Daily Archives: February 6, 2020

The number of people sleeping on Wales' streets has gone up by 17% in a year.

Every year, councils are asked to carry out a count of people sleeping rough to feed into a national rough sleeper count.

This year's count was carried out over two weeks in October and nearly all areas saw a rise when compared to the year before.

The figures, published on Tuesday, February show a significant rise from 347 people sleeping rough over a two-week period in Wales last year to 405 people who slept on the streets this year - an increase of 58.

Lindsay Cordery-Bruce, chief executive of The Wallich, said: Everyone is disappointed and no-one is surprised, from decision makers to people on the ground, and this is unacceptable. We should be surprised; we should be shocked, and we should be outraged at the continual year on year increase in the number of people sleeping rough across Wales.

"This figure should be a rallying cry to all of us that we need to do better.We cannot allow year-on-year increases in homelessness to become normalised this is when we fail."

The numbers of rough sleepers over a two week period:

How that looks as a map:

A count on a single night is also carried out in every council area. In that, councils reported 176 people sleeping rough across Wales between 10pm on the November 7 and 5am on November 8, 2019 - also a rise on the previous year, this time of 11%.

As part of the report, councils are asked to count how many emergency bed spaces there are.

They reported 210 available and despite that number being up, the proportion of emergency bed spaces which were unoccupied and available on the night of the count was lower in 2019 (8%) than in 2018 and 2017 (both 18%)

The Welsh Government report says there continues to be "considerable variation" across Wales' 22 council areas.

In Caerphilly, the number of people sleeping rough rose from 28 to 42, and in Newport from 23 to 42.

There were reductions in five council areas: Anglesey, Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Gwynedd and Wrexham.

There were no rough sleepers counted in Blaenau Gwent.

The highest estimate for rough sleepers over these two weeks continued to be seen in Cardiff (despite a decrease of eight) and Caerphilly and Newport being joint second highest.

Reasons provided for the increases reflected both on the ground changes as well as improved engagement resulting in better quality data whereas the decreases were credited to multi-agency work reducing levels of rough sleeping and difficulties in obtaining up to date or accurate information from agencies working on the ground.

Lindsay Cordery-Bruce, chief executive of The Wallich, said: The figure of 57 people seen sleeping rough in Cardiff on the one-night count is similar to our own figures but it is important to mention later that month we saw numbers as high as 76 people in a single morning in the city centre alone.

"One-night counts have their merits as a snapshot, but they can often hide the true extent of the issue. For example, we often see much higher numbers during the summer months when extra cold weather provision is not available. We are working with Welsh Government on a national database (the Street Homeless Information Network SHIN) which would give us accurate figures throughout the year.

"The government figures also show a huge increase in areas where there is less investment in outreach provision, such as Caerphilly and Conwy where the number of people sleeping rough has almost doubled between 2018 and 2019.The people sleeping rough in these areas are as valuable and worthy of help as those in our larger cities.

" Welsh Government has tasked the Homelessness Action Group to think afresh and do things differently, utilising the expertise available to achieve the change required. We are part of this group and whilst we have seen some tangible outcomes from our discussions, we need urgent action and for Welsh Government to rapidly implement the groups recommendations, including a serious financial commitment.

" There has been a real terms funding cut of 37m from the Supporting People budget between 2012-2018. Without additional investment in the Housing Support Grant in the next Welsh Government budget, there is a risk that homelessness could get much worse.

" We also need a commitment to systemic change to remove the barriers that are leaving people unable to get out of the cycle of homelessness such as the abolition of priority need, intentionality, local connection and the use of the Vagrancy Act.We need to re-introduce kindness as a force that binds us together in our fight against homelessness. There is no more time for bigotry and victim blaming in this emergency.

" A minimum of 405 people across Wales need our help, our compassion, and to be our priority right now. As individuals, decision makers, service providers, businesses and as a nation, we must not fail them."

Clarissa Corbisiero, Director of Policy and Deputy Chief Executive of Community Housing Cymru said: " Figures released by Welsh Government today have revealed that the number of people rough sleeping number in Wales has risen 17% in the last year. We know that more people than ever need support for increasingly complex, co-occurring problems and experiences of trauma, and the Housing Support Grant is essential in funding these services which help people to manage their tenancies and prevent homelessness.

"We share the Welsh Governments ambition to eradicate homelessness in Wales, and todays figures show there is still more to be done. Thats why we are calling on Welsh Government to increase funding for the Housing Support Grant so that we can deliver vital services at the scale needed to end homelessness and keep people in their homes."

