1.
Ngultrum
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The ngultrum is the currency of the Kingdom of Bhutan. It is subdivided into 100 chhertum, the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan is the minting authority of the Ngultrum banknotes and coins. The Ngultrum is currently pegged to the Indian rupee at par, until 1789, the coins of the Cooch Behar mint circulated in Bhutan. Following this, Bhutan began issuing its own known as chetrum. Hammered silver and copper coins were the only issued until 1929. Nickel ½ rupee coins were introduced in 1950, while the Cooch Behar mint coins circulated alongside Bhutans own coins, decimalization was introduced in 1957, when Bhutans first issue of coins denominated in naya paisa. The 1966 issues were 25 naya paisa,50 naya paisa and 1 rupee coins, while the Bhutanese government developed its economy in the early 1960s, monetization in 1968 led to the establishment of the Bank of Bhutan. As monetary reforms took place in 1974, the Ngultrum was officially introduced as 100 Chhetrum equal to 1 Ngultrum, the Ngultrum retained the peg to the Indian rupee at par, which the Bhutanese coins had maintained. The Ministry of Finance issued the first banknotes in 1974 denominated Nu.1, Nu.5, Nu,10, in 1974, aluminium Ch.5 and Ch.10, aluminium-bronze Ch.20 and cupro-nickel Ch.25 and Nu.1 were introduced. The Ch.5 was square and the Ch.10 was scallop-shaped, a new coinage was introduced in 1979, consisting of bronze Ch.5 and Ch.10, and cupro-nickel Ch.25 and Ch.50 and Nu.1 and Nu.3. Aluminium-bronze Ch.25 were also issued dated 1979, the Ch.5 and Ch.10 have largely ceased circulating. Currently coins are available in denominations of Ch20, Ch.25, Ch.50 and Nu.1. On June 2,1974, Nu.1, Nu.5 and Nu.10 notes were introduced by the Royal Government of Bhutan, followed by Nu.2, Nu.20, Nu.50, and Nu.100 in 1978. On August 4,1982, the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan Act was enacted, although the RMA didnt began actual operations until November 1,1983, and did not issue its own family of notes until 1986. In 2006, the Monetary Authority introduced its latest series of notes, with denominations of Nu.1, Nu.5, Nu.10, Nu.20, Nu.50, Nu.100, Nu.500, and Nu.1000. Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan Economy of Bhutan Panish, Charles K, the American Numismatic Society, Museum Notes 17, New York 1971, p. 247-254 and plates XLVII-XLVIII. Oriental Numismatic Society, Information Sheet no 16, January 1977, rhodes, Nicholas, Coinage in Bhutan. Journal of Bhutan Studies. The Centre of Bhutan Studies, vol,1, Thimphu, Autumn,1999, p. 84-113
Ngultrum
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1 ngultrum
Ngultrum
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Nu.1
Ngultrum
Ngultrum
2.
Indian rupee
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The Indian rupee, is the official currency of the Republic of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 paise, though as of 2011,25 paise is no more a legal tender, the issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve Bank manages currency in India and derives its role in management on the basis of the Reserve Bank of India Act,1934. The rupee is named after the coin, rupiya, first issued by Sultan Sher Shah Suri in the 16th century. In 2010, a new symbol ₹, was officially adopted and it was derived from the combination of the Devanagari consonant र and the Latin capital letter R without its vertical bar. The parallel lines at the top are said to make an allusion to the tricolour Indian flag, the first series of coins with the new rupee symbol started in circulation on 8 July 2011. On 8 November 2016 the Government of India announced the demonetisation of ₹500 and ₹1000 banknotes with effect from midnight of the same day, a newly redesigned series of ₹500 banknote, in addition to a new denomination of ₹2000 banknote is in circulation since 10 November 2016. The new redesigned series is expected to be enlarged with banknotes in the denominations of ₹1000, ₹100. The word rupee was derived from the Sanskrit word रूप्यकम् or rupaya, the modern Indian rupee has a direct lineage from the rupiya, the silver coin, issued by Sher Shah Suri, continued by the Mughal rulers. Rūpa means to form or shape, example, Rūpyarūpa, rūpya — wrought silver, however, in the region of Bengal, the term taka has always been used to refer to currency. In the 14th century, Ibn Battuta noticed that people in the Bengal Sultanate referred to gold, today, the currency of Bangladesh is officially known as taka. The word taka in Bengali is also used generically to mean any money, currency. Thus, colloquially, a person speaking in Bengali may use taka to refer to money regardless of what currency it is denominated in, thus, in the states of West Bengal and Tripura the Indian rupee is officially known টাকা. Whereas, in the states of Assam and Odisha, the Indian rupee is known by names derived from the Sanskrit word ṭaṅka, টকা in Assamese. During his five-year rule from 1540 to 1545, Sultan Sher Shah Suri issued a coin of silver, weighing 178 grains, the silver coin remained in use during the Mughal period, Maratha era as well as in British India. Among the earliest issues of paper rupees include, the Bank of Hindustan, the General Bank of Bengal and Bihar, historically, the rupee was a silver coin. This had severe consequences in the century when the strongest economies in the world were on the gold standard. The discovery of large quantities of silver in the United States and several European colonies resulted in a decline in the value of relative to gold
Indian rupee
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Silver punch mark coin of the
Maurya empire, known as Rūpyarūpa, 3rd century BCE.
Indian rupee
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Indian rupee
Indian rupee
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Rupiya issued by
Sher Shah Suri, 1540–1545 CE
Indian rupee
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One-rupee banknote
3.
Fiscal year
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A fiscal year is the period used by governments for accounting and budget purposes, which vary between countries. It is also used for reporting by business and other organizations. Taxation laws generally require accounting records to be maintained and taxes calculated on an annual basis, the calculation of tax on an annual basis is especially relevant for direct taxation, such as income tax. Many annual government fees—such as Council rates, licence fees, etc. —are also levied on a year basis. The fiscal year end is the date marks the end of the fiscal year. Some companies—such as Cisco Systems—end their fiscal year on the day of the week each year. Under such a system, some years will have 52 weeks. Many universities have a year which ends during the summer. In the northern hemisphere this is July to the next June, in the southern hemisphere this is calendar year, January to December. Some media/communication-based organizations use a broadcast calendar as the basis for their fiscal year, the American football league NFL uses the term league year, which in effect forms the leagues fiscal year. In Afghanistan, the year was recently changed from 1 Hamal –29 Hoot to 1 Jadi –30 Qaus. The fiscal year runs with the Afghan calendar, thus resulting in difference of the Gregorian dates once in a four-year span, in Australia, a fiscal year is commonly called a financial year and starts on 1 July and ends on the next 30 June. Financial years are designated by the year of the second half of the period. For example, financial year 2017 is the 12-month period ending on 30 June 2017 and it is used for official purposes, by individual taxpayers and by the overwhelming majority of business enterprises. Business enterprises may opt to use a year that ends at the end of a week. All entities within the one group must use the financial year. The Commonwealth adopted the near-ubiquitous financial year standard since its inception in 1901, the reason given for the change was for convenience, as Parliament typically sits during May and June, while it was difficult for it to meet in November and December to pass a budget. In Austria the fiscal year is the year,1 January to 31 December
Fiscal year
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Accounting
4.
