National/International Reports

Organization

Name of Report

Important Facts

Amnesty International

Death Penalty Report

• At the end of 2017, 106 had abolished the death penalty in law for all crimes and 142 countries had abolished in law or practice.
• Death sentences in India, Indonesia Pakistan and Thailand were lower compared to 2016 and 2017.

Asian Development Bank

Asian Development Outlook

• Indian growth is expected to pick up to 7.3% in fiscal year (FY) 2018 and 7.6% in FY2019.
• India will remain the world’s fastest growing major economy.
• In ADB, Japan has largest share having 15.7% shares followed by US (15.6%), China (6.5%), India (6.4%), and Australia (5.8%).

A.T. Kearney

(American Global Management Consulting Firm)

Global Retail Development Index

• India at the top position among 30 developing countries on ease of doing business in the retail sector.
• The index has placed China at the second place.
• The index ranks the 30 developing countries for retail investment worldwide and analyses 25 macroeconomic and retail-specific variables.

Botanical Survey of India

Red Data Book

• The Botanical Survey of India (BSI) is the apex research organization under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India for carrying out taxonomic and floristic studies on wild plant resources of the country.
• BSI brings out an inventory of endangered plants in the form of a report named as Red Data Book.
• Available data places India on 10th in the world and 4^th in Asia in Plant Diversity.

Bureau of Energy Efficiency

Energy Performance Index

• EPI is total energy consumed in a building over a year divided by total built up area in kWh/sq m/year and is considered as the simplest and most relevant indicator for qualifying a building as energy efficient or not.

Capgemini

New World Wealth Report

• India was ranked sixth in list of wealthiest countries with total wealth of US $8,230 billion in 2017.
• India was best performing wealth market globally in 2017.
• Mumbai overtook Toronto, Frankfurt and Paris to notch up a 12^th position in list of top 15 wealthiest cities globally.

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB),

National Air Quality Indices

• National Air Quality Index (AQI) was launched on 17 October 2014.
• National Air Quality Index (AQI) transforms complex air quality data of eight pollutants into a single number (index value), nomenclature and colour.
• Environmental protection agency (EPA) calculates the AQI for five major air pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act: ground-level ozone, particle pollution (PM), carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide.

Centre For Equity Studies (CES), New Delhi

Indian Exclusion Report

• Recent report launched in December, 2018.
• The reports assemble evidence about the success of governments in India to ensure equitable access to all segments of people, especially most disadvantaged-by class, caste, gender, religious identity, disability, age, ethnicity, language, education or geography, etc.

Cornell University, INSEAD & WIPO

Global Innovation Index

• India was ranked 57^th among 130 countries.
• It ranks nations based on 80 indicators, ranging from intellectual property filing rates to R&D, online creativity, mobile application creation, computer software spending, education spending, scientific & technical publications and ease of starting business.

CPCB

Comprehensive Environment Pollution Index (CEPI)

• The data refers to CEPI scores of the critically polluted industrial clusters/areas. The index captures the various dimensions of environment including air, water and land.
• In 2009, CPCB came up with CPA (critically polluting areas) list, using the CEPI formula. By then, the number of industrial areas in the list had gone up to 43.

CPCB

National Ambient Air Quality Standard

• Ambient air quality refers to the condition or quality of air surrounding us in the outdoors.
• National Ambient Air Quality Standards are the standards for ambient air quality set by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) that is applicable nationwide.

Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), UK

Global Democracy Index

• In 2018 Norway has again topped, followed by Iceland and Sweden.
• India Ranks at 42^nd place.
• The index ranks 165 independent states and two territories on the basis of five categories: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation and political culture.

EIU

Global Livability Ranking

• New Delhi had figured at 112^th and Mumbai 117^th position in list
• EIU compares world cities with each other in terms of security, affordability, education, health-care, its urban lifestyle and infrastructure.
• It scores 140 major cities of the world on scale ranging from 0 (least liveable city) to 100 (most liveable city) based on these above parameters.

EIU

Inclusive Internet Index

• India has ranked 47^th out of 86 countries in 2018.
• Inclusive Internet Index 2018 assesses the performance of countries in four categories of inclusion viz. Accessibility, Affordability, Relevance and Readiness.
• It covers 91% of world population residing in 86 countries.

FAO

Global Food Price Index

• Food Price Index is a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities.
• It consists of the average of five commodity group price indices, weighted with the average export shares of each of the groups for 2002-2004.

FAO

State of World’s Forest Report (SOFO)

• SOFO Report of 2018 says, the world’s forest area decreased from 31.6 percent of the global land area to 30.6 percent between 1990 and 2015, but the pace of loss has slowed in recent years.
• North America and Europe had increased their respective forest areas in proportion to their total land from 40.3 percent in 1990 to 41 percent in 2015.
• Eastern and South Eastern Asian countries had increased their forests from 28.5 percent to 29.6 percent during the same time frame.

Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

Global Anti-Money Laundering Report

• The Basel Anti-Money Laundering Index is an independent annual ranking that assesses the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) around the world (129 nations in 2018).
• India ranked at 68^th with score of 5.28, whereas Tajikistan topped the list (Score 8.30).

