{Article} SocioEconomic: Sexual harassment of women in government offices and BPO's - a solution

BPO's on Alert: 

• After the incidents of violence in various parts of the country against women business process outsourcing sector employees returning home late, this is one sector that has its defences ready.
• "The industry is acutely conscious of the need for stringent safety measures and precautions to guarantee the protection of women employees." 
• As part of its annual training schedules, some BPO (HCL) proposes to conduct workshops in self-defence. Two months ago, Aegis too held selfdefence workshops to teach women employees how to be safe in malls and parking lots. 
• Another area where companies are beefing up security is office transport. At Aegis, all women employees have a male security guard dropping them in case they are travelling alone, says SM Gupta, chief people officer. 
• CairnIndia has a system which tracks all its vehicles in real time. 
• Women employees who are the last to be dropped are provided helpline numbers of the internal security officer in case the driver misbehaves or takes a detour. 
• Philips goes so far as to encourage employees to travel in groups and once home, send an SMS to their managers. If managers don't get a message by a certain time, they are instructed to call the employees and find out if they are alright. 

{Article} SocioEconomic: Life Expectancy over the last 40 years

• Indians are living much longer than they did 40 years ago. Between 1970 and 2010, the life expectancy at birth of an average Indian male has gone up by 15 years to 63 years and that of an Indian woman by 18 years to 67.5.
• However, the number of years they stay healthy is much less. An Indian male can expect to be in good health only till he reaches the age of 54.6 years and is likely to battle various ailments in the last nine years of his life. On the other hand, the average Indian woman is likely to spend the last 10.4 years of her life in poor health.
• The Global Burden of Disease Study, 2010, the largest ever study to describe the global distribution and causes of a wide array of major diseases, injuries and health risk factors, says that a common practice in Indian households —mainly in rural settings of burning wood, coal and animal dung as fuel in chulhas — has proved to be the greatest enemy for Indians. While globally, high blood pressure is the single biggest causative agent of disease, it is indoor air pollution for Indians.
• The other threats to Indians include a diet low in fruits, high blood glucose levels, alcohol use, iron deficiency, sub-optimal breast feeding, low physical activity and occupational injuries.
• Tobacco smoking, including second-hand smoke, caused nearly 6.3 million deaths across the globe. With India being one of the world’s major tobacco users, most of these deaths may have happened in the country.
• Lower back pain—a common phenomenon among Indians—has been found to be the leading cause of years lived with disability (YLD) across the world.
• Compared to 1970, average Indian woman now lives till 67.5 yrs, 18 years more; man till 63, nearly 15 yrs more
• Globally, women’s life expectancy up by 12 yrs (73), men by 11 (67.5). Men in Iceland live longest, up to 80 yrs; women in Japan live to 86

{Education} Article: India needs to get better prepared for a boom in urban living