SPR 2020: Indices in News part- 3

About:

• The index is provided in Child Well Being report which is the collaborated work of a research institute IFMR LEAD & an NGO World Vision India.
• The NITI Aayog cited the report as crucial & significant in securing the rights of children and achieving the goal of child well-being, using a composite Child well-being Index.
• Child well-being Index is the tool to comprehensively measure & track children’s well-being.
• The index is computed on the basis of 3 dimensions (that include, healthy individual development, positive relationships, and protective contexts) & 24 indicators.

Objective:

• One of the primary objectives of this index is to garner attention to the under-researched theme of child well-being in India and inspire further academic and policy conversations on related issues.

Performance of states:

• Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Puducherry topped the charts.
• Meghalaya, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh featured at the bottom.
• The data shows that even states that are performing best in overall child well-being, are not doing so well in indicators of health.

About:

• National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) was started in 2015.
• It is used for ranking institutions of higher education in different categories and domains of knowledge.
• There are separate rankings for different institutions depending on their areas of operation like universities and colleges, engineering institutions, management institutions, pharmacy institutions and architecture institutions. 
• This is the fifth consecutive edition of these rankings.
• This year ‘Dental’ category has been introduced for the first time bringing the total tally to 10 categories/subject domains.

Objectives:

1. To encourage institutes to compete against each other and simultaneously work towards their growth.
2. In addition, these rankings also attract foreign students, providing a solid base for the ‘Study in India’ programme for the growth of higher education in India.
3. It is also one of the criteria for private institutions assessment for the Institutions of Eminence (IoE) Scheme.

Parameters:

1. Teaching, Learning and Resources.
2. Research and Professional Practices.
3. Graduation Outcomes.
4. Outreach and Inclusivity.
5. Peer Perception.

Rankings:

About:

• It has been published every year since 2002 by Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) or Reporters Without Borders.
• Based in Paris, RSF is an independent NGO with consultative status with the United Nations, UNESCO, the Council of Europe and the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF).
• OIF is a 54 french speaking nations collective.
• The Index ranks 180 countries and regions according to the level of freedom available to journalists.
• It intends to reflect the degree of freedom that journalists, news organisations, and netizens have in each country, and the efforts made by authorities to respect this freedom.

Parameters:

• The parameters include:
  1. pluralism,
  2. media independence,
  3. media environment and self-censorship,
  4. legislative framework,
  5. transparency, and
  6. the quality of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and information.

Global performance:

• Among the nations with the top ranks are Scandinavian countries Norway, Finland and Denmark, while countries like North Korea (180), Vietnam (175) and Syria (174) were some of the lowest-ranked.
• China ranked at 177 and the U.S ranked at 45. 

India's performance:

• India has dropped two places on a global press freedom index to be ranked 142nd.
• India ranked better than its neighbours Pakistan (145) and Bangladesh (151), but worse than Sri Lanka (127) and Nepal (112).

About:

• The Rule of Law Index is a quantitative assessment tool designed to offer a detailed and comprehensive picture of the extent to which countries adhere to the rule of law in practice.
• It has been released by WJP, an independent organization, annually since 2009.
• The index covers 128 countries.

Parameters:

It measures countries’ rule of law performance across eight factors:

1. Constraints on Government Powers,
2. Absence of Corruption,
3. Open Government,
4. Fundamental Rights,
5. Order and Security,
6. Regulatory Enforcement,
7. Civil Justice, and
8. Criminal Justice.

How is the rule of law defined?

• The World Justice Project defines the rule of law system as one in which the following four universal principles are upheld:
  1. The government and its officials and agents are accountable under the law.
  2. The laws are clear, publicized, stable and fair, and protect fundamental rights, including the security of persons and property.
  3. The process by which the laws are enacted, administered, and enforced is accessible, efficient, and fair.
  4. Justice is delivered by competent, ethical, and independent representatives and neutrals who are of sufficient number, have adequate resources and reflect the makeup of the communities they serve.

Global performance:

• More countries declined than improved in overall rule of law performance for a third year in a row, continuing a negative slide toward weakening and stagnating rule of law around the world. 
• At a global level, countries experienced the biggest declines over the past year in the areas of Fundamental Rights, Constraints on Government Powers, and Absence of Corruption.
• Denmark, Norway, and Finland topped the index.
• Venezuela, Cambodia, and DR Congo had the lowest overall rule of law scores- the same as in 2019. 

