KNOW?

There are around21.3 million cases currently pending in various courts in India including the Supreme Court. The magnitude of this problem was vividly explained in a magazine article last year which stated “if the nation’s judges attacked their backlog nonstop with no breaks for eating or sleeping and closed 100 cases every hour, it would take more than 35 years to catch up.”

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Food prices in India constitute 46% of the consumer price index.

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There are 8.4 million known living species

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Trucks in India average just about 270 km in a day as against 800 km in the US because of check-post delays at state borders, and GST would slash that. Economic optimists hope GST will also improve the GDP by over Rs 100000 crore.

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India is now the world’s 3rd largest economy in purchasing power parity terms.

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India still ranks 130th among 189 countries in ease of doing business

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60% of india’s population remains

stuck in the villages which produces only 14% of India’s income.

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India- 138 million people were raised above the poverty line between 2004 and 2012, a world record.

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Municipal capacity: Bengaluru and New York both have approximately 9 million residents—New York employs over 4,00,000 city municipal workers whereas Bengaluru has less than 30,000. So you can understand why Bengaluru is so dirty.

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Sindh: Not a single war weapon came from the excavations of Mohenjo-daro, indicating that more things are wrought by cooperation than confrontation. Perhaps the concept of non-violence came from here.

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India holds the dubious distinction of having one of the highest traffic accident rates in the world.

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Assam produces 52% of India’s tea

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According to national judicial data grid of India, of the two crore plus cases pending in lower courts till last year 10.83% were pending for over 10 years while 18.1 % cases have been pending for the last 5-10 years.

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Dalits constitute 20% of the population in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh

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Aadhar has been issued to nearly 100 crore people, and the benefits of Aadhar-linked payments are evident in the direct cash transfer of cooking fuel subsidy.

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The US has already passed Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer by some measures.

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In India more than a million young persons are joining the workforce each and every month.

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India has fewer doctors than the WHO recommended minimum doctor population ratio of 1:1000.

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UN recommends a ratio of more than 222 policemen/one lakh of population, India has only 106.

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Traffic accidents in India claim a life every three minutes.

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5 lakh children die each year in India of malnutrition and 38% of our children are stunted because of it.

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It takes 3000 extra (unburned) calories to gain a pound of weight.

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The fine particles—1/30th the width of a human hair—are cross continental travellers. US research shows that the concentration of a particulate matter in parts of the US doubles because of sandstorms in Saharan Africa. The contribution of local dust to fine particles called PM2.5 is 26%. But Saharan storms raise it to 64%.

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A study by IIT showed that dust contributed 35% of particulates in Delhi

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Iran’s oil production was 2 million barrels per day (mbpd) it has dropped to half. It has the largest oil reserves in the world

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Indian farm sector provides employment to close to half the workforce in the country.

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Larger allocations should also be made for extending drip irrigation as India now uses up three to four times more water per unit of output as compared to other countries.

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RSS- a necessary counter balance ideology

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

 

    In the annals of Indian history compiled by historians who pledged their prolonged allegiance to Congress. RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) was always projected as an untouchable organization along with its off-shoots. One of which was even held responsible for the gruesome murder of Mahatma Gandhi—father of the nation. That is Nathu Ram Godse. And collectively they all are blamed for fueling communal disharmony in the country. So much so. That very recently, Congress leader and Rajya Sabha M.P. Ghulam Nabi Azad mindlessly compared RSS with ISIS. But, be that as it may. It may not be out of context to say. That Indian history was wrongly written on several pages by these historians. Reason being: Because it was biased, and cunningly against the RSS and not at all in sync with what was happening in the neighbourhood of newly born India. It did not even deal with the regional demography and its likely effect on India. So quite frankly it was devoid of prospective anticipation, of how the troublesome neighbourhood of India is likely to be after a bunch of few decades.

    I always feel. Any historical perspective should always be dipped at leisure in the demographic paste of the past the present and the anticipated gush of future. Much before it is presented to the world. To have an unbiased view. But unfortunately out here. It was not presented in that manner. Therefore, RSS & Co remained a villain of all times. RSS, was formed on 27th September 1925 on the day of Vijay-Dashmi, and would be celebrating its centenary in less than a decade. Thus, it has come a long way since then. It was banned during the British Raj and thereafter thrice in the post independence era. More for political reasons. But RSS couldn’t care less. As recently it has decided to graduate into trousers replacing those vintage shorts in an attempt to jerk off some of its ancient looks. But will it also change its inveterate mindset? Is something we need to wait and watch, but I’m sure. It’ll surely try and bolster its global image across the world.