Welsh Government minister Julie James said: "I acknowledge the numbers sleeping rough on our streets continues to be unacceptably high. However, the key experts we have engaged to work with us, to advise and help accelerate the work we have already commenced, demonstrates our continuing commitment to addressing this issue.

"I believe the strategic approach we are taking to preventing and ending homelessness is the right framework to take forward this work. The reports of the Homelessness Action Group will help inform the action plan to sit underneath it.

"I would like to place on record my gratitude to all the local authority and third sector outreach officers who work tirelessly to support people sleeping rough into accommodation, work which is both challenging and rewarding.

"We have the building blocks in place to make a real impact and change in this area and despite setbacks we must continue to trust our strategy to prevent and end homelessness in Wales."

Original post:

The 'shocking' rise in the number of homeless people sleeping rough in Wales - Wales Online

Although Budget 2020 has not be able to meet market expectations, but it is positive for some sectors of the market, especially sectors that are related to consumption, agriculture, cement, roads, highways and IT.

Market participants were hoping for some stimulus support from the government to boost growth in Asias third-largest economy, which is likely to grow at 5 percent in FY20, its slowest pace in 11 years.

The Union Budget has fallen short of expectations in terms of a fiscal stimulus to boost domestic consumer demand, no revision has been done for long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax and lastly, the government seems to have increased the tax burden on the rich (including non-resident Indians operating out of tax havens), suggest experts.

Abolition of DDT or Dividend Distribution Tax is a positive move for large companies but it would still get taxed in the hands of recipients. Abolishing of dividend distribution tax (DDT) and taxing it in the hands of the recipient will result in higher tax outgo for many retail investors, Gaurav Dua, Sr VP, Head Capital Market & Investments, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas told Moneycontrol.

Currently, the effective DDT rate stands at 20.35% (including surcharge and cess) this will substantially increase the tax outgo for retail investors in higher tax slab of 20% (and more) and accordingly taken negatively by the equity markets, he said.

Dua further added that even the holding companies could be adversely impacted on the tax outgo for the dividends received from their subsidiaries or investee companies.

Sectors that are likely to benefit the most from the Budget 2020 are electric manufacturing companies, footwear companies, companies operating in natural gas, water pumps, transport infrastructure, IT companies, Agri-related companies, companies under data science, analytics, and related fields.

We have collated a list of stocks from various experts that are likely to benefit the most from the Budget 2020:

Expert: Gaurav Garg, Head of Research, CapitalVia Global Research

Relaxo, Bata India, Bajaj Electricals, Whirlpool of India, Symphony, Blue Star:

Due to the hike in customs duties on small appliances, footwear, food processing, fan and other items, domestic companies which will get a competitive edge.

Apollo Hospital, Biocon, Ajanta Pharma, Dr Lal PathLab:

The government provided Rs. 69,000 crore for the healthcare sector for FY2021 (including the Rs. 6,400 crores for Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana).

The Budget also proposed to set up a Viability Gap funding window for setting up hospitals in the PPP mode. In the first phase, those Aspirational Districts will be covered, where presently there are no Ayushman Bharat empanelled hospitals.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd, GMR Infrastructure Ltd, Larsen & Toubro:

National Infrastructure Pipeline receives Rs. 22,000 crore equity support for infrastructure financing. The outlay for MoRTH (Ministry of Road Transport & Highways) up by 10.6% at Rs. 91,823 crore; Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana outlay for FY2021 stands at Rs. 19,500 crore, up by 38.6% as against FY20RE.

Accelerated development of highways including 2,500 km of access control highways, 9,000 km of economic corridors, 2,000 km of coastal and land port roads and 2,000 km of strategic highways.

Work on the ChennaiBengaluru Expressway would also be started soon. Monetisation of twelve lots of highway bundles of over 6,000 km before 2024.

Brokerage Firm: Sharekhan

Ratnamani Metals & Tubes:

The Budget allocated Rs 22,000 crore for National Infrastructure Pipeline and provided 100% tax exemption on sovereign wealth funds' infrastructure investments.

Dixon Technologies and Amber Enterprise:

To provide incentive scheme to boost domestic electronic manufacturing and increased import duty on printed circuit boards (PCB) of mobile phones to 20 percent from 10 percent.

ABB India, Siemens:

Replacement of existing conventional electricity meters with prepaid smart ones in the next three years.

Kaveri seeds, Insecticides (India), PI Industries, Aarti Industries

The Budget allocated Rs. 2,83,000 crore for farm, irrigation and rural development and agri-credit target for FY21 set at Rs. 15 lakh crore. Also, to expand integrated farming systems in rain-fed areas are some of the provisions which could help the chemical and Fertiliser sector.

TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Persistent Systems:

IT sectors is known for giving rich dividends to its shareholders. TCS, Infosys Wipro, and Tech Mahindra usually return the hefty amount to the shareholders through a buyback and/or dividend.

For instance, TCS has paid around Rs. 4200 crore as dividend distribution tax YTD in FY20E. With the abolition of DDT, this amount could also be paid to investors. This would be a benefit to cash-rich Midcap companies like Persistent Systems, Mphasis, etc. might choose to pay a higher dividend.

It is also positive for large companies like Colgate Palmolive India, ITC, HUL, GSK Consumers and Nestle India.

UltraTech, The Ramco Cements, JK Lakshmi Cement:

Higher allocation to MoRTH (up by 10.6%), Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (up 8.6%), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (up 38.6%) vis--vis FY20RE. Incentives for affordable housing continue with an extension of one year on the additional tax exemption of Rs. 1.5 lakh for individuals and tax holidays for developers.

Affle India & Info Edge:

Allocation for digital India: Rs. 6,000 crore to be allocated for the BharatNet programme in FY2021 to further enhance broadband connectivity in rural areas. The government announced to bring out a policy to enable the private sector to build data centre parks throughout the country.

This step would increase the penetration of smartphones/ internet in smaller towns and rural areas. As one lakh gram panchayats will be connected to the optical fibre programme, it would help the internet and new media companies like Affle India and Info Edge to penetrate into rural and semi-urban markets.

TCI Express, Mahindra Logistics, Container Corporation, Gateway Distriparks:

National Logistics Policy to be released soon, clarifying the roles of the Central Government, State Government and key regulators. Single window e-logistics market to be set up.

Brokerage Firm: Reliance Securities:

BoB, Canara Bank, PNB, Indian Bank:

The Budget encouraged PSBs to raise funds via capital markets and build a system to check the health of scheduled commercial banks. I-T losses post-merger will be available for off-set for PSBs.

ONGC & Oil India:

A 6 percent rise in budgetary support for fuel subsidy in FY21 vs. FY20. No subsidy case for ONGC and OIL in FY20 - Budgetary support for cooking fuel (LPG/Kerosene) in the form of subsidy has increased by Rs23.4bn for FY21, while total subsidy for FY20 is upward revised to Rs385.7bn.

Based on our calculations, FY21 cooking fuel subsidy is budgeted at crude price > US$68/bbl. It is unlikely that the crude prices will average at US$68/bbl in FY21, said the Reliance Securities report.

It indicates that the government continues with reform agenda with no subsidy burden for ONGC, OIL and OMCs, it said.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

Read more from the original source:

Not happy with Budget 2020? About 40 stocks are likely to benefit the most - CNBCTV18

In a few days, a pair of two-year-old cheetahs, Saba and Nairo, will depart from the UK on a remarkable journey. The brothers will be taken from Howletts Wild Animal Park, in Kent, and flown to South Africa to begin a new life in the wild.

It will be the first time that cheetahs born in captivity have left the UK for rewilding in Africa, says Damian Aspinall, who runs Howletts. There are only about 7,000 cheetahs left on the planet and they are listed as vulnerable, he says. This reintroduction to a reserve in Mount Camdeboo, in south of the country is important because it will help to support the small population of cheetahs we have left in the wild.

And the process of releasing animals from his wildlife parks is likely to continue unabated, adds Aspinall. He now campaigns vigorously for a sharp acceleration in the return of all captive animals to the wild and, ultimately, the closure of all zoos and wildlife parks in the UK including his own.

We have no moral right as a species to let animals suffer just because we are curious about them, he says.

The day of the zoo is over, he claims and his views are reflected by other critics who view wildlife parks and animal collections as anachronisms that should be phased out of existence over the coming 25 years.

Yet zoos are a major part of British culture. About 30 million visits are made to animal collections every year, according to the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Some of these outfits are small and isolated and occasionally fall foul of local authorities for their mistreatment of animals. On the other hand, some larger institutions, such as London or Chester zoos are well-run and, according to supporters, justify their existence for three clear reasons: education, research and conservation.

According to this argument, revealing the wonders of our planets wildlife to the public, and investigating the biology of these animals in order to help them return to nature provide zoos with valid reason to exist. In a world beset by climate change, habitat loss and soaring human numbers, zoos provide protection for the worlds endangered species.

So who is right? Is there any justification, today, for keeping wild animals in captivity? Are zoos good for the planets threatened creatures or are they relics of past cruel attitudes to wildlife?

