JFTC Essay Competition 2012 - Topic: “Strategies for a Depopulating Japan”

JFTC Essay Competition 2012
Essay Topic: "Strategies for a Depopulating Japan"

Since 2005, the Japan Foreign Trade Council, Inc. (JFTC) has sponsored an annual essay competition to encourage students, young researchers and business people to express their opinions on matters of national and international importance.
For the best essays, judges will award one Grand Prize of 1 million yen and three Prizes for Excellence worth 200,000 yen. Award winners from abroad will also be provided with a round-trip flight to Tokyo to attend the award ceremony on 8 January, 2013.

"Strategies for a Depopulating Japan"
The essay topic for this year's competition is "Strategies for a Depopulating Japan". The population of Japan peaked at 127.79mn in 2004 and, according to the medium-variant projection of the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, it will decrease to 115.22mn by 2030 and continue falling below the 100mn level to reach 95.15mn by 2050.
A variety of proposals to keep our society running with a dwindling population have been developed, including encouraging people to have larger families, new business models focusing on enhancing the standards of living for the ageing, reforms to the political and social security systems, and efforts to import manpower. However, none have proven remarkably effective. What kind of country should we create in the future? And how can we achieve it? The drastic decline of a population in a rapidly ageing society is expected to have a negative impact in various areas of people's lives—slowing economic growth, draining the national revenue, threatening the quality of social security systems, and even causing a serious concern over national security.
Population decline due to a low birth rate in an ageing society is not a unique problem to Japan and represents a globally developing concern—including in China and European nations. As the first country to face this problem, the rest of the world is watching closely to see how Japan will cope effectively.
Based on the issues outlined above, JFTC invites all participants to write freely about their ideas on a depopulating Japan—unrestricted by conventional ideas worldwide.

How to submit
Individuals of all nationalities and ages are free to enter the competition. Essays must be submitted using the downloadable entry form on the JFTC website, together with both essay title and summary.
Essays can be submitted in English (max. 4,000 words) or Japanese (max. 10,000 characters) with an accompanying essay summary of no more than 400 words in English and 1,000 Japanese characters.
Deadline for submission is 15 September, 2012 at 24:00 (JST).
Winners will be announced on 14 December, 2012.
All submissions must be original and no previously published materials will be accepted.

About JFTC
JFTC is a trade-industry association with a membership comprising trading firms, trade organizations and so on, aiming to build a stable future and forge closer global links.
JFTC's objective is to contribute to the prosperity of the Japanese economy and enhance international society through the mutual exchange of people, goods, money and information with overseas countries—helping Japan become a new trading nation. The JFTC works towards developing a consensus within the business community regarding various trade-related issues—contributing to the revitalisation and development of the Japanese and global economies.
Japan Foreign Trade Council, Inc.
Public Relations Group
Tel: +81(0)3-3435-5964
E-mail: kouhou (at) jftc.or.jp
Website: www.jftc.or.jp
http://bccjacumen.com/features/publicity/2012/07/jftc-essay-competition-2012-2/

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CfPs: 1st JNU National Interaction Programme for Ph.D Scholars in Social Sciences and Humanities, 5-9 Nov. 2012

Academic Staff College, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Invites Application for Short-Term Programme

1st JNU National Interaction Programme for Ph.D Scholars in Social Sciences and Humanities

5-9 November, 2012

• Please submit your application at least 60 days before the start of a course so that we have sufficient time to correspond with you.
• JNU, ASC provides Hostel and Mess facilities to all outstation candidates..
• For further details visit http://www.jnu.ac.in/ASC or call at 011-26742566, 011-26742532, or email at asc.jnu@gmail.com

 

Application Form

Public Conference on Consumer Privacy at IIC Delhi; July 7th, 2012

Public Conference on Consumer Privacy

Venue: Indian International Centre, New Delhi

Saturday, July 7th, 2012, from 9:00 am - 5:00pm

On behalf of Privacy India, and in partnership with the Centre for Internet & Society, IDRC, Society in Action Group and Privacy International, we would like to invite you to a public conference focused on discussing the challenges and concerns to consumer privacy in India.
According to the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, a consumer is a broad label for any person who buys any goods or services for consideration with the intent of using them for a non-commercial purpose. Certain services that consumers use may, by their very nature, put an extraordinary amount of sensitive personal information into the hands of vendors.
Consumer privacy is concerned with accuracy of how a consumers information is collected and used. Because a consumers relationship with another entity is based on an exchange along consented terms, a breach in consumer privacy can be constituted as an action that was not agreed to. In the age of data collection – a breach in privacy occurs when information is used in different ways than was intended. Consumer privacy in India is determined at the sectoral level, and differs depending on the services that is provided for.
As corporations sell data banks, ISP's expose consumer habits, or ones personal information falls in the wrong hands – the consequences are far reaching, and can result in spamming, unwanted marketing, theft, or the violation can impact an individual's ability to buy a home, potential employment opportunities, or gain access to credit.
In India, the right to privacy has been a neglected area of study and engagement. Although sectoral legislation deals with privacy issues, India does not as yet have a horizontal legislation that deals comprehensively with privacy across all contexts. The absence of a minimum guarantee of privacy is felt most heavily by marginalized communities, including HIV patients, children, women, sexuality minorities, prisoners, etc. - people who most need to know that sensitive information is protected.
Since June 2010, Privacy India in collaboration with Privacy International, based in London, has been conducting workshops and engaging in public awareness. Participants include policy makers, researchers, sectoral experts, NGOs, and the public to discuss and deliberate different questions of privacy, its intersections and its implications with our everyday life. The discussions have ranged from topics of online privacy to minority rights and privacy and e-Governance initiatives privacy. The workshops have been organized in different cities - Bangalore, Guwahati, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Goa, etc.
Please confirm your participation to Ms. Natasha Vaz at Natasha@cis-india.org.