       For Congress and other left-of-center pseudo-secular parties. RSS remains that untouchable ball of fire that will only disintegrate the country. But then the moot question is, who brought about the painful disintegration of India in 1947? For RSS was just about twenty-two years old then. When Congress was about fifty two and definitely more matured and resourceful. Moreover, Congress continues to plot. That typical, slippery and conniving kind of a mindset for a very long period of time now. That is, support the Muslim minority, but get the Sikhs massacred in riots, and still label yourself as secular. This is what Congress did in 1984 Sikh riots. So, can one call Congress a secular Party?

    As of now RSS bashing is vital and important for pseudo-secular parties. To survive and trade on vote bank politics. And, it will continue to be so as long as they can fool the Muslim minority of the country. That RSS is a threat to them. But with the continued peaceful co-existence of both RSS and the Muslims. The fear and misunderstanding falsely crafted by these parties, will only subside as per the law of time.

     The mission statement of RSS says it was formed:

    ‘For the welfare of entire mankind, Bharath must stand before the world as a self-confident, resurgent and mighty nation. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has resolved to fulfill this age-old national mission by forging the present-day scattered Hindu Society into an organized and invincible force both on the plane of Adhyaatma and on the plane of material life. Verily this is the one real practical world mission – if ever there was one.

    The mission of reorganizing the Hindu society. On the lines of its unique national genius, which the Sangh has taken up is not only a great process of true national regeneration of Bharat. But also the inevitable precondition to realize the dream of world unity and human welfare.  Our one supreme goal is to bring to life the all-round glory and greatness of our Hindu Rashtra.

    In order to take our nation to the pinnacle of glory, the first and foremost prerequisite is the invincible organized life of the people without which even the highest national prosperity will crumble to dust in no time.

    Expressed in the simplest terms, the ideal of the Sangh is to carry the nation to the pinnacle of glory through organizing the entire society and ensuring the protection of Hindu Dharma.’

    While some may find the mission statement to be bearable. Some others may find it as incendiary, but that’s up to them. But to me it appears. It delves more in uniting, the otherwise fragile Hindus and their ethos. Hitherto divided so much by caste, class, language and even state. In fact both the British Raj and Congress instead of bridging the gap. Tried their best to widen it. This is what RSS wants to rectify. So it should not be misunderstood as aggression, or a lurking danger against any minority community as often projected by pseudo-secular parties and the media. Hindus were never receptive to unite under any single temple or deity. Like the Muslims do under the name of ‘Allah.’ So in some ways RSS tried to act only as a counter balance in the demographic space of India, and I doubt if it will ever go ballistic first, and that too like ISIS.

    Political parties can’t be relied upon for protection of a particular religion or faith completely. As they first nurture their own selfish needs. Where, their first priority is always their vote bank. Congress today doesn’t know where to look at. Ever since other pro Muslim parties have sprung up. Because of which their own Muslim vote bank has shrunk (In Lok Sabha only 44 seats) and for the majority they never ever bothered. Most Muslims and Christians, even when they lean on left wing parties. Still cannot afford to stay away from their mosques and churches. That issues diktats about whom to vote. Which is not the case with Hindu temples. Political parties confine you to geographical boundaries and nations whereas mosques and churches make you global but that is not the case with Hindu temples.

    Hindus, though, intelligent, were never a marshal race. Rather for over four hundred years they have been gullible and subservient. Be it under the rule of the Mughal Sultanate or the British Raj. They were always naive and never united under one religious banner. They also had big individual egos. Therefore were always exploited individually by their opponents. Their temples never united them. On the contrary their day-to-day living only separated them by caste wars. As compared to Islam and Christianity where mosques and churches were heard and acted upon. Temples had practically no say in arriving at important milestones decisions of Hindus. Except for milestone rituals. So no temple could have brought Hindus together. And that is where RSS came into picture to hold the hands of Hindus and fill the gap. But the idea was not to launch an onslaught on any other religion. Earlier Sikhism was formed as a marshal force and religion to protect Hindus from the onslaught of Afghan and Mughal invasions.