One argument is that zoos educate visitors, particularly younger ones, about the wonders of the planets wildlife. But Chris Draper of Born Free, the international charity that campaigns against keeping wild animals in captivity, disagrees. Today, people get more from a TV nature documentary than they will ever get from seeing animals in zoos. In captivity, an elephant or a giraffe is out of its natural environment and probably in an unnatural social grouping. Television or the internet are much better resources for understanding animals than a zoo.

Aspinall agrees. David Attenboroughs programmes are far more educational than a day trip to a zoo, he says. And you can see their point. Attenboroughs last series, Seven Worlds, One Planet, was made up of typically stunning material dramatic close-ups of gentoo penguins fleeing leopard seals, pumas in pursuit of guanacos, and Barbary macaques in high-level chases after infant kidnappers. It was exhilarating, informative and surely ideal for getting people hooked on animals.

But Attenborough flatly disagrees and is emphatic that his documentaries cannot compare to seeing the real thing. Only the sight of a creature in the flesh can give us a true understanding of its nature, he says.

There is no way you can appreciate the quiddity of an elephant except by seeing one at close quarters, he told the Observer. People ought to be able to see what an animal looks like. And smells like. And sounds like. I think that is quite important. Actually, very important.

Education certainly justifies a well-run zoos existence, he insists. On the other hand, Attenborough acknowledges that some animals fare better than others in zoos. Modern aquariums are particularly successful, with their vast ceiling-high tanks in which you can see whole communities of different species of fish living together. They are absolutely fabulous.

By contrast, polar bears, big raptors and large hunting mammals like lions are not suitable for being kept in zoos, says Attenborough. I certainly agree with Mr Aspinall in saying you should not have lions in zoos unless they were becoming endangered in the wild, which, of course is now becoming a real risk.

And the same goes for conservation, he adds. Breeding programmes for animals that are on the verge of extinction are of incredible importance. If it was not for zoos, there would be no Arabian oryx left in the world, for example.

The Arabian oryx was hunted to extinction in the wild by 1972 but was later reintroduced originally with animals from San Diego safari park to Oman. Further reintroductions have since taken place in Saudi Arabia and Israel and iIt is estimated that there are now more than 1,000 Arabian oryx in the wild.

Other species reintroduced to the wild using zoo-bred animals include the European bison and Przewalskis horse. But that is about it, argues Aspinall. Only a very small number of animals held by European zoos have been the subject of release projects, and third of those species were not rated as threatened, he says. Instead, zoos are cluttered with unthreatened species put there purely to entertain the public: otters and meerkats are common examples.

However, zoo officials reject the idea that their rewilding successes are limited and point to other examples of successfully returning zoo-bred animals to the wild for example, the Mauritius kestrel. In 1974 only four of these beautiful raptors were known to exist in the wild. It had become the worlds rarest bird thanks to habitat loss, introduction of non-native predators, and widespread use of DDT and other pesticides on the island.

A rescue plan was launched by a number of organisations, including the Durrell wildlife park and London Zoo, in a bid to save the Mauritius kestrel from extinction in the wild. The invasive crab-eating macaque was a particular problem, says Gary Ward, curator of birds at London Zoo. It had arrived in Mauritius from Asia and was stealing eggs from kestrel nests. So we designed nesting boxes that were longer than a macaques arm, so they couldnt reach in to snatch eggs. The birds then had a safe place to bring up their young.

Nesting boxes, in combination with other conservation measures, allowed numbers of Mauritius kestrels to rise to about 800 although these have dipped slightly in recent years.

Other zoo-led rewilding successes have ranged from the spectacular, such as the Californian condor which was restored to the skies above the western US last century, thanks to the release of young birds bred in San Diego to the minuscule, such as the return of the tiny partula snail, native to Huahine and Moorea in the Society Islands, French Polynesia, from populations bred in London, Edinburgh, Chester and Amsterdam zoos.

However, zoo opponents argue that these reintroductions remain infrequent and do not justify the keeping of other, unthreatened wild animals, a point taken up by Sam Threadgill of Freedom for Animals, which has campaigned for the abolition of zoos for several decades.

Together with Born Free, Freedom for Animals has studied zoos in England and Wales and concluded that only a small percentage of their animals are endangered species, and only about 15% are threatened.

It is a simple fact that the vast majority of animals kept in zoos are not endangered or threatened and are there simply to provide public entertainment, he says.

Aspinall goes further. He maintains that many large mammals kept in zoos lions, elephants, and rhinos, for example are inbred or diseased or have the wrong genetic profiles to reintroduce to the wild, where they could further weaken wild populations already struggling to survive. So why are they being arked in the first place? he asks.