India's performance:

• India was ranked at 69th position.
• India has never been ranked even among top 50 in the Index, but successive governments did nothing to improve the international ranking of India, said the petition.
• Poor rule of law has a devastating effect on the right to life, liberty, economic justice, fraternity, individual dignity and national integration.
• A petition was filed in the Supreme Court asking the Court to direct the government to set up expert panels to boost India’s prospects in this index.

About:

• GPI has been measuring violence and unrest since 2008. 
• The GPI ranks 172 independent states and territories according to their levels of peacefulness.
• In the past decade, the GPI has presented trends of increased global violence and less peacefulness.
• It covers 99.7% of the world’s population and uses 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from highly respected sources to compile the index.

Parameters:

• It ranks countries according to their level of peacefulness based on three thematic domains:
  1. The level of societal safety and security.
  2. The extent of ongoing domestic and international conflict.
  3. The degree of militarisation.
• It measures the presence or absence of violence, fear of violence, and unrest.
• This year it has also examined the likely impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic on levels of global peace.

Global performance:

• The results this year show that the level of global peacefulness deteriorated, with the average country score falling by 0.34%. 
• Iceland remains the most peaceful country in the world, a position it has held since 2008.
• It is joined at the top of the index by New Zealand, Austria, Portugal, and Denmark.
• Europe remains the most peaceful region in the world, although it recorded a slight deterioration in peacefulness.
• The region is home to 13 of the 20 most peaceful countries, and only two European countries are not ranked in the top half of the index.
• Afghanistan is the least peaceful country in the world, followed by Syria, Iraq, South Sudan and Yemen.
• And the least peaceful region for the past six years has been the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

India's performance:

• India is ranked at 139th position, jumping two spots from 141st position in 2019 index. 

NGO Save the Children 

About:

• Save the Children's 2019 Global Childhood Report comprises End of Childhood Index that evaluates countries on the wellbeing of children.
• Save the Children is a non-profit organisation that works for child rights.
• Save the Children has evaluated countries on eight indicators to determine the wellbeing of children and teenagers (0-19 years).

Indicators:

• The index evaluates countries on eight indicators to determine the wellbeing of children and teenagers (0-19 years):
  1. Mortality among children under five years of age
  2. Malnutrition that stunts growth
  3. Lack of education
  4. Child labour
  5. Early marriage
  6. Adolescent Births
  7. Displacement by conflict
  8. Child homicide
• A final score out of 1,000 is derived, and countries are ranked accordingly.

Global performance:

• Singapore tops the ranking with a score of 989.
• Eight Western European countries and South Korea also rank in the top 10, attaining very high scores for children’s health, education and protection status.
• The Central African Republic ranks last among countries surveyed, scoring 394.

India's performance:

• India ranks 113 of 176 countries. 
• India has reduced its child mortality rate by 55% in the last two decades, from 88 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2000 to 39 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2017.

About:

• The Multidimensional Poverty Index was launched by the UNDP and the OPHI in 2010.
• MPI is based on the idea that poverty is not unidimensional (not just depends on income and one individual may lack several basic needs like education, health etc.), rather it is multidimensional.
• The index shows the proportion of poor people and the average number of deprivations each poor person experiences at the same time.
• It provides a comprehensive picture of global trends in multidimensional poverty, covering 5 billion people.
• It probes patterns between and within countries and by indicator, showcasing different ways of making progress.
• Together with data on the $1.90 a day poverty rate, the trends monitor global poverty in different forms.
•  
• MPI presents estimates for 107 developing countries.

Parameters:

MPI uses three dimensions and ten indicators which are:

1. Education: Years of schooling and child enrollment (1/6 weightage each, total 2/6);
2. Health: Child mortality and nutrition (1/6 weightage each, total 2/6);
3. Standard of living: Electricity, flooring, drinking water, sanitation, cooking fuel and assets (1/18 weightage each, total 2/6)

Key findings:

• 1.3 billion people are still living in multidimensional poverty.
• More than 80% are deprived in at least five of the ten indicators used to measure health, education and living standards in the global MPI.
• The burden of multidimensional poverty disproportionately falls on children – half of multidimensionally poor people are children under age 18.
• 65 out of 75 countries studied significantly reduced their multidimensional poverty levels between 2000 and 2019.
• About 84.3% of multidimensionally poor people live in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
• 67% of multidimensionally poor people are in middle-income countries.
• India lifted as many as 270 million people out of multidimensional poverty between 2005-06 and 2015-16.