    If we compare the world demographics and religions across various countries and colonies. We will find there are 161 countries where Christianity is in a majority; 49 where Muslims are in a majority. In 7 countries unaffiliated religions rule the roost; 3 countries where Hindus are in a majority; 7 where Buddhists are in a majority; 3 countries where Folk Religion guides the majority and 1 where Jews are in a majority. Whereas, Christianity is more predominant in other continents such as Europe, America, Australia, New Zealand just to name a few. Islam and Hinduism on the other hand largely dominate Asia and the Middle East, and that to neck-to-neck. As compared to Muslim adherents of 1.12 billion in the region. Hindus number around 1.03 billion. I’m placing these vital statistics on the table. As that will only expose the tilt of the heft and the crucible required to balance the heft.

    66% of the world’s Muslims reside in Asia and the Middle East. They are 27% of the total population of Asia and the Middle East. With around 1.12 billion adherents and thus the heart of Muslim civilization on earth. And it is noticeable. They share space with over a billion Hindus in the same region. But there is always a tug-of-war between the two on strength and mettle.

    If we further zero in on South Asia. That includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. We will find 48 crore Muslims stay in South Asia which is about 28% of the world’s Muslim population and 30% of the population of South Asia and in comparison there are around 102 crore Hindus residing in South Asia. Which is around 98% of the total Hindu population of the world and around 64% of the total population of South Asia. And with a little over 95% of world’s Hindus living in India alone, a mind game of sorts is always on the prowl. Where RSS plays the card of Hindu saviour, and where Congress and other pseudo-secular parties are considered minority protectors.

    RSS came into wider relevance and recognition ever since terrorism escalated in J&K. Where Kashmiri Pandits had to flee the valley and the Congress government in the centre did nothing effective about it. It also raised its voice whenever Hindu minorities were crushed in Pakistan, Bangladesh and other countries. Even the illegal entry of Bangladeshis into Assam was overlooked if not encouraged by the Congress government. That changed the demographic pattern of Assam. Thus, one can say. It was also because of the Congress that RSS started gaining traction in India. Today the antenna of RSS goes even beyond the borders of India and stands as a peaceful Hindu insignia. Whether you like it or not.

    But times have changed. Besides trousers RSS should also think of broad banding their base. To get in their fold dalits and minorities. And India needs to realise. As long as you have vote bank politics, organisations like RSS will come up to take the cause of the neglected.

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POETRY: EERIE WAYS OF TIME

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TIME 2 TIME 3 TIME

 

EERIE WAYS OF TIME

 

In the spate of times,

It was always a mix of good and bad times,

but all of it was time’s time,

For I never owned an iota of time,

And time appeared to me like a borrowed rhyme.

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And in this erratic world of mine,

No one could rule over time,

And having conquered the world,

One still lost to time.

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While I cursed bad times,

I longed for good times,

But this eerie family of time,

Never gave me a steady time.

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In certain moments aeons happened,

And in certain aeons, only moments could happen,

But in the graph of time,

Everywhere every time something always happened.

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 It never let me rest,

As it never rested itself,

Always kept me on my toes,

Even when it had no toes.

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Ageless, speechless, soundless,

Colourless, odourless, shapeless, stareless,

Yet it combats the mightiest,

and saves the daintiest.

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It has no religion,

No place of worship,

No country it belongs to,

And no planet it comes from.

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Yet when I look back,

I find I was never without time,

Whether good or bad,

Nevertheless, I was always in the company of time.

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And then one day it smiled and said,

I am your friend, your mentor and your mirror of life,

For when you do good to others I make you smile,

And when you hurt I make you cry.

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And in times of crisis,

I am the biggest healer,

And as you tread your journey,

I follow you as your healer.

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So learn to respect thy time,

As you won’t go far if you waste time,

For good time is scarce,

In this world of crime.

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And whether this way or that way,

Time will take care of you either way,

And as time says,

Those are my eerie ways.