South Asian Free Trade Area
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The South Asian Free Trade Area is an agreement reached on 6 January 2004 at the 12th SAARC summit in Islamabad, Pakistan. It created a trade area of 1.6 billion people in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan. The seven foreign ministers of the signed a framework agreement on SAFTA to reduce customs duties of all traded goods to zero by the year 2016. The SAFTA agreement came into force on 1 January 2006 and is following the ratification of the agreement by the seven governments. SAFTA requires the developing countries in South Asia to bring their duties down to 20 percent in the first phase of the period ending in 2007. In the final five-year phase ending 2012, the 20 percent duty will be reduced to zero in a series of annual cuts, the least developed nations in South Asia have an additional three years to reduce tariffs to zero. India and Pakistan ratified the treaty in 2009, whereas Afghanistan as the 8th memberstate of the SAARC ratified the SAFTA protocol on 4 May 2011. The establishment of an Inter-Governmental Group to formulate an agreement to establish a SAPTA by 1997 was approved in the Sixth Summit of SAARC held in Colombo in December 1991. The purpose of SAFTA is to encourage and elevate common contract among the countries such as medium, contracts involving trade operated by states, supply and import assurance in respect of specific products etc. It involves agreement on tariff concession like national duties concession and non-tariff concession, the objective of the agreement is to promote competition in the area and to provide equitable benefits to the countries involved. It aims to benefit the people of the countries by bringing transparency, according to the Trade Liberalisation Programme Contracting countries must follow the following tariff reduction schedule. There should be a fall to 20% tariff from the tariff by the Non Least Developing Countries. But trade liberalisation scheme is not to be applied for the sensitive list because this list is to be negotiated among the contracting countries, Sensitive list will involve common agreement among the contracting countries favouring the least developed contracting countries. SAFTA Ministerial Council will be participating to review the sensitive list in four years with a view of reducing the list. A sensitive list is a list with every country which does not include tariff concession, Bangladesh has 1,233 products on the sensitive list for the Least Developing countries and 1,241 for the non-Least developing countries under the SAFTA. Bangladesh will reduce the sensitive list by 246 items for the least developed countries and 248 for the non-LDCs, India has 25 items on the sensitive list for the LDCs and 695 for the non-LDCs. Dr Manmohan Singh, then Indian Prime Minister, announced in September in Dhaka that he reduce the Sensitive List by 46. Bhutan has 150 items for both the LDCs and non-LDCs and has no plan of shortening its list, Nepal has 1,257 for the LDCs and 1,295 for the non-LDCs
South Asian Free Trade Area
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Countries under the South Asian Free Trade Area
5.
Gross domestic product
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Gross Domestic Product is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a period. Nominal GDP estimates are used to determine the economic performance of a whole country or region. The OECD defines GDP as a measure of production equal to the sum of the gross values added of all resident and institutional units engaged in production. ”An IMF publication states that GDP measures the monetary value of final goods and services - that is. Total GDP can also be broken down into the contribution of industry or sector of the economy. The ratio of GDP to the population of the region is the per capita GDP. William Petty came up with a concept of GDP to defend landlords against unfair taxation during warfare between the Dutch and the English between 1652 and 1674. Charles Davenant developed the method further in 1695, the modern concept of GDP was first developed by Simon Kuznets for a US Congress report in 1934. In this report, Kuznets warned against its use as a measure of welfare, after the Bretton Woods conference in 1944, GDP became the main tool for measuring a countrys economy. The switch from GNP to GDP in the US was in 1991, the history of the concept of GDP should be distinguished from the history of changes in ways of estimating it. The value added by firms is relatively easy to calculate from their accounts, but the value added by the sector, by financial industries. GDP can be determined in three ways, all of which should, in principle, give the same result and they are the production approach, the income approach, or the expenditure approach. The most direct of the three is the approach, which sums the outputs of every class of enterprise to arrive at the total. The income approach works on the principle that the incomes of the factors must be equal to the value of their product. This approach mirrors the OECD definition given above, deduct intermediate consumption from gross value to obtain the gross value added. Gross value added = gross value of output – value of intermediate consumption, value of output = value of the total sales of goods and services plus value of changes in the inventories. The sum of the value added in the various economic activities is known as GDP at factor cost. GDP at factor cost plus indirect taxes less subsidies on products = GDP at producer price, for measuring output of domestic product, economic activities are classified into various sectors. Subtracting each sectors intermediate consumption from gross output gives the GDP at factor cost, adding indirect tax minus subsidies in GDP at factor cost gives the GDP at producer prices
Gross domestic product
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Selection of GDP PPP data (top 10 countries and blocks) in no particular order
6.
List of countries by GDP (nominal)
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Gross domestic product is the market value of all final goods and services from a nation in a given year. Countries are sorted by nominal GDP estimates from financial and statistical institutions, such fluctuations may change a countrys ranking from one year to the next, even though they often make little or no difference in the standard of living of its population. Comparisons of national wealth are also made on the basis of purchasing power parity. On the whole, PPP per capita figures are less spread than nominal GDP per capita figures, india has also experienced a similar economic boom since the implementation of neoliberal reforms in the early 1990s. When supranational entities are included, the European Union is the second largest economy in the world and it was the largest from 2004, when ten countries joined the union, to 2014, after which it was surpassed by the United States. Several economies which are not considered to be countries are included in the lists because they appear in the sources as distinct economies and these economies are italicized and not ranked in the charts, but are listed where applicable. List of countries by GDP List of countries by GDP per capita List of countries by GDP per capita
List of countries by GDP (nominal)
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A map of world economies by size of GDP (nominal) in USD,
World Bank, 2014.
7.
List of countries by GDP (PPP)
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This article includes a list of countries by their gross domestic product, the value of all final goods and services produced within a state in a given year. Countries are sorted by nominal GDP estimates from financial and statistical institutions, the GDP dollar data given on this page are derived from purchasing power parity calculations. It is however limited when measuring financial flows between countries, PPP is often used to gauge global poverty thresholds and is used by the United Nations in constructing the human development index. These surveys such as the International Comparison Program include both tradable and non-tradable goods in an attempt to estimate a representative basket of all goods. The first table includes estimates for the year 2016, for all current 187 International Monetary Fund members, as well as Hong Kong, data are in millions of international dollars and were calculated by the IMF. Figures were published in April 2015, the second table includes data mostly for the year 2015 for 180 of the 193 current United Nations member states, as well as the two Chinese Special Administrative Regions. Data are in billions of dollars and were compiled by the World Bank. The third table is a tabulation of the CIA World Factbook Gross Domestic Product data update of 2016, the data for GDP at purchasing power parity have also been rebased using the new International Comparison Program price surveys and extrapolated to 2007. Click on one of the triangles in the headings to re-order the list according to that category. ^a Chinas PPP is based on prices for 11 administrative regions, extrapolated to the country. Chinas entry does not include the two administrative regions, namely Hong Kong and Macau. List of Muslim Countries by GDP Purchasing Power Parity at Materia Islamica
List of countries by GDP (PPP)
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World Share of GDP (PPP) according to data released by the IMF, October 2014
8.
Inflation
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In economics, inflation is a sustained increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy over a period of time resulting in a loss of value of currency. When the price rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods. Consequently, inflation reflects a reduction in the power per unit of money – a loss of real value in the medium of exchange. A chief measure of inflation is the inflation rate, the annualized percentage change in a general price index, usually the consumer price index. The opposite of inflation is deflation, Inflation affects economies in various positive and negative ways. Economists generally believe that high rates of inflation and hyperinflation are caused by a growth of the money supply. However, money supply growth does not necessarily cause inflation, some economists maintain that under the conditions of a liquidity trap, large monetary injections are like pushing on a string. Views on which factors determine low to moderate rates of inflation are more varied, low or moderate inflation may be attributed to fluctuations in real demand for goods and services, or changes in available supplies such as during scarcities. However, the view is that a long sustained period of inflation is caused by money supply growing faster than the rate of economic growth. Today, most economists favor a low and steady rate of inflation, the task of keeping the rate of inflation low and stable is usually given to monetary authorities. Rapid increases in quantity of the money or in the money supply have occurred in many different societies throughout history. By diluting the gold with other metals, the government could issue more coins without also needing to increase the amount of used to make them. When the cost of each coin is lowered in this way and this practice would increase the money supply but at the same time the relative value of each coin would be lowered. As the relative value of the coins becomes lower, consumers would need to give more coins in exchange for the same goods and these goods and services would experience a price increase as the value of each coin is reduced. Song Dynasty China introduced the practice of printing paper money in order to create fiat currency, during the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, the government spent a great deal of money fighting costly wars, and reacted by printing more money, leading to inflation. Fearing the inflation that plagued the Yuan dynasty, the Ming Dynasty initially rejected the use of paper money, historically, large infusions of gold or silver into an economy also led to inflation. This was largely caused by the influx of gold and silver from the New World into Habsburg Spain. The silver spread throughout a previously cash-starved Europe and caused widespread inflation, demographic factors also contributed to upward pressure on prices, with European population growth after depopulation caused by the Black Death pandemic
Inflation
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Two 20 kr gold coins from the
Scandinavian Monetary Union, a historical example of an international gold standard.