Forest Survey of India (FSI)

India State of Forest Report (ISFR)

• India is ranked 10^th in world, with 24.4% of land area under forest and tree cover, even though it accounts for 2.4 % of the world surface area and surface area and sustains needs of 17 % of human and 18 % livestock population.
• The total forest and tree cover is 24.39% of geographical area of the country.

Global Burden of Disease

Healthcare Access and Quality Ranking

• India improved its ranking on a Global Healthcare Access and Quality (HAQ) index from 153 in 1990 to 145 in 2016 among 195 countries.

Health Effects Institute (HEI), Boston

State of Global Air Report

• As per the State of Global Air Report 2018, over seven billion people that account for more than 95 percent of the world’s population are breathing unhealthy air and live in areas of unsafe air.
• India and China were jointly responsible for over 50 percent of global deaths due to air pollution. India recorded 1.1 million deaths in 2016.

IAEA

Red Book

• The 2018 Red Book offers updated information on established uranium production centers and mine development plans, as well as projections of nuclear generating capacity and reactor-related requirements through 2035, in order to address long term uranium supply and demand issues.

IBRD (World Bank)

Ease of Doing Business

• India climbed 23 points in ease of doing business index to 77^th place (among 193 economies), top ranked country in South Asia for the first time and third among the BRICS.
• Higher rankings indicate better, usually simpler, regulations for businesses and stronger protections of property rights.
• The ease of doing business index is an index created by Simeon Djankov at the World Bank Group.

IBRD (World Bank)

World Development Report

• The World Development Report 2018 (WDR 2018)—LEARNING to Realize Education’s Promise—is the first ever devoted entirely to education.
• The 2018 WDR explores four main themes: 1) education’s promise; 2) the need to shine a light on learning; 3) how to make schools work for learners; and 4) how to make systems work for learning.
• According to it, India ranks second after Malawi in a list of 12 countries wherein a grade two student could not read a single word of a short text.

IEP (Institute of Economics & Peace)

Global Peace Index

• India was ranked 136^th among 163 countries in Global Peace Index 2018.
• GPI (2018) was 12^th edition since it was launched in 2006.
• Iceland was ranked most peaceful country in the world.

IEP (Institute of Economics & Peace)

Global Terrorism Index

• India is 10^th among most impacted country by terrorism.
• Report indicates a continuous decline in deaths from terrorism, total number of deaths decreased by 27% in 2017, with the largest falls occurring in Iraq and Syria.
• Five countries (Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia and Syria) recorded more than 1,000 deaths, while 19 countries recorded more than 100 deaths.

(IAEA)

Global Food Policy Report

• 2018 report looks at the impacts of greater global integration-including the movement of goods, investment, people, and knowledge-and the threat of current anti-globalization pressures.
• Report highlights that South Asia is home to more than 42 percent of the world’s poor earning less than US$1.25 per day. Nearly 21 percent of the population is undernourished and more than 41 percent of children are underweight.

Welthungerhilfe & Concern Worldwide

Global Hunger Index

• India ranks 103^rd out of 119 countries, and Belarus topped the list.
• As per the 2018 GHI, the level of hunger and under-nutrition worldwide fell to 20.9, down from 29.2 in the year 2000.
• The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger at global, regional, and national levels.

ILO (International Labour Organization)

World Employment and Social Outlook -Trends 2018

• The global unemployment rate has been stabilizing after a rise in 2016. It is expected to have reached 5.6 per cent in 2017.
• The high incidence of informality continues to undermine the prospects of further reducing working poverty, especially in South and South-Eastern Asia.
• India’s unemployment in millions 18.3 (2017) increased to 18.6 (2018) and projected to be 18.9 in (2019).

ILO (International Labour Organization)

Global Wage Report

• According to Global Wage Report 2018/19, India and Pakistan had the highest gap of 34.5 per cent and 34 per cent respectively between what men and women earn.On average, women are paid 34% less than men in India.
• During 2008-17, real wage growth in India stood at 5.5 per cent, highest among all the countries in southern Asia.
• In the advanced G20 countries, real wage growth declined from 1.7 per cent in 2015 to 0.9 per cent in 2016 and 0.4 per cent in 2017.

ILO (International Labour Organization)

World Employment and Social Outlook

• Recent 2018 named as ‘World Employment and Social Outlook 2018: Greening with Jobs.’
• 2018 report says that of the 535 million labour force in India in 2019, some 398.6 million will have poor quality jobs.
• In India the vulnerable employment level is higher than those of the world or the South Asia region.
• The Asia-Pacific region will add 23 million jobs between 2017-19, aided by employment growth in South Asian nations

ILO (International Labour Organization)

World Social Protection Report

• WSPR provides global overview on recent trends in social protection systems, including social protection floors.
• ILO in November 2017 released the World Social Protection Report 2017-2019. It says Only 29 per cent of the population enjoys access to social security, while the other 71 per cent population is not or partially protected.
• The report depicts that only 45 per cent of the global population is effectively covered by at least one social benefit, while the remaining 55 per cent that is 4 billion people are left unprotected.

IMF

Global Financial Stability Report

• This report assesses the stability of global financial markets and emerging-market financing. It is released twice per year, in April and October.
• GFSR usually include systemic risk assessments in worldwide financial markets, worldwide debt management, emerging economic markets and current economic crises that could affect finances worldwide.