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases. Should you wish to donate for the cause the bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

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Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(Archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. Book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

(CAN BE BOUGHT FROM ON LINE BOOK STORES OR WRITE TO US FOR COPIES)

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INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT INDIA AND THE WORLD- DO YOU KNOW SERIES-1

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  • Hooch the crudest form of liquor, is prepared in the most unhygienic of conditions and consumed by the underclass—people who can’t afford even country liquor. ET 24.6.15 chat room
  • The number of private ITIs in India did grow from under 2000 in 2007 to 10,000 in 2014.
  • According to World Bank data, barely 16% of Indian companies were providing enterprise based training in 2007. The shortage of skilled personnel has raised input costs for them, so that more of them now provide in-firm training (36% in 2014)
  • Sensex has delivered nearly 9% excess returns over inflation over long periods. Equities are real gold over a period of time.
  • Equities: At 17.1% CAGR, Rs 10,000 has become-290 times in 36 years. Equities are real gold over a period of time.
  • Liquid biopsy being tested in the US may soon become a boon for cancer treatment.
  • India slipped six places in one year in the global happiness index to be ranked 117th out of 158 nations in 2015. Switzerland tops the chart.
  • In Delhi transport contributes to majorly to emissions (PM2.5) 38%.
  • India has again topped the global remittance chart for 2014, pulling in $70.38 billion which is 3.7% of the country’s $2 trillion GDP from its migrant work force. China follows with $64.14 billion.
  • The average age of AAP cabinet is 42 years.
  • China company erects 57 storey skyscraper in just 19 days.
  • Mission Indra-dhanush would be carried out in two phases-1st 201 high focus districts where nearly 50% of all unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children reside. While 201 districts are being covered in the 1st phase, 297 will be targeted in the second phase in 2015-16. This mission aims to cover 89 lakh children.
  • Only 65% of our children are presently covered-under Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) Mission Indra-dhanush’s configuration will cover 90% full immunization coverage by 2020.
  • India’s information technology revolution happened on its own.
  • It has been found that in 63% of cases people are ignorant about the benefits of immunization in India.
  • It takes a contingent of 30,000 strong international media to cover Olympic games function with events spread far and wide.
  • India has one individual gold medal to show for 92 years of Olympic participation.
  • Aadhar has emerged as one of the largest bio-metric identification programmes in the world with unique identification authority of India issuing nearly 82 crore cards covering nearly 67% of the Indian population.
  • A house insurance costs just Rs 6-12/day however only less than 1% people who can afford it have house insurance.
  • MSME sector which produces 45% of manufacturing output and 40% of total exports- receives only cursory treatment without any tangible steps to make it part of global value chains or improving access to needed technologies & markets.
  • Search engine giant Google is facing anti-trust charges in Europe- abusing its dominant position & manipulating on line traffic.
  • In India we know that 1 in 2 girls are married before the age of 18. If a girl has a baby between 15 and 19 she’s twice as likely to die.
  • India is one of the countries with the highest maternal mortality.
  • Delhi has more than 500,000 manual rickshaws on its streets: Of these, less than a fifth are licensed. And 80% of rickshaw pullers continue their back breaking labour by paying ‘hafta’ to the police that amounts to Rs 10 crore per month.
  • India has 58 million private enterprises, the great majority of which are MSME category. These enterprises provide employment for more than 85% of the working population of India.
  • Unorganised sector have to borrow credit at 2-2.5% per month in India.
  • At present a mere 35 million households of a total of 250 million are in the direct tax net in India.
  • Indian goods travel via Singapore to reach Bangladesh in three weeks; now they will go directly to Bangladeshi ports in a week.
  • Europeans began to wear underwear only in the 17th century when they discovered soft and affordable Indian cloth brought by the East India Company.
  • With 5,000-mile coastline, India has historically been a great trading nation and in some periods, commanded as much as 20% share of world trade compared to 2% today. It always had a positive balance of trade with the world until the industrial revolution in 19th-century England when the mills of Lancashire made our handloom textiles technologically obsolete.