Inflation
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Annual inflation rates in the United States from 1666 to 2004.
9.
Consumer price index
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A consumer price index measures changes in the price level of market basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households. The CPI is a statistical estimate constructed using the prices of a sample of items whose prices are collected periodically. It is one of several price indices calculated by most national statistical agencies, the annual percentage change in a CPI is used as a measure of inflation. A CPI can be used to index the real value of wages, salaries, pensions, for regulating prices, in most countries, the CPI is, along with the population census one of the most closely watched national economic statistics. Basic types of data that are needed to construct the CPI, price data, the price data are collected for a sample of goods and services from a sample of sales outlets in a sample of locations for a sample of times. The weighting data are estimates of the shares of the different types of expenditure in the total expenditure covered by the index, therefore, the sampling variance cannot be calculated. In any case, an estimate is required in most of the purposes for which the index is used. These indices compare prices each month with prices in the price-reference month and it takes time to assemble and process the information used for weighting which, in addition to household expenditure surveys, may include trade and tax data. Ideally, the weights would relate to the composition of expenditure during the time between the month and the current month. There is a large technical economics literature on index formulae which would approximate this, such an index would show how consumer expenditure would have to move to compensate for price changes so as to allow consumers to maintain a constant standard of living. Approximations can only be computed retrospectively, whereas the index has to appear monthly and, preferably, the coverage of the index may be limited. Saving and investment are always excluded, though the prices paid for services provided by financial intermediaries may be included along with insurance. The index reference period, usually called the year, often differs both from the weight-reference period and the price reference period. This is just a matter of rescaling the whole time-series to make the value for the index reference-period equal to 100. Current Item Price = Base Year Price × Current CPI Base Year CPI or CPI2 CPI1 = Price 2 Price 1 Where 1 is usually the comparison year, alternatively, the CPI can be performed as CPI = updated cost base period cost ×100. The updated cost is divided by that of the initial year, many but not all price indices are weighted averages using weights that sum to 1 or 100. Example, The prices of 85,000 items from 22,000 stores, and 35,000 rental units are added together and averaged. They are weighted this way, Housing,41. 4%, Food and Beverage,17. 4%, Transport,17. 0%, Medical Care,6. 9%, Other,6. 9%, Apparel,6. 0%, Entertainment,4. 4%
Consumer price index
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A graph of the
US CPI from 1913 to 2014 (in blue), and its percentage annual change (in red)
10.
Poverty threshold
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The poverty threshold, poverty limit or poverty line is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. In practice, like the definition of poverty, the official or common understanding of the poverty line is higher in developed countries than in developing countries. In 2008, the World Bank came out with a figure of $1.25 at 2005 purchasing-power parity, the new IPL replaces the $1.25 per day figure, which used 2005 data. Most scholars agree that it better reflects todays reality, particularly new price levels in developing countries, the common international poverty line has in the past been roughly $1 a day. At present the percentage of the population living under extreme poverty is likely to fall below 10% according to the World Bank projections released in 2015. Determining the poverty line is usually done by finding the total cost of all the resources that an average human adult consumes in one year. Individual factors are used to account for various circumstances, such as whether one is a parent, elderly. The poverty threshold may be adjusted annually, charles Booth, a pioneering investigator of poverty in London at the turn of the 20th century, popularised the idea of a poverty line, a concept originally conceived by the London School Board. Booth set the line at 10 to 20 shillings per week, to secure the necessaries of a healthy life, which included fuel and light, rent, food, clothing, and household and personal items. Based on data from leading nutritionists of the period, he calculated the cheapest price for the minimum calorific intake and nutritional balance necessary and he considered this amount to set his poverty line and concluded that 27. 84% of the total population of York lived below this poverty line. Rowntree distinguished between primary poverty, those lacking in income and secondary poverty, those who had enough income, Absolute poverty is the level of poverty as defined in terms of the minimal requirements necessary to afford minimal standards of food, clothing, health care and shelter. For the measure to be absolute, the line must be the same in different countries, cultures, such an absolute measure should look only at the individuals power to consume and it should be independent of any changes in income distribution. Notice that if real income in an economy increases. Measuring poverty by a threshold has the advantage of applying the same standard across different locations and time periods. For example, a living in far northern Scandinavia requires a source of heat during colder months. The term absolute poverty is sometimes used as a synonym for extreme poverty. Absolute poverty is the absence of resources to secure basic life necessities. It depends not only on income but also on access to services, safe drinking water, Water must not come solely from rivers and ponds, and must be available nearby
Poverty threshold
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Percentage of population living on less than
$ 1.25 per day.
UN estimates 2000–2007.
11.
Gini coefficient
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The Gini coefficient is a measure of statistical dispersion intended to represent the income or wealth distribution of a nations residents, and is the most commonly used measure of inequality. It was developed by the Italian statistician and sociologist Corrado Gini, the Gini coefficient measures the inequality among values of a frequency distribution. A Gini coefficient of zero expresses perfect equality, where all values are the same, a Gini coefficient of 1 expresses maximal inequality among values. However, a greater than one may occur if some persons represent negative contribution to the total. For larger groups, values close to or above 1 are very unlikely in practice, the exception to this is in the redistribution of wealth resulting in a minimum income for all people. When the population is sorted, if their distribution were to approximate a well known function. The Gini coefficient was proposed by Gini as a measure of inequality of income or wealth, the global income Gini coefficient in 2005 has been estimated to be between 0.61 and 0.68 by various sources. There are some issues in interpreting a Gini coefficient, the same value may result from many different distribution curves. The demographic structure should be taken into account, Countries with an aging population, or with a baby boom, experience an increasing pre-tax Gini coefficient even if real income distribution for working adults remains constant. Scholars have devised over a dozen variants of the Gini coefficient, the line at 45 degrees thus represents perfect equality of incomes. The Gini coefficient can then be thought of as the ratio of the area lies between the line of equality and the Lorenz curve over the total area under the line of equality. It is also equal to 2A and to 1 - 2B due to the fact that A + B =0.5. If all people have non-negative income, the Gini coefficient can theoretically range from 0 to 1, in practice, both extreme values are not quite reached. If negative values are possible, then the Gini coefficient could theoretically be more than 1, normally the mean is assumed positive, which rules out a Gini coefficient less than zero. An alternative approach would be to consider the Gini coefficient as half of the mean absolute difference. The effects of income policy due to redistribution can be seen in the linear relationships. An informative simplified case just distinguishes two levels of income, low and high, if the high income group is u % of the population and earns a fraction f % of all income, then the Gini coefficient is f − u. An actual more graded distribution with these same values u and f will always have a higher Gini coefficient than f − u, the proverbial case where the richest 20% have 80% of all income would lead to an income Gini coefficient of at least 60%
Gini coefficient
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Graphical representation of the Gini coefficient The graph shows that the Gini coefficient is equal to the area marked A divided by the sum of the areas marked A and B, that is, Gini = A / (A + B). It is also equal to 2* A due to the fact that A + B = 0.5 (since the axes scale from 0 to 1).
12.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
India
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Flag
India
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The granite
tower of
Brihadeeswarar Temple in
Thanjavur was completed in 1010 CE by
Raja Raja Chola I.
India
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Writing the will and testament of the Mughal king court in Persian, 1590–1595
13.