IMF (International Monetary Fund)

World Economic Outlook

• WEO published biannually and partly updated two times a year. WEO forecasts include key macroeconomic indicators, such as GDP, inflation, fiscal balance and current account of more than 180 countries around globe.
• WEO 2018 has projected growth rate of 7.3% in 2018 and 7.5% in 2019 for India as against 6.7% in 2017. This makes India, fastest growing country among major economies 2018-19 & 2019-20.
• The global growth is projected to reach 3.9% in 2018 and 2019.

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Public Health Foundation of India and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)

India State Level Disease Burden Report

• The first set of findings by the India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative on the variations in epidemiological transition across the states of India released in The Lancet in November 2017.
• The 2018 report in December 2018, based on air pollution and death.
• One in eight deaths in India was attributable to air pollution in India in 2017, making it a leading risk factor for death in India.
• The average life expectancy in India would have been 1.7 years higher if the air pollution level were less than the minimal level causing health loss, with the highest increases in the northern states of Rajasthan (2.5 years), Uttar Pradesh (2.2 years), and Haryana (2.1 years).

INSEAD

Global Talent Competitiveness Index

• While Switzerland continues to top the list, India has improved its position from 92^nd (2017) to 81^st (in 2018) on the annual global index of talent competitiveness.
• India is lowest in the group of BRICS.
• Report marks that India is at serious risk of worsening its brain drain due to its less successful attempts at retaining or luring back its talented Diaspora members.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

Nuclear Technology Review

• 2018 report says that at the end of 2017, the 448 operating nuclear power reactors had a global generating capacity of 392 GW(e), which was an increase of about 1.2 GW(e) since 2016.
• The Agency’s 2017 high projections for global nuclear power capacity show a 42% increase over current levels by 2030 and a doubling of capacity by 2050, while in the low projections, capacity will gradually decline until 2040, rebounding to today’s levels by 2050.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

Technical Cooperation Report

• The technical cooperation programme is the IAEA’s primary mechanism for transferring nuclear technology to Member States, helping them to address key development priorities in areas such as health and nutrition, food and agriculture, water and the environment, industrial applications, and nuclear knowledge development and management.

International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)

Safety Reports

• Report 2018 finds that 2017 saw 4.1 billion people travel across the world and recorded only 50 fatalities for scheduled commercial departures marks global fatality rate of 12.2 per billion passengers
• ICAO marks 2018 as “the safest year ever on record for aviation”.

International Energy Agency

World Energy Outlook 2018

• Solar to grow from two per cent to 10 per cent of power generation by 2040, while hydro will contribute 15 per cent of total power by the same date. Meanwhile, wind farms will grow from four per cent of power generation to 12 per cent within 22 years, overtaking nuclear. The share of coal will fall from 40 per cent today to just a quarter by 2040.
• India is set to overtake the US as the world's second-largest power sector emitter, as millions of people rapidly ramp up their electricity use. A coming surge in the numbers of people using air conditioning units will have a particular impact, with two-thirds of India's households set to own air conditioning by 2040.
• China will remain the largest source of power sector emissions throughout the period. And even with the massive surge in power demand, per capita India will remain one of the world's lowest electricity users.
• Existing energy infrastructure takes up 95 per cent of the world's carbon budget before anything else is even built. We are eating up 95 per cent of the [carbon] budget, even if we don't do anything else.

International Organisation for Migration (IOM)

World Migration Report

• 2018 report finds- Indian diaspora is world’s largest, with slightly more than 15.6 million people from India living overseas.
• The Indian diaspora constitutes 6% of the total number of international migrants (people living outside the country of their birth)
• Mexico is second largest diaspora after India followed by Russia (3rd), China (4th), Bangladesh (5th) and Pakistan (6th).
• The Gulf nations house biggest share of the Indian diaspora — nearly 3.5 million or 22% of total Indian diaspora.

International Telecommunication Union, The United Nations University (UNU) and the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA)

Global E-Waste Monitor Report

• Still 2017 report is available and it provides up-to-date information on the amounts of e-waste generated and recycled, makes predictions until 2021.
• The report has highlighted that electronic waste has risen 8% by weight in two years globally as incomes rise and prices fall.
• The global volume of e-waste generated is expected to reach
• 52.2 million tons or 6.8 kg/ inhabitant by 2021 from 44.7 million tons in 2016 at a compound annual growth rate of 20%, as per ASSOCHAM.

Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI)

Internet Readiness Index

• Internet Readiness Index is a composite benchmark of four components, i.e., e-infrastructure, e-participation, IT-environment and government e-services. All four components have been given equal weightage in the model.
• The government is planning to launch broadband services readiness index of states in 2019.

Melbourne Mercer

Global Pension Index

• MMGPI 2018 is in its 10^th year, measures pension systems in 34 countries. It shows who is the most and who is the least prepared to meet the challenges of an ageing population.
• The countries with the highest value for the adequacy sub-index are Germany (79.9) and France (79.5) with Mexico (37.3) and India (38.7) having the lowest values.
• The Mercer report said that India continues to maintain its level of 2017 in the sub-indices of sustainability and integrity, though the overall index value fell marginally from 44.9 in 2017 to 44.6 in 2018 due to the change from using the median income earner to the average income earner to calculate the net replacement rate in the adequacy sub-index.

