1 Greece stares again into the abyss (Helena Smith in
The Guardian) In the countdown to Syriza marking 100 days in office, Greece got
its first crisis monument. Arms outstretched, mouth wide open, his face locked
in despair, the sculpture depicts a man dangling from a financial index in free
fall. Below, his world of concrete and stone lies broken and smashed.
Officially known as the “crisis work”, the art piece
has attracted a steady flow of spectators to the place where it has been
erected. Flowers lie next to it as if in mourning for all that has passed. For
Tasos Nyfadopoulos, the young sculptor behind the work, it is the first public
tribute to the thousands of suicides the crisis has left in its wake.
On the rollercoaster ride that is the debt-stricken
country’s epic battle to stay afloat, many had hoped that Syriza would also
provide solace. But five years after Athens was forced to be bailed out by the
European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF) – accepting the biggest
rescue package in global financial history – Greeks are not sure what to think.
What they do know is that after five years of
dancing to the tune of austerity – of making the sacrifices necessary to keep
bankruptcy at bay – they are, like Nyfadopoulos’s dangling man, once again
staring in to the abyss. The great wave of hope that had brought the radical
leftists to power – on a promise to cancel austerity – has crashed on the rocks
of renewed uncertainty over whether the country can stay the course of eurozone
membership at all. More than ever, Greece seems headed for the exit door.
2 The Pacific Century is about militarization (Khaleej
Times) There is something unusual and unprecedented that is happening in Asia
Pacific. Japan and the US are carving out a new security axis, which is bound
to have far-reaching consequences for the entire region. Beijing is, however,
keeping its fingers crossed and currently doesn’t seem to have a major place in
Washington’s Asia Pivot doctrine. Whereas, in fact, the entire Asia Pivot
strategy should have revolved around China, as it is not only the next
superpower but also a power to be reckoned with in terms of geography,
economics and political influence in the region and beyond.
The signature policy shift was evident as Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe became the first Japanese leader to address both houses of
the Congress, which inevitably sealed reinforcement of the alliance between
Washington and Tokyo.
The fact that Shinzo Abe opted for a militaristic
approach by literally dumping the Pacifist constitution is at the root of
debate. This incidentally coincided with the Pacific Century that the US was
planning for a while, in an attempt to boost its presence in that part of the
world, as well as deal with China, North Korea, and the economic potential of
Asean member states. Beijing, being a victim of Japan’s militarism in the past,
has every reason to be concerned with this new strategy, which stations
Washington’s military gear right at its doors.
The proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade
alliance among 12 states is another case in point. While this is a shared
initiative between Obama and Abe, it is no less than a carrot and stick policy
as the lone superpower meddles in the prosperous region with an agenda of its
own. Japan by virtue of being the world’s eighth defence spender, seems to have
set a milestone in terms of regional aspirations. This resurgence of Japan,
backed by the US, will keep strategists around the world on the edges until and
unless China comes up with a befitting response.
3 Cheating scores in India schools (Straits Times) Using
methods ranging from old-fashioned crib sheets to high-tech spy cameras,
cheating is common in India, where government schools place an extraordinary
emphasis on exams in all grades, according to experts.
Television footage last month showed dozens of
relatives scaling a school wall to slip cheat sheets through the windows of
exam rooms to give information to students, which staff and police officers
ignored. The incident occurred in northern Bihar, one of India's poorest
states.
Mr Arjun Dev, former head of a government body that
plans and promotes schools, said an "endless over-emphasis on
memory-testing exams" has stubbed out creativity and logical reasoning.
"The system has failed students. It doesn't equip them with necessary
qualifications and then overplays the importance of exams, whose certificate is
hailed as the ultimate ticket to success," he said.
With the system stacked against them, many poor
families feel compelled to do whatever they can to help their child get a
foothold in a better life. This - along with India's all-pervasive culture of
corruption - has been largely blamed for the cheating.
In January, Indian education research group Pratham
published a survey with shocking findings. It found half of 570,000 students
surveyed could not read simple sentences or solve simple arithmetic after six
years of schooling. But change may be on the way. Education Minister Smriti
Irani has vowed to increase spending on education from nearly 4 to 6 per cent
of GDP and pledged a new national policy by December that will link
"education to employability".
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