Hong Kong
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Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the Pearl River Delta of East Asia. Macau lies across the delta to the west, and the Chinese province of Guangdong borders the territory to the north. With a total area of 1,106 square kilometres. Hong Kong was later occupied by Japan during World War II until British control resumed in 1945, under the principle of one country, two systems, Hong Kong maintains a separate political and economic system from China. Except in military defence and foreign affairs, Hong Kong maintains its independent executive, legislative, in addition, Hong Kong develops relations directly with foreign states and international organisations in a broad range of appropriate fields. Hong Kong is one of the worlds most significant financial centres, with the highest Financial Development Index score and consistently ranks as the worlds most competitive and freest economic entity. As the worlds 8th largest trading entity, its legal tender, Hong Kongs tertiary sector dominated economy is characterised by simple taxation with a competitive level of corporate tax and supported by its independent judiciary system. However, while Hong Kong has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world and it has a very high Human Development Index ranking and the worlds longest life expectancy. Over 90% of the population use of well-developed public transportation. Seasonal air pollution with origins from neighbouring areas of Mainland China. Hong Kong was officially recorded in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking to encompass the entirety of the island, before 1842, the name referred to a small inlet—now Aberdeen Harbour —between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was a point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen. Detailed and accurate romanisation systems for Cantonese were available and in use at the time, fragrance may refer to the sweet taste of the harbours fresh water estuarine influx of the Pearl River or to the incense from factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Hong Kong developed Victoria Harbour, the name had often been written as the single word Hongkong until the government adopted the current form in 1926. Nevertheless, a number of century-old institutions still retain the form, such as the Hongkong Post, Hongkong Electric. As of 1997, its name is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China. This is the title as mentioned in the Hong Kong Basic Law. Hong Kong has carried many nicknames, the most famous among those is the Pearl of the Orient, which reflected the impressive nightscape of the citys light decorations on the skyscrapers along both sides of the Victoria Harbour
Hong Kong
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The Cenotaph in Hong Kong commemorates those who died in service in WWI and WWII.
Hong Kong
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Flag
Hong Kong
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Stamp with portrait of
Queen Elizabeth II, 1953
Hong Kong
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Development of
Hong Kong Island in 1986
14.
South Korea
–
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, is a sovereign state in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The earliest Korean pottery dates to 8000 BC, with three kingdoms flourishing in the 1st century BC and its rich and vibrant culture left 19 UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritages of Humanity, the third largest in the world, along with 12 World Heritage Sites. Annexed into Imperial Japan in 1910, Korea was divided after its surrender in 1945, peace has since mostly continued with the two agreeing to work peacefully for reunification and the South solidifying peace as a regional power with the worlds 10th largest defence budget. South Koreas tiger economy soared at an average of 10% for over 30 years in a period of rapid transformation called the Miracle on the Han River. A long legacy of openness and focus on innovation made it successful, today, it is the worlds fifth largest exporter with the G20s largest budget surplus and highest credit rating of any country in East Asia. It has free trade agreements with 75% of the economy and is the only G20 nation trading freely with China, the US. Since 1988, its constitution guarantees a liberal democracy with high government transparency, high personal freedoms led to the rise of a globally influential pop culture such as K-pop and K-drama, a phenomenon called the Korean Wave, known for its distinctive fashionable and trendy style. Home of the UN Green Climate Fund and GGGI, South Korea is a leader in low carbon growth, committed to helping developing countries as a major DAC. It is the third least ignorant country in the Index of Ignorance, ranking eighth highest for peaceful tolerance. It is the worlds largest spender on R&D per GDP, leading the OECD in graduates in science, the name Korea derives from the name Goryeo. The name Goryeo itself was first used by the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo in the 5th century as a form of its name. The 10th-century kingdom of Goryeo succeeded Goguryeo, and thus inherited its name, the modern spelling of Korea first appeared in the late 17th century in the travel writings of the Dutch East India Companys Hendrick Hamel. After Goryeo was replaced by Joseon in 1392, Joseon became the name for the entire territory. The new official name has its origin in the ancient country of Gojoseon, in 1897, the Joseon dynasty changed the official name of the country from Joseon to Daehan Jeguk. The name Daehan, which means great Han literally, derives from Samhan, however, the name Joseon was still widely used by Koreans to refer to their country, though it was no longer the official name. Under Japanese rule, the two names Han and Joseon coexisted, there were several groups who fought for independence, the most notable being the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. Following the surrender of Japan, in 1945, the Republic of Korea was adopted as the name for the new country. Since the government only controlled the part of the Korean Peninsula
South Korea
–
Flag
South Korea
–
Balhae and
Silla, 830 CE
South Korea
–
Jikji, the first known book printed with movable metal type in 1377. Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris
15.
List of countries by public debt
–
This is a list of countries by public debt to GDP ratio as listed by Eurostat for the EU and by CIAs World Factbook 2012 for the rest of the world. It is the total of all government borrowings less repayments that are denominated in a countrys home currency. Gross government debt is the most relevant data for discussions of government default and it is different from external debt, which includes the foreign currency liabilities of non-government entities. The figures here are represented as a percentage of gross domestic product. The public debt relative information provided by national sources is not always objective and true, note that net debt figures are included where gross debt figures are unavailable in the CIA set
List of countries by public debt
–
Total (gross) government debt as a percent of
GDP by IMF (2012)
List of countries by public debt
–
Public debt as a percent of
GDP by CIA (2012)
16.
United States dollar
–
The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
United States dollar
–
Series of 1917
$1 United States bill
United States dollar
–
Federal Reserve Notes
United States dollar
–
Spanish silver real or
peso of 1768
United States dollar
–
Obverse of rare 1934 $500 Federal Reserve Note, featuring a portrait of President
William McKinley.
17.
Bhutan
–
Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in Asia and the smallest state located entirely within the Himalaya mountain range. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it is bordered by China in the north, Bhutan lacks a border with nearby Nepal due to the Indian state of Sikkim and with Bangladesh due to the Indian states of West Bengal and Assam. Bhutan is geopolitically in South Asia and is the second least populous nation after the Maldives. Thimphu is its capital and largest city, while Phuntsholing is its financial center, the independence of Bhutan has endured for centuries and the territory was never colonized in its history. Situated on the ancient Silk Road between Tibet, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, the Bhutanese state developed a national identity based on Buddhism. Headed by a leader known as the Zhabdrung Rinpoche, the territory was composed of many fiefdoms. Following a civil war in the 19th century, the House of Wangchuck reunited the country, Bhutan fostered a strategic partnership with India during the rise of Chinese communism and has a disputed border with the Peoples Republic of China. The King of Bhutan is known as the Dragon King, Bhutan is also notable for pioneering the concept of gross national happiness. The countrys landscape ranges from subtropical plains in the south to the sub-alpine Himalayan mountains in the north. The highest mountain in Bhutan is the Gangkhar Puensum, which is also a candidate for the highest unclimbed mountain in the world. There is also diverse wildlife in Bhutan, in South Asia, Bhutan ranks first in economic freedom, ease of doing business and peace, second in per capita income and is the least corrupt country, as of 2016. However, Bhutan continues to be a least developed country, hydroelectricity accounts for the major share of its exports. The government is a parliamentary democracy, Bhutan maintains diplomatic relations with 52 countries and the European Union, but does not have formal ties with the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. It is a member of the United Nations, SAARC, BIMSTEC, the Royal Bhutan Army maintains extensive military relations with the Indian Armed Forces. The precise etymology of Bhutan is unknown, although it is likely to derive from the Tibetan endonym Bod used for Tibet. Traditionally, it is taken to be a transcription of the Sanskrit Bhoṭa-anta end of Tibet, since the 17th century the official name of Bhutan has been Druk yul and Bhutan only appears in English-language official correspondence. Names similar to Bhutan — including Bohtan, Buhtan, Bottanthis, Bottan, jean-Baptiste Taverniers 1676 Six Voyages is the first to record the name Boutan. However, in case, these seem to have been describing not modern Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan
–
The
Dzong in the
Paro valley, built in 1646.
18.
