Durgabhai Deshmukh Award. ASEAN, National Investment Board

Durgabhai Deshmukh Award:

Ø for women’s development was constituted in 1997

Ø by Central Social Welfare Board, an autonomous organization of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India,

Ø to honour the memory of its founder chairperson Dr. Durgabai Deshmukh.

Ø Dr. Deshmukh was an active participant in the independence movement.

Ø She founded the Andhra Mahila Sabha and as Chairperson of the Central Social Welfare Board, she imparted to the organisation her distinct flair for activism in the sphere of women’s welfare and development.

Ø She contributed greatly to developing the Board as a body which links the government and non-government sectors to ameliorate the status of women and children in the country.

Ø  The award is presented to an organisation which has made outstanding or innovative contribution to women’s welfare and empowerment and has at least 5 years of working experience in the field. The award carries an amount of Rs. 5 lakhs, a citation and a shawl

Kaushik Basu for flexible labour laws to spur growth:

Ø Accelerating urban development and increasing labour flexibility are key to creating jobs in more productive activities

Ø India's labour market is over-regulated. India's rigid labour laws are hurting India's growth ... Flexible labour laws will help organised and unorganised sectors,

Ø When workers move from low-to-high-productivity jobs, output increases and the economy becomes more efficient. Stringent regulations that obstruct such labour reallocation do not sit on the efficiency plateau and affect economic efficiency.

Ø India can take advantage of this demographic dividend by creating an environment more conducive to job creation. Jobs can serve as a cornerstone for development, contributing to growth, prosperity and social cohesion

ASEAN-India Workshop on Cooperation in Renewable Energy:

Ø The workshop which is being attended by experts and policy planners from ASEAN countries and India,

Ø aims at sharing of experience among participating countries on the development and deployment of renewable energy,

Ø and to identify the institutions for establishing long term cooperation between India and ASEAN countries.

Ø  This workshop has been organized as a precursor to the meeting of the Ministers of Renewable Energy of ASEAN countries and India scheduled on 7th November 2012.

National Investment Board:

Ø NIB would be a cabinet committee, headed by the prime minister,

Ø which would intervene on behalf of investors if the time for clearing a project, to be mutually agreed between the NIB and the relevant ministry, were exceeded

Ø NIB was vested with sweeping powers to not only fast-track clearances that had been rejected earlier but also alter rules and regulations to ease norms for other large projects