By Alasdair PalNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Spirituality, politics and tourism: welcome to the Kumbh Mela, the world's largest gathering of humanity, that begins next month in India. gi During the Kumbh Mela, to be held in Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, millions of pilgrims including naked, ash-smeared ascetics, will bathe at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna, and a mythical third river, the Saraswati. Devout Hindus believe that bathing in the waters of the Ganges absolves people of sins and bathing at the time of the Kumbh brings salvation from the cycle of life and death.The government says about 100 million to 150 million people, including one million foreign tourists, are expected to attend over the eight-week festival period beginning on January 15, and the scale of the efforts to feed and house the pilgrims is immense. Organisers are erecting temporary bridges, 600 mass kitchens, more than 100,000 portable toilets, and vast tents, each sleeping thousands of pilgrims at a time, in a … [Read more...] about Sacred and political: world’s largest religious festival to kick off in India
Poverty measurement in india
Deadly political calculations: Why India isn’t fixing its toxic smog problem
By Neha Dasgupta and Mayank Bhardwaj NEW DELHI (Reuters) - As pollution levels surged to "severe" and "hazardous" levels in New Delhi this week, there was little sign that residents of India's teeming capital were doing much to protect themselves. The smog, which is expected to worsen in the next few days, exposed people to as much as 24 times the recommended limits for dangerous particles on Monday. But unlike in many Chinese cities, where face masks are a common sight when smog levels spike, it is still rare to see locals taking measures to reduce their exposure. Toddlers stand at school bus stops in crisply ironed uniforms, while security guards, street sweepers, and rickshaw drivers spend many hours outside breathing in filthy air - all without any attempt at protection. Ask middle-class residents whether they have air purifiers in their homes and the answer is invariably no. This is despite the extensive coverage of the capital's pollution crisis by local media, including … [Read more...] about Deadly political calculations: Why India isn’t fixing its toxic smog problem
BUSINESS NEWS IN BRIEF 20/10
TH Group imports 1,800 more dairy cows from US Vietnamese dairy firm TH True Milk (TH Group) on October 14 received nearly 1,800 dairy cows of 3 or 5-month pregnancy which were inseminated through embryo transfer from US’ high-yield dairy cow Holstein Friesian. This is the largest herd of cows that TH has imported from the US so far. The group’s husbandry experts carefully examined standards related to origin, genealogy, genetic potential, appearance, physical strength, potential for milk production and ability to fight diseases in the tropical region. All individuals in the herd weigh 400-500 kg and are expected to produce 12,000 litres per head each 305 days on average. Milk production from these cows will begin in January 2019. According to Tal Cohen, General Director of the TH Milk Food Joint Stock Company - the management unit of the TH dairy cow farm, TH Group imported 1,300 dairy cows from the US in April 2017 for the first time. It also imported … [Read more...] about BUSINESS NEWS IN BRIEF 20/10
Which nation passed India as home to the most poor people in the world?
By The Washington Post | PUBLISHED: July 10, 2018 at 6:54 pm | UPDATED: July 11, 2018 at 4:14 am Would like to know more about the world poverty? Check out this great site and you'll appreciate their project. https://t.co/Jh38vSuJ1d — DataScienceDaily (@DataScienceDayl) July 10, 2018 By Joanna Slater | The Washington Post It is a distinction that no country wants: the place with the most people living in extreme poverty. For decades, India remained stubbornly in the top spot, a reflection of its huge population and its enduring struggle against poverty. Now new estimates indicate that Nigeria has knocked India out of that position, part of a profound shift taking place in the geography of the world’s poorest people. According to a recent report from the Brookings Institution, Nigeria overtook India in May to become the country with the world’s highest number of people living in extreme poverty, which is defined as living on less than $1.90 a day. The threshold … [Read more...] about Which nation passed India as home to the most poor people in the world?
BUSINESS IN BRIEF 5/7
1H FDI disbursement at $8.37 bn FDI projects were estimated to have disbursed $8.37 billion in the first half of this year, up 8.4 per cent year-on-year. Vietnam had 25,953 valid projects as at the end of the first half, with total registered capital of $331.24 billion. Total disbursed FDI capital was estimated at $180.74 billion, or 54.6 per cent of total registered capital in valid projects. Foreign investors have invested in 19 out of the 21 sectors in Vietnam to date, in which processing and manufacturing accounted for the highest proportion, with $189.13 billion, or 57.1 per cent of total investment capital, followed by real estate with $56.2 billion, or nearly 17 per cent, and the production and distribution of electricity, water and gas, with $21.92 billion, or 6.6 per cent. Valid projects come from 128 countries and territories. South Korea ranks first, with total registered capital of $61.67 billion, accounting for 18.6 per cent of the total. Japan ranked second, with $55.45 … [Read more...] about BUSINESS IN BRIEF 5/7