RSVP
Natasha Vaz
Centre for Internet & Society
No. 194, 2nd 'C' Cross, Domlur 2nd Stage Bangalore 560071
Telefax: (+91)-080-25350955
Email: Natasha@cis-india.org

Further Details

"Understanding Innovation: the Indian Context" February 2012 issue

Understanding Innovation: the Indian Context

February 2012 issue

A Bulletin Initiated by:
National Science and Technology Management Information System (NSTMIS), DST, India
National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS), New Delhi, India

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CfPs: International Conference on India-Japan Relations: Transforming into Potential Partnership; 7-9 Dec; Tirupati

International Conference on India-Japan Relations: Transforming into Potential Partnership [IJR-TPP]

7-9 December 2012

organized by: Centre for Southeast Asian & Pacific Studies, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, India

Call for Papers
India and Japan are the two Asian majors cooperation and understanding between whom is critical in moulding the 21st century as the 'Asian Century'. Historical and civilizational links spanning several centuries, mutual goodwill, amity and respect; absence of conflicting strategic interests; and commitment to promote peace and stability, to maintain regional equilibrium and to strengthen  institutionalized multilateral cooperation in Asia, have lent credence to the claim that India and Japan are natural allies. While the Japanese held India in high esteem as the land of the Buddha, Japan has always remained a source of inspiration to the Indians, in as much as Japan exposed the myth of European invincibility by defeating Russia in 1905; sought to eclipse European colonialism; offered moral and material support to the freedom struggle carried on from Japan by Rosh Behari Bose and Subash Chandra Bose; and demonstrated its saga of rapid recovery from the devastation during the World War II to emerge as an economic and technical powerhouse.

Even though India-Japan cooperation encapsules diverse areas, there are certain areas which are not covered yet. As a country with rising demand for energy to meet the requirements of its rapid economic growth India wanted Japan – a global leader in energy efficient technologies – to participate in the expansion of India's nuclear energy programme. In fact, in June 2010 Tokyo agreed  to enter into an agreement with India on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. However, in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident after the massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 which caused immense destruction, Japan remained less enthusiastic about cooperation with India in the sphere of nuclear energy. India is keen to obtain bullet train technologies from Japan, but Tokyo sees no urgency is speeding up this matter.

At a time when India and Japan are striving to strengthen their political, economic and strategic ties and to promote the peace, security, and prosperity of Asia as well as to advance international peace and sustainable development, the Centre for Southeast Asia & Pacific Studies is holding three-day International Conference on "India-Japan Relations: Transforming into Potential Partnership" on December 7-9, 2012. It is our true pleasure to request you to contribute a scholarly paper on one of the following sub-themes:

• Historical perspective of India-Japan relations
• India and Japan in Asian regionalization
• Geopolitics and the role of India and Japan
• Bilateral Trade
• Foreign Direct Investment
• Energy security and environmental sustainability
• Maritime security and cooperation
• Cultural relations
• Comparative Literature, Religion and Philosophy
• People to people contacts
• Information and Communication Technology
• Pharmaceuticals
• Any other relevant theme

Deadlines

• Abstract submission: 31 July 2012
• Full Paper submission: 31 October 2012
• Date of Conference: 7-9 December 2012

Further details

Sitaram Rao Livelihoods India Case Study Competition 2012

Sitaram Rao Livelihoods India Case Study Competition 2012

ACCESS Development Services and Fr. Arrupe Center for Ecology and Sustainability (FACES), XLRI Jamshedpur jointly announce the Sitaram Rao Livelihoods India Case Study Competition 2012. This competition is supported by Oxfam India.

Theme

A number of large scale programmes of the government, as well as multilateral and bilateral organizations are putting much effort into poverty reduction. However, the poorest of the poor have been bypassed by most mainstream development initiatives. Different approaches are required for alleviating extreme poverty since the poorest of the poor face fundamentally different set of deprivations as compared to the poor. The biggest challenge they face is the lack of a stable income. Enhancing sustainable livelihoods of the poorest of the poor is thus a significantly important step towards reduction of extreme poverty.

The 2012 case study competition, therefore, seeks case studies of experiences in enhancing the livelihoods of the poorest of the poor. The case studies should cover the following:

1.       Socio-economic conditions and needs of the community within the context of which the programme was initiated and implemented;

2.       Nature of engagement, intervention, support and strategies of the implementing agency for reaching out to the poorest of the poor;

3.       Impact of the programme in promoting sustainable livelihoods;

4.       Factors that contributed to the success of the programme;

5.       Critical challenges faced; and

6.       Issues in achieving scale and sustainability and efforts made by the programme to address them.

How to register?

Participants are required to fill in a registration form and provide an abstract (in 500 words) of their cases by June 25, 2012 (Monday). Please click here to go to the registration form. Please go through the details of the Competition on the website before sending in your registrations (http://accessdev.org/lh-li-case-study.php):

 Process

·         All participants are requested to send an abstract of maximum 500 words of their case studies by June 25, 2012.

·         Abstracts will be reviewed and a shortlist will be announced on July 10, 2012.

·         The shortlisted candidates will be requested to send the full case study, not exceeding 5000 words, by September 10, 2012.

·         Once the final cases come in, they will be reviewed and 10 best cases would be selected.

·         The authors of the 10 best cases will be invited for a Jury Meet where the top 3 cases will be selected.(tentatively in October)

·         The top 3 case study authors will receive cash prizes of Rs. 1,00,000, Rs. 75,000 and Rs. 50,000 respectively and a compendium of the 10 best cases will be released during the Livelihoods India Conference 2012 (November 29-30, 2012).

 Look forward to receiving your entries!

Further Details: http://accessdev.org/lh-li-case-study.php