Subsistence farming
–
Subsistence agriculture is self-sufficiency farming in which the farmers focus on growing enough food to feed themselves and their families. The output is mostly for local requirements with little or no surplus trade, the typical subsistence farm has a range of crops and animals needed by the family to feed and clothe themselves during the year. Planting decisions are made principally with an eye toward what the family will need during the coming year, tony Waters writes, Subsistence peasants are people who grow what they eat, build their own houses, and live without regularly making purchases in the marketplace. Subsistence agriculture also emerged independently in Mexico where it was based on cultivation. Subsistence agriculture was the dominant mode of production in the world until recently, Subsistence horticulture may have developed independently in South East Asia and Papua New Guinea. Subsistence farming continues today in parts of rural Africa, and parts of Asia. Many of the items, as well as occasional services from physicians, veterinarians, blacksmiths. In Central and Eastern Europe subsistence and semi-subsistence agriculture reappeared within the economy since about 1990. In this type of agriculture, a patch of forest land is cleared by a combination of felling and burning, and crops are grown. After 2-3 years the fertility of the soil begins to decline, the land is abandoned, while the land is left fallow the forest regrows in the cleared area and soil fertility and biomass is restored. After a decade or more, the farmer may return to the first piece of land, shifting cultivation is called Dredd in India, Ladang in Indonesia and Milpa in Central America and Mexico. However, such farmers often recognize the value of such compost and they also may irrigate part of such fields if they are near a source of water. In some areas of tropical Africa, at least, such smaller fields may be ones in which crops are grown on raised beds, thus farmers practicing slash and burn agriculture are often much more sophisticated agriculturalists than the term slash and burn subsistence farmers suggest. In this type of farming people migrate along with their animals from one place to another in search of fodder for their animals, generally they rear cattle, sheep, goats, camels and/or yaks for milk, skin, meat and wool. This way of life is common in parts of central and western Asia, India, east and south-west Africa, examples are the nomadic Bhotiyas and Gujjars of the Himalayas. In Intensive subsistence agriculture, the farmer cultivates a small plot of land using simple tools, climate, with large number of days with sunshine and fertile soils permits growing of more than one crop annually on the same plot. Farmers use their land holdings to produce enough, for their local consumption. It results in more food being produced per acre compared to other subsistence patterns
Subsistence farming
–
Like most farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, this Cameroonian man cultivates at the subsistence level.
19.
Animal husbandry
–
Animal husbandry is the management and care of farm animals by human beings, in which genetic qualities and behavior, considered to be advantageous to humans, are further developed. The term can refer to the practice of breeding and raising livestock to promote desirable traits in animals for utility, sport, pleasure. Animal husbandry has been practiced for thousands of years since the first domestication of animals, selective breeding for desired traits was first established as a scientific practice by Robert Bakewell during the British Agricultural Revolution in the 18th century. One of his most important breeding programs was with sheep, using native stock, he was able to quickly select for large, yet fine-boned sheep, with long, lustrous wool. The Lincoln Longwool was improved by Bakewell and in turn the Lincoln was used to develop the subsequent breed, named the New Leicester and it was hornless and had a square, meaty body with straight top lines. These sheep were exported widely and have contributed to modern breeds. Under his influence, English farmers began to breed cattle for use primarily as beef for consumption -, long-horned heifers were crossed with the Westmoreland bull to eventually create the Dishley Longhorn. Over the following decades, farm animals increased dramatically in size, in 1700, the average weight of a bull sold for slaughter was 370 pounds. By 1786, that weight had more than doubled to 840 pounds, in more modern times herds are tended on horses, all-terrain vehicles, motorbikes, four-wheel drive vehicles, and helicopters, depending on the terrain and livestock concerned. Today, herd managers often oversee thousands of animals and many staff, farms, stations and ranches may employ breeders, herd health specialists, feeders, and milkers to help care for the animals. Techniques such as artificial insemination and embryo transfer are used today, not only as methods to guarantee that females breed regularly. This may be done by transplanting embryos from high-quality females into lower-quality surrogate mothers - freeing up the higher-quality mother to be reimpregnated and this practice vastly increases the number of offspring which may be produced by a small selection of the best quality parent animals. On one hand, this improves the ability of the animals to feed to meat, milk, or fiber more efficiently. On the other, it decreases genetic diversity, increasing the severity of disease outbreaks among other risks. The semi-natural, unfertilized pastures formed by traditional methods in Europe, were managed and maintained by the grazing and mowing of livestock. Animal agriculture is responsible for 20%-33% of all fresh water consumption in the world today, livestock or livestock feed occupies 1/3 of the earth’s ice-free land. Animal agriculture is the cause of species extinction, ocean dead zones, water pollution. Animal agriculture contributes to species extinction in many ways, the widespread use of pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers used in the production of feed crops often interferes with the reproductive systems of animals and poison waterways
Animal husbandry
–
Agriculture
Animal husbandry
–
Dairy cattle in Mangskog,
Sweden, 1911.
20.
Migrant labour
–
The term migrant worker has different official meanings and connotations in different parts of the world. The United Nations definition is broad, many people were working outside of their home country, some of these are called expatriates. Several countries have millions of foreign workers, some have millions of illegal immigrants, most of them being workers also. According to the Panos Network, it is never appropriate to refer to asylum-seekers or refugees as “illegal migrants”, the term can also be used to describe someone who migrates with in a country, possibly their own, in order to pursue work such as seasonal work. The program is run jointly with the governments of Mexico and the participating Caribbean states, in Canada, non-agricultural companies are beginning to recruit temporary foreign workers under Service Canadas 2002 expansion of an immigration program for migrant workers. As of 2002, the government introduced the Low Skill Pilot Project. This project allows companies to apply to bring in foreign workers to fill low skill jobs. The classification of low skill means that workers require no more high school or two years of job-specific training to qualify. In 2006, the federal Conservatives expanded the list of occupations that qualified for the Low Skill Pilot Project, some inland cities have started providing migrants with social security, including pensions and other insurance. In 2012, there were a reported 167 million migrant workers in China, with trends of working closer to home (within their own or a neighbouring province but with a wage drop of 21%. Because so many migrant works are moving to the city from rural areas, Migrant workers in China are notoriously marginalized, especially due to the hukou system of residency permits, which tie one stated residence to all social welfare benefits. The recent expansions of the European Union have provided opportunities for people to migrate to other EU countries for work. For both the 2004 and 2007 enlargements, existing states were given the rights to impose various transitional arrangements to limit access to their labour markets, the 1st of March has become a symbolic day for transnational migrants strike. This day unites all migrants to them a common voice to speak up against racism. The transnational protests on 1 March were originally initiated in the US in 2006 and have encouraged migrants in other countries to organise and take action on that day. In Austria the first transnational migrants strike took place in March 2011, in the form of actions, e. g. a manifestation. Bulgarians, Kosovars and Estonians were the most likely victimised in the building trade, there has been a substantial flow of people from Bangladesh and Nepal to India over recent decades in search of better work. Bangladeshi women appear to be particularly vulnerable and these findings highlight the need to promote migrants rights with, amongst others, health staff, police and employers at destination
Migrant labour
–
Migrant workers in
California, 1935
Migrant labour
–
Legal status of
persons
Migrant labour
–
Migrant agricultural worker's family, California, 1936
Migrant labour
–
Group of
Florida migrants near
Shawboro, North Carolina on their way to
Cranbury, New Jersey, to pick potatoes.
21.