Ministry of Commerce and Industry

Logistics Ease Across Different States (Leads) Index

• Gujarat has topped the list followed by Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
• The LEADs index is a composite indicator to assess international trade logistics across States/UTs based on stakeholders’ survey conducted by Deloitte for Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• It is calculated based on eight parameters such as infrastructure, services, timeliness, track and trace, competitiveness of pricing, safety of cargo, operating environment and regulatory process.

Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER)

Composite District Infrastructure Index

• It acts as a benchmark in formulating and implementing various policies by the ministry.
• The index is prepared based on 7 indicators, namely, transport facilities, energy, water supply, education, health facilities, communication infrastructure.
• The first approach is to ensure equitable development of every area, tribe and every section in the North Eastern Region.

Ministry of Urban Development (MoHUA)

Swachh Survekshan Report

• Swachh Survekshan 2018 was conducted by MoHUA, under the aegis of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban).
• Among state wise performance, Jharkhand has been adjudged the best performing state followed by Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.
• Indore, Bhopal and Chandigarh are among top three city in the list.

National Housing Bank

Residex

• NHB RESIDEX, India’s first official housing price index (HPI), was launched in July, 2007, to track the movement in prices of residential properties in select cities on quarterly basis, taking 2007 as the base year.
• NHB Residex marks that Residential property prices have largely remained stable in 2017-18.

Niti Aayog

Healthy States, Progressive India Report

• 2018 report titled as ‘Healthy States, Progressive India’ ranks states and UTs innovatively on their year-wise incremental change in health outcomes.
• The Health Index is a weighted composite Index, which for the larger States, is based on: (a) Health Outcomes (70%); (b) Governance and Information (12%); and (c) Key Inputs and Processes (18%).
• Among the Larger States, Kerala, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu ranked on top in terms of overall performance while among Smaller States, Mizoram ranked first followed by Manipur.

NITI Aayog and MHRD

School Education Quality Index (SEQI)

• The SEQI is a composite index that reports annual improvements of states on key domains of education quality, conceptualized and designed by NITI Aayog.
• The index has 34 indicators with having highest weightage on learning outcomes.
• Last report was published in 2016 and proposed newer version to in 2019.

Niti Aayog, DIPP, CII

India Innovation Index

• The India Innovation Index will measure and rank the innovation performance of all states in India with the aim of moving India towards an innovation- driven economy.
• The pillars of index include the capacity of human capital and research, strength of institutions, supporting infrastructure and the level of business sophistications among others.
• It was launched in Feb, 2017.

OECD

(The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development)

Government at a Glance Report

• The report presents an index of countries that trust their governments the most.
• The topmost rank in the global index 2017, is secured by India as around 73 per cent people have faith in government.
• Report finds Denmark, Norway and Sweden have the highest levels of government employment, at nearly 30 per cent of total employment.

Organization of Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD)

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)

• The PISA is conducted by OECD in every three years.
• India was the participant country in PISA in 2009.
• India is applying with Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas, andall schools, private and government, in Chandigarh for the 2021 test.

UNDP & Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI)

Multidimensional Poverty Index

• MPI is an international measure of acute poverty covering over 100 developing countries.
• It complements traditional income-based poverty measures by capturing the severe deprivations that each person faces at the same time with respect to education, health and living standards.
• If someone is deprived in a third or more of ten (weighted) indicators, the global index identifies them as ‘MPI poor’.
• India almost halved multidimensional poverty between 2015-16, climbing down to 27.5 per cent from 54.7 percent.

Plan India

Gender Vulnerability Index

• The Gender Vulnerability Index (GVI), with 170 indicators, can be used to identify India’s current status across the four dimensions of Education, Health, Poverty and Protection and draw integrated conclusions.
• The priorities for the GVI are established in the Life Cycle Approach, and the states which struggle to catch up to national momentum can be identified.
• The Index reveals Goa as the state where girls are the least vulnerable. With a GVI of 0.656 Goa state topped the list followed by Kerala (2^nd) and Mizoram (3^rd).

Pratham

Annual Survey of Education Report

• ASER 2017: ‘Beyond Basics’ was released on Jan, 2018.
• This is the 12^th annual report.
• Every year since 2005, ASER has reported on children’s schooling status and their ability to do basic reading and arithmetic tasks.
• Overall, 86% of youth in the 14-18 age group are still within the formal education system, either in school or in college.
• The enrollment gap between males and females in the formal education system increases with age.

Quality Council of India

Report Card of Swachh Bharat Mission

• Ministry of Urban Development has commissioned QCI to rank 75 cities on sanitation and cleanliness after an extensive survey.
• It also evaluates work like sweeping, door to door collection and transportation, processing and disposal, provision of public and community toilet seats and construction of household individual toilets.
• It is started publishing from 2016 based on 2015 year.

Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development

India Youth Development Index and Report

• The index uses to track the trends in Youth Development across the States.
• Dimensions on which the YDI 2017 has been formed are: Education, Health, Political Participation, work and social inclusion.
• YDI is different from Global YDI because YDI for India adds a new domain, social inclusion, to assess the inclusiveness of societal progress as structural inequalities persist in Indian society.