  • Sweden ranks as world’s most gender-egalitarian countries based on a firm belief that men and women should share power equally. Sweden also has a feminist party
  • MAM Ramaswamy-Chennai industrailist holds the record for the most wins in Indian Turf history
  • Indian economy is a startling 82% of entire SAARC region.
  • It takes a contingent of 30,000 strong international media to cover Olympic games function with events spread far and wide-
  • Nepal’s rebuilding to cost 10 billion dollars- Finance Minister of Nepal.
  • Barely 4% of all households in India are headed by women. Over 70% of currently married men are household heads compared to 3% of married women.
  • 41% of all girls aged 19 in India have married and in this context in rural India 47.3% of 19 year old girls had been married, in the urban areas the corresponding figure was 29.2%.
  • A study carried out by Comptroller and Auditor General of India last year on land acquired by the centre between 2006 and 2013–the period between which UPA was in power–reveals that a land mass as thrice the size of Noida was acquired under special economic zone but more than half of it had not been put to use.
  • 80 richest people own more wealth than what is owned by one-half of the human race and very soon just 1% people will own wealth which equals what the rest 99% of would have.
  • In 2001, world’s three richest people owned personal wealth greater than the GDP of 34 poorest nations.
  • In 2001, 51 of 100 top revenue-generating institutions were business operations and not nation states.
  • The average protein intake of a person in India through normal diet has dipped 6-10% in the past two decades with almost 86% of rural and 70% of urban population not getting the government designated 2400 kcal/day. While the richest get over 2518 kcal each day the poorest get less than 1679 kcal—a difference of almost 50%.
  • Food amounts for almost half of the consumer price index (CPI) basket of India.
  • 6 crore small entrepreneurs employ 12 crore people in India.
  • 10 million new workers enter the job market every year in India.
  • The daily intake of oil and fat consumption per person has increased from 31 gram to 42 gram in rural areas and from 42 gram to 52.5 gram in urban areas between 1993-94
  • Today 77% women in India get sterilized
  • Ayurveda is a 6000 year old science.
  • 80 Mumbaikars died everyday due to heart attacks between March 2014 and March 2015 up from 67 deaths daily during the same period the previous year.
  • 41% of all girls aged 19 in India have married, and in that context: In rural India 47.3% of 19 year old girls have been married, and in urban areas the correspondence figure is 29.2%
  • India slipped six places in one year in the global happiness index to be ranked 117th out of 158 nations in 2015. Switzerland tops the chart.
  • India has around 3500 engineering colleges and churns out 14 lakh engineers a year.
  • It has been found that in 63% of cases people are ignorant about the benefits of immunization in India.
  • India has one individual gold medal to show for 92 years of Olympic participation.
  • Aadhar has emerged as one of the largest biometric identification programmes in the world with unique identification authority of India issuing nearly 82 crore cards covering nearly 67% of the Indian population.
  • Bottom 50% of households consume only 25% of subsidised LPG; 41% of PDS kerosene is lost as leakage , only 46% of remainder (or 27% of the total) is consumed by poor households.
  • Hindu India has been the sole nation on earth where Jewish community has never been persecuted even though they have been living here for more than two thousand years.
  • India has never invaded any country in the last ten thousand years of its history.
  • Delhi Metro aims at carrying 25 lakh commuters daily.
  • There are in India 5.7 crore own account enterprises.
  • Childhood deaths used to be 12/100 in India in 1990s. That’s down to 5/100. But 56% die in the first month.
  • At least 60% Indians are still stuck in farming, which produces only 13.9% of the nation’s GDP.
  • Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, saw opening of 12.5 crore accounts in 8 months.
  • SUVs have grown to more than 30% of the total luxury vehicles sold in India.
  • Delhi is fast becoming the world’s pollution capital, and around a fifth of Delhi’s population is caused by traffic.
  • 20th century saw the worst of violent wars in human history.
  • Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is India’s biggest private sector employer  with 2.5 lakh employees and top recruiter of women, will dole out a special reward amounting to Rs 2,628 crore ($423 million), probably the biggest-ever bonus payout by an Indian company.
  • Our nuclear reactors which were operating at around 50% of capacity a few years ago are now operating at about 83% capacity, thanks to uranium procured from other countries.