Hydropower
–
Hydropower or water power is power derived from the energy of falling water or fast running water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes. A trompe, which compressed air from falling water, is sometimes used to power other machinery at a distance. In the late 19th century, hydropower became a source for generating electricity, cragside in Northumberland was the first house powered by hydroelectricity in 1878 and the first commercial hydroelectric power plant was built at Niagara Falls in 1879. In 1881, street lamps in the city of Niagara Falls were powered by hydropower, since the early 20th century, the term has been used almost exclusively in conjunction with the modern development of hydroelectric power. In China and the rest of the Far East, hydraulically operated pot wheel pumps raised water into crop or irrigation canals, the power of a wave of water released from a tank was used for extraction of metal ores in a method known as hushing. The method was first used at the Dolaucothi Gold Mines in Wales from 75 AD onwards, hushing was also widely used in Britain in the Medieval and later periods to extract lead and tin ores. It later evolved into hydraulic mining when used during the California Gold Rush and these include an endless belt with jugs attached, a cow-powered shadoof, and a reciprocating device with hinged valves. In 1753, French engineer Bernard Forest de Bélidor published Architecture Hydraulique which described vertical-, the growing demand for the Industrial Revolution would drive development as well. At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, water was the source of power for new inventions such as Richard Arkwrights water frame. In the 1830s, at the peak in US canal-building, hydropower provided the energy to transport barge traffic up. Technological advances had moved the water wheel into an enclosed turbine or water motor. Francis, while working as engineer of Lowells Locks and Canals company. He applied scientific principles and testing methods to the problem of turbine design and his mathematical and graphical calculation methods allowed confident design of high efficiency turbines to exactly match a sites specific flow conditions. The Francis reaction turbine is still in use today. Hydraulic power networks used pipes to carrying pressurized water and transmit power from the source to end users. The power source was normally a head of water, which could also be assisted by a pump and these were extensive in Victorian cities in the United Kingdom. A hydraulic power network was developed in Geneva, Switzerland. The world-famous Jet dEau was originally designed as the relief valve for the network
Hydropower
–
The
Three Gorges Dam in China; the hydroelectric dam is the world's largest power station by
installed capacity.
Hydropower
–
Saint Anthony Falls,
United States; hydropower was used here to mill flour.
Hydropower
–
Kaptai Dam located in
Bangladesh
Hydropower
–
Directly water-powered ore mill, late 19th century
22.
International Monetary Fund
–
The International Monetary Fund is an international organization headquartered in Washington, D. C. It now plays a role in the management of balance of payments difficulties. Countries contribute funds to a pool through a system from which countries experiencing balance of payments problems can borrow money. As of 2016, the fund had SDR477 billion, the rationale for this is that private international capital markets function imperfectly and many countries have limited access to financial markets. The IMF provides alternate sources of financing and this assistance was meant to prevent the spread of international economic crises. The IMF was also intended to help mend the pieces of the economy after the Great Depression. As well, to provide investments for economic growth and projects such as infrastructure. The IMFs role was altered by the floating exchange rates post-1971. It shifted to examining the economic policies of countries with IMF loan agreements to determine if a shortage of capital was due to economic fluctuations or economic policy, the IMF also researched what types of government policy would ensure economic recovery. Rather than maintaining a position of oversight of only exchange rates and their role became a lot more active because the IMF now manages economic policy rather than just exchange rates. In addition, the IMF negotiates conditions on lending and loans under their policy of conditionality, nonconcessional loans, which include interest rates, are provided mainly through Stand-By Arrangements, the Flexible Credit Line, the Precautionary and Liquidity Line, and the Extended Fund Facility. The IMF provides emergency assistance via the Rapid Financing Instrument to members facing urgent balance-of-payments needs, the IMF is mandated to oversee the international monetary and financial system and monitor the economic and financial policies of its member countries. This activity is known as surveillance and facilitates international cooperation, the responsibilities changed from those of guardian to those of overseer of members’ policies. In 1995 the International Monetary Fund began work on data dissemination standards with the view of guiding IMF member countries to disseminate their economic and financial data to the public. The executive board approved the SDDS and GDDS in 1996 and 1997 respectively, the system is aimed primarily at statisticians and aims to improve many aspects of statistical systems in a country. It is also part of the World Bank Millennium Development Goals, some countries initially used the GDDS, but later upgraded to SDDS. The IMF does require collateral from countries for loans but also requires the government seeking assistance to correct its macroeconomic imbalances in the form of policy reform, if the conditions are not met, the funds are withheld. The concept of conditionality was introduced in a 1952 Executive Board decision, conditionality is associated with economic theory as well as an enforcement mechanism for repayment
International Monetary Fund
–
IMF "Headquarters 1" in Washington, D.C.
International Monetary Fund
–
Coat of arms
International Monetary Fund
–
The Gold Room within the
Mount Washington Hotel where the
Bretton Woods Conference attendees signed the agreements creating the IMF and
World Bank
International Monetary Fund
–
First page of the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund, 1 March 1946. Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs archives
23.
Bhutanese ngultrum
–
The ngultrum is the currency of the Kingdom of Bhutan. It is subdivided into 100 chhertum, the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan is the minting authority of the Ngultrum banknotes and coins. The Ngultrum is currently pegged to the Indian rupee at par, until 1789, the coins of the Cooch Behar mint circulated in Bhutan. Following this, Bhutan began issuing its own known as chetrum. Hammered silver and copper coins were the only issued until 1929. Nickel ½ rupee coins were introduced in 1950, while the Cooch Behar mint coins circulated alongside Bhutans own coins, decimalization was introduced in 1957, when Bhutans first issue of coins denominated in naya paisa. The 1966 issues were 25 naya paisa,50 naya paisa and 1 rupee coins, while the Bhutanese government developed its economy in the early 1960s, monetization in 1968 led to the establishment of the Bank of Bhutan. As monetary reforms took place in 1974, the Ngultrum was officially introduced as 100 Chhetrum equal to 1 Ngultrum, the Ngultrum retained the peg to the Indian rupee at par, which the Bhutanese coins had maintained. The Ministry of Finance issued the first banknotes in 1974 denominated Nu.1, Nu.5, Nu,10, in 1974, aluminium Ch.5 and Ch.10, aluminium-bronze Ch.20 and cupro-nickel Ch.25 and Nu.1 were introduced. The Ch.5 was square and the Ch.10 was scallop-shaped, a new coinage was introduced in 1979, consisting of bronze Ch.5 and Ch.10, and cupro-nickel Ch.25 and Ch.50 and Nu.1 and Nu.3. Aluminium-bronze Ch.25 were also issued dated 1979, the Ch.5 and Ch.10 have largely ceased circulating. Currently coins are available in denominations of Ch20, Ch.25, Ch.50 and Nu.1. On June 2,1974, Nu.1, Nu.5 and Nu.10 notes were introduced by the Royal Government of Bhutan, followed by Nu.2, Nu.20, Nu.50, and Nu.100 in 1978. On August 4,1982, the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan Act was enacted, although the RMA didnt began actual operations until November 1,1983, and did not issue its own family of notes until 1986. In 2006, the Monetary Authority introduced its latest series of notes, with denominations of Nu.1, Nu.5, Nu.10, Nu.20, Nu.50, Nu.100, Nu.500, and Nu.1000. Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan Economy of Bhutan Panish, Charles K, the American Numismatic Society, Museum Notes 17, New York 1971, p. 247-254 and plates XLVII-XLVIII. Oriental Numismatic Society, Information Sheet no 16, January 1977, rhodes, Nicholas, Coinage in Bhutan. Journal of Bhutan Studies. The Centre of Bhutan Studies, vol,1, Thimphu, Autumn,1999, p. 84-113
Bhutanese ngultrum
–
1 ngultrum
Bhutanese ngultrum
–
Nu.1
Bhutanese ngultrum
Bhutanese ngultrum
24.