RBI

Financial Stability Report

• Most recent report released on December 2018 (Bi-annual).
• Report finds that India’s financial system remains stable, and the banking sector shows signs of improvement, even though the global economic environment and the emerging trends in financial sector pose challenges.
• The global growth outlook for 2018 and 2019 remains steady although the underlying downside risks have risen.
• Credit growth of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) has improved between March 2018 and September 2018, driven largely by private sector banks (PVBs).

RBI

Monetary Policy Report

• Monetary policy is the process by which a central bank (RBI) manages money supply in the economy.
• The objectives of monetary policy include ensuring inflation targeting and price stability, full employment and stable economic growth.
• RBI publishes the report bi-annually.

RBI

Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India

• The report analyses the state of Indian Banking and contemporary status of Global Banking system on the yearly basis.
• The recent report publishes on December 28, 2018.
• The report marks that a pick-up in GDP growth took hold in the first half of 2018-19, having shrugged off the transient effects of demonetization and implementation of the goods and services tax (GST), and supported by incipient firming up of the investment cycle andexports.

Reporters Without Borders

World Press Freedom Index

• This Index since 2002, yearly measures the level of media freedom in 180 countries. It measures the level of freedom available to journalists and not the quality of journalism.
• The parameters that are evaluated are: level of pluralism, media independence, environment and self-censorship, transparency, legal framework, quality of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and information.
• In 2018 India’s position slipped to 138 from 136 in 2017.

SDSN-Sustainable Development Solution Network

World Happiness Report

• In 2018 India ranked 133^rd among 156 countries (in 2017 India was at 122nd position).
• The index is based on parameters such as inequality, life expectancy, GDP per capita, social freedom, generosity, public trust (i.e. a lack of corruption in government and business) and social support.
• According to 2018 index report- Finland (1st), Norway (2nd), Denmark (3rd), Iceland (4th), Switzerland (5th), Netherlands (6th), Canada (7th), New Zealand (8th), Sweden (9th) and Australia (10^th)

Social Progress Imperative

Social Progress Index

• SPI measures the extent to which countries provide for the social and environmental needs of their citizens.
• 54 indicators in the areas of basic human needs. The social and environmental factors include wellness (including health, shelter and sanitation), equality, inclusion, sustainability and personal freedom and safety.
• It covers 637 districts from 33 States and UTs.
• Overall, India’s districts achieved an average score of 56.66 and Social Progress score of Indian districts lies between 28.67 and 76.80 on a scale of 0-100.

The Council of Social Development

India Social Development Report

• With the objective of bridging the gap between the mainstream social rights activists and disability rights groups, the Council for Social Development released its India Social Development Report.
• The last report available was published in 2016 with theme ‘Disability Rights Perspectives’.
• The report finds- about 45% of all persons with disabilities (PWD) in India are illiterate. While 38% of all male PWDs were illiterate, the illiteracy rate was 55% for female PWDs.

Transparency International

Corruption Perception Index

• In 2018 India’s ranking in the Corruption Perception Index fell to 81 (from 79 in 2016 - 176 countries), in 180 countries list.
• New Zealand and Singapore scored the highest scores with 89 and 84 out of 100, in the index that measures perception of corruption in the public sector.
• The 2018 report warns that in some countries across the region (Asia Pacific), journalists, activists, opposition leaders and even staff of law enforcement or watchdog agencies are threatened, and in the worst cases, even murdered.

Tufts University, US and Mastercard

Digital Evolution Index

• India has been ranked 53^rd among 60 countries in the 2017 DEI (released in Jan 2018). The list is topped by Norway, followed by Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark and Finland.
• The Index tracks the progress of the digital economy across 60 countries, taking into account more than 100 different indicators across four key drivers: supply, consumer demand, institutional environment, and innovation.
• It reflects the state and rate of digital evolution on the one hand, while also identifying avenues for investment, innovation and policy priorities.

UN Industrial Development organisations

Industrial Development Report

• Industrial Development Report 2018 titled as ‘Demand for Manufacturing: Driving Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development.’
• The IDR 2018 highlights the fact that the consumption of manufactured goods is an important catalyst for the achievement of SDG 9.
• The report also warns about the environmental impact of increased consumption, and calls for a shift in consumption patterns towards the purchase of environmental goods that minimize use of natural resources and toxic materials, as well as emissions of waste and pollutants.

UN Inter-Agency Group

Levels and Trends in Child Mortality Report

• Recent report released in Sept, 2018.
• About 8,02,000 infant deaths were reported in India in 2017, the lowest in five years, while the number of deaths among children aged 5-14 was 1,52,000 according to the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNIGME).
• Globally, under five mortality rate dropped to 39 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2017 from 93 in 1990 – a 58 per cent decline.
• The report have most up-to-date information on child mortality worldwide, including a public database containing about 18,000 country-year data points from more than 1,500 series across 195 countries from 1990 to 2017 for mortality of children younger than 5 years.

UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development)

Review of Maritime Transport

• The 2018 edition of the UNCTAD Review of Maritime Transport comes with a warning: While the prospects for seaborne trade are positive, these are threatened by the outbreak of trade wars and increased inward-looking policies (October 2018).
• Seaborne trade expanded by a healthy 4% in 2017, the fastest growth in five years, while UNCTAD forecasts similar growth this year, according to its Review of Maritime Transport 2018.
• Liner shipping consolidation, technological advances, and climate change policy are key drivers of change in global shipping.
• 90% of shipbuilding was generated in China, Japan and the Republic of Korea while 79% of ship demolitions were carried out in Southeast Asia, particularly in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.

UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development)

The Information Economy Report

• The Information Economy Report is published biennially. It analyses current trends and major international policy issues regarding information and communication technologies and their use for, and effect on, trade and development.
• 2017 report finds that nearly 90% of the 750 million people that went online for the first time between 2012 and 2015 were from developing economies, with the largest numbers from India (178 million) and China (122 million).

UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development)

The Least Developed Countries Report

• The Least Developed Countries Report 2018: Entrepreneurship for Structural Transformation - Beyond Business as Usual demonstrates how transformational entrepreneurship generates many of the social and economic innovations that underpin sustainable development.

UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development)

The Technology and Innovation Report

• The Technology and Innovation Report 2018: Harnessing Frontier Technologies for Sustainable Development notes that change is becoming exponential thanks to the power of digital platforms and innovative combinations of different technologies that become possible every day.
• The Report also suggests that countries develop policies to help people navigate the transition period that lies ahead. This may require that stakeholders adapt the social contract to the new world that frontier technologies are forming.

UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development)

Trade and Development Report

• T&D Report 2018 based on theme- Power, Platforms and the Free Trade Delusion.
• Report emphasizes- “The world economy is again under stress.” It finds-
• Developing economies are holding out better, with first quarter growth for 2018 beating expectations in China and India, but no improvement and even deceleration in Brazil and South Africa.
• Rise in the equity market index between March 2009 and March 2018 was high across the board, but the extent of increase varied significantly across countries. For example, the increase was 230 per cent in Germany, 163 per cent in the United States, 300 per cent in India and 329 per cent in Thailand.

UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development)

World Investment Report

• W.I. Report 2018: Investment and New Industrial Policies, finds-
• Global flows of foreign direct investment fell by 23 per cent in 2017.
• Financial uncertainty caused by “significant risks” to global trade is responsible for a sharp fall in international investment flows which could hurt developing countries the most.
• FDI to India decreased to 40 bn dollars 2017 from 44 bn dollars in 2016.But outflows from India, the main source of FDI in South Asia, more than doubled to USD 11 billion.

UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)

Gender Inequality Index

• It shows the loss in potential human development due to disparity between female and male achievements in three dimensions- reproductive health, empowerment and economic status. Overall, the GII reflects how women are disadvantaged in these dimensions.
• In 2018 GII, India ranks at 130 with score 0.524 (ranked 127 in 2017).

UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)

Human Development Index

• Movements in the HDI are driven by changes in health, education and income.
• India climbed one spot to 130 out of 189 countries 2018 HDI rankings.
• Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Ireland and Germany lead the ranking, while Niger, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Chad and Burundi have the lowest scores in the HDI’s measurement of national achievements in health, education and income.

UNEP

Emission Gap Report

• The report presenting an annual assessment of current national mitigation efforts and the ambitions countries have presented in their Nationally Determined Contributions, which form the foundation of the Paris Agreement.
• The 2018 report finds (Nov, 2018)-Limiting global warming to 2 degree Celsius will be a challenge if gap is not closed by 2030. A majority of the countries are not yet on a path that will lead to fulfilling their NDCs for 2030.

UNEP & INTERPOL

The Rise of Environmental Crime Report

• The crime includes the illegal trade in wildlife, corporate crime in the forestry sector, the illegal exploitation and sale of gold and other minerals, illegal fisheries, the trafficking of hazardous waste and carbon credit fraud.
• Recent report available is 2016 report by UNEP and INTERPOL

UNEP- United Nations Environment Program

Global Environmental Outlook

• The first publication was in 1997 and was originally requested by Member States.
• The Global Environment Outlook (GEO) is a consultative and participatory process to prepare an independent assessment of the state of the environment, the effectiveness of the policy response to address these environmental challenges and the possible pathways to be achieve various internationally agreed environmental goals.

UNEP- United Nations Environment Program

Global Trend in Renewable Energy
Investment

• The recent report published in April, 2018.
• The report finds that falling costs for solar electricity, and to some extent wind power, is continuing to drive deployment.
• The world installed a record 98 gigawatts of new solar capacity, far more than the net additions of any other technology – renewable, fossil fuel or nuclear and solar power attracted far more investment, at $160.8 billion, up 18 per cent, than any other technology.

UNESCO

Gender Parity Index

• GPI is a socio-economic index usually designed to measure the relative access to education of males and females.
• It is calculated as the quotient of the number of females by the number of males enrolled in a given stage of education (primary, secondary, etc.).

UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)

Global Education Monitoring Report

• Global Education Monitoring Report, 2019 titled as Migration, displacement and education: Building Bridges, Not Walls.

UN-Habitat

World Cities Report

• The analysis of urban development of the past twenty years presented in its maiden edition (2016) of the World Cities Report shows, with compelling evidence, that there are new forms of collaboration and cooperation, planning, governance, finance and learning that can sustain positive change.
• It conveys a clear message that the pattern of urbanization needs to change in order to better respond to the challenges of our time, to address issues such as inequality, climate change, informality, insecurity, and the unsustainable forms of urban expansion.