  • Let’s put it this way. If you send a silly person on an important job and he acts true to his nature, who is real silly? The man who acted silly or the one who sent him?
  • Only 3% are vegetarian in America, 9% in the U.K., a noteworthy 10% in Italy and Taiwan and surprisingly 8.5% in Israel. And in this particular area, we Indians are the kings, 40% of our huge population is vegetarian.
  • With its meagre 7.5 million foreign tourist arrivals per year, India is losing out on a major employment expansion opportunity.
  • India has around 1,000 diplomats which is far fewer than Britain that has  over 6,000 and China that has around 7,500 diplomats.
  • The  current estimate for India’s landless is around 100 million households, which would constitute at least 300 million families of our population. Another 200 million rural families subsist on less than bighas and must supplement their meagre incomes with some form of labour.
  • India’s future prosperity depends on its urban centers which already contribute a little over two-third of the GDP.
  • The contribution of nuclear energy in electricity generation in India is not more than 3.5%.
  • World’s military expenditure is estimated to have been $1.74 trillion in 2013 or 2.4% of global GDP.
  • In the next five years 22% of China’s GDP growth is estimated to come from the digital sector.
  • The world’s last typewriter clattered off the Godrej line in 2011.
  • Finland has the highest borrowing of library books in the world.
  • Indian Railways is the second biggest procurement agency after defence, spending almost Rs 1 lakh crore a year. It is also the largest buyer of diesel in India.
  • More than 45,000 trucks from North Indian states enter Delhi everyday, plying on Euro III diesel which has 350 ppm sulphur and is greatly more polluting than the 50 ppm sulphur Euro-IV fuel
  • India needs to reverse groundwater usage. Already, the figures suggest that well over half the irrigation requirements are now met by mining groundwater and 15% of all aquifers are in a critical condition.
  • Restaurants abroad that pass of as Indian are often run by Bangladeshis and Pakistanis, rather than persons of Indian origin.
  • At present Rs 3,77,616 crore or 4.2% of Indian GDP is spent across sectors in subsidies.
  • National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN) aims to link India’s 2.5 lakh gram panchayat through 70,000 km of high speed optic fibre in the next three years- thereby enabling 600 million Indians to harness the benefits of modern communication.
  • Our urban population is 377 million or 31% of the total. By 2031 it is projected to rise to 600 million.
  • The first modern Caesarean section was performed by German Gynecologist Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer in 1881.
  • Of 250 million mobile users in India 180 million access internet on mobile, this will shoot up to 500-600 million in a few years
  • Studies show maximum viewing is of two-minute videos and in terms of text 400 words.
  • Mark Twain, is the pen name for Samuel Langhorne Clemens.
  • India is one of the biggest arms importer of the world.
  • Indian gambling market is estimated around $60 billion annually
  • A woman is raped in India every 20 minutes.
  • India’s luxury car market has grown eight times in the last seven years from 4000 units in 2007 to 33,000 units in 2014. And as per car experts the number is expected to hit 100,000 units by 2020.
  • Prime residential prices in Re/sq ft. Monaco-339723, Hongkong-293944, London-283215, New
  • York-174362, Singapore-151419, Shanghai-121608, Paris-116851, Miami-99210, Beijing-97087, Mumbai-61300, Dubai-40455, Delhi-33400, Bengaluru-18600.
  • All India Brewers Association- Beer sales account for only 50% of liquor sales in India- Much lower than in China, Brazil, US & UK. Wine accounts for only 1% of liquor sales.
  • Mumbai has 30 of India’s 68 billionaires.
  • On top of the billionaire list is New York with 114, followed by Moscow 91, Hongkong 53, London 49, Beijing 37 and Mumbai 30
  • Ricky Ponting holds the world record of 24 straight wins in ODI cricket captaincy.
  • Year 2015 is designated by the UN as the ‘Year of Light and technologies.’
  • 22% of households in cities and 31% in villages are in debt.
  • Sri Lankan cricketer Sangakara is a great collector of books
  • Lakshadeep has in all 36 islands.
  • India is pushing its shipyards to build more ships and other vessels for small Indian Ocean island countries in this region.
  • India was a maritime power before China had even heard of the term.
  • A Chinese naval strategist declared China needed 6 aircraft carriers to ‘secure’ the Indian Ocean.
  • According to the Census 2011, 41% of India’s population is under 18. Yet only 4.5% of the total budget is earmarked for children.
  • Today, the number of child labourers in India varies from 50 lakhs to 5 crores in different estimates.