TWh
–
The kilowatt-hour is a derived unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules. If the energy is being transmitted or used at a constant rate over a period of time, the kilowatt-hour is commonly used as a billing unit for energy delivered to consumers by electric utilities. The kilowatt-hour is a unit of energy equivalent to one kilowatt of power sustained for one hour. 1 k W ⋅ h = =3600 =3600 k J =3.6 M J One watt is equal to 1 J/s. One kilowatt-hour is 3.6 megajoules, which is the amount of energy converted if work is done at a rate of one thousand watts for one hour. The base unit of energy within the International System of Units is the joule, the hour is a unit of time outside the SI, making the kilowatt-hour a non-SI unit of energy. The kilowatt-hour is not listed among the non-SI units accepted by the BIPM for use with the SI, although the hour, an electric heater rated at 1000 watts, operating for one hour uses one kilowatt-hour of energy. A television rated at 100 watts operating for 10 hours continuously uses one kilowatt-hour, a 40-watt light bulb operating continuously for 25 hours uses one kilowatt-hour. Electrical energy is sold in kilowatt-hours, cost of running equipment is the product of power in kilowatts multiplied by running time in hours, the unit price of electricity may depend upon the rate of consumption and the time of day. Industrial users may also have extra charges according to their peak usage, the symbol kWh is commonly used in commercial, educational, scientific and media publications, and is the usual practice in electrical power engineering. Other abbreviations and symbols may be encountered, kW h is less commonly used and it is consistent with SI standards. This is supported by a standard issued jointly by an international and national organization. However, at least one major usage guide and the IEEE/ASTM standard allow kWh, One guide published by NIST specifically recommends avoiding kWh to avoid possible confusion. KW·h is, like kW h, preferred with SI standards, the US official fuel-economy window sticker for electric vehicles uses the abbreviation kW-hrs. Variations in capitalization are sometimes seen, KWh, KWH, kwh, the notation kW/h, as a symbol for kilowatt-hour, is not correct. To convert a quantity measured in a unit in the column to the units in the top row, multiply by the factor in the cell where the row. All the SI prefixes are commonly applied to the watt-hour, a kilowatt-hour is 1,000 W·h (symbols kW·h, kWh or kW h, a megawatt-hour is 1 million W·h, a milliwatt-hour is 1/1000 W·h and so on. Megawatt-hours, gigawatt-hours, and terawatt-hours are often used for metering larger amounts of energy to industrial customers
TWh
–
Residential
electricity meter located in Canada
25.
GWh
–
The kilowatt-hour is a derived unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules. If the energy is being transmitted or used at a constant rate over a period of time, the kilowatt-hour is commonly used as a billing unit for energy delivered to consumers by electric utilities. The kilowatt-hour is a unit of energy equivalent to one kilowatt of power sustained for one hour. 1 k W ⋅ h = =3600 =3600 k J =3.6 M J One watt is equal to 1 J/s. One kilowatt-hour is 3.6 megajoules, which is the amount of energy converted if work is done at a rate of one thousand watts for one hour. The base unit of energy within the International System of Units is the joule, the hour is a unit of time outside the SI, making the kilowatt-hour a non-SI unit of energy. The kilowatt-hour is not listed among the non-SI units accepted by the BIPM for use with the SI, although the hour, an electric heater rated at 1000 watts, operating for one hour uses one kilowatt-hour of energy. A television rated at 100 watts operating for 10 hours continuously uses one kilowatt-hour, a 40-watt light bulb operating continuously for 25 hours uses one kilowatt-hour. Electrical energy is sold in kilowatt-hours, cost of running equipment is the product of power in kilowatts multiplied by running time in hours, the unit price of electricity may depend upon the rate of consumption and the time of day. Industrial users may also have extra charges according to their peak usage, the symbol kWh is commonly used in commercial, educational, scientific and media publications, and is the usual practice in electrical power engineering. Other abbreviations and symbols may be encountered, kW h is less commonly used and it is consistent with SI standards. This is supported by a standard issued jointly by an international and national organization. However, at least one major usage guide and the IEEE/ASTM standard allow kWh, One guide published by NIST specifically recommends avoiding kWh to avoid possible confusion. KW·h is, like kW h, preferred with SI standards, the US official fuel-economy window sticker for electric vehicles uses the abbreviation kW-hrs. Variations in capitalization are sometimes seen, KWh, KWH, kwh, the notation kW/h, as a symbol for kilowatt-hour, is not correct. To convert a quantity measured in a unit in the column to the units in the top row, multiply by the factor in the cell where the row. All the SI prefixes are commonly applied to the watt-hour, a kilowatt-hour is 1,000 W·h (symbols kW·h, kWh or kW h, a megawatt-hour is 1 million W·h, a milliwatt-hour is 1/1000 W·h and so on. Megawatt-hours, gigawatt-hours, and terawatt-hours are often used for metering larger amounts of energy to industrial customers
GWh
–
Residential
electricity meter located in Canada
26.
Agriculture in Bhutan
–
Agriculture in Bhutan has a dominant role in the Bhutans economy. In 2000, agriculture accounted for 35. 9% of GDP of the nation, the share of the agricultural sector in GDP declined from approximately 55% in 1985 to 33% in 2003. Despite this, agriculture remains the source of livelihood for the majority of the population. Approximately 80% of the population of Bhutan are involved in agriculture, over 95% of the earning women in the country work in the agricultural sector. Majority of the refugees in this Himalayan nation are also employed in the agricultural sector, Agriculture in Bhutan is characterized by its labor-intensive nature with relatively low intensity of farm inputs. Most of the peasants in the country are small and marginal, major crops cultivated in Bhutan are maize and rice. Maize accounts for 49% of total domestic cereal cultivation, and rice accounts for 43%, rice is the major staple crop. Agriculture in the country includes cultivation of wheat and other cereal crops. Paddy is the crop in those regions where proper irrigation is available. Apart from paddy, other crops like wheat, barley, oil seeds, potato, maize is mainly cultivated in dryland regions at lower elevation. Forests in the act as the source of livestock fodder. Forests are also responsible for regulating the availability of water for agricultural purpose, Agriculture is hampered due to irrigation problem, rough terrain, poor soil quality and limited number of arable lands. But several other factors have contributed in the development of agriculture and these factors include improved quality of various cereal seeds, oil seeds, and vegetable seeds, use of fertilizers, mechanization process and trained agricultural experts. Production of cash such as apple, orange and cardamom have increased and have become profitable. In several areas the shifting cultivation is being replaced by the orchard cultivation, academics expect this will increase the cultivation of cash crops. In 2013 the government announced that Bhutan will become the first country in the world with 100 percent organic farming and this program is being supported by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements. Rice production in Bhutan Official website of the Ministry of Agriculture, Bhutan
Agriculture in Bhutan
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Terraced farmland in
Paro.
27.
Forestry in Bhutan
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One of Bhutans significant natural resources in the late twentieth century was its rich forests and natural vegetation. Bhutans location in the eastern Himalayas, with its plains and alpine terrain, gives it more rainfall than its neighbors to the west. The forests contain numerous deciduous and evergreen species, ranging from tropical hardwoods to predominantly oak, the small population and the general absence of overdevelopment in Bhutan contributed to forest preservation. Because of the terrain, the accessible forests had been overcut whereas remote forests remained largely in their natural state. A progressive government-sponsored forestry conservation policy strove to balance revenue needs with ecological considerations, water management, success in managing its forest resources had long been critical to the local environment and economy and also affected downstream floodplains in India and Bangladesh. The Department of Forests and Park Services was established in 1952 as the Department of Forestry to oversee conservation and exploitation of the countrys significant forestry resources, after an initial decade of development, forestry resource exploitation increased with the start of the First Development Plan in 1961. Uncontrolled felling of trees in the 1970s by private companies in logging areas and by rural populations along roads and in main valleys stripped hillsides, tsheri cultivation, forest fires, and overgrazing also contributed to the degradation of the forestry resource. In 1971 the Forestry School was established at Kalikhola in southern Bhutan and it was moved to Taba in the northern Thimphu Valley in 1977. The school provided instruction in forestry and forest management and trained foresters. In 1981 some 33,000 km², or between 70 and 74 percent of the land, were forested, but in 1991 foreign estimates indicated a shrinking forest of only 60 to 64 percent of the land. According to UN statistics, in the decade between 1978 and 1987 Bhutan harvested an average of nearly 3.2 million cubic meters of roundwood, of this total, nearly 80 percent was for commercial use, and the remainder was for housing construction and public works. Before hydroelectric power and other energy sources were available, wood was the almost exclusive source of fuel for heating, cooking. The provision of electricity, as well as regulation of fuelwood collectors. Because affordable electricity was not available throughout the country, the government established fuelwood plantations near villages to accommodate daily needs, recognizing the potential value of its forestry resource, Bhutan became increasingly conscientious about forestry management in the 1970s. Bhutan rejected World Bank aid to build a dam on the Manas Chhu in 1986 that would have flooded this major conservation area on the southern Bhutan-India border. By 1989 Bhutan had developed nine other forest and wildlife preserves, in the face of increasing denuded hillsides, private logging was banned, and strict standards for public-sector logging operations were established in 1979. Farmers were warned against burning off forests to clear land for tsheri cultivation, surveying, demarcation, conservation, and management plans for harvesting forest products were part of the Fifth Development Plans focus on forestry preservation. One of the results of forestry sector regulation was a sharp decrease in revenues since the late 1970s
Forestry in Bhutan
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Trongsa Dzong in Bhutan.