United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF)

The State of the World’s Children Report

• The recent report available, named as The State of the World’s Children 2017: Children in a Digital World.
• The report represents the first comprehensive look from UNICEF at the different ways digital technology is affecting children, identifying dangers as well as opportunities.
• It makes a clear call to governments, the digital technology sector and telecom industries to level the digital playing field for children by creating policies, practices and products that can help children harness digital opportunities and protect them from harm.

United Nations International Telecommunication Union (UN-ITU)

ICT Development Index

• The report available for 2017, which places India at 134 place with 3.03 score (was at 138 position in 2016).
• According to the report in India Fixed-telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants is 1.88 and Mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants are 86.95.

United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research
Institute (UNICRI)

Reports on Counterfeiting and Organized Crime

• The first report Counterfeiting, a global spread, a global threat, published by UNICRI in 2007, provides a global assessment of organized criminal involvement in counterfeiting.

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

Global Report on Trafficking in Persons

• The 2018 UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons is the fourth of its kind mandated by the General Assembly through the 2010 United Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons. It covers 142 countries and provides an overview of patterns and flows of trafficking in persons at global, regional and national levels, based primarily on trafficking cases detected between 2014 and 2016 (released on Jan 09, 2019).

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

State of World Population Report

• The report published in Oct, 2018 entitled, “The Power of Choice: Reproductive Rights and the Demographic Transition.”
• It claims that- the global trend towards smaller families is a reflection of people making reproductive choices to have as few or as many children as they want, when they want.

United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)

World Risk Index

• Latest report available is 2016 report that places India on 77^th position in World risk factor.
• India’s first Disaster Risk Index was released in June 2018.

UN-ITU

Global Cyber Security Index

• The United Nations Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) measures the commitment to cybersecurity for each country.
• It is currently evaluated through five pillars: Legal Measures, Technical Measures, Organizational Measures, Capacity Building and Cooperation.
• It has till now two indices for 2015 and 2017.
• India was placed at 5 in 2015 that slipped on to 23 in 2017 index.

UNO (United Nations Organizations)

World Economic Situation and Prospects Report

• According to 2018 report, the Indian economy is projected to grow at 7.2 per cent in 2018-19 and 7.4 per cent in 2019-20.
• The report indicates that the outlook for India remains largely positive, underpinned by robust private consumption and public investment as well as ongoing structural reforms.

UNODC

World Wildlife Crime Report

• Recent report available is of 2016, The World Wildlife Crime Report: Trafficking in protected species, takes stock of the present wildlife crime situation with a focus on illicit trafficking of specific protected species of wild fauna and flora, and provides a broad assessment of the nature and extent of the problem at the global level.

UNODC- UN office on Drugs and Crime

World Drug Report

• World Drug Report 2018: Opioid Crisis, Prescription Drug Abuse Expands; Cocaine and Opium Hit Record Highs.
• It highlights that the non-medical use of prescription drugs is becoming a major threat to public health and law enforcement worldwide with opioids causing the most harm and accounting for 76 per cent of deaths where drug use disorders were implicated.

UNPAP

E-Participation Index

• E-Government Survey 2018: Gearing E-Government to Support Transformation towards Sustainable and Resilient Societies (July, 2018).
• It highlights that in India, the Aadhaar program is providing digital identity to the entire population and is serving as the basis for interacting with the Government at various levels.
• Most Indian States have now enrolled more than 80 per cent of their residents.

US Chamber of Commerce

Intellectual Property Index

• India was ranked 44th out of 50 countries in the Intellectual Property (IP) Index (it was on 43^rd out of 45 in 2017).
• Despite improvement in score, India continues to remain towards bottom of the ladder.

Walk Free Foundation, Australia based Human Rights Group

Global Slavery Index

• In 2018 report India’s Prevalence Index Rank is 53 out of 167 and Vulnerability to Modern Slavery 55.49 out of 100. Government response rating is given as ‘B’ to India.
• Also estimated proportion living in Modern Slavery is 6.10 in 1000.

WEF (World Economic Forum)

Environmental Performance Index

• India is among the bottom five countries (177^th in the list of 180) on the Environmental Performance Index 2018, plummeting 36 points from 141 in 2016.
• Switzerland leads the world in sustainability, followed by France, Denmark, Malta and Sweden in the EPI.
• EPI marks that air quality is the leading environmental threat to public health.

WEF (World Economic Forum)

Global Competitive Report/Index

• The report describes the index as a compilation of metrics that drive the productivity and economic success of a country.
• The 2018 index employs a majority of new factors such as workforce diversity, labour rights, e-governance, and disruptive businesses.
• As per GCI (of WEF) 2018, India lies at 58^th rank among the 140 countries, While its ranking is 18 places down from 2017.

WEF (World Economic Forum)

Global Energy Architecture Performance Index Report

• India ranked 87^th among the surveyed 127 countries on EAPI in 2017 report (latest available).
• EAPI is a composite index that focuses on tracking specific indicators to measure the energy system performance of the countries. It has 18 indicators defined across the three sides of the ‘energy triangle’- economic growth and development, energy access and security and environmental sustainability.

WEF (World Economic Forum)

Global Gender Gap Report

• India has been ranked 108^th in WEF’s gender gap index, same as in 2017.
• Gender gap was measured across four key pillars-economic opportunity, political empowerment, educational attainment, and health and survival.
• Iceland has been ranked as number 1 for the 10th consecutive year.

