Prelim Bits 17-10-2018

Human Capital Index

• The World Bank has released a Human Capital Index (HCI) as part of the World Development Report 2019.
• The theme of this year's world development report is “The Changing Nature of Work”.
• The first HCI was published recently at the annual meetings of IMF and World Bank group.
• The index is calculated for 157 countries.
• It seeks to measure the amount of human capital that a child born today can expect to attain by age 18.
• The components of HCI are,

1. Survival - measured by under-5 mortality rates

2.Expected years of Quality-adjusted school - measured by quantity and quality of education

3.Health environment - measured by Adult survival rates and rate of stunting for children under 5.

• The HCI outcome of each country is given as a fraction of maximum value of 1.
• The HCI for India has been estimated at 0.44 and India is ranked at 115 position in the index.
• North America and Europe mostly have HCI value of above 0.75, while South Asia and Sub Saharan Africa have the lowest HCI among the regions.

HDI Vs HCI

• United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) calculates Human Development Index.
• HDI includes Health, Education and Per capita Income components.
• HCI excludes Per capita income and included quality adjustments in learning.
• This makes HCI far less representative of human capital development than the index claims to be.

Global Hunger Index

• According to a recent report by a non-profit group, India has been ranked at the 103rd position among 119 countries on the GHI.
• The GHI score is a multidimensional index composed of four indicators,

1. proportion of undernourished in the population.

2. mortality rate of children under the age of five (deaths per 1000 live births).

3. proportion of children under five suffering from wasting (low weight for height).

4. proportion of children under five suffering from stunting (lower height than typical for age).

• India is among the 45 countries that have "serious levels of hunger".
• India is ranked below many neighbouring countries, including China (25th spot), Nepal (72), Myanmar (68), Sri Lanka (67), and Bangladesh (86). Pakistan is placed at the 106th position.
• In 2017, India was ranked at the 100th position.
• As per the report, around 124 million people suffer acute hunger in the world.

UNHRC

• India was elected to the UNHRC for a period of 3 years beginning January 1, 2019, getting 188 votes in the Asia-Pacific category.
• UNHRC has 47 seats with a term of 3 years. No member may occupy a seat for more than 2 consecutive terms.
• The UN General Assembly elects the members by absolute majority.
• The 18 new members (for next 3 years) were elected by absolute majority through a secret ballot.
• Countries needed a minimum of 97 votes to get elected to the Council.
• India was vying for a seat in the Asia Pacific category and got highest number of votes among all candidates.
• India had previously been elected for the 2011-2014 and 2014-2017 term.
• Along with India, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Fiji and Philippines had also staked a claim in the same regional group.

BepiColombo mission

• It is a first mission of its kind by European Space Agency to Mercury.
• A UK-built spacecraft will determine if the nearest planet to the Sun contains water.
• The mission will send two orbiters to explore the fiery world where the surface temperatures reach about 450⁰C.
• Till now, only 2 spacecraft have been to Mercury, NASA's Mariner 10 and Messenger.

Source: Economic Times, PIB