Forestry in Bhutan
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Pinus wallichiana forest, Paro, Punakha, Taktshang, Bhutan.
Forestry in Bhutan
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Africa
28.
The World Factbook
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The World Factbook is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official print version is available from the National Technical Information Service, Other companies—such as Skyhorse Publishing—also print a paper edition. The Factbook is available in the form of a website that is updated every week. It is also available for download for use off-line, the World Factbook is prepared by the CIA for the use of U. S. Government officials, and its style, format, coverage, and content are primarily designed to meet their requirements. However, it is used as a resource for academic research papers. As a work of the U. S. Government, it is in the domain in the United States. In researching the Factbook, the CIA uses the sources listed below, Other public and private sources are also consulted. However, the CIA requests that it be cited when the Factbook is used, copying the official seal of the CIA without permission is prohibited by U. S. federal law—specifically, the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949. Before November 2001 The World Factbook website was updated yearly, from 2004 to 2010 it was updated every two weeks, since 2010 it has been updated weekly, generally, information currently available as of January 1 of the current year is used in preparing the Factbook. The first, classified, edition of Factbook was published in August 1962, the World Factbook was first available to the public in print in 1975. In 2008 the CIA discontinued printing the Factbook themselves, instead turning printing responsibilities over to the Government Printing Office and this happened due to a CIA decision to focus Factbook resources on the online edition. The Factbook has been on the World Wide Web since October 1994, the web version gets an average of 6 million visits per month, it can also be downloaded. The official printed version is sold by the Government Printing Office, in past years, the Factbook was available on CD-ROM, microfiche, magnetic tape, and floppy disk. Many Internet sites use information and images from the CIA World Factbook, several publishers, including Grand River Books, Potomac Books, and Skyhorse Publishing have re-published the Factbook in recent years. As of July 2011, The World Factbook consists of 267 entities and these entities can be divided into categories. They are, Independent countries This category has independent countries, which the CIA defines as people politically organized into a state with a definite territory. In this category, there are 195 entities, others The Other category is a list of other places set apart from the list of independent countries. Currently there are two, Taiwan and the European Union, dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty This category is a list of places affiliated with another country
The World Factbook
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Cover of the latest government print edition of The World Factbook (2013–14 edition)
The World Factbook
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A map of
Serbia and Montenegro from the 2000 edition of The World Factbook. Notice how the disclaimer is printed in the upper right hand corner. One can see how the capital cities of both republics are individually labeled on the map.
29.
United States Department of State
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The Department was created in 1789 and was the first executive department established. The Department is headquartered in the Harry S Truman Building located at 2201 C Street, NW, the Department operates the diplomatic missions of the United States abroad and is responsible for implementing the foreign policy of the United States and U. S. diplomacy efforts. The Department is also the depositary for more than 200 multilateral treaties, the Department is led by the Secretary of State, who is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate and is a member of the Cabinet. The current Secretary of State is Rex Tillerson, beginning 1 February 2017, the Secretary of State is the first Cabinet official in the order of precedence and in the presidential line of succession, after the President pro tempore of the Senate. This legislation remains the law of the Department of State. In September 1789, additional legislation changed the name of the agency to the Department of State and these responsibilities grew to include management of the United States Mint, keeper of the Great Seal of the United States, and the taking of the census. President George Washington signed the new legislation on September 15, most of these domestic duties of the Department of State were eventually turned over to various new Federal departments and agencies that were established during the 19th century. On September 29,1789, President Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, then Minister to France, from 1790 to 1800, the State Department had its headquarters in Philadelphia, the capital of the United States at the time. It occupied a building at Church and Fifth Streets, in 1800, it moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D. C. where it first occupied the Treasury Building and then the Seven Buildings at 19th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. It moved into the Six Buildings in September 1800, where it remained until May 1801 and it moved into the War Office Building due west of the White House in May 1801. It occupied the Treasury Building from September 1819 to November 1866 and it then occupied the Washington City Orphan Home from November 1866 to July 1875. It moved to the State, War, and Navy Building in 1875, since May 1947, it has occupied the Harry S. Truman Building in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, the State Department is therefore sometimes metonymically referred to as Foggy Bottom. Madeleine Albright became the first woman to become the United States Secretary of State, condoleezza Rice became the second female secretary of state in 2005. Hillary Rodham Clinton became the female secretary of state when she was appointed in 2009. In 2014, the State Department began expanding into the Navy Hill Complex across 23rd Street NW from the Truman Building, the Executive Branch and the U. S. Congress have constitutional responsibilities for U. S. foreign policy. Within the Executive Branch, the Department of State is the lead U. S, the Department advances U. S. objectives and interests in the world through its primary role in developing and implementing the Presidents foreign policy. It also provides an array of important services to U. S. citizens, the total Department of State budget, together with Other International Programs, costs about 45 cents a day for each resident of the United States. Keeping the public informed about U. S. foreign policy and relations with other countries, providing automobile registration for non-diplomatic staff vehicles and the vehicles of diplomats of foreign countries having diplomatic immunity in the United States
United States Department of State
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Harry S Truman Building, headquarters of the U.S. State Department since 1947
United States Department of State
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Seal of the U.S. Department of State
United States Department of State
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Secretary of State
John Kerry
United States Department of State
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Organizational chart of the U.S. Department of State as of March 2014
30.
CIA World Factbook
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The World Factbook is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official print version is available from the National Technical Information Service, Other companies—such as Skyhorse Publishing—also print a paper edition. The Factbook is available in the form of a website that is updated every week. It is also available for download for use off-line, the World Factbook is prepared by the CIA for the use of U. S. Government officials, and its style, format, coverage, and content are primarily designed to meet their requirements. However, it is used as a resource for academic research papers. As a work of the U. S. Government, it is in the domain in the United States. In researching the Factbook, the CIA uses the sources listed below, Other public and private sources are also consulted. However, the CIA requests that it be cited when the Factbook is used, copying the official seal of the CIA without permission is prohibited by U. S. federal law—specifically, the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949. Before November 2001 The World Factbook website was updated yearly, from 2004 to 2010 it was updated every two weeks, since 2010 it has been updated weekly, generally, information currently available as of January 1 of the current year is used in preparing the Factbook. The first, classified, edition of Factbook was published in August 1962, the World Factbook was first available to the public in print in 1975. In 2008 the CIA discontinued printing the Factbook themselves, instead turning printing responsibilities over to the Government Printing Office and this happened due to a CIA decision to focus Factbook resources on the online edition. The Factbook has been on the World Wide Web since October 1994, the web version gets an average of 6 million visits per month, it can also be downloaded. The official printed version is sold by the Government Printing Office, in past years, the Factbook was available on CD-ROM, microfiche, magnetic tape, and floppy disk. Many Internet sites use information and images from the CIA World Factbook, several publishers, including Grand River Books, Potomac Books, and Skyhorse Publishing have re-published the Factbook in recent years. As of July 2011, The World Factbook consists of 267 entities and these entities can be divided into categories. They are, Independent countries This category has independent countries, which the CIA defines as people politically organized into a state with a definite territory. In this category, there are 195 entities, others The Other category is a list of other places set apart from the list of independent countries. Currently there are two, Taiwan and the European Union, dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty This category is a list of places affiliated with another country
CIA World Factbook
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Cover of the latest government print edition of The World Factbook (2013–14 edition)
CIA World Factbook
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A map of
Serbia and Montenegro from the 2000 edition of The World Factbook. Notice how the disclaimer is printed in the upper right hand corner. One can see how the capital cities of both republics are individually labeled on the map.
India 83.8%
Hong Kong 10.8% (2013)[5]
South Korea 6% (2013)[6]
This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook website https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html.
This article incorporates 
