1 Global car makers eager to see reforms in India
(Khaleej Times) India must urgently improve its infrastructure and reform its
tax, land acquisition and labour laws if it is to fulfil its ambition of
becoming a leading international automotive manufacturing hub, global carmakers
have said. New right-wing prime minister Narendra Modi invited investors last
month to “Come, make in India” as part of a drive to create manufacturing jobs
for a ballooning young population.
But automobile executives have warned that India
must create a better business climate swiftly or risk losing out to emerging
market rivals like China. “India has an opportunity to build a globally
competitive (automotive) industry,” but to realise its full potential, the
sector needs “a clear roadmap”, GM International president Stefan Jacoby said.
The country needs to streamline taxes that vary
state-to-state, ease rigid hire-and-fire laws and set internationally
harmonised fuel-emission, safety and other norms, speakers told the Society of
Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam). India must also modernise its creaking
rail, port, road and other infrastructure and ease bureaucratic red tape.
“Logistics and infrastructure are a clear
disadvantage of the country,” said Takashi Hata, senior vice-president of
Japan’s Nissan Motor Co. Foreign automakers made a beeline for India in the
last two decades, seeking to tap a vast market in the country of 1.25 billion
people and leverage its low workforce costs to use the country as an export
springboard. Just 17 out of every 1,000 Indians own a car, compared with 800
out of every 1,000 in the US, according to industry figures. But automakers
have found India’s infamous red-tape and shabby infrastructure daunting.
2 Ten jobs threatened by tech (Dallas Morning
News/San Francisco Chronicle) Technology killed the switchboard operator, the
lamp lighter and the ice cutter. And it's a threat for workers in a variety of
other fields, from flight attendants to drill press operators to lumberjacks.
Job-search website CareerCast published a report on
what it says are the Top 10 endangered jobs. The report lists 10 jobs that
could face the largest decline in workforce by 2022. The 10 jobs, which are
declining for various reasons, are: letter carriers, farmers, meter readers,
news reporters, travel agents, lumberjacks, flight attendants, drill press
operators, printers and tax examiners/collectors.
However, many of those in the endangered professions
love what they do. Baugh Farms has always been in the family. Don and Marla
Baugh have taken over some of the same land in Canton, Texas, that Don's father
farmed for 53 years. They even use some of the same old tractors. "It's
just kind of in my blood," Don said. Yet a lot has changed. Among the
challenges, he said, it's hard to find reliable help, and the cost of everything
from the fertilizer to the equipment has gone up. They usually just break even.
3 Fighting the Islamic state (Munir Akram in Dawn) In
exchange for American and Arab cooperation in degrading IS, which poses a
threat to Iran’s allies in both Baghdad and Damascus, and a fair agreement
regarding its nuclear programme, Tehran could help to ensure an inclusive
government in Iraq, broker a political settlement between Assad and moderate
insurgent groups in Syria, dampen the Shia opposition to the Sunni regimes in
Bahrain and Yemen, restrain Hezbollah’s threat to Israel and end its support to
Hamas.
It is possible that at least some aspects of such a
‘bargain’ have been discussed. Such discussions may have encouraged the Obama
administration to launch the strategy against IS. To be successful, the
strategy would also require the support of the major Arab states. Saudi
Arabia’s initiative to convene a meeting of 10 Arab states and Turkey in Jeddah
is significant.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE now consider the Muslim
Brotherhood and related extremist groups a threat to their own stability and
are determined to suppress them. A US strategy which both degrades IS and other
Sunni extremist groups, including the Brotherhood, and secures Iran’s
cooperation to contain Shia militias and insurgents across the region, would be
doubly attractive. In turn, the contribution of these Arab powers would be
essential to wean the Sunni tribes in Iraq away from IS and reach a political
settlement in Syria.
A ‘grand bargain’ involving the US, Iran and Saudi
Arabia and their respective allies and proxies would be obviously most
difficult to construct and consummate. Proxies and puppets are not always easy
to control. Unless a comprehensive strategy is pursued, the fight against IS is
likely to prove frustrating. The legitimate grievances that attract its
recruits will have to be addressed. Ultimately, eliminating extremism in the
region will require the rapid generation of jobs and economic development.
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