NITI Aayog hosted the Data Forum 2024, a collaborative initiative with the World Bank, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), and the Government of Odisha, on November 21-22, Bhubaneshwar. The engagement brought together experts to explore innovative strategies for leveraging data in development, with a particular focus on gender outcomes.
Dr Pallavi Choudhuri, Senior Fellow & Deputy Director at NDIC-NCAER, spoke at the session “Data Systems for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” emphasizing the role of data-driven policymaking in improving gender equality, including the need to examine both granular level survey and administrative data. The session, chaired by Ms. Anu Garg, Development Commissioner, Government of Odisha, began with a presentation by Christopher Garroway, Chief Economist, UN RCO (Resident Coordinator Office), which set the stage for the rest of the speakers.
Key takeaways from the two-day forum included leveraging diverse data sources to drive development, learning from global best practices, and highlighting impactful initiatives by Central and State ministries. Participants highlighted the critical role of robust data systems in shaping policies aligned with SDGs, particularly in addressing inequalities and fostering sustainable growth.
The Data Forum 2024 showcased the power of collaboration and the transformative potential of data in achieving equitable and impactful development outcomes.
The Indian Express
Of the four key areas that define women’s empowerment, personal efficacy, power in intra-household negotiations, societal engagement, and access to income-generating activities, we see improvements in the first three domains. In contrast, the fourth — access to employment — has stagnated.
Link: https://ndic.ncaer.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/2024-11-13-Gender-Transformation_-Indian-Express-1.pdf
Prof Sonalde Desai explains the whys and hows of delimitation, what will happen to the number of Parliamentary seats in the country if it is implemented in 2026, and what could be done to ensure a fair outcome for all States in India.
For Listening: https://www.thehindu.com/podcast/decoding-delimitation-concerns-in-south-india/article68832403.ece
How do we decode the puzzling trends in women’s labour force participation in India given the substantial decline between 2004-5 and 2017-18 and a striking increase thereafter? Does a focus on overall work participation take our attention away from underlying stagnation in women’s wage work?
Sonalde Desai and Ashwini Deshpande discussed data and trends in women’s work at a seminar at O P Jindal Global University and argued that much of the swing in women’s work is caused by trends in women’s work on family farms. Participation in wage labour – either as casual labour or as salaried work – has remained stagnant and deserves urgent attention.
Carbon pricing has emerged as a key policy instrument for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with carbon taxes and emissions trading as the main tools. As of June 2024, 89 national and subnational jurisdictions globally have implemented carbon pricing, covering 24% of global GHG emissions. Asian countries in particular are increasingly using emissions trading systems (ETSs) to meet their climate goals. This paper provides a comprehensive review of all national and subnational ETSs in the Asia and Pacific region—namely, in Australia, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), and New Zealand. We also examine the European Union ETS (EU ETS) as a reference point since it is the oldest ETS for GHGs and the largest by value of trading. Each ETS presents unique characteristics but they share common challenges, such as limited sectoral coverage, weak price signals, and issues related to monitoring and enforcement.
An important contribution of the paper is an assessment framework to evaluate ETSs in the four countries where adequate data is available for such analysis—namely, the PRC, Kazakhstan, the ROK, and New Zealand. The framework comprises eight criteria for evaluating an ETS—contribution to GHG mitigation; cost-effectiveness of mitigation; predictability; robustness; accountability and transparency; administrative cost-effectiveness; fairness; and compatibility with national circumstances and other GHG mitigation policies. These eight criteria are further elaborated into 28 specific indicators against which the paper evaluates the ETSs. Based on this analysis, we recommend policy measures such as clarifying the long-term objectives of ETSs; tightening emissions caps; enhancing administrative capacity for better monitoring, reporting, and verification; and complementary policies to mitigate the distributional impacts of carbon pricing. While ETSs in Asia and the Pacific remain a work in progress, they offer important lessons for countries in the region that are considering or starting to implement emissions trading.
Read More: https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/institutional-document/1007506/apcr2024bp-carbon-pricing-emissions-trading-asia-pacific.pdf
