WIPO and its role

WIPO and its role

What is WIPO?

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It is dedicated to developing a balanced and accessible international intellectual property (IP) system, which rewards creativity, stimulates innovation and contributes to economic development while safeguarding the public interest.

WIPO was established by the WIPO Convention in 1967 with a mandate from its Member States to promote the protection of IP throughout the world through cooperation among states and in collaboration with other international organizations. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. The Director General is Francis Gurry.

Strategic Goals

WIPO's revised and expanded strategic goals are part of a comprehensive process of strategic realignment taking place within the Organization. These new goals will enable WIPO to fulfill its mandate more effectively in response to a rapidly evolving external environment, and to the urgent challenges for intellectual property in the 21st Century.The nine strategic goals were adopted by Member States in the Revised Program and Budget for the 2008/09 Biennium.  They are:

• Balanced Evolution of the International Normative Framework for IP
• Provision of Premier Global IP Services
• Facilitating the Use of IP for Development
• Coordination and Development of Global IP Infrastructure
• World Reference Source for IP Information and Analysis
• International Cooperation on Building Respect for IP
• Addressing IP in Relation to Global Policy Issues
• A Responsive Communications Interface between WIPO, its Member States and All Stakeholders
• An Efficient Administrative and Financial Support Structure to Enable WIPO to Deliver its Programs

Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojna (SGRY)

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Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojna (SGRY)
(A very nice chapter on SGRY - A must read )


The SGRY was launched in September 2001, by merging the ongoing Schemes of Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana (JGSY) and Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS).

The objective of the programme is to provide additional wage employment in the rural areas as also food security, along with the creation of durable community, social and economic infrastructure in rural areas.

The SGRY is open to all rural poor who are in need of wage employment and desire to do manual and unskilled work in and around the village/habitat. The Scheme is implemented through Panchyati Raj Institutions.
The scheme envisages generation of 100 crore man-days of employment in a year. The cost of each component of the programme is shared by the Centre and States in the ratio of 75:25. During the year 2003-04 an amount of Rs. 4,121 crore as cash component and 49.97 lakh tones of food grain were released to the States/UTs and 76.45 crore man-days (Provisional) have been generated as reported by the States/UTs. Under the Special Component of the SGRY, 65.84 lakh tonnes of foodgrain have been released to 12 calamity affected States during 2003-04.

Human Development Index (HDI)

    The Human Development Index (HDI) is an index used to rank the countries on the basis of developed, developing, or underdeveloped country based upon human development in that country.
It is being used since 1990. The index was developed in 1990 by Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq and India’s Nobel prize Winner Economist Amartya Sen.
It is prepared by UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)


It is a composite of 3 factors:


1. Life Expectancy at birth or life expectancy at birth also called LEI (Life Expectancy Index)

2. Standard of Knowledge & Education : Adult Literacy Rate also called EAI (Education Attainment Index) given 2/3 priority and Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) given 1/3 priority (weightage)

3. Standard of living measured by natural logarithm of gross domestic product per capita also called SLI (Standard of Living Index)


The latest report is of year 2008. It was a new index was released on December 18, 2008. It was called “statistical update” and it covers the period up to 2006 and was originally published without an accompanying report on human development. The update is relevant due to newly released estimates of purchasing power parities (PPP), implying substantial adjustments for many countries, resulting in changes in HDI values and, in many cases, HDI ranks.


Here are salient features of this report (memorable points):
1. It was launched in December 2008
2. It includes 177 UN members plus Hongkong plus Palestinian territories.
3. Countries fall into three broad categories based on their HDI: high, medium and low human development.
4. Iceland is the top of this list with HDI of 0.968.
5. India’s Rank is 132 with HDI of 0.609
6. Top 5 countries are Iceland, Norway, Canada, Australia, Ireland
7. Japan Tops the list in Asia (0.956)
8. Libya Tops the list in Africa (0.840)
9. Canada has an Higher HDI (0.967) than USA (0.950)


 Since 1990, Japan, Norway, Iceland & Canada only have been able to get a top slot in this index


Human Development Index 2009:


Despite emerging as an economic superpower, India remains 134 among 182 countries in human development index (HDI) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), thereby making no difference in the quality of life enjoyed by the country’s 1.1 billion people.
Neighbouring countries China (92), Sri Lanka (102) and Bhutan (132) ranked higher than India, while Pakistan (141), Nepal (144) and Bangladesh (146) were ranked lower.
The score is based on the new income index developed by the World Bank.
India’s score has been pulled down by its slower progress in education and health reforms compared with most nations.
The HDI report 2009, released in New Delhi on Monday, pertains to the year 2007.
Norway has retained its status as the world’s most desirable country to live in and Africa’s Niger as the worst. The top 10 countries in the HDI 2007 include Norway, Australia, Iceland, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, France, Switzerland and Japan.
The US was on 10th slot, down a point from 2006, while at the bottom of the index were Sierra Leone (180), Afghanistan (181) and Niger (182).
India ranked 134 among 182 countries in 2007, the same as the ranking for 2006, which was released last year.
Pakistan moved up one rank to 141, China moved up seven ranks to 92 and Bangladesh moved up two ranks to 146, compared to the year 2006 rankings.
Though India continues to rank 134, there is some hope. Between 1980 and 2007, there has been a rise in life expectancy at birth by approximately 8 years, in adult literacy by 25 percentage points and an increase in combined gross school enrolment by 20 percentage points. GDP per capita also increased by 199per cent. This marks a slow annual human development growth rate of 1.33%.
The report also measures India on the Human Poverty Index (HPI) and finds it ranks 88th among 135 countries. On adult literacy, India scores 34%, while in the number of people having no access to an improved water source it scores a respectable 11%. In the matter of underweight children (under 5 years), India scores 46%, along with Bangladesh (48), East Timor (46) and Yemen (46).
“Overall, India has made steady progress on the Human Development Index. Its value has gone up from 0.556 in 2000 to 0.612 in 2007,” said Patrice Coeur Bizot, resident representative of UNDP in India.

Rolling Plan (1978-1980)

MEANING OF ROLLING PLAN

When a plan is accompanied by recurring changes, it will create uncertainty on the part of both the private as well as public sector. Both the sectors will remain unsure of each other's responses. How the private sector will behave when the projections and targets of the plan vary every year? Moreover, how the government. sector will respond as a result of behavior of private sector in the changed situation? Thus the uncertainty attached with the plan will serve as an anti-thesis of planning. The uncertainty will evaporate the long term investment decision of the firm making the plan a no plan.


The rolling plans are objected on the round that they make the planners timid and coward. As rolling plans are adhered to revisions and modifications, hence the planners are always reluctant in taking difficult decisions or taking courageous decisions. Whenever the difficult situations rise, the easier course will be to revise the targets of the plan. If the plan is to be revised each year, then what is the need of planning?


The rolling plans are devoid of commitment to the plans or planning. The changing character of a plan is equivalent to mechanical projection exercises. As there is no fixity attached with the plans, the enthusiasm on the part of planning and administrative machinery will hardly be found. The will to perform plan tasks will be pre-empted right from the inception of the plan. The planning authority under such scheme of affairs will be reduced to a mere office of information collection and its dissemination.

Rolling Plan (1978-1980)


In the rolling plans there are three kind of plans. Number one is the plan for the current year which comprises the annual budget. Number two is a plan for a fixed number of years, which may be 3, 4 or 5 years. This number two plan is kept changing as per the requirements of the economy. Number three is a perspective plan which is for 10, 15 or 20 years. Thus there is no fixation of dates in respect of commencement and end of the plan in the rolling plans.
So the main advantage of the rolling plans is that they are flexible. They are able to overcome the rigidity of fixed five year plans by revising targets, projections and allocations as per the changing conditions in the country’s economy.
However if targets are revised each year, it becomes very difficult to achieve the targets which are laid down in the five year period. Frequent revisions make them, difficult to maintain right balances in the economy which are essential for its balanced development.
The rolling plans allow for revisions and adjustments. In rolling plans the review of a plan becomes a continuous exercise. The effect of changed circumstances and the changed demand and supply conditions can be incorporated in the plan.
No doubt in fixed plans, the annual reviews are made, but they are getting information regarding the progress of the economy. While in case of rolling plans, the yearly reviews are such a nature that they serve the basis for the revised new five year plan every year. Such yearly review is the essence of rolling plans.


In India the 6th five year plan (1978-83) by the Janta Government was called Rolling Plan which was discarded by the next Congress Government in 1980.


So far rolling plans have been unsuccessful in underdeveloped economies like Mexico and Myanmar and were later discarded, however in developed nations like Japan & Poland they have been successfully used.