(1) India ageing rapidly
Elderly population in India is expanding at an unprecedented rate and could surpass the children’s population by mid-century, a new UNFPA report said, underlining that the young India will turn into a rapidly ageing society in the coming decades.
According to the India Ageing Report 2023, the decadal growth rate of the elderly population of India is currently estimated to be at 41%, and the percentage of the elderly population in the country is projected to double to 20.8% of the total population by 2050.
Editorial | Caring for the old: On the United Nations Population Fund’s India Ageing Report 2023
Citing this data, the report released on Wednesday said that “undoubtedly, relatively young India today will turn into a rapidly aging society in the coming decades.”
The data showed that women, on average, had higher life expectancy at the age of 60 and at 80, when compared to men — with variations across States and Union Territories. For instance, in Himachal Pradesh and Kerala, women at 60 years have a life expectancy of 23 and 22 years, respectively, which is four years greater than men at 60 years in these States — as compared to the national average differential of only 1.5 years, the report said.
Further, the sex ratio (females per 1,000 males) among the elderly has been climbing steadily since 1991, with the ratio in the general population stagnating. Between 2011 and 2021, the ratio increased in India as a whole and across all regions, barring the Union Territories and western India.
Also read | Elderly have low awareness about welfare schemes, says India Ageing Report 2023
The report also noted that there was a significant inter-state variation in absolute levels and growth (and hence, share) of the elderly population as well, reflecting the different stages and pace of demographic transition across States. Most States in the southern region and select northern States such as Himachal Pradesh and Punjab reported a higher share of the elderly population than the national average in 2021, a gap that is expected to widen by 2036, the report said.
Compared with southern and western India, central and northeastern regions have the younger group of States as indicated by the ageing index.
(2) ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup
The ICC Men’s World Cup Cricket will begin on Oct. 5, Thursday, with England facing New Zealand in Ahmedabad. The same venue will host the final on Nov. 19.
The first stage of the tournament will be a round-robin format where all teams will play each other once, resulting in 45 matches. The top four teams at the end of the round-robin stage will qualify for the semifinals. The teams finishing first and fourth will play the first semifinal on November 15 in Mumbai, while the second and third teams will meet in the second semifinal on November 16 in Kolkata.
Also read | Ravichandran Ashwin says 2023 World Cup could be his last for India
As fans around the world are eagerly waiting for the spectacle, we take a look the teams and their performances in past World Cup tournaments.
Australia are the most successful team in the history of the Men’s ODI World Cup. The team has won the tournament five times. Australia last clinched the ODI World Cup when it co-hosted the tournament in 2015. Australia also has the highest win ratio among other teams with 69 match wins. The team led by Pat Cummins will be aiming its sixth World Cup crown this time around.
Also read | Why the No. 4 conundrum is not India-specific
Team India have won the ODI World Cup title only twice - in 1983, under Kapil Dev in England, and in 2011, under MS Dhoni in India.
Also read | Full squad list of all 10 participating teams
The team which will be missed by fans this year will be the West Indies, who failed to qualify for the tournament. The two-time world champions were knocked out of the race for World Cup berths after losing to Scotland in the Super Six stage of the qualifiers in Zimbabwe.
(3) Violence continues in Manipur
It has been nearly five months since violence broke out in Manipur between the Meitei and Kuki communities. Over 200 people were killed and thousands have been displaced by the violence that broke out on May 3, after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
A fresh bout of violence, this time led by students, broke out in the State capital on Sep 26, Tuesday, after photos of the bodies of two youths who went missing in July went viral on social media. Curfew was re-imposed in the two districts — Imphal East and West — as the security forces combatted the violent protests, which saw 65 demonstrators being injured since Tuesday.
Also read | Manipur to compensate farmers hit by ethnic violence with ₹38-crore package
A mob tried to storm the personal residence of Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh at Heingang in Imphal East on Sep 28, Thursday. The crowd was stopped at a distance from the house and dispersed with the use of non-lethal weapons. Mr. Singh was not present in the house when the incident took place.
The students who were allegedly murdered were Hijam Linthoingambi (17) and Phijam Hemjit (20), both residents of Imphal. They had gone missing on July 6, two months after ethnic clashes broke out in Manipur between the Meitei and the Kuki communities.
Also read | Manipur government extends AFSPA in hill districts for 6 months
(4) Asian Games
As of October 1, India bagged 53 medals at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. This includes 13 gold, 21 silver and 19 bronze medals. It comes fourth after China, Japan and South Korea.
China’s dominance in the Games is not new. It has won every edition since 1982. All editions before that since the first in 1951 were won by Japan. India came a close second in the first ever Asian Games in 1951, with 11 countries participating in the first edition. It has been in the top 10 countries for all editions except in 1990.
Over the years, the Asian Games has expanded from 11 participating countries to 45 this edition. Around 12,000 athletes are participating in the current edition, up from the 2,000 that participated in the first edition in 1951. The number of events, too, has grown from 57 events in 1951 to 481 events in 2023. The Asian Games is recognized as the world’s second-largest multi-sport competition after the Olympic Games.
Also read |Gold hunt: On the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou and India’s prospects
The Games will continue till October 8.
(5) AIADMK snaps ties with BJP in Tamil Nadu
The AIADMK, on September 25, announced its decision to snap ties with the BJP and withdraw from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Amid recent strains with the BJP State leadership, a decision to this effect was taken “unanimously” at a high-level meeting of the AIADMK’s district secretaries, headquarters secretaries, Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) in Chennai.
Editorial | Dramatic shift: On the AIADMK snapping ties with the BJP
Reading out a resolution adopted at the hour-long meeting, chaired by party general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, senior leader K.P. Munusamy told journalists that for the last one year, the State leadership of the BJP had been “deliberately, in a planned manner and with motive, defaming” icons of the party such as former Chief Ministers C.N. Annadurai and Jayalalithaa and “criticising” policies of the party.
Even though the resolution did not name any leader, it was obvious that the party alluded to Tamil Nadu BJP president K. Annamalai.
Mr. Munusamy also announced that his party would form a coalition to face the Lok Sabha election, scheduled for April-May 2024.
The AIADMK is hoping to bank on a host of factors that, it believes, would turn beneficial to it at the time of the Lok Sabha election, scheduled for April-May 2024.
Also read | AIADMK’s exit from NDA will force BJP to choose between long term strategy and short term gain
Several leaders contend that a strong “anti-incumbency” factor is prevailing in Tamil Nadu against both the BJP-led government at the Centre and the DMK government in the State. Almost nine-and-a-half years of the BJP’s rule at the Centre and two-and-a-half years of the DMK government in the State have contributed to this, the AIADMK leaders believe.
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