Economic Survey 2020-21 Introduced Bare Necessities Index

• 02 Feb 2021

• To assess equity, Economic Survey 2020-21 has introduced a bare necessities index.
• The Survey has underlined the need to focus on reducing variations in the access to bare necessities across states, between rural and urban areas, and between income groups.
• Inequalities in access to bare necessities like drinking water, sanitation, hygiene and housing conditions continue to exist between urban and rural India despite “widespread” improvements in each of these aspects, the Economic Survey for 2020-21 has shown.
• The BNI builds on the idea of Thalinomics in the Economic Survey for 2019-20, through which it had sought to examine the access to food in the country.
• The BNI summarises 26 indicators on five dimensions — water, sanitation, housing, micro-environment, and other facilities — and has been created for all states for 2012 and 2018 using NSO data. The index classifies areas on three levels of access — high, medium, low — to bare necessities.
• Government schemes such as the Jal Jeevan Mission, SBM-G (Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin), PMAY-G (Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana), may design appropriate strategy to address these gaps to enable India to achieve the SDG (UN Sustainable Development Goals) goals of reducing poverty, improving access to drinking water, sanitation and housing by 2030.

EDISON Alliance to Ensure Equitable Access to Digital Economy

• At the Davos Summit 2021, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has launched Essential Digital Infrastructure and Services Network, or EDISON Alliance.
• The aim of this alliance is to ensure global and equitable access to the digital economy.
• The EDISON Alliance will prioritize digital inclusion as a platform of partners with a common purpose for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. In 2021, the Alliance will focus on increasing digital inclusion in healthcare, education and financial services.

Global AI Action Alliance (GAIA)

• At the Davos Summit 2021, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has launched the Global AI Action Alliance (GAIA), an initiative to accelerate the adoption of inclusive, transparent and trusted artificial intelligence.
• The GAIA is a multi-stakeholder collaboration platform designed to accelerate the development and adoption of such tools globally and in industry sectors.
• It brings together over 100 leading companies, governments, international organisations, non-profits and academics united in their commitment to maximising AI's societal benefits while minimising its risks.