  • Have you seen or heard of a bigger glutton and despot than Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe who celebrated his 91st birthday with elephant on menu for guests at the lavish 1-million pound bash. According to the mirror, two young elephants were shot and feasted on by the president’s 20,000 guests while the country’s poor struggle to scrape a living. A farmer had donated the elephants to Mugabe along with a lion and a crocodile to be stuffed. Members of the Zimbabwean government offered 40 cows that are due to be held at Victoris falls.
  • Only 43 people since Independence have been conferred the Bharat Ratna.
  • Between census 2001 and 2011, India witnessed a spurt of urban clusters, with the number of towns increasing from 5161 to 7935 in a decade India’s urban population likely to grow to 40% by 2030 from current 31%
  • India posed to be world’s 3rd largest construction market by 2025.
  • India has 7500 km of coastline with opportunities for port and harbour development.
  • India is world’s 2nd largest road network handling more than 60% of freight and 90% of passenger traffic in the country- 64,000 kms of new highways to be developed.
  • India is world’s 3rd largest network of railways spanning 64,600 kms and 25,000 kms of new lines to be added by 2020.
  • Indian airline traffic expected to treble to 450 million by 2023 from 169 million in F-14 and make India world’s 3rd largest aviation market by 2020.
  • Increase in infrastructure investment of 1% of GDP results in additional 34 lakh jobs in India (Compared to 15 lakh in USA and 13 lakh in Brazil)
  • India requires Rs 70 Lakh crore investment required till 2030 for development of urban roads, affordable housing and transportation systems- Rs 39 lakh crore to be invested over the next 20 years to build urban infrastructure for smart cities alone.
  • Contribution of railways to Indian GDP to increase to 3% in 2020 from 1% in 2012.
  • Rs 2 lakh crore to be invested in solar and wind power projects in wastelands and uninhabited regions in India- 50,000 villages to receive electricity through off grid solar by 2030.
  • Indian wedding industry is now valued at 25.5 billion dollars a year
  • Narendra Modi was the first Prime Minister to visit Parliament canteen where he had an ordinary thali costing Rs 29.
  • Indian Census Data: There are about 66 lakh more women who are “currently married” than men.
  • Indian Census Data: More than 18 lakh girls under the age of 15 are married.
  • Indian Census Data: Out of total 120 crore population about 58 crore were married at the time of census 2011.
  • Indian Census Data: among 58 crore married persons 29.3 crore were women while 28.7 crore are men.
  • Indian Census Data: Kerala has the highest skew with 1.13 married women for every married man.
  • Indian Census Data: In the 20-25 age group about 69% of women were married while just over 30% of men were married.
  • Indian Census Data: India’s population in 2011 was 121 crore and, of this , 4.6% or 5.6 crore are widowed, with women out numbering men by a long way; when in 2001 only 18.5 lakh or 0.7% of the then population of 102 was widowed.
  • There are in India 5.7 crore own account enterprises.
  • Delhi Metro aims at 25 lakh commuters daily.
  • India has never invaded any country in the last ten thousand years of its history.
  • Hindu India has been the sole nation on earth where the Jewish community has never been persecuted even though they have been living here for more than two thousand years.
  • Bottom 50% of households consume only 25% of subsidised LPG; 41% of PDS kerosene is lost as leakage, only 46% of the remainder (or 27% of the total) is consumed by poor households in India.
  • The slum population of India has increased from 5.23 crores in 2001 to 6.55 crores in 2011
  • The value of goods that lay unused in urban India was pegged at over Rs 56,000 crore
  • Indian Railways has 66,000 km of rail tracks of which only 13,000 km has been added in the last ten years
  • GOI spent Rs 320 crores on republic day in 2014 an increase from Rs 145 crores in 2001
  • It takes Rs 2.5 lacs per minute to run the Indian Parliament
  • Central Board for film certification certifies 13,500 films every year.
  • Garment factories are India’s second largest employer of the women with 1.2 crore women
  • Last year more than 1000 women were murdered for so called honour crimes in Pakistan
  • 1% owns 48% of global wealth since 2009. 1 in 9 people don’t have enough to eat.
  • More than 1 billion people live on less than $1.25 a day.
  • People younger than 45 years of age account for 40% of all heart  related deaths in India as compared to 10% in the US. So are you exercising enough.
  • Gita is one of the all time best sellers. It is 5153 yeras old says RSS.
  • The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) act prescribes that the central government deficit should not exceed 3% of GDP.
  • It is generally believed in the Indian context, the acceptable level of inflation in 4%, and the comfort zone is +/- 2%. In developed economies, the acceptable level of inflation is only 2%