WEF (World Economic Forum)

Inclusive Growth & Development Report

• Inclusive Development Index (IDI) measures progress of 103 economies on three individual pillars – growth and development; inclusion; and inter-generational equity.
• India was ranked at 62nd place among emerging economies on Inclusive Development Index -2018,

WEF (World Economic Forum)

The Global Risk Report

• The report of 2018 finds that the biggest risks in South Asia overall would be in areas like employment, governance and infrastructure.
• The top ten risks in terms of likelihood include extreme weather events, natural disasters, cyber-attacks, data fraud or theft, climate change, involuntary migration, man-made environmental disasters, terrorist attacks, illicit trade and asset bubbles in major economies.

WEF (World Economic Forum)

World Power Language Index

• English has been ranked first in the top 10 most powerful languages in the world according to the 2016 World Power Language Index (PLI), the latest available till now.
• According to the index there are over 6,000 languages spoken in the world. Of these 2,000 count fewer than 1,000 speakers.
• Languages in 2016 PLI: English (1st), Mandarin (2nd), French (3rd), Spanish (4th), Arabic (5th), Russian (6th), German (7th), Japanese (8th), Portuguese (9^th) and Hindi at 10^th position.

WEF (World Economic Forum)

Energy Transition Index

• India was ranked at 78th among 114 countries on WEF’s Energy Transition Index (ETI) 2018.
• The 2018 report was titled “Fostering Effective Energy Transition.”
• The index ranks countries on how well they are able to balance energy security and access with environmental sustainability and affordability
• Top five nations are- Sweden (1st), Norway (2nd), Switzerland (3rd), Finland (4th), Denmark (5^th)

WHO

World Tuberculosis Report

• The 2018 edition of the Global Tuberculosis Report, provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the TB epidemic and progress in the response at global, regional and country levels.
• India accounted for 27 per cent of the 10 million people who developed tuberculosis in 2017, the highest among the top 30 high TB burden countries in the world.

WHO(World Health Organization)

World Health Report

• Indians have registered a 50% increase in the prevalence of ischemic heart disease and stroke over the period from 1990 to 2016, with the number of diabetes cases climbing from 26 million to 65 million.

WIPO-World Intellectual Property Organisation

World Intellectual Property Report

• The number of patents granted by India shot up by 50 per cent in 2017, keeping up a trend of steep increases.
• India received a total of 46,582 patent applications last year, of them 14,961 were from Indian individuals or entities and 31,621 were from foreigners, and of them 9,222 came from the US
• China recorded the highest application volume for each of these IP rights as innovators and creators inside the country, as well as foreign entities, seek to protect and promote their work in one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies.

World Bank

Global Financial Development Report

• The latest available report is, Global Financial Development Report 2017-18: Bankers without Borders.
• The report marks; in last two decades, the International Microfinance Institutions, particularly Greenfield MFIs have proliferated.

World Bank

India Development Update

• The World Bank, released its biannual flagship publication, the India Development Update (India’s Growth Story in March 2018). It takes stock of the Indian economy and assesses what it will take India to move to a higher growth trajectory.
• The Update describes the state of the Indian economy, shares its perspective on the Indian growth experience and trajectory over the past two and a half decades, and analyses the near-term outlook for growth, the global economic outlook and its impact on the Indian economy.

World Bank

Logistics Performance Index

• The international score uses six key dimensions to benchmark countries’ performance and also displays the derived overall LPI index. Six indicators are- Efficiency of the clearance process; Quality of trade and transport related infrastructure; Ease of arranging competitively priced shipments; Competence and quality of logistics services; Ability to track and trace consignments; Timeliness of shipments in reaching destination.
• Rank of India in 2018 is 44^th with 3.18 score.

World Bank

Migration and Development Brief

• According to 2018 report, India will retain its position as world’s top recipient of remittances in 2018, receiving a total remittance of $80 billion from its diaspora.
• India is followed by China ($67 billion), Mexico and Philippines ($34 billion each) and Egypt ($26 billion).

World Inequality Lab, Paris School of Economics

World Inequality Report

• The objective of the World Inequality Report 2018 is to contribute to a more informed global democratic debate on economic inequality by bringing the latest and most complete data to the public discussion.
• In 2016, the share of total national income accounted for by just that nation’s top 10% earners (top 10% income share) was 37% in Europe, 41% in China, 46% in Russia, 47% in us-Canada, and around 55% in sub-Saharan Africa, Brazil, and India.

WTO (World Trade Organization)

World Trade Report

• World Trade Report 2018 was titled as ‘The future of world trade: How digital technologies are transforming global commerce’.
• It is annual publication that aims to deepen understanding about trends in trade, trade policy issues and the multilateral trading system.
• The 2018 Report examines how digital technologies are transforming global commerce.

WWF (World Wildlife Fund)

Living Planet Report

• Living Planet Report 2018: Aiming higher was published in October 2018. It is biannual edition of report.
• The report has marked 9 Wildlife crisis points. The most important is -190 per cent rise in ecological footprint or consumption of natural resources was recorded in the past 50 years.
• It marks, India has one of the lowest ecological footprints among countries at less than 1.75 global hectares per person, but fared the worst in soil biodiversity which was mapped for the first time to locate threat areas.