The infrequency of releases of zoo-bred animals into the wild is acknowledged by Dominic Jermey, director general of the Zoological Society of London, but interpreted in a different way: The truth is that many wild areas are no longer viable habitats for animals and reintroduction is much more complicated than people might realise. Many of the worlds most threatened species are living in habitats degraded by agriculture, threatened by disease or hemmed into tiny areas with no way of reaching potential mates without coming into conflict with humans.

For his part, Aspinall points to conservation successes that he believes can be achieved with key endangered species without any input from zoos. First, he plans to gradually empty his two zoos at Howletts and at Port Lympne, near Folkestone and use these to help set up large groups of animals gorillas, rhinos, lions and others in protected reserves in Africa. A particular animal would be given homes at several reserves so that if one got into trouble for some reason civil war, for example there would be other sources that could resupply the reserve once those troubles had been sorted.

The majority of animals in zoos are not endangered or threatened and are there simply to provide public entertainment.

Aspinall points to the example of the mountain gorilla. Their numbers had fallen to under 250 by the early 1980s. Today the population stands at 1,000. This is in the country of Gabon, surrounded by aggressive habitat destruction, civil war and poaching and all done without any captive breeding.

The crucial point of this plan is that animals would not be kept behind bars but left to roam in their homeland. And instead of money being spent on zoos, funds would go directly to conservation.

But the idea of closing zoos to boost funds for conservation is challenged by Mark Pilgrim, chief executive of Chester Zoo. His organisation has a total annual budget of 47m.

That money is raised virtually entirely from people paying at our doors to get in, he says. After you deduct our running costs and cash for new development, we have around 1.5m and that goes on conservation in the field work that includes studies of chimpanzees in Nigeria and sun bears in Asia and a programme to reintroduce eastern black rhinos to Uganda. If we simply closed our doors, as some people have suggested, our funding of these conservation projects would come to an immediate halt.

He quotes as an example Nigerias Gashaka Gumti national park, which houses the last reserve of the highly endangered Nigerian-Cameroon chimpanzee. Chimpanzees here live in forests that are less dense and drier than where other members of the species live in other parts of Africa, says Andrew Moss, a lead conservation scientist at Chester. Their diets are rich in insects, and we have found they are amazingly adept at making tools that are just right for getting a different type of insect.

The crucial point is that if we had closed our gates at Chester, the research camp we support at Gashaka Gumti would have been badly hit and this crucial field work threatened.

Nor is it merely money for conservation work that makes zoos important, say supporters. Expertise built up in zoos is also crucial. Over the past few years, wild vulture populations in India and Nepal have crashed from about 40 million to a few thousand because of the use of diclofenac, a livestock anti-inflammatory drug that is highly poisonous to vultures who eat their carcasses.

We have been closely involved in conservation work, and our expertise in building aviaries on site to protect the last few vultures and in treating sick animals has been tremendously useful, says Nic Masters, assistant director of wildlife health at London Zoo.

In the end, these efforts and other attempts at conservation may prove futile in a world challenged by climate change, habitat loss and swelling numbers of humans, as Draper argues. Keeping alive a handful of the last of a sub-species starts to look like fools errand because this tiny population is destined either to a life in captivity in perpetuity or to extinction. Neither of those two options is particularly attractive in anyones book, I would say. The damage has been done.

This view is contested by scientists who still believe there is time to save species and who argue, strenuously, that zoos have a role to play as arks for threatened wildlife. This idea is backed by primatologist Jane Goodall, whose pioneering studies of chimpanzees in the wild have revealed the complex lives led by humanitys closest biological relatives.

Groups who believe all zoos should be closed have not spent the time I have out in the wild, she once said. They havent seen the threats destroying chimpanzee habitat; they dont understand what its like to watch a chimp struggle, wounded and lame from a wire snare. But I do.

Until the early 19th century, collections of exotic animals were usually owned by kings and queens and were symbols of royal power. This changed with the establishment of the Zoological Society of London in Regents Park in 1828. This was the worlds first scientific zoo and was intended to be a collection of unusual beasts for scientific study.

The collection was eventually opened to the public in 1847. A couple of decades later, the music hall song Walking in the Zoo was made popular by Alfred Vance and is notable for first popularising, in Britain, the word zoo as a short form of zoological gardens in addition to the Americanism O.K. in the songs chorus: Walking in the Zoo, walking in the Zoo/The O.K. thing on Sunday is walking in the Zoo.

Read more:

Is it time to shut down the zoos? - The Guardian